Hunting in New York

I have one month in New York. As with every other trip to one of my favourite cities, I feel the need to go on a hunt. Previous trips have focused on hunting for the best pizza slice in NYC...

...hands-down, Artichoke in East Village on 14th Street was the clear winner and has proven its first-place status in subsequent trips. I noticed they've had a few more locations pop up, but I've yet to try them. I hope they're equally good.

If one of these master pie-makers asked me to run away with him, I'd live out the rest of my days fat and happy.

One of my past trips was dedicated to finding the best cupcake which has to be that of Sweet Revenge on Carmine Street. I used a Red Velvet as my benchmark, and Sweet Revenge nailed it. Their's is called Crimson and Cream and it's made with raspberry red velvet cake and topped with cream cheese frosting.

They also do wine and cupcake pairings. Interesting. If you find yourself there, I highly recommend the Dirty cupcake (Valrhona cake with dark chocolate truffle. It's like love.) and the Not So Dirty (Valrhona chocolate cake with milk chocolate ganache. I'm having a long-term adulterous love-affair with this one.).

I think Tanoreen in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn has the best Middle Eastern food. How can a meal go wrong when this arrives at your table once you sit down? And you haven't even ordered yet.

And then your order arrives, your jaw hits the floor and you have to lift it so you can fill it with goodness like this...the Eggplant Napolean. It's simply divine.

So, what should this trip focus on?

Should I hunt for the best nachos?

Milkshake?

Pie? (For a while, I was convinced that I would happily be paid in pie instead of drawing a salary. That's how much I love pie.)

What about tacos?

Or dumplings?

Any ideas? What should the food focus be of this trip?

Leave me a comment if you come up with any brilliant food suggestions! I'll see if I can get some take-out for you.