36 Hours in Brooklyn

What I did, where I went, and the restaurants I think you should check out!

Ok so many of you don’t know that I spent 4 years living in Manhattan — I got my undergrad from NYU and I lived on the Upper East Side (can you believe I was married for part of that time too? Well, that’s a story for another post). And even though I lived in Manhattan, can you believe I never ventured over to Brooklyn? I have no idea why, other than chalking it up to being a busy student. That all changed this past week when I was invited to visit the Food52 headquarters at the Brooklyn Ship Yard to film one of my most popular recipes —my Honey Glazed Salmon Bowls—with Nea Arentzen, who works in the test kitchen. Although I didn’t get to see a lot of things in such a short amount of time, the hotel I stayed at was literally perfect and so were my dining experiences. So here is my little itinerary!

Day 1

Stay

1 Hotels Brooklyn Bridge - I absolutely loved this hotel. I have stayed at the 1 Hotel in Central Park in Manhattan several times, but this was my first time at the Brooklyn Bridge location and let me tell you, WOW. I had a room that overlooked the Brooklyn Bridge and it was stunning lit up at night. The hotel is in a beautiful, quiet neighborhood and the service was impeccable as always. They even had a refillable water station in the hotel room, which was such a nice touch. They don’t put out coffee in the lobby until 7am, which is late by my standards — I am an early riser and love coffee at 6am when I wake up, but there was a coffee maker in the room, which was fine.

Eat

Harriet’s Lounge - When I arrived to the hotel, I was starving, so I went to Harriet’s Lounge in the hotel, and this was another WOW experience. The menu is full of light Japanese/sushi bites and I highly recommend Harriet’s Margarita, which was a unique spicy margarita, made with Shishito Pepper Infused Codigo 1530 Blanco Tequila, lime, agave, and celery salt. It was refreshing and the perfect drink to complement the shishito peppers with truffle soy and the spicy tuna on crispy rice. Both fantastic apps that held me over until dinner time.

Laser Wolf - I took a poll on Instagram looking for recommendations on where to eat in Brooklyn and over 90% of you guys recommended Laser Wolf. This is an Israeli restaurant known for their “salatim,” basically a round platter of all kinds of different dips, spread and light appetizers, served with warm pita. Each bite was incredible and the best part was the fact that you could get refills on anything you wanted—for free! Love the hummus? You can get more! For the main course, I had the spicy lamb skewer and it was incredible and melted in my mouth. This was truly a memorable restaurant and having grown up in a Middle Eastern (Armenian) household, eating this cuisine really felt like a home cooked meal, but better. But I need to tell you the best part about this meal. It was the dessert—the tahini soft serve. Now, my tummy was so full by the time dessert rolled around (I was regretting ordering the extra free apps but we all know I like free things haha), because this soft serve was life changing good. Each person got their own little cup topped with little candy crunchies and damn. SO SO SO GOOD. I know my dad would love this restaurant. 10/10.

Day 2

I woke up feeling like complete shit, or as I like to call it, “dog ass,” and that is because I ended up having three glasses of wine, which was so unlike me. But I did. And I paid the price. Whenever that happens, the first thing I need to do is get a sweat on—not as a punishment for eating or drinking too much, but really just so I can sweat it out and get those feel good endorphins going. There are a TON of amazing workout spots in Brooklyn, but since I was short on time and lacked the energy to try something new, I went with what was familiar — I saw a Hot 8 yoga location and the timing worked out perfectly, so that’s what I did.

Hot 8 Yoga

The studio itself was beautiful and clean, just like the San Francisco location. I signed up for the Power yoga class, expecting a super hot power yoga class. Apparently the instructor was a sub for the regular instructor and since I am an honest b****, the class wasn’t great. The room wasn’t hot enough and the sequencing was slow and boring AF. I was definitely disappointed, but I was trying to be positive and grateful for the fact that at least I got to move my body and sweat before a big day filming with Food52.

Filming at the Food 52 Headquarters

Ok, so THIS is the reason I came to Brooklyn! My management team at DBA scheduled this for me and I was so excited to film with Food52. If you aren’t familiar, Food52 is a huge food publication that I have admired and followed for so many years. So of COURSE I booked my flights and jumped at this opportunity. And this is a topic for another day, but I paid for this trip on my own — one misconception of being a content creator is that things are always paid for by brands, etc. But that is not always the case. Sometimes - as in this case - opportunities require significant financial output to make happen.

I arrived at the Food 52 HQ and it was stunning. I got to film my Honey Glazed Salmon Bowls with Nea Arentzen, who works in the test kitchen — she is a dream to work with and would totally be my friend in real life! I can’t wait to share our video mid-April, so stay tuned for that. By the time filming was over, I was exhausted. I swear I am tired all the time and wonder if this is perimenopause (lol) or simply that I was still hungover? The jury is still out on that one.

Coffee at Arabica

After going back to the hotel and changing into jeans and a cozy jacket, I was in desperate need of coffee. Me and my special someone (yep there is a special someone and if you are following my Substack, you are the FIRST TO KNOW!!), went to Arabica for coffee. It was walking distance from the hotel and I had a “Dark Latte,” which is reminiscent of a mocha latte, but WAY. LESS. SWEET. Thank goodness, because if you want a little hint of chocolate without sending yourself into a sugar coma, ORDER THIS. I got mine iced, with almond milk and I highly recommend.

Ok so you are probably wondering WTF I ate this day. Well, I started the day with a breakfast at the hotel (at the Osprey restaurant —which I casually glazed over and didn’t mention because it was greasy and not good), then I ate the honey glazed salmon bowl that I made with Nea! But I also picked at snacks in the hotel mini bar and was totally fine until dinner.

Dinner at Kinjo

THIS was the highlight of the entire trip. This was another recommendation from many of you, and I am so glad I listened. Kinjo is a special Japanese omakase only restaurant that you guys raved about and since I am sushi obsessed, I listened. It’s a 13-seat omakase style restaurant located in Dumbo and was walking distance from the hotel. Each and every single dish was memorable and unique and has forever changed the way I think about sushi. After 9 courses, the waitress allowed us to order a la carte and try some of the things that were not served to us in the omakase. If you go here, be sure to order the salmon. The other highlight? The toro topped with caviar. I cannot rave about this restaurant enough, I am still DREAMING about it!

Ok. So wasn’t that the quickest trip ever? YEP! I left on a 7am flight the next day and made it home to SF by 11am, right in time to celebrate my son Hunter’s 8th birthday. Life is certainly busy but I am so grateful that I get to do what I love. There are so many places to visit in Brooklyn, I wanted to share some of the other recommendations in case you are planning to visit.

Restaurants:

Bar Bête - Modern French / American

What to order:

- chicken liver pate

- oysters

- pork

La Vara - Spanish

What to order:

- octopus

- white pistachio gazpacho

- iberico

Huda - hip Lebanese

What to order:

- everything and most especially the duck

Laurel bakery

What to order:

- Most insane chocolate chip cookies

L’Appartement 4F

What to order:

- insane croissants and they often sell out before 10am
- chocolate chip cookies

Devocion

What to order

- best strong lattes

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