Clinton Street Baking Co.

I have been avoiding this place since we moved to New York. I read about it somewhere and it sounds exactly like the kind of place I would love, until I got to the part about there always being a crowd. I hate crowded little restaurants. Well, on a recent snowy morning I played hookey and thought I might sneak in without a crowd. Wrong. Big crowd, little restaurant. Luckily I was flying solo and a counter seat opened up almost immediately. Woot woot! I got a buttermilk biscuit sandwich with scrambled eggs, cheddar, chives, bacon and tomato preserves (= fancy ketchup). It was amazing. I don't know if I could wait a hour for it, but it was great.

Chili's - Chicago O'Hare Airport

I know this is disgusting and that's kind of the point. We had a three-hour layover in Chicago today and there weren't a lot of choices. If you can't be with the one you love...

In this photo, I love how the bleu cheese looks like it's throwing up on the sad little boneless buffalo wings.

If I had it to do over again, I think I'd maybe just eat my toenails.

 

Peet's Coffee

God it's been a long time. Why isn't there a Peet's in New York?? Yeah yeah yeah, I get it. You don't want to expand too far because the quality will suffer. This just in—the coffee in New York sucks. There, I said it. Someone will probably kill me now for saying that. But seriously, it sucks. It's weak and watery. Starbucks is just a place where homeless people go to the bathroom and soak their beards in free milk. Dunkin Donuts, if it ever used to be good, now tastes sour and funky as hell. For all of the amazing things here, you'd think decent coffee would be easier to come by. Anyone reading, feel free to correct me or point me in the right direction. I'm sure there are a few great cups of coffee to be found, but so far, none in the mile and a half between my apartment and my office. And there are some pretty foodie blocks in that walk. Ok, this has gone on long enough. Peet, I love you and your delicious brown coffee. And I'll come see you every time I am in California. Love, me.

Bleecker Street Pizza

I think every place in town has some sort of sign saying that they have the best pizza in New York. This time, it might be true. At least for this single slice of pizza. Maybe the other 7 slices on this pie sucked, and I just got lucky. But I doubt it. It was a good day for the Nonna Maria Pizza—fresh mozzarella and homemade marinara. I could eat this every day, and I'm seriously considering it.

Double D

Holla atcha boy! Old school miniature Dunkin Donuts are in the house. After lunch the other day, four of us split a box of 50 stale Munchkins while a homeless man salivated into his beard. It was worth every penny.

PinkBerry

Pinkberry is old news. What is new to me, though, is Pinkberry with a shot of pomegranate syrup. I know it looks like someone had a bloody nose on top of my frozen yogurt, but trust me, it's delicious.

Dell'Anima

We sat at the chef's table at Dell'Anima and one of the chefs squirted pomegranate juice all over us. Not in a Gallagher kind of way, rather a oops, my bad kind of way. But it was cool. The food was great and they offered to pay my dry-cleaning bill.

You might think this looks like a picture of lemon ice cream, a licorice sundae, and apple cobbler topping. But you are way off. It's a trio of delicious crostini spreads: homemade ricotta, roasted beets with yogurt, and octopus aioli.

Nürnberger Bierhaus - Staten Island

This was my first time going to Staten Island, but I immediately got the sense that it's the kind of place where sausage parties are a common occurrence. That's why we were there, and we weren't disappointed. Nürnberger Bierhaus, despite having a terrifyingly foreboding name, is a wonderful place. Between 8 of us, we consumed 20 sausages, 9 potato pancakes, 4 Jaegerschnitzels, and 14 pounds of sauerkraut. Four huge piles of sweet purple cabbage also lurked at the corners of the table, largely ignored. We eventually broke so many glasses that they kicked us out. Die Ende.

Spitzer's

I love Spitzer's. We actually had a reservation at Stanton Social Thursday night, but when we showed up, they made us wait. I normally don't mind waiting for a good meal, but the lady kind of stunk and the entire place had high levels of douchebaggery, so we just walked out. That place was dead anyway.

And that's how we arrived at Spitzer's on Rivington. Always solid. We grabbed a delicious beer and within 10 mimnutes were sitting at a table. Mac and Cheese with White Truffle, Sliders, and Roasted Sprouts from Brussels.

Unrememberable Name Restaurant

Friday, November 21st. This place was some sort of Indian Panini place on Bleecker Street near MacDougal. Everything tasted good, but this place was total confusion. I don't think the words that the guy was yelling at me were English, but he was really insistent that I understand them, so he kept yelling them at me louder and louder. Anyway, I DO know that my meal contained chicken, bread, and chick peas. 

FARM - at the Carneros Inn

So now we're in Napa, CA. It's 78 and sunny, and one Ambien ago, it was 35 and threatening to rain in Manhattan. Needless to say, we're happy to be here. The food at FARM is not at all like the food i remember from the time I went to a farm when I was a kid. It is much much better. We had Roasted Beets with a Goat Cheese Panna Cotta, Venison Medallions, Purple Cauliflower Soup. Something delicious after that. There was some wine, I think. And then we went back Sunday for lunch. More good stuff. I was drunk.

Momofuku

This place rules. I have pork belly coming out of my ears.

Two Boots Pizza

There are a million places to get pizza here, and this is one of the few that seems to try to distinguish themselves a little bit. The crust has cornmeal and the sauce is a little spicy. Not huge differences, but noticeable. Anyway, I had two slices, one of which was named after that slob Newman from Seinfeld. A great image to eat to.

Dallas Jones BBQ

Eh, it was alright. The fries were great. The pulled pork was porky and pully. The pickle was electric leprechaun green. The only problem was that it was $12. Gotta pay the rent I guess.

Salt

I know this photo looks like a pile of puke with sea shells on it, but the food was really quite good. Me likey.

Tomoe Sushi

I'm on my way to the extra thumb store so I can give this place four or five thumbs down. Seriously overrated. There are still thirty people in line right now waiting to get fruit flies in their nostrils while they try to eat.

Sugar Sweet Sunshine

I didn't know Zagat reviewed cupcake shops but apparently they do and Sugar Sweet Sunshine on the LES received a 27 for good reason. They're the best. AND they are only $1.50. Suck on that Magnolia.

Crif Dogs NYC

This place is hot dog heaven. My sister-in-law Molly turned me onto it and she's the authority. In Austin, TX where she lives now, she late nights this Airstream trailer-turned-hotdog-stand that serves up delectable gut bombs like chilidogs smothered in cheese and topped with fried eggs. So I knew she wouldn't steer me wrong. Crif Dogs has all the standards plus wonderous creations like the Spicy Redneck and Sourcheese Dog. And they have a secret bar behind the kitchen called PDT (Please Don't Tell).

The Oyster Bar - Grand Central

The Oyster Bar Restaurant in Grand Central Station is like a time warp stuck between floors. The interior looks classic New York early 1900's, but the signage has a 70's rainbow flair that my brain is having a hard time figuring out. Not that I really need to. I loved it.

Lots of fresh oysters that I've never heard of, and a few that I have. We had Kumamotos, Malpeques, and another with an Indian name I can't remember. Served with a red wine vinegar mignonette, cocktail sauce and lemon wedges. We also had Fried Whole Ipswich Clams, Chowder, and a Caviar Sandwich. Chowder was ok. The rest was great.

Jacques Torres

This is a damn good chocolate chip cookie. It gets my sugar-betes angried up.

Ruben's Empanadas

I don't know who Ruben is, but he left his delicious empanadas unattended and we ate them. One beef, one chili-beef, and a spicy chicken.

Hampton Chutney Co.

These look kind of like Indian Burritos, but the dosas are more crepey and bubbly, and not as resilient. Which means they leak and break and get all over your hands. But then you have something that tastes pretty good to lick off of your hands. Which is nice. I had a chicken curry with Cilantro Chutney. Alex had a spicy potato and spinach something or other. Both tasty.

Yatagan

Look at the size of that fucking thing!

Ear Inn

Spring and Greenwich. I didn't eat here, but I would. I smelled mussels while I was waiting for my beer.

Joe's

You're my boy, Joe! It's been a few weeks since I've seen you. I'm sorry, and I promise not to stay away so long again.
-N

Spitzer's

Rivington&Ludlow. Spitzer's is a big old beer bar on the Lower East Side. But they serve tasty food, too. We had some tasty beer and some tasty macaroni and cheese with truffle and some tasty chopped salad that surprisingly, but not disappointingly, had no lettuce in it.

Alidoro

The I-talian sandwiches at Alidoro on Sullivan Street are definitely splitters. We had a Frugoletto—sopressatta, smoked provolone, artichokes and arugula on tremazzino bread. My half didn't leave room for chips.

It should be noted that these people don't fuck around. If it's not on the menu, don't ask for it. Total sandwich nazis. And don't talk on your cell phone, or even look at your cell phone. In fact, pretend you don't even know what a cell phone is when you're in there. Because the guy with the weird glasses will rip your head off and put in in the slicer and make a sandwich out of you. And it will probably be pretty good, and they will charge $10 for it.

Katz's Deli

If you had to pay $14 for a pastrami sandwich, this is a good place to do it. 

Peasant

I love this restaurant. The menu reads like a frickin' petting zoo. Rabbits and goats and lambs... Mmmm, gimme gimme gimme. Alex had the gnocchi with fava beans in creamy rabbit sauce (shown) and I had lasagna with goat meat. They also had nice little hens and fishes and plenty of pigs. And wood-oven baked peach torte with hazelnut ice cream. Ok. I'm gonna go do some push-ups. 

16 Handles

I used to be obsessed with Pinkberry but after a month living in corporate housing across the street from one, it started to get boring and so I've strayed. I've been dabbling in Red Mango, Yogurtland and now today 16 Handles. Pros: its DIY, there are 16 flavors to Pinkberry's 2, and countless more toppings including nostalgic Golden Grahams. Cons: the handles poop the ice cream out at turtle speed which is annoying and I presume on purpose, to prevent user accidents. But whatever.  And the peanut butter yogurt sucks. It doesn't taste like much of anything. Why is good PB fro-yo so hard to come by? My quest continues. -A

Parisi Bakery

Parisi is an institution in NYC and I've been hearing about it since we got here. So today I finally went in for a sandwich. Or a hero actually. To call this thing a "sandwich" would be a gross misrepresentation of scale, for I have held human babies that are smaller than what I ate today. And like a baby, this sandwich even came diapered... in paper towels and butcher paper and yet it was still soaked through with olive oily deliciousness. Other highlights included the superthin shaved turkey and the fresh chewy bread for which they are famous. Mmmmnnnn... babiesss.  -A

Felted Holes

Miniaturefoodtastesgood. I can't remember the name of this place... Slate Plus?? We had a work party here last night and everyone got pretty obliterated. I remember the food was kind of good, as far as I can remember. Mini cheeseburgers, pigs in blankets, stuff like that. But this isn't really about food. I just remember taking a picture and wanted a place for it to live.

La Nacional

Food photography doesn't get much grosser than this. But that's how you know that it's real, right?

Anyway, we went to La Nacional for A-Zupper Club last night. When we arrived, a quick peek through the sidewalk-level window revealed the subterranean dining room to be completely empty—not a good sign. So we almost bailed. But 10 minutes later, no one could think of another restaurant that started with "L", so we just bit the bullet and went in. And we were rewarded. Albondigas, fried artichokes, white asparagus, gambas, chorizo, grilled squid, and two paellas—one seafood, one veggie. And lots of sangria to warsh it down.

Yama

This sushi restaurant on Irving Place and E.17th Street was named
after the Michael McDonald song "Yama Be There".
Ok, that was a lie. But they should think about it. Everyone loves a
backstory.

Ed's Lobster Bar

This place makes me very happy. We split a Lobster Roll with Fries and
a Bibb Salad. Chile Margaritas and cold beer to bring it all around...
Straight A's.

Pinche Tacqueria

We needed some hot burrito action yesterday, and thought this place
might scratch. It sort of but not quite all the way did. Not saying I
wouldn't go back, but also not telling all my friends to go right
away. Sigh. Can someone from San Francisco FedEx me two Al Pastor
tacos from El Tonayense? Please?

Coffee Carts

If you like cheap coffee that tastes like it came from a little metal cart on Varick Street, this is your place. 

San Genarro Festival - Little Italy

I hit the San Genarro Festival on the way home last night. I've been passing it for days, and couldn't hold back any longer. Block after block after block of food - I have no idea how many. I saw sausage, sausage, sausage, pizza, grilled corn, gyros, shish kebabs, sausage, italian sandwiches, sausage, sausage, zepolis, sausage, and lemonade. I had a hot italian sausage with peppers and onions. My stomach hurt afterwards. But I'd do it again.

Ray's Pizza - Prince St.

So supposedly, this is the first Ray's Pizza in Manhattan. Out of curiosity, I did a little Wiki search on it, and the story is pretty funny. Lots of mob shit, and there's even an FBI surveillance photo of the owner. You can read up on it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray's_Pizza

Anyway, the pizza was good. I had a pepperoni rocotta and a cheese slice. The ricotta, while interesting, didn't add much. It felt like empty calories.

Cafe Habana - for breakfast

And we're back, 12 hours later for breakfast. Me rikey.

Cafe Habana

Holy Baby Jesus. Cafe Habana is no secret, but it's right across the street from us, so we'll probably spend a lot of time there. Anyway, this picture is dark and nasty and it looks like it was taken in the apartment of a Goth Vampire from Orlando, but this food is good. Really good. Pollo Diablo with black beans and rice. And grilled corn with cheese. And Mexican Coke.

Lupa

We hit Lupa again. Popped in unannounced and sat at the bar for some wine and pasta. I had Tagliatelle with pork shoulder, which was delicious because it contained pigs. And the lady had the Carbonara which was nice and peppery with a lot of bacon. I think it may have been guanciale, or as i like to call it, "face bacon."

Big Boy - Cincinnati

We shouldn't be eating here. Jesus we're getting fat. I don't want to talk about it.

Skyline, Cincinnati

We landed about 25 minutes ago and we already ate about 14 lbs. of cheese, chili, spaghetti and hot dogs. If you're not from Cincinnati, you probably just puked in your mouth. If you are, you've got a river of drool running down your neck.