One of our passions is pizza, and we’re very lucky to live in an area that has such a wealth of good options.  We subscribe to the Pizza Belt theory, which states any given pizzeria within New York City and its surrounding areas is more likely than not to produce a decent pizza.  But we’re not just looking for good – we want to know what’s best in our home city.  And so, to that end, we recently spent a Sunday afternoon going all around Queens scouting out the best pizzas in the borough.  Our quest took us to quite a variety of different places, with each stop easily accessible from the subway, and we thoroughly enjoyed all our slices and pies.  Best of all, we were able to eat entirely vegetarian as we made our way around Queens.  So here our are picks!

Our first stop was in Forest Hills, just a few blocks from the E and F trains.  Nick’s is a small storefront with table service or takeout that’s been cooking up pizzas for 30 years.  We decided there we would try this large pie with basil and hot cherry peppers.

From there we headed over to Jamaica, to a very unassuming spot a few blocks from the end of the E, J and Z trains.  Margherita Pizza is a tiny, cash only space that serves up mostly slices – and it’s wildly popular among both pizza connoisseurs and neighborhood locals.  They have only a few toppings available, so we decided to keep it simple and get cheese slices, which were absolutely delicious.

We next ventured to north, to an area on the border between Flushing and College Point.  Amore Pizzeria is about a half-mile walk from the last stop on the 7 train, through an area filled with warehouses.  We were pretty unsure if we were going in the right direction until we hit a strip mall and Amore was occupying one of the storefronts.  It was pretty surprising to come upon an old school slice joint in that area, but there were a ton of people coming in and out and the place looked legit.  We got cheese slices there as well, and we really enjoyed them too.

And for our final destination, we headed to Milkflower in Astoria, not far from the N and W trains.  This spot is a restaurant with a full menu, offering pastas and entrees and such, but in keeping with our day’s theme we stuck with just pizza.  We decided to keep on with simplicity in our pizza tastes for the day and got the Queen, made with fresh mozzarella, parmesan, and basil on tomato sauce.

It was a day well spent, in our opinion:  we got to travel all around Queens to go to quite a wide array of pizza places.  We visited two humble places serving up delicious slices, plus one family-owned place for pies, plus a new and creative spot – and we got to make our way through four different neighborhoods.  Cyril’s favorite pizza was Nick’s, while Miriam favored Margherita Pizza.  We also both agreed that Amore Pizza was the most unexpected, because we didn’t quite expect to find pizza in a strip mall, and in an area that’s much more well known for Asian food.  We’re glad we got to explore and highlight some great places, and we’ve got one more adventure up our sleeves to share soon.

Where We Ate: Ferdi & Suprema Provisions

Since there’s not a ton going on now, in the depths of winter, we’ve been scouting all over and eating at places that are new to us.  Coming up we’ll be sharing some food adventures we’ve taken recently, but right now we want to feature two restaurants in Manhattan.  As with many places we try out, these were both Italian spots, and they happen to be very close to each other – just 1/4 of a mile apart in the West Village.  We liked both places and their different vibes, and we’ll share here what we enjoyed at each place, but just be warned that we’ll feature one image of meat here.

First, on a pretty chilly day recently, we headed to Ferdi, right on 7th Avenue.  This new spot is small and has a pretty quiet vibe, so it’s nice for a laid back dinner.  We started our meal there by splitting the casalinga salad, which is a rather unique salad:  there’s no lettuce but instead it’s made with apples, green beans, onions, cherry tomatoes, basil, and Yukon Gold potatoes, all in a vinaigrette dressing.

Then we shared two vegetarian pastas – the rigatoni Siciliani, made with eggplant and ricotta affumicata cheese in a marinara sauce …

… and the penne alla russa, with shallots in a tomato cream sauce.

And we ended our meal with one of the dessert specials for that evening:  this poached pear, served with raspberries, hazelnuts, and vanilla ice cream.

Just a few blocks north is Suprema Provisions, which is Italian inspired but also has foods from other cuisines on its menu.  This place is big and popular, and also has a grocery store attached, so it can get kind of crowded and loud with a really energetic environment.  For an appetizer, we got the ricotta crostini, spread with whipped ricotta, hazelnuts, truffled honey, and chopped mint.

Then Miriam had the truffle gnocchi, made with a cream and black truffle sauce.

And Cyril had to try the Suprema burger, which bills itself as one of the best burgers in the city.  It’s made with a combination of short rib and brisket, then topped with roasted tomatoes, a black garlic sauce, aged cheddar cheese, and a jam made from Iberico bacon, all served with a side of charred brussel sprouts.

These are two hyper-local places, since they’re within just blocks of each other – and they’re both good examples of the food you can get in the West Village.  Italian reigns supreme in New York, so there are a ton of options if you want that type of food, and we think these two places are excellent examples.  You can have a meal in an intimate space at Ferdi and get some classic pastas as well as a creative salad and some fun dessert (they’ll also make liquid nitrogen ice cream right at your table, if you’re looking for a spectacle).  And at Suprema Provisions you can eat in a pretty lively atmosphere, get some decadent food, and see for yourself if they do indeed have one of New York’s best burgers.  This list is a great start if you happen to be in the West Village and start to get hungry, and we hope to inspire you to try some new places.  And soon we’ll be sharing some more of our food journeys!

Where We Ate: Amarone Scarlotto & Elio’s

In between sharing our Thanksgiving food and starting to bake up some fun Christmas treats, we’re going to take a moment to share not a recipe but some New York restaurant recommendations.  The places we’re featuring today represent just two of the many, many good spots in the city for Italian food, but beyond this shared cuisine these restaurants are actually pretty different.  They’re in different neighborhoods, have different histories, and give off different vibes.  But they represent the diversity of food experiences here in New York, even within restaurants that serve food from the same part of the world, so check them out!  Just as a warning, though, there is one image of meat here.

First up is a brand new restaurant, Amarone Scarlotto, which came about recently after two separate Italian spots merged together.  This is a really convenient place to get a bite to eat:  it’s in midtown Manhattan, close to Times Square and all the Broadway theaters, so it’s great if you want a good meal that you don’t have to travel far for.  When we visited we were able to make ourselves an entirely vegetarian meal, starting with the insalata Amorone, which comes topped with artichokes, roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella, and shaved Parmesan.

Then we split two pastas:  first, the rigatoni Siciliana, made with eggplant, tomatoes, and mozzarella …

… and the fettucine ai funghi, with mushrooms in a white truffle oil sauce.

A few weeks later, we managed to squeeze into Elio’s on the Upper East Side.  In the 41 years that it’s been around, Elio’s has become an establishment in the neighborhood – in fact, it’s reportedly one of Gwyneth Paltrow’s favorite New York spots, and there was a kerfuffle earlier this year when Sarah Palin ate there twice in the same week.  With all that, we knew it would be tough to snag a table there, so our strategy to get in was to call on a random Thursday and ask if they had any same-day reservations – and they did, due to a cancellation.  Since we were so excited to get in, we decided to try a whole bunch of different things, starting with the chopped salad, made with mixed lettuce, onions, mushrooms and strips of red peppers.

And also the asparagus and artichokes, topped with a tomato sauce.

Then Miriam had one of their pasta specials of the day – this pappardelle with pesto and chopped tomatoes.

Meanwhile, Cyril had their famous paglia e fieno, with a prosciutto, pea and cream sauce.

And we finished off our meal with their crème brulee.

We were really glad we got to squeeze into Elio’s and try this famous place, but we also enjoyed visiting to new pan-Italian spot as well.  Elio’s was a good celebratory treat (we went there for Cyril’s birthday) and we splurged a little there, while Amarone Scarlotto was a good place to try a variety of vegetarian pastas before going to a Broadway show.  Of course there’s wealth of Italian restaurants in New York, and so many of them are great, so in order to help cut through all your options we’re happy to feature these two interesting places.

Where We Ate: Heidelberg & Parma Nuova

This summer we did a lot of traveling, and we showed you some of our recommendations for all the cities and towns we visited, but in this new season we’re going closer to home.  Today we’re going to feature two restaurants from here in New York – specifically, from the Upper East Side.  These places are less than half a mile from each other, but their location is the only thing they have in common.  One is an old school spot rooted in the Upper East Side’s past immigrant heritage, while the other is a newer restaurant serving up a much different cuisine.  Both were places we enjoyed, and we’re going to show you some of the great food we got, but you should be warned that there’s one image of meat here.

We first went to check out Heidelberg, on 2nd Avenue and 85th Street, which (as you might be able to guess) is a German restaurant.  It’s been around for more than a hundred years, reflecting the fact that the Upper East Side used to be a hub of German immigration.  While we were there we decided to go all out and do the käsefondue, which is made from gruyere and emmenthaler cheeses simmered right at your table with Riesling wine and Kirsch brandy.  It’s a meal for two so we split it – it’s served with raw vegetables, apple slices, cubed bread, and some sausage (it’s a good idea to ask that they put the sausage on a separate plate).

Since this is a pretty big meal in itself, we decided to try just one other thing – the potato pancakes, which come with a side of applesauce.

Now if you head over to 3rd Avenue and 80th Street, you’ll come across Parma Nuova, which is a new iteration of Parma, a restaurant that was an Upper East Side staple for several decades.  Here you can try some Italian food, specifically from the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy.  We were happy to discover that we could put together an entirely vegetarian meal, so we started with an order of the cucuzielli fritti – these thin, crispy strands of fried zucchini.

We also shared the insalata parma, made with arugula, endive, radicchio, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, and roasted peppers, all topped with slices of shaved Parmesan.

Then we tried two different pasta dishes:  the mezzi rigatoni alla norma, with tomato sauce, eggplant, and shredded ricotta salata …

… and the gnocchi di parmigiano e tartufo, in a Parmesan cheese and black truffle sauce.

We’ll admit, we don’t get out to the Upper East Side often – the neighborhood has a reputation for being a little snobby, and that extends to the restaurant scene there, where many people wonder if there’s good food or just fancy food.  We think these two places show that there’s some interesting and creative things on offer, where you have your choice of cuisines and can dine in old or very new spots.  We liked getting some fondue in a very classic space, and we also liked trying all-vegetarian Italian offerings in a newer restaurant.  We have a few more Upper East Side spots on our list of places to check out, and we’ll report back on what we find!

Where We Ate: The Best Food in Point Pleasant & Seaside Heights

It’s almost autumn, which is our favorite season of the year – but before we switch over to the crisp air and changing leaves, we wanted to give one last hurrah to the warm weather.  This past weekend, for our final summer travels, we visited two places on the northern end of the Jersey shore:  Point Pleasant and Seaside Heights.  Both of these are fun beach towns, each with their own vibe – Point Pleasant has a long, fun boardwalk with lots of family-friendly activities, while Seaside Heights has a more rowdy nightlife-oriented boardwalk (it’s where they filmed Jersey Shore, after all).  We spent about a day and a half between these two places, and in between going to the beach, walking up and down the boardwalks, and riding the sky ride in Seaside Heights, we also decided to try some local food.  We’ll show you what we got in each town, but be aware that we have some images of meat here.

First up, Point Pleasant – we started there because the town and its beach are accessible via the NJ Transit North Jersey Coast line, so we just hopped on a train in Manhattan and arrived in Point Pleasant in a little under two hours.  On the boardwalk we discovered that Chippy’s was the local french fry stand that seemed to be the most popular, so we got ourselves a medium cup and ate it on the beach.

After spending some time in the sun we decided to head a little inland, to downtown Point Pleasant.  We found two interesting food spots there:  first, there was Joe Leone’s Italian Specialties, which is mainly a market for pasta, sauce, and the like, but they also have a counter serving up sandwiches.  You can choose your own fillings and cheese as well as what kind of bread you want your sandwich on, so we got roasted eggplant, zucchini, red peppers, and tomatoes, plus arugula, fresh mozzarella and pesto, all on a big semolina roll.

Also nearby was Rosie’s Pizza, which a couple of locals told us was the best pizza spot around.  Rosie’s only makes a set amount of dough each day, so you have to make sure you order early – we had been hoping to get slices but by the time we arrived they only had whole pies left, so we got one with roasted red peppers.

Next we hopped into an Uber to head about 10 miles south to Seaside Heights.  You can stroll down the boardwalk there too, so we meandered around and tried a couple of different things – including these buffalo fries from the House of Fries stand.

And some more pizza – this time just a margherita slice from Maruca’s Tomato Pies.

We also got some fun candy from Lucky Leo’s Sweet Shop – on top here are some milk chocolate-covered Ritz crackers with peanut butter in the middle, and on the bottom are slices of fudge:  rocky road (on the left), cookies and cream (in the middle) and s’mores (on the right).

But just like in Point Pleasant, we also discovered some hidden gems located a little more into town.  On our second morning in the area, we stopped into Bobber’s Family Restaurant, which has a pretty extensive breakfast menu.  Miriam had the French toast, which you can get topped with fresh fruit …

… while Cyril decided he finally had to try a New Jersey specialty:  a pork roll sandwich, this one with egg and cheese, plus home fries on the side.

And we also happened upon Steaks Unlimited, which might not sound like a great place to take a vegetarian, but they were kind enough to make Miriam a sandwich with some of their veggie toppings.  This one has green peppers, mushrooms, fried potatoes, and provolone cheese, all stuffed into their unique half moon pizza bread roll.

Of course Cyril tried one of their traditional cheesesteaks – this is Seaside Tony, made with peppers, onions, mozzarella, and cheese balls.

Speaking of cheese balls – we shared a side order of these as well, since they’re apparently famous at Steaks Unlimited.  They’re little tater tot-sized pieces of cheddar cheese, battered and fried.

All in all it was a good weekend for food – we didn’t eat gourmet or anything like that, but we got some fun fries, candy, pizza, breakfast, and sandwiches.  That’s exactly what you want to eat on a casual beach weekend, and we’re glad we were able to search out and find some vegetarian options.  We know that by this point you might not be headed down to the Jersey shore until next year, but if you do decided to check out these two towns in the future, we think our recommendations will lead you toward some pretty interesting local eats.