The Breslin - Best Burger in the history of my life

We went to The Breslin for brunch. Crystal and I split this above average Caesar salad. It had whole anchovies croutons, great dressing and fried something...parsley??? I thought it was seaweed! Very yummy!

Fried Peanut Butter and Banana sammy. Very yummy. Very filling. I only took one bite. My fatty husband ordered the meal as his appetizer. He's joining WW real soon, ya'll....

Hands down - best burger I EVER ate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lamb burger with with onion and feta and thrice cooked "chips" with cumin mayo. Holy hell. I ate half of this baby and I wished I had the whole thing! SOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo good! I couldn't stop eating it! It was juicy and tangy and salty and meaty and the bomb. Please - go try it. You need to know my new love.

Stanton Social Birthday Dinner

We made our way to Stanton Social last night for Curtis' birthday dinner. The vibe was trendy but still inviting. A little crowded, but cozy. The plates were shared and it made for a fun experience. We got to try so many things - thus, our conversation of the evening often came back to the food we were tasting. There were some winners that I would def. go back for! Thanks again to fellow bloggers for the photos. Here was our meal (out of order):

Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato Ravioli: vanilla brown butter & candied pecans. Since these were on the sweeter side, eating one ravioli was enough.

Kobe Beef Burger, Pulled Pork Slider, 'Kobe Philly' - truffle & goat cheese fondue. (You could smell the truffle on the Philly for miles! SOOO inviting!!)

Chai Crème Brulee spiced 'misfortune' cookies. This was okay (nothing special).

Social Mac & Cheese - chorizo & ovendried tomato. Holy hell. I could've dived into a bowl of this. The breadcrumb topping was a nice touch and the smoky flavor from the chorizo made it special. It was very heavy though - great for sharing!

Maryland Jumbo Lump Crabcake 'Corn Dogs’. I bit into this expecting a hot dog (I didn't know what it was when it got put on the table). I was pleasantly surprised to learn I was eating a crab cake. Very yummy!

Hot Chocolate Mudslide Shot: patron xo, bailey's & homemade marshmallow. This was probably my favorite dessert. Very yummy chocolate and WARM! Mmmm!

Warm doughnuts. Fresh doughnuts are always a winner. The dipping sauces were divine as well.

The Stanton Social Beef Wellington: grilled filet mignon, foie gras mousse & mushrooms,wrapped in puff pastry. Again, another rich dish - perfect for sharing. The foie gras really elevated this dish.

Grilled apple & brie Quesadilla: with mustard- maple syrup and smoked 'bacon bits'. Another crowd pleaser. Yum-o!

The Red Velvet 'Twinkie' cream cheese - crème fraiche filling. Creme fraiche really elevated this dish! Kurt and Charlie split the Guinness Toffee Cake toffee sauce & bailey's ice cream (not shown)

Zucchini Tempura - tomato jam and asiago. (Gotta fit in a vegetable somewhere!)

French Onion Soup Dumplings. They lived up to the hype. We ordered two of these. :)

Curtis' misfortune

Red Snapper Tacos - creamy avocado & spicy mango. Out of all the dishes, one of my top pleasers.

Rai Rai Ken

We went to the small 14 seats Rai Rai Ken for dinner and I'm sold on their Miso ramen. Seriously. It's amazing. Miso Ramen is a soy bean based noodle soup topped with beansprout, cabbage, onion, crispy garlic, chicken and scallion. Out of town friends, get ready! This place looks unassuming but you will thank me!

Curtis went the more traditional route. He had the Shoyu Ramen-- soy sauce based noodle soup topped with bamboo shoot, boiled egg, roast pork, spinach, fish cake, dry seaweed, and scallion. (This was also good, but mine was better!)

Matilda's

The foodie crew (me, Haney, JC, Michelle) ate at Matlida's for brunch today. Michelle had two eggs served in a tomato and pico de gallo sauce and a champagne cocktail with mango puree.

UOVA “TUTTI GUSTI”: 2 eggs any style with pico de gallo, served over garlic and olive oil toasted bread. I paired mine with a mimosa. :)

Curtis and JC had the same thing to eat-- UOVA IN CAMICIA: crispy tortilla topped with chorizo, poached eggs and chipotle-crema fresca sauce. Curtis had a michelada (like a bloody mary but made with beer).

SOPA AZTECA CON RICOTTA: Tomato and guajillo chile soup, topped with ricotta salata, avocado and shoestring tortilla chips. Haney asked for it extra spicy and I think they put ghost chili peppers in there! It was ridiculously spicy! We also ordered guacamole and salsa for the table. The guacamole was really good and different (they add basil to theirs).

Refreshing Fruit Salad

Super easy to make - honeydew melon diced into pieces with chopped mint, cilantro and a touch of honey. I also did a little squeeze of lemon juice.

Good Italian in Cancun?

Yes, it was actually! Sorry this post is so late! I forgot I had these pictures! This was our amuse bouche. A delightful warm pesto bite!

Chicken Parmigiana. So fancy for resort food!

Seafood Marinara. (So yummy!)

Thomas was creeped out by the giant prawn's head.

Employees Only

Curtis, Justin and I went to the Walter Reade Theater (right next to Juilliard in the Upper West Side) last night and saw "Submarino" - amazing film directed by Thomas Vinterberg (same guy that did the dogme-film, "Celebration" (which is also amazing). Two brothers meet at their mother's funeral, each in his way on a path of self-destruction, both haunted by a tragedy in their youth. Go see it! Anyways, I digress....

After the movie, we went to Employees Only in the West Village. This place has a very 1920s speak easy vibe to it. In fact, it's not clearly labeled as "Employees Only". You have to look for the neon psychic sign in the window to really know that you're there.

And looking at the dinner menu, you can tell they know how to make a cocktail or two - in fact, the bar area here gets SUPER crowded late night.

Small dining area.

I wish I got the one with the dried roses - so girly!

No, I wasn't flashing photos last night - thank the LAWD for the interwebs. Someone else did. But yeah, it looked exactly like this...the seated area for diners was on a raised platform behind the bar area. I was like..."Um, how do we leave?"

With dinner I had the Pimm's Cup: Pimm’s No.1 served tall with a blend of
Combier Royal, Fresh Lime Juice and Ginger Soda, garnished with Cucumbers & Fresh Mint.(thanks Yasmin for introducing me to these!)

To eat I had the Seared Salmon with Artichoke, Fingerling Potato & Mache. (Sorry other blogger- I stole your photo from the interwebs! The skin on the salmon was my favorite - it was crispy and delicious and it was just enough - they don't go crazy on portion size here).

Curtis and Justin both had Bellini's (Pureed White Peaches stirred with
Prosecco & dashes of Peach Cordial) with dinner (yummy - but sweet!) Curtis had Bacon Wrapped Lamb Chops with Salsa Verde. He also had Orecchiette Spicy House-made Pork Sausage,Arugula & Parmesan.

Justin had his most favorite Potato Gnocchi with Shitake, Oyster & Cremini Mushrooms. He also had Elk Loin with Kaboucha Squash & Broccoli Rabe in a Sage Brown Butter. I took a bite of all of their dishes and they were all very good. The lamp chop seemed like the whole thing was deep fried. It was very crispy! The gnocchi was good and I even ate a fungus and didn't mind it!

(Elk - in case you forgot what one looks like - and yes, I took a bite of him. Elk is kinda chewy for any of you adventurous carnivores out there looking to try him - Ahem, Friedy!).

For dessert Curtis had Butterscotch & Mascarpone Cheesecake with Sea Salt & Nut Brittle. Justin had Poached Apple ”Tufahija” with Candied Walnuts & Clove Scented Yogurt. Thank goodness I was with boys that let me take a bite of each! They were sooo good!
Again, my apologies and a thank you to all the folks that I stole photos from. I forgot my camera last night and well, you done good taking photos of the exact foods I needed. Bless you fellow foodies of America. :)