March 3, 2010
NYC Food Guy always welcomes guest bloggers. Today we turn the spotlight on a first-time blogger. He’s my favorite person to eat a burger with, my brother Craig, a.k.a Lil NYC Food Guy. E-mail [email protected] if you’d like to contribute!
It’s been a long time coming, but after a summer spent living in the city, it was time for my first post. And what better food is there for me to review then my absolute favorite, burgers? Last summer, my friend Evan worked at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill, and has been raving about their lunchtime burgers since. We decided it was time to finally go check them out and give them a proper NYC Food Guy review.
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Posted in FLATIRON/UNION SQUARE, MANHATTAN, Mesa Grill 
20 Comments »
March 2, 2010
NYC Food Guy always welcomes guest bloggers. Today we turn the spotlight on regular contributor King of Ketchup. E-mail [email protected] if you’d like to contribute!
A couple weeks ago I stumbled across this website advertising an offer for a free $25 gift card for Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse. Two days later, my free $25 gift card was waiting in my mailbox. All you have to do to receive your own free $25 gift card is follow these four easy steps:
- Become a fan of Uncle Jack’s on Facebook.
- Follow Uncle Jack’s on Twitter.
- Send an email to [email protected] with your name and address requesting your gift card.
- Eat free steak.
Fully equipped with $50 worth of Uncle Jack’s gift cards, my girlfriend and I walked into an empty Uncle Jack’s on 56th street last Saturday night for our 7:30 reservation. Apparently we’re the only people who eat steak at 7:30 on a Saturday night, because by the time we left at 9, the entire place was packed. The back of the gift card instructs customers to present gift cards before ordering, but in hopes of avoiding the Uncle Jack’s “special sauce,” we waited until we were finished before handing it to our “captain” (aka waiter), and they accepted it without a problem. Click ahead to read about the entire meal.
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Posted in MANHATTAN, MIDTOWN WEST, Uncle Jack's Steakhouse 7 Comments »
February 27, 2010
Meat and champagne on the sand, a Friday night only Miami Beach could pull off. NYC Food Guy has the good fortune to find himself in the midst of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and last night’s BubbleQ was a carnivore’s delight featuring endless Perrier-Jouet bubbly and meat galore from some serious chefs. I tried around 18 of the featured 31 dishes and only four truly impressed, one of which is from a newly popular New York chef. Read on for the best bites…
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Posted in 2010 BubbleQ - South Beach Wine & Food Festival, FOOD EVENTS 4 Comments »
February 26, 2010
Skirt Steak and eggs: the Clint Eastwood of breakfast. Its been around forever and it’s still badass. And while The Breslin tries to cement its badass status with a no reservations policy and a meat-centric menu, Yuca Bar draws diners and imbibers to its Latin American oasis as coolly as Clint draws movie viewers. So which skirt steak and eggs is the genuine article: The $17 Breslin version or the $13.95 Yuca Bar prix fixe?
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Posted in EAST VILLAGE, FOOD SHOWDOWNS, MANHATTAN, Skirt Steak & Egg Brunch: The Breslin vs Yuca Bar, The Breslin, Yuca Bar 4 Comments »
February 25, 2010
This delicious, affordable and simple recipe comes complements of the esteemed King of Ketchup. If you’d like to submit your recipes to the site, e-mail details and a photo to [email protected]. Happy Cooking!
Any dish made with bacon and brie is really hard to mess up. This recipe calls for three ingredients: brie, bacon, and Pillsbury biscuit flakes, and it can be prepared and cooked in under ten minutes.
- First, cut a piece of brie about 3/4 of an inch long and 1/4 inch wide.
- Next, peel one or two flakes off of your Pillsbury biscuits (I prefer the flakes, but the regular crescent dough should work just as well — click the link to print out a $1 coupon) and seal your brie up in the dough. Make sure to pinch the edges tightly so it doesn’t break open in the oven.
- Finally, wrap a strip of raw bacon around the outside, and pop that bad-boy in the oven at 375 or 400 degrees. Cook ’til golden brown and enjoy.
- And if you really wanna get fancy, you can beat an egg and paint some on the outside before cooking to give this sexy little hors d’oeuvre a slightly crispier, glazed finish.
Posted in Bacon-Wrapped Brie, HOMECOOKIN' 10 Comments »
February 24, 2010
This is the love child of nachos, Velveeta salsa dip and mac and cheese. The photo of the glowing orange cheddar-tortilla crumb crust below doesn’t reveal much of the Salsa Picante’s innards but that’s because there’s not much to show. S’Mac’s description of the Salsa Picante ($7.75), “Pepper Jack, Cheddar, Salsa, Chicken Breast, and Cilantro,” is more like nacho-flavored crust above creamy, mildly spicy, salsa-flavored cheese sauce sparsely studded with green pepper and onion, mingling with chunks of ordinary, flavorless chicken breast. If you order the Salsa Picante, get it with no chicken. With the exception of beef in the Cheeseburger S’Mac, eaters should steer clear of adding meat to their S’Mac. Whether it’s slab bacon or chicken, the meat’s lack of flavor and chewy texture only decrease enjoyment. The option to add freshly sliced jalapeno peppers, something S’Mac does not provide, would really improve the Salsa Picante. There was an actual upside to this experience, so read ahead to find out…
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Posted in EAST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN, S'Mac 1 Comment »
February 19, 2010
I walked fourteen blocks for Indian take out from Punjab but before I got home I stopped for Pad Thai. I was compelled by the big poster behind the window of Cafetasia: $2 Beer & $5 Pad Thai All Day. My immediate thought was that the Pad Thai would make a good appetizer for my three Indian curries. But surprisingly, Cafetasia’s $5 bowl of Pad Thai is filling despite the presence of just 3 measly shrimp (you can also choose beef or chicken). Asking for my Pad Thai “spicy” didn’t offer much heat and unfortunately allowed several over-saturated pockets of crushed peanut dominate the dish’s flavor. Ask for hot sauce on the side to avoid this.
With Blue Moon, Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn Lager and Sapporo on tap and Singha and Amstel Light in bottles all for $2, all day, this is a deal worth trying as long as it exists, which for now is indefinitely.
Cafetasia 85 Avenue A b/t 5th & 6th Street New York, NY 10009 (212) 260-8570 www.cafetasia.com
Posted in Cafetasia, EAST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN 1 Comment »
February 15, 2010
It’s me. Your sense of adventure. The reason you moved to New York City. I’m your craving for new experiences and I’m hungry! Starving! No more excuses. Just get off your ass and do it! NYC Food Guy is making it easy for you. It’s time to explore uncharted territory with your feet and your fork. Go to Freda’s at 109th Street and Columbus Avenue and eat Caribbean food. Spicy jerk chicken. Tender, fall off the bone chicken stewed in a tangy brown sauce. Yams which are more caramelized than candied (and may alone be worth the trip). So read this review and quit wasting our time, feed me!
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Posted in Freda's Caribbean Food, MANHATTAN, UPPER WEST SIDE 16 Comments »
January 19, 2010
Two crispy-edged, fluffy on the inside, plate-size pancakes studded with slices of ripe banana and topped with mixed candied nuts and a melting river of whipped banana brown sugar butter! Syrup is superfluous. If you want to avoid the $21 price tag, you’ll find the recipe for this decadence in the thumbnails below. Let us know how they turn out.
Norma’s at Le Parker Meridien Hotel
119 West 56th Street b/t 6th & 7th Ave (Google Map) New York, NY 10019 212-245-5000 Open 7 days/week until 3pm Official Website Norma’s Menu (PDF)
Posted in MANHATTAN, MIDTOWN WEST, Norma's 8 Comments »
January 15, 2010
The Executive Chef, Nick Anderer, he knows how to do it. Dana, my waiter, he knows how to do it too. Even the cute barista (yes, Maialino has actual baristas) knows how to do it, as the feathery heart she shaped into my cappuccino foam proves. “It” is a microcosm of the Danny Meyer brand; great service and great food. And after my first formal Meyer restaurant experience, NYC Food Guy can confirm that Meyer has done “it” again, improving on his soon to be globe-spanning success with his first Italian venture, Maialino. My three dining companions and I put Anderer and his kitchen to the test, ordering a prodigious feast you have to see to believe…
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Posted in Maialino, MANHATTAN, MURRAY HILL/GRAMERCY 10 Comments »
January 11, 2010
Sinful food photos are what make a NYC Food Guy review but I have so many waiting in the wings, the real sin would be not sharing them with you, my hungry readers. Cue the gratuitous food porn…
There’s not much left to say about Momofuku Noodle Bar. All NYC Food Guy can reluctantly add is that the food is truly worth the ever-present wait. Most dishes are delicious (except for the tamales) but if I could only eat two, it’s the Steamed Pork Buns ($9) housing a ribbon of crispy, fatty pork belly resting on a dab of hoison sauce and topped with sliced cucumber and scallion…
…and the Momofuku Ramen ($16), a steaming porky bath of springy noodles topped with bamboo shoots, crisp nori, sliced kamaboko (white fish cake), chopped scallions, pulled pork shoulder, more pork belly, and crowned with a single, decadent poached egg. Crack the egg, dip some pork in the yolk and brace yourself for the swoon.
Momofuku Noodle Bar 171 First Ave b/t 10th & 11th St, New York, NY 10003 (Google Map) 212-777-7773 Official Website
Related: Momofuku Milk Bar Cinnamon Bun Pie vs Cinnabon
Related: Momofuku Milk Bar Candy Bar Pie
Posted in EAST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN, Momofuku Noodle Bar 14 Comments »
January 4, 2010
If you like doughnuts at all, then you haven’t lived until you’ve made the pilgrimage to Doughnut Plant, the holy land of sugar-coated fried dough in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. And like any cultish New York City institution, the lines can be long and the hours can be short but if you manage to secure the goods, all is forgiven thanks to the melt-in-your-mouth caress of doughnut bliss. Read on for a taste of each doughnut below plus a surprise treat …
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Posted in Doughnut Plant, LOWER EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN 12 Comments »
December 11, 2009
The bun is similar to pita. The red sauce is ajvar, a Serbian spread combining red peppers, eggplant, garlic and olive oil. But the half pound burger? Well it’s straight middle America. Because at Question Mark Cafe, an unassuming few-month-old eatery on 1st Avenue b/t St. Mark’s & 9th St., cheddar cheese (though the menu reads provolone) and crispy pre-cooked bacon are pressed between two lean, hand-formed burger patties resulting in a pocket of beefy, cheesy, porcine indulgence.
Overall, the burger’s leaness (85:15 meat to fat ratio) makes it more novel than delicious, deriving most of its flavor from the bacon and slightly spicy ajvar. But you can’t beat the price because the deluxe stuffed burger gets you all the food below for just $9.75. The best part of the plate? The orange-ish Urnebes spread featuring feta cheese, roasted peppers and chili flakes. All burgers come topped with this creamy, spicy sauce unless otherwise specified. And while Question Mark Cafe finds its feet, there’s a rumor of a pastrami stuffed burger coming soon.
Question Mark Cafe
135 First Avenue b/t St. Mark’s Place & 9th Street
New York, NY 10003 (Google map)
212-614-9800
Hours: 11AM to 11PM daily
Posted in EAST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN, Question Mark Cafe 17 Comments »
December 10, 2009
sugar Sweet sunshine, home to NYC’s best banana pudding and some of its finest cupcakes is open at the Union Square Holiday Market until Dec. 24. You’ll find the sliver of a stall on the west side of Union Square between East 14th & East 15th street, near the Gandhi statue. Special iced sugar cookies ($0.75) join a roster of shop favorites including cake in a cup ($4), pumpkin eggnog pudding ($4), chocolate bomb ($4), brownies ($3), a wide selection of cupcakes ($2) (go for the Ooey Gooey, chocolate almond buttercream frosting atop chocolate cake), and naturally banana pudding ($4). But act quickly, because the good stuff goes fast. Read on for a map of the Union Square Holiday Market & sugar Sweet sunshine info.
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Posted in LOWER EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN, Sugar Sweet Sunshine 7 Comments »
December 8, 2009
Momofuku Milk Bar’s Cinnamon Bun Pie is a high class, low cost slice of NYC’s dessert elite. Cinnabon is a low class symbol of NYC’s contribution to obesity. In the end they both serve the same purpose, satisfying a sinful desire for cinnamon and decadent frosting. But as discriminating foodies, we must ask, which is better? Read on for the final verdict…
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Posted in FOOD SHOWDOWNS, Momofuku Milk Bar vs Cinnabon 24 Comments »
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