Keki - NYC

What dessert is New York known for?  Cheesecake, of course!

In comes Keki, which brings Japanese style bouncy cheesecakes into forefront. 

Giant window, you can see from the street what they were baking.  You walk in, there's a wonderful smell of cakes too.  Mmmm...

They are known for the Bouncy Cheesecake, their version of Castella is more Taiwanese based than Japanese based, they remind me of the steamed paper wrapped cakes during dim sum more than anything else.  And of course their Wow Tart.

For $13.75, it comes in this cute little to go box.  The places is really not equipped for you to sit down and enjoy your cake. 

In order to avoid the scene from Friends where all of them were sitting on the floor scooping up the cheesecake, we walked down to Hearld Square, there's a little park and some seating to enjoy our cake.

The is what it looks like, which does look alot like a regular cheesecake.

Then, you see the thickness, and the beautiful yellow, which by the way, it's from the organic free-ranged eggs plus the Amish Cream Cheese from Philly.  But we were told the secret ingredient is the mousse inside to help make it jiggly.  From reading the copy cat recipe, looks more like it's because of the meringue more than anything else. 

Since they don't sell too much stuff, it's not hard to make a decision.  Plus, these are pretty small, split between 4 people was just right.

Keki Modern Cake

Midtown

32nd Street & 5th

New York, NY 10016

212-889-0251

https://www.kekinyc.com/store/midtown/menu

Sightseeing bit: we went to the Oculus.  It is basically on top of the old subway station.

Architecturally speaking, this is absolutely stunning.  Just how the building catches the light just enough for your eyes to feast on.

It has 2 level of mall shopping and one more level for subway.  Talk about a replacement of the old station, the is is ninth and day difference.  Almost every person that walked into seeing the ceiling were dumbfounded, stunned, and impressed.  This is truly an amazing space.

Oculus
World Trade Center
50 Church Street
New York, NY 10006
https://www.westfield.com/westfieldworldtradecenter
https://www.panynj.gov/wtcprogress/transportation-hub.html

Russ & Daughters - NYC

We headed back to LES (Lower East Side) for breakfast.

I had such a great experience last time that totally did not mine revisiting Russ & Daughters.

Getting my drinks on... coffee, OJ, and water.

I ordered the Lower Sunny Side, it has (exactly as you see): smoked salmon, 2 eggs - sunny side up, and 2 potato latkes.  The latkes are super dense, and they really packed it all in.  I love the burnt sides, so crispy.   

Another thing we ordered and shared was the Chocolate Babka French Toast.  Honestly, my first exposure of Babka was from Seinfeld, but never had tasted one before.  So, I was very curious that it has chocolate AND it's French Toast.  Oh boy, there is a reason why they gave you one slice, it is very filling.  The white stuff is sour cream, and it is topped with strawberries and powdered sugar.  Super yummy, once the chocolate melted inside and you cut it with a bit of the strawberry, it was divine!

Since Russ & Daughters are pretty well known, they have their own documentary on Netflix, on top of it's various appearance in movies.  This is a popular place, not to mention the food is great.  So, bring patience and flexible.  If you can do it, eat at the counter, get you seated faster.

Russ & Daughters

LES

127 Orchard Street

New York, NY 10002

212-475-4880

http://www.russanddaughterscafe.com

Just adding a bit of sightseeing in these posts... This is the Seaglass.  I had saw this in a fashion blog, and thought it as neat.  I know I have friends that been there but if they're local, they don't tend to hype much about it.

Inside, these seashell fishes has these awesome colors on them.  To top it off, there are special lighting on top to make you really feel like you're underwater riding this carousel.  This is also an open carousel, where you just slide in and sit.  Thank goodness for seat belts, they do spin you.  Since you're not sitting in straddle style, you do get spun around and it move up and down on top of spinning you around.  The cost to ride this is $5, you can pretty much walk up and get on one.

Seaglass Carousel

Battery Park

Enter from 17 State Street

http://www.seaglasscarousel.nyc

Enoteca Maria - Staten Island

So our friend Julia found the Enoteca Maria...

... in Staten Island.

This is my first time riding the Ferry for a destination.  I've done the ferry to 'swing by' the Statue and turn back around.  I've done the ferry to go to work, but otherwise, never a place to eat or visit.

Since you have to past by the Statue of Liberty, it is kinda nice to see it in the Sunset light.

They serve you with these yummy Italian bread with onion, tomato and chives.  It's like little pillows when you bite into them.

This is Risotto con Gorgonzola by Nonna Christina from Bergamo, Milano.  

That's their schtick, as the saying goes, who cooks better than grandmas, so they have all the grandmas from across the world to cook the dinner.  Every day is different, even though they have a main Nonna D'Italia in the house.

I ended up asking for salmon for entree.  Don't think the dish is simple, the Nonna really packed in the flavors.  It is well seasoned, not dried, and delicious.

It comes with side of vegetables... well, it's a bit more than I'd imagined.  It's sweet potato with pesto sauce, and broccoli.  Yum!

Despite having so much food, we all decided to split the tiramisu, it's not too much alcohol or coffee, it's light and not heavy.  If all tiramisu are that way, I'll never put down the spoon.

Night view of the City.  

We had to take the Staten Island Ferry from downtown to Staten Island.  It runs every half hour and doesn't cost you anything to ride it.  It does get crazy around dinner time, because people want to go home to have dinner with their family.  

The Enoteca is just a short walk from the Ferry Terminal.  Though the place is tiny, they have 2 kitchens, one small one upstairs and a bigger one downstairs.  The upstairs one is for the featuring Nonna, the downstair one is the main Nonna's.  The staff are super friendly, totally expecting tourist crowds, though we've seen quite a few locals coming in.  They only accept cash, and you do need to make a reservation.  Don't make a trek out there for nothing, call ahead.

My tip: on the way there, the Statue of Liberty is on your right side, try to go to 2nd deck and sit out on the outside (weather permitting) you can get a pretty good shot of the harbor plus the Statue.  Coming back, Statue is on your left side so plan accordingly.  You can also go up to the 3rd deck, hurricane deck to get a good view, but don't be surprised if it gets filled up quickly.  Front of the deck is of course the best view, but you have to book it when you get on the Ferry.

Enoteca Maria

27 Hyatt Street

Staten Island, NY 10301

718-447-2777

http://www.enotecamaria.com/

O'Cabanon - NYC

Took a Momcation with couple of my mom-friends.

Just landed and it's past lunch time, grabbing a quick bite...

... nice aerial view of the NYC Metroplex.

This is the Tartare de Thon - fancy French way of saying Tuna Tartar.  It has tuna, avocado, in a soy sauce/wasabi mix, and sits on top of a bed of seaweed salad.

A personal size Quiche Lorraine with a side salad that has mango in it.  Very normal combo, perfect for one person. 

This is my favorite for this meal, Coucous Merguez, which has coucous in vegetable stew with lamb sausage.  They even set aside a bit of the chili sauce in case you needed to kick it up a notch.  Truth is, it is fine the way it is.  The sausage, if eaten by itself, is already a tad spicy.  But in case you're interested, it is Hot Harissa sauce.

This place is really a wine bar, they have alot of selection in terms of wine, food is a good accompaniment, but not focus.  That said, food was not bad, it is also very French in their way and coming from the middle of the country, you do get the international feel of the City.

O'Cabanon

245 W.29th Street

Btw 7th & 8th

New York, NY 10001

646-669-7879

http://www.ocabanon.com

After eating, what's to do in NYC but to take a stroll.  This is all new at the WTC area.

Faux Street art: since there's no wall around to contain this piece, it worked out on a banner though.

WTC 4 site

Nearest metro train (subway) stations are Cortland St., Fulton St. and Chambers Street

Honey Art Cafe

Needed an activity to do for a rainy afternoon and came to Honey Art Cafe.

Decided to grab some dessert and get some art in our system while we're at it.

I got a classic bubble tea.  I like that the tapioca is not stale and the tea is not too sweet.

Got the chocolate mousse cake.  It has cake as the base, the chocolate mousse is a bit harden, but it has a banana in the middle.  Ideally, it sounded good on paper, but it was harder than I imagined, like it's been thawed.  

So, we came to kill some time and do some painting.  For $14, you can rent their art supply for two.  It comes with this cute try of supplies that has: paint brushes, water color, pencils, eraser, sharpie, paper towel, and 4 watercolor quality cards, and a small thing of water.

A tip from a friend of mine who comes here with her kid too, is that you can also bring your own supplies, either to just use or to supplement.  That actually makes sense because they are very art-centric, so if you brought your own art to work on, is not uncommon or unusual.  On top of that, they offer different kinds of art or lettering classes.

Honey Art Cafe

3516 South Shepherd

Houston, TX 77098

832-582-0672

http://honeyartcafe.com

Mitsuwa

Ever since I found Mitsuwa on my last trip, I basically find any excuse to go.

While the grocery shopping part is not big, but they do try to squeeze in alot in there.

One of my favorite parts of the Japanese grocery store, is the prepared food section.  I was there for dinner.  Unbeknownst to me, they start to mark down prices after 6pm.  I just happened to walk up at 6pm.  I got the Unaju and fried calamari.  I didn't pay more than $6 for my dinner.

Now granted, I spent way more in grocery because they have stuff that aren't usually found in Houston, but! In terms of dinner, that's pretty good.

I really like the Mitsuwa, they have a bakery, confectionary, food court, bookstore on top of alot of deals that you don't usually get.  So, totally worth a trip.

Mitsuwa

100 Legacy Dr

Plano, TX 75023

972-517-1715

http://mitsuwa.com/tp/

Monkey King - Legacy Hall

Been hearing alot about the Legacy Hall in Plano.

Sounded very cool, had to check it out.

It's packed with people, but more than 21 foodie goodness, and at least 4 bars I saw.

I wanted some noodles, so went up to the 3rd floor for Monkey King.

Very simple menu, noodles, dumplings, sides and drinks.

Dumplings combo and Scallion Pancakes

What is a dumpling combo, you'd ask.  You pick 2 of the dumplings on the list and that is your combo.  I picked the Edamame & Tofu Dumpling (left ones) and Soup Dumpling (right ones).  It came with their respective sauces, and it is definitely filling.

The Scallion Pancakes is not the other kinds that I'm accustomed to, which is pan-fried.  This one is deep fried.  This was a bit dry and dipping in the sauce doesn't help either.  Sigh, I so wanted to love them, but it was just not cutting it for me.

I so wanted to try other stuff too.  Like the craft beer next door, the dessert downstairs, and the popsicles they have.  But alas, I can't fit them in.

Legacy Hall is pretty cool.  They have a Box Garden where you can sit out and watch bands, and if you couldn't find a seat, don't worry, there's more out on the balcony on 2nd floor.  They have food of any kind you want on a wimp.  They have lobster roll, pizza, taco, bao, donut, dessert...etc you name it.  Go check that out.

Monkey King Noodles

http://monkeykingnoodlecompany.com

Legacy Hall

7800 Winrose Ave

Plano, TX 75024

https://legacyfoodhall.com

Oporto

Went to Happy Hour with my mom-friends, and boy did we needed it.

I love that we have a big group, you get to order a bunch of stuff and try them all out.

Caprese Salad, pretty fresh and yummy.  Can't go wrong with this one.

Deviled eggs, not too over-empowering, as a matter of fact, it's pretty tamed.

Mushroom and Goat Cheese pizza

Salmon Crosstini - what you don't see is the goat cheese underneath.  Very delicious.

Spinach and artichoke crostini - this is a very good vegetarian option except it does have cheese in it.  

My friend recommended Batata Bravas - which translates to yummy potato cubes.  It has potato, tomato, and their piri piri sauce.

Crispy Chicken Wing

Eggplant and Feta Crosstini - not my favorite out of all the ones we picked, but not a bad choice.

Tomato and Pesto Pizza.  

The lovely thing about their Happy Hour is that all pizzas.  The rest of the appetizers aren't expensive either, most are $5 and some are $6.  Of course, they have drink specials too, most are also $6 a glass.    If you have a big party, do call ahead.  They were pretty accommodating for a large group.

Oporto

3833 Richmond Ave

Houston, Tx 77027

713-621-1114

http://www.oporto.us