10.23.08
Posted in Latin, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5, seafood, small plates, West Village at 17:04 by Dominique
[Sorry it's been so long. Between my full-time lawyer project and starring in an upcoming off-off-Broadway musical, I'm pretty swamped. I promise I'll try to keep up better - the backlog is currently about 20 restaurants long.]
122 Christopher & Bedford Sts., 212-242-0010
Great for: papas rellenas, shrimp in bacon
The English girl gang I run with sometimes (ok fine, it’s just a bunch of English girls plus an Aussie, me and another American) wanted to get ceviche again. Fortunately this time was better than Rayuela. I still didn’t love the ceviche, which I think maybe I just don’t enjoy. Citrus has never been high on my list.
The papas rellena, deep-fried mashed potato balls stuffed with beef, raisins and olives, were huge and better than they sound. They’re creamy and decadent, as well as covered in red onion slices. Delicious, as are the shrimp wrapped in bacon with spicy Peruvian dip under more red onions. That was probably my favorite thing all night. The sauce is green and creamy and the bacon crisp. The shrimp could be a tad more tender but the whole thing is still delicious. Just so you know, you get five decent-sized shrimp in one dish. You probably want at least two servings.
For a main I got the ceviche caliente, consisting of giant sea scallops and fresh shrimp grilled in spicy sauce over fried yucca (which I changed to rice). It was pretty good but had a very strong, sour, citrus taste. It could have been cooked less, too. I preferred the shrimp; the scallops were a tiny bit gritty and set my teeth on edge somehow. Some of the others let me try their entrees. The aji chicken is a bit bland and dry, but overall not bad. I found the lamb hearty in its very dark sauce.
The sangria was tasty and not too heavy. The service, on the other hand, left a bit of initiative and sense of urgency to be desired. Plus they forgot my tiradito, although it was fine because I was so full from the app and ceviche. I generally liked the Latinized pop songs they played. Not so much the scary movie on the flat screen in a random place on one wall. I kept getting distracted from my conversations by the horrors unfolding across from me. In general, the apps are better than anything else, and you should stick with those and sangria.
Rating: 7.0 / 10
Our cost: $470 (8 people, 1 app and 1 ceviche/entree each, with a few pitchers of sangria; apps are $7-16, ceviches $14-17, entrees pretty reasonable though)
Noise level: not bad
Chance of walking in: good.
The service is really abysmal. The girls wanted to come back a year later, and I just got the bacon-wrapped shrimp and papa rellena, which were still good. I had to speak Spanish to the waiter and tell him everything three times, though.
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09.25.08
Posted in Alphabet City, Asian, East Village, fusion, Japanese, Latin, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 6 to 6.5, seafood at 17:50 by Dominique
509 6th St. & Ave. A, 212-529-5200
Great for: chupe, lazy people who want to go clubbing after dinner
This is another ceviche place, but fortunately it’s not as bad as Rayuela. Midtown Hedge Funder and I started with the grande ceviche tasting. What that entails isn’t listed on the menu – plus I bet it’s not always the same – so all I can say is that there was lots of tuna, some crab, fried oysters and other assorted raw fish covered in a ton of sauce, all a bit sour but passable.
My favorite thing was the chupe, a shrimp bisque with corn, edamame and egg in creamy panca-oregano broth. The corn actually came on its cob in the soup so it was a bit difficult to eat. Despite tomato halves, the soup was delicious; a savory, not too creamy, very umami delight. I almost forgot to share.
The volcano roll with shrimp, octopus, fluke, hamachi, crab, avocado, cucumber and spicy tobiko mayo was just ok. It had lots of sauce-laden stuff in the middle, didn’t taste that spicy, and seemed similar to a California roll. The rainbow roll, ambitiously loaded with hamachi, salmon, tuna, fluke and crab ceviche, was also soggy, and maybe had too much avocado. Personally I would prefer no avocado in anything ever. I mean, except guacamole. I think even if you like avocado you would consider this too much, though. We also had an interesting construction called causa. It’s a napoleon that looks like a big biscuit of shrimp, crabmeat ceviche, avocado, spicy potato layers and spicy mayo. It was the best of our main dishes. There was too much potato but the inside was pretty good.
Kion’s flirtini with Stoli Razberi and champagne is tasty, as is the Plymouth gin martini. MHF had a Gougenheim malbec that he liked as well. The service was extremely slow for a while, partially made up for by the waiters’ considerateness. I enjoyed the decor. It’s kind of eccentric but I think all the textured, colored glass is pretty. It’s a nice place to have a few cocktails or a birthday party – if you must eat something, get the chupe.
Rating: 6.5
Our cost: $130 (2 cocktails, 1 glass of wine)
Noise level: quiet, but downstairs turns into a club/party space (only weekends I think)
Chance of walking in: pretty good.
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09.15.08
Posted in Latin, Lower East Side, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 4 to 5.5, small plates at 16:59 by Dominique
165 Allen St. & Stanton/Rivington Sts., 212-253-8840
Great for: fancy cocktails, crab & shrimp guacamole, being ignored and overcharged for mediocre food
A place that calls itself a restaurant should never have better drinks than food. Which is why I propose that Rayuela be repurposed as a pretty bi-level lounge with kitchen snacks. We were here because my friends L and D love ceviche, Rayuela’s putative specialty. Three other friends came along too, so I can say with certainty that, with only one duplicate dish between the six of us, we tried enough of the menu for me to have a pretty good idea of how blah it all is.
At least the very first thing, guacamole with crab and shrimp, was fresh and delicious. We had a hard time sharing it fairly among all of us. Then most of us got at least one ceviche. My cangrejo chino was crab and shrimp marinated in a lychee and guanabana citrus sauce with rocotto and jalapeño. The pear-like fruit strips made it slightly sweet. It wasn’t too sour, as ceviche so often is. The seafood was nice but not marinated enough. I liked it at first and then got tired of it. The hamachi with avocado and orange zest in a wasabi citrus sauce sounded great, tried to be inventive, and failed miserably.
The red snapper, marinated in ginger soy citrus with a rainbow of julienne peppers, cucumbers and jala, was nice but nothing special. One of us hit the jackpot with a yummy langosta revolucion of lobster and shrimp, grilled pineapple, jala and young coconut water infused with lemongrass and ginger, garnished with Uruguayuan caviar. The salmon trio al mango in pan seared, smoked and roe forms over mango, frisée, watercress and bacon with mustard and vinaigrette was fairly decent.
The pera con queso salad of Rioja-roasted pear infused with star anise, cinnamon, ginger, mixed greens, La Peral cheese, toasted walnuts and sherry vinaigrette was long on fancy ingredients, short on quality. Then there was the abysmal asparagus salad. D never sends things back, but she couldn’t just sit there and eat the worst salad ever. The asparagus was waterlogged and very clearly from a can. In fact, everything in the dish was canned, bland and horrid. At least they didn’t charge us for it.
My codorniz con lentejas, better known as roasted quail with a stew of pork belly, apples, black lentils, quail egg and crispy shallots was nowhere near as bad. It was a bit too sweet but I found the quail nice and spicy. The piquillo, a sweet Spanish pepper with lobster, shrimp, crab and chipotle aioli, was pretty good, as was the chile relleno (poblano with lamb barbacoa and creamy mushroom rice). The latter is very spicy. One of us got the restaurant week special of tiradito, which was sliced salmon with passionfruit, carica and citrus drizzled with ginger oil. It was quite sweet but decent.
We decided to share a dessert, since most of us were still hungry despite reaching our budget limits. (I had a ceviche and an app - that was already $34 without tax or tip.) The tres leches de chocolate with pineapple on the side was too fluffy. Its texture is weirdly different from how it looks, and there isn’t much taste. We did not like the random banana shit accompanying it. I hate bananas anyway, but in general I think they’re a bad idea with chocolate.
We had lots of $12 mojitos. One of them was so unacceptable D had to send it back. (The poor girl had some bad luck with this meal.) It wasn’t a big deal until her salad was awful as well, at which point we called the manager over. He was very polite verbally, but only took the salad off the bill. I kind of thought he should offer some drinks on the house, especially since he asked if we needed refills and a couple of us said yes. And despite the nice initial impression he made, he ruined it by scurrying away from us at top speed almost before he finished talking. After a little arguing at the end, he took off the automatic 20% tip.
We were puzzled by the glacial service. They not only took forever and lots of waving to come back to us for each thing, in two hours we did not get a single water refill. We were upstairs but there are lots of tables up there, it’s not as though we were all alone. There was really no reason for them to ignore us. We could not in good conscience leave them 20% for doing almost nothing, and begrudgingly at that. I think it ended up being something over 10%.
This place should just be a lounge. They have lovely cocktails and a bartender with some serious flair downstairs. I can’t understand what the hell is wrong with their food. Other than one or two standout dishes, it’s okay at best, inedible at worst, and quite pricey. At $15 or more for most apps, and $25 and up for all but three entrees, there is no excuse for such mediocre food and nonexistent service. I’ll come back for the drinks, especially the “Coming Up Roses,” but that’s it.
Rating: 5.5 / 10
Our cost: $400, but they took off the automatic 20% tip making it $330 for 6 + a small tip
Noise level: early stages of a party
Chance of walking in: medium, there are lots of tables.
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06.09.08
Posted in Latin, Lower East Side, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 6 to 6.5, Steak at 23:49 by Dominique
152 Stanton & Suffolk St., 646-602-2004
Great for: sizzling steak platters, undercover meetings, Argentinean wine, semi-al fresco dining
My best friend E and I decided to have dinner locally. This place seemed as good as any, and was pretty reasonably priced. It is basically all French windows so it’s great for sitting outside without really being outside. Be careful of the bugs though, E got bitten all over.
We just got one appetizer, the camaroncitos, which were sizzling Patagonian whole baby shrimps with olive oil, white wine and parsley. They were pretty large shrimp and tasty, though the seasoning was wasted on their shells. That always annoys me. You marinate the shrimp in some lovely seasoning and then peel all that sauce off anyway. I wish people would fry them up without shells.
The marinated, grilled and sliced prime sirloin (cortada) comes in a portion for two but they agreed to halve it for us. It is marinated for twenty-four hours with rosemary, thyme, sea salt, black pepper, olive oil and brandy and accompanied by mesclun and French fries. We found the meat flavorful, of a medium firmness and sometimes tender. The fries were thin and crunchy. I liked the chimichurri too. We also got the Tuesday and Wednesday special of oven-roasted suckling pig (cochinillo pampeano) with Argentine-style potato salad (rusa). I was pleased to see a nice big hunk of meat on the plate. The rusa was yummy, just the right level of sour, and nicely vegetable-intensive (carrots and onions). The hard-boiled egg white bits were a little tough though. The meat was just good, not great, with a big layer of fat. I did like the crispy outside. It kind of tasted like chicken the more we ate it. We were also puzzled by the large, inexplicable bone very like a wing, which made eating difficult.
We thought it would be fun to get a bottle of champagne. They only serve wine and beer here. The La Linda bottle for $35 was not too sweet, and kind of reminded me of soda water. I liked it but E wasn’t as enthusiastic.
Unfortunately, our service wasn’t even halfway ok. The waiters were inattentive and rude despite the restaurant not being busy. They had an annoyingly long debate about whether we could sit at a table for four (I paid attention – they didn’t need it the entire time we ate), and never asked us how things were. That was probably because they stayed far away from us after they put down the plates. They only warmed up when they were serving the check.
The restaurant itself is quite festive though, with tiny little Christmas lights that don’t do much to dispel the darkness. It’d be a great place for spies to meet. Especially since the waiters will leave you severely alone until it comes time for the bill. To be fair, the food is decent.
Rating: 6 / 10 – half point deducted for abysmal service
Our cost: $101 + $15 because they barely served us
Chance of walking in: good, although it gets busier around 8:30
Noise level: hubbub.
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05.30.08
Posted in Latin, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 7 to 7.5, Upper East Side at 06:04 by Dominique
1022A Lexington Ave. & 73rd St., 212-879-6190
Great for: sharing lots of appetizers, wonderful cocktails, drunken shopping after dinner
My friend L invited me to girls’ night with her friends J and S, and I like her so much I actually went all the way uptown to see her. With four hot women at one table, our poor waiter had difficulty concentrating on his job, especially since he could hear our raunchy conversation – we had an early reservation and the restaurant was pretty quiet. When I lived uptown for four years I had this place on my list and never visited; now that I live 80 blocks south I finally managed to come here.
L and J went a little crazy ordering apps. We ended up with six for the four of us. I’m glad there were two tuna tartars with foie gras, cachaça-molasses reduction and sesame seeds. They were pretty good, and an interesting choice to pair the foie gras with tuna. They have a lot in common – both fatty, creamy and with guilt to go around. I found the molasses sauce far too sweet, though. I like my candy to stay in the candy aisle. The warm fresh calamari salad with cherry tomatoes, arugula, parsley, garlic and lemon-lime juices was too frightening to eat. I bravely tried a leftover tentacle, because the rest of the bits looked disturbingly like mini octopi. In the chef’s defense, it was soft with a tastily burnt sauce and tender spinach. In my defense, I just read a book about how intelligent, agile and sensitive the octopus is.
The girls liked the Paulistana salad of baked tomatoes on the vine, mozzarella di bufalo, butter head lettuce, balsamic caramel dressing and crispy chopped garlic on top. (I don’t eat whole tomatoes, so I can only take their word for it.) The dish is exactly as described – the tomatoes are somehow still on the vine though a bit cooked. I can heartily recommend the very soft cheese and greens. I saved our two favorite starters for last. The carne seca, which was seasoned shredded beef, garlic persillade, cherry tomatoes and onions with manioc fries was just terrific. The fries were a bit bland, but what did we care with a whole pepper-shaped pot full of yummy, salty, spicy corned beef-looking stuff to attend to. I must confess to polishing off this one (there were only a few shards left, really, I swear). The bacalhau brandade, which was salty cod purée, black beans broth, crispy collard greens and bone marrow was also so good we couldn’t stop eating it. The fish was creamy and flaky while the collard’s crispiness invited overeating.
L and I went for the Friday special of moqueca, a stew with cod, one enormous shrimp, coconut and dende oil. It was tasty and a bit spicy. I liked it despite the coconut. However, the fish and shrimp were a little undercooked. I couldn’t finish my dish for that reason, afraid I would pay for it later. I contented myself with sauce on a tiny bit of the accompanying white rice. J’s steamed fresh herbs-encrusted salmon with baby vegetables in papillotte (a little parchment pouch), ginger, parsley butter, roasted apples and spicy sauce was terrific. The fish was not only tender, it somehow tasted a bit creamy as well. S had the roasted organic Cornish hen with fig juice, sautéed baby vegetables and yam purée. The chicken was a good texture, but really difficult to cut with all those bones in the way. She had the waiter do it. The fig juice was a crazy and bad choice on the chef’s part.
We very much enjoyed our strawberry sake caipirinhas. I also branched out to the equally delicious Dona Flor cocktail, which was, according to my notes, “Whoo! Drunky drunky yummy with a kick.” It’s definitely only for the members of your party who can hold their alcohol. Combining 42 Below honey vodka, triple sec, Chambord, simple syrup, passion fruit purée and fresh strawberries is pretty lethal.
Our waiter was just lovely. He cut up S’s food, advised us, and offered his extracurricular services when he heard some of us were looking for boyfriends. Also super cool: the black paper in the bathrooms. Because a restaurant named after a happy Brazilian-French clown needs dark goth toilet paper, obviously. Additionally, there was a store in the corner before the stairs. In case you’ve forgotten your bikini or some other tropical article of clothing, you can get it right there. They must have so many drunken purchases.
I’d like to, but I can’t say the food was really worth the effort. I’d come back this far uptown if someone got me the carne seca, bacalhau brandade, salmon and the $200 dress I was eyeing on the mannequin. And of course, several special cocktails.
Rating: 7 / 10
Our cost: $370 (4 people, 2.5 cocktails each, 6 apps)
Noise level: quiet when it’s early
Chance of walking in: medium.
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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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