Great burger in NYC? Two words. Umami Burger

Tags

BBQ, Burgers, NYC, Umami, Umami Burger

The last time I was in NYC I was on a business trip. After working a tradeshow I hooked up with a colleague (Hi Mike!) to grab a bite to eat. Mike is a New Yorker, he likes to eat, and he knows I love good food. His suggestion – Umami Burger.

Umami Burger is an American restaurant chain that specializes in serving burgers. Their burgers are infused with secret ingredients with umami properties, a flavor that falls outside of the traditionally accepted tastes of salty, sweet, bitter and sour. The restaurant chain was founded by Adam Fleishman. The first location opened in LA in 2009 and since then Umami Burgers have branches in California, Florida and NYC.

Burger stamped with a “U”

What a cool place. When Umami Burger first opened in NYC in July 2013, people were waiting up to 3 hours just to get a seat, now the wait is around 45 minutes and TOTALLY worth it. It is a simple menu made up of, fries, fried pickles, burgers and beers.

I ordered the Truffle Burger –  (truffle glaze, truffle cheese, and a slather of roasted-garlic aioli)…OMG It was DELISH. The meat is freshly ground Wagyu beef formed into loose six-ounce patties, then sandwiched into brioche-like buns branded with the letter “U.” Upon ordering they ask if I would like my burger cooked medium rare. For those of you who know me, I eat my steak blue…but a burger I need it well done. I just cannot eat a blood red burger patty. Cooked well, the burger patty was still juicy.

Sauces, Fries and Pickles

The truffle fries (something I had never seen before) are pretty tasty, as are the fried pickles. They offer up 4 different types of sauces to go with them too. What goes better with a burger? A Beer or two. They offer a large selection of craft beers. The prices are very reasonable at Umami Burger. Burgers range from ($11-$15 dollars). For us, 2 burgers, 3 beers and 2 appetizers came to 76$.

I can’t wait to get back to NYC just to eat at Umami Burger. Awesome burgers.

---

I am a girl who loves food. I grew up with a Mom who was an excellent cook. She wrote a cookbook when I was a child, and as they say, the rest is history. Started a catering business in 2005 and haven’t looked back. I am a mom to 2 beautiful girls and I want them to love food as much as I do. In the meantime, I love life and love my job @ http://www.monicaskitchen.com

 

Advertisement

Carbone NYC – Review

Tags

Carbone, food, NYC

Being a foodie, and taking a trip to NYC involved a lot of research. I knew there were a few places I just had to eat at, and Carbone was one of them. A reservation was tough to get, I called about 8 weeks ahead of time and got a 5:45 pm seating on a sunny Saturday evening in August.

Carbone is located in Greenwich Village. A gorgeous area of beautiful homes and small boutique shops and restaurants. Carbone is an Italian-American restaurant created by Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi and Jeff Zalaznick. The restaurant pays homage to the essence of the great Italian-American restaurants of mid-20th century in New York, where delicious, exceptionally well-prepared food was served in settings that were simultaneously elegant, comfortable and unpretentious.

When you walk into Carbone’s it is like walking back in time.. or at least onto a Godfather movie set. It has a funky old school vibe. We also happened to be sitting 2 tables down from Jason Biggs of American Pie fame, so we are pretty cool. 🙂

This guy was actually our waiter.

The food. Bring your wallet and then bring someone else’s wallet. The food is amazing, don’t get me wrong, but the bill could give you indigestion.

Half eaten bread basket.

They start you off with a delicious bread basket, a huge chunk of Parmesan cheese drizzled with honey and pickled veggies. The menu is full of wonderful items like pastas, veal dishes, seafood, but no prices. For an appetizer we had oysters on the half shell. Tasty. Then my husband had a steak (he ate it so fast I could barely take a picture of it) and I had the lobster special.

Lobster special you ask? It was a 2 pound… yes a 2 POUND lobster stuffed with poblano chili’s, corn and basil. It was amazing, it also cost 89$.

At the end of the meal they offer you either limoncello or grappa.. both are like drinking gasoline IMO. The experience was fun. The food was delish. Would I go back? Yes of course.. after I rob a bank win the lottery. Dinner for 2, 2 drinks each, shared appetizer, and two meals cost $367.

All in all it was an experience. I had fun 🙂

 

---

I am a girl who loves food. I grew up with a Mom who was an excellent cook. She wrote a cookbook when I was a child, and as they say, the rest is history. Started a catering business in 2005 and haven’t looked back. I am a mom to 2 beautiful girls and I want them to love food as much as I do. In the meantime, I love life and love my job @ www.monicaskitchen.com

Meeting the one and only Chef Elizabeth Falkner @ Corvo Bianco in NYC

Tags

Chef Elizabeth Falkner, Corvo Bianco, food, NYC

I really wish I had a better picture of the 2 of us, but beggars can’t be choosers. Maybe if my photographer had less beer, it would have been a better picture. 🙂

My dream come true. Meeting Chef Elizabeth Falkner 🙂

2013 was a great year. I celebrated my 10^th wedding anniversary with a trip to NYC and I met a chef I worship, Chef Elizabeth Falkner. When in NYC I searched out Chef Falkner’s latest endeavor called Corvo Bianco.

She relocated from San Fran to come to NYC. Corvo Bianco is a little gem on the Upper West Side, it was once the Upper West Side’s iconic Endicott Hotel lobby, and she is serving up plates of food that are both ambitious and comforting, and a delicious taste of the coast of Italy.

For those of you who are not familiar with Elizabeth Falkner, where do you live Mars? Not but seriously she is an über talented chef that has competed on The Next Iron Chef, Top Chef, Chopped All Stars just to name a few.

When we arrived to check in for our reservation, Chef Faulkner was standing at the front podium. I was speechless…I am such a huge fan I was start struck. While we were being seated my husband chatted with Chef Faulkner about how big of a fan I was. What a great guy eh? The end result was a meet and greet with her after dinner (I talk about that more later) and a few appetizers that were “compliments of the chef”

The food was awesome. The olives were amazing, the oil was scented with orange and chili, the arancini trio was delish as was the assorted salumi (salamis).  An off the menu item we ate was the veal meatball sliders served on choux pastry. I highly recommend the pizzetta (mini pizzas) simple, tasty and with such a great chew to the dough. For dinner I had the scallops and Joel ordered the steak. The scallops were unique with chunks of grilled cantaloupe on the plate. I never would have put the two together but it was amazing. By the time we ate our way through the menu we really didn’t have any room left for dessert… but… when in a pastry chef’s restaurant one must order dessert.

We ordered the tartuffo.

Mind Blowing dessert

I honestly will dream about this dessert for years…it was incredible. It is not ice cream but chocolate mousse topped with chocolate ganache, cookie and Malden salt crumble, hazelnuts from Italy and fennel fronds. Are you kidding me? One bite and I was hooked. I cannot even put into words how good it was except to say that the 500$ flight to NYC from Ottawa justifies eating this dessert again.

Eating at Corvo Bianco was very reasonable as well. Dinner for 2 including wine and beer, appetizers, mains and dessert cost 150$. I consider that a steal in NYC.

Chef Falkner is a culinary genius, so talented and so incredibly kind. She took the time to meet me, grab a picture and talk to me about cooking. She is an amazing person inside and out. I cannot wait to eat here again. Chef Falkner you made my day and I will never forget it.

---

 

I am a girl who loves food. I grew up with a Mom who was an excellent cook. She wrote a cookbook when I was a child, and as they say, the rest is history. Started a catering business in 2005 and haven’t looked back. I am a mom to 2 beautiful girls and I want them to love food as much as I do. In the meantime, I love life and love my job @ www.monicaskitchen.com