Taking a Bite Out of the Big Apple

You can’t live in New York without having some sort of commentary on the food. From the bagel and hot dog carts on the street corners (even when it’s 0 degrees Fahrenheit!) to the chicest, trendiest restaurants with even chicer, minimalist, it’s-hip-to-be-obvious names like “Eat”, “Salt”, and “Bread”, New York is paradise for everyone from junk food junkies to the most discerning epicures.

There are two things you must do when you first arrive in the city: (1.) Gather a thick file of takeout/delivery menus from a wide variety of restaurants in your neighbourhood and (2.) Sign up for a miracle called Fresh Direct.

The stash of menus is particularly critical for those nights when you not only have nothing in your fridge, but also for when it’s minus one million degrees outside or raining horizontally.

Strategy #2, Fresh Direct, has actually made internet shopping for groceries work (no surprise in a city where most people don’t have cars), delivering what ever you want right to your door. It’s brilliant. Now I can buy BOTH orange juice AND milk. And I don’t have to think about how I’m going to carry 40 pounds of groceries home. LOVE Fresh Direct.

Because New York is such a foodie city, you can get away with NEVER having to cook. In fact, “cooking” for me now consists of either pushing “start” on the microwave or picking up the phone and dialing one of the many handy numbers in my menu rolodex.

And as my credit card can attest, I also have been aggressively sampling many of the great restaurants that this city has to offer (minimally named or not). Here’s a tour of some of the recent highlights:

Craft Bar (Flatiron District)
- Most unbelievable appetizers, including risotto balls (heaven) and chick pea French fries with an olive tapenade
- Incredible hanger steak entrée with pureed potatoes (smooth as buttah!)
- The chef/owner is Tom Colicchio, the head judge of Bravo’s Top Chef

Landmarc (Tribeca)
- Another great collection of appetizers including goat cheese profiteroles and steak tartare
- Cozy environment – kind of like being in someone’s loft apartment (exposed brick and wood beams with wood floors)
- But dessert truly was the stand out: Ice cream cones (with real sugar cones) served in adorable conical wire stands

Megu (Tribeca)
- Modern Japanese cuisine
- Dozens of kinds of sake (sake list is more extensive than many restaurants’ wine lists)
- Must order the Kobe beef slices that you grill yourself at your table on a scalding hot river stone – Unbelievable!
- Love the giant ice Buddha which we learned is carved new and delivered each day from a studio in Brooklyn (for a cool fee of about $1500 per day – that’s a lot of Kobe beef!)

wd~50 (Lower East Side)
- The menu is seasonal and somewhat exotic, using elements from a variety of different cuisines. Some of the items that graced our table one night included smoked octopus, rabbit sausage, parsnip tart, carrot ice cream, and of course, a fabulous champagne/vodka concoction with a cherry infusion
- I’ve also heard fun stories about side dishes of flavoured foam, but I guess foam wasn’t in season the night we were there.

Buddakan (Chelsea)
- Modern Asian cuisine
- This is a "too cool for school" kind of place (the web site actually says "Dress code: downtown chic, hip and fun)
- NY Times called it “the post-millennial urban mess hall as supersize cocktail lounge with super-stylized dishes, which chart a far-out trip to the Far East”
- Oh yeah, and this was the place that laughed at us over the phone for trying to make reservations ONLY two weeks in advance
- But the food was great and you can forgive the chi chi stuff (to some extent) for good food

Apizz (Lower East Side)
- Creative Italian cuisine
- A tiny place (only three seats at the bar) with a cozy number of tables placed around a warm and inviting fireplace; it’s kind of like hanging out in someone’s living room
- Joe recommended this to me and also said “you have to try the wild boar lasagna!” – I loved the restaurant, but couldn’t screw up the courage for the wild boar.

The Burger Joint (Midtown)
- Ironic juxtaposition of a greasy burger place tucked away in the corner of the imposing marble lobby of Le Parker Meridien hotel, marked only by a flickering neon sign in the shape of a hamburger
- The closest thing I’ve found to In ‘N Out!