In honor of National Rice Pudding Day, you should without a doubt check out some of the best rice pudding dishes around the city. Rice pudding has been around for thousands of years, so why not have a whole day to celebrate it!? Originally, rice pudding was used by ancient Middle Easterners medicinally, but now we know the best way to use rice pudding is to eat it. Enjoy!
Costanera Cocina Peruana, located in Montclair, NJ, serves patrons a delicious Peruvian rice pudding. The Combinado Clasico ($5) is a parfait of vanilla and Arborio rice pudding with golden raisins, Peruvian purple corn pudding, pineapples, apricots, and papaya.
All NYCers know the famous chef David Burke, who climbed to notoriety with his slew of restaurants and Food Network appearances. The CIA graduate has a plethora of restos to choose from in New York City, so whether you're uptown or downtown, there's a place for you to stop and eat.
David Burke at Bloomingdales is the perfect spot for shoppers to plop down and relax amidst their bag-carrying day, whether it's at their 50-seater dine-in, or at Burke in the Box, the 35-seater casual side of the resto with an open kitchen.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Err…maybe not. But, at least for red carpet regulars, it is a pretty glamorous season. And while most of us won’t necessarily have the opportunity to decide between the Versace and the Valentino, we can still invite our besties over to cheer for the winners and play a few rounds of “guess who bought more Botox?” We're talking about the nominees, obvi!
To bring a bit more flavor to these uber-tasteful soirees, First Course grabbed a seat in the sweet kitchen of Flex Mussels’ Executive Pastry Chef (and former Top Chef: Just Desserts cheftestant) Zac Young. Check out Zac’s suggestions for the ultimate awards season dessert party and why everything is better with bacon.
So it's late summer, NYC. It's about 92 degrees outside and my editor calls me up to see if I can go do some field research on a new gelato spot. The universe is on my side. I waste not a minute and head on over to Amorino that evening.
The European chain has chosen the perfect Union Square spot to infiltrate the US -- right smack dab in the middle of NYU-ville. They boast 22 flavors of gelato, and the favorites among the crowd (from what I scooped) were Hazelnut and Pistachio. But to compare with ZacYoung's donuts around the corner at Flex Mussels, I decide I'm going to go for Caramello a Burro Salato (Caramel with Salted Butter).
Flex Mussels began with a simple concept: using one ingredient in a myriad of creative ways, nothing pretentious or overcomplicated. Three successful years later, after opening an Uptown and later a West Village location, Flex Mussels has stayed true to its mission and Prince Edward Island roots and has continued to push mussels to an entirely new level.
With the recent addition of Michael Sullivan as the new executive chef, this increasingly popular one-item restaurant is experimenting with ideas for new mussel creations and other menu items. Good news: It looks like a third New York restaurant is in the works.