clinton st baking co

new york, ny

website

jenny, a native new yorker, is an encyclopedia of amazing places to eat in nyc. she chose clinton st baking co for dinner, which i had heard of, but have never gone to because while they are famous for their brunch, they are infamous for absurdly long lines. and i hate waiting in lines, especially when i'm hungry. jenny's brilliant idea, however, was to go for dinner when the restaurant is much calmer and easier to get into. clinton st baking co is known for its blueberry pancakes. despite the fact that it was dinnertime, everyone was ordering pancakes and the scent of baked blueberries filled the air.

derek had another brilliant idea - ordering a plate of blueberry pancakes to share as an appetizer so we could still order actual dinner entrees. the menu is full of southern specialties - i ordered the burger which was just okay (onion overkill). derek's fried chicken was pretty good. the pancakes, however? amazing - possibly the best pancakes i've ever had. the blueberries were sweet and delicious. the pancakes somehow had a perfectly crisp exterior with a perfectly light and fluffy interior. rich and buttery, there was no need to add the warm maple butter on the side. i now understand why their brunch lines are ridiculous.

doughnut plant

new york, ny

website

i almost wish that i didn't know about this doughnut place. i'm a doughnut fanatic (if you couldn't tell from my blog) and these might be the most delicious doughnuts i've ever had. the icing on the yeast doughnuts has extremely rich flavor (the valrhona chocolate is like eating an expensive chocolate bar) and the cake doughnuts are moist and spiced perfectly. who knew that ordinary-looking doughnuts could be elevated to such heights?

michelle, derek, and i walked all the way to their lower east side location and waited in a 20 minute line. by the time we got to order, they had run out of our favorites - the valrhona chocolate yeast doughnut and the creme brulee doughnut! in our despair, we overcompensated by getting a boxful of doughnuts: three vanilla bean yeast doughnuts (pictured) and a variety of cake doughnuts - the blackout, chocolate, roasted chestnut, carrot cake, and gingerbread. next time we'll need to get there earlier.

super taste

new york, ny

link to yelp

it's only a few days into the new year, but derek and i have already tried two of the five restaurants listed in our 2010 wish list. the first is super taste, a small hole-in-the-wall in chinatown. michelle, derek and i braved the icy cold winds and trekked down to east chinatown (away from touristy chinatown) to slurp down some hot beef noodle soup.

it was 4:30 pm when we arrived, but it was still packed. because the door kept opening with new guests, the restaurant itself was freezing inside. we kept our winter coats on while we ate. michelle and derek ordered the beef in hot & spicy soup, i had the regular beef noodle soup. the hand-pulled noodles were the perfect texture - dense and chewy. i liked the sliced beef and the soup itself was delicious. all for less than $5 a bowl. derek and i are considering moving closer to chinatown so we can have more meals like this.

sugar sweet sunshine bakery

new york, ny

website

i've never really liked frosting (in contrast to my brother, sister, and nephew who could eat tubs of the stuff.) at weddings or birthday parties, i always scrape off the frosting before eating the cake. i'm the kind of person that walks into a cupcake shop and requests unfrosted cupcakes. (the usual response is "um, isn't that a muffin?"). then JINNY (she deserves all caps for this one) introduced me to sugar sweet sunshine bakery cupcakes and i've been a frosted cupcake fanatic ever since.

sugar sweet sunshine's frosting is amazing - it has just the right amount of sweetness. when fresh, the cake is extremely moist and tasty. even derek likes the cupcakes here. my favorite cupcake is bob. he's a yellow cake with chocolate almond buttercream. the frosting tastes like rich chocolate ice cream, which can be a bit intense but it is balanced out by the yellow cake. skip magnolia bakery and its ridiculous line and sugary frosting. in my humble opinion, bob is the perfect cupcake.

congee village

new york, ny

website

i love congee. it's comfort food. my mom used to make it for me when i got sick and i even make it for derek when he gets sick. of course, i prefer to have someone else cook it, but it's hard to find. why aren't there more chinese restaurants serving this stuff? several years ago, cindy c dragged me out of morningside heights and downtown to get congee at congee village. it's still my favorite congee place in the city and fortunately now i live much closer.

derek and i come here frequently with friends for good cheap chinese food. a bowl of pork and preserved egg congee for $2.95 is enough to feed two people. you tiao (deep fried dough) to dip into the congee is only $1.00. zha man tou (fried bread) to dip into a plate of sweetened condensed milk (yum) for just $1.50. you can also order sauteed vegetables and noodles, but make sure you get the essentials.

sorella

new york, ny

website

wow - what a find! a fantastic little restaurant that was highly recommended by new york magazine. the front half of the restaurant looks like a typical wine bar - jenny and i laughed as we saw someone ordering a meat and cheese plate with their wine - but the back half of the restaurant is completely different. the ceiling is made of glass with little hanging crystals sparkling in the sunlight. all the benefits of an outdoor patio without the bugs. it's a lovely space, although i recommend coming before sunset. super comfy chairs too.

the food was amazing. pictured is the summer squash. sounds simple enough, but the crusty bread, seasoned zucchini, fresh ricotta, fried basil leaves, and olive-oil sauce together made food magic. seriously, squash has never tasted so good. the corn-bacon risotto was so rich and flavorful that we nearly licked the plate clean. dessert - the orange genoise (cake) - light and creamy and yummy. sorella also has an excellent wine selection with a long list of wines by the glass. jenny's gavi was quite tasty and my dolcetto something-or-other had a remarkable flavor. we will definitely come back here again. and again. and again.