Ever since a colleague of mine from Montreal started at my law firm, he has touted the “Montreal bagel” as being superior to the New York bagel.  In fact, when his mother FedEx’ed him a dozen or so bagels from home, he exclaimed: Finally! I can have a decent bagel now.  (What?! Really?!)  I, a [...]

I love steakhouses. I love bars. I love eating in bars. So, naturally I obliged when invited in recently to try some signature cocktails and the new bar menu at The Capital Grille (3 NYC locations; Chrysler Center, Time-Life & Wall Street). While most all NYC steakhouses have large, bustling bar areas, only now are [...]

We’ve stumbled upon another East Village gem.  Back in January, two childhood friends from Beirut, Roland Semaan (formerly of Atlantic Grill) and Youssef Said (exec chef), opened Lebanese restaurant Balade on 1st Ave. b/t 12th & 13th.  We met Roland at The Taste of Success event at City Winery last month, and after sampling the homemade [...]

Although Chef Jehangir Mehta finished runner up on The Next Iron Chef, he is the true winner in our eyes, especially after our unbelievable meal at his East Village restaurant Graffiti (224 E. 10th b/t 1st Ave & 2nd Ave) a couple of weeks back. Andy and I followed and rooted for Chef Mehta (former pastry chef [...]

Over the past couple of years, we’ve had our fair share of splurge dinners involving copious amounts of shaved white truffles. But the white truffle tasting menus at restaurants like Babbo and Del Posto and single-dish truffle supplements at Per Se come at a very, very steep price. Last night, we made the trek to Sapori d’Ischia, tucked away in a sparse industrial [...]

Is there a better food block in the city right now than East 7th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A? We think not. It’s not even close. You could live on this block and never have to leave it. Just peer down East 7th St. towards Ave. A any day of the week and you’ll see [...]

Friday night was date night and an opportunity to try out a place that’s been on my ‘to visit’ list for a while – Eleven Madison Park. I met my date, K, at Flatiron Lounge for cocktails, and then we walked the short distance through the park to the restaurant. Certain upscale, and particularly French, [...]

Andy and I headed to the Redhead in the East Village (349 E. 13th St. btw 1st and 2nd Aves.) for a casual summer date night on Saturday.  We had attempted to dine there during the winter, but the 2 hour wait forced our hungry stomachs to wander elsewhere (reservations are only taken for parties [...]

Antipasti: Bottles of wine consumed: 2 (1 white and 1 red) / Number of times “Happy Birthday” sung: 2. The start of your meal at Il Mulino is an onslaught. There is no other way to describe it. You are attacked from all angles and all directions with food. First, a huge bread basket is filled with [...]