We Scream for.....Dumplings!!


This week on I Scream for Ice Cream, we feature the ice cream truck that stands outside the university cafeteria every Monday...

Totally kidding.
So we thought the weather here in NY was getting better but Mother Nature fooled us, it was 75 degrees for about two days. Now its rainy and cold again. BUT we did take advantage of those 2 days to go and get some....... ICE CREAM and lunch too of course.

First stop was, Mimi Cheng's dumplings on 2nd Ave, right around the corner from our favorite place St. Marks. The tiny place was like an indoor picnic area, wooden picnic tables and a wooden bar looking out a window onto the street. The menu was all chalk board, they had a limited selection which made it easy to decide what to order. Mimi Cheng's offers dumplings, the special a vegan burger dumpling, soba noodles, sautéed broccoli, iced tea, local beer, and wine.

Sauteed Broccoli Apetizer 

As an appetizer we started with the garlic sautéed broccoli, IT WAS DELICIOUS. The broccoli was perfectly crunchy but still had a moderate roasted flavor. The garlic was there but not at all overpowering, which made it all the more enjoyable. We also ordered honey limeade, and lavender black iced tea.  Personally I was not very fond of the limeade, but others liked it,  I ordered the lavender black ice tea. The mix of lavender and black tea gave it a very strong taste but it was not sweetened, which made it taste more bitter, not my favorite iced to but nice for a change.


On this dinner date there was four of us at the table instead of tres. All four of us ordered the Mix & Match dumplings, you split your order an half by ordering two types of signature dumplings. Orders come in 6 for $8 or 8 for $10, steamed or fried. I split mine between the Mimi Cheng dumplings and the Reinvented Classic dumplings. The Mimi Cheng dumplings were a mix of chicken, zucchini, scallions, and ginger. These were my favorite, they were perfectly cooked with a nice flavor both hardy and fresh from the zucchini. The triangle shaped dumplings were the Reinvented classic, these were the pork dumplings with bok choy, scallions, cabbage, and ginger. These were not my personal favorite, they had a really strong taste of pork which kind of washed out the freshness of the veggies. Mimi's produces a Mimi Cheng's Secret Sauce, I'm not the biggest fan of sour flavors like vinegar which was the most present in the sauce. However, the dumplings with Siracha were great, while mixing the secret sauce with the Siracha gave it a spicier taste and kind of blocked out some of the vinegary flavor.

Mimi Cheng & Reinvented classic
dumplings with secret sauce 

Lavender Black Iced Tea

Back to the lecture at hand, there are SO MANY ice cream parlors in the St. Mark's general area, after drooling over tons of ice cream porn on Yelp we decided on Davey's Ice cream. As soon as we walked into Davey's the server at the counter was incredibly friendly and outgoing. She explained how ordering works: you can taste test as much ice cream as you want, you can add toppings, you can get various types of cones (nuts, sprinkles, oreos), you can get any ice cream between two cookies, or on a brownie. Everything is made on the premises and the ice cream production is visible through an interior window. The taste testing was my favorite part the flavors weren't your everyday ice cream choices (Specoulous ChocChip, Mexican Vanilla) and other more familiar flavors (Toasted Pisatchio, Strong Coffee). No lie, I tried 4 of the 8 flavors and I could not be happier. All four of us ordered the Specoulous ChocChip with a variation of the second scoop. I ordered the Specoulous ChocChip which was vanilla ice cream with bits of chocolate chips, bits of ginger snaps, and the Strawberry Swirl, had an amazing taste of fresh strawberries, with hot fudge and nuts. Both flavors were sensational, especially the Specoulous ChocChip Davey's also serves cones with chocolate and fruity pebbles, chocolate and sprinkles with potato chips and their ice cream is out of this world.

the flavors, menu, and some interior. 

Cold or hot, head out to the East Village or Willamsburg to scoop up some sensational ice cream or order online cause THEY DELIVER!!!!!! And if you're looking for a place to pick up breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner, or dinner hover board on through  Mimi Cheng's for some fire dumplings.

Twas nice chatting with ya
-Daisy 🌼

Strawberry swirl with the marvelous
Specoulos ChocChip 

Roasted pistachio and
Specoulos ChoChip 

      What up y'all? Daisy here. Our first review post has been a long time coming, we took a few weeks to explore some different restaurants and entrees to provide a colorful and fun variety for our blog. Since the idea came to us to start a food blog, about two weeks ago, we have been tasting foods from different neighborhoods, cultures, burgers to coffee houses and even different states. Before we get to our first restaurant  I've decided to write a few words about myself.

      Evidently, my name is Daisy, I just turned 20 and as you might know I was born and raised in Southern California. My favorite food is Mexican both by nature and nurture and there is no drink in the world that I love more than iced tea. I think I can cook but I'm not too sure because I'm to lazy to get up and actually cook for myself. I am a communications/business major, and what better way to startup my career than with a blog.

The Guacamole & homemade totopos 

The lucky winner who randomly landed the job of being our first feature on Table for Tres is Fonda Lolita Tacombi located in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan (267 Elizabeth St.) Up till now I have personally tried numerous Mexican restaurants in NY and the majority have failed to conquered my taste buds. Only one other Mexican eatery in NY has excited my mouth, Taqueria Diana in the East Village, but that is another story for another day. Being Mexican, and leaving California not having delicious Mexican food at arms reach was and is one of the hardest parts of moving across the country.  

On this lunch date Fonda Tacombi was a second choice we walked about half an our from SoHo to Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken, but as soon as we got there, after starving for about an hour we immediately had #ragrets, none of us were into sandwiches at the moment. So we peeped Instagram and found Fonda Tacombi only 5 minutes away, which in the 25 degree cold was eternal. We finally made it and were rather surprised the front doors huge and warehouse like, just like in Mexico. As soon as we opened the door the small hallway made of Mexican blankets filled with the aroma of hand made tortillas, the walls conceled in vintage posters announcing paletas, esquite, aquas frescas, micheladas, and cervezas. The hallway led to a beach like bar stand, where they served fresh fruit water, coffee, etc. The inside resembled well um... Mexico, white cinderblock, small metal tables, and chairs. The most unique thing I have seen in a restaurant, was the old VW van thats served as the taco bar. The entire time there is a cook inside the van cranking out tacos. We were quickly seated and immediately started drooling over the menu, lots of familiar dishes: rice & bean tostada, ceviche, chips & guac. For tacos a few options were adobo, barbacoa, fish, and a few others as well as a chicken quesadilla. 

Now to the food: 

The 4 salsas available: arbol, morita, jalapeno & "oro negro".

We started off by ordering the chips & guacamole, they were amazing, especially when you spent the last three months eating Chipotle guac. I had the pollo quesadilla, which was a chicken quesadilla, the tortilla was flour with Chihuahua cheese and tons of shredded chicken. As far as I remember it was nothing less than sensational, when I took the first bite I almost felt like I was home. I need to double check but the Vista Hermosa salsas, are their own brand of salsa and they were delicious. I added multiple squirts of the arbol salsa to my quesadilla, which only made it ten times better. The salsas have a creamy texture and color but most definitely spicy taste.

The pollo quesadilla 

My hobby is eating, so I also ordered the chorizo breakfast taco, which is nothing compared to my mom's chorizo, but I did enjoy it. The chorizo and egg was not too spicy or crispy, like I like it, but definitely flavorful and tasty. To drink I ordered the aqua de sandia, it was cold and incredibly sweet (I also love sugary drinks) but not too sweet. It was amazingly fruity and refreshing.

Kaitlyn ordered the special tostada of the day but was accidentally brought the ceviche tostada. It was a fish ceviche, fresh dorado, with red onions, cucumbers, and lemon. Neither of us are that into fish so the fish taste was a little overwhelming, but all in all it was not bad, especially with some jalapeño salsa. She also ordered the jugo verde to drink, almost like a pressed juice was made of apples, kale, pineapple, celery, lime & mint. The juice had a fruity taste to it but as well veggie and strong celery after taste.

Mary ordered the barbacoa tacos and chicken quesadilla too.  "They're great" as she described them, the tacos had plenty of shredded beef topped with onions, cilantro, and salsa. We also had a taste of the the fish taco: the cod is battered in tequila batter and fried to a crisp. It served on double tortilla and topped with red cabbage.

The food was delicious and the place was totes adorbs we completely recommend Fonda Tacombi, well at least the Nolita locations. We each payed about $25 so its not to expensive but it's also not super cheap, however we did get a lot of food for how much we payed. As we were on our way out we conversed with the manager, we asked for drinks to go and he gave them to us on the house. At the beginning I mentioned there was posters for paletas, I asked the manager if they sold paletas and he said they currently did not but were working on getting some for the summer.

So definitely visit Lolita Tacombi if you're ever in the area and check back soon for our next restaurant feature.

Breakfast chorizo taco 

The fish & barbacoa tacos

Intro to Us

Hi Everyone we are Table for Tres, Mary from New Jersey, Daisy from California, and Kaitlyn from Texas. We are best friends attending college in NYC! If there's one thing we all love it's food: sandwiches, pasta, tacos, pizza and especially DESSERTS!!!! We're ready to eat just about everything New York has to offer! Follow us on our tastebud adventure as we transform into the Anthony Bourdain of blogspot!

Here's a quick pic of us that describes us perfectly (plus a guy hailing a taxi, very new yorker)