Amazing weekend of Food and Fun…First the food

I arrived in NYC at 6:30 am Saturday morning. After a long bus ride the only thing on my mind was the promises of Donuts that had been made to me by M2. He had taken me to this place a few months before and I had been dreaming of it ever since. If you want your mind blown by sugary amazingness then make your way to China town. Get off at the Grand street stop and walk about 4 blocks east. It will be on your right after Norfolk St. (how ironic). This hole in the wall donut shop is becoming one of my favorite little secrets (well I guess it’s not a real secret if I’m sharing it with you, but I’ve never been very good at keeping secrets). Anyway, I would highly recommend it. I also recommend the Crème Brule donuts. They are small, but amazing. If trying an assortment make sure to at least get one of these little guys.

http://doughnutplant.com/

So that night was an amazing night of Gluttony. M2’s roommate is a manager at a small Greek restaurant called Kefi. http://www.kefirestaurant.com/

I felt this was exactly the dining experience I was looking for on my one night in the city. Make sure to make reservations, but the staff was super nice and understanding when we were unable to get a taxi and were about 15 min late. We had heard about their dinner special of 3 courses for $16.95. With Christmas coming up and trying to stay true to my meager budget, this immediately sparked my attention. For this meal I chose the:

Kefi Salad: Shredded Lettuce & Fennel, Tomato, Cucumber, Olives, Peppers, Onions, Feta†

Pork Medallions, Spicy Peppers, Capers, Lemon

Walnut Cake, Walnut Ice Cream

M2 decided on the

Meatballs, Roasted Garlic, Olives, Tomato

Tubular Pasta, Greek Sausage, Peppers, Onions, Tomato, Feta

Walnut Cake, Walnut Ice Cream

And we were lucky enough to get to try the Sheep’s Milk Dumplings, Tomato, Pine Nuts, and Spicy Lamb Sausage

To start off with, my salad was a spot on Greek salad with small cut lettuce an appropriate house dressing, just the right amount of Feta cheese and the amazingly flavorful olives you would expect. I also enjoyed how the olives were pitted. I always hate spitting out the seeds while sitting at a nice dinner.

I also got to reach over and try one of M2s meat balls. They were great and a perfect choice after wondering the city in the cold. They just gave you the warm and cozy feeling we were looking for.
Next we were surprised by a complementary order of the sheep’s milk dumplings, perks of knowing the manager I guessJ. The sauce was thick and amazing. Big chunks of tomatoes, spinach, small pieces of spicy sausage, and of amazingly tender dumplings. This is a dish I would definitely get again.

So on the main course. This pork dish was much different than anything I had expected. The dish was much lighter than I had envisioned but that is one thing I love about it. There is a very interesting combination of flavors: capers, lintels, lemon, mandarin oranges, and leaks. They came together very well and is a dish I just had to make myself finish.

After indulging ourselves in the amazing amount of food before us we were treated to dessert. This walnut cake was barely a cake, but more of a mound of walnuts held together by pure goodness. The best part was a walnut ice cream that paired perfectly with the cake. Who doesn’t love ice cream with their cake?

So all in all an amazing experience in a quaint little Greek restaurant that I will definitely be visiting again! If you find yourself in the city and looking for a moderately priced but full meal experience make your way to Kefi, I don’ t think you will regret it.