Restaurants »Sips and Bites

178 N.10th Street, Brooklyn

Sips and Bites may be a wee sliver of a shop (I’d passed by it a few times without noticing) but it’s big on charm and boasts a great menu of sandwiches. While I look forward to trying most once I am no longer pregnant (darn that no deli meat rule!), the tuna sandwich I’ve had is excellent. It doesn’t try too hard, but the flavors and mix of ingredients (black olive tapanade, anchovies and haricot vert to name a few) is far from boring.

The baked goods are rotating and always great (we all enjoyed the homemade lemon curd pop tarts) and the tea and lemonades have been ideal thirst quenchers more than once during all this crazy heat.

The staff is exceptionally nice – which is always a welcome and happy thing and there’s a great deal of charm and style to the interior.

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Posted on July 28, 2012

Drinks »Blue Bottle Coffee

160 Berry Street, Brooklyn, NY

I’ve been hearing raves about the California transplant, Blue Bottle Coffee for some time, so it seemed like the perfect destination for baby’s first stroller outing. Being prematurely judgemental, I was expecting a staff of snobs, maybe because the coffee is taken so seriously here (they have several preparations and types which can be read about in great detail at their website), but was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by very chipper, courteous people who didn’t even scoff when I tried to order an iced tea for Jim (which they don’t serve FYI).

We both tried the New Orleans, a light, sweetened iced coffee that still has me majorly buzzing hours later (a very strange feeling after being strictly decaf for months and months). This beverage is way strong and way delicious but if you don’t want the jolt that hard core coffee can give you, you might want to opt for a weaker neighborhood option. However, if you long for the kind of coffee that coffee lovers rave about, this is your place. It’s super pet friendly too, so you can sit with lots of local dogs as you take advantage of the outdoor benches while the weather continues to please us.

There are several locations in San Francisco, but so far, Berry Street is the first in New York.

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Posted on November 13, 2010

Desserts »The Breads of El Beit

158 Bedford Avenue

This delicious, moist slice of banana walnut bread is not the first baked good from El Beit, the gourmet Bedford Ave coffee shop, that has made my day. Another day offered a candied ginger version that was divine. I am pretty sure the breads are house made and they do tend to sell out, a hard fact I learned one day trying to get some much later in the day. I wish I could take home entire loaves.

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Posted on August 15, 2010

Drinks »Stumptown Coffee Shop

At the Ace Hotel

Based in Portland OR, the home of quintessential American coffee companies, Stumptown Coffee is the freetrade brainchild of coffee conisseur, Duane Sorensen. Recently they opened a first cafe in the lovely Ace Hotel, which is also home to The Breslin.

I’m not as up on my coffee knowledge of some people I’ve met – but everyone swears by the drinks served here. Also, everything is made and served by adorable boys in old-timey hats and waistcoats, which is never a bad idea.

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Posted on March 28, 2010

Drinks »LaMill Coffee

1636 Silver Lake Boulevard, Los Angeles

Tasty lattes live inside LaMill, the most beautiful of Silver Lake cafes. Featuring calming French toile murals and golden chandeliers, its a perfect and popular spot to relax with some caffeine and friends. The menu is almost pretentiously long and complex, which is great if you’re a coffee snob who prefers to choose your extraction method and from a massive list of beans, but you can also order simply.

Don’t pass up the donut holes that come warm and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Click here for the rest of LaMill Coffee

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Posted on March 14, 2010

Drinks »Hot Chocolate Festival at City Bakery

3 West 18th St

Even Channel Four was there, so you know that City Bakery’s month-long Hot Chocolate Festival is a big deal. I headed over with co-workers on the first day, on which the special flavor (which changes daily) was Lemon. It tasted like a lemon dusted crepe with melted chocolate, which is the consistency of their outrageously thick hot chocolate. The four of us could have easily shared a mug, which will make this a perfect date place to share some sweets with your sweet.

Come Valentine’s Day City, they’ll feature a Love Potion flavor (mysterious!) – and if things don’t work out, the staff consists of a number of very good looking young men.

Click here for the rest of Hot Chocolate Festival at City Bakery

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Posted on February 7, 2010

Drinks »Think Coffee

think coffee mercer sohoWhile you will not get your drink especially quickly, Think just might make the area's best tasting lattes and, more importantly, the company is both socially and environmentally conscious.

From New York Magazine:

Think brews only Fair Trade, organic, and shade-grown java; the hormone-free milk comes from small farms in the Hudson Valley; and twenty-five percent of profits are donated to local charities.

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Posted on April 20, 2009