Ciao for Now: Yum in My Tum!

A couple of weekends ago, Buddy and I headed over to Ciao for Now, a little cafe in the East Village. I actually got a Groupon for them for 30 dollars worth of food, so I was ready to pig out! When we got there is was pretty busy and surprisingly crowded...

 Aww, they have my favorite flowers ever! I love love love orchids.

 Almond Brioche French Toast

We got the brunch specials which comes with orange juice and fruit. Buddy got the french toast, they were HUGE. However, they were not as toasted as I would have liked them to be.A little too soft, but still satisfying.

Price: $9.50

Extreme Green Omelette

The omelette was made with spinach, leeks, asparagus, and broccoli. The eggs were  over cooked but the flavors in the vegetables really came threw. I guess I can't complain since I ended up eating every last bite. (But then again, I hadn't eaten since the night before at 6 and it was going on 2pm the next day).... anyway, it was good, but I wouldn't get it again.

Price: $9.50

Verdict: Well, before I forget, the winner of this place are definitely the banana muffins! I didn't get a chance to take a picture of them (since I devoured it the moment I took the first bite)... soo.. here's a picture of a muffin?

well, it was delicious.

Ciao For Now

 523 E 12th St

New York NY 10009

(also various locations)

http://www.ciaofornow.net/

Market Street Grille: Where Diet's Go to Die

I know I have reviewed this place a little while back, but I had to talk about it again, because this restaurant is a glutton's heaven.... and I wanted to make sure I didn't make the same mistakes as I did the last time I came here.

Last time: Their tap was like drinking toilet water and their coffee tasted the same

This time: played it safe with bottles water and a diet snapple (hey, I know what you are all thinking...don't judge the diet... I was about to consume a billion calories in a short bit!)

Last time: Didn't see their awesome specials they had on the chalkboard at the end of the resturant

This time: Grabbed a seat at the counter this time to make sure I had a good view of what they offered that day

Texas French Toast

I  threatened with a sharp knife convinced Buddy to get the french toast special. It came with honey, walnuts, raspberries, and nectarines with a nice dollop of marscapone cheese. The toast was a little soggy and the fruit syrup was too sweet. However, the chunks of fresh fruit, crunchy walnuts and creamy tart cheese made up for it. The portion? HUGE.

Price: $9.00

I ate most of it. He polished this off pretty nicely though!

Grilled Cheese Tomato Eggs Benedict

I also went with a special. A grilled cheese the bacon, and tomato on a brioche topped with eggs benedict. Now this should be on that website thisiswhyyourrefat.com. Bigger then my head and thicker then a crappy text book about string theory, I dived into this thing full force.

Holy shit, was this thing tasty! The brioche was chewy and thick, it soaked up all the gooey egg yolks and binded with the generous portion of american cheese beautifully. The bacon? Chewy, and crispy, and oh so cholesterol filled. I was in animal fat heaven( or hell?). I planned on buying a pack of TUMS afterwards....

Price:  $11.50

Yes, this was a 10 inch plate, and yes, I did finish it...how am I going to wash it down you ask?....

With a chocolate dipped ice cream cone from Dairy Queen of course!

Verdict: The best Massive hangover brunch food I've had in PA, but remember: DON'T drink their water, LOOK at the specials on the blackboard and be prepared to STUFF your face! It's very busy during the weekend, so getting a counter seat is your best bet!

Market Street Grille

6 West Market Street

West Chester PA 19382

Brunch: Toilet Water + Giant Condiment Basket= ?

Buddy and I ventured into the center of West Chester in search of the ultimate brunch....and we stumbled upon the Market Street Grille. Walking in it was surprisingly crowded, which is always a sign of good food.

The specials are written on the black board in the back.. .Don't forget to take a look because chances are, your waiter/ waitress is not going to bother telling you!

Toilet Water

 The worst possible water I have had ever in my life. I know this isn't superior New York tap, but this was barely drinkable. So was the coffee we ordered, which was essentially coffee flavored toilet water. I never ask for bottled but I was very close to purchasing one.

Giant Condiment Basket

This took up half of our table. Why did we need 30 creamers, 40 butter pats or 35 grape jellies? I have know idea, but at least it was there in case of a unbuttered toast emergency.

Stuffed French Toast

In the description it was supposedly made with Cinnamon swirl french toast stuffed with caramelized strawberries, walnuts and cream cheese. Well... WTF happened to the "stuffed" part? 

Moving past that, there was WAY too much strawberry syrup on the toast, it made the toast soggy and overly sweet. Though it was a nice alternative to maple syrup. I did appreciate how they actually cooked the strawberries into the sauce, which made the berries soft and fun to eat. But what saved this dish with the nice giant piece of cream cheese they added. It was a cool, tart and creamy break from the starchy bread and insane sweetness of the sauce. I would get this again, but ask for the strawberry syrup on the side

Price: $7.50

Corn Bennie

This was an egg benedict, but made with cornbread, avocado, two poached eggs with hollandaise sauce and hash browns on the side. Holy flavor explosions in my mouth. The cornbread was crunchy, sweet and who new avocado would taste so awesome with it?? Creamy earthy goodness and perfectly ripened. The eggs were poached just right, but the winner was the hollandaise sauce. Velvety, and with a touch of garlic thrown into the flavor mix. Recommended.

Price: $ 9.50

Verdict: You must look at the menu board in the back for specials! I didn't get a chance to see what else they had to offer until after I ordered, and I had spotted smoked apple with fioe gras benedict....wha???! I would have ordered that if I knew it was the special! Beverages are not their forte, but other than that this is a solid pick if you are looking for inventive and fun brunch food in West Chester.

Market Street Grille

6 West Market Street
West Chester, PA 19382

(610) 429-5328

Brunch: The Co. mpany of Friends and Burnt Pizza

A couple of weeks ago, Melissa, Nikoma, and I met up of a Saturday brunch at Co. Pizza as breakfast ... what could be better?? ( I also want to apologize in advance for th iphone pictures, I didn't have the camera with me that day..)

Sleek modern atmosphere

Rosa

Since Nikoma is a vegan, he ordered one of the only things on the entire menu with no cheese or meat. This was made with crushed tomato, oregano, chili, garlic and a healthy drizzle of olive oil. The crust came out more burnt than I would have liked, and it almost ruined the taste of the pie. Other than that, it was also quite spicy! A nice alternative to coffee if you are trying to wake up. This was also a hardier pie, I could fold a slice in half without it flopping all around like melting jello. The tomatoes were the stars of the show and had the kind of fragrance that transferred the smell straight onto your palette. A nice tasty appetizer, would I order it again? Perhaps if I wanted lighter fare on a super hot day.

Price: $9.00

Margherita

Once again, the crust was charred more then I would have liked. I also wished they would have added the basil on after taking it out of the oven, for the basil took the same fate as the crust. I did enjoy that the mozzarella seemed to meld into the tomato sauce instead of sliding around as if it were on ice skates like other Neapolitan pizza restaurants.

Price: $13.00

Popeye

Basically a salad on top of a pizza. In a good way. I love spinach, obviously for those of you who dislike spinach, don't get this pie. The spinach leaves were not those wimpy baby craps you find in most salads, but actually full fledged adult spinach greens. Underneath revealed pecorino, gruyère, mozzarella, with black pepper, and garlic. Though to be honest, I couldn't really taste the other flavors without having to eat most of the spinach before taking a bite of the actual pizza. This was my favorite pie out of the three. 

Price: $17.00

Verdict: Well, after thinking it over, this place is definitely the priciest out of all the Neapolitan style pizza places I have been...($17.00 for a 10 inch pie with spinach?!?! )The crusts, and dough were also the least impressive,they had a tough texture without much flavor on their own.  I would not recommend this place for visitors or tourists.... but it was a nice experience with friends while I was there.

Co.

230 9th Avenue

New York, NY 10001

www.co-pane.com

Brunch: West Chester Diner

Sunday mornings are always lazy, and this past Sunday morning was no exception. Instead of heading out anywhere fancy, Buddy and I decided to grab brunch at a diner close to his apartment, and within a 5 minute drive, we were there. It has been quite a while since I ate at a diner, but I was looking forward to the cheap fast food.

View from the road

We walked into this, a decent sized breakfast buffet!

And a separate sweets section! Since I am always torn between something sweet ( like pancakes) or something salty (like eggs) for breakfast, the buffet was my savour, because then I could get a little of everything! After letting the waitress know about my decision, I flew over to the buffet table.

My first Plate: French Toast, Waffle, Veggie and Cheese Frittata

The French toast was the best part of this plate (even though it looks like the saddest). It was chewy and dense and soaked up the syrup beautifully. The waffles lost its crisp outer coating and was soft and soggy, probably from sitting under the heat lamps. The frittata's consistency was odd; the texture was as if they mixed bread into the eggs. The cheese in the frittata also looked and tasted like plastic.

My Second Plate: Apple Cinnamon Pastry, Coffee Cake, Zucchini Muffin, Poppyseed Muffin, Fruit

I was really excited about the pastry, but it was boring and kind of stale. Not worth filling my tummy for, especially when I wanted to try a bunch of things still from the buffet. The Coffee cake was extremely dry and crumbly- a huge disappointment as well.The two muffins however, were moist and quiet tasty, and the fruit was very fresh and ripe.

My Third Plate: Egg, Cheese, Veggie Omelette, Pancake, Biscuit, French Toast Stick

I decided to try the other eggs that they had out, it had more cheese, but it too was rubbery and jelly like.. wow, I can't believe I actually ate it.  The pancake was dry and crumbly...I was starting to wish I didn't get the buffet by then and with low expectations, I tried the biscuit. What a surprise, it too was dry and tasteless.  The winner here was the sad looking french toast stick! It was deep fried, so it was very crunchy and fun to dip into the syrup.

Bacon

As part of our buffet we get bacon, but we had to order it from the kitchen first. This is how much they gave us.  I guess you cant really screw up cooking bacon, so...here it is....bacon.

Chocolate Pudding

At this point, I thought the chocolate pudding would show some promise. Nope. Can you guess what it tasted like? If you guessed plastic, you would be right! Watery, plasticly, fake chocolate.

Price: (for buffet) $10.00

Verdict: Looks ( and price) can be deceiving, so if you decided to go to West Chester diner...DON'T get the buffet! Just order something fresh from the kitchen. Even getting there fairly early (it was around 10am) the food tasted like it had been sitting out for a bit. I am usually a fan of buffets, but maybe keeping eggs out in a massive pile isn't such a good idea ( to eat). They had sausage, scrapple, and grits with bacon in it as well, but I didn't try any because I didn't want to die from disgust. The only reason I would come back is because I had remembered a long time ago, I got a piece of blueberry pie from here and it was amazing. Next time I will get the same and see if its still worth giving this place another shot.

West Chester Diner

1147 West Chester Pike

West Chester, PA 19382-5000

www.thewestchesterdiner.com

Brunch: Jing Fong Dim Sum!

I can't believe I haven't been to dim sum since I move to New York! So finally on Saturday I dragged my friends out of bed to meet me for dim sum at 10:30 am, because god forbid me eat all the delicious treats without sharing! Its earlier than I would have liked to meet up, but considering this place gets extremely crowded with long waits on weekends, I didn't want to take the chance. Me + Hunger+ Morning+ Waiting= Crazy Asian Monster

Outside...We were lucky enough to get there before it got crowded!

The buffet area, the food is a little more expensive here, but they offer mussels, escargot, and fresh sauteed veggies!

Large Dining Area...seriously, this place was HUGE!

Sticky Rice in Banana Leaf

Casey and I ended up waiting 40 minutes for Melissa and Nikoma to arrive, we could take no more,  and had to order before we ate each other. The rice was mixed with pork sausage, chicken,and peanuts. YUM! Fatty, "sticky", and the flavors of the meats marinated into the rice and was perfectly satisfying. 

Price: $3.95 (large) 2 per order

Vegetable Stuffed Rice Roll

The table next to us got seated and started ordering 8 million different things, Casey and I were still waiting for the other 2 in our party to arrive and we couldn't stop drooling at what they had ordered. We HAD to order one more dish! This was stuffed with different chinese veggies and pieces of pork. It was wrapped by a very slippery broad glass noodle. This was packed to capacity with veggies, just a dab of hot sauce and it was perfection. One of my favorites of the day.

Price: $3.95 (large) 2 per order

Egg Custard Bun

Finally after Melissa and Nikoma arrived, the dessert cart did as well! Whipped egg yolk, cream and sugar made up this very creamy custard inside the gelatinous ball. It was a nice and quick sugar fix before digging into more savory treats.

Price: $1.95 (small) 3 per order

Spinach and Shrimp Stuffed Pockets

These little pockets were filled with spinach, carrots, and pieces of shrimp, it reminded me almost like a vietnamese summer roll. The carrots were crunchy and the shrimp nicely cooked. Good, but not the star of the dim sum show.

Price: $2.95 (medium) 3 per order

Bean Curd Wrapped Pork

The pork in this had a lot of flavor. The rolls were pretty big, and the bean curd's smooth texture balanced out the porks natural gristliness. This one I most definitely will be hunting down next time I go here!

Price: $3.95 (large) 3 per order

Spinach Bun

These small gelatinous balls are stuffed with spinach and pieces of pork. I liked how the tops and bottoms of these had a nice sear, giving it a good crunchy texture. The filling was actually quite juicy and the ratio of dough to spinach was 1:3 which is a winner in my book! 

Price: $2.95 (medium) 3 per order

Shrimp Rice Noodle

These had 2 whole small shrimp in each noodle roll and were drizzled with a soy sauce/vinegar mix. They were pretty bland and I ended up picking out the shrimp and leaving the noodle behind. I am a noodle lover, but these had absolutely no taste to them.

Price: $3.95 (large) 3 per order

Chestnut Pancake

We ended up getting these by accident, mistaking them for turnip pancakes. Chestnuts are my favorite nuts, but these squares were a horrible representation of them. It tasted dry and quite bitter. The outside was crispy, and the inside had a mushy firm texture. They topped it with a soy sauce paste, which made them extra salty. DO NOT GET THESE. Unless of course...you like bitter, salty things in shapes of squares.

Price: $2.95 (medium) 4 per order

Pork and Shrimp Shumai

Melissa ordered these, though Casey and I didn't try any (my belly was about to EXPLODE by that point) but she seemed to love them

Price: $3.95 (large) 4 per order

Sesame Ball

 Don't these look like cute little pac-man? Anyway, so I lied....the dessert cart came again and of course I HAD to get a few more things before I went into my food coma. One of my favorite Chinese desserts, traditionally filled with red bean paste, these were filled with yellow bean. I like yellow bean better because it has a creamier and more consistent texture. Deep fried and rolled in sesame seeds, this was the perfect wholesome treat

Price: $1.95 (small) 3 per order

Carrot Dessert

We were all very intrigued by the carrot shaped desserts. Cautious and with turtle like speed, Nikoma decided to try the one and only thing he ate here. We were all on the edge of our seats waiting for his response..."good, I feel good". Maybe not a typical response, but one nonetheless. These tasted like fried carrots with a brown sugar and sesame center. Fun, quirky, and whimsical? Yes. Would I get it again? No.

Price: $1.95 (small) 3 per order

Nikoma, Casey, Melissa and I

Verdict: I can not wait to go back here for dim sum! It was authentic, there was a crazy amount of variety, and the seating was spacious. I suggest getting there before 11, by the time we left (around 11:30-12 pm), there was a 40 minute wait to get in. As the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm (or should I say dumpling)

Jing Fong
20 Elizabeth Street
New York, NY 10013
www.JingFongNY.com