09.12.11
Posted in Gramercy, Midtown Central, Midtown West, Murray Hill, New York City, New York City Reviews, Northern European, rated 9 to 10, small plates at 03:03 by Dominique
16 West 29th St. & Broadway/5th Avenue, 212-679-1939
Great for: basically everything on the food and cocktail menus
After hearing so much about April Bloomfield I was delighted to finally try her food for myself. It certainly lived up to the hyperbole!
The sausage roll is a very large pig in a wonderfully soft blanket. They make the sausage in-house with actual meat. It was so good I wanted to cuddle with it. (I know, that doesn’t really make sense.) I would wake up a hell of a lot earlier if I had one of these waiting for me every morning! The seafood sausage with beurre blanc and chives is a large, perfectly-spiced sculpture composed of nice big chunks of shellfish arranged in a vaguely sausage-y shape. It’s a “sausage” the way a Ferrari is a car.
The thrice-cooked chips (fries) with mustard might be the best ever. They were an impeccable balance of crispy outside with soft insides. Even their accompanying pickle wedges were delightful. The almonds are spicy and terrific too. If I liked marrow vegetables I would like the baby squash with parmesan. I think it could have used more spices but I didn’t eat that much of it.
The service was nice, though I haven’t eaten in the dining room yet. On the other hand, having drunk the entire cocktail menu (in two visits, it’s short), I can say with certainty that all the drinks are strong and tasty. This is a great place for meeting friends, making new ones, and generally having a grand old time in an otherwise semi-desolate area. The lobby bar is fun when you get tired of sitting, too.
Rating: 9 / 10
Our cost: $75
Noise level: very noisy
Chance of walking in: you can’t reserve, just go and have drinks until you don’t care how long you’ve been waiting.
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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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08.25.09
Posted in Lower East Side, New York City, New York City Reviews, Northern European, rated 6 to 6.5 at 04:11 by Dominique
49 Clinton & Stanton/Rivington Sts., 212-614-3234
Great for: good solid English food, a taste of home for Brit expats, late night food
I was trying very hard to qualify for the World Series of Poker through Pokerstars freerolls (obviously, I did not make it this year) but I couldn’t miss my friend L’s birthday either. I made it through round 1 quickly and was puzzled to find myself sitting alone at a table with all the chips for round 2, but figured I’d lucked into a free pass to the final round. It was also way past time to leave for dinner so I jumped into a cab. This is why I forgot my BlackBerry and had to take notes with my camera.
We were all delighted to see the eminently reasonable $28 3-course prix fixe menu including one glass of prosecco or rosé. I didn’t actually love anything on it or want dessert, so I ordered from the regular menu, but it definitely helped to keep costs down. Those Brits do love their vino! (I was staying sober until I won the tournament.)
I tried most of the savory dishes on the prix fixe menu, since there were about 16 of us and we ended up getting everything.
The chicken from this walnut chicken salad with celery leaves, Granny Smith apples and mixed lettuce was a bit bland. The greens are nice, though I’d prefer that it have no fruit. The new season asparagus with poached egg and candied lemon as well as the rocket salad with manchego, pear and pine nuts looked good and reportedly tasted good as well.
I really liked the rich country-style pâté with red onion marmalade and toasted bread. There was a lot of bread and the onions were a little too sweet though.
I found my main course of toad in the hole pretty good. The sausage was a bit bland and the onions were way too sweet as in the marmalade, but I liked the bready stuff and mashed potatoes a lot. I think the English Ex’s mother made it slightly better.
The butternut pumpkin risotto with basil pistou (French pesto) and parmesan would have been yummy if I liked any form of pumpkin.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to try any of the well-received burger. Looks nice, doesn’t it?
As did the pan-fried mackerel with green olives, celery and raisin.
The prosecco, rosé, Champagne and wines are reasonably priced and quite good. They were working on their late-night liquor license (probably have it by now) and are open ’til about 2am on weekends. The owner himself often helps wait tables and everyone is very nice.
It’s an unpretentious pub with decent food and a fun atmosphere. We went soon after they opened, so I expect they have worked out some of the kinks. It’s a lovely place to start the night and linger. As for me, I had to dash the minute I finished my entrée but I certainly had ample wine to drown my sorrows when I came back later.
[When I got home an hour later the tournament said I'd been sitting out too long. I tried to salvage the situation but they didn't know why I'd been alone in the first place so I was probably the victim of a computer glitch. Terribly disappointing, that and the many other times I battled impossible odds to win a round, only to be eliminated eventually. Once I had one small blind left against three other people - I trounced them all in thirty minutes. Didn't carry over to the next round.]
Rating: 6.5 / 10
My cost: $30 (no drinks)
Noise level: quite loud
Chance of walking in: it might get pretty slammed as people find out about it.
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04.19.09
Posted in Lower East Side, New York City, Northern European, rated 7 to 7.5 at 16:02 by Dominique
79 Orchard & Broome/Grand Sts., 212-219-9545
Great for: Reuben sandwich, snacking
My very good friend S came over to take care of me, since I was essentially one-armed after my snowboarding accident. I guess all the Percocet made me dopey, because when I went to let her in, I closed my door and locked us out. While we waited for another friend to bring my spare set of keys, we decided to get some food. I vaguely remembered hearing about this fantastic little Austrian place near me and we managed to find it.
When I told the waitress I wanted to try their liptauer, she suggested getting the pretzel appetizer which came with that and some other spreads. They were all delicious and the liptauer was lighter than I expected from something made of cheese. The pretzel itself was lovely, too, and I have never previously liked any pretzels.
My “Katja’s Ruben” [sic] sandwich was fantastic, a combination of pork belly, cabbage, cheese, pickles and mustard. The bread had been fried in butter and the whole thing was enormous. I took half of it home! The pork belly was very fatty with a rind, but it was easy to separate the meat out. I loved the cabbage and pickles. The only thing I disliked was the purple cole slaw, which seemed to have apple cubes in it. I think if you like cole slaw it might be ok though.
S liked her broiled trout on spinach with fingerling potatoes, though she could have used more spinach to counteract the abundance of butter. The decent side of brussels sprouts improved with liberal pepper and mustard.
We had a very nice waitress and the chef was friendly too. The small narrow space is utilized very well and doesn’t feel cramped. The décor is minimalist but homey. They have many beers (which I don’t drink) and cocktails (which I was on too much Percocet to drink). It’s kind of a hidden gem but that stretch of Orchard Street has a lot of other good restaurants. Definitely go before everyone finds out about it.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
Our cost: $45 (1 app, 2 entrees, 1 side, no drinks)
Noise level: music loud, people pretty quiet
Chance of walking in: not too bad now but hurry, it’s small and the food is very tasty.
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