Christian’s, Marco and Luca’s, and Splendora’s

We were planning to go to Eppie’s, but that fell through because it was late and Eppie’s was closed. That was probably my fault because I was supposed to plan this, and I thought that Eppie’s was open but apparently not. However, since we were already downtown and it was late and we didn’t want to go anywhere bar-ish, we ended up at Christian’s!!! Except, we weren’t satisfied with just Christian’s, so  half of us went next door to get some Marco and Luca’s dumplings and the other half of us got Chinese takeout.

Spicy Chicken Pizza

I have actually never been to Christian’s before this. I know. I know. I’m a terrible person because Christian’s Pizza is such a Cville classic. But I can redeem myself because I LOVED CHRISTIAN’S!! I prefer pizza with really thin, crisp crusts over the thick, deep dish kind and Christian’s does the thin and crispy the best.  Plus they’ve got toppings that are interesting and different from the usual pepperoni and cheese.  I got a slice of Spicy Chicken Pizza, which was really spicy. Yay! I love spicy.

Dumplings!

Vegetable Hot Bun

Marco and Luca’s Noodle Shop is a family-owned restaurant that is extremely popular in Charlottesville and especially with college students because it’s really cheap. The menu has only around 6 items. They have dumplings, hot buns of either meat or vegetables, 2 types of noodles, and hot sour soup. What is so special about this place is their dipping sauce for the dumplings. It’s amazing!! It’s the perfect balance of savory, sweet, and spicy. Every time I go, I get 2 orders of dumplings and a vegetable hot bun. It’s awesome.

Pumpkin Gelato

After stuffing our faces, we decided to get even more food: dessert! At Splendora’s!! Splendora’s is a gelato place downtown that is consistently lovely and delicious. They have at least 30 different flavors ranging from the classic chocolate or cookies and cream to the more adventurous amaretto and blood orange. This time, I got pumpkin, which was a seasonal flavor. I loved it! Another one of my favorites is Gianduia. You must try that if you go to Splendora’s!

Everyone's Gelato

cool pic of DC's hand snatching away his gelato

Christian’s Pizza

118 W Main St
Charlottesville, VA 22902

Marco and Luca’s Noodle Shop

110 2nd St NE
Charlottesville, VA 22902

Splendora’s

317 E Main St
Charlottesville, VA 22902

Splendora on Yelp

 

People Watching (NYC Part 4)

One of my favorite parts of this weekend actually wasn’t any of the touristy hot spots or the glamorous clothes but rather people watching. It’s really interesting to imagine what all of these people are like, where they’re going, what their stories are. We did see some weird, crazy people like that guy in the subway who asked for my address and the lady who kept talking/laughing to herself, but for the most part, I had a lot of fun just sitting in the subway or in Central Park, watching people go by.

We had our last full meal in NYC at Little Italy. We went to Novella and got a table outside. We got a table outside on a beautiful day, and the ambiance was great. Three of us (hahaha) got the Gnocchi al Pesto, which was pretty good. SS got the Gnocchi al Pomodoro.

Gnocchi al Pesto

Gnocchi al Pomodoro

Before we left NYC, SS and I just had to get some more bubble tea, so we stopped by Quickly, which had the most delicious bubble tea. Plus, you get a $.50 discount if you have a student ID. Quickly is apparently a bubble tea chain from Taiwan, but in NYC, they also added shabu shabu (Japanese hot pot) to make it an actual sit-down restaurant. They also sold these cream puffs, which AN and I wanted to try. We bought some to share, and they were SO DELICIOUS! They were nice and warm and the cream inside was actually kind of like egg custard. I was expecting something along the lines of whipped cream, but this was really really good. I want more!

Novella Ristorante

Little Italy
191 Grand St
(between Mott St & Mulberry St)
New York, NY 10013

Quickly

Lower East Side
237B Grand St
New York, NY 10002

 

Rain Rain Go Away (NYC part 2)

Flor de Mayo is a Cuban/Chinese restaurant, which I thought was a rather bizarre combination of cuisines, but it sounded interesting. What it turned out to be was simply that the menu was half Spanish/Peruvian food and half Americanized Chinese food. I really didn’t see anything Cuban on the menu at all, which was sad because I love Cuban food.

Ocopa

SS and I split the Ocopa appetizer because we wanted to try something exotic that we’ve never eaten before. It a Peruvian appetizer of sliced potatoes covered with this nutty, tangy spread with eggs. I think the spread is made from cheese, peppers, nuts, and Peruvian herbs. It had an interesting taste, although I felt the spread was too overwhelming. I wasn’t the biggest fan, but that might just be that I’m not used to this type of cuisine.

1/2 Peruvian Chicken

People on Yelp and Menupages also have been raving about their Peruvian Chicken, so I decided to try that. The chicken came with a soup, which tasted awfully like canned Chicken Noodle Soup with some added cilantro. Not very appetizing. The chicken itself was actually really good. I loved the spices that they used.  However, it was slightly too salty for me, drowning out the flavor of the rice. I only finished about half the chicken because it was so much food!

Tortilla de Jamon - SS liked it!

Arroz con Pollo (Dominicano) - AN liked this too!

Since we had that humongous lunch pretty late in the afternoon, we weren’t very hungry when dinnertime rolled around, so instead, we decided to just get dessert. Exciting! We had heard good reviews about Veniero’s, so we trekked all the way to East Village from Upper West Side. It’s funny how we will go totally out of our way just try a restaurant. Just goes to show that I have amazing, wonderful eating friends! But seriously, I really enjoyed this aspect of our trip because it gave us the chance to explore some parts of New York that we would’ve otherwise never have gone to.

Veniero’s had an old, retro feel to it but was a little too cramped for my liking. However, by now, I’m starting to understand that almost every restaurant in NYC is rather small and cramped. The menu of pastries and desserts and cakes and cookies went on forever. I would LOVE to try everything they have, but alas, I could not.

We got 3 mini pastries, a mini cheesecake, and a fruit tart to share.

Millefoglie and Baba Rum

The Millefoglie is on the left, which we already started eating before I was able to grab my camera. It had layers of puff pastry and cream that was so wonderfully scrumptious! Probably my favorite of all the desserts we had that night. On the right is Baba Rum, which had a really strong rum flavor, so I didn’t really like it.

Personal Cheesecake

Personal cheesecake with blueberries – delicious! Not the best cheesecake I’ve ever had, could have been creamier, but nevertheless very good.

Tiramisu

The Tiramisu’s coffee flavor was too strong for a non-coffee lover like me, so I didn’t like that one either. I guess I’m really weird in that I don’t really like many of the drinks that most people like. I don’t like coffee, alcohol, or soda. All I ever drink is water and milk with some occasional milk tea.

Mixed Fruit Tart

I didn’t try the fruit tart, but AN and SS both said that it was wonderful.

Right as we walked out of Veniero’s, it started pouring! And I mean POURING! We got soaked through trying to get a taxi because the metro station was too far away, but then we couldn’t understand the taxi driver through his thick accent, and it was just terrible. Oh adventures…

Addresses

Flor de Mayo

Upper West Side
484 Amsterdam Ave
(between 83rd St & 84th St)
New York, NY 10024

Veniero’s

East Village
342 East 11th Street
(between 1st Ave & 2nd Ave)
New York, NY 10003

 

I Love NY (NYC part 1)

A couple friends and I went to NYC for 4 days to look, watch, shop, and of course eat. It was loads of fun! I really enjoyed my time there. New York City has the reputation of being full of cold, brusque city-people who are rude and constantly in a rush to get somewhere. However, I did not see very much of that at all. Instead, I found lots of great people who were more than willing to give me directions to the closest subway station. Sitting in the Metro, I saw a couple ask a guy sitting next to them for directions. Not only did this guy try to help, but another lady sitting across from them even jumped in to suggest another faster route. Of course, throughout the course of the 4 days, I did get bumped into several times without any “excuse me” or “sorry,” and the service at many of the restaurants was not particularly cordial, but it actually didn’t bother me much. I think it bothered my friend, SS, a lot more. Perhaps, it’s due to our personality differences?

The food will probably take several posts to cover all 4 days. We ate a lot! But we also walked a lot, so it hopefully cancels out. For our first breakfast, we went to a bakery in Chinatown, which I cannot remember the name of.

Cha Shao Bao

Cha Shao Bao – It had a bread like bun rather than the bao zi like bun that I was expecting, but still very delicious

Egg Custard

Egg Tart – nice and warm with perfect flaky crust

Sesame Ball

Sesame Ball – it was huge! And SS said she really liked it.

For lunch, AN’s New York for Dummies book suggested N.Y. Noodletown as the best Chinese restaurant ever, so we decided to go there. Unfortunately, I disagree with the book. Maybe their rice dishes are better, but I was really disappointed with the dishes that I ordered.

Beef Tripe Noodles

Beef Tripe Noodles – The tripe was impossible to chew and eat. I didn’t eat any of it. Plus the noodles were of the eggy ramen kind, while I was hoping for the chewy handmade noodles. Disappointment.

Frog Congee

Frog Congee – The congee part was very flavorful and delicious, but the frog wasn’t as tender as what I’ve had in the past and not seasoned enough

For our first dinner in NYC, we went to Little Italy and were attacked from all sides by all these Italian waiters trying to get us to go to their restaurant. I don’t know how I feel about that. It got kind of annoying because I just wanted to look at the flippin’ menu without some guy jabbering away telling me how all of their pastas are homemade. Maybe I’m just not used to it? The restaurant that we ended up going to was very cozy (little too cozy) and extremely loud. I was not a fan of the blasting music.

Canneloni

I got the Canneloni, which was pretty good, although I’m not as well-versed in Italian cuisine to give a very educated opinion. AN ordered the Gnocchi al Pomodoro, and SS got the Pasta Primavera

Gnocchi al Pomodoro

Pasta Primavera

The waiter who cleared our table was amazing! He cleared literally everything on the table from the dinner plates to the bread plates to the napkins all in one trip. I kept expecting to stop, drop off the stuff, and come back, but he never stopped! He just kept going until there was not a thing left on our table. It was pretty awesome.

And lastly, please excuse the quality of the pictures. I will try to make them better next time.

Enjoy!

Addresses

N.Y. Noodletown
28 Bowery
New York, NY 10013
(212) 349-0923