Nomadic Foodie » NYC

NYC: A Macaroni and Cheese Destination

Lea — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:29:57 +0000

I love macaroni and cheese. When Doniree reached out and asked me to guest post about it, I was beyond thrilled. It’s a love affair I want to share with other mac and cheese enthusiasts on @MacCheesy. I’m not a painter, but I like to make an analogy of macaroni and cheese as a blank canvas. Like eggs, it’s a highly personalized dish and everyone has their preferred way.

Living in New York City affords me several options to get my macaroni and cheese preferences indulged. We have not one, but three places dedicated to the comfort food: S’MAC, Brooklyn Mac, and Macbar.

S’MAC

This is the original macaroni and cheese-dedicated spot. It’s nestled in the East Village, a neighborhood filled with niche food options. I’ve often proclaimed its owner, Sarita (where you get the S’ in the name), is my idol. The space is small, but decorated in orange and yellows. They have several menu items of suggested combinations. In my opinion, the Buffalo Chicken mac and cheese is the best suggested combination. If it’s your first time, try the $16 sampler for two people. It’s a great way to eat many items on the menu without being stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey. Every time I go I make a “Build Your Own” with pecorino, cheddar, slab bacon and scallions. This is also known as my “usual” when told to friends.

Brooklyn Mac

It’s probably not fair to call this Brooklyn’s version of S’MAC (though I do it often). Brooklyn Mac opened in 2010 to rave Yelp reviews and it’s still holding strong. I immediately ventured to the other borough to try this take-out mac and cheese spot. To test its legitimacy, I ordered my S’MAC usual. Lo and behold, I enjoyed Brooklyn Mac’s version better. Its bacon has a more flavorful impact then the slab bacon used at S’MAC. I’m looking forward to going back and trying some of its suggested combinations, which are all named after areas of Brooklyn.

Macbar

Have you ever had a desire to eat macaroni and cheese out of a macaroni-shaped dish? Well, Macbar gives you that opportunity. Where S’MAC and Brooklyn Mac let you customize your experience, Macbar comes with only its menu of combinations. Though these combinations indulge your wildest wants with Mac Lobsta’, Mac Quack (duck confit), Mac Reuben (yes, with corned beef), and Mac ‘shroom, it’s the Carbonara that keeps me coming back. I have a sweet spot for peas in mac and cheese. S’MAC painfully doesn’t let me indulge that preference.

If you want to get your mac and cheese preferences indulged on the West Coast, Homeroom just opened in Oakland, California. If you’ve been, please tell me about it!

Lea

Lea Marino is a community manager at Bizzy, based in NYC. When she’s not busy interacting with people over their restaurant Check Outs, she’s tweeting about macaroni and cheese as @MacCheesy. Lea’s an avid restaurant explorer and always trying to find excuses to cook at home.

Street Food Friday

doniree — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:00:39 +0000

[Photo courtesy of Flickr*]

Welcome to Street Food Friday! Street Food Friday is a new series, brought to you in rotation by yours truly, and three of my darling blogger friends: Lacey, Gretchen, and Jess. Jess kicks off this Friday series today at her place, Everyday Adventures of Me in the City, featuring Chicago’s Tamale Spaceship.

Check her out! Then stop by here every 4th Friday for my take on the local food cart scene here in Portland’s scene, follow Lacey for the NYC beat, and Gretchen’s got the south covered in tasty Austin, TX.

Happy Street Food Finding!

[*Photo used/modified via Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License]

doniree

Doniree Walker is the Nomadic Foodie. She loves the exploration and community of food, and currently lives in Portland, Oregon, and loves the region's focus on local and seasonal food, daily farmers' markets and food carts at seemingly every turn. She's on twitter as @doniree and @nomadicfoodie, and blogs her adventures and life in general at doniree.com.

S'MAC – Saritas Mac and Cheese, New York City

doniree — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:00:42 +0000

Yes, I realize I’m following up last week’s post about eating healthy while traveling with a post about a restaurant that serves ONLY mac and cheese.

It’s all about balance, right?

You heard me right – S’MAC (Sarita’s Mac And Cheese) in New York City’s East Village serves up cast iron skillets filled with ten different suggested mac and cheese concoctions OR the choice to build your own. Caroline was nice enough to show Jamie and I this fabulous little place while we were in NYC last weekend, and I completely fell in love. If a place like this exists anywhere else in the world, I want to know.

As for the place? I could tell you up and down and sideways how gooey the cheese was, how perfect the elbow noodles were, and about the bread crumbs which I firmly believe separates EPIC mac and cheese from all other mac and cheeses. I could, but we’re talking about mac and cheese here – I’ll let the pictures do the talking:

doniree

Travel Updates

doniree — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:55:49 +0000

Stay tuned for some wanderlusty, nomadic, delicious updates and up-and-comings. Stick with me, and here’s where we’ll go:

Coming soon:

I was just in NYC and tried some tasty places including the Central Park Boathouse and an all mac-and-cheese place. Yes, I have pictures.
Travel tips – info on some of the things I’m learning about eating and traveling, particularly around eating healthy on the move
Cheese plate guest reviews! (Perhaps most excited for this)

Up and coming trips:

Weekend trip to PDX, August 27
Secret September road trip that I’ll announce soon (!!!)
Minneapolis in October to see friends and attend the wedding of two of my dear friends

Busy fall? Just you wait.

doniree

Cheese and Tiramisu

doniree — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:01:46 +0000

My first trip to NYC was a short, but dizzyingly wonderful one. I spent about thirty-six hours there and managed to sightsee more than I’d expected. And naturally, I ATE. In fact, the only thing I think I had on my to-eat list that I didn’t get to was the pizza.

Don’t get me wrong. We tried. We walked all the way across the bridge to Brooklyn for Grimaldi’s pizza. Except that it was 90somethingfucking degrees outside and the line THAT WENT OUTSIDE was a good 45 minutes.

Hell no.

So, we ventured to the South Street Seaport instead.

NYC has SO MANY food options, and with the exception of Times Square (ick. boo.), most seem to be authentic, local, amazing little eateries. Here’s what I DID manage to nom:

a bagel in Brooklyn. To be honest? It was TASTY, but the bagels at East Coast Bagels in California were better on the sheer principle that they had CHOCOLATE CHIP bagels and this little shop in Brooklyn did not
popcorn shrimp at the Heartland Brewery at the South Street Seaport. Popcorn shrimp is ALWAYS a win. I also enjoyed their Summertime Apricot Ale with my Fish and Chips. Seafood? Always good. FRIED seafood? EVEN BETTER.
Then there was a CHEESE PLATE and TIRAMISU at Bar Baresco. I think that the best way to enjoy a cheese plate – at least for me, while I’m learning what I like and don’t – is to ask the server for a good variety of different levels of soft and hardness and intensity. We got a beautifully diverse array of soft cheeses, red wine infused cheeses, and delicious nuts and honeys to accompany the cheese.
And the tiramisu? OH MY GOD.

Now, I just need to get back to that fine city and have a piece of greasy pizza!