My Favorite NYC Eats

My Favorite NYC Eats

Whew – what a time we had in NYC last week. It felt like we squeezed in 2 weeks of fun into 4 food-filled days! In all, we walked 42 miles and tested over a dozen restaurants. I have my favorites listed below:

My first NYC bite was at Robert. I highly recommend popping in to this little restaurant on the 9th floor of a Columbus Circle building that over looks the most gorgeous view of Central Park and Columbus Circle. GORGEOUS! 

We enjoyed a simple cheese platter and some shrimp from their sunset menu. The bread and butter was probably my favorite treat from this restaurant. It was SO good – but I had been carb-deprived for 4 weeks, so I may be a little skewed in my thinking. But the fresh, warm matzo bread and freshly churned butter…killer.

Sarabeth’s was our favorite breakfast stop – for the simple fact that we could sit street-side and look out at the carriages and Central Park. The food was tasty too – especially their currant scone.

I had the crab cakes Benedict on their famous English muffin and we also enjoyed some lump crab guacamole. The Guac was a phenomenal bite — I highly recommend it!

Bouchon Bakery  & Cafe in Columbus Circle is a dependably excellent meal – every single time! hubby & I shared the Croque Madame:

And the Gem Lettuce:

Both were perfectly seasoned and so tasty. David and I shared both – and that made the perfect lunch. Of course we had to top it off with a macaroon (or 5).

Another stop was to Craft where we had the most delicious sip of cream of roasted carrot soup. Mind-blowing. I hope I can recreate it!

Everything was so tasty – I didn’t take pics of every course (sad face) but let me tell you my faves:

This Fluke Crudo was so delicious. The perfect balance of sweet, savory, sour and pure “yum”.

Ricotta Agnolotti (below). So, so delicious. These pasta dumplings are like ravioli halves, filled with the most delicious ricotta filling and topped wth ramps, morels and a lemon oil cream sauce. 

Next, I had the Flat Iron – it was like butter. Everything I hoped for and more, perfectly seasoned, tender and juicy. YUM.

For dessert, David and I split a trio of gelattos – toasted marshmallow and green apple were tied for our favorite flavors!

Next we headed over to the Upper West Side and ate at Maison Pickle.

They are famous for their fried pickles and their fabulous sandwiches.

Overall, the pickles were excellent – but a few were too thickly breaded and a little soggy. I would order them again if I get the chance to return – but I would request them to be extra crispy.

I had the  Southern B.L.T. which had a buttermilk fried chicken breast, fried green tomatoes, pickle slaw and crispy bacon. I was so amazing, but after 2 bites I was DONE. ((Also, it may be the Okie Girl in me – but I could have used a little sauce on that bad boy!

David chose the Deluxe French Dip with fried onions and gruyere fondue. He won the “best picker” prize at this place. That French Dip was the bomb.

We also enjoyed Japanese BBQ:

Gyu-Kaku – we selected what seemed like 30 different things to grill – ourselves – right at our table.

We had veggies, scallops, salmon and probably 15 types of beef including Kobe, flat iron, flank, sirloin, strip, rib eye – and many more!

It was a fun, leisurely experience that I recommend if you are looking for a slower paced evening!

In the middle of it all, David got a kabob. Notice the Magnolia bag he’s wielding? We’ll get to that in my next post… NYC sweets!

We also made our way down to Lower Manhattan and enjoyed some famous Joe’s Pizza and Katz’s Delicatessen.

The pizza is thin, crispy, perfectly simple and CHEAP!

At Katz’s we enjoyed the pastrami and the corned beef. I preferred the corned beef and David loved the pastrami so that worked out nicely. We just purchased one sandwich, half pastrami & half corned beef.

The pickles (complimentary) were tasty too!

We also hit Chinatown, Joe’s Shanghai where we tried a few varieties of pot stickers, scallion pancakes and soup dumplings.

My favorite bite was the scallion pancake – I think I could have eaten 20! I’ll be honest – the soup dumplings were not my fav. The flavors were a little muddled for my liking, but I think I was in the minority. That restaurant was HOPPING! As a matter of fact, there were 3 other groups sitting with us at our table. They all ordered the soup dumplings – and loved them.

We made our way through Central Park and to the Upper East Side for my favorite meal of the trip. 

Heidi’s House – is a must visit if you are headed to NYC! We started off with a simple cheesy bruschetta, but with the first bite I knew there was nothing simple about it. Fried capers, heirloom tomatoes, lemon vinaigrette and thick sliced toasted fresh French breach, topped off with salty, cheesy goodness. So, so good.

Then David and I split the mushroom and white truffle oil mac & cheese. Well – you must try it for yourself. They warn you the Mac & cheese takes 25 minutes to prepare. Um — worth the wait!!

Creamy, savory, hearty and so cheesy. The b̩chamel sauce with mushrooms and white truffle oil was absolute perfection. Best thing we ate Рby two miles!

Our last stop for the trip was also in the Upper East Side: Up Thai. On a Monday night at 8:45, we waited an hour to be seated. A reservation is the way to go for this spot. 

David and I shared the curry puffs (minced chicken, potatoes, onion and curry powder, served with sweet cucumber relish), calamari and the Massaman curry with potatoes, onion, avocado and peanuts, with coconut milk.

My favorite was the crisp calamari – but not because the other food was mediocre! Everything was so, so good! I highly recommend this spot! Everything looked so tasty.  This is another place we will be revisiting for sure.

We loved our time in NYC, I already miss it! I am thankful for so many friends’ suggestions of yummy places to eat! We didn’t have time or room to try everything but will most assuredly return and continue hopping from place to place trying bites all along the way!

Next up – my favorite NYC sweets, we visited 6 bakeries while in NYC and I definitely have my faves!