If you’re insanely curious about where we eat when we’re not cooking at home, here’s another edition of our restaurant recommendations!  Today we’re focusing on two places that cook up interesting takes on East Asian food.  Both of these spots have become famous for their unique dishes, so much so that each has expanded into several locations across New York (and beyond).  We’ll show you the vegetarian and not-so-vegetarian food we got at each place and what we suggest you try – but just know that we do feature some images of meat here.

First up is Ivan Ramen, which serves up a couple of different kinds of noodle soups as well as other Japanese-style dishes.  Ivan Ramen has expanded from its first location on the Lower East Side to a “slurp shop” at Gotham West Market in Midtown, but we decided to visit the original to try their food.  They have several different variations on ramen – for example, here’s the vegetarian one on the menu, made with a soy sauce and vegetable broth plus tofu, tomato, and these unique enoki mushrooms:

Cyril decided to try the Tokyo shoyu ramen, with pork belly and a soft boiled egg in a chicken and soy sauce broth.

We also got a side of miso-roasted cauliflower topped with chilis and fermented butter …

… and Cyril got the fried chicken, glazed with a caramelized garlic and chili pepper sauce.

We’ve also finally got around to trying Mission Chinese because they recently opened an outpost in Bushwick, not too far from where we live.  Their first New York location is also on the Lower East Side, but Mission Chinese (as you might guess from the name) is originally from San Francisco, and in the nine years since it opened it’s developed a cult following for its Asian fusion food.  Here, for example, is the fried rice made with smoked mushroom jerky and herbs and bean sprouts on top:

Miriam also tried the spicy peanut noodles …

… while Cyril had their famous kung pao pastrami, made with chilis and peanuts sprinkled over everything:

And we shared an order of charred sourdough naan, topped with whipped feta, honey butter, and herbs.

Both of these places are pretty unique in their own right – at Ivan Ramen you can sample some interesting takes on classic Japanese fare, while Mission Chinese serves up some really unusual and inventive food.  If you’re willing to try these places, you can get to them both by traveling to the Lower East Side or by visiting their newer sister locations.  And we urge you to go check these two spots out, because while you can easily find ramen or Chinese food at many different places, both these restaurants offer you something more out of the ordinary.

Where We Ate: Santina & Zero Otto Nove

If you’re looking for some good restaurant recommendations in New York for the summer, you’ve come to the right blog!  We’ve been going to some really great places lately and we’re here to share two of them with you today.  The spots we’re going to showcase both focus on upscale Italian cuisine, and both are only just over a mile from each other in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.  So without further ado, here’s a sampling of what we tried at each – just know that we are going to feature meat here.

We first stopped at Santina, which is right near the Hudson River and wedged between the Standard Hotel and the Whitney Museum.  The menu is centered around seafood (and the kitschy decor of the restaurant really reflects that) but there’s plenty of vegetarian offerings on the menu, like this squash carpaccio, which features thinly sliced butternut squash topped with pumpkin seeds, dabs of creme fraiche, and a glaze of honey and balsamic vinegar.

For pastas, Miriam had the rigatoni piselli, made with a pea and almond pesto.

And Cyril got the cappellini, in a creamy cherry tomato sauce with blue crab on top.

Just a little bit north of Santina is the Manhattan location of Zero Otto Nove, which started out as a spot on the Bronx’s famous Arthur Avenue but has since expanded to Chelsea and Westchester County.  This restaurant – which we loved for being luxuriously larger than most places in New York that we’ve been to – focuses more on southern Italian food.  Here, for example, is the tomato focaccia that they bring to your table:

The night we went we decided to split one of their pizzas:  the La Cirilo, with a butternut squash puree sauce and mushrooms, fresh mozzarella, and truffle oil on top.

Then we each got our own pasta dish – and since Zero Otto Nove is known for making pastas baked in foil, we tried two different versions of this specialty.  For Miriam it was the radiatori in cartoccio, made with vegetables and a Parmesan-tomato sauce.

And Cyril tried the mafalde con salsiccia e provola, cooked in a sausage-tomato sauce with smoked mozzarella.

We liked both of these restaurants for what they had on offer:  at Santina we got to try some new and creative takes on pasta as well as an interesting appetizer, and at Zero Otto Nove we really enjoyed the baked pasta and the interesting pizza and bread.  If you’re looking for somewhere cool to eat in the ultra-hip area around the Chelsea waterfront, Santina is a good option.  Meanwhile, if you want comfort Italian food in a restaurant where you can spread out a little instead of the usual cramped feeling of Manhattan restaurants, Zero Otto Nove is excellent.  Really, you can’t go wrong with either of these spots!

Where We Ate: PhoBar & Murray’s Mac and Cheese

We’ve been to so many cool restaurants in the past few months that we’re devoting another post to show you what we’ve tried recently!  Today we’re going to highlight two very different eateries featuring unique cuisines – one is a new, very casual counter-service place, while the other is a sit-down spot.  But both are just a few blocks away from each other in the area near Washington Square Park, so we want to give you some great options if you’re ever in that neughborhood.  Just be warned, there are images of meat in this post.

The first place we went was PhoBar, a Vietnamese restaurant with a location in Chinatown in addition to this original outpost in Greenwich Village.  As the name suggests, you can get all kinds of really flavorful pho here, like this vegetarian version with noodles, beans, carrots, broccoli, greens, potatoes, and soy meat:

Cyril, meanwhile, got the Saigon pho, which comes with noodles and veggies plus sliced beef, beef balls, and brisket.

We also got a few appetizers:  these vegetable spring rolls …

… and for Cyril the restaurant’s wings, marinated in lemongrass and Vietnamese chili sauce.

Just a few blocks away is a place selling something much different:  mac and cheese.  Murray’s Cheese, which has become a Manhattan institution since opening in 1940, opened Murray’s Mac and Cheese just a few months ago as an addition to their original cheese shop.  The idea is to incorporate Murray’s great cheeses into some fantastic mac and cheese creations – and since we (but especially Miriam) love mac and cheese, we had to try it out.  All of their macs start with noodles from Sfoglini, a local pasta company, and a blend of cheddar, fontina, gouda, and taleggio cheeses.  From there you can design your own mac and cheese – here’s Miriam’s, with red peppers, peppadew peppers, and buffalo sauce:

And Cyril got one of the specials for the day we went – an Irish-themed creation with corned beef and pesto sauce.

If you couldn’t tell from the pictures, everything we tried was great!  Mac and cheese and Vietnamese food might not have a lot in common, but they’re both good in their own right, especially when they’re made by two excellent restaurants.  At the Murray’s shop you can go in, quickly order, and feast on some inventive and creative mac and cheese; but if you’ve got some time to relax, PhoBar serves up some great warm pho and other comforting, delicious foods.  Try both and get your hands on some unique cuisine in Greenwich Village.

Where We Ate: 10 Corso Como & Carmenta’s

We’ve been trying so many new and interesting restaurants around New York lately that we just have to show you what we’ve eaten recently!  Today we’re going to focus on Italian food from two very different places – one is a more upscale restaurant in Manhattan, while the other is a casual spot in Brooklyn.  Yet despite how unlike these two eateries are, we really enjoyed both of them and we want to show you what we got at both places to motivate you to visit each one.

First is the restaurant at the New York outpost of the retail shop 10 Corso Como.  The original 10 Corso Como store was founded in Milan as a place to sell fashion and art objects, and since then it has expanded globally to include several other locations.  This one, at the South Street Seaport, is the first North American store, and like most of the other shops it has a restaurant inside that hearkens back to the brand’s Milanese roots by serving up Italian food.  So here was our meal there, starting with an appetizer of minestrone for Miriam …

… and the fritto misto – made up of fried fish, shellfish, and vegetables – for Cyril.

Then both of us tried different pastas on the menu.  For Miriam it was some very pillowy gnicchi in a sage and butter sauce, topped with fried Parmesan crisps.

And Cyril got the pasta struncatura, featuring spaghetti in an anchovy, garlic, chile, and breadcrumb sauce.

And to end our meal, Cyril had a panna cotta topped with toffee and crisp fruit slices.

And Miriam got a selection of pineapple, pear, and raspberry gelati.

On another day, we decided to walk just a few blocks from our apartment to visit Carmenta’s in Bushwick.  This small storefront is half retail store selling Italian specialties and half counter service restaurant, and though the food menu is small there’s plenty of vegetarian offerings, like these spicy rice balls stuffed with mozzarella, Parmesan, and chilis:

We also split two sandwiches:  one with eggplant parm …

… and one that was a special for the day, stuffed with spaghetti squash, roasted orange bell peppers, provolone cheese, and pesto sauce.

And if that weren’t enough, we also tried this pasta made with broccoli rabe pesto and topped with crushed pistachios.

You can see that 10 Corso Como and Carmenta’s are pretty unalike, in terms of their geography and their atmosphere.  But besides sharing a common cuisine, they’re both excellent in their own rights.  10 Corso Como is a great place to go for a nice meal, and you can browse the store’s interesting wares while you wait.  Carmenta’s, meanwhile, is good for a quick bite of comforting, familiar yet inventive food.  We really can’t recommend one over the other – you’ll have to try out both!

Where We Ate: The Islands & Thai Farm Kitchen

We’ve gotten to go to so many cool, interesting, and delicious restaurants lately around New York, so today we’re going to highlight two that we’ve visited recently.  These places serve up very different cuisines, but they’re both in Brooklyn – one on either side of Prospect Park.  We liked the unique food that we were able to get at each, as well as the cozy atmosphere at these small storefront restaurants.  So here’s where we went and what we recommend – just be warned that there is meat featured here.

First up, in Prospect Heights we visited The Islands, which features a menu of Caribbean classics.  As such, Cyril had to try the oxtail, simmered in a flavorful spiced sauce with salad and a side of rice and peas.

And although Caribbean food usually isn’t very vegetarian-friendly, The Islands a section of their menu offering several meatless options.  Miriam went with the stew peas, which are made with beans, vegetables, and dumplings cooked together in spices and served with rice and a salad.

We also got a side of the restaurant’s mac and cheese to split:

On the other side of Prospect Park, in the Kensington neighborhood, you can find Thai Farm Kitchen.  This new and tiny place focuses on food specifically from Bangkok, so while some of the dishes on the menu might be familiar, others were new to our experience with American Thai food.  We started our meal there with the som tum:  a papaya salad served with beans, tomatoes, lime juice, spicy Thai chiles, and peanuts.

And we also got the dumpling phak, made with vegetables and tofu steamed inside a spinach wrapper.

As an entree, Miriam had an order of the massaman curry, with tofu, sweet potatoes, vegetables, and peanuts in a mildly spicy stew.

And Cyril got one of the restaurant’s signature dishes:  the hor mhok talay mapraw onn, a seafood stew of fish, squid, and shrimp in a coconut milk and curry broth, all served inside a hollowed-out coconut shell.

We thought both of these places were well worth a visit.  At The Islands, it was good to find some vegetarian Caribbean food, and Cyril liked trying oxtail for the first time.  At Thai Farm Kitchen, we were happy to expand our palates and eat some new Thai dishes.  Though these places are a little deeper into Brooklyn than some people care to venture, we think they’re both worth the trip.  For vegetarians and meat eaters alike, we’d recommend both these places.