Graffiti

Graffiti is a small hole in the wall restaurant in the East Village, located on 10th St. near 1st Ave. [MAP]
Founded by former Jean Georges pastry chef Jehangir Mehta, Graffiti offers shareable dishes ranging from $7 to $15. My friends and I started out with a cheese plate- a combination of three cheeses, along with a bottle of Chardonnay. For our entrees we ordered a few dishes to share including the Watermelon Feta Salad with Mint Sorbet, the Zucchini Hummus Pizza and I believe they shared scallops- which I actually don't see on the online menu so it must have been a special that night. I was pleased to see so many vegetarian options on the menu and really enjoyed the dishes we shared.
NYMag.com lists Graffiti as a hot date spot and place for notable desserts and wines.
Chef Mehta will actually be on The Food Network on The Next Iron Chef show, premiers October 4th. Check out this video of Chef Mehta explaining his cooking style and a bit of his background.

Kashkaval

As I've mentioned before, I do my best not to repeat restaurants in NYC but if I were to repeat I would want to consider Kashkaval one of my go-tos. Located in Hell's Kitchen along 9th Ave, it is seriously a great spot. The front of the restaurant is a cheese and gourmet foods market but in the back it's a small, quite, candlelit wine bar/restaurant. Even though it's not BYOB it really reminds me of the nearby Nook. My favorite thing about the restaurant is the cheese fondue served with a French Baquette and veggies (mushroom, broccoli, cauliflower and tomatoes). Even though I'm not a beer drinker the Cheddar & Ale Fondue was amazing blend of deliciousness. There are also amazing Mediterranean (and vegetarian) Tapas, all made fresh daily. Some favorites include the Hummus, Baba Ganoush, Artichoke Dip and the Roasted Brussel Sprouts.
Location: 9th Ave (btw. 55th & 56th) #212-581-8282

New Food Court at JFK

People will be booking flights with Jet Blue in and out of JFK just to see the new restaurants that make up Terminal 5's new food court. As of October 1st, five new restaurants will be open to the public. Restaurants include Piquillo (tapas), Aeronuova (a trattoria featuring old Italian films), Deep Blue (Asian), The Loft,and La Vie (a French cafe); all designed by the meatpacking firm ICRAVE (also responsible for STK, Tenjune, and One Little West 12). See photos below, in the order as mentioned above.






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Tasca
(130 Seventh Ave. South, at 10th St.)
I enjoyed the trendy Spanish atmosphere in the West Village but was sadly let down by the red wine sangria that seemed to be infused with too much cranberry juice. However this Spanish tapas bar does offer white wine- so try that instead and let me know what you think!
Unfortunately Tasca does not take reservations, no matter how large the party. Luckily the restaurant and wine bar next door, Central Kitchen, has the same owner as Tasca so while our party of 6 waited for about an hour for our table we were able to enjoy a drink at Central Kitchen’s wine bar.
Tasca’s menu was full of seafood and meat. The few vegetarian options- carrots & a plate of assorted cheese and salad- were very good, but definitely not too filling.
Overall I'd say it was a small place with a lot of people, not great food, service was alright.