Nicolicious Life

Address:Family Restaurant--86 Boston Post Rd. Westbrook, CT 06498 (where we went.)
              Drive-In Restaurant--1301 Boston Post Rd, Madison, CT 06443
http://www.ljfishtale.com
After the great breakfast at the pantry, RCSIII and I went to do a little shopping with Steve and Elissa. And we also made dinner plan to have some fresh seafoods! Some real seafoods that's not just fried. (Thanks to Elissa for looking up the restaurant.)

When we arrived with our 4 empty stomachs, the line that was waiting outside of the restaurant was super long. We put down our name and went to the bar area and waited for about 30 mins (they all got some beer there). While we were waiting, I studied the menu! (I took it very seriously.)
Finally we were seated and they served their homemade bread immediately after we ordered our food. This bread was hot and soft, and RCSIII had to keep reminding me not to fill up my stomach with the bread since the goodies should be on out table soon.

Address:2 Mechanic Street. New Haven, CT 06511-2638
No website available.
I love love love breakfast and brunch at the pantry. This is really the BEST place in town! I haven't been back there for a while (I used to go there every weekend, but lately have been busy sampling other places.) and it was still great!

I have tried almost everything on their menu: varieties of pancakes, omelette, varieties of eggs Benedict and French toast. I was not too crazy about the omelette since it's diner/open face style, but I do like the fact that you can actually add a little bit of everything in it. Let me see, I used to have tomato. spinach, onion, ham, bacon, mushroom, and 2 kinds of cheeses in my omelette there. However, what everyone should get if you have a craving for eggy breakfast should definitely order their Benedict selections. I have tried their normal Eggs Benedict (Canadian Bacon) plus variations like Eggs Blackstone (Bacon & grilled tomato), Eggs California (grilled tomato & avocado) and salmon Benedict (smocked salmon). And they are all good!!!
This morning, RCSIII and I decided to come here again, we get our usual: Eggs Blackstone (for RCSIII) & Eggs California (for me)! Yes, you can do that here!

Address:896 Whalley Avenue, New Haven, CT
http://www.bellascafect.com/
Yes! Sunday brunch time with RCSIII!!! I was so excited about this weekly event we do together before we do some crazy physical workout moving stuff out of RCSIII's apartment. However, we were not going to do that after our brunch today! Instead, we were going to meet up with Kate & Laura and go to see Tom Hanks for the 2011 class day at Yale.

But before all other activities for the rest of the day, we had to fill up our tummies first. We decided to try somewhere we both have never gone before, and that's Bella's cafe (if the wait was not too bad). Although we didn't wait for a long time to be seated, after we ordered and had our coffee served, we waited forever until the waiter finally brought out our food.
RCSIII ordered: Bella's Benedict ($11.95).  It is smoked pork steak (basically just a goog thick cut of ham steak) over English muffins with poached eggs and our freshly made Hollandaise sauce.

Address:# 309 E 5th St, New York NY10003 40.726747 -73.988296
No Website!!!
After lunch at Totto ramen, we are still in a Japanese kick today and we decided to go to a soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles) restaurant for dinner. This time, Yvette & William joined us. After we were seated, we all quickly decided to order their $30.00 prix fixe menu. The prix fixe is a great deal compare to ordered the entrée and other things separately since most soba entrée cost ~$18.00. Go for the prix fix!!!

We had some problem with the waiter since his English has some really really strong accent. But other than that, the service was okay. (Not that great, but just okay.) Now, let me walk you through the prix fixe courses I ordered:
Course #1: Soba tofu/ miso chicken/ vegetable & some soy product (I think...)

Address:366 West 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019-6200
http://tottoramen.com/
Long time no see, NYC!!! I haven't been to the city for so long and I miss my friends and food here a lot. With my old old old friend, V from Taiwan, we  (well...actually it's she) decided to go to Totto Ramen for lunch. Most of my Taiwanese friends loves Japanese style Ramen and there are some pretty good once in NYC. So far I have been to Ippudo & Kambi (both are delicious so that I went back couple times), and it'll be my first try to Totto today.

As usual, you have to wait in line since the restaurant is very small. And we saw on their board outside that they are advertising their potato salad. Normally I'll just ignore it, but you can add the spicy cod eggs in it (mentaiko)!!! It's salty, it's a bit spicy and it's so delicious in many many things! So V and I decided to order it.

Address:873 Whalley Avenue New Haven, CT
http://www.lenascafeandconfections.com/
Today's brunch partner is KC!!! Thanks a lot for driving! We planed on going shopping at the Westfarm mall today and before we start, we would like to fill our stomach with delicious brunch item so we can walk forever in the mall!!!

I have been to almost all the possible brunch places at downtown New Haven within walking distance and am eager to explore more. Thanks to KC that we can let her car take us somewhere a little bit farther.
We originally dicided to go to Bella's cafe, but we had to wait outside and it was super hot when we stepped in the store. So we went across the street and checked out Lena's menu. The place is much bigger than Bella's and the menu also looked pretty good (their yelps reviews are both pretty good), so we thought we'll give Lena's a try.
It was great that we could actually wait inside in their sofa waiting zone with coffee. Their coffee & tea are bottomless and there are 8 different kinds of coffee to choose from. I had some Hazelnut coffee and it was delicious. For a non-coffee drinker (or not a big one), KC had some tea and there are many tea bags you can choose from. This is a self service area. We then took a little rest on the sofa and right next to the waiting zone is their small bakery.

I haven't baked for real for a while. My sweet tooth was settled with my super simple brownie for a long time and not until recently I've decided to bake something special again.
I had so much browines baked by KC, super moist chocolate made by RCSIII & Kate and 6 great cupcakes from crumbs for my birthday and the following 2 weeks. Now I am out of sweet dessert at my apartment (don't tell me I can just go for ice cream!!! I want more than that...like ice cream with something else), so I want to make some more sweets to satisfy my sweet tooth. I know I want to make something cakey since that's one of my favorite type of dessert. Then, I have to decided on the flavor.
I didn't want to make something too similar to what I just had from my sweet birthday collections, so chocolate, vinella, beanut butter and a lot more are all out. Then I looked at my pentry and found the Earl Grey Tea Honey, which I never really used it but still bought it since I love earl grey so much. I immediate decided to make something with Earl Grey flavor. Finally, I decided to make Earl Grey Cupcakes with Earl Grey Tea Honey Frosting!!

Address:266 College Street, New Haven, CT 06510
http://www.bespokenewhaven.com/
Okay, there are not that many great restaurants in New Haven than in New York City, but this is not going to stop me from eating out and searching for good restaurants and amazing food. This time, we were celebrating Angela's birthday at this modern American restaurant at downtown New Haven. This was my second time coming here.
Rob and I came here once for New Haven restaurant week before. The previous dining experience was pretty good but the dessert was a bit weak (overly sweet).Anyway, there were more Taiwanese Yale girls (including Andrew and Ted) at the restaurant for the birthday event.
We soon decided on our order. Rob and I shared an appetizer (see 1st picture above): Duck Confit Pancake. We both loved it. It was really nicely done and the duck was so tender and flavorful.
For the main course, Rob ordered the Salmon:

Address:85 Orchard Street, New York NY 10002
http://littlegiantnyc.com
Again and again! It is "come to NYC to have brunch with friends" time again! Today, I am going to challenge "French Toast" and we have already decided on coming to "Little Giant" after we read about their baked french toast! It didn't take long for us(me) to order since I have decided before I came.
Here's the Baked French Toast ($14) that I've been dying to try:

http://www.cornershopcafe.com/
Address:643 Broadway New York, NY 10012
I love dining at NYC and I also love brunch/breakfast. Today, Vinci andI decided to come to this "Corner Shop Cafe" for their Saturday brunch. We arrived around noon and the place was full of people. However, we did not wait for too long until the next 2 people seats are avaliable.
I ordered coffee immediately since my head was acheing so bad and I love coffee. The coffee was just okay since it was a bit too nutty for me. But I have to add some points to the fact that they serve the whole pot of it plus a big big RED coffee mug! Who doesn't like big red coffee mugs?Here, I have to complain a little bit about the tables. It was way too small! Although it can easily bring you and your dining partner closer (if you wish) together physically, it was so small that I don't know how are they going to fit everything on the table. Somehow they did it, but I was so nervous throughout my brunch.
Please allow me to express how much I loved it!Portobella was super juicy, meaty, and very very sweet! They used this instead of English Muffin, plus spinich, tomato, and egg yolk, I could not ask for more!So light and fresh! Oh...but if you wanted to have meat, you probabily should order something else.