Spice, Thai restaurant in NYC, New York

I have to admit that I did not know what to expect from Spice, a restaurant chain, that serves Thai food. We went to their located close to Union Square.

For sure, this is not like your typical Thai restaurant: the atmosphere is more the one of a club than a restaurant, with very dimmed lights, eclectic decor and loud music.

After ordering a Thai Ice Tea that was very good, we ordered our food. I have to say that the waitress was annoying as she was trying to push us to order the special of the day, instead of the dishes we chose!

We started off with appetizers. The vegetable Spring rolls:

They were tasty but very, very greasy!

Then, I ordered the duck bun(s):

Lobster Roll at Lobster Smack in NYC, New York

Before coming in the US, I had no idea that lobster rolls exist! Lobster is considered a delicacy in France and nobody would have the idea of putting such a delicate piece of seafood in a piece of bread, smothered by sauce, mainly mayonnaise based! But this is changing and few restaurants are trying to showcase this fantastic sandwich across the Atlantic, such as Lobster Bar near Rivoli, Jeanne B in Montmartre or  Ralph's, the eatery inside the Ralph Lauren store at Saint Germain des Pres. 

So, after a bad brunch, walking in the streets, we saw Lobster Smack. As I always wanted to try it and did not eat so much before, I decided to go there to try their lobster roll. The place is a fast casual restaurant, where you order at the counter and pick up your order. You cannot miss the fact that they serve seafood, considering the decor. 

So, I went up to order and it was as if I was bothering the guy. Started well! A warm hello and a smile would have been welcome! I seemed to annoy him when I asked what the Old Bay sauce was. It is not as if the place was packed and they were stressed out! As Jodi put it, he was like a ray of sunshine. Then, not only it took forever to be prepared (again, there was barely any customers), but they also prepared the order of the person who came after me first, showing their lack of organization in processing orders. Suddenly, I heard "Old Bay regular"! I turned and saw my lobster roll at the counter. No "enjoy" to accompany it, but thank you anyway!

Sugar and Plumm in NYC, New York

For Jodi's Birthday, we went to Sugar and Plumm's location on the Upper West Side, the reason being that the last time we passed by that place, Jodi immediately noticed their coconut cake!!! So, it was Her day! 

The place is fun because it mainly caters to families and it definitely is not where one should go for a romantic dinner! If you really want to go there, but would like to avoid family crowds, it is better that you go after 2pm if not 3pm. 

When you enter Sugar and Plum, you will notice three areas:

The candy area on the right that is amazing! 

Not because if the regular candies by the pound they sell, that are pretty standard. 

But because of the ones made of chocolate, some if them being spectacular, like this red shoe (Jodi loved it!):

or a bottle of champagne:

In the center, various items:

Macarons

Fantastic Dinner at Gramercy Tavern in NYC, New York

Danny Meyer is to food what Donald Trump is to real estate: a tycoon. I know that this comparison is far fetched, but it expresses my admiration for a Chef who knew how to redefine dining in New York, whether it is for fine or casual dining. Who does not know Shake Shack today? A success story for sure in the expanding world of the burger joints. There is also Blue Smoke that I recently tried, or Union Square Cafe. But, one of my latest discoveries is Gramercy Tavern. I knew the name, but never tasted the food! Until now!!! In fact, preparing this blog, I learned that one of the co-founders, back in 1994, was Tom Colicchio, who left the adventure few years later, the restaurant having ups and downs.

It was tough to get a reservation there and we booked it a month before, at 6:30pm on a weekday. Early dinner, but would it be worth it? And as if the elements tried to convince me to abandon what would be a culinary adventure, it was pouring and the trains were delayed. But it was not enough to stop me from going there!

The place was packed when I arrived, full of people without a reservation. We got seated pretty fast, in a dining room where tables were not too close to the others, but enough to do some eavesdropping. The clientele was quite heterogeneous: business people, some of them recognizable by their name tag (is the company that treated her employees at Gramercy Tavern hiring???), people in jeans and polo shirts or other fully dressed up (not to mention the hybrids: women in evening dresses and men in jeans)! Well, although the name has tavern in it, this is an elegant place! 

We decided to go for the tasting menu. They had two menus created around seasonable ingredients. For Jodi, they were kind enough to serve a vegetarian menu, mainly inspired by the vegetable menu, but without any meat or seafood. 

I was surprised in fact not to see straight away a vegetarian menu considering that it would cater to lots of people in New York. 

They started with bringing us an amuse bouche:

It was a puff pastry filled with herbed ricotta, shallots and tarragon. It was very delicate and pre figured a fantastic dinner! 

When the first dish came, they announced the fact that this dinner would be unforgettable: the presentation of each and every dish was spectacular, as if Chef Michael Anthony was using the plate as a canvas. The first dish for me was the marinated scallops, served with asparagus, almonds and American caviar.

Sweet Revenge in the West Village, NYC, New York

Sweet Revenge: what an interesting name! It kind of make you think that what they serve is decadent and sinful. We went to that place many years ago, thanks to the recommendation of one of Jodi's friends and, roaming around West Village, we decided to go back, but not only for their cupcakes, also for brunch as we were curious to see what kind of food they propose on their menu.

This place is tiny, so if you are a large group, good luck! Otherwise, it has this type of atmosphere that makes you think it is an old place that is a hole in the wall, kind of secret and reserved to the cupcakes lovers. 

We ordered from the menu that proposes some traditional dishes, but with a twist, such as the Croque Monsieur Savory Cake!

I think it is a great idea to mix the two concepts: croque monsieur that is a pretty standard brunch dish and a cake, and I admit that the presentation was beautiful. The Croque Monsieur part was made of ham and jarlsberg cheese cake and was served with a delicious warm honey Dijon mustard. With it, there was mesclun greens, cranberries and chipotle pumpkin seeds. I wish I ordered it instead of Jodi! So good! But a bit small though! You definitely got the texture and taste of the cake that complemented well the saltiness of the ham and cheese. Great dish!

On my side, I ordered the Scotch Eggs:

Candies!!! At Dylan's Candy Bar, Sockerbit and Economy Candy

Warning: if you are a dentist, you will either hate this post or love it as it will bring you more customers!

There are few places in New York City that I love to visit for candies. For sure the choice is endless, whether you go to places specialized in candies or to delis, supermarkets...But here, a candy store is definitely different: when you go to a grocery store, you have food all over and you probably did not come just for candies. However, if you go to a candy store, then you cannot ignore the excitement that it triggers, making you feel like a kid again! 

So, the three places I will take about in this blog post are: Dylan's Candy Bar, Sockerbit and Economy Candy!

Dylan Candy Bar: 

This is definitely one of the most renowned candy places in New York City!  It is owned by Dylan Lauren, daughter of Ralph Lauren who is said to have been inspired to open this store by Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
The store is on two floors and you go from one to another via the "Stairwell to candy heaven", where each step is encrusted with candies!

There, you have a wide variety of candies, such as the classic jelly beans that I tried for the first time in this country!

My favorite flavors being banana, pear and root beer!

They also have an impressive wall of gum balls!

What I like about it is also the range of old fashioned candies I have never seen before:

such as the Abba-Zaba that I doubt was named after a pop music band...

Of course, if you prefer chocolate, they have also something for you!

Like the chocolate fountain or these big blocs of fudge:

Of course, you can also buy some candies by the pound and you cannot miss the display at the entrance of the store!

There, you will find the classic candies sold by the weight: coca cola sour bottles, licorice, sour peach candies, raspberry candies or these gummy chicken feet:

Dylan's Candy Bar is definitely an institution in NYC and they know how to market it! If you go there, do not miss they display of famous people who went there, so you can see what candies they like!

We sure love their candies...

Sockerbit:

Sockerbit mean "Sugar Cube" in Swedish and it is a store that proposes Scandinavian little candies aka "smågodis". We found that place walking on Christopher street and surely, because of the white setting of the place, we could not miss the vibrant colors of the candies!

The white walls and furniture made it as if we were in a hospital where the only medication was candies! Definitely my kind of hospital!

Besides some products that I will talk about later, Sockerbit sells candies by the pound, for a price similar to most of the candy places. Some of the candies are very familiar like the sour coca cola bottles or the banana.

But they also have some interesting ones that might be different by shape, but not taste, like the Sura Persikor or sour peach:

My favorite being the Sur Apelsinskalle or sour skulls!

If you prefer chocolate, they have plenty of different ones for you!

They also sell chocolate bars:

But, what is also interesting with Sockerbit, is that they also sell Scandinavian products such as pickles:

Jam:

Or those little Swedish bread we call "Petits Pains Suedois" in France!

They are so good with butter and Jam!

So, definitely, Sockerbit is a unique place to discover! People there are friendly and their candies delicious, even if you do not know how to pronounce their name!

Sockerbit
89 Christopher St.
New York, NY 10014
www.sockerbit.com


Economy Candy:

Economy Candy might not be as known as Dylan's Candy Bar, but this place, that has been around for more than 80 years is also an institution. When going there, do not expect a well organized spacey store: the alleys are tight and you kind of feel overwhelmed by the choice of candies they propose!

They either sell candies by the unit or by bulk. You can find there old fashioned candies you may not have heard about (for sure there are some candies that did not cross the Atlantic!) and some more known!

In the well known, there are of course:

Big lollipops with fantastic colors:

Jelly beans (remember: my favorite flavors are pear, banana and root beer)!

Or Pez:

They also have chocolate:

The Milka chocolate is very popular in France, especially milk chocolate (Milk-a), although it lost some ground to brands like Lindt. They also have the Cote d'Or brand that I cannot find anywhere else.

And then I saw a box of Mon Chéri! They are made of a cherry soaked in Kirsch liquor, surrounded by dark chocolate. Love it!

In fact, Economy Candy has lots of candies and chocolate bars that I use to eat in France and that are difficult to find in stores (some delis have them, but not always), such as the Lion bar:

A Lion bar is made of a filled wafer, caramel and crisp cereal (in the original recipe this was Kellogg's Special K) covered in milk chocolate.

Or Bounty that makes me think about my sister Corinne who loves it!

Bounty is like the Mounts bar without the almond!

The last cool thing about Economy Candy is that they have lots of candies with fun packages!

So, definitely, Economy Candy will overwhelm you so much, that you will not realize that you put a little too much candy in your bag...But, is there such a thing as too much candy???

Economy Candy
108 Rivington St
New York, NY 10002
www.economycandy.com

To conclude this post, if I had to root for one place, I would go for Sockerbit because of its originality!

Enjoy (I did)!

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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!