Wogies

First off, Wogies is a Philly bar, so beware. Me and a couple of buddies were looking for a bar to watch some football (TEBOW!!), drink some beers, and eat some good food. Wogies was the spot and ended up three for three!

$3-4 draughts of Six Point can't be beat. Medium-sized TVs in every corner of the fairly-small bar was adequate enough to watch the game from any seat at our table. Plus, the wings, waffle fries, and cheesesteaks were delicious bar-style food.

Buffalo wings were some of the best I've had in NYC. Crispy on the outside, moist & tasty on the inside, with sauce that's loaded with flavor and the right amount of heat.

The bread and guts of the sandwiches we ordered (buffalo chicken cheesesteak, pizza steak, fat jimmy, cheesesteak) left us all quite satisfied. One of my friends went so far to say "the bread was definitely baked in Philly." Whatever that means. It wasn't. Waffle fries were awesome, taboot.

If you're looking for a sports bar with great food, cheap beers, and decent TV coverage, then Wogies is the spot for you. I'll definitely be back there.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Last weekend, Jess and I took a ride up to Tarrytown for a belated birthday lunch at the famed Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant. The trip from NYC takes about 60-90 minutes (subway > metro north > cab) but as you'll read it's well worth it.

The grounds at Stone Barns, a non-profit farm, are beautiful, especially in the fall with the foliage in full force. You're free to walk around the farm at your own leisure and we took advantage of this by spotting some cows, sheep, turkeys, and our favorite, pigs!

As soon as you enter the dining room in the restaurant, you know you're in for a special dining experience. The service is the best of the best... it feels like the ratio of wait staff to diner is 3:1. Plus, everyone is dressed up and the restaurant is decorated in a classy, cozy, fall-tastic manner.

There are no menus at Blue Hill. Guests select how many courses they want and tell the waiter about any allergies they have.  No matter what dishes they're serving the day you go, they are using fresh ingredients from their farm, with the goal being to highlight the food and flavors of the surrounding Hudson Valley.

They start you off with a handful of pre-appetizer bites including a shot of Blue Hill V9, potato & leek chips, as well as a pancetta skewer. The shot of V9 immediately brings a smile to your face when you realize the freshness of the veggies you're drinking. The whimsical presentation of the chips illustrates how much fun they are having in the kitchen with these ingredients.

Our first course was a beet salad. The beets were served alongside fresh yogurt and greens. It will come as no surprise that the beets were bursting with flavor and we polished off every bite on our plates.

Course number two was a vegetable soup, but this wasn't just any veggie soup. This soup was topped with a fried egg that oozed yolk as soon as you dipped into it. We weren't quite sure how they were able to bread the egg, hard boil it, and still serve it with a running yolk, but we'll let that remain a secret. All we know is that they hit us with another course that showcased fresh and delicious vegetables with a serious twist.

I believe it was at this time in the meal when they came out with the best bread we've ever sampled. Crunchy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, baked with onions mixed in, and served alongside creamy butter. Good god this was unbelievable!

Course three was grilled pork that left a little to be desired. While the curried grains served alongside the dish and the flavors of the pork were both great, we felt that the pork was a bit too fatty for our liking.  It didn't 'wow' us the same way the previous courses had.

They ended on a high note with course #4... an apple strudel with lemon ice cream. It had just the right amount of sweetness and texture, and left us with a big smile on our faces.

After a 2+ hour dining experience, our meal at Blue Hill had come to end. We both loved the meal and the experience of Stone Barns and were hopeful that we'd find our way back here in the near future.

Los Feliz

Last Saturday night: we went down to Los Feliz to have a tasty meal, some delicious drinks and enjoy a fun atmosphere on the LES. LF has all the benefits of the La Esquina vibe (dark, subterranean feel), without the hassle of LE's exclusivity and lack of reservations!

There are two options for seating at Los Feliz, and downstairs is where it's at, especially for the aforementioned decor and vibe. They accept reservations for the downstairs room and even though we didn't have one, we were able to score an empty table for a little over an hour before it's inhabitants would arrive. Upstairs, the food is the same, but the room is well-lit and fairly cramped with tables - just not as unique as the dining room below.

They have a menu of many different margarita options. We took down some classics, as well as the jalapeno and cilantro margarita, which was not too spicy. Just perfect!

Any self-respecting Mexican joint has good salsa, and Los Feliz's is mention-worthy. It's pureed, not chunky, and very smooth and flavorful. The guacamole, on the other hand, wasn't as noteworthy. It was salty and lacked flavor.

On to the ceviche, which was arguably the best dish of the night: Mexican style tuna tartare, habanero, soy sauce, lemon-lime marinade, cucumber-ginger pico de gallo, sesame seeds, avocado & fresh sorbet - what a laundry list of tastiness! Each bite was delicious - chunks of tuna & avocado along with a little of the liquid citrus juice made the dish perfectly balanced. It was also served with a wonton-style tortilla chip perfect for adding a little crunch. Don't skip the ceviche!

As for entrees, it seems like the way to go is tacos - plus, two tacos per order makes it easy to share. We got the Pez Dorado: crispy sea bass, valentia aioli, avocado and cucumber-ginger relish, which was great, although we didn't really taste the fish under it's coating and all of the other ingredients. Along with the fish tacos, we got the Puerco: braised pork, chili pasilla, Cotija cheese, corn and pico de gallo - these were delicious! Corn + Cotija = automatic flavor town, but the pork was well-cooked and really flavorful on it's own.

Los Feliz is great for big parties, also and with the pitchers of margaritas flowing, it probably gets loud and rowdy later on in the evenings. Check it out if you're looking for good Mexican and a fun vibe!

Ditch Plains

After walking around the West Village on Sunday morning, we worked up an appetite for some brunch and decided to finally try Ditch Plains. We've heard great things about their Lobster Bake but figured we'd check out what else they had to offer.

Turns out they have a lot to offer...for starters, the bloody mary was absolutely tremendous. Strong, spicy, and loaded with flavor, this hit the spot. Jess ordered an omelet stuffed with swiss cheese & mushrooms served alongside a salad & toast. It was a large omelet that was properly & evenly stuffed with the aforementioned additions.

Eric got the chicken burger topped with swiss cheese. The burger did not suffer from a lack of taste as many turkey & chicken burgers have a history of doing. Helped out by a healthy layer of swiss cheese and a soft, flavorful bun, this burger was well seasoned. Served with a juicy tomato, delicious pickles as well as a side salad and fries, it's a complete meal that will leave you satisfied.

We both walked out saying that everything we ate or drink was right on point. Add that to the relaxed vibe, great service, and convenient location, and I have a feeling we'll be back real soon for some more brunch and to check out their lobster bake.

Date Night!

This past Thursday night, we decided to change up our normal routine of having dinner at the table and relaxing on the couch. Keeping it local, we grabbed a drink at Blue Ribbon Bar on Downing Street and had dinner at Mermaid Oyster Bar on Sullivan Street. Blue Ribbon Bar is a great, little bar with a serious menu (food & drinks) despite being the size of a bedroom. With only a dozen or so bar stools, it has a very intimate vibe. While everything is very modern and has a shine to it, the walls are covered in wood and the lighting is dim so it feels very cozy.

I went with a pint of a recently-released Brooklyn Brewery beer, Concoction. The bartender said it had a smoky, almost scotch-like taste to it. He was spot on. With an alcohol content around 6.5%, it certainly tasted stronger than it was. It went down nice and smooth and I'd happily order another. Jess opted for a trio of red wines. They pour you 2 ounces (or a little bit more, if you get a nice bartender) of three different reds so you can sample them all. She was impressed with all of them.

By this point, our stomachs were growling so we headed over to Mermaid Oyster Bar. This place has become something of a local favorite for us as it always delivers and never feels like it's breaking the bank. I ordered a shrimp & oyster po boy with old bay fries, while Jess got her favorite, the calamari salad. We've had these dishes in the past, so it came as no surprise that they were delicious and led to us clearing our plates.

After a complimentary chocolate pudding to satisfy our sweet tooth, we walked around the corner to our apartment... home sweet home. Gotta love an impromptu, low-key evening with good food & drinks and the one you love.

ABC Kitchen

A long-overdue trip to ABC Kitchen was in store for us over Labor Day weekend – hard to get into since it hit the scene last year, it took a while for us to plan ahead far enough to get a weekend reservation at this local, organic food hotspot.

I was recently reading an article about how 9/11 changed the landscape of New York City restaurants – places with grand, museum-like designs, dim lighting, club music and menus with fancy-shmancy ingredients and delicacies have had their heyday. In the face of a major catastrophe (and an economic downturn), NYC has become a place where low-key, casual and good-for-you dining is where it’s at. ‘Organic,’ ‘self-sustaining,’ ‘locally-grown’….these are words you hear quite often. And ABC Kitchen is at the heart of this trend, for a good reason. Hey, if Jean-Georges is behind something, it's usually good.

The design is completely cozy: lots of wood, soft lighting, a casual and warm almost barn-like feel. And adding to the barn-like feel is the fact that this place is big on vegetables and does them right. You can have a meat-free meal and be completely satisfied – veggies are definitely the star.

We took a sharing approach and got a bunch of appetizers – no entrees – which was a great way to go.

Roasted beets with housemade yogurt: these were great and if you’re a beet-lover, give these a try. The yogurt adds tanginess without too much flavor to take away from the freshness of the beets.

Crab toast with lemon aioli: extra crispy toast smothered with a crab salad. A tad on the oily side, but quiet delicious because of it.

Roast carrot and avocado salad, crunchy seeds, sour cream and citrus: By far the best dish of the evening – what seems to be a simple salad is bursting with flavor. The roasted carrots are the star and are perfectly complimented by the creaminess of the fresh avocado and sour cream, and contrasted nicely by the citrus dressing and crunchy seeds. Mmmmmm.

Pretzel-dusted calamari, marinara and mustard aioli: Good, but nothing to write home about. The mustard aioli was the best part of this dish, since we didn’t taste any pretzel flavor in the calamari crust.

Whole wheat pizza with spicy cacciatorini meatballs, habanero tomato sauce and ricotta: a nice, spicy pizza with fresh ingredients.

All in all, the ABC Kitchen experience is among the best – both from an atmosphere perspective and the quality of the food is top-notch. Go for the vegetables and soak up the pretty atmosphere and lighting (thanks to ABC Home, which is connected through the back of the restaurant) - and just kick back and enjoy.

Torrisi Turkey Sandwich...at Yankee Stadium

I've been meaning to try Torrisi's sandwiches for some time now, and despite working around the corner from the restaurant, it took me until today at Yankee Stadium to finally try it. From co-workers and friends, I've always heard that their sandwiches were incredible and someone even went as far to say "it's the best turkey sandwich you'll ever have." In short, expectations were high when I bought a $14 turkey sandwich at a food stand in the Great Hall at the stadium.

Prepared to order, a soft sesame seed roll is piled with freshly sliced turkey, shredded lettuce, tomato, mayo, and spicy mayo (I ordered no onion since I don't like raw onion). At a cost of $14, I expected the sandwich to be a bit bigger but by the end of it, I realized it was the perfect size. Both my friend & I were comfortably full after each eating one. The turkey is moist and flavorful and the double mayo really works (and I'm not a big mayo fan). The spicy mayo adds a nice kick but nothing too harsh if you're spice-averse. The straight mayo bleeds with the tomato to create a nice little sauce. The shredded lettuce offers some nice crunch to round it out. Each bite is flavorful and delicious.. not something you expect from a turkey sandwich. We both walked away very happy and I trust you will too.

I'm not sure if it's the best turkey sandwich I've ever had but I don't think I know what the best turkey sandwich I've ever had is. Either way, this sandwich deserves to be in the "best turkey sandwich" conversation. For those going to Yankee Stadium, I suggest splurging on it and getting a side of garlic fries. Oh, and the Yankees won!