citizen cake

san francisco, ca

CLOSED

after fresca, a+ma took us across the street to citizen cake, a cute little shop devoted to desserts. love the name, love the decor, love the desserts. apparently the menu also includes pizzas and sandwiches, but for me, the focus is on the display case full of cakes, brownies, and other desserts. i ordered the s'mores brownie, topped with a gooey toasted marshmallow. rich, decadent, and delicious.

bcd tofu house

new york, ny

website

after a very funny ricky gervais show at MSG, i convinced derek and eric to go to bcd tofu house for a late dinner. despite the fact that i can't handle spicy food, i love spicy tofu seafood soup - sun du bu. i think the version at tofu house is excellent, especially since i can customize the spiciness level. we also ordered kimchi bi bom bop (they don't have kimchi fried rice which is what derek wanted) and pajun. very good.

i have one question, though. at the end of each table, they place a castiron bowl with rice inside. after scooping out the rice and serving each person at the table, they pour water into the bowl and leave it on the end of the table. we decided there were two possible explanations: (1) to make it easier to clean the bowls later and (2) so that you can eat the crispy bits of rice at the bottom of the bowl. do any koreans read my blog? what is the point of the watery rice bowl?

NOTE: koreatown location is apparently closed.

new york hotdog and coffee

new york, ny

CLOSED

derek and i have passed by this place many times, usually on our way to another restaurant. the sign in the window "korean buglogi hot dogs" catches our eye, but we never stop since we're eating elsewhere. derek is particularly intrigued by the combination of an all-american hot dog and korean barbecue. a few weeks ago, we finally decided to make a special trip to satisfy his curiosity.

the verdict? interesting, but not that great. it tasted like sauteed beef and onions on top of a hot dog. the bulgogi wasn't flavorful enough to make a real difference. i had a plain hot dog and although i enjoyed it, it wasn't worth making a special trip for. the whole restaurant is very odd - why the combination of hot dogs and coffee? it just doesn't work.

ristorante cotto caffe

new york, ny

CLOSED

derek and i don't make it out to alphabet city very often. i admit it, we're lazy. east of 1st ave is no man's land. well, smack in the middle of no man's land is a lovely little italian restaurant. a friend had chosen the restaurant for his birthday party, so derek and i were forced to venture to the far east. excellent food, excellent atmosphere, and amazing desserts. there were some issues with the wine - a few bottles had to be sent back when they tasted like vinegar. but the waiters cheerfully replaced them with a different wine.

the atmosphere is very cozy - almost like you're eating in someone's home. handmade pasta. homemade desserts. chatting with the waiter, with the owner, and with the cook ("italian food made by an italian!") for dessert, they brought out 3 platters each with selections of their homemade desserts. one platter had candles in the cakes. they turned off all the lights in the restaurant and sang happy birthday to our friend. even though the pasta was delicious, i think my favorite part was the dessert platter - homemade tiramisu, cheesecake, chocolate cake, and panna cotta pie. definitely worth the trek.

clo wine bar

new york, ny

CLOSED

this wine bar was so much fun that i didn't mind paying over $40 for 8 oz of wine. it's a small space with a single long table surrounded by cabinets storing over 100 bottles of wine. from overhead, a wine list is projected onto the table which you can control by moving your hand over the images (pictured). you can search the list based on wine feature or simply scroll through every bottle with a wave of your hand. the "waiter" gives you a card and an empty wine glass. once you make your decision, you find the right cabinet, insert your card, press the button in front of your wine bottle, and it automatically fills your glass with 4 oz. it took me a while to master the hand-waving interface (hint: you don't have to touch the table, just guide the orange circle over the buttons), but i really enjoyed being able to read the descriptions of each wine.

my first choice was the 2006 gramercy cellars lagniappe. this wine was meant for me: (a) gramercy is my nyc hood, (b) the wine is from the columbia valley in washington state (as am i), and (c) the wine's cabinet location was K8 (!!). 'twas fate, so i didn't mind the $17 price tag. it was an excellent medium-bodied red with a good spicy kick. (note: an entire bottle only costs $40 in a seattle wine shop). my second wine was described as "belonging in a starbucks" and tasting of chocolate and espresso. another amazing wine - it's really a pity i can't remember the name. despite the exorbitant markup, i will definitely visit this place again. it has a beautiful view of central park, i enjoyed being able to make an informed decision about which wine to try, the hand-waving was super-fun, and now i know about an amazing wine that i will purchase from a wine shop next time i'm in seattle.

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.

tanti baci caffe

new york, ny

CLOSED

apparently this restaurant is located in the west village. derek and i have never seen it. it's one of our favorite places to order from on seamlessweb. order online, pay with your credit card, and the food is brought to your door. seamlessweb is daunting - it lists over 300 restaurants serving everything from malaysian to peruvian to dim sum. and that's just the restaurants that will deliver to my apartment. it can be hit-or-miss, so once we find a place we like, we'll usually order from there again.

tanti baci caffe has excellent homemade pasta. i prefer the egg fettucine with bolognese. derek likes the wheat pasta in pomodoro with a side of meatballs. the garlic bread is buttery garlicky goodness with flecks of red pepper flakes. i don't know how they do it, but the pasta arrives perfectly al dente and the garlic bread is crispy on the edge and soft in the middle. why bother cooking when high-quality meals can be delivered to your door?

xie xie

new york, ny

CLOSED

asian ingredients on a baguette-like bread, but definitely not a traditional banh mi sandwich. it's okay, though, because the xie xie sandwiches are delicious. and very filling.

i had the shredded-chicken-smoked-egg-salad sandwich which came with pickled cabbage and cilantro. unique and tasty. to use the banh mi comparison, the cabbage took the place of the marinated vegetables and the smoked egg salad seemed to play the pate role. y had the make-your-own sweet glazed pork sandwich, which was also very tasty. the pork, sweet and sour "condiment" and steamed mantao buns came separately, but unfortunately she ran out of mantao buns before she ran out of meat. next time, we'll definitely have to ask for extra buns.

irving mill

new york, ny

CLOSED

derek and i really like this place. inside, the rustic cabin feel and friendly service (and beer selection!) remind us of the pacific northwest. i'm disappointed that they took the pork toast off the menu - deep fried "toast" made out of pork covered with egg-salad and caviar - so i hope that comes back soon. derek was very impressed with the burger and fries. he said that it tastes almost as good as shake shack's, but has a bigger portion of meat and better gooey cheese.

another reason it doesn't feel like nyc - the space is cavernous and the tables are spread out so there's room to breathe (thus the first-ever stroller-friendly tag). note: there's no t-mobile blackberry service in the back of the restaurant, so it's also a good spot to hide from the powers-that-be.

initially posted 8/1/2009 -- reposted with better photo.

acadie french crepes

santa monica, ca

CLOSED

i wandered into this little place near the farmer's market in santa monica. a perfectly light fluffy crepe (i like mine "plain" with butter and powdered sugar) and a good cup of coffee. sat at the bar with a nice view of people walking through the market.

i know i typically do two paragraphs, so here's the second one. not much more to say about this place and i still have two more places to post about!

zarela

new york, ny

CLOSED

one of my favorite close-to-work spots and possibly my favorite mexican restaurant in the city. the cuisine is apparently authentic oaxacan, but all i know is that it's yummy. my go-to dish here is the chicken mole enchiladas. best mole ever. note that it appears as an appetizer on the dinner menu but is definitely enough food for an entree. if the waiter balks because of the $15 table minimum, just assure him that you'll make up the difference in alcohol. unfortunately the enchiladas didn't translate well with my blackberry camera so i took a picture of my last flauta and a pile of guac instead. sorry.

i have been here a lot, so i also recommend the flautas, tamales, sangria, watercress salad, and arroz con crema. i don't drink tequila, but my friends enjoy the flavored margaritas. definitely save room for desserts - they're AMAZING. the peanut butter pie, the chocolate pecan pie, and the crepes with caramel sauce are the best, imho.

updated: mantao

new york, ny

CLOSED

see link for July 16 post.

attempt #2 was more successful. pictured is the curry chicken pancake roll. chicken was actually moist and the pancake is like a cong you bing but without the scallions. the egg mantao with xiang chang was pretty good, but it's difficult to screw up anything that has chinese sausage in it. the mantao itself was slightly more moist than last time. jenny ordered the sesame noodles which she said were just okay and could use more actual sesame flavor. her chrysanthemum tea was good, my milk green tea was not so good.

to summarize - it's still a hit or miss spot, but at least we had a few hits today. will probably go back again to try the rest of the menu. even so, the quality is nowhere near the level of the asian sandwich shops you can find outside of midtown east. oh midtown.

bouley bakery & market

new york, ny

CLOSED

jenny-recommended. it's my go-to place for a lowkey breakfast/brunch whenever i'm downtown. it's market-like with a pastry station, a sandwich station, a buffet station, a coffee station, etc. once you make your purchase you can take your tray to the next room which has comfortable chairs and a lovely view of people walking by with strollers.

i've never been able to resist the pastries so no idea if the buffet/sandwiches are any good. i had the vegetable quiche which was filled with carrots and i ate it so fast i almost forgot to take a picture.

mantao

new york, ny

CLOSED

a few weeks ago, jenny and i were walking back to our offices from lunch when we noticed the sign for a new restaurant opening up on the block - mantao chinese sandwiches! since then, we've been waiting waiting waiting for it to open. i finally went today and ordered the pork bun, short rib+kimchee bun, and shrimp chips. see pic. (it came with a salad too, but who wants to see that?)

eh. it was alright. meat was kind of dry and tasteless. shrimp chips were dense and cracker-y. i hoped for a mini-ippudo/momofuku/bao-like outpost near work, but i was just setting myself up for disappointment. that being said, it is right next to the office, so i'll probably go again and try something different on their yummy-sounding menu.

will update this post if i go again and if i can figure out how to update old posts.