11.25.11
Posted in Chelsea, Latin, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5, small plates, Spanish at 18:41 by Dominique
239 W.14th St. & 7th/8th Aves. (Centro Español), 212-929-7873
Great for: vegetable and meat tapas, sangria, large parties, flamenco shows
I starred in a webseries that teaches foreign nurses English – it took all day for a whole month. This was our wrap party. I’d been here a few years ago to watch flamenco, and I really wish I’d had the food then! Tapas is often mildly disappointing in NYC – too salty, oily or bland. These guys get it right. (Well, I’ve only been to Marbella, where my family opted not to eat the local food, so it’s not like I know what’s completely authentic, but I do know from yummy.)
There were nine of us and I think we sampled most of the menu. All their “vegetable” tapas were simple and lovely – we had the pan con tomate, tortilla (scrambled eggs with creamy potatoes), patatas bravas and egg tomato soup. The seafood tapas were not as good, though decent. I found the grilled octopus tasteless and squishy but still okay, and liked the fried calamari better. I didn’t bother with the grilled calamari since I usually don’t like that.
The meat tapas, on the other hand, were stellar. We had a nice cheese and meat plate with two cheeses, a spicy chorizo and a prosciutto-type meat with olives. The chorizo escarole soup was pretty good, as were the shrimp in garlic oil. I loved the chorizo dish and its sauce, and the croquetas were perfect, thinly breaded balls of cod mousse that came six to a plate.
My favorites were the tortilla, chorizo, patatas bravas, croquetas and egg tomato soup. I’m getting hungry just thinking about them! The waiters were sweet and patient, and we really enjoyed the delicious sangria. It’s sweet and not too alcoholic. This place definitely stays on my list.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
Our cost: $335 (12 kinds of tapas, 5 pitchers of sangria)
Noise level: noisy party
Chance of walking in: it’s busy.
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Posted in Chelsea, Latin, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5 at 18:36 by Dominique
228 W.18th St. & 7th/8th Aves., 212-206-8930
Great for: pastelitos
Have you ever had Venezuelan food? Neither had I, until I went to an audition nearby and decided to try this place for lunch. It’s no Argentinean steak or Brazilian churrascaria, but it’s still pretty tasty.
The lunch special of shredded chicken with rice, beans and sliced plantains, $9.95 as opposed to $15 at dinner, was good. Though it needed a ton of hot sauce, I liked it enough that I even ate the beans. (I usually hate beans.) I was delighted by my jamon y queso pastelito, a round fried pastry big as a saucer. It was delicious, stuffed with a large block of cheese and ample ham. Like the empanada’s big sister who has three kids and always wants to feed people.
The restaurant is quite big with a friendly atmosphere and colorful décor. I think next time I should get lots of pastelitos on Bolívar Day or some other happy holiday to get the full experience.
Rating: 7 / 10
My cost: $15 (1 pastelito, 1 lunch special)
Noise level: between ceiling fans, music and conversations, pretty high
Chance of walking in: decent.
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10.09.11
Posted in Chelsea, Italian, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5 at 23:25 by Dominique
128 W. 26th St. & 6th/7th Aves., 212-243-8183
Great for: most seafood, panna cotta
This place is actually a steakhouse, but for whatever reason we plumped for all seafood. I loved my tuna tartar over avocado and sour cream garnished with bloomed mustard seeds and soy and wasabi oil. It was a great idea beautifully composed in squares, with a nice melding of flavors. The little bits of mustard cut all the cream well. My friend’s lobster salad with winter melon (which was like watermelon) had too much of the latter and not enough of the former. It was decent.
I was mildly enthused by my Alaskan king crab tagliatelle. It was a bit bland. The crab itself was nice but the pasta somehow didn’t absorb any flavor. The veggies were good though. The fennel pollen tuna in pesto finished with saba over butternut squash caponata, on the other hand, was lovely. The just-barely-seared tuna and the braised vegetables underneath were delicious. It was definitely something to dig into.
I’m glad I allowed myself to be tempted by the “sinful” panna cotta, made fresh daily. It was soft fluffy vanilla loveliness, not too heavy despite probably ridiculous amounts of cream.
The waiters are good at their jobs. The décor is the epitome of midtown corporate. I rather liked it though their efforts were uneven.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
Our cost: $135 (2 apps, 2 entrees, 1 dessert, 2 glasses of Chianti)
Noise level: probably not above a convivial hum
Chance of walking in: I imagine you can walk in fairly easily.
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02.16.11
Posted in Asian, Chinese, Lower East Side, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5 at 00:18 by Dominique
198 Orchard & Houston Sts., unjustly closed by the SLA
Great for: interesting dishes, Taiwanese food on Four Loko, hanging out with Eddie Huang
I have many fond memories of Taiwanese xiao ye, the night market, from visiting Taipei as a baby foodie. Imagine my excitement when I heard Eddie Huang of Baohaus fame was opening a xiao ye right here in my neighborhood! As it turns out, his dishes were considerably amped up from the basic food I remember, but I like and respect his creativity.
My date and I started with the poontang potstickers, made of LaFrieda custom blend pork and napa cabbage. They’re good but not mind-blowing. I would have liked more spice. The name (and pretty much all the other dish names) was cute, though – I like a menu that makes me laugh.
Taiwan’s most famous minced duroc pork in 5 spice and soy sauce over rice with braised egg and pickled daikon was nice. The famous Cheeto fried chicken with chili orange marmalade dipping sauce was juicy, tender and perfectly cooked. The Cheeto dust is just sprinkled on top, not quite as integral to the dish as I expected. In both dishes I could wish for a little more spice.
My favorite thing was probably the corn with garlic, red pepper and unagi sauce. The sauce is to die for and the corn is very crispy.
I had to try some of their funny cocktails. The Milk Skywalker is a yummy, crazy, end-of-night type drink. You are probably only drinking it because you’re already hammered, despite knowing it will just fuck up your morning (at least). The Taiwan favorite apple sidra with vanilla and bourbon is slightly less insane. It tastes awesome, surprisingly – the vanilla is a lovely finishing touch. Both drinks came in nice generous glasses for $12.
The super friendly staff and the hip vibe made this a very cool little restaurant. Everything was black wood with red accents, super Asian without being cheesy. And it was really good for an area of drunkards. My understanding of why they had to shut down so fast was that Eddie did some unlimited Four Loko deal right before it got outlawed and the State Liquor Authority came down hard on them about it. It wasn’t really fair but you can still get some Taiwanese goodness over at Baohaus, a few streets away. And for regular dishes there is always Saint’s Alp Teahouse in the East Village.
Rating: 7 / 10
Our cost: $75 (3 small dishes, 1 medium, 2 cocktails)
Noise level: classic old-school Eddie music
Chance of walking in: sadly, nil. Why, SLA, why???
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02.02.11
Posted in Asian, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5, SoHo, Southeast Asian at 03:52 by Dominique
177 Prince & Thompson/Sullivan Sts., 212-254-7337
Great for: duck mojito, dessert, cocktails, large parties, fucking in the bathroom
Feisty Brooklynite’s birthday party here turned out to be the same night as a tornado warning. That’s definitely a quick way to figure who really loves you. Since I live just across SoHo and she’s one of my best friends, I obviously showed up.
The panko coconut-crusted shrimp tasted overly of coconut, while the semolina fritters had nice chicken and shrimp inside. They could both be crispier. The calamari, on the other hand, is interestingly crunchy without breading. The duck mojito was the best appetizer I tasted. It doesn’t taste like a mojito at all, just vaguely Latin.
The Thai-latin BBQ scallop, prawn and salmon with mixed green salad, white chimichurri and sriracha was quite good. I wished for more than just one of each thing. The saffron paella with seafood in a banana leaf is incredibly awkward to eat – fuck leaves, we don’t live in trees any more – but pretty good. I liked the white sauce on top and could use more of it. The rice needed more flavor. Their pad thai is pretty good.
The sweet world dessert with chocolate volcano cake, créme brûleé and ice cream was far and away the best thing we put in our mouths all night. I wanted to roll around in it. The volcano is rich and decadent, while the créme brûleé is creamy heaven.
I liked all the cocktails we tried, and I especially recommend the chocolate cake shots. The bartender Nick, if he is still there, is both hot and nice. Our waitresses were either kind of deaf or stupid but they seemed to mean well.
The place is girl party central. They were annoying but the music is great. As are the bathrooms. You can see the entire dining room from inside but no one can see you, and my first thought was “Nice! Bathrooms to fuck in!” It’ll be really obvious what you’re doing, but on the plus side, some of the girls will probably dare each other to flash you. Yep, it’s a fun place overall.
Rating: 7 / 10
Our cost: $100 (2 apps, 2 mains, 1 huge dessert, 2 cocktails, 2 shots)
Noise level: noisy when there are girls
Chance of walking in: prob not too bad, there’s a lot of space.
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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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01.03.11
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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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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12.29.10
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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12.07.10
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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