The picture above is what we woke up to this morning. In a city that rarely sees snow this can cause quite a bit of havoc but it being a Saturday and with the skies so clear our neighbourhood was a quite winter wonderland. And while we did go out to play in the snow several times, I now sit warm and dry with a cup of tea and ready to do some writing. I've been meaning to write for a while now as I have recently made a trip to New York with food being my main and top most priority.
Colin was sent by his work to New York for a week and I saw this as a great opportunity for me to get one last trip in before our second baby arrives and our life becomes a lot more local. My amazing siblings watched Ellie as I crossed the continent on a four day food filled adventure.
Half the fun of travelling for me is the anticipation and planning. This time was no different and I asked friends for advice and started following the biggest NYC food bloggers to get ideas of where I could find the best eats. Living in Vancouver I feel I can get some of the best Asian food around and so decided to focus on Jewish Delis, Italian, Middle eastern cuisine and bakeries. While Colin was in meetings during the day I hit the streets, armed with my book and ducked into as many spots as I could. In the evenings we continued to nosh as we walked to and from the Broadway theatres.
My first morning in the big apple, I wondered to a breakfast spot that had been recommended by a friend. Jack's Wife Frida is a bistro offering American-Mediterranean dishes in a bright and inviting atmosphere. I indulged in a simple but delicious grapefruit and Israeli yogurt bowl served with homemade granola, mint and honey.
Following a beautiful and chilly walk across the Brooklyn Street Bridge and a tour of the Tenements Museum I tucked into Russ and Daughters Cafe. Russ and Daughters started over 100 years ago as a store/deli and opened it's cafe in 2014. They serve up many traditional Jewish dishes and I warmed myself with a bowl of matzo ball soup followed by decadent latkes with creme fresh and salmon roe.
That evening we planned out where we would eat dinner before seeing the Broadway show Kinky Boots. I had a Middle Eastern restaurant in mind but it wasn't quite close enough to the theatre to make it work and we ended up at a great little cuban place instead. After the show we decide to walk back to our hotel and possibly find a place to grab a late night bite. As we weaved through the streets several places caught our eye but we kept wanting to check out more. I was thrilled when our aimless wondering brought us right to Shuka, the restaurant I'd originally wanted to go to for dinner! We shared a great crispy cauliflower dish and fava bean hummus with fresh pita bread in a very cozy setting that was decorated in white and blue hues accented by dramatic dark wood.
I've been really into making sourdough bread lately and have been using Chad Robertson's Tartine book as my guide. In the book, Robertson mentions the Bouchon Bakery in New York. So I decide to make a pilgrimage that included a trip to a museum and walk through central park. I was surprised to see more patisserie than bread but had a delicious grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch in their cafe.
As I left the cafe, a display with large macarons caught my eye and I decided to take a sweet treat for the road. The woman working behind the counter recommended the pistachio flavour and I was not disappointed. The larger size made for an amazing chewy meringue with a thick buttery filling, vey satisfying.
That evening Colin and I went on a mini food crawl as we made our way to another theatre for another play, The Book of Mormon. We started at a pasta bar where we had a drink and a peppery arugula salad. Next up, another pilgrimage to a restaurant that Yotam Ottolenghi talks about in his Plenty More cookbook called Balaboosta. Yotam raves about their fried olives and has a similar recipe in his cookbook. We ordered the olives and they were indeed very tasty, served on a think yogurt with spicy harissa oil.
Our final stop before the theatre was another New York institution, Prince St Pizza who are known best for their pepperoni square. The place was packed when we got their and it took us a bit to figure out their system but our wait was rewarded with a thick slice of fresh pizza with crispy pepperoni medallions on top.
On our final day we had a nice amount of time before our evening flight and so headed to Chelsea to walk the High Line (old above ground train turned to walk way) and of course eat at the Chelsea Market.
Dizongoff is a spot in Chelsea Market that I've been following on Instagram for a while as they post mouth watering pictures of their beautiful hummus bowls with all types of different toppings. We chose to share a bowl topped with eggplant, egg and pickled cabbage. The bowl was almost too pretty to eat! It was served with hot pita and we ordered a side of picked beets and turnips as well.
We left the market satisfied but with still a little room for s little something sweet and so hit up a well reviewed local donut shop, The Donut Pub. There I tried one of their super tasty croissant donuts.
Tasty donut in belly and feeling completely satisfied we headed to the airport. Being back in Vancouver feels like being in a small town in comparison and Colin and I are both excited to hopefully return some day soon to continue the adventure!
