Saying bye to November and all the Thanksgiving deliciousness (BEST HOLIDAY EVER), we are now facing Christmas, easily my second favorite holiday. Gifts, food, fam, friends, more food, more gifts, etc. Oh and let’s not forget A Christmas Story on loop on TNT (is that still a channel?) and the Yule Log. AHHHH THE YULE LOG.
And in case you’re wondering, no, I’m not 64 years old. But I can see why you would think that.
Let’s move on and chat about some of the tasty places I tried in November.
7 Delicious Spots You Need To Check Out - November
- Fifty – Located on one of the cutest blocks in the West Village, I visited Fifty for brunch a few weeks ago. And if you have lived here for a while, you might remember this space as Commerce. I’ll admit when I heard that closed down, I was bummed. But after visiting Fifty, I now take solace in knowing that one thing remains the same: the food is still great. The tuna and avocado toast was a perfect appetizer, and when you follow it with the Nutella babka french toast, you’ll be glad you made that choice. A decadent main dish topped with whipped cream and pistachios, it could almost be dessert.
- Trademark – Even though this place is in one of my least favorite areas of Manhattan (Midtown/Herald Square-ish), the space is really cute, and they just launched a Bloody Mary Bar! And an insane one at that. Pickled EVERYTHING. Charcuterie. SLIDERS. Vodka. INFUSED TEQUILA. Shrimp. JERKY. You get the idea. Just one awesome thing after another.
- American Cut – bet you didn’t know you can watch Monday Night Football in here! Me neither until recently. Granted, this is typically a lot fancier than I like to do football, but I have to admit, eating an incredible steak and these amazing Everything Biscuits while watching your team does A LOT for the nervous system. My team happened to win that night (YAY GIANTS), but if they were losing, I bet the duck fat fries and ribeye would have comforted me.
- Sugarsketch – ok so, I know the name is Sugarsketch, which implies sweets, and yes it has those. But what I need to talk about is this cheese bomb/cheese puff/cheese dream thing. SO good with pancetta, rosemary, and cheddar. And lighter than air while somehow still being chewy. If you ever had Pao de Quiejo (Brazilian bread), this is it’s sexier cousin. And don’t sleep on the cupcakes either! It’s called Sugarsketch for a reason.
- Seamores – I know this is dumb, but I have a few restaurants in Manhattan that have been sitting on my “list” for YEARS and this is one of them. And oh, how I regret not going sooner. My bro (who is NOT Seth Rogen) came with me and we tried a lot of the new winter dishes. The fried chicken sandwich was PERFECT – super crispy skin and juicy, 24-hour marinated chicken. The tagliatelle with mushrooms, lemon, garlic and winter greens was another absolute must have, as well as the clam chowder. Winter comfort food at it’s finest. I wanted to curl up in that pasta and then dump the clam chowder over my head. Just bathe in it all.
- Wagamama – Flatiron workers, rejoice! You have a new place to go for ramen outside of the questionable deli on the corner. This newcomer to the US is a chain from London, and I had the pleasure of trying it when I used to make sales trips to Boston. I hated everything about my sales job except the travel. I would make it a POINT to make good use of my expense account and take my clients to all the places I could think of. One time a client suggested Wagamama, and the rest is history. I fell in love. I would order it to my hotel room after client drinks and we would spend the night together. Just me and Wagamama…in bed. ANYWAY. The short rib ramen, the duck donburi, the calamari, and the dumplings are the move. They do takeout as well and delivery should be coming soon too.
- Delilah – Before I get to the details, here’s a fun fact: this place used to be St. Jerome’s, one of Lady Gaga’s favorite old haunts. I too, have a longstanding relationship with bars on the LES. Tumultuous ones, usually. For some reason they are always the MOST fun, and the most fun means most hangovers. But hey, YOLO, as the kids say. Delilah is the perfect spot to have an amazing night with friends, complete with fun cocktails (some they light on fire), punch bowls for sharing (with an entire bottle of vodka in it), loungey seating, great music, and delicious small bites. The mini meatballs, sliders, and flatbread pizzas were my faves. Perfect bar food. Just tryyyyy to drag me away after a few cocktails and dancing. You won’t.
