06.03.08

Review of Nooch, Saturday May 2008

Posted in Asian, Chelsea, Japanese, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 6 to 6.5, Southeast Asian at 03:26 by Dominique

143 8th Ave. & 17th St., 212-691-8600
Great for: eating & drinking cheaply, bathroom amusement, male waiter ogling

It was my friend A’s birthday, and sixteen of us came out to dinner. A’s friends who sat close to me know about the blog and very kindly shared bites of their dishes with me so I could review them.  I love this (non-) job.

The Bangkok drumsticks – fried minced chicken wrapped over sugar cane skewers with sweet & sour sauce – were yummy, almost all meat and no filler. I liked them better with hot sauce than their only slightly spicy accompanying sauce. The crispy beef special was just well-done slices of beef with sriracha dipping sauce. We found them tasty, albeit a little chewy. The Thai chicken salad was a bit sour in a good way with lots of raw vegetables like onions, carrot and lettuce.

I rather liked my pad see oui enu (traditional fried chow fun noodles) with sliced beef, egg, giant pieces of cabbage, scallions and crispy garlic. I found the beef slightly sweet but the noodles scrumptiously soft and almost gooey. The stir-fried udon with black pepper beef was the best dish I tasted all night. The meat was done medium well and the noodles were lovely and tender. Considering it was practically the same dish as mine, it’s funny how much better the udon was. I wish I’d gotten that instead.

They have a huge menu of cheap cocktails, mostly $8 or $9. Champagne ones cost a bit more. I tried the special Hawaiian coco with green tea vodka, rum and lime, which was pretty good though very coconutty. You might need glasses to read the astonishing number of drinks crammed onto the one-page menu. They have a nice little bar in the middle of the restaurant, but we didn’t see any people come in just for drinks. It’s definitely more of a restaurant – though certainly a crazy, futuristic-looking one.

The waiters were super cute and nice. So much so that I wasn’t upset they forgot my entrée until they’d served everyone else and realized their mistake. They do tend to be a little slow, though that’s probably a kitchen issue, since the restaurant is not that big. I was amused by the funny LED scroll across the mirror in the bathroom showing pickup lines. I guess if you’re too drunk to come up with your own, you can go get some inspiration in the bathroom. If I’m in the area again I would definitely stop by for the black pepper beef udon. Nooch serves until 11:30 on weekends, and is fairly spacious for the area, so it’s a good choice if you’ve got a bunch of people out late and are hungry and/or thirsty.

Rating: 6.5 / 10
Our cost: $30/person (1 cocktail)
Noise level: dance music in the background, not too noisy otherwise
Chance of walking in: medium.

Permalink Comments

11.15.07

Review of Naima, Saturday November 2007

Posted in Chelsea, Italian, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5 at 20:38 by Dominique

513 W.27 St and 10th/11th, 212-967-4392
Great for: eating before clubbing, planning an attempt on Bungalow 8, slutty outfit watching

We had tickets to the 8pm New York Philharmonic concert at Avery Fisher – we just wanted somewhere on the west side, not too far up so we could avoid the pre-theatre rush. I had Naima on my list from when it opened and off we went. It is eerie walking down “Club Street” when it’s so early. It could equally have been 5am or post-apocalypse. We saw several huge rats, which was yucky, but Naima itself was pretty. The bar was packed with what seemed like one group of people and maybe two other tables.

We shared the baked zucchini starter which was like a lasagna made with zucchini instead of pasta. I don’t like zucchini – for some reason I thought it’d be in fritters form which I do like, but it was really good. If you want to convince someone that squishy vegetables can be yummy, that dish would be a great introduction.

We went with the specials for our mains. The Boyfriend got the veal shank and I, pappardelle with crab. His came on a bed of creamy, cheesy risotto Milanese, in a sauce of cubed carroty goodness. I kept sneaking little bites as he tried to parry my fork. The bone seemed surprisingly large, although that could just be me because I rarely order osso buco and don’t know much about it. My pasta was in a light sauce of cherry tomatoes – a bit too light – with baby arugula on top. The crab was lovely and fresh, but it was somewhat bland overall. That may have been because I asked them to go easy on the actual tomatoes. I did say I like lots of sauce though.

Our waiter was very nice and attentive. He made sure our food came out quickly as we asked, and generally took good care of us. The space had kind of a warehouse/industrial vibe, probably partly to do with it being empty at such an early hour. If I’m in the area early again I’ll definitely try the much-vaunted cocktails.

Rating: 7.5 / 10
Noise level: Quiet, but I imagine it gets somewhat noisy
Our cost: $80 (teetotaling)
Chance of walking in: medium, depending on how late.

Permalink Comments