Bonnie from BiteoftheBest.com

About Bonnie Tandy Leblang

Blogger Bonnie Tandy Leblang has been covering food since before it was hip to do so! She’s penned magazine, newspaper and syndicated food columns in addition to cookbooks. Follow her on twitter @BonnieBOTB and on Instagram@BiteoftheBest and at @BonnieBOTB "I eat for a living!” is her mantra, sharing what she’s sampled so you’ll know where (or where not) to go, plus what food products and gadgets to try. For her full bio go to the about us page.
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The Opening of Joomak in Maison Hudson, West Village, NYC

The friend of my friend's son invited us to the friends and family opening of the 27-seat restaurant upstairs in the luxury hotel Maison Hudson, his company's—16” on Center—newest restaurant in the West Village. The official opening date was January 29th.  Weather permitting, additional seating will be available in their outdoor dining area. We were treated to the cooking of  Jiho Kim, who hails from seven years at The Modern as Executive Pastry Chef and whose first iteration, Joomak Banjum, received a Michelin star. In Joomak, Kim offers a New American cuisine with Korean influence. His experience as a pastry chef comes through in the detailed presentation of each course. [...]

By |2025-01-27T10:30:16-05:00February 22nd, 2025|Big Apple Life, NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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Restaurant Week Lunch at Four Twenty Five, Midtown, NYC

One of my friends always likes to sample high-end restaurants during Restaurant Week. Smart lady. That's why the three of us ended at Jean-Georges's newest midtown restaurant Four Twenty Five that opened about a year ago. Like all Jean-Georges' locales, it didn't disappoint, starting with the flavorful amuse bouche of a chickpea cake topped with miso mixed with hummus and topped with yuzu. A burst of flavor. We each chose the delicious restaurant meal lunch for $60, all three of us starting with the Butternut Squash Soup with caramelized squash, the unusual kohlrabi sauerkraut and pumpkin seed tapenade, giving it more texture. I ordered the pan-roasted hake with a jalapeño-hakurei [...]

By |2025-01-24T12:24:40-05:00February 20th, 2025|Big Apple Life, NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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Alison Restaurant, East Harlem, NYC + Museum of City of New York

After our amazing tour at the Museum of City of New York with our ex.expats of New York group, seeing the "New York at its core —400 Years of NYC History" amazing exhibit brought to life by our engaging tour guide Gabe Tennen, we headed in the neighborhood to lunch. With twenty of us hitting Alison, a small neighborhood restaurant on Lex and 104, at one time, their service — obviously — was off.  Slow, but pleasant. We sampled lots from their lunch menu, include sandwiches ($18 grilled chicken and grilled salmon), a faro bowl with kale, roasted cauliflower, feta, pickled onions & avocado ($18), huevos rancheros with a fried tostada, [...]

By |2025-01-24T12:17:46-05:00February 18th, 2025|Big Apple Life, NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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Tarallucci e Vino, Union Square, NYC

It was my first time at Tarallucci e Vino for lunch. I've been for happy hour and dinner a few times, but not midday, when I met a friend. We were both doing dry January, so our beverage of choice was Pellegrino ($9). We asked that our dishes be served as courses, beginning with the octopus ($28), which had shrunk since I last enjoyed the cephalopod at Tarralluci e Vino. Talk about shrinkage. This time, we got one charred tentacle with roasted potatoes and the most delicious salad of paper-thin fennel and sliced green olives over arugula. About a year ago, I had twice the octopus and much fewer potatoes [...]

By |2025-01-24T12:16:28-05:00February 16th, 2025|Big Apple Life, NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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Visits to Monkeypod, Ko Alani, Oahu, Hawai’i

We headed off property to Monkeypod Kitchen by Merriman for better food. We liked Ko Olina Beach Club, but not their food offerings. When I lived in Waikiki in the 60s, this area didn't exist. The current area includes The Four Seasons, Aulani-A Disney Resort & Spa and more!  It's lush, with lots of swimming/snorkeling options and the beaches are not crowded as they are in Waikiki. I recommend. As for Monkeypod, the staff knew us after our first visit with the bartender, recalling the virgin cocktail he had made for my 10-year-old grandson; he made it again. The food here is fresh and recommendable; the staff is friendly. We [...]

By |2025-01-22T10:16:32-05:00February 14th, 2025|USA Restaurants, USA Travel|0 Comments
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New Coffee Service at Holiday Cocktail Lounge, East Village, NYC

A group of Dames — members of Les Dames d'Escoffier New York (LDNY — met at Holiday Cocktail Lounge to sample their new coffee offerings, introduced late last fall starting at 8 am daily. The service includes coffee, espresso beverages with coffee from local Superlost Coffee, tea, and juice. We all wanted to support LDNY's President, Barbara Sibley, who is Creative Director of Holiday and  Chef/Owner of  La Palapa Restaurant Group. La Palapa, her authentic Mexican restaurant is right next door.  Also available are freshly made pastries, breakfast items, and sandwiches. While there, we sampled plain and chocolate croissants, lemon squares, large pretzels and pasteis de nata — the Portuguese [...]

By |2025-01-22T14:34:51-05:00February 12th, 2025|Big Apple Life, NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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Unique Coffee Shop: Ariston Flowers & Cafe, Chelsea, NYC

Need a place to meet for coffee?  My current favorite is Ariston Flower's & Cafe where the aroma of coffee mingles with flowers as you walk through the flower shop to the cafe in the rear. In addition to the Devocion farm-fresh specialty Colombian coffee selections, Ariston Flowers & Cafe offers pastries, sandwiches, salads and other breakfast offerings. On my last visit, my friend enjoyed their egg & bacon on a brioche roll ($9.50) and coffee while we sat and yakked while sitting in the aromatic location. I highly recommend this coffee shop Ariston Flowers & Cafe Union Square 78 5th Avenue New York, NY 10011 646-759-1963 aristonflowers.com

By |2025-02-08T13:25:41-05:00February 10th, 2025|Big Apple Life, City Bites, NYC Best Bites, NYC Restaurant Reviews|1 Comment
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Brunch at Mark’s Off Madison, Gramercy-Flatiron, NYC

We met at Mark's Off Madison for brunch to celebrate a friend's birthday. The restaurant is from New York native Mark Strausman, of Freds at Barney's New York pre-pandemic. Mark's is quintessentially New York, serving traditional Jewish foods of Mark's upbringing. Portions are enormous. Service is attentive. You will need a reservation as it's always packed. Order the appetizing. It's the Jewish word for the foods you eat with a bagel—at least according to Russ & Daughters, one of the last remaining appetizing shops in the world. Four of us shared their huge Straissie's smoked fish platter ($38) with house-cured lox, nova, sable and whitefish salad garnished with a tomato [...]

By |2025-01-21T15:02:08-05:00February 8th, 2025|Big Apple Life, NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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***Happy Hour at The Standard Grill + City Winery

Before heading to City Winery for the Joel Chasnoff show, we stopped in at The Standard for their incredible happy hour offerings. We nibbled popcorn ($5) and fries ($5) along with our drinks of French Seventy-Five ($9) of vodka (replacing the classic gin) citrus oleo, lemon and topped with champagne and a spiced plum spritz ($9) with honeysuckle vodka, plum liqueur, hibiscus tea lemon vermouth, wormwood and bubbles. After our snacks, we sampled their hearty portions of sliced steak with fries ($25), king salmon with vegetables and grilled chicken paillard ($15). We three concluded that upon return, we'd each order the chicken. Off we went for lots of laughs at [...]

By |2025-02-08T13:54:11-05:00February 8th, 2025|Happy Hours, NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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A Return to the Vegetable-Focused Dirt Candy, Lower East Side, NYC

After our cocktail at Tigre, we continued our birthday celebration at Amanda Cohen's love affair with veggies at Dirt Candy, a few blocks away. They offer only a tasting menu ($110) per person with an optional wine pairing ($55), which we also did. Our thank you for coming, served in a special tin containing seaweed caviar with crème fraîche, avocado and cucumber. The meal continued through many courses including the mushroom one with mushroom croissant with portobello mushroom mousse pears, plums and micro-thyme with a mushroom cappuccino with the plate decorated with cherry, peach and ginger puree. Incredible dish from the puree dots to the soup. We also liked Dirt [...]

By |2025-01-24T14:59:18-05:00February 6th, 2025|Big Apple Life, NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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Speakeasy: Tigre, Lower East Side, NYC

I had narrowed it down to three potential locations to have a drink before taking our friend for her birthday dinner a few blocks away at Dirt Candy. We decided on Tigre, a semi-hidden speakeasy replete with a huge bouncer protecting the graffiti-covered door, as my friend said she had been, and it was a fun place.  The large bouncer asked me where I was looking for Tigre when I seemed confused looking at the numbers on the building and hadn't noticed him yet. He checked my res, mentioned that one of my party had been seated and asked me and others who arrived to wait for the hostess. First [...]

By |2025-01-13T11:26:53-05:00February 4th, 2025|NYC Restaurant Reviews, Speakeasys|0 Comments
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Breathtaking Views at The Peak, Hudson Yards, NYC

The front-of-house staff at Essential by Christophe mentioned that many of them had previously worked at The Peak, the restaurant located on the 101st floor of 30 Hudson Yards, near The Edge observation deck. They shared a not-well-shared fact: if you spend $40 at The Peak—whether in the Lounge or the restaurant—you receive free general admission to The Edge, which typically costs $40! What New Yorker doesn't like a bargain like that?! The best part was that they offered to connect with their friend, the maître d', to assist me in getting a reservation at the Lounge, which boasts stunning views along with cocktails and small bites in lieu of [...]

By |2024-12-27T16:52:43-05:00February 2nd, 2025|NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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**Happy Hour at Sagaponack, Flatiron, NYC

We were interviewing a potential new New York Ex-Expats group member who was meeting a friend at Sagaponack for $1 oysters and bubbly during their happy hour. I was unfamiliar with the restaurant, even though it was in my hood. I had to try it. You might recognize the name as an affluent town in the Hamptons, a fact that came up while playing a trivia game about the Big Apple. I recently met friends there to sample their fare. Love that their I-495 happy hour runs from 11:30 am until 6:30 with a  tagline, "Drink, but don't drive through the I-495!" From those offerings, I partook in a $5 [...]

By |2024-12-27T16:53:01-05:00January 31st, 2025|Big Apple Life, Happy Hours, NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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Dame Gathering at Kyma Hudson Yards, NYC

What happens when you go to dinner with a group of Dames—members of Les Dames d'Escoffier? Someone keeps ordering until there's no room on the table for more food, or someone says, "Basta!" That's what happened recently at Kyma, Hudson Yards. We devoured the pikilia ($35), three traditional spreads and warm pita; saganaki ($19)—pan-seared and flambèd kefalograviera cheese with fig compote and honey; a Kyma stack ($26) of crispy slices of zucchini and eggplant served with tzatziki; crab cake with Brussels slaw and chili aioli; grilled octopus ($23) with roasted peppers, onions, capers, fava bean puree; spanakopita, the traditional spinach and feta pie ($19) and lightly fried calamari ($25) with tomato [...]

By |2024-12-27T16:53:22-05:00January 29th, 2025|NYC Restaurant Reviews|2 Comments
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Raeanne Sarazen

I met the amazing Raeanne Sarazen, a newbie Dame, at the then-annual Les Dames d'Escoffier conference in Phoenix last fall. She—like me—is a registered dietitian. She's also a classically trained chef, food writer, editor and consultant. Her first book, The Complete Recipe Writing Guide: Mastering Recipe Development, Writing, Testing, Nutrition Analysis, and Food Styling, a "one-stop resource for developing, writing and producing recipe content for print, digital and social media platforms," was honored by the International Association of Culinary Professionals with the 2024 book award in the reference & technical category. Having spent most of my life writing recipes, I applaud her book's comprehensive guides. Her book is a master [...]

By |2025-01-27T16:29:09-05:00January 27th, 2025|Big Apple Life, Foodie Interviews, NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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Lunch at Piccola Cucina Uptown, UES, NYC

Silly us ordered a glass - when we should have ordered a bottle of the vibrant acidity Elena Walch, 2023 Pinot Grigio with flavors of green apple, as we each sipped two glass fulls We met for lunch at Piccola Cucina Uptown, a favorite Sicilian restaurant on 60th, to discuss the background of the Legacy Awards, an LDEI program I'm co-chairing. The awards provide targeted mentorship opportunities for professional women in food, beverage and hospitality. My dining partner had co-chaired the program. I inquired about their lunch special and was informed that each starred (*) dish was $18.95 at lunch. We picked two and shared. First, the tender eggplant parmigiana would have been [...]

By |2024-12-20T11:07:24-05:00January 25th, 2025|NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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Chinese Tuxedo, Chinatown, NYC: Third Stop on Doyer Street Crawl

Chinese Tuxedo was our third and last stop on our Chinatown, Doyer Street birthday crawl. We were seated upstairs, which was quieter and overlooked the noisy dining room. The birthday girl started with a glass of Perrier Jouët ($28) while I sipped the Kremstal Gruner ($17).  Since we had enjoyed our apps a few doors away at the dim sum restaurant Nom Wah Tea Parlor, we just ordered two entrees. We split the Cantonese-style tender and delicious half-a-roast duck ($58) and the Johny Fried Rice Char Siu ($28) with shrimp, chunks of pork and scallions. We skipped dessert as we were happily satiated from our three stops on our Chinatown [...]

By |2024-12-16T17:33:18-05:00January 23rd, 2025|Big Apple Life, NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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Nom Wah Tea Parlor, Chinatown, NYC: Stop on Doyer Street Crawl

I arrived early on Doyer Street to meet my friend for our Chinatown birthday crawl. I noticed no line at Nom Wah, Chinatown's first Dim Sum Parlor. Founded in 1920 as a bakery and tea parlor, Nom Wah has been the location of many movies and TV shows, including Reversal of Fortune, Premium Rush, All Good Things and Law and Order.  I planned to have cocktails first at the speakeasy Apotheke, but I changed the order of stops and stood first in line while awaiting my friend to begin our celebration. Once inside the tea parlor, I completed the paper menu, ordering a glass of white wine and two dim sum. I hoped [...]

By |2024-12-20T16:59:31-05:00January 21st, 2025|NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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Speakeasy Apotheke, Chinatown, NYC: Stop on Doyer Street Crawl

Having noticed that the other Apotheke locations take reservations, I had been emailing Emilio, General Manager, about a res when I mentioned I was coming in for a birthday drink with a friend. I asked whether they offered a sparkler in one of their unique cocktails, but he didn't respond. I wondered how he'd handle it, so I didn't email again! He didn't, but Abby, our lovely waitress at — according to Architectural Digest—one of the "Best Speakeasies in the US," did. Their 2020 book, "Apotheke: Modern Medicinal Cocktails" describes the establishment as "the original New York City cocktail apothecary that applies mixology to the world of plant science wellness." [...]

By |2024-12-28T10:49:08-05:00January 19th, 2025|NYC Restaurant Reviews, Speakeasys|0 Comments
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A New Chef at Le Rivage, Theatre District, NYC

Chef de Cuisine David Cámara, a veteran of Vin Sur Vingt, has recently taken over the kitchen of Le Rivage, and I was invited to sample his cuisine. We arrived one December night at a tastefully decorated dining room. From 4 pm to 7:30 pm, Le Rivage offers a three-course prix-fixe dinner ($70) To join in the festivities, we ordered some bubbly. When they served the Pommery POP Extra Dry champagne ($25) in individual splits, I asked for straws, recalling a press event where they had served it that way. Do try it, as the effervescence is more intense. While sipping the sparkling, we devoured the piquillo peppers ($18) stuffed [...]

By |2025-01-17T11:21:33-05:00January 17th, 2025|Big Apple Life, NYC Restaurant Reviews|0 Comments
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