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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01.05.11
Posted in American, Chelsea, Meatpacking District, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 8 to 8.5 at 23:30 by Dominique
409 W. 14th St. & 9th Ave., 646-289-3930
Great for: food, cocktails, large parties, an entire night out in one place
The Music Exec liked to impress me, and he certainly did a good job picking this place. I used to party here when it was Lotus… those were fun nights. I was not expecting much after reading some snide reviews so I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food.
We started with a special appetizer of grilled octopus in lovely romanesco sauce with chorizo and almond. The octopus was soft, just the way I like it, and as it so rarely is. The tuna tartare tacos with avocado, citron-soy and red chili aïoli were also wonderful.
His medium rare New York strip steak with peppercorn sauce was a little more towards medium, but still quite good. The meat itself is flavorful even without the delicious sauce. It was also nice and big, maybe twelve ounces. My pan-roasted cod and crispy rock shrimp with ramps, snap peas, young ginger and sweet soy was terrific. Everything was tender, juicy, plump and bursting with flavor. I actually found the soy sauce salty, a good contrast to the near sweetness of the seafood.
We couldn’t resist a side order of truffled Parmesan herb fries. They are as crispy and addictive as you could desire. I was starving, to be sure, but they’re truly awesome.
The cocktails here are expensive and great. Our waitress wasn’t sure which pinot noir ME wanted so she brought both bottles; she was that thorough all night.
Sitting upstairs is nice and noisy, though not too much so. The tables have extremely sharp metal corners but are wide enough that you probably won’t hurt yourself until you’ve had a few drinks, by which time you won’t care. Although we didn’t have trouble making a reservation the day before, the place was totally packed.
The place turns into a club after dinner, so it’s basically a one-stop shop for going out. The next time I want a pricey, crazy, delicious night out with rich friends, this will be my choice.
Rating: 8.5 / 10
Our cost: $195 (2 apps, 2 mains, 1 side, 2 drinks)
Noise level: the people are loud but the music is quiet enough
Chance of walking in: you probably can’t. Call ahead and bring ten friends to share the fun.
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01.03.11
Posted in Asian, Chinatown/Little Italy, Chinese, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5, small plates at 16:25 by Dominique
14 Elizabeth & Canal/Bayard Sts., 212-964-5640
Great for: xiao long bao, scallion pancakes, pork belly special
Sometimes I remember that I live in Chinatown and there must be awesome random places there. Shanghai Garden sounded good to me and my neighbor Hagan the Wandering Foodie. Turns out they changed the name, for some reason.
To start we tried juicy dumplings with crab, which were awesome and a steal at $6.95. They had properly thin skin with lots of soup and pretty flavorful meat. The scallion pancakes were very thin and not as crispy as they looked, which I was surprised to really like.
As a half-Shanghainese girl I had to get the nian gao (rice cakes) with pork, shrimp and bok choy. It tasted strongly of the vegetables but the nian gao were somewhat bland. Overall, I found the dish nice but forgettable. Hagan’s walnut shrimp with cream sauce on a bed of nice broccoli was a bit sweet. The batter was crispy and yummy though we could do with less of it. It was definitely priced for white people at $14.95.
The special of thin-sliced pork belly with cabbage, scallions, peppers, mushrooms and tofu was the best of everything we had. Complex, in a very dark sauce, it was everything you want from braised meat. We ordered too much but couldn’t help finishing the pork anyway.
The waiters are friendly though their English skills aren’t great. It’s a nice, bright restaurant that closes a little later than Shanghai Café, so if you don’t make it over there before 9pm, you can at least get your appetizer fix here. And ask for the pork belly.
Rating: 7 / 10
Our cost: $55 (2 apps, 3 mains), cash only
Noise level: not bad
Chance of walking in: fine.
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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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12.31.10
Posted in Chelsea, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5, small plates, Spanish at 18:16 by Dominique
53 West 19th St. & 5th/6th Aves., 212-255-4160
171 Spring St. & Thompson St./West Broadway, 212-343-4255
Great for: patatas bravas, razor clam special, pintxos morunos
I met Partner in Crime taking tennis lessons one winter and she’s been my adventure buddy ever since. Which is good, because I had a photo shoot for my samurai movie before I met up with her at the Flatiron Boqueria, so I was wearing not only pretty intense makeup but head-to-toe leather. And that was the most conservative outfit I could cobble together! Fortunately it is really dark inside and no one seemed to notice or care.
After waiting for an hour at the bar, we finally got to sit down. We did well to start with the patatas bravas. It’s a big dish with delicious spicy cream sauce over the top and tomato sauce on the bottom. The potatoes are crispy and a good bite size. The garlic-flavored salchichon (sausage) with bread and small olives is nice. I didn’t really taste any garlic in the many thin slices of meat. I quickly gave up on the extremely hard bread.
The special grilled razor clams with salsa verde remind me of calamari texture. They are interesting and yummy; I am not sure I’ve ever had any before, but I will from now on. Once I realized the pintxos morunos are not supposed to be piping hot, they were really good. They’re six nice-sized cubes of seared lamb marinated in lemon and cumin with salsa verde on skewers. The salsa verde is terrific, I could definitely lick a few spoonfuls of it.
The special scallop tapa with blackened market corn, eggplant, zucchini, fava beans and crispy jamón Serrano was lovely but a deceptively small dish. They literally mean one diver scallop sliced into four pieces. I didn’t taste the eggplant or zucchini (which I don’t like), surprisingly. The corn and blistered pepper were great. We finished with the classic gambas al ajillo, which is simply shrimp, garlic and Guindilla peppers in olive oil. It’s very nice but the plump, fresh shrimp are swimming in a ton of oil. The peppers are hot, be careful. I liked the paper-thin slices of garlic too.
While we were waiting I had a nice Poema brut and PC enjoyed a Señorio de Sarria Viñedo #7 from Navarra recommended by the bartender. You can try more wines by the glass than the menu shows, incidentally.
Our service was quite nice, especially considering how slammed the place was. And the ambience, of course, is very sexy, dark despite the many lights scattered around.
In general, the dishes have a lot of salt and oil. They’re good, but not subtle and there aren’t many flavors. I feel tapas can be better. I did not get that impression from Alta, for instance. If I didn’t have to wait so long for a table I would definitely consider trying some more things.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
Our cost: $110 (5 tapas, 2 glasses wine) before Blackboard Eats discount
Noise level: deafening
Chance of walking in: not good. You will wait a long time.
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12.30.10
Posted in Asian, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 4 to 5.5, Southeast Asian, West Village at 19:02 by Dominique
51 Grove & Bleecker Sts., 212-352-0460
Great for: losing your voice and hearing, mediocre food, wasting a lot of money
As you can tell I did not like this place. Expensive + mediocre + making me wait = angry Dominique. At least I got to spend time with my friend Eurasian Beauty.
After waiting twenty minutes despite having a reservation, we went with two small dishes from the specials, which you would think they could manage. The tumeric [sic] fried sardines with hot and sour sauce were pretty good, especially towards the tail, though the sauce was the best part. The four small spiced salmon cakes with lime leaf, snake bean, Thai basil and sweet chili sauce were only fine. I was disappointed that for over $10, they were just spongy patties of fish and not actual bits of meat.
The poached chicken and crab salad with coconut, cherry tomatoes and green nahm jim dressing was okay. True, there are some things I don’t love in the ingredient list, but it could have been a lot better. It was overly creamy, for one thing.
We got the Wagyu brisket with vegetables to finish. It was the best thing we had but still just decent. The four slices of meat were soft and juicy, probably braised in the sauce. The dish was kind of bland. We specifically ordered the small size but they either brought the big or charged us for the wrong one – we thought initially it was a good deal for the amount of food, so maybe the former. They fixed the check to charge us for just the small, in any case.
Our service was fine except for the mix-up. The décor is that annoying faux-Asian blond wood with uncomfortable tiny furniture that everyone seems to be affecting nowadays. You want to copy Momofuku? Be as good, dammit. There’s a bar and a long table in front where you sit community style. There are some little tables in a Lilliputian back room if you insist on keeping to yourself. EB and I still could barely hear each other there. This place is decidedly off my list.
Rating: 5 / 10
Our cost: $75 (3 small, 1 medium dish)
Noise level: earsplitting even in the back; I got a sore throat from yelling across the tiny table
Chance of walking in: you can’t, but don’t bother. Go somewhere good.
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12.29.10
Posted in Asian, fusion, Latin, Midtown East, Murray Hill, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 9 to 10 at 04:58 by Dominique
622 3rd Ave. & 40th St., 212-808-8110
Great for: large parties, dates, fusion made wonderful, eating healthy
I didn’t know what to expect from Zengo. When the Pool Champion and I pulled up, though, I realized I’d been to the two restaurants that had been in this space before. This one is definitely the best of the three.
On the recommendations of our terrific, pretty waitress, we got a bunch of starters and one main dish. I honestly cannot tell you which was the best, they were all so good. The rainbow ceviche of tuna, salmon, fluke, vegetables, puffed rice and ponzu was lovely and not too sour. We loved the fresh fish in nice even chunks. I even liked the accompanying plantain chips. The steamed buns al pastor, filled with braised pork belly, pickled pineapple, avocado and chile Fresno were really interesting and delicious.
The wagyu tiradito is also unique and awesome. It basically looks like a scallion and asparagus roll with beef laid on top. It’s spicy with miso mustard and sort of creamy, accompanied by a truffle ponzu sauce which rocks. We also got salted edamame.
We made our one entrée count with the grilled Colorado lamb loin with edamame, corn, cherry tomato and pearl onion in hoisin-adobo sauce. I tasted ginger too. It was so tender, juicy and well-flavored. The only imperfection was that the roasted corn is sometimes a little burnt.
Of course we had to try their tequila snow cones I’d read about in UrbanDaddy. You get three different ones per order – we had strawberry, tamarind and hibiscus. I’m not sure why they put them in flimsy paper, but I guess that is why you have to slurp them fast. The strawberry is best, the hibiscus is fine. Don’t bother with the tamarind.
PC persuaded me to have a cocktail with him. I can heartily recommend the Mekhong pina and the cucumber mojito. They have many more cocktails which I would like to try when I am officially drinking again.
They have this adorable and clever taco-holding contraption that you should check out just for geek points. The décor is Alhambra meets upscale S&M party with a unique chandelier. It’s a cavernous space, sexy and not too dim. Early on it seems to be a corporate after-work spot (we are in midtown, after all) though with a naughty feel, and the crowd gets younger and hipper as the night goes on. The bar looks like a lot of fun too.
Latin-Japanese fusion is a great idea, more restaurants should do it – they both use lots of fresh seafood and spices, it totally matches! I am coming back soon.
Rating: 9 / 10
Our cost: $140 before Blackboard Eats discount (4 small, 1 main, 1 dessert, 3 drinks)
Noise level: Noisy but not too bad. We could hear each other over the table even when leaning back.
Chance of walking in: The place is enormous but on the other hand so popular I would err on the safe side and reserve ahead.
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Posted in French, fusion, Miscellaneous, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5, SoHo at 02:11 by Dominique
558 Broome #D & Varick Sts., 212-226-4399
Great for: crevettes, duck confit eating organic, dates, if you’re stuck in far West SoHo
The Pool Champion and I tried to go to Boqueria in SoHo but they were way too packed. We ended up here instead. It’s a nice spot in rather a barren area.
To start we shared escargots sautéed with Pernod in cayenne-curry sauce. They were unique and pretty good, but needed some salt; I tasted a lot of cayenne. The crevettes, shrimp in rum and cilantro-chili butter, were absolutely lovely. The sauce is addictive.
My three medium sausages of rabbit and ginger in carrot miso cream sauce over couscous were pretty good. There was an awful lot of ginger, and overall it was a bit sweet. The spice combination is inspired, though; I’m glad I tried it, it’s not my usual type of thing. We liked PC’s duck confit in jerk spice and mango marinade on couscous. The enormous leg has nice crispy skin hiding tender juicy meat. The marinade ends up tasting like good barbecue sauce. I didn’t really like the couscous, which was slightly bland and full of raisins.
It’s a tiny, cozy, friendly place with eleven tables for two. At the same time it is dark and sexy with red lighting. Plus, the menu claims to be all organic, so you can feel virtuous about eating here too.
Rating: 7 / 10
Our cost: $70 (2 apps, 2 mains, BYO)
Noise level: very loud because it’s so cramped. It’s fun to talk to the neighbors though.
Chance of walking in: you will probably wait.
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12.27.10
Posted in Italian, New York City, New York City Reviews, NoLIta, rated 8 to 8.5, SoHo at 19:54 by Dominique
55 East Houston & Mott Sts., 212-274-8881
Great for: pasta, reliably excellent food, large parties – you can have your own room
I came here several years ago with a friend and I remember really liking it. I’m happy to see it has expanded into a sort of annex next door, which I think they occasionally use as private event space. On this particular evening it was open to the public. My date was a guy I went to law school with (yes, I went when I was very young) and recently ran into while dealing a poker game. Manhattan is a small world.
I have to commend their bread first. As my faithful readers know, I don’t eat bread unless a sandwich needs fingerholds. When I noticed salami peeping out of this, though, I had to try it. I managed to stop myself after two whole slices. That probably also had to do with the arrival of the very nicely done calamari. I liked the crispy spicy batter, although the calamari was a bit rubbery. The marinara was lovely and addictive.
The black ink linguine with shrimp in marinara was so awesome I ate until my tummy hurt. I blame it on the soft, yet not sticky, noodles and lots of delightful, plump shrimp. Also, of course, the magical marinara. The linguine alla vongole was light and wonderful. It was not drowned in olive oil as at so many restaurants. I want to copy that when I make it at home.
Everything was excellent. I particularly like the black wood tables. I’m only sorry I didn’t come back sooner.
Rating: 8.5 / 10
Our cost: $75
Noise level: quiet
Chance of walking in: decent. It’s not very obtrusive and the rest of the block kind of is.
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12.26.10
Posted in fusion, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 8 to 8.5, SoHo at 22:07 by Dominique
210 Elizabeth near Prince St., 212-343-7011
Great for: anchovies, lamb sirloin, sophisticated dining, brunch
In the spirit of adventure, I reconnected with the Music Exec from last year. We meant to go to Balaboosta, but I stupidly didn’t make reservations and they had a 45-minute wait. So we wandered over to Public and I’m glad I got to try their dinner. I fondly remember brunch here three years ago.
We started with a random appetizer of marinated white anchovies, which turned out to be really good. I liked the combination of greens, onions and fish. Anchovies are unfairly maligned – they needn’t be horrid and brown and canned. They can be lovely just like anything else.
I loved my roast lamb sirloin on crispy goat cheese polenta with saffron-braised baby vegetables and harissa aïoli. It’s a good thing it’s quite a small dish, since the lamb is very rich. The flavors went together well, the sauce was perfect, and the polenta was interesting and delicious. His grilled swordfish with wheatberry couscous, baba ghanoush & minted courgettes (eggplant) was surprisingly good considering how much I dislike most of those things. Swordfish tends to be tough, but here it was fairly tender and its flavor really came through.
I was trying to stick to my ascetic diet but when he saw my eyes light up at the description, ME persuaded me to get the sticky toffee pudding with Armagnac ice cream and hot caramel sauce. I’m so glad – I’ve loved sticky toffee pudding since I discovered it at Schiller’s. It is ridiculously decadent despite being a sort of fruitcake (it’s made of figs, go figure). And totally worth it. They do it really well here; it was desirable from first to last bite.
Service is as fitting as the décor. The place is what I think of as classic New York, with a clean minimalist look, bright enough to see but dim enough to be romantic. It definitely stays on my list.
Rating: 8 / 10
Our cost: $165 (3 glasses wine, 1.5 bottles water, 1 app, 2 mains, 1 dessert)
Noise level: convivial hum
Chance of walking in: it’s really big so you have an okay chance.
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