Caribbean Inspired French Food at Arcane in Alphabet City

Arcane is a quaint bistro located adjacent to another restaurant that I love, Zum Schneider (a small German Beer Hall with good eats), on Ave C in Alphabet City.  Arcane features a small menu of reasonably priced entrees; pretty much nothing is over $20.  The restaurant is also has a Groupon for $30 for $60 worth of food/drink that is still available on the site as of this writing.  Mix the reasonable prices with the basically half off Groupon deal, and two people can eat like a king for $30! 

I had been here a few times but one of my favorite dishes is the Pork Colombo.  It's a pork curry stew with string beans and potatoes served with rice.  While the dish is a bit different from the Caribbean curries I had, the dish is still packed with flavor and the pork was super tender.

On this trip I went with my bro and he had the skate with lemon caper sauce served on mashed potatoes.  The skate was cooked perfectly and the mashed potatoes were super creamy.  The lemon caper sauce was tasty and the skate was a pretty big portion from what I usually see at other restaurants.  At $19 it's quite a steal.

For apps we got the guacamole with salt fish.  I don't like bland tasting guacamole and this one is flavored well with the salt fish.  While they gave you a lime wedge the guac itself needed a little more zing though.

We also had the mussels app, and while the serving was small the mussels and broth tasted great.  The bread they provided was great for soaking up all that tasty soup.

If you hang out in the East Village, grab the Groupon and head over a little further to Avenue C to check this restaurant out!

Arcane

111 Avenue C

(between East 7 and East 8th st)

New York, NY (646) 370-5158

  

  

Alder for Scrumptious Tapas in the East Village!

My girlfriend recommended this cozy new tapas spot in the East Village when we met up for dinner after work recently.  Alder has a short and focused menu, spotlighting creative and impeccably plated small plates.   While you don't get a lot of food for the price range of $11 to around $20 for larger plates, the few dishes we did try were beautifully presented and tasted amazing.

First, we ordered the playful pigs in a blanket, using Chinese sausage with a light crispy outer skin, served mustard and sweet chili sauce.  The dish tasted really good and looked like a work of art.

We also ordered the chicken liver toast, served with a grapefruit marmalade and crispy chicken skin.

Another great dish, and for someone who doesn't like chicken liver that much this dish also tasted great.

The last dish we ordered was the clam chowder.  The chowder itself was made well, but the homemade oyster crackers were what really made the dish for me.  So light, fluffy, and flavorful.

While I wouldn't suggest going to Alder's if you are pretty hungry, it's a great spot for a date to share some beautiful and great tasting plates of food.  We'll be back someday to try some other dishes in the future.  

Alder

157 2nd Ave.

(between 9th and 10th st)

New York, NY 10003

(212) 539-1900

Saint's Alp Tea House for Great Teas and Desserts!

Saint's Alp Tea House in the East Village has been a favorite go-to spot for a quick post dinner dessert or for a nice variety of hot and cold teas, bubble teas, and shakes.  It's often packed with students from NYU and is busy even on weeknights, as they also serve noodle soups, and small savory plates of Chinese appetizers that work great as snacks.  You can check out the extensive menu on Menupages.

If you do go there for dessert or even a quick snack, you MUST order the toast with condensed milk and butter.  As simple as that sounds, the combination works really really well and if you ordered one to share, you will want to order another one for yourself.

One of the savory dishes ordered was the Taiwanese hors d'oeuvres sampler with fried shrimp balls, boiled tea eggs, and glazed chicken wings.  

My go-to drink when I'm there is the black tea with milk (served hot).  It's a classic and you can't go wrong with it!  They also serve a variety of fruity drinks and milkshakes.  

Saint's Alp Tea House (Two locations)

39 3rd Ave
(between 9th St & Bowery) 
New York, NY 10003
Neighborhood: East Village

The other location is in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and I've been to both :)

164 Bedford Ave
(between 7th St & 8th St) 
Brooklyn, NY 11211

The "Almighty Brisket" at Joe Dough in the East Village

I was walking towards This Little Piggy on First Ave in the East Village when I happened upon Joe Dough, a new quaint little sandwich shop, just a few blocks away.

They had a sign outside touting their "Almighty Brisket" sandwich, so I stepped in to take a look.  The sandwiches here were a bit steep at $10 a pop.  Throw in a hose made soda and chips and it jumps to $14.

So here's their brisket sandwich, served with cheddar, caramelized onions, and horseradish mayo on a toasted brioche bun.  The brisket was damn good and just melted in your mouth!  Probably the best brisket sandwich I've had, even when compared to the ones you get a BBQ joints.

I also took the plunge and also tried out their homemade celery soda.  It was pretty awesome and infused with refreshing herbs that gave it a slightly bitter bite.

 

Although the sandwich was great, I still prefer This Little Piggy.  It's just a few doors down and for the same price you get a roast beef sandwich smothered with cheese and gravy that's fit enough for two!  Joe Dough is still worth a try though.  Here's the rest of their menu...

Joe Dough

135 First Ave

(between St Marks Pl & 9th St) 
Manhattan, NY 10003

Pommes Frites in the East Village....Still the Best Go-To Place for Fries in the City!

Pommes Frites opened over a decade ago and still serves the best twice cooked Belgian frites in the city with a slew of dipping sauces to match.  Located in a prime location on 2nd ave and St Marks Place near all the great bars in the area, Pommes Frites has long been a standby for some late-night drunk food munchies!  There's always a line there at night...  Seriously though, their frites are great either sober or drunk!

All they serve is frites but they do it really well. The super crispy frites are served right in a paper cone and come in three sizes.  They sure are addictive though!

What really sets Pommes Frites over the top is their selection of dipping sauces.  Boasting around 30(!) or so different sauces, some free (others $1 each), there are some really great sauces that really add 

to the experience.  This trip we ordered the Truffle Mayo (slight more expensive but soooooooo worth it), Parmesan Peppercorn, and Mango Chutney, and all were great.  We also had the free "Especial" which is mayo, ketchup, and onion.  You can check out their full sauce menu HERE since I took a crappy picture below.

All in all Pommes Frites a must stop place whether you're looking for a quick snack or great drunk food in the East Village

Pommes Frites

123 2nd Ave

(between 7th St & St Marks Pl) 
New York, NY 10003

Numero 28 Pizzeria in the East Village for Creative Pizza...Including a Great Pumpkin Topped Pizza!

There are a lot of great pizza places in the city, but if you're in the West or East Village and like crisp thin crust pizzas made with good, fresh ingredients, Numero 28 is a sure bet.

They have a nice selection of toppings from traditional to creative for their pizzas, all of which are fairly reasonably priced.  The pies also come in three lengths, from 14, 18, and 29 inches.  We had a party of three and a $32 Groupon for the East Village location so we opted for a 29 inch pie.  The great thing about the pies at Numero 28 is that for a medium 18 inch, you can get two separate flavor combinations, and for the large 29 inch, you can get three.

Here it is!  The 29 inch is huge and easily serves three people...you can see how big it is compared to the fork on the table and the pizza is divided into three separate flavors:  Truffle and prosciutto, pancetta and pumpkin, and prosciutto and arugula.

The bottom part of the photo above is the Numero 28 Special with truffle cream, prosciutto, and mushrooms.  This was phenomenal and all three toppings together worked really well together.  Also, truffle oil + mushrooms = winning combo!

As good as the truffle pizza was, I've had that the exact toppings before at Keste, which is also an excellent pizza spot in the West Village.  So the real surprise of the night was their "Giulietta" pizza, which has pancetta, pumpkin cream, and buffalo mozzarella... Having pumpkin as a topping sounds totally weird, but it actually tasted amazing!  This is a MUST TRY if you're here...

    
The "San Danielle" is the most traditional of the flavors we ordered that night.  It comes with a traditional tomato and mozzarella topping with arugula and prosciutto....but also good!

As good as the toppings were, the crust is also great.  The crust is thin and crisp, and the topped with good quality toppings.  Numero 28 also has a West Village location.

East Village location:
176 2nd Ave
(between 11th St & 12th St) 
New York, NY 10003


West Village location
28 Carmine St
New York, NY 10014

Croxley's Ales in the East Village for Great Beers and the Cheapest Wings in NYC!

I have a weakness for hot wings and my go-to spot is Croxley's in the East Village right on Ave B and East 2nd.  They don't have the best wings but they are decent, and come in at an amazing 10 cents per wing on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays all night.  Yup, that's right...all night!  I have come here on several occasions before a show in the Lower East Side area and is a cheap and quick place to grab a bite and drink before a show.

They are 20 cents on Saturdays during the day and all day Sunday, which is still a great deal.  They also have a great Friday happy hour deal for FREE (doesn't get better than that!) wings from 5 to 7pm at the bar...all you need to get is a $5 drink minimum....basically you can get a drink after a week of work and fill up on wings for $5.

Croxley's also has a good beer selection and even has their own beer.  I usually opt for the Croxley's blonde, which is light and crisp, and is only $5 a pint.  You can check their entire beer menu HERE.  They even have beer cocktails but I haven't had a chance to try theirs yet.

Yep, you too can get all this deliciousness (and more), for just $5!  The beer pictured is a pint
or Croxley's Blonde.

Croxley's Ales 

28 Avenue B (right between the border of East Village and Lower East Side)

New York, NY

Big Gay Ice Cream Truck for the Best Soft Serve Evaaaaa!!

It looks like any other ice cream truck you might find in the city streets, but if you see and fall in line for the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, know that you're in for the best soft serve ever!  They have soft serve with a variety of unique toppings that rotate seasonally, but the perennial favorite flavor by far is the "Salty Pimp."
Aside from their famous food truck, they also opened a shop on 125 East 7th st in the East Village.

The Salty Pimp is soft serve has a caramel swirl interior encased in a hard chocolate crust, and drizzled with sea salt, which REALLY makes the chocolate and caramel flavors pop!  The actual soft serve inside is an oh-so-creamy vanilla that's delicious!

Here's a list of the toppings (four flavors total)...aside from The Salty Pimp, I believe the rest of the 

flavors rotate seasonally.

If you see this logo on an ice cream truck, make sure you stop by and get The Salty Pimp!

You can follow the truck location on their Twitter Feed, or you can check out their new permanent location in the East Village.

Big Gay Ice Cream Shop
125 E 7th St
New York, NY 10003

NYC Quick Lunch...Xian Famous Foods for Amazing Hand Pulled Noodles!

This is my 2nd Post for Xian Famous Foods, (old entry here)which has become my favorite quick stop Chinese food spot. Make sure you head over to the East Village location.  There's a new location on Bayard St. in Chinatown but somehow their dishes don't quite measure up to the others' standards!

They make some delicious hand pulled noodles with a great bite and texture, and completely unique from many Chinese restaurants since they serve Western Chinese cuisine.  Many of their dishes have lamb and use middle eastern flavors with spices like cumin.  Their dishes are just so good and flavorful, and if you go, make sure you ask for "spicy" when they ask how you want your noodle dish!

All of their dishes are below $10 with most around $5 to $7.  One of my favorites is the "Spicy Tingly Beef" with hand pulled noodles, which has some mouth-numbing Szechuan peppercorns.  Just look at that fiery plate of goodness!!

Another great dish is the "Spicy lamb cumin hand pulled noodles"...just make sure you ask for "spicy" as well.  You can get this in a soup as well, but I personally prefer the stir-fried version for more of that chili oil goodness.

I could eat at this lunch restaurant everyday!  The food is flavorful and delicious.  I've tried the East Village, Bayard St Chinatown, and East Broadway Chinatown location.  The East Broadway location is good but is tiny!  They don't even have seating and it's pretty much a takeout spot.  The best one surprisingly is the East Village location.  There's also a Flushing location but I haven't tried that one yet.


Xian Famous Foods
81 St Marks Pl
New York, NY 10003 

(212) 786-2068

Summer 2011 NYC Restaurant Week Review...Awesome Meal at Apiary!

I'm often in the East Village and have wandered past Apiary numerous times, never having checked the menu or even thought about stopping in.  And even when my brother had suggested going there for restaurant week I honestly wasn't really expecting that much.

The cozy decor of the restaurant was inviting and service was attentive and spot on. Dinner was the usual pre fixe Restaurant Week $35.  We started out with the chilled corn veloute with corn salsa, grape tomatoes, and finished with both chorizo and basil oil.  This cold soup was so light and refreshing and was a great sign of things to come.

The other app ordered was basically a caesar salad...it had a ton of freshly grated parmesan cheese, but it's fairly simple, albeit solid salad.

We ordered an extra course to split between the three of us.  The squid ink pasta dish on their regular menu sounded delicious, and we sound found out that it tasted even better!  The broth is actually more of a light tomato based broth, there was a lot of squid which was cooked just perfectly!  The pasta was flavorful and the bold squid ink really came through as well.  This was just an awesome dish.  Our waiter was great in asking the chef to separate the entree into three small portions so we could be individually served!

The Restaurant Week entrees were also a hit.  I ordered the roasted chicken with potato puree and peas.  The chicken was roasted to perfection.  The skin was crispy and the meat juicy.  This was also a huge portion and aside from not being served with the drumstick, this was basically half a chicken!

Another entree our group ordered was the Atlantic Merzula.  Again, the protein was a fairly hearty portion and was just cooked to perfection.  The fish had an amazing crispy sear but was still so flavorful and juicy in the center.  The bouillabase broth had so much depth of flavor.

The last entree our group had was the confit of duck leg.  The parsnip puree was velvety and the cherry jus tied everything together, also served with caramelized endive and turnips.  Although a little smaller portion-wise than the other two entrees, it more than makes up for it in flavor!

The desserts were solid, but the highlights of the meal were definitely the entrees.  I would definitely come back and order off the regular menu.  Ok, on to the dessert round!  First up was the blackberry financier...

Next our group ordered the panna cotta with raspberry sauce.  This was OK as far as panna cottas go.

Finally, probably the best dessert was the trio of gelato and sorbet.  This included vanilla and caramel gelato and mango sorbet.

Again, I would definitely recommend going to Apiary, but focus on the entrees, because everything all the entrees we ordered, including the squid ink pasta dish, was just incredible. 

Apiary

60 3rd Ave 

NYC

(212) 254-0888

Fancy Some Sliders? Head on to Mark in the East Village

Mark, right on bustling St. Marks Pl in the East Village, is one of my favorite streets in the city.  Mark standouts from the many Japanese restaurants in the area with their sign outside that promises amazing sliders for $2.50.  It might seem pricey for a slider, but these are not your typical White Castle sliders.  Mark serves a substantial slider with freshly ground patties with onions and cheese (with bacon it's $2.95).  .

Two or three are enough, four if you're really starving.  They're cooked perfectly and juicy every time I've had them.

What makes this place great is that not only are the burgers fresh and homemade, some of their sauces are homemade as well, including the jalapeno and smoky chipotle sauce.   They also have BBQ sauce and ketchup.

Marks has some good, crispy fries as well, and also goes great with the above-mentioned sauces.

They place is basically a bar and they also serve beer, but also milkshakes....the next thing I have to try on my next stop is their Guiness Shake!  This is the exterior of the restaurant...just look for the bull overhead and their sign touting that they have the best sliders in the city.

Mark
33 St Marks Pl
(between 3rd Ave & Astor Pl)
New York, NY 10003

Butter Lane Cupcakes in the East Village = Delish!

Though I'm not necessarily a big dessert person, I've always have had a soft spot for cupcakes and enjoy trying down different cupcake joints in the city.  So when Butter Lane had a Groupon for "Buy 6 cupcakes for $12" deal, how could I possibly pass it up?

I practically waited until the last day when the deal is about to expire to head over, with numerous people stopping by to claim theirs the last minute as well.  

Butter Lane's cupcakes are great, if a tad sweet.  There are three cake basis, vanilla, chocolate, and banana (which ended up being my favorite).

Here's two of the flavors...the excellent sea salt with a caramel syrup, and I believe French Vanilla.

The rest of the cupcakes were:  Another sea salt/caramel, cocunut, maple pecan, and cappucino.  All of the flavors were really good, though I would suggest passing on the vanilla base/cake and getting chocolate or banana instead...

Saw this sign outside the shop....never thought about it but it's true!!

Butter Lane

123 E 7th St
(between 1st Ave & Avenue A)
New York, NY 10009
Neighborhood: East Village

(212) 677-2880

Zum Schneider....Great German Food in NYC!

I've always had a soft spot for German and Polish food.  Their dishes are simply prepared and often no frills but just taste hearty and homey and makes for great comfort food.  Zum Schneider is a cozy little beer hall that's tucked away in a quiet corner by Ave C in the East Village.

My brother has been to Germany had told me that beer is cheaper than water there and is everywhere...they also do very cool things with beer.  One example is a drink called a Radler, which is beer mixed with other beverages, like a carbonated water or lemon/lime drink to make it crisp and refreshing.  At Zum Schneider they actually have a good variety of German beers and one of the few German places that sell Radlers as well.

Here's the Radler, a mix of a light wheat beer and a lemon soda for $5.  Cool and refreshing for the summer!

Appetizer of quark dumplings with sauteed cabbage.  The dumplings were crisp and buttery, and paired 

so well with the beer!

  

My brother ordered the stuffed pork belly with fresh herbs.  The skin on the outside of the roll was sooooo crispy, and was basically a fried pork crackling.  The dish was a little similar to an Italian porchetta.  The dish was very tasty and also came sauced with beer gravy. 

The pork belly dish also came with a great side salad that was tossed with a light vinegary

dressing....not bad for $17!

I ordered the more traditional sausage sampler, which has three types of sausage, a weiner, a weisswurst (the white sausage made with veal), and a smoked wurst.  It came with mashed potatoes and saukraut, with mustard on the side.

All in all this restaurant, along with Cafe Katja, are my two favorite spots in NY/NJ when it comes to German/Austrian/Hungarian cuisine.  Both are reasonably priced and offer a great selection of beers.

Zum Schneider
107 Ave C
(at the corner of C and East 7th st...by another great German burger restaurant Korzo Haus)
NY, NY 10009

Whitman's in the East Village...for their take on the delicious Juicy Lucy burger!

I first learned about the Juicy Lucy watching Man vs. Food Minneapolis.  The Juicy Lucy is a cheese stuffed burger that just oozes out hot melted cheese when you bite into it.  Whitman's is a burger joint that opened up in the East Village last year that features a menu with a few creative items that make them stand out from the countless other burger joints not only in the city but also in the East Village.  Walk a few blocks and you'll get to Korzo Haus, famous for their deep fried burgers.

Whitman's doesn't have a huge menu, but they have a few creative burgers, including the aforementioned Juicy Lucy, and their version is stuffed with a pimiento cheese for a different twist.  The also have a peanut butter and bacon burger....you read that right.  A PEANUT BUTTER burger.

Once I had a GiltCity coupon for $15 worth of $30 worth of food, I knew I had to go and check this place out!

Here's their Juicy Lucy, cut right down the middle with the warm oozy cheese just flowing out.  It really is juicy and tastes as good (and as juicy!) as it looks.

Here's a view of the Juicy Lucy when first served, you can see it also comes with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and caramelized onions.

It really doesn't look like much and it is as simple as it sounds, the Peanut Butter Bacon Burger comes with just that, and you can see that the PB is spread lightly on the bun.  However, the taste is surprising good and tastes just as natural as cheese on a burger.  Who knew PB would go so well!

Their sides at Whitman's are unique as well.  First off Crack Kale....fried kale leaves sprinkled with Old Bay seasoning.  This stuff was really good and just melts in our mouth and super addictive, the texture is unlike anything you've had and is definitely worth a try if you're there.

We also got a side of fried pickles...which were pretty good, but not too different from the other places

I've had fried pickles.

Here's the check for all of the above plus a beer.  The total was $31 so all we had to pay was $1 because of our $30 Gilt City coupon!  (so the total cost of the meal was really $16...not too bad!)   

Here's a video of the Man vs. Food episode which features the two famous joints in Minneapolis, the birthplace of the Juicy Lucy.

Whitman's

406 E 9th St
(between 1st Ave & Avenue A)
New York, NY 10009