Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I'm currently enroute to Antarctica with my fab travel crew, so we will be celebrating 2014 onboard our ship!

In 2013, I was so lucky to eat so many delicious things all over the world! Highlights included: Gjelina in LA; the best lobster roll EVER at burger & lobster in London; charbroiled oysters at Dragos in New Orleans; a quick work trip to Chicago which allowed me to check out Avec; having a Michelin (two) star boozy lunch at Steirereck in Vienna; champagne tasting in Paris; brunches in Seattle with Marya; Estela, Lafayette, Balthazar, Eleven Madison Park, Piora, Luksus, amongst many amazing meals in NYC...not to mention all the home cooked meals, with friends such as Mai and Paul!

In 2014, I want to try the Monday night supper clubs at Louro, visit de Porres and City Grit again (post on de Porres up soon!), check out Mayanoki, and investigate any other similar supper club experiences. This goes without saying, but I'm also excited to revisit current faves (Piora!) and places I love that have been around forever (Caracas, Balthazar).Balthazar has a Cote de Boeuf, I plan on dragging Anoop there with me for a comparison test versus the one we had at Piora. I'm going to have to drag someone with me to Sushi Nakazawa too. Any takers?

I kind of stopped cooking (and, hence, blogging) in the tail end of 2013 because I was always out and about, and most of my meals consisted of random stuff I threw together from my fridge. Since one of my resolutions is to be in bed by 10:30pm at least three times a week (yes. 10:30pm. I know. It will be hard.), I hope that means more time for cooking. The one thing I want to learn how to master in 2014 is grilling a medium rare steak. Will anyone be my guinea pig?

How will you be ringing in your new year? Do you have any resolutions?

de Porres Dinner Series

Amitha attended a supper club a few months ago named de Porres Dinner Series, and had a great time. She received an invite for December and let me know that she had already gotten me a ticket since she knew I would love this kind of food experience. The dinner series are held about once a month, normally at a historic mansion in Brooklyn, but this time, the December series was held at the home of the hosts and chef, Danielle and Pablo. 

Luksus

I had been reading great things about Luksus, and finally made a reservation here for a Wednesday night. My foodie friend Amitha had also been wanting to check this place out, so the two of us ubered (how else do you get to Greenpoint?) out to Greenpoint to investigate what all the praise was about. 

Paris

This post is very delayed! My sister and I spent Thanksgiving in Paris. She is studying abroad in Madrid, and couldn't come home for the holiday, so I decided to go to her. Before I even booked my plane ticket or hotel, I had already booked restaurants for our meals.

Piora, Round Two

I found myself at Piora randomly on a Thursday night. Anoop lives in the area so I texted him on my way down town to ask him if he wanted to join. The invitation was completely selfish: two people can share more dishes than one! I mean, sorry Anoop, I wanted to catch up with you. My first time visiting Piora was with Amitha, and we had shared two pasta dishes, the trout, and didn't have any room for dessert. I was not making that same mistake this time! 

Eleven Madison Park

Eleven Madison Park has been on my list of restaurants to try for quite sometime now. I've never been quick enough to call 28 days in advance to book a table. My best friend Avani's older sister was visiting New York. Arti Tai ("Tai" means older sister in Marathi) loves food as much as I do, so we planned a meal well in advance. I'm talking like, June...Arti Tai emailed and asked if I had any preference on where to eat - Baltahazar or EMP? Of course I agreed to EMP. Arti Tai got on the phone 28 days in advance of our desired date (November 22nd!) and was on hold for 45 minutes before she finally got through. But, success! She scored us a table for four at 9:45pm on a Friday. Well done!