The Weekend Dish

This is The Weekend Dish, a weekly Friday post that provides you with weekend meal suggestions. Share your weekend picks with us.

Friday Dinner: Insalata di carciofi (thinly sliced artichoke salad with parmesan) and spaghetti saltati alla bolognese (spaghetti in a veal ragu) at Sant Ambroeus (1000 Madison Ave between 77th and 78th, West 4th at Perry St.).


Saturday Lunch: Fugazza (grilled organic shredded onion and olive oil pizza) and a fresco shake at Gusto Organics (519 6th Ave between 13th and 14th St.).


Saturday Dinner: Truffled carpaccio (filet mignon, mizuna salad, and truffle oil) and driver sea scallops over lemon, pepper, arugula risotto at Alexandra (455 Hudson St. between Barrow and Morton St.).


Sunday Brunch: Duck hash with eggs anyway you like it at Cafe Luxenbourg (200 West 70th St. between Amsterdam and West End Ave.).


Sunday Dinner: Pancetta, onions, and olive pizza from Lombardi's (Delivery Soho, Tribeca, and parts of the West Village)

Good News for Tribeca

Some exciting news has surface today; one of our favorite dinner spots in the city is growing. Congratulations to the whole crew at Upstairs at Bouley Bakery on the news that they will be taking over all three floors of the building. We also would like to thank them for keeping such a popular place accessible to everyone with their no reservations policy.

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/the-feed-blog/restaurants-bars/?p=2642

The Weekend Dish

This is The Weekend Dish, a weekly Friday post that provides you with weekend meal suggestions. Share your weekend picks with us.

Friday Dinner: Arugula, fennel, beet salad and roast chicken with lemon, garlic, and thyme at Village (62 West 9th St. between 5th and 6th Ave.).

Saturday Lunch: Meat empanadas at Sweet Heart Coffee (69 8th Ave. between 13th St. and Greenwich Ave.).

Saturday Dinner: Sauteed brussels spouts with toasted almonds and gilled cheese sandwich with gran queso, brie, truffled honey, proscuitto and rose olive tapenade at Smiths (79 MacDougal St. between Bleecker and Houston St.).

Sunday Brunch: Walnut sticky bun and grass-fed beef brisket hash, yukon potato, poached egg and mustard vinaigrette at Cookshop (156 10th Ave at 20th St.).

Sunday Dinner: Spicy chicken soong and crispy shredded beef at Shun Lee Palace (Delivery anywhere in the City)

Fans of Bellybusters

Looks like Bellybusters is on peoples mind. Check out one of our fans and her cute outfit of the day at Lucky Magazines website.

http://www.luckymag.com/style/cutegirl/cutegirl_20080317

Your Time is Precious

Your Time is Precious is where we feature popular restaurants with no reservation policies and decide if they're worth the wait.... or not. Please email us your suggestions!

Not Worth The Wait
Magnolia Bakery (Cupcakes)
Bread
Cinema Cafe
Corner Bistro

Worth The Wait
Magnolia Bakery (Banana Pudding)
Landmarc
'inoteca
Supper

The Weekend Dish

This is The Weekend Dish, a weekly Friday post that provides you with weekend meal suggestions. Share your weekend picks with us. This week we are featuring suggestions from our fans!

Friday Dinner: Escarole salad and linguini with mussels at Lupa (170 Thompson St. between Houston and Bleecker St.)

Saturday Lunch: Duck pad Thai at Rohm (27 E. 20th St. between Broadway and Park Ave.)

Saturday Dinner: Ostras (four oyster shooters mojito, caiprinha, sangria, and margarita) and cordero (braised lamb shank, barbacoa style) at Calle Ocho (446 Columbus Ave. between 81st and 82nd St.)

Sunday Brunch: Soft boiled eggs, bacon, and a bloody mary at Gemma (335 Bowery at 3rd St.)

Sunday Dinner: Papa rellena (lightly breaded mashed potato with a picadillo filling) and beef picadillo at Cafecito (Delivery East Village and Lower East Side)

Top Chef - Live Blackberry Messenger Convo

Check out our live 3 way Blackberry Messenger Conversation during Top Chef last night.

Fish: Hey buddy you watching top chef
Daniel: Yup
Fish: So political with the lesbian couple
Fish: Its almost real worldish
Daniel: Le cirque dude is my guy
Fish: Which one
Fish: The australian has a very impressive career
Fish: Cooked with ferran adria
awill: I'm watching
awill: Can't keep them straight just yet
awill: That one guy is hilarious though
awill: That atlanta chick needs to calm down
Fish: The guy who curses?
awill: Yeah
awill: "Casa motherfucker!"
Daniel: Dude is a badass
Daniel: Chick from 24 prince is a disaster
Fish: Hate her
Fish: The girl and her pizza heirloom tomatoes with burrata was awesome looking
awill: Are they competing against one another right now?
Fish: Battle
Daniel: Yeah
Daniel: I like it
awill: What a bitch pulling out the mayo like that
Daniel: Haha right
Fish: Mono y. Mono
Daniel: I'm digging it
awill: My predictions are right!!
awill: I'm a soothsayer!!!
awill: Did you see tony b?
Fish: I'm catching up hold on
Fish: I'm behind on DVR stop telling me
Fish: Smoker thing is wild
Daniel: Padma is looking good this season
Daniel: I'd smash her
Fish: looks fine
awill: I can't lie. Tommy C turns me on sometimes
Fish: I still haven't seen bourdain yet
Daniel: Jesus!!
Fish: Hahahaha
awill: Haaa
Daniel Rubin: Hahaha
awill: His big powerful hands...
Fish: Ahhhhhh i can't believe it came true
Daniel: Australian brings it
Daniel: But just botched it
Daniel: Andrew is a loose cannon
Fish: And bourdains old digs got slammed today by GQ blogger
Daniel: Wow 24 prince stays alive
Daniel: Atlanta chick is awful
Fish: our favorite(badass) fucked up
Daniel: She will get booted for sure
Fish: If Rocco says the pasta is good, his word goes a long way
Fish: Sweet shrimp & lobster oooooh
awill: Dale = hung from last season
Daniel: Yup
Fish: Agreed
Fish: Creamed bok choy looks awesome
Daniel: I like Erik
Daniel: Hate atlanta chick. Hope she's bounced
Fish: I love that tony graduated from our high school
Daniel: Which one is Tony
Daniel: And how do you know
Fish: Tony bourdain
Daniel: Oh
Daniel: Kitchen confidential
Fish: yup and no reservations
Fish: Duck ala orange my vote
Daniel: Nah they had it right
Daniel: Nevermind
Daniel: Love the scampi
Fish: Wow I guessed it right
Fish: 1 for 1 baby
Fish: Bourdain was really easy on eric
Fish: Cauliflower sucks assFish: Rocco and his cheesy comments (no pun intended)

Edge of your Seat Television

The fourth season of the much-anticipated Bravo series, Top Chef, begins tonight @ 10. Being the proud New Yorkers we most certainly are, we're especially excited to see the heavy dose of NY chefs being featured and hopefully winning - this time around. Although if the chef from the restaurant 24 Prince is any indication of the caliber of these Big Apple cooks, we unfortunately see the chances of victory as slim to none.
Nevertheless, the consistently entertaining, on-the-edge-of-my-seat-even-though-it¹s-only-food, program promises to be just that: set in Chicago, the first conquest is the iconic deep-dish pizza.
Any thoughts of who will be the first surprise guest alongside Tommy and Padma? Personally, we would definitely not be upset to see another round of Anthony Bordain duke it out against a new, timid contestant.

Choice Eats

Tonight we attended "Choice Eats", an event hosted by the Village Voice, featuring restaurants handpicked by Robert Sietsema of Counter Culture fame. The event was located at the historic Puck Building in Manhattan and included more than 30 restaurants from all boroughs except Staten Island, which didn’t really shock us. Going in, we were not sure whether it would be a clusterfuck or an enlightening, fun experience. Turns out it fell somewhere in between. Below we have listed the night’s winners and losers (in our humble opinion):

"Choice Eats" Winners
Fatty Crab (643 Hudson St.) - Zak Pelaccio's most acclaimed restaurant was handing out short ribs that had the whole building buzzing. So much so, they were the first restaurant to sell out.

Kampuchea (78 Rivington St.) - This LES noodle bar boasted premium pork ribs. While the line was wrapping around the building, we were lucky enough to bypass it telling them we were from the highly regarded blog: Bellybusters.

Pacificana (813 55th St., Brooklyn) - Hailing from BK, this spot brought a Schezuan Chicken that tasted like a combination of sesame chicken and general tso's -- a combo we believe cannot be denied some praise.

Schnitzel House (7319 5th Ave, Brooklyn) - Beef goulash so good it will make anyone a fan of "Ze Germans."

"Choice Eats" Losers
Xuntas Tapas Bar (174 1st Ave.) - With a shot to differentiate itself from the influx of tapas restaurant in this city, they served a boring grilled chorizo. Pretty lame, they certainly did NOT bring their A-game with an outing like this.

Vanessa's Dumpling Bar (118A Eldridge St.) - Both the pork and vegetable dumplings were so bad we couldn't bear to finish them....and we LOVE dumplings

Maremma (228 W. 10th St) - Being one of the few restaurants we had previously been to, we couldn’t have been more disappointed. The thinly sliced ham with beans and olives was almost inedible. There is no excuse for this since we recently dined at Maremma and enjoyed a pretty good meal. Its mind-boggling that they couldn't pull it together for an event like this.

Fette Sau (354 Metropolitan Ave., Brooklyn) - We could not have been more excited to see what this spot cooked up tonight. We've been waiting to try this place forever after hearing great things from anyone who has ever been. Looks like we will have to wait a big longer: Fette Sau was the only no-show of the event. That, or we took one too many jager shots from the incredibly tempting FREE jager stand and stumbled right past it!

The Weekend Dish goes healthy

This is The Weekend Dish, a weekly Friday post that provides you with weekend meal suggestions. Share your weekend picks with us. This week we are featuring healthy alternatives written by our Diet Diva Awill.

Friday Dinner: Creamy cauliflower samosas with banana tamarind sauce and crimini mushroom hazelnut crostinis at Pure Food & Wine (54 irving Pl. between 17th and 18th St.).

Saturday Lunch: Country style salad (mixed greens, grape tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, pea shoot and chick-peas) with grilled chicken and their house vingaigrette (on the side of course!) with a skim cappuccino at Grey Dog Coffee (90 University Pl. between 11th and 12th St. or 33 Carmine St. between Bleecker and Bedford St.).

Saturday Dinner: Arugula salad with parmesan and whatever grilled fish is featured on the daily specials at Bar Pitti (268 6th Ave. between Houston and Bleecker St.).

Sunday Brunch: Pumpkin salad (roast pumpkin, baby spinach, goat cheese, pine nuts, and caramlized balsamic dressing) topped with chicken and a strawberry banana smoothie at Ruby's (219 Mulberry St. between Prince and Spring St.).

Sunday Dinner: Polipetti e sedano (grilled octopus with celery and black olives) and salmone alla Trevisana (grilled salmon with radicchio and balsalmic) with a side of spinach from Morandi (Delivery West Village and Chelsea).

Fresh Info on Morton's Steakhouse in Brooklyn

According to the January 25th issue of Dealmakers, a retail real estate trade rag, the Morton's Steakhouse set to open this year on Adams St. in Brooklyn is going to boast private boardrooms with the ability to hold 100 people. In addition, Morton's is providing us with an after-work-bar concept named Bar 12*21 featuring specialty cocktails and a “Bar Bites” menu.

We're are particularly looking foward to the cast of characters that makes Bar 12*21 their happy hour destination, perhaps tourists in t-shirts?

Casual Rustic Dining

Barbuto, an airy Italian restaurant bustling within sprawling garage-style doors, looks onto a charming stretch of Washington Street in the Far West Village. With its industrial yet inviting décor, Barbuto’s open kitchen sports a wood burning brick oven that consistently turns out crispy roast chicken, reputably known throughout the city for its perfection. A relatively small menu at Jonathan Waxman’s restaurant evolves with the changing of each season, depending on what food is the freshest, yet always focusing on rustic Italian cuisine. Each dish is carefully crafted using a few ingredients that produce simple yet colorful and tasty creations. For example, he turns three simple ingredients; bread, squash, and pecorino cheese into a crunchy, silky, and savory plate of roasted butternut squash puree with melted pecorino on toast. If you are in the mood for a pasta dish the crispy gnocchi with an in-season vegetable and accompanying cheese (currently on the menu: parsnips and parmesan) is a great dish to warm yourself up on a cold winter evening. Barbuto features a chef table located in the kitchen where a group of 14 people can dine on a three or four-course pre fix dinner ($60.00 per person before tips and selections from the bar or wine list) while watching the chefs in action. Overall, this delicious spot is a welcoming respite from traditional Italian eateries, and we’re anxiously waiting for Spring to see what beautiful culinary concoctions Mr. Waxman will whip up next.

Barbuto (775 Washington St. at W. 12th St.)