Artichoke (Manhattan)

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

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Positive:  Artichoke slices are great as are the Margarita slices.  The Sicilian pizza is the best!

Negative:  Make sure to tell the waiter to have your pizza cut with a clean cutter and don’t cross contaminate with their pork meatball sauce.

Overall: One of the best pizza I have ever eaten.

Revisit:  OF COURSE!

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want to try delicious pizza and don’t want to wait long?

I was in the mood for Difara’s Pizza but it was closed. That is a rare occurrence but the main problem of Difara’s is the amount of time you have to wait. I agree that his slice topped with fresh mozzarella and basil is the best I have eaten, but sometimes you just dont have the time to wait. I looked up a few review websites and lists online, and decided to try out Artichoke Basille’s Pizza. I saw that they were known for their Artichoke slices but I didn’t think I would like them given that I usually like simple toppings or plain slices. Nonetheless, because of the raving reviews on sites and the customers I met at the location, I decided to take the plunge.

I would definitely say that if I liked toppings or was in the mood for something unique I would love the large, artichoke slice. It reminded me of spinach and artichoke dip on pizza. However, I am a simple person and plain slices just do it better for me. Also, if it had tomato sauce, then I may have liked it better. I did however, really like their margarita slice which closely resembled Difara’s but did not get as far. However, when I tried their Sicilian slice my mouth was doing the tango and I thought it was better than Difara’s by far. They had lightly burnt the bottom, something they were supposed to do, in order to give it a burnt/bbq style taste along with the already delicious sauce, buttery crust, and mozarella cheese. Given the time it took to get the pizza and the taste I experienced I would go to this place over Difara’s any day. However, if Difara’s just sped up the process I would definitely go there for their regular slices.

The sicilian winner in my book, though, is definitely Artichoke. The other great thing is that they have a few pies already out and constantly being made so that you can grab a slice on the go (unlike DiFara’s) and not wait around for pies to be made. They also have three locations in Manhattan (East Village, Chelsea, and Greenwich Village). Overall this is a great restaurant to hit up when in the mood for excellent New York style pizza by the slice or as a pie. I have yet to review other well known establishments but so far this place takes precedence over Difara’s based on taste and the waiting time.

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artichoke’s Website

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Sabrina’s Cafe (Philadelphia)

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

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Positive: Delicious, unique breakfast and brunch items for all taste buds to enjoy.

Negative: Lots of meat filled dishes on the menu so be careful and ask for help.  Also, long wait times so call ahead!

Overall: The food tastes good and the environment is perfect for a weekend brunch with friends and family.

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Thinking of going to the Italian Market on the Weekend? Well don’t forget to stop in at Sabrina’s Cafe for brunch!

I went to the cute cafe located by the Italian Market with a wide variety of options for a perfect weekend brunch whether you’re with family or friends. There are two other locations as well, one by the Art Museum and one by the Drexel Campus.There is a long wait so make sure you call ahead before you go to get seated faster (they do not accept reservations but you can call ahead the same day).

I would recommend their Hunter Pence’s Lets Eat Stuffed French Toast with cream cheese, mascarpone, apricot, topped with peach-apricot syrup (note that the serving size for this is more than enough for 2 people). If you love stuffed french toast and want something sweet, you should order this. As for the eggs, if you like mexican food, I would recommend the poached eggs with beans, guacamole, and peppers (note that you can get vegetarian sausage with this). If you like corn bread, then I’d suggest The Phantic’s Belly Shaking Egg Breakfast. The potatoes that come with the eggs taste very fresh and have a home-made touch.

The restaurant also has lunch and dinner options and other appealing breakfast items such as Breakfast burritos and Challah French Toast.  Overall, I would recommend this cafe as the food taste goods and the environment is perfect for a weekend brunch.

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Sweet Revenge (West Village)

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

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Positive: Uniquely delicious cupcake flavors and a wide variety of non-alcoholic drinks.

Negative: Bar type atmosphere with expensive dishes.

Overall: Great place to go with friends for dessert and non-alcoholic drink if you want to try a new type of setting.

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You want to try a high-end cupcake place with a delicious non-alcoholic drink with your friends at a bar?

Sweet revenge is a very unique and small cafe in the Village. It has many different kinds of signature ‘Artisan’ flavors.  This place is actually a bar/cupcake place so that people who drink can have wine with their cupcakes and pies.

However, for those who don’t drink alcohol they have a bunch of non-alcoholic drinks as well. Some of these nonalcoholic drinks include their South African rock shandy and American rock shandy. You can also have frozen hot chocolate which is pretty bitter and probably made from dark chocolate. They also have a bunch of coffees, teas, lattes, milk, lemonades, and sodas. They are known for the cupcakes and pies.

The signature flavor which I enjoyed was something called Sweet Revenge which included peanut butter cake, a ganache center, and peanut butter fudge frosting. We also had a chance to try there very rich and delicious Bird of Paradise cupcake which consisted of lime chiffon cake with mango butter cream and fresh lime zest. They have a variety of other unique signature flavors including ‘Pure” which consists of Mexican vanilla cake and Mexican vanilla buttercream as well as ‘Dirty’  which consists of Valrohna Cake with dark chocolate truffle.  I also tried their ‘Crimson and Cream’ which has raspberry red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. It was very unique compared to other red velvet cakes I have eaten. However, it did have somewhat of a raspberry flavor to it. They also have some pies which I did not have a chance to try.

I think overall that this place is a very interesting and unique place to go to especially if you want to have a quick delicious cupcake with a nice non-alcoholic drink. You can always check their website to see what kind of nonalcoholic drinks they have. When comparing this to other cupcake places like Magnolia, Crumbs, and Georgetown cupcakes I think this is more of a exotic cupcake place. However at the other places the cupcakes have the usual delicious flavors.  Therefore, this place definitely has more of a unique experience than other places.  By the way, the owner is very nice and the service is excellent, which makes your experience there soo much better!

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Sweet Revenge Website

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Di Fara Pizza (Brooklyn)

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

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Positive: The BEST PIZZA I HAVE EVER EATEN.

Negative: Small, hole in the wall place without adequate seating and VERY SLOW service

Overall: If you want to eat Excellent Pizza but don’t mind the wait or standing then this is the place to try.

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Are you a pizza junkie? Are you willing to go from place to place to find the best pizza in New York?

If yes then you’ll have to go to Brooklyn to try out Di Fara’s. You have to make sure that you get there atleast a hour before you plan on eating because all the details of making pizza are done right in front of you from scratch by Dom DeMarco himself. (and if you only want just a slice then just pray he has time to make an extra pie between all his other orders) The pizza is made with a special sauce which is absolutely delicious and very different from any other pizza sauce I have eaten. Another unique aspect of the way this pizza is made is that Dom puts freshly grated Romano cheese on it right after taking it out of the oven. He also adds olive oil and fresh cut Basil which he allows to sit and absorb before giving you it to eat. Besides the aroma of the pizza, just as i put the pizza slice in my mouth I knew that it would be one of the best pizza Ive ever eaten.

The taste of the sauce and the cheese combination with olive oil and basil was just perfect. I know that I would be back here every time I am in Brooklyn looking for great NY style pizza . You can tell from his various acolades at the store that he really is very highly rated in the New York. It is a bit on the pricy side; who really wants to give five dollars for slice of pizza when you can get one alot cheaper. Bit I think it’s definitely worth it. You can not compare every day pizza to this fresh and good tasting pizza. The place is definitely cramped for how popular this place is.  However its just like any typical pizza joint with some seating. Overall its definitely worth trying if you are a Pizza fan!

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 Di Fara’s Pizza Website

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