New York City, Day 2: Cafe Grumpy, Marcus Samuelson’s The Nook at Red Rooster Harlem

Fri., May 10.

BREAKFAST.
Cafe Grumpy is a cozy little coffee-house a stone’s throw away from our hostel in Chelsea. We went there almost every day for their flat white, which were creamy and bright and considerably smoother than the ones I’ve had in Toronto.  The cute lemon poppy-seed bundt cake, baked off-site at their Lower East Side location, went perfectly with our morning coffees. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend it.

SNACK.
For something different, The Nook is a take-away counter at Chef Marcus Samuelson’s Swedish-American-Soul-Food restaurant in Harlem. They sell sandwiches, coffee, teas, and a variety of pastries, but all with the twist you’d expect from the Nigerian-born, Swedish-raised chef and now American transplant restauranter. There was some confusion on how to go about ordering our food from The Nook counter –  they sat us at the bar – but after a 10 minutes wait, our cookies and iced tea finally arrived.

The ‘A’ Train, listed on the Nook Specials, is smack down the best sandwich cookie we’ve had. It’s two curry, blueberry, and oatmeal cookies filled with cream cheese.

Cafe Grumpy
224 West 20th Street, Manhattan | Website

The Nook at Red Rooster Harlem
310 Lennox Avenue, Manhattan| Website

New York City, Day 1: Num Pang Sandwich Shop, Maison Premiere, Pies’n'Thighs

Thurs., May 9.

We arrived in New York around noon ready to take on the day like nobody’s business.

LUNCH.
Num Pang Sandwich Shop serves Cambodian-style sandwiches, not to be mistaken for the more well-known banh mi (Vietnamese subs).  I had the Five Spice Pork Belly sandwich. It was delicious, fatty, juicy, ’nough said.

SNACK.
Our friend got us strawberry doughnuts from Dough! They were good, but I think Toronto’s Glory Hole Doughnuts does it better. ;)

HAPPY HOUR.
Happy Hour in New York is incredible. You have a two options: stay in Manhattan and find any run of the mill dollar-oysters OR head to Brooklyn for a more thoughtful – decadent? magical? – experience at Maison Premiere. The decor is nineteenth century French, think Paris, the Impressionists and Manet’s Girl at the Bar, and, yes, there’s an absinthe fountain.  The service was excellent, efficient and attentive, though a tad slow as the after-work crowd filtered in. Did I mention the absinthe fountain?

P.S. we’ve noticed an alarming trend of wooden toilets popping up in Williamsburg… what’s up with that?

DINNER.
If you didn’t heed our warnings over the last two years to check out Pies’n'Thighs as soon as you could, maybe you’ll find Guy Fieri’s recent Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives episode more persuasive! Our pie of the night was a tart Lemon Blackberry pie over a shortbread crust and our choice of thigh was their honey and hot sauce chicken thigh on biscuits.

After our little dinner, we took touristy pictures at the Williamsburg Bridge and did some pre-drinking in the hostel courtyard with friends. There was a failed attempt at finding a bar we could all agree on and ended up at a place called the Chelsea Pub.

Num Pang Sandwich Shop, Chelsea
75 9th Ave, Manhattan | Website

Maison Premiere
298 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn | Website

Pies’n'Thighs
166 S 4th Street, Brooklyn | Website

72 Hours in New York, New York

We ate and we ate and we ate and we ate…

Hello,

We’re back from New York! It was the best, and, as per usual, our whole trip was planned around food. This time around we managed to see more of Brooklyn and visited Harlem for the first time. The next few weeks will be an onslaught of New York related posts. But until then, here’s a quick glimpse of what we did:

Stayed
Chelsea International Hostel | 251 W 20TH ST. NEW YORK, NY 10011

Ate
Breakfast: Cafe Grumpy, Murray’s Bagel Shop Chelsea, Blue Bottle Coffee on Highline, Joe Coffee
Lunch: Num Pang Sandwich Shop at Chelsea Market, The Spotted Pig, A Salt & Battery
Snacked: Dough NY, The Nook – Red Rooster, Rice + Miso Everyday, Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice-cream, Melvin’s Juice Box
Dinner: Pies’n'Thighs, Shake Shack, Pok Pok NY
Bars: Maison Premiere, Chelsea Pub

Shopped
Adorama, Madewell, Brooklyn Flea, Trader Joe’s

Visited
Studio Museum in Harlem, The High Line, Prospect Park, Cobble Hill – Brooklyn Heights

P.S. HAPPY FRIDAY & LONG WEEKEND to my fellow Canadians! ;)

{Happy Friday} Back in a New York minute!

It’s May…which means we’re off to New York again next week!  Unfortunately, I haven’t had any time to schedule posts for this month, so updates will come when I get a chance to sit down and do things (or go out and do things). In the meantime, here’s an appropriately spring-like photo taken two years ago at the Brooklyn Flea:

You can find me on twitter or instagram.

Jittery John’s Cold Brew Coffee

One of the silver linings in having friends and family move abroad is the exchanges that take place whenever they return home on visits. My cousin, who recently expatriated to San Francisco, smuggled back a bottle of the liquid gold that is Jittery John’s Cold Brew coffee. If you’re skeptical about New Orleans style coffee that’s “handcrafted since just recently” in San Francisco, JJ’s is as rich, smooth, strong, and delicious as billed – and the chicory accent is something I can get used to. Fun fact:  chicory root is a common coffee substitute in US prisons, a tradition that dates back to the American civil war!

Yashica FX-7

Jittery John’s Cold Brew Coffee
San Fransisco CA | Twitter | Fb