New Yorkers, we can rejoice for the return of The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck! I did miss the first time Doug Quint, the one of the owners of BGICT, when he did graced his presence at Union Square two weeks ago. To those of you who are not familiar with Doug and Bryan’s truck, they’re the awfully funny and cool guys who run a Mr. Softee truck that’s pretty much an anti-Mr. Softee, if that made sense.
Yes, they do sell the traditional shakes, soft serve with the dips, nuts, and/or sprinkles but, when you visit this truck you want their unusual, over-the-top sundaes.
The ever popular, Big Gay Ice Cream Truck around 6:50 PM
Waayy back on August 26th (yeah, I know I’m absurdly behind), I met up with Gordon, for a potential outing to eat one of Big Gay Ice Cream Truck‘s creations. Problem for that particular date, if you follow BGICT’s Twitter, he didn’t make it to Union Square within my lunch hour because of mechanical issues with his truck.
A bit disappointed, I resorted to think of somewhere else to have ice cream that none of us (as in me, Gordon, and my friend Giulia) had and it’s close to Union Square, I thought of Stogo. Frankly, I’m not a fan of vegan ice cream. It sounds like an oxymoron – ice cream that doesn’t contain dairy. But I thought, “what the heck, try it once and move on if it doesn’t work out.”
Frozen vegan offerings
By the time we walked over to Stogo, I’m at a loss as to what to get. Frankly, I’m hesitant to get anything just because I wouldn’t call this ice cream since it lacks dairy and without dairy, it doesn’t have that wonderful creaminess that I love in ice cream.
I’ve went to Tocqueville toward what’s supposedly the last few days of Restaurant Week. The thing to know is, Tocqueville has a year-round prix fixe for the same price. I went there just because it’s close to where a friend of mine works (I wanted to say “hi” to him.), I wanted to try a certain dish that’s available a la carte, and I haven’t been to this restaurant after it moved from its previous location over two years ago.
Interior
The small yet elegant dining room was occupied by a few gentlemen behind me, sitting in the center where the plush banquettes were located with Spanish acoustic music playing moderately loud.
Bread service, my bread plate, and gougeres
During bread service, the waiter told me three options available – brioche, rosemary cheese stick, and a white roll. I’ve opted for the brioche, found it a bit too dense and eggy, and the rosemary cheese stick which I truly liked a lot from its sharp, cheese flavor (that melted and created a lovely crust) with rosemary studded throughout the bread stick with sea salt flakes heightened the flavors. All bread were served warm but my little issue was the butter, that’s a bit too cold to be spreadable against the pillow-y brioche. The gougeres were served a bit later. Warm, airy but not as cheesy as the bread stick. Continue reading “Lunch at Tocqueville” »
For several years, I’ve been dying to go to Casa Mono just because I read about their tasty tapas in a publication (I think it was The New York Times?) that extolled the food. Also hearing it from several foodies helps build my excitement to eat there as well. But I haven’t gone there since I didn’t know anyone who would eat there with me. That’s until I met up with my Aussie reader, Suzen and her friend Sarah who was interested in trying out the food. Woot. Continue reading “Tapas at Casa Mono” »
The last two days of the official Restaurant Week, I’ve had lunch with my co-workers at Aquavit on Thursday and on Friday, I did a double-header of lunch (with Ariel at Town) and dinner (with Ariel and Helen). The first one is very familiar since I went there last year and the latter two were new places just to expand our horizons of what the city can offer.
Aquavit Dining Room Interior
At Aquavit, the menu was very similar to last year’s except the fact that I’m eating in the Dining Room and the small tweaks in the menu. Instead of the avocado soup, they served the chilled corn soup for the appetizer; replacing the grilled salmon, they had the hot smoked salmon, and finally for dessert, they substituted the chocolate peanut butter cake with a chocolate custard cake. Continue reading “Wrapping Up The Rest of Restaurant Week – Aquavit, Town, and Blue Water Grill” »
I kicked off Restaurant Week (back on Tuesday, January 22nd) with lunch with my three girl friends: Giulia, Seungmi, and Helen, at Devi. Yep, we’re exploring into realm of haute Indian cuisine since what we’ve encounter in our pasts were heavy, greasy, fire breathing-spicy Indian food. We had high hopes for this place since I’ve heard a lot about it on Chowhound. And yes, I do acknowledge the fact that they do serve a prix fixe lunch on a normal basis but we craved Indian food.
Earlier before I had my actual late lunch with Sam (last Thursday) on the previous post, I did have an eye-opener of a dessert tasting at Dessert Studio at Michel Cluizel inside the luxurious bohemian housewares store, ABC Carpet & Home. This particular dessert bar, if you will, is ran by the well known, avant-garde pastry chef, Will Goldfarb, who used to run Room 4 Dessert about a year ago, which I admit I haven’t been to.
Anyways, back to the story. I went there around 1:30 on the awful Thursday afternoon with the cold wind and rain. I just thought of having something sweet or intriguing for the sake of making me happier. Hey, I love sweets; make it interesting and delicious, you got me.
I grabbed a table in this tiny seating space where lights were dim, not many people were here since it is bad outside and I don’t think anyone would want a full blown dessert at this time of the day…besides me. As I waited for the server to arrive, which is basically the same people who help out on the chocolate counter, I just perused the short dessert menu. Just look below.
Ya know, I should be paying attention of my intake of pastries these days, especially with the fact that my birthday’s next Friday. Aging would mean the slowing of metabolism, cholesterol levels are bound to be high by now, especially with the blood sugar levels with the stuff I’m eating. I would eat healthier foods but I would feel deprived if I don’t eat sweets or any “bad” foods. At least I’m working out…
A few days ago, I went back to Amai Tea & Bake House since everyone from the previous post about them, were commenting about trying out their scones and cookies. It seems strange that I came back so soon, but I was in the neighborhood and I was STARVING. I don’t know why, but I was.
As you’ll see on the photo below, I went insane for pastries. I ended up with a vanilla bean scone, an Early Grey and currant scone, a green tea matcha cookie, white tea and strawberry cookie, and an almond chai cookie. Yeah, that’s a lot…along with a side of lavender butter for an extra fifty cents.
Saturday was kind of unusual for me. It’s rainy yet warm, I feel so stinkin’ tired because I want to finish up my papers…and I passed by an anti-war protest in Union Square as I walked around the Greenmarket (or Farmers’ Market, as most New Yorkers call it). I know the latter didn’t make sense, but it follows the “unusual” part on a tangent…
