Foodie Finders NYC on the road to Las Vegas: Day 1

Hello foodies! Sorry I haven't posted in the last few day but I do have an excuse. I was in Las Vegas! The Foodie Finders NYC Crew and got last minute plane tickets to Las Vegas. We just got back and I never had a chance to post anything actually from Las Vegas. I had the most AMAZING food filled trip. I got to meet amazing chefs and I got to eat at delicious restaurants. I am so glad to share them with you. I was in Vegas for five days so the next five posts will be about one of my five days in Las Vegas. When our flight landed, the Foodie Finders NYC Crew and I were famished so we headed over to Hubert Keller's Burger Bar. It was so great. Here is my review.

Burger Bar          3930 Las Vegas Blvd South, Las Vegas, NV, 89119 (Mandalay Bay)

If you are looking for the BEST burger place in the world, do your taste buds a favor and head over to chef Hubert Keller's Burger Bar. At Burger Bar you can either create your own burger or order a burger of the menu. I made my own burger and I highly recommend to make your own burger. You chose your meat, your bun and your toppings. The possibilities are endless with toppings from chopped jalapeno and fried eggs to 1/3 oz. of shaved black truffle and pan-seared foie gras. Also the sweet potato fries are super good. The onion rings and the beer battered pickles are good too. I got chipotle aioli on the side with my burger and I loved dipping my sweet potato fries in it. No matter what burger you get you will love it because the burgers are just so good itself. Also the milkshakes are amazing. My personal favorite would be the Nutella. If your in Vegas, Burger Bar is great for lunch, dinner or just for a quick burger to get you through the day.

• Great burgers
• Has an ideal burger place feel with a smell that will make your mouth water
• Delicious milk shakes
• Good service
• Yummy sweet potato fries
• Wide selection of toppings for creating your own burger
•  Recommend:

1. Creating your own burger
2. Sweet Potato fries
3. Beer battered pickles
4. Nutella Milk Shake

• Wouldn't Order Again:

1. Fat fries

After Burger Bar we ran over to chef Rick Moonen's RM Seafood because we coordinated with Rick's assistant, Melissa, to meet Rick since we heard he was in town when making our reservations for two days from this day I am telling you all about. Melissa was a ton of help and really nice. We would of met Rick the night we were at his restaurant but he was leaving before our reservations. I was so excited to meet Rick Moonen. When Rick came out I expected him to be busy just say hi and than go but he was the exact opposite. We spoke for a while and than he brought me into his kitchen. First of all his restaurant was huge with two floors. He also had two kitchens, one upstairs, one downstairs. He brought us through both kitchens and took the time to explain everything (while we were with Rick, Mike Minor, the executive chef at Border Grill, walked in to ask him a question. It was very cool). I saw the sushi bar and the downstairs kitchen. Then he took me upstairs to the more fine dining area. The kitchen was nice and he explained everything upstairs. While we were upstairs his pastry chef walks over to him and says he needs Rick for a second to try something and Rick took me with him. It was the dessert for the New Years Eve tasting menu. After Rick tried it he had me try it and it was spectacular. It was a semi-freddo with mandarin's on one side and there was a chocolate cake with a mandarin zabaglione. It was really good and Rick said he was the first one to try it so I was the second person to try that dessert. He than showed us around the rest of the restaurant. It is a beautiful dining room and the private rooms are very nice too. Rick spent so much time with us and was really a lot of fun. You could really tell he is passionate about what he does. I was probably with him for a half hour maybe even more. It was such an experience and I loved every bit of it.
So for dinner we went to chef Emeril Lagasse's Table 10. I have to say I was quite disappointed. I expected Emeril's to be great but it just really was not to good. I really love Emeril and enjoy watching him on television but all the restaurant had was his name on it. I do hope to return to another one of his restaurants because I am not completely turned off from his restaurants but he needs to work hard to redeem it. Here is my review.


Table 10                    3327 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, NV, 89109 (The Palazzo)

Not my first choice to eat in Las Vegas. Table 10, in my opinion, was not very good because of the service and the food was just not fresh. It was all just okay. Appetizers included the Cilantro & Chorizo Sausage Pizza, Cornmeal Fried Alaskan Dover Sole Taco, and we got a side of Truffle Mac-n-Cheese that we shared for the table. For entrees there were no stand outs. I got the Pancetta wrapped Rosemary Skewered Baja Shrimp. I found that it wasn't very good and also hard to eat off the rosemary skewer. The rest of my party felt the same.  I really would not recommend Table 10.  If you are looking for a Emeril Lagasse restaurant, all I could say is try a different one. I hope that my next Emeril Lagasse experience will be enough to make me forget about this one.

• Service wasn't good
• Food wasn't as fresh as you'd expect
• Recommend:

1. Nothing

• Wouldn't order again:

1. Cilantro & Chorizo Sausage Pizza
2. Cornmeal Fried Alaskan Dover Sole Taco
3. Truffle Mac-n-Cheese
4. Pancetta wrapped Rosemary Skewered Baja Shrimp 

So concludes my first day of my foodie field trip to Las Vegas. I hope this helps some of you. Also the first survey has come to an end which means there is a new survey up now. The survey is about your favorite competitive food show. Put your votes in soon. The survey closes on February 8th at 11:59 P.M. Check back soon for more of my food field trip to Las Vegas.

-Mike

New Year. New Restaurant Review system.

Hello foodies! As the New Year approaches I have decided to use a new system for reviewing restaurants. I feel that my old way of reviewing restaurants didn't give you all enough info and just gave a little blurb that is useless when you want a review on a restaurant. So I decided I will leave the stars and write about my experience. I will add Pros and Cons to give readers a better feel on the restaurant being reviewed.
Yesterday I went to Felidia's, owned by Lidia Bastianich, and it was spectacular. Using the new reviewing system here is my review on Felidia's.

Felidia's                                         243 E. 58th Street, New York, NY, 10022

To sum up Felidia's in one word it would be amazing. Food was impeccable, decor was very nice and service was fair. Everything the Foodie Finders NYC crew and I ordered was really good. The bread was really good and my favorite bread in the basket was the cracker like flat bread made with squid ink. There was also a good bean dip (but wasn't as good as Becco's bean dip). We got a few appetizers to share with the table and they were all very good. We got the Polipo which was octopus grilled and mosaic with tomatoes and marinated eggplant (delicious), we got the Bianconeri which was a black and white pasta with sweet shrimp and squid and oven dried tomato-almond pesto (very good), and we also got the Fegatini which was chicken liver with onion and tuscan crostino ( My favorite dish out of the three). Now for the entrees. I am going to list my favorites from greatest to least starting with my favorite dish, the risotto. The risotto was made with squash, bacon oil, goat cheese and a little bit of 25-year aged balsamic vinegar which complimented the dish beautifully. We also had the Pappardelle with braised duck. We got the Manzo which was also very good. The Manzo was roasted all-natural angus beef flat Iron with mushrooms, hanger steak tagliata, and a summer bean ragu. We got the Grigliata di Pesce which was a plate of seafood which includes calamari, lobster, shrimp, scallops and razor clams cooked in "alla piastra", tomato, cucumber and onion. The last dish we got which was still delicious, just my least favorite out of the other dishes, was the Spinosini Con Vongole which is a thin spaghetti with razor clams, mussels, zucchini and bacon oil. Now for dessert it was all so good just like everything else. We got the hazelnut torte with nutella gelato and marsala zabaglione (delicious), the tiramisu (very good), and the pecan tart (spectacular). Over all Felida's was delicious.


Pros                        

• Delicious food
• Nice decor
• Had private rooms for individual tables for 6 or 8 people which was very appealing (we were fortunate and got a private room)
• All supporting staff, including the coat checker was friendly, which in my opinion, makes a great restaurant.
• The matradee was exceptionally nice and really welcomed all of his guests. He made the experience feel very warm and at home
• Felidia's was a fine dining restaurant without the stuffy feel to it.

 Cons

• Our waiter was very knowledgeable but not very personable.

Felidia's was a great restaurant and definitely one to go back to soon. Anyway if the Foodie Finders crew and I do get to Las Vegas expect reviews of restaurants from some of the greats like, Emeril Lagasse, Rick Moonen, Hubert Keller, Wolfgang Puck, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. I hope I get a chance to meet one of them like Rick Moonen, because I will definitely be at his restaurant, RM Seafood. If I do meet any of them you all will definitely know. Let's hope I get to Vegas soon. Check back for more info for that and I hope you all like the new restaurant reviewing system, feel free to comment on it. (Also the restaurants that were reviewed the old way will be changed in a future post)

-Mike

Apologies for the lack of posting

Hi foodies! I am so sorry I have not been posting like regular. I apologize so many times but it has been hectic the last week since my Internet was down for a day, the holidays and than I was supposed to go on a food field trip, to Las Vegas, the day after Christmas. Because of  the snow storm the Foodie Finders NYC crew and I are still in New York. We are still trying to go to but it is not definite. I will make sure you all know if we get to go. Again I am sorry for my lack of posting. Check back soon for some more food information and events.

-Mike

Foodie Finders NYC: Hershey, PA pitt-stop coming home from Pittsburgh

Welcome back foodies! When I was coming home, yesterday, from Pittsburgh the Foodie Finders NYC crew and I stopped off in Hershey, PA for a lunch break at the Hershey Pantry. I have been to the Hershey Pantry for breakfast but never have I been there for lunch. It was a delicious meal. Here is my review.

Hershey Pantry                             801 E Chocolate Avenue, Hershey, PA 17033

One visit to the Hershey Pantry and you will be hooked for life. Everything you order is delicious. We got to amazing sandwiches which were the Pantry Reuben Corn Beef and the Grilled Ham & American Cheese. The Pantry Reuben Corn Beef had the best sauce and the sandwich also had sauerkraut an swiss cheese which was yummy.  The Grilled Ham & American Cheese was also really good. It was delicious ham with a mild and gooey cheese sandwiched between two pretzel rolls which are dynamite. If have never had a Hershey Pantry pretzel roll, you have never lived. Also the burger is really good but if you switch the buns to pretzel rolls it is even better. The Hershey Pantry also has delicious muffins. Normally they fill their muffins with a cream cheese filling that is really good. If you don't like cream cheese sometimes they have muffins that are too warm to fill yet. We got a few with cream cheese and a few without. The best flavors, I think, were cherry, blueberry and candy cane. If you are ever in Hershey you got to go to the Hershey Pantry if it is for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Whichever meal you have you won't be sorry.

Also besides the review of Hershey Pantry I never did the weeks list of events, so here it is.

New York, NY – Flatiron           (Eataly – 200 5^th Ave.)

Meet NYC restaurant owner and PBS host, Lidia Bastianich (and Lidia’s daughter Tanya – Co-Author)

Book Signing- Nonna Tell Me a Story: Lidia’s Christmas Kitchen

Date & Time:

12/ 22/ 2010
Starts at - 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m

Book Costs $15.95

No contact information

http://blog.lidiasitaly.com/2010/10/book-signing-at-eataly-1222.php

*Please use the 24th St. entrance between 5th and 6th Ave when going to the signing

Not that many events for this week but trust me if you get a chance go to Lidia's book signing, if you haven't been to one of her's yet, you'll enjoy. She is so delightful and very personable. She also enjoys to tell stories (has great restaurants too). Anyway, that's all for today and check back to Foodie Finders NYC soon for everything about food and the people who make it in New York City and Long Island.

-Mike

Foodie Finders NYC on the road to Pittsburgh: Day 2

Hi foodies! While I return home to the food mecca I want to share my experiences  over the past two days in the strip district in Pittsburgh. There are some excellent restaurants and ethnic markets. There is some great food and I want to tell you all about my perspective of the food in Pittsburgh.

In my last post I told everyone about Lidia's Italy Pittsburgh which was spectacular. Another amazing place is Pamela's  P & G Diner. The Foodie Finders NYC crew and I went to Pamela's P & G Diner for breakfast. Here is my review.

Pamela's  P & G Diner                    60 21st St., Pittsburgh, PA, 15222

One of the best breakfast restaurants in town has to be Pamela's P & G Diner. The best delicacy on the menu is the hot cakes. The hotcakes are like crepes and there is a variety of fillings. My personal favorite is the blueberry but I thought the strawberry was good as well. Besides the hotcakes there was a Tex Mex omelet which was delicious and filled with chorizo and cheese. The service was good and the food came out fast. The setting is nice and is a place to absolutely return to when in Pittsburgh.

Another great  breakfast restaurant is DeLuca's. Here is my review.

DeLuca's                                                        2015 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PA, 15222

Depending on what you order this place goes from average to excellent. The pumpkin pancakes are incredible. They are full of flavor and are addicting. They have decent buttermilk pancakes but they just didn't stand out.  All of their meats, like bacon, sausage and chorizo, were really delicious. The food was very good and is definitely a place I would return too.

Besides Breakfast I have one more diner restaurant that was just okay which is the Primanti Bros. A unanimous vote between me and the Foodie Finders NYC crew decided it was mediocer. Here is my review.

 Primanti Bros.                     46 18th St., Pittsburgh, PA, 15222

Sandwiches are just okay at Primanti Bros. There isn't much flavor to the sandwiches. Some of the sandwiches we got were sausage, pastrami, and cheese steak. Probably the best one was the sausage. There are fries that are on the sandwich that were pretty good though. it was like a bar-like atmosphere and the service was hurried. Primanti Bros. would not be a first choice when eating out in Pittsburgh.

Now besides restaurants, one ethnic market really stood out to me. It is Reyna Foods which is a Mexican grocery market. They had so many products that cannot be found  many other places like Mexican chorizo (not to be confused with Spanish chorizo), wide variety of Mexican chocolate, many Mexican spices, Mexican bottled drinks, homemade tortillas, and more. Reyna Foods had some really great things and I wish a store like Reyna Foods was more local and closer to New York.

And that is all the food experiences jammed into a two day weekend in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (which also includes Lidia's Italy Pittsburgh from the last post). Pittsburgh has a lot of good food and I hope if any of you foodies are going to Pittsburgh that you'll find this useful. Please feel free to leave comments and check back for some foodie events in New York City and Long Island.

-Mike

Foodie Finders NYC on the road to Pittsburgh: Review of Lidia's Italy Pittsburgh

Hi again foodies! Yesterday, the Foodie Finders NYC crew and I have been on the road heading up to Pittsburgh for a short food trip. I am really excited for Foodie Finders NYC's first out of New York food field trip. We got in fairly late, just a little bit before our reservations at Lidia's Italy Pittsburgh. Lidia's Italy Pittsburgh is owned by Lidia Bastianich. Lidia is one of the best in the food industry and her restaurants are always delicious and after tonight that theory stays. Here is my review on Lidia's Italy Pittsburgh.

Lidia's Italy Pittsburgh                   1400 Smallman St., Pitttsburgh, PA, 15222

Beautiful. In every category, Lidia's Italy Pittsburgh is absolutely beautiful. The decor and layout is very modern and beautiful. The service is very good. And most important of all the food is beautiful. Everything is delicious. The bread that they serve is still warm when it hits the table and comes with two scrumptious bean spreads. One was with olives and the other was with basil. For the main course they had a pasta trio (just like Becco, also owned by Lidia Bastianich) which was very good. Another pasta dish on the menu but not a part of the pasta trio which is delicious is the gnocchi with a duck ragu. One more scrumptious dish is pan seared calamari. it had a lot of flavor and was very good. For dessert everything was so good. The donuts with nutella cream are the best donuts I have ever eaten. The chocolate torta is good with a very interesting texture and flavor. The pear crustada was also very good. When you are in town Lidia's Italy Pittsburgh is the place to go.

So that is my first day in Pittsburgh. Check back tomorrow to see my reviews of all the food I ate in my second day of Pittsburgh. I hope when you foodies are in Pittsburgh you get to eat at Lidia's Italy Pittsburgh, it really is an unforgettable meal.

New Events from January to March 2011

Welcome back foodies! Finally the new events are here for the January, February and March calendar. As always when I have more events I will be adding it to Foodie Finders NYC calendar in future posts. A lot of these events take place at Eataly's La Scuola. As you may remember from previous blogs, La Scuola is run by Lidia Bastianich. I hope you enjoy them all.

New York, NY – Flatiron           (Eataly – 200 5^th Ave.)

Watch and meet the executive chef at Manzo, Michael Toscano

Michael will prepare:

Carne Cruda al Coltello with Raw Mushrooms & Truffle Bruschetta, Agnolotti del Plin with Brown Butter & Parmigiano, Veal Smoked in Hay with Gigante Beans & Speck

Cooking Demo

Date & Time:

1/ 17/ 2011
Starts at – 6:30 – 8:00 P.M

Demo Price: $110

Contact: 212-229-2560

*Sorry, this event is currently full.  To join the waitlist please email LaScuola@eataly.com. 

For more information visit:

http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=918659

New York, NY – Flatiron           (Eataly – 200 5^th Ave.)

Watch and meet the executive chef at Del Posto, Mark Ladner

Mark will prepare a seasonal antipasto, primo and secondo

Cooking Demo

Date & Time:

1/ 19/ 2011
Starts at – 6:30 – 8:00 P.M

Demo Price: $125

Contact: 212-229-2560

*Sorry, this event is currently full.  To join the waitlist please email LaScuola@eataly.com. 

For more information visit: http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=919019

Long Island, NY – Manhasset   (Sur La Table - 1468 Northern Boulevard)

CHILDREN cooking class and signing - What's New Cupcake? - Valentine Edition

Class format:

Hands-On 

Price:

$80.00 

Date:

2/ 5/2011

Time:

1:00 PM 

Restrictions:

Must be Ages 8 -15 (Drop off)

To sign up click here:

http://cookingclasses.surlatable.com/browse/classDetailPage1.jsp?classId=756098

Instructor: Karen Tack 

New York, NY – Flatiron           (Eataly – 200 5^th Ave.)

Watch and meet the executive chef at Esca, David Pasternack

David’s dishes that he is preparing have not been specified but they will be a few recipes his book, The Young Man and the Sea: Recipes and Crispy Fish Tales from Esca.

Cooking Demo

Date & Time:

2/ 10/ 2011
Starts at – 6:30 – 8:00 P.M

Demo Price: $175

Contact: 212-229-2560

 To sign up click here:

http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=921431

Long Island, NY – Manhasset    (Sur La Table - 1468 Northern Boulevard)

Cooking class and signing - What's New Cupcake? - Valentine Edition

Class format:

Hands-On 

Price:

$80.00 

Date:

2/ 11/2011 

Time:

1:00 PM 

Restrictions:

Must be Ages 16 or Older

To sign up click here:

http://cookingclasses.surlatable.com/browse/classDetailPage1.jsp?classId=756098

Instructor: Karen Tack 

 New York, NY – Flatiron           (Eataly – 200 5^th Ave.)

Watch and meet NYC restaurant owner and PBS host, Lidia Bastianich

Lidia will prepare

Raw and Cooked Salad, Shepherd's Rigatoni
Seared Lamb Chops "Scotta Ditto", Swisschard and Potatoes

Cooking Demo

Date & Time:

2/ 18/ 2011
Starts at – 2:30 – 4:00 P.M

Demo Price: $275

Contact: 212-229-2560

*Sorry, this event is currently full.  To join the waitlist please email LaScuola@eataly.com. 

For more information visit:

http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=919071

New York, NY – Flatiron           (Eataly – 200 5^th Ave.)

Watch and meet NYC restaurant owner and PBS host, Lidia Bastianich

Lidia will prepare

Raw and Cooked Salad, Shepherd's Rigatoni
Seared Lamb Chops "Scotta Ditto", Swisschard and Potatoes

Cooking Demo

Date & Time:

2/ 18/ 2011
Starts at – 6:00 – 7:30 P.M

Demo Price: $275

Contact: 212-229-2560

*Sorry, this event is currently full.  To join the waitlist please email LaScuola@eataly.com. 

For more information visit:

http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=919084 

New York, NY – Flatiron           (Eataly – 200 5^th Ave.)

Watch and meet the executive chef at Manzo, Brooks Headley

Brooks will prepare:

Three signature desserts.

Cooking Demo

Date & Time:

2/ 23/ 2011
Starts at – 6:30 – 8:00 P.M

Demo Price: $125

Contact: 212-229-2560

 To sign up click here:

http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=919022

New York, NY – Flatiron           (Eataly – 200 5^th Ave.)

Watch and meet the executive chef at Manzo, Michael Toscano

Michael will prepare:

Carne Cruda al Coltello with Raw Mushrooms & Truffle Bruschetta, Agnolotti del Plin with Brown Butter & Parmigiano, Veal Smoked in Hay with Gigante Beans & Speck

Cooking Demo

Date & Time:

2/ 28/ 2011
Starts at – 6:30 – 8:00 P.M

Demo Price: $110

Contact: 212-229-2560

To sign up click here: http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=918666

New York, NY – Flatiron           (Eataly – 200 5^th Ave.)

Watch and meet NYC restaurant owner and PBS host, Lidia Bastianich

Lidia will prepare

Spaghetti Pesto Anna, Steamed Swordfish Bagnara, Zucchini with anchovies and capers, Pinoli Cookies

Cooking Demo

Date & Time:

3/ 23/ 2011
Starts at – 2:30 – 4:00 P.M

Demo Price: $275

Contact: 212-229-2560

*Sorry, this event is currently full.  To join the waitlist please email LaScuola@eataly.com. 

For more information visit:

http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=919085

New York, NY – Flatiron           (Eataly – 200 5^th Ave.)

Watch and meet NYC restaurant owner and PBS host, Lidia Bastianich

Lidia will prepare

Spaghetti Pesto Anna, Steamed Swordfish Bagnara, Zucchini with anchovies and capers, Pinoli Cookies

Cooking Demo

Date & Time:

3/ 23/ 2011
Starts at – 6:00 – 7:30 P.M

Demo Price: $275

Contact: 212-229-2560

*Sorry, this event is currently full.  To join the waitlist please email LaScuola@eataly.com. 

For more information visit:

http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=919086


Those are all the events but they will always be updated so check back to Foodie Finders NYC for more events and some other exciting things. Always feel free to leave a comment as well.

-Mike