Smoking Beef

Loving this bresaola salad at Inoteca. The perfect amount of meat with bitter wild arugula and
topped with simple Pecorino cheese and pickled red onions (nice touch). This and a nice glass of cold white vino on a hot day, makes me so happy.

Get Fresh

Vietnamese is one of my favourite cuisines. It's light, healthy and delicious but almost impossible to find in New York. Good ones that is. Omai is so far the best taste I've found in New York, they use higher quality ingredients and deliver a relaxing dinning experience in their zen-like space in Chelsea. Every place I've worked on the west side I make it a point to eat Omai at least twice a week. The Omai Salad (pictured here) is my favourite, it's like the ultimate "Bun", with grilled pork, charbroiled jumbo shrimp and crispy spring rolls. Their beef pho is also incredible, it's made with oxtail broth which gives it a nice rich flavour, again probably the best I've had in New York.

Omai
158 9th Ave (nr 20th st)
New York NY
(212) 633-0550

Sweet Thang

Being Canadian and all I love maple syrup. This was a gift from my friend Emily, its my favourite new ingredient. I use it on everything! From my morning cafe lattes and breakfast yogurt to my afternoon tea. It's the perfect replacement for sugar and adds a little sweetness to my life .

Get it Fried

The new cool pie in town is fried. Everyone is talking (and writing) about the Montanara pizza and Forcella is dishing it out. It's basically a pizza dough that's been rolled out then fried, then topped and baked in the oven. The taste is unique and suprisingly delicious. They opened their newest location on the Bowery and the pizza is up to snuff.

Forcella
334 Bowery St.
New York, NY

For the Love of Lobster

Lobster rolls are one of those things that I dream about. The unique texture of the meat, the cold freshness of the fish and citrus mixed with the chewiness of the bun. That is the way a good lobster roll should feel. When I'm having a lobster roll craving I usually go to Ed's but I've been dying to try it at Chelsea Market. So I went in there, ordered myself a very decadent lobster roll for lunch and enjoyed it at a nearby counter top. It was fantastic! Everyone around me was devouring lobster! It was so wonderful to see all these randoms, both tourists and locals getting their lobster on! Most people were there alone, with their faces down in full lobsters. Its the real deal, nice and raw, just there for the love of lobster. I met these two italian boys who were visiting and we ended up sharing and tasting each others meals, it was all delicious!

Lobster Place (Chelsea Market)
75 Ninth Avenue
New York, NY
212-255-5672

Wild is Where Its At

There's nothing like a delicious home cooked meal. Fresh wild fish is the only way to go. I went to Chelsea Market last week to pick up some italian groceries and was blown away by all the amazing fish at the Fish Market. This was some fresh wild caught Great Lakes Pike. I breaded it in almond flour, which is my new favourite thing. I love using it with chicken too, it browns nicely and has a great nutty flavour from the almond. We paired it with some sauteed swiss chard and quinoa salad. I want to eat that every night.

The Cherry On Top

These sour cherries pancakes, which were the daily special at Bubby's this weekend, just made my favourite pancakes even better! This brunch is always solid and we took our servers recommendations and of course ordered too much food! We also tried the Huevos Rancheros which was also amazing. Their bloody mary's are great too.

Bubby's
120 Hudson Street
New York, NY

Warm Up With Oden

Ippudo is serving up Oden on their menu again. It's such a treat. I love oden. It's always the perfect healthy alternative to the deliciously rich ramen. We had some great appetizers this time, super fresh and beautifully presented hamachi and a miso cod dish which was also to die for.

Don't Chew, Just Swallow

Last night there was a different kind of dinner party in the East Village. James Casey, creator of Swallow Magazine, had a few friends over to experience the making of, the process, the cooking and the tasting of his next issue. The next issue which is themed Mexico City will be full of great traditional Mexican dishes, all of which he cooked himself that day. It was just great to see the ingredients through their preparation and cooking until the moment where it gets photographed and then eaten. At one point it got so spicy in there that we all started coughing uncontrollably while the jalepenos cooked away on the stove. I can hardly wait to see the issue once it comes out. ¡Viva México!

No Fuss Over Franny's

The brooklyn pizza marathon continues. I have tried to go to Franny's several times in the past and every time the wait was 2 hours. This time again, the wait was 2 hours. We decided to wait it out since it was a Saturday night and we were in the middle of Fort Greene with no other immediate ideas in mind. We enjoyed a drink or two and where seating at least an hour and a half later, if not more. We were starving and expecting a lot out of this poor pizza. Pauverino.

It didn't live up to all the hype, nor the wait. I've heard so many good things about Franny's so I was really surprised. It wasn't bad, the pizza had a good texture, chewy and crispy. It's definitely the kind of pizza that I like but our waiter recommended a few pies and we were a bit disappointed by his recommendations. Two of our three pizzas were bianca's, which is always annoying when you don't expect it. It only ever makes sense to have one bianca just to break it up and have a slice or two of something different. The flavours were actually pretty intense, not in a good way. I prefer to keep the ingredients simple and pure, so that you taste them in a natural way. The anchovy pizza was so deconstructed that it just looked like a white cheese pizza, no anchovies to be seen and yet the flavour was so fishy and intense. It was strange. Our starters were great, a really nice refreshing salad and some fried olives stuffed with pancetta. Those were unique and delicious. The deserts were also solid.

Sadly the pizza just didn't live up to our expectation. I think it might be hard to top anything after Saraghina.

Franny's
295 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
(718) 230-0221