Category

New York

  • The Mast Brothers Salted Caramel Bonbon

    The Mast Brothers Salted Caramel Bonbon

    Wandering around Williamsburg last week, my nose (or “schnozz,” if you prefer) led me down a street to a place that looked like a warehouse. The warehouse was actually home to Mast Brothers chocolate, one of the most revered chocolate companies in the country. You may recognize their chocolate bars as the ones with wrapping…

  • Please Don’t Tell But I’ve Never Had A Drink at Please Don’t Tell

    Please Don’t Tell But I’ve Never Had A Drink at Please Don’t Tell

    One of my favorite New York novelties is the existence of Please Don’t Tell in New York’s East Village. On St. Marks, between 1st and A, is a hog dog emporium called Crif Dogs. Looks innocent enough. But what you don’t realize, unless you know the secret, is that the phone booth that you see…

  • Anatomy of a Superior Sandwich: The Captain’s Daughter at Saltie

    Anatomy of a Superior Sandwich: The Captain’s Daughter at Saltie

    One of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had is the Captain’s Daughter at Saltie in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It’s described minimally on the menu: “sardines, pickled egg, salsa verde” and yet tastes like so much more. The bread, focaccia, is fluffy and rich with olive oil. The flavors are as bold as flavors can be: fishy,…

  • The Meadow (Land of 1000 Salts)

    The Meadow (Land of 1000 Salts)

    One of the most ridiculous things about my old West Village existence–living there, as I did, from 2009 through 2011–is that I never really noticed The Meadow. I think I thought it was a sandwich place. Or maybe a boutique shop for expensive olive oil. Had I known what lay in store behind its doors,…

  • The First Post-Sandy Dinner at Hearth

    The First Post-Sandy Dinner at Hearth

    As far as good deeds go, they don’t come any easier than the one we did on Saturday night. The East Village had just gotten its power back after Hurricane Sandy which, as I’m sure you’re aware, has left the east coast devastated, thousands homeless, others still without power and heat. The restaurant community had…

  • The Porchetta Sandwich at Maialino

    The Porchetta Sandwich at Maialino

    Sometimes going away from a city gives you permission, upon your return, to do things that you wouldn’t normally do when you lived there. Case in point: eating alone at the bar at Maialino on a Friday night. There are a million reasons I would never have done that as a New York City resident:…

  • Rosh Hashanah Dinner at Kutsher’s Tribeca

    Rosh Hashanah Dinner at Kutsher’s Tribeca

    As life was ending in the Catskills, my life was just beginning. I was only a kid when my parents drove my brother and me upstate to experience the splendor (or former splendor) of the great bastions of Jewish entertainment. We stayed in hotels like The Concord and Kutsher’s where the carpeting was well-worn and…

  • One Year in L.A. (A Reflection)

    One Year in L.A. (A Reflection)

    I came to L.A. with the most open of open minds. As New Yorkers twisted up their faces at the news (“L.A.? You’re moving to L.A.?”) I held my head high with secret knowledge. My secret knowledge was mostly food-based. I knew about Jonathan Gold, one of our nation’s greatest food writers, who, in writing…

  • Joe: The Coffee Book (Plus, an Interview with Jonathan Rubinstein)

    Joe: The Coffee Book (Plus, an Interview with Jonathan Rubinstein)

    I hate repeating myself on my blog, so if you’ve been reading for me a while, you know that Joe is my favorite coffee shop in New York. The location on Waverly is where I wrote my first book and most of my second; it’s where I’d meet friends to chat about projects or lives,…

  • Back To Our Favorite N.Y. Haunts (Joe, Joseph Leonard, Bar Centrale, City Bakery, Grand Sichuan & The Burger Joint)

    Back To Our Favorite N.Y. Haunts (Joe, Joseph Leonard, Bar Centrale, City Bakery, Grand Sichuan & The Burger Joint)

    I took a tumble outside of Joe on Waverly, the coffee shop that was a second home to me all those years that I lived in the big city. It was kind of embarrassing: rain was beating down, Craig ran inside the front door, and as I approached the first step, I totally slipped on…

  1. This Copenhagen roundup works because it reads like a real trip rather than a generic restaurant list. The details about…

  2. I enjoyed how this Copenhagen guide balances the famous culinary stops with the small details that make a trip memorable.…