Good Things Come On Small Plates

I love that more restaurants are going the tapas route -- how wonderful it is to try a bite of many different dishes!  I took a much needed mini-holiday last weekend and trekked down to Jersey to stay with my little brother.  It didn't hurt that he's a mere train ride away from the City where I reconnected with old pals.  My friends introduced me to the delightful Bar Stuzzichini in the Flatiron District -- an Italian eatery specializing in the small plates.   Couldn't get enough of the ricotta crostini or the savory artichoke fritters, which I think I will continue to dream about for the next few weeks or so.  

Rochester has its own rather tasty "small plate" restaurant, Social, that not only serves tasty food, but uses mostly local foods.   I treated cat-sitter Amanda there tonight as thanks for caring for my separation-anxiety prone Pippin while I was gone.  The portions are just right, as long as you don't order too many dishes because you are feeling greedy, like we did (oops!)  I am rather partial to their pomme frites (it's the aoli that makes it so wonderful) and tonight had the foresight to save room for dessert.  Their house specialty, apple fritters with carmel sauce  and vanilla gelato is heavenly.   They have a rather large selection of vegetarian dishes which is nice for my not-so-carnivorous dining companion who is often frustrated by the lack of variety at most of the other places around town.  The place can get kind of loud at night as the interior design, while aesthetically pleasing to the eye, is not so acoustically accommodating as sound bounces off of everything.  However, Amanda and I had an early evening reservation, which provided the perfect ambience to nosh and converse.  

I sign off with the snapshot of the day:  

It's hard to tell whether he's guarding my knitting, or preventing me from getting to it (as knitting takes my attention off of him).