Entries tagged as ‘lower east side’
Is it ever too hot for mac and cheese? Maybe. But we’re not there yet. Maybe you’re reading this and looking at these pictures, and can’t imagine putting a spoonful of steaming noodles and gooey melted cheese in your mouth. But if you can, this post is for you.
I used to hate mac and cheese growing up. And by hate, I mean I refused to try it. Wow, have things changed! My friend Lucy’s mom and sister were in town last weekend and they took us to Little Giant on the LES for the earliest brunch I have ever participated in (10 a.m.!). I was thrilled when her mom ordered mac and cheese because that meant I could try it. And it had bacon in it, mmm…
My favorite mac and cheese used to be from Kitchenette, but the last time I was there they had changed their noodles from penne to elbow and it made me sad. My latest favorites are Poco, DuMont, or Westville, and my least favorite is always S’mac. Basically, I really like mac and cheese. Good thing it doesn’t clog your arteries at all!
Here’s my lovely Lucy. She always eats healthier than me.
Because we all know one of my other obsessions is French Toast. Geeze. And this one came with freaking ice cream, which I didn’t even realize until our server brought it out and I was like, “What is THAT?!”
As you can see, it’s never too hot for French Toast either. And now I’ll go have a heart attack and die.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: new york, nyc, lower east side, restaurants, new york city, french toast, mac and cheese, little giant, sharing is caring, bacon
Guess what, guess what? We made it to The Meatball Shop! Remember when K-man and I tried to go a few weeks ago, and gave up because there was hour an a half wait? Well, we went last night around 6 o’clock and it was nothing but a SUCCESS. We sat at the bar, because that’s more fun and then we found out that The Meatball Shop really lives up to the hype.
Never thought I’d be going to a restaurant with meatballs on my mind, but it’s a pretty sweet concept. They have various kinds of meatballs, like beef, salmon, chicken and also a veggie option for my veggie friends and you pair them with one of their four sauces. And there’s root beer on tap (!) and create-your-own ice cream sandwiches (!!).
This picture above is part of the menu, which is laminated so you can use a marker to check off your orders. Fun, fun!
As K pointed out, you’d think a place called the Meatball Shop could just focus on their crazygood meatballs (my words, not his) and skimp out on the sides, but the sides were anything but an afterthought (his words). Along with my beef meatballs with mushroom gravy and K’s veggie meatballs with tomato sauce, we had mashed potatoes and creamed spinach. Oh my goodness. I like eating with K cause he likes to talk about how amazing the food is. And I like to laugh.
Everything was stellar. K couldn’t believe how “meaty” the veggie meatballs were, and I was a huge fan of my mushroom gravy (along with everything else). Btw, since when do I like mushrooms? Mmm.
Here’s an awesome picture K took to show off both my meatballs and my new manicure, which I got yesterday when I went to lunch. I mean, hello, I’m going to Florida tomorrow. :)
Okay and now for dessert: ice cream sandwich. You can have chocolate chip, peanut butter, walnut meringue, brownie or ginger snap cookies. And you pair it with vanilla, chocolate, mint, espresso, or caramel ice cream. K’s so funny. When we were talking about it before we got there, he was like, “I’m just going to try a bite, I don’t want to have too much.” But then after our meatballs, when we got our ginger snap cookie sandwich with chocolate ice cream… this is what happened:
We got our ice cream sandwich. It was beautiful.
K underestimates how much he will like the ice cream sandwich.
K likes the ice cream sandwich a lot.
K takes more than one bite.
HA!
But seriously, it was delicious. And I must say we chose the perfect combination.
So get thee to The Meatball Shop and think about going early unless you’re willing to stand a little bit of a wait. :)
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: i love eating at the bar, ice cream sandwiches, lower east side, meatballs, new york, nyc, restaurants, rootbeer, rootbeer on tap, the meatball shop, vegetarian
Do you know what this is? It’s poutine. Do you know what poutine is? It’s french fries with gravy and cheese curds. It’s Canadian. Apparently Celine Dion loves it.
Anyway, last week my friend Kyle and I kind of had a disaster of a night. And by disaster I mean we tried to go to this new place called The Meatball Shop, which is really not a shop. I imagined ordering at a counter and sitting on some stools facing out the windows. Oh, no. The Meatball Shop is a restaurant. With an hour and a half wait for two people on a Tuesday night. It’s true. So we did not go there.
We got a six pack and headed a block away to T poutine, a place I had seen a thousand times on my Lower East Side adventures.
Anyway. It’s kind of strange. I’m down with the gravy but not sure if I’m down with the curds. My friend Kelly tells me I should give it another shot at Pommes Frites. And don’t worry, Meatball Shop, we’ll be back.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: canada, celine dion, cheese, food, french fries, gravy, lower east side, new york, new york city, nyc, pommes frites, poutine, t poutine, the meatball shop
Uh oh, we went to the Clinton St. Baking Company again! It is Pancake Month, afterall. Yesterday and today’s pancakes were with crunchy bananas with cinnamon chili chocolate sauce so naturally, that’s what we got.
Also, eggs benedict:
This time we didn’t have to wait for two hours, which was nice. We just walked right in. It’s nice the things you can do when you take a day off of work.
And… today’s my birthday! I’ve got some fun plans for today and I already got some cool things in the mail (panda skillet, what?) so it’s looking pretty good. Have a good weekend! :)
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: breakfast, clinton st baking co, eggs benedict, food, happy birthday to me, lower east side, new york, new york city, pancakes
Look who finally went to the Clinton Street Baking Company! This girl! And MB!
This was my third attempt going to this overly popular, little pancake heaven. And third time is the charm. Usually when I go with people, (always on the weekends, cause we’re really smart) whomever I’m with takes one look at the line and jumps ship. I knew with yesterday being President’s Day and a lot of people off of work, we’d have the same kind of wait, but MB was a trooper and we waited together for… dun dun dun… just over two hours! Two hours for pancakes? These girls have got to be crazy. And we are. But so were the five billion other people standing in the cold.
We had lots to catch up on and found a bench across the street in the sun, so it wasn’t bad at all. And guess what, it was worth it. It is Pancake Month afterall.
First things first. MB ordered a coffee when we first sat down so I got myself a little hot chocolate:
It was realllly good. I fear it may be encroaching on the number one top spot in my book of hot chocolate in NY, which is currently The Adore. This had the perfect amount of cocoa and the perfect amount of sweet:
I will come back to the Clinton Street Baking Company just for this.
And now what we came for… the panacakes!
I mentioned it was Pancake Month, so Clinton Street had a different flavor every few days and yesterday’s was raspberry, chocolate chunk. Also, the syrup is fantastic. MB was singing its praises before we got our food and now I know exactly what she was talking about. It’s not as sticky as your run-of-the-mill maple syrup, and I’m not sure exactly what it is, but it’s really smooth. Like butter. So maybe it’s butter.
Because the pancakes are so, so sweet, we got some eggs so that we could split two orders:
Why is breakfast the best meal ever? We also got some sugar-cured bacon which was delish. And here are the pancakes after we gave them some love:
Perfect.
Also, if anyone has any interest in perhaps MB and I starring in a show on the Food Network or something, where we travel and eat foods from all over in search of the BEST, let us know. I mean, I know there’s a ton of shows like that already out there, but they don’t have us! :)
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: breakfast, clinton st baking co, eggs, food, friends, hot chocolate, lower east side, new york, new york city, pancakes, restaurants, waits, yummies
This is Jodi. She lives in Michigan. And she came to the city last weekend to play.
Six of us went out to dinner at Bondi Road. I had been there once before for brunch and it was completely packed, but when we went to dinner it was the complete opposite experience. It was dead and they made the biggest deal about not seating us until we were all there. And when they finally sat us with five people, they asked how far away the sixth person was. It was so strange.
Anyway, it’s an Australian restaurant and it’s pretty legit. Australian owners, Australian staff, and Australian clientele. Well, except for us. Half of us ordered different kinds of fish but it was the those of us who ordered the fish stew that were the winners.
Delish, delish. All kinds of fishy goodness in there. The other ones just got a piece of fish and were starving after they finished and they didn’t feel like ordering anything else and waiting for it. They may or may not have stopped at a Burger King afterwards. Ha.
Anyway, it’s a cool spot. You just may be better off going for brunch.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: australia, bondi road, burger king, fish, fish stew, food, LES, lower east side, michigan peeps, new york, restaurants
The Lower East Side is where it’s at, I’m not sure how many times I can say this. Last night I went to the Sixth Ward to meet up with a friend (who was carrying his ginormous case for his bass around after his band practice and telling random girls as we walked down the street that he was a famous rock star). Immediately I ran into one of the coolest cats I know; a guy I worked with last year whom I haven’t seen in forever. LES, what?
After saying hi, I found my “rock star” friend who had been talking to a guy who, we later found out, co-owns all of the Daniel Boulud enterprises. Weren’t we just at DBGB? Mr. Co Owner was just there, drinking a beer with us and watching the Yanks, telling us stories about some famous chefs and sous chefs and all these people whose names I’ve heard a thousand times.
After the Sixth Ward, we went to another bar and met up with a friend of mine who works in the area. And then I made my “rock star” friend take a picture of me on our way home. As you can see, that didn’t turn out so well.
The life of a rock star, I guess. :)
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: bars, daniel boulud, lower east side, new york, new york city, nyc, rock stars, the sixth ward
September 18, 2009 · 6 Comments
Walked the Manhattan Bridge on Wednesday night and found a random thug who let me take pictures of him. Ha. He’s such a ham, he posed for a million pictures, most of which he put on his mean face to let us know how much of a hardass he is. But I got a little smile in this one.
And this is where he wished he lived:
Rooftop covered in graffiti with lower Manhattan skyline in the back. Pretty cool. And here’s the view from the bridge a further down:
We walked across the bridge to DUMBO and I showed him a secret I discovered down there one day – ok, so it’s not much of a secret but I had no idea of its existence and was thrilled to stumble upon when I did. I have to go back and photograph it soon, but for now it’s staying a secret.
Another thing I was happy to discover that night (and by discover I mean it was shown to me) was the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. That area is just beautiful in its own rite with the different brownstones and apartment buildings but the promenade was nice as well. There were older gentleman gathered around a bench singing what sounded like some old Irish tunes just for fun. Not husking, just singing to sing. So Brooklyn. There’s some construction going on underneath the promenade for what’s going to be what looks like a pretty big park – including a pool. Right now it just looks like a mess to me, a mess I needed to take a picture of.
Yep, just another good night in Brooklyn, New York. I’m never going to get sick of this.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: brooklyn, brooklyn heights, dumbo, grafitti, lower east side, new york, new york city, night time, promenade, skyline, thug life
I took this picture on Monday at PSYOP animation studios. My friend Dan works there and he got me some Faygo Red Pop a few months ago in Michigan and I was finally able to pick it up. The office is the coolest office I have ever seen. I guess they started with the bottom floors and continued to buy out what once were apartments in the rest of the building. And, as you can see, they have a roofdeck. I love creatives. Wish I could be one sometimes. And I love the Lower East Side. If I ever move back to Manhattan, that’s probably where I’d want to live. There’s so much character and nothing is too developed yet. You’d be hard pressed to find a Starbucks over there, that’s for sure. Now if I won the lottery, there’s a chance the West Village could be just a little more alluring.
PSYOP is right next door to Sugar Sweet Sunshine, a fabulous bakery, so it’s probably a good thing I don’t work there afterall. I didn’t stop in this time but I’m sure I’ll find a reason to visit Dan again.
Last note: Went home from work sick today. I rarely get sick. I got some spanish saltines though from the bodega down the street from me so it’s all good. Tomorrow I’d better be better or I’m taking someone down. And by that I mean probably not ’cause I’ll probably be chained to my bed again.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: lower east side, psyop, saltines
