baby are you down...for an east village food tour

Birthdays are always a great excuse to get together and in this case, a great excuse for me and my roommates to do a mini tour of some delicious East Village spots.  Our list was cobbled together through approximately 50 Gmail messages (oh the beauty of Gmail!) and altered along the way as required by both stomach and seating capacity.

Our adventure began at Pomme Frites, just off St. Marks.

Apparently we weren't the only ones who were in the mood for greasy deliciousness because there was already a line out the door when we arrived. So we had plenty of time to thoughtfully consider the dizzying array of sauces to accompany our order of Belgian fries.

We settled on the curry ketchup, peanut satay (which comes warm!), and wild mushroom mayo sauces.  We managed to find seats in the back and the noshing began...the fries had a nice crisp on the outside and soft, fluffy insides, but the sauces were definitely the highlight  My favorite of the three was the curry ketchup - the subtle curry flavor melded perfectly with the ketchup, elevating the classic condiment to something special (and worth the extra money).

Fortified with grease and starch, we continued on to our next destination, Cafe Mogador.

Cafe Mogador came recommended by a friend as the "best Moroccan food in the city," and while I can't attest that it's the best, it was certainly very good. I plan to come back with non-vegetarian friends to try more of the menu (I have my eye on the chicken tagine).

Nestled in a cozy corner, we ordered grilled haloumi cheese, falafel, and a vegetable couscous.  Our dishes were accompanied by a fluffy, thick pita, tahini sauce, and a spicy chili sauce. Split between 4 people, it was just enough to leave us satisfied but ready for more.  The haloumi cheese was especially good, as you can't really go wrong with fried cheese...the morsels of zahatar pita on the side were delicious as well.

 

grilled haloumi cheese and zahatar pita

We were originally planning to go to Mole for Mexican appetizers, but we apparently overestimated our stomach capacity, so we decided take a break for drinks at Bar Veloce.

Bar Veloce is a sleek, narrow space that probably fills up later in the night, but when we got there, it was mostly empty. We snagged seats at the bar and in the glow of reflected lights from the wine bottles and mirrors lining the walls, we pored over the very affordable selection of wines and small plates.  We ended up ordering 2 whites and 2 reds and an eggplant tramezzini (aka three-layered finger sandwich).  My white wine had a refreshing taste of pineapple, which was a nice palate cleanser after all the garlicky food at Cafe Mogador.  The tramezzini were actually quite substantial for the $4 price tag (a bargain by any standards, not just in NYC!), and the delicate white sandwich bread was a great vehicle for the flavorful eggplant, roasted red peppers, tomatoes and olive paste.

With the clock ticking, we decided to wrap up the evening with dessert. Our original plan was to go to Spot, Pichet Ong's dessert place in St. Marks, but since one of our party was vegan and the menu is decidedly not vegan-friendly, we attempted to go to Counter instead.  Alas, our plan was foiled by the 45 minute wait, but it worked out for the best in the end, because that's how we ended up at Lula's Sweet Apothecary.

Lula's offers vegan, cashew and soy-based ice creams in a small space with lots of old-fashioned ice cream parlor charm.  After sampling, my friends decided on cookies and cream, rocky road, and maple walnut.  For me? After I saw softserve on the menu, I knew I wouldn't be able to resist.  And cake batter softserve? I was sold. The ice cream gets scooped into cute ice cream glasses, and in keeping with the apothecary theme, the toppings get scooped out of medicine drawers by the server, who looked like an odd blend of a grandfather/pharmacist/New York hipster.

Despite being vegan, the texture and flavor of the softserve were right on, and with a generous topping of graham crackers, it was a sweet ending to our East Village adventure.

Moral of the story - if you have friends, time, and energy, food-hopping is definitely the way to go.  The final bill per person came out to a bargain price of $28, which is less than I usually spend in one restaurant.  I think a West Village food tour is in order for the next outing...

Fact: I'm starting a blog

It's a new year and a new decade, so it seemed fitting to try something new, something that will get my mind out of its work-induced rut and get some creative juices flowing again.  I've been considering the idea of starting a food blog for some time now.

Fact: I love food. Eating it, making it, reading about it...I am the typical (and nowadays, ubiquitous) annoying foodie who will make their friends wait before eating to snap a shot of that beautifully composed whatever-it-is.

Fact: I live in Manhattan, perhaps one of the most food-obsessed cities in the world. My list of restaurants that I'm itching to try only grows every day as I read about that new specialty only-in-new-york-bacon/hot-dog/cupcake/burger/fried chicken/pizza place on seriouseats. I truly love living in this city and all the culinary surprises it holds.

Fact: I enjoy writing and photography. For the past year, my writing (and thoughts) have been limited to finding more ways to say "create great value through synergy realization" or some other nonsense, so I thought I could leverage my capabilities and existing platform to achieve something greater. Ugh. My love of photography has been developing over the past year after getting a DSLR and realizing the beauty of depth of field, so now I feel like I need a focus or direction or just something! Enter the blog.

Fact: I'm at a time in my life where I'm re-evaluating and deciding where to go next, and I'm hoping that this blog will help me get there by awakening long-dormant parts of my brain. I can't remember the last time I wrote something that wasn't for an assignment or project, so, crossing my fingers, I'm hoping to relearn how to write for myself.

Fact: food is something special.  It's not just nourishment for the body, it's nourishment for the mind. The smells, the tastes, the textures...food is a full sensory experience.  It creates new memories, evokes old ones, and connects us with others through shared experiences.  Who hasn't had the experience of getting a taste or whiff of something and being transported back to some childhood memory? Remember, the cold-hearted critic in Ratatouille wasn't won over by some new concoction of bacon-wrapped pork belly, but by a comforting dish of vegetables that recalled his mother's cooking.

Food can be simple.  One of my favorite things to eat is a bowl of cereal. Food can be complex. I mean, we live in the age of molecular gastronomy for crying out loud, when even bagels are no longer really bagels. But everyone has their "madeleine," that taste or smell that triggers a remembrance of things past.  

So here is my foray into the blogosphere. Here's to the new year.