Georgetown Cupcakes

I recently had dinner at Little Owl, which is a blog post for another day.  Not feeling particularly ready for dessert after eating 2 courses, I decided to walk to Georgetown Cupcakes, a new cupcakery in Soho, located at 111 Mercer Street.  If you want to read the background information on this cupcake shop, brought to you by two lovely ladies in D.C., read my previous post here. 

First, this cupcake place apparently has huge lines during the day.  I went at 6:30 p.m., and it was not busy.  Who doesn't love a cupcake at night?  I got the Black and White Cookie Cupcake and Mint Chocolate.  They have flavors that are consistent everyday plus special flavors of the day.  You can look up the calendar on the website.  

The price of the cupcake, $2.75, seems reasonable.  They box up your multiple cupcakes for you, which is lovely.  Carry it lightly though, because I did not and the cupcake frosting toppled a bit.  

I ate the black and white cupcake first.  Holy smokes - what a FANTASTIC cupcake!  What I liked about the cupcake was that the frosting was not overly buttery and the cake was firm.  I hate eating cupcakes that upon first bite, the cake crumbles and your fingers are covered in frosting, that attracts the cake crumbles, and you turn in to a 6 year old who needs a bath after eating a treat.  

The following day, I ate the mint chocolate cupcake, which was equally delicious.  I consumed it for breakfast.  And I do not regret it.  

I highly recommend Georgetown Cupcake.  Take a swing through Soho at night, avoid the lines, and indulge in a sweet treat.

Have a delicious day!

NYC Menu Girl

Morimoto

I had the pleasure of dining at Morimoto recently.  I went with some of my favorite dining companions - Sejal, the girl who notices when too much truffle oil is used; Jef, a former restaurant server and fine dining connoisseur; and Caitlin, my fashion blog friend!

Like I said a few posts back, I want to get back to sharing deals with you, since that may be the reason you decided to start reading this blog.  Morimoto is a pricey place.  However, the sushi at Morimoto is a GREAT deal!

I am new to sushi.  I started eating sushi about 5 years ago.  I did not eat it before coming to New York City and quickly found that liking sushi really enhances your city experience.  Going out for sushi with friends is such a trendy thing to do.  A lot of sushi places are byob also, so they are budget friendly.  My friend Sejal is a sushi expert, by my standards.  She can tell when the fish is uber-fresh and when it is not.  She can practically guess at what time the fish was caught.  Sejal is a great friend to ask for sushi restaurant suggestions.  A lot of sushi places have sushi rolls in the $4.50-$7 range.  The ambiance is pretty much the same.  So, you might as well go to the place with the best sushi.  

Beyond your average sushi places, NYC has a handful of "upscale" sushi restaurants, like Sushi Samba, Nobu, and Morimoto.  All of these restaurants offer a lot more than sushi, but they are known for having delicious and high quality, well made sushi.  I had yet to try one of these high-quality sushi restaurants.  For the most part, I enjoy my $6 sushi rolls, or my $8 lunch special of 2 rolls and a soup and salad.  I never felt compelled to pay more than $10 for a sushi roll.  It may be better, but I can get good sushi for less, so why overdo it?  

At Morimoto though, the high quality sushi is actually VERY affordable!  A salmon roll - $6.50.  The spicy tuna roll - $8!  The only roll over $10 is the soft-shell crab roll.  Even though the rest of the dishes on the menu are pricy, with several hot appetizers in the $20-$30 range, the sushi is deliciously cheap.  You could easily go to Morimoto before meeting up with friends at a bar, get a glass of wine and a few rolls to split with friends.  

After Morimoto, I have even less incentive to try places like Sushi Samba because I already found upscale sushi at an affordable price!

Have a delicious day!

NYC Menu Girl

Good Restaurant, Great Deals!

Good, a restaurant located in the West Village on Greenwich avenue, opened almost 12 years ago and has been going strong ever since.  This restaurant serves Contemporary American food (i.e. salmon, burger, strip steak) with a Southern flare (mac n' cheese, fish tacos, hush puppies).  Good is quite small, with a 4 seat bar and no more than 20 tables.  They also have an extension of the bar where you sit in the window facing the street, which seems great for people-watching. 

I went to Good for brunch.  The brunch deal, which I did not partake in because I was headed to work afterwards, is any entree + side dish or bread + cocktail for $24.  You end up saving about $4-$6 by getting this deal instead of ordering each item individually.  It is certainly not a boozy brunch deal, but more of a classy and good meal deal.  Word to the wise - this place opens at 11 a.m. for brunch with no reservations.  I got a table when I arrived at 11, but it filled up pretty quickly.  Go early!  The food was delicious and very filling.  More importantly in the morning, they fill up your coffee non-stop.  It is a great place to fuel up for the day.  

There are also great dinner deals!  Let me outline them:

1.  DAILY 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.: You can choose 2 courses for $25 or 3 courses for $30.  Again, the early bird gets the....most amount of courses for less.  

2.  SUNDAY: Half-priced bottles of wine and $5 beers!

Please note: several restaurants offer interesting Sunday and Monday deals because restaurants tend to be less busy and they want your business.  At Centro Vinoteca and Esperanto, bottles of wine are half-priced on Monday.  Apiary offers no corkage fee on Monday nights.  Northern Spy Food Co. rolls out a 3 course menu called "Sunday Supper" for just $24.  Alias does the same, but for $30. 

The next time you make a dinner reservation, think about going on an off-night.  It may not be the time to see and be seen, but if you are looking for a quiet and delicious experience, it might be worth it.  And for those of you that can't lock down a babysitter on a popular Saturday night, think about going on a Sunday.  It will be easier to secure childcare and you will save money on your dinner, thereby being able to pay that pesky teenager his/her insane babysitting rates.  

Have a delicious day!

NYC Menu Girl

Good Deal at Good Beer

I have mentioned Good Beer before.  It is a beer store on 9th street between 1st and A.  It is the perfect place to make a mixed six pack, buy large format beers, and get a good deal on craft beers.  Some people say it is pricey, but those people are forgetting that a 6 pack of bud light for $12 at a bodega is a total rip off, especially compared to getting amazing craft beers for between $2-$3 a bottle at Good Beer.

You can also drink at Good Beer.  They usually have 8-10 beers on tap.  You can order pretzels or other small snacks, sit at a table in the back, and drink a beer.  The best deal though is the beer flight at Good Beer.  You can select 4 samples of beer for $8.  If you look at the picture, these beer samples are quite large.  It is probably the equivalent of 2 beers.  For only $8 and a ton of variety, you can't go wrong.

Word to the wise - last call is at 9:15.  It is mostly a store, not a bar.  This is the spot for your post happy hour beers, when the happy hour ends at 9 but you want to keep on saving!  The store itself closes at 10. 

Have a delicious day!
NYC Menu Girl

Cream Cheese, Evolving

I think cream cheese is delicious.  However, that statement is simple in 2012, when cream cheese has evolved into a food that has many flavors and forms.  Nobody orders a bagel with cream cheese these days. People order whole wheat everything bagels with light scallion cream cheese on the side or toasted cinnamon raisin bagels with bacon herb cream cheese.

I returned to Tompkins Square Bagels last Sunday to grab a bagel for the movies.  Yes, I like to go to the movies in the morning and bring a bagel with me.  Any showing before noon at any AMC theater is a mere $6.00.  I am not kidding.  That awesome big movie theater in Kips Bay - $6 before noon.
Tompkins Square Bagels has a few interesting cream cheeses.  My friend Jef said he had the wasabi cream cheese.  I saw a chocolate chip cookie dough cream cheese and asked to try it.  It was pretty disgusting.  It clearly had something added to it to make it taste like raw cookie dough, but it tasted gross.  Instead, I ordered the bacon herb cream cheese, which was very nice.  It had a nice bacon flavor that was not too overwhelming.



Vic's Bagel Bar, located in Murray Hill, takes cream cheese to a completely different level.  You pick a cream cheese and then you select "mix-ins."  They mix it altogether for you and spread it on your bagel.  You can see the mix-in choices here.  You can get avocado, basil and goat cheese.  It gets pretty expensive.  I went once and it was pretty good.  It seems a little extreme and I am not sure you could maintain your bagel lifestyle with the cost of cream cheese.  But, the novelty factor is certainly interesting.

At the end of the day, I usually want a whole wheat everything bagel with lite cream cheese.  I will welcome the new cream cheeses of the world though with open arms and will give them a try.

Where do you go for interesting cream cheese?

Have a delicious day!
NYC Menu Girl