On our most recent trip to New York City, we checked out the highly recommended, Best bagels in New York City – Tompkins Square Bagels. Our daughter lives in New York and we are having the best time visiting her and letting her show us the New York City that we have never seen. I have done all the touristy stuff, now I want to go to the street fairs and parks that I never knew existed. But the best part is finding all the little restaurants she has found. Now there are three Tompkins Square Bagels locations. One is located on 184 2nd Avenue (between 11th and 12th street) and another is located at 165 Avenue A (near Tompkins Square Park) and the third at 1159 3rd Avenue. We visited the the 165 Avenue A location.
I think my soulmate might be carbs
-Unknown
Our daughter had been talking about this place forever and we were very excited to check it out. Despite the hangovers from our previous nights dining and cocktail adventure (We are not as young as we used to be, so it was painful), we woke up and took a nice walk through the beautiful Tompkins Square Park to the 165 Avenue A location. I never knew this park existed, what a beautiful space. The dog parks were amazing. They had two sections: one for big dogs and one for little dogs. I so wished I had brought our Beau with us, he would have loved it.


The line was long and I was a bit intimidated thinking we were going to be there forever. However, the employees are so organized and the lines move very quickly. But you just have to know looking at that line that these were going to be fantastic bagels. I can see why my daughter says these are the best bagels in New York City if the people in the line are any indication.
The employees at Tompkins Square Bagels know what they are doing, it’s very impressive. If the line gets out the door, an employee will come out and take your order so I would recommend looking at the menu on you r phone ahead of time if you are not sure what you are going to get. I heard they had gluten free bagels after I visited, which was too bad. But it was my mistake, I just assumed they did not. I lean towards gluten free but I do not have an allergy. I love going to allergy friendly establishments. They go above and beyond for their customers and I always like to applaud that. Next time I will try out the gluten free bagel for you all and let you know how they are.
The employees are quick and organized and you get to watch them in action making the bagels, which I found fascinating. There are so many choices… bagels, cream cheese’s, lox, dairy free, gluten free? I was in heaven. I finally decided on an everything bagel with chive cream cheese. The others got lox, tomatoes, capers and onions….they were so happy and ate them so fast I could not get pictures!
I cannot recommend Tompkins Square Bagels anymore than I have (unsolicited recommendation). As far as I am concerned these are the best bagels in New York City. They are fantastic and a must see on your next New York Adventure! I love nothing more than letting people know about the restaurants I love in my blog Sunday Chefs and I put them all on my page Sunday Chefs Restaurant Reviews.




























Spice & Wine Bistro located in the heart of Trastevere, Rome was a place we just wandered into one night when we were caught in the rain. I was a bit apprehensive as we had not done any research beforehand regarding the food allergies. I like to do research on the restaurants that we go to in advance about how they handle food allergies, so this was a gamble, but they took it all very seriously and were very helpful. (We have allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, carrots, cucumbers, legumes, soy, eggplant, zucchini and gluten) We were seated at a lovely table in the back corner and I felt the place was warm and inviting.
have this cabinet thing where they collect all the corks from the wine bottles and I just had to get a picture of it. The waiters jumped in and made the pictures great. We had the caprese salad, bruschetta, meatballs, spicy penne, cacio e pepe and carbonara. There were no complaints. In fact, my two older daughters dream about the spicy penne, they loved it so much.
I saw that there were bad reviews on TripAdvisor for this restaurant about the staff. My experience was the exact opposite. I gave them a good review on TripAdvisor. They were wonderful and fun. If I ever have the privilege of visiting Rome another time, I would go back there again, it was very good.
In another big pot add the chicken broth, chicken (if you don’t have leftover chicken for the soup, you can leave it out or add a raw boneless chicken breast and poach it in the broth until its done, then remove it, shred it and then add it back) and spices. Bring to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes and then add the spinach. It will seem like too much but it wilts down to nothing. Simmer for a few more minutes. Put the tortellini in a bowl and spoon the soup over the tortellini. Top with a little Parmesan cheese and serve with some crusty bread.
As we were walking back from the Pantheon one night on our recent life-changing trip to Rome, the kids were starving and I didn’t have any idea where we could eat. Before our trip I studied and searched for restaurants that would accommodate our family and their food allergies (Peanuts, tree nuts, carrots, cucumbers, soy, gluten, legumes, eggplant and zucchini). Italy is known for being very food allergy friendly but information on specific restaurants is hard to find, so I tried to find blog information and there was a few, but it was outdated and limited. So I looked for restaurants that were recommended by friends or had good reviews and reached out to them. Then I made a master list of the places that I wanted to visit and nearby restaurants that were food allergy friendly. (We made the food allergy cards and they were great but only used them once). It was good old fashioned leg work that got the job done. I will share my hard work with you all to save you some time.
Our waiter was named Mimo and he was so much fun. He suggested that my husband try the steak which they cook at the table. We got the caprese salad, cacio e pepe, pizza and lots of house wine! Always get the house wine. We sat outside under the awning and had a fabulo
I did a lot of research on restaurants before going to Rome, especially ones that catered to food allergies. I have to say it was difficult. The general consensus was that Rome was very allergy friendly and we did find this to be true. But information on specific restaurants was tough to find. I knew the places that we wanted to visit (i.e. Colosseum, Vatican, Pantheon, etc.) So I wanted to discover restaurant choices near our destinations, so I wouldn’t be wandering with a “Hangry” family trying to find a place to eat. We were not looking for fancy…. inexpensive, great food, great atmosphere and food allergy friendly. 
Franco was our waiter and he was fabulous. He was very friendly and told us the food allergies were not a problem, they would make it work (I made the food allergy cards, but honestly never had to use them..the one place we tried, seemed confused by them. But I am still glad that I had them, just in case).
We got the Caprese salad, Bruschetta, Pette di pollo al limone (lemon chicken) Penna all’ arrabbietta (penne with spicy tomato sauce), Spaghetti alla carbonara (pasta carbonara) and Margherita pizza and a lot of wine (house wine). Always get the house wine in Italy! The food was amazing.
I forgot this and we had no cash. Franco was so wonderful and felt so bad he walked my husband to the nearest ATM and then brought us free desserts and “sexy wine”. The “sexy wine” is something you have to discover for yourself. When he brought it and I gleefully cried “Is this the sexy wine?” he was thrilled I knew what it was. (I do my research.. haha). It was wonderful!
As we were leaving, Mickey (the owner) was sitting outside and thanked us for coming. We are from Boston and he is great friends with the former mayor of Boston and former Vatican ambassador, Ray Flynn. We had a wonderful conversation about Rome and Boston.