Our Favorite NYC Eats [picture heavy post]

Since we ate a lot of good food in New York I thought it'd be a good idea to compile some of our favorite eats from our trip.

On Sunday morning we brunched at Good Enough to Eat which was highly recommended by one of my high school classmates who lives in New York. Although the food was good it wasn't out of this world. But it was all worth it experience the quintessential brunch staple of the Upper West Side, strawberry butter. It boggles my mind to think of the genius who thought this delicious concoction up. Slathered on their warm biscuits or or all over fresh waffles it was absolutely magical. 

I'm literally drooling on my keyboard right now

That night we made our way to a Momofuku Milk Bar to try the legendary crack pie. When we got back to our hotel room with our pies we were a little weary of the fact that butter is the first ingredient listed...what had we gotten ourselves into??? After our first bite of buttery, sweet, chewy goodness I was in love. We went back to get crack pie to finish off our day almost every night we were in New York. There's definitely no denying why they call it crack pie. 

Oh butter, you've never done me wrong!

Unwrapped and in all it's crack pie glory

While researching places to eat in New York we happened across the BuzzFeed Donut Crawl. Although the author doesn't make the latter half of the donut crawl sound enjoyable by any means they did mention a creme brulee donut at Doughnut Plant which we knew we just had to try. Not only was the creme brulee donut to die for but their cake donuts all have fillings which make them extra moist and extra delicious. So good we had to do a repeat visit on our last day in New York.

top R to L: coffee cake donut and creme brulee donut
bottom R to L: creme brulee donut and tres leches cake donut

Coffee cake donut filled with creamy goodness

Later that day we went to Eataly and had lunch at Rosticceria where we shared to most delicious prime rib sandwich my mouth has ever had the pleasure of meeting. The bread was just the right amount of crusty (crunchy without tearing up the inside of your mouth) and the meat was seasoned to absolute perfection. So glad we stumbled upon this gem.

Ah-maze-ing!

The next day we ate dinner at a New York staple, Shake Shack. I remember standing in line for HOUUURSSSS in Madison Square with my parents in 2010 just to get a taste of Shake Shack goodness. Luckily now there are many more chains open and we were able to get our grub on in a reasonable amount of time. While the burgers ain't no In-N-Out their shakes are undeniably good.

nom-nom-nom-nom-nom

I love a good pastrami sandwich so we had to make a trip to the famed, Carnegie Deli. Their pastrami is so flavorful and tender without being overly fatty. Not to mention their monstrous portions are legendary. Even after sharing a sandwich we were so full we had to take our cheesecake to go.

Almost every night we came back to our hotel from the theater we would pass by a street cart with a huge line of people. We finally looked into it and found out that The Halal Guys is basically a New York City institution. Once we knew that we just HAD to give it a try. After reviewing yelp we decided on chicken and rice. The plate was so big that the two of us were able to fill up on just one plate. Needless to say yelp didn't lead us astray and the food was delicious.

so simple yet so delicious

Last up on our list of favorite eats was Gotham Pizza...you didn't think we'd have a list of NYC eats without pizza did you??? We ate a lot of good pizza but the grandma square pizza at Gotham was the best. The homemade marinara sauce and the drizzling of olive oil on the thin crispy crust was a perfect combo.

what New York trip would be complete without pizza?

And that concludes the series on our New York trip. I'm glad I  got to wrap up this final post just in time for us to get ready for out trip back in November!

Anniversary Celebrations

This past weekend hubs and I celebrated our first year of wedded bliss. We've had an amazing year full of fun and laughter. I couldn't in my wildest dreams have imagined our first year of marriage would include traveling to Rome, buying our first house, and surviving a bathroom rennovation. We're truly blessed to have had such a memorablefirst year of marriage.

Everyone know it's good luck to eat the top tier of your wedding cake on you're first anniverssary. However, being the non-conformists we are we didn't save the top tier of our wedding cake (we actually ate it the day after the wedding while we opened gifts with family). I've heard a few people say that after being in the freezer for a year their cake was as delicious as their wedding day, but the majority of stories I've heard were that the cake tasted like poo. Not to mention we got married in Hawaii and would've had to transport the cake back to our home in California. Instead I baked a replica of our funfetti cake with buttercream frosting. It was delicious and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

We spent the day in our favorite way, lazing around and watching the first season of Game of Thrones. Hubs spent the majority of the day assembling my anniversary gift to him, a Lego R2D2. And I got to open my anniversary gift which was tickets in the lower level to the next Warriors basketball game.

top L to R: bacon bread with seared ahi amuse bouche, maguro bite with lobster tempura, hybrid wagyu filet
bottom L to R: A5 wagyu NY with truffle foam, handsome hubs, complementary dessert, chocolate fondant

Then we had dinner at, 5A5, a steakhouse in downtown San Francisco known for their class A5 (highest grade) wagyu steaks. This was easily the most expensive meal we've ever consumed, but OH MAH GAWD was it worth it! We started with some complementary breadand a seared ahi amuse bouche. Of particular note was their bacon bread which quite a tasty conundrum as it tasted exactly like bacon, but had the texture of bread. Then we moved onto a maguro appetizer bite, which we shared since I only wanted a taste, and a delicious lobster tempura. Then it was onto the main course. Being the gentleman he always is hubs let me get the A5 wagyu NY cut and he got the hybrid wagyu filet. We always trade plates halfway through, that way we can both enjoy a little of everything. The A5 wagyu NY cut was litterally the most amazing thing I've ever put in my mouth (insert "that's what she said" joke). It was so amazingly tender and juicy...it's making my mouth water just thinking about it. Unfortunately when we were there they were out of the A5 wagyu filet - of the NY cut was so tender I can't even imagine what the filet would've been like. Hubs' hybrid wagyu filet which was much more moderately priced than mine; and while not quite as tender as the wagyu I had, it held it's own and was very delicious as well. We also got some truffle fries and truffle mac n cheese since these fancy schmancy places always seem to be ala carte. The truffle fries were good. Definitely a solid side, but nothing to write home about. The truffle mac n cheese was super cheesy and creamy - delicious. And for dessert we were treated to a complementary chocolate cake that was a real disapointment when compared to the chocolate fondant we ordered. Holy cow was that yummy - I had to resist licking the plate since we were in such a classy joint.

On Monday I got to enjoy the hubs present to me, lower level tickets to the Warriors vs. Raptors game. We've gone to many Warriors games over the years and have even sat in some pretty good seats, but nothing compared to the midcourt seats hubs got us this time. It was a fun and exciting game, but best of all it was a winning game.

We had an amazing time celebrating our first year of marriage together and I look forward to many more with the man of my dreams.