Jen Balisi - Digital Marketer & Strategist
I'm an NYU Stern Alum turned digital marketer with a passion for food, travel, and music, a weakness for shoes, and a thirst for adventure.
This is Where I've Worked and Studied- This is What I Eat and Write About
- This is What I've Photographed
- This is (More of) What I've Photographed
- This is What I've Photographed with my Phone
- This is Where I've Checked In
- This is What I Listen To
- This is What I'm Seeing Live in Concert
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Info
- Senior Digital Marketing Analyst - Personal Savings at American ExpressFinancial Services | Greater New York City Area, USExperience
- Apr 2012 - PresentSenior Digital Marketing Analyst, Personal Savings / American Express
- Manage paid search marketing for Personal Savings high-yield savings accounts and CDs
- Drove over $60MM in direct deposits over 3 quarters through email and online marketing campaigns, managing overall channel and testing strategy, creative development, execution, and analytics - Sept 2011 - Apr 2012Marketing Analyst, Membership Rewards Mobile Strategy and Development / American Express
- Managed end-to-end marketing campaign execution to support mobile and tablet Membership Rewards point redemption experiences
- Drove over 440MM points burned over a 4 month period through broadscale and targeted awareness marketing
- Launched marketing campaigns in support of a partnership with the popular mobile bar code scanning app, RedLaser
- Developed and managed monthly scorecards to monitor redemptions and site metrics for enhancement opportunities
- Created full-year, multi-channel marketing communications, social media, and budget prioritization plans - Jan 2011 - May 2011Online Marketing Intern / Spin Magazine
- Created and edited online media plans for advertisers across the SPIN network of music websites and blogs
- Monitored campaigns using DART and Atlas analytics and compiled campaign recap presentation decks
- Tracked website traffic with Google Analytics and assisted in monthly reporting and campaigns-end billing
- Promoted contests and events through social media and designed creative and copy for Facebook advertisements - Jan 2010 - Dec 2010Student Ambassador / BCBG Max Azria
- Co-created and executed a grassroots marketing campaign to expand awareness of the BCBGeneration brand on and off campus
- Collaborated with student organizations to sponsor tabling events and raffles to engage the BCBGeneration target market
- Designed promotions and used social media tools for buzz marketing to generate excitement for events and the brand - Jun 2010 - Aug 2010Marketing Summer Analyst / American Express
- Worked with online and offsite channel managers to test the effects of a credit card capability on new cardmember acquisition
- Evaluated the competitive landscape of the capability to discover and leverage best practices in the industry
- Developed marketing research studies to gain consumer insights on the capability
- Presented recommendations to enhance current offerings and expand the capability to other acquisition channels - Sept 2009 - Oct 2009Marketing Intern / Artel Glass
- Independently crafted and completed a direct marketing project for a Czech designer glass retailer
- Negotiated with marketing managers of local hotels to build mutually-beneficial promotional plans
- Increased store traffic through referrals of hotel guests to the flagship design store - May 2009 - Aug 2009Start-Up Intern / JOBDecks
- Assisted in marketing, product development, and strategy for a start-up education company
- Organized and helped conduct focus groups of 3-5 college students to gather market research
- Developed value propositions for the various target markets of an interview strategies product
Education-
2007 - 2011New York University - Leonard N. Stern School of BusinessBachelor of Science, cum laude in Marketing & International Business
Activities: Phi Chi Theta, International Filipino Association -
2009 - 2009New York University in Prague
Additional Information-
Websites:
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Posts
- May 05, 13
House cured salmon with camembert cream cheese. Squid ink oriechette. Uni and miso ravioli. Smoked mussel infused broth served in a French press. I repeat, a FRENCH PRESS full o’ broth. These are just some of the incredibly inventive preparations of ramen that diners get to enjoy during the omakase at the Yuji Ramen test kitchen, currently stationed at Whole Foods Bowery. Yuji Ramen began as an experiment of Chef Yuji Haraguchi. While Yuji has always explored the possibilities of preparing seafood as a chef, he told me that he began making ramen only a year ago after realizing that in the years and years that the classic dish has been around, “no one has ever done anything new with ramen.” So after a full year of testing new recipes and dishes, he unveiled his unique creations at Smorgasburg, where his stand drew long lines and almost always sold out at the outdoor food market.
Since the beginning of April, Yuji Ramen has been featured at Whole Foods Bowery, where their second floor mini food court has had a dining counter that rotates various Smorgasburg vendors. While you can go during lunch and order off the a la carte menu, Yuji has taken his residency as an opportunity to host a nightly dinner omakase, or chef’s tasting, featuring 5 kinds of ramen in completely different styles with most not found on their lunch menu. The ticketed dinners sold out in only a few days for Yuji’s original run through the end of May, but after such success, they’ve extended their run through the end of June (tickets for the Yuji Ramen omakase go on sale here on Monday, May 6 at 3PM).
So, is the $40 dinner worth it? I think you can already guess my answer to this, but I’ll give you some additional evidence and let you decide. The first course of Yuji’s omakase featured their salmon mazemen, which is described as a new kind of ramen that has no broth and instead flavors the noodles with sauces and oils. This salmon version was like taking the classic bagel with lox and cream cheese on a trip to Japan, with the house cured salmon paired perfectly with the creamy camembert, springy noodles, sprinkle of seaweed and scallions, crunchy salmon skin, and small douse of a shoyu soy sauce based broth at the bottom of the bowl. This preparation is available in a full-sized portion at both at the Yuji lunch counter and at Smorgasburg in case you’d prefer to go a la carte at $9 a bowl.
Yuji Ramen’s inventive take on the briny taste of oysters – the cold gelatinous broth with an oyster and thick cut bacon is mixed with the hot noodles to melt the broth
Other dishes include the squid ink oriechette pasta in a squid ragu, turning a classic Italian preparation into a Japanese seafood delight and a ramen ravioli with their absolutely delicious combination of uni, miso, and yuzu (pictured at the top of this post). Another unique preparation was Yuji’s take on combining the flavors of east coast and west coast oysters, where he creates a cold gelatinous broth evoking the delicious brine of oysters that melted when mixed with the hot noodles (pictured above). The slightly sour taste of the broth was balanced nicely with the thick cut bacon, oyster, and noodles.
Yuji Ramen’s final omakase dish – daily shoyu broth infused with smoked mussels served in a french press to be poured into a bowl of perfectly cooked noodles and mussels
My personal favorite was the final dish, where Yuji blowtorched the shit out of a tray of mussels (photo cred: NY Daily News) to add smoky flavor, then added them into a French press and poured in their daily shoyu ramen broth which is cooked with bones sourced from the Whole Foods butcher counter for flavor. Diners then pour the broth from the French press into their bowl of just cooked noodles and mussels for a delicious new take on classic ramen.
All in all, I’d highly recommend experiencing the omakase. It’s something that definitely goes into the “#sonewyork” category but actually pays off with delicious food that you’ve likely never experienced before. Chef Yuji is also just a really nice guy who welcomed all of our questions, made great conversation, and happily invited me behind the counter for a photo. He also told us about his next plans for Yuji Ramen, where he’s opening a brick-and-mortor shop in Williamsburg called Okonomi in July or August, where he’ll continue his chef’s tasting dinners and also expand beyond ramen into other Japanese dishes.
So if you’re a ramen lover or just someone who likes to try new (and yummy) things, grab a ticket to one of Yuji Ramen’s omakase dinners (on sale Monday May 6 and 3PM), check them out at Whole Foods Bowery til the end of June or Smorgasburg through October, or wait it out for their brick-and-mortor coming later this summer. In the meantime, check out more food porn of the ramen dinner below:
Click to view slideshow. - Healthy Filipino Recipes: Garlic Fried Cauliflower “Rice” (Sinangag) with Chicken Tocino aka TocilogApr 22, 13
In case you couldn’t tell based on previous posts, I am Filipino and loooove Filipino food. It’s what I grew up on, and the marinated meats and sweet and savory flavor combos never fail to make me one happy camper. That said, the typically fatty meats, greasy sauces, and white rice don’t exactly make for anything remotely close to healthy, which is why I’m making it my mission to try to recreate the dishes I love into healthier, minimal-guilt versions. First up: Garlic fried rice, or siningag, a true staple of Filipino cuisine. You’ll find it as a side on most menus and it’s one of the 3 necessities to making a Filipino standby, tapsilog, and any other -silog dish [Filipino/Tagalog lesson of the day: marinated dried beef (tapa) + fried rice (sinangag) + egg (itlog) = tap-si-log. Genius naming right here].
As delicious as garlic fried rice is, it’s also a carbo-loaded, potential diet killer especially since it’s tough to stop eating it (seriously, who doesn’t love fried rice?). Steamed white rice, plain and boring with nothing added, already comes in at 200 calories and 45 g of carbs per 1 cup serving – add canola oil and salt and you’re looking at a minimum of 25 minutes on the treadmill, and that’s only if you control yourself and only eat 1 serving. That said, Pinterest and recommendations from friends clued me into a clever rice substitute that is even paleo diet-friendly: cauliflower fried rice. The white, largely flavorless, nutrient-loaded, super-low-carb, 25-calories-per-cup vegetable makes a great white rice substitute with zero guilt, for which you can find the recipe at the end of this post. When fried in extra virgin olive oil and garlic and paired with chicken tocino and a fried egg, you have a healthy version of tocilog, a Filipino classic.
But now, the hard part: how exactly does one turn those cauliflower florets into tiny rice-like grains? There are 3 methods, each of which varies in difficulty, time, and effort.
Method #1: Chop the cauliflower by hand - This is the method I used the first time I made cauliflower fried rice, mostly because I didn’t figure out Method #2 yet and I don’t own the appliance you need in Method #3. As you can imagine, this is the most difficult and inconvenient method. It takes forever (I did it while watching Games of Thrones and finished well past halfway through the hour-long episode, but then again, I’m slow at chopping since I’m still afraid of chopping my fingers off, so take this estimate with a grain of salt). Given the manual labor though, this method does end up providing the most extra calorie burn~
Method #2: Grate the cauliflower with a cheese grater - This method still takes a decent amount of time and effort (about 10-15 minutes for an entire head of cauliflower) and you need to be careful enough not to grate off your fingertips, but it’s still an easier prep method than chopping by hand. Just make sure you only hold the stalk and start grating from the perimeter of the floret and work your way to the middle/top- from experience, it’s a bit easier to keep a hold of.
Method #3: Pulse the cauliflower in a food processor – Easiest method, as long as you have a food processor (or Magic Bullet for you infomercial buffs). Just make sure you don’t pulse it too much or you’ll end up with baby food. Sadness.
So now that you have your cauliflower “rice,” you can use it to make good old tocilog, my personal favorite Filipino breakfast option (and yes, the fried egg makes it count as breakfast). The garlic cauliflower fried rice comes in at a mere 140 calories per cup, primarily just from the extra virgin olive oil which provides those healthy monosaturated fats. For the tocino, I used skinless chicken breast over the usual fatty pork to provide some lean protein, though using a prepared marinade mix resulted in a dish that’s still quite high in sodium (as such, I’m planning on experimenting to make a lower sodium version – TBD!). In terms of cooking chicken tocino, there’s no need for me to include a recipe here: just pick up Mama Sita’s tocino marinade mix and follow the directions on the back of the package
Top the garlic fried cauliflower rice and chicken tocino with a fried egg to make tocilog and you’re in for a tasty, perfectly sweet and savory meal that’s low-carb and high protein! But first, that recipe I promised:
A low-carb, paleo-friendly version of Filipino garlic fried rice that uses grated cauliflower as a rice substitute
Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower, chopped/grated into rice-like chunks
- 5 cloves of minced, fresh garlic (or more! if you love garlic)
- 1-2 eggs (depending on how much you like eggs)
- 1/2 tablespoon of fish sauce (patis) - you can use salt to taste instead, but this will likely be higher in sodium!
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- garlic powder (optional, if you really love garlic - like me!)
Instructions
- Coat a non-stick skillet or wok with 1 tbsp of olive oil and put on med-high heat
- Once pan is hot, add the garlic and cook, stirring continuously, until every piece is brown - remove from the pan and set aside
- Add another tbsp of olive oil to pan and turn heat to high
- Add grated cauliflower to pan and spread out so it covers the bottom of the pan, let cook for 1-2 minutes, depending on if you want it to be crispier. Stir all of the cauliflower and repeat until all of the cauliflower starts to turn more yellow/golden
- Push all of the cauliflower to one side and crack the egg(s) into the empty space - let stand until edges start to brown and then scramble the eggs in the pan, breaking into small chunks and then mixing into the fried cauliflower
- Drip the fish sauce throughout the mixture and continue to stir to ensure it spreads evenly
- Plate the finished cauliflower fried rice and top with the browned garlic - serve with chicken tocino and a fried egg for tocilog or any other protein and enjoy!
Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin2.2http://nogutglutton.com/healthy-filipino-recipes-garlic-fried-cauliflower-rice-sinangag-with-chicken-tocino-aka-tocilog/(C) 2013 Jen Balisi, NoGutGlutton.com - Apr 01, 13
One of my favorite parts about warm weather in NYC has become Kelvin Natural Slush Co. - a food truck that offers natural slushes with tasty fruit and other mix-ins. This is not your movie theater ICEE – with everything from strawberry and mint to white peach, pink guava, and basil, Kelvin Slush offers both standard and unique flavor additions to make for a delicious summer treat. Any time I spot the truck on a warm day, I literally always get one because it not only satisfies and cools you off, but they are just THAT good.
Lucky for all of us, they’re offering FREE slushes today until they run out! Just visit their truck, which is parked near the Whole Foods on E. Houston St. and Bowery to try out their enjoyable slushes. My personal recommendations are mixing their tea and citrus slushes with some white peach for a tasty peach Arnold Palmer or mixing the ginger and tea slushes and adding mint or basil for a fresh, light flavor. Be sure to follow Kelvin Slush on Twitter – they’ll tweet when they run out of the free slushes, but you’ll also stay in the loop on all their spring/summer whereabouts!
- Mar 26, 13
If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I attended last year’s Great GoogaMooga and had an absolutely fabulous time. Well folks, the combination music-food-drink festival is back in Prospect Park this coming May 17-19 and it’s looking greater than ever. They’re kicking things off with a Friday night concert featuring the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Flaming Lips, and The Darkness, then continuing the tradition from last year with a weekend of Baccanalian festivities that’s free to attend: just pay-as-you-go for food and drink from over 85 food vendors, 75 breweries, and 100 wine makers. Here’s a taste of the food you’ll get to enjoy:
Indeed, the 85 food vendors they’re bringing together truly are “Great,” from Taiwanese steamed buns of Baohaus to Roberta’s wood-fired pizza to adventurous hot dogs of Crif Dogs to buttery Luke’s Lobster rolls to unique soft serve concoctions of Big Gay Ice Cream to new Filipino standouts Jeepney and Pig and Khao to the pupusas of the Red Hook Ballfields to the meaty deliciousness of Pat Lafrieda, just to name a few. The Saturday and Sunday food festivals also have plenty of music to entertain the crowd with two stages featuring likes of Matt & Kim, De la Soul, Sharon Jones and the Dap-kings, and Cults, among others, so you can always dance off the food you’re bound to stuff your face with.
What makes this festival great is that it brings so many of NYC’s great restaurants and vendors to one place. There’s no need to take the L train or go from one end of Manhattan to another – instead you can hop from one stall to the next and get a culinary tour of the best of NYC, plus visitors from Boston and LA like Toro and Umami Burger. While the festival had its share of hiccups in it’s first year, we can only assume they have course corrected after the backlash they received. They even explain why 2013 is a “new, improved recipe” on their website, so my recommendation is to mark your calendars and make sure you get a ticket for what looks to be a fun-filled almost-summer day.
The Friday night kick-off concert goes for $49.50 and will be on sale here starting March 28 at noon, and also includes guaranteed admission for either Saturday or Sunday. If you’d prefer to go the free route, you’re not guaranteed a ticket, but you can try your luck in snagging a free ticket to Saturday or Sunday by registering here from April 1-3 for a chance at being one of the 30,000 randomly selected registrants. There’s also a $79.50 VIP Cocktail option for all you lushes out there, which gets you 5 artisanal cocktails from the mixmasters at Booker & Dax, The Dead Rabbit, PDT and more.
So do what you gotta do to get yourself to this year’s The Great GoogaMooga, and if you need more persuasion, just check out the epic food lineup below:
Food Vendors at Great GoogaMooga 2013
- Back Forty
- Baconland
- Baked
- Baohaus
- Beecher’s Handmade Cheese
- The Big Banana
- Big Gay Ice Cream
- Blue Marble Ice Cream
- Bromberg Bros. Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken
- Brindle Room
- Brooklyn Soda Works
- Burger Joint
- Calexico
- Caracas Rockaway
- Char No. 4
- Colicchio & Sons
- Craftbar
- Crawfish Monica®
- Crif Dogs
- Dbgb Kitchen And Bar
- Dinosaur Bar-b-que
- Dirty Bird To Go
- Do Or Dine
- Dough
- Dumont Burger & Shakes
- Eataly
- Fatty Cue
- Free Bread
- Gwynnett St.
- Hill Country Barbeque Market
- James
- Jeepney
- Jeffrey’s Grocery
- Joe
- Leonard
- Juice Press
- Kasadela
- La Newyorkina
- Landhaus
- Joe’s Pub
- Liddabit Sweets
- Little Muenster
- The Lobster Place
- Luke’s Lobster
- M. Wells
- Maison Premiere
- Max Brenner Chocolate Bar
- The Meat Hook
- Tms-the Meatball Shop
- Melt Bakery
- Mile End Delicatessen
- Mille-feuille Bakery
- Miss Lily’s
- Momofuku Milk Bar
- Mother-in-law’s Kimchi
- Motorino Pizza
- Nom Wah Tea Parlor
- Northern Spy Food Co.
- Num Pang Sandwich Shop
- Pat Lafrieda Meat Purveyors
- People’s Pops
- Pig And Khao
- Pizzamoto
- PokPokPhat Thai
- Porchetta
- Pork Slope
- Prospect
- Red Hook El OlomegaPupusas
- Red Hook Lobster Pound
- Rippers
- Roberta’s Pizza
- Robicelli’s
- Rosemary’s Enoteca And Trattoria
- Salvation Taco
- SaxelbyCheesemongers
- Seersucker
- Slantshack Jerky
- South Brooklyn Pizza
- Sun In Bloom
- TíaPol
- Third Rail Coffee
- Toro (Boston)
- Umami Burger
- Vinegar Hill House
- Willow Road
- Wooly’s Ice
- Mar 20, 13
With the food truck explosion that’s come to NYC has also come a wide variety of unique tacos: from Korean-fusion from Korilla BBQ to Southern barbeque and brisket varieties from Mexicue to Japanese-style from Domo Taco, you can find pretty much whatever your taste buds desire. But when I’m in the mood for that classic, Mexican taco, I pay a visit to Mexico Blvd. As their name suggests, the offerings from this food truck are meant to put you on a direct route to true Mexican flavors.
You won’t find any Doritos locos here (as tasty as those guilt pleasures are). Instead, they offer 4 types of meats with everything from chile-marinated pork with pineapple (the pastor, my personal favorite) to a “drunken sauce” stewed steak (bistec) to chicken in a chipotle sauce (tinga) to adobo-marinated pork (adobo). And rather than the suspicious meat that comes from your local Chinese-owned Tex-Mex purveyor, Mexico Blvd. uses only organic meat, and the quality shows in the taste.
From these types of meats, you choose your vehicle: tacos, which are served with 2 corn tortillas from Tortilleria Nixtamal, whose fresh masa tortillas have been lauded in NYC, or the torta, a messy but delicious sandwich dressed with lettuce, tomato, avocado, onion, sour cream, and jalapenos. Mexico Blvd. also offers a $10 lunch special that gives you your choice of any torta with a drink or any 2 tacos with a drink and side of chips and their tasty, fresh guacamole. Their drink options have Mexican flair as well, as the truck offers Jarritos sodas and homemade “aguas frescas” in addition to standard water & soda. And if you do get water, you’ll be glad to know that if you order your food extra spicy, you get the larger sports bottle rather than the standard size Poland Spring to relieve the heat.
In addition to their meaty tacos and tortas, Mexico Blvd. also serves up vegetarian options like an avocado quesadilla and crispy flautas. I have yet to try these, but based on the quality of ingredients here, those are sure to be good choices as well.
For your next taco or torta fix, check out Mexico Blvd. at World Financial Center on Wednesdays, and follow them on Twitter for their daily schedule.
- Mar 19, 13
Here’s a public service announcement for anyone living/working in NYC: TOMORROW, Wednesday, March 20 is Macaron Day, where participating bakeries like Francois Payard are offering customers a FREE macaron as long as you mention that you are there for Macaron Day NYC. For anyone who doesn’t know what a macaron is, 1) it’s unfortunate that you’ve never experienced the joy that these tiny treasures can bring but 2) Wednesday is the perfect opportunity to find out!
As described by the event’s website, a macaron is “a classic French cookie. The soft, crunchy, delicate shell is made from almond flour, sugar and egg whites, sandwiching a smooth layer of creamy ganache. ” I personally love the lightness of a macaron, and as someone who isn’t the biggest sweet tooth, macarons provide the perfect little amount of sweetness that make for a great cap on a meal or as a small afternoon treat. One macaron ranges around 70-100 calories, so just skip the milk and sugar in your coffee or a soda on Wednesday and enjoy the delight of getting something tasty for free.
Best of all, participating locations are donating a portion of proceeds made on macarons purchased to City Harvest. One of the charities I regularly donate to, City Harvest takes leftover food from restaurants and uses it to feed NYC’s homeless.
Check out Macaron Day 2013′s participating locations here for your free macaron and support a great cause as well.
- Mar 18, 13
I am now starting a series called 12 hour review, in which I write a review of an event/meal within 2 hours of the end of the meal. In this inaugural post, I am writing this within 1 hour of a wine tasting, so please excuse any typos……..
In case it hasn’t been clear yet, let the record stand: I LOVE wine. Love it. It pairs amazingly with my favorite indulgence, cheese, while also providing surprising and complex flavors that a Diet Coke would just never be able to impart. As such, if there’s a wine tasting going on at a reasonable price, you can basically expect me to be there. So when HowAboutWe for Couples was offering admission to the NY Drinks NY Grand Tasting for a mere 30 bucks per couple, you know that I was one of the first to sign up.
NY Drinks NY is a great event that takes the locavore craze to the wine scene, highlighting only wines that were made from grapes grown in NY State. With everything from cabernet francs to dry and semi-dry rieslings to even an American-grown Malbec, the Grand Tasting event offered wine lovers a sampling of over 200 kinds of wine from the great New York state.
In addition to the variety of wines came a buffet of cheeses, fruit, and other charcuterie that paired wonderfully with the liquid supplements. My personal favorite was a fennel salad on baguette toast that paired deliciously with the variety of sweet rieslings offered by the wineries at the event.
In terms of the actual wine, the standouts for me include a Traminette from Hudson-Chatham Winery, which offered an aroma like that of a lychee fruit with a similar sweetness, as well as the Baco Noir and basically every Cabernet Franc from the participating wineries. I found the Cabe Francs of most of the participating wineries to be a fantastic complement to any kind of food, as the blend of reds made a great pairing to everything from creamy to hard cheeses to salamis to pork. Overall, thanks to the NY Drinks NY Grand Tasting, I was able to find a variety of ~$15 bottles that I will definitely be purchasing in the near future. It certainly made for a perfect antithesis to the snowy weather going on outside, and a reasonable excuse for skipping the gym. Check out the NY Drinks NY website for more tasting events going on through the end of March – you’ll be sure to find your next favorite bottle of wine.
- Feb 12, 13
First off, disclaimer: Anyone who reads my blog obviously knows I’m never actually on a “diet” of the conventional sort. Rather, I try to balance eating healthy and working out with eating like a total pig, trying to only eat like a total pig when the food is so good, it makes those calories worth it. That said, Village Voice’s upcoming tasting event, Choice Eats, definitely fits into the worth-eating-like-a-total-pig category.
As detailed in the poster above, Choice Eats is an annual tasting event curated by the Village Voice that features some of the best that NYC’s diverse culinary world has to offer. With over 50 restaurants offering a sample of their menus, ranging from Mexican to Southern to dim sum and everything in between, there’s food to cater to every palate. But it’s not just food, it’s GOOD food, as the featured vendors are all places that have been reviewed and approved by the Village Voice’s food critics. Add on desserts and unlimited drinks, and you have a glutton’s paradise.
While I primarily bought my ticket after seeing specific restaurants that I have eaten at and loved, I’m most looking forward to seeing what new favorites I can discover. Check out the places I’ll be gunning it to at the event below:
Most looking forward to enjoying again:
Luke’s Lobster
It’s safe to say that I will like almost anything with any form of lobster, but Luke’s serves it up in it’s pure glory. Using only claw meat that comes straight from Maine, they showcase lobster as it should be with just a bit of mayo, lemon, and Old Bay seasoning in a perfectly toasted, buttered split bun. It’s not a lobster roll that’s overloaded with mayo or scallions or other unnecessary things – Luke’s is just good, delicious lobster with the minimal, perfect amount of accouterments.Kuma Inn
I sang my praises for this Filipino-Thai fusion tapas joint in my Guide to Filipino food in NYC, so I’m incredibly excited to be able to sample their delicious, creative takes on Filipino staples at Choice Eats. If they are serving their adobo pork buns (pictured below), it’s game over.The Meatball Shop
You may have seen them featured in some recent Chase ads or you may have stumbled into one of their 3 cozy shops spread through downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn. If it’s the latter, then you already know that this winner of the Wine and Food Festival’s Meatball Madness event has some amazinggg meatballs. Juicy, flavorful, meaty perfection (yeah, I went there).Most looking forward to trying for the first time:
Bobwhite Lunch & Supper Counter
This East Village eatery specializes in Southern-style cooking, and has been garnering praise not only for their local, sustainable approach to ingredients, but for their food of course! As a lover of fried chicken, I’m really looking forward to sampling their version of the Southern classic, which they marinade in sweet tea before dredging in flour and frying up the traditional way.Ditch Plains
Now boasting multiple locations in Manhattan and soon Brooklyn, this restaurant that began primarily as a seafood shack also serves up lobster rolls and the like, but what I’m most intrigued by is their now infamous Ditch Dog – a hot dog topped with a Gruyere-based macaroni and cheese. While Eater refers to it as a “crime against hot dogs,” I have to disagree. As a mac and cheese lover and self-proclaimed cheese monster, I can’t wait to try this out, as it seems like the perfect, slightly fancier take on a classic cheese dog.Brooklyn Kolache Co.
So, what’s a Kolache? That’s definitely the first question that comes to mind upon reading the name of this Bed-Stuy-based cafe and bakery, but they clear things up on their website, explaining that kolaches are “portable, neat-to-eat pastries that can be stuffed with savory ingredients… or sweet, house-made fillings.” The pastry is actually Cezch in origin, but they’re hugely popular in central Texas. With savory varieties including sausage, cheese, & jalapeno and chorizo and egg, and sweet versions ranging from sweet cheese to apricot to PBJ, I’m excited to try something new and seemingly delicious without having to trek over to Brooklyn.So those are my picks for the Choice Eats fest! Tickets are still available for around $50 bucks a pop, so grab one and enjoy everything the event has to offer. if you do go, let me know or find me in the crowd – I’ll be the small Filipino girl, drink-in-hand, stuffing her face with everything mentioned above
- Feb 08, 13
So everyone’s been talking about this little guy named Nemo that got lost off the Great Barrier Reef…. Just kidding. If you’re in the New York/New England area, you’re incredibly conscious of the wet snow that either blew in your face on the way to work or that you’ve observed through your window from the comfort of your apartment, all thanks to Winter Storm Nemo.
Now I don’t know about you, but when I’m hiding out from a blizzard, there’s nothing I want more than some good, warm, comfort food. So since I’m working from home, I’m using my lunch break to write this short guide up and hopefully help out anyone else out there in need of some satisfying food delivered right to your apartment (click on each spot to see if you’re located within their Seamless delivery zone, and call up the restaurants to confirm that they will deliver). Sorry to exclude, but this primarily focuses on Manhattan and skews toward certain neighborhoods that I know best.
The Glutton’s Guide to Comfort Food You Can Get Delivered from Seamless
- Artichoke Basille’s Pizza – It may take up to 2 hours to arrive, but having successfully gotten delivery from them Saturday night when it was also snowing, you can expect to be comforted with a giant pie of this East Village pizzeria’s glorious namesake pizza that comes slathered with their creamy, cheesy spinach and artichoke sauce. It’s also good when reheated, so a pie is sure to last through an entire weekend of hunkering down. Not a fan of artichokes? Their sicilian pie is also a good choice for a perfect marriage of tomato sauce, cheese, and fresh basil.
- Blue Smoke Battery Park / Hill Country Barbeque - For a barbeque craving, Danny Meyer’s downtown barbecue outpost serves some finger-licking BBQ as well as really tasty macaroni and cheese that is sure to hit the spot. The Gramercy BBQ restaurant Hill Country’s tender brisket and combo plates are sure to hit the spot as well.
S’mac’s Macaroni and Cheese sampler isn’t available for delivery, but you can always order a few different styles and make your own. Photo credit: S’mac
- S’mac East Village/Murray Hill – What’s more comforting than some gooey macaroni and cheese? S’mac makes some of the best in NYC, with everything from a classic All American to buffalo chicken to Napoletana with roasted tomatoes and fresh basil to Mediterranean with goat cheese and kalamata olives. Go crazy and order a few different “noshes,” their smallest size, or survive a few meals with a giant “Mongo” portion.
- Mooncake Foods Chinatown/Hell’s Kitchen – specializing in Asian-style comfort food, this is a good place for wonton soups, miso-glazed salmon, and Asian-inspired takes on pulled pork sandwiches and the like.
- Baluchi’s (multiple locations) – If your idea of comfort food is more along the lines of a spicy curry to warm you up or a creamy chicken tikka masala with naan, this Indian mini-chain should fill that need. Order up their $16 combo special for an appetizer, entree, rice, naan, and all the accompanying sauces you need that’s enough to last 2 meals.
- Nyonya – This Malaysian restaurant’s beef rendang wasn’t named one of Timeout’s 100 best dishes for nothing. The tender beef in a slightly spicy, flavorful sauce is a perfect stew for lining your stomach. Another solid choice is the prawn mee, a flavorful shrimp-based noodle soup with a rich broth. Their roti canai appetizer with a chicken curry dipping sauce is the perfect starter for whatever entree you get delivered.
- Xe Lua Vietnamese Restaurant - A nice big bowl of pho noodle soup is a perfect way to stay warm. Xe Lua delivers all the components to you separately, including all the hoisin, mint, sriracha, bean sprouts, and lime you need, to ensure the noodles will have just the right texture upon arrival.
- 99 Miles to Philly Greenwich Village/Midtown East - This place serves up some of the city’s best authentic Philly cheesesteaks with your choice of American, Provolone, or the classic Cheese Whiz and all the toppings you desire. Add their tasty waffle fries or onion rings for a complete, delicious, comforting meal.
- Artichoke Basille’s Pizza – It may take up to 2 hours to arrive, but having successfully gotten delivery from them Saturday night when it was also snowing, you can expect to be comforted with a giant pie of this East Village pizzeria’s glorious namesake pizza that comes slathered with their creamy, cheesy spinach and artichoke sauce. It’s also good when reheated, so a pie is sure to last through an entire weekend of hunkering down. Not a fan of artichokes? Their sicilian pie is also a good choice for a perfect marriage of tomato sauce, cheese, and fresh basil.
- Feb 04, 13
Last night went by many different names to different audiences – Superbowl XLVII, Harbaugh Bowl/HarBowl, Ad Bowl, and of course, Beyonce Bowl - but one thing that almost all Americans can agree on is that last night was America’s best excuse next to Thanksgiving for stuffing your face. While there’s many different ways to accomplish this, from enjoying an all-you-can-eat/drink special at a local bar or restaurant to getting delivery from a national pizza chain, this year I ended up cooking an entire feast thanks to a service called Plated.
Pre-portioned ingredients plus a recipe card from Plated made it super easy to make delicious dip
Plated made things super easy to feel like a chef without having to figure out what ingredients you need or to even go to the grocery store. They ship you fresh ingredients right to your doorstep, portioned out to exactly what you need (we even got a single clove of garlic), as well as step by step recipes to create your meals. I was lucky enough to try out their Superbowl Appetizer Box for free through HowAboutWe, and it’s safe to say that after using this trial, Plated has got itself a new customer.
The shipment we got included Baby Back Ribs, Black Bean and Avocado Nachos, Bacon, Apple, and Goat Cheese Pizza, Spinach and Artichoke Dip, and Hello Dolly Squares – all pictured at the top of this post. The photo here is deceiving though – what we actually ended up with was SO much more food, enough to make 3 half racks of ribs, an entire saucepan of spinach and artichoke dip, and a whole baking tray of nachos, so we ended up not even making the complete menu and are saving the pizza and dessert to make another night.
All of the food turned out delicious, and Plated even offered tips on what order to make the appetizers so making everything was a breeze. The best part is that I now have the recipes so I can recreate the dishes whenever I want. Overall, I’d highly recommend their service, especially for those who don’t time to wait on that long line at Trader Joe’s and still want to cook up a gourmet meal. Check out their rotating menu and pricing on their site (plus sign up with my referral code dc2846 and we both get free plates!), and check out my delicious baby back ribs below.
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Checkins
- Balesin Island ClubBalesin Island
- Nail TropicsG/F One Orchard Place
- Eden Garden And LoungeEastwood City
- Eastwood CitywalkEastwood City, E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave., Brgy. Bagumbayan
- Todd English Bonfire RestaurantJFK International Airport, Delta Terminal, Building 53
- John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)at JFK Access Rd
- JFK AirTrain - Jamaica Station146-01 Archer Ave
- GoGreen Organic Spa365 Broome St
- Tehuitzingo Deli695 10th Ave
- Perdition692 10th Ave
- Bowlmor Lanes Midtown222 W 44th St
- American Express Tower200 Vesey St
- Sephora555 Broadway
- Urban Outfitters628 Broadway
- Topshop478 Broadway
- Bogardus Plaza1 Hudson St
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Recent Tracks
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Attending
- New York, NY, US
