Lunchn.com helps make "let's do lunch" happen stress-free

April 30, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

If you enjoy going out to lunch as often as possible, and with as many friends as you can pull together, and can’t stand eating alone, then lunchn.com is exactly what you may need.

lunchn.com helps provide an answer to the question that you and your friends ask each other almost every single day. “Where are we going for lunch?”

Here are some of the features that you can enjoy as a member of lunchn.com!
Join or create lunch groups with all of your lunch buddies

Find or add your favorite lunch spots, and add them to your groups

You and friends vote on the restaurants that you want to go to each day. The restaurant with the most votes will be the place that you all go for lunch

Add a car to your profile, and offer to drive your friends when you vote.

Post comments on restaurant and group pages

See how many lunchn voters and groups are planning on going to each restaurant every day!

Tie breakers to help resolve tied lunch votes!

Create or join as many groups as you like in order to accommodate for the different combinations of friends that you go out to lunch with.

Click on the image above to give it a try.

Filed Under: Food Trends, Informational Tagged With: finding a restaurant, Let's do lunch, Lunchn.com, making lunch plans easy, planning lunch, scheduling lunch, voting on lunch, where to eat for lunch

Lunchn.com helps make “let’s do lunch” happen stress-free

April 30, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

If you enjoy going out to lunch as often as possible, and with as many friends as you can pull together, and can’t stand eating alone, then lunchn.com is exactly what you may need.

lunchn.com helps provide an answer to the question that you and your friends ask each other almost every single day. “Where are we going for lunch?”

Here are some of the features that you can enjoy as a member of lunchn.com!
Join or create lunch groups with all of your lunch buddies

Find or add your favorite lunch spots, and add them to your groups

You and friends vote on the restaurants that you want to go to each day. The restaurant with the most votes will be the place that you all go for lunch

Add a car to your profile, and offer to drive your friends when you vote.

Post comments on restaurant and group pages

See how many lunchn voters and groups are planning on going to each restaurant every day!

Tie breakers to help resolve tied lunch votes!

Create or join as many groups as you like in order to accommodate for the different combinations of friends that you go out to lunch with.

Click on the image above to give it a try.

Barcibo Enoteca

April 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

2020 Broadway @ W. 69th St. (Upper West Side)
(212) 595-2805 barciboenoteca.com

Delicious, satisfying, high quality, yet reasonably-priced Italian wines and small bites served in a romantic, low-key atmosphere. Barcibo distinguishes itself in a neighborhood that is becoming increasingly populated by restaurants with marquee-type stature (think: Daniel Boulod, Bill Telepan and Tom Valenti), with the accompanying marquee-tabs. This forges a sharp contrast with a sea of over-priced mediocrity that characterizes many of the Upper-West side eateries.

Barcibo is a modest-sized space with mood lighting and understated, dark wooden furnishings and bright white Carrara marble table tops that makes an excellent pre-Lincoln Center choice or just a place to have a tete a tete with someone…just be sure to grab a table in the back, as the acoustics are better.

Three Crostini

I dined at Barcibo with three friends before a night at the Met. Since I was curious about their crostini, I ordered a sample platter of three for $15. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Barcibo, Barcibo Enoteca, Barcibo Enoteca NY, Bill Telepan, Daniel Boulud, Italian Restaurants on the Upper-West Side, Lincoln Center, New York, NYC, Pre-Theater on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Tom Valente, Wine Bars on the Upper-West Side of Manhattan

Pannacotta with Strawberries and Balsamic Vinegar

April 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

With spring finally (finally!!!) heating up in New York City, berries are in their full glory.

It’s a great time to try Mario Batali’s recipe for pannacotta with strawberries and balsamic vinegar.

Click on the picture of Mario for his wonderful recipe.

Filed Under: Recipe Tagged With: Mario Batali, Pannacotta with strawberries and balsamic vinegar, Recipe

Food and Wine at 92St. Y

April 24, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

MAY 2009 FOOD LISTINGS

FOOD AND WINE TASTINGS ● LECTURES ● TOURS ● DEMOS

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LECTURES AND TASTINGS
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Wed, May 13, 7-8:30 pm, $40
Francine Segan’s World of Tasting: APHRODISIACS TASTING: HISTORY, MYTH AND FACT
Learn the secret seductive history of a variety of foods, and taste several aphrodisiac recipes. Delve into the libidinous legends surrounding Spanish fly, ginseng, rhinoceros horns, oysters, chocolates, truffles and caviar.

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FOOD OUTINGS
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Fri, May 8, 1-5 pm, $80
Downtown Culinary Tours with Alexandra Leaf: NOSHES AND NIBBLES ON THE CHOCOLATE TRAIL
Learn about trends in the chocolate world, and discover new downtown eateries. Indulge in chocolate in many forms: ice cream, sourdough bread twists filled with bittersweet chocolate, brownies, spicy hot chocolate and mousse. End things off with a delectable choco-tini. This series with culinary historian and gourmet food expert Alexandra Leaf offers backstage access to world-class restaurants and shops, and opportunities to participate in scrumptious tastings. The author of The Impressionists’ Table and Van Gogh’s Table, Leaf is a museum lecturer and frequent moderator for the 92nd Street Y’s Food Talks series. She teaches at the Institute of Culinary Education and is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier International.

Sun, May 17, 10:30 am-2 pm, $65
BROOKLYN NEIGHBORHOOD TOUR
Visit unique and historic neighborhoods not covered in our other tours. This bus jaunt through the city’s largest borough includes an audio-visual historical tour of Brooklyn’s famous movie locations, landmarks and points of interests. Stop at Junior’s Cheesecake, a Brooklyn classic since 1950, for a slice of their world-famous cheesecake and an egg cream.

Tue, May 19, 10:15 am-1 pm, $70
UNITED NATIONS TOUR AND DELEGATES DINING ROOM LUNCH
Take in the splendor of the celebrated United Nations building with a private guided tour. Learn the history of this institution, and visit the storied General Assembly Hall. Afterward, enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime meal alongside United Nations members in the legendary Delegate’s Dining Room.

Sun, May 31, 10:15 am, $195 (includes meal and transportation)
BLUE HILL AT STONE BARNS
Foodies, here’s your chance! Chef Dan Barber’s famed three-star restaurant is located on the 80-acre Rockefeller estate in Westchester County, now an organic sustainable farm. In this exclusive visit, enjoy a fantastic meal with exceptional atmosphere, and learn how food is prepared using the resources of Stone Barns and other area farms. Afterward, walk the fields of homegrown crops, meeting farmers and livestock along the way.

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COOKING DEMOS
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Thu May 14, 7 pm, $45
COOKING WITH MIKE COLAMECO AT THE DELIA/CARL SCHAEDEL AND CO.:
SPRING/SUMMER VEGETABLES
Get to know all those beautiful vegetables at your local grocery or greenmarket! Chef Mike Colameco presents bimonthly cooking demonstrations at the Delia/Carl Schaedel and Co. showroom. Offered exclusively through the 92nd Street Y, his classes cover the basics and help home cooks become more proficient. Colameco has a daily show on WOR-AM and a weekly series, Colameco’s Food Show on Channel 13. All classes meet at the Delia/Carl Schaedel and Co. showroom at 969 Third Avenue (58th Street).

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WINE TASTINGS AND WORKSHOPS
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Wed, May 6, 7-9 pm, $200 for 4 sessions
WINE: THE ART OF BUYING AND TASTING
Want to learn more about wine so you can shop, sip and swirl with confidence? Find out how to identify the characteristics of major grape varieties, and taste wines from around the world. Eight wines per session. Meg Staloff is a wine expert with nearly 10 years of experience.

About the 92nd Street Y

Founded in 1874 by a group of visionary Jewish leaders, the 92nd Street Y has grown into a wide-ranging cultural, educational and community center serving people of all ages, races, faiths and backgrounds. The 92nd Street Y’s mission is to enrich the lives of the over 300,000 people who visit in person each year as well as those who visit virtually, through the Y’s satellite, television, radio and Internet broadcasts. The organization offers comprehensive performing arts, film and spoken word events; courses in the humanities, the arts, personal development and Jewish culture; activities and workshops for children, teenagers and parents; and health and fitness programs for people of every age. Committed to making its programs available to everyone, the 92nd Street Y awards nearly $1 million in scholarships annually and reaches out to more than 6,000 public school children through subsidized arts and science education programs. For more information, please visit www.92Y.org.

Filed Under: Upcoming Events Tagged With: 92St.Y, Food and Wine Events in May in NYC, Food and Wine Events in NYC

Beer's gone haute

April 23, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

First there was coffee, then there was wine, the current beverage du jour to get all snobby about is beer. The signs have been there for some time now…the onslaught of gastropubs with beer menus with encyclopedic descriptions of the world’s third most popular beverage after water and tea, a more widespread connoisseurship of beer, and while the recession may have put it on hold for a moment, the era of haute beer is definitely before us.

The opening (slated for late May) of Daniel Boulud’s much anticipated, DBGB (Daniel Boulud Good Beer Kitchen and Bar) makes it official.

Even Italy, which is laureled for its wines, is proving vigorous in jumping on this trend by churning out newly-minted beer sommeliers according to Rai International News. Wondering how far this trend has gone? Check out a new dessert-trend, the beeramisu.

Click on the image below for the recipe.

Beeramisu from 101cookbooks.com

Can’t discern a good beer from a bad one? No problem. The Tasting Table recently reported that the Good Beer Seal…a new quality standards organization has issued a “good beer seal” insignia that will direct beer drinkers to taverns and pubs that care about what they pour.

from goodbeerseal.com

Click on the Pilsner below for a quick primer on gourmet beer, courtesy of howstuffworks.com.

from howstuffworks.com

Filed Under: Food Trends, Informational Tagged With: Beer, Beer fad, beer sommelier, beeramisu, Daniel Boulud, DBGB, haute beer

Beer’s gone haute

April 23, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

The opening (slated for late May) of Daniel Boulud’s much anticipated, DBGB (Daniel Boulud Good Beer Kitchen and Bar) makes it official.

Click on the image below for the recipe.

Beeramisu from 101cookbooks.com

from goodbeerseal.com

Click on the Pilsner below for a quick primer on gourmet beer, courtesy of howstuffworks.com.

from howstuffworks.com

Filed Under: Food Trends, Informational Tagged With: Beer, Beer fad, beer sommelier, beeramisu, Daniel Boulud, DBGB, haute beer

Arriba Rioja Week in NYC!

April 22, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

NYC Celebrates Rioja – April 26 – May 2nd.

Rioja week is a great time to try new food and wine parings from Rioja (Spain). Visit any one of 50 NYC restaurants during Rioja Restaurant Week and choose from a $25 prix fixe or $50 prix fixe menu that includes a glass of Rioja wine.

Image from MissTheda.com

Click on the image above for a list of participating restaurants and wine shops to get a 20% discount on Rioja wines.

Filed Under: Informational, Products, Upcoming Events Tagged With: Rioja week in NYC, Rioja Wines, Spanish wines, where to enjoy spanish wines in NYC

Noodle Pudding

April 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

38 Henry St., Brooklyn Heights/Dumbo
718-625-3737

To anyone with a modicum of pasta-cooking knowhow, the thought of eating pasta at a restaurant by this name will no doubt seem repellent, that is until they get to know the place. I was hoping to find some clues to explain its baffling name amongst Noodle Pudding’s menu items or within the space itself, but my quest turned up empty. Located on the border of Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo, it is a convenient walk from Dumbo’s premiere venue for avant-garde performaces, St. Ann’s Warehouse. Theater or no theater, Noodle Pudding is highly worth recommending.

Puntarelle (Italian chicory) with anchovy dressing

A group of friends and I recently tried it after seeing the Wooster Group’s fabulously wild take on the epic love story of Dido and Aeneas, La Didone at St. Ann’s. I found the opera highly amusing and had to submit to a few outbursts of laughter especially during the boar hunt scene. I’m quite confident that those who have seen the opera will have no trouble recalling the scene.

Join the fight against hunger now and let the Food Bank double your donations

April 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

FJC, a donor-advised fund, is generously matching, dollar for dollar, any new or increased donation up to $50,000.

That means your $25 dollars, combined with FJC’s matching funds, will help the Food Bank provide 250 meals to New Yorkers in need!

In response to the economic crisis and increased demand for food assistance, the Food Bank is trying to reach this goal by April 30, 2009.

Times are tough, but here’s a chance to make a difference and double your impact by helping twice as many hungry children, women and men get much-need food and support.

Click on the truck to donate

Filed Under: Informational, Worthy Causes Tagged With: Fight against hunger, FJC, Foundations that fight hunger, NYC Food Bank, The Food Bank, Worthy Causes