It's all about the pie!

Yes, it tastes as good as it looks!

Place: Emeril Lagasse's Tchoup Chop

Location: 6300 Hollywood Way  
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 503-3340

Food: I have to admit that I'm writing this months after my visit (but 

you won't know that by the date posted—ah, technology!), and

 I don't remember everything that was consumed at Tchoup Chop. Perhaps I can blame it on the food coma. I had some Asian-inspired dishes, some chicken, some ah-mazing guava empanadas. It was all terrific, and I'm sure I'd be thrilled to eat every bit of it again and again. But the one thing that stands out to me is Emeril's signature sky-high banana cream pie. Yes, the slice is large enough for a small family, but I ate it all myself (with just a bite or two shared with my husband)! Let's start from the bottom up: the buttery graham cracker crust is beyond decadent. I could make a meal of just that 24/7. Next is a silky-smooth banana custard topped with a fluffy, lightly-toasted meringue and large curls of dark chocolate. Though it's skyscraper height, this pie melts in your mouth and disappears within seconds. Very little chewing is required!

Chicago-style pizza lives up to the hype!

Better bring your appetite!

Place: Giordano's Famous Stuffed Pizza

Location: 223 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 583-9585

Setting: Your average Italian-centric pizza parlor—nothing to write home about, but you come here for the food, not the atmosphere.

Food: When you sit down, the wait staff warns you that if you want the Chicago-style stuffed pizza that it's going to be a 45-minute wait. You're hungry, you're sad, you order a salad to hold you over. It's your everyday garden salad with iceburg lettuce and fresh veggies. BUT THEN, the guest of honor arrives at the party (and right on
time—the 45 minutes pass by surprisingly fast), and you suddenly hear the angels sing. The pizza the size of a sports car's tire, and as thick as one too, arrives in the arms of a server who surely works out just to be able to lift the pies here. The buttery, crunchy crust! The nuanced sauce filled with herbs! The melted cheese! The flavor-filled pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms and green peppers! This is a pizza you have to experience once in your life! I have to say as a New Yorker of nearly 15 years, and a lover of pizza, this isn't the type of thing I could eat every day (as opposed to some of New York's lighter versions), because it's just so heavy. But it's well-worth the calories as a special treat.

Tacos, tacos, tacos!

Place: Tacqueria Lower East Side
198 Orchard St  New York, NY 10002
(212) 677-3910

Occasion: Late-night eats

Setting: Super-casual and comfortable dive-bar setting with an 
homage to hair bands and all things LA. Bonus points for the decidedly 80s-obsessed movie selections always playing on the TV screens over the bar (everything from 
Say Anything to Weird Science).

Chorizo sopes…yum!

A bevy of tacos

Food: Tacqueria Lower East Side is a welcome addition to the Manhattan Mexican options that used to just be Tex-Mex disguised as Mexican food. This is the real deal. Simple, fresh,  delicious. The chorizo sopes are my favorite. The masa shells are tasty and firm, and don't get soggy, which is important to the sope connoisseur. The chorizo has spice that is perfectly paired with the cooling lettuce and oaxaca cheese. The bistec tacos are the perfect street food with tender meat, tasty salsa, a slice of radish, and a squeeze of lime. On weekends, you might be lucky enough to score a bowl of pozole, a hominy and pork-based soup that's worth the wait. This food is great at any hour, but especially yummy for late-night eats.

Red Pozole

Coming Soon: My Summer Culinary Adventure

From New York City's tacos, to Orlando's banana cream pie to Chicago's deep dish pizza, I've been eating my way across the US this summer. As soon as I can put down my fork long enough to pick up my laptop, I'll fill you in on every last bite.

Emeril Lagasse's signature banana cream pie at Tchoup Chop in Orlando, FL.

Giordano's famous stuffed crust pizza in Chicago, IL.

Tacos at Taqueria on the Lower East Side in Manhattan.

Luke's lobster rolls come to FiDi!

I no longer have to travel to the East Village, Upper East Side or the Upper West Side for the buttery goodness that is Luke's lobster rolls. Fresh and creamy lobster meat paired with a perfectly grilled roll is simply seafood perfection. Visit the 26 S. Williams St location!

Go for the ambiance, skip the food

Place: Turks & Frogs Tribeca

Location: 458 Greenwich St. near Desbrosses St.

The occasion: Searching for a good Turkish restaurant in the new hood

The setting: The former stonemason’s studio is given warmth and an eclectic personality with a smattering of French and Turkish antiques at every turn.

The food: Having massive Turkish food withdrawals thanks to the Upper East Side’s yummy Beyoglu, Ivan and I set out to find a replacement closer to our new Fidi apartment. We had hoped we had found it with a short, 10-minute walk to Tribeca’s Turks & Frogs, a cozy red-hued bar and restaurant that seats 60 and has over 80 varieties of wine. But sadly, the food didn’t live up to the décor.

While the crystal chandeliers, antique lamps and paintings were beautiful, the fylo rolls tasted more like a salt lick—I’ve never had such salty feta in all my life. And this is coming from a saltaholic! The chicken kabob was served over soggy croutons with two mushy grilled green peppers and two lackluster grilled tomatoes. With the lighting so dim, it was hard to tell whether I had bread or chicken on my fork. And more often than not, it was bread. The portion size was small and favoring carbs over protein.

I wouldn’t recommend eating here, but it is the perfect spot for a quiet night of drinks, where you can emerse yourself in good wine and conversation, while taking in the lovely sights of an era gone by. 

Riesling in a keg? Cheers to that!

Place: Terroir Tribeca

24 Harrison Street

(212) 625-9463

The occasion: Friday night drinks

Setting: It has the same cozy, exposed-brick feel as the namesake East Village wine bar, but with a lot more seats (three times more to be exact!) and an upscale vibe (to match the celeb-filled Tribeca neighborhood).

The drinks: Owner/head sommelier Paul Grieco describes Terroir as an “elitist bar for everyone,” and it truly fits that bill. They have over 250 varieties of wine at the Tribeca location, yet the sommeliers (not bartenders!) sport tattoos and piercings with their jeans and vintage tees rather than stuffy coats and ties. Apparently I’m a little late to the party, because I didn’t realize wines came in kegs, but I tried an amazing Riesling from the Finger Lakes there—which is more than enough reason to keep going back. Fun fact: Each keg of wine holds the equivalent of 25 bottles. I also had a Malbec from San Juan. I was a little baffled till the sommelier told me it was San Juan, Argentina, not San Juan, Puerto Rico (which I was thinking). For those of you who’d rather eat grapes than drink them, Ivan enjoyed the Speak Easy beer. There are plenty of bottled and draft options for you too—just no hard liquor.

The "Freaky Beef Balls" (real name, I swear!)

The lick your plate-worthy Veal and Ricotta Meatballs.

The food: The menu is a smorgasbord of small bites split into sections like: bar snacks, fried stuff, charcuterie, cheeses, paninis and salads. Ivan and I had already eaten, but Ivan had a meatball craving (as he often does!), so we tried the “Freaky Beef Balls” (insert joke here) and the Veal and Ricotta Meatballs. The former were too salty for us, the latter were moist, flavorful, and quickly inhaled! Make sure to use the bread served on the side to soak up every last drop of the marinara sauce. And when that’s gone, your finger will do. It really is that good!

Sneak Peek: Daniel Boulud

Chef Daniel Boulud and Épicerie Boulud Executive Chef Jonathan Kinsella.

The best meal of my life—hands down—has been at Daniel, the flagship New York City restaurant of celebrity chef Daniel Boulud. So when I was invited to a “hard hat” unveiling of his still-under-construction new eateries, I was thrilled. In fact, I skipped breakfast so I could enjoy every single morsel!

In May, Chef Boulud is adding to his culinary empire with not one—but two!—new Upper West Side locations, both just steps from his already popular Bar Boulud. The menu for Boulud Sud, a 120-seat Mediterranean grill, is influenced from the plethora of flavors from Greece, Turkey, Italy, Spain and North Africa. I had the pleasure of feasting on tapas-size tastes of some of his new dishes, and I feel it's my duty to ooh and ahh over them, because they are truly out of this world!

Octopus à la plancha: perfection on a plate!

The octopus á la plancha is by far my favorite. Perfection on a plate is the best way I can describe it. Precisely braised (with white wine, no less), it’s served with a marcona almond puree, arugula and orange salad with lemon-oregano vinaigrette and toasted marcona almonds. The lamb cleopatra is also flawlessly tender. Braised with a mix of Mediterranean staples—including cumin, cinnamon, allspice, coriander, fennel seed, nutmeg, ground ginger, star anise, clove, cayenne and cardamon—the dish is served with apricots, toasted almonds, baby carrots and spring onion. Other delicious entrees included veal tonnato with anchovy and capers (tasty, even for me, someone who doesn't love anchovy), orechiette pasta with braised goat and tangy chicken tagine.

Orechiette pasta with braised goat.

 Aaron Chambers, a dapper Brit trained in the French culinary tradition, is the Executive Chef. Jonathan Kinsella, former Executive Sous Chef at Bar Boulud, is Aaron’s counterpart at Épicerie Boulud, the new eat-in and take-out market of house-made charcuterie (by Gilles Verot), artisanal cheeses (by Saxelby Cheesemongers), and freshly-made soups, salads, sandwiches and pastries (by Executive Pastry Chef Ghaya F. Oliveira). All I could think was, How perfect for summer picnics! And at night, the raw oyster bar comes out. Eventually, it will amp up to late-night hours to match the schedule of nearby Lincoln Center. Now all we can do is sit back and wait for it to open! I’m already counting the days…

Locations: Boulud Sud, 20 West 64^th St (between Broadway and Central Park West); Épicerie, 1900 Broadway at 64^th St.

The Setting: Though still under construction, award-winning interior designer Thomas Schlesser says the look of Boulud Sud should transport you back to the Mediterranean in the 1950s with it’s light yellow color palate. And the barrel vaulted ceiling is both a nod to Bar Boulud next door and the architecture of the Lincoln Center.

What I learned from watching Top Chef Masters

Who knew hip-hop star Kelis (of “Milkshake” fame) is just as fierce in the kitchen as she is on stage? It turns out that she’s a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu! Some of her favorite dishes to make include: duck confit salad, coconut lobster soup, fried red snapper, ribeye, mango mousse en toile and chocolatey Grand Marnier bread pudding. Kelis even has a cookbook in the works. I can’t wait to check that out!

Haute comfort food with a side of whimsy

Place: David Burke Kitchen

Location: The James New York, 23 Grand Street (between Avenue of the Americas and Thompson Street), SoHo; 
(212) 201-9119.

The occasion: Eight-year dating anniversary

The setting: A casual French farmhouse feel with gingham napkins, warm wood plank ceilings and dim lighting.

The Ants on a Log. Delish!

The food: What better way to celebrate eight years together than to savor the scrumptiousness that is David Burke? Big fans of his Townhouse, Fishtail, and Bloomingdale’s restaurants, my husband and I couldn’t wait to try his Kitchen out-post in the luxe The James Hotel. Blending his signature haute cuisine with French country cooking and his flair for whimsy, Burke never fails to impress or delight. Carbophobes, beware! The rustic breads are not to be missed (try the walnut-olive and seven grain). For appetizers, I chose the melt-in-your-mouth duck meatball lasagna (which I am still dreaming of days later!), Ivan the hardy split-pea soup with poached egg, prosciutto and ham hock cracklings. And because we couldn’t resist, we threw in the Ants on a Log too! The bone marrow’s melty goodness was topped with a garlicky snail ragout, parsley puree with mushroom chips, fennel hay, fried parsley and lemon confit. 

The pork chop. Mmm!

The jalapeno fries!

The short rib cavatelli. Love!

For the main course, Ivan had the tender, pig-tastic pork chop topped with caramelized pork cheek, apple bacon marmalade and parsley onion rings and I had the moist-and-flavorful spare rib cavatelli, the perfect blend of savory meat and creamy pasta. At our waiter’s recommendation (not that we needed too much encouragement!), we also shared a side of fries. But not just any fries—ones made in smoked beef fat, with a dressing of pickled jalapeños! They weren’t quite as crisp as I would have liked, but the robust flavor made up for the lack of crunch.

The famous cheesecake lollipop tree. Worth the hype!

For the grand finale: Burke’s signature cheesecake lollipop tree (which we’d never had in all of our trips to his other restaurants!). The bite-size confections—of cherry, chocolate and toffee-covered cheesecake with passion fruit whip cream—are truly to die for!

The pièce de résistance: Every time we’ve been to one of his restaurants, Chef Burke has been there. This time, Ivan had the chance to have a lengthy conversation with him by the bar, and later in the evening he came over to our table to say hello to me, and to congratulate us on eight great years together!