Essex Restaurant and Brunch Celebration

Unlike most people that take Sunday as a day of rest (or to cure their hangover from the night before) I awoke early this Sunday morning to venture off to brunch and celebrate Sunday with great food and drinks. The Lower East Side, probably one of my favorite New York City neighborhoods, was the place to go. One place to check out if you're in the area is Essex Street Market on Essex Street. It's a huge venue filled with different merchants selling the best and most gourmet sorts of produce, from meats to pastas and sauces. If you're a great cook, it's a great place to pick up some ingredients for a home cooked meal. If you're not (ahem, myself) a cook by any means, it's still a great place to go and check out some great foods to make some simple recipes with.

Located within the Essex Street Market is brunch haven: Essex restaurant. The interior of the place is the perfect ambiance for a fun day of drinking and dining, with it's modern decor and DJ spinning pumping jams.
Most notably, is the brunch menu. Brunch is offered on Saturdays and Sundays every weekend during the afternoon, and it is only $16 (yes, you heard me correctly) for brunch and three glasses of either mimosas, bloody mary's, or screwdrivers. The best part is that the waitresses honestly don't count your glasses, so I ended up having about five glasses of mimosas! The food and the presentation are amazing as well.
I chose a veggie favorite, which consisted of spinach over eggs benedict. It came with homefries, mixed greens, and the hollandaise sauce was superb.

My friend ordered the crispy potato pancakes with sauteed apples, honey cream sauce, and spinach shitake black bean hash. It looked absolutely amazing!


Last, but certainly not least, my other friend ordered the "Aristocrat" (see below) which was a potato pancake topped with salmon, poached eggs, and salmon caviar.


All this food talk is making my mouth water. Next time you're being lazy on a weekend morning, suggest to your friends a day out to brunch at Essex and scout out the Essex Marketplace (note: while the restaurant is open the marketplace is closed on Sundays) on 120 Essex St.

Until next time, happy eating!

Bianca

Rachael Ray

To my food fans,
I would take Rachael Ray any day. Her Thirty Minute Meals and her $40 a day is a guilty pleasure of mine to watch while I attempt to cook myself some dinner (notice the word attempt). Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to do what Rachael Ray did on her show of $40 a day and show everyone how to have a great time on a tight budget. Can you really only spend $40 a day on dining in New York City? Mad TV doesn't seem to think so. Here's their little joke about Rachael's $40 a day segment when her budget goes farther than expected.

I'm off to bed. Sweet dreams (of food of course)!
Bianca

Getting Cosi with Republic

Hey Food Fanatics!
The days are slowly winding down to the official days of fall, so I thought what better than to drag my friend down to Union Square to indulge ourselves into some good hot broth noodles. Republic is an amazing Asian restaurant with a cool twist: They make their noodles fresh daily. The dishes are inexpensive and leave you with the warm, satisfied feeling without that food coma of other foods. First, we started off with the tequila mojitos, a twist of a mango mojito because of the different juices such as orange and lime with a kick of tequila. There was no specific reason to cheers or celebrate, except that we got to drink these, delicious (and very strong) drinks which were $10 a glass. Glancing over the menu, I always rush to the broth noodles section because I love the texture of the fresh rice noodles smothered in a hot broth. My favorite is the seafood broth noodles, which comes with noodles, shrimp, scallops, watercress, carrots and bean sprouts for a mere $9 and it never fails to fill me up! The watercress definitely gave the broth a bit of a kick which makes it my favorite dish on the menu. Republic also serves pad thai and many rice dishes so people who are wary of the broth noodles definitely have other options. Besides the great food, the atmosphere is great. The dim indoor lighting and clean structured wooden tables along with the low yet adrenaline pumping music keeps the crowd satisfied. Republic is located at 37 Union Square West (by 16th Street) so hurry up before fall begins so you can sit outside, slurp on some noodles and enjoy the beautiful view of Union Square which is directly across the street!

The dinner might have been over but I knew there was one place I needed to head over to before the night was over. To make a day out of a Union Square trip to Republic, you can run over to Trader Joe's and stock up on $2 Buck Chuck, their delicious cheap bottles of wine (well $3 in NYC because the city is so damn expensive) or go shopping at the various retail stores in the area. However, I opted for dessert. Most of you have probably passed a Cosi (on 13th and Broadway)or two in your lifetime while wandering aimlessly through the city. They are seen merely as something to overtake the corporate lunch crowd with soups and sandwiches. What a lot of people don't realize is they have the best dessert ever: S'MORES! There's nothing like a fun way to celebrate the start of fall than sitting down to two cups of hot chocolate (with whipped cream, of course) and some s'mores for two.
The s'mores come complete with their own fire pit, Hershey bar, graham crackers enough for two s'mores each, and lots of mellows! The only thing you have to do is the roasting.
With the s'mores package for two at $7.50 and each cup of hot chocolate ranging at around $3, dinner and dessert altogether leaves me more than enough money for lunch tomorrow. What better way to stay warm and have fun with friends or even a date and say cheers to fall?

Until next time, Happy Eating!

Bianca.

Show Your Hospitality, in a Southern Way

It's the beginning of September, which means back to my final year of school and me moving back into my Upper East Side apartment. One of the first places I dragged my friends to was Southern Hospitality, a Memphis BBQ joint located on 77th Street btw. 2nd and 3rd Avenues. While most people might wonder why this was my restaurant of choice, I have only two words: Justin Timberlake. The Southern BBQ place is owned by no other than international music icon Justin Timberlake, so I was curious to check it out. Once walking in the restaurant, I noticed the back wall had a red painting of Elvis, as well as photographs of Johnny Cash and that pleasant aroma of BBQ.
Our first course was the fried pickles. Being a pickle fanatic, I was eager to try these fried yet sour treats, and I think I found a new love. The side of spicy mayo to dip the tangy pickles in made them all the more amazing. Afterwards, I worked my way over to my entree. I chose the fried catfish, complete with fries, coleslaw, and corn on the cob for only $16! While it tasted more like "fried" than "fried catfish", the sides really made the meal all the more better. The big question is, would I rush to go here if it wasn't JT's restaurant? Probably not, but for cheap prices ($5-$22 per appetizer or entree and $6 draft beers) it's definitely a place to show your hospitality, even if you're not southern!

*SIDE NOTE
After the meal, you might want to check out Housing Works Thrift Shop on 202 77th St. (btw. 2nd and 3rd). It's a thrift shop filled with designer pieces up for auction (an Escada beaded coat for $95) or even designer items ready to buy, such as the $50 Prada flats. It was too bad they were too small for my feet! It's also great for apartment furniture shopping because of their $200 couches in mint condition. The best part is that you're actually helping homeless men, women and children who are HIV positive get proper meals and shelter. Housing works is a nonprofit organization filled with volunteer employees and all of the money for the donated items goes towards this organization! So get your bid on and do something good for yourself as well as others.

Until next time, Happy Eating!
Bianca

Glamour and Gluttony

For as long as I can remember, food has always been a passion of mine. Whether quiet dinners with my family, or late night dinners with friends, food is something that brings everyone together. Once moving to New York City, my sincere interest in food was anything but obsolete. I am constantly going to new spots with new types of cuisine and culture to test my palate, but most important is having a great experience in fine dining without breaking my budget (the word "income" is still pretty foreign to be, being a senior in college).
Creating this blog will allow me to have food lovers experience my dining options and to allow a dull afternoon with friends turn into a delicious dining frenzy. Not only will I be scouting out restaurants (complete with food pictures, of course) but also taking into account proper price options for those on a tight budget. I will be commenting on taste, prices, specialties and specialty drinks.
Another side note to my blog will be interesting places in the area I am dining in. Mainly thrift shops, dessert bars, coffee places, anything that is unusual or can bring friends together and create a lasting experience. I hope everyone reading this blog is as passionate about food as I am, and I can't wait to offer you these tasty choices. After all, they're digitally delicious!

Cheers!
Bianca.