Kitchenette is the Bomb!

Kitchenette is one of the best restaurants in the city.  Although it is a Columbia student hangout in between 122nd and 123rd Street on Amsterdam, there are plenty of business people and everyone in between to make it a diverse crowd on many levels.

The food is great!  The savory and the sweet are worth the trip.  I love two things the best:  The hamburgers and the strawberry shortcake.  I get the hamburger with sharp white cheddar cheese and the sun-dried tomato pesto.  You must have it with the pesto and if you're feeling even more decadent, order the bacon buttermilk dressing, which is sort of a ranch dressing.  The beefy, cheesified goop fest pairs well with the sweet and a little bit tart sun-dried tomato sauce.  Every friend that I have brought there to eat it has raved at robust deliciousness.  They go back on their own because the experience stays with them.

I also love the strawberry shortcake.  This is not the light, small and hollow shortcake cup that you find in the stores.   I was told that it is the real deal:  shortcake.  Then it is filled and topped with a very vanilla whipped cream substance and topped with strawberries.  The cake is dense and hearty.  This is not a little nibble, it's a stomach full.  Sometimes I just come for that dessert and nothing else because it's a lot to eat.  I think the only thing they should add is an allover drizzle of hot fudge. (P.S. - I was told by Doug, one of the managers, that they do have a decadent chocolate sauce that's made from chocolate chips.  He told me this after I finished the cake.  Next time!)

Vogue Party Treats - Kenneth Cole

On October 4, I had the pleasure to attend a Vogue+ Party at Kenneth Cole's store at Grand Central. It is a very beautiful store, industrially designed.  I like attending these Vogue+ parties for many reasons:  1)  There are many interesting people who attend them, 2) There is a lot of champagne, and 3)  I love to get treat ideas from the many small snacks they serve.  

On this occasion, the snacks I enjoyed were the crabcakes and the grilled cheese sandwiches.  The crabcakes were the tiny, amazing bites of Maryland style crabcakes:  sweet and tangy.  The other delicious treat was the grilled cheese sandwich.  I could not get anyone to tell me exactly what was in them, but I could put in a pretty good guess.  The cheese tasted like a creamy sharp cheddar and it was paired with a smooth, melt in your mouth ham (did I detect a bit of dijon mustard?).  The (white) bread was perfectly crisped with buttery undertones. Crunch, crunch! Yum!  People were waiting with baited breath to get a taste of those sandwiches.  There was always a rush when a new tray arrived.  All of the dishes worked well with the champagne!  (Seriously, what doesn't? :-))

The affair included a photo booth for people to take pictures of themselves.  I took advantage and had several made.  Then the application allowed you to send it to your email.  At the end of the night, everyone was given a Kenneth Cole (recycled material?) tote with a Vogue magazine inside.  It was a pretty great night!

The Lasagna Ristorante - Fantastico!

A friend of mine named Cindy told me about a fantastic restaurant named Lasagna Ristorante+.  It is located on 20th Street and 8th Avenue in New York City.  I wanted to go to another one of my favorite hangouts, Rafaella's on 21st and 9th Avenue, but she swore that I would like this one.

So, we went.  It was very lovely.  It had multiple tables with white linen table cloths and nice silverware.  It could have been a bit snobby, but it wasn't.  In fact, our waiter, JP, said that they try to keep it very down-to-earth at this restaurant.  The vibe was very casual and friendly. 

We started with a delicious spinach salad topped with cranberries and mandarin oranges.  I like garlic, so I created my famous garlic infused olive oil.  First, you take 3 tablespoons of minced garlic and pour a teaspoon of salt over it.  The salt gives flavor and helps you to crush the garlic.  Then pour enough olive oil over the garlic to cover it and mix.  Pour sparingly over the greens, bread, pasta, or anything you like.  It depends on how much garlic you like.  I love it.

The menu was filled with different Italian options, but we came for the lasagna and that's what I am concentrating on.  We could have gone conventional with the lasagna+, like ordering sausage and onion.  In fact my friend, who is basically a vegetarian, decided to get the plain cheese lasagna, which was delicious.  However, I wanted some thing different. So, I ordered the seafood lasagna with fra diavolo sauce.  It was spicy and filled with chunky shrimp and appetizing scallops.  My friend liked the fra diavolo sauce so much that she asked them if next time, she could have the cheese lasagna with that sauce instead. 

It's a great place for meat lovers and vegetarians.  I really loved the garlic bread they served.  I have never seen a place supply unlimited garlic bread.  The food was so good that my friend and I scarfed down the food at such an alarming rate that I think we scared the waiter.

He was kind enough to let me order a special drink.  I like to create my own concoctions with various juices. (I'll discuss this in another blog.)

Muscato and Jay Z

I met rapper and business man extraordinare Jay-Z+!  I went to PJ's Warehouse in Inwood (Manhattan) looking for a delicious moscato wine.  Moscato+ D'Asti is a great dessert wine (I use it for any meal that suits my fancy!).  It tastes like champagne mixed with a combination of apricot and peach juices. I love it and it's great for brunch. Obviously, there are different brands and you have to try them to find one of your liking. 

So, I was picking out a wine and I found the one I was looking for.  There was a tasting section of a new product.  The woman who was doing the tasting quietly said, "Jay-Z is here."  I thought to myself that she must be imagining this situation.  However, a few minutes later, he appeared.  He was wearing a jean jacket and pants and his trademarked nonchalant look. He was with a few people, but it wasn't a huge entourage and I didn't see Beyonce.  Maybe she was in his car which looked like a black Mercedes Maybach (top of the line).

 I introduced myself to him when he popped up behind me to take a picture with whom I believe was a vendor of one of the products.  I gave him my card which supplied him with my aliases in the entertainment world (Alexis I. Dragon - Writer of Life of Bougie, Life of Bougie 2 (amazon.com) and Alexis Time- singer/songwriter of Bounce Hard Dance (#1 in the biggest download market in the world - South America) and Big Time People (amazon.com).

He was very kind and took my card.  I paid for my products and left.