- 4.5, american (new), celebrity chef, jeans-appropriate, lower east side, michelin-starred, restaurant reviews, wine-paired menu
wd-50 Attempts the Reinvention
wd~50 is one of the first restaurants my boyfriend and I visited once we agreed that while some couples exercise together and some couples vacation together, we were going to be a couple who ate really fantastically over-the-top meals together. We celebrated our second anniversary with a few savory courses and the five-course dessert tasting and then went back for the full tasting menu, which included dishes that we still talk about years later as iconic examples of molecular gastronomy. When we heard that the menu format had changed to celebrate wd-50’s ninth anniversary, we knew it was time to go back again. The “From the Vault” menu is five…
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Um Segredo – Swinging Summer
Chef David Santos’s secret suppers, Um Segredo, are the fun of a dinner party (minus the clean-up) combined with the food of a world-class restaurant (not your friend’s thawed lasagna). You follow the signs once you get to Roosevelt Island, hand your wine over to Chef Santos, and settle in at a long table for a night of great conversation, great service, and even greater cooking that all makes for such a good time it’s somehow midnight before you know it. We loved our first time at Um Segredo, but we exclaimed over our second time. Swinging Summer dinner, $55 Everyone digging in to the homemade bread–called flatbread but actually…
- 4, american, cheap eats, east village, fast food, japanese, meat sweats, restaurant reviews, sandwiches, vegetarian-friendly
Japadog – Japanese/Fast Food – East Village
My friend Erin online-introduced me to her friend Lizzie back in 2008, and we quickly became Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and blogfriends. And by that I mean that we never actually met, despite living mere miles from each other. (Although one mile in Manhattan is like ten miles anywhere else.) But after four years, we finally forced a dinner a couple of weeks ago at Japadog in the East Village. And I’m not saying that eating a metric ton of wasabi mayo together makes people get along better, but it sure can’t hurt. Tonkatsu dog: deep-fried pork cutlet marinated in tonkatsu sauce with fresh cabbage Like a sweet and sour pork…
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Um Segredo, a Secret Supper Club
Even though Chef Dave Santos’s secret dinner clubs have been mentioned on the New York Times and BlackBook websites, have their own Facebook page, and are openly discussed on Chowhound and Mouthfuls, you still feel like you’re privy to something pretty special when you reserve a seat at one of these intimate dinners and receive your e-mail confirmation with directions to the private location on Roosevelt Island. I always say that there are no hidden gems in NYC because the ubiquitous review sites inevitably expose them within weeks of opening, but this is fine dining that’s literally hidden. All of my food-eatin’ friends had been to Um Segredo–Portuguese for “a…
- american (new), french, good for groups, great for dates, restaurant reviews, union square, vegetarian-friendly, wine-paired menu
Tocqueville Continues to Go Above and Beyond
With their creative, delicious dishes and impressive service that always delivers more than expected, it’s no wonder Tocqueville has long been one of my favourite NYC restaurants. They’re so good to their repeat customers that I secretly felt a little guilty buying the incredibly cheap four-course tasting deal that came up on Gilt City recently, but it was a great excuse to invite along some friends who hadn’t yet tried the restaurant. I walked away with my Tocqueville love reaffirmed, and they walked away with plans to return as soon as possible. warm cheese gougeres Brought to the bar area while we enjoyed some wine and whiskey, these had just…
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Atera and the Art of Foraging
The moment the four-star, accolade-laden reviews started rolling in for Atera–not all of them from people who had actually been to the restaurant, naturally–I called for a reservation. And then freed up every Saturday for a month in case the waitlist paid off and my boyfriend and I could get a spot. It was being compared to Momofuku Ko, our favourite restaurant in NYC, and Brooklyn Fare, our favourite restaurant in NYC to hate on. The chef, Matthew Lightner, trained at the #1 restaurant in the world and the #3 restaurant in the world, was named Best New Chef and Rising Star and everything else in Portland, and has brought…
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The Columbus Food Adventures Short North Tour
I usually like to stick to NYC foodstuffs on donuts4dinner, because anything anyplace else has, NYC has it ten times better, right? Well, not when it comes to food tours, specifically the one I enjoyed with Columbus Food Adventures while visiting my family in Ohio earlier this month. Not only did we have a progressive meal that started with snacks, dabbled in small plates, and then finished with a full-on entree and dessert, but it was clear with every stop that the company has a real connection to and love of the Columbus food scene. Unlike the NYC food tours I’ve been on, where we were stuck outside while the…
- 5, columbus circle, french, great for dates, michelin-starred, restaurant reviews, vegetarian-friendly, wine-paired menu, worthwhile views
The Vegetarian Tasting and Chef’s Tasting at Per Se
The last time my boyfriend and I left Per Se, we were unexpectedly underwhelmed. We’d called ahead and requested the extended tasting menu, a many-extra-course/many-extra-dollar fine food feast that left us feeling as if we were actually treated worse by spending more. The responses to my review were generally along the lines of “it’s a privilege to get to eat there, and you’re paying for the opportunity to be one of the elite, so quit complaining”, which left me with an even more sour taste. But Per Se is the best restaurant in the city. It’s the most lavish and the most luxurious, and it lends any special event the…
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An Icy Introduction: SnoBalls, SnoCreams, & Slushes in the Lower East Side
My boyfriend and I were on one of our infamous walks around the city this weekend, hiking from Midtown East to Chinatown and back again, when he got a hankering for a shaved ice. It had started when he saw the watermelon slush at Bubbly Tea mere moments after he’d received his less-desirable honeydew milk tea and was in full swing by the time we were nearing Astor Place. And there, serendipitously, we found An Icy Introduction: SnoBalls, SnoCreams, & Slushes, a popup stand attached to the Brow-NY clothing store. From now until September 30th, it’ll offer shaved ice saturated with dense unprocessed sugar syrups (and sugar-free ones!) and topped…
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The Dulce de Leche and Elvis Cupcakes at Crumbs
If you want to buy me a cupcake (hint), make it one from Crumbs Bake Shop. Yes, it’s a chain. No, it’s not as fresh-from-the-oven as Magnolia Bakery. Yes, each one contains half your daily recommended caloric intake. That’s sort of the point. When I eat a cupcake, I want it to be an event. Or just, you know, a Saturday afternoon when I’ve already eaten half of a baguette slathered with cheese and honey, dumplings, pizza, and Cadbury Eggs. Don’t judge. the dulce de leche and Elvis cupcakes My boyfriend can’t resist caramel, so he chose the dulce de leche with chocolate cake filled with caramel cream cheese frosting,…
Reviews of the Best Restaurants in NYC
