Tuesday, April 13, 2010

La Colombe

In Philly now, enjoying my daily dose of cappuccino from La Colombe.

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Good coffee, ugly cups and plates. Oh well. =)

La Colombe Torrefaction
130 South 19th Street
Philadelphia, PA‎
Tel: (215) 564-2057‎

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Keste Pizzeria

After watching Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations in New York, we were tempted to eat at Co. I changed my mind when my friend Aaron recommended Keste instead. He's eaten quite a bit around the world, and as a local in Manhattan, I took his word for it.

In a nutshell, here is a description of Keste pulled from the website:

Keste Pizza and Vino is an authentic Neapolitan Pizzeria in NYC located at 271 Bleeker Street, NYC.

It is also the official location in the USA for APN (Associazione Pizzaiuoli Napoletani whose mission is to protect and preserve the Neapolitan pizza tradition and promote the art of pizza making. The organization also certifies professional pizza makers in the tradition of Neapolitan Pizza.


They have a brick, wood-burning oven in the back of the pizzeria.

For the starter, we ordered the battilocchio del giorno in which the toppings change daily. I can't remember for the life of me what exactly was on this (besides the tomatos and basil), but let me tell you it was amazing !!!
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Then we shared a salsiccia pizza. The sausage was simple but very good.
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Overall, the pizza here is not greasy like at Pizzeria Delfina or Mozza. The pizza dough is perfectly cooked, and everything was very well-seasoned and tasty. Keste sticks to being authentic - the flavors are simple, true to their roots, and very delicious. Next time I will try the margherita by recommendation.

Keste Pizzeria & Vino
271 Bleecker Street (between Morton St & Jones St)
New York, NY 10014
(212) 243-1500

Friday, April 09, 2010

Ippudo Ramen

I will make this post brief (as usual) since I have already dined at Ippudo.

We came around 19h30 which was the prime time for dinner. Waited an hour just to get a seat. But in the meantime, we grabbed a couple beers and some edamame at the bar.

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When we were finally seated, we decided to order the rice burger as an appetizer. Crisp rice patties with the seriously delicious braised pork belly in the middle, with a side of lightly pickled vegetables. That pork belly is good sh*t.

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Last time the photo I had of the ramen bowl mysteriously disappeared. This time I forgot to take a picture because I was so hungry and excited to eat ramen. Here is the Ippudo classic half eaten. The pork is simply amazing. I'd also like to add that they make their eggs soft-boiled. *Drool*

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During dinner, I chatted it up with a server there who happened to be born in Spain, and raised in Switzerland. Super cool dood (hi, Alberto!) who introduced me to this other server Christian from SAN JOSE ! Small world. I asked him what they ate for staff meal, and he told me ramen. I think I might have to find a job at Ippudo now.

Ippudo NY
65 4th Avenue
New York, NY
(212) 388-0088‎

Stumptown Coffee

After our delicious bagel, we ventured to Stumptown Coffee. A hip coffee bar in the Ace Hotel. Based in Portland, they have a roasting facility in both Portland and Seattle. Quality coffee. Great micro-foam. Freshly roasted beans. Stumptown is another 3rd wave coffee shop who only pulls ristrettos.

The cappuccino I had was okay. I had to add more sugar to it because I found it to be a bit too acidic. More sugar than I had to add at Joe the Art of Coffee. Since it was a cappuccino, the nice milk foam helped. Nina didn't enjoy her espresso too much since it was really acidic.

As for the pastries, we had a palm sugar cookie and a brownie. I had asked the barista if the brownie was really sweet, or more chocolatey. He looked at me as if it was a stupid question. Well, I got the brownie anyway, and it was one of the worst brownies I've ever tasted. It was like 80% sugar, and the rest eggs, chocolate, flour, oil. Blech. Me and my friend ended up throwing it away. It was that bad.

It's a cool place to hang out. There is a bar that lines the large windows in the front. You can bring your coffee into the dimly lit, chic, and trendy hotel lobby with your laptop.
But that brownie. *Shudders*

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Stumptown Coffee Roasters
18 W 29th St (betw. Broadway & 5th Ave)
New York, NY 10001

(212) 679-2222

Russ & Daughters

Made it to Russ & Daughters because of several recommendations. I ordered the dill marinated Norwegian salmon, capers, and plain cream cheese on a plain bagel.

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The bagel sandwich was great, although I think I prefer the bagels from Nussbaum & Wu a bit more. The dill salmon was fabulous. I figured the salmon bagel sandwich which be somewhat strong and heavy, but it was quite light and soft as a meal. My friend recommended that I order the sablefish bagel with everything next time, and that although still tasty, it is much better than the salmon bagel sandwiches. Noted for next time. =)

Another cool thing about this place is that they have a myriad of choices in terms of smoked fish and caviar. You can purchase them by weight and bring it home. It was so tempting to just buy a little of everything, but I don't think carrying around prepared fish all day was a good idea.

Also the service there was impeccable. Everyone was extremely polite and friendly. Highly recommended.

Russ & Daughters
179 E Houston St
New York, 10002
(212) 475-4880

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Cameroonian home-cooking

Met up with Nina's cousin whose been living in New Jersey for the past 13 years. I had the pleasure of tasting good old Cameroonian home-cooking.

Braised chicken with carrots, plantains, green beans, and tomato
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Pork ribs and seriously awesome potatos with garlic
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Fried fish with a leek, onion, garlic sauce typical from their region
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The meal was delicious and satisfying. I love home-cooking. =)

Joe the Art of Coffee

Or what's left of it.
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They only serve double ristrettos here. The milk foam on the cappuccino was great, but I did have to add a bit more sugar than I usually do. Not bad though. Muffins not bad either. The banana cranberry was better than the blueberry.

Joe, the Art of Coffee
514 Columbus Ave (betw. W 84th & 85th)
New York, NY
Tel: (212) 875-0100‎

Saturday, April 03, 2010

Ummmm Caffè

Photo credit to Midori McCabe
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