Lindsay's List: November 2024

Good soup, ditching NYC dining culture and your next vacation destination

Does anyone else want to just pretend that most of November never happened? Asking for a friend… 🙃

But in all seriousness, I came back to the United States and was greeted with the following:

• A felon president-elect

• 4:30 p.m. sunsets

• My city literally on fire

• Near-immediate post-travel sickness

What a month!!! And with that, here are my favorites and flops for November:

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The Favorites:

• Yasai Ebi Tempura Udon at Muteki Udon

  Location: 234 Flatbush Ave in Prospect Heights

  Transportation: Bergen St 2/3; Atlantic Av - Barclays Ctr 4/5/B/D/N/Q/R/W; Lafayette Av C; Fulton St G or B41/65/67/69 Buses

  Cost: $23

  

  Good soup

  Muteki Udon is one of those spots that makes you wonder how there’s not more hype around it. But for now, I’m glad that this cozy little udon spot, which makes the noodles in house, can be a hidden gem I get to share with y’all. This massive bowl of perfectly-chewy udon was served in a rich dashi broth delicately flavored with ginger, lemon, and a healthy serving of scallions and alongside two shrimp tempura and an insane assortment of vegetable tempura, including purple sweet potato, enoki mushrooms and okra. I ate here with my friend Molly on one of the first truly cold nights of the season and it couldn’t have been a more cozy fall meal. And all the serving bowls are handmade by the chef!

• Mexico City

  Cost: $283*

  

  

  One of my most magical vacations to date

  I’m working on an entire post dedicated to my trip to Mexico City, but in the meantime, it would be a shame not to include this incredible city as a highlight of my month. There’s so much to say about this city and my trip — it’s easily one of the coolest cities I’ve ever been to. It was such an honor to experience the kind people, vast culture and truly phenomenal food that Mexico City has to offer, and I can’t recommend a visit enough. Stay tuned for more on this trip!

  *This only accounts for my half of our 8-night Airbnb stay, and I had a $100 Airbnb gift card that we also used towards our stay. I paid for my flight with credit card points and I’ll have more details on the cost of everything else in my dedicated Mexico City post.

• Egg Nog from Ronnybrook Farm Dairy

  Location: Your closest NYC-metro area Whole Foods or the Union Square Greenmarket in Union Square

  Transportation: 14 St - Union Square 4/5/6/N/Q/R/W/L

  Cost: $8.99 (from a Whole Foods in northern NJ)

  

  I’m actively ignoring my lactose intolerance for this

  As you’ll find out from my flops list below, I found out I was allergic to cow’s milk this month. I’m still putting this eggnog as a favorite. That’s how good it is. Put this in your coffee or latte with a dusting of cinnamon and thank me later.

• Gel-X Manicures at Tina Green Nail Salon

  Location: 362 Graham Ave in Williamsburg

  Transportation: Graham Av L or B43 Bus

  Cost: $57 (not including tip or cost of removal)

  

  My nails have never been this long!!!

  I’ve been trying to grow out my nails this whole year with gel/dip manicures, which were both epic failures. I tried Gel-X, a hard gel that sort of mimics acrylics without all the nail damage, on a whim and I’m never looking back. The picture on the left is first Gel-X manicure after more than three weeks!!! The picture of on the right is my second Gel-X manicure with my now grown-out natural nails.

• Walking into Restaurants

  Cost: Varies depending on the restaurant, but each meal was ~$50 or less for my portion of the check, including 20% tip

  

  

  Two pretty near perfect meals

  In an NYC dining culture of Resy “Notify” and paying for reservations, there’s something so special about being able to walk into a restaurant. This month I spontaneously walked into two Brooklyn restaurants — Win Son and Oma Grassa, two spots that make me feel extremely lucky to live in Brooklyn — with no wait. Go on a weeknight, split everything among friends and bask in the feeling of not having to set a calendar reminder just to eat at a restaurant in NYC.

• “Wicked”

  Cost: $18 (for one weekend ticket at Cobble Hill Cinemas)

  

  Before I went inside, I held space for the lyrics of “Defying Gravity” and snapped this pic

  This one’s predictable, but “Wicked” truly is that girl. If you haven’t already seen it, what have you been doing??? The movie is not only fantastic, but it’s also extra… uh… intriguing to watch in our current political climate (spoiler alert: it’s about fascism!!!) and has generated a ton of amazing internet content (read: TikToks and memes) that has genuinely brought me so much joy this month. I’m already counting down the days until Part Two.

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  The Flops:

• Non-dairy queen: That’s what you can call me from now on. My life-long assumption that I’m allergic to cow’s milk was officially confirmed this month. Some may know that I was an oat milk pioneer, so thankfully it hasn’t affected me that much, but I obviously will not be giving up cheese, butter or ice cream.

• The state of our union: There’s not much to say here, folks!!!

• A Thai tragedy: Ugly Baby, one of NYC’s best Thai restaurants, announced that they’re permanently closing on December 22. 😢

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That’s all for now, folks! Thanks for reading and I’ll be back next month with my favorites and flops for December.

Xoxo, Linds

There’s no paid subscriber section this month because I’m working on two guides — one for NYC and one for Mexico City — that will be available soon to paid subscribers only. But since there’s no paid subscriber section, everyone gets access to my December Spotify Playlist, which obviously features an excessive number of songs from “Wicked.”