Salli Vates' NY Food Page

When I first started blogging in 2002, the food blog was still a novelty. I was inspired by an even older blog, Bread, Coffee, Chocolate, Yo...

New York Taste: A World of Flavors is taking place next Monday (November 7), 2011 at Skylight SoHo , 275 Hudson Street. General admission s...

It's never too early to start thinking about the annual Chocolate Show ! It takes place from November 10-13 this year at the Metropolita...

I realize that this list might seem premature, as 2011 is only three-quarters finished, but here is my completely subjective "Best of 2...

In 2009, Bon Appetit published a recipe for chicken al mattone , or, chicken under a brick. The author of the recipe was Sfoglia 's for...

Almost nothing pleases me more than a cozy neighborhood restaurant in the middle of a residential block. Two-week-old East End Kitchen , the...

Today's Sweets News focuses on treats both French and Japanese. Le Moulin A Cafe . The former La Mediterrannee has transformed itself in...

One of my guiltiest summer pleasures is a box of three "Texas tenders" (huge battered chicken fingers with a choice of dipping sau...

Great news for gourmets on the go... on Monday, August 8, the new Upper East Side Fairway gets a new companion: Fairway Café to Go (240 Ea...

You may have heard that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but if you are a child, this rule doesn't apply at NYC pools in all five...

I always find that cheese (and tea, for that matter) never taste as good at home. When I visit places like the Bedford Cheese Shop and the M...

Ah, Butter Lane , why didn't I find this cupcakery before? The moist, not-too-sweet chocolate, vanilla, or banana cakelets with their lo...

Although it's easy to pack up a picnic basket and head to the park, this is New York, so there's an even easier option... you can ac...

"Can you believe these prices?" an incredulous tourist asked her friend while perusing the compotes and jams at Eataly . "I...

When I think of breakfast pizza, I usually picture being at the airport before 8 a.m. and dejectedly looking at the unappetizing slices unde...

This Sunday, Fairway’s Café and Steakhouse (2127 Broadway, 212-595-1888) will be celebrating the 2011 Tony Awards with a three-course prix ...

The latest gem in David Burke's empire is four-month-old David Burke Kitchen . Located at the edge of Chinatown, it features its proprie...

Here are your Sweets News items for May 27, 2011: The temperatures are climbing, and just in time for the summer weather, Payard Bakery (11...

You could be forgiven for assuming that Alloro was just another of the many red-sauce Italian restaurants that the Upper East Side seems to...

As I wrote in a previous post, I really miss Midtown East's Yakitori Torys. Fortunately, there's a great yakitori place that's n...

I needed a place to celebrate Mother's Day, and I had a pretty tall order to fill. We were meeting our friends the Olives, who have two ...

I stopped by the Redeye Grill ( 890 7th Ave., 212-541-9000 ) tonight to preview this special dessert, which was conceived in honor of the K...

There are two things that invariably improve my mood: coffee and chocolate. So it was with glee that I walked through the doors of Little Br...

When I think of the words "vegan, kosher and healthy," the word "delicious" doesn't immediately follow. However, the...

Here's some very sweet Easter news. On April 24 (Easter Sunday), Benoit (60 West 55th St.) will be holding a special dessert buffet, wh...

Do you want to dine out and do good at the same time? Sunday is annual Time Out for Hunger day. 160 restaurants are participating in this e...

Are you looking to make your Valentine's Day extra-delicious? Here are some ideas: Indulge in heart-shaped lobster ravioli at bahr|ché ...

Here is a bit of Sweets News that will be dear to every chocolate lover. Francois Payard's FC Chocolate Bar will soon be opening up at ...

Yes, I know I just wrote about cupcakes . But that was before I walked by Sweet Revenge , which could be described as the Gwen Stefani of ba...

I remember visiting Maialino this past spring and being enamored of the fresh mozzarella and heirloom tomato salad. The simple but beautifu...

Just in case you're not quite finished with your holiday overindulging, here's a tip for you: one of the most decadent experiences i...

This was my dilemma; Baby Vates was turning one. Since we share a birthday, I wanted to throw a very special kind of party. The adults would...

You're probably wondering what the heck this is, as did I when I saw it on the menu at Sandro's , a Roman restaurant on the Upper Ea...

I must have consumed a pound of chocolate bars at last week's Chocolate Show. But there are so many ways to enjoy chocolate other than i...

The buzzword at the 13th Annual Chocolate Show seems to be "raw," and I'm not sure how I feel about that - to me, raw chocola...

I still feel the loss of both Toraya , the Japanese tea and sweets room, and Ito-En's flagship store on Madison Avenue that included the...

Here are two not-to-be-missed NYC food affairs: 1. My own personal favorite - the Chocolate Show! Buy tickets here . 2. NY Magazine's 12...

Time flies. In December, my baby will turn one. And now Robataya , one of my favorite restaurants in the city, is celebrating its first anni...

I can never remember the farmer's market schedules; I just know that there were certain days that I hit the cheese jackpot at the Rockef...

This post is mostly for the out-of-towners, because judging from the crowds at Eataly , every New Yorker has already visited at least once s...

Here is a bit of EXTREMELY sweet news: September 15 is " Free Dessert Day !" Just book a reservation on Opentable.com and receive ...

You have a couple more hours to enjoy the celebratory $5.50 curry at Katsuhama . The restaurant has now been open for a whole year (not an e...

Here's exciting news for the littlest foodies of Brooklyn: on August 28 and 29, the Brooklyn Children's Museum is holding a Taste o...

I've walked by this little Neopolitan restaurant so many times; today I finally stopped in for lunch. The white-walled, narrow room was ...

I was so tired today; my baby had barely slept the night before. Walking down West 52nd Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, I happened to se...

I have to preface this by saying that I am deeply saddened by the closing of Yakitori Torys; I preferred it to Yakitori Totto (both restaura...

Here's a French restaurant that won't leave you feeling like you overindulged (I love Le Gigot, but after a dinner of their duck con...

Here's something sweet that will appeal to both kids and adults: undyed, all-natural cotton candy spun from maple sugar. Buy it at the ...

Ocean Beach's newest restaurant offers a delightful waterside dining experience at reasonable prices (well, reasonable for Ocean Beach)...

I hear we're supposed to have another heat wave. At least through August 1, Rosa Mexicano has us covered; the restaurant is serving a s...

Of course I had to try this place as soon as I heard about it. It opened up next to Ceci-Cela, another favorite bakery, a couple weeks ago....

I miss the old, wood-panelled Payard on Lexington Avenue; the new one, way up on the fourth floor of a Parisian jewelry store, is much smal...

Smack in the middle of always-bustling Christopher Street is a calm, elegant Tuscan restaurant with its own brand of olive oil. I had always...

It's a furnace out there lately, so I'm always looking for refreshment. B Koffie (370 West 51st St., 646-330-5515) , the "firs...

Greenpoint's Cafe Grumpy has a competitor in this four-month-old (two months, if you count the addition of edibles), maroon-walled Nass...

Walking into Todd English's brand-new Plaza Food Hall, I heard someone ask, "What are you in the mood for?" It wasn't a qu...

Looking around us, my friend and I wondered why the clientele at Ayza was almost exclusively female. And why was everyone ordering chocolat...

In my opinion, Chocolat Michel Cluizel makes the best milk chocolate bar on earth, so you can imagine how devastated I was when the company...

It seems that almost every kind of Japanese restaurant is represented in NYC (a restaurant which features the cuisine of Japanese Buddhist v...

A most refreshing treat came to Chelsea Market three weeks ago: People's Pops . These exotic shaved ices and popsicles are made with lo...

This just in: on Friday, Grom Gelato will open its third NYC store at Columbus Circle. Baby Vates and I just might head over there for some...

La Maison du Chocolat doesn't hold any events for infants, but the boutique does throw sophisticated chocolate parties for children age...

Because of my new arrival, I don't have much time to post these days - but I just had to pass along this information: on Valentine's...

I'm coming out of prenatal hibernation to give word of this very exciting event: National Brownie Day! On December 8, the venerable trea...

I've always wished that a giant, multi-level Japanese department store would open in NYC - the kind that has a rooftop garden, an art ga...

If you are indisposed to leaving the apartment but must have a Jacques Torres chocolate bar within the hour, this service promises to deli...

With its clubby, congenial atmosphere, Destino seems like the local restaurant that's been around for years. It's only been open fo...

Dapper young gents in ties and newsboy hats fix sharp espressos and velvety cappuccinos at this heralded new coffee place . The adjoining ho...

Today's edition of Sweets News focuses on online delights. If you're like me, the closing of Payard had you crying for a week. Fortu...

On a mini-health kick, I decided to check out a couple of the newish UWS veggie cafés. My first stop was Peacefood Cafe (460 Amsterdam Ave....