05.16.08
Posted in fusion, Gramercy, Indian, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5 at 18:31 by Dominique
11 Madison Ave. & 25th St., 212-889-0667 (now closed, sadly)
Great for: Goan sausage and poached egg, outdoor seating, vegetarians
I’ve always heard great things about Tabla, but never got to try it. So I was happy that we managed to get a reservation for seven one Friday night when we wanted to catch up with some friends. There’s ample outdoor seating as well, which will be nice when the weather finally improves. They serve food as well as drinks out there.
I noticed that half the things on the market tasting menu (amuse plus 6 courses, $89) were not available on the regular menu, which I thought a bit odd. Maybe they do that to encourage more people to order it. And I wonder why they have prix fixe for the rest of the menu as well – three courses for $64 – when the dishes are all so different. It must makes things difficult financially. Also, what if people want to order a bunch of appetizers?
To start, we all had a tasty amuse-bouche of salty broth that may have been beef and tomatoes. We found the fluffy naan and thick papadums with green and red sauces addictive. The appetizer of Goan sausage and poached egg over bucatini, heart of celery, fava beans and botarga (like lettuce) was spicy, with crumbly delicious pork, a lovely soft egg and perfectly-made bucatini. The sauce gave me an excuse to have more naan so I could scoop it up. The Rawa crisped soft shell crab with snow pea salad, Thai basil and mango-maple coulis was similarly good, with a nice crunchy salad.
For the main course I had roasted Yorkshire pork three ways with French lentils, spring garlic, local carrots and sour yet tasty chickpea ramp velouté. The sausage was tender and yummy; the loin slices were a bit tough around the edges but not bad; and the crackling was chewy with an inch of fat and a half inch of meat which was salty wrong goodness. The Boyfriend’s pan-roasted sea scallops with roasted cauliflower, coconut-taro purée, roasted bok choy and citrus glaze was slightly too sweet, otherwise decent. We liked the crunchy bits too.
The flourless chocolate cake with cassis coulis, yogurt sorbet and chocolate tuile was fine, not great. Three of the four sorbets in the selection offered – pineapple, lychee and passionfruit – were good. The pineapple was super sour and no one could eat more than a bite of it. I preferred the free chocolates afterward.
They have a lot of tasty cocktails here. We tried the Thai basil bliss, Hang Thyme, Tablatini, and Lots o’ Passion. The last two were the best. When the waiter knocked over some of my cocktail, he said he would come with a refill for what he spilled – he didn’t, but it was nice of him to try anyway. Despite slowness with drinks, I found the service very polite in general. The ambience and decoration are lovely. I liked the judicious use of mosaic in narrow bands along the walls and as art. The whole place is rather regal looking in an understated way.
We had fun with our friends, and the food was pretty good, but we felt it was a bit overpriced for the quality. It’s also less Indian than I expected – definitely more of an Indian-American fusion. From our experience, it was yet another place with better appetizers than anything else.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
Our cost (for just us two): $230 (4 cocktails)
Noise level: low hum
Chance of walking in: medium. It was a victim of the 2009 Great Recession and is now closed.
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05.13.08
Posted in Gramercy, Indian, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5 at 18:12 by Dominique
126 E.28th St. & Lexington/Park Ave., 212-213-5742
Great for: upscale Indian, lunch buffet, leisurely meals
Next to Tamarind, this is probably my favorite Indian place in New York. The $9.95 lunch buffet is good and dinner is even better (and much less expensive than Tamarind). Plus it’s pretty, they play club music softly, and it has an intimate nook upstairs for dates. I can see why it’s Michelin guide-recommended.
The chicken 65 appetizer is made of small, succulent, red-gold delights. The pieces of chicken are all juicy and spicy. The Boyfriend took a phone call when they arrived, and I must confess I took advantage of his distraction to steal a few more than my share. The Jhinga kurkure garlic shrimp had an interesting texture and were yummy, salty and tender.
For the main course, we shared medium-spicy chicken tikka masala and saffron shrimp in mild cream sauce with black pepper. I know tikka masala isn’t traditional Indian fare, but it’s so scrumptious. They make it here with nice big chunks of chicken and sauce that’s nicely balanced between cream and tomato. I thought the shrimp was pretty good too despite my dislike of saffron. Oddly, it was spicier than the tikka masala. The garlic naan was delicious; I wish we’d had more than four quarters of it. (Yes, I actually ate bread!) The more I ate the sauces, the more I liked them.
The Boyfriend enjoyed his beer, while I tried two house specialty cocktails. The Madras rose was good and a bit sour. The candied ginger Collins was lemony goodness. Our service was glacially slow and sometimes inattentive, but friendly. I wonder if it’s just one of the waiters who’s incompetent – this time and last time we were here I noticed at least two other tables that sat down after us who moved through their meal much more quickly, so it didn’t seem a restaurant-wide issue. In any case, I like their cooking a lot and sometimes it’s nice to slow down and enjoy my food.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
Our cost: $86 (2 cocktails and 2 beers) + 14 for slowness
Noise level: kind of quiet
Chance of walking in: medium, seems to get busy later.
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01.31.08
Posted in Asian, fusion, Gramercy, Latin, Midtown East, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 9 to 10 at 17:03 by Dominique
237 Madison Ave. and 37th St., 212-726-7755
Great for: romantic trysts, delicious cocktails, sophisticated debauchery, incredible food
I’d wanted to try Asia de Cuba for ages, but somehow never got around to it. The Boyfriend and I decided to have a hedonistic night in Murray Hill and this seemed like the perfect place. When I pulled up in the cab, even though I’d been there before for drinks, I almost couldn’t find it, the door is so low-key. Inside I was greeted by three hot hostesses who fussed over me in a most welcoming manner. One of them led me upstairs to where Boyfriend was waiting. There’s something very naughty about the open-plan top floor, where you can look down on the larger tables in the middle of the first floor. It almost felt like I was meeting a lover for a secret rendezvous.
After a preliminary drink at the bar, we started with seared scallops on habanera corn crema with sweet and sour plantains and raisins. Despite my usual hatred of fruits and sweets in savory food (and specific dislike of plantains and raisins) I thought it was great. The Boyfriend and I looked at each other after our first bites – we could tell this was the start of something special. Restaurants seem to frequently mess up scallops by overcooking or not getting the freshest ones. A scallop that is even slightly not tip-top tastes very clearly fishy. These were perfect. Even the plantains were an interesting yummy texture. Our other appetizer was Asian pesto grilled shrimp atop wok-charred mango and pineapple and fried lotus root. The pesto is made of chives and garlic and is absolutely delicious, as are all the other parts of the dish. At this point we were so happy with the food, we couldn’t wait to see how amazing the entree would be.
We weren’t disappointed in the least. The waiter told us that the entrees were family style, and definitely large enough to share. So we just got the char sui short ribs with chili orange mojito-flavored rice and black beans on congre tostones (fried plantain discs), and couldn’t resist adding a side of lobster-boniato mash to that. Every bite we took was accompanied by an “Mmmmm!” It was amazing in every way. I was again pleasantly surprised at how well sweet things can add to a savory dish, even when I would normally hate them. Boniato is a tropical sweet potato that tastes much better than ordinary sweet potato, which I detest, or maybe it’s just that they have a magical way in the kitchen here. The mash was addictive; even when we were full and really couldn’t eat any more, we kept nibbling at it. Actually we kept nibbling at everything within reach until finally I told the waiter to please take away the temptation.
We couldn’t possibly fit any more food in, so we had to skip dessert. The cocktails more than satisfied my sweet tooth though (the Boyfriend stuck to vodka sodas). I had the mambo king, dragonfly, and coconut club martini – they’re all good, but the best is definitely the lovely, pink and delicious mambo king. It’s Champagne and Stoli Razberi in a very tall stemless flute with grenadine anchoring sugar to the rim.
As if the amazing food and drink weren’t enough, we also had one of the best waiters ever. He was attentive without crowding us, made sure we had enough drinks and generally made us feel extremely welcome and looked-after. He did a great job explaining the menu and what we would want to order. I love the ambience of the place as well – it feels very sexy and sophisticated, but not pretentious. It’s the kind of place you could go in designer jeans & a slutty top before hitting the club, or wear an evening gown and not feel out of place (I went the dress route). The lighting is dim enough to make it romantic without requiring glasses and flashlights to read the menu, and the music is appropriate and unobtrusive. We had one of the best meals ever and we can’t wait to go back.
Rating: 9.5 / 10
Our cost: $180 + $50 tip because of awesome service
Noise Level: not loud
Chance of walking in: medium, seems pretty reasonable.
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11.15.07
Posted in Barbecue, Gramercy, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 9 to 10 at 20:50 by Dominique
116 E. 27th and Lexington/Park, 212-447-7733
Great for: self-medicating with comfort food, impressing Southern friends, inducing meat coma, seeing how down-to-earth your date is
Blue Smoke is the restaurateur Danny Meyer’s homage to American food and pit barbecue. The Boyfriend and I have stupidly tried to walk in several times – we’re a bit impulsive – and invariably got a courteous “the wait will be 45 minutes.” This time we put our names down at 5:30, went back at 6:30 and only had to wait 10 minutes. The Boyfriend’s company had Blue Smoke cater their Christmas party, and he’s been making me drool with loving descriptions of their macaroni and cheese ever since, so our expectations were pretty high.
We started with a nice Illinois Porch Swing (Tanqueray 10, prosecco and lemon juice) for me and a Heineken for him as we dove into the menu. We pretty much wanted to get everything, but limited ourselves to an appetizer of Peel ‘n’ Eat Shrimp, Rhapsody in ‘Cue for him, lean brisket for me, and sides of creamed spinach and of course mac and cheese. Oh my god. The shrimp were our first clue that this was no ordinary bbq joint. They’re seasoned and spiced to a high degree of deliciousness, not just boiled – we were sorely tempted to get another order before our entrees arrived.
When we saw his platter of St. Louis ribs, pulled pork, chicken and sausage and mine of piping hot beef with mashed potatoes and onion sticks, we just looked at each other in glee. and when our waitress set down the sides, we could restrain ourselves no longer. I can say, without a doubt, that that was the most amazing creamed spinach I have ever tasted. I tore myself away after several bites to try the mac and cheese, which was fully as good as the Boyfriend had said, plus it didn’t taste as heavy as I worried it would. I don’t have brisket that often and once I tasted mine, I really wasn’t sure why. It was as moist and juicy as I could hope. So was everything on the Boyfriend’s plate. We didn’t talk until we’d finished, except for “Mmmm” and “Wow.” I highly suggest using the sides as sauce on your meat. We pretty much cleaned our plates in about 15 minutes.
We meant to stop there, but were persuaded to have dessert. I’d gotten a decent Coltrane’s Resolution (sparkling wine, Lillet, and blood orange juice) after the shrimp and decided to continue drinking with the new sundae on the menu, I think it was called Granddad. It’s basically a yummy bourbon ice cream float. The Boyfriend had some but he’s not into brown liquors. I’m usually not either, but the strong cocktails made me think I was. Just kidding, it was quite yummy. Finally we waddled home.
All the staff were very good. The friendly hostess advised us on when to come back to minimize our wait time, and our waitress was cheerful and helpful without being too familiar. Someone accidentally put a nearby table’s desserts on our bill, but she took care of that right away. It looked like the people around us were happy with their service, too. It’s a fun, casual atmosphere there, definitely a place you’d want to go with a big group of friends if you can get a reservation. In fact, they have some large tables that look permanently set up, so a big party might actually have better luck. I can’t wait to go back.
Rating: 9 / 10
Noise level: happy-noisy but the kind where you can talk quietly to each other
Our cost: $140 (several drinks)
Chance of walking in: very low, unless you want to eat at 5:30. Definitely make reservations a few days in advance.
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Posted in Gramercy, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 8 to 8.5, small plates, Spanish at 20:38 by Dominique
37 E. 28th and Park/Madison, 212-213-2328 (closed now)
Great for: medium-size parties, romantic dinners, sharing 10 dishes between two people
I’ve had Ureña (the resto’s previous incarnation) on my list since it opened and kept meaning to go but Alex Ureña, the chef, recently changed it to Pamplona. I’m actually quite glad; molecular gastronomy sounds interesting, especially to a science geek like me, but I’ve yet to like anything that crazy. Tapas is more my speed. And wow, did Mr. Ureña do a great job. The Boyfriend and I tried 5 tapas, 3 entradas and 1 plata principal, 6 of which were amazing. We wanted to get the paella but after looking over the menu a couple times we decided to save that for next time.
We got the shrimp and chorizo skewers over goat cheese toast, meatballs with butternut squash, dates with bacon, mamitaco of tuna and bocadillo de jamon from the tapas column. The dates were almost as good as at Pipa, and everything else was unreservedly terrific. The goat cheese went really well with grilled shrimp and chorizo; I normally detest squash but couldn’t get enough of it here, plus we had to stop ourselves from licking the last drops of sauce out of the dish; the tuna was perfect cubes with yummy sauces; and bocadillo seem to be like panini, except thinner and better. They were all about 4 bites big.
From the entradas (slightly bigger) we got the snow crab, shrimp over manchego rice and the poached egg on asparagus salad. The crab was ground up with spicy sauce and looked kind of like spicy tuna at a sushi restaurant; it was good but a little sweet. We loved the other two. After all this we were still a bit hungry so we got the slow cooked cod entrée, which may have been a tad undercooked. The middle was a little chewier and more raw than we expected. The sauce and the rest of the dish were great though.
Considering this was a Sunday night around 9:30, the host and waiters were incredibly chipper. The host was very nice and our 2 waiters were just the right level of eager without being annoying. The only problem was they forgot our snow crab. We ordered just the 5 tapas and 2 entradas and added the snow crab as an afterthought, so it wasn’t entirely their fault. They handled it very professionally, not making a big deal out of it and just bringing it when it was ready. I wasn’t even sure it didn’t just take longer to make until I started writing this and thought about it.
The presentation of all the dishes was great. Not pretentious or fussy, just neatly and artistically arranged. We really liked the minimalist interior as well. It’s all dark colors, well coordinated, and understated in a very chic way. You could do a business dinner or a date here equally well. We saw a couple parties of about 5 or 6 people who seemed to be having a great time, as well as some couples who looked like they were on good dates. It’s not too expensive, the tapas is some of the best I’ve ever had and the service is great. We’ll definitely be back.
Rating: 8.5 / 10
Our cost: $100 (teetotaling)
Noise Level: probably not too loud even when it’s busy
Chance of walking in: pretty high right now, but I expect that will change as people discover it. (Never mind – it’s closed. Very sad!)
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