Pages Navigation Menu
Categories Navigation Menu

Hyper-Seasonal Fare at Galen Zamarra’s Almanac

Posted on Nov 20, 2014 in First Bite, Restaurant Spotting

Galen Zamarra’s Mas (farmhouse) is basically everything you could want in a neighborhood restaurant. But Zamarra’s sophomore effort, Mas (la grillade), proved a tougher sell for patrons, who never quite got the gimmick of every last menu item being charred, fire roasted or grilled (literally every last one). So three years later, Zamarra wisely elected to go back to the drawing board, transforming Mas (la grillade) into Almanac, serving…

Read More

A Happy Hour for High-Rollers at American Cut

Posted on Oct 1, 2012 in First Bite, Reviews

Maybe I’m getting old, but I just don’t get as excited about restaurant openings as I used to.  Don’t get me wrong: I love discovering a great, new restaurant.  I just don’t like to chase them down like I used to, trying to be one of the first to snag a table.  Especially in the summertime when there’s so much great produce everywhere and you can’t help but become an accidental chef yourself. That’s why I missed all the brouhaha over Governor in Dumbo.  I’d heard rumblings about the restaurant when it first debuted in Dumbo in July and I kept telling myself I’d get there, but I didn’t until just last week.   What an exciting place to eat!  Really!  The sourdough bread’s baked in-house, and it’s so good you’ll wish they sold it by the loaf to-go.  The...

Read More

Season’s Eatings at Park Avenue Autumn

Park Avenue Autumn

Posted on Oct 1, 2012 in First Bite, Reviews

Maybe I’m getting old, but I just don’t get as excited about restaurant openings as I used to.  Don’t get me wrong: I love discovering a great, new restaurant.  I just don’t like to chase them down like I used to, trying to be one of the first to snag a table.  Especially in the summertime when there’s so much great produce everywhere and you can’t help but become an accidental chef yourself. That’s why I missed all the brouhaha over Governor in Dumbo.  I’d heard rumblings about the restaurant when it first debuted in Dumbo in July and I kept telling myself I’d get there, but I didn’t until just last week.   What an exciting place to eat!  Really!  The sourdough bread’s baked in-house, and it’s so good you’ll wish they sold it by the loaf to-go.  The...

Read More

Afternoon Tea 2.0 at The Plaza

The Palm Court

Posted on Oct 1, 2012 in First Bite, Reviews

Maybe I’m getting old, but I just don’t get as excited about restaurant openings as I used to.  Don’t get me wrong: I love discovering a great, new restaurant.  I just don’t like to chase them down like I used to, trying to be one of the first to snag a table.  Especially in the summertime when there’s so much great produce everywhere and you can’t help but become an accidental chef yourself. That’s why I missed all the brouhaha over Governor in Dumbo.  I’d heard rumblings about the restaurant when it first debuted in Dumbo in July and I kept telling myself I’d get there, but I didn’t until just last week.   What an exciting place to eat!  Really!  The sourdough bread’s baked in-house, and it’s so good you’ll wish they sold it by the loaf to-go.  The...

Read More

A Peek at Marta’s Roman-Style Pizzas

Posted on Oct 20, 2014 in Dish Spotting, First Bite, Restaurant Spotting

One thing’s for sure — New York’s hardly lacking in top notch pizza spots; from cheap takeout to neighborhood trattorias and 75-year-old institutions. So there’s no denying that Marta is treading on familiar territory, but whenever Danny Meyer gets involved in a project of any sort, it’s enough to make educated area foodies sit up and take notice…

Read More

Floyd Cardoz’s White Street – First Bite

White Street

Posted on Oct 1, 2012 in First Bite, Reviews

Maybe I’m getting old, but I just don’t get as excited about restaurant openings as I used to.  Don’t get me wrong: I love discovering a great, new restaurant.  I just don’t like to chase them down like I used to, trying to be one of the first to snag a table.  Especially in the summertime when there’s so much great produce everywhere and you can’t help but become an accidental chef yourself. That’s why I missed all the brouhaha over Governor in Dumbo.  I’d heard rumblings about the restaurant when it first debuted in Dumbo in July and I kept telling myself I’d get there, but I didn’t until just last week.   What an exciting place to eat!  Really!  The sourdough bread’s baked in-house, and it’s so good you’ll wish they sold it by the loaf to-go.  The...

Read More

Charlie Palmer Does Cocktails at Crimson & Rye

Posted on Oct 9, 2014 in Drink Spotting, First Bite, Hottest Newcomers

Charlie Palmer is one of the restaurant world’s most recognizable names, with a career that spans over 25 years, a hospitality empire on both coasts, and a host of honorifics and awards, including stars from Michelin and medals from James Beard. But his newest venture, Crimson & Rye (located in Midtown’s iconic Lipstick building) is somewhat of a curveball for Palmer…

Read More

A Rhapsody in White: Obica Pizza e Cucina

Posted on Aug 8, 2014 in First Bite, First Bite, Restaurant Spotting, Reviews

When one of your nearest neighbors is the Italian megastore, Eataly, it takes a lot to stand out with regionally-sourced products and refined yet rustic cooking. But Roman export Obica has flourished for the last 10 years with an especially well-defined mission statement (The World’s First Mozzarella Bar). That’s why, when it comes to their new, sleekly stylish, 120-seat restaurant in Flatiron, they’ve smartly retained a distinct dairy through-line, with their prized and inarguably spectacular DOB mozzarella, flown in from Campania twice a week…

Read More

Duck, Duck, Good at Decoy

Posted on Jul 21, 2014 in First Bite, Hottest Newcomers, Restaurant Spotting

RedFarm has been a fancified Chinese food fixture in the West Village for years now, beloved for owner Ed Schoenfeld, his famous charm & chef Joe Ng, maker of supremely delicate PacMan Dumplings. But over the last months, the restaurant’s undergone a flurry of change, including a swanky cocktail lounge and modern Peking Duck house called Decoy…

Read More

Inside Hudson Eats at Brookfield Place

Hudson Eats

Posted on Oct 1, 2012 in First Bite, Reviews

Maybe I’m getting old, but I just don’t get as excited about restaurant openings as I used to.  Don’t get me wrong: I love discovering a great, new restaurant.  I just don’t like to chase them down like I used to, trying to be one of the first to snag a table.  Especially in the summertime when there’s so much great produce everywhere and you can’t help but become an accidental chef yourself. That’s why I missed all the brouhaha over Governor in Dumbo.  I’d heard rumblings about the restaurant when it first debuted in Dumbo in July and I kept telling myself I’d get there, but I didn’t until just last week.   What an exciting place to eat!  Really!  The sourdough bread’s baked in-house, and it’s so good you’ll wish they sold it by the loaf to-go.  The...

Read More

First Bite: Bacchanal

Bacchanal

Posted on Oct 1, 2012 in First Bite, Reviews

Maybe I’m getting old, but I just don’t get as excited about restaurant openings as I used to.  Don’t get me wrong: I love discovering a great, new restaurant.  I just don’t like to chase them down like I used to, trying to be one of the first to snag a table.  Especially in the summertime when there’s so much great produce everywhere and you can’t help but become an accidental chef yourself. That’s why I missed all the brouhaha over Governor in Dumbo.  I’d heard rumblings about the restaurant when it first debuted in Dumbo in July and I kept telling myself I’d get there, but I didn’t until just last week.   What an exciting place to eat!  Really!  The sourdough bread’s baked in-house, and it’s so good you’ll wish they sold it by the loaf to-go.  The...

Read More

First Bite: Cafe El Presidente

Cafe El Presidente

Posted on Oct 1, 2012 in First Bite, Reviews

Maybe I’m getting old, but I just don’t get as excited about restaurant openings as I used to.  Don’t get me wrong: I love discovering a great, new restaurant.  I just don’t like to chase them down like I used to, trying to be one of the first to snag a table.  Especially in the summertime when there’s so much great produce everywhere and you can’t help but become an accidental chef yourself. That’s why I missed all the brouhaha over Governor in Dumbo.  I’d heard rumblings about the restaurant when it first debuted in Dumbo in July and I kept telling myself I’d get there, but I didn’t until just last week.   What an exciting place to eat!  Really!  The sourdough bread’s baked in-house, and it’s so good you’ll wish they sold it by the loaf to-go.  The...

Read More

Please Pass the Pintxos at Huertas

Huertas

Posted on Oct 1, 2012 in First Bite, Reviews

Maybe I’m getting old, but I just don’t get as excited about restaurant openings as I used to.  Don’t get me wrong: I love discovering a great, new restaurant.  I just don’t like to chase them down like I used to, trying to be one of the first to snag a table.  Especially in the summertime when there’s so much great produce everywhere and you can’t help but become an accidental chef yourself. That’s why I missed all the brouhaha over Governor in Dumbo.  I’d heard rumblings about the restaurant when it first debuted in Dumbo in July and I kept telling myself I’d get there, but I didn’t until just last week.   What an exciting place to eat!  Really!  The sourdough bread’s baked in-house, and it’s so good you’ll wish they sold it by the loaf to-go.  The...

Read More

Restaurant Spotting – Mayfield

Posted on Dec 11, 2012 in First Bite, Reviews

Brooklyn has been beckoning Manhattan-based food journalists and foodies across the river for awhile now. But there are still plenty of under-explored neighborhoods in the borough. Case in point: Crown Heights, which is perhaps one of the most rapidly changing sections of Brooklyn right now. The latest addition to the neighborhood is a New American restaurant called Mayfield.

Read More

What I’m Loving – Yopparai

Posted on Dec 6, 2012 in First Bite, Reviews

It’s not easy to surprise me with a great, new restaurant that’s not really new at all.  It makes me feel like I’ve failed as a food writer and restaurant chaser.  How did I miss the memo about Yopparai?  Seriously. I suggested we go for Japanese to a friend who responded, “I just went to a great spot on the Lower East Side.”   When I neared the entrance, I realized I’d been to the same address for sushi just a year before when it was Sushi Uo, an oddball sushi spot that sadly didn’t last long.  I buzzed the same mysterious buzzer, then passed through a door into a railroad-style apartment building where the restaurant occupies a long, narrow space on the ground floor.  There’s a long wood sushi bar with cozy, cushioned seating, several two-tops along the wall,...

Read More

What I’m Loving: Governor

Governor

Posted on Oct 1, 2012 in First Bite, Reviews

Maybe I’m getting old, but I just don’t get as excited about restaurant openings as I used to.  Don’t get me wrong: I love discovering a great, new restaurant.  I just don’t like to chase them down like I used to, trying to be one of the first to snag a table.  Especially in the summertime when there’s so much great produce everywhere and you can’t help but become an accidental chef yourself. That’s why I missed all the brouhaha over Governor in Dumbo.  I’d heard rumblings about the restaurant when it first debuted in Dumbo in July and I kept telling myself I’d get there, but I didn’t until just last week.   What an exciting place to eat!  Really!  The sourdough bread’s baked in-house, and it’s so good you’ll wish they sold it by the loaf to-go.  The...

Read More
12