Paprika

Paprika is a cozy Italian restaurant located in lower east side. Once you walked pass the curtains, you are greeted with wooden hooks on the side for your coats and a bar. The decor inside is simple with wooden chairs and tables, sanguine red walls, revealing grey under layer and light red overtone.

The early dinner crowd is quiet and subdued. Even with wine, the atmosphere is still quiet with mellow music in the background (they were playing some Regina Specktor songs!)

Entrance way! Coat hooks!

Mirror at the bar.

Window in the storefront. Paprika is simply labeled on the upper window panes.

Towards the kitchen and stools by the bar

Far end of the restaurant

Bread with olive oil and olives- Really like their olive oil. They add a pinch of herbs in it so you can skip the salt!

Eggplant Napoleon, Fresh Goat Cheese, Tomatoes and Onion Marmalade (copied from web site)- The perfect blend of taste; Eggplant is a bit crispy on the side- cooked just right so it’s not too mushy, goat cheese melts within the layers of egg plants and the tomatoes and onion marmalade adds a bit of sweetness to the whole dish balancing the savory side of it.

Spinach and Shaved Garlic (copied from website)- Simple and fresh, cooked just right, not overcooked to perserved veggies’ nutritional value!

Penne with Lamb Meatballs, Tomato Sauce, Pecorino (copied from website)- I am not really a huge fan of gamed meat but the lamb taste is rather subtle; tomato sauce is rich in herbs and dimensional, penne is soft but not overcooked. Pecorino is cheese made from ewe milk, it has an interesting sweetness that blends in with the tomato sauce; very subtle.

Handmade Pappardelle with Braised Oxtail Ragu (copied from web site)- I can’t describe how delicious this is; maybe because I am a fan of oxtail. Oxtail is braised and cooked so tenderly, it melts in your mouth; Pappardelle is a very thin flat noodle so it soaks up the sauce; tastes so savory and delicious!

Tiramisu- Homemade; cake is soaked with coffee liquor, cream is light and soft, does not stand out but is genuinely Italian goodness.

Segafredo cappucinno with matching sugar- Italian coffee (and tea company)- Cappucino is not too strong but has a tinge of sweetness to it; tastes like it’s more from the coffee bean than the milk.

The first time I’ve heard of Paprika was from a friend who claimed to be a foodie. Friend just simply yelped when we were around the area and said that should be a good place; there was no apriori experience. I am glad I tried this place out 3 years later.

Paparika is a good place for dinner. They can host groups of 4 people; small restaurant but the way they utilize the space makes it seem bigger than it actually is. Food is good and the dishes do not disappoint! If you’re in the area near St Marks, definitely try it out! They have $18 prefixe which includes appetizer and entree from 5pm-7pm. It’s quite a deal if you like what’s on their pre fixe menu.

Flea Market Bistro

With a name like Flea market cafe, you can naturally guess where the vintage like decors come from. Located in East Village, with no lines for brunch at prime time, it is actually the perfect place to be. I remember calling to asked if there was a line; the waiter smartly remarked, maybe there is maybe there isn’t, you just have to drop by and see!

Window doors- would be nice in the summer, sitting by the sidewalk! Unfortunately, Avenue A is place full of very strange people, but will probably be an interesting experience!

Chandelier x old ceiling

Pelican! Red Booth and leading to the kitchen. Decor full of toys, market scales & old posters is very simple, cluttered and definitely gives you a vintage, european cramped old school feeling.

Eggs Benedict with salad and fries on the side- Fresh, can’t really go wrong with the hollandaise sauce melting on top of poached eggs and ham on top of a slice of toasted english muffins!

Frittata Courchevel-Open Faced Omelette, Potatoes, Maple Bacon, Gruyere, Sweet Onions, Broccoli, Plum Tomatoes (description from web site)- Slight sweet and deliciously balanced, it’s light and refreshing! It’s like an egg pancake without the batter.

Coffee with reflective spoon- Good way to end the meal and free refills!

Flea market bistro is a good place for brunch and dinner despite the location. Fresh ingredients and simplicity are keys to this place. If you want to spend a quiet afternoon away from the brunch crowd, this is the place to go. No lines, no waits, no hassles and great brunch.

Seoul Garden

32nd street between fifth avenue and Broadway is also known as Korean Town. Seoul garden is one of the hidden gems in Ktown located on the 2nd floor. The first time I went there was nearly a decade ago, meeting a Korean friend and had Korean bbq there. It was one of the first times I had korean bbq so I was intrigued at how they cooked in front of you as the sizzling meat leaves a distinctively sweet bbq smell in your hair.

To celebrate my friend’s passing of the Chinese proficiency test (she’s not chinese and her native language is ukranian!) and her new immersion into Korean Drama, we decided to go to this authentically Korean restaurant. Since she’s a vegetarian, naturally, we cannot have Korean bbq. Tofu bowl was the way to go!

Interior near the windows- they have more seatings in the back.

Glimpse of K-town

Side dishes they give for free- you can ask for refills 🙂
Starting from far left top, potato salad, 2nd one- not too sure but some kind of beans?, 3rd one- infamous kimchi!
Bottom left- 1st- bok choy, 2nd-Spicy radish, 3rd one bean sprout,

My favorite is the potato salad (sweet and mushy with slices of apples occasionally) & radish (a tad spicy and a little sweet!). Bok Choy & bean sprouts are very plain. Kimchi is definietly an acquired taste; strong garlic, sweet with a bit of sourness and spicy.

Soy tofu bowl with beef- soy base with slices of beef and tofu in it; you can crack a raw egg in it when you first get it, since its boiling hot. They ask you how spicy you want it. I can only handle mild! It’s a great soup for winter; you can put spoonfuls of white rice in it and eat it with the soup. Yum.

Seoul Garden is one of those places in K-town that remains the same. Besides the price of some dishes on the menu, you see the same crowd and the quality of food remains consistent. Definitely one of my favorite places to go in Ktown; no gimmick & no nonsense authentically Korean cuisine!

Welcoming Spring

The weather was nice today despite unpleasant events that had happened. Not to celebrate but merely to welcome the warm Spring and wave bye to the winter blues, sharing photos of an Easter Egg.

Drafting dots in the background…

Another angle

I think Art is amazing. It heals us sometimes; it stirs emotions in us sometimes. There are times when it’s explainable in a mysterious way and there are times when words are just insufficient. The process matters, the creator matters, and the viewers matter. It’s a conversation that transgresses languages, background and logic. Sometimes, just thinking it’s beautiful is simple enough.

Cafe Angelique

Cafe Angelique is has 3 locations in NYC and they are all located downtown. My first memory there was on Christmas day; my friend and I were desperately looking for a restaurant or cafe that was opened. We were really glad Cafe Angelique on Grove Street was opened despite the long time we had to wait for a table.

Bleeker Street Location

When you first enter the cafe.

Pastries & sandwiches to choose from with a kitchen in the back

More pastries & light to go snacks!

Espresso machine and selection of teas~

Cinnamonchino- Beautiful heart artwork. Not light on caffeine as assumed, espresso shot is still strong. Like the cinnamon taste and added a tad of sugar to balance the inherent bitterness of cinnamon. They use cafe mauro coffee beans.

Cafe Angelique is a quiet place to sip your coffee while reading the newspaper or just unwinding. The Grove street location has wait service so it’s quite a different experience. Bleecker street location has more single patrons while Grove street is fully of chatty parties.

Chikalicious

One of my absolutely hands down most favorite dessert place of all NYC is Chikalicious! This petit dessert bar near Astor Place is the quitessential date place with cozy intimate 20-people seating, delicious innovative desserts that are not too sweet, and lovely wine pairings! I took my brother to celebrate his 26th birthday, such a young’un ;)! because I’ve always wanted to share this place with him!

The best thing about the dessert bar is not only it’s unique prix-fixe dessert menu but the fact that the desserts are assembled right in front of you (if you happen to sit at the bar area) by the talented Ms. Chika herself, from which the name of the place is derived from. It’s truly magical as you watch her and her sous-dessert chef dance around the tiny space to spoon up delectable gelato and sorbets, dice up fresh fruit, and prep for the next batch of deliciousness.

First of all we started with an amuse bouche of a fruit sorbet (pear?) and gelato (milk tea-like) with peppercorn crunch. The amuse bouche are tailored depending on the entree selected. The fruitiness of the sorbet balanced the milkiness of the gelato perfectly with a bit of spiciness awakening our palate for the dessert entree.

For the entree, my brother got the signature Warm Chocolate Tart with Pink Peppercorn Ice Cream and Red Wine Sauce along with the Churchill Graham Reserve Port pairing.

Looks like a face no? 🙂
For as long as I remember while Chikalicious has a rotating menu of various desserts, they always have the chocolate tart and the “cheese cake” on the menu. For great reaons because they truly represent the extremes of delicious decadence. The chocolate tart oozes warm melted chocolate as the fork breaks into the crust, picking up the burst of peppercorn spiciness and red wine sauce along the way. Yum!

I had this honey custard dessert in a strawberry soup with agar jelly and a crispy tuille.

While the chocolate tart was rich and decadent, this custard was light and fruity with just the right element of crunch coming from the tuille and agar.

For the final course we had petit fours of house made marshmallow, a shortbread, and chocolate truffle. By hitting the notes of chocolate, crunchy, and fluffy this delicious dessert came to an end.

Lobster Joint

If you’re in a mood for a lot of seafood and happened to be in the lower east side; one of your options is Lobster joint. Currently there are 3 locations in New York. The happy hour special they have is very reasonable and starts from 4pm and ends at 7pm. We took full advantage of their happy hour!

Old school chalkboard of their menu!

Onto the cashier! You order there, get a number and they bring the food to you!

Bar & seats; WC located in the back.

Start off with an oyster shot! Vodka + oyster without the hot sauce (they have it on the side if you want).

36 oysters!

More! Yes more!!! (a dozen!)

3 side combo- grilled asparagus (a bit too raw and too dry, will skip next time), onion rings (huge and crispy! can’t go wrong with this tasty junk food) & Boiled Red Potato (healthy in theory but soaked in buttery sauce).

Lobster Mac n cheese- not too salty, good balance of cheese and macaroni and plenty of lobster pieces! As always with mac n cheese, super heavy- recommend sharing with a couple of friends if you also want to eat other things.

Happy hour siders starting from top 12 o’clock, crab cake (a bit mushy and can barely taste crab cake, not too into this one), lobster (deliciously buttery and huge chunks of lobsters!), Oyster (fried oyster and grilled buttery bread, can’t go wrong with that either!).

New England Lobster roll with fries, pickle and cole slaw- Overeating was such a flaw that I did not have the chance to try the pickle. Lobster roll is yummy; made with a slice of toast with a tad of butter and meaty pieces of lobster mixed with celery and herb mayo. Cole slaw is light with mayo and dried shredded cabbage.

Lobster Joint is a place with many options and very fairly priced; I think their prices are better than lobster food trucks. The quality is satisfying although I have to admit, nothing really stands out as extraordinary. Cool place to hang out with nautical decors and light bulbs on the side of the wall.

Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop

Very close to the flat iron building is Eisenberg’s Sandwich shop. If you ever hunger for a low key diner that serves unpretentiously fatty food without using a fork and a knife, this is the place to go. Place has been around since 1939; its history is represented by photos of celebrities with the owner in wooden frame all around the store.

Upon going in, the cashier tells you if you want to stay, grab a seat; every move is very pragmatic, like a true New Yorker, no time to breathe; all comments are terse. Once you sit, the waiters ask you if you want a menu right away. There is no wasteful movements at all; time is just as precious as energy.

Cashier area near the doors; makes sense because lots of people order take out, who wants to walk the extra step deeper into the narrow store?

A few tables but primarily bar/stool area for practicality.

Scooping ice cream! It’s old fashioned; when you order, they scream your order to sandwich guy (in the back??) and it will come up within 5 mins! Faster than Pneumatic tubes from the late 19th century!

Pastrami sandwich- although this is 1 million calories, I decided to try their signature sandwich. This is super filling; I lasted from 1pm (with no breakfast prior) until 6pm. It is warm, salty and very fatty and guiltily delicious. Although I have to admit, I like the pastrami from Katz better but this is one of the better ones!

Eisenberg’s is old school in an evolving and ever changing neighborhood. Flatiron has Shake Shack and Eataly nearby; so it is a really interesting contrast. It shows that this is the city where the old meets the new just a few yards away from each other. The waiters were really friendly and asked if it was my first time there (it was), how do I like their food. I think they really pride themselves with their food. Also, high traffic, people are always coming and going. What I loved most is the way you pay (although I hate to pay). You leave tip on the table then you go to the cashier and tell her what you had; you got to be a douchebag to lie about it but to trust people in this paranoid city is quite a new idea!

Cocoron

In Delancey, lower East side, is an authentically young but also traditional soba place called Cocoron. According to its website, Cocoron means heartwarming (Kokoro in Japanese means heart; It’s also the title of Natsume Soseki’s heart-wrenching novel!). The place is tiny, a bar wrapping around an open kitchen and a couple of small tables surrounding the bar.

Open kitchen! Your chef cooks right in front of you; you can see the broth in this huge pot with a huge lid overflowing from time to time! I love watching them make dessert, just so colorful and cheerful!

Bar area

Appetizer- Pork Croquette with okara- The croquettes are tiny but crispy filled with Okara which is soy pulp with the consistency of mashed potatoes. The sauce is a slightly sour, slightly sweet sauce with a bit of teriyaki flavor. Light little appetizer; they fried it fresh so it was super hot in temperature.

Stamina Dip Soba- Pork based soba- The dip is kept warm in the small ceramic bowl and warmed with ethanol gel; ingenious way of keeping it warm without using actual flame! The broth is very tasty; can taste the shitake mushrooms, thin pork slices and chicken. I really like the experience of eating warm noodles; first you dip the noodles in the sauce for 1 or 2 mins, put it in the empty bowl and eat it! After you finish the noodles, they give you hot water on the side to dilute the soup and drink it with a huge wooden spoon.

Green tea leaves mixed with a bit of matcha powder. Delicious!

Cocoron is a upbeat and cute place full of cartoon characters dancing on the menu. The noodles are good and it’s a nice experience. I think their broth is one of the really good ones; not that much msg and very refreshing. I would definitely go back in the summer to try their cold soba. As mentioned earlier, the place is tiny, so I suggest not bringing a party of more than 3. 2 is ideal.

Pepegiallo

In Chelsea, gallery openings usually happen on Thursdays. There will be a stream of crowd, gathering in the galleries where free alcohol and snacks are served; not enough to satisfy one’s hunger, the crowd slowly heads towards the nearest restaurant together. My friend’s friend recommended Pepe Giallo and since he was a) an artist which meant the meal can’t be too expensive b) he had studied in Italy which means he knows how good food can be, we trusted his choice.

Entering the restaurant, following the stream of people, the restaurant seemed extremely narrow and disorganized. There were 3 waiters running around like chickens without heads, not able to hold their potential customers with a word or two. In an odd way, it was lucky for us to wait a little bit as the impatients made their escapes (to be honest, if I weren’t with my friends, I would have done the same.)

From the outside, looking in.

Intense conversation!

Leading to the back; the alcove to the right actually makes it more spacious and there’s a mini garden in the back.

Bread!

PENNE WITH MEATBALLS IN SPICY TOMATO SAUCE (quoted from their website)- Not that spicy, heavy in flavor and light in taste. Pasta tastes fresh and meatball is crumbly and mixed with herbs and breadcrumbs.

RIGATONI WITH SALMON & MUSHROOMS IN CREAM SAUCE (quoted from their website)- I am hesitant about cream sauce a lot of times because it could be heavy or tasteless; however, I was not disappointed this time. Salmon is flavorful with a tad of salt and pepper, mushroom is plain but pleasant as it soaks up a bit of cream sauce, cream sauce is a nice complimentary to the rigatoni and light, very light. It really reminds me of the real Italiano taste!

torta di cioccolate- a moist flourless chocolate cake (quoted from website)- they heat up the chocolate cake for you and it’s super rich in chocolate! My friend got impatient since I was taking a pic of her dessert and decided to photobomb my dessert pic! I actually took another photo of it but the other fingerless one came out blurry!

Torta di pera – freshly baked pear pastry – (quoted from website) This actually has fresh pear slices on top of the tart; tart is so deliciously flakey. Love this! Not too sweet despite how it looks!

Cappucino- Foamy foam with a strong shot of espresso- lesson learned, no mattter how good the foam is, do not finish it with your spoon because then you’d have to face the super uber strong slightly sweet but mostly bitter espresso shot with no shield or neutralizer! Lesson learned the hard way!!

Pepegiallo was definitely a nice surprise. Although the service left a bad impression, the wonderful meal cleaned it all up. The prices are very reasonable for what they serve you and the carafes of house wine really reminded me of Italy. Besides Mercato this has to be one of the few authentic Italian places in the city. Would definitely go back with learned patience.