The Hurricane Club

Two weeks ago, I went to the Hurricane Club for a going away party. It was my first time at the restaurant/club/lounge and it was so fun and the drinks were so good that I told Ken we should take our friends there when they came to visit. The restaurant and lounge has a very nice tiki-bar style atmosphere and they serve their drinks in interesting containers (when I went for the first time on Thursday, I saw drinks being served in fruits and peppers!)

We went to Fat Cat when our friends arrived (with four pies from Bleecker Street Pizza) and played ping pong until we were exhausted. We cabbed it back to our apartment and walked to The Hurricane Club, where we decided to share a watermelon drink filled with Nigori sake, raspberries, lemongrass and mango:

We also ordered shots for the table that were presented in limes:

The lime shot had passion fruit juice, lime, and rum (although you couldn’t taste the rum at all). We all really liked the lime shot and decided to order The Hurricane Club’s other shot, which included tequila, muddled peppadew peppers & asian-pepper syrup (none of us were fans of that shot). The drinks are slightly expensive ($50-ish for the watermelon drink and $8 for a shot) but definitely worth it! Also, where can you do this to a watermelon:

We’re probably never allowed back into the club after destroying their watermelon like that but it was a super fun place for happy hour drinks and also a great place for a late night nightcap!

Nuela

Last week, I went with some girlfriends to Nuela, a restaurant located in the Flatiron/Chelsea area because our coworker wasn’t able to make his reservation. We did a tasting of the ceviches for two (for three) with wine flights for each ceviche course. I’d never been to Nuela before this visit but had actually run into another friend on her way to the restaurant a while back – she was there to try their duck paella with her friends and said that it was really good but the portions were way too big for her and her friends! When we arrived, it looked like it was a large space – large enough for a nightclub (which it might have been at one point) but relatively new and spacious.

Since we were doing the ceviche tasting, we didn’t have to worry too much about what we were going to order – the menu had four ceviches listed: market fish with lime and red onion, shrimp and charred octopus with red onion and cilantro, tuna with charred pineapple, miso and summer radishes, and “Chifa” ceviche with peanuts, scallions, thai chili and sesame oil.

We started with bread, bunelos, with marscapone cheese, salt and honey:

The bunelos were fluffy, tasted like they had a hint of cinnamon, and were served warm (I love when bread is served warm!) We were surprised that they were warm but it made sense because the marscapone cheese with honey was actually frozen (not sure if that was intentional). The mix of sweet and salty was a nice way to start the meal.

Our first ceviche was the market fish, which happened to be snapper, mixed with red onion, lime and nuts:

The red snapper tasted very fresh with the acidic touch of lime and red onion. The fish was cut generously and had a smooth, butter-like taste on the tongue. I was surprised with how much lime was used to prepare the fish but I’m a huge fan of lime and citrus with fish, so I definitely wasn’t complaining!

Our next ceviche: shrimp with charred octopus:

The shrimp was actually better than the shrimp I had at Maialino – cooked completely through but it had a great simple flavor and the charred octopus was great.

Our third ceviche was the tuna ceviche with pineapple and summer radishes:

We were surprised with the portions of the ceviche – very generous and definitely enough for three people (as the entire meal, not just appetizers!) The wines also had very generous pours and we definitely had enough for all of us to share. The tuna ceviche wasn’t my favorite, but was done well and I liked the taste of the tuna with the summer radishes (without the pineapple).

Before our last ceviche came, the server brought by Nuela’s version of French fries:

The cuts were very large – it looks like they had taken a large potato, cut it into five pieces, and deep fried it multiple times until the skin was very crunchy but the innards were really fluffy and mashed. Kristen really liked the fries (she loves fries and ice cream and somehow manages to stay svelte!)

Our last ceviche might have been my favorite – another snapper ceviche:

The snapper ceviche had a little sesame oil, chopped peanuts, and chili oil and reminded me of a simple Asian preparation of fish.

We were all full by the end of our meal and enjoyed all of the dishes. Next time, I’d love to go back and try their paella – they served two tables nearby the duck paella while we were there and I was definitely impressed by the amount of food each table received. I definitely want to try the restaurant again – thank you, Stephane, for giving us your reservation!

Maialino

Last week, a coworker asked me at the last minute if I wanted to grab a drink after work. I was heading home to meet Ken at the gym, but decided that I could be a little late and get a quick drink with my friend. We ended up going to Maialino because it’s really close to my apartment and I figured it was technically on my way home, so I couldn’t take that long.

Maialino serves hearty Italian food and has a rustic feel to it – I love the bar area and we were lucky enough to get seats right when we walked in. Since we were sitting down, we decided to grab a bite to eat as well. We started with some delicious bread and olive oil:

I had a workout to go to after drinks so we only ordered appetizers – starting with the fried zucchini with lemon:

The zucchini was cut into thick slices, lightly breaded and deep fried. A simple but delicious treat that made me want to go to the farmer’s market and pick up zucchini to recreate at home (Ken stopped me because I still have peppers and cucumbers in the fridge from my last trip).

We also ordered octopus, shrimp and potatoes with arugula:

The octopus was tender but the shrimp overpowered the dish with its flavor, even with a lemon dressing. Also, the potatoes were also a bit overcooked.

The wine was delicious and it was great to catch up with my friend – next time, I’m going to order the suckling pig and eat at the bar!

Donburi-Ya

If you’re ever in the mood for Chinese food, you can always go to Chinatown to get your fill of congee, stir-fry, and dim sum (not great in the city, but still, it’s all in one area). Same with Korean food – it’s all along 32nd Street in the city (I’m not sure how authentic it is, but if I’m ever in the mood for kimchi chigae or dolsot bibimbap, I don’t need to look all over the city for it). However, if you’re in the mood for Japanese food, there is no such thing as “Japan Town,” unless you think St. Marks is the answer to your Japanese food cravings.

I used to work by a pocket of Japanese restaurants by Grand Central (they had the most amazing curry!) and last week, I found out Ken works by a bunch of Japanese restaurants as well. We decided to try Donburi-Ya for a quick bite to eat:

The restaurant is very low-key and actually reminds me of an izakaya in Japan – slightly dark, cute, and not very much like any other restaurant in midtown. Ken ordered the ramen:

And I went with the pork katsu donburi box:

The ramen was a bit on the salty side and the pork didn’t have that much flavor. The donburi was good, but the cut of meat was a little too fatty and deep fried, with not enough actual meat. Both were a bit disappointing (and slightly more expensive than other midtown Japanese restaurants).

We decided to get a bite of dessert since we were still a bit hungry after our dinner. We decided to get the matcha green tea mielle crepe:

It was delicious and reminded me of the creamy green tea mielle crepe I had the week before from Lady M!

As far as Donburi-Ya, I’d probably skip it and try another Japanese restaurant down the street.

Shiba Inu Puppies

For my birthday, Ken was thinking about getting me a puppy. I’m in love with shiba inus so he arranged for us to visit a breeder in Long Island (after a lovely picnic in the park). I had no idea where we were going when we started driving out of the city, especially since we were going to Long Island. We visited a shiba inu breeder on Long Island who had three female puppies left – here are pictures from the day!

The puppies were super excited when we arrived – they were inside and we took them outside to the gated yard:

The puppies all had very different personalities – the puppy with the black collar was super hyper and kept jumping up on Ken!:

The puppy with the pink collar was also very excited and liked to follow her sister around:

Another cute shot:

My favorite puppy was the most calm and quiet – she was very playful but a little more subdued than the other puppies (the one looking at the camera!):

Shibas are so incredibly cute:

Ken ended up liking the crazy hyper one the most – she had an interesting black coloring on her tail that the breeder said would disappear once she became an adult:

Finally, a calm picture of the hyper puppy:

I was a little unprepared to purchase a puppy on the spot (which, it turns out, is something you can’t do) – the breeder was looking for people for next year (these puppies were going to have puppies!). We decided against putting ourselves on the waiting list because I’m still not sure about puppy ownership in the city (Ken and I both work pretty late and it would be tough for a little puppy to stay at home by herself). It was a super fun day to spend time with the puppies – maybe after we have kids we’ll get a bunch of puppies!