Veritasty: Truthfully Delicious

Veritasty is back from hiatus! We've had undoubtedly a busy couple of months, which started shortly after our last post from Pig Island... :cue flashback montage: We went on a cruise to Bermuda with my family (surprisingly good food!), traveled to Europe with our good friends, and Alex went to London and Florida for work.  Sadly, the two of us have barely had a nice stretch of time together to explore and eat around New York, nor have we had the chance to give our little blog any love lately, but hopefully we'll get a little more time now that it's close to the holidays and a little more chill at both our jobs. In the meantime, we did have an incredible trip to Europe and ate some deliciously memorable meals, so let me tell you about them! Alex and I went to Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam with my best friend Jackie and our good friend Harry.  I couldn't have picked better travel buddies, and our whole trip was nothing short of amazing.  I also learne...

I just had my mind blown after my birthday dinner at Beauty & Essex!  It was quite possibly the most fun dining experience I've had in a long time! Beauty & Essex is, as the name suggests, beautiful and located on Essex Street in the Lower East Side. It is one of two restaurants by Executive Chef Chris Santos, also known as the lovable tattooed judge on Chopped.  The concept of both Beauty & Essex and The Stanton Social (his other restaurant in the same neighborhood) is to have little plates for sharing: tapas, but without the pigs ears and with a whole lotta fancy. Why is Beauty & Essex beautiful?  The restaurant will puzzle you, surprise you, and take your breath away, quite literally.  Its marquee is a dingy, falling-apart sign that looks like the covering fell off the neon letters, a leftover from the wild days of New York in the 80s.  I wouldn't be surprised if they intentionally made the ampersand dangle at an angle.  The vesti...

Even though we both graduated from NYU this spring, we find ourselves still enchanted by the Greenwich Village neighborhood and we visited a bakery called Molly's Cupcakes recently.  Molly's Cupcakes is supremely cute, decorated with swing-like seats and light wooden furniture.  Their glass counters contained many large cupcakes labeled with adorable cartoon signs.  My mouth was drooling reading one after another sign. We selected four of the most delectable-looking cupcakes: creme brulee, peach cobbler, Cookie Monster, and rocky road.   The creme brulee was topped with glistening berries and a caramel crust and stuffed with a vanilla custard.  It was definitely reminiscent of a creme brulee!  It was not too sweet, yet retained the classy, classic flavors of creme brulee.  I was especially impressed with the thoughtful touch of vanilla custard inside.   Peach cobbler was also delicious.  The tan...

Alouette, gentille Alouette Alouette, je te plumerai I never learned French in school and now I wish I did.  Not only would it have helped when I traveled to Paris (and as I will travel to Paris again next month!), but I think I would have a different perspective of French food.  Today, Alex and I visited Alouette, a French bistro on the Upper West Side.  I fully admit that I was really tired and didn't feel like shlepping all the way up to 96th Street - and on top of that, I wasn't really in the mood for French food, whatever that is - but this meal had me absolutely repenting and converted. Herby Butter! When we arrived at the small restaurant, I was immediately reminded of a bistro I ate at in Paris, complete with outdoor seating and dark wooden furnishing.  Moreover, there was LIVE MUSIC (!!!), a man looking suspiciously like Anthony Bourdain strumming a guitar at the front of the house (side note: I've read four of Bourdain's books in a row, ...