Slice of life...
October 29, 2008
Well you think it would be easy to find great pizza in a city that is famous for it. However, we've had quite the time to try find good pizza. We were coming home around 11 pm after our class the other night and tried a few places in East Village, but they were closed already and we tried to find others but couldn't. We were tried so we settled on a nearby pizzeria that said "homemade" pizza and had a long family tradition and said how bad could it be? Well, we ate it because we were hungry but it was definitely not good pizza as most of the stuffed was canned - the sauce and tomato sauce - and you could tell. A long family tradition of canned food?
So, after that we said that we would really try in earnest to find a better pizza so we could leave with good memories. I checked out my edition of Time Out magazine special NY Eating and Drink 2009 issue, which is a good listing of different restaurants and bars in the city and looked up the favourite pizza places in town. The list went from "straight up", which serve pizza that made NY pizza famous and those with a new spin that make it NY pizza.
Well, again after several attempts and looking on the web for reviews and blogs, we found some that we wanted to try... however we ran into several barriers... the pizzerias were too far away, in Brooklyn, hard to get to on foot or transit, they open only late at night, they are only open Thursday to Sunday (Una Pizza Napoletano), they serve pizza in a different way like Mario Batali's Otto Enoteca that serves pizza toppings on a flat bread, which normally would be great but when you have a craving for just a good pizza then this won't cut it. Or there were other variations mentioned at certain places... a kimchi-topped pizza at TJ's Pizza, a saag paneer piazza on a corn roti crust at Tabla... again when you just want the real thing then you are bound to be disappointed.
Finally, we found just what we were looking for and it was right in front of us... well, we had tried to order from there the other night but it was closed before 11 pm. Gnocco is a Italian restaurant and pizzeria, on 10th Street at Avenue A, with homemade food they say. The pizza was delicious with a very thin crust, oven baked, and with a variety of fresh toppings. We had success at last!
After pizza, we were on a roll and headed to a place that we had wanted to visit again on this trip. The place is called ChickaLicious (www.chikalicious.com) is a small gourmet dessert restaurant on 10th street between 1st and 2nd Avenues with about 10 seats at the counter and another 10 seats in tables around, which is owned by a Japanese pastry chef that has become popular for her concept and highly creative desserts. In fact, she's just opened up a second place across the street that is a more of a bakery that is more affordable.
ChickaLicious is definitely not cheap, however the experience is quite unique and the desserts are quite small but beautiful and delicious. They say that it's American desserts with a French presentation and Japanese portions. I'm not sure what the pricing and your bill is - Swiss? Don't look for any mile high pies or big servings here. There is a menu of desserts, all especially made for the day, and then a chef's tasting menu, that begins with an amuse, ends with sweet endings, and it's all desserts. How sweet is that?! If you want, you can get the main dessert, which you get to choose from a list, accompanied by the suggested wine pairing. With the two pastry chefs plating the desserts in front of you and with a lovely friendly ambiance, you can certainly understand why there is a lot of regulars that come back for more.
After some shopping - love the fact that the great local Japanese supermarket Sunrise closes at 11 pm or 12 am each night and most of the grocery stores are open until later than home - we headed home after a successful mission!
Other side trips today in the East Village and Lower East Side...
We made a trip to the adorable Baby Cakes Bakery (http://www.babycakesnyc.com) which is a whole foods vegan organic bakery on 248 Broome Street at Orchard, with a lot of products made with spelt and other ingredients for those with sensitivities and allergies. Their speciality is cup cakes of course. It's a very cute bakery in a 1950's style and the vegan lemon and chocolate cup cakes we tried were yummy!
Afterwards, we went around the corner to our favourite vegan shoe store called Moo Shoes (http://www.mooshoes.com), which had moved from its Allen Street location when we went to look for it. Moo Shoes sells vegan cruelty-free no sweat shop footware, purses, and accessories like belts that are not made from animal leather and the designs are quite stylish. "Compassion with fashion" is one of their slogans, and for that in itself it's quite unique.
We also visited the new Sakaya store at 324 E 9th street, between 1st and 2nd, that specializes in sakes and sochus, which is quite popular in Japan these days and is now one of Dave's favourite drinks after trying it in Japan.
What is Shochu? In short, it's like a vodka but much more. From wikipedia...
Well you think it would be easy to find great pizza in a city that is famous for it. However, we've had quite the time to try find good pizza. We were coming home around 11 pm after our class the other night and tried a few places in East Village, but they were closed already and we tried to find others but couldn't. We were tried so we settled on a nearby pizzeria that said "homemade" pizza and had a long family tradition and said how bad could it be? Well, we ate it because we were hungry but it was definitely not good pizza as most of the stuffed was canned - the sauce and tomato sauce - and you could tell. A long family tradition of canned food?
So, after that we said that we would really try in earnest to find a better pizza so we could leave with good memories. I checked out my edition of Time Out magazine special NY Eating and Drink 2009 issue, which is a good listing of different restaurants and bars in the city and looked up the favourite pizza places in town. The list went from "straight up", which serve pizza that made NY pizza famous and those with a new spin that make it NY pizza.
Well, again after several attempts and looking on the web for reviews and blogs, we found some that we wanted to try... however we ran into several barriers... the pizzerias were too far away, in Brooklyn, hard to get to on foot or transit, they open only late at night, they are only open Thursday to Sunday (Una Pizza Napoletano), they serve pizza in a different way like Mario Batali's Otto Enoteca that serves pizza toppings on a flat bread, which normally would be great but when you have a craving for just a good pizza then this won't cut it. Or there were other variations mentioned at certain places... a kimchi-topped pizza at TJ's Pizza, a saag paneer piazza on a corn roti crust at Tabla... again when you just want the real thing then you are bound to be disappointed.
Finally, we found just what we were looking for and it was right in front of us... well, we had tried to order from there the other night but it was closed before 11 pm. Gnocco is a Italian restaurant and pizzeria, on 10th Street at Avenue A, with homemade food they say. The pizza was delicious with a very thin crust, oven baked, and with a variety of fresh toppings. We had success at last!
After pizza, we were on a roll and headed to a place that we had wanted to visit again on this trip. The place is called ChickaLicious (www.chikalicious.com) is a small gourmet dessert restaurant on 10th street between 1st and 2nd Avenues with about 10 seats at the counter and another 10 seats in tables around, which is owned by a Japanese pastry chef that has become popular for her concept and highly creative desserts. In fact, she's just opened up a second place across the street that is a more of a bakery that is more affordable.
ChickaLicious is definitely not cheap, however the experience is quite unique and the desserts are quite small but beautiful and delicious. They say that it's American desserts with a French presentation and Japanese portions. I'm not sure what the pricing and your bill is - Swiss? Don't look for any mile high pies or big servings here. There is a menu of desserts, all especially made for the day, and then a chef's tasting menu, that begins with an amuse, ends with sweet endings, and it's all desserts. How sweet is that?! If you want, you can get the main dessert, which you get to choose from a list, accompanied by the suggested wine pairing. With the two pastry chefs plating the desserts in front of you and with a lovely friendly ambiance, you can certainly understand why there is a lot of regulars that come back for more.
After some shopping - love the fact that the great local Japanese supermarket Sunrise closes at 11 pm or 12 am each night and most of the grocery stores are open until later than home - we headed home after a successful mission!
Other side trips today in the East Village and Lower East Side...
We made a trip to the adorable Baby Cakes Bakery (http://www.babycakesnyc.com) which is a whole foods vegan organic bakery on 248 Broome Street at Orchard, with a lot of products made with spelt and other ingredients for those with sensitivities and allergies. Their speciality is cup cakes of course. It's a very cute bakery in a 1950's style and the vegan lemon and chocolate cup cakes we tried were yummy!Afterwards, we went around the corner to our favourite vegan shoe store called Moo Shoes (http://www.mooshoes.com), which had moved from its Allen Street location when we went to look for it. Moo Shoes sells vegan cruelty-free no sweat shop footware, purses, and accessories like belts that are not made from animal leather and the designs are quite stylish. "Compassion with fashion" is one of their slogans, and for that in itself it's quite unique.
We also visited the new Sakaya store at 324 E 9th street, between 1st and 2nd, that specializes in sakes and sochus, which is quite popular in Japan these days and is now one of Dave's favourite drinks after trying it in Japan.
What is Shochu? In short, it's like a vodka but much more. From wikipedia...
Shōchū (焼酎?) is an alcoholic beverage of Japan, most commonly distilled from barley, sweet potato or rice. Typically it is 25% alcohol by volume, making it weaker than whisky, but stronger than wine and sake. Shōchū is produced everywhere in Japan, yet the home of shochu is Kyūshū island.[1
Again tonight, I say kampai!!
posted by Caroline at 7:48 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home