Recipes and food adventures with Adam Roberts

  • TsuruTonTan

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    TsuruTonTan

    Sometimes you need a fast, reasonably priced place to eat in Union Square; sometimes that place serves Udon. On Friday, I met up with my pal Diana at TsuruTonTan on 16th Street at 11:30 AM and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Spoiler alert: the portions are huge! We each ordered the Sukiyaki…

  • Union Square Café

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    Union Square Café

    When it comes to New York City restaurant institutions, there are just a few that remain as bright and shiny as they did the day that they opened and Union Square Café is one of them. It’s pretty remarkable that a restaurant that opened in 1985 can still be firing on all cylinders; can be…

  • Carbone

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    Carbone

    There’s only one situation in which you’ll want to find yourself at Carbone in Greenwich Village and that’s a situation where someone else is paying. It’s one of the most preposterously expensive menus in New York. $34 for a small Caesar salad. $47 linguine with clams. Shrimp scampi that’s $42 a shrimp. But if you’re…

  • Café Mars

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    Café Mars

    [From the 8/28/23 newsletter] On Saturday night, we went to a hot new restaurant, Cafe Mars, in Gowanus with our pals Mark and Diana. I first heard about Café Mars when Helen Rosner wrote about it in The New Yorker. The dish that got me hooked was this starter of Negroni jello shots with a…

  • Le Bernardin

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    Le Bernardin

    [From the 9/11/23 newsletter] Last night I went with my parents to Le Bernardin, not only one of the city’s great restaurants, but one of the world’s. It’s funny that my parents, who prize value and lack of pretentiousness, like Le Bernardin so much (it’s not only expensive, but very formal) but we all contain…

  • La Mercerie

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    La Mercerie

    [From the 9/18/23 newsletter] I met my friend Diana for lunch on Friday at La Mercerie in SoHo, a chic/store restaurant where Ina Garten is said to eat lunch. We sat outside on a perfect fall day and ate daintily and exquisitely, like the ladies that we are. Diana had the quiche (would you believe…

  • Frenchette Bakery at the Whitney

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    Frenchette Bakery at the Whitney

    The other day I went to an elaborate lunch with Jenny Rosenstrach of the essential newsletter Dinner: A Love Story. Our destination? The new Frenchette Bakery at The Whitney Museum. A Magical Space I love this space so much. I remember when The Whitney first opened downtown and there was a restaurant in this same…

  • Raku

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    Raku

    On Thursday last week, I met up with celebrated food writer Susan Spungen for lunch at Raku in the East Village. That’s a spicy crab salad that we shared as an appetizer. For my entree, I had the tantan hot udon with spicy pork, which was just what the doctor ordered on a rainy day.…

  • The Gramercy Tavern

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    The Gramercy Tavern

    On Saturday night, we continued Craig’s birthday celebration with our pals Mark and Diana at The Gramercy Tavern, Craig’s favorite NY restaurant. It really is the perfect NY restaurant. Grand in a way that most restaurants in most cities couldn’t emulate; but also rustic and casual. There’s a chef cooking in front of a fire…

  • Blue Ribbon Sushi

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    Blue Ribbon Sushi

    The other night we went to see Jelly’s Last Jam in concert at City Center and it was fantastic. Beforehand, we went to grab dinner and wandered into Blue Ribbon Sushi right by the Time Warner Center. Now you sushi purists may be shocked to hear that I’m declaring a corporate entity like Blue Ribbon…