In the rare occasion nowadays, I am able to sometimes grab dinner solo somewhere. I often debate about the cuisine, and I rarely want to eat something super posh right after work. I noticed a new location of a burger chain opened up. I often confuse the Black Iron Burger with the Blacktap Burger places but not this time. I walked in with no reservations at this 54th and 7th ave location and sat at the bar.

Zaab Zaab is a highly rated New York Times restaurant that serves North Eastern Thai food. We have been trying various Thai flavors that are very different than your typical Thai restaurant. I’ve noticed that these North/Eastern restaurants tend to have much more bolder and spicier flavors that are a bit more adventurous than what you’d normally expect. This is located fairly close to the 7 or E train by exiting off Jackson Heights / Roosevelt Ave. We walked in on an early Friday evening around 5:30 PM for 2 people.

Zaytinya is located right next to the N (yellow) line off 28th St inside of the luxurious Ritz-Carlton hotel on the first floor. This is another restaurant of José Andrés, and the menu has a lot of classical Turkish, Greek, and Lebanese influences. What was appealing to us was the menu had hummus, and the prices did not seem too expensive despite being inside a luxury hotel. When you enter the restaurant, it has a very open and modern Greek ambiance to it, similar to many other Greek restaurants in the city. However (in a good way), there were several things we immediately noticed that separate itself. We made a reservation for a Saturday at 3:30 PM for a late lunch.

LumLum is a fairly new Thai restaurant to the city. What attracted me was that it has a lot of Northern Thai flavors and influences in the food. Think Thai but modernized somewhat. When you see some of the photos below, you will see what that means. The restaurant is run by 2 sisters who grew up in Thailand. When you arrive, both the interior and exterior are very social media friendly. We arrived at around 5:10 on a Friday evening after work, and were able to walk in with just a party of 2. When we finished around 6:00, there was a wait outside already.

Trace Market is the downtown Seattle Marriott’s available breakfast/brunch restaurant. Compared to NYC breakfast scene, I had very low expectations. I was a little irked by their hours opening at 7 AM (which seems late to me), but I understand that the west coast crowd don’t really wake up that early. In NYC, breakfast at these types of cafes can open as early as 6 AM. Regardless, this is a breakfast place that I frequent in the mornings when I travel to Seattle.

When I first saw the word “sobremesa”, I instantly thought of dessert since that is what it means in Brazilian Portuguese. This restaurant is more of a taco place and is relatively new in the Long Island City neighborhood, and it’s located in a barren neighborhood with a bunch of empty warehouses. Surprisingly, there was a beer place opened next door, and there was an outside picnic area where people can enjoy their tacos in a social environment.

The summer heat is starting to come to NYC, and it makes everyone including me feel especially groggy. This was also a lazy weekend since we’re mentally preparing for the humidity to rapidly increase. Fortunately on this day, it was not too bad. Instead of ordering for delivery, my partner wanted to travel to eat Thai somewhere. We centered on the Woodside area since we had visited before at Thailand’s Center Point. This Thai restaurant is not too far away, just 1 stop earlier on the 7 train heading towards Flushing.

The George is a restaurant located in the Fairmont Hotel right across the street from the downtown W Hotel in Seattle. The hotel has a somewhat pretentious exuberance to it because it has a lot of that old Ritz Carlton feel when you walk in. I was in a predicament where I had to stay in this hotel for just one night, but I was excited to see how this differed the modern feel of the W Hotel.

I’ve been coming out here for work, and it’s been challenging to find a time when I can document food that’s not in a big party atmosphere. This is one of the few times, where I can actually try and ponder over the food that I’ve eaten. We picked this place because it’s near the touristy areas of Pike Place Market and is next to a ton of seafood based restaurants on the waterfront. One might think that must mean the food should be pretty good.

Per Se is Thomas Keller’s acclaimed interpretation of the French Laundry restaurant in New York City and has 3 Michelin Stars. I don’t think it’s a replacement for the French Laundry, but it might be indicative of what to expect if we did ever go to Napa Valley to try it out. This restaurant is located in Columbus Circle at the top floor inside the mall. When we walked in, we were astounded by the huge ceiling and the vast feeling of space.