MB FoodFan

  Heed the mystical power and beauty of the Mermaid!! On one of my long, daily walks, I ran across a little restaurant under construction in New York’s Greenwich Village.  It was to be The Mermaid Inn Oyster Bar.  I was intrigued!  Soon after, I heard a terrific critique of the place from a good friend, so I knew I had to try it out.  One night, fairly recently, my husband Vincent had an unexpected day off from work, so we decided to have dinner out.  I suggested The Mermaid Inn.  While making reservations, we discovered that there were actually two other locations that I hadn’t known about!  Their Chelsea outpost was happily within walking distance from our home!  With our reservation in place, we were both excited to try something new! The Mermaid Inn opened originally in the East Village in 2003.  While that location is no longer around, they have since opened three others - Chelsea, Greenwich Village and Times Square.  They’re n...

  Tiny bites of heaven!!  That’s the best way I know how to describe the deliciously sweet confections sold by this wonderful little bakery on Sullivan Street in New York’s SoHo district.   Founder and Executive Chef Mariana Viera opened Brigadeiro in 2014.  I had heard of the bakery on a popular TV show, and decided to search them out during one of my daily walks.  Finding the shop turned out to be easy.  Getting out of there without loading up on fabulous baked treats turned out to be a little more difficult!  There were different flavors of the tiny Brigadeiros; essentially bonbons made of sweetened condensed milk, butter, egg yolk, a pinch of salt, flavoring elements like cocoa, banana, guava, coconut or other variations…and magic!  There were also cakes - some conventional and others in plastic “cake jars” made for easy transport…and eating!  There were cookie bars, little bread rolls, jars of Dulce de Leche and more!  I literally w...