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! ;)

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!

Montreal: L’Express

Where does Joe Beef’s David McMillan go for French-Canadian food in Montréal? Where everyone goes to eat in Montréal.

That’s what it seemed like anyway.

L’Express is the quintessential (North American) French bistro. Unpretentious, busy, loud, maybe a bit tacky, but overall, not a bad place to go. The menu is huge, so there’ll be something for everyone, and they like to serve you giant jars of pickles to munch on. Best of all, the wine list starts at $6 a glass.

We had the scallop ceviche (special of the night), steak frites, quail on wild rice, and shared a crème caramel.

Restaurant L’Express
3927 Rue Saint Denis | Website