David Burke Kitchen
Sadly, last night's dinner brought restaurant week to a close for me and my sister. Our last dining location was at David Burke Kitchen, which we had been to for brunch in the past but never for dinner. We looked at the menu online and were excited about some of the offerings, and were just hopeful that we would have a better experience at this David Burke restaurant than we did at Townhouse.
We had a reservation for 6:30 and it was already packed when we got there! We got seated right away since we did have a reservation, but our designated table left a little to be desired. Since they try to use every inch of space that they can for a table, some of them are very close to one another. There was probably about 3-4 inches of space separating our table from the table next to us, but luckily they were rather quiet so it wasn't too much of a bother.
This was another restaurant that offered their entire menu for restaurant week, which shows that they really capture the spirit of the event (again, there were a select few options that required a small supplement, but not many). For the appetizer, I chose to keep it simple and ordered their simple salad. The other option that I considered was the burrata, watermelon, and asparagus salad, which I ultimately did not order because it comes with proscuitto, which I don't care for. My sister ordered the lobster dumpling soup instead of her usual pretzel crusted crab cake (which is a staple at the David Burke restaurants) because the crab cake requires a small supplement and she wanted to try something new.
There isn't really too much that I can say about the salad except that you get exactly what it says-- a simple salad. It comes with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, fennel, and supposedly onion (but I unfortunately did not taste any), and it is served in a mustard vinaigrette. Even though it was a very basic salad, I did like it. The dressing was really nice, and it was a light way to start the meal. But, it was a bit large and after a while it just got kind of boring. Also, there was a bit too much dressing for my taste, but overall it was a good salad. My sister said her lobster dumpling soup was really nice and was exactly what she was craving. When it came to the table, it was just a bowl with 2 lobster dumplings so we were a little confused. Then, we saw that there was a pot of hot broth over a flame and the waitress brought that to the table and poured it over the dumplings. It was a very light, seafood based broth, which she really enjoyed. Overall, she said this dish was a winner.
The main course here is really what I was looking forward to the most. When we did our preliminary look through of the menu online, I was intrigued by the short rib. I have never ordered short rib in a restaurant before, but something about it peaked my interest. My sister was in agreement, and we both decided to order the short rib as our main course. It came glazed in a peach bbq sauce with 2 cooked peaches on top in addition to some chopped veggies, and served over aged cheddar mac and cheese, peas, and some crispy onions on the outside border.
My first test of the short rib was to put my fork into it and see if i could rip off a piece without a knife, to see if it was tender like it should be. It passed the test by a landslide, and I was very excited to try my first bite. The meat was extremely tender and flavorful, and the bbq sauce put it over the top. The mac and cheese on the bottom also did not disappoint. I mixed it with the crispy onions so that it had a nice crunch to it in addition to the peas. I really liked that the portion of mac and cheese with this dish was on the smaller side so you didn't end up eating too much of it, as opposed to at David Burke Townhouse where it covered half of the plate. Every aspect of the dish was perfect, and all the components worked really well together. My sister loved the short rib as well, and almost cleared the plate! I should also mention that I was taking note of the various dishes that passed by me and went to other tables, and the short rib was the most popular dish by far. If every short rib is like theirs was, I will definitely order it more often in restaurants!
The last course, which usually is my favorite, was the dessert. I opted for the caramel chocolate tart, and my sister got the passion fruit meringue pie.
When ordering it, I forgot to ask for them to omit the raspberry sherbet because there is nothing that I hate more than mixing raspberry with my chocolate dessert. Luckily, it hadn't melted yet when it came to the table so I was able to easily push it off the plate without tainting the tart. The pie shell itself was a bit thick for my liking, and I would've preferred that it had been a little easier to cut into. The first bite wasn't the best because it mainly consisted of the shell, but once I got towards the middle it got a lot better. The chocolate was super rich and decadent, and the caramel layer underneath the chocolate paired really nicely with it. I honestly would've been happy if there was no shell at all because I mostly ended up just scooping out the chocolate and caramel. The tart was also rather large, so I had to control myself and not finish it. My sister wasn't too happy with the passion fruit meringue pie, but it was mainly because it didn't satisfy what she was craving. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't worth the calories to her.
Not only was the food here much better than at Townhouse, but the service was far superior. I would even say that it was a bit too quick. Our appetizers came out within 5 minutes of ordering, and each course thereafter came out within 5-10 mins of our plates being cleared. We are generally quick eaters and enjoy being in and out of a restaurant within an hour, but most people would probably think it was too quick. It was very crowded so I'm sure they were trying to turn tables over quickly, especially since people flock here to take advantage of the restaurant week menu. If they could find a balance between the slow and inconsistent service at Townhouse and the almost too quick service at Kitchen, it would be perfect.
If you are looking to go to one of David Burke's restaurants, I would definitely recommend coming here over Townhouse even though the location is a little more inconvenient. The food and service were far superior to our last David Burke restaurant experience, and the short rib stood out in my mind as the star of the evening.
August 8, 2013
Lavo
Tonight was one of the rare occasions where me, my sister, and mom were able to get together with my aunt and grandparents to have dinner all together. It had been a while and we were celebrating my aunt's birthday, so I had to make sure that I picked a good place. We usually tend to stick to the same few restaurants and I wanted to get everyone to try a new place, so I did my due diligence and researched a bunch of restaurants. Everyone has their own different specifications that they need in a restaurant, so I tried to do my best to make sure that I picked a place with great food in a convenient location. Ultimately, I decided upon Lavo which is an Italian Restaurant in Midtown East that also has a famous nightclub below it.
I made a reservation for 6 people with no problem, but I had to give a credit card number I guess because they tend to get busy and want to make sure you will actually show up. I had only been here once for lunch during restaurant week last year, but I figured it was a good choice because they have a huge menu and are in a convenient location.
When you first walk into the restaurant, it is definitely a bit overwhelming. The bar is right near the entrance and when we got there at 6:30 is was already packed with people in business suits. Not only that, but the music was blasting and I was starting to sweat worrying that I may have made a huge mistake with the restaurant choice. However, the main dining room is a bit further than the bar and the music is much more faint, so don't let the bar area in the front overwhelm and frighten you. The restaurant itself is pretty big and had the decor of a classic old italian steakhouse. Since it tends to get crowded, the tables were all pretty close to one another so prepare to have your chair bumped into a few times throughout the night.
As I said earlier, the menu is huge and they have tons of great options to choose from. For the appetizers, they have a great range from italian classics like caesar salad, minestrone soup, and tomato mozzarella, to more interesting options like tuna tartare, kobe rice balls, and a meatball appetizer. The main courses also have a great variety as well. They had a bunch of different pastas, pizzas, chicken dishes, fish, and steak, in addition to a lot of options for side dishes. It is perfect for a large group because there is definitely something here for everyone. For the appetizer, I opted for the caesar salad and the other dishes ordered at the table were the beet salad, tomato mozzarella, and vegetable minestrone soup. After you order, they bring complimentary garlic bread with marinara dipping sauce to the table which was delicious and the perfect way to start the meal.
Even though we did all order our own appetizers, the salads can definitely be shared. The caesar salad was really delicious and one of my favorites that I have had. There was just enough dressing on it without being too heavy, and there was fresh shaved parmesan cheese on top which I loved. I couldn't finish it because it was so big, but it was a great start to the meal. I also tried the beet salad, which I thought was delicious because I love beets, and the vegetable minestrone soup which tasted very light, fresh, and flavorful.
For the main course, I had a really hard time deciding because there were so many great options on the menu. I narrowed it down to the penne alla vodka and spaghetti and kobe meatballs, but since they are known for their kobe meatballs my sister and I decided to share that as a main course since we figured the portion would be big enough.
When the dish came to the table, we were very happy that we decided to share because the portion was once again very generous! Neither of us really like ricotta cheese, so we pushed that off to the side and then were ready to eat. The kobe meatballs were super juicy and tender and had a great flavor to them. The spaghetti itself was served in a tomato/bolognese style sauce and it was delicious. We split the dish and still had some left over because it was so filling! It did not go to waste, however, as we passed it on to our grandpa who gladly finished it for us. The other dish that got rave reviews at the table was the tuna main course that my grandma ordered. Again, I do not eat fish so I did not personally try it but she loved the dish overall.
Of course, a meal is never complete in our family until you see the dessert menus, and their menu definitely stood out to me. Usually it is a pretty easy choice for me because I pick the one chocolate dessert, but they had 3 different chocolate desserts in addition to oreo zeppoles! My sister and I were once again sharing, so we narrowed it down to the dark chocolate bread pudding and the oreo zeppole. The bread pudding said it came with butter croissants, dulce de leche, chocolate sauce, and a few other components which made it seem delicious yet also overwhelming. Since we were pretty stuffed already and at a table with 4 other people, we decided to order the oreo zeppole because it came with 6 oreos which made it easy to share and also easy to control the consumption quantity.
The dessert was so rich and awesome. It was basically like a donut with an oreo on the inside, and you can't really get much better than that. On the side, there is a little vanilla malt shake which pairs really nicely with the oreo and is reminiscent of cookies and milk. You can't find any dessert like this at any other nice restaurant in the city, so that made it much more special and unique. This is a great dessert to order when you are with a few people because it is a very satisfying and you can easily share it and control your portion size. While we were eating, I also saw there 20 layer chocolate cake go by (no, that was not a typo, it is 20 layers!) and that looked sinful.
Overall, the food here was delicious across the board and we barely had any plates left with food on them by the end of the meal. Yes, it is on the expensive side but the portions are very generous which makes it easy to share with others, and the quality of the food is worth the money. Each course did not disappoint, and every one of the six of us was satisfied with what we ordered. Even though the restaurant got packed and every table was full by around 7, the service was great and moved at a nice pace. Lavo is mainly known for the notorious crowd that it attracts and for the nightclub, but it is also a fantastic restaurant. While it gets very loud and you may have to strain your voice a bit just to have a conversation with the people at your table, it is a great italian steakhouse. The evening was filled with great service, delicious food, and lots of laughs and great memories with my family! You can't get much better than that!
August 4, 2013
Riverpark
Tonight was our third restaurant week outing, and our chosen destination was Riverpark. My sister and I went there during winter restaurant week and really enjoyed it, so I was excited to return. The location is a little isolated, but luckily it is within walking distance of my apartment so it was easy to get there. It is located right on the east river and they have some outdoor seating, which was great because the weather tonight was beautiful and breezy. The ambiance inside was also really nice, but it is hard to pass up a table outside when the weather is as nice as it was tonight.
Just like David Burke and Telepan, they offered their whole menu for restaurant week and had just a few select dishes that required supplements. There was a great selection of appetizers to choose from, and they had a few pasta dishes that you could choose to be either an appetizer or a main course. I usually tend to order a regular salad as my appetizer, but I decided to be a little more adventurous and I opted for one of the pasta dishes. There were a few that looked good, but I got the Bigoli pasta which came in a light tomato sauce with heirloom tomatoes, lemon verbena, and a light sprinkling of breadcrumbs on top. My sister got the avocado and hamachi salad which came highly recommended by the waiter, and my mom got the baby lettuces & greens salad.
The bigoli pasta was really fresh and delicious! The pasta itself was pretty thick and al dente, but I liked that it had a nice bite to it. The sauce was really light and had a nice tomato flavor, but the cooked heirloom tomatoes were the best part. They were really juicy and tasted local and fresh. The lemon verbena also added a nice touch to the dish because it had an interesting and distinct flavor that paired well with the pasta and the sauce. My sister really liked the avocado and himachi salad, and my mom thought that the salad was ok but nothing special so she didn't really eat much of it.
For the main course, I went with my usual dish of choice, the grilled chicken. For people with a more adventurous palate, they offered a really diverse range of dishes including rabbit, scallops, trout, lamb, steak, and pork chop to name a few. My sister ordered the scallops, again based on the recommendation from the waiter, and my mom got the pork chop which the waiter said was their signature dish.
The grilled chicken was cooked perfectly, and was moist and delicious. It came with some roasted tomatoes, which again were one of the highlights of the dish, in addition to freekeh and a delicious sauce. Even though I loved the dish, I actually liked my mom's pork chop even better (which is weird because I NEVER order pork chop). It came with collard greens, grilled peaches, sauteed onions, and was topped with the best part of the entire meal--candied barbecue pork belly, which tasted like deliciously sweet pulled pork. I had never had a pork chop before, but I tried a bite and it tasted like a spare rib and was actually really good. The sauce that it came in was also delicious and paired nicely with the pork. The collard greens were way too spicy for my taste, but the grilled peaches were a really nice touch. But, like I said before, the best part of the meal was the candied pork belly on top. At first we weren't sure what it was, but after I took the bite I just knew that it tasted like the best pulled pork I had ever had. When the waiter told us that it was candied, it sounded even better. Since this is their signature dish, I am hopeful that it will still be on the menu for the next time that I come back and I will definitely order it. But, to be honest, my sister and I both agreed that we would be happy to just order a bowl of the candied barbecued pork belly (which they don't offer) and be perfectly happy. My sister also really enjoyed her scallops dish, and even though it was a slight supplement to the restaurant week menu she said it was worth it.
When the dessert menus came, we were a little disappointed because they had an upside down banana cake listed on their online menu that is not actually offered in the restaurant. Since this was what we had planned on getting, we were a little sad but we each easily found something else to order. My sister opted for the cheesecake which came with cherry ice cream, brandied cherries, and crushed graham cracker, my mom got the raspberry and white peach-hibiscus sorbet, and I got the chocolate mousse which had a liquid chocolate center and came with chai ice cream (but I asked for them to leave it out because I really don't understand the pairing of chocolate desserts with tea flavored ice cream) and chocolate whipped cream.
Even though I am a chocolate lover, chocolate mousse is not generally my dessert of choice. I usually only order it if it is a chocolate mousse cake, otherwise I always opt for a different cake option since I much prefer cake to mousse. But, since the chocolate mousse was the only chocolate dessert on the menu, and it said it had a liquid chocolate center, I decided to order it. I was pleasantly surprised by the dessert, and really enjoyed it. The mousse was very light and fluffy, but it still had a strong bittersweet chocolate flavor. The liquid chocolate center made it stand out since I have never seen that before with a chocolate mousse. Overall, it was a good dessert but it was not my favorite that I have had. I was satisfied with it, but I was able to only eat half and did not feel tempted to finish it(normally if I love a dessert I finish every last bite). My sister loved the cheesecake (she cleared the plate) and the sorbets were also great and refreshing.
This dining experience at Riverpark was great, and even better than the first time we had been there. It was nice to be able to sit outside on the beautiful summer night and enjoy the breeze coming from the east river. The food was delicious, the service was pretty good overall (not amazing, but not bad either), and the company was the best. The two standout dishes in my mind were the bigoli pasta and the pork chop (mainly because of the candied pork and the grilled peaches) so I highly recommend both of those. Even though the location is a bit off the beaten path, it is nice to temporarily escape from the bustling streets of NYC and have a great meal on the water.
July 29, 2013
Telepan
Tonight was part two of our restaurant week escapades, and our stop was Telepan, a farm to table inspired restaurant on the Upper West Side. We always try to go to at least one new place, and my sister chose this as our new place since she had read great things about it. For some reason I thought it was an italian restaurant at first, but it is American inspired and focused on fresh ingredients.
They really embraced the whole spirit of restaurant week here, and offered pretty much all of their menu options. For the three courses, you have the option of choosing three savory courses or two savory courses and a dessert, but everyone at the table has to agree on which option to choose. So, if you are going with a bigger party it may be a bit difficult for everyone to agree, but since it was just my sister we easily settled on the dessert option. For the appetizer, I chose the seasonal salad and my sister chose the smoked trout appetizer, which was a $3 supplement but it is one of their most popular dishes.
The salad was really light and fresh, and had a very interesting combination of flavors. It looks like a simple salad upon first glance, but there was a very unique blend of lettuces, spices, and vegetables with a light coating of lemon dressing. I definitely tasted some licorice which I was not expecting, and there was some corn and radishes as well. There were a few more things that I was unable to identify, but it was all delicious. My sister really enjoyed her smoked trout appetizer, and said that it got even better after a few bites. I should also mention that before the appetizers came, the waiter came over with a large bread basket and you were able to choose from 4 different types of bread. I chose one that had a lot of seeds on it, and it was good but I only ate half to save room. The waiter also brought an amuse bouche to the table, which was four little cheese puffs. This was a nice little touch, and was a really great way to start the meal.
For the main course, I got the roast chicken (which is my standard dish of choice in most restaurants), and it came with some egg pasta and roasted mushrooms. My sister had a harder time choosing what to order because there were a few things she wanted, but she ultimately settled on the burrata mezzaluna with veal meatballs.
The chicken was really delicious, and was cooked perfectly. It was served over a nice sauce with egg pasta, mushrooms, some spinach, and something that was crunchy (but I couldn't figure out what it was). The portion size was perfect and all of the components of the dish worked great together. The burrata mezzaluna was also great. The mezzaluna were pretty thin so they weren't overly stuffed, but the cheese on the inside was still super creamy and came oozing out when you cut into it. I didn't try any of the meatballs because I don't eat veal, but my sister said they were really good (which is evidenced in the fact that the plate was cleared).
Both of my courses felt light and fresh, so I was definitely ready for the dessert course! For me, the choice was a no brainer and I ordered the S'more. I used to go to sleepaway camp over the summer, so having s'mores was always a summer staple for me. When I saw it on the menu, I got really excited because it felt like a much more decadent way to enjoy the classic treat.
The presentation of this was spot on, and the taste definitely lived up to the hype. This dish had every component of a s'more that makes it so good, but it was elevated to an even higher level. The bottom was a dark chocolate brownie, then a layer of fluffy marshmallow with crushed graham cracker around the border, then graham cracker chocolate chip ice cream, and finally a dark chocolate square to top if off. The plate was also surrounded with dollops of toasted marshmallow and dark chocolate ganache, which not only made it look prettier but it made it taste better. Every aspect of the dessert was perfect, and it was just what I had been craving. The brownie was really chocolatey and rich, the marshmallow was super sweet and fluffy, and the ice cream actually tasted like graham crackers! I finished this whole thing up, and did not look back for a second! My sister got the cheesecake sundae as her dessert, and while it was good it did not live up to her expectations. It was basically a parfait of cheesecake ice cream and blueberry sorbet with crushed graham crackers on the bottom, which she said was fine except for the fact that she was expecting actual cheesecake and felt a little duped.
As opposed to our last restaurant week experience, we left feeling satisfied with the food and the service. The servers at Telepan were much more friendly and attentive, and all of our courses came out pretty quickly. Even though it was really crowded, they did not seem overwhelmed by it and I still felt like they paid personal attention to each table. When they brought the check, they also gave us two little coconut macaroons. I waited to eat mine since I was stuffed, but this really reinforced their attention to detail and focus on good service. This was a great restaurant week experience, and even though I am usually weary of trying new places, this one passed the test!
July 27, 2013
TBar Steak & Lounge
Tonight, my sister and I got the nice treat of going out to dinner with our Grandparents. There are one or two restaurants that are on our usual list of places that we go to, but my sister decided to suggest TBar to change things up a bit for tonight. TBar is a great American restaurant/lounge on the Upper East Side that we used to go to a lot, but I hadn't been there in a while.
Since I have last gone, the menu has changed a bit but the main staples have remained the same. I used to always get the caesar salad which was great, but that has since been removed from the menu. Instead, they added a bunch of new salads that sound really interesting, like the Kale & Apple Salad and the Watermelon & Feta Salad. These all sounded great, but to start I decided on the Vegetable Summer Rolls, which come with some carrots, mushrooms, lettuce and soba noodles inside a very thin rice paper wrap with some hoisin sauce on the side.
These rolls were really delicious and light, so it was a great way to start the meal. The wrapper is very thin so it does not overwhelm the taste of the vegetables and noodles on the inside, and the hoisin sauce added nice flavor. My grandma got these to start too and she really liked them as well. My grandpa got the tomato and burrata salad which looked delicious, and my sister got the half dozen oysters which she really enjoyed.
The options for the main course range from chicken, steak, and pasta, to fish, burgers, and pizza, so there really is something for everyone. Even with the diverse menu offerings, I always get the same thing here: The Natural Amish Turkey Burger. It is a turkey burger that is filled with spinach and cheese (in the center!) and is topped with caramelized onions, and it never disappoints. On the side you can either get a salad or fries, but to me it seems like a waste to get a salad. If you are going for it and get the burger, you might as well complete the meal and get the fries.
First off, I love the presentation of the dish. The fries come in a cool take-out container, and the burger is stacked nice and tall. I always cut the burger in half because I like to see what the center looks like, and it is too big for me to eat the whole thing. Inside, there is a very generous amount of spinach and some cheese to add some creaminess to it. The whole combination of the turkey with the spinach, cheese, caramelized onion, and ketchup is spot on and makes it such a treat. The fries are also really great and have the perfect balance of saltiness and crispiness. We also got a side of roasted carrots for the table, and while it may seem like carrots are just a distraction, they were roasted perfectly and had tons of flavor.
After the main course we were all really full, but made the mistake of looking at the dessert menu and obviously had to order something. Their parfaits and sundaes are what they are most known for here, and I have previously tried each one of their offerings. They have the strawberry sundae, which is layers of strawberries, meringue, cream, and shortcake in a huge bowl, the chocolate sundae, which is layers of brownie, chocolate sauce, and ice cream in a huge bowl, and the banana parfait, which is layers of waffle cone, vanilla ice cream, caramel, coconut, and caramelized bananas. They all are huge servings, and can easily be shared with at least three other people. While I am a true chocolate lover at heart and love brownie sundaes, the banana sundae was the one we settled on for tonight. They actually offered a smaller version, which we got for the table instead of the larger one which they say serves 2-3 people, but in reality the smaller one serves 2-3 and the large one can serve probably 4 or 5.
This dessert was so sweet and delicious that my sister and I somehow managed to finish it even though we could not breathe because we were so full. The best part was the caramelized banana layer on top, but it was extra good when combined with the vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. This was a perfect way to end the meal, and highly recommended for anyone who loves banana and caramel.
While we had taken a hiatus from TBar for the past few months, I think it has officially been put back on the rotation. All of the appetizers, main courses, sides, and desserts were delicious, and even the bread basket was great (it came with olive bread, which, as I previously established, automatically gives a restaurant 5 stars in my book). Our evening was filled with great company and great food, and you can't really ask for much more than that!
July 22, 2013
David Burke Townhouse
Today was the official start of Restaurant Week in the city, which is one of my favorite times of the summer! It is a great deal because you get to go to really nice (generally expensive) restaurants and have a 3 course meal for only $38 (lunch is $25). Each restaurant differs, but most of them have great options for each course, and the portion size remains the same but the price is just significantly less. My sister and I always take advantage of restaurant week, and try to go to as many different restaurants as our wallets and stomachs will allow. We generally choose places that we haven't been to before, but David Burke Townhouse is our annual tradition and is always on the list. So, to kick off the month long restaurant week, we decided to go to David Burke Townhouse.
When you sit at the table, each person gets their own mini bread basket which I appreciate as a carb-o-holic. It has an olive roll, popover of some sort, mini baguette, and some scattered raw vegetables in the basket. I also love olives, so whenever a restaurant serves olive rolls I am sold, and their's did not disappoint. It is hard to control myself when presented with that many bread options, but I only allowed myself to eat the olive roll since I had to save room for the other courses.
What I love about the David Burke restaurants is that they pretty much offer their whole menu (with the exception of a few dishes that require supplements) as part of restaurant week, as opposed to just 2 or 3 select dishes for each course like most other restaurants. This gives you a lot of great options to choose from and you don't feel limited by the menu. For the appetizer, I chose the beet salad that came with some goat cheese, and my sister got the tomato gazpacho with crab meat and avocado.
I really enjoyed the beet salad, as it was very light and fresh. I mean, it is pretty hard to go wrong with a beet salad since it is basically just roasted beets, lettuce and a light dressing, but I enjoyed the dish. My sister also really liked her gazpacho as it was a very light appetizer with great flavor.
For the main course, I was super excited about the chicken dish. It was crispy chicken "under a salt brick," (which i'm assuming is just how it was cooked) and it came with broccolini and truffle mac and cheese. I generally always order chicken, but the truffle mac and cheese was the selling point for me.
The chicken on its own was pretty ordinary, since it did not come with any sauce or anything, but the sides made me love the dish. The truffle mac and cheese was super creamy and cheesy, and seeing that I never really eat mac and cheese I appreciated it that much more. The broccolini was also delicious, and was grilled really nicely. I was expecting the dish to come with a small side of the mac and cheese, but they give you a HUGE serving of it. While it was hard to control myself, I wouldn't allow myself to eat all of it. To me, the standouts of the dish were the truffle mac and cheese and the broccolini, and the chicken was just a side note. My sister got the scallops, and was a bit disappointed. She is not good with spice, and the dish had a lot of red pepper flakes on it so she was struggling with the spice level. It also came with just 2 1/2 scallops, which is a very small portion even for a fancy restaurant.
For dessert, I got the chocolate caramel bar and my sister got the passion fruit trifle. The chocolate caramel bar was really chocolatey and delicious. It wasn't too large, so I didn't feel too guilty about eating the whole thing, and it was mainly mousse so it felt very light and fluffy. What I didn't like so much was the side of earl grey ice cream that it came with. It seemed like a very strange combination and it had a weird taste to it. The good part was that it stopped me from eating the ice cream, but I was a little disappointed with the flavor choice. I also didn't really notice any caramel except for the sauce decoration on the plate, but it was still really good. My sister really enjoyed her passion fruit trifle, and compared it to a deconstructed macaron.
Overall, I really enjoyed my food. My sister was disappointed with her scallops dish and said that this was probably her least favorite visit, but she would still return. I would also be doing everyone a disservice if I did not comment on their poor service. After we sat down, they took our order pretty quickly and the waiter made it seem like they were going to be swamped, so I figured that our food would come out very quickly. The appetizers came out super quick, probably within 5-10 minutes of ordering. Then, there was at least a 30 minute lag time between when they cleared our plates and when they brought the main course. I normally wouldn't mind waiting a little for the main course, but I would've rather the appetizer come out later so that there wasn't as much wait time between courses. Also, between our appetizer and main course our original waiter disappeared and someone else took over the area where we were sitting, and he never came over to let us know that a switch was being made. While we were eating the main course, not once did the waiter come over to ask how the food was, which seemed a little strange to me since this is such a nice restaurant. After the main course, we again had a bit of a wait until the desserts came out. In fact, the table next to us (who ordered after us and had all of their dishes come out after us) got their dessert about 5-10 minutes before us. Once the desserts came to the table, again no one came over to see if everything was good. Then, when I asked for the check, it was to a third waitress who had taken over the area where we were sitting yet again.
Since we had been here before, we remembered that you get a little box of chocolates with the check, and I even saw that the table next to us got them. However, when they brought us the check we did not get anything. When my sister asked, the waitress said she had to go check, which seemed very odd since everyone else had gotten them.
I understand that things tend to get hectic during restaurant week, but that doesn't really excuse poor service in a restaurant of this caliber. The service we received at our past visits was far superior, so I can only take it to mean that this visit was a fluke. Since it is our annual tradition to go to David Burke Townhouse during restaurant week, I'm sure we will return (especially since I really like the food as well), but we were just a little disappointed with our experience during this visit.
July 13, 2013
Dos Caminos
I never used to be a huge fan of Mexican food, but throughout the years I have grown to love it. And, something about summer always makes me crave it, so I have been dying to go to Dos Caminos for weeks. Finally I got to go for dinner today, and it really hit the spot.
I went to the one on Park Ave and 26th street because that is the closest one to me, but there are a few locations throughout NYC to choose from. If you check in on Yelp when you get there, you get a free prickly pear shot. The prickly pear is one of their specialty frozen margaritas, and the shot was perfect because my sister was able to taste it before committing to the whole drink. It had a nice fruity sweetness to it, but was also very strong, and she ended up ordering the margarita.
When the waiter brought over our menus, he promptly asked if we would like some guacamole for the table. It would really be a crime to go to Dos Caminos and not get their guacamole, so we got a small order (mild, because neither my sister nor I are good with spice). Before the guacamole comes to the table, you get a big bowl of chips and three different salsas with various spice degrees. I tried the mild one because I new I could not handle anything more spicy, and it was very good. But, I didn't want to eat too many chips because I wanted to save them for the guacamole, so I held out until the guac came to the table.
The picture shows the bowl of guacamole after I had taken some out, so it comes with more than is shown. Even though it is on the pricey side, it is a very generous portion for two people. I generally don't like guacamole, but theirs is amazing because it is very fresh and creamy. It pairs perfectly with their homemade chips, and I could easily finish the whole bowl and call it a meal. But, I had to stop myself since the other menu items are delicious as well.
The menu is very large and they have a bunch of different classic options in addition to more unique things. I was intrigued by their plantain empanadas, which is in the bocaditos (starters) section of the menu. Since I didn't want to fully commit to getting an order of these and wanted to try some other bocaditos, I got the Bocadito Trio. The trio came with two plantain empanadas, two chicken taquitos (which is pulled chicken and sweet potato in a crispy corn tortilla), and two mexican city street quesadillas (corn masa turnovers stuffed with chicken, almonds, and salsa). While the tacos and some of the entrees sounded delicious to me, this seemed like a good way to be able to taste a few of their offerings. My sister chose to get the Dos Enchiladas, which is roasted chicken in corn tortillas with some cheese and a mole sauce and a salsa verde sauce.
The top photo is the Bocadito Trio and the bottom is the Dos Enchiladas. In the Bocadito Trio, the one on the left is the Mexican City Street Quesadilla, the middle is the Plantain Empanadas, and the right is the Chicken Taquitos. All of them were delicious, but the Chicken Taquitos were my absolute favorite. The combination of the chicken and the sweet potatoes, with the crispy corn shell was just great. I really liked the Mexican City Street Quesadilla as well, so I would recommend the two of those. Even though I was most looking forward to the plantain empanadas, those were my least favorite. They were too sweet and had a strange flavor to them, so I would not order those again. My sister loved her enchiladas, and I tried a bite so can confirm that they were delicious. She liked the enchilada in the tomatillo verde sauce the best, but the other sauce was really good as well.
When we were done, we were both very full but had to look at the dessert menu. We chose to order the Salted Caramel Tres Leches Cake, which has layers of caramel sauce, caramel cake, vanilla pudding, caramel crunch, and is topped with fresh strawberries.
I dont know if it was the strange lighting or my phone was just acting up, but I was not able to get a decent shot of the cake. So, try not to let the blurriness and low-resolution of the photo above fool you--this cake was absolutely AMAZING. The cake was sitting in a pool of sweet vanilla sauce, and all of the layers of the cake were outstanding. The thick caramel was super sweet and delicious, and went really well with the vanilla cake and the vanilla pudding. Each layer was better than the next, and my sister and I finished this in under two minutes.
I highly recommend coming to Dos Caminos for some great mexican food and a great experience. It is a very popular restaurant in the city and gets very crowded late on the weekends because they have great drinks and great food. If you come here, you must get the guacamole to start, and I highly recommend the Chicken Taquitos and the Dos Enchiladas. And, if you are a sweets person, you have to get the Caramel Tres Leches Cake. Even if you are full, just order it. After you take your first bite, that full feeling will magically disappear and you will find yourself shoveling down bite after bite of cake.
July 12, 2013
Aperitif
Friday night, to celebrate my Aunt's birthday, I braved the rain and went out to Long Island for dinner. We went to Aperitif, which is a really great French restaurant in Rockville Centre right in the heart of the town. It is one of my favorite restaurants in the area because they have a really diverse menu and the food is always great.
They have a really large bar area by the front, which is a good place to wait before you sit at your table. They also just expanded, so it is a pretty big restaurant, but it gets very crowded at night so you should make a reservation.
On the menu, they have French classics like Coq Au Vin and Bouillabaisse, in addition to small plates, a raw bar, steaks, and many other options. I ordered the chopped salad to start, which is tomatoes, romaine, cucumbers, onion, bell peppers, and avocado in a lemon dressing. For my main course, I got the Coq Au Vin, which I have had before and is one of my favorite chicken dishes. Their Filet Mignon Sliders are also really good, but I never order those I just tend to have a bite if someone else at the table gets them. My sister and dad's favorite item on the menu is the tuna tartare which comes with guacamole.
Even though the top photo doesn't do the chopped salad any justice, it is really good. It is not like a typical salad, since there is no lettuce, so it is basically just chopped up vegetables in a lemon dressing. My favorite part was the avocado (which is really the only reason I order it) so once I finish all the avocado I generally stop eating the salad. It is a very big bowl so after a while it gets a bit boring.
For the main course, the Coq Au Vin was delicious. It comes with a half chicken sitting in a pool of red wine sauce with some vegetables and a side of mashed potatoes. The chicken itself was cooked perfectly and was really tender. The red wine sauce pairs perfectly with the chicken and since there is a big pool of it on the bottom of the bowl, there is more than enough to coat the chicken with. While the mashed potatoes were good, there was nothing too special about them in my opinion. My sister got the bouillabaisse and really enjoyed it, and some other items ordered at the table were branzino, fried calamari, filet mignon, and steak tartare. Overall, everyone really enjoyed their dishes here.
The only thing that was lacking a bit was the service. Our waiter was very inattentive and seemed irritated and annoyed with us from the get go. Since I have been here before, I know that some of the other waiters are better, but there have been multiple visits where the service is not on par with the food. The Coq Au Vin here is delicious and I find myself constantly craving it, so they just need to work on their service and they would be a top restaurant in my book.
July 9, 2013
Clinton Street Baking Company
I have had a killer sweet tooth lately, and last night I got an overwhelming urge to have chocolate chip pancakes. I even considered making a batch late last night, but seeing as it was 9:30pm I figured that was not the best option. So, instead I spent the night thinking about chocolate chip pancakes and trying to figure out when I would be able to have them. Since I finished my summer class last week, my Tuesdays and Thursdays are now free so I decided that I would take the plunge and have chocolate chip pancakes for lunch today.
When you want pancakes in the city, you must go to Clinton Street Baking Company. I went there for the first time three years ago after reading about them incessantly online. Since pancakes are my favorite food, I had made it my mission to find the best pancakes, and kept seeing Clinton Street's blueberry pancakes pop up. I have never ordered blueberry pancakes because I don't like the tart flavor in my pancakes, so at first I was a little skeptical. They also have banana walnut and chocolate chip offerings, so I decided that I would go and try out one of those options. The first time that I went I chose to go for dinner because I had read about the crazy long waits, and the only pancakes offered at the time were blueberry. Since I had traveled all the way to the lower east side, I put my doubts aside and try the blueberry. They were so delicious and fluffy, that I chose to order the blueberry pancakes every time I went back, instead of my usual chocolate chip or banana. I even went here for my birthday dinner just to have the pancakes. While they are expensive for a stack of pancakes, they are SO worth it. With the exception of Thomas' Diner that I previously posted about (I have hometown loyalty to them) these are the BEST pancakes I have ever had.
Anyway, to get back on point, I knew that a visit to Clinton Street was the perfect way to satisfy my chocolate chip pancake craving. I even made sure to work out for an extra half hour this morning so that I could fully enjoy the pancakes without feeling the guilt. When I arrived at 1130 (on a Tuesday morning) there was a 35 minute wait for one person! While it is pretty small inside, it still goes to show you how good everything is here, because there are not many places that have that long of a wait on a weekday, and the location is pretty off the beaten path.
After waiting for about a half hour and dreaming of the pancakes, I finally got seated. I looked at the menu simply to see what else they had for future reference, but there is no way I could ever come here and not get the pancakes. I sat close to the kitchen, and I probably saw more than 10 stacks of blueberry pancakes leave the kitchen before I even ordered. While it is clearly the most popular dish and what they are famous for, they also supposedly have great eggs, biscuits, and actual lunch/dinner foods like fried chicken, in case you are going with someone who is not a huge pancake lover. I ordered pretty quickly, and after about 15 minutes my pancakes finally arrived.
Not only were there chocolate chips in the pancakes, but there was a huge pile of chocolate chunks on top of them! You really can't get much better than that. After I took my first bite, I was in pure bliss. The pancake on its own is amazing, and the chocolate just makes it that much better. All the pancakes here come with not maple syrup, but maple butter, which is basically a maple syrup/butter hybrid. While it is very good, it is very rich so I never really use too much of it, especially since the pancakes themselves are pretty rich. I would probably rather have maple syrup, but the maple butter is one of their signatures.
The best part of the pancakes is the mountain of chocolate chunks in the middle that get all melty from the heat of the pancake. It is so delicious and sweet, and puts every other chocolate chip pancake to shame. The chocolate chips were pretty concentrated in the center, so even though the outsides of the pancake were delicious, it was a bit disappointing that the chocolate wasn't more evenly distributed.
Since they are so sweet and decadent, I was only able to get through about 1 1/2. I, of course, was very strategic about it and ate the top pancake (the best one) and the center of the second most chocolatey one, leaving over the outsides and the third pancake. I could not let the pancakes go to waste, so I took the rest to go. I left feeling stuffed, yet happy that I satisfied my chocolate chip pancake craving.
In NYC, if you want a great stack of pancakes, you really must come to Clinton Street. There is a reason that they are on the top of every "Best of" list and have a 2 hour wait on the weekends. The pancakes are the stars in my eyes and are the best I ever had, but they also have a ton of other delicious breakfast offerings to appeal to everyone. They also sell baked goods that you can take home, like cakes, cookies, muffins and scones. I have had the banana chocolate chip muffin in the past and it is delicious, but I of course could not get one today since I made basically the same thing for breakfast! They also have "Pancake Month" in February where they feature a different specialty pancake every few days. I didn't get a chance to go this year, but when I went two years ago they had coconut pancakes with passion fruit syrup. Needless to say, they were heavenly.
If my rave review of the pancakes isn't enough, just go on Yelp and read all of the reviews and look through the 1,000 pictures, and I'm sure you will be convinced to pay them a visit!
July 4, 2013
Gotham Bar & Grill
One of the restaurants that I have wanted to try for a while is Gotham Bar & Grill. My sister had been there a few years back during restaurant week and she said that everything there was really good. Recently, we were reminded that we still had yet to go here, so I looked at the menu online (like I always do) to make sure that they had options for me since I am pretty picky. I noticed that there was a Greenmarket Price Fix Lunch Menu for $28, so I looked there first. There are three options each for an appetizer, main course, and dessert, so not only are there great options but it is an amazing deal. They only offer this deal during the week, so my sister and I had to plan out a time that we would both be free for lunch during the week, and we decided on July 4th.
We had a 12:00 reservation, which is when they open, and there were already a few people waiting. We got seated right away, and the first thing I noticed was the beautiful decor. It is very classic and elegant, and the lighting is really pretty as well. As we were looking at the menu, they came over and brought a warm sourdough roll which was delicious. I decided to order off of the greenmarket menu and got the strawberry and arugula salad and the slow cooked chicken. The menu was slightly different than the one online, but everything that I wanted was still on it so I was happy. My sister ordered off of the regular menu because she is a seafood/fish lover and there were many more options on the regular menu. After hearing the recommendations from the waiter, she got the seafood salad and the miso glazed cod. The only thing that was a little misleading was that online it says the 3 course price fix is $28, when really it is $28 for the appetizer and main course, and an additional $6 for one of the three greenmarket dessert offerings.
(The top image is the strawberry arugula salad and the bottom is the seafood salad)
The strawberry and arugula salad was very fresh and light, and was really delicious. It is a pretty big portion so I could not finish it because I was trying to save room for the rest of the meal. The salad came with fresh greenmarket strawberries, hazelnuts, goat cheese, radishes and was coated in a light balsamic vinaigrette. My sister also loved her seafood salad, which came with scallops, squid, japanese octopus, lobster, and avocado in a lemon vinaigrette.
For the next course, I got the slow cooked chicken breast, which came with couscous salad, grilled eggplant, and a golden raisin chutney.
The chicken not only looked really pretty, but tasted delicious. It was cooked to perfection, as it was still very moist on the inside but crisp on the outside. The sauce made it even better, and the raisin chutney was amazing. The couscous was also good, but the chicken and the chutney were the stars of the dish. Even though chicken can be pretty generic at many restaurants, they really do it justice here. My sister also raved about the miso glazed cod, which is their signature dish, so if you like seafood you should get that. I tried the sauce and rice that it came with, and can vouch for the fact that the sauce is delicious. She usually is pretty critical of cod since it can be a hit or miss, but she absolutely loved this dish.
Once we were done, the waiter brought over the coveted dessert menu. Since I had already scoped out the menu online, I knew what dessert I was getting; the Gotham Chocolate Cake. It is the most popular dessert, and luckily for me it is offered as part of the price fix. My sister did not plan on getting dessert since she did not do the price fix, but the seasonal offering today was the coconut dacquoise so she gave in to temptation and ordered it.
Oh. My. God. The chocolate cake was so amazing! This was one of those situations again where I went into lunch with good intentions of only eating half the cake, but ended up finishing it. I was left with no guilt, however, as it was TOTALLY worth every single calorie. The reviews I had read online did not adequately describe the amazingness that is the Gotham Chocolate Cake (which is actually more like a spongy mousse than a cake). It is so rich and decadent, yet light and fluffy at the same time, and it just gets better and better with each bite. It also came with a small scoop of salted almond ice cream and some chocolate crunchies, which were ok but could not even compare to the amazing flavor of the cake. My sister is not a huge chocolate cake lover, but she took one bite and had the same reaction as me. In fact, she told me I had to finish it otherwise she would! The dessert that she got was really good as well, but it just could not compare to the chocolate cake in my opinion. It had fresh pineapple slices, pineapple cream, and little coconut cookies (like macaroons), and a strange ice cream that she didn't like. At first she loved it, but after having a bite of my cake she quickly changed her tune. While it was good, she said that it was not nearly as worth it as the chocolate cake, and she should've ordered the cake so that we could've had two! (As a side note, I can not remember the last time my sister ordered a chocolate dessert, so that really says a lot!)
Overall, this was an amazing lunch experience. The decor is very nice and elegant, the service was impeccable and the servers were all very friendly and attentive, and the food was outstanding. They really pay attention to the details here and every aspect of each course was fresh and flavorful. The two stars in my eyes were the chicken and the chocolate cake, and my sister said her two favorites were the cod and the chocolate cake. While it is pricey, we will definitely be back here. The greenmarket price fix lunch is an amazing deal and you really get your money's worth. There are many expensive places in the city that are over-hyped and pretentious and the food doesn't live up to the price tag, but at Gotham it is totally worth every cent. I looked around at the other tables, and everyone was smiling and raving about their food. Basically, you should save up your money for the week and splurge on a visit here. It will be worth it!
July 3, 2013
Bareburger
Something about July 4th always gets me in the mood for a good burger and fries. Even though it isn't until tomorrow, my sister and I decided to have our burgers a day early and we paid a visit to Bareburger. I love Bareburger because not only is it only 5 minutes from my apartment, but everything there is organic and they have a large selection of different meats to choose as your patty. Inside, there is a very cool "hippie" vibe, which I think goes along with the natural, organic theme. You can really get creative here with your choice of burger, bun, toppings, cheese, sauce, etc., but I tend to keep it pretty simple. In the past I have gotten their beef burger which is very delicious and juicy, but today I decided to go for the turkey burger. In addition to those, they offer a veggie, bison, elk, ostrich, and lamb burgers (there may be more I just can't remember!), and they even put a little informational card on all of the tables that has the fat breakdown of each option so you can be fully informed before making your choice. All of the patties are 6oz, which is the perfect size.
For the buns, I always go for the brioche because it is soft and delicious, but you can also get multigrain, gluten free, or even a lettuce wrap. I chose to go for the classic lettuce, tomato and onions as my toppings, but they also offer pickles, avocado, cheese, bacon, etc. They also have a lot of specialty sauces that you can get, and I decided to try the honey mustard. I also got a side order of french fries because I can never eat a burger without having fries with it! My sister got the california burger, which has cheddar, avocado, watercress, onions, tomatoes, and salsa verde, in a lettuce wrap. It is recommended to have the veggie burger with that combination, but she chose to get the bison burger instead.
The turkey burger was juicy and delicious, and exactly what I had been craving. The combination with the onions, honey mustard, ketchup, and the soft brioche roll really elevated it and I would definitely order this combination again. I only ate half since I was trying to control myself, but it was a struggle.
The fries here are amazing also. While they are a bit salty, they are nice and crispy. Again, it was a struggle to not eat all of them and I really had to put my self control to the test! My sister also enjoyed her bison burger, even though it was very messy because of the lettuce wrap.
In addition to the burgers here, they also make their own homemade sodas, milkshakes, cute little sliders, chicken fingers, onion rings, salads, and much more. I love coming here because everything is organic and fresh, so you don't have to feel too bad about yourself after eating a burger and fries! There are also not many places in the city where you can choose between a bison, elk, and ostrich burger! Even though a Fatburger just opened across the street from them, you should definitely come here instead and enjoy a delicious and healthy(ish) meal.
June 29, 2013
Sarabeth's
One of my favorite parts of living in the city is the whole brunch craze. I love brunch because it gives me an excuse to eat breakfast foods for lunch! I always have to eat breakfast pretty much immediately upon waking up, so when I say I go to brunch I just mean I order of the brunch menu but eat it as lunch. Breakfast foods are my all time favorites and I could eat them for any meal of the day, but it is more acceptable when you mask it under the label of "brunch" for the weekends.
So, in the city you can pretty much find a brunch menu anywhere, but there are a few places that are known as special brunch destinations. One of the most famous places is Sarabeth's, and they have a bunch of locations all over NYC. Today, the boot camp class that my sister and I take had a special promo class in Central Park, so we decided to go to the Sarabeth's on Central Park South right after the class. It is pretty common to expect to wait anywhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours to get a table at brunch, depending on where you go. We arrived expecting the worst, seeing as there was a big crowd outside, but we pleasantly surprised to hear that the wait was only 15 minutes! We were seated after about 10 minutes, and were taken to a table in the back room. From the outside it does not look big, but it is very deceiving, which is probably why the wait is so short even though it is super crowded.
Once we got seated the waiter came over right away, which I always appreciate. To go along with the brunch theme, I got coffee, which was pretty decent and my sister got tea. The menu is pretty big and they have a wide array of breakfast and lunch foods, so you can pretty much get anything you want. I, of course, blocked out all of the lunch items and simply looked at the pancakes, waffles, and french toast. I had been to the Sarabeth's on the Upper West Side once and got the Almond Crusted French Toast, which was delicious, so I originally planned on getting that again. However, the table next to us had a half eaten plate of the Fat & Fluffy French Toast on their table that looked so amazing, so I immediately knew that was what I was going to order.
Usually I am not one to get French Toast, as I always end up picking pancakes (my favorite food), but something about the French Toast at Sarabeth's just called out to me. My sister likes protein more than carbs so she got the garden omelette (egg whites only), which has cheddar, broccoli, corn and carrots. All of their omelettes come with the choice of muffin, croissant, toast, or scone with preserves, so my sister opted for their banana muffin.
Our order came out after about only 15 minutes, which was extremely fast considering how big the place is! I saw the waiter walking towards the table with our plates and my nose immediately perked up to the scent of rich, warm butter. The French Toast comes with about 2 slices of thick challah bread that are each cut in half, fresh strawberries, pure maple syrup, and butter. I took the first bite of French Toast and was in a sweet and buttery heaven. The challah bread is so soft and thick, and the sweetness from the powdered sugar and maple syrup really balances out the richness. I also like that the bread is not overly soaked, so it comes out soft and crisp instead of soggy (which is my pet peeve of french toast!) I powered through and was able to finish it after giving my sister half of a piece, but felt SUPER stuffed.
My sister's omelette was supposedly delicious, and she would highly recommend it if you like eggs. Her favorite part, however, was the banana muffin with the preserves. I tried a bite and could vouch for the fact that it is a very good muffin. Their preserves also cannot be ignored, and if you really like them you can even buy a jar to go.
Overall, I highly recommend coming to Sarabeth's for weekend brunch in the city. They have locations on the upper west side, upper east side, central park south, tribeca, and on park ave, so there is bound to be one near you no matter where you are in the city. My recommendation would be the fat and fluffy french toast, which I preferred over the almond crusted french toast. Don't let the crowd outside fool you; the wait flies by and it is well worth it!
June 21, 2013
Umi
Sushi restaurants in the city can basically be found on every block, but the tricky part is separating the good ones from the bad ones. Even more tricky is spotting the gems that tend to be under the radar instead of going to the typical expensive Japanese restaurants in the city.
Even though I don't like fish, I love Japanese food and sushi. My love for it, however, does not even compare to my sister, who could literally eat Japanese food for every meal every day. So, when we moved to the city, one of the first things we did was try to find a good Japanese restaurant near our apartment. After searching multiple times on Google Maps, Zagat, and Yelp, we decided to try out Umi, a very small and understated Japanese restaurant on 31st street between Lexington and Park. And, after one visit, we knew we had found our place.
Umi is that neighborhood Japanese restaurant that you would expect to find in the suburbs, not off the bustling streets of New York City. The menu is very simple and straightforward, and they don't try to do anything overly fancy, they just make really fresh and good food. They have a wide variety of sushi, sashimi, specialty rolls, appetizers, and hot dishes like Teriyaki and Bento Boxes. The waiters there are also super nice and friendly, and after a few times of going there they remembered us and our orders.
I am a creature of habit, so I pretty much get the same thing every time. I always start out with a garden salad with ginger dressing on the side. While I have had my fair share of ginger dressings, I can objectively say that they have one of my all time favorites. The ginger taste really comes through and it is not over powering. Next, I always get the Yaki Tori appetizer (as my main course) and a cucumber avocado roll. The yaki tori comes with two skewers of chicken, onion, and scallions smothered in a delicious and sweet teriyaki sauce, and topped with some sesame seeds. It is the perfect portion size and it is really delicious. Even though cucumber avocado rolls tend to be pretty standard, something about theirs just tastes so much better to me. I think it is because they don't put too much rice on the sushi, and there is a very generous amount of avocado. Sometimes, I also get a Sweet Potato Roll which is delicious as well, especially when dipped in eel sauce.
Even though I don't eat fish so I can't personally comment on their sushi, I can rely on the rave reviews of my sister and friends. According to her, they have some of the best sushi that she has ever had. I could even tell that it was good because the raw tuna had a super bright red color to it so that you could tell it was extremely fresh. My sister has never had any bad sushi here, and she could not praise it more. Even though she generally always gets sushi, she has also ordered the Salmon Teriyaki. What is great about their salmon is that they use sushi grade salmon for the teriyaki. Since it is sushi grade, you know it has to be extremely fresh since it is the same exact fish that they are serving raw. This shows that they really care about the product they are serving and they want everything to be as fresh and delicious as possible.
I highly recommend Umi to anyone looking for a great, high quality Japanese restaurant. It is, in fact, one of my favorite restaurants in the city. I know it may be tempting to go to the more well known and fancy places like Nobu and Morimoto, but there is really something to be said about the smaller, neighborhood establishments that deliver a high quality product at a reasonable price. Don't let the understated exterior fool you, if you go to Umi you will be sure to leave feeling full and completely satisfied.
June 16, 2013
The Palm
One of my family's favorite restaurants to go to is The Palm. I first started going there when my family would visit my grandparents in East Hampton, and it instantly became one of my favorites (and this was even before I ate steak). I always loved the side dishes, and most notably, the huge chunk of chocolate cake for dessert. I remember the first time I saw it when they brought the dessert platter to the table, and it looked like it was 1/4 of an entire cake. Since I was the only one in my family that wanted a chocolate dessert, I asked if they had anything smaller. They did not, and I ended up ordering this monstrous, but so delicious, piece of cake. Since I was pretty young and it is extremely rich, I was only able to make a small dent in it, and ended up taking the rest home. And, if my memory serves me correctly, I think the leftover cake was my dessert for the next 5 nights, thats how big it was.
So, even though they are known as a great steakhouse, I know them as the place with the amazing chocolate cake. Every time my family goes to the Hamptons, we go to the Palm. My Dad also loves coming here, so we tend to go to the Palm Too in NYC a few times a year as well.
I am also an avid user of Gilt City, so a few months back when I spotted a Gilt deal for the Palm, I instantly jumped on it and bought the deal. It was $60 for $100 worth of food, and it expires in July. Since it is mid June and we hadn't used it yet, we figured it was the perfect time to go since it is also Father's Day Weekend.
Even though the cake is my favorite part of the meal, I do have a lot of other favorites. I used to order the Chicken Piccata, which is a bit strange to love from a steak house but it is always so delicious there. But, since I have been eating steak every now and again, I usually now order Filet Mignon whenever I go to The Palm. The steak is very tender and delicious, and it always comes out cooked perfectly. To start off, I always get the caesar salad (they now offer a slightly smaller size in addition to the normal size, so I opt for the smaller version), and it is always good. My dad and sister love the crabmeat cocktail, but I can't attest to how good it is because I don't eat seafood.
The other star of the meal in our eyes is the side dishes. My family has reached the consensus that we would be perfectly happy coming to The Palm and just ordering side dishes and cake. But, we recognize that is probably not the best route so we do order regular food. We always usually get a vegetable, whether its steamed asparagus or brussels sprouts, and we get a potato dish. Our ultimate favorite is the half and half, but you really cant go wrong with either the hash browns or the half and half. We haven't ordered the hash browns our past few visits because even though they are so amazing, we just love the half and half. It comes with their homemade chips and fried onion strings. My favorite part is the onions, and if my stomach could bear it, I swear I could eat a whole order of them. Between 5 of us at the table, we got an order of steamed asparagus, roasted Brussels sprouts, and the half and half, and we had some left over of each because the side orders are huge.
To finish, we obviously got the chocolate cake. They do have some other good options on the menu, like carrot cake, a bag of warm donuts, and cheesecake, but we could never get anything besides the chocolate cake. They now offer a smaller version (which is still very large) but we opted for the large size since there were 5 of us. The cake is 7 layers of chocolate cake and chocolate fudge, and the top of the cake has a really thick layer of creamy and fudgy chocolate. It also comes with their homemade whipped cream and one strawberry (which my sister and I usually eat as a joke so we can say we ate something healthy). I am not exaggerating when I say that this is one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever had. It is a simple, no frills dessert which makes it that much more delicious because they are not trying to do anything fancy with it. It is just a great chunk of chocolate cake. Five of us had a slice of the large slice (and my dad had two) and there was still about 3 servings left.
The Palm has locations all around the country, so if there is one near you I highly recommend going. In addition to their food being great, they have really cool caricatures of people all over the walls which makes there decor very unique. In my mind, it is the epitome of a classic steakhouse, and everything there is delicious and worth the money. I probably love going there also because it is a classic family restaurant for me, whether it be with my grandparents in the Hamptons or my Dad in the city, and we have a lot of good memories there. The Palm is one of my all time favorite restaurants, and if you ever have the opportunity, you should definitely go. And, even if you feel really full from the appetizers, main course, and side dishes, you MUST get the chocolate cake!
June 15, 2013
Thomas' Diner
Since this weekend is Fathers Day weekend, my sister and I came out to Long Island to stay at our dad's house. I alway love coming to Long Island because in addition to seeing my family that is out here, I get to go to a lot of the food places that I grew up with. One of my all time favorite places is Thomas' Diner in Carle Place, which is a small diner that is near Roosevelt Field Mall.
It is a pretty small and understated place, and from the outside looking in it looks like a typical diner. However, it is much more than that. There is always a long wait there because the food is just that good. The owners and workers there really make an effort to get to know everyone, and the owner knows me and my family by name whenever we go. Since I live in the city now, it has sadly been about a year since I have been back and I have been waiting for the opportunity to go. Upon reaching my new weight loss goal and knowing that I was going to be on Long Island for the whole weekend, I decided that going to Thomas' was going to be my reward.
Everything there is so delicious, and you really can't go wrong with anything. My favorite thing is obviously the pancakes, and you can custom order them to whatever you want. Once, I even got three different pancakes in one order (one chocolate chip, one plain, one banana chocolate chip), and they made it for me without even hesitating! This time, I went a bite more traditional and got the banana chocolate chip, which is my favorite combo (I figured that if I was going to have these pancakes as my reward, I was going to go all out), and my dad got whole wheat blueberry pecan pancakes. They also have a really great selection of waffles (the chocolate almond chip ones are amazing), french toast (nutella stuffed, banana stuffed, etc.), and eggs. They do have an extensive lunch menu as well, but I can't imagine coming here and not getting breakfast food.
Today we arrived at about 1145 and got a table right away, which pretty much never happens. Right after the owner, Thomas, sat us, he asked me and my sister how school was, what we have been up to, etc., which really shows that he makes the effort to get to know his customers. The fact that we hadn't been back in over a year and he remembered us is really a testament to how friendly it is there.
We were all pretty hungry, so after we sat down we ordered right away. Between the four of us at our table, we had one order of banana chocolate chip pancakes, one order of whole wheat blueberry pecan pancakes, scrambled eggs with toast, hash browns, and extra crispy bacon, and an egg white omelet with toast and hash browns. I don't like eggs, but I always like when my family orders them because I get to steal a bite of bacon, hash browns, and toast.
When the pancakes came to the table, they were huge and fluffy, and had a lot of chocolate chips and sliced bananas in them, so I could not wait to dig in. After taking my first bite, I remembered why I love going there so much. The pancakes are just so delicious, and you really can't go wrong with the banana chocolate chip combo. They are very large and I do admit I got full after eating just one, but I powered through and ate a second because I could not let two pancakes go to waste! The last one got devoured by others at the table, so luckily it was not wasted. The hash browns and bacon were also delicious, and according to my sources the eggs and whole wheat pancakes were just as good. The eggs come out on their own hot skillet, which also adds a nice touch.
(The pictures show the progression of the stack of pancakes. They come to the table with the bottom side up so that you can see all of the toppings, and they are sprinkled with powdered sugar. I then spread all three pancakes out to cover the plate so I can choose which ones look the best, and then I dip them in maple syrup instead of pouring it on top so that I can control how much goes on each bite. As you can see in the last picture, after I gave away the last pancake I just left a few bites of the outside of the pancake over and ate the middle, which is the best part.)
Of course, a visit to Thomas' is never complete until you leave with a muffin, so my sister and I both bought one for tomorrow morning. They have a really nice assortment that are homemade, like Blueberry Banana, Cinnamon Coffeecake, Lemon Poppy, Apple Cinnamon, Chocolate Cheesecake, and many others. I opted for the cinnamon coffee cake because it is my all time favorite (it has a nice layer of crumbs on top and a few chocolate chips on top as well), and my sister got the lemon poppyseed.
Even though I left Thomas' feeling super stuffed, I was also very satisfied and happy that I finally got to fulfill my pancake craving from my favorite place! My house on Long Island is about 30 minutes from Thomas' but we never hesitate to make the drive there, so if you are in the vicinity I HIGHLY recommend that you go and you won't be disappointed. I do caution you, however, to be prepared to wait, because when we left there was a herd of people standing in the doorway waiting for a table.
June 7, 2013
Rouge Tomate
Tonight, I went to dinner at what my sister has now dubbed her new favorite restaurant in NYC, which really says a lot. It is always difficult to try to eat healthy when in a restaurant because the portions are at least double the size of a serving, and you never really know exactly what goes into the dishes. So, when I was doing research on healthy restaurants in the city, I stumbled upon Rouge Tomate. It is one of the only restaurants in the city that is SPE certified, which means that you can actually go online and see the nutritional breakdown of all of their dishes and the ingredients that goes into them, which is great. Based on the availabilty of nutritional info and the intriguing menu, we decided to try it out.
The actual restaurant is pretty big and has a very nice ambiance inside. It would've been a bit nicer if it wasn't torrentially raining outside, but I can't really hold that against them since they can't control the weather. They have a pretty big drink list, which includes some homemade sodas, juices, cocktails, and an extremely long wine list. My sister got the Pink Sangria, which was Rose, Plum Gin, Orange, Pineapple, and a Hibiscus Flavored Pineapple, and she said it was a nice, light drink. Then, after we ordered, they brought an amuse bouche to the table, which was beet carpaccio with a horseradish foam and topped with some pumpernickel breadcrumbs.
This was so delicious, and had a perfect balance to it. The horseradish was not too strong, and the breadcrumbs added a really nice texture to the beets. I was super happy because normally when chefs actually make an amuse bouche, it has some sort of fish in it so I never get to eat it, but in this case it had my favorite ingredient, beets!
Then, someone came to our table with a nice basket of bread and you could choose a slice of sourdough bread (I think thats what it was) or a peasant roll which was basically a wheat roll with a lot of seeds on it. To have with the bread, they brought yellow lentil hummus and some ricotta cheese. I had the peasant roll, which was really good with all of the seeds. I tried the hummus, which was pretty good but I am not a big hummus person so I chose to ate the roll plain.
For the appetizers, I ordered the beet salad which came with pineapple, pumpernickel breadcrumbs, and burrata cheese.
When it first came to the table, the first thing that I noticed was the presentation. It just looks so colorful and pretty that I didn't want to eat it! Of course, I quickly got over that and dug in. Every component of the dish worked so well together and the pineapple and breadcrumbs created a nice contrast with the beets. I have had a lot of beet salads, and this one is by far one of my favorites. My sister had the Wild Mushroom seasonal toast, which she said was really delicious. It was two small pieces of sourdough toast topped with tofu aioli, sauerkraut, wild mushrooms and broccoli. I tried one bite and it was delicious, and I usually don't like cooked mushrooms!
Having already had great bread, a nice amuse bouche, and amazing appetizers, we had really high expectations for the main course. I ordered the Spring Pea Tofu with Buckwheat, Onion, Peanuts, Peas, Coconut and Rhubarb, and my sister got the Arctic Char.
Again, the first thing I noticed when the plate came to the table was how pretty and colorful it looked! You can tell that they really think every component of the dish through and they spend a lot of time on presentation. The tofu was really delicious, and I usually don't order tofu. It has a nice pea flavor to it, which set it apart for an ordinary piece of tofu. All of the components of the dish worked really well together, and it is definitely something that I would recommend and order again. I was only able to make it through one piece though because I was already pretty full and wanted to save room for dessert!
The dessert menu had some really great options, but my sister and I choose to stick with the small plates because we were pretty full. Apparently the chocolate sphere is the most popular dessert, which I usually would get since I am a chocoholic, but I was too full and knew that if I ordered it, I would end up eating the whole thing and then would regret it later. So, I choose the soy chocolate ganache with banana, olive oil powder, and cocoa nibs, and my sister got the small strawberry shortcake.
The soy chocolate ganache was the perfect dessert! The ganache was extremely rich and chocolatey, and you would never know that it was soy! The bananas underneath the chocolate were really sweet and had great texture, which worked well with the ganache. The size of the dessert made it the perfect way to end the meal without feeling overly stuffed. And, while I did not try the strawberry shortcake, that got rave reviews as well.
Overall, I would highly recommend this restaurant! Every single thing that my sister and I got was delicious, and you could tell that they really pay attention to detail. While it is on the expensive side, it is a nice place to go to for special occasions or when you are looking for a little splurge. You will leave here knowing that you had a very satisfying, delicious, and healthy meal, which is hard to come by in NYC.
June 1, 2013
Mercer Kitchen
After a nice (but hot) day walking around the city, my sister and I treated ourselves to a nice dinner at one of Jean Georges' Restaurants, Mercer Kitchen. I have been to one of his restaurants in Paris and my sister had been to two others, so we knew that we would be getting a great meal. One of our rituals when going to a restaurant is to always look at the menu before hand. It is slightly crazy, but we like knowing or at least having an idea of what we would want to get so that we can structure the other meals of our day around it. Anyway, after we got there and heard recommendations, I decided to start with the Spring Pea Soup and get the Mozzarella Tomato and Basil Pizza as my main course. My sister started with the Salmon Appetizer and had the Tuna Spring Roll Appetizer as her main course.
The soup was delicious! It was really smooth and had a strong pea taste (which I love) and there was barely any cream in it which made it very light. It also had a nice crunch from the little croutons and vegetables that were in the broth. You can even see from the picture that it is made from mainly peas and not a lot of added milk or cream because it has such a bright green color. I would highly recommend this if you are a fan of pea soup. The pizza was also great. There was the perfect amount of both sauce and cheese and the crust was doughy without being too thick. This definitely hit the spot and made up for my pizza disaster the other night with the frozen pizza. My sister loved both of her dishes, but I cannot vouch for them since I do not eat fish.
Of course, it is not a complete meal without having dessert! The first item on the dessert menu was the Warm Valhrona Chocolate Cake, and I did not have to look any further.
It was my favorite kind of chocolate cake...when I put my spoon into it, the liquid chocolate center came pouring out. It was so warm, chocolatey, and delicious. Even though I probably could've gobbled the whole thing down myself, I opted to share it with my sister to try to control myself. She is not as much of a chocolate freak as me, but she agreed that it was an awesome dessert.
Overall, our dishes were delicious and even the bread tasted great! They also have a lot of other great options that we didn't get a chance to try, like burgers, fresh fish, chicken, pasta, etc., so everyone can find something that they are looking for. It was also completely full by the time we left, which is always a good sign. Highly recommend it!
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