Flashback Friday- NYC Restaurant Week – Bread & Tulips

Happy 2020! Can’t believe that we are halfway in the first month of the year! What’s even more exciting is next week is NYC Winter Restaurant week. One of the restaurants that will be participating during the restaurant week is Bread and Tulips.

Over the summer, my friend and I had dinner at this hot spot in Gramercy. They had happy hour until 7pm for discounted drinks. We came on a Monday evening during the summer and the place was dead. Service was on point in terms of knowledge and efficiency.

– Appetizers: To start, we took advantage of the restaurant week wine bottle special for $35. The wine was very good and the waiter re-corked the bottle to take home because we could not finish a bottle of wine. We ordered the crab cakes and Tuscan kale salad. The crab cakes were very good overall, the only comment I would say is that it was a little salty but all the components are well balanced if consumed in one bite. My friend got the Tuscan Kale Salad, which was really good, refreshing and healthy. Out of the two dishes, the kale salad was the better of the two.

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Crab Cakes
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Tuscan Kale Salad
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Restaurant Week Wine Special: $35 bottle wine – Campos de Riscas Estate Wine Organic Monasyrell – Syrah

– For the entree, we ordered the seared sea scallops and Long Island duck. The scallops was really good and the flavors were well balanced. Meanwhile my friend got the duck which was amazing and very lean. Out of the two dishes, the duck was the better of the two. That duck was to die for and personally I could see that dish become inconsistent if it was a busy night. Plus both dishes went well with the wine.

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Seared Sea Scallops with asparagus and pancetta vinaigrette
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Long Island Duck – Braised red cabbage, marcona almonds, sage and balsamic

The desserts were to awesome. The tartufo is amazing and with the lemon flavor and currents and walnut texture, the dish was a perfect end to my prix fixe. My friend got the chocolate mousse cake with hazelnut gelato, which was flawless.

Tartufo al Limoncello
Chocolate mousse and hazelnut gelato

Personal note, go on a non-busy night; given the restaurant’s reputation I can foresee regular people like us could get ignored and getting subpar service. The night we went it was dead (10 people were dining that evening).

Bread & Tulips is one of the over 300 restaurants participating in the upcoming NYC restaurant week starting from January 21 – February 7.

Stay tuned for suggested restaurants for this restaurant week….

Social Saturday – Sip for the Sea

On September 27, 2018, I had the privilege to win the Yelp/ Instagram contest to attend the Sip for the Sea event at the Central Park Zoo to benefit the Wildlife Conservation Society and New York Aquarium.  The mission of the event was to promote marine conservation and education at the New York Aquarium.  The event featured 22 sustainable dishes and wine pairings from various restaurants.  The food and wine options were overwhelming and unfortunately had only seven of these items so I can’t have favorites, but they all tasted good and the wine pairings complemented each bite.

I can’t wait to visit the restaurants that participate at this event.  Thank you Yelp, Instagram for everything.  Thank you to the organizers at Sip for the Sea for accommodating me and my guest for this great event.

Below are images from the event.

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Social Saturday: 24th Annual Japanese Food and Restaurant Expo 

We happily attended the 24th Annual Japanese Food and Restaurant Expo hosted by the New York Mutual Trading Company

This year’s expo had a better layout but fewer food vendors and sample products were smaller especially the ramen.  There were new products, but last year’s food sampling was better.  I felt that this year’s food expo highlighted the trend of shochu drinks, which is a type of liquor that can substitute for hard liquors such as vodka, rum and whiskey. There were more warm sake options. Below are highlights of event:


Sunday Game Plan

It has been awhile since I posted a game plan for meals of the week. For the past two weeks I have been exploring cheap places to eat and new restaurants. Now it is time to get back to business and proceed with my weight loss plan in order to reach my weight goal by the end of the year which is easier said than done at this point. 

 Today’s game plan include recipes for vegetarians, pescatarians, paleo eaters, and gluten free consumers on a budget. This week’s recipes are inspired by Physique57 SolutionThe Food Babe Way and The Pound a Day Diet. 

In addition to the food consumption I will be doing at least 30 minutes of cardio with strength circuit training. 

Let the weight loss journey resume. Stay tuned. 

 

Throwback Thursday- Family Style Chinese food

Ever since I was a child I would have family style Chinese food. This is not your typical Chinese American cuisine. Majority of authentic Chinese restaurant are identified based on the number of Chinese customers eating there. There are two family style Chinese cuisine I have eaten at, both in Elmhurst. Every year I always have to celebrate my birthday with Chinese food. I grew up with the belief of consuming noodles on my birthday signifying long life.  When I eat at these family style Chinese restaurants I always request an order of pan fried noodles. Recently I had a craving a found a recipe to make it on own, which was recently posted here under Traditional Tuesday. In addition to the pan fried noodles we would order a crusted t-bone steak and honey walnut shrimp.

The top collage was taken place at China Pearl Chinese Restaurant, one of the original Chinese restaurants in Elmhurst. Total meal cost including tip was $300.

The bottom collage was taken place at the recently opened Broadway Seafood Chinese Restaurant also located in Elmhurst. Total meal cost including tip was $170.

The major differences between the two restaurants is the quality of food. China Pearl had the better house special soup, steak and honey shrimp walnut while Broadway Seafood had more street food options such as lamb chops and roast pig and duck and soy sauce chicken.

The pan fried noodles with seafood is better at Broadway Seafood than in China Pearl.

Stay tuned for more eating journeys…