Sweet Chick, the hip new comfort food joint in Williamsburg is moving far beyond their reputation of bacon and cheddar waffles and Old Timey picnic tables salvaged from Bed­-Stuy. The cocktail experience at Sweet Chick fully stands on its own, or at the very least, has gotten people to talk about the menu which is full of droll names like the “Tiger Woods Y’all” and “Purple Drank.” But bar manager Cinthia Rooney’s concoctions pack a serious punch balanced with the right finesse. Read More

If the holiday season didn’t kick your health conscious ways to the curb, clearly you didn’t have a good time. Or, you’re much stronger than the rest of us.

But with the New Year brings a need for rejuvenation, often from the inside out. And for you, dear readers, I’ve completed such a rejuvenation via a juice cleanse and reported back on the results (someone had make sure it was delicious). As a first time juicer it wasn’t all smooth sailing upon the liquid diet seas. While seasoned cleansers may scoff at the mere 120 hours of me trying not to stuff my face with tortilla chips, here are my brief highs and lows of my first cleanse, made possible by Anthony Spadaro and his Tiny Empire line of organic cold-pressed juices. Spoiler alert: it was all delicious and I lived to talk about it. Read More

Nestled between busy restaurants on North 6th Street and the beaten path of Bedford Avenue lies an organic health oasis called Tiny Empire. Walk in and find yourself facing a rainbow assortment of fresh-pressed juices and healthy dessert options of açai bowls and chia seed pudding. Face the counter and get thoroughly confused on what to order as you decide between earthy, delicious blends like raw cacao, blueberries and maple syrup or kale, coconut meat and bee pollen smoothies. Read More

You’re braving the cold, maneuvering through the crowd and shopping for someone other than yourself (allegedly). The very least you can do is treat yourself to a little indulgence to keep your pace up amidst the holiday fever. From sweet snacks to comforting bowls of soup and crispy Italian rice balls, it’s no easy feat to narrow your culinary choices down at the three big holiday markets in Union Square, Bryant Park and Columbus Circle. But who said you can’t try them all? Though there are many, here’s a roundup of my favorite eats at the UrbanSpace markets. Read More

An innovative exhibit from the MOMA (now concluded) offered an interestingly pre-modern sense of art, communal play and sustainability, making it hard to tell if you were in Midtown Manhattan or a trendy Brooklyn basement art gallery. But what “Common Senses” strove for, and overwhelmingly succeeded in, was a reinvigoration of our senses through purely naturalistic ways. It was a call to simplify and retreat to the essentials of family, community and sustainable consumption. What’s more, they let people actually touch the stuff on display. Read More

James Carpenter of Maidstone

Sitting down with Chef James Carpenter is a delightful mid-morning interlude before what is sure to be a sweltering afternoon ahead. He treats me to a glimpse (metaphorically, unfortunately) of his enviable gig at the  boutique hotel c/o Maidstone in East Hampton where he plays executive chef at The Living Room, a restaurant flush with Scandanavian flair in architecture, decor and food. Read More

Turnbald Mansion

During a month of jet-setting across the U.S., Marcus is naturally stopping in the city that touts the largest enclave of Swedish residents. Surprising to most is that this thriving populace nestles in the city  as the colossal Mall of America; truly a collision of worlds. Read More

Restaurant Eugene

The roots of Chef Linton Hopkins’ upscale Restaurant Eugene, aptly located on Peachtree Road, run deep. Named after his grandfather Eugene Holeman, James Beard award-winning owner Chef Hopkins is a 6^th generation Atlantan who grew up visiting farms, and learned early on that excellent cooking goes hand in hand with bringing fresh food to the table. Restaurant Eugene’s new American cuisine touts a steadfast commitment to sustaining the folks in their own backyard, made only more apparent with the number of farms listed on their website. The highest quality livestock and optimal seasonal produce make the cut for their innovative and fluctuating menu. Diverse dishes include early summer zucchini to Georgia Mountain trout to meats of the most adventurous nature (think sweetbreads and sorghum glazed pork belly). Read More

Sukiyaki

No matter the geographical distance that separates me from my family, there is one particular smell that immediately transports my heart back home. It has the kind of haunting ability to overwhelm my palette and mind with memories of the dinner table. My father, a man of limited cooking abilities (grilled cheese sandwiches made with Velveeta tops his repertoire) has one excellent culinary trick up his sleeve–a Japanese comfort dish called sukiyaki. This highly anticipated meal always managed to bring out the glutton in me and would require an entire day of prep work, from going to the market in Japantown, to cutting the vegetables, to allowing the big skillet to heat up for twenty minutes before laying the strips of beef down to sizzle. Read More

The Mahogany Dress

When abstract expressionist paintings and a beautifully hand-stitched dress collide to find their way into the closets of fashion junkies, it must be the work of Jakia Handy. The young and zealous Harlem-based designer is the talent behind Ingram Talley, and at only 26, she is making a sure and steady rise on the local fashion scene.  As the line is a combination of her grandmothers’ last names, Handy pays homage to geneaology through timeless style. “When I think about what I want to do with my clothes, I really want to have future vintage pieces. Pieces that my nieces and my nephews and my grandkids will still want to wear.” This kind of foresight enables Handy to channel her artistic interests of fine art, sculptures and music into all her designs. Her creations diverge from a pattern in contemporary fashion in which the disposable nature of clothes is too commonplace. “I think people take it for granted because we wear them everyday, but they’re really art pieces when done well. If you have a fabulous jacket that you really had a blast with in your twenties, why do you just have to get rid of it? I don’t like the fact that clothes die but art doesn’t.”  Read More