2007 has been a great year for gracenotesnyc.com. We ate our way around New York (and other places) and found some blog-worthy places. Also, the website got a facelift, we added Grace Face’s, and we’re still working on changes to make GNN even better. In my private life, I’ve happily been residing in New York for over a year now, my brother has joined me, and I feel as if I’m finally making a home for myself in this huge city. As a way to close the year, I’ve selected a few of my favorites for 2007 (starting with breakfast and ending with my overall favorite meal) - I hope you enjoy!

Favorite brunch spot of 2007:

It was a tough call, especially since there are so many great places in Manhattan. Initially, I was going to say Clinton St Baking Company, hands down, for their fluffy blueberry pancakes, cheesy grits, and fried green tomatoes, but then I thought, WAIT A MINUTE…Norma’s accepts RESERVATIONS! I won’t have to wait 2 hours to order pancakes!! Norma’s Waz-Za is probably the most amazing and indulgent waffle I’ve EVER eaten. If you’re in New York, you MUST stop by Norma’s (and make reservations through opentable!).

Favorite cheeseburger of 2007:

2006 was the year of Shake Shack - I would go there ALL the time (and I’d take the train to Union Square and WALK to Madison Square Park so I wouldn’t feel so bad about ordering a cheeseburger, a shake, AND ice cream). 2007, however, is about eating healthier (is that possible when you’re talking about a huge piece of meat with a melted piece of cheese on top?). Goodburger’s ingredients are fresh and their service is good - great for a burger joint!

Favorite sandwich of 2007:

I keep going back to The Spotted Pig for their amazing cubanos and side salads, even though I’m not a fan of their poor service (and questionable tong usage). The cubano has a great crusty bread, lots of pork (and its grease), and pickles that bring the dish together. If you’re there, order the gnudi, too!

Favorite date spot:

Il Mattone is a quiet Italian restaurant in Tribeca where the food never disappoints. They have the best artichoke appetizer in the city and it’s a cute spot for a little one-on-one time, especially because you can walk to the water after you stuff yourself with their great bread (it’s always fresh out of the oven!!) It’s more of a takeout place (I can tell they’re doing well because all of the delivery boys carry iPhones), but I like going to the restaurant and sitting in their small dining room because it’s very quiet and *almost* romantic.

Favorite meal under $10:

This category is pretty open ended since you can go to a lot of places for under $10, especially if you like street food. My favorite pick for 2007: Dogmatic. I love the bite the jalepeno cheddar adds to the baguette and sausage. Their ginger sodas are also made with real ginger, making it “healthier” than other sodas. My only gripe about Dogmatic - you never know when he’s going to be there, so you might be disappointed if you go on a day he’s unavailable.

Favorite Sushi:

It’s not difficult to choose my favorite sushi restaurant in New York because the only place I trust is Sushi Yasuda. Their fish is tasty and I always feel like I’m being transported to Tokyo whenever I walk into the midtown eatery.

Favorite dessert:

2007 was definitely the year of frozen yogurt. I can’t pick a favorite (yet), but I enjoyed Pinkberry’s shaved ice (well, when they allowed you to substitute fruit with no extra charge), Red Mango’s green tea frozen yogurt, and all the other shops that have popped up all around Manhattan. I went on a frozen yogurt tour recently (which will be blogged about in the new year), but frozen yogurt is definitely on the top of my dessert list for 2007.

Favorite overall meal:

Pearl Oyster Bar is my favorite restaurant of 2007 and will probably be my favorite restaurant for years to come. POB never disappoints as my go-to place for out of town guests, Friday night dates, or just a special treat. Rebecca Charles and her team make POB seem like a warm and loving home with their simple but delicious dishes. I don’t think I’ll ever find a lobster roll as delicious as Pearl’s. Their clam chowder is also perfectly creamy and their apple pie is simple, but that’s exactly what you want in an apple pie, isn’t it? You really can’t go wrong when you’re at Pearl Oyster Bar.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading gracenotesnyc this year - I’ve enjoyed sharing my experiences with you and getting your recommendations as well! I’ll be back next year with a comprehensive review of New York’s frozen yogurt. Stay tuned, be safe and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Winter has officially arrived in New York City. I want to go into hibernation mode and sleep in my comfy bed and never deal with New York snow! Don’t worry, I’m not going stay in my apartment and sleep all winter - I’m just going to find more savory soups to keep me warm and toasty! On a recent field trip for soup, Chris and I stopped by Ramen Setagaya, a small shop in the East Village to enjoy some of their hot soup.

Ramen is a big deal in New York; I mean, why do people pay $10 for stuff they can get in the supermarket for 0.95? I ordered the ramen with pork and Chris went with the special - a bowl of ramen with pork and a side order of gyoza, hoping it was worth the $10 we just forked over:

The broth had a distinct seafood taste and was salted perfectly and the ramen noodles tasted like they were dipped in hot water and finished cooking when placed in the broth. Perfect! I love ramen when it’s slightly cooked so you get a good bite to the noodle. Chris ordered the same soup and wasn’t impressed with the seafood flavor - he wanted something with a heartier broth. The pork was good, not great, and I think the ramen would’ve been better with some shrimp or prawns to echo the seafood broth.

For an extra $1.50, you can add gyoza to your order to make it a combo. Chris added the gyoza since I only wanted one or two. Chris’ gyoza:

The skin of gyoza is too thin for me and I prefer mandoo or the Chinese equivalent. Chris thought the gyoza at Ramen Setagaya were pretty well done and liked the meat filling (I think they just pan fried freezer section dumplings).

I’ll stop by Ramen Setagaya again if I’m ever in the neighborhood to warm up with a nice bowl of HOT ramen!

How to get to Ramen Setagaya:

Raen Setagaya
141 1st Ave between 9th St. and St. Marks Pl
New York, NY 10009
212-529-2740

Last night, Chris and I went to my holiday party at Tavern on the Green. We ate a lot of shrimp cocktail…seriously. Here’s a picture outside the restaurant:

I asked this guy to take a picture for us in front of the sign and that’s all we got. I don’t think he had any previous experience with a digital camera because he kept moving the camera around and tried to figure out what was going on.

After the holiday party, Chris and I walked to Lincoln Center to see the Christmas tree:

That area of the upper west side is really beautiful (around 66th and Broadway) and there are lots of trees that are wrapped in white lights. It’s not really crowded, either (well, unless there’s a show at Lincoln Center).

I think the tree’s even more beautiful than the one in Rockefeller:

I’m headed to North Carolina on Saturday for Christmas…and to play my brand new Wii! Happy holidays!

When my friend John came to New York on business, he wanted to try some New York style pizza. I’ve been going to Patsy’s and John’s for pizza for the past year since I know they definitely have quality ingredients and great service, but since we were in the Soho area, we decided to give Lombardi’s a try. When I interned in New York a couple years ago, I never had the opportunity to eat at Lombardi’s, even though everyone says it’s the first place you should go for pizza when you visit. I was a little sceptical about their pizza; everyone that visited New York recommended the place, but no one that lived in New York had ever mentioned Lombardi’s…was it a tourist trap?

The pizzeria is on situated on Spring, alongside boutiques, Little Italy tourist traps, and on the edge of Chinatown. When John and I stopped by with a couple of other friends, we waited about 45 minutes before being seated. Understandable since I’ve waited longer for John’s/Patsy’s. Our waiter took our order (large pizza with pancetta, green onions, mushrooms) and another 45 minutes later our pizza arrived:

First bite: ok, this pizza definitely isn’t as good as John’s.

Second bite: chomp chomp, why is this pizza so freaking salty?!

Third bite: …why are there anchovies on the pizza?

Yeah, not only had the pizza taken forever, they didn’t even get the order correct! We were going to ask them to fix it, but we couldn’t get any waiter to come by our table and we were stuck with an anchovy pizza. The waiter never came by to refill our waters and when John ordered a drink at the bar before we were seated, the bartender was extremely rude to him.

I will NEVER go back to Lombardi’s; their service and food are both TERRIBLE!

How to get to Lombardi’s:

Go to John’s Pizzeria Instead
278 Bleecker Street
New York, NY 10014
212-243-1680

Anyone that follows this blog on a regular basis knows that I am a huge fan of cheeseburgers. When I was in college, there was a McDonald’s right outside my dorm window - everyday after class, my friend Susanna and I would order the number 2 (two cheeseburgers, fries, and a drink) with no onions, extra ketchup, and a diet coke (hey, let’s try to keep it healthy here). When the McDonald’s closed (their service was absolutely terrible and sometimes we’d wait half an hour to get our order) I would make my best friend, Brian, drive me to Chili’s so I could indulge in their cheeseburger with seasoned French fries. Brian doesn’t eat cheeseburgers anymore, he lives in Chicago, and I don’t know of any Chili’s’s in New York, so I’ll explore other burger joints around the city (woe is me). On Saturday, Chris and I hit up Rare Bar and Grill.

After reading numerous positive reviews and hearing that it’s great from Chris himself, I decided to indulge a little. I haven’t really been eating too many burgers this month (I’m still trying to work off THANKSGIVING). We decided to order two burgers and share the fries sampler (with no dessert, even though they have FRIED OREOS).

Our M and M burger:

I read a lot of positive reviews about the burger and it sounded like the most popular burger that Rare serves (well, next to the Murray’s cheese burger, but the two sounded very similar). The M and M burger is Rare’s classic burger flambéed in whiskey, topped with caramelized shallots, cheddar cheese & apple smoked bacon. I didn’t taste any difference in the meat because of the whiskey, but the caramelized shallots brought all of the ingredients together. The apple smoked bacon was all fat and salt (yay!) and the cheese was another salty item, but the caramelized shallots were sweet enough to give the burger the kick it needed. Chris and I DEVOURED the burger.

We also shared the Rare classic burger (with American cheese):

I really like the classic cheeseburger; the meat is juicy, the cheese is perfectly melted, and each bite is almost the perfect size to fit into my mouth…the only thing I disliked was the top bun - it was a little too tough for me.

Fries sampler:

The fries sampler is $10 and comes with all the different fries Rare serves (waffle/cottage, sweet potato, and regular shoestring). For an extra $1, you can switch the shoestring fries to the truffle oil fries, but we decided against it. The fries sampler also includes four dipping sauces:

L-R, clockwise from top: regular ketchup, chipotle aoili, honey maple dip, and New Mexican Chili Ketchup. The sweet potato fries worked well with the honey maple dip, which reminded me of Clinton St. Baking Company’s maple butter. Mmmmm sweet butter. The New Mexican Chili ketchup tasted like it had tea leaves in it (Chris said he didn’t think it did but he knew I was going to write it in my review anyway). The fries were really good (my favorite were the cottage/waffle fries).

After our meal, Chris and I were discussing the experience and the overall rating (we always do this so I can bounce ideas off him). Initially, I was going to give the place four Grace faces, but then he said, “Yeah, I was thinking four Grace faces too… but then I was like, ‘Why not five? This place is really good!’” The service was good, the restaurant is cute, and the food is delicious. The place is pretty expensive (in my opinion). The M and M burger will set you back $15 and the classic cheeseburger costs $10 (with cheese). A little expensive, but definitely a treat.

How to get to Rare Bar and Grille:

Rare Bar and Grille
228 Bleecker Street between 6th and Carmine
New York, NY 10014
212-691-7273