Bottino

Chilled Cucumber Soup, 13 on Olive, and Chocolate Chip Cookie

Tiramisu Bread Pudding

Somehow, I have worked 4 blocks from Bottino for 1 1/2 years and never gone there for lunch. What's worse? I've lived around the corner for 6 months. All my coworkers go there on a somewhat regular basis, but for one reason or another the stars just never aligned. Today, was my day. To make up for lost time, I ordered a soup, sandwich, cookie AND bread pudding. Don't worry, I didn't eat it all at once.

Terri-bly Good!

I was having one of those SeamlessWeb.com moments while I was searching for dinner where everything sounded good, but I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of choice. Did I want Indian? Italian? Mediterranean? Sometimes too many options is a bad thing. 


Unexpectedly, it was a little Vegan/Vegetarian sandwich shop that wound up catching my eye called Terri Vegetarian. Something about a highly user rated vegan Meatball Sub really piqued my curiosity. I got an order of that for The Mr and a Roasted Vegetable wrap for myself. I was also pretty captivated by the sides, so much so that I got three: raw kale chips, bean salad, and quinoa salad.

To Chelsea Market, To Chelsea Market

The Loot

Today I did something I rarely do, I actually did a little shopping at Chelsea Market. Usually I'm in and out as I grab my lunch, but today I decided to take a few minutes to stop and smell the vinegars as it were. My first stop was, as you may have guessed, to The Filling Station. After tasting my way around for a bit I settled on a bottle of Fig Balsamic and a bottle of Coconut Balsamic. I also picked up a small bottle of their regular Balsamic for my desk at work.

Get your tail to Lobster Place

Thai Squid Salad

Ok, so everyone knows that The Lobster Place has a killa lobster roll, but not everyone knows that they kill it at other sandwiches, soups, salads, and sushi. If it's a food group that involves seafood and starts with the letter 'S', Lobster Place is all over it. (Do me a favor and don't think about this too long, as I'm sure you can find a contradiction.)

Newbie News Roundup

• Umami Burger is coming to NYC! I recently had the opportunity to try this amazing place during a visit to LA and I am stoked. But I will have to go back to LA for some more, because there is no way I can wait until the end of 2012 to enjoy these burgers again.
• Like drinking on rooftops? Then this is the site for you.
• The Porch opens ON the High Line.
• The New York Chocolate Show announces this year's dates: Chocolate-mania will descend upon NYC Nov 10th-13th. Of course, we hope to attend and cover this delicious event.
• Klee Brasserie is closing. Chef Daniel Argerer will re-open the space as an Austrian heuriger (or wine bar). 

So Much More Than Just Salad

With summer comes a yearning for fresh fruits and veggies and I've been craving salads like nobody's business. But after a while you get sick of the predictable lettuce, tomato, cucumber blend and want to mix it up a bit. To my delight, while perusing Seamless, I happened upon a restaurant named "Just Salad". I'm a believer in specialty stores, since they are focused on just one thing and their menu was exactly what I've been looking for- lots of interesting options. In fact, there were so many that I had a really hard time choosing. In the end, I took a gamble on one of their Summer Salads: The Jalapeno Popper. Here's the description:

Butter and iceberg lettuce, fresh jalapeños, kettle popcorn, aged white Cheddar, radishes, Mandarin oranges. Suggested dressing: buttermilk ranch.


So maybe you can see why I called it a bit of a gamble. Popcorn in a salad? Say what?! The reason I even dared to order this is because one of my favorite Jelly Belly combos is to eat a Jalapeno jelly bean along with one of their Buttered Popcorn flavored jelly beans and it tastes kind of like a Jalapeno Popper. I figured the same flavor trick might happen in this salad. And boy was I right. Oh man. This might not be everyone's thing, but it was sooooooooo good. I will certainly be spending the rest of my summer enjoying this new find as well as exploring the rest of their pre-prepared salad combinations!

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish from Acme

White Fish, Smoked Salmon, Pastrami Salmon, & Blue Fish

A coworker who lives in Brooklyn brought in some goodies from Acme Smoked Fish to go with our Friday Bagels at work. My favorite was definitely the pastrami cured salmon although they were all good! Really made coming in to the office on a half day worth the trip!