All dressed up, but where to go? Our colleague and compatriot food and travel critic extraordinaire Salma Abdelnour has launched a Salmaland — the new where-to-go domain for all things fanciful, filling and fresh in New York City. Salma will reveal where you’ll really find the best NY burger, and she’ll share industry gems along the way, such as” too much demand is the road to sloppiness.” This is not your average food blog –Salma was the travel editor at Food & Wine and the restaurant editor at Time Out New York. She left her job as food editor at O, The Oprah Magazine, to be a freelance food and travel writer. You can’t get much better taste buds than that.

Here’s an excerpt from the world according to Salma:

Soho/Nolita: Breakfast Club

Café Gitane sums up what’s enchanting about Nolita—and what’s so damned annoying about it. A little café on a side street with deliciously potent coffee; a laid-back, vaguely French-Moroccan vibe; glossy international magazines to browse through; sunlight pouring through the streetside windows. You could spend hours here. Except you can’t get a table, ever. (Unless you show up around 9am on a weekday morning.) Order a cafe creme and the baked eggs with basil or an open-face sandwich of chili-spiked avocado on whole-grain toast, and be reminded why you’re alive, why you’re in this crazy town, and why it’s all worth it. The couscous is better than it needs to be too, especially when you spike it with the harissa that comes on the side. But for that, you’ll have to show up at midday or evening rush hour—and, yes, wait.

Café Gitane. 242 Mott St. between Prince and Houston Sts.; (212) 334-9552.

Prices/Features: C, V (See “How Salmaland Works” for key to letter abbreviations.)

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