Peanut Butter and Co

Peanut Butter and Co is a restaurant-like cafe that serves peanut butter everything. They have plain peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to peanut butter milkshakes. I was interested in going because I love peanut butter and I heard they have the Elvis,a toasted sandwich with peanut butter, banana and honey with bacon! Which is what I ordered. As well as a peanut butter milkshake and a brownie. I shared the sandwich with a friend from work. When it was ready it looked and smelled amazing. The peanut butter was warm and leaking out of the sandwich. The first bite was great, although I didn't get the bacon yet. It was sweet and warm and super sticky! Once the bacon came in it made the sandwich extra special. It was so sticky, and the peanut butter milkshake did not help the stickiness, but it was all very satisfying. The milkshake didn't have an overwhelming peanut butter flavor to it. My other friend chose a chocolate, peanut butter, banana milkshake, he said that the banana was overpowering the peanut butter, but it was still good. The brownie was incredibly sticky and extremely hard to eat. I split it with Neil and it was too rich and intense for us to even finish our halves. The flavor was good. it did not taste like peanut butter at all, it was very chocolaty though.

I thought that the prices were pretty decent, 7.50 plus a dollar for the bacon. It came with chips and a pickle. The milkshake was $4.20 plus fifty cents for the peanut butter, and the brownie was 2.50.
The menu also has a lot of things that did not have peanut butter in it like chicken salad sandwiches and tuna melts. They also sell they're companies peanut butter, and all the 10 different versions of it, including "The Heat is On" spicy peanut butter. The store sells these peanut butters, recipe books, a box mixes, but they can also be bought online.


I give this place a 7 out of 10. The service was okay, the place was small but cute, and the food was good.

Laboratorio del Gelato

 I was told by another intern of this gelato bar in the lower east side that had many different flavors of gelato. I figured it would be the usual chocolate, vanilla, nutella. She started listing them off and it turned out that they had really fun, different flavors like olive oil, basil, and a lot more. That night I checked out their website and saw the list of flavors.  I decided to check it out one day after work. I was really excited to try a flavor that I had never had; I was thinking possibly the olive oil and basil.
http://www.laboratoriodelgelato.com/flavors.php
I came up to the building, after calling Neil a few times for directions, and realized it was no longer there, and had moved to a new locations. Again, I had to continuously call Neil to get the new directions. It wasn't a very pretty walk either, very dirty area. I finally got there and it was open. When my friend told me about it she said that she had to wait in line for 20 minutes. When I got there, there was only one person waiting, and he had left, leaving me to be the only person! It was great. I was disappointed  to find that they didn't have all of the flavors that the website showed, which makes sense because there were so many, but they didn't have the olive oil! It took me about 8 minutes to decide, I chose Guinness and cheddar cheese. Two different flavors, I thought they'd be fun together, beer and cheese! It was $3.25 for a small, with two scoops. It was bigger than the once in the Chelsea Market, and cheaper. Again the service was obnoxious, she acted like she had a better place to be, which I'm sure she did, but come on!

The Guinness had a nice flavor, it was sweet, but had a rich beer flavor to it, but the fact that it was sweet kept it from being too intense. It reminded me of how coffee is usually pretty bitter and intense, but when you have coffee ice cream, its smooth and easy to eat. It was a very similar situation. The other gelato was the cheddar cheese. I was nervous for this one, but excited at the same time. I did not know what to expect. I should have tasted it before the Guinness, the Guinness was slightly sweeter than the cheddar cheese, so once I had taken the bite of the cheddar cheese it tasted even less sweet, and a little more sour. I took a second bite, and it was a lot better. It was sweet, and it was cheddar! It had a sort of surprising flavor, but a very strong, cheesy, daily flavor to it. The texture was a little more solid than the Guinness gelato, I thought about it for a minute and realized that cheese is hard when cold, so the fat content was making it more solid. It did not leave a fatty, slimy mouth feel, it melted just like ice cream. I was satisfied with the gelato they also sell they're flavors by the pint! I would go back, 8.5 out of 10, bad service and they advertise the wrong address!
The building itself was very interesting because it was all windows, and you could see everything going on inside, like a laboratory. The wore lab coats, and they were testing and mixing things. The glass also had writing on it describing what each station was doing.

Momofuku Milk Bar

The Momofuku is a Japanese restaurant group that has other outlets like Momofuku Noodle Bar, Ssam Bar, Milk Bar and more. Momofuku means lucky peach. The Milk Bar, the bakery, was the one that I visited. It offers cakes, cookies, ice cream, pies and more, including some savory foods. Their style is kind of rustic, yet sophisticated. They deal with comfort foods, but present them in a new, or different way, and making the food taste good is important to them. The ice creams they serve are flavors like cereal milk, candy bar pie, and grasshopper pie. Their ice cream flavors derive from some of there pies, like the candy bar pie, grasshopper pie, and the crack pie. Their cookies are not the type of cookie you would find in a normal bakery, they have the compost cookies, the corn cookie, and the cornflake-marshmallow chocolate chip cookies. I am really interested in their cakes, and I would not mind having there cake as my wedding cake one day. It is a cake, without the buttercream on the outside, you can see every layer of the cake from the outside.

This is one of their wedding cakes, it is a pretzel cake with a beer ganache. Sounds awwwwesome! It's also very unique, but still pretty to look at. They also make cake truffles, which are basically cake balls.

 When I visited the milk bar I knew right away what I wanted to have, I knew I'd need an ice cream, a piece of the grasshopper pie, and the compost cookie. I chose the candy bar pie ice cream, it has the flavors of the candy bar pie, peanut butter nougat, pretzels and chocolate crust.  The ice cream was extremely rich, and very sweet, my friend Alisa, from Japan, isn't as accustom to sweet food like Americas, so to her it was extremely sweet. I wasn't able to finish it, because it was so rich, but it was really good. I could taste the different flavors in every bite, and the textures made it fun. It was smooth and creamy, but also crispy and crunchy from the Graham cracker crumbs on the outside, as well as the chocolate crust pieces on the inside. The compost cookie has a ton of ingredients listed on the package, but the main ingredients are pretzels, potato chips, coffee, oats, butterscotch, chocolate chips. It sounds like it could be disgusting, but they probably wouldn't sell it if it was. I love it, it also had varying textures from the coffee to the potato chips. The combination of flavors worked so well together and it was worth the price. Now for the pie; I love the original grasshopper pie, so I was really excited to see that they had it on their menu. Their version is slightly different from the original version. It is more of a chocolate mint cheesecake with the marshmallows on top rather than mixed inside. The pie was also extremely rich; I split it with Neil, but probably could have eaten it all alone, since it was a pretty small piece. The cookie cost 1.85, the ice cream was 4.50 and the pie was 5.25.  The prices were pretty good for the quality of the food. I was upset about the price of the ice cream, but once I realized I would not be able to finish it I realized it was worth it, a little goes a long way. I forgot to mention how awful the service was. A woman asked a question, which pie was better, and they looked at her like she was a moron for asking them that question, their answer was that they were both good. When my friend ordered they acted as if she was interrupting their conversation. When I ordered they gave me a piece of the pie and said it was my friends, although she had already gotten one, they did not notice that they served her already, even though they only had 3 customers when this happened. I gave it back, but I should have kept it! 7.5 out of 10, service was bad, and prices were decent, and food was pretty good, just a little too sweet and rich.

Bobby's Burger Palace

This was another New Jersey restaurant that I HAD to go to because it is one of Bobby Flays restaurants, and it was featured on Food Networks The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Burgers. Claire Robinson, host of 5 Ingredient Fix was on the show, and her favorite burger was the Buffalo Style Burger from BBP, Crunchified! To crunchify a burger at BBP means to fill it with chips. BBP is a casual dining restaurant that is all about burgers, there are different types of creative burgers as well as simple ones. They also serve grilled cheeses, salads, onion rings, sweet potato fries, regular fries and milkshakes! The most most you'll pay for a burger is 7.50, a side of fries is 2.50. The prices were very reasonable, especially when you think of who owns the place. The milkshakes, vanilla bean, chocolate, pistachio, blueberry, strawberry, mango, coconut, cola, coffee, were 5.00 each. I found that to be a little expensive, but I decided to have one anyways.

To get to BBP, Neil and I had to ride the bus to the Bergen town center, which is probably a 10 min drive, but was a 25 min bus ride. Totally worth it. The decor and atmosphere in the restaurant was great, lots of red, orange yellow colors and a fun modern look to it with bar-like tables that squiggle through the restaurant. The way it works is when you walk in, you walk straight into the line, order at the counter and find your seat. After that the waiters bring your food and milkshakes to you. The staff is very friendly, we had 3 different people ask us if we needed anything, and how everything was. I decided to order the buffalo burger, because it sounded so good when I saw it on Food Network. The burger contains the beef patty that is topped with blue cheese, red hot sauce and watercress. Obviously I got it crunchified! So it was topped with chips. I also ordered a side of fries and a vanilla bean milkshake. I know, vanilla, so boring, but the fact that it was vanilla bean instead of straight up vanilla extract made it so much more special to me. I would have loved to try pistachio too, but I was not going to pay $10 for two shakes. Neil and I are saucy people, and apparently so is Bobby Flay, at the table there are bottles of different sauces, like a chipotle sauce, jalapeno relish, and a few more. The french fries also come with a barbecue sauce, so we were set with sauces. The burger came out looking great. It was a super messy, slightly soggy burger, which was expected because of the hot sauce. It was juicy, and very flavorful, fun to eat. I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture when they set it in front of me, so I took one after I dug in. The milkshake was delicious, a bit icy, but the flavor of the vanilla bean was very rich and comforting! It all went so well together, and only cost me 16 dollars! I was very happy with this experience and would love to take people back with me. 9 out of 10! 

I apologize for forgetting to take a picture of the fries, milkshake, and sauces. I was too excited to be there.

Cuban in Jersey!

Just thought I'd share a little bit of what we have in New Jersey. Up the road there is a cute little Cuban restaurant run by a very nice Cuban woman. I may not remember the names of the things we ate, but they were so darn tasty that I brought my parents to it. We started with these potato-like things, with a different name, that were cut and fried and served with a cilantro dipping sauce. We also had a empanada appetizer with another dipping sauce that was slightly sweet and spicy. I went with the fried chicken, white rice and black beans, and Carol-Ann chose a dish that she often had when we lived in Florida. It was a humongous steak with a green chili sauce on top, yellow rice and black beans. Her was about 20 dollars, but when you see the amount of food that comes on the plate, it's worth it, we could have share, which I did with my dad when I went back. Mine was 12 or so. The total was $40 dollars, and was enough to feed 3-4 people, plus she doesn't have a liquor license, so it's bring your own. She happened to have leftover and gave it to us for free. We had a really great time there and I will miss it when I'm gone. 10 out of 10! Wooohooo!

mix and match

 

After we visited Magnolias we decided to walk around the Rockefeller area and we came across a chocolate shop that was in the Rock. In the basement of the Rockefeller there is a sort of shopping mall, the chocolate shop was on the main level, so it probably sees a lot of business from employees within. This place was ridiculous. The chocolates were lovely, but the prices were extremely high. They had a chocolate bark with hazelnuts, pistachios and other nuts that was $80 dollars a pound. Nuts are expensive, but that is outrageously high for a pound of chocolate. The macaroons were around 2.50 each, which is pretty expensive, but very common around these parts. I was holding my camera up to take pictures and managed to sneak one before I got yelled at and told to not take any. Bitches. Again, bad service, and the macaroons I bought, chocolate and passion fruit were good, they looked very nice as well, but they weren't worth what the store thinks they are. I think it deserves a 5 out of 10, for there exclusiveness, rudeness and okayness of macaroons.

That same day we visited the M&M store... and I bought a pound of M&Ms for 13 bucks... but they were colors that I picked out! Off of the worlds largest wall of M&Ms!

The day before all of these lovely pictures, the same day that we went to the Chelsea Market we walked around Soho, visited Body World, and went to DASH... not worth it, we stopped at a sandwich shop, which had premade sandwiches, salads and pastas, and sandwiches made to order. I chose the prosciutto, mozzarella sandwich with tomatoes and arugula with a delicious and surprising sesame mayo, which was sweet and tangy. The bread was nice and moist and did not scratch my gums.  The soup I chose was a spicy chicken, I was expecting it to be creamy, and it wasn't. The soup was okay, a little disappointing. I believe Carol-Ann had the BLT, she said it wasn't special, just a normal BLT. The service was great, I believe the guy was from Australia. They make their breads on site, and they have a pretty patio. The prices weren't bad if you consider we were eating in Soho, Carol-Anns was 5.25 and mine was 5.95, we eat got a half, but if you look in the picture a half was pretty large. I really like this place, I give it an 8 out of 10, services was good, as well as the food and the atmosphere.

We saw a couple of rats in the subway! This one was HUGE!










Traffic at 6:30ish. Honking is illegal in NY, you wouldn't know...

Chelsea Market

The Chelsea Market is an awesome shopping center located it Chelsea, or the Meat Packing District, or on the border... not quite sure. It has shops that sell clothes, to seafood to wine. During my trip to the Chelsea Market with Carol-Ann we stopped at a couple of cupcake shops, Eleni's and  Ruthy's Bakery, we also stopped at the gelato shop, L'arte del Gelato. The market is a very cute indoor market, with a waterfall and brick walls; It is almost like walking outside, but it is all indoors. Food Network films Iron Chef America and Emeril Live upstairs!

Eleni's is a very fun cupcake/ cookie shop that sells great cupcakes and glamorous cookies, like wedding cookies, N.Y. cookies, etc. They are sugar cookies, that are decorated with royal icing in a very detailed and fun ways. They cater to different events and they also let you create your own cookie designs. They have very simple flavors like chocolate, vanilla, and some more fun flavors like red velvet, and Oreo madness. This place is more about the look of the cupcake rather than the flavors of the cupcakes. When you walk in you see the cupcakes on display,  with 2-3 inches of colorful icing.

Carol-Ann and I decided to take a red velvet cookie and an Oreo madness. They were both very good, and I believe they were homemade, if not it was a very good box mix. I was disappointed that the red velvet didn't have cream cheese icing, but the way the shop was ran, they didn't have any cupcakes refrigerated, so it made sense that they used buttercream instead. I think it was an Italian or Swiss buttercream, I was there a couple of weeks ago and I can't even remember which icing it was! But I liked it, so I don't think it was American buttercream. The Oreo cupcake was sweet, but satisfying. It had mini marshmallows around the top that were slightly toasted. The red velvet was so scrumptious I could have eaten another one. 7.5 out of 10, it was a nice place to visit, the food was good, but the service wasn't great, and it was sort of messy and confusing at the counter, almost rushed.

 The other bakery we visited was Ruthy's Bakery. They had a lot of cookies and cupcakes as well. I was really in the mood for a macaroon, but the ones they had at the time were all the same flavor and different 

 colors, which didn't make sense to me and made me mad. So we decided to get a pistachio canoli. It was good and it had a nice pistachio flavor to it. I don't thin I would go back there, but it was still cute. They also specialize in character cupcakes, like sponge-bob and Elmo! They were adorable, and definitely got children's attention.6 out of 10 the themed cupcakes were really cute, the shop was a little messy and cluttered.

My favorite place in the Chelsea  Market was the gelato store. The had classic gelato flavors like chocolate, mocha and almond. We tasted a couple of different flavors and went with the nutella and banana. It cost $4.25 for a small, with two flavors, super expensive, but delicious. The flavors were very intense, the banana tasted like an actual banana, it went really well with the nutella.  I would say that L'arte del Gelato gets a 8.5 out of 9 because it was delicious, and they had great traditional gelato flavors like almond, coffee, caramel, and fruity ones like passion fruit and apple. It was just very expensive for such a small amount of gelato, and the service wasn't great. I've come to find that New York service people hate they're lives...
After we finished the gelato we went back out, into the pouring rain... what a lovely day for Carol-Ann to visit.