My New Book—Ice Cream: A Global History

Upper West Side: Gluten-Free Store, G-Free NYC, to Open April 20

Celiacs and gluten-intolerant folks rejoice! G-Free NYC, a shop selling gluten free products, will open April 20, according to the company’s web site and reports by DNA Info and My Upperwest. The shop will be located on 85th Street between Columbus and Central Park West. Featured will be products ranging from pasta and chips to frozen [...]

Upper West Side: Recipe Has Best Lunch Deal in Town

If you’re looking for a cheap and scrumptious lunch, treat yourself to the two-course special at Recipe on Amsterdam Ave. and 82nd Street. For $ 11.95 a friend and I had fried pumpkin gnocchi with shredded chicken, turnips, and brussel sprouts, then red snapper resting on a bed of creamy polenta studded with calamari, mussles [...]

Upper West Side Restaurants: Falafel, Druze Restaurants Turn Neighborhood Into a Middle Eastern Mecca

If you want falafel or maybe something more exotic from the Middle East, the Upper West Side is sprouting an array of joints to help you sample cuisines from around the region. Soom Soom, which opened recently on 72nd Street just east of Broadway is a falafel lovers delight. The golden orbs are perfectly fried, [...]

Upper West Side: Truffle Store Comes to the Neighborhood

Truffles?  What ever happened to lox as the delicacy of choice on the Upper West Side? The neighborhood is going ever more upscale with the opening of Urbani Truffles on West End Avenue at 60th Street. The shop is slated to open sometime in September, says  Vittorio Giordano, Urbani’s VP. Truffles, of course, come from [...]

Upper West Side: Cupcake Cafe Crumbs Moves into Shiny New Digs on Amsterdam Ave.

Not able to resist an apparently unstoppable trend, New Yorker’s continue to wolf down cupcakes. In fact,the Upper West Side branch of Crumbs has moved into shiny new digs.  And the chain is expanding nationwide. In a recent story, the Wall Street Journal, wrote about New Yorkers’ obsession with the little frosted cakes.  Personally, I [...]