FOOD PIC OF THE WEEK

SETTEPANI (***)

196 Lenox Ave, New York, NY 10026

A Christmas Eve pizza craving. After running some errands in preparation for “Tropical Christmas”, I was so frustrated with everything (and everyone) that I needed to eat my frustrations away with a pizza pie from a local spot. Settepani has been my go-to (primarily for cocktails and wine) pretty much since we moved to Harlem back in 2017. Actually, I think this was the second restaurant that I visited after moving to the neighborhood. Of course, I visited the restaurant because I “needed” a glass of wine.

PROSCIUTTO PIZZA

I decided to go with this guy because I was feeling meaty. The “simple” pizza consists of prosciutto (of course), mozzarella, basil, and Mike’s honey.

Since I am of a Southern background, I tend to like my food a bit spicy. That said, I’m not too sure that I am a huge fan of Mike’s Hot Honey (***) on my pizza. I do not know, but the sweetness of the sauce took away from the flavor of the prosciutto topping. I guess that many folks like the combination of sweet and savory, but I’m not too keen with this mix of flavors on my pizza. Maybe I was not feeling the sweetness because I was in a crabby mood from running errands on the day before Christmas. Oh well, next time, I’ll just ask for the pizza without the hot honey sauce. However, I think Mike’s Hot Honey would be a perfect sauce for other foods such as french fries, chicken waaaaangs/tenders, or any other fun fried food.

Food Pic of the Week

Red Rooster (***)

310 Lenox Avenue, NY, NY 10027

Another weekend, another brunch. Believe it or not, we did NOT have bottomless brunch this time around. A good choice because this place does not have bottomless brunch.

Anytime someone visits Harlem, they always want to have a meal at Red Rooster Harlem, but I honestly do not get all of the hype surrounding this place . . . Lemme show the food pic before I get into hater mode.

Cornbread & Gravy with Chorizo, Fried Egg

I gotta say that this dish really did hit the spot. Honestly, I never would have considered eating cornbread and gravy for my brunch. BUT, the restaurant's brunch menu was uuummmmmmm a bit lacking.

Wait a minute! Y'all have only three things on the brunch menu? FYI: There were more cocktails than the ones in the screenshot. I get that this is a fancy restaurant so one should not expect a menu with 20 different brunch and lunch items, but may we get a few more fun brunch items? I mean the owner, Marcus Samuelsson, did win the second season of Top Chef, and I'm sure that contestants from the show have to do some sort of innovative dish challenge.

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Food Pic of the Week

SETTEPANI (***) 

 196 Lenox Avenue, New York, NY 10026

I know this restaurant has been mentioned a few times on this blog. Hey, we are in a pandemic, and my dining options are limited. I guess this entry will be less about food and more about cocktails. More specifically . . . a couple of new cocktails that are on Settepani’s fall menu.

Zucca Ferro (Pumpkin Iron)

Forbidden Fruit

First up, we have the Zucca Ferro (Pumpkin Iron), which has pumpkin, whiskey, lemon juice, and Harlem American Syrup. Since I'm not a fan of too much sweetness in my adult cocktails, I requested the drink without the syrup. Don't nobody need all that sugar getting in the way of his whiskey. ;) This one gets a 9 out of 10.

Next, we have the Forbidden Fruit - a combination of Hendricks Gin, apple cider sorbet, and ginger beer. I'll give this one an 8 out 10, because I wish the cocktail had a bit more gin in it (shocking). Perhaps, next time, I just ask for the gin and apple sorbet for this cocktail. I gotta say that it probably was not a wise choice to order this beverage while dining outside in 52F weather.

Now that I think about it. Since one of the cocktails contained sorbet, I guess this post did have food in it after all.

Food Pic of the Week

SETTEPANI (***) 

 196 Lenox Avenue, New York, NY 10026

A few weeks ago, I stopped this local restaurant to try their Limoncello Sorbetto. Oh, by “local” I mean a quick, 3-min walk from my apt.

Basically, the Limoncello Sorbetto is tequila and limoncello (of course) infused with lemon sorbet that is placed into a hollowed-out lemon. Although I liked this dessert cocktail, going forward, I’m going to substitute gin for the tequila.

A couple of weeks later, I went back to try the orange version of this frozen cocktail.

This version is pretty much a negroni infused with orange sorbet. Comparing the two, I think that I’ll lean toward the lemon version because it was less syrupy than the orange version.

Since we have to order food with cocktails in NYC, I had a delicious octopus appetizer with my orange negroni sorbet. Technically, wouldn’t the sorbet count as food?



Sometimes you need to eat a bunch of cookies to deal with #quarantinelife

During this pandemic, my (unhealthy) food consumption has been out of control. One day, I was fiending for something sweet to deal with #quarantinelife. After failing to obtain a huge slice of red velvet cake from LA Sweets NY, one of my favorite bakeries in Harlem. In addition to baking amazing cakes and cupcakes, LA Sweets NY is like a 90-second walk from my apt so it’s super convenient for curing a sugar fix. Also, it’s a Black-owned business so double win. For whatever reason, they were closed so I ordered from Insomnia Cookies. The plan was to order the 6 pack of cookies, but I guess that my thumb “slipped” while using Grubhub’s app, and I ended up ordering the 18 pack of cookies. Oh well. #YOLO and I blame COVID-19. ;)

The mint chocolate chip and original chocolate chip were my favorite ones.

Angel of Harlem

2272 Frederick Douglass Blvd, New York, 10027

Shrimp and Grits a standard classic.