Pies-N-Thighs

For me, this is so far the best fried chicken in the city.  Lightly battered which pulls out easily with the most juicy chicken inside.

I ordered the fried chicken box. It comes with 3 pieces of fried chicken of your choice, a large homemade biscuit served with maple butter and a choice of side - mine was Collard green salad with tangy dressing, avocado, (cooked or is it pickled) onion, and roasted coconut.

To go, I bought a studded pecan yeast donut with maple:

And sour dough donut which is very different:

This certainly is my new place for the traditional fried chicken.  They also have chicken and waffles - will try that next time.

PIES-N-THIGHS

43 Canal St, New York, NY 10002

www.piesnthighs.com/

THE BOATHOUSE in Central Park NYC

A great get away even Monet would love. The setting is pretty by the lake where boat rentals are accessible to set the mood.

Whether you are spending money in the main restaurant or the snack bar, it's a picture perfect place.

We opted for the light sandwiches and iced coffee. The prices are very reasonable.

If you want to be outside closer to the lake by the paddle boat rowers you pay a little bit more for food but you get a real menu like omelettes.

They also have a piano bar.

The Loeb Central Park Boathouse
East 72nd Street and 5th Avenue, New York, NY
Monday12:00 – 3:45 pmTuesday12:00 – 3:45 pmWednesday12:00 – 3:45 pmThursday12:00 – 3:45 pmFriday12:00 – 3:45 pmSaturday9:30 am – 4:00 pmSunday9:30 am – 4:00 pm

Menu:

viewmenu.com

FRENCH PUB BISTRO

What is a Bistro and what is a restaurant?!

Amelie, to me is a pub bistro. They call it a Wine Bar. Yes, there is a bar counter area and tables too where you can dine.

We tried the brunch. Below is spinach with poached egg:

Above is their French Toast

Eggs poached in wine served with salad is actually a new taste for us. Good flavor!

We've also had the dinner here:

For dinner, we had a better dish - grilled Brook trout above. and Gratin Au raviole, a cheesy pasta below which is like a rich macaroni and cheese.

Not to forget, I ordered this. Yes it was cheese too but it had more potatoes in it mashed up to a ball. Tasty but too much carb for me.

The food is okay and the drinks are very reasonable especially during brunch on weekends.

AMELIE

• 22 W 8th St, New York 10011
• (Btwn 5th Ave & MacDougal St)

Waffled Grilled Cheese Breakfast

INGREDIENTS:

Good quality brioche bread slices 3/4 inch thick.

Block of very good sharp cheese (I used Beecher's - originally from Seattle but also now in NYC)

Melted butter

Serrano ham or prosciutto slices

Good quality eggs

Belgian Waffle machine

DIRECTIONS:

First you butter one side of the bread. Then you put slices of cheese on top - about 1/4 inch thick on the unbuttered  side.   Top it with the slice of buttered slice of bread, buttered-side up.

Put in a pre-heated Belgian waffle maker and cook for about 2-3 minutes till golden brown with some dark brown waffle edges are formed.

You can eat it as is like above or serve it as the base of your sunny side egg and ham/prosciutto/Serrano ham on top for breakfast.

Above was my breakfast this morning - plus half a chocolate croissant from my favorite Eric Kayser boulangerie/Patisserie.

CHAPTER ONE #WestGreenwich #Restaurant

This is a neighborhood I frequent and notice many restaurants come and go.  This year, I noticed something new in place of something that used to be there.

Late Sunday, they were still serving  brunch.  They had just been featured in the newspaper so I decided to stop by.

I ordered the newspaper featured dish the duck hash with egg and hollandaise sauce.

 Above was the dish.  It looked good but frankly a little greasy.  It was tasty but I think I was disappointed that the hollandaise sauce seemed to have gotten cooked with the egg. I think it would have been better to have garnished the duck hash brown with hollandaise sauce after the egg was cooked separately or added more fresh hollandaise after cooking the egg with hollandaise sauce on top.  This, garnished with some sliced freshly cooked but still pink duck slices. I am not find of duck rillet; and therefore, I also don't like well done duck meat.

To balance my diet, I usually order a side dish of vegetable.  Above is their version of collard greens.  This was pretty tasty garnished with crumbs of bacon and crumb mixture. I think they also said it had pork belly as well.  This was more of a Southern type dish and it tasted good!

There are many restaurants in the city, this may be one I won't have to return to soon. But it's not bad. It's just not my favorite.  One time is enough for me.

It's like a chapter I have to move on to another.

CHAPTER ONE

33 Greenwich Avenue

New York, NY 10014

212-842-9146

ABBOTEGA #NorthernItalian, #Restaurant

This is down the south-most part of the West Village.

After trying the Vietnamese influenced food stop at Varrick st., I bumped into this Northern Italian little restaurant.  I couldn't resist passing it up so I decided to stay for a small dessert.  Looking at the menu, it was described as a chocolate flan with white ganache. I was lead to believe it was like a cake with chocolate inside.  But to call it a flan is far fetched.  This is really a Jean George copy if his "lava cake" which is a light chocolate cake with liquid center.

At this restaurant, they decided to serve it over a white chocolate ganache with some sweet crumbled cookies like biscotti or maybe a meringue. Overall, it made the dessert too sweet for me.  It would have been better served with chantilly sauce or zabaglione.

The place has charm and the street is one of my favorite quiet neighborhoods in the city.

It has a local charm about to it which attracted me to stay.  Judging from the menu and the late lunch the staff was having, I plan to go back and try their lunch or dinner.  They serve Northern Italian  food and their prices for the main course seem reasonable.

This restaurant has several branches in Milan and their first in New York City. They said they soon will open one in Miami, Florida.

ABBOTTEGA

14 Bedford Street, New York, NY 

+1(212)675-9080

FRENCH CAFE - #LeMoulainCafe

My friend had mentioned to me that some people she knows who live in this neighborhood rave about this place.

I can see why.  They have wonderful pastries and a light lunch menu.  However, to me only the pastries are remarkable.

The usual croque Monsieur and croque Madame are again on the menu including the salad Nicoise.  Some other competition serve more than these items at their French cafés.

The ambience is nice:

The pastries look fine. Therefore, I had to veer out of the usual French choice. I picked their Vietnamese inspired sandwich baguette. It's just a sandwich.  Maybe I should have picked the small sandwiches in their glass case found upfront in the glass case instead.

But at least. The price was right.

When it came to the croissants, they were competitively priced. I hope the croissants I bought  pass the test tomorrow when I have it for breakfast.

It's a gem of am addition to the area. I don't think though if I will go out of my way to eat here when i can find things here at any French cafe in the city. The pastries are good but the lunch is average to me so far.

Here's the lunch menu:

Le Moulain Cafe

1349 York Avenue

New York, NY 10079

RUSS & DAUGHTERS CAFE #smokedsalmon

As a regular customer at their over 100 years old store in the Lower Eastside where I buy the best smoked salmon and herring available in the city, I remembered to stop by their new cafe a couple of blocks away south of their store.

It looks like a glamorous diner all sleek and clean.  The daughter recognized me and was pleased I stopped by to try.  I had her describe the items so I could decide what to order.

I am happy with their borscht. 

It is a little thick but really delicious.  No skimping in the ingredients used served with a light crisp pumpernickel or was it rye bread?

The green salad was very light with baby kale, frisée, capers and dill.  Very healthy!

I chose the hot and cold smoked salmon spread served with their homemade waffle potato fries.  This was excellent!  Very good a still reasonably priced.

As a dessert, I opted for the chocolate egg cream.  It was just a bit thicker than I wanted.  It was more like a milk shake.  But the bar tender was kind enough to add more seltzer when I wanted it watered down.

I want to go back again to try their fish chowder next time.

In case you like alcohol, yes they do serve wine and hard drinks too.  They also make their own non-alcoholic beverages - about 5 kinds.

RUSS & DAUGHTERS CAFE

127 Irchard St., New Yirk, NY 10002

(212) 475-4881

#MONTMARTE

My friends took me out for Brunch at my long awaited restaurant to try.  Although I was anticipating to have the Hong Kong style French Toast, I wasn't disappointed to find out they don't carry it anymore.

Instead, I we ordered their new plate for two as our sample platter for the table among 6 of us.

The plate contained some cheese, excellent crispy light baguette, perfectly cooked scrambled eggs and their homemade late and sausage.  No regrets! I may go back for this to share next time again.

The Pain Perdue had moist crisply battered fried chicken which was well seasoned accompanied with a maple syrup with minced cooked bacon.  The Pain Perdue was a bit hearty.  I would have preferred it made with either Challah bread or Brioche.

One if us had eggs Benedict with special bernaise type sauce, spinach under the egg in toasted croissant as one us requested.  I will order this too next time.

The 3 layers of plate-size pancakes is enough for the while table to share as a dessert.  It had fruit compote, served with syrup and foie gras butter as added side which really did not enhance more.  Save the money and maybe ask for more butter.

My macchiato was perfect. a definite "Go back" to sample more dishes or repeat some for me.  Thanks to my BFFs.

MONTMARTE

158 8th Ave, New York, NY 10011

#HIROKO'S PLACE

OThis is definitely a Japanese cafe/restaurant.

They have quite an assortment if ice cream with fruit or drinks with ice cream floats. In Japan, I noticed that they have very good melon syrups that they incorporate in their drinks.  At Hiroko's they do have melon flavored drinks and ice cream floats.

Above is the Omu curry I ordered for a brunch between late lunch and early dinner.  It's a very thin omelette stuffed with delicious fried rice with vegetables and uniquely seasoned with Japanese flavor. They serve it with curry sauce on top with chunks of beef, carrots and potato plus a dollop of smooth potato salad.  One can request the curry sauce to be less spicy.

#Hiroko's Place

75 Thompson St., NYC, NY

SWEET CHICKS for Fried Chicken and Waffles

Back here again! Feather light crisp waffles served with 3 butters and crispy brined fried chicken of your choice of parts.

The chicken with waffles is offered at the same price during the week with free drink.

Have their kale salad with their homemade bacon and kale.

And don't forget to try their homemade sticky bun that has caramelized or burnt cream on top.

#SWEET CHICK

164 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11249

1-347-725-4793