Go West

This was one of the best brunches I've had in a while. You normally have to twist my arm to get me to go over the West Village but lately I've been pleasantly surprised. The last few restos I've been to over there have been more than okay, they've been great. And I didn't even mind the crowd this time either! It was Federico's birthday and we hadn't seen each other in a while... we had the loveliest time. We ordered our own dish and also shared the waffles. Everything was fantastic. The portions were perfect. Both eggs dishes, one with tomato sauce and the other over asparagus, were both amazing. The waffles were simple yet devine. I was really impressed. The vibe was casual but carefully considered. It was good. It really set the tone for the wonderful Sunday I was about to have. They have some great looking omelettes on the menu that I look forward to trying next time. I could definitely get used to brunching in the West Village, maybe even live there... shh, don't tell anyone.

Sant Ambroeus
259 W. 4th St. (nr. Perry St.)
New York, NY 10014

That's the Jam

A few months ago my girl (aka our Icelandic Princess) gifted me some wonderful homemade organic jam. I've been devouring it ever since so I thought I should blog about it before it was all gone! Please make me some more, I will never buy jam again I swear! The texture is so amazing, big plump blueberries with the fresh lemon taste. I've been putting it on everything... besides toast and bread, its fantastic on ice cream and plain greek yogurt. Homemade is where its at! Let's start selling it in NYC!

This Little Piggy

I finally made it try Maialino, Danny Meyers restaurant at the Gramercy Hotel. The name, which means "little piggy" in italian is good. Good enough for a simple Sunday brunch. We enjoyed a few mimosa's before hand which always helps and the service was quite good overall. The food was nice. I enjoyed my poached eggs over some winter vegetables, nice a light and quite flavourful. I need to go back and try the pasta. I'm curious because the overall brunch experience isn't very italian at all.

Maialino
2 Lexington Avenue (Gramery Hotel)
New York, NY
maialinonyc.com

Oh, Monsieur!

I finally went to Bubby's for the first time about 2 months ago. I've been wanting to go for years and just never made it around to going. Then in one week, I went three times. It's great! It has been a Tribeca staple for years. The menu is tight, the vibe is good and most importantly the food is fantastic. This was the Croque Monsieur that we ordered along with the Sour Cream Pancakes which also blew my mind. I had the most fantastic fresh grape juice that was served cold in a glass jar. Loved it.

Bubby's
120 Hudson Street
New York, NY
(212) 219-0666

Real Gelato, Non E Vero!

This is the most authentic gelato I've tasted in New York. But hey who I am? I'm not the biggest gelato connessieur in the city. I usually don't even risk it. I save myself for my yearly trips to the Italian Riviera to eat the real deal... every single night. But last weekend all that changed when my friends wanted ice cream after one of our typical epic dim sum Sundays. At first I just watched as they all happily devoured their ice creams... then I decided to treat myself to my favourite combo, limone and cioccolato together. I know it sounds weird but it's that sweet creamy mixed with the tartness of the lemon that I love. It was fantastic! The woman working the shop explained to me that they make the ice cream from scratch every morning and that their other location is in Capri. There is only this one location in New York and the other in Italy. Although I hate their branding and overall design, legit is the word.

La Cremeria
178 Mulberry St
New York, NY
(212) 226-6758

That's The Juice

To me there's something so satisfying about going to the grocery store and buying really fresh ingredients, all the fixings and most importantly good meat to make some juicy hamburgers at home. Especially with a nice bottle of red wine. Pure heaven.

False Advertsing

I have been to Peels a handful of times. Each time being a little more annoyed than the last because the waiting time has seem to have gone from bad to worse. Every time the food has been nothing more than just fine but I saw this very incising image (left) a few months ago in Bon Appetit magazine and I quickly took a snap on my phone as reference. It was of the shrimp and grits dish at Peels. I couldn't help myself to go back and try it one last time to see if maybe this was the one dish that I had just skipped over. As you can see the actual dish (right) looked nothing like the photograph in the magazine and sadly the taste didn't leave up to my expectation. The overly smokey flavour of this dark brown sauce and the thick bacon bits overpowered the eggs and grits to such a point that I couldn't taste anything else. And although we had the most adorable waiter ever, I left feeling disappointed, again.

Epic Alchemy

Tea that tastes like tomato soup.... all I can say it wow. Last Wednesday night I was a very lucky girl and had the opportunity to dine at Eleven Park Madison. We sat at the bar just to have a few drinks and appetizers and were treated to the full hors d'oeuvres service from the very famous tasting menu there. Since it is one of the top 25 restaurants in the world, this was nothing short of amazing. Sadly I did not bring my camera and therefore have borrowed a few images I found online. The chef Daniel Humm is also an alchemist and is playing with reductions and foams. I can't believe I am saying this but I am now am a believer... I was very anti-foam food up until this point. I think the beauty of his dishes is that he leaves enough food to chew to still satisfy my love of taste and texture.

It started with the amazing tea, a very intricate hand tied bundle of dried leaves, that of course tasted like tomato soup. I have no idea how. It then went on to course after course of delicious and beautifully presented hors d'oeuvres of raw fish, egg, uni, caviar and the very wonderful powdered beet goat cheese lollipops. Every dish was a work of art and the tastes were each unique, full of surprises and very delicious. The bread even came with butter and goat butter, something I had never seen before. As for our actually ordered appetizers we shared a seafood gnocchi and another pasta dish, a variation of tagiatelle with lemon and alaskan king crab. Both were extremely light and delicate and insanely delicious. It was truly epic. Thank you Tanner.

Eleven Madison Park
11 Madison Avenue
New York, NY
(212) 889-0905










(images from donuts4dinner.com)

Oh Bresaola

Bresaola is an Italian cured beef salami which I bought at Gaia. It's from the north of Italy where my family is from, so I eat it a lot there in the summers at the beach. It's the perfect thing on a hot day or night. It's nice and light and has a wonderful taste. Here I topped it with fresh wild arugula, parmigiano-reggiano, fresh squeezed lemon and olive oil. This is my favourite olive oil right now, from Buon Italia in Chelsea Market. So so good.

A Taste of Italy in the LES

Gaia is this adorable new Italian café hidden just below the street right on Houston. It remains so far farely under the radar because it's easy to miss. It has just a few tables where a few local italian-americans who live in the area were enjoying their lunches. The menu consists mostly of delicious-looking panini's and a few salads. In addition, they seem to have a daily special pasta and salad on the menu board as well. They bake all their bread fresh there. I popped in just to take a look and ended up buying some sliced meats. The owner, Gaia, is from Milano and has a lovely selection of cold cuts and cheese. I picked up a quarter lb of mortadella and bresaola. She also gave me some freshly baked bread out of the oven for free. I can hardly wait to go back and try their special salads which looked fantastic.

Gaia Italian Café
251 East Houston (nr Norfolk)
New York, NY