Last night a bunch of us attended City Grit: Brunch Village dinner. Yes! Brunch food for dinner, my kind of dinner. It was Sarah’s homage to the show Portlandia. I’ve only seen the pilot but judging from the awesome tasty food Sarah cooked up last night, I may have to at least watch the episode “Brunch Village”.

The dinner started off with Collin’s chicken and waffle. Hello bite sized goodness. I ate 4 and totally forgot to snap a photo. Next up (picture above) was “Craig’s crazy guac tacos” with pulled brisket, guac, queso, and scrambled eggs.

Click to see what else was on the menu last night

While everyone was away during the holidays, me, Howard and our friend Corrine took a trip to Krescendo, the newly opened restaurant by Elizabeth Falkner. With getting 1st prize in the 2012 World Pizza Championships in Naples, Italy we definitely had a higher than normal expectation for the pizzas. While I enjoyed my meal, Howard wasn’t too thrilled (he had the margherita).

Read the rest of this entry…

It’s always great when you learn something new, especially when you’re eating some fabulous tasting food. Couple weeks ago I had a grand meal at Osteria il Paiolo in Williamsburg with my friend Melissa. What I learned that night was how proper polenta is made, in a giant copper pot or a il Paiolo. In keeping with his family tradition, owner Alex Palumbo makes sure to make his polenta in a il Paiolo. Unlike most polenta I had, this was extremely creamy yet there was no dairy added to it whatsoever.

Osteria il Paiolo is one of the few restaurants in Williamsburg to have tables on the sidewalk. Go enjoy your summer nights with a glass of wine and some fantastic polenta.

Read the rest of this entry…

The first time I ever heard about Scarpetta was a mention of its signature dish: a $24 plate of spaghetti. Nothing particularly fancy; there are no truffles, no imported platinum serving dish… Just (allegedly) the best plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce you’ve ever tasted. In thinking about my visit to Scarpetta with my friends Jeff & Eva, I knew I just couldn’t bring myself to actually spend $24 on spaghetti. Then my friend Melissa told me she thought the spaghetti was absolutely worth it — and I still couldn’t imagine ordering it. Then I had what I deemed to be a good idea, “and such ideas are not three a penny.”* My idea was this: we could order the spaghetti as an appetizer, and all partake of this amazing dish for a mere $8 per person.

Click to continue…

It’s been a long journey for Chef Nate Smith from after leaving The Spotted Pig to being the owner of his own restaurant, Allswell. Lucky for me I’ve sort of been tagging along. I first met Nate Smith in 2010 at one of the Pie for Dinner events at 4 & 20 Blackbirds, it was also how I met the Elsen sisters. He told me that he was preparing to open his own place but in the meantime he was cooking at Roman’s which gave me an excuse to try the place. Then in early 2011 he helped open Dean St on Underhill and we all know how that turned out. Though I did go there for a delicious brunch before he left. Then in the Spring time he started doing pop up dinners at Veronica People’s Club and Pinkerton. And so now fast forward to late 2011 with the opening of Allswell.

I’ve had many meals here already and everything so far has been damn damn good (and I’m not the only one to think so). Even picky eater, Howard, approves it (HA!).

Check out what I’ve eaten at Allswell so far after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry…

Our 2012 Eat More in Queens mission started with a group dinner with my friends at SriPraPhai. It seemed like I was the last in the whole wide world to eat at SriPraPhai and I’m glad I did even if that meant riding the 7 train during rush hour.

There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be trekking out more to Queens, heck I (with Howard) even took a road trip up to New Haven for a day just to eat pizza (well Mo drove). The dinner was great and I’m looking forward to my next meal there. Though funny thing, I wanted to order a Pad Thai but no one would let me! It’s THE dish that I use to help me rate a Thai restaurant. Okay fine in the case of Joya, their Pad Thai is alright but their chicken green curry is where it’s at.

Check out what we ate after the jump

Read the rest of this entry…

So I made mussels with a green curry broth the other night but I couldn’t eat a whole 2lbs of mussels by myself. What to do with leftover mussels? Have you ever had an oyster omelette? I decided to make a mussel omelette. I whisked 2 eggs and added some of the green curry broth for extra flavors. Seasoned the eggs mixture. In a hot pan add oil and add the mussels. Cooked them for a minute and poured in the eggs. I flipped it, or tried to, once the bottom was set. Once I flipped it, I turned off the heat. I didn’t want to over cook the thing. I ate it over rice with a nice squirt of sriracha.

Also I added some frozen peas just for the heck of it.