Veritasty: Truthfully Delicious

When we recently went to a Bay Ridge restaurant called Mussels & More, you may be surprised to hear we opted for no mussels, just whatever "more" entails.  We find ourselves walking around this stretch of Bay Ridge a lot - between 5th and 3rd Avenues and from 86th Street to however far north our legs take us - and have seen Mussels & More frequently, but never thought to try it until now.  Big mistake, because the food turns out to be pretty spectacular! We shared an order of fried calamari and fish & chips, with sweet potato fries instead of regular chips.  The food came out quickly and was really fresh and tasty.  First, our compliments to the chef for frying up some of the best calamari we've ever had: light, flavorful batter with squid rings fried to perfection.  I've had lots of good calamari from a variety of places, but I think the ones at Mussels & More will be most memorable, honestly, because it was unexpected.  The fish ...

[Sorry we've been on a hiatus!  Life has been quite busy for the both of us, but now we are back and dedicated to bringing veritasty things to you!] Isn't it funny how sometimes you walk by a place so many times, you cease to realize it's even there?  For four years at NYU, I'd walk past The Smith on 10th Street and 3rd Avenue on the way to or from class and I never noticed it, much less dined there.  Fast forward a couple of years later when now, at his nice cushy midtown corporate job, Alex tells me that he frequently gets lunch and/or dinner at The Smith up on 53rd Street and 2nd Avenue.  I looked up the menu and saw crave-worthy foods and proverbially smacked myself for overlooking this restaurant. So this summer, I rectified my mistake by visiting the Midtown East location with my girlfriends and our boyfriends.  It was probably happy hour time, which explains the extremely noisy ambiance.  I wasn't a fan of having to shout our conversations,...

When I was in high school, the closest thing that I did that made me feel like a cool/grown-up/classy/precursor-to-hipster/New York lady was have dinner with my friends in the Lower East Side repeatedly.  Specifically, at the tapas restaurant 1492.  It left a weird imprint on my soul that made me yearn for it, now, more than four years later. The restaurant's storefront is almost like a hole in the wall. When you first walk in, a mirror hanging diagonally from the ceiling over the bar gives you a really trippy view.  There are small, cozy tables all the way through the restaurant and even in a quaint garden courtyard inside.  When I came once for a friend's birthday, we sat in the garden and sipped virgin mojitos under the summer sky and beneath a string of twinkling lights.  I felt so fancy!  This most recent visit, we went on a Monday evening and I'm sad to say we were the only patrons in the restaurant.  We sat at a small table inside and s...

Bon soir, cherie!  Today was a really long, torturous day for both of us.  After endless hours in class and in lab, we definitely needed something fancy and classy to unwind. French food! Alex found this cute French bistro in Chelsea called Trois Canards which has a Restaurant.com coupon!  They have really cute framed pictures, wine bottles, and wooden sculptures all over the wall, particularly their namesake, three ducks in a row.  All around, very cute.  Very French. We got spicy calamari, crispy duck, and veal scallopini (wrapped around goat cheese and spinach).  The calamari was breaded very lightly with a salty, spicy breading.  The accompanying tomato sauce was thin and spicy.  Overall, we really enjoyed the calamari. Our plates of crispy duck and veal scallopini were beautifully plated and generously portioned.  I excitedly grabbed a little piece of crispy fried duck cracklings from Alex's plate and it practically...

Opening Act I ♥ NY.  I love New York's Restaurant Week! Today, we headed uptown for lunch at Smith & Wollensky.  I've heard about this famous steakhouse from a coworker who often brought family members here to lavish them with birthday dinners.  This, along with Peter Luger, is reputed to be one of New York's best old-school steakhouses.  I hear many new steakhouses are gaining prestige, but it was certainly fun to visit an institution, at a discounted price!! (Restaurant Week: now - February 10th; Mondays - Fridays; $24.07 lunch and $35 dinner prix fixe 3-course meals!!) When we arrived, we were greeted by a host downstairs who sent us upstairs to a second host.  Then, we were led quickly through the dining room to a table in the back.  Everything flew by so fast that I hardly had time to soak up the atmosphere, but the rooms were generally wood-accented and traditional. Although I read some reviews on Yelp that blamed the service st...