I spent a few days in New York City last week. Traveling back to the East Coast makes me miss the fast-paced life. It also makes me to want to eat all the foods I love that we don’t have or that don’t compare in Dallas.
I arrived in NYC on Thursday night and after checking into my hotel, unpacking a few things and turning on my computer, I fired up Google Maps to find the nearest Chinese takeout restaurant. A trip to China Regency in Midtown, two eggrolls and some chicken with broccoli later, I was stuffed and happy.
Friday morning I headed down to Tribeca to attend a TV commercial shoot for my client. I skipped breakfast and downed a super strong latte that gave me the jitters. For lunch, a whole crew of us went to Bubby’s Pie Company. Someone in our party mentioned, Bubby’s is a see-and-be-scene kid of place. Does it really matter? As long as the food is good, who cares who eats there. Our waiter brought us biscuits with butter and strawberry jam to start. I ordered tomato bisque with garlic croutons and half a caesar salad. To drink, I had their homemade ginger beer, which was delicious and refreshing and helped calm my stomach from the coffee earlier that morning.
After work wrapped up, I met my friend John, his girlfriend Kate and their friend Camille for dinner at David Chang’s (noted Korean-American chef) Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village. After going to Korea last year and not being a huge fan of the food, I was a little skeptical, but I went in with an open mind. We started with drinks (OB Korean beer) and some apple kimchi, which was nothing like the kimchi I had in Korea. It was good! Then we shared some pork buns, which were fabulous. The pork was a little fatty for my taste, but the flavor was amazing. And dipped in a little hot sauce…so good. For dinner, I had hanger steak with cauliflower and romesco sauce. The spices on the steak were outstanding, although it was a little undercooked for me. Even though I am from Texas, I order my steak medium, not medium rare. Dipping it in the romesco suace, which I love, made up for it though. Camille ordered pork sausage, Chinese broccoli and rice cakes, which I had to try. I probably should have ordered it as my entree because it was so tasty. Overall, everything was a little salty and I could immediately feel my fingers and feet swelling from the sodium, but it was truly a culinary experience.
To top off dinner, as if we didn’t eat enough, we headed right next door to Momofuku Milk Bar, in which I was amazed by the sweet concoctions on the menu. I opted for Candy Bar Pie - chocolate crust, caramel, peanut butter nougat and pretzels. Heaven. I also sampled the Crack Pie and Compost Cookie, both equally delicious.
The night continued with drinks at St. Andrews and House of Brews (where I ran into someone from NJ, who grew up in the town next to mine and dated someone I knew in high school..small world) and on my way back to my hotel, I stopped at Famous Original Ray’s Pizza and ordered a slice of plain. I don’t care if it wasn’t the real original famous Ray’s, but it was NY pizza and it was fabulous.
I woke up early on Saturday to buy a baker’s dozen bagels from Bagel & Bean to bring back to Texas. Everyone recommended I go to H&H, but again, I think any NYC bagels are good compared to Texas bagels. I ate lucky bagel number 13 with a latte in my hotel room before packing up the bagels in my suitcase and heading to the airport.
(Note: Click on the restaurant name and person’s name for a link to their Web site)
