New York City: Food

Hello again. My apologies for being absent the last week, I needed to take a mini break for personal reasons. But now I am back and ready to share with you the incredible food I experienced in NYC. The last time we went to NYC, we spared no expense, and had a wonderful dinner at Nobu. While delicious, it was incredibly expensive, and we knew we couldn't spend like that again. So we had a plan to eat (mostly) really cheap food. I consulted the internet (aka, Reddit) for some advice and we were on our way.

Day 1: 
After arriving, we checked our bags at the Hotel Indigo (great boutique hotel, btw) and started exploring the neighborhood. Last time we stayed in Midtown, a few blocks from Central Park, but this time we tried a different neighborhood a bit more removed from Times Square. Our hotel in Chelsea ended up being in a great location, close to multiple trains, and right in the heart of the floral district.

Obsessed with these neon cacti. One of numerous stands/shops on our block.

If you know me, you know that I am obsessed with Thai Food. I love nothing more than a good peanut curry. A user on Reddit recommended Pongsri Thai, which happened to be just a few blocks from our hotel, and I was not disappointed. I checked out the menu in advance and decided on the Pra Ram Long Song - a peanut curry over chicken, rice and broccoli. Josh had the Pad Thai. Both of our dishes were incredibly flavorful and delicious. We spent all weekend talking about how good this food was, and anytime we had to decide where to eat next, my response was always "We could get more Thai food?". They also deliver, which is a huge plus that I almost took advantage of several times.

Our next find was completely accidental. After walking around our neighborhood a bit, we came across Eataly, a massive Italian market right next to the Flat Iron building. This place is nothing short of amazing; fresh fish, meats, pasta, cheese, produce, gelato, wine... anything you could ever dream of, this place has it. Since we had just eaten, and I always have a sweet tooth, I settled on a small gelato cone. Melon was one of their seasonal flavors, so I took a risk diverting from my usual chocolate choices. While the gelato was refreshing, I found that I should probably stick to sweeter flavors versus fruity ones.

Melon Gelato (sorbetti)

For dinner we headed down to Chinatown to try out Prosperity Dumpling, another Reddit recommendation. A lot of different dumpling shops were suggested to us, but once we saw that you could order 10 (yes TEN) dumplings for two dollars, Prosperity was the clear winner. A cash only spot, this hole in the wall restaurant is quick and delicious. It appears to always be busy, but they cook so much so quickly, you hardly have to wait. We ordered the boiled dumplings (10 for $2), the fried dumplings (4 for $1), a sesame pancake, and a drink. All that food cost us about $5.50. And it was all delicious. The fried dumplings were my favorite, but the boiled were delicious as well. We didn't finish everything, but seeing as the food was so cheap we didn't feel too bad about having to throw some out.

Dessert is one of my favorite things to indulge on, so we headed to Holey Cream (located in Hells Kitchen) for their famous ice cream donut sandwiches. These creations are ridiculous in all the best ways. You can create your own custom donut and then further destroy your blood sugar by turning that donut into an ice cream sandwich. We opted for a chocolate heart attack featuring swiss chocolate ice cream in between a donut smothered in Nutella and topped with mini chocolate chips. It was to die for. Super sweet and rich ice cream, with a fluffy, fresh donut. We shared (obviously) and couldn't even finish it between the two of us. The best part about the store is definitely the variety of ice cream flavors and toppings they offer; they have countless flavor combinations sure to fit everyone's tastes.

Day 2:

We spent a good majority of Sunday in Brooklyn, starting with Peter Pan Donuts. Peter Pan is a classic diner and bakery. A donut will cost you $1.10. That's right, gourmet (and delicious) donuts in New York City for a dollar. Everyone on yelp raves about the Red Velvet crumble donut (sold out when we got there, replaced after we had already ordered. Sad panda.) and their donut ice cream sandwiches. We settled on a red velvet cake donut, a creme filled donut and a bacon, egg and cheese bagel sandwich (not on the menu but just ask). The donuts were delicious but the sandwich was out of this world. I only intended on having a bite to try and ended up eating half of it. Truly incredible and fresh. FYI this place is cash only so come prepared! Some flavors also sell out quickly so if you have your heart set on a specific flavor, go early.

Just a small selection of the donuts and pastries they offer.

Next we headed to Torst in Greenpoint, a bar that Josh wanted to try out. They had just opened when we arrived but I already loved the atmosphere. It's a great modern and unique bar, with a large variety of brews on tap. They served everything in these really unique glasses, and Josh even ended up buying one. I believe he ordered the Yin and Yang IPA mix from Evil Twin Brewery and he liked it a lot.

Following Torst we headed down to Rosamunde Sausage Grill in Williamsburg for a quick lunch. Seeing as we were still pretty stuffed from breakfast, we opted to share the vegan apple sage sausage wrapped in bacon (to make it non vegan, duh) and topped with grilled onions. There are a ton of sauces to choose from (we stuck with curry ketchup and dijon mustard) so you can really experiment with flavors. It was fantastic. They have a variety of beers on tap, as well as a build-your-own Bloody Mary brunch bar that seemed both extensive and fun.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel where Josh took a nap and I ordered delivery. I had been craving tacos so I ordered from New Taco Express via GrubHub. Delivery was fast (it was just down the street from our hotel) and they brought it right up to our room. I ordered the Shrimp Fajita with Guacamole Tortilla, Grilled Chicken Fajita Tortilla, Steak Fajita with Guacamole Tortilla and a side of mexican rice. I spent $12 and it was all delicious. My only gripe was the lack of cheese (there was none) on the food, but I just really love cheese and put it on everything. NTE also offers free delivery over $10 through GrubHub which is a great deal since you get so much food for a really great price. I didn't finish everything but Josh certainly helped with that after he woke up from his nap.

After we freshened up we headed back out to see the Flat Iron building (we somehow missed it last time) and then headed to a light dinner at The Meatball Shop. Seeing as I had just stuffed my face with mexican food, we opted for smaller plates. The food was fantastic and service was super fast and friendly. And with multiple locations across NYC, you can enjoy their food anywhere. I chose a chicken meatball slider with parmesan cream sauce. It was small, but enough for me considering I wasn't starving. I don't recall what Josh had but halfway through he said "I already want more". Clearly, we loved it.

Adorable little slider with their fresh fruit sangria

Day 3:

Our time was a bit more limited because of the Jimmy Fallon taping we attended (certainly not complaining) so we headed to Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee (in Chelsea) for our first NYC bagel experience. I opted for an everything bagel with plain cream cheese, and Josh chose a poppyseed bagel with plain cream cheese. They. were. awesome. Tons of cream cheese (just how I like my bagels) and oh so fresh. There were so many cream cheese flavors to choose from I almost couldn't make up my mind. It was super busy despite it being past the Monday morning rush (we went around 11am) but we still managed to grab a table to enjoy our incredible breakfast.

One of our final stops before Jimmy took us to the Upper West Side where we hit up Macaron Parlour. I adore french macarons and couldn't wait to try their macaron ice cream sandwiches. Their staff was super helpful and friendly, and recommended flavors (they have a lot of unique ones) based on our tastes. Unfortunately they now offer only one flavor for the ice cream sandwiches (vanilla with caramel and chocolate sauces, premade) but they were still delicious. We also ordered 6 macarons for the ride home (carrot cake, the elvis, smores (my fav), bacon with maple cream cheese (yeah, bacon), giggity (chocolate, banana, peanut butter) and cheetos (yes, a cheetos flavored macaron exists)). They were all delicious and unique.

Object shown in photo is larger in real life

At some point (I can't remember what day) we passed Chelsea Papaya and Josh freaked. He is a huge Anthony Bourdain fan and apparently Anthony loves the classic Papaya drink featured here. There are also many variations of this palce (Papaya Dog, Papaya King, etc) but they all serve hot dogs and papaya juice. Josh ordered a classic papaya (it was delicious, fruity and refreshing) and I made a mental note to come by for my favorite guilty pleasure, a corn dog. Unfortunately we never made it back but the papaya drink certainly will suffice until our return. 

All of these places were found via social media and internet recommendations. They were also all very inexpensive, clean and delicious. Be sure to check any (or all) of them out next time you're in the city on a budget!

I have a very busy few days ahead, but California posts will resume after this weekend. 

XO,

Casey