Veritasty: Truthfully Delicious

A couple of years ago, Francois Payard, of Francois Payard Bakery, invented my favorite holiday: Macaron Day.  Well, okay so he brought the tradition over from France, but it really doesn't matter because Macaron Day is The Best Day!! Think about this, friends: for one whole day, you can visit participating bakeries and get free macarons from them. I'm going to let that statement sink in for a bit.... Exciting right?!  I'm almost hesitant to write about it because then we'd be letting out our big secret and then all our favorite macaron places will be crowded and run out of macarons this year...but this was how we found one of our enduring favorite macaron places in New York City. Bisous Ciao Located in the Lower East Side in a very sleek,  minimalist shop, Bisous Ciao gave out a dark chocolate ganache macaron last year, embellished with a little pink bisous on the top of the cookie.  Since then, I've practically fallen in love with the place...

Yep, that's a unicorn For everyone who's been living under a rock for the past year or so... There's this ice-cream-truck-turned-store called Big Gay Ice Cream near Alphabet City.  And their ice cream is to-die-for.  And their shop is really cute!  If you're into eclectic unicorn murals and rainbow colors.  But word of warning: the fact that their store is right next to Butter Lane Cupcakes spells trouble (i.e. sugar overload) for the wandering foodie. The first time we came here was to use up a Groupon deal.  It was a horrendously rainy fall day last year and I was kind of annoyed at having to trek all the way over a bunch of avenues to get to the shop.  And then, when we arrived, the guy said the air conditioner was broken so it might mess with the quality or solidity (is that a word?) of the ice cream.  No matter, ice cream is ice cream and I've been known to straight up drink the bottom of a bowl of of ice-cream-melt.  That time,...

Hey.  Hey guys.  We're going to let you in on a really great secret.  Can't get reservations for Valentine's Day dinner next Tuesday?  Forget that.  You and your hunny should check out Saluggi's in Tribeca.  We had dinner there last night and I'm still craving their food (and Alex is still eating their food; more on that later). When I first walked into the place, I thought we were having dinner at a run-of-the-mill pizzeria.  It's fairly dark inside, but its bare brick walls are illuminated by a neon pink scripty sign of "Saluggi's NYC".  At the back, the kitchen and bar were pretty open, but it was a little odd looking, since the dining area seemed to blend seamlessly into the waitstaff's prep area and kitchen....  They don't earn too many points for decor in my book, save for an interesting painting of a subway car facing me, but their food makes up for that. Everything on their menu sounded delicious, and was moderately pric...

Sorry for being missing in action so long.  We've suddenly become very busy folks.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise: it's tough being a second-term senior! Last week, we visited the Food Hall at the Plaza Hotel for dinner.  The Food Hall is not your typical restaurant.  It is in the style of traditional European food halls.  Now, what is a food hall, you ask?  A food hall is like a food court after you put stiletto heels and lipstick and a little black dress on it.  There are many stations that prepare different foods and usually high tables for you to stand around and sip your wine with your pinkie held out. By far my favorite food hall is the one in Harrods, the mega-department store in London.  Both times I visited Harrods, I neglected the "shopping" part and just wandered around its food hall.  When you first enter Harrods, you see the typical department store offerings: handbags, gloves, scarves, leather goods, cosmetic...