-
Air’s Champagne Parlor is All About the Bubbly
Beer, wine and even cider bars abound in NYC, but Air’s Champagne Parlor is one of the few area drinkeries devoted to bubbly. To be fair, the Riddling Widow briefly preceded it, but owner Ariel Arce was actually beverage director during its tenure, as well as Birds & Bubbles before that, and Chicago’s Pops for Champagne (not to mention Grant Achatz’s exclusive, original The Office) before that. Meaning her reputation as queen of Cuvèe absolutely proceeds her.
-
Where to Celebrate Oktoberfest 2017
If you’re already mourning the loss of summer, Oktoberfest is a reliable way to get you over the hump. Essentially spanning the duration of fall (kicking off on September 16th this year & extending all the way to October 31st, allowing revelers to seamlessly transition to Halloween), the 16 to 18-day festival is a giddy saturnalia of German culture…
-
Spotlight on the Finalists for the 2017 Vendy Awards
As a fun challenge to the James Beard Awards, the Vendy ceremony — now in its 13th year — is dedicated to honoring the very best in street food. So here’s who’s in the running during the September 16th event at Governors Island; from an artisanal twinkie baker to an upstart french toast sandwich maker, to a Chinese meat skewer purveyor, whose been tapped for the Vendy Cup…
Most Recent Dish
Q&A with Marcus Samuelsson
There are a lot of chefs who do more than just cook. But there are few as accomplished or as interesting as Marcus Samuelsson. Marcus was born in Ethiopia, then adopted and raised in Sweden. His culinary career began selling bread to tourists by boat. Samuelsson learned Swedish technique and cooking at the Culinary Institute in Göteborg. He worked as an apprentice in both Austria and Switzerland before traveling to the America to work at Aquavit. There, he was...
Read MoreHarbour
Cuisine: Seafood Vibe: Nautical chic Occasion: Dinner at sea, cozy date, group dinner Don’t Miss: Maine mussels with cabbage and bacon, clam chowder, butterscotch pudding Price: Appetizers, $12; entrees, $24; dessert, $8 Reservations: Recommended Phone: (212) 989-6410 Location: 290 Hudson St., at Spring St. Do you ever just go out and eat?” a friend asked me at dinner a few months ago. “Rarely,” I answered before returning to the menu. But a lot of people do. There are plenty...
Read MoreBest of Mother's Day Dining
Mother’s Day is less than a week away, so you might want to make a reservation. We’ve scoped out the city’s best options for brunch, dinner, and even sweets to pick up for your mom… Dell’anima 38 Eighth Ave. (btwn. Jane St. & W. 12th St.) (212) 366-6633 www.dellanima.com Dell’anima’s new brunch menu debuts Mother’s Day. If you’re a regular, you’ll recognize the ricotta pancakes and the arugula salad. But newcomers include “uova in purgatorio” – baked eggs in a...
Read MoreIndochine's Vietnamese Bouillabaisse
By Chef-owner Huy Chi Le Serves 4 Ingredients:Seafood 2 dozen freshly cleaned mussels12 shelled & deveined large prawns1 cup calamari rings½ lb medium scallops Vegetables2 cups finely shredded Chinese cabbage½ cup fried minced shallots4 sprigs Asian basil (for garnish)4 lime wedges (optional) Broth4 cups fish broth (chicken broth can be substituted)2 cups coconut milk2 tablespoons finely shredded kaffir lime leaves½ tablespoon shrimp paste2 tablespoons garlic chili paste (more or less to taste)½ tablespoon curry powder (or paste)5 tablespoons undiluted...
Read MoreQ & A with Takashi Yagihashi
What comes to mind when you think of Detroit? The auto industry, Detroit Red Wings, and Eminem. Detroit’s not really known for its food. But Takashi Yagihashi has changed that. He debuted on the Detroit dining scene with Tribute, a highly acclaimed French Japanese restaurant and followed it up with a second venture, Takashi, where he puts a French-American spin on Japanese cooking in Chicago. Before landing in Detroit, Yagihashi got a degree in interior design. Instead, he ended...
Read MoreMinetta Tavern
Cuisine: French bistro Occasion: See-and-be-seen dinner, date, group dinner Don’t Miss: Lobster salad, roasted chicken, Minetta burger Price: Appetizers, $14; entrees, $20; dessert, $9 Reservations: Highly recommended Phone: (212) 475-3850 Location: 113 MacDougal St., near Minetta Lane. When did we become so self-conscious about burgers? I’ll bet that back in the 1930s, when someone ordered a burger, they ate it and that was the end of it. They didn’t photograph it or write home about it. These days, chefs...
Read MoreRecession Proof Baking Tips
In my endless search for ice cream recipes that don’t require an ice cream machine, I unearthed a Hershey’s Chocolate Cookbook from 1934. It’s my best discovery to date and the cheapest to make. Start by melting 2 oz. of dark chocolate in a bowl over boiling water. Add a cup of sweetened condensed milk and stir for five minutes. Then add a cup of water, let cool, add 1 cup of whipped cream, and 1/4 tsp of flavoring extract. ...
Read More
Q & A with Alex Guarnaschelli
The last time we caught up with Alex Guarnaschelli was two years ago. A lot has changed since then. She’s still the executive chef at the celebrity hangout, Butter. But now, she hosts Food Network’s “The Cooking Loft,” became a mom and an imminent cookbook author. Guarnaschelli trained with some of the finest chefs, including Guy Savoy, Larry Fiorgione, and Daniel Boulud. Since 2005, she’s been in the kitchen at Butter. While her cooking may not get...
Read MoreFatty Crab
Cuisine: Malaysian Vibe: Funky UWS bustle Occasion: Neighborhood bites, casual date, kid-friendly Don’t Miss: Scallop satay, short rib Rendang, watermelon pickle & crispy pork Price: Appetizers $7, entrees $1 Reservations: Accepted Phone: (212) 496-2722 Location: 2970 Broadway, between 76th and 77th Sts. I think you can taste when the chef’s not in the kitchen. On the chef’s night off, the food’s never quite the same. It’s a little like going to the theater and finding out you got stuck...
Read MoreNYC's Best Spring Desserts
After a never-ending winter, finally there are signs of spring. We’re ready to come out of hibernation and take a break from heavy desserts, the likes of bread pudding and creamy custards. Pastry chefs are embracing light citrusy desserts like lemon and lime as well as rhubarb and tropical fruits. Baked359 Van Brunt St. (btwn. Dikeman & Sullivan Sts.)(718) 222-0345www.bakednyc.comAnyone would fall for this Red Hook bakery filled with inventive American desserts. Someone at Baked has a lemon fetish...
Read MoreGramercy Tavern's Belleville Cocktail
Created by Tobias Rower (Inspired by the Corpse Reviver #2) Ingredients:*1 oz. cognac *1 oz. dry vermouth (we recommend Dolin) *1 oz. St. Germain *¾ oz. lemon Procedure:Shake & serve up with a dash of pernod and a brandied cherry in a martini glass. Gramercy TavernAddress: 42 East 20th Street, nr. Park Avenue SouthPhone:...
Read MoreQ & A with Ming Tsai
If after reading this interview, you remember one thing, remember this: Chef Ming Tsai does not cook Asian fusion. “Fusion just leads to confusion,” insists Tsai and there’s nothing confusing about his cooking at Boston’s acclaimed Blue Ginger. Tsai’s cooking style? East Meets West, which makes sense when you consider his childhood. A Chinese American, Ming Tsai, grew up in Ohio, where he worked at his parents’ Chinese restaurant. It was there he learned his way around a restaurant...
Read MoreScuderia
Cuisine: Italian Vibe: Rock ‘n’ roll trattoria Occasion: Business lunch, romantic date, family affair Don’t Miss: Squid-ink tagliatelle, Scuderia pizza, buttermilk panna cotta Price: Appetizers, $9; entrées, $18; dessert, $8.50 Reservations: Accepted Phone: (212) 206-9111 Location: 10 Downing St., between Bleecker and Houston. Stand at the corner of Downing St. and Sixth Ave. and take a look around. What you may be seeing is the core of a New Little Italy, complete with neighborhood feuds and family businesses passed...
Read MoreBar Bites
Look on the bright side of the economy: jeans, sneakers and bargain-priced bar menus at some of the city’s best restaurants. That’s why we’ll be featuring a brand new Bar Bite every week. Allen & Delancey 115 Allen St., btwn. Delancey St. & Rivington St. (212) 253-5400 www.allendanddelancey.net Allen & Delancey doesn’t do Happy Hour, but it does do Happy Night every Tuesday- that means half-priced cocktails and a brand new bar menu. Each cocktail comes two ways- easy...
Read MoreEdible Easter Houses
I always wondered why gingerbread houses belonged to Christmas. Wouldn’t it be fun to build a gingerbread house for your birthday or your Peeps? You can. It wasn’t easy to track down one, but our google search paid off — Bunny Hutch Cookie House kits. While you’re boiling eggs to decorate this weekend, gather friends, family, or your kids and decorate-your-own gingerbread house. It comes with a pre-baked and fully assembled leaving the decorations up to you. It’s...
Read MoreQ & A with Amanda Cohen
There’s a lot of respectable vegetarian restaurants in New York these days — raw, macrobiotic, and even microbiotic food. Most are guilty of mock meats, like faux franks, veggie bacon and tofurkey. Not Amanda Cohen. She lobbies against them at Dirt Candy, her new — and controversially named — tiny restaurant in the East Village. Yes, the name is awful and no one can resist poking fun. “At least people remember it!” Cohen says and, if she do it...
Read MoreInakaya
231 W. 40th St., between Eighth & Broadway. (212) 354-2130 Dinner, Mon.-Sun., 5 p.m.-11 p.m.; lunch, Mon.-Fri., 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. CUISINE: Traditional Japanese robatayaki. VIBE: Dinner theater. DON’T-MISS DISH: Chicken thigh skewers, Kaku Ni simmered Berkshire pork belly, Kinki deep-sea snapper, ginkgo nuts. AVERAGE PRICES: Appetizers, $10; entrees, $20; desserts, $5. RESERVATIONS: Recommended for the robata counter. About four years ago, I ate at Inakaya in Tokyo. The locals said I shouldn’t miss it. They warned me it’s touristy....
Read MoreBest of Easter Dining
I love the signs of Easter — yellow, sugar-coated Peeps, hand-decorated eggs, and chocolate bunnies. But the best part about Easter Sunday is the main course. We scoured the city for the conventional and the out-of-the-ordinary to find out what some of New York’s best chefs and restaurants were planning for brunch, lunch and dinner on Sunday, April 12th. Inside Park at St. Bart’s 109 E. 50th Street, at Park Ave. (212) 593-3333 www.insideparknyc.com I can’t think of...
Read MoreCheck out my Book — Try This
Recent Videos
Recently Interviewed
Most Recent Gizmos
