4:00pm chocolate cupcake

The weather report is all 40s and 50s this week except for a low 30s thrown in on Thursday. If that's any indication of March then that would be alright by me.
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

Sushi Choshi

M. is not around today to disdain my choice of lunch so I indulged in a sashimi meal at a place convenient to some afternoon errands. Certainly nothing worthy of mention, at least from a discerning culinary point of view, but quite enjoyable to me nevertheless.
Sushi Choshi, 77 Irving Place, NY, NY 10003 (at 19th St)

4:00pm sandwich cookies

Matt came back with afternoon treats for the office while everyone else was away for lunch so we had first pick. It was hard to choose between chocolate, nutella and lemon ginger so M. and I split the already split nutella and lemon ginger but afterward we wished we had taken the whole lemon ginger one for ourselves. I wonder if Matt would have ratted us out.
Grandaisy, 250 West Broadway, NY, NY 10013 (at Beach St)

Acme Bar & Grill

One of our favorite lunch games is to guess how long it's been since we've eaten somewhere. M. guessed last fall for Acme but I thought it might have been even longer ago than that. Because the walk to lunch can be as equally important as the lunch itself, we often remember the weather associated with certain lunches. So while she hit the season right (not too hot, not snowy), she was off by 6 months. Today we couldn't bear to brave the constant rain so we made them come to us.
Acme Bar and Grill, 9 Great Jones St, NY, NY 10012 (near Lafayette)

4:00pm chocolate torte

We had to run out early last night for a continuing ed class, hence my spaciness in forgetting to post about our afternoon goûter. At Fay Da all you need is a buck and you will have access to an array of yumminesses. I don't know why they call it a chocolate torte except maybe that it's in the shape of a triangle. A pleasant bitterness, not overly sweet and light as air fluffy, if you like your chocolate in mild cake form, run over now and get yourself one of these.
Fay Da, 191 Centre St, NY, NY 10013 (at Hester St)

Gahm Mi Oak, with Bionic Bites

Fellow food lover Bionic Bites met us in Ktown for lunch today where we told hilarious stories about the strictness of the Japanese and Koreans when it comes to the proper way to serve and eat food versus the laissez-faire attitude of the Chinese and Vietnamese. In addition to bowls of sullungtang all around, we also ordered, at BB's suggestion, the bindaedduk. If you're traditionally a pajeon fan, the bindaedduk might throw you for a loop as it's a base of ground mung bean and not an egg-flour batter but we quite liked it.
Gahm Mi Oak, 43 W. 32nd St, NY, NY 10001 (near Broadway)

4:00pm lemon pound cake

Pound cake tends to be hit or miss and we tend to shy away from it. But after last time's deceptively delicious carrot cake, we were not afraid to try the lemon pound cake. Solid hit.
McNally Jackson Cafe, 52 Prince St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Lafayette and Mulberry)

Soho Halal Cart

We seldom venture too far when we're in the mood for street meat, but if someone told us there was an extraordinary halal cart further away, we would go. As it is our local Soho Halal Cart serves up a decent lamb gyro, decent enough to fulfill a craving, even if it's not extraordinary fare. And at 4 bucks a pop, I'm not really complaining.
Soho Halal Cart, north-east corner of Spring St and Broadway, NY, N

Publish Post

Y 10012

4:00pm chocolate chip cookie

Sorry, I meant to post earlier to tell you to hightail it over to the Lafayette Espresso Bar and grab yourselves one of these especially good Oro chocolate chip cookies. It's too late now but maybe they will still be equally as good tomorrow. And then you too will taste tiny bits of saltiness occasionally inserting themselves into crunchy chocolaty bites.
Lafayette Espresso Bar + Marketplace, 189 Lafayette St, NY, NY 10013 (below Broome)

Shanghai Cafe

My heart sank when we walked into Shanghai Cafe today, what were all these people doing filling up the waiting area of our favorite not famously known lunch spot? My heart sank even further when M. said well maybe we should go next door to Big Wing Wong. A few more moments of patience and they miraculously found us a table hidden in the back. I looked around to see at least 4 other tables with a heaping plate of rice cakes, shredded pickled cabbage and pork. Looks like we're not the only ones in love with Shanghai Cafe.
Shanghai Cafe, 100 Mott St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Hester & Canal)

4:00pm cookies

Homemade chocolate butter cookies, with the delicate flavor of cocoa accentuating that hard to describe sandy texture of cookies made with LOTS of butter. YUM.

Central Buffet

Despite the beautiful weather outside, I'm not left with too much time to wander about the neighborhood in search of a meaningful lunch today. Whenever I'm pressed for time, and want a big bang for my buck, Central Buffet calls my name. Even though many of the dished change, I think I've pretty much figured out what I think is good there. By the way, this place received a grade "C" from the Dept of Health. I'm not sure what this means (read this article), and frankly, I'm not sure I care all too much. I see it eating dirty food from time to time a good way for your stomach to toughen up. Comes in handy for world travels!
Central Buffet, 195 Centre Street, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Howard and Hester)

15 East, with Thu and Tam

The prix fixe lunch service at 15 East leaves a little to be desired. It's only listed in small print at the bottom of the page and when we asked for details we were told, "the appetizer is miso soup, salad or tofu and for entree is cod, salmon or duck, followed by sushi." Hardly descriptive at all, we tried it anyway. Overall the meal was well done but nothing extraordinary, leaving me with two impressions. 15 East is better at dinner and Del Posto still has the best fancy pants $29 lunch prix fixe in town.
15 East, 15 E. 15th St, NY, NY 10003 (btwn Union Square West & 5th Ave)

4:00PM donuts

Few things are such certain providers of happiness as a fresh doughnut, especially from a trusted source like the Donut Pub. We have a project in construction nearby and are already looking forward to several months of brief bites of delicious. M. likes Donut Pub's creme filled ones while I prefer jelly.
The Donut Pub, 203 W.14th St, NY, NY 10011 (near 7th Ave)

La Nueva Conquista

It's only been 3.5 weeks since we were wowed by the stuffed peppers at La Nueva Conquista, but we went back anyway, wanting specifically their classic and reliable roast pork. My heart sank a bit as we approached the line curling outside around the front of the little hole-in-the-wall eatery. Sometimes they sell out of roast pork early and I prepared myself for a substitution of beef stew or ribs. Luckily no such substitution was necessary and we heartily dug into our anticipations.
La Nueva Conquista, 236 Lafayette St, NY, NY 10012 (above Spring)

4:00pm Italian treats

Our rep, Chris, from Moroso came by this morning to show us new product lines, which we always enjoy, but more importantly he came bearing treats. All furniture showrooms should ply their architects with sweets. We are so easily bought.
Tarrallucci E Vino, courtesy of Moroso

Burger & Barrel

We've been wanting to try chef Josh Capon's burger at the newly opened Burger & Barrel for awhile now, especially when we've been hearing such favorable things. Well merited! A delicious burger with the perfect soft squishy bun, all its contents in well balanced proportion to one another. Plus, since we were sharing a salad and burger, they kindly split both and plated them individually for us. And wait, there's more! The tater tots were super yummy, the french fries tasty and the onion rings, which come two to a burger order, were exemplary.
Burger & Barrel, 25 W. Houston, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Mercer and Greene)

4:00pm valentine cupcake

Flowers are always a nice idea for your favorite Valentine but give me cupcakes and donuts any day. Also, it should be mentioned that Balthazar did not notice our comments about the disjoint between American cupcakes and French patisseries as they are, apparently, still making cupcakes. Not exactly their forte.
Balthazar Bakery, 80 Spring St, NY, NY 10012 (near Crosby)

An Choi

I love rare winter days when the temperature and sun are more like spring than snow. Perfect for a longer stroll eastward to An Choi for some fried fish over vermicelli noodles, or bun cha ca as it is properly termed. The light in the front of the restaurant was especially nice earlier today.
An Choi, 85 Orchard St, NY, NY 10002 (below Broome)

4:00pm oatmeal raisin cookies

We are all cheshire cat grins this Friday evening. Beginning with kimchi in Fort Lee, then oatmeal raisin cookies from Eileen's for afternoon coffee and finally ending with the promise of 40+ degree weather all next week.
Eileen's Special Cheesecake, 17 Cleveland Pl, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Spring and Kenmare)

So Kong Dong

It took us some time to cross reference all our trusted sources of food recommendations before we finally settled on So Kong Dong in Fort Lee. It's not often we make it out to NJ for lunch, but conveniently (or coincidentally?) we had a client meeting nearby in the morning. The house specialty are tofu stews and aside from one BBQ kalbi entree, that's all you will find. The service is abrupt and not altogether attentive but we were too happy that the stew came with a self-service you crack it yourself raw egg to complain.
So Kong Dong, 130 Main St, Fort Lee, NJ

4:00pm cranberry pie

There are no sweeter words to a girl's ears than "Got a Pie! See you around 4pm"? Most particularly if those words come in a morning email from dear Saha bearing another delicious pie from Four & Twenty Blackbirds.
Four & Twenty Blackbirds, 439 3rd Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (at 8th St)

Paris Sandwich, with Thu

I've been wanting to try the rice dishes at Paris Sandwich for awhile now. Their banh mi are pretty tasty, especially since the rice flour they use in baking their own bread gives it a lovely slightly yielding texture. $5.95 is not cheap for pork chop over rice but the portions are generously sized, actually there were 2 pork chops over an enormous bed of broken rice. A good option for a quick and basic lunch that will fill your belly.
Paris Sandwich, 213 Grand St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Elizabeth and Mott)

Congee

We were having a hard time deciding what to have for lunch - fried chicken leg over rice, curry noodle soup or young chow fried rice? All perfectly acceptable options, but sometimes we have a craving for new and good. Good thing there are fellow food lovers to provide inspiration. As soon as we saw Robyn's picture of the salt baked shredded squid with cashews from Congee, we immediately stopped searching and headed out. It's a heaping mound of yes fried squid, probably best shared with more than 1 person as there was enough left over to make a meal of leftovers for 2.
Congee, 98 Bowery, NY, NY 10013 (above Hester)

4:00pm PB&J

Rather brilliant of Lettini (as the office mates call him) to run out and buy fixings for PB&J sandwiches to potluck yesterday. We used to work in a space directly above a hole-in-the-wall Hong Kong tea shop that also happened to sell 50¢ PB&J sandwiches. Every afternoon we would run down, fork over 2 quarters and receive in return, the most delicious and hot toasty afternoon snack.

Cafe Fiat, with Sarah

Sarah wanted greens. Lots and lots of green things. We met at Cafe Fiat so she could order salads and spinach to her heart's delight and we could have other non-green things. It takes a long time to eat two plates of greens and one bowl of onion soup so we had to eat slower to compensate.
Cafe Fiat, 203 Mott St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Kenmare and Spring)

4:00pm coconut cupcake

Samara's coconut cupcake rounded out our office potluck, a fitting and tasty end. Not shown here is a batch of espresso enhanced, dark chocolate brownies, courtesy of Duncan Hines, for which I seem to have a craving every 3 years or so.

Office Potluck

Office potluck is a sensitive balance of allergies and food preferences; at this point we are 1 non-dairy, non-meat eater, 1 vegetarian, 1 non-pork eater, 1 watching his cholesterol, 1 allergic to all nuts but peanuts and 2 fruit allergies. On the other hand the remaining half of our office potluck are hale and hearty consumers of anything that is put in front of them. I ad-libbed a baked mushroom and campanelle casserole using a bechamel sauce and a bit of parmigiano reggiano, mostly so I could use the toaster oven to achieve a bit of crusty topping.

4:00pm strawberry cheesecake

The mini strawberry cheesecake from Eileen's usually makes us pretty happy but today it made us especially happy. As if this one was waiting for us. It tasted so fresh, it must have just come out of the oven and been chilled to the perfect temperature when we came by to pick it up.
Eileen's Special Cheesecake, 17 Cleveland Pl, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Spring and Kenmare)

Red Egg, with Danny and Shawn

Yesterday marked the start of a new year! Year of the Cat if you're Vietnamese, and Year of the Rabbit for everyone else. For the regular working crowd, it might not mean much but we always try and have a meal to celebrate another beginning. I'm not sure Red Egg's braised noodles with black mushrooms count as longevity noodles for the New Year, but it's the gesture that counts. It's a small gesture, but in a holiday filled with symbolism and an emphasis on good luck for the upcoming year, it's worth making the effort.
Red Egg, 202 Centre Street, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Hester and Howard)

4:00pm fruit danish

Mmmm our eyes lit up at the appearance of an apple danish in the Oro display cabinet today because as much as we generally love all their desserts, sometimes fruitiness is preferred in an afternoon munchie. Oro is strong on quick breads, cookies, madeleines, cupcakes and other such sweets but seldom offer much in the way of fruit tarts or similarly related concoctions.
Oro Bakery, 375 Broome St, NY, NY 10013 (btwn Mulberry & Mott)

Cafe Select, with Travis

An old college friend is in town this week from the northern reaches of Wisconsin, so we took him to Cafe Select to catch up over buckwheat crepes. I should stop being astonished at how years will pass yet old friends remain as comforting and funny as when we first met.
Cafe Select, 212 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012 (at Kenmare)

4:00pm almond horn cookies

I picked up a bag of these cookies, not expecting much, but secretly hoping for tasti-ness considering that they were $4 and enclosed in a cute cellophane bag printed with hearts...  Lucky for me, I was not disappointed.  As you bite through the crunch of the sliced almonds, the insides emit a nice almond flavor, and the texture light and egg white-y.
at a Whole Foods Bakery Department near you

Rubirosa, with Patrick

We had just ordered when Patrick walked in, looking a little bedraggled from the unexpected rain, so we promptly invited him to join us for a lunch of stromboli's. The stromboli's and broccoli rabe both would have benefited greatly had they remembered to bring us a bit of tomato sauce from the get-go, but nevertheless Rubirosa makes a damn decent offering of meat and cheese stuffed in a baked roll of pizza dough. The size is nice and not overwhelming and the $7 price point is even more appealing.
Rubirosa Pizza, 235 Mulberry St, NY, NY 10012 (btwn Spring and Prince)