east village – Urban food-crawl

The Pizza Crawl

Publié le juillet 15, 2013 par urbanfoodcrawlLaisser un commentaire

The pizza-crawl

It seems that the best food from every country has met in NYC. And pizza is not an exception. Skip the $1 slice-pizza and all the greasy declinations around Time Square. Unfortunately you can also skip Little Italy that is day after day eaten by Chinatown and offers only two very good Italian delis besides touristic restaurants. The city offers excellent options of the Neapolitan style pizza. Here is the map.

Roberta’s: my favorite pizza ever, the trip to Bushwick definitely worth it. Here is the full review.

Keste Pizza &Vino: Bleeker Street is the street I whish I could have lived in. Italian waiters welcome you in this small spot and serve you excellent thin pizza with a great selection of toppings and wines. What else?

Keste Pizza & Vino
271 Bleecker St
New York, NY 10014
(212) 243-1500

Motorino: they recently opened another location in Brooklyn but I only tried the restaurant in East Village. The atmosphere and decoration seemed a bit cold to me, maybe because I went late in the night. I slightly prefer the dough of Keste but they are very similar to me.
Motorino
349 E 12th St,
New York, NY 10003
(212) 777-2644

Forcella: this big restaurant in Bowery was empty on a Tuesday night, which is sad for such a nice place. Italian waiters welcome you as well; service was #1 in this restaurant. They obviously made me try different wines so I could choose my favorite one. However, they had an issue with the temperature of the pizza. The margarita was served cold in the middle, but they generously made us another one. The white pizza was excellent, but not that hot neither, which is strange since they have a wooden-oven. To apology, they offered us another glass of wine, excellent technique since it made us forget the cool pizza. Not sure the same thing could have happened in France…

Forcella

Forcella
334 Bowery,
New York, NY 10012
(212) 466-3300

Ovest Pizzoteca e Bar: located right in front of the Hotel Americano in Chelsea, this pizzeria offers the aperitivo like in Italy with a choice of appetizer when you order a drink. I came too late to try it but I would love to get some reviews about it. Otherwise they have very decent pizza in a young atmosphere. Try the pizza with arugula on the top, my favorite one.

Ovest Pizzoteca e Bar
513 W 27th St #2,
New York, NY 10001
(212) 967-4392

Calliope

Publié le février 12, 2013 par urbanfoodcrawlLaisser un commentaire

photo (6)

Calliope is THE ‘brand-new’ French-Italian-American hot brunch spot in Manhattan. This confusion already doesn’t inspire confidence. But I have decided to give a shot. East Village, Sunday, hopefully it is already a bit late so we ‘only’ have to wait 20 minutes at the bar even though plenty of tables are empty. It is so loud I am almost happy we get the table at the entrance and cannot imagine the sound when it is packed.

With the fresh squeezed orange-juice, I raise my expectation, and even more when I see the coffee cake served at the bar. We go for the eggs benedict, as I rate NYC brunches on this scale. At the first sight, I am already not fascinated. The presentation is not refined, I am sure I could have cooked better-looking poached eggs. Served with ham, I cannot even determine if it is a muffin that holds the whole thing. The ‘pommes Anna’ is actually way too crispy hash browns. At least the coffee cake was delightful, do not skip the crème fraiche, it is good for you with that cold.

Sulking waiters, excessive sound and poor presentation of the dishes: another aberration for me that reminds me how sometimes Parisians and New Yorkers look alike when it comes to being snobby.

Calliope
84 E 4th St,
New York, NY 10003
(212) 260-8484

MUD

Publié le janvier 29, 2013janvier 30, 2013 par urbanfoodcrawlLaisser un commentaire

East Village, Saturday afternoon. I am cold and I just want a coffee. I (almost) go randomly to the first coffee shop on my way and get surprised by this venue. At the first sight, it looks really small and packed, with only a narrow hall that makes you pass almost in the kitchen. Follow it and you won’t be disappointed. Outside in the backyard, there is more room; it’s still warm despite the freezing temperature outside. Price are more than reasonable, cappuccino foam nicely thick, chai latte way to sweet though.