Nuela

Excellent South-American food.  I know, rather generic classification of food over a large continent: but it's how they describe themselves.  A heart-of-palm salad was great; the oxtail empanadas acceptable, but not so special.  The ceviche was excellent: we had tuna with a mildly spicy coconut sauce.  The salmon entree was good, but not as good as the ceviche.  We finished with a passion-fruit curd topped with a coconut sauce.  All in all, an excellent meal.

Tao

We had lunch at this fancy Asian-fusion restaurant.  Peking-duck spring rolls, yum!  Truly excellent food: expensive, but not overly so (although I would not go very frequently: I'm still pretty cheap when it comes to food).   Worth an occasional splurge, though.  And the restaurant itself is spectacular: we were seated on the second floor with a view overlooking the giant Buddha statue.

Sage Bistro

Sage Bistro is a fancy little restaurant near where we live.  I took the day off and had a nice lunch there: the food was elegantly served, and pretty substantial fare: I had a crepe with shrimp, cheese, and artichokes.  Yummy, if not particularly inexpensive.

Ben's Kosher Deli

Lots of take-out food today.  We had a power outage, so we gave up on the idea of cooking dinner and instead went to this nearby deli.  Excellent food, although the salami sandwich was heavily meat-laden.

Wild Fig

We tried this Middle-Eastern restaurant in Syosset for lunch; the food was pretty good!  Definitely less expensive than Manhattan too.  We shared a couple of salads and entrees.

Trader Joe's hits Chelsea

Saw this sign up yesterday morning!  Too bad we won't be living in Chelsea very soon...

Eleven Madison Park

To celebrate our anniversary, and the beginning of our new lives on Long Island, we went to Eleven Madison Park.  Magnificent food, with a lovely ambience.  If I get in the mood (which I probably won't), I'll recap the menu.  Suffice it to say that it's probably the best restaurant we've been to in NYC.  No more fancy restaurants until Penelope gets much older, probably!

Ottimo closed

Another restaurant bites the dust.  It wasn't cheap, but the food was very good.  And it was close to our apartment.

No 7 Sub Shop

This Manhattan outpost of a Brooklyn restaurant is a pure takeout sandwich shop.  And what sandwiches!  We had a tuna sandwich (the phrase "tuna sandwich" hardly does justice to it), a veggie sandwich (different kinds of tomatoes, mostly), and a lamb sandwich.  All very delicious!

The Breslin

We had brunch at this apparently hip restaurant next to the Ace Hotel. Very conservative decor, and a simple brunch menu: I found the food to be very good (despite what a bunch of online reviews say). No wait at 9:30am, either! Not cheap, but not expensive by NYC standards. I had the lemon and ricotta pancakes with candied orange syrup, which were delightful.

Pasita

We went with our friends Frank and Jinyang to this little hole-in-the-wall tapas place. Not a huge selection of tapas, but not bad nonetheless; and the pizza was quite good. Prices were reasonable, although not that cheap. Recommended if you're looking for decent food (but not high-end).

SD26

We went to this relatively high-end Italian restaurant north of Madison Square Park. Nice ambience (and not too noisy, as we were there on the early side). We ordered several "half-sized" entries, which was not cheap, but gave us a chance to sample their cooking. The food was lovely, and not overly salty like some restaurants we've eaten at lately. The octopus was really tender, and the squab was delicious.

The End of Overeating

This book by David Kessler, who was commissioner of the FDA, talks about the research showing that the combination of sugar, fat, and salt can be considered addictive to many people. Well worth reading.

Kathi Roll

Kathi rolls (or kati rolls, I can't tell what the right spelling is from the various restaurant names) are basically Indian burritos. Yummy, and relatively cheap too!

Trader Joe's

Wow, a Trader Joe's within a few blocks of our apartment: that would be outrageously wonderful!

Nisos

Had dinner at this Greek restaurant. Good food (and good-sized portions) at a very reasonable price. Highly recommended; I'd like to go back when it's not after a long work day; as it was, we were both very tired and didn't quite enjoy it as much as we should have.

El Vez

An oddly decorated Mexican "diner" (at least in the decorative style) with great Mexican food! I really wanted to try their guacamole (they had seven! different kinds), but I wasn't hungry enough. I thought the tacos would be less of a meal, but I was still stuffed afterwards. And this restaurant is right across from Capogiro Gelateria: what more could one want?

Tinto

Dinner at Tinto was quite a treat. Their tapas was excellent, and like everything in Philadelphia, the price was much more affordable than Manhattan!

Capogiro Gelateria

We spent a weekend in Philadelphia, and the highlight of the trip (for me, at least) was this wonderfully delicious gelato store. It was incredibly good gelato: probably the best I've had in the US.

Periyali

We had dinner (during Restaurant Week) at Periyali, this upscale Greek restaurant. Overall, very good food. We're not sure if we loved it, though, so it gets a "thumbs-up".