Cooking Eating Dining Sharing

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

New York Travels



A New York Minute
New York, New York, so great they named it twice!  That’s how I felt last week while visiting our daughter and son to attend our daughter's college graduation at Yankee Stadium, no less.   Although I have traveled many times to New York over the past two decades, I feel like I have really gotten to know the city over the past four years.  Visiting twice a year, staying in the city rather than nearby New Jersey with family, have all contributed to having spent much more time exploring, eating and enjoying all the city has to offer.  This latest trip last week only made me feel closer to New Yorkers.  I could easily become one.   It went something like this; breakfast at Balthazar, lunch at Molyvos and dinner at Pastis and then repeat the next few days with Dos Caminos, Motorino, and others.  It was a trip of eating and celebrating, all the while with an expanding waistline. 

While I am in food overdose recovery, here are some delicious eateries that we found ourselves in this past week:

L'Artusie for dinner/West Village
Graduation dinner in their very pretty private dining room was perfect for our large gathering.   We sampled so many different family style plates that I lost track of the courses and it was too dark to get many good pictures.  Some of the highlights were grilled asparagus with fried egg and hamachi with lemon and fennel for starters.  My favorite second course was the mushroom ragu with garganelli.  For main course, the grilled quail was outstanding.  For dessert, the cookies were beautifully presented and the graduation cake was stunning with the fresh fruit on top. 
 




































Molyvos for lunch/MidTown
If you love Greek food, you can’t go wrong here.  We had the avgolemono soup and traditional Greek Salad, with yummy tastes of tzatziki, fish roe and eggplant dips with warm pita bread triangles.   A delicious orzo with seafood, skewers of shrimp, onions and peppers were also very good.   Unfortunately, our service was so inexperienced, that it made for a very uncomfortable dining experience.

Balthazar for brunch/SOHO

This is the place to see and be seen.  It’s a big space with dark wood trim and high ceilings with lots of mirrors.  French Bistro style with great lunches, breakfasts are just ok, but if you order off their bakery menu, you can’t go wrong.  You can also just go to the bakery and skip the dining if you are short on time. I do love coming here and wouldn't miss it. 



Dos Caminos/Meatpacking
We stopped here for a late afternoon bebida on our way to Pastis (across the street) and ended up loving the experience.   Complimentary warm chips and salsa, with an order of delicious guacamole took the edge off while we waited for our son and his friend to join us.  Excellent salsa and guacamole!  Great service helped make this a fun place to be. 


Pastis for dinner/ French Bistro food
Starting a meal with oysters is my idea of a great meal….because whatever follows, you have already had the best part of the meal….its all good.  Their oysters were very good, and so was their calamari.
A simple mixed green salad and Tuna Nicoise for a main course turned out great.  Mussels and fries, and Fish of the day were not disappointing.  They keep it pretty simple and it was a great birthday for my husband that night with both of our kids adding to the celebration.  Our son stopped by Chocolate Bar and presented my husband with a gift of an assortment of yummy flavors of chocolate bars like peanut butter and caramel, raspberry jam, caramel apple and salty pretzel!  What a great idea and my husband’s favorite!

Momofuku Milk Bar/Lower East Side
A young hip crowd of people lined up out the door is what you will find upon arriving at Momofuku Milk Bar.  A take off on the dessert bar Chikalicious, also on the east side, this small opening is mainly dessert.  Unlike Chikalicious, this is more casual, with standing room only.  The cookies we sampled were all too sweet for my taste buds.   Served in a plastic sealed envelope for $1.85 each.  It is a must stop to see and experience this setting.   If you like cereal, you will love the soft serve blueberry muffin with a topping of cornflake crunch.  For something quieter and more refined, go to Chikalicious on E10th street.

DuMont /Williamsburg/BROOKLYN
This is a great little find.  The back garden is a quiet spot off the main drag here in Brooklyn.  I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich that did not disappoint.  It came with nicely browned French fries and was topped with jalapeno peppers, guacamole, and big red grilled onions.  Messy but good!  


Motorino/Williamsburg/BROOKLYN
For our son’s birthday, we got take out pizza and ate it at our daughter’s apartment… This is very good artisanal pizza with fresh toppings.   They have a sister restaurant in Manhattan on E12th street.  We ordered a proscuitto pizza, mushroom and sausage, burrata and fresh tomato sauce and a margherita pizza.  They were all delicious! 

This was a perfect ending to our New York travels which wouldn’t be NY without eating out!  Next time, we will be visiting our son in Brooklyn and our daughter in LA.  There are more food adventures coming your way....Bon Appetite and Happy Cooking!  

2 comments:

DEmery said...

Every time I visit your Blog I smile at that picture of you and one of the Maremma pups. Was it Pinkie? How could I not have kept one of those adorable marshmallows, as the ranch in Atlanta sometimes refers to Gemma now there guarding their dairy sheep. Anyway, just wanted to say hi and also say YOU look great in the photo as well!
Debbie

Tricia O'Brien said...

Thanks Debbie! Come over sometime and have a glass of wine! T