Restaurant Week at Dovetail

[Note: I'm holding off writing posts that are non-Restaurant Week for the time being unless I do manage to squeeze in something between visits before this event is over. For those of you who are interested in RW, you have about another week to eat out.]

Dovetail was on my list of restaurants that I thought of eating one day. Not the MUST EAT list but something to try once. What sparked my interest was Frank Bruni’s review but reading a few different food forums, like Chowhound and e-Gullet over the past recent months, the foodie/gourmand community to appears to have a lukewarm or mixed response; also a friend of mine who went there a few months ago told me of a disappointing experience. I was ambivalent but I thought, “What the heck, it’s Restaurant Week. It’s not like I’m going to try their tasting menu and spend an absurd amount of money.” And took the available reservation the past Thursday afternoon.

Interior Interior

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Matsugen – Restaurant Week but done a la carte

I made plans with Giulia several weeks ago to have lunch during Restaurant Week. I’m itching to try out new restaurants rather than my safe and dependable restaurants during this time of the year (e.g. Gramercy Tavern and Eleven Madison Park), so I proposed Matsugen. I heard generally good to very good reviews around the web so I thought this place wouldn’t let me down.

Matsugen
Bar & Lounge Area Sushi Bar Area
Matsugen’s Exterior and Interior

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Stuffed Cheeseburgers at Stumble Inn

The past Friday, I’ve finally eaten out with Mary and her friend and fellow co-worker, Mei. How Mary and I know each other was actually through Robyn. Small world, no?

We’ve been discussing for nearly several weeks about getting together for lunch and despite the fact that it’s recruitment season (Mary being snowed in with a TON of work by her bosses), she promulgated that Friday would be our lunch date, whether her bosses like it or not. Hey, I don’t mind. I don’t have anything urgent to take care of on my end. After exchanging several emails with Mary and Mei, we finally decided upon having our faces stuffed with stuffed cheeseburgers from Stumble Inn, after I was inspired after reading A Hamburger Today’s post about this place.

Stumble Inn Interior
Menu cover & Interior

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A Moment of Pride…

My photo is featured in Forbes’ Magazine’s favorite restaurant picks. [Points down]

Forbes' tearsheet FOR REALZ?!

I almost forgotten about this and thought it wouldn’t happen since I’m just a wee food-and-photo obsessed blogger. I mean, I’m sure that there are a lot of professional photographers out there who could easily take an exponentially better photo than I could and somehow I’ve been “discovered.”

How this happened was that the photo editor of Forbes contacted me and requested to use my photo of Cafe Boulud (this one) about a month ago. Since I haven’t heard anything more beyond the first few days, I presumed they’re not using my photo. However, the same person emailed me yesterday and told me that I was featured and gave me the link.

All I could say is, “Wow…I feel humbled.” I just wish they do linkbacks but obviously it’s hard to do for a caption but it’s better than no credit (Duh!).

If you would like to see the actual page, here is the link. Just be warned that their slideshow starts automatically within a few seconds.

Thanks to Forbes for featuring me and to all of you guys for (silently) rooting for me.

Re-visit to Jean Georges

This was taken place before the New Year’s, December 29th. Yeah, I’m behind.

Interior
Interior

It’s been a year hiatus since I’ve been to Jean Georges and I thought it’s about time to eat there again before New Year’s dawns upon us.

Food Menu Menu

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Happy (Belated) New Year!

Gentle bubbles
Cheers!

Happy belated new year everyone! I hope all of you had a great time partying all night long or had a quiet time at home with friends and family. If you’re wondering what the heck I did, I went with the latter option. I’m not exactly the nightlife-lovin’ gal. I just shared a bottle of Prosecco with my family at midnight and made this cake several hours before. [Points down]
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Hot Chocolate from Vosges, Dim Sum Feast at Chatham Square Restaurant and My First Taste of Bubble Tea

The day after my Payard dinner, I was crazy enough to schedule to have dim sum with my friends, Seungmi and Giulia, whom I haven’t seen for months. I love these girls to death but hell, my stomach’s filled with French food and desserts and after that evening, I thought I couldn’t eat anymore. Obviously, I underestimated my hunger…
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Holiday Dinner at Payard

Payard Payard
Payard’s exterior

Last Friday, my former boss (sort of – it’s complicated) invited me to his lab’s holiday dinner. Problem was, his current assistant told me about his plans the last minute (technically, three days prior to the dinner) and needed some suggestions as to where to eat. Thankfully, me being the crazy, food-lovin’ girl that I am I figured we should go to Payard. It’s close to work, the food’s good from what I heard (I only tried their desserts), it’s within the budget he wanted to work with and they have vegetarian options.
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