bibim bar

new york, ny

link to yelp

derek and i were in the mood for asian food and decided to wander down to st. mark's and try to find something around there. we ended up at bibim-bar, which i read about on serious eats. it's actually one avenue past the main st. mark's strip. we both ordered the dolsot bibimbap with bulgogi and shared dumplings and kimchee pajeon.

the bibimbap in the hot stone bowl was pretty good. better than manna kitchen, i expect, but not better than k-town. dumplings and pajeon were good, but not great. derek pointed out that it's probably meant to be a late night spot. the evidence - they had a wide selection of sake, it was empty at noon on sunday, the fabric on the seat cushions was stained and dirty, and none of the furniture matched. definitely not worth hiking all the way to first avenue for - might as well walk north to k-town instead.

kitchenette

new york, ny

website

one of my favorite spots near my old apartment in morningside heights. great comfort food - amazing brunches - delicious baked goods. now that derek and i live further downtown, we try to go to the tribeca location whenever we can, which is not that often. derek, however, has the luck to work way downtown, so kitchenette delivers to his office through seamlessweb. to celebrate me running 6.2 miles this weekend without dying, he ordered a slice of my favorite cake and brought it home for us to share!

rich, almost dark, chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. seriously amazing. i also love their fake hostess cupcakes - same great chocolate cake, but filled with a light whipped cream. chocolate trifle to die for. their restaurant menu is great too - very comforting comfort food. sandwiches are made with challah bread, the best grits in the city, yummy omelettes, good fried chicken, etc. it's really hard to go wrong there, except when you forget to save room for dessert.

bar americain

new york, ny

website

one of bobby flay's many manhattan restaurants. not a huge fan of his foodtv shows - i'm more of a paula deen and alton brown kind of girl. derek and i enjoy watching throwdown on foodtv, but we usually root for the other team. that said, the food at bar americain is pretty good. i had a hard time labelling it because even though the style is southwestern comfort food, the prices are not very comforting. this is a fanchy white-tablecloth place, which is probably why it was barely half-full when we walked in at 7 pm on sunday without rezzies.

although our steaks were very good, the highlights for me are the sides. BEST fries ever (thanks to y&a for the rec). super crispy, not too potato-ey, and served with a smoked red pepper mayonnaise. amazing. also BEST cornbread ever. buttery, crispy, and with a unique seasoning i couldn't identify. it's served in the bread basket with dinner rolls that remind me of grade school cafeteria rolls (but in a good way). basically - if you want some cheap comfort food, come in here, order fries, ask for the bread basket, and hope they don't kick you out. customer service here tends to be on the snooty side.

casellula

new york, ny

website

highly recommended by kate and y&a. the three of them suggest ordering the amazing truffle fries, but i have yet to see it on the menu (and i've been three times already...) the cheese plate is my favorite part of the menu. before casellula, i didn't even know that fromagers existed. they do. and the one at casellula is brilliant. you tell your server your cheese preferences (derek and i don't like bleu or stinky cheeses) and how many cheeses you want (at $6 each, be cautious). then the fromager works her magic and throws together a cheese plate that delights and surprises. each cheese comes with a specific condiment that matches the cheese perfectly. our gouda came with a vodka mustard sauce - amazing. our middle cheese came with a sweet brittle - delicious. and derek loved the corn pudding that came with the brie. so good - if you like cheese you have to try this place.

oh, there are other things that are good too. the pig's ass sandwich. it tastes as good as it sounds. the mac and cheese has comte and bacon in it. ridiculous. for dessert - order the chocolate cake. just before you dig in, your server will pour a cup of cool fresh cream over it. a few months ago, my sister cindy and i dined here with y&a before our broadway show. we nearly missed the start of the show because we were in chocolate-cake-fresh-cream heaven...

initially posted 8/31/2009 -- reposted with better photo (but different cheeses...)

madison square market

new york, ny

website

for the rest of october, there's a daily outdoor food court just outside the northwest corner of madison square park. along the west side of the park, there's a crafts market which is a minature version of the union square holiday market, with most of the same vendors. this past weekend, derek and i bypassed the crafts and headed straight to the food court. it's a nice set-up. there are several tables and chairs in the middle of the square surrounded by about eight food booths.

after perusing the menu at hill country's booth, we decided on fatty crab's booth. i ordered the "fatty dog" with XO sausage, pickled radish, cucumbers, and cilantro for $8. it was about half the size of a normal hot dog at 4x the price, but worth every penny. derek had the chorizo taco and slider, which were also very good. small portions meant that we got to order from a second booth - we chose crepes from suzette. i requested a plain crepe with sugar which confused the crepe-maker ("are you sure you don't want bananas?"). derek really enjoyed his chicken-basil crepe. if only all nyc street fairs and markets had food this good.

porchetta

new york, ny

website

finally the day came when jenny and i made it out of our offices early enough to get to porchetta before the crowds hit. we managed to snag 2 of the 6 bar stools inside the restaurant. there's an outdoor bench where another 6 people can sit, but it was cold outside. despite only seating 12, this place gets very busy. the namesake, porchetta, is the highlight and pretty much all they serve. we each ordered a porchetta sandwich and shared the honey-covered brussel sprouts.

eating an entire porchetta sandwich was an incredibly delicious, but a once-in-a-lifetime experience because twice might kill you. only two ingredients - porchetta and bread. the pork, flavored with italian herbs, was juicy and fatty goodness. the chewy and dense ciabatta bun perfectly soaked up all of the extra pork juices (okay, grease). pork gluttony at its best. our advice - don't order an entire sandwich - split it with someone else and then go for a salad afterward. but i know that when you're in the moment, you're going to think, "i have to finish this incredible sandwich." fine. but just this once.

barros luco

new york, ny

CLOSED

given the success i had with the last recommendation from midtown lunch, jenny and i decided to try another - barros luco. i was drawn by the delicious-looking baked empanadas and jenny was drawn by the massive amounts of avocado used on everything.

unfortunately, they were out of the baked empanadas (by 1:00 pm!) so i ordered the greasier, less-filling fried empanadas. the meat inside was very good, but there just wasn't enough of it. sweet potato fries were bland and soggy. jenny got the hot dog, which was good but again, not very filling. i might come back to try one of the baked empanadas, but this seems like a snack spot rather than a lunch destination.

jamaican dutchy cart

locations

website

i had a meeting in midtown near times square that thankfully ended just before lunchtime. i didn't need to be on the east side for another hour, so i thought it was the perfect time to meet up with a west side friend and try out one of the delicious carts that i always read about on midtown lunch, but that are too far away from my office. so i walked around, hoping to run into one of the recommended carts.

fortunately, i managed to find the jamaican dutchy pretty easily. and managed to get eric out of his times square office to join me. the cart is hard to miss - there's a huge flatscreen tv mounted on the cart playing reggae music videos. place your order at the front window and pay/pickup at the side window. we took our lunches to an outdoor seating area just east of the cart. stew chicken with rice and plaintains was amazing. jerk chicken was just okay - a little too spicy and dry for my tastes. next time i'll stick with the stew chicken. good price for great food - i'm really starting to catch on to this whole food cart thing.

ippudo

new york, ny

website

eating a bowl of ippudo ramen brings me back to the ramen bars that were on every street corner in tokyo's shinjuku district. the noodles are perfectly chewy and the broth is perfectly flavored. but what i love about ippudo is that (1) it's walking distance from my apartment and (2) every time i go, they put a unique twist on their standard bowl of tonkotsu ramen. this time, it was a tomato red sauce with sausage that you mixed into the broth. delicious. remember: do not drink all of your broth just in case you want an extra order of noodles. (ask for kaedama!)

this place gets crazy busy, so derek and i usually go at off-peak hours, either early (6 pm) or late (10 pm). otherwise it could be an hour or two before you get a table. at off-peak, it's still a 20-30 minute wait. fortunately, you can get a refreshing sake cocktail at the small bar in the waiting area. you can also admire all of the ramen bowls from japan on the wall behind the bar. don't worry, it is well worth the wait.