Bohdi Tree - Visited 1/21/10 - 3 Forks

Bohdi Tree 58 3rd Ave. (Btwn 10th & 11th St)

I'm not quite sure how I stumbled upon Bohdi Tree in the first place, but for some reason I really like it there. It's not fancy and it's located near NYU, which I generally am not a fan of. There is definitely a good contingent of students because of it's great value. It's like many of the other cheap good Thai places in New York, but it's decorated nicely and I'm strangely hooked on the Garlic Noodle there. If you get there early, they have a pre-fixe special of an appetizer and choice of noodle/curry for $12, which seems like a great deal...and it is, but if you ordered it separately, the noodles would be $9 and the appetizer would be $5, so you're only saving $2, but hey, I'll take the $2 in this recession. I got the steamed dumplings in peanut sauce, which were very peanut-y and hit the spot. The Garlic noodles are made with large flat noodles that are very saucy and moist. Strangely, they either weren't super garlic-y or else they were and I had no idea I smelled like garlic the whole night. The veggies were cooked right, the right amount of crunch to my string beans. Vid had the curry, which looked a bit oily, but she said it was pretty tasty. Only downside is that they don't take AmEx. I think it's one of those places that is a good, cheap place to catch up with friends near union square.

Mura Sushi - Visited 1/16/10 - 3 Forks

Mura Sushi 369 5th Ave, (Btwn 5th & 6th St), Brooklyn, NY

Basically, see my previous post for Mizu and you can apply it to Mura, except that Mura is in my neighborhood in Park Slope. It's almost the exact same format as Mizu, down to the menu font, that it makes me wonder if they are owned by the same people. They do have different special roll names, but honestly, many of the rolls are probably very similar. This time, Dan and I did the usual: split the spicy roll platter ($12) and another fancy roll, the Spicy Love Roll ($10) b/c it came with wasabi sauce. The rolls were great, fresh, and always hit the spot. With an order of edamae ($4) and a beer for Dan, the bill came out to be $17/person. I also love the fact that they take AmEx. :) There are many pretty decent sushi places in Park Slope that are similar to Mura (Jpan, Ten, Yamato, etc), so I wouldn't say it's my go-to sushi place in the hood, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to other people.

Mizu Sushi - Visited 1/15/10 - 3 Forks

Mizu Sushi 192 Bedford Ave(between 6th St & 7th St)


It was Dan's birthday and we were supposed to meet a bunch of friends at DBA around the corner on 7th street, so we wanted to find something close by. We've been to this place before and, personally, of all the sushi places on or near Bedford, I like this one the best. There's nothing super fancy about this place, it's kind of one of those generally nice, clean, modern-looking sushi places that's run by Chinese people. They have a good line-up of rolls that are fairly creative and delicious. We started with a bottle of unfiltered sake called Snow White ($12) that is the same cute blue bottle of unfiltered that we see everywhere. Our usual M.O. is to get the spicy roll platter and then order another special roll since I think that is the best value, but given that it was Dan's b-day, we ordered all special rolls. We got 1 spicy scallop roll, 1 spicy king crab roll, 1 golden salmon roll, 1 ninja roll and a miso soup. They were all pretty good size and fresh tasting, but Dan and I were still a bit hungry afterwards. We were contemplating ordering more rolls but were in a hurry to get to the bar. Dan's friend Joe and Amy were visiting and they nicely offered to pay for dinner. I was able to sneak a peak at the total bill and it came out to $100 for all 4 of us, which included 2 rolls and a glass of wine for Amy and a sashimi for 1 and large sapparo for Joe. That's not a bad deal for all that food and drink for 4 people and would go back when I have a sushi craving in the 'burg.

The Smith - Visited 1/13/10 2.5 Forks

The Smith 55 3rd Avenue (between 10th and 11th street), New York, NY

So after hearing about The Smith for a while, I finally made it over there for dinner last night with a friend. My first impression was that the space and design was really nice. I loved the subway tiles and kind of old school retro look they had going on.

My friend and I sit down at a table for two, that I thought was way too small. I literally had my bag on my lap and had to pile my other stuff on the floor next to me. The drink list looked impressive and the cocktails ($11) all sounded delicious. I had the Moscow Mule ($11), vodka, ginger beer and lime. It was good but again, too small. My friend had a glass of white wine ($8) that came in a squat glass that she swore tasted like apple juice. The menu is mostly Americana food ranging from big salads, burgers, to fish and pasta. I settled on the burger because I had a hankering for fries. I ordered the burger with the works ($15) and my friend had a small Mediterranean salad ($9) and side of fries ($5). My burger came on a soft brioche bun, bacon, cheese, lettuce and onions. It was pretty good but not worth $15 - I mean, how hard is it to really cook a bad burger? The place was definitely hopping and crowded when we left and I hear they have a good brunch, but after spending $31 on just a drink and burger, I left feeling like I had some how not gotten my money's worth.

Sel de Mer - Visited 1/10/10 3 Forks

Sel de Mer 374 Graham Ave(between Conselyea St & Skillman Ave)

Dan and I frequent this seafood joint b/c it's literally 2 blocks from him house. This place used to be a middle eastern joint that was always empty, but now it's been taken over by the former chef at Sweetwater focusing on seafood. They have a small menu, but what they always have a long list of specials on the chalkboard outside. I've been there for both brunch and dinner and it's a solid go to in the neighborhood, which was once void of anything good. It's also pretty affordable considering how seafood restaurants generally are overpriced.

We started with 15 oysters, a mix of malpaque and some other one that I can't remember now ($1.50/each). The malpaques were quite good and the other one was a bit too fishy for me, but the vinegar sauce that they use there is excellent. I ordered the mussels in white wine ($12), which came with perfectly cooked thick cut fries. The broth was so yummy and I could have just drank the whole thing but I didn't for fear that I would regret it later. Dan got the Cobia, which is a flaky white fish, and it came with Israeli couscous and a variety of veggies ($16) and Andrew got the Sea Bass bouillabaisse with shrimp, mussels, shrimp and clams ($17). The food was all very good but clearly had about 8 sticks of butter in them as they were pretty rich tasting. We split the chocolate cake ($7), which was warm and had hot fudge poured on it. I'm generally not a chocolate fan but I must admit it was pretty damn tasty. We also split a bottle of Malbec wine ($30), which was good and provided about 6 small-medium pours, but in retrospect I don't think we needed the whole bottle for dinner. The waitstaff is very nice and friendly and they remembered us when we came back.

Pacificana - Visited 1/10/10 2.75 Forks

Pacificana 813 55th Street Brooklyn, NY 11230

I have always been a fan of Dim Sum but I usually go to Chinatown in the city since it's easier to get to. I had been to Pacificana for dinner once when a friend had a Red Egg party there about a year ago. My hairdresser had mentioned that she went there for dim sum and I had started seeing this place pop up in blogs recently, so I thought it was worth a try for dim sum. It's in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, which is easy to get to, but a PAIN for parking. Not only is there just not enough parking but it's just very congested. After circling around for a while, we finally found a spot on 7th ave and 60th street. When we got there, there were tons of asians milling around the front and I was afraid that the wait would take an hour. Luckily, we got seated after 15 mins. It's hard to get a ton of dim sum with only 2 people, so we did the best we could. We got shumai, which was pretty big in size but it could have been a bit warmer. 2 orders of the crystal shrimp crepes, some sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves, radish cake, and pork buns. There was a pretty big selection of food and it came very rapidly. I think all the dishes could have been warmer...except for the tea, which was 100 degrees. I can see how this place could be pretty intimidating for non-asians as they don't really speak english there and they are kind of pushy. But it worked out fine for me. What I loved even more was the total bill, $22! For good cheap eats, chinatown is definitely the way to go!

Cong Ly - Visited 1/5/10 2.5 Forks

Cong Ly 124 Hester St(between Bowery & Chrystie St)

I love love pho. I have been on a quest for good pho in new york city for years. None of them come close to this place at home in MD that is simply amazing. Virginia and I have made it our mission to try as many pho places in the city since they're are cheap and delicious! Since we always seem to pick places that we've mysteriously already been to, we decided to try Cong Ly, which we definitely knew neither of us have been to. As with any restaurant in Chinatown, decor is not their strong suit. It's pretty dingy, but the owners seemed quite nice, even though I'm pretty sure they were Chinese and not Vietnamese. We split the summer rolls and fried spring rolls, both quite good and fresh. Next, I ordered the #5, which was beef pho with round-eye. VA had ordered the same but with meatballs in it, but apparently something got lost in translation as they didn't bring her food out and when they did, there were no meatballs to be found.

But on to the pho. It was pretty good, broth was well seasoned and flavorful. The meat was nice and a bit raw, which is the way I like my pho. My only complaint would be that the bowl was too small (there was only 1 size to order) and I could have used a bit more meat in my soup. Our total bill (food and 2 cans of soda) came out to $20! You definitely can't beat chinatown prices!

Brooklyn Star - Visited 12/31/09 3 Forks

Brooklyn Star 33 Havemeyer St between 8th St & 7th St Brooklyn, NY 11211

I had been wanting to go to Brooklyn Star for brunch for a while since I heard that the biscuits and gravy were pretty good. But as New Years Eve rolled around and since we didn't have reservations anywhere, I decided that it would be best to go to Brooklyn Star for dinner given that I knew that they didn't have an expensive NYE prix fixe menu. We rolled into the restaurant around 10pm and luckily for us, the staff allowed us in since they were closing the kitchen (I'm sure so that they could get out in time before midnight). I ordered the Country Fried Steak with mashed potatoes and cole slaw ($14) and Dan had the BBQ Catfish with onion rings and beets ($14). As you can tell the menu is pretty southern focused and if you are looking for a healthy meal, I would go somewhere else. Since it was the New Year, we felt it was necessary to get a drink, so we split a pitcher of Six Point Sweet Action ($23), which amounted to 4 glasses. I had never had country fried steak before and I must say this one was pretty damn good. The only issue I had was that the fried part seemed to want to separate from the steak so that often I was just eating a piece of steak with the fried part falling off and being left on my plate. I generally don't like cole slaw very much, but this one was pretty good. It was kind of warm and didn't have much mayo on it, so it seemed more like chopped cabbage instead, which helped cut the intense amount of fatty/friedness on the plate. Dan's catfish seemed well seasoned and the onion rings were pretty good - not too greasy...they almost seemed baked. Several people in the restaurant were eating what looked like a really juicy T-bone steak, but that was a bit much of us for dinner. While I'm generally not a huge fan of "american" food, all-in all, I thought the food was well done and I would be interested in checking out the brunch menu soon.