Red Farm @ 2170 Broadway, New York

So short and yet to the point:  there was talk about Red Farm, a reinvented Chinese restaurant that  looked from the outside, anything but Chinese.  Luckily, I was staying on the same block on the Upper West Side, so I was able to get in a grab a bite to eat.

Practically at the footstep of my hotel was Red Farm, a modern interpretation on Amer-Chinese cuisine.  Most notable was this one appetizer which I recommend anyone in the vicinity go right now and order: Katz's Pastrami Eggroll. Seriously, a cosmic revelation of two decadent items from vastly different regions and styles rolled (literally) into one dish, I kid you not, this should be copied and distributed as the next best trend in Chibrew cuisine.  

Pizza Arte @ 69 W 55th St, NYC

I love Pizza, it must be from growing up in the city; the wafts of baking crust and tomato sauce haunted me as I walked home from school.  My friend Danny and I would walk a block away to Broadway and get a small pie with Pepperoni and Sausage,  I would go cray cray with the condiments: Oregano, Chili Flakes, Parmesan and Garlic-I would be walking home with red blistering lips and breath of death...

Pizza has changed since then, often more authentic and 'gourmet', but it will always be a childhood comfort food.


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The Burger Joint @ Le Parker Meridien Hotel, NYC

Who would have thought at Le Parker Meridien, that one would find such unexpected, down to earth, classic American Burgers + Fries. But there it was, albeit totally concealed along the depths of a narrow and dim hallway with no indication, no nomenclature but a strong perfume of oil and grease (a heavenly, unctuous vapors permeating the tall, marbled resplendent halls of hotel opulence-a decadent paradox that I could easily find refuge nestled in it's warm bosom...


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Katz's Delicatessen @ 205 East Houston Street, NYC

While the New York trip was my homecoming, it was also an opportunity to visit old haunts..

On the Lower East Side, there lies a culinary landmark, an ode to the New York Style Delicatessens shining a beacon of glistening fat, beckoning to carnivores all over the country.

Katz's is a New York institution; a culmination of where diverse classes of real New Yorkers dine together democratically, a well ordered society ruled by the love of Pastrami....a Brisket Utopia if you will...




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Random Photo: New York Sunset

Blue Bottle Coffee @ 30 Rock, NYC

As we're supposedly Coffee Aficionados, it was our mission to find some of the best Coffee that NYC had to offer....unfortunately, in my brilliance,

I booked our trip to The Big Apple during the hottest, steamiest time of the year, thus curtailing our adventures to twenty minute spurts of outdoor misery immediately followed by running into air-conditioned interiors, wet and melted like a soppy puddle on the floor.....

So while staying in Midtown, the closest java stop worth mentioning was Blue Bottle Coffee, located in the lower level of Rockefeller Center amongst the other food court like venues.  It's off the beaten path, which gives it's exclusive vibe, but a little different than the other BBC's we've encountered....

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Pie Face Bakery Cafe @ Broadway, NYC

So along the mega strip of 42nd Street, we found an awesome corner Bakery/Pie store aptly named, 'Pie Face'. Amongst all the cheesy chain restaurants that you wouldn't be caught dead in, this place was a breath of fresh air!

It's a tiny Bakery, with no seating but a small bar counter top but the window, but most of the space is used for Display cases and ovens, but it's got an awesomely cheery front entrance, cute graphics and something that no one else has, savory pies to go.

Pie Face is a 24 hour operation Bakery and originates from Bondi Beach, Australia where the savory meat pies are so popular.  we're big fans of this place and can see it do really well in New York; it's portable, it's hot and it tastes really really good!




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Beard Papa's Sweets Cafe @ Broadway, NYC

This is where it all began for me - my long awaited reunion with a first love...

Bearded Papa's Cream Puff: Dulce de Leche

It was here on Broadway and 76th street, right where I was born and raised that my one and only true, sweet dessert embarked upon our shores and landed into my mouth... It was this chubby nugget of french confectionary ever present in my childhood memories in Japan, and now it was here right in my back yard.

And now being back in New York, it was on my list of places to go back and show Rick; we've actually been going to Breaded Papa's in San Francisco and LA, but NYC was the best....

Now, for those of you that haven't tried Beard Papa's yet, it should be on your list of must go to places, it is simply too good to pass up!  The Cream Puff here is actually unique: most places will display their's with the cream already inside which, has a tendency to soak the puff shell.  Here, they actually fill the Cream Puff to order, so you will never have a problem with a soggy Puff.  As well, you have a variety of Cream filling and Puff shells-with a continuous rotation of Daily specials.

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