New York City

A trip to NYC is always something my taste buds happily pack their bags to attend.

I visited a few places on my day trip. The first was lunch at Le Pain Quotidien. This lunch spot was selected by my slightly more pretentious friend. While it seems very French, it is in fact Belgian. I ordered the Ricotta Tartine. Apparently, Tartine is a Belgian way of saying "you're only going to get one piece of bread with this sandwich". Of course, this hardly makes it a sandwich at all. Open faced in America usually consists of some sort of melting situation or other fatty deliciousness making the second piece of bread unnecessary. My Tartine consisted of ricotta cheese, honey, figs, and black pepper. Sounds delicious. However, there wasn't any salt added to this dish. Problem. Ricotta needs...something. No salt was a disappointment. Also, all of their Tartines come on wheat bread. While this is organic, healthy, and trendy, wheat bread doesn't go with everything. However, the mint lemonade was delicious. It seemed very fresh. The Belgian Hot Chocolate was also a sophisticated, rich, creamy treat. The hot chocolate came with steaming milk and a side of dark melted chocolate. The hot chocolate was a success. Over all not a bad place to eat if you're looking for something out of the ordinary.

Since the fancy one-piece-of-bread-sandwich place didn't serve alcohol (probably not organic) we went to get Mojitos. Afternoon drinking is essential when one is  on "holiday". I had a pomegranate Mojito. It was delicious. My favorite thing about these Mojitos is that the mint wasn't muddled so severely that it got stuck in your teeth. I hate that. After all, alcohol is supposed to make people more attractive. These seemed to be made with simple syrup that had been infused with lime and mint. Then the cocktail was simply garnished with the mint and lime. They were strong drinks and delicious drinks. This is a win/win.

The next culinary stop was Sprinkles. This is a very famous cup cakery. It was started in Beverly Hills. I expected a lot as the place was founded by the lady judge on Cupcake Wars. They even have doggie cupcakes. This was important as I felt immense guilt for leaving my ever loyal beagle for the entire day. We ordered a dozen people cupcakes first. German chocolate, peanut butter chip, cinnamon sugar, vanilla, black and white, s'mores, and chocolate coconut. While I usually find that my cupcakes are better than any I've ever paid for, these were more delicious than most of my creations. The cakes were moist, yet fluffy. The frosting held most of the flavorings (which I fully support). The only complaint is that some of them came across more muffiny than cup cakey. They must have some sort of culinary identity crisis. The one real problem was when the cupcakes are unwrapped, their tops fall off. Now, this is something that usually gets men very excited. My fiance was less than pleased with these topless cupcakes. The top of the cupcakes were just too heavy with delicious frosting for the stumps. The integrity of the cupcake top can often be compromised when the cupcake tin is too full with batter. I call it the "mushroom cake effect". The doggie cupcakes were impressive. Sugar free bottom and a yogurt frosting. My beagle ate them in one bite. While this seems normal for a dog, it is not normal for my dog. He usually insists that his treats be broken up into bite size pieces and then fed to him individually. He is just as snotty as his mother about his gastric habits.

Finally we visited Ninja New York. We have been there before, but it's always a fun experience. Their food is art in both taste and presentation. Everything comes flaming or smoking. Magic tricks make everything taste more unique. That is a fact. My fiance and I shared the signature dish. On a carved log came mango glazed Angus steak and a king crab and cheese topped potato. The side dish was fried risotto. Both of the protein dishes were cooked perfectly and decidedly delicious. The steak was sweet and salty. The crab was rich and creamy. The risotto was a little bit of a miss. It needed salt...or any flavor. The highlight of this restaurant : the cocktails. They came on fire and with exquisite Asian fusion flavors. Any time someone puts ginger in my cocktail, I'm game. Adding fire and Ninja magic to the alcohol made the cocktails delicious and entertaining enough to continue paying upwards of $10 each. Since so many of the delicious cocktails were ingested, this is where our journey ends.