Hey Giants Fans, Check out Brandon Jacob’s Last Licks Ice Cream Store

245 East 93rd Street
New York, NY 10128
(646) 596-8434

Official PR:
Cooling off during summer heat wave…
LAST LICKS ICE CREAM STORES INCLUDE FLAVORS DEVELOPED AND NAMED FOR GIANTS SUPER BOWL CHAMP BRANDON JACOBS, ALL PRO RUNNING BACK TIKI BARBER AND RANGERS STANLEY CUP CHAMP
MIKE RICHTER
MANHATTAN LOCATION AND THREE WESTCHESTER STORES ARE STOPS TO COOL OFF DURING SUMMER HEAT

New York, July 28—Everyone, especially sports fans, can cool off during the summer heat wave is a stop at Last Licks ice cream stores in Manhattan and Westchester. The “Sports Bar for Kids,” features signature flavors developed by star athletes, as well as the traditional chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.

With 16 flavors of ice cream, as well as six low fat yogurt flavors, there are plenty of choices to satisfy any summer craving. Among the Last Licks signature flavors include Giants Super Bowl champ Brandon Jacobs’ “Louisiana Pecan Crunch,” former Giants All Pro running back Tiki Barber’s “Tiki-Tacchio,” and Rangers’ Stanley Cup champ Mike Richter’s “Ricky Road.” Among the fun sundaes available at Last Licks include the Mint Messier, the Lickey Mantle, and Ali’s Knockout Sundae.

“Sports stars are a better combination with ice cream than sprinkles,” says Steve Costello, executive vice president for Last Licks ice cream stores. With locations in New York City (93rd Street) and Westchester (Armonk, Rye Ridge, Scarsdale), “The Sports Bar for kids” caters to the youngsters, as kids can enjoy a sundae, meet major league stars past and present, watch televised games on monitors throughout the store, and fantasize in a simulated Yankees dugout.

“It’s a place that little league teams come after the game, watch sports, eat ice cream, and just be kids,” says Steiner Sports CEO Brandon Steiner. Founded in 1997, Steiner is a partner and contributed his experience and connections in sports memorabilia to the dynamics of this traditional retail operation.

The Last Licks flavor list also includes: Double Fault Chocolate Malt; Fairy Floss (Cotton Candy); Madagascar Moose Tracks (Our Vanilla is flown in directly from Madagascar). Minty Chocolate Chip™in; Free Throw Cookie Dough; ™more Oreo- Decisions; Weize Guy Chocolate (This is not Weize Guy, like certain famous TV gangsters, this is Weize Belgium, where we find the very best chocolate for our ice cream); Cake Batter-Up; Off the hook Lemon Sorbet; Snow Dayz Vanilla; Raz-berry-Sorbet; Strawberry Fields; Cookies and Cream; Vanilla Fudge Brownie; Superman; Healthy Vanilla; and Kids Coffee.

Jimmy Fallon & Mario Batali – Teaching Celebrities How To Cook

I got this from Cha Xiu Bao food blog site. Check it out – Jimmy Fallon is awesome.

4th July Spicy Honey Garlic Teriyaki BBQ Chicken

A few years ago my friend Noel and I started a crazy tradition. It actually started out of pure laziness (as would many traditions I would venture to guess). We wanted to BBQ and grill on the 4th of July but we couldn’t motivate to get the equipment, let alone fight out millions of NYers for the few sacred grilling spots available in the park. So we decided to get some grilled meat that’s put through a broiler at 1000F or whatever extreme temp they fire their ovens at Peter Luger’s. That was a good tradition because while millions were outside grilling in the heat, we were able to walk in without reservations and get a table inside in the AC. But we found out that on the weekends, it’s just simply impossible to get a walk in spot. So this year with the 4th on a Sunday, we decided to grill indoors over a hotplate on the stove at his gf’s place (hey, we had to continue the laziness tradition). Noel created a teriyaki sauce and it was pretty awesome. I slightly modified the recipe here and tried it on the grill a week later:

6 thighs or drumsticks (preferably with skin).
1/3 cup of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of sesame oil
2 teaspoons of rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
3-4 cloves of garlic sliced
1 red hot dried chili pepper (diced)
1 tablespoon of honey or syrup

Mix everything and coat the chicken. Allow to marinate at room temp for at least 15-20 mins.

Grill over med high coals. If the coals are too hot, cover to reduce the temp. After flipping the chicken, coat with extra sauce and continue to grill. Enjoy!

www.shipwrecklandingstjohn.com
From Cruz Bay:
104 to 10East
7 miles till Jct 107 South
1.5 miles along Jct 107

Of all the meals on our trip to the US Virgin Islands, Shipwreck Landing was one of my most memorable. It started out with a drive out to the far East end of the Island where we had some nice conch fritters (huge) at Vie’s Snack Shop and then back over the haulover bay for a 2 hour snorkel and kayak tour.

Shipwreck Landing Bar Restaurant Live Music St John US Virgin Islands

If you want to get away from the tourists at Trunk Bay, this is the place to go. Be sure to book a tour with www.hiddenreefecotours.com . These guys take you to untouched spots with ancient coral and make it fun and educational at the same time. There’s practically no one else around in the entire bay! Anyways that night we drove back to the East side and checked out Shipwreck Landing. They had a live jazz band playing by the bar that night and we were told to try the grouper special. St John is mostly volcanic rock so there isn’t much as far as locally grown food. Even fish is usually shipped in frozen from the other islands, except for grouper which is apparently quite plentiful in these waters. It was also Gisa’s birthday and I tried to surprise her but some girls hanging out at the bar overheard me telling the waitress and spoiled the surprise. Despite that, the cake over ice cream was awesome. A very mellow, fun place to hang out and have some drinks, enjoy live music and eat amazing food. Check it out!

 Egglands Best Eggs Food Blogging Event At Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) NY

A few years ago, as I was flipping through the TV channels, I caught a short segment of Martha Stewart giving a live demo on making homemade pasta. As she was making the dough, she suddenly went off on a short little rant about how the fresh eggs from her garden hens make all the difference and that the pasta’s color and texture is all about her hen’s eggs. All I could think of at that moment was, great for you Martha! I don’t have a chicken coop in my NY studio apartment so what am I supposed to do!!!? I thought about trying the fresh eggs down at the local farmers market in Union Square but it was summer time, it was hot outside, I got lazy, and I never really found out if Martha was simply taking air time to brag about her extensive domesticated farm estate or if she was actually telling the truth.  Hey, I like my cheap Trader Joe’s organic eggs, thank you very much!

Last night, I got invited to a food blogger event sponsored by Eggland’s Best Eggs at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) cooking school in NY.  We were treated to (HEY FTC, HERE’S MY DISCLOSURE) to nice hors d’oeuvres such as crostini with serrano ham, smoked pimenton-deviled egg and roasted red peppers, truffled egg custards with gruyere and chives, garnished with American black caviar, and “tamago yaki” maki rolls with shrimp and edamame puree.  Eggland’s Best eggs were used in all the hors d’oeuvres of course.

Heather from The Single Dish and Judith from the Foodista

Missy Maintains, Amie of Healthy Apple, and Yolanda of Kosher Soul Food
There was also an open bar with wine and beer. Awesome!

Then the show began. Chef Smarty Pants walked us through the menu that we were about to prepare and eat using Eggland’s Best Eggs of course. In all honestly I was a little lazy last night and was more about mingling with the other food bloggers instead of mixing the salad, or pulling the pasta. I did ladle out some egg pudding soufflé in the end…

The pasta station….

Jason Lam from Me So Hungry cutting duck for the salad….

Lindsay of The Lunch Belle pouring water to get us started…

and the ICE employees to finish the plating…

The first course was a warm salad of asparagus, radishes, morels, baby carrots and sugar snap peas, duck prosciutto, toasted walnuts, and topped with a white wine-poached egg. It was served with champagne vinaigrette. (see pic above)

Then we had our main course:  Crab and lobster ravioli, with fresh peas, fennel, leeks, golden beets, saffron and chives in a lobster broth with prosecco sabayon foam. This was one impressive dish that I would definitely make again. The pasta made with Eggland’s Best eggs was amazing here and I say this because I am about to post a blog about homemade ravioli.

Finally we finished with lemon pudding soufflés with mixed berries and rhubarb coulis. This was tart dish as expected with the rhubarb, but it had a nice finish with the lemon.

During dinner the CEO stepped up and gave a little Q and A about Eggland’s Best eggs. We learned that these hens are the best fed chickens around with a 100% vegetarian high grain diet with no antibiotics, hormones animal fats, or fish products. They are also locally sourced and delivered within 3 days of hatching. Eggland’s Best Eggs claims that their eggs have less cholesterol, less saturated fat and more Vitamin E and Omega 3. I talked to Charlie at the end of the dinner and couldn’t resist asking him about the brilliant business marketing strategy to go after the ‘premium’ egg market. Basically he’s created the ‘kobe beef’ of eggs.

Ok so is Martha right? All the dishes tasted great last night, but I got some free samples of Eggland’s best and I’m going to be trying out a side by side comparison soon. Check out Eggland’s Best!

** UPDATE ** I used 8 egg yolks from Eggland’s Best for a pastry cream for a summer tart and the color and taste was definitely noticeable. A great golden yellow color, smoother texture and rich egg taste!

Oh Eggland’s Best Eggs also has these pre hardboiled, pre peeled eggs for the ultra lazy.  Here’s Carol of NY CityMama enjoying one:

Candi’s Delights Caribbean Food Truck – St John US Virgin Islands

340 779 1452
St John US Virgin Islands

Candi’s Delights is one of a several food trucks that we found on the Island of St John. It’s permanently parked just over the hill on Cruz bay about a 5 min drive from all the tourist trap restaurants in Cruz Bay. After eating out at a few fancy restaurants during the week, it was nice to just sit down and have some grilled fish fresh off the grill. The combo includes a side of peas and rice, fries and salad for $14. That’s actually cheap on this island believe it or not. It was also a lot of food, so we couldn’t complain.

Check out Candi’s -it’s the home of “de come back sauce” after all ! :

New Burrito Fridays Special – Breadmarket Cafe 2 for $10 Impress Your Friends

1290 6th Ave @ 52nd St
Midtown Ny

The line at famous 53rd st Halal cart was incredibly long today so I circled back to the Breadmarket Cafe in our building only to find a large line at the burrito counter. The reason? $5 Burrito Friday specials – all burritos priced at $5. The sign though, is the clincher: “Impress your friends eat 2!” Sounds like a challenge to me!

Sweet Plantains Caribbean Restaurant St John Virgin Islands Coral Bay

16118 little plantation
Coral bay, St. john, usvi
tel: 340-777-4653
Sweet Plantains Restaurant St John

Sweet Plantains is probably the most ‘upscale’ restaurant on the East end of St John. Situated across the road on the Coral Bay harbor, Sweet Plantains offers amazing views from the garden patio tables and from within its air conditioned indoor dining. We learned that the cofounders/chefs Prince and Rose Adams are originally from NY and have been living in St John for over eight years. After working for the top restaurants on the island including a stint at the Caneel Bay resort, they created an extensive menu that highlights all of the mouth watering flavors of the Caribbean. Sweet Plantains won the best chef award in 2007 for the entire Island.

We started with their famous honey jerked Jamaican chicken wings ($12). The wings are grilled with a spicy and sweet sauce over high heat that gives it a crispy bite but the meat is so tender it easily falls away from the bone. It’s served with a side of plantains. Get this dish for sure!

For entrée our favorite was the French Caribbean Sauce special (Sun and Mon) with jumbo shrimp. The sauce was unforgettable – signature ragout of herbs, spice infused with tomato sauce, julienne vegetables, capers and andouille sausage. How can you go wrong with that? It’s served with some large onion rings.

Sweet Plantains is definitely worth the drive across the island. We loved the food, the service and the views from the restaurant. Sweet Plantains restaurant also offers a great rum flight if you are interested in trying out the local rums.

Skinny Legs St John – Burger Restaurant and Bar Coral Bay St John US Virgin Islands

East end of Rt 10 (Just past the 107 Junction)
Coral Bay, St John USVI
340-779-4982

The entire population of St John US Virgin Island is no more than 5,000 people and of all those people, I’d say a majority are transplants from the US. While we were visiting St John, we heard so many stories from the locals who ended up staying on St John permanently after visiting for a short vacation. I don’t blame them; St John is beautiful and virtually untouched with 80% of the island uninhabited and protected as a National Park.

On the less touristy East end, all of the locals go to the Skinny Legs restaurant and bar. It’s THE place to hang out, socialize with the locals over beers and amazing burgers. It’s also super mellow like the rest of the island – the motto is “an ok place – same day service”.

Besides the food and drink, there’s usually a nightly fun event such as Monday movie nights, Wednesday Wii tennis night, etc. Definitely check out Skinny Legs when you visit St John US Virgin Islands!

St John US Virgin Islands Vacation

We had an awesome time down at St John and St Thomas US Virgin Islands last week. I’ll be blogging about some awesome places we checked out…