Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Memorial Day weekend is finally here! It feels like summer has arrived, which makes me really happy, as it's my favorite time of the year. I'm hoping this summer will be filled with:

Lots of outdoor dining (thankfully this is quite plentiful in NYC)

Frozen yogurt with sprinkles. I haven't had sprinkles on ice cream since I was 10, and I think it's time to bring that back. 

Smoothies! We have a blender that's been in the back of the closet since November. I definitely plan on making some smoothies this summer, though. Strawberry, banana, blueberries and honey is the best combo.

Lobster sliders. On the beach. Yum.

Sweet strawberries.

(Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

The Great GoogaMooga in Brooklyn

GoogaMooga! This was such a fun food & drink festival at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. After being given wrong directions by 4 different GoogaMooga employees (2 of who were carrying big "Ask Me" signs), we ended up taking a long unnecessary detour to get to the entrance of the festival. The upside is that we got quite a workout and enjoyed a beautiful view of this lake:

We were so hot from our walk hike that we started off with dessert from Wooly's Ice:

Mango Tango: original ice with mangos, strawberries, strawberry syrup, wooly (small) size, $5. So refreshing! Shaved ice is such a popular dessert in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but I really haven't seen this around NYC, so it was pretty exciting. 

Next stop was Colicchio & Sons: 

1 Pork Belly for $4 or 2 for $7. Not amazing, but pretty good. I think I still prefer pork buns. Specifically the ones from Ippudo. 

On to Arancini Bros for Sicilian rice balls. 

2 for $7. On left: Ragu: traditional meat sauce with tomato, peas, mozzarella, saffron. On right: Bianco Rossa Verde: basil pesto, mozzarella, cherry tomato. The skin was crispy, and the rice was al dente. I thought the pesto one was more flavorful, but the ragu was quite decent too.  

Now for the FAVORITE of the day: 

Blue Ribbon: 

Fried Chicken Wings: $10 for 6 chicken wings & cucumber salad. OMG there is a reason Blue Ribbon's fried chicken has made it on to so many "Best Fried Chicken" lists including NYMag, Food and Wine, Metromix, and more. This is life-changing fried chicken-- crispy with the most amazing seasoning, and very moist inside.  

When I went to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que last year, I loved the chicken wings and ribs, so when I saw that the restaurant had a booth at GoogaMooga, I made sure to check out whatever they were offering. 

Pulled Pork Sandwich, $7. The meat was incredibly tender, but wasn't that flavorful on its own. The sauce definitely helped though. The bun was your average hamburger bun, nothing to write home about. 

Looking back on all these photos, I can't believe how much we ate. 

Finally though, dessert! I had my eye on these ice cream sandwiches when we first arrived at the festival (it was a few steps away from Wooly's Ice stand). 

Melt Bakery:

Classic ice cream sandwich with chocolate chip walnut cookies and vanilla ice cream, $4. Great ratio of cookie to ice cream. I liked that the cookies weren't too thick (better for enjoying the ice cream!) The cookies were chewy and had just enough chocolate chips. 

We stayed for around 3 hours and definitely had a great time. I'm already planning my trips to Melt Bakery (now open in the LES) for the red velvet ice cream sandwich, and Blue Ribbon for more fried chicken! 

Also, we were lucky to avoid a lot of the problems that people complained about at GoogaMooga, mainly the extremely long lines for getting wristbands, the longer lines for getting alcohol, and the fact that booths started running out of food in the late afternoon, but understandably a lot of people were upset by the way these things were handled. Check out Eater's 25 best tweets of GoogaMooga, it's pretty hilarious.

Spicy Wontons / 紅油餛飩 at White Bear in Flushing

Flushing is such a fun place to go on an eating tour. After researching on Foursquare and Yelp, my friend and I couldn't decide between White Bear and Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, so we decided to go to both. White Bear was our first stop...

The small shop only has 5 tables. 

The counter where you order. 

The menu is taped to the wall, and lists a variety of wonton, noodles, dumplings, and rice dishes. 

Spicy wonton with pork and vegetables (12 pieces), $4.50. (8 pieces are $3.50). This is what you must order if you visit White Bear. The wontons are topped with scallions, pickled vegetables, and chili oil. Surprisingly, the wontons weren't actually very spicy. I have a very low tolerance for spiciness and I had no problem eating these. 

The menu for frozen dumplings and wontons. 

Address:
135-02 Roosevelt Avenue #5
Flushing, NY 11354



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Sunday Lunch at Kefi

The most beautiful Sunday morning on 81st Street in the Upper West Side.

My sister had been wanting to visit the Creature of Light exhibit on nature's bioluminescence at the American Museum of Natural History, so the four of us trekked over on Sunday to check it out. The walk-through is really interesting and educational. After the museum, we stopped in to Kefi, a Greek restaurant my friend had recommended.

The spacious split-level restaurant was pretty crowded when we arrived at 1:30pm. Luckily, we were seated quickly even though we did not have a reservation.

The back of the dining room where we sat. 

Chicken Souvlaki, $12.50: tzatziki, pita bread, with Greek salad and homemade chips. Very generous portions. These can easily be split between two people. The salad was very fresh and mixed with a light and refreshing dressing. The chicken in the wrap was so tender and moist, and sandwiched in a soft and chewy pita. The chips were addictive-- so crispy and lightly salted. 

Kefi Egg Pita Wrap, $8.95: scrambled egg, Greek sausage, fried potato, spicy and sweet peppers. The potatoes were deliciously seasoned.  

Besides really enjoying everything I tried, another great thing about Kefi was how fast the food came. We ordered, and probably only waited around 10 minutes before everything was served. Our server was friendly and great about checking on us as well, so when we were ready for the bill, we didn't have to wait long to request it.  

Address:

505 Columbus Avenue (between 84th Street & 85th Street)

New York, NY 10024

Phone number: (212)873-0200

www.kefirestaurant.com

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Sunday Night Frites at Jane

Jane is known for their brunch, and more specifically for their Vanilla Bean French Toast, but my sister and I visited the restaurant for dinner, and were really pleased with everything. The restaurant has a nice ambiance and was quite busy but relaxed for a Sunday night. Jane offers great Sunday night dinner deals, labeled "Sunday Night Frites" on the menu-- $15 for steak frites, salmon, or mussels served with rosemary fries.

The bar area at the front of the entrance.

Grilled Octopus: marinated chickpeas, spicy fennel salad, $13. Loved the charred taste of the grilled octopus, and the spiciness in the salad brought a nice kick to the dish.

Our server was really friendly and helpful. We knew we definitely wanted steak, but we had a hard time debating between the salmon, Jane burger, and the buttermilk fried chicken. Our server described each dish in detail, and helped us finally decide on our order.

Salmon & Mixed Greens, $15 (Sunday dinner price): You can choose between rosemary fries and mixed greens to accompany the Sunday Night Frites entrees. This was quite possibly the most tender salmon I've ever had. The salmon skin was crispy, and the inside was perfectly orange. You could definitely taste the natural flavor of the fish.

Flat Iron Steak & Rosemary Fries, served with Bearnaise Sauce (my favorite!), $15 (Sunday dinner price): The 10 oz steak was so juicy and tasty. Definitely the best steak I've ever tasted in an order of steak frites. The fries were also delicious. They had a very strong rosemary flavor, and were soft in texture.

I definitely plan on returning for brunch to try the Vanilla Bean French Toast, and for dinner to try the buttermilk fried chicken!

Address:
100 West Houston Street (between Laguardia Place & Thompson Street)
New York, NY 10012
Phone number: (212)254-7000

www.janerestaurant.com


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Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes Brunch at Five Points

The best thing about Five Points is their lemon-ricotta pancakes. The second best is that the restaurant takes reservations. Our reservation was for 12:30pm on Saturday, and the restaurant was already quite packed by the time we arrived.

There is some outdoor seating in front of the restaurant.

High ceilings and a row of trees dividing the dining room in half.

At the very back of the restaurant, there is a skylight and a few round dining tables.

Churros with Mexican hot chocolate, $12. (You can also order just churros for $8). These churros came out very hot and not too dense. So delicious.

Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes with Vermont Maple Syrup, $13. Absolutely fabulous pancakes. As much as I loved the lemon pancakes at Leopold's Kafe in DC, these pancakes take the cake. Light, fluffy, and such a strong lemon flavor that you can smell it before it even reaches your mouth.

Angry Skillet, $15: roasted yellowfoot mushrooms, rye berries, goat cheese, melted leeks, hot jam. There was plenty of goat cheese in here, which I liked. Apparently the hot jam is very spicy, and my friend could taste it even after she scraped it off.

Breakfast Sausage Benedict, $15: poached eggs, cheddar scone, crawdaddy hollandaise. Using scones in eggs benedict is genius. These were so dense and flavorful. The sausage was really tasty too.

Address:
31 Great Jones Street (between Lafayette Street & Bowery)
New York, NY 10012
Phone number: (212)253-5700

www.fivepointsrestaurant.com


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