Comfort Food Classic: Brooklyn Diner Launches New Menu Items

By: Finance Foodie

Brooklyn Diner, famous for its chicken soup, baked mac & cheese, Chinese chicken salad and cheeseburger deluxe (all voted “Best of New York” by New York Magazine), has added new dishes to it’s already scrumptious menu. New dishes include the innovative healthy /fatty Fried Calamari Salad, Braised Short Rib on a Long Bun Sandwich and more. Since I happened to be in the area for job interviews last week, I decided to pop in for lunch to check out a few of the new offerings.

Brother Jimmy's BBQ Dessert Bash: A Sweet Time For All!

By: Anne Raso

I was lucky enough to be invited to Brother Jimmy’s Union Square eatery for a wonderful dessert bash. Brother Jimmy’s is one of the smarter restaurant chains in New York as they have very together social media directors—most restaurants these days do not even have local PR people let alone people who cater to bloggers’ need (so a special “12 rib salute” for that)!

Brownie Sundae

Taste Testing McDonald's New Egg White Delight McMuffin

By: Finance Foodie

McDonald's recently launched a new breakfast offering at 250 calories: the Egg White Delight McMuffin. The new breakfast sandwich is prepared on the grill with 100% egg whites, extra lean Canadian bacon and white cheddar served on a new muffin made with eight grams of whole grain. This introduction represents McDonald’s ongoing efforts to evolve its menu with more great-tasting, relevant food choices.

Breakin’ Away With Norwegian Cruise Line’s Breakaway Cruise Ship

By: Anne M. Raso

New York now has a new “lady” taking up the space at Pier 88 —the Norwegian Breakaway. The gorgeous new ship with be docked here any time it's not on its way to Bermuda, London, Bahamas or a “cruise to nowhere”! Norwegian hope that she will soon be considered as the official cruise ship of The Big Apple and Mayor Bloomberg himself came out for the christening and the Rockettes “manned” the ribbon cutting part of the ceremony—although the giant ribbon they held onto was just pulled away from the side of the stage and not really cut with a scissors.

E=MC Fun: An Educational and Cultural Tour of Houston Texas

By: Finance Foodie

For all my time spent living in Houston, I ironically never took advantage of all the cool museums and "tourist spots" the city had to offer (perhaps it was due to my lack of driving skills or the constant lure of Chinatown and its delicious cuisine). But thanks to the Houston CityPASS, I finally was able to check all these hotspots - and skip the long summertime lines in the process!

City Pass

Winona Ryder: Mob Moll - Q&A On The Ice Man!

By: Anne M. Raso

Winona Ryder has stayed pretty low key in the recent past but you cannot keep a great actress down and in the new mob "hit" The Ice Man, Winona turns in a very real performance as Deborah Pelicotti Kuklinski, the widow of real-life northern New Jersey hit man Richard Kuklinski (played in the film by Michael Shannon) who bragged over 300 hits after being imprisoned even though the cops had the number somewhere more like a modest 100.

Winona Ryder at The Ice Man Press Day

Paramount Bar & Grill: Contemporary American Fare Reaches Its “Paramount”!

By: Anne M. Raso

I was lucky enough to attend a dinner at the Paramount Bar & Grill in the famous and recently remodeled Paramount Hotel last week and was delighted at what a gorgeous and airy eatery was created out of a former storage space - thanks to new owner Aby Rosen). The lighting is at just the perfect level of dimness, the service is attentive and the food is classic American hotel food with a modern twist.

Interior

Anthony Bourdain Hosts The Bronx Academy Of Letters 10th Birthday Celebration

By: Anne M. Raso

The Bronx Academy Of Letters recently celebrated its tenth birthday of helping kids get a foot in the door of the arts career of their dreams at the Metropolitan Pavilion recently with the help of host Anthony Bourdain who tells us that he got involved with the charity via his agent who, like him, is big on helping education-oriented charities for kids. The heavy hitter eateries from Manhattan and Brooklyn were in attendance including Prune, Momofuko & Momofuku Milk Bar, Del Posto Babycakes NYC, Mission Chinese, Briskettown, Roberta's, Chez Sardine and Boulud Sud. Five different specialty drinks were whipped up and served by Jim Meehan of PDT and his highly creative and friendly mixology staff. I fell in love with the Rosemary Society cocktail consisting of Bombay Gin, Grey Goose Vodka, Lemon Juice, Benedictine, St. Germain and bitters.

Anthony Bourdain

New York Wedding Gala On The Atlantica — More Than Just Great Cakes And Manhattan Views!

By: Anne M. Raso

I was recently invited to the New York Wedding Gala on board The Atlantica, a wonderfully large art deco inspired ship that is often booked for weddings and other special events. These events given a few times a year by Entertainment Cruises (who owns The Atlantica and Bateaux New York vessels) are always fun because both press and engaged couples are welcome and they put their best foot forward with the great food, table arrangements and entertainment on board.