We’ve been having a really fun time lately trying out some of the many excellent and diverse restaurants around New York, and we’re going to share two of our recent discoveries with you today.  These places are close to each other in the West Village, but otherwise they’re very much unalike:  they serve up cuisines from two different  continents, in very different types of settings, but we thought they were both unique, interesting, and really delicious.  So let us introduce you to these two spots and recommend what we liked at each – just be warned that we are going to show some images of meat here.

First, the more casual of these restaurants:  Bào Tea House.  As you might be able to guess, this place specializes in bào –  the soft, squishy Chinese buns stuffed with various fillings.  Miriam was very happy to find that they serve a steamed Impossible bào, made with vegan chicken and a spicy dairy-free mayo.

Cyril, meanwhile, had the classic bào, filled with pork marinated in barbecue sauce.  It’s baked, so here’s what it looks like on the outside …

… and here’s what’s inside.

They also have a couple of different sweet bào, so we tried the choco milk variety, made from chocolate and custard and topped with cocoa and almonds.

But as the name suggests, they also serve up specialty hot and milk teas.  We got the rose milk tea, made with a red tea and rose syrup.

Now if you’d like a nice sit-down meal, you can head north to Pasta Eater, a new restaurant serving up both traditional and inventive Italian dishes.  The appetizer trend toward the classics – like this salad, made from arugula, cherry tomatoes, and shaved Parmesan cheese, that we started our meal with …

… and this order of eggplant parmigiana.

And then we had to try some of their interesting pasta – Miriam went with the cacio e pepe, because that’s one of her favorite pasta dishes but also because at Pasta Eater it’s prepared in a wheel of pecorino cheese.  Here it is in all its cheesy glory:

And this is the cacio e pepe in its final form:

And Cyril got the pappardelle, with a wild boar and black truffle ragú.

So as you can see, these two places are pretty different, even though they’re in the same neighborhood.  Bào Tea House serves up a unique type of casual food from China – you can think of bào as little sandwiches filled with all kinds of tasty toppings, and it’s nice that you can get some with vegan fried chicken as well as more meaty fillings, plus some tasty teas.  And if you’re looking for a more elevated meal, you can head up to Pasta Eater for some really interesting and tasty dishes – after all, there’s not very many places where you can watch your food emerge from a wheel of cheese.  There’s a ton of restaurants, both old and new, around Greenwich Village, but we’d like to recommend these two places as just a small sampling of all the different types of things you can eat in the area.

Where We Ate: The Best Food in Little Italy

Last month we decided to spend one of our Saturdays visiting the Feast of San Gennero.  This festival is popular in New York, but it has evolved a lot since it was first celebrated in 1926 as a religious festival dedicated to St. Januarius, the patron saint of Naples, home of the many immigrants living in Manhattan’s Little Italy neighborhood.  In the years since, the Feast has evolved into a giant street fair lasting a week and a half and running down several blocks of Mulberry Street, which goes through the heart of Little Italy.  Nowadays the festival is jam-packed with a lot of ho-hum food vendors – the type you see at every outdoor event in the tri-state area.  But we decided to hunt down some truly authentic food in the neighborhood, from some of the local places that set up stands, and we got to try some great and unique Italian bites.  Here’s what we got this year – but just be warned that we are showing one image of meat here.

The first place we came across was a small table set up by Pasquale Jones, which was serving up sandwiches that day.  There were two options:  one was burrata and fresh tomato …

… and the other was prosciutto topped with provolone.

Next we happened across Arancini Brothers, which fries up rice balls in Brooklyn and sells them around the city.  We got ourselves a half-dozen arancini, all of which were vegetarian or vegan – in this box are one classic three-cheese; one with pesto; one alla Norma (stuffed with eggplant, mozzarella, and red sauce); one with mushrooms and Taleggio cheese; one with cauliflower, lemon and capers; and in the front left is a dessert variety stuffed with Nutella and rolled in sugar.

Of course we had to try some cannoli, so we got two from Caffe Palermo:  one regular and one dipped in chocolate.

They were also serving up plates of pasta, so we split some penne vodka.

We were starting to get a little stuffed at this point, but we still made room to share a marinara slice from Manero’s.

And finally, from M’o Il Gelato we got some chocolate Italian ice.

The Feast of San Gennero has now come and gone, at least for this year, but since it pops up again every September you now have a guide for some excellent food you can get there.  Sure, it can be a little hard to see past all the trucks selling cheap, greasy food, but if you look hard you can find some great local, authentic places.  We thought this was a great sampling of the unique Italian food culture that has sprung up in New York over the past 100 years, and we encourage you to explore the neighborhood and find interesting things to eat for yourself, at any time of the year.

Where We Ate: Bamonte’s & The Springs

We’re here again showcasing some great places we’ve discovered recently around New York, and tooday we’re going to feature two spots in northern Brooklyn – one in Williamsburg and one in Greenpoint.  Despite what you might think, the restaurant in Williamsburg is not some new hipster joint but a very old-school Italian restaurant that’s been around for over a century.  Meanwhile, the place in Greenpoint is a colorful and casual bar and eatery with some fun indoor and outdoor spaces.  These two restaurants couldn’t be more different, but they reflect both the past and present of these neighborhoods and they’re each interesting and delicious in their own unique ways.  So here they are, but we want you to know that we will be featuring images of meat here.

First in Williamsburg is Bamonte’s, which is a prime example of the traditional red sauce joint.  You really kind of have to get a big Italian meal while you’re there, so to start off we had an order of long hot peppers sautéed in olive oil …

… plus the special salad, topped with goat cheese, beets, and sliced pears.

We also had an appetizer of fried zucchini.

Then Miriam got the rigatoni vodka.

And Cyril had the veal scaloppine, with mushrooms in a marsala sauce.

And now for something entirely different:  just a mile or so north of Bamonte’s is The Springs in Greenpoint.  This very vibrant spot has a 50s-style dining room plus, in the summer, a huge outdoor patio featuring areas for lawn games and a pool where you can float your own mini inflatable flamingos.  You should start out your meal there with one of their drinks, which all match the tropical setting – like this boozy coke slushie:

Then we got a sampling of their pub-style fare, which changes seasonally – for Miriam it was an order of mozzarella sticks with a side of ricotta-marinara sauce …

… plus a grilled cheese made with gruyere and cheddar.

And Cyril got their house burger …

… and a side of loaded fries, topped with bacon, beer cheese sauce, and scallions.

So you can see that these two restaurants are pretty diverse – The Springs is a very modern-Brooklyn place that cultivates a retro vibe, while Bamonte’s actually is pretty old and has successfully kept up its traditional spirit into the 21st century.  These places showcase some of the different cuisines – Italian food and crafted bar bites paired with themed cocktails – that you can find in northern Brooklyn thanks to this area’s long and rich history of immigration and neighborhood turnover.  So if you’re looking for some cool and interesting food in Williamsburg or Greenpoint, we would recommend you check out both of these places for the interesting, unique food and drinks they have to offer.

Where We Ate: Hanon & Japan Village

Lately we’ve been visiting a ton of really cool restaurants in New York and beyond and we’re so backlogged with pictures of all the awesome foods we’ve tried that we’re going to dedicate the next few of our posts to showing and recommending great places to eat.  The two restaurants we’re going to feature today both serve up Japanese cuisine in Brooklyn, although their settings are pretty different and they’re in two far-flung neighborhoods.  But if you’re a Japanophile and you love all manner of that country’s food, we think it’s worth checking out these two eateries – but just be warned that there is some meat featured here.

The first place we went to was Hanon, a small new spot in Williamsburg.  The menu there is very much noodle-centric, so of course we had to try a couple of different varieties.  Miriam had the seiro udon, made with a mix of the restaurant’s wheat zenryufun and green sasauchi noodles (just make sure you specify that you want this dish to be vegetarian).

She also added on a side of vegetable tempura:

And Cyril got the niku udon, made with beef, greens, onions, and noodles in a hot soup.

Plus some shrimp and vegetable tempura.

We also had an appetizer of fried burdock root …

… and for dessert, vanilla ice cream drizzled with olive oil (which might sound weird and greasy but is actually really good).

Deeper into Brooklyn in Sunset Park you can find Japan Village, a food hall that’s across the street from another mall full of casual restaurants, the famous Industry City.  At Japan Village you can find an almost overwhelming number of stands selling all manner of Japanese food, plus a small grocery store that stocks specialty items.  We decided to get just a small sampling of food here, starting with pork katsu and vegetable tempura from Shokusaido:

Then Cyril also had a bowl of tonkotsu ramen, made with chashu (braised pork belly), scallions, seaweed, and egg in a pork broth, from Ramen Setagaya.

And Miriam had a vegetable curry with rice at Moriya.

So there you have two different options for excellent Japanese food in Brooklyn.  If you’re in Williamsburg you can sit and have some colorful and inventive noodle dishes, and if you’re willing to travel you can wander around a Japanese food hall and eat all kinds of things to your heart’s content.  At these two places we got a pretty good sampling, and we’re glad we got the chance to check out these spots and try Japanese food, some that was familiar to us and some that was brand new.  So if you have a hankering for udon or ramen or tempura or curry, these restaurants can definitely satisfy your craving.

Where We Ate: Motorino & Concrete

Lately we’ve been exploring our own neighborhood looking for some good, interesting, and unique places to eat – and this summer we found two cool new(ish) places not too far from home!  Both of the restaurants we’re going to feature today are in Williamsburg, just about a mile and a half from each other.  One spot is a new branch of a well-loved eatery that started locally but has since gone global, while the other is more of a hidden gem – but we enjoyed both places for what they offered.  H where we went and what we ate, but just be warned that we will feature some meat here.

First up is the newest location of Motorino, which started out serving up pizzas in the East Village but has since expanded around New York and over to several cities in Asia.  Its newest iteration is right under the Williamsburg Bridge, so we decided to visit since it’s not so far from where we live.  There we started our meal with two antipasti:  roasted bell peppers with capers for Miriam, and slices of salami for Cyril.

Then Miriam had a white stracciatella pizza, which comes topped with cherry tomatoes, basil, and a drizzling of olive oil.

And Cyril got a calzone stuffed with mortadella, mozzarella, pecorino cheese, and pickled peppers.

Now if you make your way down Broadway to the border of Williamsburg and Bushwick, you’ll come across a new restaurant called Concrete, which serves up hearty Sicilian food at pretty reasonable prices.  We split two appetizers there:  the burrata, which comes on top of spinach, tomatoes, and a crispy slice of olive oil-toasted bread …

… and the P + N salad, made with mixed greens, pears, walnuts, and cherry tomatoes and served with honey and blue cheese dressings.

Then we shared two pastas – first the Norma, in a ricotta, mint, and tomato sauce with eggplant.

And we also tried the their house pesto pasta.

We really liked both of these places, and not just because they were so close to home.  It was nice to have a Motorino nearby and get the chance to try their iconic pizza (plus Cyril got his calzone fix).  And we also were happy to try Concrete because their version of Italian food was delicious and very reasonably priced – where else in this city can you get a plate of pasta for $12?  Usually when people talk about good food in Williamsburg they only think of the restaurants in the Bedford Avenue area, but there’s plenty of excellent things to eat all over the neighborhood – and these two new places prove that.