Shake Shack, Blue Smoke Coming to Battery Park City

In other news, Zagat informs us that Shake Shack and Blue Smoke will also be coming to the tip of the island (unfortunately, not until 2011).

Super Exciting News for FiDi

This will be the shortest post ever, but I had to share the good news (for anyone who still reads this).... BLT Bar and Grill has finally opened in the new W Hotel in the Financial District!

Bienvenue au Macaron Cafe!

 Ok ok, so I know I've been gone for a while, and I really have no good excuse why, but I'm back!  And... I'm dedicating my return post to Ellie, my biggest fan and connoisseur of French pastries.  For months now I have been anticipating the opening of a lovely bakery around the corner from my office called Macaron Cafe.  Finally, they have opened and the shop looks delightful.  Running into the office late, I poked my head in to grab an iced coffee and something to tide me over until lunch.  My options seemed fairly limited at 10:30 a.m., so I quickly chose a plain croissant.  Initially, I was sort of turned off by the prepackaging.  For some reason, to me pre-wrap screams "not fresh".  I was wrong in the case of the Macaron croissant.  It is as fresh as can be, and although simple, my breakfast tastes delicious (I'm eating them as we speak).

In addition to an assortment of croissants (plain, chocolate, almond, and bacon/eggs), the breakfast menu includes Tartine Organic Butter, Tartine O. Butter & Jam, and a variety of crepes (avec sugar, jam or nutella), as well as yogurt with granola and fruits.

ps. Macaron flavors include, but are not limited to, Dark Chocolate, White Choloate, French Vanilla, Violet Flower, Rose & Litchee, Espresso, Pistaccio, Praline, Nutella, Coconut, Cassis, Lemon, Raspberry, Strawberry, Passion Fruit

Attention! : the macarons cost a pretty penny, $2.25 for one, $13 for six, and the iced coffee is a little pricier than the street vendor's ($3.00)

This Little Piggy Read "Time for a Drink: the Michelada | Serious Eats : Recipes"

I love Micheladas more than almost anything. If I could choose one drink to enjoy for the rest of my days, this would be it. That being said, I am also fairly territorial so I find this article slightly annoying. Oh well... click here to check it.

My personal recipe:

- Rim glass with Mexican Seasoning (not telling you which one!) / sea salt
- squeeze limes
- add Worcestershire sauce
- add Cholula or Tapatio (Cafe Habana uses Tapatio and it is great)
- add Mexican beer (Corona, Pacifico, Sol, Modelo Especial, Negra Moldelo)
- Enjoy!

ps. I also love Clamato!

This Little Piggy went on a Brunch Adventure

On a happier note (from the below Bloomberg post), I must have gone on one of the most amazing brunch excursions ever this past Saturday.  Initially, we were just grabbing brunch at some place I'd never heard of in the West Village, but the plans changed.  We started our adventure off at Choptank (on Bleeker @ Grove) for a Bloody Mary and oysters and decided it would be fun to track down the best BM in the West Village.  This turned into an all day drinking and eating affair, eventually ending at a friend's apartment in Tribeca.  I'll let the pictures tell the story.  Enjoy!

The Choptank Oysters and Bloody Mary were awesome!  We surveyed four types of oysters, and though I can't remember what my favorite was called, the most clever name was the Naked Cowboy Oysters, which were from LI.  The BM was different than the standard Bloody Mary.  Besides using a secret spice they call "grains of paradise", they also drizzle the top with EVOO, which adds a surprisingly delicious touch.

At this point, we had decided to make this a Bloody Mary challenge, and headed over to Joseph Leonard (Waverly Pl @ Christopher).  We ordered the Bloody Mary No. 20, which came with a beer chaser, and the Lyla’s Mama’s Lemonade (maker’s mark, lemonade and cayenne).  This BM was smokier than the one at Choptank.  I thought both drinks were good, though I wouldn't write home about the BM.  We also ordered some french fries and the frisee and lardons (fried egg, brioche and red wine vinaigrette).  This was absolutely exquisite!

The fried egg clearly sparked conversation about the Truffled Egg Toast at 'Ino (Bedford @ Downing), so there we went!  This was fantastic as usual and went very nicely with the Chardonnay and Trebbiano we ordered.  Not much else to say about this, except that we had a table by the window and it was lovely.

Then we were off to Lure Fish Bar (Prince @ Mercer).  Obviously we ordered a Bloody Mary, as well as some sake, to accompany an array of sushi and sashimi.  Everything was great, especially the toro and kanpachi!

 

Between the oysters, egg toasts and sushi, clearly we had worked up a sweet tooth, so we stopped into Kee's (Thompson @ Spring) for some coconut and rosewater macarons and champagne and tiramisu truffles.  Then we paused briefly in Walker's (North Moore @ Varick) to share a beer, before heading to Turks & Frogs Tribeca (Greenwich St @ Desbrosses) for wine and a snack (Sigara Boregi - Phyllo scrolls stuffed with Turkish feta, cooked till golden brown).

All of this leading up to a girlfriend's Mexican-themed house warming party in Tribeca.  What an amazing Saturday!  Oink oink!

Bloomberg.com: News

Ok ok, so I know back on March 23rd I blogged about how wonderful the brunch at Pulino's was.  Additionally, I hope you have learned over the course of the past 6 or so months that I have a tough time saying bad things about people and places.  So yes, the brunch experience I had was delightful.  The food was good, our waitress was pleasant, and after three cocktails I was in a pretty swell mood.  That aside, I would never wait in line there.  It may just be that I am not huge on pizza, but I just don't see the draw.  I mean at the end of the day, to me pizza is pizza.  Sure, I love Motorino.  I also really enjoyed Keste, but ultimately, I am not going to wait in line for any of them.  Furthermore, I will say I found Pulino's to be a little pricey for what it was.  I guess combined we had about 5 or 6 drinks, but still for one pizza it came to over $100 for two people. 

Something else that irks me is how it is negatively affecting the other businesses in the area.  Bill's, or whatever that antique place is called, wasn't too pleased in a recent article, and now Cafe Colonial has finally shuttered due to the increased rent.

Anyways, the point of this post is to shine light on Ray Sutton's recent review on Bloomberg.  Basically, he says what I am too nice to put in print.

"Chef Nate Appleman’s Left Coast, arugula noodlings just miss the target. His boss, restaurateur Keith McNally, can’t win them all."

While he really elaborates on all that is wrong with Pulino's and my post basically screams their praise, I must say, I am so sick of hearing about Pulino's that I must second Sutton's opinion and retract most of what was said in my initial review.  Sorry for the disappointment. 

This Little Piggy loves Felicia's Tamales!

I figure I'll just get all of this Mexican food out of my system since I've thrown about 4 posts at you about it in the past few weeks.  Sorry, I can't help myself, I love it!  Anyways, my fantastic friend Felicia, who you have been hearing so much about, made these delicious tamales for one of our supper club meet ups a couple weeks ago.  They were awesome!  We cut them into bite size pieces and she served them with salsa, although they were tasty on their own.  Not dry at all, which is often what can really ruin a tamale.  Since she made them, I'll leave the details to her.  Check out her post on The New York Experiment.

This Little Piggy celebrates Cinco de Mayo!

I'm not quite sure why, but I was in a FANTASTIC mood yesterday.  I literally think I laughed more yesterday than I have in the past couple years combined.  It was as if someone gave me laughing pills.  It was pretty amazing.  Additionally, it was Cinco de Mayo, which I decided was one of the best holidays ever.  Mind you I thought I was Mexican for about 1/2 my life, I mean, I grew up in San Diego... what do you expect?!  Anyways, a small group of family and friends decided we would celebrate at Meade's in the South Street Seaport.  I know, I know... you're probably thinking this is one of those tourist joints that sits out on the pier selling frozen/fried crab cake sandwiches and watered-down margaritas.  You'd be wrong.

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Meade's is a quaint little joint on the corner of Peck Slip and Water Street.  Definitely what you would call a "neighborhood bar".  I usually go there for brunch on Saturdays because they A. allow dogs inside, and B. have a drink special.  They also have a bunch of board games and Jenga, which is pretty exciting!  Did I mention that the people who work there rock as well?!  I am by no means saying the food is something to travel downtown for, but some of their items, mainly the quesadilla and guacamole, are pretty darn delicious.  Last night they had a fiesta with a bunch of Mexican items that are typically not on the menu.  They sold out of the taquitos within hours, though they saved me a plate (see above, apologies for the quality, my fabulous friend Felicia too it from her iphone).  They were incredible and reminded me of home.


Until next year... Feliz Cinco de Mayo!  (ay ay ay!)