cherrypatter nyc

recipe is the kind of place i would expect to find in brooklyn — somewhere a little like marlow & sons, roman’s or vinegar hill though not quite as “trendy” even though i really hate to say that word but hopefully you get what i mean — but here it is right on the upper west side.  much excitement i am sure for all those who live nearby to have a low key, cozy spot, with tasty food at very reasonable prices.  the place is super cute with lots of really great little rustic details, like red checked linen napkins, beautiful heavy wood tables and adorable down-to-earth serving bowls and platters.

i’ve been to recipe twice, once with a friend for dinner in the fall and then more recently with the family for brunch. i think the dinner was better, though picture taking was far better in the daylight.  the highlights for me were the salads.  the heirloom tomatos with pecorino were of the finest ingredients and i also really liked the beet salad with goat cheese, toasted pecans with vinaigrette — an oldy but a goody.  recipe’s main courses were also quite good especially my plump and juice seared diver scallops which were served with chestnut cream sauce as well as with asparagus and pumpkin gnocchi.  the combination definitely sounded odd but the flavors worked, with the sauce bringing out some of the underlying nuttiness of the scallops. 

recipe’s brunch was a little less successful though it was not quite as packed as at dinner time.   i loved the hot apple cider served with orange clove cinnamon with jack daniels which really mellowed me out (j. was thankful!).  the best dish was the frittata with peppers, onion and gruyere which came out smoking hot and rich with flavor.  j’s poached egg dish was a little spartan leaving him hungry enough to finish off s’s juicy burger.   so i’m not sure recipe is a destination spot, but if you are on the upper west side, there are so many appealing locavore type dishes (seared hudson valley duck breast, grilled whole market fish) at an affordable price point that make it an easy, reliable pick.   recipe, 452 amsterdam avenue between 81st and 82nd streets, manhattan, new york city, .

maybe because i wasn’t allowed much candy growing up, i now have a serious sweet tooth, or candy tooth that is.  when we lived in manhattan, i would make regular visits to economy candy to stock up on my various cravings which included traditional jelly beans (no jelly bellies for me), black licorice and those chewy orange slices.      i am always on the look out for these goodies, especially the jelly beans, and only last week did i discover them in brooklyn at dewey’s candy. 

located in dumbo, dewey’s candy is a cute shop with all the basic candies you could every think of (m&ms, sours, licorice, salt water taffy,) plus lots of childhood favorites like bit-0-honey-n, necco candy wafers, major league chews, ice cubes and red hots.   dewey’s candy also had some tennis-ball sized jawbreakers and gummies in all shapes and sizes (the centipedes were a big hit with my son’s birthday party) and huge barrels of chocolate covered hearts and hersey kisses.  while dewey’s candy has chocolates — chocolate covered cake batter bites, chocolate babies turtles, chocolate covered espresso beans, chocolate covered caramels and the list goes on – it’s of course not a fancy chocolate shop. if you’re in the mood for that, just walk a couple blocks over to jacques torres for some of the high end stuff.

the dewey’s candy space is also available rent out the space for birthday parties or other special occasions which is good to know in the future, though i don’t know if the store would be safe if my daughter were involved as i have never seen anyone so obsessed with sugar.  for now, i’m just glad i now can easily restock my jelly bean supply.  , 141 front street between pearl and jay streets, brooklyn, new york, .

given that i seem to be having a valentine’s day focus these days, i thought i would end the week with an idea for the romantic or for someone who likes to perform.  j. and i during our early days were big dancing fans, and we loved learning new tricks.  while we weren’t very good at it, we definitely liked getting at least some of the moves down, and being able to not look like total clutzes on the dance floor. i’m not sure how much we succeeded but we definitely had a good time. 

our favorite (and only real) spot for classes was the sandra cameron dance center. this very unpretentious place filled with great, enthusiastic teachers, was great for a quick one-off lesson, or a whole series.  i fell in love with swing dancing which was by far my favorite.   j. was a little more open to salsa and tango, and of course he was way better at it.  the center also offers classes in ballroom dancing and the hustle and also offers special wedding training classes if that is something you think you must have before the big day.

it appears from my research that sandra cameron is still thriving, and they have even found new digs in one of my favorite new neighborhoods in the city (see my mini guide below).  maybe, once we get this puppy thing under control — did i mention that we got a new puppy a few weeks ago and well it has been a challenge, like having an adorable baby wolf  who bites yet cannot wear diapers — we’ll be able to sign up for a refresher course and go out and dance for at least a few hours before i turn into a pumpkin.   sandra cameron dance center, 199 lafayette street at broome street, manhattan, new york, .

just this past year, and as i have written about before, i feel that i have found this kind of hidden manhattan, well hidden in plain site that is.  this area covers a few blocks to the north and south of broome beginning at centre and lafayette streets.  this area feels a little like what old new york could have been like for some reason, and with fairly limited commercial offerings it seems worlds away from broadway and prince.  yet, clearly, it has become a haven to some great little shops and even a few interesting eating spots.   so if i had a destination nearby, such as the sandra cameron dance center or the new maya lin-designed museum of chinese in america, there’s plenty to keep you occupied both before and after class. 

food:

oro bakery and bar, quite nice pastries, and the sandwiches don’t look that bad either. 375 broome street between mott and mulberry streets, .

papabubble: it’s a chain, but a fun one filled with all sorts of hard candy including lollipops and big fat sucking rings in flavors like aniseed, eucalyptus, apple, lavender and spicy cinnamon.  catching them in the act of making their goodies is especially fun.  380a broome street at mulberry street, .

nyonya: i have not been to this mostly malaysian spot in a few years, but on my last visits, the food was pretty good, and definitely almost authentically malaysian (per my friend with a mom from malaysia) so i liked the change of pace, and especially looked forward to the shaved ice treats.  199 grand street between mulberry and mott streets, .

shops:

michele varian: silk and velvet pillows, and home furnishings in beautiful woods, glass and ceramics at all price points make this an easy g0-to gift shop.  35 crosby street between grand and broome streets, .

built by wendy: i really love their stuff. now i just need to buckle down and try some things on, and maybe even make a purchase. 7 centre market place between broome and grand streets, .

posteritati: if you need a poster, any poster, this is the place to go.  239 centre street between broome and grand streets, .

clic bookstore and gallery: founded by christiane celle of calypso fame (with a branch of calypso also on this block), this space has rotating photography exhibits and aims to serve as a somewhat more affordable gallery for limited edition prints.  424 broome street near lafayette street, .

if you’ve been reading this site for a while, you might have noticed my small obsession with sweet baked treats — crullers, imitation hostess cupcakes, fresh jelly donuts and coconut bars among many others.   in addition to seeking out all these goodies around town, i also like to bake.  maybe not as well as some of my favorite spots, but usually good enough to satisfy the kids in the house.  i do have to thank the magnolia bakery for their excellent, very easy, very sweet recipes that are perfect for the under 10 crowd, and as an added bonus you don’t have to go into their shop.  i’m also a big fan of dorie greenspan’s failure-proof recipes and i’m excited to visit her pop-up cookiebar next week too. 

when i need to find that perfect cookie cutter, or figure how exactly i will make a pirate ship or a back hoe cake, i often stop by the expansive new york cake and baking distributor shop on west 22nd street which has been around for at least 25 years, and this place has everything you could ever even think you might need for baking. since i am no icing expert, i typically stick to the obvious like every color of sprinkle imaginable, rich hues for coloring icing and lots and lots of cookie cutters in all shapes and sizes.   the new york cake and baking shop has much more including hundreds of different molds for cakes, pastry tips in all sizes, fondants, doilies, piping gels, all the tools for making chocolate , extracts of all flavors, and the list goes on.

don’t expect much help when you visit the new york cake and baking shop.  my typical experience with staff there has been brusque if not rude.  they might help you if you’re lucky but fortunately there are so many other people there on a similar mission that you should get at least one shopper’s advice if you need it.  new york cake and baking distributor, 56 west 22nd street between 5th and 6th avenues, manhattan, new york, .

yes, i’m back yet again to my favorite strip on van brunt in red hook — i just cannot get enough of this block which already has erie basin, red lipstick and fort defiance (and i’m not done, there is at least one more shop i want to profile).  the foxy & winston shop is just as whimsy and cheery as the cards and prints that jane buck creates.   not too big, and not at all cluttered, the foxy & winston shop features jane’s amazing creations.  she makes the most appealing creatures like rats, rabbits, ostriches and zebras (not too cutesy either) with her fantastic hand screening technique, often using bright blues, reds and yellows to highlight her illustrations.   even when i’m not at the shop, i seem to gravitate towards the foxy & winston designs without realizing it as i did yesterday when i got a few pitch perfect valentine’s cards at bird.

in addition to so many excellent and original cards printed on gloriously thick card stock and limited edition prints, the foxy & winston shop carries a few other fun things like drawstring muslin bags for laundry or shoes (i got j. some so that he could try to stop piling his dry cleaning shirts up in a random pile — it seems to have worked so far) as well as lots of baby things like tees, onesies, bibs and hats.  coming soon, according to her blog, foxy & winston will be rubber stamps and ink pads, as well as some fabric.  i have become a bit addicted to stamps so i must go look at those when they arrive.

even though many of my favorite new york places have the foxy & winston product (acorn, environment 337, greenwich letterpress), going to the store and meeting the very british jane is a treat.   when k. and i visited in december, jane couldn’t have been lovelier or friendlier. she took us to the back of her space, and showed us some silk screening in action and explained how to do it and what she was going to do next all the while answering the many random 6-year old questions that came her way.  for more jane, see hey brooklyn for an interview and design*sponge for a sneak peak of her cozy home.  if you need some sweet but not cloying cards for that big heart holiday coming up, i think foxy & winston will save the day.     foxy & winston, 392 van brunt street between dikeman and coffey streets, brooklyn, new york, .

no, i definitely have not visited maialino enough times to warrant a real review (only once, and only for brunch) but still, just based on this one visit, i cannot wait to come back.  on my return, i will be limiting what i eat to the amazing pasta, and if we’re returning for brunch, as we most likely we will as that’s often easier with the kids, to the eggs too.   both maialino dishes — i had the ravioli al uova which is a ravioli with an egg yolk, ricotta and potato, and j. had the amatriciana al forno — were pure perfection.  my yolk was runny, the cheesy interior was rich and creamy and the thin pasta exterior was fresh and coated in a delicious butter sage sauce. if i had been hungrier, i definitely would have gone for two. it’s a big ravioli but not that big.  j’s baked egg dish was light and spicy, and the spicy tomato studded with guanciale provided plenty of flavor without overpowering the eggs.

the morning light in the maialino’s bar area, where we sat, was great.  sun shining through with glimpses of that fancy little park through the huge windows.  j. also got to chat up his favorite author ever so apparently celebrity sightings are not uncommon.   the coffee was not so exciting, the pastries were nowhere near as great as those at the other excellent hotel restaurant these days, and the service was chaotic especially when stroller, after toddler, after stroller started coming in after 1 p.m.  but we were happy.  the kids loved running and singing walking quickly and quietly through the mysterious lobby to the gorgeous bathrooms while we savored our meal.  can’t wait for the next one at this latest danny meyer creation: morning, noon or night.  maialino, gramercy park hotel, 2 lexington avenue near 21st street, manhattan, new york, .

happy february everyone.   not the most exciting of months, but for me of all the winter months it is my favorite.  january is long, but it’s now over, and february usually goes by in a flash: our multiple anniversaries are tucked in here (we have the official day we got married before the judge, the actual wedding day and the day back in 1996), there is all the kid-related fun for valentine’s day (those little cards are cute, and i am always up for making the pinkest of cupcakes); and we even have a mini holiday.  it’s march that i really dread — cold, wet, and not even a glimpse of spring and to top it off it just seems to go on and on. 

so the best way to start off february is with a good coffee spot of course. we just got back from a great weekend in silver spring and washington, d.c. where we enjoyed a great, fluffy snowstorm and the kids got to play outside in a yard without much supervision — heaven.   for me, my version of heaven might be a day spent out at café grumpy in greenpoint.   the shop itself is not much to look at –  a little dull, really, but not as cramped and crowded as a place like gorilla.  located out in what feels like the middle of nowhere, this place has zero new york attitude (a bit different from café regular) and lots of space with great natural light.   café grumpy is meant for parking your computer and just hanging out for hours.

the coffee’s pretty darn good too, up at the top of the new york city spectrum with the best of the best.  the flavor is a little on the more bitter side, more like gorilla, less like regular. i do think they could work on their foam skills and it is so time to stop making those hearts. the greenpoint location is also where they do all their roasting so fresh beans can be had. my only wish, which is frequent when it comes to coffee places, is that they please upgrade their treats.  cafe grumpyalso has chelsea and park slope locations, but i totally prefer the greenpoint spot for hanging out purposes.  café grumpy, 193 meserole avenue at diamond street, ; 383 7th avenue between 11th and 12th streets , ; both in brooklyn, and 224 west 20th street between 7th and 8th avenues, manhattan, .

sorry for the skipped day yesterday.  things are yet again a little hectic with the now nearly 10-week puppy (i’ve yet to figure out how to focus on work while the poor girl is having some crate adjustment issues) and having to replace a project manager at work , but i hope to be back to a more normal, reliable schedule very very soon.  oh and, i’ve also been working on the very final touches for my new website which will hopefully unveil itself by mid february if all goes well.  it needed a bit of a graphic upgrade and i think i have found a great woman to do it (yay for parsons).  so, for your weekend candy, i’ll leave you with this post on this now, increasingly rare breed of store — one all about locomotives.  and if you have nothing planned this weekend, the tino sehgal piece at the guggenheim looks pretty darn interesting (can’t wait to take the kids) and it’s the last few days for the saarinen exhibit.

now that i have a little boy, i do feel quite nostalgic for trains.  growing up we had a great electric train set that my dad set up that would go round and round the living room.  i don’t remember any interest in setting it up, but i did experience the joy of watching it run.  i was able to smuggle that train set back from home a few years ago, storing it up for when i thought the kids would enjoy it and i think that time is coming very near.   i’m only deterred by what i expect will be some logistical challenges in getting it set up and running (it has been oh, a few decades since it was in operation).  

if we do have problems, i am sure that the folks at the red caboose could help.  this dusty, crammed shop, located in the basement of a nondescript midtown building, holds all the treasures a train lover would ever want to have and the guy who runs it is obsessed with the ins and outs of rail travel.  in operation since 1946, this hobby shop has every model of train imaginable including the ho steam locomotives and märklins and train sets in various scales (n, o and g).  the red caboose has specific lines like the southwest express, the califonria zephyr and the canadian pacific railway and a huge number of specialty books, tracks, engine repair equipment, paints and all the accessories.

given, sadly, that the train obsession has declined dramatically in the last several decades, the red caboose has expanded its offerings and now carries all the new york city subway lines as well as a bunch of other items somewhat random items like cars and planes.  if you are feeling at all nostalgic, or just have a big or little kid obsessed with trains, in new york i think the red caboose is the place.   the red caboose, 23 west 45th street, downstairs, between 5th and 6th avenues, manhattan, new york, .

fred flare is a very fun shop, chock-a-block with cute, very cheap things that you would actually want, or could see giving someone.  it’s a place to get a little pick-me-up without spending much, or if you are into nostalgia or especially if you are goofy, fred flare is the perfect shop.  located out in greenpoint (this is their first and only brick and mortar store though they have been online for a while), fred flare is somewhere i would definitely stop off for some quick and easy valentine’s day presents.  it is of course excellent for last minute stocking stuffers but fortunately we don’t have to think about that for ages.

in addition to a lot of the more jokey things like smiley pb& j earrings, a pac-man video kit, a mr. bacon’s big adventure game and of course the all important cheeseburger phone, fred flare actually has a nice collection of incredibly affordable clothes that you might want. cute trench coats for $68, the bb dakota jacket featured in twilight for a whopping $66 and a lot of cute cocktail dresses, many of which are under $50. 

fred flare definitely has something for everyone in every conceivable category: lots of paper and stationery, tons of goodies kids would love , sun glasses and other accessories, kitchen goodies like a panda skillet and some mens’ clothing as well.   i think i really need to go visit next week as i absolutely love retro valentines.  now that k. is at that age (first grade) where she gives all her 23 classmates valentine’s day cards, at least we can go with something classy and classic like this.  fred flare, 131 meserole avenue at leonard street, brooklyn, new york, .