B is for the Best? Well, Perhaps.

There is one thing about New York that I cannot get over : the food culture.
People eat and drink to their utmost desires without care but with a lot of conviction. The choices for dinner are astronomical, the choices for lunch are astounding. As for breakfast, well, it is usually a coffee accompanied by a handheld pastry of sorts. Most opt for brunch nowadays.

This plethora of choices makes for a mecca of foodies. The discerning clientele isn't picky necessarily but they demand really good food. No wonder some of the best restaurants in America can be found on a strip of land a few miles long and wide. It's because of the people. New Yorkers' are trend setters for fashion of course. And these fashion forward, walking gastronomes obviously are setting the trends for food, the best food. The people have voted, and the votes are : New York has, quite arguably, the best food in the world.

Let me elaborate. Reading food magazines, I always tend to come across ad's for Las Vegas. Gigantic restaurants, in over-worked over-ari conditioned, over amped hotels in the desert. The chefs are great, the food is probably amazing, but 8 out of 10 of those places started in New York City. Obviously, there is a reason these hotels want these chef's restaurants there. Destination eating is becoming a huge market. But, typically, the food is so much better from the original location. It has the real soul. It worked the hardest and  these new "celebrity" chef empires were born out of them. Where would Mario be without Babbo in Greenwich Village? Do you think Wylie Dufresne's wd-50 could have made it anywhere else besides the Lower East Side?  I mean, come on Daniel Boulud, Nobu Matsuhisa the list is endless really. From off the top of my head those are some stars that began in the "apple". Now even super stars from the west coast have come to stake a claim, eh-hem Thomas Keller. 


However, press and adoration aside, restaurants in New York have a definitive style. Because the city is cramped, lack of space between tables isn't burdensome to the diner. We understand. Because the city has so many options, the food you serve has got to be better than the other choices we could have made that evening. That is why there are people like Keith McNally who take restauranteur-ing to a new art here in the city. Go to any major area in Manhattan and your bound to spot one of his places (among them, Balthazar, Moradni, Pastis, yeah, he's good). It is people like him who know and understand the food culture here, and finesse it to the point of absolute perfection. 


If you have never worked in a restaurant before, front of house or back of house, you really cannot fully appreciate the astounding amount of food that is produced here in New York. Not to mention the attention to using locally produced/grown products. Among all of the menus I have seen, the bold faced type on most is: LOCAL, ORGANIC, and RELATIONSHIP. Relationship being with the farmers and producers themselves, a hand shake and a safety in the knowledge that if these farms keep producing top quality ingredients the chefs and their chef friends alike will come a' flocking. 


So, best food in the world? Well, the attention to detail, the care taken to make a dining experience in the city a true experience, the overwhelming amount of choices, the cramped quarters, little elbow room, all the sounds and smells, and the excitement one finds in the atmosphere of a restaurant, big or small, reputable or not, when dining, is magic. 


After a week here I already feel like I have so much to learn, try and taste. The experience of the city will not be lost on me, I guarantee it. My vote is in, and New York, you are number one, so far. B is for BEST EVER. 

One Best Ever moment I had, was last Friday night at a small kinda doggy place in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Roberta's, a pizza place with family style seating, loud great music, good service, campfire in the back patio, elbows on the table kind of place. However, amazing oyster's from New Brunswick fancied it up a bit. My favorite though, the Hen of the Woods Mushrooms, which were cooked until just tender and crispy with a slight hint of garlic and thyme, lighty salted and a finish of sweetness from a touch of excellent olive oil. Out of control. Least not I forget their pizza crust, which managed to achieve the soft fluffy texture we all like in a dough, with a crunch and a wood fire oven tinge of charcoal that really takes the whole pie to a new place. 

Oh did I also mention, they do Brunch? Expect to see me there on a regular basis, the of course the gym to follow. 

Seat Backs and Tray Tables in Their Full Up Right Positions

When making rash decisions, do not dye ones hair out of frustration.
Secondly, always follow your heart. This may seem like an oxymoron, however, these two bits of information are the key insight to the last month of my life.


I have been biting my time to let the news out, however, now after finding that I have a knack for making it work I can say with all my excitement and enthusiasm, I am moving to New York City in two weeks.


2 months ago, I was denied from my dream school (NYU). So as most girls do when they are upset, they do something empowering to compromise, or at least alleviate the pain of rejection. I turned to what I know best: spending money frivolously, baking and cooking a lot, eating peanut butter out of the jar with a spoon, yoga and debating a new hair color. Then of corse came the disappointment of eating all of that peanut butter and dying my hair some ridiculous mahogany, but, nonetheless, still in search of dream school number two. When I remembered, what other dream have I had for such a long time? What would connect all faucets of what I love to do? Culinary School.

In my search I thought of many solutions to aide me in my quest for spreading health and tastiness. But one  place still remained at the top of the list. The French Culinary Institute, or I guess, better yet The International Culinary Academy. So I combed the website, filled out an application paused for a moment on the submit button and clicked my mouse. (Mind you, I did not do this with a glass of wine in my hand. I have learned to never do internet searches accompanied by wine, this does not a good paring make.)

From that moment on it has been a process of figuring out how to move across county, but not only that, move across continents in June. The program I joined is actually The Italian Culinary Experience and it couldn't be more exciting. We begin in NYC, SoHo for 10 weeks and then fly to Parma, Italy to continue training at ALMA for 9 weeks. After which point we are sent off (by we I mean our class of 20 or less) to different reputable restaurants across the country in Italy for 9 more weeks. People wait their whole career for an opportunity to work in a restaurant in Europe, and its a part of this curriculum.
How amazing is that?!

So without any more jibber-jabber about how exciting my new adventure is going to be, I invite you to join me on my journey! The Cauliflower Lollipop will be going global, finally!

After my return from NYC this sunday, with the airport in full Super Bowl mode, I was elated, and a little hung over from wine with friends at The 6th Ward the night prior in New York. Celebrating my finding a sublet in Williamsburg, celebrating moving to the city, celebrating anything we could really. We toasted to having  friendships with those we love, toasted to having the courage to move into new dimensions of ourselves and toasted mostly to having the balls to do what we want.

Visiting New York City always has left an impression on me. I can feel it in my bones. All around me. But right now mostly I can feel it in my feet, because this girl is in need of some good shoes.

By the way, I'd like to make an extra special shout out to Miss Leslie Behrens, friend, beauty and baker extraordinaire. Without whom my trip would not have been such a success. Check out Momofuku Milk Bar, a new obsession of mine and an old one of Anderson Cooper's.