Tipsy Parsons

This has been a fabulous week thus far! My workouts have been right on plan, I enjoyed a wonderful first experience with Blue Print Cleanse, and now my parents are in New York City for the weekend!

Workouts

My workouts so far have been exactly the kick start week I needed after last week’s travel.

Sunday: Strala Yoga STRONG class

Monday: 4 mile run + Strala Yoga STRONG class

Tuesday: personal training workout

Wednesday: 4 miles of speed work+ slow flow yoga at Equinox

Thursday: personal training workout

I want to dedicate a full, separate post describing my Blue Print Cleanse experience. Even though it was only one day I still learned a lot about myself and successfully completed it. While I didn’t have to follow any prescribed post cleanse activities, I did find myself craving lots of fruits and vegetables today, proof from my pictures of today’s meals and snacks.

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Even though I did a very tough workout this morning, which normally leaves me ravenous all day long, this is a complete look at today’s food. My salad is larger than normal because I was trying to eat unprocessed foods today. By having a larger salad, I wasn’t hungry for a can of soup or bread on the side.

After a day of clean eating, I was looking forward to a comfort food dinner with my parents who are in town visiting for a long weekend.

024 We didn’t have dinner plans tonight because we wanted to start the weekend off on a relaxed note. To my surprise, when I walked through the door this evening, my dad had dinner reservations taken care of, complete with a great review from Garden & Gun magazine.

Tipsy Parsons, a new to me Chelsea restaurant, is known for their comfort food served with a dash of panache.

006 The antique filled restaurant’s cute candle lit tables welcomed us in from the cold as soon as we entered.

007 Within moments of sitting down, we were greeted by the waiter and a plate of warm cornbread.

011 The jalapeno honey served on the side paired perfectly with the warm, buttery cornbread and was the perfect way to start the meal. On the side we toasted to the start of a wonderful weekend with some local beers from Fire Island Beer Company.

027 The menu was filled with Southern classics including three types of grits, macaroni and cheese, greens, and ribs. How does a Southern family make one choice? They share!

010We shared three appetizers: slow roasted pork ribs, quinoa salad, and the soup of the day, cream of celery infused with white chocolate.

026 028 025 Sorry about the last picture but unfortunately my camera didn’t cooperate. The appetizer winner was the celery soup; rich in celery and apple flavor but perfectly balanced with the cream and white chocolate drizzle. You couldn’t taste the white chocolate in every bite, but when you did it was a true treat. We shared this huge bowl three ways and each of us were wishing there was another spoonful left when we were scraping the bottom.

The appetizers only made us more excited for our entrees, which were served almost too quickly. The service was impeccable tonight, ensuring that our water glasses were never low and everything was served fresh and promptly.  We asked our waiter what three dishes were Tipsy Parson’s signature entrees and took his advice by ordering each. My mom chose the chicken & dumplings, which were a unique take on the comfort food classic. It was much lighter and herb infused than the original but still filled with tender chicken chunks and doughy squares.

022 My dad chose the Cheerwine braised short ribs, which our waiter promised would be fall off the bone tender. To my surprise, his favorite part of the meal wasn’t the ribs but instead the parsnip puree,

021 Last but not least was my entree, the crispy skate. Unfortunately, I think my mom’s was the best and mine could barely compare. The skate was seasoned perfectly but the sautéed arugula and pasta side was oily and flat. While I was disappointed,  this one dish couldn’t ruin the dining experience.

023 This meal was the perfect way to kick off our long weekend. We’re not planning every moment of the weekend but we do have some fun things on the agenda.

  • Breakfasts: Murray’s Bagels, Alice’s Tea Cup
  • Lunch: Meatball Shop
  • Dinner: ABC Kitchen and Tamarind
  • Sights & Sounds: Tenement Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of the City of New York, Essex Market, and Central Park Zoo.

Are we forgetting any of your favorites?

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Pushcart Coffee

This morning Bo and I did something we rarely do; met friends for breakfast and coffee.

006We met Kath and Matt at Pushcart Coffee in the Lower East Side. Nestled on the edge of Chinatown, Pushcart Coffee is a local coffee shop which welcomes people with their fresh brewed coffee, delicious sweets, and well rounded meals. The small shop has space for people to sip their coffee or enjoy some of their delectable food but also does a large to go business, just based on our experience this morning. Lisa and her team have a goal to not only succeed in the East Village but also become a staple of the local community. One of her keys to this is understanding her consumer in such a diverse community. She offers something for everything: gluten free, vegan donuts, kosher pastries, and Jewish delicacies like rugelach. 010

007Lisa, a KERF reader who recently became part owner of Pushcart Coffee, invited us down to the shop for breakfast and coffee. Her favorite breakfast items are the top two, on the chalkboard menu, oatmeal with honey and cinnamon or the yogurt with granola.

Kath, Bo, and I tried the yogurt with granola after Lisa raved about their homemade granola, made fresh in the coffee shop.

013 Served alongside a Stumptown Coffee, this was the perfect start the morning. I am hoping that Lisa will share the granola recipe as this nutty granola had a great flavor and crunch unlike anything I’ve tried before. Maybe Bo and I can recreate it at home. Paired with the 1% Greek yogurt and a banana, this kept me full through an hour of power yoga at Strala and a 4 mile run!

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011 Lisa was sweet enough to give us a free sample of her rugelach, one cinnamon and one PB&J, to try.  Flaky and sweet, the cinnamon one our hearts over and left us trying to convince Lisa to make the rugelach a shop staple. Hopefully within the next year, people will head down to the Lower East Side not only for their delicious coffee but also their rugelach.

015Coffee and breakfast with friends was a refreshing way to start the day without breaking the bank or being too indulgent.  We had a wonderful time catching up with Kath and Matt during their trip to New York City. We’ll have to head down to Charlottesville soon for some fresh air, delicious wine, and rolling hills.

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Craft Restaurant

Saturday night, after hours of reclaiming our apartment from the Christmas decorations and clutter, Bo and I decided we deserved a date night reward. However, deciding at 7pm on a Saturday night that you want to go out to dinner in New York City isn’t the easiest thing. Even the lowest rated restaurants seem to be packed on this night of the week when anyone and everyone in New York City seems to dine out. There is even a weekly post dedicated to restaurants with last minute Saturday night availability each week!

image It’s pretty incredible and insane at the same time. Therefore, last night as we paged through the New York Magazine’s recent restaurant edition, where Adam Platt proclaims his favorite 101 New York restaurants, we figured we had no chance in hell squeezing into one last minute.

Lucky for us, we were wrong!

Just down the block from our apartment sits the 5th restaurant on his list, Craft. Last night, they were able to graciously offer us to the last two seats at their beautiful bar, next to the plating area.

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The atmosphere at Craft was sophisticated but not stuffy. It struck the perfect balance between being a serious and sophisticated space without reaching the level of a coat and tie restaurant. I especially loved the leather layered wall which brought a warm brown hue to the restaurant. In addition, adding to the atmosphere and experience, every waiter, hostess, and bartender we encountered was beyond friendly and very helpful.

When enjoying dinner at their bar, the bartender also serves as your waiter. Luckily last night our waiter and bartender for the evening was very knowledgeable about the menu and his service was impeccable, in line with what you would expect of a restaurant of this caliber. He never hovered but was still attentive and served everything in a timely manner.

032Upon sitting down we were quickly greeted by their bread basket. Very basic in nature, the hunks of wheat and white bread and salted butter were delicious.

033 The kitchen presented us with an amuse bouche, a cauliflower soup with a truffle oil drizzle.

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The soup was rich and creamy so the small portion was the perfect amount. In fact, the people next to us requested that this soup be made into an appetizer portion after seeing ours. I have no idea how they ate such a large portion.

Whenever we go to restaurants, we each often order items which we rarely cook at home. The appetizer menu featured two items we rarely conquer: artichokes and quail.

The artichoke and fennel salad was simple but delicious, cooked tender and drizzled in olive oil and fennel seed, paired with peppers and tomatoes.

037Bo’s quail with aged balsamic was perfectly crispy on the outside but tender on the inside and seasoned perfectly. Though we were only one course through our meal, the appetizers stood out as they ensured that Tom Colicchio carries his mantra from Top Chef, “season your food” to his restaurants through the food.  Even the simplest of foods were seasoned perfectly and each flavor lasted on our tongue.

038Choosing an entree from the Craft menu is an arduous task as they provide way too many options. Twelve options across both meat and fish left us both clueless as everything sounded delicious. Therefore, we trusted our waiter with our entree. We asked him what the most popular fish and meat dishes were. After his description of the steelhead trout with lemon and the guinea hen and black truffles we knew we couldn’t go wrong.

The trout, cooked rare, resembled salmon more than trout when first presented. I was a bit hesitant as I wasn’t sure I’d like trout this way but after one bite I was convinced and confused. The lemon and caper flavor was perfect for the meaty trout. While it was delicious, it reminded me a bit too much of capers and lox to order again.

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Bo’s guinea fowl on the other hand was rich and delicious with a nice pan jus. The dark meat was more like duck confit but with more gamey taste. According to the waiter this is one of the dishes that has made Craft so famous. In addition to these two entrees, we enjoyed the hen of the woods mushrooms and brussels sprouts on the side. I would go back tomorrow for those mushrooms alone if I could.  They were sautéed in garlic and butter and then quickly seared to a light crisp under a broiler. 040After seeing desserts plated all evening, there was no way we could pass up an evening treat. We couldn’t decide between the donuts, which are the house specialty, and their delicious arrays of sorbets so decided to indulge and order both. Much to our waist line’s appreciation we also agreed that we would not eat all of the dessert. We each limited ourselves to one spoonful of sorbet and one (or two) donuts. This worked out perfectly, and while it wasn’t the price conscious choice, it left us full but not sick. 

The sugar and spice donuts are homemade and delicious but didn’t stand out in my mind. Many restaurants have donuts on their menu and these were nothing special. In addition, the dark chocolate and the lemon curd dips were just too strong for the sweet, delicate donuts.

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The surprising winner was the sorbet and ice cream. We chose three flavors: earl grey, coconut, and roasted pear. Our favorite was the coconut sorbet and our least favorite was the way too strong earl grey.  042Whether you’re visiting New York City or are a long time local, I highly recommend snagging a table at Craft for your next special evening. Their seven course tasting menu, priced at $120 per person, would make the perfect evening with a special group of friends or loved one!

I am already looking for an excuse to return to Craft Restaurant!

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