NYC Food Frenzy March 3-11

I realized this week, that I have not updated my Blog in a few weeks.  I also realized, that the original intent of my Blog was to document my coast to coast travels, adventures with my friends, and any insights I gain in between. 

Unfortunately, in the past few weeks, I’ve hibernated in NYC, where I’ve been working insane hours, in an effort to make my client happy.  I have no new insights, no new travels, and the only adventures I seem to have these days are of the gastronomic variety. 

So this issue of my blog will be to chronicle the last 2 weeks of my NYC Food Frenzy. 

• Tuesday, March 3, I ate at Ruby’s in Nolita, followed by B-Bar in the East Village;
• Wednesday, March 4, I ate at Momofuku Noodle Bar in the East Village;
• Thursday, March 5; I ate at Joe’s Shanghai (again) (See post below);
• Friday March 6, I ate at Peasant in Nolita;
• Sunday March 8, I ate at Café Bianca on Bleeker, followed by a bunch of bars I can’t recall.
• Tuesday, March 10, I ate at Inoteca in the LES, followed by Schillers, Sugar Sweet Sunshine and Donutplant (a busy night)!
• Wednesday, March 11, I ate at Seoul Garden in Korea Town

Ruby’s Cafe and Bar | 219 Mulberry Street @ Spring | Nolita

On the way to Ruby’s last week, my cabbie got into a car accident.  I was so hungry and late that I just jumped out of the car and ran in Ruby’s to meet my friends Ben and G.  Ben used to live in Nolita and he chose the place.  Owned by an Austrailian ex-pat who has one or two other restaurants in the City, Ruby’s was a cute little gem in the heart of Nolita on Mulberry and Spring Street.  

Walking in, there were only about 4 tables there.  It was small and cozy and crowded.  Ben and G were already there and we were all starving.  Ben and I each ordered a glass of house wine, and G a beer.  To share, we started with a delicious arugula salad with goat cheese, pine nuts, squash and the magic ingredient, pumpkin, all drizzled with a balsamic vinaigrette.

For dinner, Ben ordered the creamy chicken penne pasta, G the Bronte burger, and I had the pesto chicken pasta. Ben’s dish was scrumptious (can’t really go wrong with cream).  Both pasta dishes were served in big, overflowing bowls, and as people were walking in, they were admiring our bowls of carbs.  The chicken was tender and plentiful.  The pasta perfectly al dente.  I didn’t try G’s burger, but he said it was pretty tasty.  The total bill was only about $75 for 3 people.  Not bad, for 3 entrees, 2 rounds of drinks and a shared appetizer.

After Ruby’s G headed uptown to mid-town and Ben and I went a few blocks over to B-Bar.  

School Nights are Way More Fun… in New York.

Something I love about New York City over San Francisco is the New Yorker’s affinity for going out on a week night.  It can be any day of the week, Sunday through Thursday and without fail, you can head out after work for dinner and drinks and you’ll always find something lively and lovely to do.

This was the case for me on Tuesday night.

After an extremely long day of work and client meetings, I was dying for a cocktail.  It didn’t matter, that I was running on only 4 hours of sleep and that I didn’t have plans yet.  I called my friend Fred who was in town for business from San Francisco and asked him to meet me at 8:30 at Indochine for dinner.  I still sort of smile and chuckle to myself when I think about Fred’s reaction.  “That’s so late!” he said.  After reminding him that it was only 5:30 PM San Francisco time, he reluctantly agreed to meet (Score 1 Jenny; 0 Fred).

When I saw him sitting at the bar, he was already one Pinot Noir down and said he was going to take it easy on the booze that night and needed to get home early before he turned into a pumpkin.  I let him know that he should be ready to make pumpkin pie…

I ordered a delicious Indochine (a.k.a. Indo) Martini which is a yummy concoction of pineapple infused vodka with pineapple juice and some other wonderful flavors.  We were seated quickly and when we looked at the menus were pleasantly surprised that it was Restaurant Week.  We ordered our meal family style and shared spring rolls, mussels, and baby back ribs for our appetizers, Cornish hen and hanger steak for our entrees and a lemon tart for dessert.  Fred also had 3 more pinot’s and I had 2 more Indo Martinis to wash it all down (Score: 2 Jenny; 0 Fred).