New York: The Food Experience

Over the past few years Brandon and I have become foodies of sorts. We love to eat and so New York was a non-stop food fest. We'd walk a mile or so and then stop for a snack and go another mile or so before our next one. It's ridiculous to admit, but we probably ate just as many calories as we burned (if not more) walking 5-6 miles a day. Here's my thoughts on a few of the places we stopped.

Grey's Papaya's Hot Dogs:

A little over-rated. The secret sauce was good, but the dog itself was a little wimpy. I prefer a juicy beefy polish dog to the scrawny type they were serving up.

Momofuku Milk Bar:

This place was practically impossible to find! There weren't any signs or street numbers on the door front, but we eventually found it because I noticed the neon "milk" sign glowing inside. The cornflake-marshmallow cookie was a little flat and unevenly baked. Brandon really liked the birthday cake cake truffles. I actually thought they were too sweet (shocking, right?). But, the real reason I had to stop in was to try the cereal milk. It tasted exactly like cereal milk-- you know the delicious sweet milk that is left in your bowl after you eat a sugary cereal. I kind of liked it, Brandon did not. Oh, well...

Crumbs Bakery:

The cupcakes look divine and there are sooooo many flavors, but they were the worst cupcakes I tried in NYC.

The cake itself was dry and the frosting was terrible (I'm assuming it was some type of whipped cream frosting). It reminded me of the frosting the bakery at Walmart puts on their cheap cupcakes. Ack!

Wafles and Dinges:

OMG-- the best dessert of our trip! It is just a little food truck that was parked in front of the Guggenheim Museum. The food smelled so good that we had to try it (And so glad we did). Brandon and I shared a WMD (wafle of massive deliciousness)-- wafel with Thaitian vanilla bean ice cream, powdered sugar, and Belgian chocolate fudge (which formed into a shell of chocolate amazingness). It was so good that we were fighting over every bite. I guess we should have gotten two..

New York Pizza:

We sampled at least 3 different pizza places (mostly late at night). It's true what they say, NY pizza is the best. Imagine a slice of steaming hot, fresh from the oven pizza about the size of your head. Heaven! Be prepared, most of the offered toppings involve meat; so if you're a veggie pizza lover like me you may find just the right slice hard to find. I did enjoy the margarita slice I had at Ray's in Time's Square, but I REALLY loved Brandon's ranch chicken from Off Broadway Deli and Pizza (8th Ave, between 45th & 46th st).

Juniors:

A local recommended that we stop by Juniors for some cheesecake, and I'm so glad he did. Everything looked good, but we decided on sharing a slice of chocolate mousse cheesecake-- so rich and creamy--and a black and white cookie. Both were great, but cheesecake is especially fabulous.

Niles Restaurant:

One night we wanted to treat ourselves to a nice dinner, but were strapped for time so we decided on the restaurant in our hotel. It was so good and fresh and different that we did it a second time before we left. I loved my seared tuna steak with cilantro and jalapeno coulis. Everything we ate was extraordinary, though.

Murray's Bagels:

Amazing fresh doughy bagels and spreads. Oh, the spreads--I've never seen so many varieties! One thing I realized about bagels in NYC is that most are hearty or savory (garlic, multi-grain, wholewheat, sesame, etc). You'd be hard pressed to find a cranberry or strawberry bagel in the big city, but if you don't need a fruity bagel in the morning you'll be happy to eat at Murray's.

Sweet Revenge:

Truly artisan cupcakes-- probably the best in NYC! We shared a dirty (valrhona cake with dark chocolate truffle) and a crimson & cream (raspberry red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting) cupcake. So moist and flavorful; perfect for our 10 am snack (hey, we had a glass of milk with it. lol).

Baked By Melissa:

Teeny tiny cupcakes. The good news is that they're so tiny you can try lots (or all) of their flavors. The bad news is that they're so tiny (literally one, maybe two bites until it's gone). They were okay. Some flavors were way tastier than others. The s'more flavor was a little dry- not my favorite. Your best bets are probably chocolate chip pancake, mint chocolate chip, or cookie dough.

Molly's Cupcakes:

We actually stumbled upon this bakery on our last day in NYC. Even though we'd already had a 10 am cupcake fix at Sweet Revenge we (by we, I mean me) had to stop in and grab a few cupcakes for the road. Good choice! There were so many decadent picks that I wish I had found it sooner. We settled on a cookee monster (vanilla chocolate chip cake with a raw cookie dough center, butter cream frosting and a mini chocolate chip cookie) and a chocolate mousse (chocolate cake, chocolate mousse filling, chocolate ganache) cupcake. Both were superb. I really loved the cookie dough center in my cookee monster, though.

Dos Toros Taqueria:

It's hard to find fresh Mexican food that pleases these native Californians, but this one did. Fast, fresh tacos and burritos in a beautiful place (seriously, the whole front is an open window that faces Father Demo Square).

Siagon 48:

We love ourselves some good Vietnamese we found this place using our trusty Urban Spoon app. When I walked in and saw that they had fresh young coconut I had to try it. BTW, my shrimp vermicelli was divine, too.