My last trip to New York, I had planned to go to some of my favorite restaurants in the city and document my meals so that I could post them on here. However, early on in my trip, I caught some nasty bug and ended up not eating much of anything for the rest of my time there. Fortunately, I was back in commission this past weekend and was able to capture some delicious plates from a few, great New York City restaurants, and I am so happy to share them with you now!
Our first stop on Saturday was at the Meatball Shop. This was my first experience at this restaurant, and it was a good one. The Meatball Shop is a little, noisy place that easily charms you with their glass milk bottles and mason jar flower arrangements. One fun feature is that they give you expo markers so you can check off what you want on the menu, kind of like the little paper slip you get at sushi restaurants.
As you can imagine, they serve several kinds of meatballs in many different ways. You can have them plain, on a baguette, mashed on a roll, or on top of a salad. You also get to choose from several different sauces to top on your balls. My favorite part is the option to add "Family Jewels" to several of the menu items-- that means adding a fried egg on top. I couldn't resist, so I obviously checked that off on my clever white board menu.
Below was my dish-- the "Everything but the Kitchen Sink Salad." It came with roasted carrots, fennel, beets, arugula, a chick pea salad and meatballs with sauce. It was a very hearty and balanced plate that left me feeling extremely satisfied. I don't normally love fennel or beets, but I liked them a lot in this dish. The fennel tasted as if it had been roasted with sausage or something. Delish! I would recommend this dish to anyone visiting the Meatball Shop along with a root beer float and/or one of their homemade cookie ice cream sandwiches!
For dinner, we went to Lupa's-- a small, quiet Italian restaurant. Here is Lupa's "Bavette & Cacio Pepe." You've got to know that I didn't order this. I am not black pepper's biggest fan. However, the rest of my family loves it, and this was my sister's birthday dinner of choice. I ordered the Spaghetti Pomodoro, which was a little too spicy for my taste, so I found myself dipping more and more into my sister's Cacio Pepe pasta. The noodles were perfectly tender, and the sauce was so simple yet so divine. It was slightly creamy with the perfect amount of bite from the coarsely ground black pepper. Something about it made the pasta melt in my mouth and slide down my throat with the greatest of ease. Even though I normally don't like pepper, I would absolutely order this dish next time I go to Lupa. For antipasti, I would highly recommend their escarole salad, prosciutto, and mozzarella plates. A friend of mine also ordered the Braised Short Ribs. Although the portion size was very small, the short ribs were extremely tender and rich with flavor.
Overall, I had a great dining experience at Lupa and would love to go back soon!
Of course, taking a giant tequila shot before hitting the bar was essential.
Champagne went all around at the Tippler in honor of the birthday girl.
Several hours later, we stopped by Cafeteria before heading home for the night. With my judgement not quite fully intact, this is what I chose to shove in my face... at 3 in the morning... all of it. And it was damn good from what I remember. Homemade potato chips also came with this massive BLT. I don't recall eating those; however, I know for a fact that I left as a member of the clean plate club. Time to solve the mystery of the vanishing potato chips! Just kidding. I'm pretty sure I don't want to know where they really went...
Note to future self: Enjoying several adult beverages before/while attempting to document for my blog is not very efficient. That's all.
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