OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Close This Box!

The Four Dollar Chestnut

Went to New York for a cancelled deposition as I already booked a Priceline room before learning of the cancellation. Started off with a roasted chicken dinner and mashed potato dinner at friend?s house. Got to Hotel later and had pizza from a little café a few blocks down that was open late and had a variety of stuff. Quite good and shows New York pizza at any place with a real oven will generally be good. The key is reheating the slices. Its okay in whole pies, the reheating gives it the real distinctive crunch on the bottom.

Started off the day with dim sum at Golden Unicorn a four story place in building. Honestly, well made but lacked volume and freshness. I suggest going to Chinatown and wondering
around until you find a place with carts and people visible from the window.

Thereafter walked to the Donut Plant by Mark Isreal which supposedly has the best donuts in the Nation. Which, if your sole criteria is aesthetics it might very well be. Its a neat place with an Indian guy calling out best donuts and a pot of Organic Chai. However, the tough flavorless dough didn't really justify that Oprah best donut buzz to me organic though it may be.

Before going to dinner we went to ABC home store which is 6 stories of interesting and unique stuff with $40 dessert plates thrown in and $15k Brazilian Cowskin rugs. This is the place to go see the stuff that those tales of Manhattan housewives spending 100k on a shopping expeditions do it on.

Had dinner at Il Fornaio in Little Italy. Took a really really long time. Decent food. Fried Zuchinni for an appetizer was bit overly done and marinara is a little too heavy for fried zuchinni. Ranch is the preferred alternative. Had the house veal dish for dinner which had eggplant and prosciutto covered with mozzarella. A solid Italian but nothing to write home about.

Went to Ferrara a very old pastry shop at 195 Grand Street also in little Italy that was very good. Had cheesecake which was really good creamy but still textured with a cake crust that was interesting. Only, criticism would be that it was a bit too sweet. Aunt had triple miniatures of napoleon, cannoli, and dacquoise. The dacquoise was very good with chocolate mouse on a hazelnut crust. They apparently do mail order at www.ferrara café.com

Today, went to Balthazar for breakfast. A famous restaurat sent up as a French Brassiere. Breakfast was a quickly prepared eggs Benedict with homefries. The Benedict was quite good and prepared fast. A little short on the Hollandaise which was good but very heavy on the butter and light.

Afterwards went to the South Street seaport and got matinee tickets for tomorrow for November a political commentary with Nathan Lane. Walking back it started raining and I ducked into Ruben?s Empanada?s at 64 Fulton Street. Basically, a spicy Cornish pasty, it?s a slightly spicy light lunch if you pass by one.

Got back to hotel room and did a little work and rested my feet. Went to Rockfeller Center and went to Maison du Chocolate and got a box of chocolate for mother. Saw some $4 candied chestnuts and decided to see what was up. Okay, but the subtlety of the taste was worth four dollars only once in a lifetime unless I get really stupid rich.

Afterwards, I went to dinner with my aunt Suzanne and her friend Suzanne to Aquamarine. Had satay shrimp which was really good with a peanut sauce and lots of peppers, but took a good fifteen minutes to cool down. The beef negimaki appetizer was acceptable, but not as good as Seiksui. Had an excessively beefy taste and the sauce was not thick enough.

Tommorow, going to go have brunch at Tavern on the Green.