The Hungry Nomad - Food, Travel, Lifestyle

Bakery, Chocolate, Coffee Shop, New York, Pastries

Ferrara Bakery and Cafe- Little Italy (New York, USA)

August 8, 2012 1 Comment

After our meal at Lombardi’s, we found ourselves walking through the tourist filled streets of Little Italy. We were looking for dessert. Not just any dessert but that sweet stuff that Italian pastries are made of. Our friends suggested Ferrara Bakery as one of the oldest establishments in New York. We walked in and I immediately felt like I was in Italy. Rows and rows of colorful pastries lined the glass round counter. The Count and I were immediately swooning over the wide selection. How can you choose when there are so many amazing choices to pick from?

There were tarts! Strawberry, kiwi, berries and lemon meringue tartes. There were eclairs! Chocolate, coffee and vanilla eclairs. There were Cannolis! Chocolate, vanilla and chocolate chip Cannolis. There was the Napoleon, pain au chocolat and an assortment of cakes. The best for me was the mini pastry section. It is meant for people who can’t decide on one choice. You can order three mini versions of pastries which is exactly what I did.

We sat down, made our orders and waited anxiously. Our desserts and coffees were out in a ‘jiffy’ (Yes! I have decided to use the term ‘jiffy’- its fun and should be used more often). Who can guess which one of us ordered the Chocolate cake?

If you guessed the Count, then you are correct! He ordered the chocolate cake and was unwilling to part with it to try the rest of the selection on our table. Of course, for research purposes I took a bit bite and loved the chocolaty texture and deep dark chocolate flavor.

Our friends ordered the mini pastry plate and the Napoleon. I tried a bite of the Napoleon which was perfect. Who doesn’t love a good Napoleon? Crispy layers of puff pastry with whipping cream oozing between each layer. I have only had such good treats in Italy and France. In fact, while studying in Paris I used to visit the corner pastry shop by my school for my weekly in take of Napoleon or as the french call it ‘mille-feuille’ (a thousand sheets).

For my mini pastry sampler I had the chocolate chip Cannoli, chocolate cream puff and a chocolate wrapped pastry. I loved my Cannoli and really battled to finish the other two (remember I had just finished having endless amounts of pizza at Lombardi’s). This bakery is the kind of place I could see myself treating my mom (who has the biggest sweet tooth in the world) to every Sunday. Maybe its a good thing I don’t live so close.

Japanese, New York, Ramen

Momofuku Noodle Bar- East Village (New York City, USA)

August 7, 2012 No Comments

After hearing and reading about all the food award nominations for Momofuku of course I had to try it. We went on a Friday night and waited in line for 45 minutes to be seated. The restaurant is small, intimate and casual. I really liked the wrap around bar concept where people are seated at the bar facing each other and the bartender.

We immediately ordered a bottle of sake and a few of their buns: beef brisket and shrimp buns (see menu).

The beef was served in a doughy bun with horseradish sauce, pickled red onion and cucumber. The shrimp was served with pickled shallot and spicy mayonnaise.

For our entrees we decided on two noodle dishes: the Chilled Spicy noodles- a serving of egg noodles with sichuan spiced sausage, spinach cashews and the spiciest chili sauce. Our waiter warned me of the spice level but I like to think I have a high tolerance for spiciness, so ignoring her warning I ordered the dish anyway. It arrived looking colorful and fresh. I was so eager to take the first bite. I wish I had a cartoon photo to depict how I must have looked after the first bite. My mouth, nose and entire head was on fire. My sinuses watering immediately, I decided to ignore the signals and take a second bite hoping that maybe my taste buds would adapt. They didn’t. I called over our waitress told her its too hot and that I would have to order something else off the menu. The manager came over and told me that they would not take it off the bill since it states that it is spicy in the name of the dish. I didn’t argue. In fact I never asked for it to be taken off. Oh well, I’m sure they have had to fight that question more than a few times. I don’t know why they would make it so spicy beyond being edible. Our taste buds in North America are not adapted to that amount of hot chili oil in one spoonful. Oh well, on to the next dish.

I ordered the Momofuku Ramen as a replacement hoping that the broth would soothe my burning tongue and lips. It arrived shortly after. At this point, I was over the entire meal but felt obligated to take a few spoonfuls of the ramen if only to be able to write about it on my blog. For $16 it was quite the disappointment.

Overall, I was not impressed with the menu or the food. There was no originality and being from Vancouver I’ve definitely had better buns and ramen in my day. It has always been hard for me and other Vancouverites to find good Asian food outside of Vancouver- we are truly spoiled to have some of the best in Van City. But back to MoMofuku. I heard someone call it hipster food. And I would have to agree. There is nothing particularly amazing at this Noodle Bar. But the atmosphere is lively, the decor modern and simplistic and the food will definitely fill you up.

(As a sidebar- the photo quality is low as I didn’t have my SLR handy- all photos were taken by my iphone with poor lighting).

Coffee Shop, Crepes, Pastries, Philadelphia, USA

Cafe L’Aube- Fairmount/Art Museum (Philadelphia, USA)

August 6, 2012 No Comments

I’ve been in search of a spacious coffee shop in the Fairmount area for weeks. The pickings are slim. There are only a handful of independent coffee spots and one Starbucks that can barely fit ten people. So with the help of Yelp, I found Cafe L’aube tucked away on the corner of Wallace street in the Spring Garden area. What is so great about Cafe L’Aube? Well for one, it serves great coffee and pastries. But mainly because it serves delicious and authentic crepes made to order. The employees are francophone and if you close your eyes you may try to imagine yourself sipping away at your cafe and crepe at a french coffee shop.

I started off with a latte and pain au chocolate… a few hours later I found myself hungry again and ordered the ham, mushroom and emmentaler cheese crepe. Delicious and cheesy.

So far in terms of coffee shops, this is my favorite in the city. Any one have any other recommendations?

Italian food, New York, Pizza

Lombardi’s- Nolita (New York City, USA)

August 1, 2012 3 Comments

In law school a close friend of mine who spent a lot of time in New York would tell me about the wonders of the food scene in the City. I heard about the likes of Lombardi’s and Grimaldi’s way before I got to try it. Four years later, the same friend would fly down from Toronto to New York and I would meet her at Lombardi’s to experience my first bite of true New York style thin crust pizza with her. So many sleepless exam nights I spent daydreaming of this pizza and it was finally becoming a reality.

We went for lunch on a Sunday and only waited minutes before we were taken out of the main restaurant, passed another restaurant tucked in between and entered in to another room which was an extension of Lombardi’s. My friend had to catch a flight back to Toronto and was rushed to order, eat, experience and leave. There were 6 of us so we ordered two large pizzas. One plain margherita and another with the addition of sausage and olives.

The menu offers a small and large pizza. You can start with the margherita and make additions as you please.

First we ordered a basket of bread sticks with marinara sauce which came out in minutes. It certainly hit the spot.

Not too long after our pizzas arrived. I finally understood why Lombardi’s is so famous- because the pizza was truly amazing. Whoever says otherwise is just plain old hating. Not only is Lombardi’s the oldest pizza shop in the country but it has the best thin crust pizza I have tasted to date in America. All the ingredients were fresh and bursting with flavor.

The cheese. Oh the cheese. The cheese stretched for days. There was enough cheese to cover most of the pizza and marinara sauce oozed through each bite.

Next was the margherita. What could be more simple than a margherita pizza? Yet simplicity is sometimes a good thing. This pizza was simple yet mouthwatering delicious. Generous amounts of mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce and fresh basil. Delicioso!

The two pizzas were more than enough to feed us six. Although, of course there was a subtle fight over the last piece.

While taking one of many bites of pizza, I turned to my friend with a big smile remembering how we bonded over food in law school and would remain close friends ever since. Discussing food was so much more pleasurable than learning the intricate ‘bundle of rights’ in property law. She did not disappoint. The day dreaming sessions in the law school library finally became a reality and lived up to my expectation.

Brunch, Moroccan Food, New York

Cafe Mogador- East Village (New York City, USA)

July 31, 2012 1 Comment

One of the many perks of living in Philadelphia is its proximity to other major cities. So on one rainy Philadelphia morning the Count and I decided to drive to New York to visit friends, eat and drink (but mostly eat).

So with ‘New York State of Mind’ blasting the speakers of the car we rode through the Lincoln tunnel and arrived in beautiful New York. Traffic greeted us on the other side of the tunnel along with cars honking and heads sticking out of the car yelling at the car ahead. Oh New York. I love that organized chaos that can only be offered in big cities like New York.

Upon arrival, the Count was adamant on taking me to his favorite restaurant, which he used to frequent weekly while living in New York many years ago: Cafe Mogador. I liked the name it sounded like something from a Medieval novel or Harry Potter. Expecting medieval treats we walked in walked in to a quaint restaurant when the Count informed me that Mogador served staple Moroccan dishes. Okay, so I wasn’t going to try medieval food but Moroccan sure sounded good too.

The restaurant had both indoor and outdoor seating and was full of hungry patrons at 2pm on a Saturday. Some were having brunch with your staple eggs and sausage and others were having skewers of meat and rice. The Count came with high hopes of having their famous hanger steak only to find out that they no longer offered it on the menu. He was so disappointed. He even signed a petition to bring it back (he is serious about his steak). So he settled for the goat cheese salad while I had the mixed grill plate.

The mixed grill came with a skewer of chicken, merguez sausage and lamb served over basmati rice, a skewer of vegetables and a side of yogurt dip. It was also served with a side of salad. It was one of the most delicious meals I have had in New York to date. There was so much flavor in the meats and everything was tender and juicy. Perfect proportion of food, although I am sure I could have had more if the plate was any larger.

The Count enjoys anything with goat cheese so not surprisingly he enjoyed his grilled goat cheese salad. He was still sad that he came all the way from Philadelphia to have his hanger steak only to find out it was no longer on the menu. Maybe next time we go, they will have brought it back?

Although, we only had two dishes I could tell from what everyone around me had ordered that everything on the menu would be tasty. The brunch looked fantastic- although if I had to choose between eggs Benedict and my grilled dish I would pick mine all over again.

If you ever find yourself hungry in the East Village, then do yourself a favor and find Cafe Mogador. You won’t be disappointed.

Philadelphia, USA

Jamonera- Washington Square West (Philadelphia, USA)

July 30, 2012 No Comments

We ended up at Jamonera quite randomly one evening while walking the streets of Philadelphia trying to get ourselves acquainted with the city. We stumbled upon 13th street which seemed like the place to be on a Monday night since all the restaurants were packed. Since then I have learned more about chef Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran and their 13th street empire. They practically own the entire block with Jamonera being one of several of their restaurants (which I have yet to try).

Jamonera is a wine bar specializing in Spanish tapas. We walked in to a very dimly lit restaurant with red reflector lights displaying the wine bar and art work on the walls. We were immediately seated and served a small plate of gourmet olives. We started our dinner with the Crispy Cana de Cabra: fried goat cheese served with salad, picked cherries in a sherry vinaigrette.The goat cheese was creamy and crispy on the outside and combined well with the cherries and tangy flavors of the salad.

The Papa Frita was next: a plate of crispy skin potatoes, wood smoked garlic aioli, brava salt and house made sherry vinegar-hot sauce. I found that the potato skins were not crispy but chewy. I don’t like eating potato skins if its not completely crispy. Besides that, the pieces that didn’t have the skin were good: crispy on the outside and well cooked on the inside. It was not an extraordinary dish and like many I’ve had at other tapas restaurants around the world. Perhaps, a bit too oily.

Next was the Berenjenas: crispy eggplant served on top of a smoked tomato salmorejo and truffle honey layered with Parmesan. This was my favorite dish. I have never had eggplant served this way and thought it was a wonderful creation. I will definitely attempt to make this at home. The eggplant was crispy with the creaminess on the inside. The sauce went perfectly with the eggplant.

By this point we were both full. The portions were much larger than we expected. Given the price I assumed the dishes would be a lot smaller so we had ordered more dishes than our stomachs could take in. Next was the Calamarest en su tinta: crispy calamari which was fried in its own black ink, served with lemon aioli and garlic chips. The Count is not a big fan of tentacles but I can’t get enough. I think I finished this plate on my own. The Calamari was fresh and melted in my mouth, not at all chewy like I’ve had at other spots. I didn’t really taste the ink and think it is added more for it’s visual effect. It could have used more flavor as the calamari was a bit on the flavorless side and there was not enough lemon or dipping sauce to add the proper flavours.

The next dish was a definite first: roasted Spanish peppers. It seemed to be quite a simple dish: peppers sauteed in olive oil sprinkled with salt and viola: a new favorite. I did find that it was a bit too oily but it was too good to care.

We were so full but still had more food coming! Our last plate was the wild mushroom tosta: seared mushrooms, dry oloroso, cadi urgelia cheese, grilled ramps drizzled with truffle oil served on toast. The mushrooms were very strong and drowned out the other flavors. But overall it was a bit too oily for my taste buds.

Stuffed at this point, the waiter came over with the dessert menu. The Count and I looked at each other and knew there was physically no more room for dessert. Maybe next time we will know better than to order half the menu! I enjoyed our meal at Jamonera. Overall, the dishes were delicious but a bit on the greasy side. Don’t expect to have anything healthy if you are going here as many of the items have some fried element. It’s a great place to dine for a small group as the restaurant is quite small and the tables are literally one right next to the other. If you don’t like intimate settings where you can feel your neighbour breathing then ask for outdoor seating.

Uncategorized

Insomnia Cookies (Philadelphia, USA)

July 28, 2012 2 Comments

I don’t think much needs to be said after viewing the above photo. But if you are still not convinced let me tell you: this cookie is worth making a trip from out of town for! It’s warm, gooey and oozing with flavours. I bought a variety of different ones including the chocolate s’more, peanut butter chocolate and the sugar cookie. All amazing. All gone within hours. I’ve been over the cupcake fad for a while now, in fact, I have never been a big fan of cupcakes and the icing on top. But cookies! Cookies I can eat for life! If only there was an Insomnia Cookie closer to home I would be making orders daily.

Food Truck, Philadelphia

2nd Annual Vendy Awards- Saturday, July 28th

July 27, 2012 No Comments

Tomorrow I’ll be attending, eating, photographing and interviewing food trucks at the Second Annual Vendy Awards held at University City. There, the city’s best food trucks nominated by patrons will compete for the Vendy’s title. The Philly Vendy’s benefits the Food Trust and is a branch of the Urban Justice Center’s Street Vendor Project. If you love food and food trucks then you should definitely make it out. The event will take place Saturday, July 28th from 3 to 7 pm at the Lot located at 39th and Market street. Tickets for the event includes all you can eat and drink (beer and wine). You can purchase it here for $55 in advance and $60 at the door.

Here are list of vendors that will be battling it out tomorrow:

Korean food, Philadelphia, USA

WaJoe Korean Restaurant- Rittenhouse (Philadelphia, USA)

July 27, 2012 No Comments

Korean food is one of my favorites. In fact, if I had to choose between all Asian foods I would choose Korean and Japanese as the top two. I can’t believe I just said that because I also love Vietnamese and Chinese. How about we forget this favorites thing all together. I’ll just restart by saying I love Korean food. Vancouver has a large Korean community and growing up there meant I am completely spoiled when it comes to authentic Korean food (and all other Asian food). It’s funny how I learned to love Korean food since my first exposure to Korean was completely through smell. Ah yes, the infamous Kimchi. In College I lived in an all girls dormitory and on our floor there lived a Korean exchange student. Having a communal kitchen and fridge meant that everyone stored their exotic foods in the fridge. None of us knew what Kimchi was at the time, we just knew that the pretty Korean girl had something really smelly in the fridge all year. As soon as you opened up the fridge door, the smell of Kimchi would permeate the entire floor and linger there for days. Oh kimchi. The not so great odour of pickled Kimchi tickled my olfactory senses in the worst way possible and remained there for years.

It was not until a few years later that I discovered just how amazing Korean food was. I also fell in love with Kimchi to the point that I now store bottles of pickled kimchi in my fridge. I also introduced Korean cuisine to the Count who having similar taste in food also fell in love. We now make regular trips to Korean restaurants where ever we can find one. New Orleans was lacking in Korean cuisines (and many others in fact). So, you could understand how excited we were when we arrived in Philadelphia and realized that there is such a large pocket of all different types of international cuisine. Within our first week we made our way to WaJoe Korean restaurant.

Wajoe is one of many Korean restaurants in Philadelphia but we mainly chose to go there based on the proximity to our home. We went around 3 p.m. and the restaurant was empty. Each table has an installed barbecue in the middle. But we weren’t there for Korean barbecue. We were there for bibimbap and Japchae.

Once you place your order, it is customary to be served several small side dishes including fermented tofu, potatoes and bean sprouts in gochujang (chili paste).

And of course, no Korean meal is complete without a side of Kimchi.

For starters, we ordered the spicy rice cake. For a starters dish, it turned out to be quite large but so delicious that nothing remained except maybe a few rings of onion.

Spicy Rice Cakes

We ordered the Japchae. After I had half of it I realized there was no beef and the menu included beef in the description. When I brought it to our servers attention she said that most people in America don’t eat beef and that is why it was served without it. Never heard that one before. Needless to say she brought a small plate of fried beef to add to the dish. I thought that was a bit unprofessional. If you are going to list an ingredient in your menu then you should serve the dish as described. If I ask for no beef then serve the dish with no beef but don’t assume.

Japchae

Japchae is made with sweet potato noodles or glass noodles, stir fried in sesame oil with various vegetables and served with beef. It is very tasty. Our next dish was the traditional beef bibimbap. Bibimbap literally means ‘mixed rice’. It is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with sauteed vegetables and chili paste. A fried egg and sliced meat are also optional additions. The ingredients are stirred together in a hot stone bowl right before eating.

Bibimbap

The result is shown in the photo below! A mixture of rice, beef, eggs and vegetables for a mouthful of bursting flavors.

Mixed Bibimbap

WaJoe met our expectations. We went there craving Korean food and left with our bellies full of Kimchi, bibimbap and other Korean delights. In terms of quality, I would not say that it is the best Korean food I have ever had but it certainly does serve staple Korean dishes. It was good enough that we have considered going there again.

Breakfast, Brunch, Philadelphia, USA

Sabrina’s Cafe and Spencer’s Too-Fairmount/Art Museum (Philadelphia, USA)

July 26, 2012 1 Comment

Saturday morning, stomach and fridge empty we decided to go out for brunch. With the help of Yelp we found out that one of the best rated brunch places was right next door. So with a hop, skip and a jump we ended up outside of Sabrina’s Cafe. The restaurant and outside was packed and the wait was over an hour long. But we got offered to sit at the bar and quickly made our way through the restaurant to the back. It was a perfect place to sit since I had a great view of everything that came out of the kitchen. And boy, did everything look tasty!

Our order was taken right away: the burger special for the Count and huevos rancheros for me. After a few minutes of food-watching we were served with what I rate as the best huevos rancheros I’ve ever had. It was presented differently than your typical huevos rancheros. It was served with two blue corn tortillas topped with a smoky chorizo sausage sauce finished with lime sour cream and spicy red pepper guacamole and 2 fried eggs with a side of hash browns and fried jalapeno peppers. I don’t think I need to go on about how amazing this meal was for the photo below explains it all. It was such a large serving but I polished my plate clean. Needless to say I could barely walk after since I was so full.

The Count’s burger special was served with a side of coleslaw and hand-cut fries. He was also very happy with his meal and he is known to be quite the burger snob. He said it was one of the best he has ever had. I can’t really give you details of the tasty burger because I confess I was so into eating my dish that by the time I looked up he was done with his. I could only take that as an indication of how good it was. But I think the photos are an accurate image of the tasty burger.

Everything that came out of the kitchen looked amazing. And every patron looked extremely happy. It is just one of those feel good places with good, rich and filling food in a great environment. In fact it was so good, we have already been there twice since. I guess you can say we are big fans!

Sabrina's Café and Spencer's Too on Urbanspoon

« Previous 1 … 18 19 20 21 22 … 41 Next »