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.  

Don’t Expect Great Service at Joe’s Shanghai, but Do Expect Pure Scrumptiousness…

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon and my friend Ben called me up to see if I wanted to join him and his friend Daniel in Chinatown for some soup dumplings.  My friend Preeti was visiting from Chicago and thinking it would be a fun excursion, agreed.

 

Preeti and I met Ben and Daniel in the financial district and walked the 15 minutes north to Joe’s Shanghai.  I considered suggesting a different restaurant, as Chinatown is full of off the beaten path, less well known hole in the walls.  But as we were walking through the streets and over to Pell Street, my mouth started salivating as I just started thinking about the scrumptious dumplings, noodles, and beef and vegetable dishes we were about to consume.

 

The four of us were positively starved… all of stayed out late the evening before drinking and none of us had eaten a proper meal that day so we hoped we’d be seated right away and would beat the dinner rush since it was already 3 PM.  Note to readers: never expect Joe’s Shangai to be able to seat you right away.  The place is always crowded and there is always a wait.  Walking in, there were 3 or 4 tables ahead of us.  And although the grumbling hostess who spoke broken chinglish told us we’d be seated in 10 minutes we ended up waiting a bit longer as they let regulars (I assume since they spoke fluent Chinese and addressed the host) in before us.

 

Finally we were seated though.  We knew what we wanted and ordered 2 orders of soup dumplings (one each of pork and crab / pork), the tofu spinach special, shanghai noodles, bok choy with ginger sauce, general tso’s chicken, and scallion beef.  What Joe’s Shanghai lacks in service more than makes up in the quality and deliciousness of the food.

 

We polished off the 2 orders of dumplings (the dish Joe’s Shanghai is known for), each bite drizzled with the soy sauce vinegar combination literally melting and making a yummy concoction of flavors in our mouth.