My New Book—Ice Cream: A Global History

Wall Street: Winter Market Debuts

Want to purchase regional, sustainable food at a new downtown market? Then come to Winter Market on Dec. 16, presented by New Amsterdam Public. The group is trying to secure the old Fulton Fish Market and turn it into a farmer’s market.
What: Winter MarketA seasonable celebration of regional and sustainable food [...]

Upper West Side: Fatty Crab Opening Uptown as UWS Gets a Dose of Hipness

Is the Upper West Side becoming a Mecca for hip eateries? Long derided as a culinary wasteland–some of my friends insist I live in the “suburbs”–the family-centric ‘hood is now snagging imports from more stylish areas of the city.
First, the East Village eatery, the Mermaid Inn, opened an outpost at 568 Amsterdam Ave.
Now, according [...]

Soho Restaurant: Aurora

At Aurora, eating well is easy. The place, which originated in Williamsburg, creates highly satisfying Italian dishes.
For starters, we shared the olive oil poached octopus with potato confit; the octopus was tender and the potatoes created a nice contrast to the slightly chewy seafood.
Since I can’t eat butter, I asked the waitress to substitute [...]

Penn Station Area: New Yorker Hotel

For those interested in a dose of history, along with their lodgings, check out my story in yesterday’s New York Times on the New Yorker Hotel.
There are some great photos of the New Yorker during its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s. The pictures, along with other memorabilia, were collected by the hotel’s chief [...]

Midtown Restaurant: Anthos Celebrates the Cheese and Wine of Cyprus

The talented chef, Michael Psilakis of Anthos, put on quite a display at a lunch for food writers last week. The occasion was a meal devoted to the many uses of halloumi cheese from Cyprus. And who better to explore the foods of Cyprus than this innovative chef who has elevated Greek cooking [...]