Cupping Room Cafe

Whether it is steak or melon, this gorgeous café has whatever it takes to satiate your palate. What appears to be a low key bakery and dinner from the outside opens up into a gorgeous venue of live music and delicate dishes. For me, it brought back room style to a new pace. The environment was warm and inviting. One of the walls was even all glass on one side making the room feel even more alive than it already was. The décor was excellent; my favorite part was the desserts displayed amongst the flowers. It was presented in a manner that was hard to decide which was presenting which. Everything about the restaurant was seasonally appropriate. Now onto the important part: the food.
I have to be honest, what drew me to the restaurant was the fact that they had pancakes on their menu, so in the dinner tradition, I started with the mozzarella sticks. I bit into them and something incredible happened, I actually tasted the mozzarella cheese! It did not taste like your classical butchered mozzarella stick that we have all grown far too accustomed too. It was so fresh, it tasted like it had just been sliced from the farmers market the minute before it entered the fryer. The oil served as a taste mediator instead of initiator as it usually does. They were, I’d have to say, perfect.
My main dish, however, was not too great but I blame that on bad ordering. I was not hungry so I had the feta cheese and watermelon. The amount of feta was not substantial and the presentation was mediocre. Next time I think I’ll have the homemade pita basket with olive tapenade and spicy tomatoes instead.
To match my watermelon, I had a Green Goblin which took the traditional recipe and added an Absinthe twist, as Europe intended it to be. That being said, the peach schnapps should have been used a little more carefully, the amount it had really brought out the licorices sense of the Absinthe in not the most ideal aroma, however it did start tasting better sip by sip.

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http://www.cuppingroomcafe.com/zgrid/proc/site/sitep.jsp;jsessionid=auDJL1dRiUU7
CUPPING ROOM CAFE
359 W. Broadway
New York, NY, 10013
Tel: (212) 925-2898
Fax: (212) 966-5617

Subway Directions:
Canal St. Lines A, C, E, 1 & 9
Spring St. Line 6
Prince St. Lines N & R

It was 2 am and all I wanted was a sandwich. Not just any sandwich, a warm, delicious, meat filled, incredible, sensational sandwich. I was seeking the kind of superior joy that can only be received from a 2 am snack. Pizza would not cut it this time. Ever since spending time in Tel Aviv, all I ever want to eat at 2 am is toast. For anyone who has not been to Tel Aviv, toast there is not at all the lame warm bread that it is here. You can get topics on it, ranging from salad to cheese to meat. I crave it all the time and have not had this craving satisfied in two years until the other night and I didn't even have to board a red eye!!
Pretty far west into Chelsea, there is a new resteraunt called Meatoast. Meatoast makes 12 inch subs (think a Kosher Quizno's that uses a panini press). I got a 6 inch sub (not on the menu but I convinced them that if they did not give me a 6 incher it would be Bal Tashlit and the Kashrut of the resteraunt would be questionable) with turkey, salami, letace, tomatto, pickles, and garlic mayonaise. I was not expecting anything to out of this world but the flavors literally exploded in my mouth. This was definitely the best sandwich that I have ever had in the United States. Thank you Meatoast for making meat amazing!
Please note- Meatoast is open Sunday through Thursday 10am-3/4 am, Friday 10 am -3 pm and Saturday 8pm-10AM... that's right, 24 hours straight until the week begins. They are cash only but seeing as a 12 inch sub is less than $10 that shouldn't be to hard.

MeaToast

(212) 239-7464

Chelsea
503 W 28th St
New York, NY 10001

*****

Taverna Kylades

This is without a doubt the most amazing Greek food I have ever had. It is hard to find words to describe a dinning experience as amazing as this was but I'll give it a try. I was excited about coming to this restaurant before I even arrived. Apparently, this is the only place some Greek people will eat out at. On the car ride there my brother-in-law was describing their generous iPhone sized feta cheese on salad and my mouth was already salivating as I ran to the door. Unfortunately, there was a 45 minute wait but that was no problem because we were given free drink tickets for their bar down the block which was a nice classy and low key kind of place. When they finally called to tell me that our table was ready, I literally raced to the restaurant and for those of you who do not know, I do NOT enjoy running but this was worth it.
Once we ordered, the food just kept coming to the table without any wait. First they served us the Yogurt, Garlic and Cuccumber Dip which was fortunate because we were already on our second bread basket by then. Spooning it into my mouth, I felt as if there was an explosion of yogurt and lemon, then the fire was put out by a smooth cucumber. As soon as this platter was veering on empty, the legendary peasant salad came out which did have more feta than promised. It was delicious however there was no lettuce in it which always throws old fashioned me off in a "salad" plate. Then the fried cheese came out. This tasted so magnificent I had to close my eyes while I ate it.
For my main course, I split the lamb chops with my brother-in-law. They were very tasty however slightly overpowering. There was a bit too much pepper which took away from the fine sweetness that I know as lamb. It made me feel rustic to eat. Accompanying the main course were sides of roasted lemon potatoes and steamed dandelions. The potatoes tasted like candy, but not the kind of candy that makes you feel tired and guilty but the kind of sweet candy that makes you feel like the world is a good place. The steamed dandelions were a little disappointing because I enjoy eating actual flowers and not just their stems. The presentation would have been a little nicer had they included the petals but I may just be saying that because I would have like to eat them for their digestive properties. Any digestive aid would have been helpful after that meal.
The one minus- they were out of baklavah by the time we ordered desert.
*****
http://www.tavernakyclades.com/

The Smith

Walking into this restaurant, I felt like I was in Israel. There is a very fast and almost German feel to the decor of the room. The high tables and low chairs make one feel like they are in a futuristic home. Probably my favorite aspect of the restaurant was that they had sparkling water on the table for no charge as well as plain tap water. I had the avocado sandwich which was avocado, tomato, cucumbers, sprouts and goat cheese on multigrain bread. The bread was moist as was the rest of the sandwich. I had to add a lot of pepper to the sandwich to give it a kick. My friend got the extremely hard mozzarella sandwich which was mozzarella, tomato, arugula and balsamic on a baguette. The sandwich was so hard and poignant that it almost tasted stale.
The service was friendly although uneducated. My weitor had no idea if the restaurant was actually Israeli but after some group deductive reasoning we decided that it probably is not.
**
The Smith
55 Third Avenue, between 10th and 11th
thesmithnyc.com

Give Me Pancakes Or Give Me Death!

Hey Readers,
A short anacdote in the name of a love for food. Last Saturday I refused medical treatment after being hit by a Rav 4 while crossing the street in Nashville, TN in the name of a good breakfast! For a review of the experience visit http://www.yelp.com/biz/pancake-pantry-nashville. A week later, I am still in pain from the accident but it was worth it for the warm deliciousness of the chocolate chip pancakes with two types of syrup, hash browns and eggs. Maybe this is a Southern thing but the yolk was running partially white. It was slightly disturbing.

Tisserie

Home to the lost yuppies of Union Square, this upscale coffee house has a colorful aray of desserts and salads. I got a very light oatmeal which I topped with strawberries, cinamon and honey because they were out of blueberries and rasberries. The oatmeal was made just right. I also had a slice of dulce de leche cheese cake which was based out of cream cheese but was not good. It tasted slightly stale to be honest and the top layer was much to sweet. I also got some loose tea called serenity which I have yet to make but that put my breakfast at almost $20

**

Hanami

Delicious and well priced, this is a restaurant I may actually return to. We certainly got a bang for our buck. I tried the buckwheat noodles which were excellent. For my main course, I got the sabagari roll which was mackerel and ginger. It was very crisp. I also got the sunflower roll which was spicy tuna, mango and crispy tempura batter with sheet soy bean. This roll was slightly to doughy to the taste. I felt like I was chewing off a piece of fluff from some anime as I was eating it.
There were almost ample refills of green tea which oddly tasted like sesame.

***

Hanami A Japanese Restaurant
525 5th Avenue, NY, NY, 10011