February 8, 2010 · 1 Comment
First: this is the jam you need to listen to while you read this post: D.A.N.C.E. by Justice. A lot of times I come onto City Mitten and tell you I’ve found a new favorite thing. Well, you can add this one to the list: Brooklyn Bowl.
Brooklyn Bowl is a new bowling alley in Williamsburg. It’s also a bar. And a restaurant (serving Blue Ribbon food!). And a concert space. It is amazing. It’s huge and the walls are wooden and the classic bowling theme is done well. It’s truly beautiful.
Basically, I’m thinking of having my birthday party here. And if I don’t, then you should. Because it is awesome.
We went to Brooklyn Bowl for the Hot Chip afterparty/dj set. They had a show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg earlier in the evening. Oh, and that’s them djing in that top picture. Hot Chipppppp!
Um, I guess this is the part where I tell you how long we waited outside and how freezing it was. There was a group of nine of us and we waited outside for at least a half hour. We were pretty miserable but we learned our lesson that we will pass on to you: If you’re going to an event/show at Brooklyn Bowl, buy your tickets ahead of time.
Once we finally got in, I was super impressed. Just thought to myself, “Yes, this is Brooklyn. I love you.” I also couldn’t get over the number of good-looking people in attendance. Hello.
We Are Wolves came on and did a live show first and they were a bunch of crazy cats with crazy hats. Totally fun:
They were cool. Oh my goodness I cannot believe how much I was dancing! It helps a lot to have some of your favorite people around, but the overall atmosphere was just fantastic. Big ups to my friends Jodi and Sophia because they had been walking around Manhattan allllll dayyyy and still got down pretty good.
Hot Chip came out probably around 2, with a bunch of their crew dancing on stage. I loved it. The dance floor is huge and everybody was dancing, doing their own crazy thing and it was so much fun! I think the last time I stayed out that late dancing was on a Spring Break trip to Cancun in college. Ha!
Moral of the story: Brooklyn Bowl was definitely the best thing I did this weekend. And yes, I did watch the Superbowl. :)
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: bars, bowling, brooklyn, brooklyn bowl, concerts, dancing, hipsters, hot chip, i love waiting in lines, it's freezing outside, new york, new york city, superbowl sunday, venues, we are wolves, williamsburg
You’re never going to guess where this mini ice cream is from. Actually, you will, since the name of the restaurant is in the title of this blog post. Opps. But it was at the Oak Room at the Plaza. The Plaza. They serve ice cream cones. Hilarious.
Okay, remember yesterday when I voiced the need for feeling like you’re being taken care of when you’re at a nice restaurant? Well if you’re not sure what this is like, go to the Oak Room. You feel like a million bucks. The place just looks like a million bucks. Actually more. But I don’t want to think about numbers.
The Oak Room is so nice I almost didn’t blog about it. I certainly didn’t take five million pictures like I do normally. There’s just too much class. And my cousin was embarrassed. Haha. There was a girl there wearing a suit that looked like it came from the closet of Hilary Clinton. And she was probably younger than sixteen. That’s just the Upper East Side, y’all!
Anyway, the Oak Room and Bar is somewhere worth going to. I had such a great time. Lobster and corn bisque and hanger steak. A million bucks. I’m just going to keep saying that.
The only thing I wasn’t too impressed with was the Oak Bar:
It’s chocolate-praline mousse and brown butter ice cream, but it sure didn’t taste like it. It tasted like a frickin Butterfinger. Yep. My cousin thought it was amazing. I had one bite. So that’s that.
Here’s a picture of my cousin telling me to “Stop it” with the pictures (seriously):
And those were the only pictures I took. Ha.
We walked down a hallway for a bit and saw this ginormous room with nobody in it:
Even in the basement, huge areas were blocked off. How much would I love to explore the Plaza? It has so much history! I just learned that it was originally opened as a bar for men only. Which means white men, at that. What an interesting world we live in.
And now here is my favorite part of the evening. So I had just enjoyed a fabulous meal and fabulous wine with my fabulous cousin. When we came out of the the restaurant, it was lightly snowing. When I came out of the subway stop near my apartment it was still lightly snowing. And gorgeous. So I had the hugest smile on my face because I just love everything and then I get up to my apartment entryway and what do I see? An action figure sitting on one of the posts, covered in snow:
Just like that. It was so great. In the morning, he was gone, but when I came back from work the next day, he was there again! I wonder where he is now.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: a million bucks, butterfingers, dessert, hilary clinton, ice cream cones, new york, nyc, restaurant week, restaurants, the oak room, the oak room and bar, the plaza, Things I Like, upper east side
Uh oh, City Mitten might have some bad news for ya. Bad news is this may be the first restaurant post that I’m not going to rave the entire time. In fact, I’m going to start with a rant. And it may make me sound a little bit like a snob, but Lisa and I went to Mesa Grill for lunch this week and we both decided this must be done.
First of all, Bobby Flay is famous. Mesa Grill is his first restaurant. The food is phenomenal. Phenomenal. I enjoyed everything. But the service sucks.
I’ve been to many a nice restaurant in New York. And few times have I had to wait for a table when I had a reservation. In fact, this was only my second time. And my very first for a lunch. A lunch. That’s just absurd.
The main point is that at Mesa Grill you do not feel like you’re being taken care of. And at a high caliber restaurant, you should. Restaurant Week or not. Lisa had to make some major effect to flag the server down for another glass of wine. That shouldn’t happen. Our tablecloth was dirty. They gave us eachother’s desserts. And what really bothered me is that when they gave us clean flatware for our dessert, they put it onto our dirty table cloth! They’re supposed to use one of those little knives and clear off the table cloth for you, but nope, there’s my brand new fork on top of all our crumbs. Perfect!
Ha. It was funny because I’m really not a snob. Sure, I have my moments, but you all know my favorite restaurants are kitschy and laid-back, not stuffy and pretentious. But when you’re going to a famous chef’s restaurant and the prices are high, the whole experience should be above par.
End of rant. Let’s talk about the food. As I said, it was phenomenal. Let’s take a look, shall we?
Spicy salmon tartare. I am in love with tartare. It is so good. The best I’ve had was tuna tartare at Kittichai last year, but this was simply delicious. Had just the perfect amount of spice, too.
Cornmeal crusted chili relleno. I’m glad Lisa ordered it because I was just curious what it looked like. And now for me:
Mahi mahi! I think the last time I had mahi mahi was on a family vacation in California. Not sure why. Because it is very good. One thing I like a lot about Bobby Flay is the presentation and the color, as well as the fact that the flavors are strong. He’s got that part right.
Dessert:
Chocolate peanut butter flan with Kahlua whipped cream. Lisa got the pineapple upside down cake but kept stealing mine because it was better. So rich and creamy and just good!
One final note: I hate restaurants (in general) where they have to move the table in order for you to get in. Sometimes the tables are wayy too close together. I mean I’m not teeny tiny by any means, but I can’t imagine being larger and trying to squeeze into one of those things. And then once you’re in, you’re trapped. Especially when the tables on both sides are occupied. It was a little hysterical when I tried to get out when we were finished, but more so because nobody bothered to help me. Except Lisa, of course. Ha. I told you, I’m not a fan of the service at Mesa Grill. Just the food.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: being whiney, bobby flay, chile, chocolate, desserts, food, mahi mahi, mesa grill, new york, new york city, nyc, nyc restaurant week, peanut butter, poor service, restaurant week, restaurants, tartare
Did you know there’s a Restaurant Week Truck? Well, there is and it’s been taking soups all over the city from various Restaurant Week restaurants this week and last. It’s been parked a few blocks from my office the past few days so you know I had to check it out.
I went on Monday and I brought Will with me ’cause he’s one of my faves. Here was the menu for the day:
I haven’t been to any of those three restaurants, but it’s pretty hard for me to pass up a bisque. So I didn’t. Will got the roasted corn from Maya because he loves his veggies.
I was especially impressed with the branding of the Restaurant Week Truck. They had a Coca-Cola station set up next to it giving out free 100-calorie bottles, as they are one of the sponsors of Restaurant Week. And the paper bags were cute:
Inside the bags were the Restaurant Week menus for the three restaurants who made the soups as well as a Restaurant Week booklet. And apparently Will got a JetBlue keychain, but I did not. Haters!
Will liked his corn soup and said that he was ready for another and I liked my shrimp bisque from North Square as well:
Nice work, Restaurant Week Truck, you get an A.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: corn, food trucks, maya, new york city, north square, nyc, restaurant week, restaurant week truck, shrimp bisque, soup, will
This is Anne and I met up with her on her birthday to have a lovely lunch at SD26. Now I know not everyone was a fan of yesterday’s Tocqueville post, but I could venture to guess that SD26 will be a little more fun.
First of all, this is what they presented to me when I got to the table:
It’s an electronic wine list! I had no idea! It listed wines by type and price and region and who knows what else. It was Anne’s birthday so I joined her in a glass of champagne. Cheers!
This is raviolo with a soft cooked egg in the middle and truffled butter (yes). So when you cut it in the middle, the egg oozed out. It was quite nice, if I do say so.
Here we have the main: Guinea hen, which was truly delicious. And I love, love leeks. I wonder if my mom thinks this picture is gross but it was SO GOOD.
And look, more middle-aged women. I feel like when I walk around the city, I’m always surrounded by young people like myself. Either I’m not paying attention or all the older people are at lunch. This is what I like to believe. Anne and I wondered/hoped we would be doing this when we were older, going out to fancy lunches and having glasses of wine in the middle of the afternoon with our lady friends. What a nice life. I mean I already think to myself that my life is one giant vacation sometimes, but that would be fantastic. Just don’t let me wear my hair like that.
ANYWAY.
What was kind of cool was to the right of the picture is the kitchen, which you can look into. It was an open space and when I looked in on our way out, I saw some people eating at a table inside. I wonder if they were the chefs!
And now, are you ready? I promised you a dessert that I am in love with that is not chocolate cake. Which, by the way, is kind of funny because I just made chocolate cake this very moment. But this was better. It was so good that the couple next to us told us we had to get it. So here we go:
Panna Cotta! I didn’t even know what it was when I ordered it. Turns out it’s an Italian dessert (we were at an Italian restaurant) made of cream, milk, sugar, and gelatin. And look at all of those vanilla beans! Mmmm… It was very light and very delicious and I am very much in love.
Whee!
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: champagne, dessert, food, hen, middle-aged women, mom hates my pictures of meat, new york city, panna cotta, raviolo, restaurant week, restaurants, sd26, vanilla beans, wine
Welcome to Winter Restaurant Week in New York City. It started last week and continues through this week (and perhaps beyond if some restaurants extend it, which wouldn’t be tooo shocking). So, let’s have a go, shall we? First up was Tocqueville.
Sometimes I think Restaurant Week is only for middle-aged women, but I think it depends on where you chose to go. I went to Megu last year for Winter Restaurant Week and it was filled with nothing but hotshot couples. But at Tocqueville… well, you can see for yourself.
The complimentary cheese biscuits (which I’m sure is not what they are actually called) were a nice touch.
This is the squash soup which was bright yellow and not orange, as my camera suggests. (MY BIRTHDAY IS NEXT MONTH SOMEBODY BUY ME A BETTER CAMERA.)
Lisa’s app: duck. And yes, that looks like spam behind it.
And now for main courses:
This is the ravioli, which, when they put it in front of me, I was totally like wtf. I mean what is that? Well, once I took my fork to stab it, I realized it was just one giant ravioli! That slippery thing on the bottom was one giant noodle. I don’t think noodle is the right word. Hmm… But it was basically a giant open-faced ravioli. And it was interesting.
Now this is funny. Since this was last week and I did not take notes or upload the pictures right away (lesson learned!) I could not for the life of me remember what Lisa’s main course was. So I texted her and she replied, “that beef thing.” So there you have it, “that beef thing” from Tocqueville. Oh, I am bringing ALL the high brow today! I will tell you that Lisa let me try her “beef thing” and it was better than my ravioli. Just so you know.
And now what really matters: DESSERT!
Okay, so far in my life and the Restaurant Weeks I’ve participated in, I can tell you my favorite desserts have been from Gotham Bar & Grill and Kittichai. They were chocolate cake and they were good. I’m going to throw in Mercer Kitchen on that list too.
Anyway, Tocqueville was pretty good. It was a chocolate “torte” and I liked it. It was tiny.
I lalso earned something very important about myself when I was at Tocqueville: I hate Port. It’s discusting.
Okay, so Tocqueville was pretty good but honestly not good enough to write home about. Now, what might have been good enough to write home about was the LOBSTER the woman at the table next to us ordered. It was quite fragrant and looked pretty nice. Lisa and I kept staring at it. The woman, obviously, was not ordering off the Restaurant Week menu. Fancy lady with her real New York accent.
And guess what, tomorrow I have a fancy dessert to tell you about that I absolutely loved from another restaurant. And it wasn’t chocolate cake! Stay tuned…
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: beef, chocolate torte, desserts, duck, fancy people, fancy places, food, lisa, new york city, new york restaurant week, ravioli, restaurant week, restaurants, squash soup, winter, wish i could eat lobster all the time
Did you ever listen to Good Charlotte? You know, before they got huge and lost whatever it was that originally made them famous? Are they still playing? Who knows. But in high school, they were my band. So for this post, East Coast Anthem it is.
“Walking on the streets of D.C., on the East Coast, where I live…”
Okay, I was walking on the streets of D.C., but it’s not where I live. It’s where my friend Ben lives. This picture above is his home and it was huge and kind of awesome, even though you can’t tell from the picture of his front door and all the people standing in front of it. But it was nice.
I like these pictures of D.C. because it shows you how different all the homes were. They were all kinds of shapes and colors and they give the city a lot of character.
But the best part about where Ben lives in D.C. is that it’s close enough to walk to the White House. So we did:
We waved to Obama from the outside and pretended to take pictures for other tourists when they asked us to. Just kidding, we took pictures for them.
So that’s my first time back to D.C., y’all. I’m hoping to go back for the Cherry Blossom Festival in the spring. Holler to that. I hope you’ve enjoyed City Mitten: D.C. and next week we return to our regular programming with City Mitten: Restaurant Week. Hellz yeah.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: apartments, ben, colors, dc, good charlotte, homes, houses, obama, president barack obama, restauarant week, the white house, tourists, washington dc
Hi. Those are sliders. On top is onions. All delicious.
Let’s have a chat. When I hear the restaurant is called “Matchbox,” I immediately think of a few things. First is Smashbox, the makeup brand. Second, would be Matchbox 20. Third would be a boxcar and fourth is an actual matchbox. I’m not sure why I felt that was important, but I did.
Now, tell me we’re going to a pizza place in D.C. called Matchbox and I think first, that the best pizza is already in New York, and second, I should expect white and red checkered tablecloths. Perhaps it was because Matchbox was billed to me as the “pizza place down the street” that I had such low expectations, because let me just say, Matchbox is not your typical pizza shop. Do you order heaping plates of sliders at your pizza shop with gorgonzola cheese? I didn’t think so.
Matchbox is not a pizza place. It is a really good restaurant and one of its dishes happens to be pizza. So here it is:
Tempura sandwich for Missy.
Crab soup for P, which I ate.
Pizza also for P, which he ate.
Meatball pizza for Benny Boy.
I didn’t take a picture of everyone else’s food because we weren’t besties yet.
And I hate to say it (not really) but I was the winner. Since we were there on Sunday morning during brunch hours and there was an actual brunch menu (not to mention that I, as a New Yorker <3 brunch), I ordered something completely off the charts:
Stuffed french toast. With honey cream cheese inside. Maple butter. Fruit Salad. Complete.
I am nice and I share and everyone who tried it almost died. It was amazing.Why is it that you can put cream cheese with anything and it is pretty much delicious? Bagels? Check. Cheesecake? Check. With pickles and bologna (don’t ask)? Check. French Toast? CHECK. It is goooooood.
So Matchbox was fun. And I love going out to eat with large groups of people. Oh and this is what their menus look like:
And here is the entire gang:
So basically, if you’re in D.C. and you need a place to go for some good eats, I would definitely recommend Matchbox. Leave your preconceived notions behind.
In other news, when we were there, we saw a kid wearing a “South Butt” sweatshirt. Apparently this is a thing. (Get it, North Face, South Butt?) I digress. I like Matchbox. The end.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: brunch, crab soup, cream cheese, dc, food, french toast, friends, gorgonzola, matchbox, matchbox 20, north face, onions, pizza, restaurants, sliders, smashbox, south butt, tempura, the boxcar children, washington dc, yummies
If you need some food after the bar in New York, I can give you a million suggestions (chicken and rice at 53rd and 6th, for one). But after the bar in D.C.? I wasn’t so sure.
UNTIL…
Ben’s Chili Bowl, people. Apparently this is the spot to be because everyone and their brother’s second cousin was there. They had a bouncer managing the line outside. Insanity. Which is why I tweeted this picture:
I mean do you SEE this? The line wraps around itself!
So many people in line for chili. Chili half-smokes, chili dogs, chili fries, chili hamburgers… There’s a ton of other stuff on their menu too, but who cares? Obviously it’s about the chili!
This is only half of what we ordered. Sure, there were five of us, but we ordered a LOT and after I took this picture, they brought us the rest.
There was a big picture of Obama on one of the walls from when he was here, I have no idea why I didn’t take a picture of it. Ben (my friend Ben, not Ben’s Chili Bowl Ben) told us it was right after the inauguration and a little bit of a big deal.
Anyway, if you’re wondering, the chili had a nice kick and was definitely worth the wait. And of course we ate it ALL because 3/5 of us were boys and you know how they do. Seriously, I love people who know how to eat. :)
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: after the bar, barack obama, ben's chili bowl, chicken and rice, chili, dc, food, i like boys who eat, long lines, restaurants, washington dc
January 26, 2010 · 1 Comment
These are my friends, whom I love. Our first meal in D.C. was a fancy one, at a dim sum restaurant called Ping Pong, a London import. This is the first Ping Pong in the States and it just opened.
First of all, dim sum is fun because you order a bajillion things and you’re never really sure what you’re going to get. We ordered pretty much everything and they kept bringing plate after plate after plate. We also split two bottles of wine.
Look at all that food.
This is squid, which was probably my favorite thing that we ordered.
And this is how the sticky rice came wrapped, we were instructed not to eat the leaves part or it would make us sick. I liked the sticky rice a lot too.
I also liked the buns we ordered with meat in them. It sounds weird and I remember having that once before at a dim sum restaurant in New York with my mom years ago. But I thought they were delish.
The bad thing about dim sum is that you feel like you aren’t full, or that you shouldn’t be full because you’ve just eaten a bunch of pieces of things but you still feel like you haven’t eaten anything. It’s strange. We thought we ordered enough but decided to order three more things when we were finished. Our bill got pretty expensive, which is another thing about Pong, cause it’s fancy. Dolla dolla bills, y’all.
It was good, we all liked it and were glad we checked it out, but we wouldn’t necessarily go there again. I will however, go for some cheap dim sum in New York now, cause I haven’t done that since I’ve moved here and dim sum is just a good time.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: ben, dc, dinner, food, friends, london, missy, p, ping pong, ping pong dim sum, restaurants, squid, sticky rice, washington dc
