Lucien Visited 10/21/2015 3.5 Forks

Lucien  14 1st Ave., New York, NY 10009

Even though I eat out a ton, but whenever someone is in town and asks for a place to go I always seem to draw blanks.  I always have a running list but for some reason or another, nothing on my lists ever seem right for the time.  So when I met up with Vivi and Erik for one last meal before they left, I felt guilty that I didn't have a long list ready for their list.  They were staying in the LES which is chock full of restaurants but nothing was calling my name, so we ended up aimlessly wandering and ended up at Lucien on a whim.  I've walked past Lucien many a times when I used to live off the F train and hung out in the E. Village more but had never been.

It's your classic, cute French bistro.  You feel like you've been transported to France with the cramped decor, tiny round bistro tables and loud environment but it's all very endearing at the same time.  The waitress was also French so that also lent to the authentic vibe of the place.  As you would expect the menu is classic French - foie gras, mussels, escargot, duck, steak poivre, and quail just to name a few.  Erik had asked the waitress what was good and she pointed out the 2 most expensive things on the menu: the squab ($42) and sea bass ($42).  I'm sure they were both delicious but there's always something that irks me when the staff only picks the most expensive items on the menu.  Vivi and I split the beet salad ($12) and I opted for a traditional steak frites ($28).   The beet salad was your usual kind with goat cheese and field greens - standard beet salad.  My steak was served medium rare - a bit closer to medium but still slightly pink on the inside - with a side of buttery pepper sauce.  Thank god the sauce came on the side because it was incredibly rich and would have really overpowered the meat.  The fries were on the thin side and definitely way to salty - I downed my entire water pitch when I got home.  Erik had gotten the rabbit and didn't seem super happy with it but he didn't say exactly what was wrong with it and Vivi got the chicken which looked pretty moist and juicy.

Unfortunately, I was in a hurry to get home so we didn't really stay for dessert but I was full enough that I probably wouldn't have wanted it anyways.  While I most definitely appreciate French food for what it is and get that it's one of the most classic cuisines in the world, it just doesn't excite me as much as Asian food or even other types of European food like Greek or Italian.  I can always find something tasty to eat but it's almost too "traditional" for me.  That being said, there's nothing wrong with saddling up to a cute French cafe or bistro and enjoying classic French wine and cheese - that's the way to go.  Total bill:  ~$120 for 3 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Taro Sushi Visited 10/20/2015 4 Forks

Taro Sushi  244 Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11217

Years ago when I lived in Park Slope the whole area around Flatbush Ave was pretty sketchy.  But now with the Barclay's Center in place, the surrounding area has completely exploded with tons of nice yuppified restaurants and shops.   Amy and I were in the 'hood for the Tidal Concert and instead of getting greasy concession stand food, we thought it would be better and tastier to get food outside of the Center.  I had heard of Taro before when I was living the area and they are well known for having a very top notch and affordable omakase so when Amy mentioned it, I was totally game to check it out.  Luckily, it's conveniently located 5-10 mins away from Barclays and its definitely worth the walk. 

We were both starving so we split the sashimi deluxe ($28), the spicy scallop roll ($6.50), fatty tuna and scallion roll ($6.00) and a mountain roll ($9) - as you can see the prices were extremely reasonable given the amount of food we ordered.  At those prices I wasn't sure if the quality would be all that but I was very impressed with the quality of the fish.  It tasted very simple yet was top notch and fresh - it's definitely some of the best neighborhood sushi I've had in a while.  The sashimi was 14 pieces of 6 different kinds of fish ranging from salmon, tuna, yellowtail, mackerel, and flounder as well as a pile of chopped fatty tuna with salmon roe on it.  The spicy scallop was a bit different than what I was used to - it wasn't one piece of raw scallop but the chopped up kind with the spice mixed it - I liked that it was a small tight roll with the seaweed on the outside.  The fatty tuna and scallion was also clean and simple and solid tasting.  The mountain roll got the name because they shape into a mountain or more precisely a pyramid - and it comes with spicy tuna, avocado, yellowtail and masago.  It was a bit heavy on the rice but apparently I was so hungry that I ended up ordering another order of this roll and inhaling the whole thing, so clearly the rice wasn't that big of a deal to me.  

Overall, it was a great pit stop before heading over the Barclay's Center.  It was a nice calm and quiet place to enjoy dinner before walking into a loud crazy concert.  I'm bummed that quaint affordable places like this doesn't exist where I live in BK, but if I still lived in Park Slope, I would most definitely be a frequent visitor of this place.  Total bill:  $100 for 2 people with tax, tip and 2 large bottles of sake

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Wildair Visited 10/13/2015 4 Forks

Wildair 142 Orchard St., New York, NY 10002

I have two words for you:  beef tartare.  Neel and I got this dish on a whim as we were really just here to catch up over 1 glass of wine and some nibbles but we were both blown away at how amazing this one dish was and it's solely responsible for the 4 forks here.  This place is less of a full blown restaurant (the menu consists of a handful of small plates) and more like a cute wine offshoot of Contra which is next door.

I met Neel here since he was a huge fan of their wine list and sommelier - I'm not a real oenophile but I do appreciate a good wine when I taste it and I liked how this place had a very large selection of really unique wines (they are more along the lines of organic/biodynamic wines).  We both couldn't stay very long but it's hard to go out and have wine without some snacks so we got the littleneck clams and a fava bean dish.  Of the two, the littleneck clam dish was my favorite.  It wasn't what I was expecting at all - it was pieces of freshly picked clams on top of toast with spinach and lardo.  It was incredibly unique and creative but yet still tasted incredible. We had actually asked for the check already when we both looked at each other and agreed in unison that we couldn't leave without trying the beef tartare.  I can see how some people are squeamish about eating raw cubes of beef but I swear to god, this dish will change your mind.  The beef is melt in your mouth and it's topped with smoked cheddar and mounds of fresh horseradish and crunchy chestnut for texture.  It's truly a fantastic dish and probably one of the best beef tartare dishes I've had in a really long time.  While I haven't been to Contra (it's been on my list for a while), if the food and wine at Wildair is any indication, it'll be quite spectacular meal.  Total bill:  $43/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Chalk Point Kitchen Visited 10/12/2015 3 Forks

Chalk Point Kitchen  527 Broome St., New York, NY 10013

This is one of those reviews that I wish I could write differently given the circumstances but luckily this is definitely one of the rare 3 fork places where I could come back to again.   The first thing to mention is that this place is ADORABLE - it's made to look like a rustic country kitchen and it's got this cozy homey feel to it that just reeks of cuteness.  When we arrived Amy had said that the hostess mentioned that they were very short staffed (this is important to know) so we were prepared to wait a while.  Despite their transparency, the terrible service is what brought down this place's rating because it really was painful. 

But first to the good stuff about this place.  The menu is really diverse and delicious sounding - if you like the whole farm-to-table type/organic veggie friendly type of place.  There is a ton to share even if you aren't a vegetarian. While we knew that the service was slow, we didn't expect it to be this slow. I had to literally chase the waitress down after waiting at our table for 20 minutes of no one coming to take our order.  When someone did show up, Anuja, Amy and I split the creamy handmade burrata ($19), Thai lemongrass grilled gulf shrimp ($17), cauliflower gratin,  and roasted beet and goat cheese ($9). 

The burrata and beets came out first and rather quickly so I was pleasantly surprised by that.  The burrata was indeed creamy and delicious and served with juicy ripe heirloom tomatoes.  It's really incredibly hard to fuck up a simple refreshing dish like this.  It's one of my all time favorite summer dishes (I realize it's no longer summer but whatever) - frankly, it's a dish that great for any season. The beet and goat cheese was also solid as that's also a combination that's hard to get wrong.  Then we waited and waited and waited for our next round of food to come out.  It did look like there was only 1 waitress for the whole place and when I went to the bathroom I heard the cooks all yelling at each other that they needed to hurry up, so I did feel bad for being a bit impatient.  I am extremely empathetic to them being short staffed but this is where the owners needed to call for back up because it was really effecting the overall experience.  Finally the shrimp and cauliflower came out - the shrimp dish was quite delicious.  It was 4 very solid firm pieces of shrimp in a Thai lemongrass coconut curry broth and white rice - the curry was very flavorful and it tasted like something that you would get at a legit Thai restaurant.  The cauliflower was gratin style so it was chopped and baked with cheese in it - but it didn't seem creamy or thick enough - it veered on the thin and watery side.   

The dessert menu sounded amazing - the butterscotch pudding (my favorite) and the affogato being two dishes that stood out to me, but given that we had already been there for over 2 hours, we just couldn't deal with waiting to order anymore food.  I took a look at their brunch menu and it looked equally as delicious as the dinner menu, so despite being annoyed when I left,  I'm actually very interested in coming back.   I appreciated that they told us upfront that service was going to be an issue but it really did impact how we felt about our meal as we were all a bit grumpy by the end for having to wait such a long time.  Hopefully the next time I try this place, the service will have improved and I can bump this up to a 4 fork establishment.  Total bill:  $31.50/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Pearl Oyster Bar Visited 10/10/2015 4 Forks

Pearl Oyster Bar  18 Cornelia St.,  New York, NY 10014

I have no idea how I haven't reviewed Pearl Oyster Bar yet because I've definitely been here many times before but after culling my site, I can't seem to find an entry for it.  So here it is.  I mean this place is legendary - it is one of the original lobster roll joints in the city.  It used to be impossible to get a table here - you would have to wait hours for a seat, but strangely enough Holly and I were able to get a table on a Saturday night in under 25 minutes around 7pm and when we left around 8:30ish, the place strangely was half empty.  I guess there's a ton of competition these days for good lobster rolls (ie.  Red Hook Lobster Pound, Mary's Fish Camp, and Mermaid Inn just to name a few).

Pearl has a very solid line up of classic seafood dishes, so it's not necessary to get the lobster roll but they are famous for it.  I started with the chilled littleneck clams (6 for $8) and obviously I got the lobster roll ($30) as did Holly.   The littleneck clams were small and sweet - they were good but I still prefer the large meaty cherrystone ones at Maison Premiere instead.  As for the lobster roll, I feel like this was one of the original places that launched the roll into fame back in the day.  There is a TON of meat which is great but it is very heavily covered in mayo - so if you're not into that or prefer a Connecticut style roll, you might not like this version.  I like that it's pretty simple - lobster, mayo and some chives.  No celery or extra filler in there.  It's served on a very very buttery bun but it's pretty messy to pick up, so I used a fork and knife.  Holly's roll was so overflowing that she couldn't even find the bun to pick up.  But the meat was sweet, delicious and plentiful.  My only complaint is the shoe string fries - I'm personally not a fan of shoe string fries, although Holly and I had discussed that they are good for portion control because you can feel like your'e eating a lot of them but because they are so skinny, you're not consuming as much as many.  I just feel like you're eating air, there's not enough actual potato in each bite.  But overall, it's a great seafood experience here.  You can tell that the waitstaff has worked here for a while and it's kind of got this old school, family vibe to it.  It's as close to a New England seafood restaurant as you can get without leaving the city.  Total bill:  $72/pp with tax, tip and wine

Photo Credit: Yelp

The Heyward Visited 10/9/2015 4 Forks

The Heyward  258 Wythe Ave., Williamsburg, NY 11249

The Heyward is one of those low key unassuming places where you can sit down with a friend and drink tons of wine, have lots of good food and have great conversation.  It was quiet but not stuffy or boring and despite never being totally packed, it still felt like a cool place to be. 

I met Lily here on a cold, dark, rainy Friday.  The place seemed like it was full of locals just trying to unwind from the week.  The menu here is pretty much American with a bit of a slant on Southern seafood.  We shared the spicy glazed octopus ($15) to start and I ended up going for the cheeseburger ($18) because it came with Old Bay seasoned onions and 2 yr old aged cheddar cheese.  Yum.  Lily got a few oysters ($3/each) and ordered the butternut squash mac and cheese ($10) and brussels sprout ($7) side as her main dishes.  Oh and we got wine too, lots and lots of wine.  The octopus was one long tender tentacle served with andouille sausage ragout, fava beans and wilted greens.  The meat of the octopus was perfect and not chewy at all.  The spice from the sausage was perfect - it added heat but it wasn't overbearing.  It was a lovely dish that I really enjoyed.  I also thoroughly enjoyed the burger here too - it was was a solid burger that totally got the job done.  It's nothing fancy or amazing like the one at Black Tap - but it was a nice juicy burger on a sesame seed bun that held everything together.  The combination of the Old Bay onions and aged cheddar cheese was a nice twist to an old classic.  I devoured the thing in a matter of minutes and I'll add that the fries were tasty, salty, thick cut fries.  It was the perfect gloomy rainy day comfort food.  I had a few bites of Lily's mac and cheese and it was homey and autumnal with the butternut squash mixed in.  Mac and cheese is also a solid rainy day food in my book.  The brussels sprouts were your typical brussels sprouts in that they were roasted and tasty but it had a slight kick to it with aged worcestershire, pickled peanuts and chili.   For dessert we had a raspberry and fig cake that was light but distinctively figgy.  It was totally unnecessary but we were on our 5th glass of red wine so it seemed appropriate to order a dessert to round out the night. 

Overall, it was a lovely, low key dinner in a somewhere upscale, more adult setting.  I can see this place being a nice date place if you wanted to go somewhere in Williamsburg that was low pressure, non-hipster but still relaxing.  It's by no means the best restaurant or coolest restaurant in Williamsburg but sometimes you just need a nice neighborhood joint to escape to every once in a while.  Total bill:  $250 for 2 people with tax, tip and lots of wine

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Sakura 6 Visited 10/9/2015 2 Forks

Sakura 6  837 Manhattan Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11222

I'll keep this review short and sweet since there isn't a ton I really want to say about this place. Since I work from home on Fridays, I usually like to indulge in a lunch special around town.  For sushi, I usually trek into Greenpoint because the options around my place in Williamsburg are practically non-existent.  But on this particular Friday, I was actually on my way to Xian Famous Food for some noodles but I had to go to the ATM further up in Greenpoint and across the street was Sakura 6. 

I'm always a huge sucker for a sushi lunch special and the place was fairly crowded, so I thought I would try it out.  The place has the usual lunch special items: roll specials and bento boxes.  I opted to get the 3 rolls for $11.95 - comes with soup or salad.  The salad was your typical iceberg lettuce, cucumber, and shredded carrots - the dressing here was more of a creamy base vs. the usual ginger carrot one that I love.  For my 3 rolls, I ordered eel avocado, spicy crunchy tuna and spicy crunchy salmon - very basic and standard rolls.  The order came out quickly and they looked like they had been rushed and sadly put together.  The spicy tuna and spicy salmon was the pre-made mixture kind, which I'm not a huge fan of.  It just didn't taste like real fish (or anything) at all and there was too much crunch/tempura that the whole roll tasted dry and blah.  The eel and avocado roll had way too much eel sauce on top that over sweetened it.  I was just totally unimpressed and had way better rolls at Mizu on Bedford and at Sapporo down the street in Greenpoint. 

This was a total impulse stop and I can safely say that it's far enough that I won't be back.  I totally should have stayed on course and had my spicy noodles at Xian - oh well, there's always next Friday. Total bill:  $15 with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp  

Miss Lily's Visited 10/5/2015 3.5 Forks

Miss Lily's  132 W Houston St., New York, NY 10012

One of the reason's I was excited to go to Miss Lily's was because it's by the same people who own The Rockhouse Hotel in Negril, Jamaica - a place I went to years ago and loved.  I loved it because it was not just a beautiful hotel but because the food, especially the jerk chicken, was amazing.   Despite being open for a few years now, I had read that this place was still hoppin and where the "cool" kids go.  When you walk in, it's quite dark and loud but in this funky way - you feel like you're kind of in a reggae hall in Jamaica with all the upbeat music and colorful decor (the tables are in the shape and design of records). 

Our waitress was gorgeous and was wearing this crazy skimpy outfit that somehow still looked really cool.  The menu is obviously Jamaican/Caribbean influenced with plantains, jerk chicken, jerk pork, jerk salmon, oxtail, and curried goat.  We started with the artichoke and callaloo dip ($14) - callaloo is a Caribbean dish that's mainly a green leafy vegetable.  The dish was a good start although I did find the cheese part a bit coagulated by the time it reached out table.  As for my main, what else would I get besides jerk chicken ($21)?  It was 2 fairly large pieces of chicken on the bone with a cucumber salad, and rice and peas.   The chicken was pretty moist and the marinate was sweet and spicy - I actually wanted it to be a bit spicy because I remember the ones I had in Jamaica being peel your face off spicy.  I could see the cucumber salad being a nice cooling agent for the spice but I didn't really need it.  We also had a side of plantains ($5) that were sweet and done right.  While the food overall wasn't an exact replica of the food I had at The Rockhouse, it's probably the closest to authentic Caribbean food in NYC outside of being in Brooklyn around the Crown Heights/Prospect Heights area. 

The most fun part was when we told them it was our friend Richelle's birthday and they cranked up the music, brought out sparklers and some weird shots.  It was like a stripped down version of when you're at one of those ridiculous places like Lavo and they bring out the bottle service.  The one bummer about this place if you're coming here for a birthday is that they don't have a liquor license - only beer, wine and soju, but it's still a pretty fun and affordable way to feel like you're miles away.  Total bill:  $82/pp with tax, tip and, drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

East Hampton Grill Visited 10/3/2015 4 Forks

East Hampton Grill  99 N Main St., East Hampton, NY 11937

Ahh, the Hamptons.  I'm lucky enough to have a few good friends who have houses out there and it's always nice to duck out of the city and every once in a while.  It's even nicer when you visit during the off season (ie. not the summer) as the crowds really do thin out.  I was visiting Maggie and Adam with Jill to escape the "hurricane" (that never came).  Adam had mentioned that this place was his favorite restaurant in town and that it was part of the Hillstone Restaurant Group which we agreed despite being a chain that owns Houston's restaurant has really solid food. 

The vibe here was definitely on the older/local side - so none of that craziness you usually associate with the Hamptons.  It's also got a slightly old school, expensive vibe to it - which again, it's the Hamptons so you can't expect much less.  The menu is solid Americana - burgers, steaks, ribs, chicken and because we're by the water, several fish dishes.  We split the oysters St. Charles ($24) and heavenly biscuits ($6) to start and then since I wasn't starving, Jill and I split the Tuna Tartare ($27) and the special fish of the day which was a cod with mushroom vinaigrette, mashed potatoes and spinach ($36), Adam and Maggie split the BBQ ribs ($36) and house salad ($12).  As you can see, the prices are high and the cocktails/wine run about $16-20/glass, so be prepared for a bit of sticker shock when you eat here but it's honestly no different than any of the other nicer places in town. 

The oyster St. Charles were served fried with creamed spinach and artichoke on the half shell - delicious!  I still prefer a nice clean raw oyster but on occasion it is nice to have it spiced up with some creamed vegetables.  They were quite filling so I didn't actually get to try the biscuits but they looked amazing.   As I'm writing this, I'm actually super sad that I didn't at least have a bite of one because they looked warm and buttery.  

Despite being an appetizer, our tuna tartare was HUGE - it was definitely enough to split between 2 people.  It was a huge helping of hand chopped up tuna with tons of sliced avocado and a deviled egg.  The tuna was super fresh tasting although I could have used a pinch more of salt and a dash of sesame oil it, but overall it was a lovely clean dish.  The cod dish was nicely cooked with a creamy sauce of enoki type mushrooms on top - luckily the sauce was pretty light and not totally overwhelming. It paired nicely with the very smooth and buttery mashed potatoes.   There's just something so comforting and nice about mashed potatoes and spinach with either a meat or fish dish.  I also tried a bite of Adam's ribs and holy shit, they were incredible.  They literally fell clean off the bone with very little pull.  I was very impressed by them and can see why he orders it every time he's there. 

Even though we were all pretty full Adam mentioned that we had to order the chocolate sundae.  I'm usually not a huge ice sundae fan but since we were splitting 4 ways, I figured I would at least take a bite or two....or ten.  This was one of the most delicious sundaes I've ever had.  I don't know what made it so addictive but it was probably a combination of the fresh whip cream, warm chocolate sauce and candied nuts that got me.   As most of you know, I'm not a huge chocolate fan but this sauce was the great balance of not being too sweet or bitter.  If all chocolate was like this, I could definitely get on the band wagon.  We all left super full and happy - it was a lovely get away from the city and even though the prices can shock you here, you're just as likely to spend this much money in the city too. Total bill:  $95/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Seamore's Visited 10/1/2015 3 Forks

Seamore's  390 Broome St., New York, NY 10013

Seamore's is one of those places that I really wanted to love.  It's seafood based (my favorite), it's casual and low key (yay!) and it's by the same people of The Meatball Shop (delicious!).  While I liked parts of my meal, I didn't leave feeling super wow'd and won over by - which was such a shame because Virgina and I were here to celebrate her very belated birthday. 

Despite getting there early on Thursday, the only seats we could get was at the bar, which I usually don't mind, but these seats were a bit too cramped and not super comfortable.  Plus it was so loud in there (don't I sound like an old lady?) in there that it was hard to hear VA even though we were practically sitting on top of each other. 

The menu itself sounded great - chock full of delicious sounding seafood:  fresh fish of the day, fish tacos, mussels, ceviche, and seafood sandwiches and burgers.  We decided to split the tuna poke ($13), crispy squid ($12), and I got the spiced tuna burger with sweet potato fries ($16) and VA got the crispy fish tacos ($15).   The poke and squid came out quickly - the squid was your typical fried calamari variety but the pieces/cuts of squid were really small - it was almost like it was a baby squid, so it was a bit unsatisfying in that regards.  But I will say that the citrus aioli was delicious and we kept that dipping sauce for my sweet potato fries.  As for the poke, for those of you who have read my blog long enough know that I am obsessed with poke, it is simply one of my favorite things in the world and you don't really see it very much in NYC, so I was really excited to see it on the menu here.  It was served with ponzu, peanut, avocado and cabbage.  The combination was was very tasty but I'm still a purist and prefer my poke with not a lot of fanfare.  While the peanut wasn't a bad addition, it was kind of a distraction to the tuna.  My tuna burger came out quickly but then VA had to wait a while for her fish tacos - I suspect they may have forgotten about it because they apologized for the delay when they finally brought it out.  Good tuna burgers are also one of my favorite seafood dishes - but I like it when they are more like a tuna steak.  Unfortunately this one was like a ground tuna patty and I just didn't taste the same.  In fact it didn't really taste like too much at all which was a super bummer.  Luckily, the sweet potato fries were excellent and were delicious with the aioli mayo. I didn't try the fish tacos but they looked to be a bit thick on the breading from what I could see.   

I know that by sitting at the bar you have to deal with the bartender also serving drinks and not being as attentive as a waiter would be, but I did feel a bit neglected sitting at the bar and since this was the only bar in the restaurant we were constantly being pushed up against people trying to get a drink while they waited for a table. 

By the time we left this place was hopping and filled up very quickly.  I can totally see the appeal and honestly because I love seafood so much, I would consider coming back and ordering something different but my 1st impression wasn't the most amazing one.  Total bill:  $92 for 2 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Bashi Channel Visited 9/27/2015 3.5 Forks

Bashi Channel 1120 Cortelyou Rd., Flatbush, NY 11218

I've had a few friends moved to Ditmas Park in recent years and the area has definitely started to develop it's own neighborhood food scene.   The area has been known for places like The Farm on Adderley and Purple Yam, so I was excited to try out another local scene.  Although to be honest,  I am usually a bit weary of Asian fusion places especially ones that are run by non-Asians.  But luckily Bashi Channel turned out to be a lovely surprise that I can see would be a nice neighborhood hang out if I lived nearby. 

The space is cozy but fairly non-descript.  There's a small bar upfront and then a few tables in the back.  The menu here is, as I mentioned, Asian fusion - it had dumplings, ramen, steamed buns, stir fry, pad thai, Vietnamese sandwiches and curry salmon - so it was literally Asian fusion in the truest sense.  It's like they took the "best of" or "greatest hits" of a Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Korean,  and Indian menus and put it all in one place.  The soup dumplings actually sounded and looked delicious but I wasn't super hungry so I opted for the Dan Dan noodles ($14), Greg got the kimchi ramen ($14) and Sarah got the Bashi Noodles ($12).   I've always been a big fan of dan dan and other types of cold noodle dishes, so I was excited to try this one out - especially when the waitress told me that I got the last one for the night!

The noodles were served with spicy ground pork, scallion, a raw egg yolk and "dry" noodles (meaning no soup or sauce really).  I was quite impressed with the presentation especially with the beautiful yolk in the middle.  The noodles were nice and thick and chewy - just the way I like my cold noodles dishes.  The waitress had warned me that the dish was spicy and even though I am trying to improve my spice tolerance, this one was still pretty damn spicy.  I was chugging ginger beer and water constantly throughout the meal.  You definitely can't say that this dish doesn't have flavor to it - it was just a bit too much for me.  I kept mixing the scallions and yolk around to offset the spicy pork but it didn't really help too much.  Luckily I was able to chow down on most of the yummy noodles and sadly left a bunch of pork behind in the bowl.  Greg and Sarah's dishes both looked comforting and like it would hit the spot.   Even though we were pretty full we were lured into dessert with the description of donuts with vietnamese/condensed milk type of dipping sauce.  You could tell that they were freshly made because they were warm and soft.  The sugar and cinnamon covering was delicious and it was a nice way to end the meal.  

Overall, I left feeling pretty happy and satisfied for a random Sunday night outing.  As my friend Neel said (who also lives in the 'hood), it's not awe-inspiring but it fills a gap and need in the neighborhood and I couldn't agree more.  In fact, I wish there was a place like this near where I lived because Williamsburg is severely lacking in casual, affordable, Chinese comfort food that isn't served behind bars.  I was hoping that Kings County Imperial would fill that gap, but sadly it was too pricey to be some place that I would go frequently.  The only bad thing about this place was that the waitress messed up splitting our bill and swiped Greg's card twice (essentially paying for the entire meal) instead of splitting it on 2 cards.  I'm sure we could have said something as she was super nice and sweet, but when the total bill was roughly $20-25/pp we couldn't be bothered to deal with it.  Total bill:  $86 for 3 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Ganesh Temple Canteen Visited 9/26/2015 4.5 Forks

Ganesh Temple Canteen  45-57 Bowne St., Flushing, NY 11355

There aren't many places in NYC that have been on my list for the past 10 years that I haven't crossed off already - but eating at the Ganesh Temple has always seem to escape me every year for some reason.  It's located in Flushing, so it's not the easiest place to get to but in this day in age of Uber there really is no excuse of not going. 

Luckily, Aarti, Will and some other friends of theirs had rented a car to drive up there which made it much easier.  Aside from the fact that this place serves incredibly authentic and traditional South Indian food, it's an actual worshipping temple that Hindus come to pray and pay respects.  It's quite a lovely site given all the grey concrete buildings in NYC.  You have to walk around the corner and down a set of stairs to get to the basement and this is where the magic happens.  It's a very simple and basic set up - you order at the counter and seat yourself at the no frills plastic/metal tables.  The menu is strictly South Indian vegetarian - so no curries, chicken tandoori, or other more common Indian foods.  I'm going to do this entry a total dis-service in that I can't remember all the things that we ordered but I would say that everything we had was delicious.  

Aarti ordered for the table because, well honestly, it just made the most sense.  We got the masala dosa ($4.50), idli ($3.50), and vada ($3.50) as well as a ven pongal ($4.00) as well as one other dish that is totally escaping me.  We stuck the basics which was fine but we left kind of wishing we had branched out a bit more.  The menu is long and very intimidating but I can't imagine you can go wrong with anything on there.   There are tons of dosa options, uttapams, and specials like a mini tiffins to choose from.  

The masala dosa came with spiced potatoes, onions and spices.  What I loved most about this dosa wasn't the stuffing but the actual dosa batter - it was light and crispy with the right amount of softness in the middle.  Idlis are like little steamed rice cakes and you can eat with the sambar and coconut chutney that they give you - on that note, I want to mention that the sambar was amazing and addictive, I must have had 2 full bowls myself.   It's the perfect "gravy" to dip everything in.  The vada are little "donuts" made out of lentils - again a great dipping vehicle for the sambar.  The pongal was a mixture of rice, lentil, spices and ghee.  It was a soft mushy pile of spice and flavor that I really enjoyed. 

While the food may not sound filling and despite not having a single bite of meat, we all left there bursting at the seams and very happy.   I'm thrilled that I finally got to check this place out and go with my bestie.  I highly recommend going with someone who knows South Indian food but even if you don't, just be adventurous and order one of everything off the menu - it's dirt cheap anyways so what do you have to lose? 

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Black Tap Craft Burgers and Beer Visited 9/16/2015 4.5 Forks

Black Tap Craft Burgers and Beer    529 Broome St., New York, NY 10013

Holy shit, this place is ridiculously amazing.  How have I not been here before?  It's probably a good thing I haven't discovered it earlier because otherwise I would be massively overweight with a major cholesterol issue.  This places reminds of Kuma's Corner in Chicago with an awesome menu of delicious sounding "craft" burgers - only difference is that there are no heavy metal themes here but that doesn't matter here. 

The place is tiny and as Janet had texted me before I got there "is full of white guys" - it kind of felt like a frat house/bro hangout at first but later on there were a few other ladies who walked in. Anyways, the whole place is just one long bar counter and 4 narrow seats at the window.  We were jammed into the window seats but it turned out be great because you get a nice view of the outside and some more leg room.  The menu has about 10 "artisanal" burgers with meat ranging from regular beef patties, turkey burgers, steak burgers, bison burgers, lamb burger to a wagyu beef burger.  There is a vegetarian option which is the falafel burger that actually sounded delicious too because it had feta, humus and tahini sauce.  They also have burger salads for those of you looking to avoid carbs.   Genius! The menu is truly overwhelming because everything sounds mouth wateringly amazing - originally I was going to get the Californian which was a turkey burger with avocado, swiss and truffle mayo but Janet was not having any of this turkey burger nonsense, so I was switched over to The Old Fashioned ($16) which was a burger with crimini mushrooms, swiss, caramelized onions and horseradish.  Back in the day when I was a kid and went to Hamburger Hamlet, this was the kind of burger that was my go-to, so it brought back a lot of memories.  Janet got the Greg Norman ($18) which was wagyu beef, buttermilk dill, blue cheese and arugula - sounds awesome too, right?  

The burger came out and I was definitely happy that I went for the beef option (although I'm sure the turkey burger would have been great too).  It was a fucking masterpiece - the meat was perfectly pink, juicy and flavorful,  the bread was soft and delicious.  I loved everything about the burger and the fries were also finger licking good as well.  I probably shouldn't have eaten the entire thing but it was so hard not to.  They also have fantastic line up for shakes and old school beers and soda and I kicked off the fall with a lovely Pumpkin Ale from Brooklyn Brewery. 

The only thing I didn't love was how cramped it was in there but otherwise, it was the perfect meal to return to after being away from the US for a long time.  I also was a huge fan of the host/waiter - he was funny, bearded, tatted up and super friendly - just my type.  I will most definitely be back but for the sake of my health, I should spread it out to once a quarter at most.  Total bill with tip and tax:  $30/pp

Photo Credit:  Yelp 

Gunbae Visited 9/22/2015 3 Forks

Gunbae 

67 Murray St., 

New York, NY 10007

Despite the fact that many of good b-school girlfriends have left NYC, for those of us who are still in the city, we try to get together for a group dinner at least once a month to catch up.  We used to do it at each other's house, but now, we decided to have a "global" theme and pick a new restaurant to check out - which is done easily enough since we live in NYC.  This month the theme was Korean BBQ and while the most logical area to go would be K-town, this new place opened up in Tribeca and we decided to check it out since most of us actually work or live in the area. 

Upon first glance, I really liked the vibe here.  It was modern and clean and had all the fixins of the grill at your table like they do in K-town.  There is also a bunch of private karoke rooms downstairs if the mood strikes you afterwards.  We took a pass on it and stuck with the food.   The restaurant was still fairly new, so the service was very attentive and kind.  The menu is fairly similar to what you would find in K-town but with a bit less variety.  They had the usual line of grilled meat options like short rib, brisket and pork belly but while most other places in K-town would have variations on those meat options, here they only stuck to the standard ones.  Sadly, I was the only one who wanted pork belly or jowl, so we didn't get either of them but we did get the wagyu kalbi ($46.95) and the yang nyum kalbi ($35.95) since the waiter said that the other short rib option wasn't marinated and not as sweet.  I was a bit disappointed that they didn't have any grilled vegetable options because I do like grilling some enoki mushrooms or other non-meats to cleanse the palate a little bit.  We also got an order of the kimchi pancake ($11.95), seafood pancake ($13.95), fried dumplings ($10.95) and Amy got a vegetarian bibimbop ($18.95) for herself.   I was a bit disappointed that they didn't have any meat combinations to choose from as they individual meat prices were a bit high - I guess this is Tribeca after all. 

We started out with the typical helping of Korean small plates but I was bummed to see that they didn't have my favorite one which were the bean sprouts but all the other typical plates of kimchi, cold spinach, seaweed and vegetable shoots were all there.  The kimchi pancake had kimchi, scallion and onion and it was ok - I preferred the seafood one instead because it had more texture and flavor to it. The dumplings were also ok - kind of your run of the mill dumplings that you get at an Asian restaurant.  However, I really did enjoy the cuts of beef they had.  The waiter was super nice and cut them up and grilled them for us (he did both medium rare and medium well) table side.   Even though wagyu beef was supposed to be the best, we all actually preferred the yang nyum cut better - maybe it was the marinate or the beef itself but it tasted juicier and fatter as well - it really melted in your tongue and I loved it with the combination of the salt and sesame oil dipping sauces.  The meat did come with some grilled veggies like portobello mushrooms, onions and squash/zucchini but the portions were pretty small, so it would have been nice to have had more. 

Overall it was a very pleasant Korean BBQ experience without having the trek all the way up town.  I definitely have to go back with people who would want the pork belly and jowl.  The place is definitely headed in the right direction in terms of offerings but I would like to see them add more options (especially in the more "exotic" cuts of meat options like pork collar) and combinations.  This would actually be a fun and easy place to have a work dinner if you are downtown and want to do something different and unique in the area - especially since the prices are a bit on the higher side.   I noticed they also have lunch specials here, so I could totally see myself going during a lazy work day for an extended outing.  Total bill with tip and booze:  $72/pp

Photo Credit:  Yelp