jrnlmkr's Profile
m wells, so so so worth the trip
i was in no mood to go out, already in my sweat pants, under the covers and craving delivery food; looking for a bartending job in nyc will do that to you. but, my boyfriend, who without too much complaint has rented a tux and will attend a wedding this weekend where he'll know no one but me, well, he wanted to go out and i guess i kinda owed him.
m. wells reminded me a lot of florent, a much missed and oft mourned go-to place in the meatpacking district before it turned into a suburban mall. diner vibe? check. hipster staff? check. big crowd? check.
after a false start ordering the grilled cheese with foie gras, which was not available, we settled on marrow bones with escargot, just one bone, but full of lux marrow and plump juicy snails and served with one fat piece of buttery grilled bread. the steak tartare was a huge hamburger patty sized pile of meat topped with a poached egg and seasoned so it tasted, to me, a bit like a fourth of july burger with relish. the menu alluded to egg salad, which makes sense in hindsight. it was pickle-y and smooth and crunchy at the same time and came with a lovely little toss of greens on the side. we also tried the blood sausage and sea snails. it was a lovely glob of salty goodness, full of potatoes and served on flatbread so every bite had a bit of crunch.
for dessert we tried maple pie which wasn't all together successful for me. it looked a lot like milk bar crack pie, but the texture was a bit wet and though the crust was quite burnt, i wanted the filling to have a few more moments in the oven. that said, my bf practically licked the plate and announced he'd easily eat a second piece.
i was quite charmed by everything about the place, the goofy bathroom tile, the counter stool that goosed me throughout my meal, the super passionate cooks, the waiter who offered me the magnifying glasses right off his face. however there was one misstep which grossed me out so much i feel obligated to mention it.
as we were paying our bill, a large table, perhaps the staff sitting down for a post-work snack, ordered several large plates. and please note, when m. wells calls something large, they mean circus fat girl large. we were seated right in front of the cooks station so watched, mesmerized as each dish was plated. when the cook got to the third and final dish, he ladled out sauce with a large metal spoon, then dipped the spoon into the pot to confirm it tasted right. i watched in horror as he wiped the spoon, the one that had just been in his mouth, on a kitchen rag, then used the same spoon to ladle out the rest of the dish onto the plate. yuk.
the best part? our bill barely came to forty dollars. astonished, my always good tipper boyfriend left 50% and we giggled all the way home.
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M. Wells Diner
21-17 49th Ave, Queens, NY 11101
just my opinion dbgb, porsena, peels, 5 points, etc
i've now lived in new york for nearly four months and my eating adventures continue. all in all it was not a very good eating week for my bf and i.
my boyfriend was craving a hamburger and after going to market table where we were told the kitchen was closed and minetta tavern, where the door was locked, we ended up at dbgb, where we sat at the nearly empty bar and ordered two burgers and some brussel sprouts.
if you've read any of my reviews before, you know i'm not a big fan of dbgb. i want to love the place, but each of the three times i've visited, it has let me down in one way or another. here's how our meal went down:
there was a couple, seemingly vineyard owners from california, seated at the end of the bar. they were quite demanding of the bartender and he must have thought he was going to be rewarded handsomely because i'm pretty sure he licked them when no one was looking.
i ordered the burger and asked if i could have greens instead of fries. my bf ordered the top of the line burger and added some brussel sprouts for good measure. when the runner placed the food at the end of the bar, the bartender looked at it, grabbed one of the burgers and took it back to the kitchen. the other burger, mine, was left on the end of the bar, for at least five minutes, maybe more, until he returned. Turns out he'd noticed my bf's burger was made without cheese and had run back to the kitchen to get some melted on top. great. except anyone who has worked in the restaurant biz knows, at a high end restaurant, if you return one thing to the kitchen, you return the whole table's food, so guests don't have to sit and watch their meal grow cold.
My burger was served at room temperature, with fries, not a salad and it was full of gristle. ick. and kind of hard to believe that such a our sausage is homemade kind of place would serve sub par meat. meanwhile, the folks at the end of the bar were enjoying mini tasting glasses of nearly every beer on tap courtesy of the bartender who was handily ignoring us.
i'd like to think we live in an egalitarian world where waiters and bartenders treat everyone the same but, alas, that is not the case. i do, however, enjoy watching the face of the person who has ignored us hard during our visit when he looks at the check presenter and sees my boyfriend has tipped 30%, his standard. I love watching the "oops" creep across his face as he realizes he goofed, underestimated us, and bet on the wrong horse.
last night, we went to porsena where i've been dying to go for a bit now. at 7:45 on a saturday i called to see if we could pop in and the hostess graciously invited us to get there quick as a table had just opened up.
we were seated immediately which was great since we'd told her we'd be there in fifteen but in reality it had taken us closer to thirty.
for me, the room was a bit spare and cold, though i loved the cork covered tables and the potted rosemary was a lovely touch. I felt like i was sitting in a really long tube with a really interesting piece of art way down at the far end that i could sorta kinda see, but not quite. on the long wall, there was an odd collection of random framed things hung with seemingly no thought given to spacing or proportion or style, as if right before opening night someone said, "hey that wall looks kinda empty, grab a hammer and some nails and see if you can find a couple of posters at the thrift store down the street."
turns out, the table next to us was VIP, so most of our meal was spent looking at the ass of the chef, who stood talking to them for what seemed like forever. as we waited for our food, we heard her offer to cook up something special for them, offer to handpick the piece of meat they were to be served and describe every item on the menu in minute detail. nice because lots of sexy italian was flying back and forth and i love that, not nice because our waiter was so busy taking care of them, we were nearly forgotten.
i won't go into too much boring detail, but everything really. needed. salt. (mr vip next door asked for a shaker and added his own.) the pasta was cooked well, but the ragu was dry and under sauced. on the positive side, the lasagna had a really nice herbal quality. i can't speak to the desserts because by the time a menu was brought to us, my boyfriend declined mouthing to me, "i can't wait another 45 minutes. let's get out of here."
this week, we also went to five points, a sister restaurant to cookshop, one of our favorites.
i absolutely loved the ceiling height flowers and spent most of the night trying to figure out how i could replicate the effect in my apartment on my budget of negative five dollars.
we were surrounded by three sets of regulars at the bar and like our above described dinner at porsena, we really felt, well, not special. between being ignored by the bartender, we ate a nice salad with dates, some overly chewy octopus, and a pizza with greens, i think spinach, that i'd go back for. often. which might surprise you after i describe the things that happened during our visit. the spinach pizza was really that good.
at one point, trying to get a pickle out of the pickle jar, the bartender stuck his whole ungloved hand in the plastic tub, fished around, grabbed a pickle, then put the lid back on. gross.
but even grosser considering a a few moments before he'd sliced a piece of burger off the guest to our left's plate. she had complained it wasn't as good as usual and pushed it away half eaten when he hacked off a hunk and popped it into his mouth with his fingers.
reminder to self. do not eat pickles at five points.
to my right, the conversation turned to weddings and the guests and the bartender loudly discussed the difference between people's behavior at christian and jewish weddings. "at christian weddings," the guest said, "when the ceremony is over people are lined up six deep at the bar," then added, "at jewish weddings they are six deep at the food table. ha. ha. ha." while a bar guest can talk about anything he wants, i was kind of offended to hear the bartender join in.
during the time we were seated at the bar, perhaps an hour, or an hour and a half, every single dish brought out from the kitchen was presented to us. seriously, even in the middle of our dessert, the runner came out with some sort of appetizer and asked if we'd ordered it. once. ok. twice. amusing. but come on guys, you are professional restauranteurs, it isn't that hard to put a seat number on the tickets going to the kitchen. and if you can't handle that, give the food to the bartender who will place it in front of the proper guest.
oh, but that spinach pizza.
ok, now that i've gotten that off my chest, i did have two really nice meals this week. the first was at hung ry which although i'd heard such great things about the place, absolutely went above and beyond my expectations.
i arrived nearly 45 minutes before my bf and sat at the counter with a glass of wine which was generously topped off by the bartender and which, by the way, got me quite tipsy. as i waited, chefs and waiters both conversed with me, answering questions about the food, offering to get me a snack. it wasn't intrusive, but i certainly wasn't ignored and given my experiences earlier in the week, i really really appreciated that.
when my bf arrived, we ordered a fish appetizer, i think mackerel. as we were eating, the noodle puller started to do his thing and i leaned over to my boyfriend and whispered in his ear, "i bet that guy gets laid a lot." seriously, who knew noodle pulling was so sexy?
the wine haze makes it difficult to remember exactly what kind of noodles i ate, but i'm thinking oxtail with baby carrots and macadamia nuts, though i seem to remember the menu listing brazil nuts. either way, the broth was nice, the noodles nice, the meat nice and the nuts, yes, a nice touch.
a small scoop of ice cream for dessert was a perfect foil to the salt and we left completely happy.
my other nice meal of the week was at craft bar, fast becoming a fav.
the bartender remembered what kind of bourbon i'd had in my manhattan the previous week and checked to see if i wanted to stick with that or try some rye instead. the drink was delicious, as usual, but i do wish their pour was a bit more generous.
when i was a kid in detroit, we used to have lunch often at a place called the st clair yacht club where they had the best bread sticks in the world. i'd make a meal of them with salty butter and a salad coated in sweet poppyseed dressing.
the breadsticks at craft bar are so so so much better and we all know it is hard to top a childhood memory. they are salty and buttery and crunchy with the perfect crumb and, though you have to ask for butter, when they bring it the pat comes with a generous crumble of sea salt. those breadsticks make me so happy, i actually think about wrapping some in a napkin and sneaking them into my purse.
for me, a meal of those sticks, and an open faced sammie of melted fontina cheese on toasted bread with pan fried mushrooms that are so greasy good they might as well be deep fried and a scoop of apple celery sorbet can make the sun shine on even the shittiest day.
today, i'm going to barbuto. i'll let you know how that goes.
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Craftbar
900 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
DBGB
299 Bowery, New York, NY 10003
Porsena
21 E 7th St, New York, NY 10003
Hung Ry
55 Bond St, New York, NY 10012
looking for chef driven restaurants with great bars
hope you can suggest a bunch of places with fantastic food and a great bar. examples would be barbuto, minetta tavern, fedora. eat out a lot, new to the city, and need to start making a list of potential new places to go. any part of the city is fine.
red rooster. how do they get the bathrooms to smell like caramel?
if you've read any of my reviews before, you know my boyfriend and i lead a charmed life as far as walking into a crowded, popular restaurant and snagging a table instantly. i'm not exactly sure how we do it, but last night was no exception, two minutes after we'd been told the dining room was fully committed and there would be an hour and a half wait for a table in the lounge, the hostess ran up and grabbed my bf, wiggled her finger in a come hither sort of way and asked us to follow her to a table.
ok, the chairs were wobbly and the table moved this way and that with the slightest amount of pressure and drinking bar patrons, more than once, slammed their drink down next to my food and the pos computer was right behind me, but let me repeat myself, within two minutes of practically being told, "you ain't gonna eat any time soon," we were nibbling on the best cornbread i've ever had.
clearly, this place is about more than the food, so i'll start with the incredibly nice bouncer/doorman who greeted us warmly and was so handsome he made me swoon just a bit. the crowd was a mix of middle aged foodies and, from the way the waitress knew everyone's name, what seemed like neighborhood regulars. The crowd was dressed to impress, natty, and in a few cases, WHOO, superfly. The soundtrack was a mixture of good ole detroit motown (music to this detroit girl's ears) and 70's disco hits. The place was designed with a bit of a heavy hand for my taste; there were lots of nice details, but mostly things were a bit too slick for me and despite the handwritten bathroom signs, and display of ms's personal items, it faintly smelled of wanting to be a chain.
the food was good, some things great, but some things strangely bad. the afore mentioned cornbread was sweet and cakey with a salty crust that almost made me order a second round. (as it went, i ate the whole cube put on the salad that came with the mac and cheese, which my boyfriend noticed and commented on. i still feel guilty) the portion was huge, though not as big as the one the regular customer with the mini tv sitting next to us was served. the duck liver mousse? with pastrami'd duck breast was up and down. Just couldn't wrap my head around the liver texture, but the taste was fine, the duck breast pastrami slices were delicious.
for dinner, bf ordered the fried chicken which was unlike any southern fried chicken i've ever had. i'm not much of a fried food girl, but i could have eaten nothing but the thick crunchy coating and gone home happy. i had red snapper which was sweet and so tender, i couldn't get it to stay on my fork. it was served sitting in a broth, but the small amount of cold (was it supposed to be that way) liquid was impossible to get into the spoon, something about the bowl shape just didn't work so i was left frustrated and confused. we shared a mac and cheese which was delicious and cheesy and not really at all like mac and cheese. instead of the creamy, gloppy slightly orange colored mess i was expecting, we got something that reminded me of the delicious cheesy mess that is onion soup if you took away the onions and the broth and substituted my favorite ear shaped pasta.
it was served with a small salad, which neither of us took more than a bite of, though i was curious about the hard marble shaped orange blob on top. i guessed kumquat, my bf an onion, but i couldn't stab it with my fork and at some point it rolled under my plate and was forgotten.
we had pudding for dessert which came on a plate full of fruity surprises. it was good but not earth shattering. and to be honest, after the waitress gave a several minute speech/lecture about the godliness of the tea, i was a bit disappointed to be served a cup already brewed with no pot to
allow me to refill or adjust the strength.
a few random notes. our tablemates ordered oxtail and it looked like the winning dish, though i didn't get to taste it. and if you get the blondish waitress from somewhere in the midwest, clearly here in nyc chasing a career in musical theater, watch out. she is overbearing, annoying, and prone to calling her customers "you guys."
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Red Rooster
310 Lenox Ave, New York, NY 10027
what happens when was only sorta happening for me
this is a copy of an earlier post, oops, i forgot to put the name of the restaurant and it was to late to edit it.
s a designer who often creates things on the fly, i'm a big fan of temporary installations; i love the rough edges and the lack of self consciousness that is often a part of something spontaneous. however, what happens when was lacking the very quality that begged me to visit opening week and a quite expensive dinner just didn't seem worth the trouble we took to slog through the snow to get there.
everything came off as trying too hard and though i liked certain aspects of the decor, particularly the lamps made using upward reflecting light bulbs and cook book pages, we were never able to relax and just enjoy our meal. No one explained to us where to find our silverware. One of our plates of amuses (and our neighbor's) came missing crucial bits. And in a teensy tiny space, a very annoying dessert cart was constantly being pushed through the aisles. Nothing on it was jaw droppingly beautiful, so I just didn't get why it was being paraded around like a pageant kid.
Before I describe our meal, I should note we had lunch two days before at Dovetail. Being restaurant week, for half the price of our What Happens When dinner, we had a very similar meal albeit in a much more polished and elegant surrounding.
My potato skins were fine, but frankly needed salt. (I should also note I am not a salt fiend, find most of new york restaurant food over salted, so if i'm begging for salt, it really needs it.) My boyfriend's roasted cauliflower looked fantastic but halfway through, I noticed him picking through looking for a promised ingredient that just wasn't there. My lamb came medium as I'd requested and was tasty, but a bit tough at the edges. My bf had some sort of breast of poultry, maybe guinea hen and it looked great. It was topped with a lovely roasted carrot I almost reached over to grab. But, after noticing our neighbor pushing food onto her fork with her fingers, I decided to use my company manners and kept to the food on my own plate. When it was our turn for a spin on the dessert cart, I noticed a chocolate tart with beer foam and candied pretzels with caramel, nearly the same dessert I'd just had a dovetail. I'd really really liked it at Dovetail and really really liked it here, but come on, if you are only doing three apps, three entrees, and three desserts, can't you come up with something unique for opening week?
We left what happens when full and having enjoyed our meal, but could have eaten much better at dozens of other places we often frequent (Casa mono, craft bar, The Harrison, Hearth, aldea) for much less. Based on the premise of the place I was hoping for an experience that opened my eyes, or my mind or one that took me on a journey but what I got was a perfectly adequate not very original meal. For me, that's just not good enough
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What Happens When
25 Cleveland Pl, New York, NY 10012
now that i've moved to nyc, if i'm not careful, i'm going to get fat
it has been exactly a week since i traded los angeles for new york and i'm hoping the walking is going to make up for the eating.
really, in all my years of multiple trade show visits to manhattan, i had no idea people really eat like this every night.
although for most of the saturdays i've spent in new york since august have been reserved for late lunch at cookshop, yesterday my bf and i went to peels. it had a very similar vibe, albeit with a much younger and lest touristy crowd, and except for the waitress forgetting to bring me milk for my tea, our meal was lovely.
the place was packed, but somehow, with no wait we got ushered up the stairs to an open table with exactly zero wait time. it was new year's day, so some of the staff looked a bit on the ragged side and our waitress never managed to get her apron tied the entire time we were there, but the room was lovely, filled with natural light from huge windows down two walls.
my bf ordered a melted cheese and bacon sandwich on brioche. it came centered on a huge white plate and looked a little lonely with no garnish, but he ate every bite. we shared a fruit salad, which was gorgeous. in LA, a fruit salad would be chunks of fruit in a bowl, but this was beautifully sliced bits of apple and pear and grapefruit and banana in a lightly sweet sauce arranged like a still life. i had the smoked fish sandwich. it came with just sweet homemade pickle slices and well done potato chips and was quite a filling meal. the bread was chewy, the fish just salty enough to be flavorful, but not so much so i needed a trough of water the rest of the day. we finished with tres leches cake with dried cherries. my bf declared it the best he's ever had.
we took an intermission from eating to see the illusionist which i highly recommend, then went to dinner at ssam. once again, packed, but we were seated immediately, which for some reason always happens to me there. nice.
we started with crispy pork buns. they were ok, but the dough was tough like they'd been cooked for someone else, then sat around for a while. the filling was nice, but the bun itself reminded me of the steamed bums i've bought, forgive me for this, in 7/11 in malaysia and bangkok. they look like steamed buns, and they'll do in a pinch when you are hungry and there is nothing else to eat, but they are hard and tough and doughy and not at all ethereal like a bun should be.
we moved on to apple kim chee which was a nice combination of two favs, baked apples and kim chee. nothing earth shattering, but a nice, interesting couple of bites.
we shared oxtail for our main and it was great. rich and warm and really savory. my bf told me he wished he was at home so he could pick up the bones and gnaw at them.
for dessert, we had the apricot sorbet with thyme accessories. it was a giant plate with apricot tapioca and thyme shortbread and thyme tuille and it was sweet and sour and crunchy and soft all at the same time. i wished the apricot tapioca had been sweetened a teensy bit, but otherwise it was perfect. perfect. i loved it.
need help for birthday dinner
got the reservation. will let you know how he likes it.
need help for birthday dinner
that is so funny, i just popped on to make a reservation, but my day is not yet open. i was thrilled, however, to see several open times, so maybe i will get lucky and score one on the 5th.
need help for birthday dinner
my bf works at a famous restaurant, so we get the royal treatment at lots of places i'd consider special if i didn't know him and that makes picking a place to take him for his bday especially difficult.
in august, we had a spectacular meal at aldea; i'm hoping wherever we end up can top that.
we're downtown types, but i'm open to a great restaurant anywhere. we both loved tailor even though we didn't know each other when it was open. he hates shellfish. we've gushed about meals at casa mono, the harrison, hearth, market table, and the breslin. we really enjoyed lunch at the bar at craft bar, even though the room itself seems tired. we love sitting at the bar or at a kitchen counter. we hated apizz, were lukewarm about marlow and sons and he really disliked otto. he tends to like to go back to the same places over and over, but i want to show him something new. i was going to take him to etats unis, but i guess i missed that it closed. similar for l'atilier as it is closed that week.
help, please.
ehh
after trudging through the cold to hearth, which was closed for a private party, my bf and i decided it was time to give apizz a try. we both wished we'd gone to casa mono instead. nothing was bad, but nothing was any better than what I, an ambitious but not very experienced cook, could have whipped up in my tiny studio apartment kitchen.
we started with an octopus salad. it was filled with chunks of, i think, potato, and pieces of celery so uneven a first day cooking school student could have done better. the dressing was strangely sweet. the whole thing reminded me of a salad i'd make on a night when i was hungry but too lazy to go to the store. often i chunk up anything i find in the fridge and mix up a dressing with whatever i grab from the cupboard. it is hard to believe a chef thought it up.
we shared a steak and veal ragu. the steak was tasty, but a smidge thin and so tough it made me wonder if the kitchen was saving money by buying way less than prime meat.
as i was eating, i couldn't but help thinking this was what a friend would cook for me. it wasn't bad, but my friends aren't chefs and i'd certainly not pay them $160 for what they can whip up.
as we were finishing, at almost the same time, my bf and i looked at each other and said, "this reminds me of diner food" enough said.
on the positive side, the cocktails were delicious.
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Apizz
217 Eldridge St., New York, NY 10002
restaurant suggestions, downtown please
i'm back in la, stuffed and having a hard time buttoning my jeans.
once again, i ate myself silly and here's what i thought:
hearth. we had no reservations, but managed to score seats in the kitchen which was really fun and romantic and much prettier than the hum drum decor in the main room. my bf declared his pasta the best he's ever eaten. i guess because we were sitting in the kitchen, we were given a complimentary plate of gnocchi which were buttery and really yummy. the staff was super attentive, the somm very smart, the chef friendly and funny and the food really good.
the harrison. again, without reservations, we strolled in and were about to be shown to our table, when my bf discovered one of his customers seated at the bar. we were invited to sit and the next thing i knew a parade of cocktails and things we didn't order appeared before us. again, we were given gnocchi. and again it was delicious. two really strong drinks keeps me from remembering specifics, but everything tasted great, especially the giant dessert. robert, the sweet bartender makes a wicked manhattan and was nice to us even though we hogged two prime barstools until closing.
aldea. i'm embarrassed to say we showed up at 5:30 pm and were the only non white-haired customers in the place for several hours, but we'd not had breakfast or lunch. the hostess, who we'd met several months before at otto remembered us from there and offered us seats in the kitchen which we loved. the place is beautiful, so no seat is bad, but the chef is so intense and focused, it was a huge treat to watch him. we started with foie gras and octopus, accidently quite a contrast to each other which we really enjoyed. the plates were so so lovely i barely wanted to dig in, but screw art, i was hungry; i'm thinking the scene looked a bit like lions feeding on the animal planet and though i can't quite remember, i'm hoping neither of us licked our plate. the pork belly was the most beautiful presentation of food i have ever seen. i loathe foam, but made friends with it here.. again, lucky choice, the duck was lusty and earthy and a direct opposite to the pick ethereal pork.
cookshop. i confess, we have friends who work there, but we go because we like it and this trip i went three times.
casa mono. damn, i really like that duck egg on potatoes.
casa. my man is brazilian so for my last night, we went to casa in the west village so i could see what he grew up eating. after being seated i heard a lot of portuguese, then some chicken wings and some spicy green sauce were placed in front of me. we had yummy shrimp in coconut milk and a plate of assorted brazilian stuff, rice beans, meat, garlicky greens, tomatoes and onions and yucca flour. it was very homey, delicious and filling.
murray's cheese. the grilled cheese sandwich was only four bucks, but the bread was kinda stale and the cheese grained up as soon as the thing began to cool. not horrible. just not grand.
hearth harrison aldea cookshop spotted pig casa
restaurant suggestions, downtown please
bummer, still dream of my meal there. the food was so good i had a great time despite being the only eating customer in the restaurant for the full two hours i was there.
restaurant suggestions, downtown please
oops, typo, i meant xian where, by the way, i most liked the celery salad, super simple and delicious.
Had an icky meal years ago at Prune with my then-husband. He was just about the only man in the room and we felt really, really out of place and I never feel out of place.
I also may be the only foodie on the planet who didn't love degustation. It was fine and fun to watch the chef artistes do their thing, but a bit to precious for me.
I am a huge fan of maison du chocolat, but what i thing they do amazingly well is their fruit gels. all the bakeries in paris do them, but maison du chocolat, let's just say here in la, i used to make up excuses to stop at neiman marcus just so i could buy a fruity gel square. the counter was right next to the shoe department, another one of my weaknesses, so it was a good thing when they stopped carrying mdc.
of course, been to katz's--i'm a big fan of new dills, i think you call them half sours in ny and there is nothing like a brisket sandwich a a plate full of salty cucumber pickles. i'm puffy for a week afterward, but so worth it. And Russ and Daughters, of course, though i prefer to dig in the cold case and get a tub of baked fruity farmers cheese.
Been meaning to get to Perilla, but have wondered if it is cheesy and hyped or solid and good.
Coming from Los Angeles, I'm just not all that into the "I was on TV" thing. Here, it seems everyone is famous for something (a friend recetly reminded me I used to be, too) and not always for their talent.
Looking forward to a week of delicious. Of course, will have to stop at Barbuto for some of that delish chicken.
Any thoughts on, i think it is called the little owl?
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Perilla
9 Jones Street, New York, NY 10014
restaurant suggestions, downtown please
thanks to everyone who made suggestions about where i should go during my month in new york last august. now, i'm coming back to visit the man who joined me on all my eating adventures and i'd like to have a few tricks to pull out of my hat.
last trip, we went to:
market table
casa mono
cookshop
barbuto
spotted pig
breslin
num pang
xian xian
milk bar
chickalicious
republic--ick
i'm sure there were more, but it all melts into a wine soaked distended stomach romantic haze.
so here's what i'm looking for:
places to eat with a guy i'm crazy about with really good food, maybe a bit romantic, but not cheesy and not too uptown. i love fashion just about as much as i love food, so i'll be dressing, more martin margiela than coco chanel but he's pretty casual and i need him to feel comfortable, too.
fish isn't his favorite, me, i'll eat just about anything if it is delicious.
and to further give you an idea of what i like, until it closed, tailor served me just about the best meal i've ever had, yet i don't love wd50. i loved alias back when it didn't have tacos on the menu.
and i absolutely hated my dinner at dbgb, though the time i went to his midtown place with the foie gras burger still tickles me because martha stewart was sitting at the next table. no, i'm not star struck, i live in la and here everyone is a star, but she, in public, picked food out of her teeth with her finger. i saw it. my friend saw it. and it still makes me laugh.
a month of eating in new york. i'm stuffed and have some opnions
not sure what to say, it was a diner, an uncomfortable one at that, the food was fine, but nothing to scream about and the atmosphere kitschy, not worth the $57 plus change we spent.
for the same money, i'll take the refined food any day.
a month of eating in new york. i'm stuffed and have some opnions
we ordered an omelet, pancakes, coffee and iced tea. with tip, our breakfast was $60 which i found to be a bit high for the quality of the food. yes, i had $60 brunches at cookshop, several of them in fact, but the food was chef quality with every detail attended to including sophisticated plating. you say tomato i say tomato, but for my sixty bucks, i'd rather sit at the bar under the highline and eat a delicious whitefish salad served with a tumble of greenmarket lettuce by a bartender who refills my iced tea without asking. i'm not saying shopsins was bad, just pricey for the atmosphere. i'm glad i went, but once was, for sure, enough.
please help me eat during a month in new york
i went to torrisi and was not as impressed as i'd hoped to be. had the fresh turkey sandwich and i thought the meat was really wet and had a weird texture. it actually felt like you could wring water out of it, like a kitchen sponge. also, it was a bit pink for my taste. my friend had the special, i think eggplant parm, and loved it, but we both left our soggy zucchini in the monkey dish it came in. i did appreciate that the place was full of men and would recommend it as a great place for date hunting.
please help me eat during a month in new york
mackerel and yam were my favorites. hated the brisket, it was really tough and embarrassing to eat in front of my date. every time i took a bite, the meat, which should have been tender and falling apart, came out of the bread in a huge unwieldy chunk, leaving me with a large piece of cow hanging out of my mouth. it had a nice spicy kick, though.
the portobello mushroom was good, but didn't scream order me again. i loved the pickles, not so much the watermelon juice which was kind of chunky and mealy instead of smooth and refreshing.
there was a weight to the sandwiches which made them feel substantial and important. not at all like banh mi i ate in vietnam which were float away light and hardly filled with anything. i didn't see any sandwiches in cambodia. however, most of my three days in siem reap was spent with head in the toilet food poisoning after eating happy pizz--so bad it surprises me i'm willing to try anything labeled cambodian.
a month of eating in new york. i'm stuffed and have some opnions
one last addition:
breakfast at the standard grill. i was meeting some friends and the standard grill seemed the right place. i arrived early and was shown to a big, comfortable horseshoe shaped booth. i ordered iced tea and toast to stave off my huge hunger, took a deep breath and took in the lovely surroundings. my first batch of toast came slathered in olive oil, good for a dinner app, but not what i want to start my day with. sent it back and was brought another, unoiled batch. i was hacking at it with the side of my knife, trying to chip off all the charred bits when the waiter came by to see what i was doing. after a bite i told him it was just too burnt to eat and he took it away. when my friends arrived, i ordered oatmeal, they egg sandwiches. the oatmeal arrived watery and undercooked topped with a tasteless raisin, i don't know, compote? I asked for brown sugar, but our terrible waiter forgot to bring it. My friends seemed to enjoy their sandwiches, but to me, it is pretty hard to mess up toast and oatmeal, so i'd probably not give this place a second chance.
Walking home from one of my many dinners at Barbuto, I passed the standard in the late night and it was swinging, swinging hard, so if you are looking for a party, this is your place.
a month of eating in new york. i'm stuffed and have some opnions
Never write a review on an iPhone or you get
a bunch of auto filled words and typos. Sorry folks I do know
how to spell
another addition
Hudson hall at the Hudson hotel
I'm pretty sure the only thing I ever ate T my junior
high cafeteria was the Maurice salad on alternating Fridays
so what would make a hotel restaurant think that
hungry biz travellers would want to eat overcooked
tasteless food from a plastic tray and pay ainim of eight bucks
for each tiny bite? Funny, the old restaurant there called cafeteria
was so bad my sister and I didn't eat more than one bite when we ate there years ago and I found myself almost wishing for that meal instead
diner. I'd had a bad meal at marlow and sons a few trips ago but thought I owed
them another shot. I sat at the bar for brunch and ordered a blt and a beer from a handwritten
menu scrawled on cash register tape. The barkeep warnede the sandwich was small and I told that would be fine despite the warning was astonished to get 1/2 piece of toast slathered withsome tasty green mayo a half slice of mayo a couple chunks of bacon perhaps equal to
half a slice and a forkful of delicious geen salad with a bite of nectarine perched on top
the menu had no prices, what's the deal with that, and it turns out the amuse bouche and the beer came to nearly teeny five dollars. Bummer since i'd had to leaveost of the beer behind. No food to
soak up a mid day drink would have left me wondering drunk
in Brooklyn and I might have found myself tempted to ask one of the many local hipsters what's the deal with all the Amish style beards?
a month of eating in new york. i'm stuffed and have some opnions
Just ssam. No need to go uptown and the reservation
lottery for ko got boring after first twenty tries. I prefer
a reservationist with my reservations
a month of eating in new york. i'm stuffed and have some opnions
i've been such a fan since the beginning, but last night was so bad, it might be a bit before i come back. i'd gotten over my disappointment at commercial feeling pre-boxed pie and prepackaged cake balls at milk bar, actually forgiven them for it, but inedible food and a waitress who doesn't notice it, i gotta give my money to someone who deserves it.
a month of eating in new york. i'm stuffed and have some opnions
well it was the late 80's and i do a lot of sit-ups.
a month of eating in new york. i'm stuffed and have some opnions
oops. forgot a couple of important places.
market table. during my month in new york, it seems i was invited into some sort of secret restaurant network where tables instantly appeared and unordered dishes were placed on already precariously crowded tables. market table was no different. we were about an hour late for our reservation, but ushered to a table that seemingly was plopped in the walkway for us. nice. the wine mojitos were unremarkable, actually watery, but the beef carpaccio complete with french fry scaffolding was delicious. we were given an unordered heirloom tomato salad which was good, but really, how much cheffing does it take to slice a beautiful fruit? my date devoured his branzino and my pan roasted chicken was nice, albeit a bit crispy (if you are one to read between the lines i am trying to say overcooked in the politest of ways.). however i couldn't figure out the mushy broccoli beneath. the last time i had a vegetable so overcooked my grandmother made it and she is long dead. the place was packed and several once strangers, now friends were chatting away together at the tiny bar. with the check, they brought a tiny book where we were supposed to write our impressions. mine said, "the food was almost as fantastic as my date."
eataly. please. this was possibly the most ridiculous place i've ever been. the night we were there, mario the king was holding pasty puffy chubby court in the pastry area taking pictures with cute midwestern blondes, when he should have been supervising the food. pastries: bad, really bad. or the decor, bad, really bad. it sort of reminded me of otto, where they got the visuals just about almost right, then bought the cheapest, ugliest tables they could find and plopped them into the room with no regard for customer comfort or visual interest. eataly was just like that, a big ugly room filled with stuff plonked down wherever they could make it fit. there was no flow, no sense of visual excitement. and that bad pun, eataly, makes the writer in me want to slash my wrists. how do you say hooker in eatalian?
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Market Table
54 Carmine Street, New York, NY 10014
Eataly
200 5th Ave, New York, NY 10010
Eataly NYC
we stopped by eataly after a fab dinner at the breslin. it was packed with people and, if such things are important to you, mario batali was actually behind the pastry counter holding court.
i'm a designer and visuals are important to me, and i gotta tell you, this place missed the mark. it was poorly laid out, not at all pretty and might as well have had a sign posted above the door, "my name is mario batali and i'm doing this because i'm a bit of a whore and want to secure my financial future."
if you are the kind of person who thinks disneyland is a fantastic vacation, by all means, run to eataly. me, i'll pass.
a month of eating in new york. i'm stuffed and have some opnions
i live in la, but took an apartment in union square for a month. my once washboard stomach is now a bit jiggly, but i've eaten a lot and would love to share what i've learned. in no particular order:
momofuku ain't as good as it used to be. last night, my friend and i both left our tough glop of ginger noodles practically untouched in their bowls. they were impossible to eat, like a pound of lead, and the waitress, who tried to pick up what she thought were empty dishes about five times, never asked why neither of us touched what we'd ordered.
casa mono. ok, the place was a little cramped and the single man sitting at the tapas bar next to my date and i stared at me all night and the waiter was a bit odd, but the food was spectacular. we had goat and duck egg and rabbit and a delicious bottle of something bubbly and i loved every single bite.
the breslin. i had to laugh when my date, tattooed with full sleeves and wearing a tee shirt asked me if he was dressed appropriately for the breslin. sweetie, i said, i'm going to have a hard time finding you in the crowd. that said, it is a young place. the drinks are fantastic and surprisingly potent. skip the caramel corn bar snack, the caramel isn't caramelized, it is just coked crystalline sugar on popcorn, and a real miss. however, the rest was spectacular. as i said above, i live in LA and until this night, had not had a french fry in twenty years, but i couldn't resist the ones served with our delicious lamb burger. the pork belly was amazing, crisp and rich and, well, salty, as is everything here, so if that scares you, you might want to pass.
cookshop. you gotta love this place. sure, the bar often filled with highline visiting midwestern tourists with prim haircuts and stretchy pants, but the food is simple, good and the crowd is a perfect mix of gay, straight, neighborhood and visitors. it is hard to make a turkey sandwich worthy of a talk on a food board, but i loved mine here enough to rave.
popsicles at brooklyn flea and chelsea market. yum. small, but yum.
dbgb. ehhh. boring bar scene. weird two person upholstered bar benches. personally, i think it is unfair to ask a customer sausage or no sausage when they order pasta and not mention it nearly doubles the price. food was fine, but my visit was tortured when the couple next to me at the bar stared like they'd never scene a woman eating alone before.
shopsins. yea, so we almost got kicked out for approaching the waitress too quickly. we were asked if we were in a hurry and sent back to the lobby to cool our heels. food was fine, but my date, who is a street smart new yorker gasped when the bill came. we still laugh about our sixty dollar pancakes. were they good? in an amusing disney land sort of way, but sixty bucks worth. nahh.
russ and daughters. in the case in the back, hidden behind all the stuff people come here for, they sell baked fruit filled farmer's cheese. buy some. it is that good.
xian xian. loved the noodles. portion way too big for me and i was embarrassed to have to throw more than half my plate away. get the salad with peppers celery and cilantro. it was nice.
milk bar. the guy i dated the whole time i was here buys two pieces of crack pie at a time. as for me, let's just say the young man behind the counter knows me by now. and i wouldn't eat bbq flavored ice cream again if you paid me. but, that creamed corn, yum. potato chip, a bit more of an acquired taste. but all roads lead to milk bar, don't they?
chikalicious. personally, i think she serves the best soft serve in the world, however my caramel loving date insisted on a caramel macarron and it was gritty and sad. stick to cupcakes at the cafe, or the lovely cheesecake across the street at the restaurant and save your meringue calories for the real thing a paris.
num pang, or something like that, a little banh mi joint on 12th street. when i lived in the east village in the heroin filled eighies, you couldn't walk east of avenue a without walking by the impromptu shopfronts where junkies scored their drugs. this place, in the nicest sort of way, reminds me of that: an easy to pass by storefront with a paper menu and little else to tell you what treats lie within. when your sandwich is done, no substitutions please, you grab you little silver tray and crawl up a difficult circular stair to a room art directed to look a bit like a car repair shop unearthed from a time capsule. base-y music blares and there is a repeating pattern of chickens painted on the wired windows. the cute clerk has kept count of how many times i've been there, and announces it loudly when i step up to the window. i love this place.
republic. say you are really hungry, don't have a lot of money to spend and are craving asian food. don't go here. the food sucks, the room is loud, and the bathroom is down a really steep flight of steps.
whole foods. really, why do twenty somethings stand in 200 people deep to buy a fifteen dollar salad that has no taste, when, in any direction, there are dozens of restaurants where, for less, they could have someone wait on them and actually enjoy their meal. however, the two dollar breakfast oatmeal is the best deal in town.
the spotted pig. why oh why do waiters have to be so indifferent. personally, i'd prefer mean and surly to i'm going to play on my blackberry and ignore you. the spectacular burger and mountain of fries made up for the lack of personality fireworks. and the grilled cheese has officially replaced gluttony on the world's list of deadly sins. i was full for two days after this place.
barbuto. yea, it has been around forever and, yea, it has the famous chef who is probably in the kitchen but a tiny fraction of the week and, yea, sometimes the amazing chicken isn't quite as amazing as others, but i gotta hand it to this place. despite being a tourist draw, it is full of neighborhood regulars who seem to stop by for a bite after a long hard day making lots of money doing something that sounds more interesting after a couple glasses of wine. i loved sitting at the bar, mostly because i've met some incredible people here, including the above mentioned tatt guy. no one rushes you, wine glasses sometimes get mysteriously topped off, the food is really good in a solid, no surprises, gotta say it, california kind of way. no fireworks in the kitchen here. just solid food that really tastes good, lots of people having lots of fun. and a great place to go if you don't know anyone in town and are aching for a quality conversation.
please help me eat during a month in new york
randomly, i ended up at num pang and loved it. my rule for this trip was supposed to be, one restaurant, one time, but i'm on visit number six to num pang and, except for really tough brisket one time, it has been lovely. bonus,the sweet clerk, fresh off the boat from florida, remembers me each time and announces in a loud voice, "this is your _______ time here."
Good Bar Scenes for People over 40.
although i live in los angeles and, as a friend tells me, reek of LA, i'm just finishing up a month in new york and after eating and drinking myself silly, i fancy myself a mini-expert on the subject.
first, no matter how good and affordable the food is, skip otto; it feels like a frat party fast forwarded about five years and, well, yuck. dbgb had promise, but both times i went, the bar was full of tourists and the benches for two are weird if you are alone. really, who is going to walk up and sit on a squishy upholstered stool with a stranger? They really lost me when I ordered pasta and the bartender asked if i wanted it with or without sausage neglecting to mention the three slices of meat would nearly double the price. not nice. if you are looking for a mixed crowd and a small bar, try cookshop. it is very neighborhoody, though full of midwestern tourists during the day, and quite a friendly place. The place is buzzy and fun and full of quirky regulars, random celebrities.
A client took me to the one place i return over and over, Barbuto, sort of an upscale cheers with really good food. During the day, I hear it is tourist city, but at night, the bar is full of neighborhood regulars stopping in for a meal and a drink. More than once, more than twice, I saw lone guests strike up conversations with the person in the stool next to them and just as many times, watched those conversations stretch long into the night.
Regulars get treated well and it isn't unusual for little gifts of food to arrive just because. Beware, Barbuto doesn't serve the cheapest glass of wine in town, but the place is comfortable, really comfortable, the food fantastic in a homesy folksy kind of way and the service is attentive without being annoying. The place can get loud, but I've never not had a grand time there.
Good Bar Scenes for People over 40.
you must not be over 40 if you don't see it a question of age. My point was that I'm looking for places with interesting food where there might be people my age, too. It just isn't that fun to eat dinner in a sea of people who don't even notice you are alive.
Good Bar Scenes for People over 40.
dear thew.
i, too, am 50 (yikes) but don't like places fifty years old are supposed to like. generally, when i show up at a restaurant or bar that interest me, everyone is half my age. you seem like the perfect person to ask this question:
i am in new york for a month, pretending to not be from la, and i'm looking for places, bars and restaurants that are current, extraordinary, hip, and, here's the catch, have other hipster middle aged patrons, but not tourists and not creepy old men.
to give you an idea of my tastes, my meal at tailor several years ago was one of the most memorable of my life but i hate wd50, could eat the pork chop rice at baoguette all day, got a stomach ache from porchetta, but still go back for more, and never miss soft serve at milk, though i prefer chickalicious.
any advice would be welcome.
