Dining

By Christopher A. Pape

Every so often life throws you a line of opportunity. Recently, this happened to me when I met the most interesting mother-son team from South Korea. Seongmi Kim and her son David Choi are passionate about chocolate. In fact, they are the first and only hand-made chocolatier company operating in Korea. Their business model is quite unique -from a school that teaches how to make tasty desserts and sculptural pieces from chocolate to manufacturing and the sale of the chocolate, they have dived head first into this exciting field. While not currently sold in the States (they are working on that), their chocolate is some of the best I’ve ever had. And from the first bite, I knew I had to feature this dynamic duo in the magazine.

By Christopher A. Pape

Sometimes a love affair is so passionate that words can’t describe the emotion that is felt. Sometimes an addiction can be so strong that no matter of cajoling or begging can make it stop. And sometimes a restaurant is so good that licking a plate is almost seen as dignified. The restaurant that I refer to happens to be my favorite restaurant in New York City.

By Christopher A. Pape

For a restaurant critic or those truly passionate about food there are few restaurant concepts that excite. It basically boils down to the fact that we’ve seen everything before – haute Barnyard, rustic Italian, sublime Japanese and many others - all seem passé. Often I think to myself that if I see one more clever way to use foie gras I might just stop eating all together. But, I suppose that is an extreme measure, especially in the light of the recent opening of Gravy, a fabulous new restaurant in the Flatiron section of Manhattan serving up inspired and delicious Southern cuisine with a twist.

Center Cut at the Empire Hotel is a dining experience that should not be missed



Contemporary meets classic at Center Cut, the latest restaurant from Jeffrey Chodorow’s China Grill Management. Right next to Lincoln Center at the Empire Hotel, the restaurant is the perfect spot for a pre-theater, pre-concert or pre-entertainment bite to eat. And yes, to a New Yorker, location is everything, but what makes Center Cut really stand out is simple: the food is actually good.

By Jeanine Zelkas


Within the lovely space that houses Toloache — a contemporary Mexican bistro in Midtown’s Theater District — chef/owner Julian Medina, who was born and raised in Mexico City, combines experiences from his homeland with his training at the French Culinary Institute and in the kitchens of such restaurants as Maya and Zocalo to create an individual style that elevates Mexican cuisine in a modern way. By incorporating new ingredients and healthier preparation techniques, Chef Medina reduces the heaviness of traditional Mexican cooking with his reinventions of classic home-style dishes.

New York’s Top Sushi Joints

By Olaitan Fakinlede

Raw fish, vinegared rice, dried seaweed,
wasabi and gari are common ingredients found in the Japanese delicacy known as Sushi, whose literal meaning is “it’s sour.” Tohru Tanaka, the manager of Katagiri, a Japanese grocery store on East 59th Street, picks Restaurant Nippon as his favorite sushi spot because “the noodles accompanying the sushi make it very true to the art of Japanese cuisine.”

By Nathan Storey

Every New Yorker boasts of a favorite burger joint but there’s a new trend changing the ground beef game — the luxury burger. With ingredients like truffles and Wagyu beef and sky-high prices, these aren’t your fastfood patties.

By Jeanine Zelkas

Macelleria — which translates to “butcher shop” in Italian — has been around for some eight years, making it one of the earlier arrivals to the now restaurant-filled Meatpacking District. Billing itself as an authentic Italian steakhouse, Macelleria was converted from an old meat warehouse and remains true to its roots with original signage and black and white photos of old-time local meat packing characters dotting the walls. Antique lockers and porcelain display cases house the cuts of choice meat served in the restaurant. The brick-walled dining room is outfitted with cute butcher block tables and accessorized with meat hooks hanging from the ceiling.

By nycnosh.com

If Naming a restaurant after the central figure in a gory bullfighting double tragedy strikes you as melodramatic and more than a little bit morbid, chances are good that you are not Spanish. The bloody, brutal death of matador Manolete has become so much of a cultural touchstone for Spaniards that albums, novels, and even two movies (one starring Adrian Brody) have been made about the toreador and his demise. Yet with the exception of car manufacturer Lamborghini, almost nobody seems to have memorialized the mortally wounded bull whose last goring was a historical one. That is, until Chris Bianchi reclaimed the name Islero for his new Modern Spanish/Hispanic restaurant, even going so far as to offer guests a brief bovine biography on the front cover of the menu.

It comes in gorgeous bottles, at several temperatures and in a variety that rivals the wine list at a good French restaurant.

By Justine Sterling