Tamarind

A friend has been raving about Tamarind for months, so I went to check it out this week and can say I'm now a fan. Dinner started with these delicate puff pastries with a layer of cheese and tomato, and a side of creamy ginger dipping sauce.

The fried cauliflower special was a vivid red and reminded me in a good way of fried chicken with bbq sauce.

For dinner, we ordered the tender lamb vindaloo and the spicy chicken special in a creamy onion and tomato sauce, deliciously fresh raita with chunks of cucumber and garlic nan.

Arlequin Cafe

I've been in San Francisco for the past week on vacation...and checking out all that SF offers in the culinary world. After getting voted "best cupcakes" in SF Weekly, I decided to check out Arlequin Cafe in Hayes Valley. They had one of the most exciting cupcakes I've eaten: s'mores, with a graham cracker cake with dark bittersweet chocolate frosting, topped with toasted mini marshmallows. Yum!

Then, I ran into them again at the Ferry Plaza farmers market, where they had this maple bacon doughnut along with other incredible looking cupcakes and baked sweets.

Balthazar Bakery

I'm loving this special soup from Balthazar Bakery: chilled cucumber melon with a touch of goat cheese. It's a perfect soup for summer lunches, and I like it with the equally fresh Mediterranean salad with olives, chickpeas, and radishes. Unfortunately it's not available every day, but keep your eye on the daily specials to get it!

Lovely Day

Lovely Day, a chic little spot in nolita, reopened this year after a fire shut them down for a while. I stopped at the bar for a snack of ginger fried chicken nuggets. They were a little dry, but the creamy aoli made up for it.

The coconut curry noodle was great - milky and spicy at the same time, with thick noodles and sprinkled with red peppers.

L'asso

I'm completely enthralled with the L'asso, a thin-crust pizza and Italian restaurant a few steps from my door in Nolita.

The creamy artichoke dip is spiced up with jalapeno for a kick.

The homemade meatballs are juicy and have tons of flavor in tomato sauce.

The pizzas come in strips, like this one that was split between the Dante, a great combo of capocollo, red and green peppers and basil, and the Mela, with apple, asparagus, Gorgonzola and truffle oil.

My favorite was the fragrant albondiga, with basil, onions and homemade meatballs.

Jean Claude

I can't believe I've been walking past Jean Claude for years and just recently stopped in. It's a gem of a French restaurant, with unusually pretty plates. The roasted codfish was excellent over a bed of potato basil puree and bell pepper sauce.

The shrimp ravioli appetizer was also a nice surprise - light and fresh in a herb sauce.

Blue Marble

After a slightly disappointing trip to the cherry blossom-less Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, I was cheered up to find the adorable Blue Marble ice cream shop a few blocks away.

The creamsicle flavor transported me back to childhood with an exact replica of the creamy orange flavor. I also tried the conscientious chip, creamy with chunks of chocolate. Happily, they'll be at the Brooklyn Flea all summer.