Scarpetta

Scarpetta was one of the best meals I had during my stay in NYC and that is saying a lot because I was lucky enough to indulge in many delicious meals. I've heard many great reviews about this place and my expectations were definitely met. I must not be the only one to want to head to Scarpetta because even on a Thursday night the only dinner reservation we could get was at 6 pm. The restaurant entrance is very subdued and one would not notice the sign unless you knew where to look. There was a small outdoor area but it was a bit too windy that night to dine outdoors. The restaurant is decorated in a chic and elegant manner. We got a lovely seat right by the window where we could people watch and catch a glimpse of the street.

The bread basket was glorious. It had focaccia along with a bread with cheese, ham, and vegetables wrapped inside. The bread was warm and fluffy. I love bread that is crusty outside and soft and warm on the inside. 

Creamy Polenta with Fricassee of Truffled Mushrooms
I absolutely adore eating polenta. It is so creamy and comforting and goes amazingly well with mushrooms, and obviously, truffles. Mushrooms and truffle are a match made in heaven and the addition of polenta just blew my mind. The polenta was rich, creamy, and smooth. The truffle flavor was strong and the mushrooms were cooked perfectly, not too soft. The texture of the mushrooms complimented the creaminess of the polenta perfectly. This is a dish I would hope to someday recreate.

Braised Short Rib of Beef with Vegetables and Farro Risotto 
The first thing that struck me with this dish was its beautiful presentation. The short ribs themselves melted in my mouth and the creamy risotto clung on to each bite. The sauce ladled on top of the dish was of perfect consistency and flavor. The fresh salad greens on the top completed the dish with a nice refreshing crunch. 

Short Rib and Bone Marrow Agnolotti with Garlic Chips and Fresh Horseradish
The pasta shell was extremely thin and wrapped around a small bite of flavorful meat filling. I felt that it may have lacked a bit of sauce but the dish was prepared exquisitely. One other thing that I felt this dish was lacking was the richness of the bone marrow. I am used to eating bone marrow from the bone with toasted bread and condiments, therefore I was expecting the incredibly rich and fatty texture of the bone marrow to be evident in the agnolotti yet I felt that I was unable to taste that. 

Duck and Foie Gras Ravioli with Marsala Reduction
I have the same complaint about this dish as I did for the short rib agnolotti. The pasta itself was made beautifully, the ravioli skin was delicate and thin and the filling was flavorful and meaty. Yet I did not taste the foie gras flavor and that was a disappointment for me. If it were just a duck ravioli it would have been a perfect dish, yet when the foie gras was mentioned I expected that rich foie flavor to be very evident in the pasta. Still an enjoyable dish though none the less.

Formaggi, choice of 3 cheese with crispy taralle 

Robiola Bosina with stewed figs, camomile, and honey
I love creamy cheese and the sweetness of the figs were even more concentrated by being roasted. Fruits and cheese are another divine combination. This cheese was creamy but still had a level of solidity. It had a mild flavor and the sweetness of the figs, camomile, and honey all danced together for a delicious symphony of flavors. 

Ricotta di Bufala with truffled honey
I am a total truffle junkie. Anything with truffle, truffle oil, truffle honey, you name it, I love it. The consistency of the ricotta cheese was not my favorite yet I had to order it since it had truffle honey on it. The flavor of the cheese was a little musky and salty but this was balanced by the decadent sweetness of the truffle honey. 

Quadrello di Bufala with beet compote
This plate was simple and delicious. The beet compote was not too sweet and maintained the fresh taste of beets, simple yet delicious. The color of beets are also very beautiful and this dark red contrasted with the creamy whiteness of the cheese resulted in a lovely presentation. 

Coconut Panna Cotta, guava soup, and caramelized pineapple
Panna Cotta is one of my favorite desserts (can you tell how many of my favorites I got to eat at this restaurant?). I love the creamy soft texture of the dessert and how a relatively simple dish can encompass the richness and flavor of cream and milk so perfectly. This one had a dash of coconut flavor which was refreshing. The guava soup on top gave the entire dish another exotic flavor. Each bite was a fruity and creamy explosion.

Scarpetta 

355 West 14th Street 

New York, NY 10014 

Korilla Food Truck

I have loved the idea of food trucks since I've heard about them. I think it is such a innovative and exciting idea to have unique speciality foods served in a truck that is always moving to different locations. The entire notion of needing to follow your favorite food trucks via Twitter is a little bit daunting as its a little inconvenient to not always know where to find them, yet this also makes you anticipate obtaining the food more. This is my first food truck experience and I can't wait to try more! Korilla Food Truck was conveniently parked outside my friend's dorm so I didn't have to search around for long. The truck was blasting house music which was another huge plus in my book.

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The menu: HOW FUN 

Ribeye of the Tiger Burrito with Kimchi, Rice, and Korilla Sauce
Korean bbq has always been a love of mine so wrapping it into a burrito was just genius to me. I am not a huge fan of beans so I have always not been the biggest lover of mexican style burritos. This on the other hand was glorious. The ribeye was seasoned perfectly and every bite was filled with beefy goodness and the spiciness and crunch of the kimchi. 

Korilla BBQ Food Truck 

www.korillabbq.com

Kefi

I was staying with a good friend in Columbia and she suggested that we went to a Greek restaurant in the Upper West Side. Greek food is not something that I am very familiar with so I was excited to expand my food knowledge. The restaurant was decorated in shades of white and dark blue, colors that are often seen when one thinks of Greece. The walls were decorated with lovely plates and lantern like lamps.

Sheep's Milk Dumplings, Tomatoes, Pine Nuts, and Spicy Lamb Sausage
The dumplings were soft and rich with milky flavor. The zesty tomato sauce and bite size bits of spicy sausage balanced the fluffy milkiness of the dumplings and resulted in a perfect bite each time. We had a lot of fun wiping up the rest of the sauce with bread. 

Braised Lamb Shank and Orzo
The lamb was braised to such perfection that as you start working your way into it the meat just simply fell off. The meat was succulent and extremely tender with the sauce penetrating every morsel. The orzo was also seasoned very well and cooked to al dente. The dish was very hearty and also bursting with flavor, was in no way overwhelming or too salty.

Kefi Restaurant 

505 Columbus Ave

New York, NY 10024-4467

Katz's Delicatessen

Kat'z Delicatessen is one of New York's most famous and best Jewish delicatessen restaurants, famous for their pastrami sandwiches and hot dogs. I've been to New York many times so it is quite silly of me to not have visited this establishment earlier. I loved that the restaurant remained unchanged throughout the years and stuck to their traditional ways of running the restaurant and preparing the food.

You are handed a ticket when you first walk in. Do not loose this ticket because it is used as a record of what you ordered and when you are done eating you hand that to the cashier as you exit. There is a penalty charge if you loose this ticket because it makes their already hectic job even harder! 

The entire wall is covered completely with pictures of famous celebrities and other notable people who have dined here. The setting is very casual and has a cafeteria feel to it. 

Potato Knish
The outside was crispy and the inside was creamy and chewy. The knish was extremely hot but I still couldn't resist biting into it! Next time I would like to try more flavors such as with meat fillings.

Pastrami sandwich with russian dressing and mustard
  Ahhh! The moment I have been waiting for. Each slice was pastrami was sliced thickly and topped on top of a wholesome piece of bread. The pastrami was juicy, tender, and exploding with meaty flavors. The pastrami was perfectly charred on the outside and succulent on the inside. The pastrami was layered on so many times that the bread was almost unable to hold the sandwich together. The tangy mustard and russian dressing wrapped the entire sandwich together perfectly. 

The meal is completed with some old school cream soda! Delicious :) 

Katz's Delicatessen 

205 E Houston Street 

New York, NY 10002

New Jersey Pigouts

I went over to my good friend Max's home over passover break for a few days in New Jersey. Jersey was actually very nice and not as "trashy" and "gross" as most people make it sound! Max made sure to bring me to all his favorite places to eat and we definitely maximized our eating potential by waking up early and having as many meals as possible. Oink.

4 West Diner

Rueben Sandwich - huuuuge servings for us hungry piggies. Decided to fold the sandwich to make eating it easier, obviously made it even harder as I cannot unhinge my jaw. Ah. 

Crossroads Deli

Tenafly High: Chicken cutlet with honey mustard and BBQ sauce. Yum.

The Lipsmacker: Chicken cutlet with caesar dressing and hot sauce. 

I love kimchi

Kimchi is one of my favorite things to eat especially on top of rice with a sunny side up egg on top :) Takes 5 minutes and fills me up nicely.

Pizzeria Mozza

I can't believe I haven't made a post about Pizzeria Mozza in LA yet! It has been one of my top restaurants this year and I get hungry just thinking about that amazing meal. The Mozza restaurant group is owned by Nancy Silverton, Joseph Bastianich, and Iron Chef Mario Batali. I have heard amazing things about both Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza but we decided to go to Pizzeria because my friend Annie and I were looking for a more casual evening and heard that the food was equally good at both branches. Osteria Mozza is more dressy and just right next door to Pizzeria. The atmosphere was very sophisticated yet cozy with dim lighting and a lot of dark wood and wine displayed on the walls. One note of complain was that although we had a reservation we had to wait for around 15 minutes before our table was ready which was quite annoying. Luckily the food was so amazing that I soon forgot about the slow speed of seating us.

The utensils and napkin were tucked into this envelop along with a postcard. Very cute idea. 

Started off with White beans alla Toscana with extra virgin olive oil and saba
Initially when I heard the words "white bean" I was not too excited about this dish but boy was I wrong. This toast was absolutely heavenly. The white bean paste had amazing flavor and the olive oil and vinegar on top of it just created the most amazing balance of flavors. The toast was perfectly crisp and hearty and held up the creamy texture of the bean paste perfectly.  

Prosciutto de Parma and bufala mozzarella 
What could possibly go wrong with such a glorious paring? The prosciutto was cured expertly and the bufala was creamy and scrumptious. I could eat this all day. 

Bone marrow al forno 
I absolutely adore bone marrow. This was such a simple yet amazing dish because it was executed perfectly with quality ingredients. The roasted garlic with the rich fatty bone marrow on top of that crusty bread was unforgettable. 

Funghi misti, fontina, taleggio, and thyme pizza 
Have been hearing many good things about their pizzas. They have a great selection but I knew I had to try this. The crust was not as thin as New York style pizza yet it maintained an amazing level of crunch on the edges. The mushrooms were cooked to smoky perfection along with gooey cheeses. The flavors were spot on and once again you can taste the quality and freshness of the ingredients. 

Was on the brink of bursting but my friend was raving about this one dessert all night. Definitely cannot pass this up! 

Butterscotch Budino, sea salt, and rosemary pin nut cookies
Oh. My. God. This dessert is sent from the heavens. The caramel budino was exquisitely creamy and rich with intensive caramel flavors in every bite. The sea salt added another dimension to the sweetness; unexpected combination but it literally blew my mind. Annie and I giggled foolishly as we ate this dessert because it actually was so delicious that it made us giddy with excitement. 

Our romantic little table amidst the wine 

Definitely one of the best meals I've had in LA and I had the food fortune of going to many delicious places during that trip! The food was absolutely splendid and I would definitely make a conscious effect to return the next time I am in LA.

Pizzeria Mozza 

641 North Highland Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90036 

Apple Banana Marmalade Phyllo Tart

After a glorious meal of my housemate Adam's beef brisket I was in the mood for something sweet and delicious. I remembered that I still had some phyllo left from making baklava earlier and also noticed some apples in the fridge. My thoughts instantly was to make Apple Strudel! But then some bananas also caught my eye and then I thought that it would be even more delicious to make it a mixed fruit strudel. The reason it turned into a tart instead of a strudel (which would be rolled up), was because I neglected to allow the frozen phyllo to warm up a little and therefore it was all cracked to pieces and I had to layer then instead of roll them. The final result was delicious though and I will definitely make it again! This was a great example of using what you have in the kitchen and spontaneously thinking up more ideas to improve a dish.

Ingredients: 

- 1 Banana
- 2 Apples
- Crunchy Oats bar or any other granola bar would work too
- Almonds
- Marmalade
- Sugar
- 1 stick of butter
- Cinnamon
- 1 packet of phyllo

Directions 
1) Slice the apple into thin sliced and put in the pain with a knob of butter over medium low heat. Also, take out the phyllo and place a damp towel over it.

2) Slice the bananas and toss in with the apples in the pan

3) Sprinkle in 1 tsp of cinnamon, or more if you like :)

4) Add in 1 tablespoon of marmalade and stir well 

5) Give the mixture a  taste and add sugar accordingly. I used about 1-2 tsp.

6) Smash up the almonds and the granola bar

7) Take out the phyllo dough and add 4 layers to the bottom of a buttered pan. Melt a stick of butter in a bowl and brush each phyllo sheet with butter.

This is what happens when you don't leave the phyllo out long enough and its too dry. Therefore make sure you take it out and leave a damp towel on top. 

8) Pour the fruit mixture over the bottom phyllo layer and add on another phyllo and butter layer. 

9) Sprinkle on the granola and nut mixture and add on another phyllo and butter layer on top. 

10) Bake in an oven at 350 F for 25-30 or until the top is crispy and golden brown.

11) Cut into squares and enjoy! I personally felt that it tasted even better overnight after putting the tart in the fridge. We didn't have any whipped cream or ice cream in the house but I felt that that would have made the dish!