Coffee Shop

How can this spot once the highest grossing restaurant on the isle Manhattan still be around? It is old school glam- like being transported to Miami without leaving the island. Is the food amazing? No! Is it good enough? Yes? Feel like you are part of a scene and be served by models and model wannabe's. A Brazilian/Latin twist to the food is what's on the menu. A seafood with lime was quite good with a rich broth, lots of seafood and a little hollandaisish sauce on top. Quesadilla of the day- grilled chicken was meager on the chicken, but served with guacamole and sour cream was tasty.
GO once!

The Castello Plan

Clever Costello on Cortelyou Road. A gem of a little spot with a side outdoor space. Under-hyped for the fab fine fare featured. Grapefruit with honey and sea salt is so simple and so delectable. The grilled fontina cheese sandwich with Serrano ham is nothing short of amazing. Perfectly grilled goey fontina on country bread. This grilled cheese is a home run. A side salad of baby greens, cukes, & tomatoes is a perfect compliment. Cheese comes from Murray's the waiter proudly states. Can't wait to return for this killer sandwich and more.
MUST GO!

La Palina

While Parm seeks to recreate "old school" " red sauce" Italian, La Palina has been serving it since 1930. A dining room that is packed with big tables and comfortable chairs that look the same since dining here with my family as a child. The spot and it's food is reminicent of other beloved joints like "Carolinas" in Coney Island with good food and great local bread. The bread comes with cold butter and garlic bread. This bread is authentic and delicous and something about cold butter on fresh bread. Good garlic bread with garlic and parsley. Went with baked clams and escarole soup to start. Baked clams were spot on 7 for $8 and so tasty. Escarole soup with al dente escarole was soothing. Best pasta was the simple spaghetti and tomato sauce whose tomato sauce tasted exactly as it had when I was a kid. Full of tomato bits, same great flavor- loved it. Chianti added a little Italian flavor to this classic "old school" joint.
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La Boulangerie

Authentic French boulangerie where the baguette is warm and crunch outside and soft inside. Owned by a Frenchman, the newish Forest Hills spot brings breads, pastries and some savories to this carb starved hamlet. Prices are reasonable @ $2.50 for a baguette this good and warm. A madeline $1 is lemony and add a little fresh preserves kept at wooden farmhouse table is pretty perfect. Only downside to this spot is lack of a loo. Otherwise.......
MUST GO!

Parm

Parm the quintessential NY description of eggplant, chicken or meatball parmigiana satisfies with old school recipes revisited. The setting a lunch counter with wallpaper reminicent of grandma's kitchen is small, and the tunes like Volare and When the Moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie take you back. If you come early before 6 you will likely get a table, after that name on a list. I came early and sat at the counter. I ordered the garlic knots, baked clams, eggplant parm platter with Sunday salad. The baked clams are simply divine sauce meant to dip and slurp. Garlic knots are light a little sweet, heavy on the garlic and delish. Eggplant was dry sitting under the broiler way too long where it should have been moist with sauce and cheese like Monte's meatballs and polenta. Sunday salad was authentic with ice-berg, California olives, peppers and a good vinaigrette. Fun spot to relive memories.
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Monte's

The resurrected Monte's in a spot also resurrected by time moves into an updated Italian menu. A wood fired oven is the centerpiece and churns out high quality delicious pies. Renovated and reopened it drew quite a crowd on a Saturday night. Meatballs over polenta cooked in the oven satisfies with a hearty sauce and high quality mozzarella ($9) The special pie of escarole, sausage and mozzarella hot out of the oven was pizza perfection. Charred with al dente escarole it had a magnificent flavor reminicent of Zero Otto Noves pies. Thicker not paper thin, lots of flavor.($17) Larger pies called metros are big enough for a family to share. Mighty fine!
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Frasers Bake Shop

Open since 1902, this old school bakery treasure from old Yorkville sits on 1st Ave. near 87St. I am drawn in by it's goods and knowing that I have discovered a remnant of things past. The enormus oven(coal) speaks to the rustic quality of some of the baked goods. Challah looks bandmade and slighly charred on top. Originally a bread bakery when opened they expanded to cakes and pastries. All looked lovely. I went with some classics- black and white cookie, peecan danish, cheese danish, chocolate cupcake($1.25). The danishes which were properly darkly daked and properly delicious. Must get a challah next time.
MUST GO!

Ai Fiori

High end, hotel restaurant in the newish Setai Hotel on 5th Ave. and 37th St. Large dining room on second floor overlooking less glamarous 5th. Ave. The lunch on Saturday boasts all sections of the menu at megawatt prices. We were seated at a four top and enjoyed the moment. A Fisher amber from the Alsace comes in a pretty bottle and is tasty. Ai Fiori has an extensive wine list as well. My friend and I shared two pastas. A Ligurian crustacean of seafood finely added over black squid pasta. The other dish was a tortelli(large ravioli) with ricotta and a sauce of marscapone and a red wine glaze. Total cost of the small plate pastas was close to $50. They were fine, dishes- the seafood pasta ligtly creamy and delicate pieces of scallop and sepia. The tortelli(pictured) glistened and also was mighty fine. For dessert a chocolate caramel(chemuex) with vanilla ice-cream was a divinely decadent finish to a pricey albeit tasty meal.
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Vandaag

A stellar brunch experience starting with the space- bright, light, and modern corner restaurant. Northern European with emphasis on Dutch. Unusual flavor combos make for a comforting yet exotic experience. A latte and Dutch hot cocoa started us off. Latte was perfect and hot chocolate was spicy from cinnamon and...was delicious. A piece of sweet bread rolled around a jam center served on a slab with butter and fig jam was also a winner. The star of the brunch was the Dutch pancake. Served in a round white bowl, it was perfection to look at and eat. Speck, gouda with rind,bits of Fujji apple and topped with Juniper apple syrup. Purely orgasmic. Cleanest, bathrooms by European standard.
MUST GO!

Smorgas Chef

A charming spot that boasts some Scandanavian design elements like preserved trees and wooden benches, plus looks out onto a lovely part of the hamlet. Smorgas Chef has been around awhile and with good reason, the food is good. Scandanavian cuisine is enjoying a rebirth of sorts in NY and this is a fine place to sample some. At brunch, there is a prix fixe for $17.95 or a la carte dishes, we went with the latter. The pancake with vanilla sauce and bacon pictured for $14 and an egg white salmon and jarlsberg omelette for $16. Both were solid choices with the eggy pancake sprinkled with a few strawberries being the clear winner. A delicate plate of cookies sprinkled with powdered sugar topped the meal for $5.
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Kutshers Tribecca

Oh, nostalgia reigns supreme. A unique concept of a resort capitalizing on fond memories of it's dining hall opens a restaurant. The dining room is a modern retro 1950's affair. Some old pics remain in the front of the house. Updated faves and new ones appear on the very pricey menu. Matzoh ball soup, latkes, stuffed knishes, Catskill trout, Short ribs in red wine to name a few. Matzoh ball soup was a flavorfull broth and veggies though the matzoh was underseasoned. The latkes served with caviar is a new twist, homemade apple compote is also quite good. The short ribs in wine were tasty and the whipped mashed amazingthe Catskill trout with Meyer lemon confit was tasty. A chocolate bread pudding with poached pears and caramel brandy sauce didn't rock my boat. $115 total for two.
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Palm One Steakhouse

There is no school like the old school and I'm the headmistress. Original locale sports wood booths, celebrity caricatures and the owner greets you like you haven't been here in a million years- how's the family? You come to the Palm for classics. Starting with the lobster bisque(pictured) with sherry cream you are sent straight to heaven. If you start with the lump crab meet served in an elegant silver serving dish you are also headed straight up with fresh seafood.
The steaks here are taken seriously and my rib eye(medium rare) was meat perfection. Juicy, a little fatty, bone in of course. Brussel sprouts as a side were slightly overcooked, but with a shallot flavor. A warm bag of donuts for dessert were darkly fried, warm, tasting like cornmeal served with chcocolate sauce and raspberry puree.
GO!