nyc: john's pizzeria

what's a visit to nyc without trying out a new york style pizza which i still can't understand what exactly. well it's practically like an italian pizza but bigger me thinks. i almost forgot to write about this, can you believe it? anyway, glad i was able to meet up with j and because of that i can eat an authentic new york style pizza (good pizzerias don't serve pizza in slices only whole, so what am i supposed to do with one whole pizza if i decide to eat alone?)

i was limited with pizzerias in manhattan, they say the best ones are in brooklyn. but lombardi's which is supposed to be the original is actually in manhattan. but that's not where i ate =), another famous joint is john's of bleecker though doubtful that john's pizzeria in midtown is a branch because they have two different websites, both were established in 1929 and based on the yelp reviews is it a branch so i opted for the one in midtown.

it's in an old church/chapel and they retained the murals and wood finishing, too bad i didn't get a picture it was actually dark inside. from what i've read the plain margarita is really good with added fresh garlic so that's what we ordered. it was a nice brick oven pizza, you can see the charred crust. but in restrospect i wonder why it was not piping hot when served on our table. was it too cold that night? or did j and i chatted for quite sometime before we tried out the pizza. anyway, if it was piping hot and really straight out of the oven it would have been really good. nothing beats pizza fresh out of the oven and even domino's tastes so much better (i live across domino's my deliveries take 10-15 mins tops hehe)

judging from the photo i think the pizza was pre-made. and yeah i took one slice before realizing i haven't taken a photo yet.

we also got pasta, i love italian sausages so we got an aglio olio type of pasta with salsiccia and brocolli rabe it was also good.

it was a good meal but nothing truly remarkable and what's lingering in my head now is that the food was just not as hot as i wanted them to be. but the the night was perfect - catching up with an old friend capped with my first coffee love - white chocolate mocha =).



john's pizzeria
260 W 44th
new york, new york
http://www.johnspizzerianyc.com/

nyc: 50/50 at shake shack

i've read so many reviews on shake shack. so of course i gotta try it!

the drink was easy to decide on, i didn't want to get a shake even though its name is shake shack. i wanted to try something a little different though and read a recommendation about the fifty fifty which is iced tea and lemonade so i got that. it was actually good, in retrospect isn't it just iced lemon tea? but it was perfectly balanced no distinct tea nor lemon taste and just the right amount of sweetness.

i just wanted to get the shack burger which is just cheeseburger with the shack sauce but the lure of the shroomburger is hard to resist. ok, shack stack it is. it's a combination of the shack burger with the "shroom pattie". but since i wanted to savor the shack burger on its own i removed the shroom pattie. the verdict? again, the bun was good just like gray's, it was soft and nice but it all ends there. i cannot even taste the beefiness of the burger and the shack sauce had nothing as well, zilch nil nada! so i bite into the portobello mushroom that was stuffed with muenster and cheddar cheese breaded and deep fried. nothing there as well.

i was disappointed with the burger. earlier on while perusing the yelp reviews, i thought that it's because of the palate. that some people just have a more distinct palate that's why they appreciate food much more. i consider myself one of those people. but in this case there wasn't really anything special about the burger. unless the one i ate was a bad batch??? the shroomburger was dry i can compare it with a similar burger/pita at the borough  and that one was good. honestly, i wouldn't line up again to get this burger. i've tried another burger chain, famous in the DC area and i think it fared much better than shake shack, watch out for my post on it :).



shake shack
681 8th ave.
new york, new york
http://www.shakeshack.com/

nyc: nobu in nyc

i was torn on whether i should treat myself to a nice aka expensive meal, i was trying to spend less during this trip but i told myself this is the best chance to eat at nobu. i remember my friends dining at the melbourne location and they said it was so good. however, they had the omakase (chef's tasting menu). i, on the other hand only opted for a lunch bento. it wasn't really about the price it was more of a logistics issue since the omakase menu is only served during dinner. 

the bento was served into two "boxes", one for the cold and and one for the hot dishes.

the bento is actually a selection of nobu's signature dishes. i am not sure about the cold ones but definitely the rock shrimp tempura and the black cod miso are two of the resto's famous dishes.

rock shrimp tempura - nothing special,  kinda oily as if the tempura wasn't properly drained or fried at the correct temperature before being tossed with the dressing which wasn't spicy at all. the shrimp was so plump most likely preserved with lye.

black cod miso - ok this was good...but not mind blowing. i don't prefer cod because it's too rich for me but somehow this was just right i guess the miso was able to cut the richness of the fish.

vegetables spicy garlic - again not spicy at all...i guess all the seasonings were catered to the american palate which has low tolerance for spices.

the sashimi salad and sushi were not special at all. oh boy i was really disappointed. i was sitting at the bar in front of the scary sushi chef who scolded the waiter for putting my bento box upside down/wrong order i really expected a lot from the cold dishes. but they weren't special at all. i think it's the quality of the seafood, they were not as fresh as they're supposed to be. and this is coming from someone who eats sushi every week! sad to say i'd rather have sushi here in kl. 

to sum it up, i wasn't impressed with nobu. i would have eaten the same things at a third of the price. the service was top notch though, i mean for a world class chain it's got to be right? the bento costs 45 USD, i forgot how much was the green tea and of course top it off with an additional 20% tip which is customary in the us. though my manzo meal was a bit pricier than this, it was money well spent.

nobu fifty seven

40 west 57th

new york, new york

http://www.noburestaurants.com/

nyc: manzo in eataly

it was a day of must eats, i had gray's papaya which i was quite disappointed with. for a mid afternoon snack i had my much sought after cannoli and it was another disappointment. so i was getting frustrated and told myself i need a very nice meal. so eataly came to mind, it was a backup in case i find myself in the area or find time to eat there.

eataly is actually an italian food hall/market chain brought by mario batali and joe bastianich (masterchef us judge) to the us. it has several restaurants inside and i've already perused their menus prior to the trip and manzo piqued my interest. i was only supposed to get an entree but curiosity got the best of me and i ordered an appetizer as well.

i am so glad i ordered this!

it's veal sweetbreads with sea scallop, fava beans puree, and pancetta. sweetbread apparently is part of the throat or somewhere near the throat of the cow. it's soft and milky, what can i say i enjoy offal and the sweetbread is no exception. it was lightly battered giving a nice crunch. the scallop was so tender with a charred smoky flavor, the pancetta - thin and crispy and the fava bean puree is something that it can do without =). loved this one.

arcadian pastures pork belly with spring onions and rhubarb mostarda. this was good as well but perusing back at the menu i wondered why i ordered this, or maybe the other choices weren't in the menu that day. anyway, the pork belly was so tender and the fat was melt in your mouth (i eventually removed all the fat because it was just too rich!!!) it has an herb crust/dry rub of some sort, the rhubarb mostarda gave enough tartness to counteract the cloying effect of the rich fatty pork belly. it was heaven.


and to top it off, thanks to foursquare i had a free prosecco =).

manzo @ eataly
5th avenue
new york, new york

nyc: rocco's pasticceria

i have done my research. rocco's has one of the best cannolis in manhattan. they are filled by order so you are guaranteed freshness.

i was so excited that finally, i will get myself a good cannoli. after all, outside italy probably it is most ubiquitous in nyc. i got myself a regular cannoli, not a mini but the regular size, because i was anticipating a mind blowing experience.

the shell was thin and crisp it was perfect. the filling, bleh! maybe it's me, maybe i've made up this ideal construct on what a perfect filling for a cannoli should be and unfortunately the authentic/real one does not meet my criteria. why did this fail me? the filling was so sweet and i couldn't find any creamy/tangy flavor from the cheese. all i can taste is the powdered sugar, i was so disappointed. in restrospect i liked the filling from tintoretto more, if only it didn't have the candied fruits! the mini fruit tart looked gorgeous and it was nothing to rave about as well. maybe their other pastries are better since this is a famous place in the west village.

rocco's pasticceria
243 bleecker st.
new york, new york

nyc: gray's papaya

i've seen it in the movies and tv shows so many times. it was a must that i try gray's papaya.



i had the recession special, 2 dogs and a drink.


i like the bread, the bun was soft but it was a bit toasted on the outside. the dogs? they were thin and salty, that's it. nothing amazing, it wasn't even that flavorful, it has a nice snap but that was it. i opted for sauerkraut and onions. the sauerkraut deemed to be the perfect choice as it balanced out the saltiness of the hotdog. as for the onions it was sliced onions cooked in a red sauce with not much flavor at all, i really couldn't make much out of it, it wasn't sweet, it wasn't tart as well since i thought it was cooked in tomato sauce. it didn't really add anything. maybe caramelized onions would have been perfect.

the drink was good though, it doesn't taste much like papaya but it was a milky fruity drink not too sweet, enough to quench my thirst. for 5 bucks in new york city, i wouldn't complain, still a perfect quick bite.




gray's papaya
24/7
cor of broadway and W 72nd
cor of 6th and W 8th

nyc: applebee's

this was a meal by chance. i was supposed to have lunch at nobu and i didn't remember that it was closed on sundays. i was so disappointed. i just started to walk aimlessly towards gershwin theatre where i will watch wicked later on that day.

i was stumped! i knew benihana was nearby but i really didn't want to shell out atleast 30 USD for a meal i wasn't too keen to have. now that i am writing this i forgot that there was a nearby momofoku, darn!

i digress, so applebee's was by chance. but it's not like i was forced to eat there. i also had a goal of trying out these american chains that are not available in asia (applebees has a branch in singapore though) like olive garden and red lobster to name a few. anyway, i just walked in and had my lunch at applebee's.

sorry about the bad lighting, this was margarita queso chicken and shrimp. when i saw my plate i got a  bit apprehensive, the chicken breast looked a bit overcooked and dry. but i was wrong! it was still tender and juicy inside. the salsa, creamy avocado and cheese just made it more flavorful. this was a happy meal. i saw from the website that it was 9.99 but i think, i paid more for it. if i'm not mistaken resto chains in nyc charge more than the ones in other locations.



applebee's
7th and W 50th
new york, new york
http://www.applebees.com/

nyc: ess-a-bagel

probably one of the iconic eats in new york would be a bagel. ess-a-bagel is a popular bagel shop in nyc, it's close to my hotel so it was perfect. i woke up pretty early so i didn't rush to ess-a-bagel the line becomes very long mid morning.

i wanted to get a mini bagel only because of you know the calories =). but they didn' have any mini bagels. i was a bit irritated that they had to tell me there isn't  much price difference. hello it wasn't about the price it was the carbohydrates and calories that comes with it. anyway, i opted for the regular size, whole wheat of course. their bagels come in different flavors so be prepared to get confused but hurry up in deciding from what i've read when the store gets busy the guys preparing the bagels get pretty nasty so you better know what you want to order as you reach the counter.

i had mine sliced and toasted with vegetable cream cheese on the side. there are so many options of cream cheese available, what also piqued my interest was the sundried tomato cream cheese but with the reviews i've read, the vegetable cream cheese was highly recommended. i got it on the side because:

1. i want to control the amount of cream cheese i'll ingest...again trying to be health conscious here.

2. it was mentioned that the on the side option costs less.

so here's my bagel after i've slathered sufficient cream cheese not even half of what's inside the container. the bagel was very dense, i only finished half or even less than that. the vegetable cream cheese has peppers, carrots and celery? i forgot if it did have celery but predominantly red bell peppers. it was good but i reckon it was freshly made so the flavors haven't really seeped into the cream cheese yet. it was like 7am on a sunday morning i was probably one of the few who was awake in nyc hehe.  i had coffee too it was bleh.

i love bagels but i think this one is really too dense for me and maybe i should have ordered a different flavor and didn't try hard to be super health conscious haha. it was ok, nothing mind blowing so to speak so i guess that's also the reason why i didn't finish it, let's just say it wasn't worth the calories.

ess-a-bagel

831 3rd avenue near E 51st st.
http://www.ess-a-bagel.com/

nyc: chipotle

finally i get to try chipotle. i love mexican food though i am not a fan of burritos because of the rice. i was thinking of getting a salad bowl and then some nachos but realized it's better to get the tacos instead. i'm practically getting the same things with less calories =).


got the regular serving which is 3 pieces of tacos (didn't know there was an option of getting just 1 piece had i known, i probably just got 2 =). chose barbacoa as a filling had lettuce, green salsa, corn salsa and cheese and requested for guacamole which apparently is charged at an extra cost.




i needed an extra kick and good thing they have chipotle tabasco =) and izze a nice sparkling grapefruit juice that balanced out my meal. definitely satiated my mexican food cravings.




chipotle
E 52nd st. and lexington ave.
www.chipotle.com

nyc: the best new york cheesecake?

my first meal in nyc!  junior's is famous for its cheesecake but it also has a restaurant. i visited the grand central terminal branch since it was the closest to my hotel.

i was a bit shocked to see that everything were in disposables i.e. paper plates and plastic knives and forks. well atleast they were using paper plates and paper bowls and not the styrofoam kind!

i had a lunch delight which was a choice of soup and half a sandwich, it wasn't really a half sandwich but a smaller sandwich using a roll.

i tried the matzoh ball soup, i have always been keen to try matzoh ball and i finally took the plunge. it was nice, the matzoh ball was very soft and flavorful but i think that they used artificial flavoring the matzoh ball tastes like knorr chicken cubes or maybe they used canned chicken broth to make the matzoh ball.



i had a corned beef sandwich...it was ok. i didn't try the bread since i was trying to cut back on carbs. it looks small but it was really substantive. who wouldn't want fresh corned beef in a sandwich right? it was a bit salty for me but i've had acquired the malaysian palate which has low tolerance for salty foods so it should be alright for others.



and of course, i have to try their famous cheesecake. it was wet! only the top part was baked/cooked through, the middle part was a bit wet and it doesn't have the rich cream cheese goodness.

i just read a blog post on authenticity and deliciousness. authentic does not always mean it's delicious. if this is what a new york cheesecake should be like then i prefer the asian versions of the new york cheesecake. cooked through, dense and oozing with that cream cheese flavor.


junior's
grand central terminal
new york city, new york
check out their website for other branches
http://www.juniorscheesecake.com/