My dad is passing through Albuquerque and was looking for a good place to eat so I checked in with my sister-in-law, who lives there. Figured I’d share her suggestions which include: the Grove Cafe, Standard Diner, Farina (for wood oven pizza) and Artichoke Cafe (a fancier place).
Also for a funky New Mexican food place, there is Duran’s Pharmacy near Old Town – an old-fashioned pharmacy with a little restaurant that serves pretty decent stuffed sopapillas and green chile stew.
Filed under DINING, New Mexico
Found a copy of the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of Midwest Living on the library’s sale rack – so scooped it up since there’s always good recommendations on things to do in this neck of the woods. Here’s some restaurant recommendations:
– In Indianapolis, Recess (soup!)
– In Chicago, Gilt Bar and Restaurant on Magnificent Mile.
– Woodbury, Minnesota (where we have friends!), Apertif (rotisserie chicken) and in neighboring St. Paul, Heartland (clever meat and potatoes) and Clearwater, Minn., Nelson Bros. Restaurant (yes, at a restaurant on I-94; fritter french toast w/wild rice sausage)
– Omaha, Hiro 88 (sushi and more in the Old Market district)
– Madison, Wisc. L’Etoile (longstanding haute green cuisine in new location)
– Kansas City, Glace Artisan Ice Cream (peanut butter ice cream with swirl of strawberry jam…) and Succotash
– Traverse City, MI, Soul Hole (southern food in Old Town)
– Iowa City, Blue Bird Diner (Sunday brunch)
Filed under Chicago, DINING, Illinois, Indianapolis, Iowa, Iowa City, Kansas City, Michigan, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Omaha
I don’t get up to northwest Iowa often – especially on a weekend – but if/when I do, I plan to check out the Backroom Bistro, a restaurant in Sioux Center run by Giovanni Romano, a native New Yorker who somehow ended up in Iowa and is making killer bruschetta, stuffed shells, veal manicotti, giambotto, cannoli and lasagna Florentine, according to a surprising story in Sunday’s NYTimes. The bistro operates out of the back of the Fruited Plain Cafe, serving meals for 50 people on Friday and Saturday nights.
Didn’t expect snow when we landed at 10 this morning in Des Moines. Hope it melts soon. I got up at 3:45 a.m. for a 6 a.m. flight from LaGuardia.
Yesterday we braved the Bronx Zoo – and my friend who had the idea conveniently neglected to tell us that an Egyptian cobra had gone missing from the Reptile House. No joke. Which may explain why the place was so empty. I thought it was the cold weather and a March Monday. The good part is we had the place almost to ourselves – and we did not chance upon any cobras (although we did see some snakes, safely behind glass enclosures.)
I wandered around the charming narrow backstreets of the Meatpacking District, passing by various foodie havens included The Spotted Pig (restaurant) and Murray’s (cheese shop) for a few hours before meeting my brother and his lovely wife at Barbuto – a fashionable restaurant on Washington and 12th Streets. The crowd was a little too self-consciously fashionable for me and the ambiance a little too stark (post car-garage interior) but the food, by bigname chef Jonathan Waxman – was terrific. And the company, the best! My brother loved the roasted chicken, which had skin that was crispy without appearing breaded or battered or even fried. I had pot roast atop creamy white polenta that I initially mistook for mashed potatoes. Delicious. The side order of potatoes appeared to be prepared similarly to the chicken – very crispy but also not greasy and served with fresh dusting of Parmesan and sprigs of Rosemary. Yum.
Filed under DINING, New York City, Uncategorized
Warmer today and just as sunny – we had a very nice brunch at Henry’s, on Broadway near 107th Street. Good service, good food (bacon! eggs! french toast et.al.) and no wait for a table on a Sunday midday. Then to the Jewish Museum on 92nd Street and Fifth Avenue which I’ve never been to and thoroughly enjoyed (sometimes it’s good to be among my own….) The Maira Kalman show was a lot of fun – thoroughly enjoyed. Also liked the gift shop a lot which had fun Passover items, good books, etc. Since we were in the neighborhood, we checked on the 92nd Street Y on Lexington which I’ve long heard about but never been to. Great bastion of culture – a concert and dance performance were going on during our visit.
We walked south along Madison Avenue windowshopping, admiring the lovely formal children’s clothing, the housewares (my friend bought beautiful shower curtain material at a French shop, Madera), the designer boutiques, chocolate shops. We bumped, literally, into large colorfully dressed crowd that had performed in what was apparently a parade celebrating all things Greek. Further south, we dropped in at The Plaza Hotel and walked through the new (or new to me) fancy food court in the basement, tried to get tea in the Palm Court (it was 5 p.m. too late), and paid a visit to the Eloise portrait (a sentimental favorite.) Then taxied back to 108th and Riverside Drive. Nice New York day!
Filed under DINING, museum exhibit, New York City
More on-the-road suggestions from my friend Kathy:
We ended up eating a lot of Mexican food on this trip (not surprising, I suppose, since we spent so much time in Texas). We did hit a Whataburger once. It’s a chain that bills itself as a “Texas treasure” since the 1950s, and while it is still fast food, I must admit that when this semi-vegetarian first bit into a Whataburger, it reminded me of the drive-in burgers I used to eat when I was a kid. It’s a step above the big chains.
The other restaurant of note was Pappasito’s Cantina in Houston. It had come highly recommended. It’s a chain with restaurants scattered throughout the city and, from the lines forming out the door, a popular one. We waited for about a half hour with a pager in the parking lot, but since it was a balmy, full-moon spring night, the wait wasn’t terrible. The restaurant itself was roomy, and the food worth the wait. I had wonderful fish tacos: a couple of pieces of lovely fish, seasoned and grilled instead of breaded, with a big mound of homemade chunky guacamole and pico de gallo, rice and black beans. C. had steak and chicken fajitas that were also terrific.
I have walked past the Chicago Cultural Center dozens of times without ever noticing it – why, I don’t know. But today, I finally noticed and entered and was amazed at what a gorgeous building it is, full of intricate bejeweled mosaics, high ceilings with elegant mouldings, elegant glass domes including one by Tiffany. My son and I wandered through the public spaces and galleries (which were a bit tricky to find.) We stopped by the Vivian Maier show, which was worth a visit although not very extensive and seemed to be as much photos from New York and beyond as from chicago.
On the first floor, lots of people had gathered in seats in front of a stage where four musicians played a free concert. A sandwich bar in the lobby looked like a good lunch option.
For lunch, we went to The Gage, a lively gastropub on South Michigan – I had a hard time selecting an item from the menu because about all of them looked great. I finally settled on the mussels vindaloo – a huge bowl of freshly steamed juicy musles in a light burnt-umber colored broth with the not-over-powering Indian spice (Vindaloo can often mean searingly hot spice but this wasn’t.) My son had a huge hamburger with blue cheese that fortunately came with the upright fries piled into a mug-like bowl. All very good, pleasant and swift service, nice ambiance. Will definitely return.
We stopped at the Chicago Art Foundation to browse in the gift shop, one of the best around, and admire the huge model of downtown Chicago buildings. It’s got every building west of Oak Street and way past the loop. Incredibly cool. And every 15 minutes, the lights dim to simulate the sun hitting the buildings, casting some in high relief.
Filed under Chicago, DINING, museum exhibit
This comes courtesy of my friend Kathy who is on a road trip with her family from Des Moines to Houston via some of my favorite places, including most recently, Memphis. Before they left, Kathy’s family got some road food recommendations from a well-known BBQer in Des Moines who owns Woody’s. Here’s the first restaurant they tried in Memphis’ Germantown area. Can’t go wrong with a place that offers complimentary deviled eggs!!
The Germantown Commissary, 2290 S. Germantown Road in the Germantown area of Memphis. According to the menu, a commissary is another term for a Southern general store. Interesting decor, with twinkle lights, and bleached animal skulls, movie posters and old tin signs on the wood-paneled walls. Great dry-rub ribs and tamales smothered in chili and cheese. Excellent coleslaw. Almost every dish comes with a deviled egg. Homemade lemonade and sweet tea. We didn’t have room for dessert, but they looked great: tall layer cakes and cream pies.
Filed under DINING, Memphis, Uncategorized
An old friend in San Francisco called today which reminded me that I have some new Italian restaurants to try when I next visit her and that city I left my heart in after my first trip there with my mother when I was 16. These are from the NYTimes:
Delfina Pizzeria – actually been there, done that, in 2008 when I was last there (and I gave it a nice plug in Real Simple, which I wrote a travel story for). Would love to return.
Perbacco – 230 California Street. The pastas sound particularly good (taglierini with ragu of pork, porcini and Parmesan!)
La Ciccia – 291 30th Street (in Noe Valley, not far from the Sunset, where my friend lives) specializing in Sardinian food, a region I haven’t visited in Italy but is on my list – one more reason: its sheep’s cheeses) octopus in dark tomato sauce sounds great and thin-crust pizzas too.
Farina – 3560 18th street. (in the Mission District) – Ligurian specialities
Filed under California, DINING, San Francisco
TakeBetsywithyou
TakeBetsywithyou 