eat your chow.

Locanda Verde, Tribeca

I recently got to try Robert De Niro’s new restaurant, Locanda Verde. Anytime a restaurant has a celebrity backer I must say I’m a wee bit skeptical, but I was pleasantly pleased with this place. It’s a big Manhattan trattoria, yet somehow it feels intimate and cozy. And I had one of the best autumn meals I’ve ever had in my life, featuring Pumpkin Agnolotti with brown butter, sage and amaretti, and La Fantasia for Two (chocolate gelato, marsala gelato, tartufo di cioccolata, marsala caramel, toasted hazelnuts). I would highly recommend getting this meal (with a starter of Sheeps’ Milk Ricotta with sea salt and herbs or Blue Crab Crostino with jalepenos and tomato) before we officially make the transition to winter. Enjoy!

9am

Casa, West Village

On Sunday I found the best french toast in the city. It’s at Casa, a small Brazilian restaurant that my friend and I stumbled upon after we were turned away from The Little Owl. What a lucky happenstance.

The french toast is crunchy caramelized on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth fluff on the inside. My friend’s omelette was also superb; not over-cooked and stuffed with tasty Brazilian sausage. What’s more, everything was extremely affordable.

I haven’t had much Brazilian food in my lifetime, but I can’t wait to go back and try this cozy restaurant for dinner. New fave!

9am

Split Pea and Okra Fritters

Oh wow, these sound amazing! Thanks Daily Candy! Making them just as soon as someone invites themselves over for dinner at my place! PS: My cousin who lives in Detroit has had them and said they are “delicious!”

You’ve never been the type to fritter things away. Until now. Down at Slows Bar B Q, Detroit’s destination for all things slathered in saucy sauce and washed down with craft beer, chef Brian Perrone’s split pea and okra fry-ups make a scrumptious start to any meal. Makes 25-30 fritters.

Ingredients
2 c. green split peas, cooked and cooled
4 c. baby spinach, packed
½ c. hot sauce
¼ c. buttermilk
6 eggs
2 tbsp. kosher salt
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. baking powder
¼ c. yellow cornmeal
3 c. all-purpose flour, plus a little more
8 c. okra, sliced

1. Combine split peas and spinach in food processor, add hot sauce and buttermilk, process until smooth. Transfer to large bowl.

2. Whisk in eggs; add salt, sugar, baking powder, and cornmeal.

3. Whisk in flour a little at a time until mixture is not too loose, not too firm.

4. Fold in okra.

5. Drop by rounded tablespoon into 350º oil, fry until golden brown and cooked all the way through. Serve immediately.

10am

Cookie of the Week: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip

Continuing on the festive cookie path, I present you with this week’s masterpiece.

I was really happy with the way these turned out, and they’re super easy! They are pretty cakey (because of the pumpkin puree), so think half cake-half cookie. Smush down before baking for a more cookie-like result. Unbelievably delicious.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe from Yum Sugar.

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp clove
• pinch of ground ginger
• 1/ 2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 15 oz can of pure pumpkin
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 cups chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Sift together (or whisk in small bowl) flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger together and set aside.
3. Beat butter, brown sugar and sugar together in a large mixer bowl.
4. Add pumpkin and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
5. Add egg and beat well until fully incorporated.
6. Gradually (3 batches) beat in flour mixture.
7. Stir in chocolate chips.
8. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
9. Bake for 13-15 minutes until edges start to brown. Remove from oven and let sit on hot baking sheet for 2 more minutes.
10. Move cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

4pm

The Standard Grill, Meatpacking District

On Friday I made the rare proclamation, “I want a burger.” Being in the neighborhood, I decided to try the new Standard Grill for lunch.

This burger was quite possibly one of the top five burgers I’ve ever had in my life. Granted I don’t eat them often, but it was thick, juicy, and came with a large side of perfectly crisp fries. Much, much better than my friend’s turkey club, which could have come from any no name diner.

Other notes:

• Love the clean brasserie feel. The restaurant gets tons of light (at lunch) and is beautiful.
• We had great hostesses, but a horrible waitress. Very bad service.
• The bathrooms! They appear totally unmarked so you have no idea which side is for men and which for women (I just read there is a coin on the floor that tells you). Disaster waiting to happen.

Overall, the food and the fun scene will keep me coming back. Can’t wait to try it for dinner, although the bright, casual lunch will definitely be a redo.

9am

AQ Kafe, Midtown

Speaking of good sandwiches, this Scandinavian restaurant is one of my favorite places to eat near my office and has some of the best sandwiches around. It’s a great place when you want something a step up from the corner deli/Pax, yet still casual enough. (There’s sit down service and sandwiches run about $10.) 

This is my favorite sandwich on the menu: turkey, Jarlsberg cheese, lingonberry jam, herb mustard, and mayo. For a complete meal, the potato salad is the best I’ve ever had and the desserts are out of this world.

I’m always looking for a good lunch date. hint hint.

11am

Swich, Chelsea

Swich is one of my favorite sandwich shops in all of New York. It features delicious pressed sandwiches, with several vegetarian options (yay!). This is the Casablanca (smashed chickpeas, roasted red pepper, watercress, and eggplant-mint spread on wheat). Not my absolute favorite, but still fantastic. My fave’s the Earthy McGee (baby portobello mushrooms, herbed goat cheese, and arugula).

And yes, those are equally delicious sweet potato chips in the background. What’s more, each order comes with a little dish of citrus soybeans and a Dum Dum sucker. Love it.

11am

Cookie of the Week: Iced Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies

In the mood for something festive, I came across this applesauce cookie recipe in my Martha Stewart’s Cookies book. This is a healthy cookie, and as many of you know, I’m not one of those “diet soda cakes” healthy dessert eater types. When I have dessert, I want it to be decadent. That being said, these are tasty little bundles, and I felt good eating them. It was almost like having a granola bar. So I didn’t feel so bad eating them for breakfast, dinner, three at a time…you get the picture. The healthy part comes in where applesauce replaces extreme uses of butter.

A gripe, like many of the commenters here, is the cookies came out nothing like the picture in the book. If you do make these, I’d recommend adding some more oatmeal and flour, and maybe using parchment paper if that helps those types of things. Mine came out thin and batter-y. I would also cut back on the water in the icing, as mine was pretty thin.

And finally, a complaint against Ms. Martha. Coarse salt? Really? Totally unnecessary. I feel like she’s just trying to come off as a fancy pants. You can use regular salt, just a little less.

Ingredients

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup chunky-style applesauce
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cup golden raisins
• 1 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Directions

1. Make cookies: Preheat oven to 350. Put butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until combined. Add egg and applesauce, mix until well blended, 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix in raisins.
2. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake cookies until golden and just set, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack set over parchment paper; let cool completely.
3. Make icing: Whisk confectioners’ sugar, syrup, and 3 tablespoons water until smooth. Drizzle over cookies, let set.

10am

Restaurant of the Summer: Spring Street Natural, SoHo

Now that it looks like we’re solidly heading into fall weather, it’s time to name my favorite restaurant of the summer. Spring Street Natural isn’t necessarily the restaurant I ate at most frequently, but its healthy, light, sometimes vegan, seasonal food makes the perfect al fresco meal. Not to mention the reasonable prices and great people watching location on the corner of Lafayette and Spring. Here are a few snaps of what I’ve enjoyed.

Apple Carrot Celery Juice.

Vegetable Tofu Cashew Croquettes in carrot ginger dressing, mango slaw, and sauteed greens.

Mixed Berry Crisp with soy pomegranate ice cream. This is the best thing I’ve ever had here, and hands down the best ice cream/gelato/sorbet/icy treat I’ve ever had in my life.

Mango Lemonade.

Vegetable Spring Rolls with napa cabbage, carrots, seasonal mushrooms, fresh cilantro and ginger; served with sweet chili-plum sauce.

Breaded Tilapia Sandwich. This is the worst thing I’ve ever had here (way too bland), but as I’ve said before, SSN has the best ketchup in the city. So side of fries + ketchup= Happy Molly.

2pm

Essex, Lower East Side

Essex (and NoLita House) are always my go-to brunch spots when I have friends in town. And as I’ve had guests two weekends this month, I’ve been chowing down at Essex pretty frequently. $18 will get you an all-you-can-drink brunch, with your choice of mimosas, bloody marys, screw drivers, or bellinis. The food is pretty standard (minus some more unique Jewish dishes), but it tastes good and that’s all that really matters. You’re there for the drinks and the fun party atmosphere anyway.

Crispy Potato Pancakes with sautéed apples and honey cream sauce and spinach-shiitake-black bean hash. This won’t be a frequent order, but fun for trying something a little different every now and then.

Crabcake Benedict. Love this!

12pm

Alain Ducasse Judges New York’s French Fries

Now this is a taste test I can get behind!

11am

Kyotofu, Hell's Kitchen

I finally found an excuse to visit Kyotofu, a Japanese dessert bar that’s gained plenty of attention since it opened a couple years ago.

This my friends is pumpkin spice and chocolate swirl non-dairy, low-fat, soy soft serve, with a dollop of brown sugar syrup whipped cream. With all the nons in the description, it’s hard to believe this was one of the most flavorful pumpkin “things” I’ve ever had. Hurry and get a bowl because it’s only there through the end of the month (and possibly through Thanksgiving).

2pm