Bozu with Bernardins

Dave and Elim invited us out to dinner to celebrate our nuptials!  Knowing how much we love sushi, they suggested Bozu in Williamsburg - voted the best sushi in New York.
Worthy of the title?  YES!

Before you even take a bite of food, the design of the place creates a cool experience: dim lighting, plank wood, exposed brick, and a wrap-around bar where you can sit to watch all the action if you choose.  

The menu is quite extensive, with a wide variety of sushi rolls, sushi bombs (balls of rice with the fish on top), and hot entrees.  We decided to dine family style so we could sample as much as possible.  What a feast!!

 hot sake, kept warm in a special pot of boiling water complete with thermometer

 miso soup

 tako balls and tuna tartar

 Ryoan

 BBQ eel, spicy tuna, and dragon rolls

 Overall, this place is AMAZING.  We will definitely keep going back until we've sampled everything on the menu.  Any future visitors to NY, be prepared for us to take you here.  :)

Date Night with Dale from Top Chef!

Date night!!  

We wanted a cool adventure but local location.  DJ had the brilliant idea of heading to Park Slope to check out Talde: the new restaurant of Dale Talde from Top Chef!  And wow - what a place!!

For starters, the decor is awesome.  The Asian-American theme is reflected nicely in the detailed wood carvings adorning the walls and cozy wooden booths lining the windows.  Feels like a place you could sit and chat for hours (if you didn't know scores of people are waiting for your spot).

The service is also fabulous.  Everyone we encountered was extremely friendly, including Dale himself who was by the bar when we entered and offered a smile.  Our waiter was very attentive, and explained that most people opt to dine family-style so they can try as many dishes as possible.  So, that's just what we did.

We started with drinks (both excellent):

Then came the highly-recommended Perilla Leaves (amazing flavor explosions!  great amuse-bouche) 

and Grilled Octopus (quite savory) for appetizers.  

Next, the Lobster Tom Kha Gai (fabulous merging of sweet coconut and smoky peppers).  A perfect dish when you're in the mood for comfort food with a kick.

And we followed that with the Crispy Oyster and Bacon Pad Thai.  DJ is usually not a fan of pad thai (he says it smells like a wet sheep), but he actually enjoyed this one!  The fried oyster and thick chunks of bacon complement each other nicely, and the noodles were seasoned to perfection.  After sampling the Tom Kha Gai, we thought we'd only have room for a few bites of the pad thai.  But it was so good, we couldn't stop eating it!

We weren't sure if we'd have room for dessert, but we couldn't resist trying the Halo Halo since we had really enjoyed the one at Spice Market.  Talde's wasn't quite as addictive as Spice Market's (there was more ice than fruit jewels), but Chef Dale does add a unique touch: Cap'n Crunch sprinkled on top!  

Overall, we really loved our meal at Talde.  And it was a treat to see all the chefs, including Dale, at work since they have an open kitchen right next to the dining area.  

We will definitely return with other Top Chef fans to try some of the other dishes we scoped out at other tables.  We think Talde will be quite a hit!

Philly Visit with Michele

Mel's on spring break, so for a little change of scenery we decided to take a quick day trip to Philly to visit Michele.  The train ride is only a few minutes longer than the ride to Fairfield, CT!  They really should consider making the tickets as affordable as MetroNorth.  We would go all the time!

Our first stop in Philly was to Eastern State Penitentiary - the first official penitentiary (which, unlike the usual prison, had the goal of rehabilitating criminals) in the country.  Very interesting and informative place to visit.  The one-hour tour flew by because the facts presented were so fascinating!  

Then we headed to Jim's Steaks for a quintessential Philly cheesesteak experience.  Apparently the traditional cheesesteak involves "whiz" (Cheez Whiz), but none of us could quite stomach the idea of eating "cheese" from a can.  So we went with cheese slices instead.  Tasty!

We were in quite a food coma state afterward, so we walked around the neighborhood for a bit and came across the cool Magic Gardens (public mosaic murals).   Can only imagine how long it took the artist to create!

Chillin' with the Conde Crew

We had a marathon Sunday of lazy chillin' out with Victoria, Ladell, and Brandon: a.k.a. the Conde Crew.

We started out at Fette Sau for some BBQ (the pork belly was much better this time, and the cocktail of the day was a fabulous mix of bourbon, ginger beer and lime!).  With full tummies, we meandered around Williamsburg until we came to one of Brandon's favorite haunts: Spike Hill.  We chilled out there for a while, and talk of Williamsburg made Victoria remember The Meatball Shop and its delicious menu.  After speculating how close-by it could be, a Smartphone search led us to discover that it was indeed down the block.  

On to Stop #3 of the day where Vic had a bit of meatballs, DJ and Mel shared an ice cream sandwich, and everyone sampled the cocktails (which were EXCELLENT!). It's a really cool place, and the ordering process is fun: marking laminated menus with combos of your choice.

We will definitely come back here when in the mood for some comfort food!

On to some more meandering around Williamsburg and a stop at a random bar for another drink and more chatting.  Fast forward a few hours and we realize it might be nice to watch the sun go down near the bridge.  On to Stop #5 of the day: Bubby's!  Once again, we wound up sitting for so long that we lost track of time until Mel realized she was hungry.  So we snacked on some of their delicious side dishes (their mac & cheese is delightful) before calling it a day - quite full and quite happy.  :) 

Hooray for a day of Brooklyn wandering!

Buena Suerte at Buenos Aires

Now that we're officially an old married couple, Ursula and Antoine (a.k.a. The Frenchies) took us out to celebrate at Buenos Aires Restaurant in Alphabet City.  They got the recommendation from a good friend who promised the cuisine would be a very authentic churrascaria experience.  And indeed, we were not disappointed!

We started out with awesome empanadas (one ham and cheese, one mushroom and meat).  The dough was so light and fluffy and the filling was delightfully savory.

Then it was on to the MEAT!!!  Once the table was served, we had three varieties of steak and a tasty chicken with mushrooms dish.  We loved every bite!

Overall, this place is really fabulous.  The service was very attentive and prompt, and they really seem genuine about wanting people to enjoy their meals.  We will certainly go here again when we're in the mood for some proper South American meat!

Our Wedding!

So we've been out of the blogging loop for a while because we were in wedding-planning mode.  But our big day finally came, and we had a lovely time eating lots of delicious and nutritious goodies in Punta Cana with family and friends!  :)

Truly too many wonderful buffet meals to highlight in one blog entry, but perhaps the most memorable meal of our stay was at our reception: a lovely surf and turf plate that was surprisingly cooked to perfection.  We say surprisingly because, let's be honest, wedding reception food is not usually something to write home about.  But many guests actually went out of their way to tell us how tasty it was, and the Grillmaster himself said the beef was cooked just right.  Yay!

 (*Didn't catch a picture of the actual meal, but this is essentially what it consisted of.  lol)

We followed it up with some slices of our lovely wedding cake.  Mel didn't actually get to taste it - she was too busy dancing.  But it sure did look pretty!  

Hooray for wedded bliss!!