On Mothers day I went to eat with my family to City Island, in the Bronx. I love seafood but usually when I go out there, I get the same thing all the time. This time I decided to try something new. I got myself some really good ravioli lobster. It was absolutely the best ravioli I ever had. The sauce was creamy, the lobster very chewy and delicate. The thick wheat filled me up really quick. But those eight pieces of ravioli were the best. I am definitely going to go back there, just for that. Lobster ravioli is my new favorite dish in City Island.

I recently went to Charlie Bird an Italian restaurant by Spring St. While the other courses were great, this Budino came out to be the most interesting for good and unfortunately not so good reasons. this Warm Chocolate Budino contained, Olive Oil Gelato & Caramelized Rice Krispies w/ a Dark chocolate mousse cake. the creamy texture of the gelato and the crunchiness of the rice krispies was a good combination, but while continuing eating the ice cold gelato the rice krispies after awhile felt like chewing on rocks because my teeth had become too sensitive to the cold. The warm mousse cake help balance the dish integrating all the flavors together. so despite my sensitivity to cold i enjoyed this dish very much.

Over this past weekend, I was invited to a commencement down in Richmond, Virginia. On the day of graduation, we went to this place for brunch. Since it was Mother’s Day, they had a special brunch menu. I decided to get shrimp & grits. I’ve never had grits but I heard it was really good. On the menu it was white-cheddar grits topped with bacon, shrimp and chives. My grits was so warm and soft and it melted in my mouth. The shrimp and bacon gave it the salty kick that went so well with the grits that they complimented each other. The white cheddar grits is something I would love to get again!

First time having this type of sushi, Temaki, its nothing special besides the shape but its the first i really notice the seaweed, paper thin crunchy yet has a chew to it and a salty after tone to it.  Usually when i  eat sushi , i get the regular rolls , where you hardly taste the seaweed.  With the Temaki ,there is a uniqueness to them because of their shape but the taste is exactly the same, just rice and some kind of seafood and filing.  Just seaweed alone is not my favorite , so the Temaki, i have mix feelings towards it. Continue reading →

This past weekend I had the pleasure of being invited to a vegan pop up event in Williamsburg.  Chickpea and olive a vegan restaurant was there with a few different dishes catering to chickpeas.  I saw another guest order this and thought it was beautiful so I had to try it.  It was  a curried coconut chickpea served with Kale and spinach on top of pureed purple sweet potato.  This dish packed a lot of heat for all the many spices it contained but it wasn’t overly spicy.  I did ask if this was a normal dish on their menu and they told me that sometimes depending on the season and the quality of the vegetables that they find.  Everything on their menu was fresh and not canned or packaged.

Elote is a Mexican street food that is a corn on a cob. It is usually served on a stick but I heard that it can be served in a cup. I had one this weekend and I am craving for another one! The corn is grilled and there are condiments that you can add to the corn; such as, mayo, Parmesan cheese, chili powder, and lime juice. For me, I wanted all those topped on to my corn. I don’t usually like corn, but after eating this, I actually started to like corn. When you get pass the corn getting stuck between your teeth, elotes are very delicious. It is spicy yet sweet and creamy because of the mayo. The Parmesan cheese gives a bit of saltiness to the corn and all those flavors blend in altogether and makes this street food very mouthwatering.

Over this weekend, I had a chance to try takoyaki. Takoyaki is a ball-shaped Japanese snack that is made of wheat flour batter and is made in a special pan. It is filled with minced/diced octopus and is then topped with tempura scraps, pickled ginger and sometimes green onion. They put a sauce that is similar to Worcestershire sauce and mayonnaise. When I first tasted the takoyaki, it was soft and had a lot of flavors popping out. The octopus was very chewy but it was delicious when the dough and the sauce. The tempura scraps were very crunchy and it wasn’t such a heavy food that filled your stomach fast.

I was able to visit a small shop named Douhgology, which is Located in Lynbrook, LI. When you think of this place it’s nothing like Dunkin Donuts. You are able to create your own doughnut right in front of you. Doughology opened in early January of 2016, by couple Chris and Jackie Stiansen. I was able to speak with Jackie herself, of how her and her husband came up with the idea of this store. Jackie told me that her reasoning behind her wanting to open up a store was because she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. This was an eye opener for her, which made her want to change her life around. Her husband Chris, who is a retired New York City police officer supported his wife’s idea.

Each of the doughnuts are made from a Belshaw Dount Robot, which is  contraction that plops out rounds of vanilla and chocolate dough into hot oil, lifts them onto a conveyor belt. flips them to finish cooking and then deposits them on a rack to cool. They are then able to be dipped in a glaze and moved down the doughnut bar, where the customer can choose from 21 toppings.

I was able to try two doughnuts. One being the S’mores and the other vanilla frosting with rainbow sprinkles. Both of the doughnuts were vanilla. The S’mores doughnut had a marshmallow topping and a chocolate fudge drizzle. It was topped off with graham cracker crumbs and more marshmallows to follow. The texture of this doughnut was freshly made because of the warmth it left in your mouth after you took a bite. It was very fulfilling, and reminded you of being around a camp fire. The vanilla frosting with rainbow sprinkles reminded me of a traditional ice cream cone. The vanilla icing was smoothly drizzled on top of the doughnut. And there is never enough rainbow sprinkles to top something. Both of these doughnuts were out of the ordinary for me to try. But it left my appetite satisfied.

I was on my way to work one day and had time to waste so I decided to get a little lunch before I went in. I went to this vegan restaurant in Koreatown on 35th and Park Avenue. It was called Franchia Vegan Cafe. After looking at the menu I saw a dessert called monkey bread and I thought it sound interesting so I asked the waiter what it was he told me it was like a large cinnamon roll that was very gooey and served with ice cream. When it came to my table it looked exactly that like mini cinnamon rolls baked together and it was served with a coconut non-dairy ice cream on top of it. the monkey bread was served warm but the ice cream wasn’t melting on top of them and I thought that was very interesting. I tried the monkey bread without the ice cream first and it was very sweet and chewy although it tasted good it was really messy and it was a little too sweet for me. I then tried a piece with the coconut ice cream and the ice cream balanced out the sweetness of the monkey bread and made it taste delicious.  I think that this is a good dessert and I would have it again but I wouldn’t go out of my way to order it