Oh...Republic Serves Asian Food?

Still Can't Call Myself a "New Yorker"

Sometimes it is painfully obvious that I am still relatively new to living in Manhattan. I was recently reminded of this fact when Melissa suggested grabbing a bite to eat at Republic (http://www.thinknoodles.com/findex.html). I had mentioned that I felt like something Asian - maybe Chinese or Thai, so I was confused when she suggested this place. I had (how embarrassing!) thought that it was a burger place. It is near Heartland Brewery...the signage looks very similar...so, you can see how I'd be confused! Clearly, I had said something sacrilegious. EVERYONE (except little ol' me until then) knows this place has yummy Asian food.

Melissa RAVED about the Spicy Beef noodle soup - similar to Pho. This bowl contains heavenly noms, like wheat noodles, rare beef, garlic, onion, lemongrass, chili peppers, bean sprouts, scallions and fried shallots. For $15, this bowl will FILL YOU UP!

Spicy Beef Noodle Soup aka Bowl of Awesome Deliciousness

This restaurant has a great reverse happy hour that starts at 10pm. Cocktails that are normally $11 are $7 and beer/wine is around $4. We each got a frozen Lychee-tini!

Lychee-tini - it creeps up on you!

This is a lovely spot. I'm glad I'm no longer in the dark! If you haven't been here, please enlighten yourself as well!

Cheers,

Liz

 

Here Kitti(chai), Kitti(chai)

Boozy Thai Brunch

Melissa has grown to be a very close friend of mine over the past year. She recently celebrated her 25th birthday and invited some of us to the $25 bottomless brunch at Kittichai (http://www.kittichairestaurant.com/). She keeps me young - turning 30 in August. EEK.

I have heard rave reviews about it, so I was eager try it out. Thai is one of my favorite cuisines, so combining it with unlimited cocktails is always a good time! I started with the Bloody Mary. It had a weird taste to it, so I ate the olive to cleanse my palate and moved ON.

Bloody Mary - Just say NO!

Melissa invited both friends from Stern and beyond - I always love the opportunity to meet new people. Her other friends are really great, especially Dayna.

Dayna and Melissa, looking for refills, obviously.

In the picture above, Melissa has the Lychee Bellini in the cocktail glass. It was lovely - just the perfect amount of sweetness. I really enjoyed this one!

I also tried the Blood Orange Mimosa. It was ok. Based on the color, I doubt it was anything more than regular OJ.

"Blood Orange" Mimosa

The beautiful birthday girl - Melissa! Love her so much!

PUG!

After looking at the different brunch options, I decided to go the savory route. The Shrimp Pad Thai was delicious. Melissa commented that the portions used to be much larger. It was quite tasty, so I would have been happy to have eaten more.

Shrimp Pad Thai

We HAD to have a Stern photo shoot!

Melissa and Diana

Dipti and Hannah

This is a super hip spot but beware, since it is bottomless, some younger "just turned 21" folks come there that get super wasted and loud (at least that was our experience).

Cheers,

Liz