Marlin Azul

I went to Mexico expecting to feast on tacos everyday. And while I did do that, I also had the magical surprise of feasting on ceviche every other day.

After a food marketing shopping morning and a splash in the pool at our Airbnb, our tummies were rumbling again: ceviche time.

B claims to be allergic to shellfish so a seafood spot is often challenging. But a giant place of shellfish-free (yes, sadly we're sure, thanks for checking, Señor) ceviche was exactly what we didn't know we were craving. With an ice cold michelada (we alternated between margaritas and micheladas most of the week) in hand, a huge bowl of salted tortilla chips, and a giant platter of citrusy-packed, herb-filled, refreshing, super simple ceviche was holiday heaven. That taco breakfast followed by this ceviche lunch, and an afternoon ice cream stop made for the most perfect day of eating, snoozing, and discovering a city through its food.

Marlin Azul, Calle 62 488, Col. Centro, 97000 Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico.

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Cava Grill

I have a new top lunch spot. My normal routine of rotating between the kale Caesar at Sweetgreen, a giant smoothie from Juice Generation, and a square of zucchini topped focaccia from Eataly has been interrupted this week with a new addition: Cava Grill. It seems that food entrepreneurs in DC have mastered the art of making healthy, filling, fresh, beautiful lunches, with both Sweetgreen and Cava Grill being founded there in recent years. Thankfully, both these business have now spread their wings and flown off across America, much to the delight of those of us who don't live in Washington.

Cava Grill opened a couple of weeks ago right by Union Square, and I’ve become a full-blown grain bowl addict since then. The food at this new lunch spot is predominantly Greek (and less dominantly broadly Mediterranean) cuisine, and the totally customizable menu features all my favorite flavors and ingredients such as feta, tahini, hummus, eggplant, falafel, cabbage slaw, lightly pickled vegetables, crunchy pita chips, nutty brown rice, and wonderfully spicy harissa. While your first visit may seem daunting as there’s no ‘suggested’ bowls or wraps available, meaning you have to make all the many decisions yourself, I’m pretty sure that you couldn’t make a bad lunch from these options, no matter how hard you tried.

I’ve already stumbled on a favorite combination, which starts with a base of brown rice, arugula, and baby spinach, is topped with crazy feta (feta smashed with jalapeños), hummus, and tzatziki, crispy falafel balls are thrown over that, and then the whole thing is sprinkled with cabbage slaw, cherry tomatoes and lightly pickled onions, chopped pita chips, and another sprinkling of feta, before being coated in a herby tahini dressing. All this is also served with a mini pita, in case you're still hungry. This lunchtime feast is worth waiting in line for, no matter how slowly the crowd of people seem to be progressing towards the checkout. And if you’re extra hungry, there are Ovenly chocolate chip cookies available for dessert. Just FYI.

Cava Grill, 143 4^th Avenue, New York, NY 10003

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Philly Snapshots

Cocktails at The Franklin Bar

The Barnes Foundation

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Tacos at Loco Pez

One day I'll live on a street too narrow for cars.

The Magic Garden.

Pre-dinner drinks at The Olde Bar.

Breakfast pastries from Metropolitan Bakery.

Emergency iced coffee, served with a kiss, in Philly's Little Italy.

Grilled Cheese from High Street on Market.

Eggplant toasted panini from High Street on Market.

Our favorite Philadelphia spots from our first visit:

Federal Donuts

Zahav

High Street on Market

The Olde Bar

Cafe Lift

Metropolitan Bakery

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Elixir Coffee Roasters

Boathouse Row

The Franklin Bar

Cheu Noodle Bar

Loco Pez

University of Pennsylvania

And walking absolutely everywhere.

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Bonfiglio & Bread, Hudson

From the outside, Bonfiglio & Bread looks like the perfect place to spend the morning with a steaming cup of coffee and a couple of slices of sourdough toast and local jam i.e. your ideal New York neighborhood café. However, this place is 2 hours away from New York in the beautiful, quiet, artsy town of Hudson, and,  as soon as you step inside the little red door, you realize this place is better than any New York neighborhood café you have dreamed of.

The number of people crammed inside, more people than you've seen the whole weekend you've been in this town, testifies to the greatness of this bakery-café. Loaves of bread line the back shelves, in a glass cabinet are what remain of the day's pastries, and over the counter comes plate after bowl after plate of freshly cooked, stunning, and mouth-watering food. The blackboard menu is a bad-decision-maker's worst nightmare: B and I debated the merits of almost everything on there for far, far too long. I apologize to everyone who was stuck waiting behind us as we changed our minds again, and again, and again.

Eventually we settled: poached eggs with avocado, yoghurt, croutons, bacon, homemade chilli oil and lime zest for me, and a slow-cooked pork, chili relish, mayonnaise sourdough sandwich for him. We elbowed our way into a tiny bit of counter space (hey, you Americans need to learn you to make an orderly queue line), admiring everyone else's pizzas, open sandwiches and bagels as we did so.

The most beautiful bowl of perfectly cooked eggs with bright orange, runny yolks sat atop fresh, rich yoghurt, crunchy-chewy croutons, smashed avocado and brilliantly spicy chili oil. If I could have this for lunch every day for the rest of my life, I would be happy. B's sandwich was juicy and fatty and just amazingly fabulous. It easily walked its way into the mental list of top 10 sandwiches. 

We reluctantly surrendered our standing space to some waiting customers, and left with an onion pinwheel in a bag which we tore apart alongside a glass of wine that evening. It was tricky to force ourselves to eat elsewhere for the rest of the trip.

Bonfiglio & Bread, 748 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534

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Pastrami Sandwich at Katz's Deli

B and I had one week of freedom together in NYC before B started at school. Besides having a billion life admin things to sort in those few days, we also had a few NYC tourist must do's to tick off our list before Monday rolled around. One of those, was lunch at Katz's Deli.

Hailed as 'New York's most iconic deli' which serves up 'the world's greatest pastrami sandwich' (and also the location of one of the most brilliant Where Harry Met Sally scenes), it's no surprise that even on a weekday in August, this place is packed full of New Yorkers, of tourists, of businessmen, of students: there's barely a seat to spare.

The quantities of pastrami being cut and served behind the counter are astounding. Every week Katz's serves up 4.5 tons of pastrami. That's 235 tons of pastrami a year. And that's an amount I just can't comprehend.

Knowing what to order wasn't tricky for us first timers. Our stomachs still haven't quite stretched to the New York portion sizes, so we split a pastrami sandwich and settled into a seat in the corner where we could attempt to get our teeth around those many, many layers of meat.

It's going to take some more practice until we can eat this sandwich with as much dignity as a proper New Yorker.

Katz's Delicatessen, 205 E Houston Street, New York, NY 10002

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