recent eats

the past few days have been filled with very simple, delicious eats. stomachs finally rumbling out of protest of their emptiness around 9 or 10pm, we look on opentable or yelp for something that piques our interest -- something simple, quick, yummy -- before stumbling outside in search of our appointed meal.

grano trattoria, in the west village. so cute and low-key, complete with outdoor seating and a woodburning oven in the corner from which pizzas bubbling with cheese and tomato sauce emerge.

the pastas are superb -- dare i say better than del posto's. (and a fraction of the cost!)

i had the casarecci pasta with wild boar sausage & mushrooms. DIVINE. the black linguine with calamari was also very good.

tiramisu, which i found to be a bit odd since it was served atop streaks of raspberry sauce, which i'd never seen paired with tiramisu before. i think i would have preferred it with a puddle of coffee like i usually see, but this certainly wasn't bad at all

late dinner at gobo the other night. it's a vegetarian restaurant, which at first scared me, but the food turned out to be really, really good.

the sliced seitan in ginger sauce was insane. i think i'm addicted to the texture now -- rubbery, gluteny (okay that doesn't sound so good but i promise it was) -- served atop kale with a cute seaweed-wrapped pyramid of brown rice.

sweet and sour tofu was also really good, though it could have come with a side of carbs to feel more balanced...

this is why i love having dinner at 10pm. uncrowded dining :)

went to a tibetan restaurant called tsampa. it was my first time ever having tibetan food, and it tasted like a cross between the methods and ingredients of chinese cooking (stir-fries) and the spices of indian cooking. we had the special seat directly under a giant portrait of the dalai lama :)

we had the tsampa roll (a sort of pan-fried spring roll filled with tofu and vegetables, which was incredible), spicy shrimp, and bhutanese chicken.

the pièce de résistance, however, had to be the barley cake. kind of gritty, hearty, sweet, and rustic, topped with vanilla ice cream and cubed peaches. it was insane -- so, so good. truly one of the best desserts i've had in the city this summer. i've been dreaming about it ever since. go just for this if nothing else!

there was also brunch at blue ribbon bakery & cafe, where we had the most amazing eggs benedict (coming from a girl who orders eggs benedict every single time i see them on a menu, this means a lot). the french toast with whipped cream and berries at the next table also looked incredible (though, when does french toast not look incredible?).

we drew out this meal and picked at our food and chatted away for probably close to three hours, because it was raining and we didn't want to venture outside with only our tiny umbrella. delicious food, unrushed atmosphere, enormous windows, and fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice makes for the perfect sunday brunch.