Tag Archives: cheese

Pepolino in TriBeCa

Who doesn’t love to venture to a well-known highly rated Zagat Italian restaurant? My boyfriend made this call, I hadn’t had a chance to stalk the menu before heading down to TriBeCa — so I had no clue what type of restaurant we were heading to. All I knew was it was Italian… Perfect!

When we walked into the restaurant we were greeted with a friendly “Buonasera” — many of those working at the restaurant seemed Italian. Their accents were perfection and if I closed my eyes, ate the food and listened to the wait staff talk in their native tongue, I would have felt like I was back in Florence.

A preview of what we ate for dinner at Pepolino

A preview of what we ate for dinner at Pepolino

While the ambiance was casual and comfortable — the space tucks in as many tables as they can on multiple floors. But who cares how cramped you are, as long as you have good food, company and conversation!

While my boyfriend and I ordered multiple dishes, I am only going to share with you our favorites. Off of the antipasta section of the menu I was encouraged to try the Cozze Al Burro which is steamed mussels out of the shell in butter, garlic and parsley with toasted bread. I was hesitant about this dish because it has been a while since I have enjoyed mussels. But, I always will try things again — and I sure am happy I did because this was probably my favorite dish! One scoop of the creamy mussels, butter, garlic and parsley combo placed on top of the crispy toast was to-die-for. I could help but think of my father and his favorite flavors and I know this is something he would enjoy very much! Being full of garlic, it’s hard not to love!

garlic mussels and parsley dip

Another favorite starter was actually off of the specials menu. An Italian-style crepe stuffed with cheese and mushrooms was a great plate to hit the savory spot I was craving so much. The crepe itself you can hardly see — it was truly covered in a hefty portion of stringy mozzarella cheese. Baked to perfection, this plate should be on their permanent menu!

mushroom and cheese crepe

For our pasta dishes, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a different type of gnocchi. My experience with the potato dumplings, if that’s what you want to call them, have always been delicious but they are also very heavy in your stomach. Pepolino makes their gnocchi from spinach and ricotta rather than potato. Because of this change in ingredients, the Malfatti Burro e Salvia dish, was both fluffy and light. The spinach and ricotta gnocchi was covered in a butter and sage sauce — two beautiful ingredients I don’t think I could ever get sick of! What the plate needed though was a solid amount of parmigiano reggiano cheese grated on top … which was exactly what I asked for after taking my first bite! Perfection!

gnocchi made from spinach and ricotta

Okay, now I am going to share with you the biggest curve ball I have ever experienced in a restaurant! My boyfriend and I agreed on the final pasta dish which on the menu is called “Spaghetti Chitarra.” The description for this plate reads as:

Homemade square spaghetti with fresh tomato and basil

Okay. So, what would you think that dish is going to look like? Without even discussing it until the plate arrived, we both thought it was legit SQUARE pasta, kind of like lasagna noodles except in the shape of a square. We were also expecting a red sauce since we saw the words “tomato” and “basil” in the description.

After further researching, why the heck we didn’t get “square” pasta  I learned a few things:

  1. I am an idiot because it flat out says “spaghetti” in the description so we are going to get some sort of spaghetti noodles
  2. Chitarra is the Italian word for guitar — duhhh, that’s why my spaghetti noodles looked like guitar strings!
  3. And after searching around I couldn’t figure out why we didn’t have a red sauce like we thought we would have. I can’t find any specific sauce that is automatically assumed to be paired with Chitarra spaghetti.

This plate just caused major confusion for us both … but in the end we enjoyed it! The edges of the Chitarra allowed the noodles to hold on to the cheese and butter in the dish — now, that’s my kind of pasta!

Overall we enjoyed Pepolino: the service was great, the restaurant was fun & comfortable and the wine list was perfecto! In all honesty though, Perbacco is still number one in my book!

Bianca in Noho

So, one of my dearest friends, Stef, took me to one of her favorite UWS restaurants several weeks ago (I didn’t blog about it because I was so hungry I forgot to capture photos… sorry folks!). This restaurant is called Celeste — and Celeste doesn’t even have a website, so I wasn’t able to menu-stalk prior to going for dinner. Following our dinner a coworker of mine mentioned that I should go to Bianca downtown in Noho — she described this restaurant making it sound a bit like Celeste; there were no reservations, always expect a wait, payment is cash-only and the food is spectacular. Bianca does have a website so I forwarded it to Stef saying we needed to get to this joint asap! Stef couldn’t help but laugh as she pointed out to me that Bianca is Celeste’s sister restaurant.

food from bianca

So Stef and I hurried down to Bianca at 7:30 p.m. thinking our wait would be quick and easy — nope! we waited over an hour to be seated. But time flew by as we caught up over a glass of wine at an uber hipster bar right next to the restaurant. When we were seated at Bianca, I was reminded instantly of Al Di La in Brooklyn; the decor was so similar — old-school wall paper with white subway tiling to help divide the space on the walls, even the smells coming from the kitchen were as delectable as Al Di La’s.

We quickly ordered — clearly, we both scouted out the menu prior to attending dinner. To share: the Gnocco Fritto with Stracchino Cheese, a caprese salad (special of the day) and for our main dishes we both ordered pasta — I ordered myself the Ravioli di Ricotta con Burro e Salvia (ravioli in a butter and sage sauce) and Stef ordered herself the Gramigna con Salciccia e Peperoni (pasta with crumbled sausage and red bell pepper). Even though the restaurant was packed — not a single seat was available — the food came out in a very timely manner.

gnocco

Our apps were d-e-l-i-s-h … The gnocco was perfectly cooked, nice and puffy and soft and the stracchino cheese was out of this world. It was obvious it was coated in a very flavorful truffle olive oil, but the cheese consistency was smooth and creamy — maybe even more so than a burrata. Remember folks, Gnocco is not the same as Gnocchi.

butter and sage ravioli

When it came to my ravioli, I instantly had a flash back. The first time I ever cooked my boyfriend a meal at home I made him a caprese salad served with ravioli in a sage and butter sauce (Thanks Food Network for the fabulous recipe and thank you Whole Foods for providing the “homemade” ravioli). This ravioli at Bianca though was homemade and wasn’t just “served with butter” — it was swimming in it. The longer I let the ravioli sit, the thicker the butter got, which allowed me to scoop more of it up on to my fork. I would order this rich dish again in a heart beat!

meat pasta

I had to share a pic of Stef’s pasta — it was out of this world! I also loved that Bianca wasn’t afraid to feed people, the serving sizes were outstanding!

I love finding restaurants like Bianca and Celeste — I am always ready for more suggestions… So if anyone has any, be sure to share the details! Bianca really fit the bill for me and Stef this weekend — literally! Ultimately for 2 appetizers, 2 main dishes of pasta, and 1 homemade sorbet for dessert … plus a bottle of wine. It all totaled up to $81. The way we ordered we were also “splurging” so the fact that we didn’t faint at the sight of the bill, we were very pleased!

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Chicago’s Pancake House

My boyfriend is from Chicago and I always look forward to our trips back to the Midwest to visit his family. Not only do I love his family, but I have come to love Chicago as well (don’t tell any of my New York friends). Chicago is full of friendly & energetic people, the crowd is both young and old (if you want to call people “old”), and the city is spectacularly clean (unlike NYC).

We have also had many exciting culinary experiences in the city of Chicago (remember my post on Joe’s?). Of course I am now dying to go to Giuliana & Bill Rancic’s new restaurant, but this trip to Chicago didn’t give us any time to squeeze in a dinner out on the town (we were in town for a wedding). So, we settled for a tasty breakfast instead of dinner.

In the downtown section of Chicago we walked from the new Waldorf Astoria to the Pancake House, which was only a few blocks away from each other. Architecture in Chicago is very different than typical New York City buildings — I love how you can see everything in Chicago all on one block no less… You’ll see the newly designed buildings that have a more “green” and exotic style, you’ll see the old-school (yet gorgeous) town houses, and then you’ll see a random little building like the Pancake House that looks like someone’s personal country-style home. So adorable!

Luckily we arrived before a huge rush — although the restaurant was already packed and we ended up waiting for about 15 minutes. The orange juice that was sipped down before our food arrived was freshly squeezed and exceptionally refreshing! We ordered the Apple Pancake and the Dutch Baby to share with the entire table — these two dishes are signature plates that you must order to get the full experience. I love apples, so of course I knew I would enjoy the Apple Pancake. I guess I wasn’t expecting how much I would love it though. Think of two things: apple pie, and cinnamon pancakes. Now, put the two together. That’s exactly what the Apple Pancake is… fluffy pancakes with rich cinnamon-glazed granny apple slices. It’s also a great dish to share with everyone, it’s easy to cut and isn’t as messy as you might expect!

I wasn’t as big of a fan of the Dutch Baby, probably because my boyfriend ordered it as “The Dutch Pancake.” Having spent time in The Netherlands, I expected to have more of a classic Dutch-style pancake… and that’s not what the Dutch Baby is.

I recently watched an episode of “The Barefoot Contessa” where Ina baked her pancakes in the oven (brilliant, I have to say). When she took the pancakes out of the oven they were extremely fluffed up and the outside of the pancake was much higher than the middle. That’s exactly what this Dutch Baby looked like. Covered with whipped butter, lemon, and powdered sugar, the Dutch Baby is crispier on the edges and softer in the middle. The flavor wasn’t anything spectacular and was fairly bland.

I ordered a skillet that had the following in the dish: hash browns on the bottom, green pepper, red pepper, onion, and pepper jack cheese, topped with 2 eggs that were cooked over-easy. Once I punctured the egg and let the egg yolk run out all over the hash browns, veggies and cheese I knew the flavors would infuse perfectly together. And I was right! The pepper jack cheese add a beautiful spice to the plate — it was nothing overwhelming, but a little heat makes eggs taste great (wouldn’t you agree?). Quickly my boyfriend’s fork made its way over to my skillet and he enjoyed the dish just as much as I did!

I hope we are able to go back the next time we are in Chicago! The prices were very reasonable and the service was extremely attentive. Bravo Pancake House, bravo!

Bar Pitti in The Village

It’s one of those restaurants — cash only and no reservations.

I had expected a brutal wait for a table at Bar Pitti on a Friday night during a very busy time of night when most New Yorkers are just starting to get hungry. But to my surprise my boyfriend and I only waited 20 minutes for our table! It was luckily the last beautiful evening before the weather went back to being chilly — so the restaurant had indoor and outdoor seating available. We luckily got the best of both worlds and sat technically inside but right in front where the walls/windows were opened.

While waiting for a table, those waiting will stand outside on the sidewalk (which isn’t a big deal if the weather is nice, but if it was the middle of winter I can only imagine how upset I would be being both cold and hungry).

So we got a fabulous table and quickly began to eye down the menu to pick out what we wanted to order. The wait staff is fairly pushy and it’s obvious that they are running around trying to serve a jam-packed restaurant but they are rather sort and quick to the point. But who can be mad at a waiter who is very kind yet talks insanely fast?

First up was our appetizers and of course I had to order the caprese salad with fresh bufala mozzarella which came out beautifully seasoned with some salt and pepper and was exceptionally creamy and fluffy. I love a good bufala mozzarella but my boyfriend and I agreed that we loved Da Silvano’s unbelievable burrata. (Da Silvano is Bar Pitti’s sister restaurant and they are located right next to each other.) Although we did dig into our caprese and garlic bread was even served to the table (I’m not sure if it was part of the order or complimentary) but it was a perfect way to scoop up some bufala mozzarella and tomatoes. Besides being convenient it also added so much flavor to the cheese! Who would ever say “no” to garlic?

My boyfriend didn’t think that the caprese salad was enough to order so he wanted to snag one another item off of the specials menu (Note: the restaurant changes their specials menu daily based off of what is fresh). He picked the asparagus and veal dish. Hmmm, okay, this was a rather strange plate. The food didn’t taste bad in any way whatsoever but it was so damn odd. First of all, it’s a cold plate. Second, the asparagus is pureed. And third, you can’t see the veal, but the veal was literally just a thin layer of meat that was sliced and put on the plate before the asparagus puree was poured on top. Again, it didn’t taste bad, but the dish was just very unusual.

Next came our main courses. We both ordered off of the specials menu — I picked the spinach ravioli in a sage and butter sauce. This was such a phenomenal pick because after filling up on appetizers I desperately needed a light entree. I am such a sage lover. And I couldn’t help but laugh with my boyfriend over the fact that we were literally eating the same exact dinner that I had made him for the first meal I cooked for him. Aww, so sweet! (I made him a fresh caprese salad with a spinach ravioli in a butter and sage sauce — super easy to make at home!) But the chef at Bar Pitti did a great job infusing the fantastic flavor of sage into the butter. And I loved that there was plenty of butter sauce to scoop up from the plate onto the ravioli!

food at bar pitti

My boyfriend ordered a farfalle with salmon and asparagus in a pink sauce. I am not a fan of salmon when it’s cooked — I love love love it raw but forget cooking it and feeding it to me. Ick! But I surprisingly enjoyed this farfalle dish! Full of flavor and not an overwhelming taste of salmon, I really enjoyed all of the different tastes that were cooked into this dish. I was disappointed about one thing though — the farfalle aka bowtie pasta was wayyy over cooked. I’m such a typical Al Dente type of girl that loves her pasta just cooked enough that there is a slight firmness to the pasta. The texture of this pasta reminded me of the way my macaroni turned out the first time when I cooked it in the microwave back in college. Luckily the taste of the pasta was no where near Easy Mac!

Last but not least was our dessert. I have been on such a sorbet kick lately so I couldn’t help but order a serving of tangerine sorbet. (I think of my new obsession of sorbet is just a way for me to do research. My friend Brittany and her friend Gina recently gave me a KitchenAid ice cream maker as a thank you for letting them stay in my apartment for a long weekend. How nice is that! So now I have been learning all about what flavors taste great in ice cream and sorbet!) The tangerine sorbet was loaded with flavor and reminded me of my gelato experiences I had on my recent trip to Italy. The presentation was also fantastic — the sorbet was stuffed back into a tangerine! (My boyfriend and I were actually debating this… I thought that the tangerine looked like an orange, he thinks it looks like a tangerine. Please, someone agree with me on this that a tangerine looks exactly like an orange! )

And then my boyfriend ordered the tiramisu which tasted fantastic! I laughed at him though because this tiramisu tastes exactly like coffee/espresso and my boyfriend hates coffee (so I find it odd that he enjoyed this dessert!) Perfectly rich, and creamy this tiramisu really hits the spot for someone looking for both a sweet and savory dessert.

So besides having over cooked farfalle I am going to rate this restaurant a 9 out of 10. It really was a great experience and I was even able to speak the few words of Italian that I know. (I could easily order double of anything and I have fantastic manners saying please and thank you, and I know how to say “how do you say this in Italian?” So obviously I learned several new words as well.)

By the way, I do have to share with everyone something funny that happened at our dinner table. My boyfriend huffs and puffs whenever the food arrives because he can’t dig in right away. I always have to take a photo of our food first (of course, so I can share the pictures with all of my blog followers). But lately I’ve been noticing while I put my camera/phone away I manage to glance at my boyfriend who is snapping a few pictures himself…. Hmmmm, I think we might have a new food photographer!

Mercadito Mexican Restaurant

It’s not that often I make it out to a restaurant for Mexican food. I have to be in the mood for that type of cuisine. It’s probably because I was never exposed to Mexican-style food before the age of 15-years-old. My father doesn’t like the type of food so my mother never made guacamole or fajitas and we definitely never ever went out to a Mexican restaurant.

I’ll never forget the first time I had guacamole — it was on Fire Island when I was 15-years-old and our family friend who I was babysitting for all summer made a bowl of guac for a little BBQ she was going to. I watched as she squished the avocado with a fork and diced up other ingredients. And for some reason before that moment I actually thought avocados were called guacamole. Wow. How much more uneducated could I have gotten? Seriously!

I enjoyed guacamole here and there but it wasn’t until my study abroad when I truly started making it at home myself. It was the easiest and cheapest thing to buy at the local farmers market. The ingredients cost me practically nothing and my boyfriend at the time taught me how to make the tastiest bowl of guacamole. I wish I could share the recipe with you but it’s definitely one of those “a pinch of this and pinch of that” sort of recipe.

So this past weekend, my boyfriend and I saw Iron Lady staring Meryl Streep. I love Meryl, she is my favorite actress and I was so proud of her performance in this film. I truly suggest for everyone to see it in the theater.

We also went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant after the movie. It was our first time to Mercadito in Alphabet City, and even at 10:30 at night it was packed (good thing I made a reservation). It is such a tiny restaurant and is full of life. We sat in the back room which was much more spacious than the front room where a table practically blocks the main entrance.

Of course we started with an order of guacamole and instead of going the traditional route we ordered the Mango Guacamole. Each bite was full of spice and a refreshing surge of citrus. I can officially announce it — I love mango, especially in guacamole! There’s something about a fantastic balance of spice with an ingredient that satisfies your thirst too!

Instead of ordering main dishes we stuck with ordering a variety of the tacos: the shrimp, the steak, and the chicken. My favorite was the steak followed by the shrimp then the chicken. Each taco plate came with 4 tacos and annoyingly enough you were unable to mix and match your tacos.

We were told by friends that 2 plates of tacos would be enough for 2 people but we didn’t listen and we ended up ordering 3 taco plates and ended up taking a few things home.

Full of flavor and texture the steak and shrimp tacos were outstanding! Made with homemade flour (or were they corn?) tortillas we knew we were eating the freshest of all ingredients out there.

mexican corn on the cob

My favorite part was out order of the Mexican Style corn on the cob! I had been craving it all day and I was determined to eat this with dinner. There’s something about the lime juice and the insanely cheap mexican cheese crumbled on top… and there’s nothing like the spicy toppings that put my mouth on fire! I love it. I love it. I love it. Although this corn on the cob was insanely spicy! WOAH!

I do have one pretty disgusting dinner detail to share with you all. I mean, I almost stopped eating, it really made me gag…

My boyfriend and I were sitting in the back room at the restaurant and it was packed. Everyone was wining and dining on tacos and margaritas and enjoying their Friday night out. If it wasn’t for the large “BANG” I would never have noticed. I was sitting with my back facing the wall and a waiter leaned over the guy next to me at the table next to my boyfriend and I; he leaned over with a rag and crushed a bug on the wall. What bug was it? Well since he was a pretty forceful hit to the wall, my guess is that it was a cockroach. Ew oh my gosh, how damn disgusting is that!? A COCKROACH! The entire room went silent, everyone looked at their food, laughed and kept on eating. I don’t know if it’s because all of New York inhabitants seem jaded or maybe it’s because they know where they live and they deal with it. Barf. How nasty is that!?

So I had a stereotypical dinner at a Mexican restaurant… I managed to have insanely delicious food while watching a waiter smash a cockroach against a wall. Nasty nasty nasty.

Crispo, Meatpacking Restaurant

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I decided to go out to dinner at a restaurant that was recommended to us by a coworker of mine. I am always up for Italian food! I could eat Italian cuisine every day for the rest of my life and be satisfied — I’m one of those people. Even though I enjoy sushi, thai food, Mexican, and French cuisine… I never really crave the foods! But Italian food, I think about it all the time.

Crispo is located right on 14th Street near 8th Ave. It’s so close to Union Square, but I’m going to guess that it’s technically in the Meatpacking neighborhood. If you’re looking for a restaurant close to the hot spots, fun night clubs, and rowdy bars that can be found in Meatpacking, this restaurant is just a 5 minute walk from all of those shenanigans.

The restaurant is loud but intimate. The lighting is magical and you’ll feel cozy at whatever table you are seated at. The low ceilings probably help a lot with the cozy and intimate setting.

The menu is gigantic and a bit over whelming and I was surprised that there’s an entirely different menu for the “specials of the day.” Can you believe it? Of the dayyyy!

Off of the main menu, we started with Parmigiano Crusted Roast Asparagus — this plate contained 4 massive pieces of asparagus spears cooked perfectly (not too over cooked and mushy and it had the perfect crunch to it) and half of the spears were covered with my favorite type of cheese — parmigiano reggiano cheese. The cheese was nice and crispy on top but there was a large amount of it on the vegetables so the cheese was warm and melted underneath the crispy layer.

Another appetizer we ordered off the of the main menu was the Caramelized Brussel Sprouts, Toasted Almonds, and Maple. If you are limiting yourself to only one appetizer, this is the one to get. It was my favorite (and my boyfriend’s favorite too). The brussel sprouts are cooked perfectly and the maple glaze on top adds so much sweetness to the vegetable you will forget what you are eating. Personally, I love brussel sprouts — they can be steamed in a Ziploc steam bag and I’d eat them just like that. But the maple adds loads of comforting flavor to it — I think I’m going to try to recreate these in my own kitchen!

Our final appetizer we ordered was off of the daily special menu — it was a zucchini popper dish that came with cheese stuffed on the inside of the popper and a spicy red sauce. This was our least favorite, the bread on the outside of the zucchini poppers was rather soft and kind of soggy. There was also so much cheese on the inside, I may have been lucky to have one full bite that included a piece of zucchini. The flavors weren’t bad, but the texture was lacking.

For our main dishes I knew exactly what I wanted I didn’t hesitate when ordering — the Butternut Tortelloni with Roast Italian Chestnuts, Sage and Parmigiano.

Anything with butternut I know I am going to love. Perfectly cooked and nice and sweet, exactly what butternut dishes tend to be like, I indulged in every bite. Not a single piece of food was left on my plate. The sage also brought out fantastic flavors in the dish! I recommending this plate as an order if you venture to Crispo.

My boyfriend ordered a pasta dish and he ranked it as just ok. There could have been some more flavors added into the plate. But for all your ordinary pasta lovers that don’t need much to say “wow” I’m sure you would have been happy with the order. (I believe his pasta dish came off of the daily special menu so I can’t tell you exactly what was in it.)

Finally, for dessert… We ordered the tasting of creme brulee and chocolate pot de creme. The creme brulee is definitely one of my favorite desserts and the chef at Crispo did a fantastic job with this! The brown sugar was perfectly torched on the top and all of the flavors were beautiful. The pot de creme was also very tasty and satisfied my chocolate sweet tooth!

Over all I really enjoyed this restaurant — thank you coworker for your recommendation! The restaurant isn’t too far from my apartment and I plan to go back. Hopefully I can bring my friend Stef… I can see her falling in love with the appetizers just like I did!

Italian Food — Good for the Soul

For me, Italian food is probably the most comforting food I could ever feed myself. When studying abroad and missing home — I would head to a tasty Italian restaurant to comfort me. The best thing about cooking this style of cuisine for yourself at home is it’s pretty darn cheap, flavorful and very basic to make (at least most dishes are).

Now that I have been to Italy — all over the place actually, this past fall I got a true taste of the country my ancestors came from — I can truly say that the sister restaurants Perbacco and Gnocco here in New York City are better than 99 percent of the restaurants I ate at while visiting the homeland. That other 1 percent is actually a random sandwich shop that I fell in love with in Florence called Antico Noe. And even Perbacco and Gnocco restaurant owner Gianluca Giovanetti says that the bread in Florence is the best — the bread = one of the reasons why Antico Noe’s sandwiches are to die for.

food at gnocco in nyc

I’m sure you are all used to by now my raves on these two restaurants… The truth is, I’ll never stop blogging about them because 1. They truly are the best Italian restaurants I have ever been to in my entire life, 2. The menus change and the specials are always blowing me away, 3. I’m not the only one that loves these restaurants, reviews all over the internet says fantastic things!

So I blogged last week about Perbacco and that means this week I am writing about Gnocco, again! The other night I went for dinner with my Penn State friend Alexandra and her father who also lives here in the city. Her father actually introduced me to Gnocco — so I can blame him on my addiction for the food.

What did we order? I ordered the special — a pumpkin ravioli which was both comforting, light, and full of flavor. I was surprised at how much more potent the ingredients became once the ravioli began to cool. The flavors stood out more! It came with long gorgeous parmigiano reggiano cheese shaving on top. And yes, I ate every single bite. It would be a sin not to.

But first, we ordered for the table an unbelievable burrata cheese special for an appetizer. The burrata was probably the best burrata I have ever had in my life — the cheese was so silky, fluffy, and perfectly seasoned. The plate came with fluffy, crunchy bread that was toasted with (most likely) olive oil brushed on top. And of course there was the tomato and basil seasonings as well. In all honesty, you can’t find better cheese in any other restaurant.

Alexandra ordered my favorite pizza — the Tartufata — which includes fresh mozzarella, a truffle sauce, mushrooms, and speck. Alexandra is a vegetarian so she ordered it without the speck. The first time I had this pizza I ordered it because the table next to me ordered 2 of the pizzas (for two people) and the smells of the pizza were so divine they floated over to my table and I became a huge fan instantly without even having tasted the pizza.

The evening was filled with spectacular cuisine, amazing company, and fantastic wine. The atmosphere is so cozy and you honestly can’t get any better than Gnocco (and Perbacco of course).

Beauty & Essex

The LES has become such a trendy place to wine and dine, and of course party. It’s also turned into a “hip” place to live, although if you venture to the neighborhood during the day you’ll see that it’s still in pretty rough shape and needs some cleaning up. I know way too many people that used to live in the Lower East Side that experienced bedbugs. So, I would rather just go there for a drink and/or dinner every once in a while. I’m way too happy living in Chelsea.

My boyfriend and I ventured to Beauty & Essex this past Saturday night for a birthday party. Just take a guess what street this restaurant/bar/lounge is located on… that’s right, Essex! When you enter, you have to walk through a pawn shop before being greeted at the actual door to the restaurant. “Are we in the right place?” my boyfriend asked me when we first arrived. And if I hadn’t googled this joint before heading downtown I probably would have been confused myself.

pawn shop outside beauty and essex

The pawn shop that you must go through to get into Beauty & Essex

Once the bouncer opened the door for us, we stepped into a place completely different than the pawn shop. (This is one reason why I love living in New York City, you never know what you’re going to find.) Immediately when you step inside you see a luxurious curved staircase that takes you up to the second floor — this is where we were seated with friends. Beauty & Essex is a fabulous combination of a bar, lounge, and restaurant. If you can’t get a table to eat at, then the next best thing is to order some appetizers at the lounge-section. I actually enjoyed sitting in this seat because it felt more cozy (perfect on a cold winter night) and it allowed more people in the group to move around and chat with everyone.

beauty and essex menu

Instead of ordering dinner, we ordered a ton of appetizers and snacked on those until we were filled. The plates we ordered were primarily fish dishes, something I would never complain about. Some orders included: the tuna poke wonton tacos, lobster pizzetta, lobster tacos, wok fried mushrooms, classic pan con tomate with fresh burrata, creamy parsnip ravioli, and oven braised chicken meatballs.

The tuna tacos were so tasty! The fish was fresh and the tacos added fantastic texture to each bite. Lime wedges were provided to squeeze on top, and usually I consider this a have-to-do but this time there was so much flavor in the dish already it wasn’t a necessity. We ordered the lobster pizzetta without bacon, and I loved the flavors on this plate too! Loaded with tasty chunks of lobster, and lots of cheese on top, you’ll never want your pizza made any other way. I was also surprised with the creamy parsnip ravioli — it was a vegetarian ravioli and I swear I thought there was meat in it! Those vegetarians sure can trick you!

Overall I really enjoyed myself here. The night started with some music playing in the background and as it got later the music was turned up for more of a “club” feel. The energy at this place was also so much fun — I can’t wait to go back!

(photos courtesy of Yelp)

Artichoke Basille’s, Chelsea Pizzeria

Every single time I go to the Chelsea Market, I walk by Artichoke Basille’s pizzeria. I’ve heard a lot about this restaurant and usually I hear all great reviews. That’s why I figured I would bring my mom here when she came to visit me the other weekend. My thoughts were: I always hear good things about this place, I love artichokes, the prices aren’t that bad, and it’s only a 5 minute walk from my apartment… SOLD!

We went rather early (about 6 p.m.) because I got out of work and all I could think about was eating dinner. Plus, my mom is an early-to-bed type of person and going to friday night dinner at the usual 9/9:30 time slot would never fly with her. When we arrived there weren’t that many people there so it was easy for us to get a table (I didn’t expect anything else). But I was rather surprised when I sat down and looked at the menu… The prices on the menu did not match in any way to the prices that were available online. I told the waitress this and she said that she would tell the manager. I mean, for an appetizer it was about a 4 dollar difference online vs the print version at the restaurant! I have never had this happen to me before, it’s seriously such a disappointment. I’ll tell you why too — because I was planning on having us order a few things so we would get a nice sample of what the menu had to offer. But, with the surprise of price increase we opted to order just a simple “half pie.” We easily picked the Artichoke Pizza option since it was our first time there and that’s what the waitress recommended.

pizza from Artichoke Basille

I was happy that the “half pie” sort of option gave us the perfect amount of food — two slices each. The slices were also fairly big so it was definitely a filling dinner. I guess I wasn’t prepared for the style of pizza even though I read the menu… “Artichoke hearts, spinach, cream sauce, mozzarella & pecorino romano cheese.” My eyes must have skimmed over the cream sauce. I love cream sauce, especially on my gnocchi or pasta but this was the first time I’ve ever had it on my pizza. It was delicious! My one complaint: the cream sauce wasn’t spread over the pizza evenly — so I had several bites that had way too much sauce, which was actually a bit unappetizing. Other than that all of the ingredients went beautifully together! I love spinach and love putting it on practically everything. And I love artichokes! What else should I have expected since the name of the restaurant is called Artichoke Basille’s?

Homemade Pita Pizzas

At the end of the week when I have veggies in the fridge that need to be eaten right away, I’ll typically cook them up for some quesadillas or pizzas. Who says you can put asparagus in a quesadilla? And you can pretty much get away with putting whatever you want on a pizza — pineapple, mushrooms, peppers, zucchini … you name it! You probably wouldn’t put all of those ingredients on your pizza at the same time, but you know what I mean.

I never knew how convenient pita bread actually is either! I’m a sucker for thin, crispy crust on my pizza and that’s exactly what pita bread will end up being when you bake it — nice and crispy!

Last night I didn’t have much in my refrigerator, I am actually extremely low on groceries. But what I did have was: pita bread, garlic, fresh mozzarella, and a tomato. So, I split open the pita bread so I could cut out just a thin piece of it and I saved the rest of the bread for some hummus for a snack this weekend. Then I chopped up one small clove of garlic and spread it out on to the bread. Next, I grated some fresh mozzarella and sliced up a few pieces of tomato. I spread on the tomato slices, followed by the cheese and then topped it with 2 pinches of hot pepper flakes. I love my homemade pizza to be garlicy with a bit of a kick!

My little pita pizza was popped into the oven (I used my handy toaster oven) at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes. It was so light, crispy, and flavorful and since it took me maybe 15 minutes to prep and cook — I know I’ll be making it again very soon!