French
Buena Vista Bistro in the Design District – Miami
Faraz's Orangina-slash-contribution to my Buena Vista post
My trip to Miami a few weeks ago was a whirlwind, but I still managed to squeeze in brunch at Buena Vista Bistro before I left with my friends Shahla and Faraz. I think Paris was still on their minds (they came back from there just the evening before!), because Buena is a pocket-sized French bistro on a street that doesn’t have much else in the immediate vicinity.
Buena Vista Bistro - Miami
Buena Vista inside
The inside has a very 50s aesthetic — black tables and chairs, mirrors making up half the wall and the entire menu written on a chalkboard behind the counter. But on that warm day, we decided to take it outside under the shade of bright yellow umbrellas.
Eggs Benedict
Viva La Crepe! in Union Square
Whenever I’m in the Union Square vicinity craving something sweet, I feel like my choices are either Max Brenner or…Max Brenner. A few days ago after dinner in the area, my friends and I were trying to figure our game plan for dessert and we just as easily gave up and began heading for some chocolate by the bald man. We stopped in our tracks though when we caught a glimpse of Viva La Crêpe!
Viva la Crepe
The original outpost of Viva actually did start in Paris and grew to work its way stateside. They have a full savory and sweet menu, but the savory one might as well have not existed for us at that moment. We were busy trying to decide between dark chocolate, nutella, white chocolate, vanilla or chocolate ice cream, berries or almonds, etc. etc. We settled on a nutella/banana/almond/walnut/vanilla ice cream combo and a heavenly dark chocolate/berries/banana/vanilla ice cream one.
Dark chocolate ice cream crepe
The crepes are served in a little pocket you can hold while you munch. Just a word of advise if you’re getting it with ice cream, ask for it on the side 
. It makes devouring it a LOT easier.
Nutella crepe with ice cream on the side
Dinner at The Forge in Miami
So yeah, as I’ve mentioned, we’ve been eating a LOT in sunny, beautiful, gorgeous Miami. The fancier of the places we’ve been to is restaurateur Shareef Malnik’s The Forge.
The Forge
Yeah, I know, it looks like you’re walking into a palace. It kinda feels like that too. The grandiose exterior matches the opulent interior.
Nomad in the East Village
Nomad
I’ve been passing by Nomad in the East Village almost every day this week and it always looks so warm and inviting inside. The Moroccan/French restaurant serves traditional plates and tapas and has the most gorgeous decor of jeweled lanterns, tiled tables and dim lighting. Man, even their bathroom is so pretty I almost took a picture, but that would be weird so I didn’t. In the back, they have a beautiful enclosed courtyard-like space. The food, I found, was equally impressive.
Moroccan bread starter
Anyway Cafe – East Village
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.
Inside Anyway Cafe
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).
Bread with pesto butter
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.
Chicaken straganoff
Bar Suzette: World Crepe Bar – Chelsea Market
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.
Hummus and veggie crepe stage 1
Hummus and veggie crepe stage 2
Hummus and veggie crepe DONE and ready to eat!
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
x
Shy
-
- Hummus and veggie crepe stage 1
-
- Hummus and veggie crepe stage 2
-
- Hummus and veggie crepe DONE and ready to eat!
