The Girl From Ipanema

Well I am OFF.

A trip that has been planned for about 11 months (Airlines Miles how I heart thee!!). Before the Olympics and World Cup make it like totally popular. (because no one has heard of Rio before this??)

Mr. Broad and I are taking our foodie adventure skills to BRAZIL.

So have no fear. I'll be back. In November. Enjoy Halloween, The New York City Marathon, Day Light Savings and all those other things that happen the last two weeks in November.

Things I'm excited about in Brazil:

The dolphins in Fernando De Noronha

The sand dune beaches in Jericoacoaro. Here is their main website which took forever to load.

And RIO. We are going to this RIO. NOT this Rio. HAVE you seen City of God? Whoa.

Along the way I'm SURE we'll have plenty of pictures of food. Brazilian steakhouses, Brazilian nuts, and drinking from one of those coconuts. Yes. Definitely a coconut or two.

And on that note. While I have been signing my new/old favorite Barry Manilow classic in honor of the Rio beaches.

I found this I'd leave you with:




Or you can compare it to the original.

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Pictures of the boring turkey sandwich. Or Lunch.

B Bar and Grill

40 E 4th Street

Because the neighborhood Cosi is getting overrun as NYU's dining hall. And sometimes you want (if you can) to have an actual sit down lunch; Nikki and I went to B Bar.

Note; this lunch is over 2 different visits. Which means more pictures! And it was good. It's just a boring post. I promise.

Homemade Guacamole and Chips

It wasn't exactly your mexican place but had a wide variety of familiar cuisines. Including the familiar guac and chips. And plus guac is really like American food now isn't it? It was a nice quality serving of both chips and guac; and well I specifically liked that they had spread the guac spread throughout the layers of the chips.

Calamari Salad

The calamari was a bit too greasy and crunchy for my liking. But it was a "salad"...Uh, I guess?

Squash and Zucchini Sandwich with Red Pepper Cream cheese

Exactly like it sounds. A large sandwich that doesn't exactly look so pretty on the inside... but interesting flavors that makes up for a nice sandwich.

And the inside.

Why am I obsessed with taking pics of the inside of sandwiches? It's so not pretty.

Prosciutto and Mozzarella Panini

Nikki ordered this one; she said it was easy to eat and "not as rubbery" as some prosciutto.

Roast Turkey Club

Kind of your typical club sandwich. Large, and filling for a lunch.

Review:

B Bar is a good run of the mill lunch place. Pretty average with a very nice outdoor eating area. Ya know with atmosphere and stuff. Pretty affordable if you are getting a sandwich or salad (around the $10-12 range). But overall, just nice to get a sit down lunch. When you can sit down for lunch.

Rating: 6.5

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Don't go all Jason and the Argonauts on me now...

It was date night. Yes, kinda similar to how Mr. Broad and I go out to dinner normally but this way we classify it "date night" so it justifies it to us if we want to go somewhere nicer or have an extra glass of wine or three ... ya know, it's okay.

Greek?! But I don't know if I'm in the mood for Greek
What exactly is a Greek mood?
I don't know how but I eventually convinced Mr. Broad to go this route.

Okay. Secret: I've been to this restaurant before a couple years back and had a fab meal.

Snack Taverna
63 Bedford Street

Mr. Broad and I perused the Greek wine list as if we spoke the language and blah blah blah, Aphrodite, Hercules and George Stephanopoulos.
Except for Medusa. She sucks. Worst Greek character ever.

Sauteed Calamari Gigantes Garlic Lemon and Cilantro
Gigantes are beans. Like really large beans. Hence the name. And they rock.
The calamari was awesome too- not fried- but absorbed the sauce. Not sure if this was really authentic "Greek" but we enjoyed it. My complaint. The size. The gigante beans really made the bowl feel that much smaller.
And the lemon.




Striped Sea Bass over a Bed of Tomatoes and Asian eggplant.
I went for the special. Holy large portion. Okay. This made up for the calamari. And the fish, left with the skin on that you eat, had reminded me of the fresh variety we had while in Thailand.
And the eggplant and tomatoes. Quality and seasonal.



And a close up look to the veggies.




Oven Roasted Leg of Lamb - with Tomatoes, Roasted Garlic, Olives, Rosemary and Zucchini Fritter
The lamb was nice and tender. Mr. Broad commented it was lukewarm instead of hot. I tasted the rosemary throughout but I think the temperature really threw Mr. Broad for a loop. The zucchini fritters were good, crunchy and if I do say so had more fillings than an Applebee's crab cake (If they were to serve crab cakes of course).

Review
Snack Taverna wasn't as good as I may have remembered it the first time around. A good meal for sure but I don't know maybe I'm a bit tainted now cause we live in New York and I have a lot more restaurants in context. Yes, confession: I've become more of a snob. Oh what am I talking about, I'd still go back. But plenty of other places to try a second time around before that... And for our next Greek splurge; I think we'll stick to our neighborhood of Astoria. A bit more authentic for all things spanikopita and feta.

Rating: 7

Okay! So tell me! Who's your favorite Greek character? Ancient or modern?
Nia Vardalos anyone?

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Moving to Park Slope? And Sad Burgers...

Thanks everyone for the recommendations! And sorry for the delay!

I've been working on some BIG stuff for the blog. BIG! HUGE! And finding World Peace and stuff!

Pretty much ever since moving to NYC, you realize people are OBSESSED with where to live next. No matter how much they may like current digs; you're looking for your next deal, more cabinet and a washer/dryer IN your unit. Aah, well one could wish.

And because Mr. Broad read up about Park Slope of the tree-lined streets and the Brownstones giving it the Cosby Show feel...

Well, it was time to check out the Park Slope for our possible next move.

Sidecar

560 5th Avenue

Yeah I realize that reviewing one restaurant shouldn't dictate whether or not we move to an area... But work with me here. A large open restaurant with an open kitchen; it had a warm feel to it. But perhaps from eating at too many restaurants in Manhattan, may I add they really could have utilized more table space. About 8 tables total?? Is this what Park Slope is like!? Just lots of open space and no tables squeezed in??

We get a table and place our order right away.

Bean Dip with tortilla chips and bacon

Mr. Broad asked the waitress if we should get the dip with bacon. Really?? Like there was any question? Mr. Broad suffering from a pretty bad cold and lack of smell, couldn't taste much of the dip. However after discussing, I couldn't really taste much of it either. The bacon really overpowered the dip and the bean portion while creamy in texture. Bland.

I went for a basic Cheeseburger. (Cheddar- the only way to go)

A good value at $10 (included fries)... but don't be fooled by the picture. The bun is not fully on top of the burger creating the illusion that it was much larger than it was. In actuality, it was a burger that looked like it got manhandled too many times into a thin pounding of meat.

And medium rare? I think not.

Even the burger looks like it's frowning.

Bahn - De

Classic Vietnamese sandwich with marinated grilled pork chops with pate, carrots, cucumbers, cilantro, and mayo on baguette.

Quite possibly the largest sandwich we've ever seen; it trumped my burger-- both in taste and size. Lot of flavors going on here which was perfect because half of this was coming home for lunch the next day.

Review:

Mr. Broad and I talked about Park Slope. Did we like what we saw? Eh. We stood on the platform not thoroughly impressed -- mainly with the restaurant.

Rating: 5 (Mr. Broad re-read my post after first thinking it was a '6' but saw the sad burger proclaimed it a 4)

And then in a fury to text a friend about Park Slope, I grabbed my second true love out of my purse. Scramble, Fiddle...

Dropped it.

Park Slope. Fail.

And now. That's how I feel about Park Slope.

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