SKAL

So, I've been to Iceland a few times now and I love it there. Not only is it beautiful and relaxing, the food is good too! Check my previous posts on the Foods of Iceland. Anyhoo, there is a new restaurant that opened up on Canal St. and it features a Nordic menu. Fun! I was too busy eating so I forgot to take my own photo. I stole the photo from Gothamgal, but I must say my plate was way more beautiful than this. This was Grilled Monkfish, Cauliflower, Cabbages and Peppermint. The monkfish was cooked to perfection but the cabbages on the side were divine! They had a slight char to them that really made them sing. The table also shared Salt Cod Croquettes with a Horseradish Remoulade (which were super salty and chewy but delicious) and a Plate of Pickles (which was more of a plate of pickled things - not necessarily types of pickles. I would come back!

Sripraphai

Sripraphai is a Thai spot in Woodside and it's also named the #1 Thai restaurant in ALL of NYC. I have been here once before but I was too intimidated to order the crispy watercress salad. On my second visit I did and all I can say is, "Wow!" This thing is incredible! The watercress is dried out and crunchy - you could snack on it all day - especially with the cashews thrown in. The seafood ceviche is heavenly. Lots of flavors going on - citrus, heat, onion, herbs...the fish is cooked perfectly (and NO bones!) and the shrimp is huge! The squid is also cooked to perfection. Highly recommend this dish! I had crab fried rice also. I had never seen that on a menu before. I enjoyed it immensely.

La Adelita

We decided to hit up this Mexican spot down the street from me. It's rated #1 on Yelp in my hood (Woodside) for Mexican.  We tried the guacamole. It was really limey, but very good. I had this roasted pork dish that also came with rice and beans and tortillas. It was really good! The pork was soft and juicy with crispy salty ends and the portion was huge. I would recommend to others and I will definitely go back myself.

Ken and Cook

I met a friend here for brunch the other day. My verdict? Not a fan. I wanted the burger and was told they had sold out. Seriously? They only have like 5 or 6 things on the savory menu. If you 86 one, you need to replace it with a special. I don't even work in a restaurant and even I know that! So I got the eggs benedict instead. The eggs benedict was not that great. The hollandaise was off to me and the salad wasn't even dressed. Everything lacked seasoning. The atmosphere was what I like to call "shit show". It was mad crowded due to their "boozy brunch" special for $30. The mimosas are a good size so having more than 2 is kind of a bit much. So expect it to be loud and expect no service and tons of people hovering over your table because they're waiting for one.

L'apicio

There's a fairly new spot on 1st Ave called L'apicio. I went here for brunch with a friend a while back and since then I've been obsessed with their grilled endive and radicchio salad. I've tried recreating it at home and the best I've got is this:

Ingredients
1 small radicchio, chopped
5 or 6 endive, washed and cut lengthwise
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
fresh cracked pepper
1 lemon
1 tsp mint, finely chopped
1/4 c shaved parmesan
salt to taste

Make it:
The best way to do this is on an honest grill, but if you don't have a BBQ then use a grill pan. Generously brush the endive with olive oil and salt and place on a hot grill pan. Cook for about 3 minutes then flip to the other side and cook another 4 minutes. Chargrilled marks are good for you! While the endive is grilling mix the remaining olive oil, vinegar, juice from the lemon and cracked pepper in a small bowl. Add the radicchio and mix well. Let the radicchio sit for a good ten minutes. At the last minute, plate the radicchio and then top with the endive. Add the mint and shaved parmesan on top. Dig in!

Today's healthy tip is....SALAD!!!!
Get creative with your salad. You don't need to eat romaine or (heaven forbid ICEBERG) every day. Mix it up! Like the salad above, you can make your meal with just about any veggies and the creativity will keep it from becoming boring (and you from straying from your diet). For more salad ideas click the label in my blog. :)

Fresh Tofu with Spicy Soy Sauce

I came home from work and I was starved so I decided to make the quickest dish I could think of: warm fresh tofu from H Mart. Yes, I know. I cheated and bought fresh tofu. BUT if you want to make your own, I found a link here. Fresh tofu is so good and my friend Lenore told me that the H Mart by my house had the best. I think she was right. I came home and sliced it up and threw it on a plate with spicy soy dipping sauce poured over it. Devoured in minutes. You can make this yourself if you buy firm tofu and make the sauce yourself:

Spicy Soy Dipping Sauce:
1 1/2 cups soy sauce
3/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 (1-inch) piece ginger, grated
3 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped
4 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
2 to 3 tablespoons Asian chile paste (sambaal oeleck)

Combine all ingredients and whisk together. Pour over tofu. Devour.

Mio Tio's

 Another Queens pick! Came here on Xmas Eve with my good friends, Doug and Shawn, and I had the filet mignon. Yes, it came with lettuce and tomato garnish. Yes, my salad dressing was in a plastic pouch (spied in the background). Let me explain. This place is nicer than a diner but not quite there when it comes to nice restaurant. I mean, it's clean. The staff is friendly. They have filet mignon. But they also have soccer playing on a wide screen and burger toppings as garnishes. If you're not snobby you'll realize after your first bite - hey, they cooked my steak exactly medium rare. Good job guys. And then after you swallow it you'll think - man, this is a $20 filet mignon. This would cost me $40 in the city. And then each bite thereafter becomes more and more sweet. 

This is mayonnaise salad. Kidding. It's potato salad. Russian potato salad to be exact. It's really uh, mayonnaisey. But all the guys woofed it down. I took a bite that was less mayonnaisey and it was good. The reviews on Yelp said they were famous for this and the chimichurri sauce on a skirt steak. My sous chef got the half skirt steak. Good thing. The half was as big as his plate! And the chimichurri sauce was authentic. I would definitely come back.

K-Pop

Had brunch the other day that turned into a dinner party (those are the BEST kind!!!). Anyways, I ordered dinner snacks for everyone from K-Pop. I ordered six steamed pork dumplings, Pancake with kimchi, bibimbap: Mixed vegetables with rice and an egg on top and curry sauce over rice. Freaking delicious. I will definitely order from them again.

Mesa Grill

We went to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill the other night. We've been here before, but OH WELL. Curtis had the pork tenderloin. I tasted his dish and it was great. The portion was a nice size and the meat was smoky and cooked to perfection. He loved it.

I had the special - Arctic Char with mussels. It was in a thick tomato based broth - so yummy. We also had the southwestern fries (obsessed!). Unfortunately  I didn't take these two pictures. I found them off the interwebs since mine didn't come out well....see what I mean below...

 This picture is hard to see (sorry). Again. Mesa Grill was fantastic. I would recommend for a nice occasion for sure.

Ottomanelli's

 You know if a butcher shop opens up a hamburger joint, it's gonna be good. That is exactly what happened here. This burger joint opened up in January (right across the street from my house). This is a junior (one 4 oz patty). Most people order the double (8 oz). You can get any toppings - all free. I got lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, and a pickle. Soooo good.

 Another highlight: the Belgian fries. Super crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Salty perfection. Oh and with WHITE TRUFFLE SAUCE for dipping??? YES! PLEASE!!!

Brasserie Les Halles

 OK. This restaurant is the home base for Anthony Bourdain. He worked here for 20 years as a line cook. There are two locations in the city - my team took me to the John Street location since it was close to my office. This was my farewell lunch...and do my boys sure know how to treat a lady! Bill had the salmon for lunch. I tasted the dish and it was very delicious. 

 Kris and I split a few dishes. We decided that we could not go wrong with mussels and ordered the version with curry, wine and cream. SHUT UP!! Stupid good.

We also split a ginger marinated steak salad. The steak was on the bottom and it was medium rare, just the way I like it. The salad was dressed and piled on top. If I came back here, I wouldn't get the salad again. While it was good, it couldn't compare to the mussels. 

 Oh - the mussels came with fries! Love dipping my papas fritas in that curry broth!!!

Lastly, because we are gluttonous and outrageous, we ordered the truffle mac and cheese. SHUT UP!!!   It had bits of black truffle in the mac and cheese. I wanted to go swimming in it, it was that good! Best farewell lunch EVER!!!!!!

Bagel Plus

Woke up the other morning and we were craving a bagel for breakfast. My sous chef ran down to this bagel place and picked us up some. I had my favorite: Everything bagel toasted with scallion cream cheese. I LOVE it when the cream cheese is a little melty. YES! Delicious. 

Donovan's Pub (Sunday Brunch)

So I posted about Donovan's before but we went back for brunch and I couldn't resist posting this. Brunch is good and cheap- kind of like diner quality, but if you get the Irish Breakfast you get something called black and white pudding. What is black and white pudding you ask? Well, I'll tell you...it's a sausage made with oatmeal. The black one has blood in it. No lying. What did it taste like? Curtis said, "flavorless". I didn't try it. I'm not a big sausage fan anyway, plus something about the fact that they put oatmeal and blood in it made me think, "No thanks."

La Flor Bakery and Cafe

 We checked out La Flor in Woodside last weekend. It was our first official dinner in our new hood and it was pretty delicious. This place reminds me of Itzocan Cafe (which is sadly now closed). The restaurant is labeled as a Mexican restaurant - but they serve more than typical mexican food. You can find high quality dishes such as this above pictured mac and cheese appetizer. Man, is it ever good.

 This mac and cheese is soooo good. It's got a blend of several cheeses and it's kind of soupy. (Just the way I like it). This was an appetizer portion - we split it. It was devoured in minutes.

 I wanted Mexican food this night so I ordered one of the only two things that really could be called that. I got the chicken enchiladas with mole sauce. It was awesome - and even more awesome the next day as leftovers.

Curtis got the other thing on the menu that was clearly Mexican - tacos. The carnitas tacos were good and stuffed so full that you could use one of the corn tortillas and split up the tacos. 2 tacos really made 4 tacos. Yummy! I will def. eat here again. It's a cute place - especially for date night.

Peking BBQ

We decided to try the highly rated Peruvian Chicken of Woodside so we got our take out tonight from, none only than Peking BBQ. I forgot to snap a photo of our dinner, but we had leftovers - so you get to see the leftovers. Ha. This place is super yummy. The green hot sauce is the jam and the chicken is super flavorful. With a name like Peking BBQ, you would expect Peking Duck and other chinese food. Well, it does come with pork fried rice (which is super tasty also), but the rotisserie chicken is straight up legit Peruvian style. Plus, this place is super cheap. You can get half a chicken with rice and a salad for like $5.99. Craziness. We will be eating here again. Probably really soon too (ahem - no gas still!!!)

Gino's

With my gas still not being connected, I've had to order out A LOT. It sucks because I feel so unhealthy not being able to cook something myself and not to mention, this is getting expensive! We moved into our new apt two weeks ago and because of Hurricane Sandy, they cancelled my appointment to get the gas turned on. I know I have really nothing to complain about here since so many are doing without way more than just gas. But - still. It's annoying. Anyways - we ordered pizza and a salad from Gino's the other night. (Woodside) The kid that delivered it to us did a bang up job. Literally. Half the pizza was stuck to the roof of the box. Oy! The pizza was okay. Nothing bad, but nothing amazing either. Typical NY style pizza. The salad was underwhelming. I probably won't order from here again unless I'm just grabbing a quick slice on the go.

Woodside Cafe

 This little diner is literally right down the street from me (about a 5 minute walk). If you come from 4 to 8 you get the afterwork special (soup/salad, entree, and drink for $12). Steal! I got the soup: potato leek. It was delicious.

My entree: Shepherd's Pie. It was amazing. The ground beef was super saucy with thick brown gravy and it had carrots and peas. It was so hearty I was able to eat half and give the other half to my sous chef for lunch! Winning! 

Buds

 This place is called Buds Ale House...or Buds Pub...I forgot. This place had more TVs in one bar than I've ever seen. We watched the Giants game. They lost.  This winner is a mac and cheese hot dog. Curtis ordered this...surprise.

Hot wings. Boneless. Amazing and mess free. Also - I love blue cheese now. Never did. Now I do.

Doug's Diner

 This is actually not called, "Doug's Diner." It's called NY Style Diner - or something like that. But Doug and Shawn (friends of mine) have been coming here consistently for 2 years now - so it's basically his. Their advice: get the onion rings. My verdict: They are pretty good. Big and fat and crispy and you get a massive amount of them.

I also ordered the Chicken Souvlaki - which is buried under the lettuce, tomato, and onion. The sandwich is good but not easy to eat. I used a fork and knife. :)

Organics

Found a juice spot in Astoria. Drank half this before snapping a photo. This was called The Hangover Cure: carrot, apple, lemon, and ginger. It was fantastic. Made me feel like a million bucks drinking it. All healthy and shit.