Gato

When it comes to birthdays with my sister and her husband, Mr. M&P and I split up the year. The spring/summer is focused on the boys. The winter is for the girls. This past birthday celebration (the boys), we wanted to try something new. Lucky for us, Chef Bobby Flay had just opened a new restaurant in NYC. It's been a long time since he's opened up a new restaurant and we were excited to try all the new influences he's been playing around with.

We decided to share everything so that we may taste more dishes together. To start, we had the White Chicory Salad ($14) with chorizo, egg, fontina cheese, and apricot almond dressing. This was a really nice salad both bitter and luxurious from the richness of the egg and fattiness of the chorizo. The dressing added the slight sweetness that it needed.

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Acme

For Dr. Mandoo's birthday, she wanted to try something different so she opted for Scandinavian. Isn't Scandinavian food getting a lot of attention now with its Michelin Stars and World Best Restaurants labels? Oh yes, it's definitely got a lot of clout these days. Extreme localism, new cooking techniques, and creative ideas aplenty. Oh and did I mention that the Chef is Mads Refslund? Don't recognize the name? Well he's a co-founder of Noma. Still don't recognize it? Well, Noma is currently the #1 restaurant in the world. Yes, that place.

We weren't sure what to expect for dinner but what we received was really interesting dishes, flavors, and presentations. Will you come along for the ride?

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Mile End Delicatessen

When people come to NYC, they ask what should I eat? Well, there's a plethora of food here and the choices are endless. But what I really point to are foods that they don't necessarily get in other parts of the country/world. One of those things, is Jewish food. Specifically Jewish deli meat. Oh there's something so wonderful about pastrami or corned beef or beef tongue. It's something special and an experience in itself. Now, I'm a fan of all those famous places in NYC like Katz, Carnegie, 2nd Ave, etc. Those are the staples that I bring out of town people to. Who am I kidding? I go just for myself as well.

So when I heard about Mile End Delicatessen, I was a bit intrigued and cautious at the same time. Here's a newcomer in a world of well distinguished Jewish delis in NYC. What are they trying to do that's different? Or are they not trying to be different at all? So I went to try what it was all about. With Mr. M&P in tow, of course.



We skipped the appetizers and went straight to the sandwiches. He ordered the the Ruth Wilensky ($9) with beef salami, mustard, and an onion roll. That beef salami was really strong in flavor with lots of spices. It was perfect to stand up to the sharp mustard and onion roll. A solid sandwich indeed. The only complaint I think he had was that he wished there were more meat. I think he was expecting sky high meat like you may find at the other establishments.

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