Category Archives: Sunday Game Plan

Traditional Tuesday Game Plan – Sunnyside Restaurant Week

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Happy Easter!! Another restaurant week!! With the recent successes restaurant weeks and restaurants months over the course of 30 years, Sunnyside Restaurant Week is back again!! Sunnyside Restaurant Week starts on April 22 and will end on May 4th. Based on their website, 49 restaurants are participating and their prix fixe price is $35 and/or other deals/discounts. This restaurant week actually will last two weeks, below is my best bang for your buck list of places I’d like to go.

Restaurants for meal of one:

Ariyoshi NYC – $35 pescatarian meal: seafood salad/shrimp tempura/flounder ginger/ice cream

Chihuahua – $35 dinner: chicken nachos/tilapia y camarones/flan

La Pollera de Mario – $35 dinner: Guacamole and Tostones/Plato Aguacatala/Flan

Sanger Hall – $35 dinner: Cheese curds/Rasta Pasta/Funnel Fries

Takesushi – $35 dinner: Ankimo (Monkfish) Liver/6 piece sushi and one roll/Nama Choco

Restaurants for meals for two:

Bajeko Sekuwa – $35 dinner: (1) Riesling/Timmure Chicken/Bengali Fish Curry/Rasmalai (2) Merlot/Chicken Tikka/Goat Rogan Josh/Lal Mohan

Bar 43 – $35 dinner: (1) Sheet Pan Nachos/Sizzling Chicken Fajitas/Bailey’s Cheesecake (2) Pretzel Bites/Steak Baguette/Turtufo Truffle

Costa Y Mar – $35 dinner for one: Papa la Huancaina/Lomo Saltado/Tres Leches (2) $28 Seafood Duo: Fish Ceviche/Jalea

Restaurants for meals for three:

Cardamom – $35 dinner: (1) Chicken 65/Tandoori Chicken/Kheer (2) Samosa Chaat/Chicken Sheekh Kabab/Gulab Jamun (3) Lasuni Gobi/Chicken Tikka/Rasmalai

Tito Rad’s – $35 dinner: (1) Lumpia Shanghai/Beef Mechado/Leche Flan (2) Ukoy/Grilled Tuna Belly/Ube (3) Fresh Lumpia/Chicken Adobo/Cassava

Zirve Turkish Grill – $35 dinner; (1) Piyoz/Manti/Tres Leches Cake (2) Lentil Soup/Chicken Adana Kebab/Baklava (3) Chicken and Vegetable Soup/Kofte Kebab/Rice Pudding

Personally I have dined in three restuarants listed for Sunnyside Restaurant week on different occasions. I’ve had the grilled tuna belly from Tito Rad’s and it was very good. It’s actually one of my go to dishes if I dined in this restaurant. I’ve also ate at Cardamom which is listed on Michelin’s Bib Gourmand list but the dishes I had in this restaurant are not participating in this restaurant week. More recently I’ve dined in Bar 43 for brunch and their pretzel bites will be sold during this restaurant week.

Realistically I don’t know if I’ll be able to dine in one any of the restaurants listed above due to my current work schedule. In the meantime, I’ll be check their social media pages and hopefully I’ll be able to repost on my stories as my way of support small businesses and another restaurant week concept.

Traditional Tuesday – Game Plan – Astoria Ditmars Restaurant Week

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Happy April Fools Day!! Another restaurant week!! Actually not kidding haha. Recently there have been emergences of restaurant weeks and resturants months, which is inspired by the successes of NYC restaurant week. During my routine daily scrolls on Instagram, I came across the It’s In Queens account stories of the day and they promoted Astoria Ditmars Restaurant Week. Astoria Ditmars Restaurant Week starts on April 2 and will end on April 8th. Based on their website, 26 restaurants are participating and their prix fixe price either is $25, $35 or $45. Since I gave up alcohol for Lent (40 days), I was already able to narrow down my personal picks. In addition, this restaurant week actually lasts a week, I will have a best bang for your buck list, which may include alcoholic options and another list to accommodate people who gave up alcohol and/or red meat for Lent. Personally I have never dined in any of these restaurants so there will be a first time for everything. To date, I was only able to review 16 of the 26 participating restaurants.

Restaurants that include alcohol:

Alba’s Pizza and Restaurant – $25 lunch

Bar Parioli – $45 dinner for at least two even three people with glass of wine for at least 2-3 people

Restaurants that accommodate to Lent (alcohol free)

Porto 23 – $45 dinner for one

Queen’s Room – $45 dinner for at least two

Rivercrest – $35 dinner for one

Spanglish – $25 lunch for two

The Bonnie – $35 dinner for one

YAAR – $25 dinner for two

Acento Latin Kitchen – $45 dinner for one

Telly’s Taverna – $35 lunch for two

The Pomerboy – $45 dinner for two

Realistically I don’t know if I’ll be able to dine in one any of the restaurants listed above due to my current work schedule. In the meantime, I’ll be check their social media pages and hopefully I’ll be able to repost on my stories as my way of support small businesses and another restaurant week concept.

Sunday Game Plan – French Restaurant Week

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Starting tomorrow, it’s Bastille week. Bastille Day is a national holiday in France that is celebrated on July 14th. The holiday commemorates the start of the French Revolution in 1789. Traditions that usually take place on this holiday start off with a military parade followed by food and wine with fireworks ending the night.

Usually pastries, wine, and champagne are consumed on this special occasion. In New York City, Bastille week is celebrated with French Restaurant week.  This year French Restaurant week will take place starting from July 1st thru July 14th. There are 12 restaurants participating. Not all the restaurant have published their menu for the French Restaurant week yet. It is $46 for lunch and $60 dinner for a three-course prix fixe.

Out of the 9 menus I reviewed to date, I developed a wish list of restaurants I would go to for dinner, but priorities have changed, therefore, it is highly likely that I won’t end up going.

Le Tout Va Bien

Gaby Brasserie Francaise

Supper Club

I’ve had the privilege to dine and participate in French Restaurant Week in the past. I’ve dined in:

2022

La Sirene Soho: all these dishes below except possibly dessert will be served during this year’s restaurant week

Ravioles de Royan a la Creme

Oven Roasted Cornish Hen au jus

Profitteroles

2023

Le Rivage: the dishes may change for this year’s restaurant week.

Soup of the day

Poulet Roti

Peach Melba

Bonne fête !

Sunday Game Plan update

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Well, it has been two weeks since my last post, and we are entering the third week of restaurant week. Guess what happened?! I sprained my wrist and hand, and I’m still recovering while making my baked hake two weeks ago.

Baked Hake and fish was still overcooked

Ultimately, as long as I’m OK, I’ll still continue posting content. As a result of not really utilizing my left hand, I couldn’t do things in a timely manner. Therefore, I had to change my game plan from two weeks ago.

I have resorted to air frying string beans and cauliflower instead of steaming the beans and roasting cauliflower.

I also only did two restaurant week meals. The first was at David Burke Tavern for early dinner.

Caesar Salad
Hanger steak with hipster fries
Key lime pie
Conundrum white wine

Second, more recently, I went to La Marchande for restaurant week lunch.

Ginger mocktail
French Onion Dumplings
Chopped Nicoise Salad – lasted two days

There’s more to write, but my wrist is now bothering me again, plus this electronic device is dying. So, please stay tuned for more updates.

Sunday Game Plan – Home cooked family meals during the first week of NYC Summer Restaurant 2023

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This weekend was productive and exhausting. We did a lot of food shopping since Friday, but it was mostly snacks and I defrosted lots of stuff from the freezer which took at least two days to defrost. So here’s this week’s plan:

Baked Hake
Scrambled Eggs with Andouille Chicken Sausage
Scrambled Eggs with Spinach
Steamed Green Beans

Roasted Cauliflower
Ravioli with a red pasta sauce
Ramen with Spinach
Avocado Toast (if the avocado ripen this week)

Ground beef enchilada for Saturday

Eight-nine dishes should be enough considering that I’ll be doing NYC Restaurant Week Lunch or Dinner tomorrow and maybe Thursday or Friday. The website for restaurant week was revamped resulting in less multitasking. I am hoping that two posts will cover it (one for Manhattan and the other for the remaining four boroughs). These restaurant week posts here are my wish list for each borough/neighborhood because I’ve been very busy juggling motherhood and my paid job, which financially funds this project for the last seven years. As of today (07/23/23), there are 548 restaurants participating and I’m reviewing so far 383 menus that have already been posted. Hopefully by the end of the week, I’ll post my restaurant week game plan wish list.

Sunday Game Plan – NurtureLife Part 2

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Back in May, I decided to take part in NurtureLife for the baby. We received 12 items, and it took about 1 – 1.5 months to consume it all because it takes about 2 days for this toddler to finish a meal.

There were some hits and misses for this first order. Below is an excerpt of the game  plan I had in mind for the first order:

Sunday: Lunch or dinner, depending on which meal I get treated to. We will have some Swedish meatballs, broccoli, and egg noodles.

Review: Toddler loved this dish. This was the number one favorite out of all the items ordered.

Monday: Honoring Meatless Monday with: A jar of the Squash, Kale hash with bell peppers for breakfast and lunch. Then, for dinner, we will have the super veggie gnocchi with string beans.

Review: Toddler was not a fan of any of the jar foods and the babysitter, aka my mom commented that the gnocchi and string beans needed more seasoning. Ultimately, I ended up eating all this for dinner.

Tuesday: Honoring Taco Tuesday with Beef Taco Pockets with fiesta corn.

Review: Toddler did not like the corn but gradually enjoyed the Taco Pockets.

Wednesday: Honoring Wellness Wednesday and traditional Catholicism with a jar of salmon cakes with peas and potatoes.

Review: Toddler did not care for this jar, and yours truly ended up consuming this for lunch.

Thursday: A jar of roasted chicken with potato and broccoli medley. Dinner of chicken, tortellini, and broccoli.

Review: Toddler did not care for this jar, and yours truly ended up using it for stir fry. Meanwhile, the chicken, tortellini, and broccoli were overall toddler-approved.

Friday: Fish Friday time with teriyaki salmon and rainbow rice.

Review: Toddler actually enjoyed this meal, but it took about 2 plus days to finish.

After the consumption of eight meals, which took at least 16 plus days to consume, we defrosted the Presto pesto Ravioli with chicken and carrots; Squash, Kale hash and potatoes, Grilled Chicken with carrots, peas and potatoes and chicken and Mac.

Review: We ended up utilizing the two jars: Squash, Kale hash, and potatoes, and grilled chicken with carrots, peas, and potatoes to make omelets for breakfast that lasted a total of at least four days. However, the Presto Pesto Ravioli and chicken, and Mac were toddler approved. Both dishes took at least another four days to consume.

What nice about the boxed meals is that if they were placed in the freezer, it is good after 90 days of drop off.

In retrospect, twelve items are a bit much for the week, especially since I have a bunch of items in the fridge that need to be cooked. I gave my review of what’s good and not so good on NurtureLife website.

Fast forward to two days ago, we received another package from NurtureLife. This delivery is another set of 12 items. Six of them are smoothies, which are good until September, so that’s a plus. So far, we have frozen six items: Chicken and Mac, Beef Roast, Cheese Pizza pockets, Mighty Bites Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Duo. The remaining items will be consumed this week.

Sunday Game Plan

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It’s been over a month since my last post, but a lot has happened in the last month with work and birthdays, so I haven’t been cooking as much. However, since my last post, I have actually completed all eight dishes during that week of the post.

I have posted pictures of my progress of the dishes I planned to make during that week on my Instagram stories (IG stories). Since IG stories only last 24 hours, a lot of followers haven’t seen the progress. Therefore, below are photos of what I’ve cooked since the last post.

Breakfast Egg Muffins
Egg Tomato Stir-fry
Spinach and Cheese Frittata
Banana Bread
Avocado Toast
Cinnamon Apples
Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce
Maple Syrup Glazed Salmon

After cooking these eight dishes and finishing the leftovers, I’ve only cooked three more dishes. Only one of the three dishes was cooked on Father’s Day. Two of the three dishes were made off the cuff because we learned that the Prego Alfredo Sauce bottle had to be used up after three days of opening and refrigeration.

For the two pasta dishes, I used leftover cooked pasta and mixed them with the Alfredo sauce for a quick dinner after a long commute. I even paired the dish with Graham and Fisk white wine in a can.

Wine and Dine with Prego Alfredo pasta and Graham and Fisk white wine in a can

There was still a half bottle of Alfredo sauce, so I sauteed leftover cooked Perdue short cuts roast chicken slices, broccoli, and leftover pasta. Finally, I used up the remaining bottle of Alfredo sauce and concocted this dish that lasted at least 2-3 days.

Chicken, Broccoli Pasta Alfredo

Finally, on Father’s Day, I made skirt steak, and it came out really good that my parents took the leftovers home.

Ingredients used to marinade the skirt steak for 2-3 hours.
Skirt Steaks right off the grill and resting
Top section – well done
Bottom section – medium

Last weekend, which was the holiday weekend, I decided to stay home and cooked a Butter Basted Rib Eye Steak.

Rib Eye Steak
Rib Eye Steak basting in butter, garlic, thyme and rosemary
Butter Basted Rib Eye Steak resting

I know I won’t be cooking as much this week because my mom is going to bring her version of adobo, which will last two days. In addition, I’ll be participating in French Restaurant Week, which takes place during the week of Bastille Day. Finally, NurtureLife has supplied us with more products for the toddler to try and hopefully enjoy.

Sunday Game Plan

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This weekend was a big food day for eggs and cheese. Yesterday (Saturday, June 3rd) was National Egg Day, and today (Sunday, June 4th) is National Cheese Day. So, to celebrate a weekend of eggs and cheese, I prepared a bunch of dishes for the week utilizing either eggs, cheese, or both.

Breakfast Egg Muffins
Egg Tomato Stir-fry
Spinach and Cheese Frittata
Banana Bread

The first four dishes should last about 4 days. In addition, there are other dishes we will be consuming, including:

Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce
Maple Syrup Glazed Salmon
Cinnamon Apples
Avocado Toast

Eight dishes should be enough considering that I’ll be doing Dine Around Downtown on Tuesday

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Sunday Game Plan: Long Island Restaurant Week – 2023

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Long Island Restaurant week began in 2006 as an annual fall promotion week long event. Five years later in April 2011, Spring Restaurant week launched and five years after in January 2016, Winter Restaurant week debuted due to popular customer and restauranteur’s demand.

Currently Long Island Restaurant week is celebrated three times a year. The goal is to promote businesses during slow periods and it literally last for eight days. Long Island Restaurant also includes Saturday participation but until 7pm. The website separates the list of participating restaurants in Nassau and Suffolk County. Starting today April 23rd thru next Sunday April 30th, participating restaurants are promoting either two course lunch prix fixe for $22 or three courses for $37 or $44 for dinner.

Normally, I’d be reviewing all the menus from participating restaurants, but I’ve only focused on Nassau County just because of the time I’ll be able to invest this week. Below is a list of restaurants that I would go for lunch or dinner along with the dishes I would order.

There were several restaurants that the menu was not posted and one of them was Maggiano’s Little Italy in Garden City.

Guess what!! First day of restaurant week today we went to Maggiano’s Little Italy because they give A LOT of food. My parents joined in and they loved it. My mom was really impressed. Below is the menu for their restaurant week and it includes a to-go classic pasta, which was amazing. I believe this is the only restaurant that is doing this promotion.

For the appetizers, we got one of everything:

As you can see the portions were huge and all four items were amazing. Let’s just say we were full by the end of appetizers.

When the entrees arrived, my parents ordered the salmon and the beef medallions which had supplemental charges. My husband decided to add chicken to the fettucine alfredo for an extra charge. I ended up ordering the chicken parmesan. My dad devoured his beef medallions, it tasted very tender because it was prepared medium rare. My mom was really full from the appetizers that she took the salmon and shrimp to go. She was not crazy about the sauce, but enjoyed the mashed potatoes and spinach. I enjoyed my chicken parmesan and the pasta was surprisingly tasty without having to add extra cheese. I took my dish to go because I was also full. My husband ate a third of his fettucine alfredo and took the leftover home too.

For dessert, we got one of everything:

The desserts thankfully were served sample size, which made everyone in the table happy. Finally, we ordered our to-go pastas and we ordered spaghetti and meatballs, four cheese ravioli and mom’s lasagna.

The executive sous chef came out to our table to thank us for coming in and enjoying the restaurant week menu. Staff and management were awesome. We will definitely be coming back.

Given the amount of leftovers we got, this week meals will be leftovers from Maggiano’s.

Cheers to eight days of Long Island Restaurant week.

Let’s do this … 2023

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Happy New Year! 2022 was a transformative year as I became a new mom. I’ve been active on Yelp and Seated writing restaurant reviews and hitting up Michelin rated restaurants. I’ve been struggling with Meta, which consists of Facebook and Instagram. My post has not been reaching out to a lot of people and businesses as if I’ve been ghosted or blacklisted. I know it’s a very competitive market out there. So, if anyone out there can provide input to help improve this account, that would be great.

Since it’s Sunday, I began the game plan last night on New Years Eve 2022 with my traditional lucky foods menu. Thanks to Instacart and Food Bazaar, I was able to achieve that.  To start, I had my traditional 12 fruits, which I was able to obtain:

Oranges, clementine, banana, Apple, pear, plum, grapes, blackberries, blueberries, Kiwi, pomegranate, lemon and lime. That turned out I had 13, well to be fair. I had 12 pairs of fruits and 1 banana.

For my meals, I search recipes online to find inspiration with the ingredients I had to work with.  So I made the following:

Cornbread, baked lentil pasta with collard greens and ricotta, Cappellini with tuna, ricotta and peas, Smithfield apple smoked pork loin topped with bacon.

Today, the celebration continues with Pacific foods lentil soup and maybe dumplings. In addition, I’ll go through recipes with my Beaba baby food blender and make stuff for the baby, which I’m very excited about.

Check out my posts on Instagram at @tablespoonsandteaspoons. Stay tuned for an exciting 2023.