-
The Shackenstein and Doughnut-Custard at Shake Shack – Theater District – American
I went to Shake Shack twice on Sunday. And not, like, for lunch and dinner, which would be totally acceptable. No, I went for dinner and then for a midnight snack. Except that it wasn’t actually midnight yet; it was more like 10:30. Anyway. The first time around, I had a cheeseburger with mayo and a vanilla custard with a Doughnut Plant doughnut mixed in. (My friend Sylvan added her fries to the photo to make me look at it later and think about how dumb I was not to have ordered some myself.) For me, the burger was decidedly less-good than the ones from the Shake Shack in Madison…
-
Look Hotter and Get a Better Table
I saw a great Q&A on Chow.com today entitled “Too Frumpy for the Good Seats?” in which a woman asked if she and her friend were relegated to the old people’s section of a restaurant’s dining room because she wasn’t dressed like a tramp. This is something I wonder to myself allllllllllllll of the time, because while my boyfriend always pairs snazzy blazers with cute t-shirts and sweater vests and looks better than anyone else everywhere we go, you’ll never see me in a cocktail dress and stilettos. I would hope I still look nice, but my style trends more toward granny-in-pearls than hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold. So when we got seated in…
-
Saltie – Sandwiches – Williamsburg
My friend Meredith and I live mere blocks from each other in Brooklyn, but since my dining is done almost exclusively in Manhattan, I rely on her to tell me what’s good in the neighborhood. She recently recommended the sandwich shop Saltie, saying, “I had their Scuttlebutt sandwich 2 weeks ago and CAN’T stop thinking about it.” I don’t do olives, so instead I tried the Clean Slate, and OMG, you guys, I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. It’s hummus, quinoa, pickles, and yogurt on naan, and the memories of its craveable sourness just keeps invading my brain. $8 seemed a little steep to me until I got the thing…
-
Dessert Crazy (with Emphasis on the “Crazy”)
I know not everyone’s into desserts like I am (FOOLS!), but “Top Chef: Just Desserts” is undeniably watchable thanks to the antics of 34-year-old Seth Caro from NYC. Whether you think he just has emotional problems or believe, like Dr. Boyfriend and I do, that he may actually be mentally handicapped, you have to appreciate the WTF-ness he brings to the show. Case in point: You got that? He’s gonna be a dick, he’s gonna cook, he’s gonna win this whole fucking shit, and you can suck it, okay?
-
Nougatine at Jean-Georges – French – Upper West Side
Dr. Boyfriend and I were convinced that we hadn’t gotten the true Jean-Georges experience at The Mark back in July and decided to try again with the tasting menu at the more established Nougatine. homemade ginger-lemon ale and passion-fruit-lime sodas Easily the best part of our last Jean-Georges meal, these proved to be a highlight at Nougatine, too. I cannot urge you enough to go to one of the Jean-Georges restaurants just to drink. I am so serious about it that I am not contracting the words cannot and I am. See the way the bottoms of the glasses are all dark? That is PURE FLAVOR, people. poblano and corn…
-
Loving Chain Restaurants Does Not Make You a Bad Person
Last weekend, Dr. Boyfriend and I went to The Modern at MoMA for a tasting menu that included grilled foie gras with champagne-vinegar-preserved strawberries and a harissa tuile: This weekend, we’re going to Outback for a Bloomin’ Onion: The funny thing is that Dr. Boyfriend, I think, is waaaaaay more excited about Outback than he was about The Modern. He’s never been there and is under the impression that it’s just the chain version of Peter Luger. This is going to be awesome.
-
Not Being Anorexic Has Really Paid Off for Me
I don’t mean to not mention it for a week and act like I’m unexcited, but HEY, the most famous NYC food blog ever profiled me last Tuesday: PROFILE: Downtown Lunch’er “Katie” Please ignore the quotation marks around my name (that really is my name!) and the fact that the answer about my occupation became nonsensical when I tried some fancy hyperlinking that got edited out. My love of proofreading really makes me an unbearable person, right? Thanks, Midtown Lunch! I love you best.
-
The Pop-Tart Ice Cream Sandwich
In honor of the opening of Pop-Tarts World–mass market pastry retail heaven for those of us who were under the impression that only four or five flavors of Pop-Tarts existed–in Times Square this month, my officemates and I decided to make the mythical Pop-Tart Ice Cream Sandwich. Thanks to Fresh Direct, we had the followed delivered to our office last Friday morning: • Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts • Frosted Strawberry with Sprinkles Pop-Tarts • Edy’s Grand Vanilla Bean ice cream • Edy’s Grand Chocolate ice cream • Edy’s Cookies ‘N Cream ice cream • Edy’s Grand Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream • Edy’s Slow-Churned French Silk ice cream…
-
Wechsler’s Currywurst – German – East Village
I would go to Wechsler’s every day. It’s one of those quintessential East Village finds that’s tiny, cozy, and cheap, yet unlike most of the East Village, it’s somewhere you can actually take a date. Not, like, a snobby date. A date like me. Basically, I just want to go back to Wechsler’s, and I want you to go with me. Anyway, here’s a picture of some meat covered in some sauce: That’s what currywurst is: sausage, sliced and covered in a saucy blend of tomato and curry powder. It’s traditionally a German street food, but when I recommended Wechsler’s to my friend Steve, he reported back the next day…
-
The Lemongrass Grill Curry Puff – Financial District – Thai
The curry puff is common to Thai, Malaysian, and Singaporean cuisine, but none of those cuisines is common to me, so the first time I tried one, I was in heaven. Sort of like an empanada, sort of like a samosa, it’s pastry stuffed with a thick curry, chicken, potatoes, and onion and deep-fried. Since that original curry puff, I’ve tried as many as I can find in NYC, but I always go back to the one at Lemongrass Grill. It’s the flakiest, the curry-est, and the most way-too-delicious-to-last-more-than-two-bites. The puff isn’t hard like a samosa’s, so the filling gets to mingle with it. But really, it wouldn’t be anything…
Reviews of the Best Restaurants in NYC