my world is made out of couch cushions and grandma's sheets…
originally posted on My Favorite MAOI – December 10, 2010
Name: Julie Edwards
Nickname: Heisenflei
Sign: Libra
Favorite:
Fruit: Avocado
Book: Post Office, Bukowsky
Place: White Sands, New Mexico
Q1. Most wild and crazy thing you have done thus far in your life?
A1. And this is your business because…
Q2. Whats the most interesting thing you found lying on the street/sidewalk/ground/random place?
A2. A wet t-shirt with “fuck it” scrawled across the front in sharpee
In New York, I was clearly a pop culture tourist. Pointing out landmarks I’d seen in movies, television, documentaries, or mentioned in books. As I was in New York with two of my close gal pals, we of course wanted to capture the ‘Sex in the City’ memories. Sort of. More of the city than the sex, but one of those included visiting Sarabeth’s. A New York restaurant staple, which I’m not even sure is mentioned on Sex in the City. But our friend assumed it was. Yet I know for a fact was mentioned several times on Gossip Girl, apparently it was a reason Serena couldn’t live anywhere else than the Upper East Side.
After 3 hours of karaoke and lots of frosty mugs of beer Saturday night, Sunday brunch was not only necessary for nourishment but recovery purposes as well. But like all trendy, popular, Manhattan restaurants there was a wait. We waited for a solid 30 minutes, before being seated. A mixture of locals and tourist, the waiting area poured outside. By the time we were seated, we had all reviewed the menu and knew exactly what we were going to order. Sarabeth’s has a mint blue interior and on the wall hangs portraits of old Hollywood movie stars like Audrey Hepburn and James Dean. Its décor very afternoon tea. As it was very busy the service was ok, nothing special. Considering half the table had a hangover, the fact we needed to get the waiters attention for our water and coffee to be refilled docked some points.
We ordered a pastry basket, since Sarabeth’s it known for their scones and preserves, and the basket was ok. I order tomato soup as a starter. The creamy tomato soup was the highlight of my meal, not too acidic and flavored well with simple spices. We also started off with a crab guacamole that was ok, but lacked that little something extra. For my main breakfast course I got the crab cake sandwich as I really wanted French fries, and it came out covered in a lemon dill tartar sauce. I scraped most of it off. The side salad that came with the meal was dripping in a lemon vinaigrette, I had one bite and ignored the rest. French fries, good.
Looks can be deceiving
The thing about places like Sarabeth’s, where the wait is forever, and the reputation precedes it. They don’t have to do anything special to be considered special anymore. Sure, at one point they probably did have the best brunch menu in New York but now the food is mediocre and overpriced. It’s not bad food. It’s not disgusting. It’s just ok. And in my personal opinion nothing is worse than being average, and mediocre. Except for their English muffin, its dense dry and the size of a hockey puck. It gets no love from me.
My advice for good eats while traveling is to go to places the locals eat. This is not surprising advice. But most locals will not tell you where they go, they mention places they think you should go to eat. Places that are staples of the city. Those staples, in my experience loose a luster because everyone goes to them. They don’t need to try hard, because the rent is being paid by tourist. Ask the locals the last place they went to dinner or brunch. Have they recently found a new café next to their favorite vintage shop? Look for restaurants that have been recently opened by new hungry chefs, not restaurants where the kitchen is being operated from afar. I really believe half of flavor comes from passion, and Sarabeth’s lacked any heart.
Though I guess when I came home and watched the episode where Blair uses the restaurant as a bargaining tool in Gossip Girl, I did smirk at the fact I had gone there. Can’t deny there exist a small part of fanny pack tourism in me.
I know Blair, and that is how I feel about food.
I just want to find the best places, where the flavor is equal to the price.
First published on My Favorite MAOI – 6/5/2009
Name: Glenn Arthur
Nickname: Glenny
Sign: Aquarius
Favorite:
Ice Cream: Strawberry
Book: The kind I can color in.
Color: Black (but only until they come out with something darker)
Q1. What animal is your spirit guide?
A1.Not sure. I hope it’s a hummingbird…and if it’s not then I’ll just lie and say it is 😉
Q2. If you had a parrot what would you teach it to say?
A2.”Get off my lawn!”
Q3. What superhero would you make your sidekick?
A3.Wonder Woman for sure. But only if i get to fly the invisible jet!
Q4. What do you admire in a person?
A4.Intelligent vulgarity.
I love the term foodie as it expresses a person who appreciates and loves food, but isn’t a formal food critic. My NY Eats were a big part of my weekend in New York, and trying new restaurants is a big part of any adventure for me. I hope you enjoy reading my recap of where I ate, and I give you a sense of the space and flavors. I didn’t take notes so it’s all from memory.
Our first stop on Saturday was Williamsburg. Wei explained Williamsburg is what Los Feliz is to Los Angeles. Which, for the reader unfamiliar with both; can then compare to the hip part of town where successful architects, musicians, artists, and other creative types reside who have moved far out of the starving stage of their craft. We got brunch at an adorable rustic looking restaurant called Rabbit Hole. It was still fastened with its late 19th century character. Molded ceiling and narrow bar running down the side. Apparently the back outdoor portion of the restaurant is really nice, but we were starved and I just wanted to be seated. So we were right in front next to a large window facing the street. It made for some great lighting, and I was seated beneath a funny sign.
The brunch menu was creative and hip. A balanced selection of savory and sweet. One could easily be torn between, stuffed brioche French toast with strawberry mascarpone or salmon egg benedict on an herb biscuit. Since my friend ordered lemon ricotta pancakes and was willing to share a bite. I ordered the salmon benedict. I’m a bit of benedict addict, or in a classy sense a connoisseur. And the Rabbit Hole’s benedict easily made my top 3 benedicts of all time. It was a good hollandaise sauce, but what stood out the most was the fantastic biscuit the salmon and poached egg rested on. It had the texture of a drop biscuit but was incredibly light and buttery. It easily crumbled just enough to get a bite on your fork and melt in your mouth. I will dream of that salmon eggs benedict. Liz’s lemon pancakes zinged with zest, but were not tart. Sweet like a lemon cake. Surprisingly I don’t like lemon desserts, but I enjoy lemon pancakes. The service was also delightful, I ordered Orange Juice and a coffee to combat last night’s mule, and our waitress was really great at keeping the joe flowing.
Fast forward through a day of sightseeing and bucket list accomplishments. We met up with Wei’s friend Chris, and Liz’s boyfriend Darren at Bryant Park. Darren’s birthday was the following day, so it was his choice for where we’d go for dinner. And not sure of what he wanted to eat, his only request was that he wanted a big frosty mug of beer. There are only two types of dining establishments that sell large frosty mugs of beer, and those are German restaurants and Japanese restaurants. Chris and Wei the actual New Yorkers, were racking their brains when Darren was making his mug request. After repeating it a third time, the light bulb above Wei’s head burst and she knew exactly where to go. A Japanese restaurant called Kenka, there is a blinking badger outside of it.
— WARNING FOOD GETS GRAPHIC & NOT VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY —
I went to New York to have an epic weekend, that would be kicked off by a girls’ night at the Barclay Center seeing Katy Perry. A magical night filled with glitter, prisms, laser lights, and a giant rotating cake. I took the red eye into NY on Thursday, and arrived at 8:00 am Friday morning on the East Coast. My friend who I was staying with, a talented photographer Wei, hosted us (my awesome friend Liz was there too) and wanted us to experience delicious food and the energy of NY. We first stopped at Wei’s for a nap, Liz was exhausted and I don’t advise trying to arrive well rested from sleeping on a plane. Sleeping into the afternoon we woke up starved, and Wei suggest Dim Sum.
Walking through a crowded China town dodging small children, rolling luggage, and patrons waiting for their street vendor egg rolls. We were on the hunt for a Dim Sum restaurant called the Golden Unicorn, because it was named after a unicorn. Unfortunately due to low blood sugar, and a misguided sense of direction, we ended up at Wei’s favorite Dim Sum place, Jing Fong. Standing in front of the wrong restaurant hunger decided for us, and we rod up a long escalator illuminated by an opulent chandelier. Seated immediately, what was more surprising was the quick delivery of our delicious dumplings. One usually waits at least five minutes before a cart full of steaming buns rolls by, but our hunger must have been throwing off signals, cause in seconds we had a table full of 5 to 7 dumplings.
To the point that when another women passed by and dropped by some char siu bao, she complained that we did not even have a card on the table to mark down the items we had requested. Eventually one gentlemen and two women speaking in a different language discussed the error in a hushed passionate way by our table, and we were good to go.
I even said I would be willing to try chicken feet, but while the cart passed by Wei shared why she had lost her appetite for the item, and well I’d lost my adventurous appetite too.
After China Town we passed by Little Italy where I picked up a street cannoli. It was probably the best cannoli I have ever had in my life, or will ever have. Unless I travel to Italy. The crust was firm, it snapped in my mouth without hurting my teeth and the filling was a light sweet cheese accented by mini chocolate chips. Perfect dessert to eat while dodging people. Walking in New York is like a video game, just remind me to not be there during the Zombie Apocalypse.
Fast forward to after Katy Perry, because I don’t think my dinner of Prestel, Cheap American Beer, and Red Bull is anything to write home about. We ventured from Brooklyn to the Lower East Side to the Meatball Shop. Passing by an amazing old building with an inane amount of graffiti. Its exterior did not fit the gorgeous architecture or the rest of neighborhood. Wei’s awesome friend remembered me telling him about this building, and shared with me a story about it. I knew that building was special without knowing anything about it.
Back to food, walking into The Meatball Shop there was a small bar with stools, a communal table that ran down the middle, and a few single tables lining the walls. As you can assume the menu was filled with meatballs. I wanted to test all the combinations of balls and sauces, so I opted for their sliders. A chicken meatball with pesto sauce, spicy pork meatball with spicy marinara, beef meatball with a mushroom sauce, and another I can’t remember. They are served on the perfect bun. It doesn’t absorb too much of the sauce, and allows the flavors to just burst. I feel like it might have been potato bread. My favorite was the spicy pork, and spicy marinara. Also the pesto is worth mentioning as it had a nice hint of pine nuts and was not too oily. I also had a side of mashed potatoes, great texture, fluffy and buttery.
The restaurant had just got is liquor license, which apparently according to a story I heard on Good Food is very important to the success of an NY restaurant. I ordered a Moscow mule, and I’m sad to report it was disappointing. It tasted watered down, and I questioned if there was any vodka in it at all. But my friend ordered an Old Cuban that had me envious. Not only cause you could tell it wasn’t virgin, but it tasted really yummy too. After throwing back a few of those, one might go home with an old Cuban.
We headed back to my friends place after dinner, which by the way was at 2am. In NY you apparently sit down for dinner when LA bars are closing. Now at nearly 900 words, I won’t even attempt to include Saturday or Sunday meals in one post.
So basically till next time…yum yum get in my tum!
Have you visited any of these places?
First published on My Favorite MAOI – 8/27/2009
Name: Sarah Negahdari
Nickname: Kitty, Negs, Nega
Sign: Pisces
Favorite:
Food. Sushi
Book. Inspiration Sandwich by Sark
Season. Autumn!
Q1.How many times have you been pulled over? And why?
A1.Just once. I didn’t do a full stop at a stop sign. I started crying! and the policeman let me go ticket free!
Q2.What animal if your spirit guide?
A2I Looooooveee your questions! ahhhh! So refreshing!!!!! mine is a black panther. I have had many dreams that were incredibly vivid, mystical, involving a female black panther, roaring at me to toughen up! She shows me how to be A REAL WOMAN! 🙂
Q3. What’s your vice?
A3.Oh gaaaaawwwddd, my indecisiveness!!! no wait, maybe it’s my day dreaminess, no wait, it’s my…just kidding…yeah, my vice is definitely that I have such a hard time making up my mind.
Q4.If you could live in a movie for a day, which movie would it be? Would you be yourself or another character?
A4.wow,, such a fabulous question!!! I would be in Labyrinth and I would be David Bowie’s character!!!!
HOLY CANNOLI! How is it August? Seriously, July flew by.
In July my freelance hours went up, my full time job hours went down, and thankfully I was able to squeeze out two post on this blog. I also interviewed the owner of my new favorite tea company. But between managing my new work flow and flying to New York (it was my first time) I haven’t found the time to write my intro/outro and send it off to Hello Giggles (or other websites open to contributor submissions). Though the interview is in my top 3 things to do tomorrow morning, it’s my frog.
Yes, I just said my interview was a frog. My good friend Liz, and fellow blogging sister at casualconerns.com, sent me this article on the morning routines of successful people. One of the tips was to conquer your top three objectives (the frog) in the morning, when you’re most focused and motivated. The routines of successful people varied. Though my favorite share of the article was that of Mr. Benjamin Franklin. I printed it out as a guide for myself and have it perched on my desk. I liked the way he focused his energy, and broke up his day in sections. Although he goes to bed at 10:00pm, and that is completely unrealistic for me. My goal for August is to develop a discipline of waking up, exercising, showering, clothes, makeup, breakfast with my beau, and coffee in front of my home computer working on my own thoughts and projects. Even if it’s just 15 minutes. I need to find a little slice of time for my own projects to progress.
Here is the full article if you want to refine your morning routine for success.
On my list of “pending blog articles” to write was to share my favorite documentaries. I’m a documentary junkie. They feed my voracious curiosity, and need to be inspired or stimulated. I watch movies to check out, but documentaries make me feel plugged in. I especially love a good documentary about obscure people or events, people that in some way have made their pure existence on this planet a work of art. Paste magazine just came out with a list of the 50 best documentaries on Netflix in 2014. I’ve watched 10 of them and have debated watching 7 of them, but they didn’t include my most recent favorite documentary, The Institute.
Here are the documentaries on the list I have watched and my 2 cents in two words:
Jiro Dreams of Sushi = Work Harder
Muscle Shoals = Soul Music
Room 237 = Conspiracy Theories
Exit through The Gift Shop = New Warhol
20 Feet from Stardom = Sing It
Jesus Camp = Crazy Christians
Tabloid = MUST WATCH
Who is Harry Nilsson… = The Point
Queen of Versailles = No Debt
Shut Up and Play the Hits = Curtain Call
Lastly, my July playlist was so incredibly weak I have no words or enough music for a #SOTD recap. But I really like these songs! Here is to a more consistent August. July was awesome, amazing, I saw Katy Perry and Mood Indigo. It was filled with art, music, friendships, food…but I didn’t report any of it and that’s important to me too.
Basically until next time… Sprinkles make the world a more colorful place. Love, Bekka
Blanket Fort Adventures 