New York City!

Drinks at our hotel bar - the W

I've been working on this post for some time now -- there's so much to share about my trip to New York, that it's intimidated me for months. But I've come to the realization that this blog is about food, so rather than share the sightseeing details along withe the food, I'm going to get straight to business!

So why New York? Well, it was to celebrate my sister's 30th birthday. Funny it took this long get there being the foodie that I am. I'm so glad we went, and I'm thirsting to go back for more. New York is a food lover's haven!

My initial thoughts about this trip were that it was going to be about sightseeing - after all, New York is where everything started. But quickly I realized that New York is not just about history; it's about entertainment, culture, and food!!! We of course acted like true tourists by visiting the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Ground Zero, Broadway, etc., but I was sure to do my homework and search out some great restaurants and dives. Here's the rundown of what we ate. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

The GOOD.

Colicchio & Sons

I mean the GOOD. Have you heard of Tom Colicchio? Have you heard of Top Chef? He's the main judge on the Bravo show (the bald guy). He know's his stuff. My very favorite part of the trip was our dining experience at his restaurant - Colicchio & Sons. This was our big night out, and so we enjoyed the Prix Fixe menu for $78. The food, the ambiance, and the service were all worth it.

This was a little taster. I can't remember what they call these - "amuse bouche" or something. But this was a delicious soup.

Here's the ambiance of the main dining room. The cherry blossoms were amazingly beautiful.

First Courses: 

Slow-cooked farm egg, early Spring peas and Parmesean

Greenmarket greens, fine herbs and sherry vinaigrette

Peekytoe crab fondue with spring pea soup and ham

Second Courses:

Carolina soft-shell crab with ramps and pancetta

Butter-poached halibut, spring onion, macadamia nut and fava bean ravioli

Main Courses:

I can't remember this one...

Braised short rib, charred onion angnolotti and celery root

Roasted and braised Berkshire pork, morels fiddlehead ferns and rhubarb

Desserts:

Doughnuts with sorbets

Tangerine and almond bread pudding - out of this world!

Bonus: Madelines

Banana chocolate-chip muffin

The GOOD cont'd

Ayza Chocolate Bar

This little neighborhood restaurant was tiny - if it weren't for the outside seating, there'd probably only be about 10 tables. As you can imagine, this restaurant focuses on chocolate and wine, but they have a few appetizers to go along with the adventure.

Crispy baby shrimp dumplings

White truffle pizza - knocked my socks off!

Jaques Torres chocolate sampling: passion fruit, pistachio, cappuccino, and another I can't recall. A bit overrated in our opinion.

My pick: Italian Bomba Tartufo

Chocolate ice cream, chocolate shell, raspberries, etc. Num!

Warm chocolate molten cake. You can't go wrong with this. Ever.

The BAD/OK

Almond pastry from a shop off of broadway - it was definitely a marzipan based dessert and not breakfast!

Cheese pizza from a place called Ray's - but we're still not sure if it was the famous Ray's that we read about

An everything bagel from a side street shop off Broadway. Eh. Not so good. Makes me wonder what the rating was on the door.

Lindy's famous cheesecake (we were dumb tourists - good cheesecake, but not the best, and way overpriced)

Red Velvet Cake - also from Lindy's

Chocolate Cannoli from a side street market

The UGLY

Have you seen the show Restaurant Nightmares with Gordon Ramsey? This place should have been on it. The fact that the restaurant was nearly empty should have given it away, but they also had terrible service (we got an attitude from the server when we all just had water), and the food was bland. We were so happy that we didn't get sick. The side of meatballs we ordered almost made us vomit.

Gnocchi - was this on special because it was the oldest?

Penne a la vodka - was the better of the two dishes, but still nothing to write home about. Olive Garden's rendition would have been night and day compared to this.