NYC food recap

I have to confess that I more or less disliked New York for many years. My first visit took place over the dead of winter. As a silly teen, I didn't wear nearly enough clothes, and wind blew between the oppressively tall buildings right through my clothes so I was miserable almost the entire time. Adding insult to injury, the mounds of honey roasted nuts I ate on that trip gave me my first breakout ever. Needless to say, that was not my last. Many subsequent trips also took place in the winter and I never really did embrace the damp, cold, unfamiliar and unfriendly city.

But over the years and visits, as I explored more and more of the city (often in better weather), I found myself getting more excited as I figured out the subway, ate some fantastic foods and returned again and again to the museum of natural history. This past weekend I went up to visit my dad, who is here on business, and found myself really falling head over heels in love with this place.



For me, memories of places are often formed through the lenses of food and this visit was no different. Throughout the trip, my dad and I spent most of our time either eating or traveling to places to eat. And that's exactly how I like to travel.

Some highlights:

Friday night: Phoenix Garden Restaurant in midtown. This place has become somewhat of a favorite in the neighborhood. Their food is authentic and well-prepared. We've gotten the salt and pepper shrimp and the stir-fried pea shoots twice and they've both been good.

Saturday lunch: Zabar's. I enjoyed their bagel + lox and a rugelach while my dad got the salmon chowder, which was really flavorful. Their store is also really fun to browse through and I'm extremely excited to try the huge babka that I bought.




Sunday lunch: Chelsea market. We stopped by there with the intent of buying some bread and cheese to eat on the highline but ended up spending 2+ hours there. It was such a great selection of shops and cafes it's really hard to just do a quick food run.

Delicious coffee drinks to go with the tasty baked goods from Amy's Bread. The almond brioche toast and the chocoholic twist were especially delectable.


A really sweet selection of everything Italian at Buon Italia, including the biggest jar of Nutella I've ever seen:






























Excellent gelato at L'Arte de Gelato:


We left Chelsea Market with many sadly unvisited places.


On the highline, we enjoyed (perhaps) my new favorite cheese, a soft and mildly fragrant cheese that becomes perfectly gooey in the sun called Robiolia:






Memories of Del Posto:




























Penzey's Spices at Grand Central Station. Got some really nice-smelling Szechuan peppercorns whose high price sparked my dad's desire to smuggle them from China, and a small jar of smoked Spanish paprika. Also visited Murray's Cheese for a chunk of excellent Landeff cheese and sopressata for the bus.


On Sunday night, I added some New York schools to my med school list after thinking that I would never want to live there. This infatuation is serious business now.