Restaurant Felix

I shot this photo of Restaurant Felix on the corner of West Broadway and Grand Street last week. I've never eaten here before but I understand that it's an expensive restaurant with hipster cred(ibility).

So how do you categorize yourself? A hipster? An intellect?

Theme Photo: Circles/Spheres

It's theme photo day again and this month's theme is Circles or Spheres. My contribution to the theme photo was taken in from of a restaurant called, Brasserie 8 1/2 on 57th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue.

This month, 187 bloggers participated in the theme photo. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Eric of Paris Daily Photo

Eric of Paris Daily Photo was in NYC yesterday and a number of the local DP family showed up to welcome him to our little village by the sea. Despite the awful weather outside, we had a great turn out.

Alexa of The Road is Mine organized the event and MissB in NYC, Elizabeth of About New York, Mame of New York and I met up with a few of Eric's friends for dinner at Pipa, a tapa bar/restaurant near Union Square.

So what did you have for dinner?

Inside Baltazar

Baltazar is a very nice French restaurant in SoHo. I have not been there in a long time but I did managed to get a shot of the inside of the restaurant through the huge windows on the street.

So where is your favorite restaurant?

GROM Il Gelato Come Una Volta

Italian gelato brand, GROM il gelato come una volta from Turin has opened two stores in NYC -- one on the Upper West Side and this one in the photo, in Greenwich Village. I walked by the store last weekend but did not get a chance to taste the gelati. I will definitely stop in the next time I'm in the area.

So how is ice-cream different from gelato? Will you be able to taste the difference?

Peking Duck III

This restaurant with its banner for Peking Duck House on Mott Street in Chinatown supposedly serves one of the best Peking ducks in NYC. I was invited to dinner there a few years ago and I have to admit, it was a classy joint.

The duck was served three ways: (1) the whole duck was carved table side to yield pieces of crispy skin with a layer of fatty meat, and served in paper thin crepes with scallion and hoisin sauce; (2) the skinless duck was then taken back into the kitchen and the meat cut into small pieces and stir-fried with shiitaki mushrooms and other vegetables, served with rice; (3) the rest of the duck (bones and all) was then stewed to make a light soup, which was served last.

It was probably the most decadent Chinese meal I've ever had in NYC. Thank goodness I didn't have to pay for it. The host did.

So where did you eat your most decadent meal?

Last Days of Summer

The last days of summer have arrived and gone so dining outdoors will be the thing of the past pretty soon. This restaurant on the corner of Union Square West and 16th Street is called The Coffee Shop and is a popular hang out for locals as well as tourists. It was rumored that Sandra Bullock worked here as a waitress many years ago before she became famous.

Before I became Ming the Merciless, I worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken for 6 week when I was about 17 years old. I quit the job after they made me do a double shift. Yes, I was a spoilted brat. :-)

So what is your most unglamorous job?

Restaurant Flowers

This is a macro shot of a simple flower arrangement at a Thai restaurant on Court Street between 3rd and 4th Place in Brooklyn where I had dinner with a friend last week. The small pink bloom with yellow center is probably about 3/4 of an inch across.

My iPhone died on Monday night. Since I don't have a land line at home, I had to wait till I got to the office on Tuesday morning to call the 1-800 tech support hotline to for advice. Unfortunately, nothing can be done so I will have to make an appointment to visit one of the tech support guys at the Genius Bar inside the Apple Store.

It feels weird not to have a cell phone (or a telephone, in general) available even though I have no need to call anyone right now. My only access to the outside world now is the internet. Please, please, please....don't let my internet connection fail before I get my iPhone working again.

I feel soooo vulnerable. Have you ever felt so lost?

Otafuku NYC

This is the front entrance to a tiny (and I mean TINY) Japanese take-out restaurant called Otafuku in the East Village. There are only three items on the menu: okonomiyaki (Japanese style savory pancake), takoyaki (octopus balls) and yakisoba (stir-fried noodles). Customers can mix and match any combination of two of the above items for less than $5. Now, that's cheap eats.

So have you eaten octopus before?

Alma Restaurant at Columbia Street Waterfront District

Last night, my out-of-town friends (former college buddies) and I met up with another alumnus at a restaurant in Brooklyn called, Alma Restaurant in the Columbia Street Waterfront District. This is a part of Brooklyn that I have never visited before so I was excited to see the neighborhood. The restaurant is set near the water so the Manhattan skyline was clearly visible from the third floor rooftop dining patio. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera (UGH!!!) and missed out on a great opportunity to photograph the awesome view of the city.

This photo above was taken with my cell phone. The other photos I took with it did not come out great. I will have to make another trip back to the neighborhood with my camera in the near future.

So have you ever have a missed opportunity?

N.B.: Click on the two links above to see what scenery I was talking about.

Dinner at Taverna Kyclades

Since my out-of-town friends are still in NYC, we decided to go to my favorite Greek seafood restaurant for dinner last night. Taverna Kyclades on Ditmars Boulevard and 34th Street in Astoria serves mostly seafood cooked on the grill. This is one of my favorites: grilled shrimp. The dish comes with roasted lemon potatoes on the side. We also ordered a serving of Greek salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamata olives and feta cheese.

So do you like Greek food?

Piss Clam for Dinner??

After dinner with a friend in Cobble Hill (Brooklyn) last night, we came upon this sign outside PJ Hanley's, a restaurant bar on the corner of Court Street and 4th Place. It was a sign advertising the dinner special for the day: lobster roll and piss clams. PISS CLAMS? It doesn't sound very appetizing, does it?

So have you ever had piss clams? Would you be interested to try them?

N.B.: Click here if you are interested to find out what piss clams are.

Open 24 Hours

This ubiquitous 'Open 24 Hours' sign can be seen in many restaurants/diners in the city. When I lived in Astoria (northwest of Queens) in the late 1990s, there was a wonderful, spiffy Greek diner a few steps from my apartment where I could order one half of a roast chicken with garlic mash potatoes and a side salad (for less than US$10) at 3:00 AM in the morning.

Granted, roast chicken isn't everyone's idea of a midnight snack but it was for me back then. Now, I rarely pull stunts like that anymore. With old(er) age, comes indigestion. :-)

So what is your idea of a midnight snack?

Union Square Protest

Earlier this week, I saw a group of marchers protesting on the street at Union Square Park. This is not an uncommon sight since Union Square is the place for most demonstrations of political and social agendas in the city.

However, the march that day was different in that they were voicing their opposition to the city's plan to redevelop the northern part of the public park (Union Square) into a commercial enterprise, i.e. a new restaurant space -- as stated on the sign saying, "Keep Union Sq Park Public" and the green outfit with yellow hard hats.

So have you ever been in a "social disobedience" or a march to protest a cause?

N.B.: Happy 4th of July everyone.

2nd Avenue Deli (on 3rd Avenue)

Last week, a friend and I decided to meet for lunch at the new 2nd Avenue Deli on 3rd Avenue and 32nd Street in midtown Manhattan. The original delicatessen, opened in 1954 on 2nd Avenue and 10th Street, was a famous institution in New York City but it closed in 2006 due to escalating rent prices during the real estate boom. The restaurant also suffered a tragedy in 1996 when the owner was murdered and the case remains unsolved to this day.

The new restaurant opened recently on 3rd Avenue and 22 block north of the original site but kept its original name as 2nd Avenue Deli. The photo above shows the free appetizers that came with every order -- (from top right): fried chicken skins with caramelized onions, vinegar cole slaw, pickled cucumbers and pickled tomato.

So what are you having for lunch today?

No Bicycle Here Please

This photo was taken on Washington Street between Christopher and West 10th in the West Village, in front of a really nice restaurant called Malatesta Trattoria. I don't know why there is a home-made, non-city-issued "No Bicycle" sign here. Maybe it is an art project. This sign is made of wood and was (obviously) hand painted. A city-issued sign is made of metal with machine printed details.

What do you think?

Schillers on Rivington Street

This is Schiller's on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side. It is a really nice restaurant that has been around for many year and now, most of its clientelles are mostly young hipsters and tourists.

The reason I took this photo was the flower boxes on the 2nd floor windows of the building. It is quite rare to see something like this in NYC because most buildings have strict rules about what you can and cannot do with the windows, especially if they are condo or a co-op buildings. The rule was instituted to precent flower boxes from falling and hitting someone on the street. In addition, the buildings prefer all their windows to look the same.

So do you have similar rules where you live?

Appetizers @ Natural Tofu

These appetizers are from a wonderful Korean restaurant called, Natural Tofu on Queens Boulevard between 40th and 41st Street. I love the place so much that I eat here about once a week. I usually get the spicy tofu soup (sondubu) with rice and these appetizers (panjan) are free.

So have you ever had Korean food?

Bruschetteria

My friend and I had dinner at this cute little restaurant called, Bruschetteria on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side before we went to an outdoor movie last weekend. I ordered the bruschetta with goat cheese & olive tapenade and the smoked salmon & arugula salad that were quite delicious.

So do you have a favorite cheese? I love almost all kinds of cheese but my favorite has to be brie and goat cheese.

Mangia Alfresco

The weather last Saturday was perfect and Mulberry Street in Little Italy was closed off to automobile traffic -- only pedestrians were allowed. The restaurants lining the street took full advantage of the situation and moved all their tables out to the street. As you can see, everyone was having a great time dining al fresco. Even I got into the mood and had dinner here (but not at Ristorante da Gennaro). I had penne pasta with Italian sausage and meatballs.

So when was the last time you ate a meal outdoors?