This non-American Life

The New York food post 2010

Our last trip to New York City was a whirlwind of friends, family, and food, topped off with a little bit of art and some volcano drama. Here were some of the culinary highlights from this time around (if you don’t feel like reading the whole post, scroll to the bottom for the best restaurant of the trip).

We arrived in New York exhausted and much later than scheduled, but dammit we we’re going to miss a single NYC meal opportunity. We fell asleep into our delivered Mexican food, and then dreamed about living in a city where one can have Mexican food delivered. Mmmmmm.

Daniel’s Bagel. It’s what’s for breakfast.

Vatan: classy* all-you-can-eat vegetarian Indian food. Instead of making you collect your food at an undignified buffet, at Vatan they bring each person a platter of starters and a platter of mains; you can request more of anything you’d like and the server will bring it to you. Vatan was closed for renovations during our last trip to the city, so I was extra happy to see it open again.

Delicious sushi at a great price at Hane Sushi.

A casual brunch at Cafe Guy & Gallard – a frittata, scallops on polenta. Quite delightful for the price, and quite a change from Europe, where it is apparently against the law to serve more than three scallops on the same plate.

A quick and cheap vegetarian lunch at Red Bamboo. Many of the dishes (such as this veg version of a philly cheese steak) were based on meat substitutes, and they tasted better than they looked.

Fancier sushi at Sushiden in midtown. Plenty good, but seemed overpriced given the sushi we had had a couple days before at Hane.

Bluebell Cafe. A relatively new place that hooked us up with some yummy macaroni and cheese, grilled asparagus, and crab cakes one evening.

Noodly soup and fun cocktails were had at Nooch.

Eggs Florentine and fluffy pancakes for breakfast at Friend of a Farmer.

Two kinds of brownies and raspberry flan at the very exclusive and invitation-only Auntie Dor’s.

We were so delighted every time glasses of icy water were served to us. Yay America!

The absolute culinary highlight this time around was the five-course tasting menu at Pure Food & Wine. Each dish was creative and delicious; the fact that it consisted entirely of raw vegan ingredients was downright amazing. I think their version of creme fraiche was even better than the real thing, and their ice creams left nothing to be desired.

Had we been a little more diligent with the camera, this meal would have earned a blog post all its own. Maybe next trip.

Still hungry? You can keep drooling over the food from our 2008 trip to New York.

What’s your favorite place to eat in NYC?

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* For some reason I felt the urge to work the word “classy” into this post. Probably because I have been watching too much Jersey Shore.

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Tags: food, New York, NYC, restaurants, travel, USA, vegetarian restaurants, vegetarianism

Merano: best lunch ever

So where were we? Oh yes: Merano, Italy. On our second day there, we asked at the hotel for a lunch suggestion. Lucky for us, the recommended place was closed, and we ended up improvising. We found Castel Fragsburg at the top of a windy road outside of Merano. The posted menu looked interesting, if a bit expensive, so we decided to give it a try. We were led through a large dining room out onto a terrace with a sweeping view of the valley below. Worth the price alone.

Before we can even order the chef starts sending us little ‘greetings from the kitchen’ – tiny dishes of creative deliciousness – a martini glass of cucumber olive oil soup, eggplant carpaccio with cream cheese and flowers, an oyster on the half shell (OK so this last one didn’t interest us, but the others were heavenly).

I order two courses, one of which is an eggplant thing that usually comes with a bit of prosciutto on top. The waitress assures me that it will be no problem for the chef to make it vegetarian.

She was back a few minutes later with a question for me. “The chef wants to know if he may put some burrata on top of the eggplant dish. Is this OK?” I think maybe I have misheard her. The chef wants my permission to put one of very very favorite cheeses, a cheese you cannot properly get in Munich, on top of my main course? Yes, yes he may.

My smile is permanent by this point, and I don’t think I had even seen the bread basket yet.

Course after course of amazingly delicious food came out, including more of the chef’s ‘greetings’, such as this red currant sorbet. It was one of those meals of rare perfection, where the food was creative and interesting and painfully delicious. Every last bite.

The dessert menu looked heavenly, but we were stuffed so we politely declined (actually I agonized over the decision a bit – I’m not usually a dessert person but I was willing to do almost anything to prevent that meal from ending). Somehow our fullness didn’t stop us from downing most of the tiered tray of handmade chocolates and cookies that was presented to us. When the check came I had to stifle the urge to cry, “Here, take all my money, just tell me I can live at this table forever and ever!” On our way out we were each presented with a tiny gold-embossed case holding two chocolate truffles. I still have mine on my desk (sans truffles, natürlich). Every time I see it I am filled with great longing.

I cannot wait to go back.

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Tags: Alps, Castel Fragsberg, deliciousness, Italy, Merano, restaurants, South Tyrol, Südtirol, travel

Merano: just another Italian spa town

Merano is a small spa town in an apple-tree-filled valley in South Tyrol, the part of Italy closest to Munich. It is also Italy’s German-speaking part, a fact that confuses me every time I go.

Merano (Meran in German) itself is little more than a cluster of spa hotels around a giant spa complex nestled in some beautiful scenery. There’s a lovely promenade and some hiking trails, a river, trees, and mountains. There’s not much there to do besides relax. So we relaxed.

We stayed at Sonnenhof, a small hotel a short hike outside of town. The outdoor pool, where we spent most of our time, was surrounded by beautiful flowers, with Alpine peaks peeking down at us from a distance. Mmmmmm relaxing.

We loved everything about this hotel besides the food, which ended up being rather disappointing (especially after the rave reviews we had read online). I hate eating disappointing food in Italy, don’t you? It feels like such a missed opportunity. Luckily we stumbled across a place the next day that made up for our disappointment a million times over. I think it’s the kind of meal that will need its very own post.

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Tags: food, Italy, Meran, Merano, restaurants, South Tyrol, spas, Südtirol, travel

A quick Italy fix in Udine

On our way back from Croatia we broke up the driving by spending a night in Udine, Italy.

We didn’t have much time there, but we managed to squeeze in two meals, two gelatos, and a lovely aperitivo while people-watching on a busy square (ie, all the essentials of a great Italy trip).

We had dinner at the charming and casual Al Vecchio Stallo, where we learned that Friuli offers up dishes just as yummy as those from Italy’s other regions » Read the full post

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Tags: food, Friuli, Italy, italy trip, restaurants, travel, Udine, udine italy

Croatia: the four-hour Istrian lunch

Valsabbion kept showing up in my research of restaurants in Istria. It’s the kind of place where the dishes are small and fancy, and there are a lot of courses. I love that kind of restaurant. I asked if they could accommodate a vegetarian. They could. I reserved.

Valsabbion is a hotel and restaurant located near the giant harbor in Pula, down at the southern tip of the Istrian Peninsula. The immediate area was disappointingly uninteresting for wandering around, but that was fine: we were there to dine.

We settled into the outdoor table that would be our base for the afternoon and accepted an aperitif of local sparkling wine. The men chose a seven-course prix fixe menu that would set the pace for our meal. We were warned it would take several hours. That was OK, we had time. We chose a local rosé to complement our meals, and we were off.

My delight started with the appetizers, presented in a series of little glasses and spoons which contained tasty spreads of local veggies, cubes of local cheeses, and interesting little fried creations.

My next course was a sort of vegetable lasagna with an abundance of fresh truffles.

Next came a layered cup of local wild asparagus, a poached egg, and a wild asparagus puree. » Read the full post

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Tags: Croatia, Eastern Europe, Europe, food, Istria, Pula, restaurants, travel, Valsabbion, wine

Road trip to Croatia: Opatija and Lovran

Our drive from Zagreb to Istria was relatively quick and painless, and it took us through some picturesque hills. The first coastal city we passed was Rijeka, whose communist-era skyscrapers had us cursing Tito. Luckily Opatija’s architecture was more visually pleasing.

Hotel Imperial was built in 1885; circa 1970, it seems, they decided they had the money to modernize one part of the hotel, and they chose the reception desk. The ceiling of our room was approximately 50 feet tall; the furnishings, including the mattresses, might have been original. The coffee at breakfast was undrinkable. Overall not my favorite hotel, but it had its old world charms, and its location in the center of town was most convenient.

Opatija is a reasonably cute little seaside town, if a little generic in its appeal. My favorite spot was the Lido beach bar (M. Tita 156), one of the nicest settings I’ve ever seen for sitting by the sea and drinking. We also enjoyed a decent dinner at Vongola, a restaurant on the water.

One morning we put on our walking shoes and headed off to Lovran via the Franz Josef Promenade, a 12-kilometer-long paved walking path by the sea.

At times it resembled an Eastern Bloc ode to cement, but for the most part the promenade offered up a nice stroll past some lovely views.

In Lovran we enjoyed a yummy lunch of fresh seafood at Bellavista before wandering through the small maze of buildings that makes up Lovran’s old town, which was tumbledown in the most picturesque way possible. A leisurely coffee by the sea topped off our visit. We hopped a bus back to Opatija for the evening’s activities.

So far Croatia is living up to its ‘The Mediterranean as it once was’ slogan.

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Tags: Croatia, Europe, Istria, Lovran, Opatija, restaurants, travel

Road trip to Croatia: Zagreb

Allow me to fast forward to June, which began with a little vacation in Croatia with the Regensbloggers. Our time was limited, so we only did the very top: Zagreb and the Istrian Peninsula. It proved to be a delicious first glance at a country that I’m looking forward to visiting again soon.

Our first stop was Zagreb, which was about six hours of driving from Munich. We stayed at Hotel Jarun: brand new, modern, comfortable, and easy to drive to. A convenient tram took us to the center of town in 20 minutes for around a euro per trip. Jarun seemed a much better choice than the hotels in the city center in our price range, most of which had very mixed reviews which contained words such as “filthy” and “infestation”.

Our time in Zagreb was rainy, but that didn’t stop us from touring the city on foot and enjoying it. Zagreb is divided between an upper and a lower town, both offering their own charms. At times the city reminded me of Ljubljana or Geneva or even Berlin, but it had a feel all its own.

The lower town contained several lovely monumental buildings (museums, theaters, and the like), a botanical garden, and a park with googly-eyed trees.

The upper town was far cuter, but also a bit rough around the edges. Neatly-restored churches neighbored graffitti-covered abandoned buildings along its narrow, cobblestoned streets. Sterile-looking touristy cafes intermingled with quirky, run-down bars offering repurposed washing machines as tables.

In the upper town, we wandered up and down Tkalčićeva a couple times. This pedestrian street is full of restaurants, bars, and gritty adorableness. Mali Medo was one of our first stops, a small pub which offered good local beers, local food, and an English menu. We enjoyed another meal at Ivica i Marica, which paired a cheesy, fairytale setting with delicious organic food and scrumptious pastries (not to mention a thoroughly entertaining waiter).

The nightlife was just getting started when we were headed to bed, the streets lined with cafe tables that expressed an optimistic view of the evening’s weather. Overall I really loved Zagreb, and would welcome a chance to get to know it better.

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Tags: Croatia, Eastern Europe, Europe, restaurants, travel, Zagreb

London keeps calling

Let’s see, where was I? From Italy I’ll skip ahead a few months to March, when I went back to London for another week of BritFun. This was the trip where a charming old chap tried to pick up my friend Em and I. Naturally, there are other trip highlights to report, too, so let me get on that.

The timing of this trip was designed to coincide with a David Sedaris* reading. Did you know he recently moved to London? Not that I’m stalking him or anything. It was fun to finally learn what Hugh looks like, though. Dapper.

That wasn’t even our only trip to the theater district; we also took in a (very affordable) matinee showing of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof starring James Earl Jones. Oh, that voice. TKTS won’t tell you this, but some theaters release some half-price tickets at the box office shortly before a performance.

We visited a couple of London’s amazing museums, including the National Portrait Gallery (which I love so much I want to marry it – Judi Dench and the Tudors all under one roof); the Tate Britain (where we intended to see a special exhibit involving elephant dung but we got lost in the joys of the permanent collection instead – especially the John Singer Sargent and Francis Bacon rooms); and the Victoria & Albert (for a small but interesting exhibit on high-tech art). We also did plenty of gallery hopping. London oozes art.

And of course we ate some delicious things, including giant thalis at Masala Zone and sushi at about a dozen places. Alas, my note-taking was a little lax when it came to all the great restaurants and pubs. There was also tea at Sketch, whose waitresses were decidedly unfriendly but I am going to go back soon anyway because 1) they have a staircase covered in blood and 2) I didn’t get to use the pod toilets yet. Plus I am hoping their macaroni and cheese is good.

Besides all that, we took some wonderful walks. Em has a deck of cards, each one featuring a different fun walk through London, and they came in quite handy for coaxing us into new, different neighborhoods. One walk was through the hipster and sex shop district; another was through the judicial area, where the barristers buy their wigs. Alas, we didn’t see anyone wearing one. There’s a goal for my next trip.

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* If you are unfamiliar with David Sedaris, go get yourself one of his books right now. Preferably an audiobook. Me Talk Pretty One Day is a good one to start with. You will pee your pants.

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Tags: art, David Sedaris, England, Europe, London, museums, restaurants, theater, travel, UK

Assisi? I see.

OK, one last post documenting our Christmas trip to Italy, and then I promise to go back to talking about funny signs and LOLcats. We spent the last day of our most recent Italian vacation driving through a freak snowstorm to the Florence airport; we spent the second-to-last day exploring Assisi on a warm, sunny day.

Assisi is an old, brick, hill-top Umbrian town that is smaller and cuter than Perugia. We easily filled a day there doing little more than wandering the winding streets, taking photos, and poking our heads into the odd shop. Oh, and of course eating.

Lunch was at the very popular and delicious Trattoria Pellotta, which is just off the main square. My mixed antipasti was one of the best dishes of the whole trip.

Assisi is probably most famous for its two big saints, Francis and Clare, and it has the body parts stuffed in reliquaries to prove it. We ended the day at the Basilica of Saint Francis, where we were greeted by a very big nativity scene.

Up close, the life-sized figures were, well… would you want this guy coming to adore your newborn? And is that leprosy on his hands?

We picked up some uninspired audioguides and went inside the basilica with the rest of the tourists to gape at the Giotto frescoes depicting scenes from Saint Francis’s life. Every few minutes an Italian monk’s voice boomed over the loud speaker, warning the crowd to be quiet.

The lower part of the basilica contained yet another nativity scene. The crowds thinned as the sun went down and the chill rose in the air. It was time for us to go back to Perugia for one last dinner in Italy.

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Tags: Assisi, Europe, food, Italy, restaurants, travel, Umbria

A small taste of Perugia

After ringing in the new year in Positano, we drove back to Rome to deposit our friends at the airport and then continued on for a couple more days of Italy. Since I had found cheap return flights out of Florence, we decided to explore someplace between there and Rome next. That left us still with way too many choices, but at the last minute we decided on Umbria.

We stayed at a forgettable but convenient hotel just outside of Perugia. Usually we prefer to stay in the middle of all the fun, but given logistics and our desire to explore by car, it was easier to sleep out of town. Perugia is one of Umbria’s many charming hilltop cities. For tourists, the best bet is to park at one of the many lots at the bottom of the hill and then take a combination of stairs and outside escalators up to the city. The escalators we took rose up through the ruins of a monastery, making for an interesting ride.

The town was bustling with people out for their evening stroll, and the Christmas lights above the streets lent a festive feel to the scene. We poked our heads into a couple art exhibits, which seemed to be popular places to warm up from the cold outside. Dinner was at the elegant La Taverna, where we fell in love with the eggplant, potato, and zucchini parmigiana and the fresh ravioli with truffles and pepper.

The second evening we dined at a cavernous trattoria full of exposed brick, low ceilings, and locals. The food was simple and well-priced, and of course quite tasty. (I can’t find the name of it in my notes, unfortunately.)

It was a quick visit that definitely left me yearning to spend more time in Umbria. But then again, ever part of Italy makes me feel that way about it.

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Tags: Europe, Italy, Perugia, restaurants, travel, Umbria