Josie's

There are two Josie's restaurants in NYC, one on the West side (the original location) and one of the East side. but the owner and executive chef, Louis Lanza, is the man behind two other NYC establishments, Citrus Bar & Grill and Josephina. Lanza is known for his creative dairy-free menus that use all organic ingredients as well as free range meats. All of the restaurants offer amazing food for health conscious Manhattanites- Josie's and Josephina feature American cuisine while Citrus serves Latin dishes with an Asian flair.
Josie's restaurant serves healthy and wholesome dishes throughout the day- brunch, lunch and dinner. I have had lunch at Josie's East in Murry Hill and dinner at Josie's West (the original Josie's located at Amsterdam and 74th St). I was impressed with their lunch offerings like the Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, Steamed Organic Spiced Edamame, Steamed Potato & Broccoli Dumplings, Pan-Seared Spicy Organic Black Bean Dumplings and the Vegetable Stir-Fry. However, I must admit that I had the most filling dinner dish I've ever had when I dined at Josie's West for dinner. I ordered the Veggie Plate Deluxe- wok sauteed greens served over a roasted winter squash, grilled vegetables, roasted beets and organic tamari brown rice.
I definitely recommend either of the Josie's restaurants and look forward to trying Josephina and Citrus.

Cafe Frida

Yesterday afternoon while strolling around the Upper West Side with a couple friends we stumbled upon Cafe Frida located on Columbus Ave between 77th & 78th. We ordered guacamole and corn tortilla chips to share followed by Sopa Azteca (roasted tomato soup garnished with chile ancho chips, chopped avocado, queso fresco and toasted corn tortilla strips). My friends had the Sopa de Lima (chicken soup with lemon and cilantro, garnished with avocado and corn tostaditas) and Quesadillas (made with homade corn tortillas, stuffed with Oaxaca-Chihuahua cheese and wild mushrooms). They have a cute bar toward the back of the restaurant and offer so great-sounding drinks although, we didn't order any of them.