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

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! ;)

All the best

2012 was the year I discovered bourbon, became obsessed with eggnog, bought shoes one size too small out of pride, tried hot yoga, and – drum roll please - ate a guinea pig in Peru. I had a few major downers, but the months passed and I’m feeling optimistic again.

Overall, I had a very good 2012 with so much to be thankful about. Leo and I ate lots of good food and travelled far. It can only get better!

We’re going to try to get better at this blogging thing. So, without much further ado…here are a few pictures from the past twelve months.

New York City in May with Leo and friends was a blast. I was a day late and missed the Yankees game, oysters at The John Dory Oyster Bar and pizzas at Motorino’s, but I forgive them. I would have done the same. We ate so many good things, including a lovely breakfast at Marlow & Sons, pizza lunch at Roberta’s, and the original Momofuku Noodle Bar. This ricotta scone (foreground) and olive oil cake (background) you’re seeing in this post is from a quick East Village pit stop at Abraço Espresso on our way to Brooklyn. 

This Brooklyn Flea dog. On Portra 400 film using my Canon AE-1 camera.

A lucky shot of fajitas at my favourite Brooklyn Flea stand. On Portra 400 film.

In June, I boarded three planes to get to Cusco, Peru. I went on a three day hike across Ollantaytambo and visited Machu Picchu.

My group got to see a local chocolate maker’s atelier in one of the Sacred Valley villages in Peru. We tasted raw cocoa and drank chicha! The flower picture is on Fuji Pro 400H film using Leo’s Olympus XA camera.

Went back to Montreal in August.  We ate in Little Burgundy at Burgundy Lion and Atwater Market. We also had a nice evening at Les 400 Coups, which, as some of you know, was just listed in Maclean’s controversial top 50 best restaurants in Canada list. The Montreal list is incomplete without Joe Beef, but what can you do…cheers to Les 400 Coups though! Worth a visit.

I rented a Carl Zeiss 50mm F1.4  ZE Planar T* for the Montreal trip. The bokeh was amazing. 

This picture of Leo tearing up bread from Boulangerie Guillaume is my favourite photo.

Followed by Leo breaking this cookie from Olive & Gourmando. (Can I has Carl Zeiss forever?)

Can’t really complain about budget travelling. We had a two hour ‘layover’ in Kingston (Ontario) thanks to a broken down Mega Bus jalopy on our way back home from Montreal.

Back in Toronto…

Leo’s DIY Backyard Fire Pit. Pure genius.

I never posted the recipe, but one of the proudest things I’ve baked all year was this Coconut Swirl Bread. It was a visual fail, but the taste was incredible. It’s similar to a brioche in that both of them are enriched with eggs and involve lots of butter.

Jim Lahey’s No-Knead-Bread wasn’t bad either. We also made his No-Knead-Pizza.

2012 was the summer of the ramen. (Top) Kinton Ramen, (1) Momofuku Toronto, (2) Sansotei Ramen, and (3) Santouka Ramen all opened within months of each other. We went to every one of them. Our favourite so far is Santouka. (Worth the line up?)  Looking forward to trying A-OK Foods from Yours Truly and Raijin in 2013. Sodium content aside, too much ramen is a good thing, but how about some decent gyoza? – just saying.

All-You-Can-Eat sushi birthdays are the best. Even better? The generous amounts of dessert Ten-Ichi let us order. Before you judge, there was seven of us at the table. Best bang for your buck for AYCE…in Scarborough.

Coming up for the new year…

Leo’s Los Angeles vacation.

And, of course, more Toronto <3

Happy New Year, you guys!

A few bites (and some drinks) around Manhattan and Brooklyn

Here are some long overdue photos from the New York trip back in May.

Tasty Dumpling in New York’s Chintatown is one of the cheapest eats you’ll find at a mere $1.5o for five dumplings. Score!

Somewhere near Time Square we had some very good Korean fried chicken at Mad for Chicken. It was an excruciating one hour wait.

A trip to New York isn’t complete without visiting the Brooklyn Flea. We didn’t stay as long or eat as much as last year, but we got to try People’s Pop.

Then we had a tour of Brooklyn Brewery and drank quite a bit.  

Went to Mast Brother’s Chocolate.

A local recommended Samurai Mama to us. It was alright. I kinda wish we didn’t go.

Annnnnd…we ended our last night with Pies’n'Thighs’s blackberry pie. Not pictured are the bourbon shots that went along with it.

I believe that’s a wrap. :)

More New York 2012 posts: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8

Breakfast: High Line and Blue Bottle Chelsea Siphon Bar

I started and ended my trip to New York this year with the High Line and Blue Bottle Coffee in Chelsea. Prime on my list to visit was the much talked about Siphon Bar, conveniently located near their High Line kiosk. I went ready to be talked down to, but the baristas at both spots were the friendliest people we met on the trip! They were so informative and helpful, and for the first time I felt comfortable talking about coffee with someone behind the counter.

On the High Line

Eaten: hot chocolate, olive oil shortbread, and a snickerdoodle (not pictured).

At the Siphon Bar 

If you’re around the area, the siphon bar is definitely a must! Not only is it a personal and intimate experience, but as someone who just started learning about coffee, I found it to be revelatory in many ways. It was hands down the best coffee experience I’ve had. We were the first to get there and had the entire bar to ourselves for about an hour, during which we got to chat with our barista as she lead us through their coffee ‘menu’ of the day and the two different brewing methods they had stationed up. Unfortunately, a lot of the technical details went over my head.

We started with a complimentary cup of Cascara Tea, an herbal tea made from dried coffee cherry, which came paired with cubes of bourbon infused marshmallow. At the barista’s recommendation, we then followed through with the Siphon (a seemingly complicated brewing method involving a bit of simple physics), it yielded a very light brew of their Guatemala roast, and then the Nel with an Ethiopian bean, a pour over drip method that produced a concentrated extraction that went down smoothly.

Needless to say, I spent the rest of the day with a severe lip twitch.

The Guatemala’s weak flavours were a surprise to me. I’ve had different roasts in Toronto and they’ve always been more full-bodied with a strong mouthfeel that coats your entire palate, usually lingering for a long time, especially the aroma. This was thankfully explained! The beans used for us that day were essentially nearing the end of their life, the stronger, more chocolatey flavours that I usually associate with a Guatemala roast had mellowed down, leaving only the light citrus notes. This totally explains why coffee lovers always advise to buy ‘fresher’ beans (closer to the roasting date as possible) and in small batches if you know you won’t finish it in a month.

While waiting for the siphon bar to open, we also tried an Iced New Orleans, a cold brew coffee with chicory, cream and simple syrup. Unlike hot coffee that’s been chilled, the Iced New Orleans had a remarkable flavour profile and barely any acidity because of the long extraction process. I found it very similar to a Vietnamese coffee and Thai iced tea.

Blue Bottle Chelsea 
450 West 15th Street, New York NY | Website | Yelp