Momofuko in the Wasteland
The Upper West Side just joined the world. Move over East Village; now us UWS Jews can sneak out of synagogue on the High Holy Days and chow down on steamed pork buns without leaving our own...
View ArticleA Trip to New York and a Culinary Discovery
Going to New York is always a treat. Like everyone else, I love walking around the city. A leisurely stroll through Central Park when the flowering trees are in bloom is one of life's great...
View ArticlePayard's
My father has a way of making everything unforgettable. He’s loud, temperamental, incredibly passionate, and a romantic to the core. So it seemed completely natural to me when he took me to Paris for...
View ArticleRuss and Daughters: A NY Favorite
If you have been to Russ and Daughters you know that they have 5 kinds of salmon, the best smoked fish, many flavors of cream cheese and then you have to pick a bagel, toasted or not: lots of choices...
View ArticleAutumn in New York
The weather turned yesterday. The air was suddenly, blissfully free of the sodden end-of-summer heaviness and the scent of August — that heady perfume of sixteen million sweaty feet in sandals —...
View ArticleSerendipity 3
Trips to New York City have become scarce over the years. (Maybe non-existent is a better description.) I don't have family, friends or business in New York. All past trips have been purely...
View ArticleFood Feud: The Great Dumpling Debate
I recently saw a new show on the Food Network called “Food Feuds”. I like it – I get it. It’s a simple premise: in towns all across the country there are passionate disagreements about “the best” – the...
View ArticleLuke's Lobster Roll
Winter on the Upper West Side of New York is a strange time and place to open a lobster shack. Where’s the beach, for example? Where’s the sun? The seagulls? It’s hard to conjure up seafood by the...
View ArticleKyotofu Dessert Bar
OK fine. I'll admit it. I'm the person who studies the menu online before going out to eat. I devour every edible word and let the taste bud anticipation work its magic. The moment I knew I would be...
View ArticleReuben, Reuben, I've Been Thinking
“Have you ever been to Eisenberg’s?” This question from my daughter, Alison. “Shannon and I went after the gym the other day,” she says. “Best Reuben I’ve had in a long time. You should check it out.”...
View ArticleNathan's
My dad was a two job guy. We lived in a representative, working class neighborhood in Brooklyn, which was to me, the paradise of the world. Representative I learned years later meant not just Jewish...
View ArticleTwo New York WOW moments!
How I love New York restaurants! I love my old standbys. I love the familiar friendly faces and food that I know exactly how it will taste. But, I also love going somewhere unexpected and original....
View ArticleRestaurant Prune
Did I read Gabrielle Hamilton’s Blood, Bones, and Butter? Yes. Is it why we went for dinner at Prune? Yes. Am I glad we did? Absolutely! Our taxis slowed down on a narrow street in NYC’s East Village...
View ArticleDanji
I had an experience the other night that was right out of Larry David’s universe or Seinfeld’s. A classic. I’ll try to describe it for you. It was around 9:45 and I was at Danji, the wonderful Korean...
View ArticleThe Bad, Good and Divine in NYC
Two different people recommended a seafood shack in the West Village in New York. Two people – it’s a sign.We must try it, I said to my oldest-newest-best-friend. We waited in the predicted long...
View ArticleBrisket Town
I went to New York recently to visit my daughter Lena, see her apartment and meet her dog, Fabio, a rescued Mexican Hairless. She lives in an area of Brooklyn known as Crown Heights? That’s supposed to...
View ArticleBalaboosta
I had one of the top ten dishes of the year today in the middle of what could have been a dreary day. It was raining and I was limping around puddles on my way to a lunch meeting in Soho. I had just...
View ArticleCan I have a cappuccino with a Panda face?
It is not every day that I meet a furry friend on my travels through coffee shops. Normally, I find a heart shape design or a leaf, or a flower in the foam of my cappuccino-- a symbol of my barista's...
View ArticleLei ha preso la posta (You've got mail) @ Cafe Lalo
It’s Sunday morning, and the last thing I want to hear is a discrete ringing sound, calling out from my computer, to alert me that I have mail. I ignore my computer, throw on my jeans, and catch the...
View ArticleCafe Orlin
There are many foods I will not miss about New York City: street cart hot dogs dressed in a syrupy mess called “onions,” over-priced dry pasta from ancient red sauce joints in Little Italy, the...
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