Sullivan St. Bakery {New York, NY}

Let me just start by saying, I love you Sullivan St. Bakery.

Bread is one of my big time loves and Jim Lahey at Sullivan St. Bakery has perfected it. We headed to the bakery for lunch but came a bit early for the sandwiches so we decided to snack on a few of the breads and pizzas, near the end, we practically ended up eating the whole menu because we could not stop eating! We even bought more to bring home - at the risk of smelling like garlic on the long subway ride home.

We also got to meet the baker, Jim Lahey, who was incredibly nice, warm and funny to boot! Please give this quaint little bakery a visit - you won't regret it.

Savory brioche with proscuitto and gruyere - how could it not be delicious?

Cauliflower pizza: best invention ever. Cauliflower on a pizza? Who knew? Anyways, really, best invention ever.

Mushroom Pizza with thyme. If you love mushrooms, you will definitely love this pizza. Thin crust, topped with oodles of mushrooms - delicious.

On to the sandwiches: mozzarella and prosciutto. Simplicity at its best. This sandwich really let the simple ingredients shine - especially the bread. Oh gosh - best sandwich bread I've ever had - crispy but perfectly chewy on the inside.

Roasted beets, arugula, goat cheese, olive oil. Honestly, the things that Jim Lahey does with such simple ingredients is amazing. He uses the best of everything so it just tastes so fantastic!!!

Bresola, heirloom tomatoes, arugula, olive oil, olive puree. The heirloom tomatoes in this were sublime! They had this salty, sweet flavor that was delicious.

Sullivan St. Bakery, I'll say it again, I'll say it forever: I love you.

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The Doughnut Plant {New York, NY}

The Doughnut Plant was probably the one place I wanted to try the most because I simply love doughnuts. Unfortunately, my anticipation got the best of me. I just wasn't impressed by these doughnuts at all! Though the flavors were innovative and I loved the concept, the taste and texture just didn't deliver.

The flavors I got were:

1. Jam-filled with vanilla glaze

2. Tres leches with creme filling

3. Pumpkin pie with candied pepitas

The tres leches was probably the best out of the three because it was cake rather than yeasted. For some reason, their yeasted doughnuts had this weird, chewy (but not in a good way) texture. I liked the creme in the tres leches, but again, it didn't WOW me. The pumpkin pie donut had great pumpkin flavor but I couldn't get past the weird texture.

Maybe I didn't enjoy these doughnuts because I've been spoiled to the likes of Bob's & The Donut Man.

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Kee's Chocolate's {New York, NY}

Another "Best Thing I Ever Ate" find!

Kee's is famous for their Creme Brulee truffles but unfortunately, they were out of them by the time I made my way to the store :( Instead I purchased some other items: green tea-mango truffle, passionfruit truffle, soursop macaron, rosewater-lychee macaron and passionfruit macaron.

I was so excited to try the macarons because of their innovative flavors - especially the soursop! Sadly, I was really dissapointed, the macarons were not good. The shell seemed stale, was empty and was not chewy like it should be on the inside. Thankfully, the truffles were awesome! I think Kee's should just stick to her chocolate.

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Chinatown Ice Cream Factory {New York, NY}

Ice cream - universally loved by all! Asian flavors + ice cream = my dream world. I just love Asian flavors in typically non-Asian things. 

My favorite part about this place was that under the "exotic flavors" they listed what most would consider the normal flavors such as butter pecan and under "regular flavors" they listed the Asian flavors, which most people would consider not normal.

The flavors we tried were the mango-papaya sorbet, lychee ice cream and adzuki ice cream. The flavors were all spot on. The lychee flavor really shined through and had actual chunks, which was awesome! The mango-papaya sorbet was soooo perfect. The adzuki had a really delicate red bean flavor which was nice on a cool day.

Overall, we all really enjoyed the flavors but all agreed that Chinatown Ice Cream factory could stand to improve on their textures. The ice cream was not as smooth as we like and had a bit of iciness.

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Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles {New York, NY}

Again... another Best Thing I Ever Ate find. Shameless, I tell you, shameless!

I just love that photo of the chef literally hand-pulling these noodles because it just makes the noodles that much more satisfying! The noodles themselves were perfect. You can get them thin or wide or super wide, but I just chose the standard thin size. The chewiness was specular and you could really taste the love put into them.

Overall, the soup was lacking a bit in flavor for me. It wasn't the perfect bowl of soup I imagined it would be, but I think its delicate flavor would be perfect in the winter when stuck at home with a cold. Still, a meal thoroughly enjoyed.

Mmm noodles.

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La Bella Ferrara {New York, NY}

Ah, mistakes. They have to happen sometimes huh? On my list of things to visit on this splendid day in Chinatown and Little Italy, was Ferrara Bakery, famous for their cannolis and Italian baked goods. Walking through the city, we happened upon what we thought was Ferrara, but just another location. Turns out it was actually 'La Bella Ferrara' and completely unrelated to the Ferrara we were looking for.

As a morning treat, I decided upon a chocolate cannoli and a hot coffee to help get me through the long day. Sadly, the only thing I enjoyed was the hot coffee, but that's probably because I was so tired. I've never tried cannolis before, so I don't know if I just don't like cannolis or if this one was just not a good one. 

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Russ & Daughters {New York, NY}

Haha, I laugh over how obsessed my sister and I are with The Best Thing I Ever Ate. We just had to, HAD TO, visit as many of the show's spotlights as we could... even if it meant eating five meals a day, which if our stomachs couldn't handle, were made to handle.  

I love, love, love smoked salmon. It's briny, salty, and delicious. I also love, love, love bagels and it's perfect that they go so well together! Did I mention that I once worked at a bagel shop? Well, I did, and when I worked there I inhaled just about 3 bagels a day. I also gained 3 pounds a day... haha.

The spread of fresh cream cheese and lox was more than I could bare. It was all so gorgeous. We decided finally on an everything bagel with scallion cream cheese and an onion bagel with lox, cream cheese, red onion and capers.


The Gaspe Nova (the lox we chose) was so utterly unctuous. Quite possibly, the most buttery lox I've ever had - so delicious. The bagels were nice and chewy but my favorite was the everything because of the salty kick it had and all of the delicious flavor. Mmm I love bagels and lox - I should have been born Jewish.

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Ippudo {New York, NY}

So far, I've tried the "best" ramen of two major cities in the country. Katana-Ya in San Francisco and now, Ippudo in New York. In this battle, East coast is in the lead. BUT, I have yet to try the famed Daikokuya in Los Angeles, so until then, the verdict is out.

I got the special ramen of the night, pictured above. I forget the details but it was topped with garlic toast, which was surprising, in the best way possible. It was perfumed immensely with garlic, which I die for since garlic is what I live for! The broth was rich and velvety and had great flavor.

I most often enjoy my ramen at hole-in-the-walls but surprisingly when I walked into Ipuddo, I was semi-shocked to see a hip, trendy restaurant. I was happy that the ramen delivered in taste and tradition. Everyone else's ramen was thoroughly enjoyed as well, my sister had this spicy one (which I forget the name of now) that she died for.


Since it was my birthday, they also threw in a complimentary dessert; we chose the green tea ice cream with mascarpone. It was a perfect ending to the meal: delicate, light and delicious. I love anything green tea so it won me over just with its name.

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Shake Shack {New York, NY}

SHAKE shack! SHAKE shack! SHAKE shack!

It's hard for a native Californian to open her heart and allow it to love another burger when memories and history have dictated a deep connection and love to In & Out. Sometimes I think, even if some foods are better than what you know, the connection you have to certain foods outweigh their actual taste. 

Despite my love of In & Out, I still enjoyed Shake Shack's cheeseburger immensely. My favorite part of the burger was that they used fresh, thicker-cut, tangy pickles rather than those soggy, thin pickles of most fast food joints. The patty was moist and thicker than In & Out's but I still enjoy In & Out's toasted sesame bun over Shake Shack's. 

The french fries, though, were awesome. Crinkle cut, which kind of reminds me of those good old days when I used to buy OreIda frozen French fries, but of course, these are much better. 

Shake Shack is also famous for their concretes, which to me are just thicker versions of milk shakes with add-ins. The chocolate-peanut butter, above, was delicious but... extremely, extremely decadent. I suggest splitting it with AT LEAST one person, but probably three would be optimal.

The pineapple upside down cake, below, was less decadent so perfect when shared among two. It had nice chewy chunks of shortbread, pineapple chunks and maraschino cherries. It was a nice treat after our burgers but nothing special enough to make me get it again next time. 

I don't know about you, but I love adding tons of black pepper into my ketchup! Weird, I know but its delicious and I urge you to try it!

Cross-section of the burger:

So sad - the last bite.

I LOVE eating my ketchup with bunches of black pepper!

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Clinton Street Baking Company {New York, NY}

Clinton Street Baking Company was one of the refreshing surprises of our trip to New York. Although we had heard wonders of their fluffy blueberry pancakes, we didn't expect to have one of the best breakfasts of our lives... OUR LIVES!

AHHHH, look at those fluffy, gorgeous, utterly perfect blueberry pancakes! These were, quite frankly, the best pancakes I've had. But, my ultimate favorite was the maple butter served with them. It was salty, sweet and so good.

My favorite thing though was the brown sugar bacon. See that gorgeous, crispy bacon? Oh my goodness, I need to eat brown sugar bacon everyday for the rest of my life. I'd probably die from a heart attack by the age of 35 but hey, at least I lived right??? Oh and those fried green tomatoes in the center were quite spectacular as well.

Now, I personally, for some odd reason, don't really like egg scrambles but, my friends thoroughly enjoyed the chorizo scramble pictured above. The flavors were really great and I must admit, the chorizo was pretty fabulous! Plus, the potato side dish they served with it was like velvet and so comforting.

MMMM bacon.

Close up of the scramble:

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