Kwik Meal!!!

So I was in the rockefeller area and just learned that plans for dinner were cancelled so as always, I wanted to get something new. So I remembered reading a post about Kwik Meal and it was only a few blocs away so I decided to get food from there. I discovered that they won the 2007 Vendy Awards and knew I had picked the right choice. Now, I had heard good things of the Lamb Pita and the Cheesesteak. Being that the lamb pita was $10 as opposed to the $5.50 cheesesteak and being the cheapo that I am, I went with the cheesesteak. Lamb pita next time when I'm in the mood. On to the cheesesteak. It was really really good!

It was like a traditional cheesesteak but it tasted kinda different too. I mean, it had all of the components of the traditional cheesesteak (peppers, steak, melty cheese) but it tasted a little different. Me thinks its cuz of the cheese. Im not sure which one they used but it didnt taste like american. All I know is it was good. I also really liked that the steak was really flavorful and tender. Sometimes when I get a cheesesteak the steak is chewy and just not great, but this one wasn't at all. It was all warm and ooey gooey cuz of the cheese and soft cuz of the steak but had some crunch from the peppers so lots of contrast of textures and flavors! Overall, it was good, so I'm DEFINITELY going back for the Lamb Pita!

Torrisi Itailian Specialties and the Best Chocolate Cake in the World!

Hey y'all. After a stressful week, I needed a good pick me up. So it being friday and all, I went to get some good food and cake! First stop, Torrisi Italian Specialties. I had heard that they made really good sandwiches, especially the chicken parmesan and turkey sandwich. I was more in a hearty mood so I went for the chicken parmesan.

Look at that picture. I know you're drooling. This sandwich was really good. The bread was super soft and soaked in all that marinara sauce which was super tomato-y and herby. It was smothered with mozzarella cheese that was oozing and overflowing over the sides. Super stretchy and melty= real good! There were also leaves on top that I ate that didn't really contribute to flavor but I liked the veggie input so I wasn't complaining. There were two chicken patties so it was super chicken-y and really filling. Fluffy bread with chicken, tomato sauce, and cheese was really good. The only negative thing I can say is that it was really messy so bring a napkin or something. It was all over my hands but thankfully I had a napkin. The best chocolate cake in the world was like a block away so that was the dessert spot.

 I almost walked past the place but realized it said best chocolate place in the world. Realistically I knew it wouldnt be the best chocolate cake in the world but when you have that title I must dispute/verify. So I got a slice to go. First thing, it's not really chocolcate cake. It's more chocolate mousse with dark chocolate filling and then like a slight crunchy layer.It was good, but nothing to write home about. I liked that the mousse was light but upset because it really wasn't cake and it definitely did not live up to its title. So, I 've had better but not bad. So yeah, that was my destressing method. Good food in Noho.

Tanoreen!!!!

So, I had another food experience. So soon? I know, it's out of the ordinary. However, there is a reason. It was EID!!!! And what better way to celebrate such a holiday than having dinner with the family at a mediterranean restaurant? So that's what we did. Reservations at 6pm cuz you know this places is always booked. On to the food. Oh and apolgies in advance, we did't take many photos of the food cuz it was rather dark and i figured that the internet would have beter looking ones. First, like any other restaurant they had a bread basket. But this was arab style. ain't no breadsticks here. just pita bread. But with regular triangles of pita bread there was also this spiced one which i believe the arabic phrase for it is zayt wi zaatar (oil with these seed like things, see photo).

The bread was crisp and crunchy. The seeds were too! They were kinda lemony though so I didn't really like it because it left an aftertaste of sour that I wasn't diggin. But according to the others it wasn't bad. Then, we had a yellow lentil soup. It kinda looked like that. It's what we call aatz. I dunno why but all I kept tasting was Indian. It was weird and apparently only I was tasting it although Mona said she kinda could too. With some soft pita bread, it was pretty good but sorry my mom makes it better. On to the entrees! We ordered three to share among 5 of us knowing that they would be quite large.We ordered the shepherd's pie, chicken fetti, and beef stew.

 So the beef stew was a special sooo I couldn't find pictures of it but this one had most of the components. It had beef, spinach, chick peas, olive oil, and spices? I think that's what was in it. It sounded good so we ordered it. I liked it. The beef was really tender and falls apart in your mouth like it has been in that stew forever (which it probably was). The spinach that came with it was so spinach-y. Usually when I make spinach at home I can tell it's spinach but the flavor was so powerful I could probably identify it blindfolded, which I liked. The chick peas I gotta say didn't really contribute much but I love any type of bean so I was happy it was in there. It came with rice and salad too.

On to the chicken fetti. It is described as " shredded chicken, Egyptian-spiced rice, a rich yogurt-tahini sauce, crunchy toasted pita chips and fragrant toasted almonds." Pretty accurate I'd say. It was pretty good too. I think what surprised me the most were the almonds. When I was eating the dish I was like whoa this is weird, cuz there were like little crunchy almonds in it! I never had yogurt in a savory dish before so I wanted to try it. it wasn't bad! It made the dish really creamy! When I had all the components together it was really good! It was creamy, crunchy, soft (from the chicken), and with the pita chips.... lovely.

  

And finally, the shepherd's pie. This turned out to be the all star of the bunch. It stole the freakin show. It was sooo good! I have never had a traditional shepherd's pie but after this one I want one! It had "Garlic mashed potatoes layered with lamb, pine nuts and Tanoreen spices, baked to a golden brown and served with salad." It looked like macaroni and cheese or something when it came but when you cut through it, you could tell it was shepherd's pie. The whole table loved it! It was a pretty much agreed upon fav of the thre dishes. The meat was so flavorful and the mashed potatoes were a nice consistency. I can imagine what the American version tastes like but I could also see the arabic twist on such a classic and I LOVED IT!! It was really really good. I would definitely recommend it and may get it the next time I'm there. Now, on to dessert!

MMMMMMMMMMM!!! Looking at this picture makes me want some more! Knafeh!! "Shredded filo stuffed with two types of sweet cheese and baked. Topped with homemade syrup and pistachio nuts." Om nom nom nom nom nom nom! Sooooo good! I can't really explain how knafeh tastes, you kinda have to try it yourself. It really is like sweet hay with sweet cheese in a syrup which makes it sound like it tastes ridiculous but it really is delicious! And tanoreen does it right! We had to wait 20 minutes for this bad boy because they make it fresh! Now, that is the way to serve knafeh! When it came to the table the waitress cut it into individual pieces for us. It came with a side of syrup too and extra syrup don't hurt! I liked my slice cuz it was last and she scraped all the good stuff on to mine. Hehehehehehe :) Anyhow, it's really good, and I'm not much of an arabic sweets person.

In summary, GO TO TANOREEN! It has been claimed to be the best mediterranean restaurant in New York and has won several awards for its food. And hey, after my experience there, they are well deserved. It's worth a trip to Bay Ridge so go visit whenever you can, but make sure you have a reservation cuz they're ALWAYS BUSY! I'm just really happy it's only a couple of blocks from my house! :)

Lady M Boutique

Hey y'all. Haven't posted in a while but here's a good one! I went to Lady M yesterday because I had lotsof time to kill before going to pick up Mona and going home so I decided to stop buy and get one of the foods on my list that I've been meaning to get around to. I haven't gotten any in a while, hence the lapse in posts. But on to the food. I got the mille crepe cake. Now I know crepe and cake don't really go together/make sense but if you think about it, it can. Basically, its layers and layers of crepes (approximately 20)! they're layered with a smooth, creamy custard. When you put you're fork through, I'm telling you now, it's going to be hard to cut because you're tearing off twenty layers of crepe with that fork! But it's worth the suffering. The crepes are so thin and light and somewhat buttery but sweet. The creamy custard is what does it though. Its not too sweet and goes great with the thin layers of crepe. It's one of those desserts that isn't sweet but is still good! Weird huh? When I went in I saw LOTS of delicious looking things but at $7.50 for a slice, I couldn't afford to get anything else. Perhaps in the future though. If you're in the area, check it out!

                                             

Food feast at Madison Sq Eats

So, I finished class early that Friday and after hearing that Madison Sq Eats was going on, me and Mona decided to check it out and it turned into constant eating lol. So Madison Sq Eats is basically two blocks near Madison Sq park where various stores set up mobile trucks and sell samples of their products. Places like wafels and dinges, momofuku milk bar, robicellis, milk truck etc. So, after looking around we decided to get a classic grilled cheese from Milk Truck.

It was gruyere cheese on a buttery levain bread or something. It was pretty good. I would say definitely not traditional. You have to try it to know what I'm talking about as I cant really describe the cheese. Just go try it to see what I mean. Was it worth $5.25? Not really.

So, Mona wanted Shake Shack so we went and got Shack Burgers and the 'Shroom burger which I never tried before. The Shack burgers I wrote about earlier but they were out of this world good. I dunno how they do it but that is no ordinary burger. The shrrom burger, though very good and cheesy and delicious, does not beat the Shack Burger in my opinion. So the 'Shroom burger is basically a portabello mushroom that's deep fried and stuffed with cheese (mozzarella?) with lettuce, tomato, and shack sauce. It's really good and OOZING with really good cheese. It's a great vegetarian option. Then, I heard good things about their concretes, especially this one called the Concrete Jungle which was made up of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, bananas, and peanut butter. I thought that the top was really good (as seen in the photo), there was a good amount of fudge, vanilla, peanut butter, and banana in every bite. But after a few bites there was no more banana and it just tasted like vanilla with fudge. They didn't mix it all the way so it stank after a few bites. I was really disappointed about that. So, that was just ok.

Then we went back to Robicelli's to get some sort of apple pie resembling cupcake. I think it was like an apple based cake with vanilla cream frosting and apple spices and caramel. It sounded really good. After biting into it, the apple flavor was very dominant. The cream was light too. and there was a lit piece of sugared apple on top too. It was pretty good, but nothing to talk about.

I also got my friend a voucher for pie slices so we picked up a slice of momofuku milk bar's crack pie which I heard was so addictive it was like crack (hence the name). I think it was just a buttery crust with a sweetened butter filling. Sounds nasty but they did something to that filling to make it taste good. I had a bite when it was cold and it was really melt in your mouth buttery. I imagine when it's warm, it's even better. It lived up to the hype. Then we saved the rest for the gift for our friend. And then we called it a day, as we had been very piggy. Overall, a great day filled with great food! It runs until mid-October so get there before they wrap it up!

Sticky Buns from Flour Bakery= Nice Buns!

Sorry in advance for the jumbled dates but I haven't updated in a while even though I had the pictures. I've been busy. Anyhow, while in Boston, I made it my mission to visit something featured on the Food Network being as they had described multiple places and since I would be there for two days and would not likely come back for a while, I had to get something off of my list. As it turns out, Flour Bakery was only ten minutes by car from the bus station we arrived at. I heard really good things about their sticky buns which were only served on weekends and apparently were so popular that you can even reserve them! And that;s what I did. I reserved four of those bad boys and took em home and waited til after dinner where we ate em nice and warm. Man, was this worth the trip!!! As you can see from the picture, all that caramel goo and walnuts look AH-MAZING. I was jumping in my chair waiting all day to try these babies. As soon as you bite into them, theyre so pillowy soft its ridiculous. And it's also kinda buttery in a sweet, good way. You also get a pleasant surprise of nuts in the dough as well as on the top. The buttery, soft bread combined with the sweet caramel goo and crunch of the walnuts made for a perfect bite. It threw Cinnabon outta the water. Seriously, the bars have been raised. Sorry, Cinnabon. If you're ever in the Boston area, seek these sticky buns out. They're worth it.

The NEW BIG GAY ICE CREAM SHOP!!!!

Sooooo, the sis and I were walking in the city looking for costumes for Halloween and stopped for some grub. She had pizza, I had Caracas (you can see the previous post for details about the deliciousness). Then, time for dessert. As you know, I like trying new things as there are so many places in new york that I need to visit and the list keeps growing longer. So, I heard that the Big Gay i ce cream Truch had a store with ice cream sandwiches and other treats and it was down the block from Caracas so I thought why not? So, they were out of there Lovelet ice cream sandwich from Melt Bakery so I decided to try the Mexican paleta from La Newyorkina as I heard their popsicles were awesome. They had a rainbow one that had layers of fruit flavors that sounded really good. It was strawberry, then apricot, pineapple, and kiwi. All in one popsicle! So I decided on that. It was really good for a popsicle. All of the fruit flavors were on point! So close to the actual fruit! and i would eat the popsicle sideways to get multiple flavors in one and the combos were really nice too. It wasn't too sweet either. So refreshing and fruity and perfect for the sunny weather. It was nice and interesting, but I didn't really see why they were so popular. Still good none the less.

Mona got the American Globes which was vanilla ice cream, sea salt, pretzel chunks, all dunked in chocolate. Oh my gee. That was the star. After I tried hers I wanted to toss my pospicle away and devour that thing! It was the perfect balance of sweet and salty, as I expected it would be. Eve nthough there was sea salt and pretzels which are salty too, it wasn't overpowering at all. The vanilla ice cream and chocolate balanced it out with sweetness. It was smooth and silky crunchy salty and sweet. I will definitely order again. Now that I don't have to chase down the truck, I can just come to the store! Check it outttt