40 Carrots, on the second floor of the Soho Bloomingdales, is a great treat after a long day of shopping in Soho. I live closer to the 59th Street Bloomingdales, so I end up going to that one more often (although, they moved from the basement so now it’s inconvenient to get to it!). Nevertheless, the Soho location was more convenient for our tour and we ended up going there after Yolato.

40 Carrots Results
1. Size of the hole:

There was absolutely NO HOLE in our frozen yogurt! That’s why I LOVE 40 carrots.

2. Tanginess vs. creaminess: On a scale from 1 to 5 (one being tangy and five being creamy), 40 Carrots a creamy 5.

3. Topping Variety: One thing I don’t like about 40 Carrots is their lack of toppings - they have things like wheat germ, but unless you go to the sit down restaurant, you won’t get any fruit (and if you get their fruit, they give you melon…wtf?!)

4. Topping quality:No fruit to rate!

5. Calories per ounce: 40 Carrots had approximately 25 calories/ounce.

6. Price per ounce: 40 Carrots was 41 cents/ounce (approximately).

7. Atmosphere/quality of service: One downside of 40 Carrots is that there is absolutely NO seating in the Soho location. No, actually, there are a couple of seats, but it’s difficult to navigate because there isn’t too much space between tables.

8. Iciness vs. Smoothness: On a scale of one to five (one being icy and five being smooth), we rated 40 Carrots a 5 - VERY smooth.

9. Number of flavors: there are a bunch of flavors at 40 Carrots (the 59th street location) but at the Soho location, there’s usually plain and dutch chocolate. I’ve had lemon, blueberry, coffee, strawberry, and peach at the 59th street location (yeah, I’m a big fan!).

10. Resilience to heat:

Okay, not so good. There was a bunch of melting, but I think it’s because no one had ordered the chocolate in a while and so when we asked for a sample, we got the melted mix that wasn’t completely frozen to begin with.

11. Presentation:

I think frozen yogurt is so beautiful, don’t you? I love how they stuff the cup to the brim…a large is enough for a group of EIGHT!

Final results:

We were all fans of the creamy, milky goodness. We thought it tasted a little bit like cream cheese and I thought it tasted more like Tasti-D than a plain yogurt frozen yogurt, but I love the stuff so much. Overall, 40 carrots received a 3.75/5.0. Sorry for the gap in postings; I flew to Chicago and accidentally left my notes at home (how restaurantgirl of me!). We’ll have two more posts (Very Berry and Flurt) and I’ll finish the posts over the weekend. I’ll post Berry Wild and Crazy Bananas next Monday and Tuesday with final results next Wednesday. Thanks for your patience!

Here are all of the entries in order (in case you wanted to jump around):

Day 1: Oko
Day 2: Pinkberry
Day 3:Red Mango
Day 4: Yolato
Day 5: 40 Carrots
Day 6: Very Berry
Day 7: Flurt
Day 8: Berry Wild Smooth and Kindy Icy
Day 9: Crazy Bananas

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

On our third date, Chris took me to Pearl Oyster Bar for Rebecca Charles’ lobster rolls and clam chowder. Since then, we’ve been back many times to enjoy the lively atmosphere, the wonderful service, and of course, the amazing food. Pearl Oyster Bar quickly shot up to one of our favorite restaurants in the city and I always bring friends by when they visit. When it comes to lobster rolls, we’ve also tried Mary’s Fish Camp and two places in Martha’s Vineyard, but they don’t even compare to the amazing seafood that Pearl has. We wanted to give Ed’s Lobster Bar a chance; there was so much news coverage about Ed, Rebecca Charles’ former sous chef, replicating POB that we had to see what the fuss was about. We went with two friends, Felicia and Tom, on a Saturday night to compare lobster rolls.

When you walk in, Ed’s looks very similar to POB - same decorations and New England feel, but the people eating are definitely different. The crowd is much younger and European - on the night we went, it seemed like there were tons of out of town visitors. We decided to give Ed’s a fair chance and ordered a wide range of options from their menu. We started off with muddled lemonade (which was named by New York Mag as one of the best lemonades in the city):

The lemonade is supposed to be prepared in a similar way mojito’s are prepared to give it more of a fresh lemony flavor…I thought it tasted the exact same as regular lemonade (maybe it tasted better with vodka). I didn’t think it was anything special and it was really watered down. Chris thought it had a natural, unique flavor (but in my opinion, it tasted like tap water with a couple lemons squeezed in!!).

Next, Chris and I ordered clam chowder and mussels to share. The mussels came with a white wine sauce and a light mustard:

The sauce was way too thick and the mussels were all over-steamed, making them too chewy (Chris agreed). The sauce was also too heavy for the mussels and we couldn’t even finish our order because we were grossed out by the taste.

Chris’ clam chowder, unlike most clam chowders, came with ONE clam instead of many clam bits interspersed within the soup:

Is that even considered clam chowder? We were seriously disappointed with the soup; not enough clam flavor and it tasted like we were drinking a straight vat of cream. The chowder was also over-seasoned with salt and it was definitely nothing special…or even mediocre.

Oysters:

Tom ordered the oysters and seemed to enjoy all of them. I didn’t have any, so I can’t really comment on how they tasted.

So for our main course, Chris and I decided to both order the lobster roll. We were expecting something very similar to Pearl’s. Here’s Ed’s take on the lobster roll:

Well, to put it nicely, it’s not something I’d ever order again. And that’s me being NICE. The lobster was really stringy and didn’t have any flavor to it. Also, there wasn’t enough mayo (this coming from a person that absolutely despises mayo!). The lobster tasted like it was too chewy and there were just little scraps of lobster, no big chunks like the stuff they give you at Pearl Oyster Bar. The pickles were also disgusting (Ed’s own) and the fries tasted like regular fries (I think the cut was too big, too).

Felicia and Tom both ordered the lobster burger because Ed’s ran out of lobster pot pie. Ed’s lobster burger:

The lobster burger is actually more expensive than the lobster roll (I think $30 vs. $26). The lobster all tasted second rate and I don’t think either of them finished the burger.

Initially, it seemed like a good idea to go to Ed’s and try it out to see what the fuss was about. After our terrible meal at Ed’s, I don’t want to go anywhere else but my beloved Pearl Oyster Bar.

I hate Ed’s Lobster Bar.

How to get to Ed’s Lobster Bar (although why would you ever want to go there when you have POB):

Ed’s Lobster Bar
222 Lafayette St
New York, NY 10079
212-343-3236

When I meet new people, I always ask where they like to eat brunch. Brunch is a staple of the New York diet; it’s a great chance to catch up with friends, people watch, and drink alcohol in the morning to cure the previous night’s hangover. A girl I met on a recent flight to Detroit told me that Five Points has one of the best brunches in New York, so I went to see if it was any good. We were seated after 20 minutes or so (not bad at all, especially for brunch on a great Sunday afternoon). The menu wasn’t out of the ordinary but there was one dish I was really excited about: banana stuffed french toast! The waiter said that it was a really sweet and indulgent thing to order, but it’s a specialty:

The caramel sauce was really creamy and smooth but the french toast was too runny (it tasted more like scrambled eggs than french toast). They should use a sturdier bread next time so it can hold up to the egg/milk mixture. The bananas were inserted in the middle of the bread and tasted really good; the dish would’ve been a success if they just went with a better bread!!!

Chris ordered the eggs benedict:

The red sauce, a marinara, RUINED the dish. The biscuit was too tough AND the hollandaise sauce didn’t taste good. WHY do they use marinara with eggs benedict? There were just too many flavors in the eggs benedict and together, it just tasted really gross.

The decor in Five Points was very festive for the fall weather with lots of tree branches put into vases that lit up the center of the room. Other than the decor though, there’s no reason to have brunch at Five Points - UNTIL they fix their French toast!

How to get to Five Points:

Five Points
31 Great Jones Street
New York, NY 10012
212-253-5700

After reading lots of positive reviews about Goblin Market, I decided we should check it out. Chris and I have been meaning to go there for brunch, but there are so many places in NYC we still have to try! Norma’s is on the top of our list (Metrodad recommended it), but we figured we’d try Goblin Market since I wanted to show Josh around the Soho area. I was a bit surprised when we arrived on Sunday - it was COMPLETELY EMPTY! How is that possible?! Josh was a little shocked, but I figured it would be better because we’d get better service.

Josh ordered lemon ricotta buttermilk pancakes with Vermont syrup and fresh berries:

They were absolutely delicious! There’s a place that I used to go to when I was in high school/college called Aunt Sonya’s (they tore it down to build a Hilton Hotel), but they used to have the best lemon buttermilk pancakes - freshly made in small batches served with a little butter and syrup. Goblin Market’s were moist, fluffy, and had the great tangy zip from the lemon.

I ordered sourdough French toast with fresh fruit and apple butter:

WOW. The French toast was absolutely DELICIOUS! What a great idea - to use a thicker bread so it can soak up the egg but keep its shape and taste. The French toast was really chewy (in a good way, of course) and the fresh fruit and apple butter were great! There was even yellow watermelon, which is a milder/less sweet watermelon, but it was a great palate cleanser.

Chris ordered a grass-fed Angus cheeseburger:

It was a solid burger (although no Goodburger or Shake Shack burger) and the fries were good as well.

Goblin Market is a cute restaurant tucked in Soho and I think they recently changed chefs, but the brunch menu is great and it’s a place I’d put on my short lists of places to go for a nice weekend brunch.

How to get to Goblin Market:

Goblin Market
199 Prince Street
New York, NY