11.24.11
Posted in East Village, Italian, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 8 to 8.5 at 21:16 by Dominique
19 1st Ave. & 1st/2nd Sts., 212-420-4900
Great for: focaccino, late-night Italian cravings
The only Frankie’s restaurant I’d been to before this was Falai, and this one confirmed my good opinion of them. Fortunately they’re all a little bit far from me or I’d get really fat.
The arugula with parmigiano reggiano was so fresh it was a bit spicy, and the balsamic vinaigrette balanced wonderfully against the lemon my date and I squeezed on it. It does have to be chopped up and looks enormous, but don’t worry, it’ll disappear quickly.
I liked the cute rigatoni polpettini ragu. There’s just something adorable about tiny meatballs. It could maybe use a little more salt but it was a nice homey, tasty dish with rich red sauce.
The life-changing focaccino, two flat sheets of bread enclosing melty robiola cheese and prosciutto di Parma with a big hit of white truffle, is incredibly decadent and wonderful. The crisp bread and prosciutto were an amazing contrast to the creamy cheese, while the truffle oil was the perfect final touch.
Our waiter was nice and didn’t hover much, probably because it was still busy. The gangsta rap was a bit loud but apparently it’s usually not like that. Overall, it was a very satisfying meal and I was happy.
Rating: 8 / 10
Our cost: $75 (app, pasta, main, beer, glass of wine). Cash only
Noise level: kind of loud
Chance of walking in: they’re open until 2am weekdays, 4am weekends; you’ll probably still have to wait.
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06.27.11
Posted in East Village, New York City, New York City Reviews, Northern European, rated 8 to 8.5 at 16:10 by Dominique
103 2nd Ave. & 6th St., 212-253-0470
Great for: everything I tried, stretching out your legs
There really aren’t enough Dutch restaurants in the city. Before, I couldn’t have told you what they eat in the Netherlands besides pot brownies and maybe… chocolate? But if this place is any indication, I definitely like the cuisine. It was a very fitting celebration for me booking my first big commercial and finishing my samurai movie.
The Aussie Astrophysicist and I started with an amuse bouche of broccoli and smoked eel, which was excellent. I love amuses – I’m picky, so it’s good for me to try things outside the stuff I usually order.
The terrific romaine with sausage crumble, pistachios and herring vinaigrette was a really interesting mixture of flavors. I loved the rich, tasty hit of sausage. And the vinaigrette is a dream. I wanted to roll around in it. I never thought I would enjoy a herring-based food so much. The beer-battered lamb sweetbreads with pickled Concord grapes, aïoli of pickling juice and Holland peppers were just as wonderful. They were crunchy and earthy while still being quite tender inside. We dipped all the other dishes in the aïoli, too, it was that good.
The special of halibut, cured for hours with sugar and salt then painted with genever, is worth the wait. It’s soft, subtle and comes in nice big pieces. Like ceviche, only much better. AA and I were intrigued by the hete bliksem (“hot lightning”) and had to check it out. The crisp fingerling potatoes, bacon, apple and stroop (caramel) syrup spiced up with cayenne and thyme were a strange, delicious combination. I actually liked it despite my usual distaste for sweet and savory mixed together. The bacon was insanely fatty and the syrup was not too gooey. They complemented the heaviness of the other ingredients well. I found myself even liking the finely diced apple pieces.
Three appetizers and one side turned out to be enough for two light eaters. My Manolin cocktail was fennel-y and yummy. (Yes, I partly ordered it because it sounds like Manolo.) We had super friendly service from the incredibly knowledgeable bartender. Actually, everyone there was very nice in general.
I was impressed with how much space the restaurant has. It’s so big they left some areas open! It’s especially lovely with their minimalist white and silver decor. Basically, any time I’m in the neighborhood and just got paid, I will definitely stop by.
Rating: 8.5 / 10 (but we didn’t have any entrées)
Our cost: $75 (3 apps, 1 side, 1 cocktail, 1 beer)
Noise level: a bit noisy
Chance of walking in: the wait is probably not too bad.
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01.11.11
Posted in American, East Village, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5 at 16:05 by Dominique
43 E. 7th St. & 2nd/3rd Aves., 212-982-3006
Great for: sausage, lots of beers on tap
Jimmy’s is a beer lover’s fantasy. They have a ton on tap. It’s a pity I hate beer. At least I got to have some “local food.”
They were out of slow-roasted pork so I got the piggery sausages with tomato, leeks and roasted patti pan squash. Though there was a little too much not-meat in the sausage and not a whole lot of them overall, they were very tasty. Combined with the veg and sauce, it was a nice salty mush. I had no use for the tasteless giant squash.
The side of local sweet corn on the cob with Ronny Brook butter and sea salt was fine. It was exactly what it sounded like and therefore disappointing. At least it was cheap.
My date had already eaten; he just had a beer. He says they are very good. Our waitress, on the other hand, was a vaguely friendly, dopey, spectacularly unhelpful hipster. She completely ruined the experience. I know how hard it is to be a waitress, but this girl was terrible on the rare occasions when she randomly floated into our vicinity.
If you like beer and rustic basements with funny Gothic doorways and lots of casks lying around, this place is for you. I just hope you have better service.
Rating: 7 / 10 (I took off .5 for the awful waitress. She was that bad. Someone was high when they hired her.)
Our cost: $25 (1 app, 1 side, 1 beer, cash only)
Noise level: not terribly noisy
Chance of walking in: it’s probably busy usually, what with all the beer.
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01.02.11
Posted in Alphabet City, brunch, East Village, Italian, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 8 to 8.5 at 14:35 by Dominique
156 East 2nd St. near Ave. A, 212-477-7600
Great for: brunch (so far)
The Australian Astrophysicist lives near Tompkins Square Park and consequently I have been trying places east of 1st Avenue. This place is worth the walk.
The garlicky white beans that come with the bread basket are delicious, and I’m not even a fan of beans. We were soon distracted by terrific poached eggs. Mine were on a large block of tasty grilled polenta with prosciutto di Parma, shaved Parmesan, abundant fennel and aged balsamico. It was so much deliciousness I actually could not finish it. His eggs Benedict came with great hollandaise sauce, pancetta, potatoes and mixed greens.
The place is cute inside with a surprising number of tables. Rather twee, but I like it. It’s fun to see the cooks in the open kitchen. Despite watching the entire time, I still have no idea how they poach eggs so efficiently and wonderfully. You should go and see if you can figure it out.
Rating: 8.5 / 10 pending dinner review
Our cost: $40 (2 mains, 2 coffees)
Noise level: not noisy
Chance of walking in: it’s probably packed and they only take reservations for 8 or more. There are two private rooms downstairs though.
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12.07.10
Posted in Asian, East Village, Japanese, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5, small plates at 01:11 by Dominique
231 E.9th St. & 2nd/3rd Aves., 212-979-9674
Great for: skewers, kamameshi, atypical New York Japanese cuisine
My dear friend Dominique – she of the birthday that a shattered shoulder couldn’t make me miss – came along to help me use my Blackboard Eats discount. I like having grown-up girls’ dinners. It feels very chic and sophisticated. Whether two reformed club girls are as classy as we look now is another story, of course. (I like to think I improve myself every day.)
We started with the highly-recommended yuba gyoza, which were tofu sheet dumplings with minced chicken and shiso. They were bland, though salt and ponzu helped.
Since robatayaki is the restaurant’s raison d’être, we ordered mostly that. The special of corn was great, much better than you’d expect from what seems to be just a bit of corn on the cob with soy sauce. They did a great job with the filet mignon with wasabi and house dipping sauce, which tasted nutty and amazing. The tasty spiced lamb was also really good. The one misstep was the weird, kind of hard hotate (scallop) in umami sauce. Fortunately the last thing, young hamachi fillet with salt, was mainly tasty.
The waitress persuaded us to also get the kamameshi with salmon and salmon roe. Initially we thought rice with stuff on top would be nothing special. We were very happy to be proved wrong. It was so simple and yet so wonderful. I think I’ve seen this on other traditional menus and I will definitely be trying it again.
We rounded out our meal with some dessert. Two scoops of their green tea ice cream turned out to be exactly what I was hoping for. D tried the black sesame warabi mochi, made from bracken starch and covered with kinako soy bean flour and brown sugar syrup. It was quite nice, though not my cup of tea.
The waitresses were all very polite and helpful. The restaurant looks a little crazy in front but the back is quieter and it’s a fun atmosphere. This is good food in an area not known for its outstanding cuisine, so bravo to them.
Rating: 7 / 10
Our cost: $90 not including discount
Noise level: noisy
Chance of walking in: they are very busy, you should reserve.
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11.26.10
Posted in brunch, East Village, French, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5 at 18:45 by Dominique
84 E. 4th St. & 2nd Ave., 212-979-2034
Great for: pani frattau
My friend Lovely Blonde and I tried to play tennis one Saturday morning but it started to drizzle just as she picked me up on her Vespa. That was all the excuse we needed to skip exercise and go for early brunch. Stupid Prune had a half hour wait at 10am so Belcourt it was. (I do really want to try Prune, I just hate waiting more than I could possibly love the food. I only wait if I am paid handsomely or it’s less than 15 minutes.)
After falling in love with half the things on the menu, I finally settled on salt cod hash with poached eggs, harissa, potatoes, peppers, scallions and flat bread. What little there was of the fish was tasty, and I quite liked the combination of things. The bread was not good.
LB’s waiter-recommended pani frattau was terrific. It consists of music-paper bread lasagna with house-made ricotta, crème fraîche, tomatoes, Parmesan and poached eggs. The whole thing was soft and yummy and almost inspired me to make lasagna at home again. (It is a bit too much trouble and I have too many leftovers when it’s just me.) And of course, how could I, a singer and violinist, not love music-paper bread?
Service was nice, décor too, and I plan to visit again to see if they make anything else well.
Rating: 7 / 10 (pending dinner review)
Our cost: $30 (2 brunch entrées + $5 pot of tea)
Noise level: noisy
Chance of walking in: decent, there are a lot of tables.
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Posted in Asian, East Village, Japanese, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5, small plates at 03:28 by Dominique
119 2nd Ave. & 7th St., 212-982-4285
Great for: meat yakitori, gyoza, trying many small things
If you like to nosh on tons of little nibbles, as I do, this is the place for you. It even has decent ramen and happy hour deals.
Of the skewers, which are all $2, my favorites were the chicken breast and thigh with scallion. The shrimp was very tasty but overcooked, and the salmon was also good but the seasoning left something to be desired. The skirt steak was flavorful and slightly tough.
Beef ramen is quite good for only $7.99. The noodles are nice and chewy, and I very much enjoyed the ample amount of lovely shredded beef. I did have to add a lot of spices to the broth. And I really liked the six terrific gyoza for $2.99. They had properly thin skin, and though I could do with more meat I heartily recommend them.
Everyone was nice even if the service was a bit slow, and we were there around 4:30 pm, which I know is a weird time for the kitchen. I doubt it’s normally a problem. The food was good enough to jolly me out of a bad mood.
Rating: 7 / 10
Our cost: $40 (including green tea and a small bottle of Coke)
Noise level: probably loud when the NYU kids are there
Chance of walking in: probably not too bad.
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09.05.10
Posted in Asian, East Village, Japanese, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5 at 01:43 by Dominique
210 E.9th St. & 3rd/2nd Aves., 212-473-3327
Great for: civilized sushi/sashimi in college kid-filled East Village
I read about this place in the New York Diet section of NY Magazine and got really excited to try it. I’d say it’s almost as good as I expected, but more expensive, especially for the area.
The three of us started with the tempura app of two shrimp, one broccoli and one eggplant. It was pretty crispy with nice sauce, though I wish $10 bought a bit more. I guess the giant shrimp is costly. They have a heavy hand with the miso in its soup, which is consequently only ok. On the other hand, salad with carrot ginger sauce is lovely.
The sushi and sashimi for two is great. It comes with fairly standard fish; 16 pieces of super fresh sashimi, 8 lovely pieces of sushi and 2 small rolls all for $40. It’s probably the best deal on the menu. We rounded out dinner with 2 more pieces of salmon sushi and a large scoop of delicious green tea ice cream.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
Our cost: $90
Noise level: quiet, but it’s popular
Chance of walking in: not terrible, open ’til at least 11 every night.
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07.11.10
Posted in East Village, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 8 to 8.5 at 23:24 by Dominique
25 Cooper Square & 5th/6th St., 212-475-3400 (now closed, RIP)
Great for: large parties, ciabatta, scallops, lobster, tajarin
I seem to be having trouble finishing this review, so if it’s a little rough, sorry – I have let it sit for a couple months now, and there are many new things to write about. Like the amazing Beef 7 Ways feast at Má Pêche, the Meatball Shop (good but terribly overpriced), Pulino’s (good but it’s still just pizza, not crack), Steak Shoppe (wonderful! damn the landlord), Minetta Tavern (totally worth it), and Kampuchea‘s rapid decline. It’s a tribute to how good Faustina was that I’m not just skipping it.
For my birthday the (now ex-) Boyfriend took me out to a fancy new restaurant. We lucked into a reservation here because there was a crazy blizzard and a lot of people canceled. I’m a fan of Scott Conant’s from Scarpetta and this was similar, just with smaller plates.
We started with the grilled ciabatta with poached duck egg and fonduta, which was absolutely terrific. The charred thick bread is a good base for the creamy, lovely “sauce” – I actually used some to scoop up the last bits of egg yolk. We weren’t as fond of the stromboli with prosciutto and smoked mozzarella. Though nicely composed, it was pretty bland.
We really enjoyed the lobster susci with concentrated tomatoes. I’ve never had nearly raw lobster, and it was very tasty. I especially loved the tomatoes-turned-into-green sauce underneath. I just wished for more than six little bites. The seared diver scallops with farro, seafood and sunchoke purée were perfectly cooked and big. The purée and nearly crisp farro made a good salty offset. A small dish, it is deceptively filling. It was interesting with lots of flavors and textures.
From the larger dishes we got short ribs and spaetzle, which are little pasta twists, with cheese and vegetables. It was quite good and very rich. I was excited for the tajarin with tomato and ricci di mare (sea urchin). It’s maybe not “sex in a bowl” as some people have called it, but it was pretty awesome nonetheless. I loved the perfectly-done tagliatelle and somehow creamy tomato sauce (I guess from the uni). We were quite happy despite the smallness of the dish.
Just in case all that wasn’t enough food, we also got a side of herbed fries. They were only fine, though better with their sauce. I was expecting better, as they seemed really popular. I suppose everyone else thought fries would be a safe bet for extra food too.
For dessert we got a chocolate carmellina with chocolate-caramel mousse, gianduja and mocha (or coffee) ice cream. It was almost as lovely as it looked, with nice little jolts of caffeine.
We had very nice service. The lovely, friendly hostess let me sit for a long while waiting for B, which was unusually kind. Our waiter worried that we hadn’t ordered enough food but it turned out to be enough even for a birthday piglet. I loved the sophisticated vibe, which is probably why it was packed even on a blizzard night – cool dark wood with light grey leather is nice. The place is sort of dim but a lot of strategically-placed lighting helps. It’s ridiculously confusing to get into the restaurant. I’m not sure if that’s temporary.
The menu is mostly raw bar and hot apps with some pastas and two mains. I appreciated the music at a decent volume level, and sexy but not silly selections (some restaurants really go overboard). It is mainly very good food; somewhat inconsistent, but a good time regardless.
Rating: 8 / 10
Our cost: $160 (3 small, 1 big plate, 1 pasta, 1 side, 1 dessert, 2 cocktails, 1 beer)
Noise level: not too loud
Chance of walking in: you definitely want to call. (Never mind, it’s closed now.)
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01.06.10
Posted in East Village, Latin, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 6 to 6.5 at 02:42 by Dominique
304 E.6th St. & 2nd/1st Aves., 212-253-5888
Great for: tequila lovers with deep pockets, dainty eaters
I wanted to do something nice for the Boyfriend, and we’d decided to move in together the next week (I know, I know, crazy fast, but it’s working), so I figured what could be better than taking a Mexican food- and drink-loving guy to a tequila bar/restaurant? Turns out I should probably have taken him to Crema, although we did find a lovely new tequila we both like.
We started off with good croquetas. The one of chorizo was slightly better than the cheese and smoked tomato one. We preferred the seared shrimp and scallops stuffed with chorizo and roasted sweet pepper. They came in skewers and we could have eaten a few more, for sure.
I also enjoyed his tacos with chicken, cilantro, radishes and lime. They were insanely hot in places – someone definitely didn’t understand how crucial dicing and spreading out peppers is – and otherwise crispy and quite nice. My entraña with chimichurri over summer corn pudding with pico of tomato, radish, red onion and Mexican oregano was only fine. It felt like a small amount of steak. I enjoyed the pudding, at least. We definitely needed more tequila to forget how much we were being charged for eh food.
The cocktails are pretty good. I liked the suro-mago, though I was puzzled that it came in half a tumbler. I don’t know why they didn’t just put it in a smaller glass. The amor morado came in a more appropriately sized container and was also good. The Boyfriend said his margarita was good, not terrific, despite people saying it’s Mayahuel’s specialty (but then the Cali boy is picky). He loved his 2 ounces of Siete Leguas, which is strong-tasting yet approachable. It was so good, we got a bottle at Astor Wines later.
This is an overpriced, New York-y type of place. Our waitress knowing her tequila saved them half a point. It’s pretty decent compared to some of the swill that passes for Mexican here, but at these prices I kind of expect a little more, and a bit better, food.
Rating: 6.5 / 10
Our cost: $135 (regular dinner + 4 cocktails)
Noise level: noisy until late
Chance of walking in: not great, but it’s still new.
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