For What It's Worth


Tuesday, June 18, 2013

BEA 2013…..the food post (aka – the one y’all keep buging me to post) Warning! It’s loooong

I tried to get my BEA book post up in a timely fashion but then you’re all…where’s the food post?? I want the food p*rn post! SO demanding!! lol But here you go!

I promise to take a real camera next time because my phone takes the worst pictures, especially in low light conditions.

My first welcome to NYC snack was from my hotel – warm chocolate chip cookies from the Double Tree Inn

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The BEA breakfast of champions. Or more commonly known as…the only food available at Javits Center that early in the morning.

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But my favorite place for breakfast is Good Enough to Eat. No matter what I order it is always delicious. Plus the have strawberry butter to go with their fresh biscuits! Can I just say that bacon pictured was the best bacon I’ve ever had. It was thick, crispy and cooked so perfectly it melted.

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We wanted to try a few new places this time so we stopped for dinner at The Meatball Shop. (excuse my bad photos – low lighting made for blurry pics)

Meatballs

Each table has an erasable menu with a marker. You start by checking off the “naked balls” of your choice – beef, pork, chicken. veggie or the special, then pick your sauce and your sides.

The meatballs were good but it was the side dishes that were a standout. We got beef & pork meatballs – tomato & mushroom sauces with mashed potatoes, a cold roasted vegetable salad with a lemon vinaigrette (that was SO good!) and spinach.

Then dessert! You can make your own ice cream sandwich by choosing your cookie & then your ice cream. We made one using ginger snap cookies with vanilla ice cream YUM.

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Another new discovery was Café Blossom, a vegan restaurant that a friend of mine had recommended. I’m not vegan but I love my veggies and grains too! We loved this place so much we ate at two of their locations, on two different nights.

Cafe Blossom

We had Garlic Herb Gnocchi (not pictured) AMAZING, a quinoa salad with black beans, veggies & a guacamole topping, Smoked BBQ Tempeh with potato salad and fresh pico de gallo which was delicious! Cheesecake (meh) and chocolate mousse (yum) for dessert. The next night we brought a friend and had Roasted Vegetable quinoa, Seitan Marsala, Fettuccini Alfredo.

I highly recommend this place whether you’re vegetarian or not.

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We also tried a few new snack food places...

Bee’s Knees Baking Company. They have cake in a cup! We had the Chocolate Salted Caramel (the most popular flavor) and Honey Bourbon (which was so strong that I’m pretty sure I got drunk from it)

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Pie Face – mini pies – both sweet and savory. We bought a several sweet pies (pumpkin, chocolate cream cheesecake and apple crumble) but I would love to go back and try more! If you ever go you MUST try their Aussie iced coffee! Iced espresso blended with ICE-CREAM! Why are we not doing this in the US???? It’s a travesty. It would kill the Frappuccino.

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mail-19Two places we MUST go to every NYC visit is Tea & Sympathy for my scones and clotted cream (not as gross as it sounds – promise) and Magnolia Bakery. I’ve tried a lot of cupcakes in NY but these are still my favorite. I like the size and delicate texture with  the fluffy buttercream frosting. They remind of the cupcakes my mom used to make when I was a kid. I also got their banana cream pudding this time. It’s made with nilla wafers which apparently everyone thinks is unusual but that’s how my mom made it all the time when I was a kid. the recipe is right on the box.

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I do want to try this place the next time we visit NYC. I was just all cupcaked out at this point. I know…shocking! lol But I guess even I can have too many cupcakes.

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Eataly the restaurant/ Italian food Disney like theme park boasting Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich as partners. It’s crazy busy there and overpriced but the food is top quality and delicious.

We had a cheese/meat sampler, then pasta & pizza – ummm….forgot to take a picture first. It was good.

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Shake Shack! I can not go to NYC and NOT get Shake Shack. They have the best hamburgers and shakes. YUM. YUM. YUM.

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And the last place we went to was a totally new experience for me that I’ve been dying to try. My hubby & I were lucky enough to be invited to Dim Sum with Pam Midnyte Reader and Kate – Midnight Book Girl. Dim Sum intimidated me because I have no idea what the food is. Pam had been before but the rest of us were newbies at her mercy.

DimSum

The place was HUGE with food being carted around and you choose what you want to share with the table. A lot of of it is in dumplings so you have no idea what is inside. It’s a gamble (even though they tell you, it’s a generic answer– like pork. Okay but what part of the pig exactly??) I just kept saying – no chicken feet!

It was a little overwhelming at first and there were a few misses but almost all of it was amazing! Especially the dumplings (pic – top rt). OMG –they look bland but are so sweet and delicious. I also asked for tofu (pic – bottom rt) , expecting those firm cubes to mix with rice and Pam brought me a bowl of what could best be described as gelatinous, chunky goo. She had this face that said…hey – this is what you asked for lol Since I ordered it I decided to give it a shot. It was SO good. Really creamy like a dessert with a sweet honey flavor. We all ended up loving it. HUGE surprise.

I really have to try Dim Sum again. I will investigate it further beforehand though so I’m not as intimidated and (hopefully) know what I’m asking for.

So that’s it guys! I love BEA and all the books but thing I look forward to most is the food.

37 comments:

  1. BEA books and now food? As if I'm not jealous enough.

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    1. Honestly, Ithink I enjoy the food more than the books ;-)

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  2. Glad to hear that dim sum can by found in NYC. I live in the SF Bay Area and it's fairly common out here, but unknown in most other parts of the country. Sometimes, when we want to punk someone visiting from the East Coast, we tell them we are taking them out for Chinese food, then take them to a dim sum house. They get very confused......

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    1. I'm sure there are a lot of places in China Town. I'm unfamiliar with that area so I relied on my friend Pam. She chose an excellent place to start!

      Oh I bet that confuses people! First off, our "Chinese" food has been Americanized and then Dim Sum is a whole different thing on top of that. lol

      I'll definitely be trying it again.

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    2. I live near the Bay area and need to find those places JenM :) I did eat some food in chinatown

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    3. The main key to finding dim sum is that it's only served at lunch. If you find yourself in the City, try Yank Sing in the Rincon center downtown. the restaurant is upscale and a bit expensive, but you'll get really high quality food. Aside from that, I would recommend the City View which is also downtown on Commercial street near the Transamerica building. I know there are a bunch of places in Chinatown, but these two have servers that speak English so they can tell you what's inside their dumplings and other dishes. Even better is if you can get a Chinese friend to go with you LOL. Of course, half the fun is trying some random dumplings where you have no idea what's inside....

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    4. Thanks for the tips! I'll write those places down.

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  3. wow thanks for all the food places to drool over and new places to visit if I ever make it to NYC. I haven't ever tried dim sum yet. mmmmmm cupcakes ( in Homer simpson voice) xoxo

    I didn't bug you too much about this one lol xox

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    1. You bugged me more than anyone else lol

      One day we'll do this together!

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  4. Yummmm you killed me, everything looks delicious. Better than the books post lol *dies*

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    1. It really was. I know you would love Cafe Blossom!

      I really need to visit NYC when I'm not there for BEA. There isn't time for breakfast and I'm so tired a the end of the day that I just go somewhere close. It would be nice to be able to just wander and pick at things for a week rather than cramming it all into one or two days.

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    2. I'm sure, veggies! :) Shake Shack looks delicious *drools* and The Meat Ball Shop sounds interesting. That Aussie iced coffee I bet it's delicious, anything with icecream is a win for me.

      NYC intimidates me (it's so big and populated lol) but all that food looks worth it. We should go there someday, like you said, just to wander and find new places to eat. One can dream... lol

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  5. Yum! I went to Good Enough to Eat for breakfast on Sunday. It was delicious. I had migas. I went to Shake Shack too. Once for a hamburger and a concrete and another time for a milkshake. Such an awesome place.

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    1. I love GEtE! It's the best. I want to try them for dinner some time. I wish I had known...I could have met you there.

      There is just never enough time to eat all the food that NYC has to offer.

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  6. You are one of those food photo takers! hahah I was too busy trying to scarf it down that I couldn't be bothered to take photos.

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    1. Only on tris because people yell at me if I don't lol

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  7. Give me Honey Bourbon! NOM NOM :) :) :)

    I seriously want to go to New York just to eat :) That isn't wrong is it?

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    1. I swear that little honey bourbon cake could get you drunk just sniffing it! lol

      It was good though.

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  8. Sounds like you had a blast! I really need to try more food in NYC whenever I get to go again.

    I'd love to make my own ice cream sandwich. That sounds awesome. And cake in a cup? Fun idea! My mom would LOVE that.

    I'm also a huge fan of Magnolia Bakery. their cupcakes are just wonderful - I wish I could get some now! haha

    -Lauren

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    1. Reading my post again is making me hungry. we don't have anything like that where I live. Everything is so bland because I live in a big retirement city.

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  9. OMG! Look at all the different foods! I think I'm in a food coma just looking at all of it.

    Nice!!

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  10. I am DYING here. I can honestly say that I am far more jealous of the food you at in NYC than the books you got at BEA. No question.
    Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I agree. I think I get more excited about eating than BEA these days

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  11. I remember looooving all your BEA NYC tweets. YUM YUM YUM! I like how you visited NYC.

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  12. Love your food experiences in NYC. I want to try Dim Sum one day.

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    1. It was an adventure! A little scary at first but delicious!

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  13. Wow that is a whole lot of amazing looking food! I've taken notes...next time I'm in the city I want scones!!

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  14. I'm terrible about hitting the "good" places once I get to NYC. I get so focused on BEA and all that comes with it that I don't leave time to explore the city. It's so bad, especially considering how many awesome eateries (and BAKERIES!!) there are in NYC.

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  15. Yay -- love the food posts. Next time you're here, we need to eat together!
    Jen @ YA Romantics

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  16. Damn, this post is making me SO hungry so close to my bedtime, which is never a good thing. But I love getting food recommendations even if I don't foresee myself visiting NYC anytime soon. So thank you!

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  17. Ok so yeah I definitely need to tag along with you on a New York Trip. I'll just spend all my money on food.

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    1. But even I couldn't overcome your travel jinx last year. It was the only time I had been to Eately and there was no food! lol

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  18. I missed the whole good portion of the experience this year. I'll definitely have to check out some of these places next year. Especially those desserts...mmmm

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  19. I love how no matter how long I've lived here, there are so many places I still need to try! That Dim Sum was crazy that day...I also think it was the location of our table. And yeah, I can't get over that tofu!

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