CEOLA

I spend a lot of time in the Big Apple.

Well…relatively…considering I only visit two or three times a year.

Since I’ve spent the better part of all my visits for the last four or five years eating my way through New York City, I’m constantly giving restaurant recommendations to friends and family heading there. So, I thought – why not make life a little easier for everyone and put my top eateries in a blog post?

This list is by no means exhaustive, of course. New York is a veritable foodie playground and I can never quite seem to get through my restaurant wishlist. These are the best of my best so far.

It was a chilly Halloween night about two years ago when my friends Ashanna and Anand and I stumbled upon a tiny ramen-ya in a Hell’s Kitchen basement. The growing line outside the restaurant let us know the wait would be worth it, even though temperatures were below 10°.

I don’t eat pork so I wasn’t able to partake of the signature ramen dish, but the chicken stock ramen remains to this day the best I’ve ever had in New York City and you HAVE to trust me on that because I eat A LOT of ramen…

While on a rushed trip to Greenwich Village for Ladurée macarons, my best friend Sandi and I ducked into an inconspicuous bakery for a cup of coffee. After a few minutes, we realized we had happened upon the bakery of the man who had invented THE food fad of our generation – the cronut. While we didn’t get cronuts that day (people start lining up at 6am) we did make a point to return on our next trip to NYC. By then though, the Dominique Ansel Kitchen was open for business, so that became our choice for breakfast since there was seating and a wider range of dishes available there. If you love baked goods, surrender yourself to Ansel. Be warned though – there IS such a thing as sugar overload, and I guarantee you’ll get it here.

I don’t often return repeatedly to restaurants (because there’s so much to eat in NYC) but when I do, I go back to Jack’s Wife Freda. My go-to dish is the Madame Freda, a pressed sandwich with duck prosciutto and a sunny side up egg, but I can also vouch for the Rose Water Waffles if sweet is more your thing. The place is compact with communal seating and gets PACKED so I would recommend making reservations (if you’re a table of four or more) or going on a weekday.

Every trip to NYC I say I want to go to a crab boil and every trip to NYC I never make it. This time around was different though, and I finally got to this restaurant that I was put on to by my friend Makeela. My boyfriend and I settled in in our very fashionable bib and rubber gloves and got to work on a bag of 1/2 lb lobster and 1lb of shrimp. By the end of the night I was literally licking the bag and my gloves trying to get every bit of sauce off them (not even lying).

Sweet Chick is a restaurant that has been on my radar for ages. Apart from the fact that it’s a top-rated brunch spot in the uber-trendy Williamsburg neighbourhood, it’s owned by a Trini! I finally got around to visiting Sweet Chick on my last trip to NYC and I have to proclaim – Best. Chicken. And. Waffles. Ever. The wait staff is also super friendly…if you’re into that kind of thing. The place was pretty full when I visited (we sat at the bar), so it’s a good idea to head there early o’ clock to beat the crowd.

So there you have it – my top 5 spots to hit the next time you’re in NYC.

Tell them Ceola sent you, they’ll be like “Who?”