Breakfast
The enormous breakfast burger from Hard Times Sundaes
Hard Times Sundaes - Urbanspace Vanderbilt
230 Park Avenue, New York, NY
We'd already swung by the food court at Urbanspace Vanderbilt by Grand Central station the day before, but for our fourth day in New York we returned to try Hard Times Sundae's breakfast burger, which we'd heard a lot about. This artery-furring way to start the day was unveiled by the Brooklyn-based burger folk two months ago, and has had a lot of press. New York Magazine's Grub Street summed up the burger's contents thus: "two eggs pan-fried in gobs of butter, smothered in cheese, and larded with bacon and a four-ounce beef patty on an old-school Brooklyn-baked poppy-seed Kaiser roll". So obviously we HAD to try it.
Served medium-rare the breakfast patty hit the spot, evaporating any lingering hangovers we might have had. If you're thinking of trying it come early, as they do sell out.
Urbanspace Vanderbilt is at 230 Park Avenue, New York, NY.
Afternoon
Custard wheelcake from Catmint
The afternoon was spent wandering through Soho and the East Village. We happened upon an exquisite chocolatier - Stick With Me - on Mott Street, where beautiful caramels and teeny (eye-wateringly expensive) chocolate bars made us want to buy everything in the store.
We also popped by the Grub Street fair in the East Village, with enough time to try some Cheetos macarons (surprisingly good) and the amazing Taiwanese custard wheelcakes from Catmint. They're well worth hunting down.
And we topped that up with strawberry and graham cracker rolled ice cream just up the road at 10 Below. A perfect stopping point for a mid-afternoon snack.
Stick with Me - 202 Mott St, New York, NY 10012.
10 Below - 132 Allen St, New York, NY 10013. Find out more about 10 Below
Catmint - Find out more about Catmint
Pre-dinner drinks
Inside Attaboy
Any thought of getting into hot new opening Wildair for a drink and a dish were scotched by a three hour waiting list, so we decided instead to get our names on the door at Attaboy.
This cocktail bar took over the space vacated by Milk & Honey two years ago and has been building a stellar reputation ever since. The conceit here is that there's no menu. You tell the barman what you like (as long as it's not vodka as they don't serve it) and they'll make you a drink that matches your mood. Drinks are all around the $15 mark, and - as we can testify - utterly lethal. We dimly remember something astonishing made with tequila and almond milk.
Attaboy - 134 Eldridge St, New York, NY 10002
Dinner
Parmesan custard with wild mushrooms at Pasquale Jones
This newish restaurant from the team behind Charlie Bird opened in February and bills itself as "a small, wood-fired restaurant without a phone number". So if you're planning on eating here, maybe swing by earlyish in the evening, otherwise you'll have to give them your number and wait for someone to call you when a table becomes free.
Our two starters (both $18) were exemplary - burrata came with pane bianco (or pizza without tomato) and 'overnight tomato' which we took to mean it had sat in the cooling pizza oven overnight, gently increasing in intensity. But the winner was a dish of Parmesan custard, all wibbly and delicious, served with roasted wild mushooms.
Little neck clam pizza at Pasquale Jones
Lasagnette ($25) was very good, but the main you're going to want to order if you come is the pizza with little neck clams ($27) - oozing with garlic and clam juice it's one of the nicest things we've eaten in ages.
Dessert is always a single option of a fruit, thrown into the oven and served up with gelato. Ours was a roasted quince and just what was required to finish off a pitch perfect dinner.
A word of warning though - take a look at those prices. Add them to a wine list where most of the wines are in the $60-$70 mark and a pizza dinner here will set you back the best bit of $200 which, post Brexit, is going to feel a little painful.
Pasquale Jones - 187 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10012.
The Hot Dinners 2016 guide to New York
The place to go to see everything we ate (and some other new places we'd recommend too). Read the full guide right here.
