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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.
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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…
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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…
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Get Your Caffeine Fix with Yerba Mate
Looking for a jitter-free alternative to your daily cup(s) of coffee? Try mate, a tea-like beverage made from the leaves of the South American holly plant yerba mate. This national drink of Uruguay and Argentina is loved for the clean energy boost it provides…
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Spring Restaurant Preview 2014
There’s a whole lot to be excited about in the restaurant world right now — besides the appearance of ramps and fava beans on everyone’s menus, that is. And that’s the highly anticipated openings of a number of hotter-than-hot new eateries, like Drew Nieporent’s Bâtard, Andrew Carmellini’s Bar Primi, and Cosme from envelope-pushing Mexican chef Enrique Olvera. Here are a few other especially buzzy, impending restaurant debuts to keep your eye on this spring…
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Ultimate Passover Dining Guide 2014
If you’ve grown up Jewish like we have, you know that most major events and holidays — both joyous and non — are thankfully commemorated with food. And Passover’s no different. Not sure how to cull a craveable meal from a box of matzoh at home? Then eat out! Check out the terrific restaurants featured in our Passover dining guide, including Telepan, Balaboosta and more…
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Telepan Local: First Bite
Ever been to Telepan on the Upper West Side? If you have, you remember those pea green walls. Now, I’m a food girl (not a looks girl), but it was hard to get pass those oddly colored, downright distracting walls and focus on the terrific Greenmarket cooking. While it’s practically obligatory now, Bill Telepan actually was one of New York’s first chefs to isolate and extol the virtues of ingredients and seasons. His upmarket menu uptown bragged of Farm Eggs, Hen-Of-The-Woods Mushrooms, and Heritage Pork when everyone else was serving plain old pork and tomatoes all year round…
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Drink Spotting: Negronis at The Gilroy
You can order all sorts of inspired cocktails at the recently opened The Gilroy, an attractive new hotspot with art deco chandeliers, reclaimed wood communal tables, a copper bar and red brocade-swathed back room on the drinking den-deprived Upper East Side. But why in the world would you? The name of the game here is Negronis…
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Try This: Slovak Dumplings, Two Ways
You may be familiar with spaetzle, the Central European egg dumpling found on menus at popular New York Austrian restaurants like Edi & the Wolf and Blaue Gans, but does the name halusky ring a bell? Restaurant Girl samples this lesser-known Slovak cousin to spaetzle at East Village eatery Korzo Haus.
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Seasonal Eats: The 411 On Meyer Lemons
Spring is undoubtedly one of the most exciting times of the year for produce, and it’s only a matter of time before farm stands are flooded with verdant, edible jewels like peas, asparagus, green garlic, ramps, artichokes and even fiddlehead ferns. But it also means that one of our very favorite citrus fruits is coming to the end of its season, which is why we’re taking a moment to spotlight the delectable Meyer lemon…
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Our Favorite “In-Between-Season” Eats
It may officially be spring, but the weather doesn’t necessarily reflect that right off the bat. Take this weekend, when it was 60 degrees and sunny one day, and 40 degrees and windy the next. And restaurant menus are similarly in flux, with root vegetables and heavy sauces often appearing alongside bright, fresh asparagus and tender fava beans. That’s why we’ve rounded up some of our favorite in-between-season eats…
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Rosette – Reviewed
Why aren’t more people talking about Rosette? New Yorkers can’t seem to get enough restaurant gossip, especially when it comes to openings (though we love a good chef shuffle, too). Yet, Rosette has barely scratched the surface of our collective radar. Which is good for the rest of us until word gets out to the foodie set. And I’m pretty sure it will…
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Q & A with Chef About Town Ryan Skeen
Ryan Skeen’s reputation tends to precede him. While his talent has never been disputed, he’s publically ping-ponged between six different restaurants (including V, Resto, Irving Mill, Allen & Delancey, Fish Tag and Pera Soho), in just as many years. Which would make a particularly juicy but of industry gossip if the stories about his crash-and-burn departures from each were entirely true…
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Trend Spotting: Black Garlic
If you’ve ever seen black garlic (we recently spied it sold in plastic pouches at Trader Joe’s), you might have assumed that it was mistakenly left on the shelf for too long. Because yes, the flesh of the pungent bulbs actually is jet black, and comes cloaked in a withered, papery skin. It’s potentially pretty off-putting if you don’t know what you’re looking at, but surprisingly, seriously delicious as well…
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Macaron Day: New York’s Best Macarons
Spring officially arrives today, March 20th. (It does seem warmer, so we can thank god for that!) And what better way to celebrate the start of the new season than with a citywide macaron crawl? After all, it is Macaron Day. Whether you’ve never tasted a macaron in your life or are a devotee of the colorful, round meringue-based treats, now is your chance to try some of the very best macarons New York has to offer. All you need to do is show up at one of the 15 bakeries, offering free samples of their pastel pastries throughout the day and claim your macaron…
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Q & A with French Louie’s Executive Chef Ryan Angulo
Chef Ryan Angulo and owner Doug Crowell already happened upon a winning formula with their popular Brooklyn bistro, Buttermilk Channel. While essentially a New American restaurant, there’s still a good deal of French influence and execution involved. That’s why they elected to flip the script only slightly with their long anticipated (five years!) follow up project, French Louie, with a boîte that’s yes, largely French, but with a smidge of American flavor and flair…
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Dessert Spotting: Emily’s Terrific S’more Calzone
There aren’t too many new trails left to blaze in New York when it comes to pizza. We have legendary, old-school pizzaiolos turning out exemplary, Neapolitan-style rounds and perfect, pillowy Sicilian squares, grungy, corner parlors offering sloppy and satisfying $2 slices, and everything in between. So what’s a newcomer to our incomparable, expansive pizza scene do to stand out?
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Last Licks of Winter Soups
As much as we can’t wait for the weather to get warm and stay warm, we’ve already found ourselves getting sentimental over foods we’ll no longer be able to really enjoy once it’s spring. And soups, of which there’s an especially delicious, seemingly endless variety of in New York, totally top that list. So here are a few fantastic bowls you’ll definitely want to try while it’s still officially winter, like the creamy Chowder at The Clam in the West Village, the comforting Matzoh Ball Soup at the Empire Diner in Chelsea, and the classic Onion Gratinee at Little Prince in NoHo…
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Dover – Reviewed
In a city like New York, it’s easy to get lazy about dining out. That’s why neighborhood joints exist; so you can roll out of your apartment and have something you love to eat on a regular basis. To me, that’s the definition of a neighborhood restaurant – a place with food you want to eat often. I can think of plenty of restaurants I loved where I ate something unforgettable, but that doesn’t mean I want to eat it all the time. Those are more like destination restaurants, the kind of spots you’d go out of your way for. Dover is both…
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Gourmet Gossip: March 2014
In this great dining city of ours, barely a day passes without news of an exciting new restaurant opening, a devastating closing, a shocking chef shuffle, or a groundbreaking, must-try dish. That’s why we’re keeping you apprised of the industry’s most noteworthy bits and bites, from the massive new food hub taking shape in FiDi to Ryan Skeen’s unexpected reappearance in Tribeca and Aska’s surprising space switcheroo in Brooklyn…
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Wild Mushroom Stew
Stew is a generally a great go-to for home cooks during winter —simply throw bits of meat from the freezer and odds and ends from the fridge into an oversized pot, and forget about them for hours at a time. But the best thing about this stew is that it will actually appeal to vegetarians (and non-vegetarians!) alike, made with a hearty mix of cultivated and wild mushrooms, chewy ribbons of kale, and nutty brown rice or barley.
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