South African Cake Sisters

Every now and then, Marita brings home some really tasty snacks given by her friends at the United Nations – medjool dates from Iraq, pistachios from Lebanon, Syrian baklava, alfajores from Argentina, etc. Yesterday, she brought home some cake sisters – or koeksisters as they are called in Dutch, which were given by Derrick, [...]

Burgers and Pancakes

Who says food chains can’t serve superior food? Some of the best burgers we’ve ever had have been in Bobby Flay’s Burger Palace in Paramus, NJ. In my book, their burgers are better than most – and very reasonably priced to boot. My favorite is their Napa Valley burger which is served [...]

Aquavit for Jay’s Birthday

It was Jay’s birthday on the 15th October and we were wondering where we could eat that was out of the ordinary. Jay had originally suggested Yakitori Totto, which is an always-crowded Japanese joint somewhere by 8th Avenue and the 50’s. A decent place that we had tried before. But we wanted [...]

La Duchesse Anne

We’ve been wanting to visit this Zen Monastery near Woodstock, NY. Yes – that Woodstock of hippies and monster rock concert fame. Well, we finally got to see the monastery – actually two – one Zen and another Tibetan – all within the Woodstock area. There is a French restaurant called La [...]

City Hall Restaurant

My sister-in-law, Cecilia Nadres, got a big promotion at the United Nations. She’s now part of the professional staff, which for those of you who aren’t familiar with the UN system, means a lot in terms of benefits such as paid home leave, repatriation of home effects, education grants, etc. Anyway, Marita and [...]

Momofuku Ssam

It sure didn’t take much for us to break our rule of not going to the same restaurant twice when it came to Momofuku. Marita and I had already been to Momofuku Noodle Bar. We had originally planned to go to a fancy burger place called Zaitzeff on Avenue B but Jay said [...]

Momofuku

Travel & Leisure Magazine recently included Momofuku in its feature on “destination defining places” around the world. So of course, we found an excuse to go to NYC today and visit David Chang’s flagship restaurant in the city.
We had their signature steamed pork buns stuffed with Berkshire pork, which were marvelous. I’m not [...]

Vancouver

I’m puzzled that Vancouver doesn’t get as much recognition as a foodie town as other gastronomic capitals. Marita and I had some of the best meals ever in this lovely city in Western Canada. The Granville Public is a must visit for foodies and chefs. It’s similar to those ubiquitous public markets in [...]

Kite Runner

This post is not about about food or scents but about a movie entitled “Kite Runner”. It is – hands down – the best film from the Greater Middle East that I’ve ever watched . I’m told the book is far better and I will definitely borrow it. I won’t even give [...]

Just About The Best Falafel And Merguez

I already posted about the ‘best Thai restaurant in New York’ and now I’m posting about the best falafel in New York. Habib’s Place is a tiny hole-in-the-wall on Avenue A between 5th and 6th and we had just about the best falafel and merguez sandwiches there. The owner and chef – Habib [...]