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Air’s Champagne Parlor is All About the Bubbly
Beer, wine and even cider bars abound in NYC, but Air’s Champagne Parlor is one of the few area drinkeries devoted to bubbly. To be fair, the Riddling Widow briefly preceded it, but owner Ariel Arce was actually beverage director during its tenure, as well as Birds & Bubbles before that, and Chicago’s Pops for Champagne (not to mention Grant Achatz’s exclusive, original The Office) before that. Meaning her reputation as queen of Cuvèe absolutely proceeds her.
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Where to Celebrate Oktoberfest 2017
If you’re already mourning the loss of summer, Oktoberfest is a reliable way to get you over the hump. Essentially spanning the duration of fall (kicking off on September 16th this year & extending all the way to October 31st, allowing revelers to seamlessly transition to Halloween), the 16 to 18-day festival is a giddy saturnalia of German culture…
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Spotlight on the Finalists for the 2017 Vendy Awards
As a fun challenge to the James Beard Awards, the Vendy ceremony — now in its 13th year — is dedicated to honoring the very best in street food. So here’s who’s in the running during the September 16th event at Governors Island; from an artisanal twinkie baker to an upstart french toast sandwich maker, to a Chinese meat skewer purveyor, whose been tapped for the Vendy Cup…
Most Recent Dish
Turks & Frogs
458 Greenwich Street, btwn. Watts & Desbrosses (212)966-4774 PLACE: TURKS & FROGS TYPE: Turkish OCCASION: Perfect date place VIBE: Trendy Mediterranean DON’T MISS DISH: Char-grilled calamari DON’T BOTHER: Lamb skewers A LITTLE ADVICE: Stick to fish RESTAURANT GIRL RATED: (1-10): 6 Finally awakening from an Easter Peeps sugar coma, I thought I should get out and see the world, so I traveled down to the Turkish side of Tribeca to check...
Read MoreGourmet Gossip
I can’t keep my mouth shut when it comes to food, so from now on Restaurant Girl will share any secrets going around the ole restaurant rumor mill. This week I was tipped off that: BUDDHA BUMMER – The much anticipated opening of Buddha Bar has been once again postponed from April 19th to April 25th. Gasp! Alas, I can always pass the time at one of the other ginormous Asian-inspired mega-restaurants. So put it on your calendar. PICNIC...
Read MorePeep Show
Spring is in the air – the sun is shining, birds are singing, lovers are loving, and Restaurant Girl is hanging out with her Peeps! Who are my Peeps, you might naively ask… they’re the colorful, marshmallow candies who dedicate their lives to Easter. But don’t think that my sugar-coated posse is just a seasonal afterthought. Even though they flood your local drugstore only once a year, the Just Born Candy Company is working furiously all year around laying...
Read MoreDona
Don’t hate me because I went to Dona even before its official open on this magical Monday evening. I, restaurantgirl, had taken it upon myself, to wander selflessly from restaurant to restaurant, throwing myself at the mercy of chefs across the five boroughs, bravely risking bad service, an upset stomach, and weathering, well, the weather, all in search of the perfect dish so that you may never waste a meal again. I happily sacrificed my Saturday night to give...
Read MoreBuddakan
When word spread about Buddakan, a practical legend in his hometown of Philadelphia, I threw on my hot off the Barneys’ sales rack miniskirt and scurried down to his Meatpacking pied-a-terre. In my wildest dreams, I never imagined he actually owned the entire block. Rumor has it this mega-restaurateur, Stephen Starr, had magically transformed a 16,000 square foot lumber company into a dazzling two-floor dining mecca where the Asian fusion sizzles and all of Buddakan’s a stage. A theatrical...
Read MoreFalai
It’s been over a week and fantasies of Falai still linger in my stomach. After building pastry castles in the air at Le Cirque, Iacopa Falai has migrated to the Lower East Side, a sudden utopia where foodie’s dreams come true. While everyone else has been busy trying to impress with the latest trend, it was refreshing to meet someone so uncomplicated, boasting of simple Modern Italian Fare — he knew what...
Read MoreA Voce
So maybe I was that annoying girl in junior high who ran to the front of the line at recess, and I may have crossed the starting line before the official even blew the whistle, and just maybe, I ate at Andrew Carmellini’s A Voce on opening night. A restaurant girl never tells. Of course, I’ve been warned by countless critics to wait until after a restaurant had fine-tuned the food and ironed out all the wrinkles, but I...
Read MoreTasty Trends:Spring Forward
Daniel, Craft, Bouley, Per Se,oh my! I could go on, but I won’t make you jealous with all of the delicious details. Think of it as The Fashion Week of Food as thirty-eight of the city’s biggest chefs cooked up a sublime storm all in the name of C-CAP (Careers Through Culinary Arts). It was every foodie’s whet dream this year and I, a culinary martyr, left no dish untasted, no plate uncleaned, to bring you the hottest trends...
Read MoreFood Trend Watch – Apple Cake with Bacon?
I remember it like it was yesterday — the first time I saw salt curiously sprinkled atop a potentially perfect dark chocolate torte. I admittedly rolled my eyes and dismissed it as another celebrity chef’s whimsical attempt to drum up attention. I couldn’t have been more ecstatic to be wrong. Suddenly, it all made sense. Salt was the perfect complement to chocolate, evoking the rich complexity of the cocoa bean in all its well-deserved glory. But pastry chefs...
Read MoreGET IT WHILE IT’S HOT!
Forget about love, hot chocolate is in the air every February at The City Bakery and time is running out! Whether you’re looking to make a big commitment or just sample the goods, run don’t walk to the Hot Chocolate Festival for a shot or cup of the hottest chocolate in town. If you’re looking to slip into something more comfortable, sip the banana peel hot chocolate on Saturday, February 26. But if you’re looking to fulfill your darkest...
Read MorePhilippe
Hot on the trail of the opening of Mr. Chow’s Tribeca outpost (I’m still mourning the loss of Danny Meyers and Abrams’ underrated sleeper of an offspring — Pace) comes Philippe, a Chow spinoff from the former executive chef of Mr. Chow, coincidentally also named Mr. Chow (Philippe is his first name). Just as Madonna, Beyonce and Cher once shed their last names in the wake of newfound fame, Philippe has outed himself...
Read MoreDavid Burke at Bloomingdale's
DAVID BURKE AT BLOOMINGDALE’S? The grand dame of department stores is getting a modern makeover as celebrity chef, David Burke, opens a 2500-square-foot restaurant within its doors—with its own separate entrance and hours to boot. Having already mastered upscale Modern American Fare at davidburke&donatella, he aims to reinvent lunch at his dual-concept eatery. While the restaurant serves imaginative fare to ladies who lunch, those who run in a fast crowd can order gourmet to go from the Burke...
Read MoreFOOD NEWS
Fresh Direct’s Dream Steam – Fresh Direct, the biggest and one of the only successful online grocers, is introducing a new product to change the way people perceive microwave dinners. The Dream Steam, essentially reinvents the very notion of a microwave dinner, allowing consumers to cook a Fresh Direct prepackaged meal by just putting it in the device, adding water and turning on their microwaves. From oh-so-fresh wild salmon cut to order, right at the Fresh Direct warehouse, to...
Read MoreFOOD FADS
SALTY & SWEET — This season’s culinary odd couple is dessert seasoned with sea salt as the city’s top chefs discover the magic of salt. From Le Bernadin’s sumptous “egg” filled with milk chocolate crème, caramel foam, maple syrup and sea salt to david burke and donatella’s chocolate and caramel layers with a pinch of sel de gris and sea salt ice cream to boot, salt is getting the recognition it deserves as the quintessential seasoning, intensifying the flavor...
Read MoreQuartino
BLAND DATE: It was a beautiful summer night, love was in the air and I was determined to find it, so I turned to a friend for a last minute set-up. I wanted to dine under the moon with someone new and different. He suggested someone who’d just moved to the East Village with an extensive knowledge of Italian, homemade pastas and organic wild salmon. When I arrived, my hostess shuffled me through a narrow dining room to...
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