lots of meals out last month while sarah was in town, and we definitely ate well!

restaurants + coffee shops.

when sarah was in town we had dinner with michael at the newly-opened ruthie’s in carroll gardens. we shared the beet starter and the peach & burrata salad between the three of us, and for the main course sarah and i shared the sunday roast dinner special for two. according to the server the order for one person is served bone-in but when shared between two it is served without bones, but based on feedback they have received that may or may not change. either way, our roast was delicious and michael enjoyed his burger and we had a great time.

dinner must be followed by dessert, so after ruthie’s michael took us to the chocolate room. their chocolate cake has been praised by oprah, so we obviously had to try it for ourselves. we split a piece between the three of us [it’s huge] and each ordered a hot chocolate [dark for sarah and spiced for michael and myself] and enjoyed a decadent end to our evening along with some fascinating people watching.

compton’s opened a second location a block away from my place, and sarah and i grabbed lunch there one day. their sandwiches are so good and are big enough to last two meals, and it makes me a little nervous knowing how close this spot is.

while searching for a place to cowork one day in the lower east side sarah and i discovered pause cafe. they have a cozy indoor space with individual tables, a community table, and a bar at the window, and they also have an assortment of tables outside should that be your preference. great spot, met a rockstar, will return.

through sheer luck i scored a reservation at dhamaka and had a great dinner there with abi and sarah. the lamb shank is so tender the meat just falls off the bone, and the goat neck biryani was also great. sarah had the genius idea to order the mango lassi in lieu of dessert, and it was perfect. it reminded me of my masi’s homemade aamras, and i slurped it down. i do think semma is better across the board, but if you are able to get a table here definitely go. pro tip: reservations fill up as soon as they are available, so be as flexible as possible; if you’re planning a visit to the city, check resy a month out so you’ll know as soon as bookings become available // if you’re on your own, go early and you might be able to get a solo seat at the bar

sarah needed greek at least once during her visit, so we met matt at elias corner for dinner one night. we had a great spread of dips and greek salad and lemon potatoes and broccoli and sea bass, and we left barely a crumb behind. they have a lot of other fish that sound delicious so i am sure i will return, especially since it’s 50 meters from my front door.

katie mayfield and had both been wanting to try rosatoro, so that was our choice for our october dinner. we shared the avocado salad, katie had the seafood soup, and i had the paella. everything was great, highly recommend.

on sarah’s birthday we saw six! and then walked over to taco mahal’s hell’s kitchen location for dinner. we split some masala fries, sarah had the chicken tikka masala naan taco, and i had the lamb curry naan taco. it was all great, and the chicken tikka was the best thing we had. will go back.

katie made a quick visit for a work event and requested to eat at this year’s momo crawl winner, so off to om wok in jackson heights we went. their potato momos are delicious, and we all agreed we liked the c-momo with the sauce the best.

michael and i had a lovely friend dinner at al di la trattoria in park slope for his birthday, and while i forgot to take photos you’ll have to take my word for it that it was very good. we shared a radicchio salad, he had duck ragu and i had pork shoulder ragu for mains, and for dessert he had affogato and i had a delicious chocolate hazelnut ice cream whipped cream situation that was very dreamy. pro tip: they accept a few walk ins, but i recommend making a reservation to be safe; even on a monday night they were packed

some favorites i returned to this month: gupshup [near union square] / phayul [jackson heights] / vera thai [sunnyside] / anjappar [murray hill] / nom wah [chinatown] / chinatown ice cream factory [chinatown] / saravanaa bhavan [murray hill] / semma [greenwich]

bars.

if you’re ever in the market for a great cocktail bar in the lower east side, look no further than nurse bettie. it’s a cool, small space, the bartenders are friendly, and the cocktails are great.

i finally made it to mosaic, a great cocktail bar down the street from me. i had the smoke show which is essentially an old fashioned that smells like a campfire and it was fantastic.

on the night maggie and sarah finally met, after dinner in chinatown we wandered through nolita and the bowery until we found sláinte which was exactly what we were searching for. great bar, nice tables, good music that’s not overpowering, and a nice space.

when katie was here we had a few drinks at bar primi in the bowery, a lovely cocktail bar maggie recommended. the drinks were great, our bartenders daria and emma were super nice, and those tomato rice balls were the perfect snack to hold us over until dinner. daria makes a mean old fashioned, if that is of interest to you.

shops.

you know i’m a sucker for tiny bookshops, and east village books has the added bonus of having a huge collection of vintage postcards for customers to parse through. some are blank and others have notes you can read from places far and wide, and it’s fun to sift through them and guess the lives of the people who sent them.

made it back to books are magic for a proper visit with sarah and discovered their very awesome section of translated books. i have been wanting to read more books translated from other languages and so was very excited to see their curated list. they also have some great birthday card selections which i loved because apparently all of my friends were born in october.

i had a great time eating all the delicious food last month, but this month i hope to diversify my adventures a bit!

xx