Dinosaur BBQ Visited 10/31/10 4 Forks

Dinosaur BBQ  700 W 125th St, (between 12th Ave & W Riverside Dr), New York, NY 10027

 I have been wanting to go to Dinosaur BBQ for years, but due to its location I have never been.  When BBE had a 30% discount, I finally convinced myself that it was time to go.


Since Dan and I are not Halloween people, we thought it would be a good idea to "celebrate" the holiday eating BBQ (mental note, NEVER try to drive through the city on Halloween.  We nearly lost our minds trying to get home).  We immediately compared our experience here to Fette Sau.  Fette Sau is like the girlfriend/boyfriend that you love and you know you can't do any better, but sometimes you can't help but look around sometimes.  Every time I mention another BBQ place, Dan complains because he thinks we've already found the holy grail.  The ambiance of Dinosaur BBQ was pretty cool, it's kind of like a road side restaurant with a lot of wood paneling.  Luckily, we made reservations a few weeks ago, so there wasn't much of a wait. Otherwise, I heard that it was upwards of an hour for a table for 2.  

The menu is quite expansive and it has a lot of combination plates with different kinds of meats.What I like about Fette Sau is that there's no set plate of food. You can just pick whatever you want and make your own combos.  But the combos at Dinosaur BBQ had a good mix of food and were very decently priced that I wasn't too upset.  We got the pork and brisket plate with creole potato salad and mac and cheese as well as the Three Hombres (ribs, pulled pork, brisket with 2 sides) with collard greens and baked beans.  The food came out relatively quickly and by the looks of our sides I'm pretty sure that they just have a vat of them in the kitchen that they dole out.  But besides that, the BBQ itself was pretty damn good.  I really liked the sauce that it came with, it was not too sweet and really was a great compliment to the meat.  I thought the pork was really flavorful and moist and the brisket basically just tasted like fatty goodness.  The ribs were also quite impressive in that at the end you get a completely clean bone.  If there is still meat on your rib at the end of the meal, than it wasn't cooked correctly.  The one thing that this place does have a leg up on to Fette Sau is that they had a nice variety of sides and except for the beans, they were all pretty good.  They don't call this place Dinosaur BBQ for nothing, at the end of the meal we basically had an entire meal leftover and there was absolutely no room for dessert, although they looked good and were pretty cheap (all around $5-8).  
All in all, I'm really happy that we went and I thought that the food was good and very reasonably priced.  It's way better than Hill Country and Wildwood and if it was close to Fette Sau, I would probably split my time between both of them.  Total bill after the discount was $45 with tip and tax.

Kin Shop Visited 10/30/10 3.75 Forks

Kin Shop 469 Sixth Ave, NY 10011

 A disclaimer: I love Harold Dieterle.  He is the first winner of Top Chef and I loved him on that show and have respect for him given that he's really focused on cooking.  I have been to Perilla and like it a lot, so I was excited to try his new Thai restaurant in the West Village.  Now it's not your typical thai restaurant with pad thai and regular curry.  I don't want to say it's fusion, but it's definitely finer thai dining with a slight twist.  I was initially scared to try to go on a Saturday night without a reservation, but when I called the hostess was nice enough to point out that they had first come first serve bar seating that served the full menu.  


Luckily we were able to snag a seat right in front of the kitchen, so we got to watch the chefs make all the food.  One our way to our seats I saw Gail Simmons, the judge from Top Chef, so I am very curious as to what she thinks about the food. As we were sitting down, I noticed Harold himself manning the kitchen.  He was barking out orders and making sure the food was getting to the right tables. Sigh.  Of course I couldn't stop staring.  I loved sitting in front of kitchen and it gave me a new found respect for chefs.  The kitchen here is tiny, no bigger than most galley-shaped kitchens in New York apartments.  There were 4 chefs lined up practically on top of each other and a dish washer at the end making sure that they had clean dishes.  What I liked about sitting in front of the kitchen was that you can see that they make everything made to order here.  The pots and pans are so small that they can't just cook in batches.  We started with the pea shoot and bay scallop appetizer ($12).  The pea shoots were crispy and the scallops came with a nice coconut garnish.  The whole dish was drizzled with a tasty coconut curry sauce and it made me wish we had ordered some roti to clean the dish.  For main entrees, Dan got the goat massaman curry ($21) and I got the pan fried crab noodles ($21).  The dishes come out sort of family style as they are big enough to share.  I've never had goat before and this was quite tasty and it fell off the bone very easily.  It didn't hurt that the meat was covered in the curry sauce which had a slight kick to it.  It came with cubes of purple yams and mustard greens, which offset the goat meat nicely.  The crab dish was good, but after I ate all the crab (which wasn't a whole lot but there was enough that I could at least see chunks of it in my dish) I felt like I was just eating a bunch of noodles at the end.  It would have been nice if it was a bit heartier with some other vegetables or something else to combine with the noodles.  But the crab that was in it was very fresh and delicious.  The service was great and the design of the restaurant was modern but not too edgy.  The only thing I didn't really like was our cocktails ($12/each).  I got the Phuket Fizz which was vodka and pineapple juice, but it didn't really taste like too much.  Dan got the Kin and Tonic (their version of a cucumber gin and tonic)...Dan's comment was "Now I know what lotion tastes like" and after that it was all I could taste.  I thought the prices were a little bit high for the food but after watching them cook it in the kitchen at least I know it's cooked fresh and with a lot of quality ingredients. Total bill with tip and tax $105.

Five Points Visited 10/29/10 3.5 Forks

Five Points 31 Great Jones St (between Lafayette St & Bowery), New York, NY 10012

 Five Points is mostly well known of its brunch and happy hour specials, but Lav and I decided to try it out for dinner.  But since we got there in time for happy hour, we decided to indulge ourselves in $5 martinis.  We both got peach martinis, which were incredibly strong for $5.  Now I know why they limit 2 per customer.  I remember they used to have $1 oysters for happy hour too, but I didn't see it on the menu. 


The host told us that although there was no one eating when we got there (6pm on a Friday) that we should eat early because it was going to be a packed house.  When we finally did sit down at around 6:30, you could definitely see it starting to get full.  The clientele there does skew a bit on the old side, so I guess for them eating at 6:30 isn't too early.  The first thing I noticed about the restaurant was how dark it was. I guess they were going for a fall motif since it was orange lighting, but after a martini and a few glasses of wine, it was definitely making me sleepy.  Lav and I were going to start with the mushroom appetizer, but the waiter mentioned that they had a blue cheese plate special, so we decided to go with that.  I ordered the swordfish ($24) and Lav got the potato pizza ($15).  Normally, I love cheese plates, but when it's just one cheese, I started to get sick of it (not to mention that Lav doesn't like blue cheese, but I was ok with that when we ordered it since I don't like dates and she ate those).  The cheese did come with this great apple spread that I really liked, but there wasn't enough bread or bread-like products to eat the cheese with. 


Next our entrees came out and while they were both good I don't think either of us were falling over amazed with them.  Swordfish generally isn't my favorite fish as it tends to be a bit tougher and get be dry if not cooked properly.  But the fish was cooked just right and was quite filling.  This was a fairly large piece and it came in a smokey red sauce with a few mussels as garnish which was a nice touch.  I didn't taste Lav's pizza but it was thinly sliced yukon potatoes with truffle oil and it was huge and smelled great (how can it not when there's truffle oil involved?)   If I ever go back, I would say that a couple could split 1 pizza and just get some appetizers.   For dessert, we got the brownie sundae ($8) which came with espresso ice cream and homemade whip cream.  Strangely enough Lav didn't really like it even though she's the chocolate lover and I did like it.  I am a sucker for homemade whip cream and it tasted really good with the ice cream.  The brownies were actually small pieces instead of large pieces which made it more palatable for me to eat.  They were a bit dry but if you mixed it with the ice cream and whip cream, it tasted fine. 


Our total bill with a carafe of red wine ($18) was $81 pre-tip but with the 30% BBE discount it came out to be $39/pp with tip and tax.  I will say that I was very impressed with the service there and would come back to try brunch.

Red Hook Lobster Pound Visited 10/17/10 3.75 Forks

Red Hook Lobster Pound  284 Van Brunt St, (between Verona St & Visitation Pl), Brooklyn, NY 11231

 I have always been a sucker for lobster rolls. I mean, how can you NOT love them? I had seen the Red Hook Lobster Pound at various Brooklyn outings such as the Brooklyn Flea (where I actually had one) and Brooklyn Bridge Park.  But I had never visited the actual "pound", so I was thrilled when BBE had a 30% discount for dine-in only.  
When they say dine-in, you should know that it's really just a bunch of picnic tables next door (you have to actually exit the space where you order and walk to the space next door).  The menu at the pound is pretty limited: 2 types of lobster rolls for $15/each (Maine version which is the typical cold meat with mayo or CT style which is warm lobster drenched in butter), shrimp rolls $8, or you can get the lobster dinner for $25 which is a 1 1/2 lb lobster with corn and cole slaw.  You can also order lobster salad and buy buns there to make your own lobster rolls.  Dessert wise they offer whoopie pies ($3).  I knew that one roll wouldn't be enough for me, so Dan and I each got a Maine roll and then split a CT style roll and a whoopie pie.  
First there is a good chunk of lobster meat and they are big pieces, not small string-y bits of the lobster.  I started with the CT style first and it was delicious and warm and extremely soaked in butter...and the bun was also very butter-y and well toasted.  I should also mention that the rolls come with a small bag of chips and a pickle.  I really liked this version although I'm sure my doctor would tell me to only have it once a year.  I moved on to the Maine style next, and it was also very lobster-y, but I didn't like the celery in it.  I did like the thinly sliced scallion but the size of the roll which definitely more of a snack than a full meal.  I think for $15 they were great rolls but I would have liked something more substantial than just chips for dinner.  Of course when you go to a place like the Pearl Oyster Bar or Mary's Fish Camp the rolls are bigger and come with fries, but they are also $27+.  But what really put me over the edge for dinner was the whoopie pie, which is just two pieces of dense chocolate cake sandwiched around marshmallow fluff.  It was good, but totally sat like a brick in my stomach afterwards.  All in all, I think it's a cute informal place and they had mentioned that they were going to expand their menu soon, which I think is a great idea.  Total bill $36.50.

Ako Visited 10/16/10 3.25 Forks

Ako  205 Bedford Ave, (between 6th St & 5th St), Brooklyn, NY 11211

 I'm not sure why I haven't been to Ako before since there are not that many sushi places in Williamsburg.  The place is actually nothing amazing, but it gets the job done and is a pretty decent neighborhood joint.  The decor is actually quite home-y and nicely done and the waitstaff was quite friendly and quick with everything. 


We started with the rock shrimp tempura ($9), which was pretty good.  It was fried well and had a nice light coat for mayo on top of it.  There was surprisingly a good number of shrimp, granted they are not huge pieces but they were the right size for this type of appetizer.  For our main meal, we split the spicy roll combo ($14) and a tuna love roll ($12).  I liked that instead of asking for soup or salad, you actually get both!  The spicy roll combo came with spicy tuna, salmon, and yellowtail and there were 6 pieces of each.  They were good....kind of your basic, standard spicy rolls.  The tuna love roll was a peppercorn crusted white tuna, avocado, topped with red tuna crunch.  You could definitely taste the smokiness of the seared peppercorn white tuna and definitely gave the roll a different twist.  

A few things to know about this place:  there is no beer/liquor and even though they have AmEx card holders they claim they don't take it (one of my pet peeves).  The total bill was $45 with tax and tip.  While this place is no Nobu or Sushi of Gari, it's does fine as a regular standard joint.

Lodge Visited 10/5/10 2 Forks

Lodge  318 Grand St, (between Havemeyer St & Marcy Ave), Brooklyn, NY 11211

 A bunch of us met up here for a surprise party for Prior last night (Surprise!) and it was great in the sense that they were very accommodating and it wasn't too noisy in the restaurant, which I think are two key elements to a good group dinner.  The decor was true to its name in that it had a bunch of antlers and wood paneling and all the drinks are served in the ever-so trendy jam/mason jar.  


Conceptually, I liked what the menu was offering, which was basically heart-clogging southern food.  There was mac and cheese, burgers, pulled pork, fried chicken, hanger steak, pork chops...you get the idea.  Price-wise, it was pretty reasonable, I think the most expensive item was the $24 hanger steak, but everything else was generally around $14.  I was really really drawn to the mac and cheese and when I saw the other table get it I wanted to leap over the table and offer them $5 for just a bite.  Instead I opted for the burger with cheddar and a side of tater tots ($14).  Tater tots!!! That's what put me over the edge.  I really wished more places offered tater tots because they really bring back memories and they are just plain awesome.  The waitress there was nice but almost seemed almost too apologetic for all the restaurant's short comings that it was kind of annoying.  Lindsay wanted to order the whole trout but instead of hush puppies she wanted to sub it with something healthier like brussel sprouts.  In most places you'd think they'd say, "ok, but it's an extra $1-2".  Instead, here the waitress said it wasn't possible.  WTF? How can you not sub out a SIDE dish? Lindsay even offered to pay the difference to which the waitress said "we can't take substitutions because the price of the side is baked into the total price" - that's when Lindsay pointed out that the price difference was only $1 if you had ordered them as separate sides.  The waitress knew she had no real leg to stand on and apologized but couldn't offer any help, so Linds had to just order a side of sprouts for $5.  The waitress insisted that she still bring out the hush puppies, which made me kind of suspect that the meal is pre-cooked and then warmed up in an oven when ordered.  The waitress then apologized for having a slightly confusing wine list, which said it was half off but it wasn't clear if the price was already half off or if you take 50% the listed price.  She kept saying how stupid the menu was.  umm, ok. 


We then ordered another round of drinks and I got the basil lemonade ($10) which was basil vodka and lemonade.  On paper it sounds pretty good, but when it came out the was so overly sweet that I couldn't even finish it, which is saying a lot for someone like me who can eat a bag of sour patch kids in 5 minutes, including the sugar at the bottom.  The basil flavoring was very strong but it wasn't clear how much vodka was actually in it.  Our food came out in a relatively quick fashion and I was so excited to have a juicy burger and TATER TOTS!  My first impression of the burger was that there was too much bun.  It wasn't thick, it was just too wide and that is one of my pet peeves for burgers.  The first bite was good but then I slowly started to notice that my bun was disintegrating before my eyes.  The bread couldn't hold any moisture and pretty soon the entire bottom of my bun had fallen to pieces. Boo. Let me tell you it's no fun to eat a burger with no bun with your hands.  The burger was also majorly over salted, which turned out to be a theme for the night.  Next I moved on to the TATER TOTS and while they were cooked perfectly (very crisp but not dried out) there was so much salt on them that I thought I was eating a salt lick.  I was seriously so bummed out that I couldn't eat them that I kept trying to go back for more but was so dehydrated at the end of my meal that I drank an entire bottle of water.  I brought Dan home some left over pulled pork and he also mentioned that it was also incredibly salty, but he did say the mac and cheese was pretty good. Damn, I knew I should have gone with the mac and cheese!  Total bill ended up being around ~$36/pp which wasn't too bad even everyone got drinks and an entree and that good times were had by everyone. 

Aurora Soho Visited 10/3/10 3.5 Forks

Aurora 510 Broome St, Manhattan, NY 10024

 I had heard good things about the Williamsburg branch of this restaurant so I was excited to try this for brunch with the b-school girls.  Apparently this place was also picked because it was baby friendly, which it certainly was as when we got there, there was already a table with a baby there. 


The brunch menu is mostly a price fixe ($15) of an entree, coffee or tea and your choice of 1 cocktail, which is a pretty great deal.  All the entrees sounded brunchy and good.  Each person at our table got a nice variety of dishes from the menu.  I got the eggs florentine, dan got the duck hash, Kristin got the french toast, Jenn got the spinach frittata, Vivi got the eggs benedict and Erik got a salmon dish.  I liked the fact that the brunch cocktails variety was a bit more than your typical bloody mary or mimosa.  I got a strawberry puree and champagne cocktail which was very sweet but worth trying.  

My one pet peeve with our experience there was the slow to almost non-existent service.  When we got there, there was only 1-2 other tables that were full, so you would think that our waiter would be pretty attentive.  But instead, we got our cocktails and then he never brought out our coffees/teas, which,during a weekend brunch meal, I think is a pretty big no-no.  Our food came out relatively quickly and they all looked pretty good.  I had no real complaints about my meal, although it only came with 4 small potatoes, I would have preferred either no potatoes or a larger portion.  Having only 4 is too much of a tease, but the 4 that I did have were pretty good. The eggs were poached correctly and there was a lot of spinach on each muffin.  I heard that the French Toast dish was pretty sweet and tasty.  We only finally got our coffee after I asked our waiter about it and even then they completely forgot Erik's coffee.  While the food was fine and a good deal, I was kind of hungry less than 2 hours later.  Dan and I actually came home and grilled some burgers when we got home a few hours later.  While I listed this under Italian, our brunch food was pretty typical American style. I believe the lunch/dinner menus are much more Italian focused.  Total bill was $19/pp.

Arirang Visited 10/2/10 3.5 Forks

Arirang  32 W 32nd St, (between 5th Ave & Broadway), New York, NY 10001

 First off, this place is a bit hard to find.  It's on the 3rd floor of a very generic looking office building in Koreatown.  You'll see signs for it outside, but when you walk into the building every floor has a different Korean restaurant, so I can see how it gets to be a little confusing. 


What's different about this place very other places in Koreatown is that they only have a variety of noodle soups. So don't come here expecting bar-b-q, bim bim bop or any of the other stuff you can get in the other places in the 'hood.  We were seated in the back and I noticed that everyone here was Asian, which is usually a sign of a good ethnic restaurant.  We served us sides of kimchi immediately, which was fine but I usually like all the other small dishes that you get in a Korean restaurant like bean sprouts and other pickled dishes.  I personally am not a huge fan of kimchi, so I didn't love the sides.  The restaurant is well known of their chicken noodle soups, so I got the one with long noodles and dough flakes.  Dan got the one with just flakes and Aarti and Will got the veggie version ($9.45 each).  We had wanted a basic scallion pancake, but it only came with seafood, so instead we opted for the kimchi pancake ($13) instead.  While we waited for our food, we were served what I thought was water but was actually very light flavored tea.  Now it's not really a big deal and in hind sight it tasted fine, but when you drink something expecting one thing but getting something else, your mind kind of convinces yourself that you don't like it even though it's perfectly fine.  So the whole time I just avoided drinking my "water/tea".

Our pancake came out and it was enormous, the size of the entire plate.  I thought the pancake was fine...I like the ones in Chinese restaurants a bit better.  I wasn't a huge fan of the kimchi in it and the pieces of scallion/green onions were too big.  I would have liked it a bit crispier with less batter.  Then our soups came out and oh my, the bowl were the size of my head.  If I come back here, I will definitely share 1 bowl between 2 people.  They come out steaming hot and I was sweating for the first 20 minutes of my meal.  The soup base was pretty good and the noodles were home made and had a udon like texture to it, which I liked.  I wasn't sure what to make of the dough flakes as they were literally just slabs of dough cut from the same one they used for the noodles.  Even after you're eating for what seems like an eternity, there's still so much food.  There were bits of shredded chicken and it would have been better with more chicken in it.  I did like the thinly shred of green onions on top, it gave the soup a nice crisp to an otherwise heavy meal.  The veggie dish was the same except it came with heaps of spinach on top and other veggies, so it looked to be a good healthy alternative.  I didn't finish my soup but at the end of the meal I could feel all the dough expanding in my stomach.  The total bill with a bottle of soju, tax and tip came to $21/pp, which is a pretty good deal.

1 or 8 Visited 10/1/10 3.75 Forks

1 or 8  66 S 2nd St, (between Kent Ave & Wythe Ave), Brooklyn, NY 11211

 I have no idea why this place is called 1 or 8, but this place is definitely different.  It's in South Williamsburg, a bit far from all the action but it's not incredibly hard to get to.  From the outside, it looks like a small unassuming restaurant but then you turn a corner and you see that it's this huge loft like space that's decorated in all white.  It's a bit creepy and makes you feel like you can't spill but after sitting for a while I kind of got used to it.  The kitchen is open for the entire restaurant to see and the whole vibe is extremely futuristic. 

The menu is not your typical neighborhood sushi joint with lots of rolls.  The menu has a few of traditional dishes but they put a spin on it.  We ordered the edamame ($4) to start (which in general I'm usually a bit opposed getting in a restaurant knowing that an entire bag of edamame costs about $2) and the salmon tartare ($9).  The edamame was fine, they were a bit overcooked since I generally like my edamame crunchy and slightly undercooked.  The tartare came out next...I love tartare but I forget that it's generally more about the flavor rather than being filling.  This came topped with pear, some kind of red beet-like ingredient, and 3 pieces of dried fruit (orange, apple, and pear).  The flavor was quite clean and refreshing but it was chopped so finely that it was a bit hard to get on the fork.  I wish they served it with some small chips or something to help pick it up.
Next we ordered 3 special rolls to share: the double salmon, yellow mango, and mushroom tuna roll ($9/each).  The interesting thing is that each came with their own dipping sauce, which is something I've never seen anywhere.  The double salmon is smoked salmon, cucumber, and salmon skin served with a wasabi cream sauce.  I thought that the wasabi sauce would be my favorite but I actually didn't like it too much.  The whole thing actually tasted like a Philly roll  and once I decided that I couldn't get the idea that the cream sauce tasted like cream cheese.  The mushroom tuna roll was surprisingly good even though I generally don't like veggies in my rolls.  This had sauteed wood ear mushrooms, red pepper, asparagus, topped with tuna and it was served with a aji amarillo sauce, which basically tasted like spicy mayo.  The mushroom and asparagus really gave it some interesting texture but you still got the tuna flavor coming through so it didn't totally feel like you were just eating a veggie roll.  But my favorite of the 3 rolls was the yellow mango roll - yellowtail, mango, jalapeno, served with a cilantro sauce.  The cilantro sauce reminded me of the cilantro chutney that I get with Indian food, but it was surprisingly delicious with the roll.  I barely used my soy sauce during this meal.  The fish in all the rolls were really fresh and in more traditional Japanese style the rolls are not very large...more bite sized, so I didn't really leave super full.  But I definitely left like the quality of the food was pretty good.  It's just a bit pricier than your typical neighborhood sushi place, but at least you know you're paying for slightly better quality .  Don't get me wrong, sometimes all I want is slightly cheap-o neighborhood sushi, so both these type of places have a reason to exist in my mind.  We also ordered 2 glasses of sake ($9 each) because the price of the bottles were pretty expensive - all over $25. Our total bill with tax was $37/pp, so not crazy expensive but while I'm sitting here I am contemplating getting some ice cream down the street.