12.06.07
Posted in Japanese, New York City Neighborhoods, New York City Reviews, SoHo, rated 8 to 8.5 at 16:25 by Dominique
119 Sullivan Street and Prince/Spring, 212-343-0404
Great for: getting trashed on sake before eating, impressing a date, romantic trysts, adventurous palates
The Boyfriend has been wanting to go here for quite a while, but I always remind him that they don’t take reservations. (Why do restaurants do that? It makes planning the night and setting tables efficiently much harder. Also, it drives some guests away. Maybe they want the extra bar money from people waiting.) This time we happened to have drink plans at 8 so it seemed like the perfect time to go and avoid a line. We got there about 6:45, and still found 2 parties in front of us – only had to wait about 20 minutes though.
We opted to splurge on the omakase, and the rock shrimp tempura as we were waiting the 15 minutes or so it took to make the former. The tempura was so good we fought over the last piece (nicely, of course). It wouldn’t hurt to make it twice the size. The omakase came on a large wooden platter, arranged with flair and looking very festive. We had sashimi of salmon, otoro (very fatty tuna), horse mackerel, jackfish, bluefish, yellowtail, flying fish, japanese sardine, giant clam and uni (sea urchin). We had sushi of tuna with scallion and salmon. The clam came in its giant shell, the uni sat on top of the spiny creature it was extracted from, and the remaining body of one of the fishes also graced the platter. Unfortunately, I think we overestimated the adventurousness of our palates – we liked the sushi best. I could tell the fish was amazing, but the jackfish and flying fish in particular were too chewy for us. The otoro was so fatty the meat and marbling were separate layers, which was a new experience for both of us, although the meat part was very tender and good. The more ordinary stuff like yellowtail and horse mackerel we enjoyed. They are very generous with the uni, so if you like it you’ll be happy. It’s a bit too soft for me. After we’d eaten most of the fish, the waiter took our fish body to fry up. That was very yummy.
I feel bad not raving about the omakase when it’s really my taste that’s unsophisticated. I had a very lovely birthday dinner there 2 years ago. I think I had the honoo platter, which had rolls and pieces, and was fantastic. I only started eating sushi 4 years ago so I’ve come a long way from “Eww raw!!” reactions. I would say we liked the more ordinary half of the platter very much. We were still a bit hungry after all that and decided on the shrimp shumai. When our very kind waiter came to clear the remains of our fish, he could tell we hadn’t loved it, so he told us the shumai was on the house. That was really awesome of him and restaurant policy. The dumplings were pretty great too.
We finished up with the green tea crème brûlée, which is fantastic. They make a nice thick crust of caramelized sugar over a creamy, yummy crème that’s perfectly balanced between the slight bitterness of green tea & some kind of sweetness. While we were waiting we had a glass each of Hanahato junmai “kwoshu” which was much darker than usual sake; it was quite strong and sweet. At dinner we got a bottle of Dewasansan junmai ginjo genshu which was $45 and also very enjoyable. It lasted us the whole meal in our little glasses. Our waiter suggested it – unless you know your sake, which I don’t, I would say you can leave it to your server to give you good ideas.
The service at this place is fantastic. They all seem to be Japanese, which is comforting in an American-owned sushi place. They are very attentive without hovering. The Boyfriend and I were having a rather fraught discussion at one point and our waiter managed to dart in and out without making us feel self-conscious. Plus he had clearly noticed us not loving some of the fish as we were eating, not just when he cleared up, and took care of us as best he could. I can’t praise our waiter enough. Also, other waiters were very helpful if we needed anything at all, such as chopsticks or the menu or whatever.
The lighting, decor and whole environment was great too. It’s a bit dim, so it’s romantic and sexy although still bright enough to see the menu. The outer room is brighter; we sat in the inner room which is a little darker. Everyone just seemed to be having a great time. I am definitely taking the Boyfriend back to try the honoo.
Rating: 8 / 10
Our cost: $230 ($45 bottle of sake)
Noise Level: good, we could talk quietly across the table to each other
Chance of walking in: Very little. Go early, very late (they’re open until 2am) or on weekdays if you hate waiting as I do.
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Posted in food-related musings at 13:58 by Dominique
I adore hibachi/teppanyaki. Throw some meat on a fiery surface with lots of sauce and I’m a happy girl. I especially love the fried rice with crazy amounts of butter. Somehow beef, shrimp and lobster taste so much better cooked on a giant metal stove. I could do without the cheesy show, but the food tastes so good. So I don’t understand why these places keep going out of business!!!!
There was an upscale one on the upper east side maybe three years ago, which I tried to go to but it had just closed. I should have known when their phone sounded disconnected. The Boyfriend took me to Asia Hibachi in Gramercy in August, but then it was closed by September. It was really yummy and the chef was good at his tricks. I wanted hibachi again in October so we used Citysearch, which said there was one more in Tribeca. Of course when we called their phone was also disconnected. The only remaining option is Benihana, which is very cheesy and not as good, I recall from my hometown of Pittsburgh.
The only reason I can think of that good hibachis wouldn’t be able to stay in business is that maybe most people don’t want a guy juggling knives and setting things on fire when they’re on a date, out with clients, or trying to impress someone, regardless of how good the food is. I guess that makes sense. It makes me very sad though. I hope that another hibachi opens up soon – I don’t need the show, you could just cook the food on the giant griddle…
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Posted in Flatiron, New York City Neighborhoods, New York City Reviews, Spanish, rated 6 to 6.5 at 03:53 by Dominique
35 W. 19th St. and 5th/6th, 212-229-2300
Great for: dates, sharing food, catching up with several friends
The Boyfriend and I had lots of double dates in November. This one was with my friend S and her boyfriend. A friend of ours suggested Sala, although it turned out that he meant the one on Bowery. This is a new branch. It’s a surprisingly huge restaurant – there are a few tables in front with a bar, then another bar about midway in before the rest of the tables. We’d made an 8:45 reservation because that was all we could get, but arrived at 8:15 to see if we could get seated earlier. They accommodated us about 10 minutes later. We had a cute corner table that would be perfect for a very romantic date, as it feels kind of sheltered from the rest of the restaurant.
We started with the tuna bocadillo, which came in 2 giant triangle portions of seared tuna with onions. They were really hard to cut – we ended up just eating half and giving the other to our respective boyfriends. They were ok, not great. The tuna was a bit chewy for my taste. The salad de la casa, which had romaine, tomato, white asparagus, tuna and olives, was very good, so that we were politely fighting over the last few scraps. We liked the shrimp al ajillo (in garlic) a lot as well.
From the larger plates, we got the chorizo and paella. We liked the chorizo a lot and wished there was more of it – I guess the grill plates are supposed to be medium tapas. It was savory & cooked just enough to be juicy without getting too dry. The seafood paella was all right, very average. It was big enough for the four of us after all the starters but nothing special.
We had a pretty attentive waitress who made sure everything went smoothly for us while we were obliviously chatting away. I really like the lighting and the way they set up the place as well. It’s very sexy and romantic, but also great for a bunch of friends. The food isn’t the greatest, but when you have enough drinks & dim lighting, it’s lots of fun.
Rating: 6.5 / 10
Our cost: $160 for 4 people (1.5 drinks each)
Noise level: good, considering how many people were in the restaurant.
Chance of walking in: Medium, although as people realize there’s a second Sala I’m sure it will get harder.
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12.04.07
Posted in Italian, New York City Neighborhoods, New York City Reviews, SoHo, rated 4 to 5.5 at 16:48 by Dominique
194 Elizabeth St and Spring/Prince, 212-965-9511
Great for: bocconcini and gnocchi, haphazard and incompetent service, cold food
The Boyfriend and I organized this dinner with one of my closest friends, E, and her boyfriend S. She’d suggested it as a place she always wanted to try but never had a chance to. I’d heard good reports from several people as well and was eager to cross it off my list. The four of us managed to snag a 9pm reservation and were seated as soon as we arrived.
We started with confusion. The menu is entirely in Italian, and they seem to have picked all the words people are least likely to know. The poor waiters are forced to come around and translate the whole page at the beginning. Not only is it an unnecessary burden on them, how do you expect guests to remember all that after hearing it once in a noisy setting? It is absolutely a waste of time and a huge annoyance. E is a trained chef, I speak some Italian, and we still had to ask the waitress what half the things were again. They could have put English explanations in lighter type under the names and saved everyone a lot of aggravation. For a place called Peasant, the Italian-only rule sounds pretty elitist to me.
We emerged from the ordeal with two appetizers of tuna carpaccio on arugula for me and S, carciofi (artichokes) and bresaola (cured beef) for E, and bocconcini for the Boyfriend (little mozzarella balls with something like prosciutto). We were ready to love them, but only the bocconcini was stellar. Our other appetizers were kind of eh. Not bad, just not the festival of taste Peasant’s reputation had led us to expect. The bocconcini, on the other hand, were chewy & almost crunchy balls of goodness. We all should have ordered them.
S and I got the same entree, linguini alla vongole (clams), while E got the porchetta arrosto (roast pork chop) over mashed potatoes and the Boyfriend got the gnocchi e coniglio (rabbit). This was when we got really annoyed. E’s dish arrived cold! It took 10 minutes to flag down the waitress and send it back. This, after we’d waited an inordinately long time for the entrees in the first place. To add insult to injury, the dish came back in about 3 minutes and had clearly been microwaved. A thin outer layer was steaming while the interior was only slightly more lukewarm. To be fair, it tasted all right otherwise. The linguini was pretty good, though nothing special. Boyfriend’s gnocchi was the best of an ordinary lot. His sauce was tasty and the gnocchi were the perfect small size, so they didn’t overwhelm with starchiness (gnocchi is a potato dumpling).
The decor and ambience of the restaurant itself were better than the food. It has a nice rustic atmosphere, with a good amount of space between tables. The music was at a nice level and we sat near a bustling kitchen-type space. All this was a lovely backdrop wasted on mediocre food and service. Our waitress was either new, stupid or badly trained. She couldn’t pronounce orecchiette, which is not an uncommon pasta name, while translating the menu for us initially. “Ora – orachit? Um, orachet, anyway…” We didn’t know what to make of it. More importantly, every time we tried to get her attention it took several trips past us before she noticed. Sometimes she seemed overworked but much of the time she seemed just oblivious. It took about 15 minutes of waving for us to get our check. And now that we’ve escaped, we’re never going back.
Rating: 4 / 10
Our cost: $240 for 4 people (about 2 cocktails each)
Noise Level: good
Chance of walking in: Medium, it was full on a Friday night but not many people were waiting at the bar.
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