Blink and you’ll miss this place, but if you don’t, you’ll walk into Anyway Cafe, a little East Village oasis that’s as much a nod to Russia as it is to France.

There’s dim lighting, a canopy of branches lit up with tiny green lights, and live music (tonight was a single musician playing a tiny piano whose music was crescendoing throughout the evening).

When I walked in, I could smell the food right away and I was salivating. I asked the waitress to give me whatever they’re cooking, and she pointed to the chicken straganoff, a quintessential Russian dish. It’s sauteed pieces of chicken in a sour cream sauce.

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I feel like I’m just re-discovering Chelsea Market because I found myself in the area more often than I ever had been during Fashion Week. On one of the first days when I was attending a conference next door, I was famished by 1pm. The number of food options you have at CM is almost dizzying. When I walked in, the first thing that caught my eye was Bar Suzette. In the interest of surviving, I went straight to their counter. They had this hummus/veggie/truffle oil crepe that sounded promising…well, actually I never really had a hummus crepe so I figured it could go either way, but since it was my first real meal of the day, I forcefully numbed my normal Nutella craving and ordered it.

And Wow. I don’t know if I had low expectations, but I felt like I was eating a gourmet crepe. The crepe itself was not as thin and flimsy as I’m normally used to and the veggies were fresh and crunchy. I’m also pretty sure you can put truffle oil on anything and it makes it that much better — I devoured it. Bar Suzette doesn’t have a website but I read on their FB page that their menu is seasonal and constantly switching things up. And the prices aren’t bad either…the crepe was $9 and filling. I have yet to try their dessert crepes but at least in its savory category, I think it can give Creperie a run for its money.

Restaurant Info:
Bar Suzette: World Crepe Bar
75 9th Avenue
btw 15th and 16th St.
New York, NY 10011
917-207-7552
Chelsea Market

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Shy

Nothing like a midday bite at a cozy French cafe in Chelsea. I joined my friend at Le Grainne Cafe and loved the ambiance and quiet chatter. It’s said to be housed in the oldest building in Chelsea.

I ordered the Creme de Marron crepe (the whole menu is written in both French and English, naturally). The Clément-Faugier chestnut cream spread with créme fraîche is on the sugary side, but still leaves you with a little bit of a sour taste. I think I prefer my nutella…

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I used to live right around the corner from Breeze, a Thai-French bistro in Midtown West, but for some reason never stopped to eat here until a few weeks ago (and that too, having dinner with one of the girls I used to live with on 45th, Eugenia). The first thing worth noting I guess is, I’m not really sure what about the menu is really “French.” For the most part, it consists of standard Thai fare. There are some exceptions under the “Chef’s Specials” on the menu, like the Breeze Steak Duboeuf, or the Duck Breast du Paris…both which sounded kind of contrived in order to fit the type of cuisine they’re advertising. I didn’t really have high hopes for this place either, but it did surprise me a bit. The appetizer we had, crispy squid, was for example, outstanding.

It’s apparently a NY Times’ favorite, made with culantro green chili mayonnaise and sweet chili relish. Eugenia ordered spicy noodles which was also good:

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The Meatpacking District may be best known for its night life, but that culture totally spills into their restaurants. There are doormen, lines, people dressed to the nines and menu prices that lets you know you’re paying probably as much to eat as you are to be seen eating there. Needless to say, God forbid you lose your reservation because now you’re all dressed up and stuck with a minimum two-hour wait at all the restaurants in the vicinity. That’s kind of what happened to us — only our saving grace was Fig & Olive.

After losing our 8pm reservation at Ajna Bar (formerly Buddha Bar…I had no idea they had changed their name either), we were stuck with waiting til midnight for the next slot. Across the street at STK, same story. After wandering a bit, we found Fig & Olive. The maître d’ was so nice and accommodating even though the five of us had just shown up without a reservation on a Saturday night. He said we could wait 15 minutes for an “unorthodox” table inside or a table outside. We opted to sit outside since it was a nice night. While we were waiting, the manager offered us drinks on the house. The service for the rest of the night fit the same standard — it was totally refreshing.

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The original plan was to visit Pulino’s, an inviting pizza/Italian restaurant I spotted on the corner of Bowery and Houston one night (more on that in a near-future post). But when Sarah and I got there after trekking 30 minutes in the pouring rain only to be told it was a 40-minute wait, we decided to wander around instead. Several round-about blocks later, we ran into another friend and a “local” who directed us to Cafe Gitane.

It’s a small, buzzy Northern Moroccan/French restaurant with a pretty fashionable crowd (couldn’t expect less in Nolita). By this time, we’re so hungry and everything looked great on the menu so we started off our 3-course meal with their baked feta with thyme, tomatoes and capers.

It was pretty good, but I think I may have OD’d on the feta/thyme combo with my own cooking at home. Sarah went for a chicken baguette sandwich and I ordered a baked pasta with gorgonzola and roasted tomatoes. Both ended up being a lot more bland than we had hoped for.

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