Sakagura Visited 9/26/2014 5 Forks

Sakagura 211 E 43rd St., New York, NY 10017

It's been a while since I have been overwhelmingly in love with a place but Sakagura has me totally enamored with it.  Normally I find Midtown East to be super gross - a place that has nothing of note besides being a office building hub.  But there are surprisingly a lot of Japanese restaurants nearby and I had stumbled upon this place when glancing through Yelp on the day I had to drop off my passport at the Brazilian consulate on 41st street.  My appointment was right around lunch time, so I figured it would be fun to grab lunch in a part of town that I normally don't hang out in.

I would have never found this place if it wasn't for the internet.  It's literally in the basement of an unmarked office building and you have to go down the stairs and through a scary concrete hallway before entering this oasis.  I felt like I was on Law and Order: SVU and could have been attacked at any moment. It's truly a speakeasy in every sense for the word.  I got there exactly when they opened at 11:30 - despite it's ultra secret location, I had read that this place can get very crowded during lunch time.  Everything on the menu sounded drool worthy.  It's not a sushi place, more like a classic izakaya but they do have several sashimi and raw fish options.  If I had the money and time, I would have sat there for hours gorging on the different soba noodle options (hot and cold), donburi bowls (the set comes with an order of soba noodles) and other assorted goodies.  But I had read about the famous sea urchin soba ($20).  They only have 7 servings of it per day and being that I was the 1st person in the restaurant  I felt obligated to order it - plus I love sea urchin!  I also got the sashimi appetizer (3 kinds for $18) to start my meal.

I have to give a major shout out to the decor of this place.  You'll feel like you were transplanted to Japan - it's got this magical and very authentic feel to it.  It's beautifully decorated with lots of wood paneling and large sake kegs.  I could sit there all day staring at the surroundings.  The sashimi came out first and it was a trio of salmon, tuna and fluke.  It was melt in your mouth delicious.  If I felt comfortable spending tons of money on lunch, I would have gotten the 5 kind for $28.  But every piece was fantastic and perfectly cut.  Next the sea urchin soba came out and it was gorgeous.  It's a bowl of handmade cold soba noodles topped with 3-4 pieces of fresh sea urchin sashimi, soaking in a cold sea urchin soup.  Yum!  I felt bad because I slurped up the whole thing less than 10 minutes.  I didn't really give myself a lot of time to really savory each bite.  Of course I would have loved more sea urchin and I will say that I've had creamier and tastier sea urchin before but the fact that it was sitting in a sea urchin soup base really sealed the deal for me.  As I was finishing up my meal, I did notice a lot of people coming in for lunch and most of them were Japanese (always a good sign).   This would be a fantastic place for a date or even with a group so that you can split of bunch of stuff. I should note that they have a fantastic sake line up, so I could see this place being really fun at night after a bunch of bottles of sake.  I'm completely obsessed with this place and would even make that special trip to Midtown East just to eat here.   I was really sad to leave after only having 2 dishes but it wasn't a very cheap lunch and I did have to get back to work.  Total bill:  $48 with tax and tip

Star Confectionery Visited 9/19/2014 3.5 Forks

Star Confectionery 4 East Main Street, Riverhead, NY 11901

The girls and I decided that we wanted to grab some lunch before we checked in to our rental home for the long weekend and Riverhead seemed like the "biggest" town in the North Fork area that wold give us the most options.  We drove past this cute luncheonette/diner and thought that it would be the perfect place to grab a quick bite to eat.

First off, it's adorable.  You feel like you are transported into the 50's because there really isn't a single modern thing about this place (including the fact that they don't take credit cards).  As you can imagine the menu is pretty bare bones, it's pretty much sandwiches, burgers and a few random sides (like cottage cheese and fruit).   I went a decidedly standard route and got the grilled cheese with tomato ($6) and a side of fries ($4).  The other girls got a variety of sandwiches and soups and Jill got the chicken fingers - so it was all very basic diner food.  The waitress was very nice and the whole place just had a very cute, quaint and local feel to it.  The grilled cheese was nicely done - with just the right amount of cheese in it and the outside of the bread had a nice toast to it but it wasn't burnt or overdone.  The fries were the crinkle cut variety and it reminded me of my childhood.  They were probably frozen fries that came from an Oreida bag but you know what? They were still crunchy, tasty and seriously addictive.

It was a pretty quick meal but it was a nice pit stop in a small but lovely town.  There are obviously other more upscale restaurants in other nearby towns in the North Fork, but this one was quite adorable and just got the job done for what we needed.  It wasn't a culinary show stopper but sometimes all you want is a nice grilled cheese sandwich and french fries to sooth your hunger pangs. I really do love the North Fork and encourage everyone to check out that area before it becomes overrun like the Hamptons.  I wasn't sure what the total bill was because all I had on me was $15 in cash but I'm fairly certain the total bill was not too high given the prices.

Photo Credit:  retroroadmap.com

Barbounia Visited 9/18/2014 4 Forks

Barbounia 250 Park Ave S., New York, NY 10003

Barbounia is one of those places in the city that you've probably walked past a million times and say to yourself that you should check it out but then never do.   At least that was my thinking.  Luckily, Lav and I finally decided to check it out on her birthday.  We were originally going to go to Casa Mono but it was going to be a 30 minute wait (which really isn't that bad for Casa Mono) but we were both starving and luckily Barbounia was able to seat us in 15 minutes.  My first impression is that this place is HUGE.   And it's surprisingly trendy - less in the Meatpacking sense but more in the sense that it seems like a place a lot of people in their 20's would go to "pre-party" before they went out for the night.  

As for the food, it's Mediterranean/Greek and the menu was huge.  I actually think Greek food is one of the more easily sharable cuisines because there are a lot of spreads and really delicious appetizers and sides that can be made into a solid meal.  Lav and I decided to split a bunch of dishes:  spicy feta ($9.50), hierloom tomato salad ($17.95), saganaki ($14.95), flash fried cauliflower ($9.95) and the okra stew ($8).   That was plenty of food but I really missed not ordering my usual Greek staples of a greek salad, grilled octopus and a lamb type dish.  The food all came out very quickly.  The spicy feta came out first and it was amazing.  It was an incredibly addictive spread - made more so by the warm, delicious, and olive oil soak bread that came with it.   It was a pretty big helping but if I had enough time, I probably could have eaten the whole thing by myself.  It's not to be missed.  Next I tried the hierloom tomato salad and that was also a winning dish.  It was served with beautiful giant chunks of colorful tomatoes, red onions, pita crisps and most importantly crispy haloumi cheese. Although it wasn't a mozzarella or burrata cheese, the haloumi was a great pairing with the fresh tomatoes.  Next I tried the saganaki and I always go into trying it with an open mind because who doesn't love fried cheese with alcohol? But every time I try it, it's a disappointment.  You've got to eat it when it just comes out, otherwise once it starts to gel and coagulate, it's just really gross and inedible.  I had one bite but since I was more into the tomato salad and feta, I just never got into the cheese and it just dried out.  The cauliflower was a solid dish as it was lightly fried and served with tahini, pine nuts, parsley and lemon juice.  The okra was in a mini pot and was kind of like a Middle Eastern stew with tomatoes in it - it was a fine okra dish but compared to the other dishes it wasn't a huge stand out.  If I could do it over, I probably could have gotten get the selection of all 5 dips and a Greek salad and been the happiest person ever. 

Since it was Lav's birthday, we had to celebrate with some chocolate cake ($10.95).   This was a flourless cake with a praline crust, brandied cherries, caramel sauce and a walnut gelato.  The cake was pretty rich and I actually enjoyed the crunchy praline crust but it was too heavy of a cake for us to finish. Overall, food-wise I really enjoyed my meal and while I wouldn't say that Barbounia is some kind of darling of the NYC restaurant scene, it's definitely worth a visit and it'll probably surprise you.  Total bill with wine:  $120

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Blue Water Grill Visited 9/8/2014 3.5 Forks

Blue Water Grill 31 Union Sq W, New York, NY 10003

Ahh, Blue Water Grill, it's an oldie but a goodie.  It's been a Union Square staple for a long time and it's been a really long time since I had been there, so I was excited to give it another whirl a few weeks ago.  Although I'm generally weary of BR Guest type restaurants, I have a soft spot for this place since it seems to have weathered the NYC restaurant curse.   

One of the reasons for Blue Water Grill's long running success is its super convenient location right in the middle of Union Square and it doesn't hurt that the food is pretty decent, although a bit on the overpriced side.  I met up with VA and the girls for dinner and with a group of 5 of us, we thought it was more fun to order a bunch of plates to share instead of ordering entrees - even though this place isn't really a tapas like place.  We really went to town and ordered half a dozen raw clams ($10), 4 pieces of salmon sashimi ($3/each), 4 pieces of tuna sashimi ($4/each), spicy tuna roll ($11), Union Square roll ($14), lobster roll ($14), baked scallop roll ($14), shrimp dumplings ($10), pork belly sliders ($10), kale caesar salad ($12), heirloom tomato salad ($13), crispy skin salmon ($26), charred broccoli ($7),  warm grain salad ($10) and the crab meat and sweet potato hash ($10).   Yes - clearly this is a group that likes to eat and I love that!  The raw littleneck clams were sweet and delicious.  I know that raw oysters generally steal the  raw bar show but I think raw clams are also a fantastic choice too.  Next they brought out a bunch of the side dishes like the dumplings, pork belly sliders and the salads.  They were all pretty solid dishes - especially the salads where they get the vegetables directly from the farmer's market across the street.  Where they really shined was surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) in the sushi rolls hat came out.  The pieces of sashimi melted in my mouth and were as tasty as what I would have expected from a sushi bar.  Of all the rolls we had, I really enjoyed the Union Square roll which was crab, avocado, hamachi, mango and yuzu.  It had a great flavor profile to it and although I generally don't like my sushi with mango, this one actually worked well with the pairings.  Sadly, the one roll that I really wanted the most, the baked scallop, was my least favorite one of the night.  It was baked scallop, avocado, cucumber and kalamansi sauce.  It was lacking in seasoning and the fact that the scallop was cooked and then served on top of the sushi just didn't do it for me.  I knew it wasn't going to be like a spicy scallop roll but I just didn't think it would be this lacking in taste either.  The one main dish of the might was crispy skin salmon which came on a bed of baby bok choy and for me it was good standard salmon dish but that's kind of why I generally don't order salmon at restaurants - I can make a really good salmon dish by myself at home that isn't going to cost $26+.

It was a bummer that our crab and sweet potato side dish never came because I was curious to try that out but we were so full that when we found out that it hadn't arrived, we just told them to cancel the order.  The waiter was incredibly nice and friendly and really knew how to work the table.  I would say that besides a couple of misses dish wise, my only gripe is that I do think it's a bit overpriced for what they are serving but given its great location and otherwise solid food, it's definitely a place that is and should still be on most people's Union Square rotation.   Total bill with 2 bottles of wine and tax and tip:  $85/pp

Photo Credit:  Yelp


 

Ramen Yebisu Visited 9/7/2014 2.5 Forks

Ramen Yebisu 126 N 6th St., New York, NY 11211

After a long day of football watching and roaming the streets of Williamsburg, Aarti and I were ready to finish the afternoon off with some ramen.  Even though I have lived in this 'hood for over 4 years and seen Ramen Yebisu a bunch of times, I've actually never been there so I was up for trying it out. It's pretty tiny inside, which is not too different from most ramen joints, but luckily we were able to get two stools at the bar and we got a nice view of the open kitchen. 

The menu is a pretty standard ramen menu:  miso, shoyu, and shio ramen and they also had a chicken, seafood and veggie option as well as two non-soup based ramens.  I usually get miso since it's a bit of a lighter broth and this one was describe as having a soybean paste broth with ground pork, beansprouts, onion, garlic, bamboo shoots, scallion, sesame seeds and crispy onion ($12) and I added an egg for $2 because really, you can't have ramen without an egg.  That actually kind of annoyed me that the egg was extra because to me that is a staple of any ramen dish.  In any case, I probably should have read the ingredients more carefully because it clearly said that it came with ground pork and not the sliced pork that I'm normally used to in ramen.  Obviously, Aarti got the veggie option ($12) which is a soybean soup with mushroom, scallion, onion, bamboos shoots, bean sprouts, and seaweed. 

Despite the place being tiny, we waited a long time for our food which was surprising considering they only have 8 dishes and they are frankly all the same thing with just 1-2 variations to it.  Once we got our ramen, I realized that I probably should have ordered the shoyu or the shio ramen because they had the sliced pork in it and not the ground pork.  It just didn't have the same texture or flavor profile to it using the ground pork.  The noodles themselves were nice and chewy, so I didn't really have a problem with them.  The broth was basic and standard for a ramen broth (read:  super salty) but I just really felt like it wasn't hearty enough without the sliced roast pork.  Instead, it felt heavy on a salty broth and noodles but not much else.   I was also missing the seaweed to the ramen which also did not come with my dish.  I really need to be more careful when I'm reading the menu.   Even though I finished my bowl of noodles, I left feeling kind of bummed out by my choice.  Plus the fact that it's cash only also annoyed me.  I'm not entirely sure I would come back and try another dish, but given the lack of other ramen places in the neighborhood, I'm not sure what other ramen options I really have.  Total bill:  $16/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

The Pickle Shack Visited 9/5/2014 3.5 Forks

The Pickle Shack 256 4th Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11215

Back when I livd in Park Slope, 4th Ave was a total dead zone.  It was full of tire shops and it was not a street that I would walk along by myself at night.  While it's still not totally gentrified, it's definitely come a long way.  There are now luxury apartment buildings and condos and lots of bars and restaurants popping up.  Amy and I were headed to Anuja's birthday party in the area and needed a veggie friendly place for dinner.  Luckily The Pickle Shack totally fit the bill.

It's a veggie/vegan friendly bar/restaurant with a fantastic outdoor patio.  It was packed to the gills when we got there but we luckily were able to still get a table outside.  The menu has a bunch of healthy sandwiches, salads, side dishes and of course pickles.  Even as a meat eater, all of the sandwiches sounded great and I was really having a hard time deciding what to get.  I ended up getting the cornmeal battered oyster mushrooms ($8) and the all green sandwich ($11).  The waitress had mentioned that particular sandwich was only a half size, so based on that  I got the side salad ($3) with my sandwich.  Amy got the tofu bahn mi ($11) and a side of hop pickles ($5).   While neither of us ended up getting anything to drink, this place surprisingly has an amazing beer (lots of Dogfish Head beer) and wine list.  Seriously, it was very impressive for a place that you think is more health conscious.  I would definitely come back and try out some of their craft beers.

On to the food.  So remember when the waitress said it was a half sandwich?! Well, if that is a half sandwich then I don't want to know what a whole one looks like.  It was more than enough for one person and not small at all.  I honestly didn't need to order that side salad or even the oyster mushrooms.  The all green sandwich was made with avocado, cucumbers, fresh herbs, arugula, sprouts, eggplant and tahini spread and miche all on a toasted multi-grain type bread.  All the ingredients were very fresh and it most definitely felt like a very healthy California style meal.  But the one major gripe I have about the sandwich was that the crust of the bread was so hard and overly toasted that I cut the roof of my mouth several times.  I resorted to trying to cut the crust off but then that promptly lead to the whole structure of the sandwich being destroyed.  As I continued to eat my sandwich the more it just started falling apart and it just became very messy to eat.  Luckily I was with Amy and not on a date, otherwise I would have been super paranoid about having food all over my face.  I didn't try Amy's sandwich but she said that she really enjoyed it.  I also really liked my cornmeal battered oyster mushrooms.  They were very hearty and with the cornmeal batter it tasted less greasy vs if it had actually been battered and fried up.   I kind of forced myself to eat my side salad - which was some mixed greens with a vinaigrette dressing - because I was so full at that point but it was totally fine albeit a bit basic salad.

This place is an adorable place in the middle of a burgeoning neighborhood and despite having the roof of my mouth shredded, I would come back and try a sandwich with a softer bread.  The waitstaff is also really nice and it's just a really nice and pleasant place to spend an evening with friends.  Total bill:  $24/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp 

Skal Visited 8/29/2014 2.5 Forks

Skal 37 Canal St., New York, NY 10002

I was actually pretty excited when my friend Nicole mentioned that she wanted to try out this Icelandic restaurant near her apartment.  Ever since I visited Iceland last year, I have a soft spot for anything related to that area - ponies, sweaters, and even their food.  It's definitely not a cuisine that's very popular even in a diverse city like New York, but it has slowly started to make its way to America. 

We got a seat at one of the tables outside on a lovely Friday night.  The menu, as you can imagine, is fairly limited with about 6 appetizer dishes and and 6 entrees.  Based on my experience from visiting the country there last year, none of the dishes were particularly Icelandic - only the Arctic Char sounded remotely like it would be something you could find in Iceland.  Nicole had warned me before hand that a friend had told her that the portions would be very small and expensive, so I was bracing myself for a somewhat typical high brow NYC experience.  Based on that kind of feedback, you'd think this place would offer something like bread or something else to start the meal but we got none of that.  We were debating what to get as a starter and we were feeling a bit adventurous and decided on the raw beef appetizer ($15) - which is really just a bad name for beef tartare.  I was hemming and hawing between getting a fish or meat dish and resolved the dilemma by getting the diver scallops and pork belly ($25) dish while Nicole got the Char ($24).  Our raw beef came out and it was your standard beef tartare but without a raw egg on top.  It was served pretty finely chopped with littleneck clams and trout roe with toasted bread.  For those of you who get grossed out by raw meat, I get it, but this really didn't taste like what you would think.  It was a nicely done tartare albeit a pretty small serving for $15.

Then this is where things start to fall apart.  We waited over 45 minutes for our food with no apologies from our waitress or the owner who had been milling around the front of the house.  We chased down our waitress several times and instead of taking responsibility for it,  she looked like a scared little mouse and would mumble something and then run away from us.  To me, good customer service would be for her to say "I'm sorry this is taking so long, let me go and check on it for you" and then possibly offering up a free dessert or even going as far as comping one of our entrees for the long wait.  Tables who clearly came after us were getting served left and right and by the time we got our entrees, it was past 10:30 (we sat down at about 9pm) and we were both about to offer up the table $50 for their food.  Luckily when the food finally came, it was actually good but we were still pretty frustrated by the whole experience.  I will say that my dish was plated beautifully.  The diver scallops were a nice firm texture and were a pretty decent size.  The pork belly was a bit on the fatty side but the combination of the pork, scallop and sweet corn was a surprisingly balanced profile.  But as Nicole said, neither of our dishes seemed very Icelandic - more new American.  Since we were so hungry, we had finished our dishes in less than 15 minutes.  When the waitress came out and asked if we wanted dessert but without comping any of it, we took a pass.

It's not that I necessarily wanted free food, but more of a recognition that we were experiencing some poor customer service.  I expect a good restaurant, whether high end or a small shop, to do the right thing by their customers and we didn't get it here.   Total bill:  $41/pp with tip and tax

Photo Credit:  Yelp