NYC Amuse Bouche

To me, planning a trip (especially where to eat) is part of the joy and excitement brought by travelling. Being the Type-A planner that I am, I love dictating to my husband on where to go and what to eat - only when it concerns travel :)! By this Friday (until Wednesday), we will be in New York City, and to prepare for it, we not only started scouring websites, guidebooks, and friends' emails for trip recommendations, but we have also hoodwinked our eldest daughter - she's 3 - to belt out Alicia Key's "Empire State of Mind"!
I am a big foodie, but unlike some people I know (ahem), I can go either high-gloss and upscale or low-blow and cheap. I am always open to new flavours and unusual combinations, be it at big-named restaurants or at small-scale joints. I also love restaurants where the chef is the owner and the cook, and where the menu is market-oriented.
For this trip, we are mixing it up a little bit in terms of restaurant choices. And since we're going with a bunch of Toronto friends who are foodies-in-the-making, we are prepared to go the distance! So far, we are set for the following places...No particular order!

• Dinner at Balthazar - Keith McNally's gorgeous doppelganger of a Parisian bistro is still alive and kicking a decade later. Most guidebooks, critics, bloggers, and friends have recommended this place, so naturally, we feel that we should have the whole gang here for dinner. The last time I sat at a table at Balthazar's was during the early millenium, so let's see if it's still all good. Eater NY lists Balthazar as a Top 38 Essential New York Restaurant, Restaurant Magazine salutes it as one of the World's 50 Best, Gayot rates it an honourable 14/20, Michelin Guide NY recommends it, Time Out NY puts a star on it, New York Magazine's Hal Rubenstein hails it to be "a masterpiece", and Urban Spoon ranks it #1 Best Restaurant in New York.
• Midnight snack at Momofuku Ssäm Bar - Can Chef David Chang do any wrong at this point? We'll see! I'd like to compare his pork belly bun with my grandmother's, but I'm almost certain that anything that fatty (the pork, I mean) will win me over. Momofuku Ssäm stands unassailed: it's in San Pellegrino's Top 50 Restaurants of the World, it's also in Eater NY's Top 38 Essential New York Restaurants, Gayot rates it a respectable 14/20, New York Times food critic Frank Bruni gives it 3 out of 4 stars, Chef-author Mike Colameco raves about it, along with virtually every guidebook in the city.

• Brunch at The Little Owl - Joey Campanaro, chef and owner, remains at the helm of The Little Owl's kitchen - which is a rarity these days for chefs who attain a certain celebrity. The Little Owl is on Eater NY's Top 38 Essential New York Restaurants list, New York Mag rates it 8/10 as a critic's pick, Gayot rates it a decent 12/20, Time Out NY recommends it with a star, Chef-author Mike Colameco reports, "this is the place," and both Zagat and Michelin guides give it a thumbs-up. We'll certainly be up early and in line to snag a few of their 25 seats for weekend brunch.

• Dinner at Perbacco - The cute and geeky Italian chef-transplant (from Emilia region), Simone Bonnelli, dishes out what is touted as "avant-garde Italian". I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I'm here to find out. Apparently, the chef dabbles in molecular gastronomy. Perbacco Enoteca e Cucina has been recommended by NY writer David Farley at Grantourismo! blog, Mike Colameco proclaims, "Perbacco is a winner!", Gayot rates it 14/20, New York Magazine calls Bonnelli's cooking a "modern Italian prodigy", New York Times' Frank Bruni gives it 2 out of 4 stars, which means it's a top pick and it's very good for its category.
• Dinner at Peasant - A rustic Tuscan trattoria in the middle of urban SoHo seems a bit kooky, but Chef Frank DeCarlo made it work! Peasant is widely-acclaimed by its peers in the industry and is lauded in New York Magazine's as one of the Top 10 Italian Restaurants in the city. Gayot rates it 15/20 and it's a critic's pick for Time Out NY and New York Mag. As well, chef-author-critic Mike Colameco imparts that he's not had "a bad plate" here. Polpi in Purgatorio is sounding molto delicioso!
• Dinner at Hakata TonTon - Himi Okajima, a native of Kyushu, Japan, brings pigs' feet to the public. He claims that he gets his feet (pig's feet, that is) from the same Berkshire farm Robert de Niro gets his for Nobu down the road. Only, Nobu gets the ribs and the loins. I am curious to try pigs' feet in all sorts of reincarnation - on pasta, puff pastry, omelette, shabu-shabu, gyoza, sushi, etcetera. Peeter Meehan of the New York Times feels that the place is "honest and genuinely warm", and Time Out NY awarded it as the Best Paean to a Single Body Part.
• Lunch at Nobu - We were tossing around the idea of either Nobu or Morimoto, but most critics, guides, and legit foodie seem to prefer Nobu Matsuhisa's joint. Moreover, we are pleased to discover that the flagship sushi bar is offering their reasonable prix fixe lunch for Summer Restaurant Week. Gayot rates it an astounding 17/20 (vs. Morimoto's 14/20), The New York Times hands it 4 out of 5 stars (vs. Morimoto's 1 out of 5 star), Urban Spoon hails it as Top 10 Best New York Restaurants, and Time Out NY gives it a nod.

• Lunch at Casa Mono - Batali doing Spanish seems suspicious, but after getting to know him more through that Spain culinary tv show / trip, I have respect for the guy. Eater NY lists Casa Mono as the lone Spanish tapas dive in their Top 38 Essential New York Restaurants, Adam Platt honours it on 101 Best New York Restaurants in 2006 at New York Magazine, Frank Bruni of the New York Times declare that "it is in many ways my favourite, the one I most frequently find myself itching to go."
We left a few meal times open for the possibility of discovering some hidden gem in the city. But as a back-up, we have the numbers of Prune, Five Points, Little Giant and Boqueria in our back pockets. I await for New York with mouth agape!