Levain Bakery

There are many places in NYC that are on the "best of" lists and have a lot of hype surrounding them, and too often they don't live up to high expectations.  Levain, however, is one of the places that will without a doubt not meet, but exceed even the highest expectations.

The bakery is nestled on the Upper West Side in a busy area that consists of Jacques Torres, Alice's Tea Cup, and Magnolia Bakery, to name a few, so there are many options to choose from.  But, anybody in their right mind would rush past all the other options without even looking back and head straight for Levain.  They sell a lot of freshly baked bread items, but are most known for their monstrous cookies.  The owners created these cookies when they were training for the Ironman and needed a calorie/energy bomb to counteract the grueling workouts, and they hit the jackpot with these cookies.

When you first see them in the display case, you are in disbelief at the size of the cookie.  They look like huge scones, but way better.  You have four options to choose from: Chocolate Chip Walnut, Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip and Oatmeal Raisin.  Each one of the cookies is about a pound in weight (I have read that they are 6oz, but they feel like a pound to me) so they are not for the faint of heart.  I have tried all flavors besides the Oatmeal Raisin, because even though I hear that the oatmeal raisin is amazing, I can't imagine making the trip there and not getting something with chocolate.  My favorite flavor, and the one I always order, is the Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, which is a chocolate lovers dream.  No matter what time of day you get there, the cookie is always served to you warm and fresh with the chips oozing.

After craving these cookies for weeks and dreaming about them, I finally made my trip to the bakery today and ordered the Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip.  Once it was handed to me, I split the cookie opened and was immediately overcome with the strong scent of chocolatey, buttery goodness.  Then, I looked down at the cookie and saw the oozing chocolate chips and the almost raw (in a good way) cookie center.

I took my first bite, and was in heaven.  The outside of the cookie has a nice crisp shell which works well with the soft gooey center and the melted chips.  I don't know how they get the chips to stay melted for so long, but it is just part of the magic of these cookies that can not be replicated anywhere else (in fact, I got my cookie about 5 hours ago and some of the chips are STILL melted).  You get a mouthful of chips in every bite, and the dark chocolate flavor is outstanding.  It is hard to put into words how amazing this cookie is (though I am clearly trying), but all I can say is that it is life changing.  While some could argue that it is more like a cross between a brownie and a cookie, I would take this over any other cookie any day.  While I had to limit myself to only eating half because I can't really rationalize eating an 8oz cookie, no matter how hard I worked out this morning, it was worth every last bite and calorie. 

 This isn't my first visit here, so I have gotten the chance to try their other flavors as well.  The chocolate chip walnut is also amazing and is more of the traditional chocolate chip cookie.  Even though they do get some grief occasionally for having walnuts instead of a traditional chocolate chip cookie, trust me you barely even taste them and it is SO worth it.  The dark chocolate peanut butter chip is also out of this world, and is a must for any peanut butter lover.  That being said, I will always stay true to my dark chocolate chip cookie and have to order that one every time I go.  

Lucky for me (health wise) I have to go out of my way to go to Levain, so I don't frequent here too often, which makes my occasional visits that much more special.  But, if you are in NYC visiting (even if just for a day) you MUST make the trip to Levain, even if it is out of your way.  Trust me, it will be worth it.  And, they also ship their cookies so you can get them no matter where you live!  Even though they won't be warm or oozing when they get to you, they will still be just as delicious.   

Mayhem & Stout

I am always in search of a new sandwich place because I love eating sandwiches for lunch but I tend to get bored of the same few options.  Pretty frequently I type into google "best sandwiches in NY," but am generally disappointed with what I find because a lot of them have ingredients that I don't eat.  So, when I discovered two weeks ago that a new sandwich place, Mayhem & Stout, was opening near my apartment, I was immediately intrigued.

The name sounded familiar from Madison Square Eats in May, and I remembered trying one of their sandwiches and loving it.  I had forgotten about them though because they didn't have a brick and mortar shop so there was really no way for me to have their sandwich again except for at a few festivals.  To find out that they were finally opening up a shop was exciting enough on its own, but to see that it was only 10 minutes from my apartment made me ecstatic.

Since it had just opened, I figured I had to try it out and make sure that it was as good as I had remembered.  In preparation, I looked at the menu online and starting thinking of the amazing combinations of sandwiches that I could make.  The menu is great because all the sandwiches are custom made to order, so you can really have fun choosing unique combinations.  For the meats, you choose between short rib & brisket, braised pork shoulder, braised lamb shoulder, braised pulled chicken, and braised vegetarian "meat" balls.  Next, you choose from a long list of unique sauces including dragon (which is asian bbq), blueberry sriracha, chipotle mango and black cherry mustard, to name just a few.  Then, you choose the toppings and the options are spicy slaw, pickled onion, pickled celery, potato chips, onion confit, tzatziki, roasted kale, pickled vegetables, and fresh scallions & chive. You also have the option of a half or full sandwich, which gives you even more creativity because you can create two entirely different half sandwiches rather than getting a whole one with the same combination.  After imagining all of the potential combinations, I ultimately decided to get the braised pulled chicken with black cherry mustard, roasted kale and onion confit (half).

This sandwich combination was so interesting and unique, and you really can't find it anywhere besides Mayhem & Stout.  Even though it sounds like an odd combination at first, all of the elements worked really well together and created a delicious and satisfying sandwich.  I have heard of places offering raspberry mustard, but I have never heard of black cherry mustard, and it was so delicious!  The sweetness and tartness of the cherry worked really well with the mustard and neither flavor was too overpowering.  My sister also got a half sandwich, and she opted for the pulled chicken with dragon sauce and fresh scallions & chive.  She loved hers as well, but found the dragon sauce to be a bit too spicy.

Mayhem & Stout is exactly what I have been looking for in a lunch spot.  They offer really unique, delicious, and fresh ingredients and allow you to create whatever combination you want, which gives you endless opportunities.  Since it is made to order, you know that what you are getting is fresh and it hasn't been sitting around for hours like at other sandwich places.  They take something as simple as a sandwich and elevate it to something more gourmet and artisan, which I really appreciate.  You can also come here everyday and never get the same exact combination that you had the previous day, which is great.  I will definitely be back here to try out some more unique flavor combinations!

Calexico

To continue my lunch adventures around the city, I decided to pay a visit to the Calexico Cart right near Madison Square Park.  I never used to be a huge fan of Mexican food, but lately I have been on a Mexican food kick, so after reading the countless rave reviews online I figured I had to pay Calexico a visit.

They have a few locations around the city and it is a mix between storefronts and carts.  Unfortunately the carts are stationary and are always in the same spots, unlike food trucks that change location daily.  Because of that, you don't really get the opportunity to try it unless you happen to live/work nearby.  Lucky for me, I had a pretty free day today so I was able to make the short trek over to the cart.  I went on the early side because I knew that it can get pretty crowded, and even at 11:50am there were a few people ahead of me in line.

The menu has a really great range of options including burritos, tacos, bowls, quesadillas, and sides like chips and guacamole.  I was having a hard time choosing what to get because I love tacos and burritos, and I always want to order a quesadilla but generally never do.  Since I knew that I was going to be going to a great mexican restaurant this weekend where I always get the tacos, I decided to spring for the Pollo Asado Quesadilla.  The quesadilla comes with cheddar and jack cheese on a flour tortilla and is grilled on the flat top.  It also comes with a side of, what they call, chipotle "crack" sauce.

After taking my first bite, I was so glad that I decided to order the quesadilla.  They are very generous with the amount of chicken in the quesadilla, and it is full of flavor.  The cheese was really melty and oozing from the quesadilla, but it wasn't overpowering the great chicken.  I'm not really sure how to describe the chipotle crack sauce, or what it really is for that matter, I just know that it was delicious.  It added a nice spice to the quesadilla which elevated the flavor of it, and was also really creamy.  I didn't use too much of it because I don't like a lot of spice, but you should definitely give the sauce a try.  

Since I am conscious of the fact that quesadillas are on the unhealthy spectrum of lunch options, I only allowed myself to eat half.  Half was pretty filling, but I could have easily downed the entire thing, because it was that good.  As I write this, the other half is sitting in my fridge and it is really a test of my self control to not open the fridge and eat it.  

Even though Calexico is not a full fledged "food truck," in the sense that it doesn't move around the city, I still put it in the category of the best food trucks in NYC.  The quesadillas are delicious, and the other options looked great as well.  I saw other people eating the tacos and burritos, and I will definitely be back to try the burrito.  I think they have a shop in Brooklyn and on the Lower East Side, in addition to a cart in SOHO and Flatiron, so if you are near any of them (or even if you are not!) you should give them a try for lunch.  

Num Pang Sandwich Shop

My lunches tend to be pretty boring and generic, since I usually have a basic turkey sandwich or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  For some reason it is always hard for me to make a decision about lunch and I am never particularly in the mood for anything, so it is easier to just eat the same thing everyday.  But, lately I have become bored with eating the same thing for lunch, probably because I have been expanding my horizons with dinner and my palate has become a bit more sophisticated.  Now that I have a lot of time on my hands because work ended and school doesn't start for a few weeks, I figured I would start experimenting with lunch places and food trucks in the city.

For me, a great sandwich is the most satisfying lunch option, so I did some research online for the best sandwiches in NYC.  One of the first ones that came up was Num Pang Sandwich Shop, which has a few locations in the city.  They serve gourmet, made to order cambodian style sandwiches which is definitely not your typical sandwich style.  All of the sandwiches are served on their fresh made baguettes with chili mayo, cucumber, pickled carrots and cilantro.  They have a few seasonal specialties that rotate in and out, but they have a few staples that remain on the menu, including pulled pork, peppercorn catfish, five spiced glazed pork belly, roasted chicken chimi and coconut tiger shrimp.  Because they are so passionate about the product that they make and are confident in the flavors, you cannot make any modifications to the sandwich.  As I said earlier, I tend to be pretty boring with my lunches and would usually choose the chicken option, but I decided to be a bit more exotic and opted for the Duroc Pulled Pork.

Since I am a bread lover, I was super excited when I opened the container and saw the warm crispy baguette that the sandwich was on.  Even for me, however, the size of the bread was a little too big for the amount of other ingredients that they put on the sandwich.  Since it is served warm, I rushed to find a place to sit (there is no seating) so that I could eat it before it got cold.  

After taking my first bite, I knew what all the hype was about.  There was a great combination of flavors with the duroc pulled pork, chipotle mayo, and the crunchy vegetables, and the bread completed it.  I usually don't like anything too spicy, or mayo for that matter, but the chipotle mayo was definitely necessary for the sandwich to add another dimension of flavor.  The pork itself was really tender and flavorful, and just what I had been craving.  As someone who doesn't eat spice a lot, I found it to be pretty spicy, but they have sides of sriracha sauce that they provide with the sandwiches so I guess a lot of people prefer more spice!  The other sandwich here that seemed to be the most popular was the pork belly, but I would recommend the pulled pork.  I gobbled up every last bite of the meat of the sandwich, and just had a lot of bread left over.

The location that I went to was in midtown, so naturally it gets super crowded around lunch time since there are tons of offices located close by.  Knowing that, I got there around 11:45 and my order was taken instantaneously and my sandwich was ready about a minute later.  If you come during peak hours, be prepared to wait a bit and take the sandwich to go, since there is barely any seating provided.  

Overall, my first experiment with a new and "exotic" lunch place was successful, and I will definitely be returning to Num Pang for their pulled pork sandwich!

David Burke Kitchen

Sadly, last night's dinner brought restaurant week to a close for me and my sister.   Our last dining location was at David Burke Kitchen, which we had been to for brunch in the past but never for dinner.  We looked at the menu online and were excited about some of the offerings, and were just hopeful that we would have a better experience at this David Burke restaurant than we did at Townhouse.

We had a reservation for 6:30 and it was already packed when we got there!  We got seated right away since we did have a reservation, but our designated table left a little to be desired.  Since they try to use every inch of space that they can for a table, some of them are very close to one another.  There was probably about 3-4 inches of space separating our table from the table next to us, but luckily they were rather quiet so it wasn't too much of a bother.

This was another restaurant that offered their entire menu for restaurant week, which shows that they really capture the spirit of the event (again, there were a select few options that required a small supplement, but not many).  For the appetizer, I chose to keep it simple and ordered their simple salad.   The other option that I considered was the  burrata, watermelon, and asparagus salad, which I ultimately did not order because it comes with proscuitto, which I don't care for.  My sister ordered the lobster dumpling soup instead of her usual pretzel crusted crab cake (which is a staple at the David Burke restaurants) because the crab cake requires a small supplement and she wanted to try something new.

There isn't really too much that I can say about the salad except that you get exactly what it says-- a simple salad.  It comes with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, fennel, and supposedly onion (but I unfortunately did not taste any), and it is served in a mustard vinaigrette.  Even though it was a very basic salad, I did like it.  The dressing was really nice, and it was a light way to start the meal.  But, it was a bit large and after a while it just got kind of boring.  Also, there was a bit too much dressing for my taste, but overall it was a good salad.  My sister said her lobster dumpling soup was really nice and was exactly what she was craving.  When it came to the table, it was just a bowl with 2 lobster dumplings so we were a little confused.  Then, we saw that there was a pot of hot broth over a flame and the waitress brought that to the table and poured it over the dumplings.  It was a very light, seafood based broth, which she really enjoyed.  Overall, she said this dish was a winner.

The main course here is really what I was looking forward to the most.  When we did our preliminary look through of the menu online, I was intrigued by the short rib.  I have never ordered short rib in a restaurant before, but something about it peaked my interest.  My sister was in agreement, and we both decided to order the short rib as our main course.  It came glazed in a peach bbq sauce with 2 cooked peaches on top in addition to some chopped veggies, and served over aged cheddar mac and cheese, peas, and some crispy onions on the outside border.

My first test of the short rib was to put my fork into it and see if i could rip off a piece without a knife, to see if it was tender like it should be.  It passed the test by a landslide, and I was very excited to try my first bite.  The meat was extremely tender and flavorful, and the bbq sauce put it over the top.  The mac and cheese on the bottom also did not disappoint.  I mixed it with the crispy onions so that it had a nice crunch to it in addition to the peas.  I really liked that the portion of mac and cheese with this dish was on the smaller side so you didn't end up eating too much of it, as opposed to at David Burke Townhouse where it covered half of the plate.  Every aspect of the dish was perfect, and all the components worked really well together.  My sister loved the short rib as well, and almost cleared the plate!  I should also mention that I was taking note of the various dishes that passed by me and went to other tables, and the short rib was the most popular dish by far.  If every short rib is like theirs was, I will definitely order it more often in restaurants!

The last course, which usually is my favorite, was the dessert.  I opted for the caramel chocolate tart, and my sister got the passion fruit meringue pie.  

When ordering it, I forgot to ask for them to omit the raspberry sherbet because there is nothing that I hate more than mixing raspberry with my chocolate dessert.  Luckily, it hadn't melted yet when it came to the table so I was able to easily push it off the plate without tainting the tart.  The pie shell itself was a bit thick for my liking, and I would've preferred that it had been a little easier to cut into.  The first bite wasn't the best because it mainly consisted of the shell, but once I got towards the middle it got a lot better.  The chocolate was super rich and decadent, and the caramel layer underneath the chocolate paired really nicely with it.  I honestly would've been happy if there was no shell at all because I mostly ended up just scooping out the chocolate and caramel.  The tart was also rather large, so I had to control myself and not finish it.  My sister wasn't too happy with the passion fruit meringue pie, but it was mainly because it didn't satisfy what she was craving.  It wasn't bad, it just wasn't worth the calories to her.  

Not only was the food here much better than at Townhouse, but the service was far superior.  I would even say that it was a bit too quick.  Our appetizers came out within 5 minutes of ordering, and each course thereafter came out within 5-10 mins of our plates being cleared.  We are generally quick eaters and enjoy being in and out of a restaurant within an hour, but most people would probably think it was too quick.  It was very crowded so I'm sure they were trying to turn tables over quickly, especially since people flock here to take advantage of the restaurant week menu.  If they could find a balance between the slow and inconsistent service at Townhouse and the almost too quick service at Kitchen, it would be perfect. 

If you are looking to go to one of David Burke's restaurants, I would definitely recommend coming here over Townhouse even though the location is a little more inconvenient.  The food and service were far superior to our last David Burke restaurant experience, and the short rib stood out in my mind as the star of the evening. 

Lavo

Tonight was one of the rare occasions where me, my sister, and mom were able to get together with my aunt and grandparents to have dinner all together.  It had been a while and we were celebrating my aunt's birthday, so I had to make sure that I picked a good place.  We usually tend to stick to the same few restaurants and I wanted to get everyone to try a new place, so I did my due diligence and researched a bunch of restaurants.  Everyone has their own different specifications that they need in a restaurant, so I tried to do my best to make sure that I picked a place with great food in a convenient location.  Ultimately, I decided upon Lavo which is an Italian Restaurant in Midtown East that also has a famous nightclub below it.

I made a reservation for 6 people with no problem, but I had to give a credit card number I guess because they tend to get busy and want to make sure you will actually show up.  I had only been here once for lunch during restaurant week last year, but I figured it was a good choice because they have a huge menu and are in a convenient location.

When you first walk into the restaurant, it is definitely a bit overwhelming.  The bar is right near the entrance and when we got there at 6:30 is was already packed with people in business suits.  Not only that, but the music was blasting and I was starting to sweat worrying that I may have made a huge mistake with the restaurant choice.  However, the main dining room is a bit further than the bar and the music is much more faint, so don't let the bar area in the front overwhelm and frighten you.  The restaurant itself is pretty big and had the decor of a classic old italian steakhouse.  Since it tends to get crowded, the tables were all pretty close to one another so prepare to have your chair bumped into a few times throughout the night.

As I said earlier, the menu is huge and they have tons of great options to choose from.  For the appetizers, they have a great range from italian classics like caesar salad, minestrone soup, and tomato mozzarella, to more interesting options like tuna tartare, kobe rice balls, and a meatball appetizer.  The main courses also have a great variety as well.  They had a bunch of different pastas, pizzas, chicken dishes, fish, and steak, in addition to a lot of options for side dishes.  It is perfect for a large group because there is definitely something here for everyone.  For the appetizer, I opted for the caesar salad and the other dishes ordered at the table were the beet salad, tomato mozzarella, and vegetable minestrone soup.  After you order, they bring complimentary garlic bread with marinara dipping sauce to the table which was delicious and the perfect way to start the meal.

Even though we did all order our own appetizers, the salads can definitely be shared.  The caesar salad was really delicious and one of my favorites that I have had.  There was just enough dressing on it without being too heavy, and there was fresh shaved parmesan cheese on top which I loved.  I couldn't finish it because it was so big, but it was a great start to the meal.  I also tried the beet salad, which I thought was delicious because I love beets, and the vegetable minestrone soup which tasted very light, fresh, and flavorful.  

For the main course, I had a really hard time deciding because there were so many great options on the menu.  I narrowed it down to the penne alla vodka and spaghetti and kobe meatballs, but since they are known for their kobe meatballs my sister and I decided to share that as a main course since we figured the portion would be big enough.  

When the dish came to the table, we were very happy that we decided to share because the portion was once again very generous!  Neither of us really like ricotta cheese, so we pushed that off to the side and then were ready to eat.  The kobe meatballs were super juicy and tender and had a great flavor to them. The spaghetti itself was served in a tomato/bolognese style sauce and it was delicious.  We split the dish and still had some left over because it was so filling!  It did not go to waste, however, as we passed it on to our grandpa who gladly finished it for us.  The other dish that got rave reviews at the table was the tuna main course that my grandma ordered.  Again, I do not eat fish so I did not personally try it but she loved the dish overall.  

Of course, a meal is never complete in our family until you see the dessert menus, and their menu definitely stood out to me.  Usually it is a pretty easy choice for me because I pick the one chocolate dessert, but they had 3 different chocolate desserts in addition to oreo zeppoles!  My sister and I were once again sharing, so we narrowed it down to the dark chocolate bread pudding and the oreo zeppole. The bread pudding said it came with butter croissants, dulce de leche, chocolate sauce, and a few other components which made it seem delicious yet also overwhelming.  Since we were pretty stuffed already and at a table with 4 other people, we decided to order the oreo zeppole because it came with 6 oreos which made it easy to share and also easy to control the consumption quantity.  

The dessert was so rich and awesome.  It was basically like a donut with an oreo on the inside, and you can't really get much better than that.  On the side, there is a little vanilla malt shake which pairs really nicely with the oreo and is reminiscent of cookies and milk.  You can't find any dessert like this at any other nice restaurant in the city, so that made it much more special and unique.  This is a great dessert to order when you are with a few people because it is a very satisfying and you can easily share it and control your portion size.  While we were eating, I also saw there 20 layer chocolate cake go by (no, that was not a typo, it is 20 layers!) and that looked sinful.  

Overall, the food here was delicious across the board and we barely had any plates left with food on them by the end of the meal.  Yes, it is on the expensive side but the portions are very generous which makes it easy to share with others, and the quality of the food is worth the money.  Each course did not disappoint, and every one of the six of us was satisfied with what we ordered.  Even though the restaurant got packed and every table was full by around 7, the service was great and moved at a nice pace.  Lavo is mainly known for the notorious crowd that it attracts and for the nightclub, but it is also a fantastic restaurant.  While it gets very loud and you may have to strain your voice a bit just to have a conversation with the people at your table, it is a great italian steakhouse.  The evening was filled with great service, delicious food, and lots of laughs and great memories with my family!  You can't get much better than that!

Hummingbird Muffins

After taking a week off of muffin Tuesday, the tradition lived on this week and the chosen muffin was Hummingbird muffins!  I love making these because they have so many different flavors and are very different than the other varieties that I make.  The recipe is adapted from an annies-eats post for Hummingbird Coffee Cake (http://www.annies-eats.com/2012/05/10/hummingbird-coffee-cake/), and I only made a few changes.  I chose to adapt it from a coffee cake into muffins so that I could control how much I actually made since I have no use for an entire coffee cake in my apartment!

Since the original recipe said it makes 16 servings, I quartered it and made 4 muffins.  The only other changes that I made were to use unsweetened applesauce instead of butter to make it a bit healthier, non-fat greek yogurt instead of low fat, and I omitted the glaze and opted to put the chopped pecans in the muffins instead.  Since it is in muffin form and not a cake, the timing in the oven was more experimental because I knew it would not need the 50 minutes that the cake needed, and it ended up taking about 20 minutes.

This is really one of my favorite muffins that I make.  I love the combination of banana, shredded coconut, chopped pecans, fresh pineapple and cinnamon, and even though it may seem like a lot of ingredients, the flavors work great together.  The muffin actually has a sort of buttery taste to it, which is amazing because there is absolutely no butter in them.  This variety is a lot more unique than the classic banana, blueberry or chocolate chip, and it is even more delicious!  When making these, you can choose to follow the original recipe a bit closer and include butter and the glaze, but I honestly don't think that you need to because they are great this way and a lot healthier!

Riverpark

Tonight was our third restaurant week outing, and our chosen destination was Riverpark.  My sister and I went there during winter restaurant week and really enjoyed it, so I was excited to return.  The location is a little isolated, but luckily it is within walking distance of my apartment so it was easy to get there.  It is located right on the east river and they have some outdoor seating, which was great because the weather tonight was beautiful and breezy.  The ambiance inside was also really nice, but it is hard to pass up a table outside when the weather is as nice as it was tonight.

Just like David Burke and Telepan, they offered their whole menu for restaurant week and had just a few select dishes that required supplements.  There was a great selection of appetizers to choose from, and they had a few pasta dishes that you could choose to be either an appetizer or a main course.  I usually tend to order a regular salad as my appetizer, but I decided to be a little more adventurous and I opted for one of the pasta dishes.  There were a few that looked good, but I got the Bigoli pasta which came in a light tomato sauce with heirloom tomatoes, lemon verbena, and a light sprinkling of breadcrumbs on top.  My sister got the avocado and hamachi salad which came highly recommended by the waiter, and my mom got the baby lettuces & greens salad.

The bigoli pasta was really fresh and delicious!  The pasta itself was pretty thick and al dente, but I liked that it had a nice bite to it.  The sauce was really light and had a nice tomato flavor, but the cooked heirloom tomatoes were the best part.  They were really juicy and tasted local and fresh.  The lemon verbena also added a nice touch to the dish because it had an interesting and distinct flavor that paired well with the pasta and the sauce.  My sister really liked the avocado and himachi salad, and my mom thought that the salad was ok but nothing special so she didn't really eat much of it.

For the main course, I went with my usual dish of choice, the grilled chicken.  For people with a more adventurous palate, they offered a really diverse range of dishes including rabbit, scallops, trout, lamb, steak, and pork chop to name a few.  My sister ordered the scallops, again based on the recommendation from the waiter, and my mom got the pork chop which the waiter said was their signature dish.  

The grilled chicken was cooked perfectly, and was moist and delicious.  It came with some roasted tomatoes, which again were one of the highlights of the dish, in addition to freekeh and a delicious sauce.  Even though I loved the dish, I actually liked my mom's pork chop even better (which is weird because I NEVER order pork chop).  It came with collard greens, grilled peaches, sauteed onions, and was topped with the best part of the entire meal--candied barbecue pork belly, which tasted like deliciously sweet pulled pork.  I had never had a pork chop before, but I tried a bite and it tasted like a spare rib and was actually really good.  The sauce that it came in was also delicious and paired nicely with the pork.  The collard greens were way too spicy for my taste, but the grilled peaches were a really nice touch.  But, like I said before, the best part of the meal was the candied pork belly on top.  At first we weren't sure what it was, but after I took the bite I just knew that it tasted like the best pulled pork I had ever had.  When the waiter told us that it was candied, it sounded even better.  Since this is their signature dish, I am hopeful that it will still be on the menu for the next time that I come back and I will definitely order it.  But, to be honest, my sister and I both agreed that we would be happy to just order a bowl of the candied barbecued pork belly (which they don't offer) and be perfectly happy.  My sister also really enjoyed her scallops dish, and even though it was a slight supplement to the restaurant week menu she said it was worth it.  

When the dessert menus came, we were a little disappointed because they had an upside down banana cake listed on their online menu that is not actually offered in the restaurant.  Since this was what we had planned on getting, we were a little sad but we each easily found something else to order.  My sister opted for the cheesecake which came with cherry ice cream, brandied cherries, and crushed graham cracker, my mom got the raspberry and white peach-hibiscus sorbet, and I got the chocolate mousse which had a liquid chocolate center and came with chai ice cream (but I asked for them to leave it out because I really don't understand the pairing of chocolate desserts with tea flavored ice cream) and chocolate whipped cream.

Even though I am a chocolate lover, chocolate mousse is not generally my dessert of choice.  I usually only order it if it is a chocolate mousse cake, otherwise I always opt for a different cake option since I much prefer cake to mousse.  But, since the chocolate mousse was the only chocolate dessert on the menu, and it said it had a liquid chocolate center, I decided to order it.  I was pleasantly surprised by the dessert, and really enjoyed it.  The mousse was very light and fluffy, but it still had a strong bittersweet chocolate flavor.  The liquid chocolate center made it stand out since I have never seen that before with a chocolate mousse.  Overall, it was a good dessert but it was not my favorite that I have had.  I was satisfied with it, but I was able to only eat half and did not feel tempted to finish it(normally if I love a dessert I finish every last bite).  My sister loved the cheesecake (she cleared the plate) and the sorbets were also great and refreshing.  

This dining experience at Riverpark was great, and even better than the first time we had been there.  It was nice to be able to sit outside on the beautiful summer night and enjoy the breeze coming from the east river.  The food was delicious, the service was pretty good overall (not amazing, but not bad either), and the company was the best.  The two standout dishes in my mind were the bigoli pasta and the pork chop (mainly because of the candied pork and the grilled peaches) so I highly recommend both of those.  Even though the location is a bit off the beaten path, it is nice to temporarily escape from the bustling streets of NYC and have a great meal on the water.  

Gianfranco's Pizza

This is going to be a pretty short post because I have only gotten food from Gianfranco's once, but it is definitely worth discussing.  We moved out to Westchester a few years ago, but I live in the city now so the time I spend out at my house is rather scarce.  When I do go out there, I usually either eat at my house or we go out to our usual few restaurants.  But, this past weekend was different because I got to spend a few days at my house and had just had a minor surgery, so instead of being extra careful with what I ate I gave in to temptation.

I speak to my mom multiple times a day, and usually at least once a week I catch her while she is picking up food from Gianfranco's, a pizza place in Bedford Hills.  I had never been, but she goes a lot to pick up some of their pastas and main dishes to keep in the fridge, since it always tends to be a crowd pleaser in the house.  While I was out at the house this week, I decided that I would pick up lunch from there one day and finally get to eat their famous wrap, the Boss Wrap.

This wrap creation seems so genius, that you would think every pizza place offers if.  But no, I have never heard of such a wonderful creation until Gianfranco's.  Inside the wrap is just three ingredients: penne alla vodka, mozzarella cheese, and chicken cutlet.  You really can't go wrong with that combination, and it is even more delicious than it sounds.  It is a pretty hefty wrap so I ate half for lunch and then re-heated the other half for dinner, but it was well worth it.  The penne alla vodka was amazing, the chicken cutlet was great, and the cheese was nice and melty.  While it may seem odd at first to have pasta in a wrap, put your skepticism aside and try the Boss Wrap-- you won't be disappointed!

Telepan

Tonight was part two of our restaurant week escapades, and our stop was Telepan, a farm to table inspired restaurant on the Upper West Side.  We always try to go to at least one new place, and my sister chose this as our new place since she had read great things about it.  For some reason I thought it was an italian restaurant at first, but it is American inspired and focused on fresh ingredients.

They really embraced the whole spirit of restaurant week here, and offered pretty much all of their menu options.  For the three courses, you have the option of choosing three savory courses or two savory courses and a dessert, but everyone at the table has to agree on which option to choose.  So, if you are going with a bigger party it may be a bit difficult for everyone to agree, but since it was just my sister we easily settled on the dessert option.  For the appetizer, I chose the seasonal salad and my sister chose the smoked trout appetizer, which was a $3 supplement but it is one of their most popular dishes.

The salad was really light and fresh, and had a very interesting combination of flavors.  It looks like a simple salad upon first glance, but there was a very unique blend of lettuces, spices, and vegetables with a light coating of lemon dressing.  I definitely tasted some licorice which I was not expecting, and there was some corn and radishes as well.  There were a few more things that I was unable to identify, but it was all delicious.  My sister really enjoyed her smoked trout appetizer, and said that it got even better after a few bites.  I should also mention that before the appetizers came, the waiter came over with a large bread basket and you were able to choose from 4 different types of bread.  I chose one that had a lot of seeds on it, and it was good but I only ate half to save room.  The waiter also brought an amuse bouche to the table, which was four little cheese puffs.  This was a nice little touch, and was a really great way to start the meal.

For the main course, I got the roast chicken (which is my standard dish of choice in most restaurants), and it came with some egg pasta and roasted mushrooms.  My sister had a harder time choosing what to order because there were a few things she wanted, but she ultimately settled on the burrata mezzaluna with veal meatballs.

The chicken was really delicious, and was cooked perfectly.  It was served over a nice sauce with egg pasta, mushrooms, some spinach, and something that was crunchy (but I couldn't figure out what it was).  The portion size was perfect and all of the components of the dish worked great together.  The burrata mezzaluna was also great.  The mezzaluna were pretty thin so they weren't overly stuffed, but the cheese on the inside was still super creamy and came oozing out when you cut into it.  I didn't try any of the meatballs because I don't eat veal, but my sister said they were really good (which is evidenced in the fact that the plate was cleared). 

Both of my courses felt light and fresh, so I was definitely ready for the dessert course!  For me, the choice was a no brainer and I ordered the S'more.  I used to go to sleepaway camp over the summer, so having s'mores was always a summer staple for me.  When I saw it on the menu, I got really excited because it felt like a much more decadent way to enjoy the classic treat.  

The presentation of this was spot on, and the taste definitely lived up to the hype.  This dish had every component of a s'more that makes it so good, but it was elevated to an even higher level.  The bottom was a dark chocolate brownie, then a layer of fluffy marshmallow with crushed graham cracker around the border, then graham cracker chocolate chip ice cream, and finally a dark chocolate square to top if off.  The plate was also surrounded with dollops of toasted marshmallow and dark chocolate ganache, which not only made it look prettier but it made it taste better.  Every aspect of the dessert was perfect, and it was just what I had been craving.  The brownie was really chocolatey and rich, the marshmallow was super sweet and fluffy, and the ice cream actually tasted like graham crackers!  I finished this whole thing up, and did not look back for a second!  My sister got the cheesecake sundae as her dessert, and while it was good it did not live up to her expectations.  It was basically a parfait of cheesecake ice cream and blueberry sorbet with crushed graham crackers on the bottom, which she said was fine except for the fact that she was expecting actual cheesecake and felt a little duped. 

As opposed to our last restaurant week experience, we left feeling satisfied with the food and the service.  The servers at Telepan were much more friendly and attentive, and all of our courses came out pretty quickly.  Even though it was really crowded, they did not seem overwhelmed by it and I still felt like they paid personal attention to each table.  When they brought the check, they also gave us two little coconut macaroons.  I waited to eat mine since I was stuffed, but this really reinforced their attention to detail and focus on good service.  This was a great restaurant week experience, and even though I am usually weary of trying new places, this one passed the test!

TBar Steak & Lounge

Tonight, my sister and I got the nice treat of going out to dinner with our Grandparents.  There are one or two restaurants that are on our usual list of places that we go to, but my sister decided to suggest TBar to change things up a bit for tonight.  TBar is a great American restaurant/lounge on the Upper East Side that we used to go to a lot, but I hadn't been there in a while.

Since I have last gone, the menu has changed a bit but the main staples have remained the same.  I used to always get the caesar salad which was great, but that has since been removed from the menu.  Instead, they added a bunch of new salads that sound really interesting, like the Kale & Apple Salad and the Watermelon & Feta Salad.  These all sounded great, but to start I decided on the Vegetable Summer Rolls, which come with some carrots, mushrooms, lettuce and soba noodles inside a very thin rice paper wrap with some hoisin sauce on the side.

These rolls were really delicious and light, so it was a great way to start the meal.  The wrapper is very thin so it does not overwhelm the taste of the vegetables and noodles on the inside, and the hoisin sauce added nice flavor.  My grandma got these to start too and she really liked them as well.  My grandpa got the tomato and burrata salad which looked delicious, and my sister got the half dozen oysters which she really enjoyed.  

The options for the main course range from chicken, steak, and pasta, to fish, burgers, and pizza, so there really is something for everyone. Even with the diverse menu offerings, I always get the same thing here:  The Natural Amish Turkey Burger.  It is a turkey burger that is filled with spinach and cheese (in the center!) and is topped with caramelized onions, and it never disappoints.  On the side you can either get a salad or fries, but to me it seems like a waste to get a salad.  If you are going for it and get the burger, you might as well complete the meal and get the fries.

First off, I love the presentation of the dish.  The fries come in a cool take-out container, and the burger is stacked nice and tall.  I always cut the burger in half because I like to see what the center looks like, and it is too big for me to eat the whole thing.  Inside, there is a very generous amount of spinach and some cheese to add some creaminess to it.  The whole combination of the turkey with the spinach, cheese, caramelized onion, and ketchup is spot on and makes it such a treat.  The fries are also really great and have the perfect balance of saltiness and crispiness.  We also got a side of roasted carrots for the table, and while it may seem like carrots are just a distraction, they were roasted perfectly and had tons of flavor.

After the main course we were all really full, but made the mistake of looking at the dessert menu and obviously had to order something.  Their parfaits and sundaes are what they are most known for here, and I have previously tried each one of their offerings.  They have the strawberry sundae, which is layers of strawberries, meringue, cream, and shortcake in a huge bowl, the chocolate sundae, which is layers of brownie, chocolate sauce, and ice cream in a huge bowl, and the banana parfait, which is layers of waffle cone, vanilla ice cream, caramel, coconut, and caramelized bananas.  They all are huge servings, and can easily be shared with at least three other people.  While I am a true chocolate lover at heart and love brownie sundaes, the banana sundae was the one we settled on for tonight.  They actually offered a smaller version, which we got for the table instead of the larger one which they say serves 2-3 people, but in reality the smaller one serves 2-3 and the large one can serve probably 4 or 5.

This dessert was so sweet and delicious that my sister and I somehow managed to finish it even though we could not breathe because we were so full.  The best part was the caramelized banana layer on top, but it was extra good when combined with the vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.  This was a perfect way to end the meal, and highly recommended for anyone who loves banana and caramel.  

While we had taken a hiatus from TBar for the past few months, I think it has officially been put back on the rotation. All of the appetizers, main courses, sides, and desserts were delicious, and even the bread basket was great (it came with olive bread, which, as I previously established, automatically gives a restaurant 5 stars in my book).  Our evening was filled with great company and great food, and you can't really ask for much more than that!

  

Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop

Ben and Jerry's is my absolute favorite brand of Ice Cream because they have such interesting and creative flavors, and they are all delicious.  While you can easily find the ice cream in every super market, it is so much better coming from one of their scoop shops.

I had minor surgery done yesterday morning, and knew that a trip to Ben and Jerry's was going to be my treat.  It seems counter-intuitive that you always end up eating worse when you are sick/have surgery, since you can't exercise and all you really do is lay down and sleep all day, but I went along with it and gave in to the ice cream temptation.

There aren't many scoop shop locations around, but luckily for me there is one in Mt. Kisco, which is only a 10 minute drive from my house out there.  I spent all day in anticipation of the ice cream, and ultimately decided that while I was going for it, I may as well go big.  So, I decided to get the Hot Fudge Sundae.

Unbeknownst to me, the sundae is a monster!  When I asked the worker there what was in the sundae, she said you pick two flavors of ice cream, either hot fudge or caramel, and two toppings.  For some reason I assumed that it would be served in the same cup that the small ice cream would be served in, since that also comes with two flavors, but boy was I wrong.  I looked away for a few seconds as she started to prepare the sundae, and it was too late to turn back.  All of a sudden, I saw in front of me what looked like a pint of ice cream.  It was smaller than a pint, but honestly not by much.

Since I am a chocolate lover, I obviously chose everything to be chocolate.  My two flavors of ice cream were Chocolate Therapy (dark chocolate ice cream with chocolate cookies and swirls of chocolate pudding--my favorite flavor here) and New York Super Fudge Chunk (chocolate ice cream with white and dark fudge chunks, pecans, walnuts, and fudge covered almonds).  On the bottom and coating the entire inside of the cup was the delicious hot fudge, and I chose reeses pieces and sno caps as my two toppings.  

This sundae was heaven for a chocolate lover.  The ice cream flavors were amazing, and the hot fudge sauce put it over the top.  I loved the toppings too, but I could've easily done without them, and ended up taking most of them off.  This is definitely something that I recommend only getting on a special occasion, since it probably contains a days worth of calories in the whole thing.  And, while it may look  a little daunting at first, I was surprisingly able to charge my way through and somehow ate it all.  Of course, afterwards I couldn't contract my stomach for hours and woke up the next morning still feeling full, but it was so worth it.

Amy's Spinach Pizza Pocket

Since I tend to go out to dinner and cook more over the summer, I eat my frozen meals less often.  Therefore, my freezer has been stuffed with various frozen meals, so I figured it was best to finally eat one of them.  I settled on the Amy's Spinach Pizza Pocket for tonight because I haven't had it in a while and have been craving pizza.

This is one of my favorite Amy's meals because it doesn't sacrifice flavor in order to be healthier.  The pocket itself has a pretty thick dough around it, which is my favorite part.  That is not to say, however, that the filling isn't great because it is.  It has the perfect ratio of spinach to sauce and cheese so that you can really taste each ingredient.  You can either heat it in the microwave or toaster oven, but I would highly recommend the toaster.  Even though it takes 25-30 minutes, it is worth it because the dough gets a nice crunch to it and the inside gets warm and melty.  I made the mistake of trying to eat it right away when I first made this, but after that first experience I learned that it is best to let it sit for a few minutes.  If you don't, the filling will fall to the bottom when you pick it up to eat, and you will probably burn your mouth like I did!

Overall, I highly recommend this Amy's meal for a delicious and easy dinner (or even lunch) option.  It is super easy to make and is much healthier than anything similar from a pizza place.

David Burke Townhouse

Today was the official start of Restaurant Week in the city, which is one of my favorite times of the summer!  It is a great deal because you get to go to really nice (generally expensive) restaurants and have a 3 course meal for only $38 (lunch is $25).  Each restaurant differs, but most of them have great options for each course, and the portion size remains the same but the price is just significantly less.  My sister and I always take advantage of restaurant week, and try to go to as many different restaurants as our wallets and stomachs will allow.  We generally choose places that we haven't been to before, but David Burke Townhouse is our annual tradition and is always on the list.  So, to kick off the month long restaurant week, we decided to go to David Burke Townhouse.

When you sit at the table, each person gets their own mini bread basket which I appreciate as a carb-o-holic.  It has an olive roll, popover of some sort, mini baguette, and some scattered raw vegetables in the basket.  I also love olives, so whenever a restaurant serves olive rolls I am sold, and their's did not disappoint.  It is hard to control myself when presented with that many bread options, but I only allowed myself to eat the olive roll since I had to save room for the other courses.

What I love about the David Burke restaurants is that they pretty much offer their whole menu (with the exception of a few dishes that require supplements) as part of restaurant week, as opposed to just 2 or 3 select dishes for each course like most other restaurants.  This gives you a lot of great options to choose from and you don't feel limited by the menu.  For the appetizer, I chose the beet salad that came with some goat cheese, and my sister got the tomato gazpacho with crab meat and avocado.

I really enjoyed the beet salad, as it was very light and fresh.  I mean, it is pretty hard to go wrong with a beet salad since it is basically just roasted beets, lettuce and a light dressing, but I enjoyed the dish.  My sister also really liked her gazpacho as it was a very light appetizer with great flavor.

For the main course, I was super excited about the chicken dish.  It was crispy chicken "under a salt brick," (which i'm assuming is just how it was cooked) and it came with broccolini and truffle mac and cheese.  I generally always order chicken, but the truffle mac and cheese was the selling point for me.

The chicken on its own was pretty ordinary, since it did not come with any sauce or anything, but the sides made me love the dish.  The truffle mac and cheese was super creamy and cheesy, and seeing that I never really eat mac and cheese I appreciated it that much more.  The broccolini was also delicious, and was grilled really nicely.  I was expecting the dish to come with a small side of the mac and cheese, but they give you a HUGE serving of it.  While it was hard to control myself, I wouldn't allow myself to eat all of it.  To me, the standouts of the dish were the truffle mac and cheese and the broccolini, and the chicken was just a side note.  My sister got the scallops, and was a bit disappointed.  She is not good with spice, and the dish had a lot of red pepper flakes on it so she was struggling with the spice level.  It also came with just 2 1/2 scallops, which is a very small portion even for a fancy restaurant.

For dessert, I got the chocolate caramel bar and my sister got the passion fruit trifle.  The chocolate caramel bar was really chocolatey and delicious.  It wasn't too large, so I didn't feel too guilty about eating the whole thing, and it was mainly mousse so it felt very light and fluffy.  What I didn't like so much was the side of earl grey ice cream that it came with.  It seemed like a very strange combination and it had a weird taste to it.  The good part was that it stopped me from eating the ice cream, but I was a little disappointed with the flavor choice.  I also didn't really notice any caramel except for the sauce decoration on the plate, but it was still really good.  My sister really enjoyed her passion fruit trifle, and compared it to a deconstructed macaron.

Overall, I really enjoyed my food.  My sister was disappointed with her scallops dish and said that this was probably her least favorite visit, but she would still return.  I would also be doing everyone a disservice if I did not comment on their poor service.  After we sat down, they took our order pretty quickly and the waiter made it seem like they were going to be swamped, so I figured that our food would come out very quickly.  The appetizers came out super quick, probably within 5-10 minutes of ordering.  Then, there was at least a 30 minute lag time between when they cleared our plates and when they brought the main course.  I normally wouldn't mind waiting a little for the main course, but I would've rather the appetizer come out later so that there wasn't as much wait time between courses.  Also, between our appetizer and main course our original waiter disappeared and someone else took over the area where we were sitting, and he never came over to let us know that a switch was being made.  While we were eating the main course, not once did the waiter come over to ask how the food was, which seemed a little strange to me since this is such a nice restaurant.  After the main course, we again had a bit of a wait until the desserts came out.  In fact, the table next to us (who ordered after us and had all of their dishes come out after us) got their dessert about 5-10 minutes before us.  Once the desserts came to the table, again no one came over to see if everything was good.  Then, when I asked for the check, it was to a third waitress who had taken over the area where we were sitting yet again.

Since we had been here before, we remembered that you get a little box of chocolates with the check, and I even saw that the table next to us got them.  However, when they brought us the check we did not get anything.  When my sister asked, the waitress said she had to go check, which seemed very odd since everyone else had gotten them.

I understand that things tend to get hectic during restaurant week, but that doesn't really excuse poor service in a restaurant of this caliber.  The service we received at our past visits was far superior, so I can only take it to mean that this visit was a fluke.  Since it is our annual tradition to go to David Burke Townhouse during restaurant week, I'm sure we will return (especially since I really like the food as well), but we were just a little disappointed with our experience during this visit.

Chicken Rollatini

To change things up this week, my sister did the Sunday cooking instead of me.  Since chicken is one of the few dishes that we both enjoy, she settled on a chicken dish instead of fish (which is what she really wanted to make).  One of the recipes that she has had past success with is the Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmigiana from skinnytaste (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/04/chicken-rollatini-with-spinach-alla.html), so she decided to make that.  The only change that she made from the original recipe, per my request, was to use shredded mozzarella for the top of the chicken instead of slices of mozzarella because it melts better and has a better flavor, in my opinion.  I have never actually made this myself, but it is a more involved recipe than some of the others that I made.  You need thin pieces of chicken that are the correct ounces, so that they can be rolled properly.  Since we couldn't really see what all the chicken pieces look like before we bought the pack of chicken, my sister had to get creative and had to layer two of the smaller pieces so that it was the correct weight.  It is apparently also difficult when it comes to stuffing and rolling the chicken, but you would never know it when you see the finished product!

I ate mine with some broccoli on the side (some of it got eaten before the picture was even taken) and half of a Japanese Sweet Potato.  I know it sounds like a strange combination, but it worked for me.  This chicken recipe is delicious and does not taste like it is healthy, but it is!  The inside is stuffed with spinach, low fat ricotta, and part skim mozzarella, and it is topped with marinara sauce and just a little more mozzarella cheese.  While it is a bit messy and hard to keep the filling from oozing out, it is a great dish.  I highly recommend it as a creative chicken dish to add to the rotation.

Beyond Sushi

Whenever I go to a Japenese restaurant, I always struggle with which sushi roll to order because I love cucumber avocado rolls and sweet potato tempura rolls, but it would be too much food for me to get both (since I also always get chicken yakitori and salad).  Ultimately, my love of avocado pretty much wins every time and I order the cucumber avocado roll.  One of the last times that my sister and I went for sushi, I told her I had found a solution to my problem: order one roll with sweet potato tempura and avocado inside!  It sounded like a genius idea, but I felt too weird asking for it so I chickened out and got the cucumber avocado.  Then, when we were walking through Chelsea Market, we passed a place called Beyond Sushi, The Green Roll.  Intrigued, we stopped and looked at the menu only to see that one of their rolls, the Sweet Tree, has sweet potato and avocado inside!  It was close to dinner time so we had to pass it up, but I made it my mission to give Beyond Sushi a try.

So, today I braved the scorching heat outside and made my way to Beyond Sushi by Union Square.  They only make vegetarian sushi rolls, pieces, and rice paper wraps, which is perfect for me because the only sushi I eat is vegetarian.  They also use either six grain rice or black rice for their rolls, which is really unique, and they have a wide array of special sauces that are paired with each roll.  A lot of the menu items peaked my interest, but I of course had to get the Sweet Tree.  It has sweet potato and avocado on the inside, and six grain rice with alfalfa sprouts on the outside.  It also comes with their toasted cayenne sauce, but I chose to swap that our for the sweet soy mirin sauce.

I got there early so there were seats available, but I decided to take it to go.  If you are planning to go during the peak lunch hour, you should plan on taking it to go because the seating is extremely limited. Also, there was only one person making the rolls when I went so you should also factor in some wait time.  Each roll comes with 8 pieces, and when you get it to go the sauce is in a really cool tube on the side (if you stay, the sauce is on top).   

This roll was really delicious, and just what I had been craving.  The rice is really nice and there is not too much of it, which I appreciated. The combination of sweet potato and avocado on the inside was perfect, and the alfalfa sprouts added a nice crunch.  I highly recommend getting this with the sweet soy mirin sauce instead of the toasted cayenne that usually comes with it.  It kind of reminded me of an eel sauce, which I always pair with sweet potato rolls.  This roll is even better than what I would've gotten in a regular sushi restaurant because the sweet potato is not tempura, so it is much healthier.  

Some of the other rolls that they have here are the Mighty Mushroom, which is six grain rice, enoki, tofu, shitake, micro arugula and shitake teriyaki, the Spicy Mang, which is black rice, avocado, mango, english cucumber, spicy veggies and toasted cayenne sauce, and the Nutty Buddy, which is buckwheat noodles, cashews, carrots, cilantro, jalapeno peanut butter, avocado, sesame oil, tofu, romaine, and sweet soy mirin.  They also have individual pieces like Mango, Carrot, and Baked Tofu, so they really have a great range of options.  Of course you have to be open to strictly vegetable sushi to truly enjoy the food here, but if you are like me and love vegetable sushi rolls you should definitely give Beyond Sushi a try.

Aperitif

Friday night, to celebrate my Aunt's birthday, I braved the rain and went out to Long Island for dinner.  We went to Aperitif, which is a really great French restaurant in Rockville Centre right in the heart of the town.  It is one of my favorite restaurants in the area because they have a really diverse menu and the food is always great.

They have a really large bar area by the front, which is a good place to wait before you sit at your table.  They also just expanded, so it is a pretty big restaurant, but it gets very crowded at night so you should make a reservation.

On the menu, they have French classics like Coq Au Vin and Bouillabaisse, in addition to small plates, a raw bar, steaks, and many other options.  I ordered the chopped salad to start, which is tomatoes, romaine, cucumbers, onion, bell peppers, and avocado in a lemon dressing.  For my main course, I got the Coq Au Vin, which I have had before and is one of my favorite chicken dishes.  Their Filet Mignon Sliders are also really good, but I never order those I just tend to have a bite if someone else at the table gets them.  My sister and dad's favorite item on the menu is the tuna tartare which comes with guacamole.

Even though the top photo doesn't do the chopped salad any justice, it is really good.  It is not like a typical salad, since there is no lettuce, so it is basically just chopped up vegetables in a lemon dressing.  My favorite part was the avocado (which is really the only reason I order it) so once I finish all the avocado I generally stop eating the salad.  It is a very big bowl so after a while it gets a bit boring.  

For the main course, the Coq Au Vin was delicious.  It comes with a half chicken sitting in a pool of red wine sauce with some vegetables and a side of mashed potatoes.  The chicken itself was cooked perfectly and was really tender.  The red wine sauce pairs perfectly with the chicken and since there is a big pool of it on the bottom of the bowl, there is more than enough to coat the chicken with.  While the mashed potatoes were good, there was nothing too special about them in my opinion.  My sister got the bouillabaisse and really enjoyed it, and some other items ordered at the table were branzino, fried calamari, filet mignon, and steak tartare.  Overall, everyone really enjoyed their dishes here. 

The only thing that was lacking a bit was the service.  Our waiter was very inattentive and seemed irritated and annoyed with us from the get go.  Since I have been here before, I know that some of the other waiters are better, but there have been multiple visits where the service is not on par with the food.  The Coq Au Vin here is delicious and I find myself constantly craving it, so they just need to work on their service and they would be a top restaurant in my book.