Week in Review « 2 for 1 Sale

Last Books Read

(T) This Perfect Day - Like a blast from the past, I felt like a 10 year old again reading this 1970 Ira Levin sci-fi. How life might be if everything around us was controlled to be efficient and healthy. Surprisingly, nakedness and sex plays a big role...
***

(T) In Defense of Food - Eat food. Not so much. Mostly plants. An informative read on why Westerners spend so much time trying to eat right and almost always get it wrong.
****

(T)Are You There Vodka? It's me, Chelsea - The ramblings of Chelsea Handler. Pretty funny. Good candy.
****

(T) Namesake - I didn't enjoy this book. At all. I do now crave Indian food.
*

Latest Restaurants

Enoteca Barbone -Still awesome Italian/Babboo rip-off. I really like the owner, prices and pasta.
****

Slurp - New Vietnamese restaurant in LES. We were the only ones there. Comparable to Compuchea, but better and cheaper
**

SavorNY - A FoodCandy article on the wall! Tapas from around the world. Pretty good
***

Taisho Yakitori - Best in groups, Taisho is maybe my favorite restaurant in the city, currently.
*****

Clinton St Baking Company - An LES brunch favorite, the pancakes and crab cakes are some of the best we've ever had, but the line outside on a weekend make it something only worth it on the weekday.
***

Chickie Pig's - Literally across the street, Chickie Pigs servers up thin, oval-shaped pizzas in a brick oven. Focus is on the crust and not the toppings.
**

Banjara - Finally! Good Indian. Embedded in the 6th St Indian madness is Banjara with delicious curries, dosas and samosas.
***

The E.U. - A new chef prepares European comfort food including a thick and rich cassoulet, braised short ribs and Chicken and Dumplings along with a wide assortment of european beers. Very good.
***

Falai - Modern Italian. Homemade Pasta. Creative Dishes like Beet & Lobster Risotto. One of the best meals had in NYC so far.
*****

Cafe Glechik - A Ukrainian cafe in Brighton Beach known for their dumplings. Try the veal and the Siberian.
***

Rosario's Pizza - A tourist favorite of the LES, we read about this in one of our guide books. Pretty good pizza, but nothing special. Stay with the cheese.
*

Trattoria Spaghetto - Also mentioned in our guidebook, this Italian eatery actually turned out a better than expected lunch.
**

NY Noodletown - A decent Chinatown stop for Shrimp Wonton Noodle Soup. Reminds me of Canton Wonton Noodle House in Seattle
**

Week in Review

Posted on April 21, 2008 by kelch25

$Mussels and McDonald\'s Fries$

Mussles and Micky D’s fries

It’s been a pretty cool week. No celeb sightings yet (which people say is unheard of, being that we live in the hipster-infested Lower East Side, or LES), but this week was sunny, fun and I got to hang out with some cool people.

Monday - Met Molly, Wendy and two new girls for book club. It was a great meeting, as we all went off on tangents and started discussing The Real Housewives of New York, and other such important topics after our book

Tuesday - Since Diesel was gone for a few days, I met up with our friend Cyrill from Seattle, well Germany. Cyrill used to be my German manager when I worked in Redmond. A few years later, he moves to Seattle and becomes good friends (i.e. beer buddy) with Tim. He and his gf Dawniel ended up sharing a ski house with us and friends, and in a couple of weeks the two of them will be visiting us for a couple of days. Funny how things happen in life….

Wednesday - Winter Boots (my co-worker) and I should stop hanging out together. This was the day we earmarked to fill our rolls with lard. I even lied and had a meeting moved to late afternoon, when in fact, I took the time to walk over to Shake Shack before 11:30 to avoid to long line…I need help. My pigness has reached new heights, now I’m even lying at work….

Thursday - Drinks and dinner with Queen Bee and Seno at Smith’s in Greenwich Village. I admit that the high concentration of 70+ year-old patrons made me a bit skeptical, but the dishes were inventive, fresh and delicious. And the company was delightful. All in all, a short, but perfect evening.

Friday - SOMEHOW, one of Diesel’s friends, Andy, was able to get his friends to cook and invite us over, even though Andy didn’t cook nor was he hosting this dinner party. So up we went to a beautiful Upper East Side apartment to have a delicious meal with Megan and her husband Dan, Andy and his partner Amon. The highlight of the evening for me was sitting up on their roof drinking champagne and eating berries

Saturday - It was a blue sky, 80 degree day. After Diesel cooked delicious mussles, which were beautifully complimented by McDonald’s fries, I met up with Molly and Wendy of book club for some ice tea and yummy cupcakes at Sugar Sweet Sunshine in our hood. Relaxing evening without Diesel, as he debuted as a kitchen peon at Megan’s friend’s restaurant.

Sunday – Diesel’s friend, who owns a pizzeria in Brooklyn, invited us and several of their French Culinary Institute classmates to have some free pizza at Schmook’s. Although we traveled from far and wide (it IS Brooklyn, after all), there were several people that showed up, and it was nice to meet the people that have shared knives, family meals, and more with Diesel.