C'Ville Food Kick-Off

Diana and I have only been in Charlottesville for about two weeks now, but we have already managed to eat our way through the town (offset by a few runs, hikes, and squash sessions). Armed with some recommendations from friends and our own eagerness to explore, we set out to find some favorites. As per usual, I have posted the running list of the 10 most recent restaurants on the righthand side of the blog, but here are a few of the highlights:

The Local

This was our first dinner out in Charlottesville. Located in the Belmont neighborhood, this place features fresh, farm-to-table regional fare. The highlights included $3 bud lights (this will never get old), the burratta appetizer with heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil, and crostinis, and a bacon wrapped meatloaf entree (how can that be bad?).

Mas

Also located in Belmont, Mas is a spanish tapas restaurant with a huge menu. Each dish can be

ordered as a tapas or full entree size and are great for sharing. The bacon wrapped dates (notice a theme here?), roasted and salted pequillo peppers, and roast pork loin were my favorites.

Peter Chang's China Grill

This is the #1 restaurant I wanted to try in Charlottesville. I had read about the chef, Peter Chang, in the following article. The guy is thought to be the best Schezuan chef in the U.S. and hops from city to city pretty quickly so you need to catch him while you can. We went with a large group and got a table with a lazy susan, so sharing was plentiful. Pretty much everything at this restaurant was a highlight, so I will just list out what we had ranked by how good they were:

1. Crispy pork belly

2. Hot and numbing beef

3. Garlic shrimp pot

4. Scallion pancake balloons

5. Twice cooked pork

6. Spicy fragrant duck

7. Hot and Sour Soup

8. Dan Dan noodles

Bluegrass Grill and Bakery

This is the best breakfast place I've ever been to. Located just off the downtown mall, Bluegrass is extremely casual and boasts a hearty country breakfast menu with a foodie twist. I kept things fairly simple with my order- two over easy eggs, virginia ham, cheese grits, and a whole wheat biscuit, and it was incredible. We also had an order of pig candy, which is essentially crispy bacon covered in syrup and cayenne pepper, served cold. I love bacon.

BBQ Exchange

BBQ Exchange is located about 30 minutes north of Charlottesville in a town called Gordonsville. It was a mix of wet and dry BBQ, and had an incredible selection. The meats by far outweighed the side dishes, but that is the way good BBQ should be. We tried all five meats (chicken, pork, brisket, ribs, and pork belly), and all were terrific but the pork belly was the best. For the sides, I would recommend the pickled green tomatoes and spicy pickles.

All in all, Charlottesville food has been excellent. I will continue to review some more favorite places as I identify them. A few on the list that I want to try are Duners, Continental Divide, and Mono Loco.

NYC Food Greatest Hits

My time as a New Yorker has (temporarily) come to an end. My investigation into the world of Charlottesville eats is already underway, but nothing can compare to the varied world of New York City food. Many people have asked me what my favorite eateries are for different neighborhoods, types of cuisine, or even favorite dishes I encountered over the past five years. Below is a comprehensive but non-exhaustive list of some of my all-timers:

Best BBQ: Dinosaur BBQ

Best soul food: Amy Ruth’s (fried chicken and waffles)

Best fancy Italian: Scarpetta

Best mediteranean: Karam (chicken shawrama platter)

Best deli: Katz's

Best burger: Zaitzef (add cheese and hot pepper)

Best sandwiches: Defonte's (hot pork sandwich)

Best cheap italian: Via Emilia

Best paella: Socarrat Pallea Bar

Favorite asian dish: Duck sausage with spicy rice cakes, Momufuku Ssam

Best cheap burrito place: Dos Toros

Best brunch: Noho Star

Best expensive American food: Blue Hill

Best tapas: Kuma Inn

Best chicken parm sandwich: Torrisi Italian Specialties

Best dumplings: Excellent Dumping House

Best steakhouse: Peter Lugar's

Best somewhat fancy mexican: Yerba Buena- West Village

Best Slice: Artichoke (plain slice)

Best desserts/cakes/bakery: Lulu’s Cake Boutique

Best fancy thai: Kin Shop

Boston Favorite in NYC

During my time at BU, my friends and I made fairly frequent trips to Harvard Square. I quickly discovered that the best part of these visits were our stops at L.A. Burdick, a small chocolate shop off the beaten path of Harvard Square. I thought that this was a small mom and pop shop, but a few months ago I discovered that they also have an outpost in NYC only a few blocks from my apartment. The store is located on 20th street between Broadway and 5th Ave.

In my opinion, L.A. Burdick has the best drink in New York City- an Iced Chocolate. It is essentially a rich, creamy hot chocolate poured over ice. The chocolate is incredibly rich, but the ice cuts the sweetness and makes for a refreshing snack. It is a bit pricey at $5, but in my opinion well worth it as I have not had anything comparable anywhere else. I recommend you try one.

Home Sweet Home

I love going out to eat more than anyone. I love researching restaurants, studying menus, and just enjoying the food. However, nothing can compare to a home cooked meal in my apartment by Diana. Personally, I think Diana is an amazing cook. She does a great job of mixing it up while still always cooking delicious foods. In no particular order, here are the ten best things that Diana cooks:

1. Thai chicken pizza- so many complex flavors and textures (thai chicken, sprouts, peanuts, veggies)

2. Eggplant parmigiana- baked in a glass dish so the eggplant gets crispy

3. Turkey meatballs- combo of turkey meat and sausage (thanks Carabelli!)

4. Brisket- I think it involves ketchup and brown sugar

5. Healthy cookies- I don't know what goes into them, but they taste great

6. Penne with sausage- sauteed with oil and crisps up the garlic pieces

7. Brussel sprouts- with shallots, crisps up the leaves

8. Sea Bass- cooked with squash and red pepper

9. Buffalo chicken dip- best superbowl food that is out there

10. Mondel bread- I like the chocolate chip ones, but cinnamon/sugar are pretty good too

As long as we are on the subject of home cooked meals, I should tell you about a dish that I cooked recently for Diana's birthday.

As much as I love food, I am really not much of a chef (more of a sous-chef/dishwasher than

anything). However, I cooked Nobu style Miso Black Cod for Diana, and it was incredible.

In fact, we went to Nobu a few weeks later and ordered the dish and could barely taste the difference between what they served and what I cooked. I recommend it to anyone who is not

much of a cook but is still looking to make a high-end type meal. It was easy to make (once you track down the somewhat exotic ingredients). Refer to the recipe here.

Brooklyn Food Trek

Today I went to Brooklyn to hang with my good friend and fellow eater Joe. If anyone has an appreciation for good, cheap food, it is Joe. Speaking of good, cheap food, Joe was previously referenced in my post about White Castle from what feels like about 10 years ago here.

We went to Mile End, a canadian Jewish deli that I have been wanting to try for almost a year. We shared the smoked brisket on rye, smoked salami on an onion roll, hand-cut fries with cheese and gravy, and pickles. The quality of the meat was excellent, especially the brisket. Juicy, not too smokey, but still a ton of flavor. The salami was good but there was not enough meat on the sandwich. The pickles were also particularly great- they seemed to be spicy, which is always a good thing in my mind. Mile End is a great restaurant, far better than this place.

We then traveled to a local bodega that sells craft sodas. Joe knew that they sold a root beer that had been rated the best in the country, made by a company called Sprecher's Brewery in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, they were out of the root beer, but they did have the same company's cream soda. It was absolutely incredible. I am not a soda guy, but this was definitely the best I ever had. It tasted more like a dessert, but it was everything a cream soda should be. I can't wait to try the root beer.

We then went to Joe's favorite neighborhood coffee shop/italian eatery, Cafe Capri (no association with Joe's namesake). The owner is a true stallion- an old school Italian guy. This place is a little Mom and Pop shop that makes a killer iced coffee. They brew their own blend (no idea what kind), and then also freeze batches of it, so instead of adding ice, they scrape off frozen coffee and put it already in the chilled coffee. This makes for a strong, frosty iced coffee that never gets watered down. Next time I come I will be trying the cannolis.

Hoping to get back on the blogging wagon over the next few weeks. Check back early and often.

Worst Restaurant in the World

This is the worst restaurant in the world. I don't even want to elaborate because thinking about it makes me feel sick. Don't go here.

Ode to White Castle

I don't like White Castle...I love it. I truly, absolutely, and completely adore it.

Some of my happiest memories from growing up are sitting in a car in the crime-stricken neighborhood of East Orange, pounding burgers from sleeves out of a "Crave Case" and listening to sports talk radio. Exchanges would go something like this:

Me: Pass me a burger
G: (Chewing) With cheese or without?
Me: Cheese
Joe: (Chewing) Regular or Jalapeno?
Me: Regular
Mad Dog: Vinny from Queens you are on the fan
Vinny: Benny Agbayani is a bum. I have a trade for you: Agbayani and Rick Reed for Manny Ramirez.
Mike Francesca: I like Inge a lot

And that is the way it went. After school, late night, it didn't matter. Sometimes we would just get a couple each to hold us over between meals, and other times it was our actual meal. We routinely finished a crave case (for those of you who don't know, a crave case is a cardboard suitcase consisting of 30 burgers).

This weekend when I was home, I got to have White Castle again. There is one in the city, but I save this for a coming home tradition. I even got to try their new pulled pork (not that great). The original cheeseburger is the best- little soft bun, steamed burger, minced onions, melted american cheese, warm ketchup, and a pickle slice. Man, do I love white castle.

City Restaurant in the Suburbs

It is fairly common knowledge that on the whole, city restaurants are of a higher quality than those found in the suburbs. Whether it is for the talent, the real estate prices, or quality of ingredients, this has always seemed to be the case. However, once in awhile, a restaurant of "city" quality can be found to the suburbs. This is what my family found with Osteria Giotto in Montclair, NJ. I have been hearing rave reviews about this restaurant from my family for months, so this past weekend when I was home I finally had the opportunity to try it.

First off, if you live in North Jersey, you need to check out Montclair as a food destination. I have been to some fantastic restaurants in this town, ranging from Thai to Italian. It has a college town vibe with some awesome culinary spots.

Osteria Giotto is on a quiet side-street right off of Bloomfield Ave, the town's main street. It has the feeling of a "Tuscan Farmhouse" inside, with high ceilings and red brick. Looking back on the meal, three things stuck out:

1. The restaurant is BYOB (something you find a lot in Montclair). Apparently, there are a fixed number of liquor licenses for each town in NJ, so the more restaurants that open, the more BYOB places there are. I love BYOB- it is cheaper and you get to bring exactly what you want to drink. Nothing not to like about this.

2. They serve one hell of a bread basket. Everything is baked on premises, and each basket contains a variety of breads including foccocia, a flaky coissant like roll, and olive bread (which I hate).

3. The pasta is fantastic. I had fettucini in a cherry tomato sauce with crab, lobster, and shrimp meat mixed throughout. The pasta is homemade, and the seafood was fresh and plentiful. Very delicious.

This is a restaurant I would definitely check out again next time I am home. I highly recommend it.

Take a Bao

A decent amount of time has passed since I last posted about food, which is an absolute travesty. I've eaten at a bunch of good places recently, but one place that I particularly wanted to discuss was Baoguette, a Vietnamese sandwich shop about 3 blocks from my apartment.

This place is great. It is just counter service, so I would recommend picking food up and bringing it to Madison Square Park to eat. I had the BBQ Chicken sandwich, which is one of the best (and cheapest) sandwiches I have had awhile, rivaling Defonte's (althought not surpassing it). The BBQ Chicken sandwich had a large quantity of small, marinated pieces of chicken on it, and included pickeled Daikon, fresh cliantro, cucumber, and garlic aoli. Just a fantastic combination of flavors. What made the sandwich was the long, fresh baked sub roll.

The negatives: The restaurant was about 117 degrees, and by the time I left I was dripping with sweat. Also, the woman behind the counter who takes your order isn't exactly the friendliest, but I'm not complaining. I'm not there to make friends, I'm there to eat a great sandwich.

A Restaurant That Stinks

I write a lot about food- this I know.  Recently, I got a complaint that all of my reviews are too positive and that there are never any restaurants that I don't like.  What can I do, I really love food, whether it's fancy, cheap, elaborate, simple- it doesn't matter.  There is little that I don't like.  However, there is one restaurant that I really hate.  One place that just the thought of makes me sick.  And that place is called the Caliente Cab Company in NYC.

This place is just awful.  It is a chain Mexican restaurant in NYC with locations in Murray Hill and the West Village.  I think people like it because they have large outdoor seating areas (people love eating outside in NYC, it is a favorite pastime).  Well the drinks are weak and very sugary.  It tastes like they come from a mix.  The food is plastic and not remotely authentic, and everything is overpriced.

So there you have it.  My least favorite restaurant in New York.  A place I hate.  See, isn't it more fun to hear how much I love the food I am eating?  The food at this place is not caliente, it is frio.

Event #3: Defonte's

Best sandwich I have had in NYC, hands down.  For my birthday lunch, I thought about Artichoke (my favorite pizza), and Shake Shack (never had a burger at the one in Madison Square Park, but I knew I was having one on Sunday) but I chose Defonte's.

Defonte's is a sandwich place that originated in Brooklyn.  They make amazing hot subs and their signature is putting thinly sliced fried eggplant on their sandwiches.  I went with Teddy last weekend, so this time around I knew exactly what I wanted.

I think their two best sandwiches are the turkey with swiss and fried eggplant, and the roast pork with cheese, fried eggplant, and hot salad.  These are not healthy, but they are awesome.  Nothing more I'd rather eat on my birthday.  I shared both with Diana while watching Friday Night Lights (my favorite show on TV, by far).  I was a happy camper.

Event #2: WD-50

On Friday night, Diana took me to WD-50 for my birthday.  I have been wanting to go here for awhile- it is a molecular gastronomy restaurant where the chef, Wylie Dufresne, changes the textures and presentations of all of his ingredients.  I first learned about him from watching Top Chef, and we even got to see him in the restaurant on Friday!

I will focus on the textures and the way the food looked, and then tell you about what I actually ate:

Lower east side roll up- corned duck instead of corned beef, purple mustard, rye cracker instead of rye bread.  The meat was delicious, and the condiments made the dish.

The food for my entree was all cubed and stacked, creating a great wall of china on my plate.  It was actually pork with fried plantains with jerk sauce, but the meat and plantain was in a cube, and the jerk was basically broth that the cubes were swimming in.  Tasty, a little wierd though.

Dessert was the best part of the meal.  They gave us complimentary vanilla ice cream stuffed with balsamic vinegar, then I had this deconstructed apple brioche with sage foam and brown butter ice cream.  To polish it off, they gave us bite-sized chocolate cake stuffed with vanilla ice cream.

I'm really glad I tried this restaurant.  It is a really unique experience, and I love how the flavors, textures, and presentation all play off one another.  A great time!

Event #1: Convivio

The festivities began Wednesday night with a three-way birthday celebration with Diana's family.  We had a lot to celebrate, with Diana, Daniel, and I all having birthdays within a month of each other.  Some restaurants have a ton of hype but don't live up to expectations- this was the opposite.  This restaurant was fantastic, I really loved everything I had:

Chicken liver crostinis with grilled onion

Fusilli with pork and some kind of cheese sauce which was amazing

A pork dish with crispy rinds, hard to explain but delicious

Homemade gellato- chocolate, vanilla, cappuchino

It was a four course prix fixe, and was pretty reasonable given the amount and quality of the food.  I highly recommend Convivio, one of the best restaurants I have been to in the city.

In the Tavern with Gossip Girl

For Diana's birthday (which was 3/8), we went to Gramercy Tavern, one of the most sought after reservations in NYC, for dinner. Dan and Serena from Gossip Girl welcomed as at the door (yes, they were eating with one of their moms in the tavern part of the restaurant). The meal was excellent, but the most exceptional part was the dessert.

I started with a squid ink pasta with calamari and mussels in a garlic sauce, which was great, and had a special of ribeye steak with keibasa- Diana's sea bass was better.

But the dessert- wow! You need to go just for the dessert. I had a peanut butter semifredo, which is basically like frozen mousse. It was served on a chocolate cookie, with caramel in the middle, and came with amazing ice cream and roasted peanuts. This thing was incredible. Diana's dessert was great too, she had a mango/lime cheesecake, but it was no match for this peanut butter deliciousness. If you like dessert, go here.

Ode to Nana's Deli

I think that I can safely say that my favorite food establishment in the world is Nana's Deli. It is a small, Jewish/Italian neighborhood deli that has been serving up delicious and fresh food for my entire life. Everything they make is homemade, ranging from deli meats, entrees, and desserts. Personal favorites of mine include the following:

The Sloppy Joe- This is my all time favorite sandwich. And no, it is not chopped meat in gravy on bread. The North Jersey Sloppy Joe is a triple decker sandwich- corned beef, roast beef, and turkey on thinly sliced rye bread, with russian dressing and cole slaw. This is a sandwich I grew up with, and one that I have to explain to all of my friends that do not live in the area. When they try it, they become just as hooked as I am.

Nana's Tuna- The most delicious tuna I've ever had. Its somewhat sweet, and I love it on an onion roll with lettuce and tomato

Bow-tie pasta salad- Bow-tie pasta, garlic, spinich, pine nuts...amazing

Ruggelach and triple chocolate cake- Oftentimes found on the same platter, these two desserts are fresh baked, moist, and heavenly

Honorable mentions: Chopped liver, sour cream chicken, bok choy salad

Those are my Nana's greatest hits. I know many people have the same affinity for Nana's that I do. Feel free to share your favorites!

FiDi Lunch Find

Today, a co-worker took me to a new lunch spot right by the World Financial Center (235 South End Avenue in the Financial District (FIDI) to be exact) called Samantha's New York.

I know this place sounds like some kind of trendy bistro, but it is a fantastic and cheap italian deli serving up huge subs and italian entrees.  It's a little out of the way and I guess you would only go if you worked in the area, but this place makes a great sandwich.  I have complained in the past that NYC doesn't have great italian sub options (the best I have had was in Hoboken from a place called Vito's) but Samantha's is right up there with the best I have had.

Today, I had a sub with chicken cutlet, mozzarella, hot peppers, and balsamic and it was excellent- hot, fresh, and delicious.  I think next time I will try the Combo Special Hero #5 with ham, salami, provolone, lettuce, tomatoes, and peppers.

If you work in the area, I would highly recommend this deli.  If you are bored on a weekend (or during the week if you have some time to spare) I would check this place out.  It is the real deal and was a pleasant surprise during an otherwise monotonous workday.

Weekend Food Review

Monday is a great day to reflect on what you ate over the weekend. This weekend, I happened to have food experiences that ranged from mediocre to delicious and I'd like to share them with you.

On Friday night, I went with Michael and Teddy to Ono, a trendy Japanese restaurant in the Meatpacking District. Normally, these are not my favorite restaurants; however, they were featuring the restaurant week menu, which includes an appetizer, entree, and dessert for $35. Overall, while the atmosphere was cool, the food was just ok- it would be a huge ripoff to go under normal circumstances. I would actually argue that the $15 wine pairing was the highlight of the meal. Three glasses of wine for $15 is pretty good, especially in NYC. At least the company was good.

On Saturday, I unfortunately found myself on Long Island visiting my grandma in the hospital (she is doing better now, thanks for asking). On our way there, I realized that we were very close to Bobby Flay's new burger joint, Bobby's Burger Palace and insisted that we stop. The restaurant features gourmet burgers, amazing fries, and shakes...menu here. I had the Philadelphia burger- provolone cheese, grilled onions, and hot peppers. Throw in an order of sweet potato fries with honey mustard horseradish dipping sauce, and assorted condiments like jalapeno hot sauce and chipotle ketchup, and I was in business. Word on the street is that they are opening one of these down the shore (Monmouth Mall), so be on the lookout!

The last food experience I wanted to discuss with you today occurred later that evening at Diana's friends' Karen and Sara's birthday party at their apartment in Brooklyn. Their friend is a pastry chef at Momofuku Milk Bar, and although she wasn't at the party, she dropped off cupcakes that she had made. I can't even describe these things. There was carmelized burnt toast on top, a cinnammon cream cheese frosting, and coffee cake on bottom. It was truly incredible. If the Milk Bar is half as good as these cupcakes sign me up.

This weekend is a perfect example of how just because a restaurant is expensive doesn't mean it's good! Burgers and cupcakes work for me.

A Night at Le Bernardin with Chef Eric Ripert (and Diana's Family)

Last night, Diana's family took me to Le Bernardin to celebrate her graduation from grad school. I had first heard about this restaurant from watching Top Chef, as Le Bernardin's chef Eric Ripert was a frequent guest judge on the show (Here's Chef Ripert). For those of you who don't know about Le Bernardin, it is one of five restaurants in NYC with a four star rating from the New York Times, along with Daniel, Jean George's, Masa, and Per Se. Zagat's rates the restaurant a 28/27/27 for food/decor/service. Simply put, it is the number two or three best restaurant in NYC, if not arguably number one.

Overall, the meal consisted of a six course prix fixe, primarily focused on celebrating the freshness of seafood. Prior to receiving menus, an amuse busche (a one or two bite appetizer to whet your appetite) was brought out for us, which featured bits of lobster and potato in a ginger sauce. The next three courses were categorized as, "almost raw", "barely touched", and "lightly cooked" in order to accentuate the freshness of the fish and how little one needs to do to make fresh fish taste good.

While we were deciding on what to order I noticed that Chef Ripert was standing at the table behind us. I immediately recognized him from TV. As he approached our table, Diana's mom jokingly told him that we were confused about what to order. He quickly smiled, and in his french accent said that everything was good or it wouldn't be on the menu. Soon after, he returned to the kitchen. I have to say that the guy is very charismatic- you can tell why he is on TV. Now that I know he was at the restaurant that night, I like to think that he was the one preparing our meals.

For my almost raw course, I ordered the "Tuna" which featured a layer of thinly pounded yellowfin tuna, blanketing a strip of foie gras which was affixed to a toasted baguette. Shaved chives and extra virgin olive oil decorated the plate and enhanced the flavor of the fish. The fish was perfectly fresh, and the richness of the foie gras and the crispiness of the baguette were divine.

My choice for barely touched was the "Calamari"- sauteed calamari stuffed with prawns and wood ear mushroom. The dish was served in a bowl, and when presented, a waiter poured a calamari broth around the food. While the calamari was delicious, I did find that the broth slightly dulled the flavors. If I could do it over again, I would order what Diana had, which was peekytoe crab in a black truffle sauce, served with sliced cauliflower. I tried hers, and it was fabulous. Luckily, she was already getting full and I got to have 1/3 of her dish as well.

To conclude the savory portion of the meal, I ordered the "Skate" as my lightly cooked course. The skate was described as "au bambou", referring to the spiced bamboo broth that was poured around the fish similarly to the calamari course. The fish was cooked perfectly- incredibly moist, and served with cellophane noodles and wood ear mushroom. The broth was so packed with flavors from the Asia-Pacific region that I almost felt like I was on vacation.

Once we completed the "lightly cooked" portion of the meal, our table was cleared and dessert menus were provided. I ordered the "Chocolate - Peanut", which was a dark chocolate, peanut, and caramel tart, served with a meyer lemon puree, peanut powder, and a small serving of praline - citrus sorbet. So read that again and take a shot in the dark about whether or not you think I liked it. Amazing. The intensity of the chocolate and the slight sourness of the citrus sorbet was magnificent and perfectly complemented one another.

Just when I thought that the meal was complete, the waiter brought out a small plate for each of us featuring four bite-sized desserts. At this point I almost blacked out, but I am pretty sure there was a cream puff, a dark chocolate truffle, a salty caramel tart served in a pastry shell, and a small almond cake (tasted like marzipan) served over a white chocolate wafer. Keep in mind that each one of these was easily no bigger than a quarter. When I say bite-sized, they were bite-sized for everyone, not just for me. Each bite was incredible, and after the salty caramel tart, I almost started laughing it was so good. A perfect end to an excellent and memorable meal.

You know, this type of food isn't for everyone. Some people may read this and think to themselves that they would much rather have a cheeseburger and fries. I think that a meal like this needs to be appreciated for what it is- a display of creativity and art through food. The course names and flavor pairings created a unique culinary experience unlike anything I have tried before. While some days I would prefer a burger and fries, I had been looking forward to this meal for a week and it went beyond meeting my expectations. One four star restaurant down, four to go. Thanks Chef Ripert!

Pizza

I know I sound like Jerry Seinfeld, but what's the deal with the chain pizza places in New York City? I just don't get it. By chain, I'm not talking about Ray's or Abitino's or anything like that. I'm talking about those chains you find in the midwest like Domino's and Papa Johns.

The only arguement that wins with these chains is that its cheaper. No one can possibly say that pizza from these places is better. The crust is always soggy, the sauce tastes canned, the toppings aren't fresh. Simply put, these pizzas are awful. And yet people still order from these places. Some of Mike's co-workers actually request this pizza.

The question is, if you are tight on cash, is it actually worth ordering from these places? As a case study, I selected 10 random pizza delivery places and priced their large cheese pizza. I then compared them against Papa Johns and Dominos. All results were based on prices per menupages.com:

Abitino's- $15.95 (15 inch)
NY Delicious Pizza- $13
Pizza & Pita- $13
Bravo Pizza- $17.07
Ray's-$16.50

Low-End Average- $15.10

Artichoke- $20
Mozzarelli's-$16
Two Boots- $16.95
Pizza 33- $17.50
Adrienne's- $16.50

High-End Average- $17.39

And per the chain pizza place websites:

Domino's- $12.99
Papa John's $12.99

Chain vs. low end- $2.11 more for low end
Chain vs. high end- $4.40 more for high end

Based on these price differences, I can understand if someone doesn't want to pay an extra $4.40 for a high end pizza. However, not ordering from a low end place for $2.11 more is absurd. Now, I understand that might be a decent amount of money to some people, but if you are working/living in Manhattan, $2.11 is nothing. Additionally, I think that generally the pizzas are larger from real pizzerias than from the chains, so you may even have leftovers, which makes it completely worth it. A chain pizza place is not that much cheaper than a lower end new york pizzeria. Please spread the word and stop eating this crap.

Stanton Social

I really like food. I love eating, I love going out to eat, I love creative food, I don't mind cooking sometimes. Top Chef is one of my favorite TV shows, but that is for another post.

The other night I went to Stanton Social for dinner with Diana. I really love that place. You know, the food is good, its not amazing. But it tastes good, and its fun. I think that is what matters the most to me.

They basically have a lot of small plates that you can share. For our meal, I started with a Jalapeno, blood orange margarita. Then we shared spicy glazed edamame, tuna tartare roll, squid lettuce wraps, a kobe slider, and a grilled cheese slider. In the past, I've also had the french onion soup dumpings, the sweet and sour spring roll, and some other stuff. I think I just love little food- cocktail hours, hours 'd vours, all that stuff. That is one of my restaurant ideas- all you can eat cocktail hour food. Every meal would be like a party- who wouldn't like that?