Tuesday Jun 15, 2010

Ovest Pizzoteca in Chelsea

The next time you need a good, crowd-pleasing, inexpensive meal in Chelsea, the newish Ovest Pizzoteca delivers on all counts. 

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Wednesday Mar 31, 2010

The Union Square Playground is a new NYC must for kids of all ages

We love our playground right here in Waterside Plaza, but the huge, spanking-new, creative and innovative park over in Union Square definitely deserves a visit or three.

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Wednesday Mar 10, 2010

Top 10 Trader Joe's treats

It's been four years since Trader Joe's set up shop less than a mile from Waterside Plaza, on 14th Street near Third Avenue, and our kitchen has never been the same. To celebrate, here's a look at ten of our favorite TJ treats. 

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Wednesday Mar 03, 2010

Welcome to Waterside, Robbins Nest

Pete Rocco is running things at the brand-new Robbins Nest, and he's giving Waterside Starbucks coffee, hot melty paninis, baked goodies made on-premises, AND a full-blown creperie, with a stellar-looking lineup, both savory and sweet!

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Wednesday Feb 24, 2010

Seven Sandwiches of the East Village

Just about a half mile down the road from Waterside Plaza, an amazing confluence of demographics and psychographics and other-sorts-of-graphics have combined to produce one of the planet's great centers of truly excellent sandwiches. Seriously! You won't find a better selection of inexpensive, lovingly prepared, handy-to-eat, terrific tasting meals anywhere in town... or, as far as we know, anywhere else. Here's a few to get you started...

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Thursday Feb 11, 2010

Two-star Italian alert!

"Perfect neighborhood trattoria" Novita gets a rave in the Times. 

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Thursday Jan 28, 2010

L.A. Burdick Cafe and Chocolate Shop NYC

 

 

L.A. Burdick --purveyors of fine edibles, all involving chocolate--has something of a cultish following in its native New England. Now, we will wolf chocolate-anything quicker than the next two guys, so when we heard that the Burdicks (it's a husband and wife team) were opening a branch right here on 20th Street, it quickly moved to the top of our must-try dessert spots. Because although Walpole, New Hampshire, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, are undoubtedly lovely little towns, New York City, with its many firmly established, supremely delicious chocolate (hot and otherwise) shops already in place, is a different story altogether. Basically, quaint decor and just-serviceable sweets is not going to cut it here in the big city. Can Burdick deliver more?  

 

 

 

The good news: the chocolates we tried were excellent, on par with some of the city's best at Roni Sue's and Bespoke Chocolates. And those three shades of mice, and the flock of penguins? Cute as a button! The prices are a little high at the main counter, but the approximately 15-piece, $8 bag of "seconds" we found over by the hot chocolate bar may have looked a bit scruffy, but tasted just fine. Whether filled with pistachio or caramel or raspberry or ganache, in dark, milk or even white, this is rich, honest, sweet-but-not-too-, chocolate. 

 

 

 

The less good news: Burdick's chocolate in cake and warm-beverage format was only just OK. The baked goods all looked pretty ordinary (and pretty pricey), and the chocolate-raspberry "Birthday Cake" we tried didn't rise above expectations. The hot chocolate, too--frothy on top, sludgy below--was fine, but nothing to get too excited about either. And with the amazing City Bakery just a couple of blocks away, it seems unlikely that we'll be back to Burdick for more from this section of the shop. Again, we did like that bag of "seconds" though. 

 

 

 

L.A. Burdick Cafe and Chocolate Shop details

L.A. Burdick Cafe and Chocolate Shop is located on 20th Street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway, and is open from 9:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday; until 10:00 p.m. on Saturdays; and until 8:00 p.m. on Sundays. The decor is unashamedly New England-quaint, creating a more dowdy feel to the proceedings than we wanted for our Saturday night sweet-stop.  For more info, see the Burdick's website, here

 

 

Thursday Dec 10, 2009

Chelsea Market

A quick ride on a crosstown bus gets you to one of New York City's great treasures: the wealth of first-rate shops and eateries at Chelsea Market. 

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Thursday Nov 19, 2009

Maialino, Danny Meyer's brand new Roman trattoria

Most of Danny Meyer's beloved, award-winning restaurants are clustered just a few blocks away from Waterside Plaza. Maialino is Meyer's brand-new take on mid-priced Italian, and it is, no surprise, truly extraordinary. 

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