June Food

As previously posted we have been enjoying our fair share of New York City food. We have our visitors to blame! Thanks visitors for spoiling us rotten beyond our normal "eating out" budget. We have indulged in street food to our local favs to yummy yummy desserts.

Rice to Riches:
Here we have rice pudding. I cannot eat rice pudding. I have never been able to eat it....it's a texture thing. Lyle, however, ADORES rice pudding. The Bowers needed some, so we tagged along. Just north of Little Italy we found it. Not too busy, not too empty, and plenty of funny stuff written all over the walls. Lyle enjoyed every bit, while I enjoyed the kind of humor Rice to Riches believes in. I am sure Lyle will be back with visitors who need that taste. As for me, I'll have to skip it and save room for something else.
SchoStars: 4****

Chikalicious:
Here we have a dessert bar. It is highly rated on the zagat rating scale (which remember we have no longer been using as our particular rating system). Our friends in town, the Bowers, NEEDED to eat there due to the overwhelming high ratings online. Let's be honest, you don't need a lot to convince me to go to a DESSERT BAR, where they only serve dessert! So, along we went and had quite the experience. It was a 3 course dessert which Lyle and I shared. Per course you get about 4 bites overall, which means you could eat the entire dessert meal within about 12 bites. Did we leave going hungry? Not exactly. Were we full? Nope, but it was a great experience. It was more of a fine dining, watch the chef make it all in front of you, you will probably never taste anything like this again unless you are in a FINE FINE restaurant type of experience. We are glad we did it, it wasn't too expensive, and will probably take visitors there if they are interested in such, but for now, we won't be back too soon.
SchoStars: 4****

Grimaldi's:It's just below the Brooklyn Bridge by the water.Even though we had to wait 1.5 hours in the sun (oh and a girl actually fainted in front of us in line because she was dehydrated), this pizza was to die for (literally). Not too expensive and not too oily and fatty, this high quality pizza is worth the wait and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Just don't go between 4pm-6pm because they turn off their oven to "freshen" it. Besides that, order the plain pizza and you are good to go! We cannot wait for more people to come into town so that we can walk the bridge with them and get the best pizza in town!

SchoStars: 5*****

The beautiful walk back to our side of the river...

Our happy faces after trying the best pizza ever.

John's Pizza:
I hate to have to write about this pizza joint after Grimaldi's, but it is a great runner up to eat at if you are in Time Square and if you don't have time to wait in the long line. Because the place is so large, there isn't a long wait and the pizza is the best you can find in Manhattan (not including brooklyn). Lyle enjoyed some while I was in Dallas and he couldn't stop talking about it (that is until we hit Grimaldi's). Anyway, we will DEFINITELY be back when we want a quick eat in Time Square.
SchoStars: 5*****

Burger Joint:
Blink and you'll miss it. Burger Joint is, get this, in the Meridian Hotel. You would NOT have guessed there was such a dive in this fine looking hotel. Zagat gave it a good rating, and we were already in the area, so off we went. We waited in line for about 30 minutes, and BARELY found a seat in the TINY place, but they were quality meaty cheeseburgers. We probably won't be back because we try to limit the number of hamburgers to only places we LOVE, but we were definitely satisfied with this place.
SchoStars: 3***

BBQ Fest
Madison Square Park (our local park down the road) holds its annual Snapple BBQ fest each year where not only vendors from the City showcase their best dishes, but also award winning restaurants travel from Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi, etc. to show the big city what REALL bbq tastes like. We were lucky enough to hear that it was happening, and spent too much money on some REALLY good food. Next year we'll get a fast pass (no more waiting in NYC lines). Our local favorite was from Dinosaur BBQ in harlem. This place has been on our list for quite some time and after the mouth watering pulled pork sandwhich, we will DEFINITELY be back for more this summer.
SchoStars: 5*****

The meat BEFORE...

the meat AFTER...Madison Square Parknot the "D-List", but the "E-List" celebrity

Click here for our reviews on Caracas Arepas Bar and Max Brenner's, and here for Carmine's (thank you HONG FAMILY!!!) which we also enjoyed again recently.