Cooperstown Diner (Cooperstown, NY)

Talk about a legit small town diner that have seat reserved for locals. Two tourists had to move to a different spot because a regular came it and they were sitting in his seat o.O. (FYI, the waitress was the one who said something instead of the regular) There was a kids baseball camp/tournament? (kids from all over the US) was there so it was a little crowded (no need to say we were the ONLY Asians there) The food was good but I think it was the ambiance that really made me feel like, wow so this what a small town feels like (FYI, I was born and raised in SF =P)

Shake Shack (NYC, JFK Airport)

I wish they have one in SF! It was so freaken good. We went to the one at the airport since we short on time (boo). My sister almost freaken missed the plane for this lol. (Notice the background is the plane’s tray table). We took everything she had and got on the plane first while she waited in line to order. Everyone boarded the plane and like 5 minutes before they close the gate, my sister came. PHEW! It was so worth it until we found out they are located in Las Vegas too (We thought only NY had Shake Shack –_-)

Sushi Nakazawa (NYC)

**If you do not know who is Nakazawa, please watch ‘Jiro: Dreams of Sushi’. You will learn a lot about sushi. Must watch for all sushi lovers and foodies. Just in case you don’t want to watch it, just know Nakazawa an apprentice to Jiro (a sushi [grand] master that spent his whole life dedicated to mastering sushi, he is now in his 90’s and have not retired yet)

Not going to lie, it is expensive but it was totally worth it. I was so glad it was not overrated. The waitress starts out by introducing the condiments to you and then the courses start to come out. Everything was so freaken delicious. By far the best sushi I have eaten so far. (I wish the lighting was a little better so I can capture the colors) This was definitely the highlight of my New York trip.

 

Momofuku Noodle Bar (NYC)

Long ass line for both this place and especially the Milk bar (dessert/boba a few stores down) if we had more time, we would have lined up the milk bar but it was just crazy long…next time. Anyways it was a little disappointing, it was not as good as I thought it would be.  The noodles was really good though but everything else was just ok. The soy sauce egg was extremely salty, like I was just eating salt (and I love salty). I probably over hyped this place…

KRISTALBELLI (NYC)

This place is owned by JYP (the godfather of KPOP, look him up on google if you want to know). Probably the most ‘fine dining/upscale’ looking Korean BBQ I have been to so far lol. From the interior to the selection of meats seem ‘high class’. Do you see the grill? Looked like freaken marble (maybe it is o.O). I’m pretty sure you already figure it out that it is not all you can eat lol. With the quality of meat, I would say it was worth it. PLUS a hot Korean waiter (he had a slight accent) that seem like he could be a KPOP star serving, cooking and cutting you meat is a plus too hahaha.

Caffebene (NYC)

Why is this chain not in SF?! It feels like one of Korea’s café (I looked it up and it was a Korean coffee chain!! lol) I loved everything about it >.<. The waffles were awesome. The workers were in cute uniform. Maybe in the future they will expand to LA and then SF =]

Nola’s Snoballs (NYC)

Snow ball! It wasn’t really snow though…just shaved iced lol.

Red Hook Lobster Pound (NYC)

When in New York, got to have the lobster. Okay..I know, a food stand does not really represent eating lobster in New York, but other places were packed! And we were short on time (we underestimate the traffic in NY, crazy!) and it was a spur of the moment to get some lol. It tasted good but I will probably go to a legit restaurant next time.

Ten Ren’s Tea Time (NYC)

I think me and my sister had a brain fart. We thought this place was only in NY so we brought some expensive tea leave as a souvenir for my dad. ‘sigh’ Later we found out that the tea place in SF’s Chinatown was the original Ten Ren (we pass by it all the time when we are at Chinatown but never really look at the name) Anyways, the milk tea was very good. They better, since they are a legit tea house and all. Boba for life!

Joe’s Shanghai (NYC)

If you love Shanghai dumplings (Xiao Long Bao/XLB) then I would HIGHLY recommend this place. You know what, even if you don’t like it so much, come try it too lol. It is the biggest XLB I have seen so far and it tasted AWESOME! There was so much soup inside, I felt like I was drinking soup ^^. So much flavor, freaken drooling right now just thinking about it.

BAOHAUS Restaurant (NYC)

**Eddie Huang (the owner)! If you do not know who he is, he is the author of ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ which is also a TV series now.

An awesome looking hole-in-the-wall (hip-hop) place. I am pretty sure this place is the original ‘bao’ (Taiwanese/Chinese style buns) place. The Chairman Bao (pork belly) was a flavor bomb exploded in my mouth. They are popping up around the West coast too so hopefully they will also come to SF!! Highly recommend this place, history/culture in the making.

Junior’s Restaurant & Cheesecake (NYC)

It was too dark to take a picture of the cheesecake so I just took a pic of the inside. It was kind of in a alley but we were looking for cheesecake and it was late lol and we found this place. Too bad we ate already or else we could have tried the restaurant upstairs. It kind of remind of The Cheesecake Factory. The cheesecake was very good (we got the plain one).