Keste: Best Pizza of My Life ( in America that is...)

Neapolitan Pizza places are popping up around the city faster than you can say bedbugs! But my go-to "lets impress the family" pizza will always be Keste. On a lazy afternoon, I headed to the West Village to grab a delicious bite with a friend for lunch.

Funghi

This was made with fresh mozzeralla, basil, tomatoes and of course, mushrooms. The sauce tasted like someone just crushed fresh tomato's over it. It was light, delicate and just the right amount. Every component of the pizza was perfect, but the one thing about this place that puts the other pizza places to shame is their dough. It is spectacularly chewy, airy, and perfectly charred. A little bite of heaven. For carb-ophobic freaks out there: To not eat the crust is a complete and utter sin! I was watching some skinny bitch at the table next to me cut off all her crust. I had the urge to pick it off her plate and eat it all for myself. ( Wow, that sounded really fat).

Price: $ 14.00

Verdict: If you are in New York, living, planning, or even teleporting here. You  must stop and try the pizza! On the weekday's they serve sandwiches made from the dough and gluten free pizza's on Monday and Tuesdays!

Keste

271 Bleeker Street

New York, NY 10014

http://kestepizzeria.com/

Faicco's Italian Meat Shoppe: A...Snack?

The other week I was in the West Village waiting for a friend to meet up for lunch. I was STARVING and had not eaten since 8 am. After waiting for her it turned out that her train was stuck. Well it was 2:30pm and I was ready to eat my own arm. Sooo....I decided to grab a snack.

 Proscuitto Stuffed Roll

I guess this is where the "your eyes are bigger than your stomach" comes into play. This roll was a little larger than the size of a giant New York bagel. The guy behind the counter warmed it up for me in the microwave, and boy am I ever glad he did. The roll was super airy, and chewy. It was a beautiful hybrid of chewy baguette and flaky pastry dough. Umm... and do you SEE the center?? Chopped proscuitto in every nook and cranny. Needless to say I finished the whole thing and ate lunch with my friend an hour later. I was going to have some really satisfying poops later that night.
Price: $3.00
Verdict: Skip Joe's Pizza and head over to Faicco's for a satisfying and savory snack. And don't forget to let them warm it up!

Faicco's Italian Meat Shoppe

260 Bleeker Street

New York, NY 10014

Grom: Well, I'm Satisfied

MMmm... gelato. My one weakness. Walking around the West Village and window shopping at stores you can't afford can make you depressed and hungry. So how does one drown out their sorrows you might ask? By indulging in a little gelato of course!

Waiting in line, the most antsy part... give me my gelato gosh darn it!!

Pesca i Crema di Menta

Peach and Mint Creme. The peach sorbet was tart, fresh and left a lingering bite of tang on my tongue. Not my favorite peach sorbet, but it definitely hits the spot when it is 20000 degrees out. The mint creme was also refreshing, no toothpaste analogy here. The mint hits you more so after the smooth creme dissolves on the tongue. Perfection on a humid day. Only dislike? They didn't fill the cone all the way down, so I ended up throwing it away, bummer.

Price: $4.75

Verdict: Satisfying, high quality ingredients, but pricey. Hey, what else do you expect? You are in the West Village after all!

Grom Gelato

233 Bleeker Street

New York, NY 10022

www.grom.it/eng

Adrienne's Pizza Bar: There is Potential Here

So it's a little embarrassing to admit that I have only been to the Financial District once in my time living in New York (and it was only to shop at Century 21....the biggest headache disguised as a department store ever... but thats another story) Anyway, I decided to visit Adrienne's Pizza Bar with the intention of finally visiting South Street Seaport afterwards.

The little alley way to the restaurant...this reminds me of Italy's little hidden streets...*sigh*

I met up with Melissa, and both opted for the indoor seating since it was so hot out. Clearly others didn't feel the same

Complimentary Bread

I don't know if it was the fact that I was very hungry, or if they put magic in this bread, but it was ADDICTING. It came piping hot, utterly soft and fluffy. It came with olive oil and vinegar ( no that is not a olive).

Price: Free

Pizza Toscana

This was a 10 inch white pizza with prosciutto, potato, scallions, and basil.  The slice was sturdy enough that you didn't have to fold it in half to eat. The components sadly,  weren't cooked correctly. Let's start with the potato: first of all it was cold (??) and to top it off it was unnecessarily oily. The proscuitto was over cooked, I felt like I was eating bacon. They should have put it on top after the the pie came out of the oven so it could keep its buttery soft texture. The scallions and basil were lovely, I wouldn't have minded if they made a pizza with just scallions!  Overall, the pizza was satisfying, but nothing to have an orgasm over.

Price: $16.00

Lobster Ravioli

This was came with 5 pieces and topped with tomato basil sauce. Holy shit... do you see the giant chunk of lobster meat on my ravioli?! There were at least 3 pieces this big (score!) The center was also stuffed with bits of lobster meat and ricotta cheese. The sauce was light, fresh and delicious. The only gripe I have was that they didn't offer freshly grated Parmesan cheese to top it off : ( 

Price: $18.00

Verdict: This place was pretty good, fast service and in a nice area, however I wouldn't go out of your way to eat here. It's just a nice option in the touristy area of South Street Seaport.

Adrienne's Pizza Bar

54 Stone Street
New York, NY 10004-2617

www.adriennespizzabar.com

Dinner: Never Thought I Would Enjoy the Taste of Lard and Liver...

Priscilla, Janet and I decided threw emails that we would meet up and take advantage of restaurant week...It took 3 girls, 3 hours and 25 emails to finally settle on Del Posto, a Mario Batali,  Joe Bastianich, and Mark Ladner restaurant.  Hey, eating is serious business.

In the center of Meatpacking District, and across the street from Morimoto. Valet service is available...well how else do you expect me to park my Mercedes SLS??

Walking in, it looked like a grand ballroom made of a marble. I automatically felt like a hillbilly

While we waited for out table, we decided to grab a drink at the bar and they brought us bar snacks. Mixed nuts (brazil and almonds were in here... mmmm, the good nuts!) homemade potato chips, and pasta shaped cheese puffs.

* After taking this picture, the maitre de told me there was no flash photography allowed... so the rest of the pictures might be dim

* Also, when we asked for the restaurant week menu for dinner and found out... they didn't offer it for dinner!!! We decided on the next best thing; everyone get a different dish to share.

After we ordered, 3 Amuse Bouches came to the table

Salmon Chips

Fried asiago chips filled with salmon and tarragon. 

Rolled Proscuitto

Deep Fried with escarole. Crunchy, salty, and with a soft center.

Chilled Gazpaho

Tangy and rimmed with brown sea salt.

Complimentary Bread Basket

Holy Shit. The most amazing bread basket I have ever had. It comes warm with baguettes, foccacia, olive oil bread, and bread sticks. If they just served me this bread basket for dinner I would be happy, I know bread was already tasty, but this bread basket stole my heart.

Whipped Lardo, Italian Whipped Butter

This came with the bread basket. The lardo had tarragon and other herbs blended in it. Not as creamy and light as butter, but interesting to try.

Ricotta Pansoti

Priscilla ordered this one. It was paired with wild asparagus and shaved black truffles. Drizzled with olive oil and ultra creamy center. Simple is sometimes the most delicious.

Price: $27.00

 

 Seared Duck Breast

Janet picked this one. This was made with apician spices, grilled apricots, and salt baked endive. They added a little piece of caramelized fois gras on the side. Wow, way to eat a tortured duck and its liver! However..... was succulent. I never thought a word could so perfectly describe a food, but succulent is it. The fois gras was so ridiculously fatty and velvety I think I gained 20 pounds just tasting a sliver.

Price: $33.00

Wood-Grilled LOBSTER

I picked this one. Made with basil, chopped almonds and salicornia. Insanely flavorful, and the chopped almonds added a fun crunch.   

Price: $39.00

At this point, none of us could believe how full we all were, but we couldn't leave without dessert!

Chocolate Ricotta TORTINO

(Notice how a slice of the cake was already missing? Yeah, chocolate is a girls kryptonite). Anyway, this was made with toasted sicilian pistachios and extra virgin olive oil gelato. My favorite part was actually the ice cream,  light, cool and fun to roll around in the crushed cocoa. The olive oil was sweet and fragrant. The cake was too dry, but the quality of the chocolate made up for it.

Price: $15.00

Post Dessert Desserts (!?!)

As if we could fit anymore food in out stomachs... they gave us a plate of post desserts! 

From left, white chocolate caramel crisps: the best of the bunch, sweet, crunchy, and fun to bite. Nutella Cookie: The shell was pretty bland, but the salt sprinkled on top of the nutella gave it an extra kick. Biscotti: Standard biscotti, nothing to write home about. I wish it had been dipped in chocolate. Apple Crisp: Soft and delicate, also nothing special.

As we were walking out, they stopped us to ask....if we wanted truffles!? Hell yeah we did! Free + chocolate= Things I love.

I immediately popped one in my mouth. Creamy dreamy ganache heaven.

Me, Priscilla, Janet, and possibly 20 extra pounds

Verdict: Pricey? Yes. But worth it. If you are worried about the price, come during lunch where they have a $29.00 prix fix lunch special. We were there for at least 2 hours, and the service was fantastic.

Del Posto

85 10th Avenue
NY, 10011

www.delposto.com

Dinner: Team Dinner with at the Bastard

My team at work love to find reasons to celebrate. Whenever we do, its always an excellent excuse to go out and eat together. This time it was for my coworkers birthday and my bosses going away. After rattling off various Italian restaurants, we ended up picking Il Bastardo. Some of you who know it as the place the City ( a brain dead reality show on MTV) was filmed.

Walking in, the place was very modern, spacious and even had a section in the back for bands and dj's to play.

As we sat down my boss Steph, ordered a bottle of prosecco to celebrate

Less dry than champagne, but just as bubbly!

They brought out olive oil and vinegar for the bread. However the vinegar sank to the bottom and we ended up getting another bowl just for vinegar... pointless that I mentioned this, but hey... its annoying when you are trying to get vinegar, and all you get is olive oil.. you know?!

Complimentary Bread

They gave 2 pieces of bread per person... Crusty on the outside, airy and doughy inside- this was dangerously addictive and hard to refrain filling up on!

Grilled Pizza bread

This was 2 orders, and was topped with grilled mushrooms, peppers and onions with gorgonzola cheese on an ultra thin crunchy crust. As Rachel ray would say.. Delish! The vegetables were soft, and mimicked the cheeses playful texture. The cheese was pungant and salty. But in a good way, one of my favorites of the night.

Price: $10.00 per order of 4 slices

Baked Eggplant

Layers of eggplant with fresh tomato sauce and a heaping pile of stringy mozzarella and parmigiano cheese on top. Yum.. This could easily be a replacement for a meal. The eggplant was soft and melted in your mouth, the sauce...like biting into a fresh tomato. One of my favorites of the night

Price: $10.00

Organic Mista

Some of the girls got the dinner special (served between 4-7 on the weekdays) for 20 dollars, you get an appetizer, main course and dessert. Being girls, they chose salads... The caesar salad looked pretty tasty though!

Caesar Salad

Gnocchi

Carly and Steph ordered this one. It was made with the same tomato sauce as the eggplant, and with pieces of melted mozzarella on top. I stole a couple of bites, not the best gnocchi I have ever had. It could have used some fresh basil and a little more salt, but still satisfying.

Price: $14.00

Pan Seared Jumbo Scallops

Cherry ordered this one, it was in a balsamic reduction with endive and came with a radicchio salad. Looked delicious, but only 4 scallops??! 

Price: $22.00

Mixed Grill Seafood

So I guess I was so busy taking pictures of everyone else's food, that I forgot to take a picture of my own!  Imagine 2 tiny pieces of fish (one red snapper, one salmon) the size of a baby's palm, 3 little shrimp, and 1 scallop sliced in half.  Ripe off? I would say so! Over cooked? Yep. Tasty? Not really. Its okay though, the company I was in, and the delicious appetizers made up for it!

Price: $25.00

Taglierini

 Donna ordered this one, it was made with pesto and sun-dried tomato. It was part of the $20.00 dinner special, but they didn't seem to give a lot. I didn't get a chance to try this, but I presume it was very good since before I could bat my eye, it was in her tummy!

Rigatoni Eggplant

Kristina ordered this one, it was made with tomato, eggplant, ricotta and basil.  It smelled pretty yummy. This was also part of the prix fixe menu.

Mango Sorbet

This was the dessert of the day from the prix fixe. The fragrance was intensly mango and so was the taste. Not too sweet, but could have been a tad more tart.

Chocolate Mousse Ice Cream

This was served with whipped cream and a raspberry drizzle. Really addicting..spoonful after spoonful, I had to remind myself that other people wanted some too! The raspberry sauce was tart and complimented the creamy chocolate perfectly. The cookie was a nice added crunch, although, not really necessary. 

Price: $8.00

Chocolate Lava Cake

Since it was Kristina's birthday, we had to get another super chocolatey cake with a candle! This was a cake like brownie with hot melted chocolate sauce on the inside and a scoop of peanut butter ice cream. Need I explain the tastiness of melted chocolate on top of more chocolate with peanut butter flavor as an accessory?? I don't think so. Did the fat child inside me come bursting out? You can figure that one out.

Price: $8.00

Apple Strudel

Obviously being a table full of girls, a third dessert was necessary. Duh. This was more like apple pie the raisins on steroids. My favorite part of this was the caramel sauce and pie crust dough. Not being a big fan of raisins, I sort of neglected this one.

Price: $7.00

Our Awesome Team 

(From Left) Carly, Me, Cherry, Kristina, Stephanie, Ana, and Donna. 

It was a happy AND sad day, since Steph was leaving, this was the last time we were all going to get to eat out together. We will miss you Steph! 
Verdict: Go for appetizers and drinks, this place is fantastic for large groups and people who are generally claustrophobic. Also the bathrooms are open and unisex, so beware!

Il Bastardo

191 7th Ave

New York, NY 10011

www.ilbastardonyc.com