Norma's

119 W. 56th St.  New York, NY
www.parkermeridien.com/eat1.php

Price: $$$--but literally worth every penny
Favorite dish (from this particular meal): Oatmeal brûlée

One of my all time favorite brunch restaurants in New York City has to be Norma's. Every time my family and I have traveled here in the past, it seems as though we always make time to eat at Norma's. It's actually that good. Norma's is a restaurant that is located within the Le Parker Meridien hotel in Midtown West. The restaurant is always full of people, and for good reason. The look is very upscale and trendy, and is definitely a brunch hotspot. (why else would Nate and Serena eat here on an episode of Gossip Girl?) The menu is overflowing with delectable brunch options, almost to the point where there are far too many to choose from. One of my favorite parts about eating at Norma's is that they serve you a free shot of their daily smoothie at the start of your meal, which is always super fruity and delicious.
My mom and I went to Norma's for brunch this past Friday. Being that it was still a workday, I figured we would not have a problem getting in. (We forgot to make a reservation. Whoops). Obviously I was wrong…and we ended up having to wait about 20 minutes to be seated. But seriously I didn't care the food we were about to get would be so worth it.

Here's what we got:

My smoothie shot!!!!! The smoothie of the day was kiwi strawberry banana mango. OOOMMMGGG. It was SO good. I don't know what they do to make their smoothies so good, but as far as I can remember, I have never been disappointed. I drank it down so fast that I forgot to take a picture. A perfect excuse to ask for another one!

My smoothie and my iced coffee go well together, dontcha think?

My mom ordered Normalita's Juevos Rancheros, highlighted as one of Norma's favorites on the menu.  The dish had cheese quesadillas slices, topped with a tortilla with black beans, salsa, guacamole, and a fried egg. Holy guacamole this was so good. The egg was cooked to perfection with a nice and runny yolk, and paired with the guac, some salsa, and a bite of quesadilla, you're in heaven.

I decided to try McCann's Irish Oatmeal Brûlée, topped with sautéed green apples and red pears. The oatmeal was AWESOME. I am a huge lover of oatmeal, and adding the sugary brûlée topping added such a nice delicate crunch that couldn't be beat. The oatmeal was creamy and thick and sweet and smooth and filling…etc. It was beyond. No other oatmeal from here on out can compare.

 The amount of selections at Norma's is reason enough to go. There is something there to satisfy everyone's palates. However, don't expect to come to Norma'a and eat light. Oh no…honestly I would suggest ordering one of the more unhealthy and decadent sounding meals because that's the way to go here. THIS is the place to splurge!!!



 XOXO,
Danielle

Otto

1 5th Ave.  New York, NY
www.ottopizzeria.com

Price: $$
Favorite dish: Cacio E Pepe

Reunited (again) and it feels sOoOoOo good. This past weekend, my parents flew into New York to visit and spend some time with me while I am still in here. How sweet!!!!! On Friday night, Nicole and her parents came to meet my parents and me in the city for dinner for some family bonding time of course! We decided to take Arleigh along for the ride because why not? The Jablon's decided on celebrity chef Mario Batalli's restaurant Otto Pizzeria. The restaurant had a vivacious atmosphere, and it was completely packed, and therefore was very noisy. Despite making a reservation, we still had to wait almost 25 minutes for a table. The restaurant was modeled to resemble an Italian train station, so when your assigned "train" goes up on the board, you know your table is ready. We were actually seated at a corner table completely smushed together. Good thing we like each other, right?


Here is what we ordered:

Nicole and her parents got the chopped salad with salami and chickpeas. 

My dad and Arleigh both got the baby spinach salad with ricotta salata and truffle honey.  This salad was really good…basically anything with truffle is good to me!

My mom got the watermelon salad, served with cucumbers and feta cheese. I am not the biggest fan of watermelon or cucumber, but I actually loved this salad. It was sweet and delicious…I almost couldn't tell there was watermelon in there. Loved it.

For the main course, we ordered some different pizzas and pastas so we could all try each others' meals.

The first pizza we got was the fennel & bottarga, with tomato, pecorino, and mozzarella.

My dad got the Cacio E Pepe pizza, which had mozzarella, cacio (an Italian cheese), pecorino, parmigiano, and black pepper. This was my favorite of the pizzas, and probably my favorite dish of the whole meal. There was so much flavor packed into this one pizza. All of the cheeses combined together were just too good on a great thin crust. YUUUM.

Nicole got the classic margherita pizza, with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil. 

Ong more pizza for the table: the vongole, with garlic, mozzarella, and clams.

We got the Pasta Alla Norma, which was penne pasta with tomato, roasted eggplant, basil, and ricotta. I thought the pasta was good and I really liked the roasted eggplant. The pasta was a little bit undercooked but the tomato sauce was really fresh and yummy.

Do you think we ordered enough food?!?!?

I really enjoyed my time at Otto with my friends and family. The food was pretty good and everything was extremely reasonably priced in contrast to the prices I typically see throughout the city. There were a few issues, being that the wait staff was a bit slow, and we were served bread, but with no butter or olive oil or anything. But….. overall the food was good, the mood was fun, and we had a great time together.

To finish off the evening, we walked toward Greenwich Village and got cupcakes at Molly's Cupcakes. How perfect! (to view my recent post on Molly's cupcakes, click here).

An awful and blurry pic of Nicole, Arleigh, and me at Otto. But still….FRIENDS! <3 <3

 XOXO,
Danielle

The Smith

956 2nd Ave.  New York, NY
www.thesmithnyc.com

Price: $$$
Favorite dish: Whole Wheat Penne (no decisions there!)

This past friday night, I got to hang out with a few of my besties from Michigan: Jamie, Mel, and Dani. We ended up going to dinner in Midtown extremely late (try 10:00 pm), so we wanted to go somewhere that we could get in quickly and be served promptly, but that would still be good. Mel suggested The Smith, and I had heard good things about this restaurant before. Being that we were within walking distance, it seemed like a perfect place to go for a satisfying meal waaaay past normal meal time.
The Smith is a casual, American restaurant, with a fun, inviting, "New York" atmosphere. To get seated right away, we were put at the end of a communal table, which was actually kind of fun (great people watching!) 

Our communal table!!!

We didn't really have a lot of diversity in what we ordered. We all ordered a different variation of the same meal… classic. We got the Whole Wheat Penne, with arugula, wild mushrooms, roasted garlic, and parmesan cheese. 

                   Mel and Jamie's whole wheat penne, plus chicken. (Obvi Mel got hers without cheese)

My whole wheat penne, with grilled shrimp to add protein. The shrimp was actually so good, and added a really good touch of flavor to the pasta. I really liked the oil&garlic sauce that was over the pasta…it was super flavorful and wasn't overwhelmingly garlicky. 

Jnuss takes her noodles to go for a late night snack!

There were actually a ton of good-looking things on the menu and I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to try more than one thing from the menu--all the more reason to go back! From what I did taste though, I do think that The Smith has some really good things to offer. Besides the food, I was just happy to be hanging out and spending time with my friends! (was that cheesy?)

XOXO,

Danielle

Molly's Cupcakes

228 Bleecker St.  New York, NY
www.mollyscupcakes.com

Price: $$
Favorite cupcake: Peach cobbler

If there is one person who is a true lover of cupcakes, it is me. They have to be one of the best desserts ever brilliantly created, and there is certainly no better place than New York to get the ultimate cupcake.   As I was walking around after I first moved here, I happened to pass by Molly's Cupcakes, a Chicago-based bakery located conveniently in Greenwich village. The first thing I noticed on the window was that Molly's was not only on Cupcake Wars, but they WON. Um…..what? Being an obsessive cupcake freak, I made it my mission to make it back there, and I finally found time to visit and try out some of their cupcakes tonight. Well…step aside Crumbs and Magnolia, because there really is no comparison. Molly's features many different creative and fun flavor combinations, and best of all, they're really really extremely super tasty.

Because I made this visit alone, I got a few cupcakes to sample, and maybe to save for a little later…
Here's what I tried:

CUPCAKE WARS WINNER !!! How can these NOT be good??

A few of the more simple flavors...

I decided to sample 3 of their flavors, and narrowing it down to 3 was seriously tough. 

The first cupcake that had me tempted immediately was the creme brûlée cupcake. It was a vanilla cake, FILLED with actual creme brûlée, topped with sugar and torched, and finished off with a few berries. Yes…it was as good as it looks/sounds. It was incredible. It tasted exactly like creme brûlée, plus an extremely soft and delicious cake to go with it. 

The next cupcake that I felt obligated to try was the peach cobbler cupcake, which is a vanilla cake, with a cinnamon peach puree filling, brown sugar streusel, homemade whipped cream, and a sliced peach on top. This being the winning cupcake on Cupcake Wars, it was bound to be amazing. OOOMMMGGG it was. No words to describe this cupcake except, well, perfect. The cake was so moist, and the whipped cream was super fluffy and creamy. This cupcake got it down to the brown sugar streusel, really making it as close to a peach cobbler as a cupcake can get. It was honestly the best cupcake I've ever had.

The last cupcake I decided to try was the cookee monster cupcake, which is a vanilla chocolate chip cake, with a raw cookie dough center, buttercream, and topped with a mini chocolate chip cookie. Cooie dough is always a deciding factor for me, and so this one seemed great. The cookie dough was tasted like actual raw cookie dough, just how I like it. The cake was really really good, but the cookie dough center did make it a little bit overly soft and sticky. Nevertheless it was still delish and memorable.

The Cookee Monster cupcake with the cookie dough center. NOM NOM NOM

I can only imagine how mouthwatering it is to read about these cupcakes, being that my mouth is watering just writing about them. Despite the fact that Molly's Cupcakes is only a few blocks away from the renowned Magnolia Bakery, they still give Magnolia a run for their money. I would want to eat a cupcake from Molly's over other top NYC cupcake bakeries any day, from what I have tasted so far.
A portion of their profits is donated directly to schools in the local community, which makes cupcake-eating not only an indulgence, but also an act for a good cause.
I strongly suggest satisfying your next cupcake craving at Molly's, but warning…it is dangerous.

XOXO,
Danielle

Jane

100 W. Houston St.  New York, NY
www.janerestaurant.com

Price: $$--Portion sizes are pretty generous.
Favorite dish: Vanilla Bean French Toast ( :O )

The fact that I am so behind on blogging is not ok…so SORRY to all my devoted readers!! ;)
Last weekend, my friends and I decided to be cute and go for a nice Sunday brunch. We wanted to try Jane, which supposedly has a really good brunch menu, and so we thought ahead and made a reservation so we wouldn't be caught waiting in the blazing New York heat for a table. We still ended up having to wait, being that Whitney, Jess, and Arleigh were so late, but hey, Jane was not to blame for that!
Jane is a casual American bistro on the edge of Soho. It has upstairs and downstairs seating, and the atmosphere is sleek and inviting. The restaurant was packed on a Sunday morning. After reading through the extensive brunch menu, I was completely perplexed and had absolutely no idea what to get but was so excited to try everything.

What we got:

Whitney and Sara both got the mushroom omelette, with baby portobello mushrooms, tomato, fontina, and herbs, served with a side of potatoes. Whit and Sara both claimed it was "sooooooo good!"

Jess ordered the egg white omelet with sautéed spinach, goat cheese, and mixed greens. Although the omelet features goat cheese, she said it tasted kind of bland, but not bad!

Arleigh and I both ordered the homemade granola, with low fat yogurt, honey, bananas, strawberries, and dried cranberries. I had been craving granola so I was sooso excited to eat this. We both thought that the the granola had far too many sunflower seeds mixed in it, which overtook the actual flavor of the granola.

One of the most intriguing items on the menu was the vanilla bean french toast, made with brioche bread, dipped in a creme brûlée batter, and served with maple syrup. Frankie ordered this for her meal, and the rest of us got a half order to share for the table. The french toast was delectable…I absolutely loved it. The inside was really soft and gooey, and the outside was nice and crunchy.

My side of plain scrambled eggs. yes I know…boring. but yummy!!!

I understand why Jane gets so busy for Sunday brunch; they have a really lengthy menu listing a variety of different good breakfast options. When ordering off the brunch menu, you also receive a complimentary cocktail, including alcoholic beverages, or fresh squeezed juices. What a deal! I would definitely come back to Jane to try something new--they had a lot of good looking egg scrambles that I'd love to try. All in all, a good, fun, not too pricey meal to share with friends.

XOXO,
Danielle

Cafeteria

119 7th Ave.  New York, NY
www.cafeteriagroup.com

Price: $$$
Favorite Dish: Warm fallen chocolate cake (whoops)

On Friday night, I went out for a fun little dinner with Arleigh, Sara, and Frankie. We decided we'd try and aim for a place on my restaurant bucket list so that we can keep that moving. We ended up going to Cafeteria, a place I have been before, but solely for dessert. Cafeteria is a super trendy spot, and has indoor and outdoor seating. Since they don't take reservations, and the restaurant is super busy on a Friday night, we found ourselves waiting for a table for quite a while. However, it was a really pleasing and enjoyable environment for a night out with friends.

Here's what we got:

At the beginning of the meal we were given a basket of warm biscuits and butter (Sara's favorite!!!!!) They were actually really good and I enjoyed having something other than bread for a change of pace.

Arleigh and I both got the grilled peach salad, with prosciutto, arugula, aged goat cheese, and a shallot wine vinaigrette. Although I ordered my salad without prosciutto, it was still really good. The only thing was that the goat cheese tasted a little funky to me. Even though goat cheese is usually my favorite type of cheese, I ended up eating around it. The peach tasted great, and was really a good combination with the dressing and the arugula.

For my entree, I ordered the appetizer portion of the baja fish tacos. These were served with grilled Mahi Mahi, Salsa Fresca, crispy tortilla topping, and a Serano Salsa Verde. I loved the tacos. They were really tasty, and I am not usually much of a fish person. The salsa verde had a nice zing and was great on top of the taco.

Frankie got the appetizer portion of the old school meatballs. The meatballs were topped with a roasted tomato sauce and were served alongside grilled rustic bread. I was contemplating ordering these since they sounded so good, and they definitely looked that good too.

Sara got the Cafeteria burger, which came with tomatoes, red onion, and field greens, a pickle, and french fries. 

Arleigh decided to channel her inner southern side and ordered the fried chicken and waffles.  It was buttermilk fried chicken, with crispy sage, grilled lemon, and came with a chili butter sauce. 

Ready to dive in!

 Cafeteria has an extensive dessert menu, and Arleigh even said that it may have the best dessert selection at a restaurant that she's ever seen. We had trouble agreeing on a few desserts to share, but we finally were able to narrow it down.

We ordered the warm fallen chocolate cake, served with a passion fruit drizzle, and topped with vanilla bean ice cream. I was expecting the cake to be a little bit larger, but regardless of the size it was so good. The cake was warm and moist, and not overwhelmingly chocolatey. The little bit of passion fruit sauce was actually a surprisingly nice touch. Everyone likes a good chocolate cake, right?

For our other dessert, we agreed on the red velvet cake in a jar. The cake was topped with a cream cheese frosting and chocolate pearls. The cake tasted good, but wasn't super moist. It wasn't the best red velvet we had ever tasted, but it wasn't bad. I also don't tend to like cream cheese frosting very often, but this one actually was not half bad. All in all, this one wasn't our favorite dessert.

Although our meal had a few flaws, it mostly was pretty good. I would like to come back to try some of the other things on their extensively long dinner menu, and of course, their dessert menu (aka, I'm coming for the Cafeteria waffle banana split.) The crowd at Cafeteria is very hip, and the wait staff are very friendly and willing to engage in conversation. It was a fun evening, and I would definitely give Cafeteria another try in the near future.

XOXO,
Danielle

Emilio's Ballato

55 E. Houston St. (between Mulberry St. & Greene St.) 
New York, NY


Price: $$$$
Favorite dish: Pasta E Fagioli

For an extremely delayed post, this one certainly will not disappoint. For my dad's last night in town with me, he took me to a little Italian place that he claimed was quite amazing. After we walked in and were walking back to our table, I couldn't help but notice the array of photographs of famous people on the walls. Ummm celebrities….my favorite! This place couldn't be too bad, then. Emilio's Ballato serves solid old school Italian food. I am sucker for good Italian, and this restaurant hit the spot.

Here's what we got:

At the beginning of the meal, we were served two types of fresh bread. There was a basic, probably homemade, bread and then Pancetta bread. 

My dad couldn't stop saying to me how much he LOVED the Pasta E Fagioli soup the first time he came here, and this being one of my favorite Italian soups, I definitely wanted to try it. He was building it up so much that it had to knock my socks off, and it absolutely did. This was hands down the best Pasta E Fagioli soup that I have ever tasted. It was so thick and full of delicious beans, pasta, and vegetables. OMG my mouth is watering.

As an appetizer to share, we ordered the grilled octopus, served with a small green salad. This calamari was unlike any that I had ever had before in the way that it was served, but once it was cut up to look less scary it was really good. 

I ordered the Gamberi Oreganate, which is baked shrimp, with garlic, bread crumbs, and linguine. These shrimp were packed with flavor. They were topped with such a flavorful mixture of the bread crumbs, a ton of garlic, and other seasonings. The sauce was great mixed with the linguine, which was cooked to perfection.

For my dad's entree, he ordered the Vitello Alla Milanese, which is breaded veal, with arugula, tomatoes, and extra virgin olive oil. It was also served alongside a small portion of potatoes. 

My dad ordered a side of fresh linguine with tomato sauce. At a restaurant with amazing homemade pasta there was no way we could skimp on that…

So basically, everything my dad and I ate here was excellent. I was so full walking out, but left 100% satisfied. The space is small and cozy, and the food made me feel as though I may have been eating in Italy. Although I've never been, I imagine this might be as close as it gets in NYC. Come here for a wonderful and traditional Italian meal you are sure to love.

XOXO,
Danielle