Vinny Galeno

Vinny is a fantastic Italian cook whose broccoli rabe and sausage could (and has) make grown men cry. Having lived in NYC all his life, he is an expert on nightlife and activities. He’s also an avid believer in the affects of diet on health and well-being.

Keep those peepers peeled for Vinnys views on food, nightlife, and all together necessary life musings.

Jenny Ruvolo

Jenny specializes in Anthropology and all things New York City. She loves anything eccentric and isn’t satisfied until she’s knee-deep in academic jargon.  Her main passions in life focus on culture, art, exercise, and healthy living.

Looking to spice up your work out routine?  Can’t seem to find a good recipe for tofu? Trying to understand a subculture movement? She’s your gal! She also has extensive knowledge on any and all local food related activities and art shows.

Tune in to read Jenny’s musings on diet, nutrition, exercise, vegetarian cooking, and free New York City activities.

Marianne Minchala

Marianne is a Nutrition major at Brooklyn College and currently works at Primehouse in New York City. She is an avid foodie, NYC restaurant connoisseur, and a terrific amateur mixologist. She has also traveled extensively through Ecuador, Spain, Greece, and Turkey. Past work experiences include Japonais, Roths Steakhouse, and Ilili.

Keep your eyes peeled for Marianne’s views on nutrition, travel, restaurant reviews, and food anthropology life lessions.

Chocolates New Fling

Not sure if you’ve noticed lately but chocolates a bit of a floozy; she always has a new lover. Last year she was seen on the arm of bacon and the year before that chiles. This year I’m pretty sure she’s shacking up with mushrooms. Why? I’ve just seen it in too many places lately. Example: Vosges features a relatively new Organic Enchanted Mushroom candy bar and L’Ecole now has a Chocolate and Porcini cake with olive oil ice cream on their lunch menu…hmmm

Pichet Ong’s New ‘Spot’

 If you werent looking for Pichet Ong’s latest venture ‘Spot‘, you might not find it. Nestled in what looks like a basement at first glance is a dessert bar whose products are a mix between Asian street food and American Comfort. Upon entering the cafe, I immediately fell in love with the faux grass on the floor. Ong tries to replicate a barn with his grass floor, raw wood furniture, and stone accents. Its really cute and kinda comfy too.

Onto the desserts, the wide array of sweets at this joint made deciding difficult: cupcakes, cookies, puddings, ice cream, bubble tea, coffee floats, and even dessert tapas. I decided to go with the cupcakes and a Thai milk coffee since I was in a semi-hurry and wanted a treat I could eat on the train.

Here’s the taste rundown:

Mocha Maldon Salt Caramel cupcake has mocha buttercream, salt caramel middle, and a moist chocolate cake base. This cupcake was a delicious salty/sweet mix with a hint of slightly bitter mocha. The frosting itself isnt really super out-of-the-ordinary BUT it did have edible glitter ontop of it: HUGE PLUS. Verdict: enjoyed this one quite a bit!

Chocolate Green Tea Fruit Jam cupcake has an apricot jam, soft green tea icing, and again a moist chocolate cake base. This frosting was much different in consistancy than the Mocha cupcake. It was softer, smoother, and much more interesting plus it had the same edible glitter ontop. The fruit jam paired wonderfully with the hints of green tea and chocolate. Verdict: He’s got himself a winner here! Possibly Ongs best cupcake.

Vanilla Caramel Vietnamese Coffee cupcake has a coffee-ish type buttercream frosting with a salty caramel liquid middle and a moist vanilla cake base. This is a great cupcake for those of you who like vanilla since the actual cake is so delicious. My only problem is that is tasted very much like the Mocha Maldon Salt cupcake. I think they are the same cupcake with different cake bases – which is fine with me, just change their names. I was expecting a real punch of Vietnamese coffee in this one and was sorely disappointed. Verdict: Very good, but probably wont be back for this one.

My only real issue was with the container holding the Thai Milk Coffee. Out of the few sips I was able to get while walking to the train station, the coffee was very good.  But by the time I got off of the train and to my final destination half the cup had leaked out and all over my bag! Ugh!! I couldnt even pinpoint where the coffee leak was coming from! I threw out the rest out of  anger. If you are getting coffee at Spot – get it to stay. Or if you dont mind getting coffee all over yourself and your clothes  then by all means get it to go.

Breakfast at Benjamins Steakhouse

I walked into this place one day for breakfast at approx. 11:30am. Everything felt rushed. Their breakfast buffet had apparently just closed for the day and the waiters were bussling to fix the floor. It was rather empty – about 3 tables full including myself. The service in the beginning ws abrupt but it didnt surprise me. Everyone dismisses you when you arrive in a hoodie with sunglasses and wet jeans (it was raining, gimme a break). I wasnt getting a great vibe so I sat there and sipped my Lady Earl Grey and awaited what I thought was going to be a horrendous breakfast.

Then the food came out and it was delicious. The eggs were poached to perfection and the potatoes were soft on the inside, crispy on the outside, and seasoned well - nothing soggy/overly hard/ or tasteless. That aside, the homemade roast beef hash was the main focus of the dish and it was delightful. It had full chunks of freshly made/diced beef and potatoes. Straightforward and gosh darn amazing. The only mystery on the plate was the sorta citrusy hollandise that was served in a cup and put to the side. The menu didnt mention the inclusion of this item and frankly it was necessary…but it was still yummy and light.  Also, I didnt receive toast. Did the chef decide to give me hollandise instead of toast with my breakfast? Why add on the extra calories of the hollandise but not include toaste. Poached eggs without toast? It wasnt a big deal…just puzzling.

Review conclusion: the roast beef hash is so delicious I plan on eating it again and again even with the lack of toast and hurried service.

Apple and Quince Bread Pudding

There is nothing more comforting than a big bowl of warm bread pudding right out of the oven. My father generally made bread pudding with raisins, but I found the addition of apples and quinces makes this dish heartier…and dare I say more delicious?

1 loaf of Italian bread (cut into cubes)

2 cups of heavy cream

1 peeled/diced quince

1 peeled/diced gala apple

3/4 cup of sugar

4 eggs

3 tbs of butter

¼ ts of cinnamon

½ ts of vanilla

¼ cup of whiskey (Johnny Walker Black)

 

Preheat Oven to 350

Melt butter in pan with whiskey and throw apples and quince. Cook until tender. Remove and let cool

In the meanwhile cut Italian bread into bite size pieces. Mix together cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon until well blended. Grease oven safe bowl. Toss in bread a fruit mixture and let sit for 10 minutes.

Cook for 45-60 minutes until golden brown. If you like it creamy, cook for only 45 minutes.

A Tale of Two Cupcakes

For starters I have to admit, I hardly ever go out for cupcakes anymore. Why? Mostly because I have been so utterly disappointed with the dry/tasteless/sugary loads of crap most people consider good. I’ve had many of the NYC standards: Magnolia’s (the frosting is crap), Cupcake Cafe (the cake is dry), Crumbs (they are too big and are overloaded with too many ‘toppings’), Buttercup Bake Shop (too sweet and always slightly stale).  After awhile, I just stopped attempting to enjoy cupcakes made by other people…until last week.

Don’t ask me why but whilst Christmas shopping I had the urge to take another stab at cupcakes so I decided to hit up 2 spots: Butter Laneand Tribeca Treats. Why these places? They were close to my shopping destinations. Here’s my review on both establishments:

Butter Lane- I walked into their temporary Soho outpost and was immediately hopeful. The atmosphere was simple yet homey. Also the cupcakes didnt look covered in goop/sprinkles but still had interesting flavors like pumpkin and blueberry. I purchased a pumpkin frosting/chocolate cake  to go and began consuming as I walked out the door. I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, they werent mind blowing but they weren’t awful. The frosting was soft but was still substantial and the cake was moist. The drawback, I didnt taste pumpkin AT ALL. I dont know where the pumpkin was or how they tried to infuse the festive flavor into the frosting but it didnt work. Boo. It wasn’t a total loss but was certainly not a win. Onto the next cupcake…

Tribeca Treats- I had avoided this place for years because my sister had insisted that it was a horrible with gross

treats/bad service and I took her word for it. The atmosphere was typically bakery-esk: a few tables, chocolate pictures on the walls, window cases filled with chocolates and baked goods, etc. Maybe it was because I went about 40 minutes before closing, but they did not have too many cupcakes to chose from which started to worry me. I decided to go with the S’more cupcake because it had everything I would want: chocolate cake with marshmallow icing and topped with graham cracker crumbs. Once again, I started consuming as soon as I stepped out the door. After the 2nd bite I knew I had found it: the cupcake of my dreams. The frosting was soft, billowy, and sweet without being cloying. The cake was moist, delicous, and fresh. The graham cracker crumbs ontop of the frosting werent stale or hard, they were soft and buttery. Better yet? Everything tasted as advertised!!  It actually TASTED like a s’mores instead of just sugary glop. I immediately called my sister while she was at work to yell at her for giving me such bad advice.

In summation: if you’re in the Financial District or Tribeca and are looking for a sweet snack – stop on into Tribeca Treats and get yourself something…no matter what your sister may tell you.

Sunchokes: An Unsung American Hero

Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, sunroots, earth apples, and topinambur, are actually the roots and related to sunflowers. The sunchoke has a long American history, they were cultivated by the Native Americans long before European settlers arrived. Although not as popular as some other tubers in the US (ahem..the potato) they are much more nutritious. Sunchokes have prebiotic properties which are great for intestinal health and also contain vitamin C, phosphorus and potassium. They are also a great source of iron.

Even better than all that – they taste awesome. When raw they resemble water chestnuts and when roasted they have a nutty, sweet, and slightly salty taste. The natural sweetness of the tuber makes the roots almost carmelize when you roast them, creating a delicious and healthy sidedish to any meal.

16 oz of sunchokes: washed, peeled and cut into large chunks

2 carrots diced

2 celery stalks diced

4 tbs of olive oil

salt and pepper optional

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees

- After cutting the sunchokes, rinse them, dry them, and mix them with carrots and celery. Coat in olive oil/salt/pepper.

- Roast for 45: flip every once and awhile after 30 min mark otherwise sunchokes will stick to the bottom of the pan

Alices Tea Cup

I know I’ve blogged about Alice’s Tea Cup before but I have to do it again. That’s how much I love coming here.

Is it the food? Kinda. Is it the atmosphere? Maybe. To be honest, I’m not sure why I love it here so much. One things for certain: I love scones and the people here make pretty damn good ones. Although the scone lineup changes daily, they almost always have my personal favorite: pumpkin. Now I know you’ve probably had pumpkin scones before. Just about every bakery makes them when the leaves begin to fall. Why is this one so different? Because it is MORE than just a dry scone. It’s a bakery wonder. Circular instead of the traditional triangle, it has the consistancy of a moist pumpkin loaf with the added bonus of a thin sheet of caramel glaze ontop. When its warm, there is no better accompaniment to a cup of ginger tea.

Speaking of tea, lets talk about the kinds of tea they have here. Well, they 100′s. At least it seems that way. They’ve got all your typical tea types: black, green, red, white, herbal, tisane, organic, and decaf. Each category has about 20 different flavors with all the standards like ginger, chai, chamomile, french vervain, peppermint, vanilla bourbon, jasmine, rose, and genmaicha. Along with some other outstanding teas such as Hawaiian Paradise (apples, berries, apricot, orange peel, rosehips, and hibiscus), Mango Mate, and Herbal Detox (alfalfa, dandelion, nettle bush, and mint). They basically have a tea for every palate and they are all delicious.

So if you are in the neighborhood come on over to Alices for a pot of tea and a blt…unless it’s a national holiday and kids are off from school…then be prepared to wait in a sea of 5 year olf girls.

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