Posts tagged ‘restaurant’

Does GFS Contributor C.C. do nothing but travel? Today she shares an unexpected find from a trip to Mexico: crazy good Italian food on the beach.

Back in the spring, after experiencing British weather with her British B.F. , C.C. decides she needs a little warmth in her life and acquiesces to B.F.’s request to try kiteboarding.

C.C. gets on the Google and finds one of those rare travel spots, a place so remote you feel as if it’s all your own: Isla Holbox (pronounced “hole-bosh,” Mayan for “black hole”), a small island off the Yucatán peninsula that is safely removed from the craziness of Cancun by a distance of two hours by car and 45 minutes by ferry.

This laid-back fishing village has no cars—everyone drives golf carts, accompanied by their cute happy little dogs (no unfortunate mangy mutts here). There are no buildings over two stories high. And the beaches are gorgeous and windy for the kiters. The island is renowned for whale shark watching from May through September, but alas, C.C. and B.F. went before May.

Parts of the island are a nature preserve where pink flamingoes flock and rays scoot under the clear water. There are no ATMs on the island, but there are mosquitoes. People on Holbox don’t speak English particularly well, and apart from “dos cuba libres, por favor,” C.C. and B.F. don’t speak Spanish. This being Mexico, they knew not to drink the water, but they had no idea they’d discover such spectacular food—namely, Los Pelicanos.
>> Read on to find out why you should eat Italian food in Mexico. >>

Now that Baltimore’s ESPN Zone is closing—the original location, no less, which has served Buds to backwards baseball-capped brahs for more than a decade—where is a sports-and-beer fan to go for a filling meal before an Orioles game?

Here’s a thought. Forego the big-screen TVs and take a stroll up the hill away from the tourist-laden Inner Harbor, through the historic neighborhood of Mount Vernon—maybe stopping to admire the Colonial architecture and massive monument to George Washington, or just hightailing it past the historic Belvedere Hotel to The Brewer’s Art.

Upon the enthusiastic recommendation from Good. Food. Stories. Guy Correspondent Max Rudy, Dan and I snuck in a quick but satisfying trip to this Baltimore gastropub before Friday’s baseball game.

Under the original cornice mouldings and imposing mantelpiece making up the bar back in the front parlor room, we chose wisely from the multiple offerings on the bar menu: the country ham flatbread, a heavenly pillow topped with 18-month Benton Smoky Mountain ham and herb-flecked mascarpone cheese, liberally studded with bourbon-soaked cherries and flecked with black pepper honey and pickled mustard seeds.
>> And we didn’t even get to the beers that The Brewer’s Art is known for yet. Read on. >>

After he wowed us with his lamb bacon, Danielle and I knew we had to hit up Chef Bobby Hellen of the Belgian gastropub Resto for a Good. Food. Stories. Q&A. Bobby, a native New Yorker, has been with the Resto team since the restaurant’s 2007 opening, and now leads the kitchen as Executive Chef.

Though the restaurant is most well-known (along with the vast selection of Belgian brews) for its pork-focused dishes and nose-to-tail eating, Bobby also serves up heaping amounts of locally-sourced produce alongside his housemade charcuterie, meats, and poultry from New York-area farms like Four Story Hill. For the more adventurous, the Resto team offers the Large Format Feast, where a whole animal will be broken down and delectably prepared for your large group (they’ll feed up to 18 people).

>> Read on to find out how a grapefruit changed Bobby’s life. >>

Two years into my residency as a New York Eater, I officially declared a boycott on Restaurant Week and most prix fixe menus. I was tired of being served one too many subpar options, too many basic dishes that weren’t showing off the true talents of the restaurant I was sitting in. Why was I shelling out $35 for a dumbed-down piece of seared salmon when I could be ordering a more satisfying app and entree for the same price off the real menu? I didn’t see the deal.

So it was an unexpected (but happy) blow to my jaded snobbery to discover the most compelling reason to have lunch at A Voce—apart from the phenomenal fresh housemade pastas—is that they don’t play around with their prix fixe menu.

For the past year or so, the restaurant has instituted a daily $29 three-course lunch special, an actual well-thought-out menu rather than the cheap-to-serve stuff like a boring green salad and a chicken entree. Chef Missy Robbins changes it up every so often, highlighting different regions of Italy depending on the area’s iconic cuisine and the time of year she’s serving it—hearty dishes from the Piedmont in the winter, lighter seafood-based fare from Sardinia or the Veneto in warmer weather.
>> Read on to discover the menu standouts at A Voce. >>

My family will be in New York next month and we’ll be attending an event on 12th St. in the East Village. Where can I take them to eat that night? They’re a bit of a meat-and-potatoes crowd, but it would also be great to suggest some hipper places for my cousin when he sheds the parents.

The East Village is one of the best areas for dining in Manhattan—you can wander any of the Avenues and find at least one satisfying place to eat on each block. But since you’ve restricted it to the northern end, I can narrow it down to a few parent-pleasing options around 12th St.

The meat-and-potatoes crowd will feel very comfortable at Back Forty (190 Avenue B at 12th St.). It’s an ingredient-driven “haute barnyard” menu—basics like roast chicken and vegetables, grilled trout, and the house burger—prepared unfussily. If any member of your group wants to splurge on a house cocktail, I highly recommend you try one or two of the seasonal selections. My friend Lisa’s favorite, the strawberry-based The Red and the Black, only comes around in the summer when the berries are in the greenmarkets, but you can try it at your leisure with her recipe.
>> Read on to find out where to impress the out-of-towners with bacon peanut brittle >>