The Tony's and Fried Pickles

I've been a little busy (and also a little lazy) lately, but I've done a few things and been to a couple places I'd like to tell you about!

First of all, a couple of week ago I got to go to the press junket for all of the Tony nominees! My friend Suzy works for Backstage (a website for actors, specifically a place for them to find auditions) and she asked my friend Molly and I to come help her by running sound and camera and setting up lights. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet the super famous people like Tom Hanks, but I really loved getting to meet the famous Broadway people. Everyone was so nice and I had a blast.

Suzy and me

Molly the amazing camerawoman

Richard Kind

I have also discovered a great bar/restaurant that serves SWEET TEA and also fried pickles. Y'all, this is a big deal. This little southern girls loves to have sweet tea with dinner and it's an absolute travesty that only a handful of places here even know what it is. Anyway, the spot is called The Mason Jar (appropriate right?) and I highly recommend their chicken fingers, their buffalo chicken, their fried pickles, and of course, their sweet tea.

The Mason Jar

43 East 30th Street

New York, NY 10016

Source

In the same vein, I recently went to a bar called Live Bait that also had amazing fried pickles and an excellent happy hour (the fried pickles were also part of happy hour so I was sold). It's super country looking and I loved it.

Live Bait

14 E 23rd St

New York, NY 10010

Source

Y is for Yummy Takeout

I've told my husband multiple times that if we ever move to a different city, what I'll miss most are the takeout options. There are so many options here! We have pizza, yes, but not just Domino's or Papa John's. We have several menus for local pizzerias where we can get pizza or pasta. I'm sure you've all seen TV shows or movies showing people eating Chinese takeout, which is so delicious. But on those nights that we're tired of Chinese, how about Japanese instead? Sushi delivered right to your door! Other options are burgers, wraps, Italian, milkshakes, Mexican food...oh the Mexican food. We order Mexican food almost every week - the restaurant we order from knows our apartment number by heart (to my delight but to the embarrassment of my husband).

What kind of food would you like most to have delivered right to your door?

P is for Pizza

I mean, when you're talking about places to go in NYC, you have to mention pizza places. Am I right? New York pizza is so good! Fortunately for all of you, I know the really good spots because I love pizza and all my friends/visitors love pizza so...let's just say I've made the rounds.

Grimaldi's Pizzeria

Under the Brooklyn Bridge

1 Front Street

Brooklyn, NY 11201

Yep, our first stop is actually in Brooklyn. Patsy Grimaldi learned the art of pizza making from his uncle when he started working at his pizzeria at the age of 10 in 1931. When he finally opened his own pizzeria under the Brooklyn Bridge, it drew the attention of the mayor and even Frank Sinatra, who allegedly had pies flown to him in Vegas. Now when you visit there's a constant stream of Sinatra music playing. The crust is famous for its crispiness, thanks to the handmade coal-fired brick ovens.
Cash only and whole pies only, no slices.

Lombardi's

32 Spring St

New York, NY 10012

Corner of Spring and Mott Street

Lombardi's is definitely my favorite pizza spot. It was founded in 1905 and credited as being the first pizzeria in NYC. In fact, the man who founded it, an Italian immigrant, is credited for creating "New York style" pizza. I'm not a big sauce person - I usually prefer minimal sauce. But I love Lombardi's sauce. A friend of mine once said she could swim in a tub full of the sauce...ok maybe that's a little extreme, but seriously. It's good. They also have excellent sangria and plenty of seating room.
Cash only and whole pies only, no slices.

Joe's Famous Pizza

7 Carmine Street

or

150 East 14th Street

I used to work down the street from the original location on Carmine St and ate there every other week. The 14th St location just opened up recently and guess what? It's right down the street from where I work now. I've got some good karma! Anyway, Joe's was founded in 1975 by Joe Pozzuoli, a Naples, Italy, immigrant, and he still owns and operates it today at the age of 75! It's a little hole in the wall spot with only counters and tall tables to stand at. They sell the classic New York slice and it is delicious. The walls are also covered with photographs of all the celebrities who have come in for some good pizza over the years.

John's Pizzeria

260 W. 44th Street New York, NY

Last, but not least, is John's. It's situated in the theatre district, making it a great spot to grab a bite to eat before seeing a show. I actually listed the secondary location (the original is in Greenwich Village), which opened in 1995, because it's the coolest in my opinion. The space used to be Gospel Tabernacle Church, built in 1888, and now it holds the largest pizzeria in the country. The space is beautiful and they host fancy parties there - I've seen seen a picture of a wedding being held there. Oh and don't worry, the pizza is really good too. :-)

I is for Italian Food

Italian food!! My favorite (well...if you don't count my recent and current obsession of nachos)! Now, just as a disclaimer, you're gonna be hard pressed to find a bad Italian restaurant in NYC. I'm sure they do exist, but I've never come across one. However, some do stand out over the rest, so here is a rundown of some of the places I love.

The most obvious restaurants to list are the ones in Little Italy. The heart of Little Italy and all of its restaurants is at the corner of Mulberry St and Hester St. The four restaurants in each corner are Da Gennaro, Caffe Napoli, Giovanna, and Casa Bella. The only one I haven't eaten at is Caffe Napoli because it's specialty is seafood and that's not my thing. My favorite is Da Gennaro - not only is the food the best there, but the atmosphere is so great. It has such a great little cafe feel with brick walls, painted ivy, and tall windows all around. If you don't want to spend a lot of money here, I recommend going at lunch time. But please note: they will have their $10-$15 lunch specials listed outside, but if you don't ask for a lunch menu once seated, they will charge you the expensive dinner price! In Little Italy, always ask for a lunch menu. :-)

My absolute favorite Italian restaurant is Trattoria Trecolori (254 W 47th St). I'm pretty sure I wrote about them recently on here, but...it's just the best. It's not too big, not too small, the food is superb (try the chicken parmesan - the chicken is as big as the plate!), and the staff is excellent. Plus it's right off of Times Square, so have some fun walking off all the pasta after you eat!

Valentines and Galentines

Valentine's Day is my second favorite holiday. Growing up, my mom always made it a big deal by throwing a pizza party complete with lots of decorations, so for me it wasn't so much about romantic love as it was about love in general. It was about love, family, fun...and pizza and candy. Plus, the colors involved are pink, purple, and red, and you just can't beat that.

I've yet to gather my own Valentine's Day decorations, but I've resolved to do so next year. I did put together a super fun Valentine's Day outfit involving a new skirt that I'm so in love with. We had dinner at our usual spot, Trattoria Trecolor, where they had all the tables decorated with roses. JP surprised me by dressing up in khakis and a blazer - he looked so handsome!

Friday night I went up to Harlem for a little Galentine's Day shindig with my girlfriends. Katie made pizza bread in a bundt pan - sort of like monkey bread, only it was for pizza. She melted cheese on the bread and made a tomato sauce for dipping. Jess made a queso dip that was also delicious and I bought a heart shaped cheesecake with red velvet crumbles for dessert. Also cannolis. Molly had Valentine treats for us, even though she had to leave to go work hard for the money. :-( In addition to the great food and great company, Katie got to babysit one of the cutest babies ever and she had all of us going gaga over her. It was a lovely night - so grateful for those girls!

A belated Happy Valentine's and Galentine's Day to you!!

What do tomatoes, mustard, and bananas have in common?

They say your taste buds change every 7 years. I've never actually researched that and in this moment of typing, I'm feeling way too lazy to open a new window and research it now. But based on my personal experiences, I'm pretty sure it's true.

Out of all the changes our bodies go through from the time we're born, our changing tastes is something we really pay attention to. It's something we talk about all the time, for some reason. Favorite foods and hated foods are some of the first things we share when we are getting to know someone. I don't know why that is, but it doesn't change the fact that I like to talk about it to.

Growing up, I was a very picky eater. No matter where we went for lunch or dinner, I'd order a grilled cheese or chicken fingers. That was it. I did not like sweet tea (which is an abomination in the south), I hated spaghetti sauce and ate my noodles with just butter and parmesan cheese, I wouldn't go near a sandwich with meat on it because I basically like nothing else you might put on that sandwich - I stuck to PB&J or butter and sugar sandwiches (yeah...I know...I have nothing to say about that).

Once I hit high school, I started venturing out of my comfort zone. I have a very distinct memory of the first time I had a sub sandwich with turkey, ham, lettuce, mayonnaise, and I'm not sure what else, from Larry's Giant Subs. A friend had one out in the foyer of the fine arts building and offered me a bite asking if I'd had a sandwich from there before. I said no, when really I meant, no, I've never had a sub sandwich before ever. It was delicious.

Since then I've only gotten better, especially since marrying JP, who will eat virtually anything put in front of him. Except mushrooms. We both draw the line at fungi. Thanks to him I've tried things a little more exotic: rock fish, escargot, hummus...these are all yummy to me now. But lately my taste buds have been doing something weird to me - I occasionally want to eat a food I don't like. Weird right? This brings me to the title of my blog - those foods are all foods I've suddenly and randomly wanted to eat.

Tomatoes: One day at Subway, the guy asked, "Lettuce and tomato?" and I said yes. Just like that. I hated tomatoes and can't remember ever having eaten one ever, and suddenly I put them on my sandwich. And it was good.

Mustard: One day I bought a sandwich for lunch at work (apparently I eat a lot of sandwiches) and as I passed the condiments, I grabbed mustard as an afterthought. I remember as a kid how disgusted I would be if I bit into my McDonald's cheeseburger and they'd put mustard on it. But this day I suddenly wanted and once again it was good.

Bananas: I really want to like bananas. I'm not good at taking in enough potassium (those nocturnal leg cramps are of the devil), plus I really love banana flavored things. And they're so easy to just grab and eat on the go. But I recently tried to eat one for breakfast and it was not good. At all. I gagged my way through it because I didn't want to be wasteful, but man...the texture is just gross. Maybe one day...

And so concludes this long rambling post about food. Since we're getting to know each other, what foods do you love and hate?