Foodie Friday: April 2023

Hi friends, welcome back to another edition of my monthly series showcasing all my delicious eats during the month. As you know, one of my favorite parts of living in NYC is the abundance of incredible food, and I’ve been on a mission to try all the best places and share my finds along the way. Disclaimer: these posts will cause hunger 🙂 If you want to stay up to date on all my foodie finds, you can follow my food Instagram here.

As usual, I went to Dominique Ansel to grab the monthly Cronut flavor of Blackberry Jam & Coconut Ganache. This one was delicious and the blackberry flavor was mainly what I tasted. I wish the coconut would’ve been more prevalent but I still enjoyed this cronut. It was light, sweet, and a great flavor combination.

I also got May’s flavor of Raspberry & Pistachio. This one was very tart and it was hard to taste the pistachio. I had somewhat high expectations for this one, but it’s middle of the pact. I think I would’ve liked it to be sweeter and not so tart.

My ordering so far of most to least favorite: Salted Caramel Pretzel, Cherry Jam & Cappuccino Ganache, Lychee Ganache & Mascarpone Ganache, Pumpkin Pie & Brown Sugar Ganache, Blueberry & Sweet Corn, Ube Ganache & Thai Coconut Ganache, Strawberry & Olive Oil, Lemon Curd & Graham Cracker Ganache , Blackberry Jam & Coconut Ganache, Early Grey & Okinawa black Sugar, Mango Jam & Milk Chocolate Ganache, Strawberry Poppyseed & Buttermilk, Raspberry & Pistachio, Honey Peach Jam & Graham Cracker Ganache, Almond and Fig, Passionfruit & Vanilla, Peanut Butter & Banana, Caramel Flan & Orange Marmalade, Green Apple Butterscotch, and Black Truffle & Caramel Popcorn Cronut.

Places I was invited to:

Zillions Pizza is a new pizza shop near Times Square. You can buy a whole pizza or order by the slice, and I love that you can do half & half on a pizza. For the Final Four Jon and I got half pepperoni and half Hot Damn (spicy tomato sauce, ricotta, oregano, scotch bonnet honey & quick pickled jalapeño).

On Wednesday nights And Son and Mels Burger Bar presents “Bistro Night” for a delicious dinner! Choose between Steak Frites, French Dip, or a Prime Burger and your entree comes with Peasant Bread, a Simple Salad, and unlimited fries. I’ve been to And Sons a few times and their brunch, steak, and burger are my favorite.

The French Cheese Board is a cheese shop that educates and specializes in French cheese. They have a test kitchen in the basement and I was invited to a fondue night to celebrate National Cheese Fondue Day. We each got our own stations and made our own fondue with the help of Chef Mateo. I ended up knowing everyone there so it was a fun and delicious night with my foodie friends.

Lupporoso was our favorite of the month, the pizza was outstanding! Their pizza is made on a special wood-burning oven that was hand-built in Naples, Italy using volcanic lava ash from Mt. Vesuvius. The pizzas taste heavenly and they have so many different pizzas to try but my favorite was the Vodka Pesto. We also enjoyed the meatballs and Stracciatella pizza.

I worked with Baked by Melissa on a delicious Mother’s Day promotion. They always have fun packaging and these bite sized treats are addicting! For every Mother’s Day 25-pack sold they are donating $5 to Baby Quest, a nonprofit that awards financial assistance to those who cannot afford procedures such as IVF and gestational surrogacy. The flavors included in this pack are Blondie, S’mores, Cookie Butter Brownie, Electric tie-dye, Vanilla & Sprinkles, and Chocolate & Sprinkles. My favorites are the Blondie and S’mores.

The Chick Inn was a great spot for brunch! The atmosphere was very relaxed and the food was delicious! We started with the chicken cheese balls and they were heavenly! I ordered the Chicken & Waffles and I loved that it came with chicken strips because I grew up only eating chicken strips with ranch when I’d go out to eat. I’ve clearly come a long way. Jon enjoyed the breakfast sandwich and perfectly crispy waffle fries.

Tacombi is a laid-back taqueria with locations around the city. Jon and I dined at the Long Island City location previously and we went back to the FiDi location with our friends for a delicious feast. We all started with some fresh watermelon margaritas and then ordered family style for dinner. We started with guac & chips and then the group favorites were the chicken burrito, avocado tostada, and baja crispy fish tacos. We also loved the beef birria tacos, al pastor and carnitas tacos, and pork and chicken quesadillas. It was a great pre-Cinco de Mayo celebration!

What caught your eye this month?

 

 

33 thoughts on “Foodie Friday: April 2023

  1. As usual, I’m full just reading about this (and also probably because I just finished breakfast hahaha!). The blackberry coconut cronut sounds absolutely delicious! I don’t know how you still manage to put them in order after all this time, I feel like I’d have forgotten what most of them taste like.

    1. I keep waiting for a fruit-based flavor to knock “Salted Caramel Pretzel” off the top of your Dominique Ansel list. Maybe the blackberry coconut would’ve had a better shot with more coconut. Regardless, it looks like a delicious combo. I appreciate your candid review of the raspberry/pistachio. The flavors just don’t go together IMHO. As for what caught my eye I looked no further than a slice of the “Hot Damn” from Zillions. That kind of spicy is totally my thing!

      1. I have a soft spot for salted caramel and pretzels, so something will have to really blow me away to knock it off. Maybe a Nutella one or something. I tried hot honey pizza on our honeymoon, I was hesitant, but now I’m obsessed with it!

    2. Haha I have a hard time putting them in order now. The Cronut just turned 10 and they said they’ve never made the same flavor twice.

  2. So many fabulous feasts! I particularly liked the wood-fired pizza and everything from the Mexican place which have probably added a couple of pounds.

    1. Good choices. Wood-fired pizza is my favorite, and the Mexican feast was delicious!

  3. Wow. You have outdone yourself this month Lyssy. Glad you managed a cooking class in the midst of it all. The Neapolitan pizza and the Mexican place look like the winners in my book. Happy Friday. Allan

    1. It was a delicious month! The cooking class was fun and somehow my fondue turned out the best 🙂 Pizza and Mexican food are always winner in my book too.

  4. Questions: Is that small dish with the steak and fries mushrooms? Is the Loppporoso pizza burned? And I am sorry but COCONUT will never be on anything I eat. Everything else looked wonderful. I do miss those amazing dessert pictures you sometimes show. Although I could never eat one if I finished those meals. Happy Star Wars Day.

    1. They are little pieces of garlic. The pizza didn’t taste burned, I think that’s just how those ovens cook the crust. We’ve been trying to rein in our eating before Italy so no crazy desserts this month.

  5. What fun with food you had, Lyssy! It all made me super hungry – especially the chicken and waffles and the cupcakes, though everything else looked wonderful too. Have a good weekend!

    1. It was a fun and delicious month! It’s hard to pick with so many good options. Have a great weekend too!

  6. I’m not a doughnut person, but I may try the Blackberry Jam & Coconut Ganache. I may even try to make a coconut ganache it sounds so good 🙂 Maggie

    1. I am surprisingly not a doughnut person either, with the exception of my monthly cronut. Coconut ganache sounds delicious 🙂

  7. What caught me eye? Are you kidding me?? ALL of the above! 🤣 Food looks great and I love the sound of that half and half pizza combo and love the look of the vodka and pesto one!

    1. Haha all of the above is a good answer! Half and half is the best of both worlds. I see people with vodka pesto pizza, but this was my first time having it. I’m a big fan!

  8. Oh I am so glad I literally just ate before looking at all these yummy food photos! I’m always so impressed by bloggers that actually remember to snap photos of their food before eating (because I so rarely do!)

    1. It’s hard for me to resist taking a pic now. There’s a saying that the phone eats first 🙂

  9. Delicious food and a great choice of various places to visit for a brunch or dinner. The Mexican place is my top choice from this selection and I would definitely go for the Blackberry Jam and Coconut Ganache cronut.

    1. We cut back on restaurants this month, so it was nice being selective.The Mexican spot and cronut seem to be the crowd favorites this month, good choices!

  10. My mouth is watering after reading (and seeing) all of the delicious treats and sweets and food that you ate last month. The cronut flavour sounds amazing. I must try one of these someday.

    1. The cronut is definitely a must if you visit NYC! They do ship, not sure about to Canada, but the shipping fees are so wild.

  11. Yum! That cooking class looks like so much fun, and wow those cakes are just insane. Get me to the fooood…as always after your Foodie Friday posts, I need to eat.

    1. The class was such a fun night! Haha these posts are hunger inducing for sure!

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