Catch Visited 2/27/2012 3 Forks

Catch 21 9th Ave., (between Little W 12th St & 13th St), New York, NY 10014

To be fair about this review, I did really like most of the food at Catch and if it was based on food alone, I would have given it 4 Forks.  But what bumped it down as (A) WAY overpriced to the point where it's really just absurd and (B) the Meatpacking crowd was a bit too much, but hey that's expected, right?

The first tip that this place is truly a "Meatpacking" restaurant was the fact that the entrance is totally hidden.  You can easily walk past the entrance and the only reason I noticed it was because there was a "bouncer" outside but he was harmless.  Once you walk inside, you realize that the restaurant is actually on the 2nd floor and you have to take an elevator upstairs.  Once the doors open...oh yeah, you realize you're in the Meatpacking District.  Everyone is all dressed up and looking a bit too chi-chi or Euro-trash.  For some bizarre reason, there are 4 hostesses working the check-in desk but only 1 actually talks.  The actual seating area is very spacious and the overall decor was very nautical (complete with a steering wheel at each table).  Once we sat down and opened the menu, I nearly had a heart attack.  Sushi rolls averaged $16, appetizers were in the $15-$20 range, and entrees in the $30 range.  There was a ridiculous whole fish dish that was $78 and another that was $90. WTF? I mean you can get similar fresh seafood dishes in Chinatown for 1/4 of the price.  Obviously the drinks were expensive as well, in the $15-$18 range but there were a few cocktails and glasses of wine that were $20+.  Seriously?

Luckily, the food itself was good and that made the sting of the prices a bit less painful.  The meal started off with hot soft pretzels served with a mustard butter.  Amazing and we asked for another basket (which they forgot) because it was that good.  For dinner, we ordered littleneck clams from the raw bar, a special sushi roll called the South Beach Roll, crispy shrimp with mayo, flatbread with clams, baked calms, lobster mashed potato, and the scallop and cauliflower entree.    The littleneck clams and sushi roll came out first and they were both extremely fresh.  While the roll itself was really good (fresh crabmeat with avocado), the fact that there were only 5 pieces for $16 was a bit ridiculous.  The calms were super fresh and fishy (but in a good way) and came with cocktail sauce, horseradish and fresh lemons.  Next came the crispy shrimp, flatbead and baked clams.  Let me say for the record that the crispy shrimp was freaking amazing.  It was like rock shrimp tempura that was perfectly battered but then coated with a hot sauce that definitely had a kick to it.  I mean, this dish was perfection and totally worth the money.  The flatbread was tasty and had melted cheese topped with clams but it wasn't a show stopper dish.  It actually looked and tasted like something that I could make at home but obviously with some skill required.  The baked clams were stuffed with breading and drowning in delicious garlic butter (it was served with nice crusty bread that was used to sop up the butter) which is always a winning combination.  When our entree was served our waitress told us that it was the winning dish for Hung on Top Chef, so of course now that really sets high expectations!  There were 5 very large, plumb and firm scallops.  They were cooked perfectly and served with this intense cream sauce with roasted cauliflower, broccoli, and mushrooms.  I actually thought the sauce was a bit too rich (I mean you could taste the butter used in it) but that also could be because I was eating the lobster mashed potato with it, which itself had about 5 sticks of butter in it.  I will give a huge shout out for the mashed potato because I expecting specks of lobster but it had giant whole claws in there and totally worth the money because of it. 

At this point I was so full but yet was convinced to order dessert.  Since Christine gave up dessert for lent (good for you!), it was left to me and VA to eat the whole thing and I really just couldn't get more than a few mouthfuls down.  We got the banana split with 3 kinds of ice cream (cookie dough, hazelnut/chocolate and raspberry).  The bananas were caramelized and kind of eh, but the cookie dough ice cream was the best because not only did the ice cream taste like cookie dough but it was served cookie dough bottom.  Delicious.  The waitstaff was slammed on Yelp but our waitress was actually super nice and friendly.  You know you're in the Meatpacking District when things only get hopping after 11pm, meanwhile I was so full and could barely keep my eyes open when we left.  When we got the bill, we were prepared to spend a lot but it ended up being $97 per person! Ouch! Granted our alcohol bill was almost $100 itself.  But hey, you only live once right? Now I just have to eat ramen for the next few days to compensate.


Photo Credit: Yelp

Moustache Visited 2/25/2012 3.5 Forks

Moustache 90 Bedford St., (between Barrow St & Grove St), New York, NY 10014

I've actually been to Moustache several times over the years, but I have never blogged about it, so I am now!  I have always had good meals here and when I was having down day and hanging out at Aarti's apartment, I decided this was a good, close by option.

Despite being around for years, this place was still crowded on a Saturday night.  The few times I've been here before I've gotten the same thing, the leg of lamb sandwich ($11) because honestly it's just a tasty sandwich.  For the table, we got the hummus ($6) and the lentil salad ($6).  The weird thing was that the waitress asked if we wanted pita with our hummus.  Umm, yes?!  That sounds so ridiculous because how else would I otherwise eat my hummus? That's like going to Chinese restaurants and then asking if I want rice...of course I do! When the hummus did come out, the annoying thing was that it wasn't the usual soft pillowy pita but this blown up balloon like pita that was hard and crunchy.  It was fine but not what I preferred to eat my hummus with.  But the actual hummus itself was quite smooth and rich tasting.  The lentil salad came with bulghur and fried onion and it was a very hearty "salad"  that went well with the hummus.  My sandwich was yummy as usual.  The sandwich actually came as a pita wrap (which I started to tear apart and use to eat the hummus with) with onion, tomato, and a lemon mint mayo.  The flavors are all super Mediterranean and the lamb is really tender and not gamey tasting at all.  The only complaint would be that there's a LOT of onion so I wouldn't recommend it if you're on a date or something like that.  Aarti and Lav got the falafel plate ($11) and the moustache pizza ($12) which comes topped with roasted red pepper, onion, tomato, parsley, chili and mozzarella.  I didn't try either of their dishes but they both commented that it was good and that the falafel wasn't greasy or too oily.  This place is a solid go-to for Mediterranean/Middle Eastern food.   Head up is that it's cash only.  Total bill $27/pp with tax and tip.

Photo Credit: Yelp      

Whitehall Visited 2/23/2012 4 Forks

Whitehall 19 Greenwich Ave., (between Charles St & 10th St), Manhattan, NY 10014

 So many times people ask me how do I come up with a list of places to go? To be honest, most of the times it's from reading blogs and magazines, but sometimes its my friends who pick a lot of the places I end up.  My friend Virginia knows just as much about great restaurants as I do and she's really great about just randomly setting up get togethers at new places.  So this past Thursday she organized a girls night out at Whitehall which has got the same vibe as the last place we went to, Highlands.  It's kind of gastro-pubby and they've got a great specialty cocktail list.  

We started the night with cocktails and they were great.  I tried the East Side which was essentially a mojito made with mint, cucumber, and gin and the No. 6 which was hot apply cider with cognac and "winter spices" and both were strong and tasty.  We were there at 6:30pm and the place was packed with people there for drinks and dinner.  We weren't able to get a reservation until 9pm, so it was a long night!  Since we were a pretty large group of girls there were only a few tables that could accommodate us and one table that the hostess had basically promised us was occupied by this group of over 2 1/2 hours.  As it started to get close to 9:00, we all started giving the table the evil eye.  Now I am the type of patron who, while doesn't like to be rushed, is very conscientious if there are other people waiting to sit and try not to dill-dally and these people were clearly could have cared less.  We finally did get to sit and we all ordered within 10 minutes because it was late and we were starving.  VA ordered the roasted brussel sprouts and mushy peas for the table and then we each ordered our own dishes.  I was torn between the roasted chicken and the burger...the waitress told me the burger was amazing and different from most burgers out there so I went with it.  The brussel sprouts were nicely roasted with the leaves pretty burned (but in good way) and the center still green, a bit crunchy and flavorful.  Everyone was a bit nervous about the mushy peas but they were actually pretty good.  It essentially tasted exactly like a falafel and it was topped with a nice mint yogurt.  When my burger came out I could immediately tell that it would be good but heart stopping.  As soon as I cut into it, I could see how super juicy it was and the reason it was different was because it was topped with caramelized onions, beets, butter lettuce and a fried egg.  Some people might be grossed out bit, but honestly it truly was a different burger than your standard pub burger and I really appreciated it.  The bun was also really soft and buttery so that's always a plus.  The burger also comes with a largest side of fries I've ever seen, which wasn't mentioned on the menu.  So if you get the burger, do NOT order any other sides unless you're starving.  I didn't try anyone else's food but everyone did say that they liked their meal.  All in all, it was a great night out and I love it when other people introduce me to new places because it kind of takes the pressure off of me! Total bill $44/pp with tip and tax. 

Photo Credit: Yelp     

Pulino's Visited 2/19/2012 3.5 Forks

Pulino's 282 Bowery, New York, NY 10012

So you know that old saying, don't go grocery shopping when you're hungry? I would say that same thing for when you are looking for a place to eat.  Lav and I had an awesome time at Juvenex Day Spa for 4 hours, but we were both starving by the time we left.  We had plans to go to Parm because last time we were there it was a 2 hour wait and went to Rubirosa instead.  We figured 5:30pm on a Sunday during a long weekend wouldn't be an issue.  Um, totally wrong.  There were people pouring on to the streets waiting for a table.  One guy even stormed out and screamed "This is bullshit!" and frankly, I don't blame him.  I mean, seriously, you can't even get a table at 5:30 on a SUNDAY??!  So we decided to scrap our plans and go to Cafe Habana instead and what do you know? Freaking line too!  I mean I'm not sure if it was a bunch of tourists but I was so confused by what was going on.  Don't real New Yorkers not eat until 10pm (and I totally get the irony of me trying to eat at 6pm myself)?  So finally we decide to go to Pulino's.  Neither of us had been before and luckily, they could seat us right away.  So it was kind of like eating at the B-grade Parm (both are Italian).

We were so hungry at that point that we didn't even wait for our waiter to tell us what the specials were and yelled our order at him immediately (after hearing the other waiter tell his customers what the specials were, I kind of wish we had waited to hear our waiter out).  We got the blistered green peppers with sea salt ($9), the eggplant parm appetizer ($13), burrata pizza ($20) and the baked ziti with meatballs ($18).   The peppers were good but they were a bit overcooked and too soft.  The eggplant parm appetizer was delicious.  The eggplant was nice and soft and there was an abundance of tomato sauce and cheese.  The bread that came with the dish was a nice thick piece of garlic bread which was amazing and actually my favorite part of the dish.   The pizza was a pretty large pie and if we weren't so hungry I would say that 2 people could totally split 1 pizza with some appetizers and be fine.  The burrata pizza was good but I wasn't wow'd by it as there wasn't as much cheese as I would have liked (it was much more saucy than anything else).  Like Rubirosa, the pizza here is also thin-crusted but the pizza at Rubirosa was much better as the crust was just tastier and held up better with wet ingredients on top of it.  The baked ziti was also good but I would have liked to have had more sauce and cheese.  With some bites, I was getting just the ziti with limited sauce.

To be honest, if we had stopped our meal here, I would have given this place 3 forks.  But what put it into the 3.5 range was the dessert.  We got the s'mores sundae and it was freaking awesome.  It was vanilla and chocolate gelato, with hot fudge, graham cracker crumble and a marshmallow cream. All the ingredients on their own were great, but if you get a bite that has all of the combined, it will blow your mind.  I especially loved the marshmallow cream...it reminded me of eating marshmallow fluff out of the jar when I was a kid.   All in all, the meal was good and totally hit the spot but again, I'm not sure if my perspective would have been different if I wasn't starving and annoyed by all the lines at the other places.  Total bill $57/pp.

Photo Credit: Yelp

Peep Visited 2/18/2012 3 Forks

Peep 177 Prince St., (between Thompson St & Sullivan St), New York, NY 10012

I haven't been to Peep in over 5 years and it really hasn't changed at all.  Aarti and I had a dinner date to get Thai food on Saturday but at the same time I was also shopping for a new laptop.  After years of being a PC girl, I decided that it might be time for a Mac since everyone I know loves them.  Plus I've been going through a pretty difficult time these days and decided that I needed a fresh start and try something different, so what better way than to get a Mac (and ps. I fucking LOVE it so far...granted I'm still trying to figure out how the heck to copy/paste).  So I ended up at the Apple store in Soho on Greene Street and Peep was a 5 minute walk away.  I believe Peep is related to the people who run SEA because the menu and price points are almost identical.

The inside is kind of like a club with neon pink lights and the bathroom is see-through with racy videos playing inside.  Of all the tables in the whole place, Aarti and I got the two top right next to the bathroom. Of course.  The menu at Peep is pretty robust with lots of choices but all pretty typical for a Thai place: noodles, fried rices, curries, stir-fries, whole fish, etc.  I had a craving for noodles and got the Face Towel Noodle ($12, please, I have NO IDEA why the hell it's called that) which is essentially a broad noodle with shrimp, squid, chicken, egg, basil,  and tomato chili paste.  Aarti got the sesame stir-fry ($11) and we split the steamed spinach dumplings ($6) and a side of steamed eggplant ($5).  Unlike my meal at Gramercy Tavern, the food here came out scarily fast.  The steamed dumplings must have literally come out 4 minutes after we ordered.  The dumplings were eh, not super fresh tasting and honestly the ones I get at the Asian grocery store tasted better.  Luckily my noodles were a bit better.  The dish was huge and there almost seemed like there were 5 pounds of noodles.  While the overall taste was fine, my issues with the dish were that there were only 2 pieces of shrimp (and they were very small and a bit dry), almost no squid and the chicken pieces were too big and slight overcooked.  I know I am making this dish sound not that great, but it suited my needs at the time and I really liked the sauce on the noodles.  I also tried the eggplant (I love the fact that they offer eggplant as a side dish option) and while the flavor of basil and chili paste came out loud and clear, the eggplant itself needed to be cooked a bit longer.

During any other day, I would have been a bit annoyed by the slow service, I actually appreciated it on this day because it gave me and Aarti the opportunity to have a leisurely meal for 2 1/2 hours.  The great thing about Thai places like this is the bill.  Total bill $23/pp.  Yay!

Photo Credit: Yelp  

Empellon Visited 2/12/2012 3 Forks

Empellon 230 W 4th St., (between S 7th Ave & 4 St), Manhattan, NY 10014

Empellon is more well known for its dinner menu but after looking at the brunch menu, I was intrigued to try it out on a Sunday afternoon.  To be honest, it was a perfectly fine brunch, just nothing totally mind blowing.  But after looking at the fish tacos that my neighbors had, I think dinner might have been a better option.  They did offer fish tacos on the brunch menu, but when there are eggs on a brunch menu, 9 times out of 10 that's what I'll get and who really wants to have fish tacos for brunch (please refrain from jokes here)?

Aarti and I started our brunch with guacamole, which I know is also not traditional brunch food, but when some place offers your avocados in the dead of winter, you take it!.  The guacamole was served with two kinds of salsa, one was a delicious Tomatillo-Chipotle and the other was Salsa Habañera which was just a bit too spicy for me. The actual guacamole was great and seasoned well but it was a whopping $12 for something that wasn't much bigger than 2 scoops of ice cream.  I will make a shout out for the chips that tasted like homemade tortilla chips and were super salty but in a good chip way.  For our main dishes, I ordered the Eggs Benedict with Refried Beans, Ham and Hollandaise and Aarti got the Chilaquiles with Roasted Maitake Mushrooms and a Sunny Side Egg.  Ever since the 2nd Street Cafe closed in Park Slope, I have been on the eternal search of the perfect classic eggs benedict.  I clearly should have known that I wouldn't really find it at a Mexican restaurant.  I just envisioned this dish to be served on toasted english muffin and covered in buttery hollandaise sauce.  To be fair, this benedict tasted fine and I applaud it for being different.  Instead of english muffins, it was served on challah bread and the ham was more like thin prosciutto slices than thick cut ham.  I appreciated the refried beans in it (and they were definitely quality beans, not your Taco bell variety) which put a different spin to the dish.  While many brunch places I've been to over poach their eggs, this place actually slightly under poached their eggs as the whites were still very running and not quite firm.  The challah bread added a sweet touch which was nice but again, I was just picturing this classic benedict dish based on the description and it just was not what I expected.  I didn't taste Aarti's dish but she did mention that it need more mushrooms in the dish.  And she also mentioned that the coffee was fabulous.

All in all, it was a perfectly fine brunch experience and the actual decor and ambiance was pretty nice and calming.  I can understand many of the Yelp reviews of it being over priced with small portions, but that's kind of what I expect with these fancier Mexican places.  Even for brunch I thought it was a bit overpriced considering neither of us ordered any cocktails.  $32/pp with tip and tax.

Photo Credit: Yelp  

Gramercy Tavern Visited 2/11/2012 4.5 Forks

Gramercy Tavern 42 E 20th St., (between Broadway & S Park Ave), New York, NY 10003

Ahh, the legendary Gramercy Tavern.  I can't believe I've lived in New York for this long and haven't been there yet.  Granted I just ate in the front Tavern room and not in the back restaurant, it was still an amazing meal and I was this close to giving it 5 Forks.  The only reason I didn't is actually non-food related, I'll get to it later.

My dad was in town for the day, so I decided this was the right opportunity to check out this place.  They don't seat in the main room for lunch on the weekends and the seating in the tavern is first come, first serve.  They open at noon on the weekends and when I got there at 11:55AM, there was already a line about 10 people deep already.  Luckily, my dad got there early, so we were seated right away.  In terms of the menu, a word of warning that it is different than what they serve in the main room.  Even though I haven't eaten in the main room, the tavern food was more than fabulous and I can only image what the food in the main room is like.  We split the fish croquette and spinach salad ($12) and I got the red snapper with shiitake mushrooms and cauliflower ($22) while my dad got the sea bass with spaghetti squash, walmuts and sherry sauce ($22).  One of the many things I loved about Gramercy Tavern was that when I told the waitress that we would be splitting the fish croquette, they actually pre-split the dish into two separate dishes for us.  Now that's great attention to detail and very much appreciated.  The dish was amazing.  There were two croquettes per person and they were nice and fried on the outside and the inside was this perfect mashed mixture of fish (but not too fishy) and spices.  There actually wasn't a lot of spinach, more of a mixed green combination.  The greens were superbly dressed with a light dressing and then there was a surprisingly bed of spicy kimchi on the bottom of the bowl.  I know the whole thing might sound weird, but it just somehow worked really well.  After our appetizer, we did wait a bit for our main entrees and this is where I had to dock 1/2 a fork.  While I completely and totally understand that quality food shouldn't necessarily come out in 5 seconds, we did wait quite a while for our entrees.  While eating in the tavern, you do get a front view of the small open kitchen and I knew that there were only 2 chefs in the kitchen working the whole room, so I don't fault them, but it was a bit frustrating to wait over 30 minutes of the next meal to come out.

But when it did come out...oh my.  My red snapper dish was one of the best fish dishes I've had in a while.  I don't know what I was expecting but it was a fairly generous portion of perfectly pan roasted firm piece of red snapper covered in this amazing thick and flavorful sauce that shamefully I'm not 100% sure was in it.  But it was a delicious buttery tasting yellow sauce (who am I kidding, it was probably just all butter) that completely covered the fish and was served with pieces of cauliflower and mushrooms.  I wish there were more mushrooms but overall there wasn't a single thing that I would change about the dish.  Each bite was just as good as the one before.  I had a quick taste of the sea bass and that was also great with a very distinct sherry taste and the squash spaghetti was a great healthy touch.  Even though I was totally full, I had to have dessert, I mean how often am I going to eat here? I opted for the pumpkin butterscotch pudding with cinnamon whipped cream ($9).  It's like the dish was made for me since I have always been mad for butterscotch and pumpkin, so to combine the two almost sent me over the edge.  You could totally taste both the pumpkin flavor and the butterscotch flavor and neither overpowered the other.  The whipped cream was fresh and light and was equally addictive on its own.  It was served with a cinnamon pastry on top which I only ate half  for fear that my whole system might go into sugar overload.

The wait staff was impeccable...they constantly filled your water but not at an obnoxious way, took away my dirty plates at the right time and were just perfectly attentive without being in your face.  I will note that the whole meal took over two hours, which was just about 30 minutes too long for me.  We also had to wait a while to get the check, but I don't hold it totally against them.  I'm usually a bit suspicious of restaurants that are labeled "New York Institutions" but this place totally lives up to the hype.  Now I'm even more excited to try the actual restaurant.  Total bill $110 total with tip and tax.

Photo Credit: Yelp 

Balaboosta Visited 2/10/2012 4 Forks

Balaboosta 214 Mulberry St., (between Spring St & Prince St), New York, NY 10012

Balaboosta is one of the restaurants that's been on my list of places to try but I just never seem to be "in the mood" for it.  Luckily, Virginia and I happened to be in the neighborhood on a Friday night and it was literally 1 block from where we met up,  so it seemed like a no brainer to finally check it out.  Luckily we met pretty early on a Friday night (7pm - which is early for dinner in NYC) so we were able to get a table without a reservation but I would recommend making one if you want to go anytime after 8pm.

After our last appetizer only outing, VA and I were both tempted to order a bunch of small plates but instead the hanger steak was calling both our names (maybe it was because we both just worked out and had a hankering for red meat), so we opted to both get steak but to order 2 sides to start.  We started with the Hummus "Mortar And Pestle": with Tahini, Lemon, Roasted Garlic ($7) and the Smoked Eggplant Bruschetta, with Herb & Citrus Salad, Silan ($11).  So much how I test a brunch place with how well they make a poached egg, I test a Mediterranean place on how good their hummus is.  And Balaboosta makes a freakin damn good one.  It tasted totally homemade (in a good way) and had the perfect mix of tahini and garlic to it.  The pita bread that was served with it was super soft (fresh out of the oven) and I was super sad but thankful that they only give you two pieces.  There's something about it that was just so much tastier than the kind you buy in a store even though it's such a simple recipe.  Next came the eggplant bruschetta and at first I was a bit disappointed that only one piece came out but it was a HUGE piece.  But the one piece I had was amazing.  The eggplant was quite smoky tasting but the herb and citrus salad on top of it really helped to diffuse the smoky taste.  It was a great combination of the two flavors.  These two apps really set us up well for the main dish of Spice Rubbed Skirt Steak with Roasted Salsify, Oyster Mushroom and Sauteed Green Beans, Tomato Vinaigrette ($26).  We both got our steaks medium rare and mine was exactly that.  It was pretty pink on the inside and very juicy as you cut into it.  I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more mushroom and the greens were only slight wilted (not plumb and crispy like the ones I had for lunch the other day).  However, I really liked the spice rub and the tomato vinaigrette was something totally different (it's was almost like having tomato soup sauce on top) that I've never had before.  If you're hungry, the steak is a very generous piece and I had to be wheeled out of the restaurant after finishing it.  But did that stop me and VA from getting dessert?  Uh, yeah, no it didn't.  We got the special cheesecake of the day (lemon) which came with a peanut butter crust and lemon sauce side ($9).  It actually didn't look anything like a cheesecake, it looked more like a lemon meringue tart because of the toasted top.  The peanut butter crust was really powerful and quite thick.  In fact, I felt like there was too much crust to actual cheesecake, but that clearly didn't stop us from almost eating the whole thing.

The wait staff was nice and friendly and was helpful in us deciding our meal.  The one thing I will warm people is that the two top tables are literally 2 inches away from each other, so there isn't any privacy.  I could have practically eaten off my neighbor's plate.  I often forget how much I love Mediterranean/Greek food but after my experience here and at Pylos, I will keep it more top of mind.  Total bill $52/pp with tip and tax.  

Photo Credit: Yelp

Takahachi Bakery Visited 2/10/2012 4.5 Forks

Takahachi Bakery 25 Murray St., (between Broadway & Church St), New York, NY 10007

I normally wouldn't have reviewed a bakery but I just couldn't stop thinking about the lunch I had there, there I felt like I just had to spread the word about this place.  I had passed by it several times but just assumed it was your usually Asian bakery that I've been to a million times before in my life.  And on a basic level, that's what it is.  They have tons of different kind of breads (sweet and savory), pastries, and strangely enough macaroons.  If you've never been to an Asian bakery before they are pretty different than your standard American or Italian bakery.  When I say "sweet", I mean that the breads have red been paste or an egg custard type of taste to it.  And the savory breads have ham or pork baked into it.  But I was pleasantly surprised to see that they also had a variety of salads and specialty sandwiches during lunch at very reasonable prices.

I got the small tofu salad ($4) and a fish sandwich that came with a side of beans and potato ($6).  They had a whole variety of hot and cold sandwiches to choose from, so you can really have a real meal here.  They have a several tables in the back for you to sit at and you also get a view of the bakers making the food in the back.  After my Soba-ya experience, I wasn't sure if I'd have luck with non-suchi Japanese food, but I really loved my food.  The tofu salad had soft tofu with lettuce, tomato, red onion,  and topped with a seaweed salad all with a very light but flavorful sesame dressing.  It was simple, clean and just what I wanted to lunch.  But of course I didn't stop eating there. I also got the fish sandwich, which was a piece of cod that tasted like it was pan roasted put in a soft Japanese bakery bun served with asparagus on top.  I know it sounds weird but it was super tasty and the small green beans and potatoes on the side were crispy and very fresh tasting.  The fact that I got all of that for $10 is a pretty great steal, especially in Tribeca.  I'm totally super excited that my friend Allison suggested it for lunch because I am definitely coming back here more often, especially since most of the places in the Tower are terrible or under renovations until 2013!

Photo Credit: Yelp

Little Muenster Visited 2/9/2012 3 Forks

Little Muenster 100 Stanton St., (between Ludlow St & Orchard St), Manhattan, NY 10002

Fancy grilled cheese seems to have exploded on to the scene recently from restaurants to food trucks.  But I actually hadn't really been to one so I was pretty excited to try out Little Muenster with some friends/co-workers of mine.  While I do love a good grilled cheese (let's be honest, who doesn't?!), I do have this inherent issue with places that charge a 300% mark-up on something you can essentially make at home.  But hey, it's not like having a $10 grilled cheese is going to break the bank, so I wasn't going to let that stop me from going there.   The place has a cute storefront but is not really a restaurant..it's more of a take out place that happens to have about 5 tables in the front. 

They have about 8 different kinds of grilled cheese and they are pretty creative with the combinations.  They do have your standard grilled cheese with american cheese, tomato and bacon, but then they have combinations like asiago, parmesan, butternut squash and brown butter or the special sandwich had shrimp in it.  I opted for the taleggio, fontina, and sauteed crimini and shitake mushrooms ($9.25).  The meal comes with a side of BBQ flavored chips (they were almost like sweet potato chips).  I was super tempted to get the tomato soup but figured the chips might be just enough.

I did see the guy in back making the sandwiches and frankly it's just him putting the ingredients together and putting it in a KitchenAid sandwich press.  But I guess what else did you expect?  The sandwiches came out in these cute little bento boxes with the sandwich on one side and the chips in another.  The bread was one of those crusty almost baguette types of bread (not your standard Wonder Bread) but it was toasted just right with lots of crunch on the outside.  I did like my cheese and mushroom combination but my one complaint was that I thought the mushrooms were too salty.  I must have downed my cup of water in 5 minutes and while I liked the taleggio and fontina cheese, it just didn't have the same kind of super ooey gooey melt of american cheese, which is really the best part of a grilled cheese!  I noticed as I was leaving that they had bone marrow butter for $1 extra.  So the next time I'm here (it's in a great spot in the LES), I think I'll try the tomato soup and add bone marrow butter to what ever sandwich I get.  I can see this place getting mobbed at night with the drunk crowd so go earlier in the night if you don't want to get caught up in that!

Photo Credit: Yelp 

Jeffrey's Grocery Visited 2/5/2012 3.5 Forks

Jeffrey's Grocery 172 Waverly Pl., (between Christopher St & Grove St), New York, NY 10014

Jeffrey's Grocery is from the same people as Joseph Leonard and Fedora, so I kind of knew what to expect here.  In the same vein as the other two places, Jeffrey's Grocery is in the West Village and just a super cute neighborhood joint serving solid American food.  Dan S. and I went there for brunch on a Sunday afternoon and surprisingly we were able to get two seats immediately (at the bar).  Looking around, I can see how this place can get super crowded on a busy night because there are probably at most 20 actual seats and then there are a handful of seats at the bar.

I actually love sitting at the bar and watching the either the bartender or chefs.  The "kitchen" at Jeffrey's Grocery is literally the size of my bathroom (i.e tiny) but it's kind of nice to see the two chefs work their magic in such a tiny space.  And at least you know that your food is coming from a clean place.  The brunch menu is an interesting mix: they still offer the raw bar that they are well known for (oysters, shrimp cocktail, clams, lobster, crab legs, and plateau of seafood) plus more typical brunch-y food of omelettes and egg sandwiches and they also have a burger or brisket sandwiches.  I was super tempted to order off the raw bar that there's something that seems weird about ordering raw seafood at 11AM (and expensive).  They had a smoked salmon dish ($16) that everyone seemed to get and I hadn't had smoked salmon every since I moved out of Park Slope, so I had to get it.  Dan got the sausage, egg and cheese biscuit ($13) and a coffee (Only at $1!!).

Now to be honest, the smoked salmon dish was just a toasted everything bagel piled high with smoked salmon, capers, red onion, tomato and cream cheese.  It's something you can totally get at a local bagel shop for less than half the price they had here.  But despite that, it was a great sandwich.  The salmon was delicious and not overly smoked.  There was the right amount of cream cheese and tomato in portion to the size of the bagel.  Although I have massive love for my old bagel haunt, they used to put so much freakin cream cheese that you had to literally scrap half of it off with a knife but then it would ruin the whole structure of the sandwich.  But here, everything was portioned just right relative to each other and you could get a mouthful of bagel, salmon, caper, tomato and red onion in one bite.  I didn't try Dan's sandwich but it did look quite hearty.  


The overall vibe of Jeffrey's was super cute and I would totally come back again. The reason I'm not giving it a higher rating is simply the fact that I just had 1 dish that, even though it was good, wasn't a super complicated dish.  I am curious to see how dinner would be there.  Anyone interested?  Total bill $19/pp with tip and tax. 


Photo Credit: Yelp

Soba-ya Visited 2/4/2012 3 Forks

Soba-ya 229 E 9th St., (between 2nd Ave & 3rd Ave), New York, NY 10003

I had been to Soba-ya years ago and remembered thinking that I liked it, but didn't love it but really wanted to come back again for some reason.  Fast forward to 2012 and my friend Dan Spar and I were milling around the East Village looking for a noodle place to eat.  Momofuku Noodles had an hour wait, so we walked over to Soba-ya which only had a 20 minute wait.  I have this weird distinct memory of how last time I was here I really wanted to get the salmon sashimi and salmon roe over rice but for some reason got something else, so I was pretty sure that was what I was going to order when I sat down.

Aaaaaaand, of course what do I do? I totally ordered something else. Groan.  Everything sounded so good on the menu and I ended up ordering the Goma Tofu ($5.50) and the Bara Chirashi ($15) totally on a whim.  Dan got the braised pork belly appetizer ($10) and the chicken and egg rice bowl ($16).  For 2 people who came in wanting noodles and salmon roe, we totally went against our gut....we probably should have listened to our gut in the first place.  I had had a great tofu dish at a Korean place last week and was expecting this to be pretty good too.  But the Goma tofu, which was described as chilled sesame tofu, had this super thick almost pasty like texture.  I thought it would be one of those smooth and silky tofu dishes but this was unlike any tofu I've had before and frankly, it wasn't fabulous.  I mean, I definitely felt healthy eating it but it was kind of like eating paste.  However, the pork belly appetizer was great.  The belly was cooked perfectly and melted in your mouth and had lots of fat to it.  I mean, pork belly is just one of the best things in the world.  Then our main dishes came out and I was initially super excited.  My chirashi came with cut up pieces of tuna, salmon, eel, shrimp, squid, amberjack, egg, mushroom and cucumber on a huge bed of sushi quality rice.  Everything in it are ingredients that I love, but the fish was cut up so small that I couldn't really taste the quality of the fish.  Plus it needed a bit more salt, so I had to pour a bunch of soy sauce on the dish to really add some flavor to it.  Dan had also mentioned that his dish was also a bit bland and he had to pour a bunch of soy sauce as well.  Our meal also came with a clear soup full of shiitake mushrooms and this again was a bit bland but I couldn't add soy sauce to that!  Now, I know that in general Japanese food is a bit on the lighter side and is more about clean flavors, but the food here just needed an extra something.  I noticed that a bunch of people were ordering the soba (duh) and really enjoyed it, so if I do come back here again I would order either soba (afterall, the place is called SOBA-ya) or stick with my original craving of salmon sashimi on rice (the woman next to me got a sashimi platter and the fish looked AMAZING).  Even though I didn't love my food, I want to hold on to hope that we just ordered the wrong stuff and there are other great items on the menu that I missed.  Total bill $42/pp with tax and tip.

Photo Credit: Yelp

Petite Crevette Visited 2/3/2012 4.5 Forks

Petite Crevette 144 Union St., (between Columbia St & Hicks St), Brooklyn, NY 11231

I had always been a bit scared of Petite Crevette not because I thought the food would be bad, but I had read a story on a food blog once that someone returned their food and the chef/owner went ballistic on them and threw a lobster at them!  But luckily, I overcame my fear of flying seafood and when my friend Elissa wanted to go there on one of her "last outings" in Brooklyn, I couldn't pass up the opportunity. 


The location is totally out of the way (it's on the OTHER side of the BQE) and not very showy from the outside.  But once you're inside and taste the food, none of that matters.  It's super cozy inside and they have all their dishes written up brown paper that's taped up on the wall.  One nice thing about this place is that it's BYOB, so don't forget to bring a bottle of wine.  Everything on the menu looked and sounded totally amazing.  They had fried oysters, tuna carpaccio, crab corn chowder, mussels, tuna burgers, salmon burgers, a variety of whole fish, thai coconut curry with seafood, scallops, swordfish, cioppino with all sorts of seafood, and the list could go on and go.  Basically anything that you can think of that has seafood, they had it on the menu.  I decided to go simple and go the crab corn chowder ($8) and the salmon burger ($15).  The chowder was rich and creamy and the best part was that it was chock full of fresh crab meat.  Now as someone from MD, fresh crab meat means a whole lot to me, so I was pretty pleased with this dish.  At first I kind of regretted getting the salmon burger because it's so unoriginal, but once I bit into it, I was totally happy with my choice.  While it is a salmon patty, it was really a bunch of chopped up super fresh salmon (of sashimi quality) with very little filler on a toasted bun served with wasabi mayo, fries and a side salad.  It was almost like eating a bunch of salmon sushi on a bun, which may not sound appealing but believe me, it was delicious.  I was super full by the end of it, but totally wished that I had room to order more dishes because I rarely get to eat seafood this food and at such reasonable prices!  

Luckily no fish was thrown my way, but of course I didn't have anything wrong with my food.  Elissa got the tuna burger and also said that it was pretty amazing.  The only bummer is that this place is so out of the way and I'd really have to make a super effort to get there.  But part of the charm I think is because it's so tucked away that it's not bombard with your usual overflow of yuppies from Smith street.  The real bummer is that it's cash only, so remember to go to the ATM. Total bill $33/pp with tip and tax. 


Photo Credit: Yelp

Highlands Visited 2/3/2012 3.5 Forks

Highlands 150 W 10th St., (between Greenwich Ave & Waverly Pl), New York, NY 10014

What do you normally think of when you think Scottish food? Hagis, right? Well, you can definitely get that here but you can also get other dishes that are much more appetizing.  I was a bit skeptical about Highlands at first but Virginia, Julie and I were able to piece together a pretty good meal on just appetizers alone and that might be my new strategy at a lot of restaurants going forward.

We pretty much ended up ordering almost everything off the appetizers section: the lamb and sausage roll ($11), the risotto ($10), roasted beet salad ($12), the squash and burrata cheese salad, the devils on horseback, and the charcuterie plate ($16).  They brought out the lamb roll, the 2 salads and the devils on horseback first.  The lamb roll was a delicious lamb and sausage combination stuffed into a croissant type roll and served with aioli mayo on the side.  The meat was quite juicy and tender on the inside and it was basically like eating a very fancy pig in a blanket.  The two salads were also super tasty and not what you think of at a Scottish restaurant.  I'm totally on a beet kick these days so whenever I see a beet salad on a menu I have to get it.  This one was served with red and golden beets, almonds, goat cheese and balsamic dressing over greens (so pretty much your typical beet salad).  This was just dressed really well and there is almost no way to go wrong when you combine beets and goat cheese in 1 dish.  The squash salad was also surprising good.  It had cooked butternut squash mixed with walnuts and burrata cheese over the same greens as the beet salad.  I usually like burrata cheese with tomatoes and basil but this combination was worked well and just gave off this warm, winter feel to it.  Devils on horseback is basically dates wrapped in bacon and covered in honey.  I usually don't like dates, but this just tasted like one big ball of sweetness, so what's not to like about it?  Had the meal stopped here, I would have been super happy and satisfied.  We totally went overboard with ordering the risotto and meat board.  Sadly, the risotto wasn't that great and the meal kind of took a turn for me here.  It was extremely salty, which completely overpowered the dish.  I can't remember the different types of meat we got with the meat platter but I was so full at that point that I couldn't really enjoy any of them, except for the jamon.  The other two meats were a bit too hard for me and didn't have too much taste for me.  What also turned me off to the meat platter a bit was the haggis bread.  I mean I haven't had real haggis before but if the bread was any indication of what it tastes like, I'll take a pass.

So of course even though we were totally full, we opt for dessert as well and got the sticky toffee pudding ($8).  This was basically almost a chocolate-like cake served with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream.  The toffee wasn't as soft as a cake and the whole thing was just too sweet for me (coupled with the fact that I was so stuffed and 3 cocktails in).  The waitstaff was super nice and the place was totally packed by the time we left.  Before we actually sat down for dinner, VA and I sat at the bar for cocktails and I could see how this is a cute and cozy place for a few drinks.  Total bill including tax and tip $51/pp.

Photo credit: Yelp