PokeSpot Visited 9/20/201 4.5 Forks

PokeSpot 120 4th Ave., New York, NY 10003

Another day, another poke review.  Yes, this is how completely obsessed I am with it.  I have actually started to wonder if I will get mercury poisoning from all the raw fish I have been eating lately.  In any case, I had my eye on this place for a while because it’s right next to the L train in Union Square so it would easily be a go-to place for me if it is good.  I was worried that it would turn out to be a dud like the Whole Foods one  but I’m happy to report that I had an excellent experience.

Now to be transparent, I’m not sure if my experience was slightly tainted because the nice guy who took my order was so out of it and clearly ready to go home (to be fair, the door said they closed at 9:30 and I walked in at 9:40) just gave me everything I wanted without batting an eye.  I went to town on my bowl (it must have weighted like 2 lbs) and it was only $10.75. 

The concept here is the same as all other poke places – pick a base, pick a fish and pick some toppings.  Pretty straight forward.  Only here the portion was more than twice as much as East Coast Poke and there were twice as many toppings for the same price.  I had originally asked for the spicy miso option with brown rice which came with tuna, salmon, hijiki seaweed, kani salad, furikake, roasted seaweed, fish flakes, crispy onion and spicy miso sauce.   I also added kale (I know, it’s not very traditional but I am sadly obsessed with it), cilantro, green onion and masago.   It’s like the Chipotle of poke bowls.  I was in heaven. 

I found the ingredients to be very fresh and the entire dish was incredibly satisfying and filling.  To be fair, I know this is also not a traditional poke place (I know I’ve given other places shit for that) but there were enough yummy/healthy/Asian-type toppings that I didn’t really care at all.  The rice to topping ratio was heavily in favor of the toppings and that to me is what a good bowl of anything should be.  The base should just be there to supplement that meal but the star of the show should be the fish and other additions.   

Plus you can’t beat the price and amount of food you’re getting here.  Most other places hover around the $15 mark, which is totally fine by me since I would rather pay more for fresh fish than go cheap, but if you can get a great meal for an affordable price, then why not go with that options?   I will definitely be back here and can see it being a go to take out place for me even though it’s not even in Brooklyn.

Photo Credit:  Yelp

The Living Room Visited 9/17/2016 3.5 Forks

The Living Room 207 Main St., East Hampton, NY 11937

There aren’t a lot of actual hotels in the Hamptons and the ones that do exist are crazy expensive.  Most hotels here are not big high rise chains but are instead more like cute B&Bs that look like fancy Victorian homes.   The Maidstone falls into this category.  If I didn’t know any better, I would have assumed it was just another mega-million dollar mansion in town.  It’s got cute quaint rocking chairs on the outside porch and a swing on the other side.  The lobby literally looks like the foyer of someone’s home. 

Enter The Living Room – the restaurant inside the hotel.  It feels like you are in a cozy, almost colonial feeling living room.  The menu is Swedish-influenced, which I’m not sure what that really means besides the fact that they had smoke salmon, shrimp sandwiches and Swedish meatballs on the menu.  Everything else seemed like New American.   I opted for the heirloom tomato salad ($18) and the pan roasted Icelandic cod ($36) – I mean I guess Iceland is close enough to Sweden?  I noticed that a lot of people at the table got some kind of meat option – the flat iron steak was a popular option.

I’m a huge sucker for an heirloom tomato salad – even though most places clearly just use that description to jack up the price of the salad but I don’t really care.  This one came with farmstead cheese, radish, corn and a buttermilk dressing.  It was a nice tossed and balanced summer salad.  While the buttermilk dressing wasn’t as heavy as it sounds, I would have preferred a more vinegar based dressing. 

I chose the cod because I was trying to be healthier and while it was still a solid fish dish, after seeing other people’s steak dishes, I definitely had major steak envy.  The fish was cooked fairly well – it was a very generous portion fillet with a nice flakey texture to it.   It was served with local calms, lima bean and natua.   It was a solid fish dish for sure but for $36 I expect to be blown away by my dish.  Of course this is the Hamptons so everything is more expensive than it needs to be.  I’m sure it was pan roasted with tons of butter, so having the duck breast or flat iron steak probably wouldn’t have been that much worse for me.

The service was well run considering there were 9 of us at the table which I can only imagine is a pain the butt to manage.  While I enjoyed my dinner there, I actually think this place would be a better night cap type of place since they have a fireplace and some open seating in the lobby.   If I were still using ¼ forks, this would be a classic case for a 3.75 fork because while the food itself was totally well done and tasty, the high cost and lack of wow factor doesn’t really put it in a 4 fork range but I’m feeling generous and will round up for this one.  Total bill:  $70/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Harbor Bistro Visited 9/16/2016 4 Forks

Harbor Bistro  313 Three Mile Harborhog Creek Rd., East Hampton, NY 11937

Ahh, the Hamptons.  The playground for the rich and famous.  I am blessed enough to have great friends who invite me over to their wonderful place every once in a while and honestly, we do nothing but chill and go out to eat.  The one nice thing about going out to eat in this area is that you can find a lot of places by the water, so you can get lovely views that you would never find in the city. 

I actually think the best time to visit is after Labor Day when all the crazy house sharing/summer people have left the area and it's down to mostly locals and other people who own out there.  The weather is still nice and the crowds are considerably thinner.  VA, Julie and I had originally wanted to go to Bostwick's but the wait was 45 minutes and it was almost 8pm already.  So we headed over to Harbor Bistro where they seated us right away despite there being a rehearsal dinner in the back.  The menu here is traditional Hampton's style food - a large focus on seafood.  There were tons of great sounding options from tuna poke, oysters, shrimp pasta, swordfish and several tasty meat dishes too.  I opted for the salmon belly starter and the shrimp salad (I asked for the dressing on the side).  The salmon belly was similar to a tartare style dish with raw salmon served lightly marinated piled in a heap - delicious and I was surprised that it was actually a pretty decent sized dish for a starter.  We also shared the fried calamari for the table which tasted much more refined than your traditional bar type calamari.  It was lightly breaded and served with cold noodles, avocado, cucumber and a firecracker sauce.  It didn't taste greasy or too heavy which often happens with calamari.  

For my main, I got the shrimp salad which was excellent as well.  The only downside was that they didn't give me the dressing on the side.  Let's be honest, in reality I probably would have poured the entire thing on my salad anyways.  It was an excellent ginger sesame type dressing, so I definitely would have.  It was a nice ratio of shrimp to lettuce and other chopped vegetables and combined with my salmon belly, it was a really solid seafood outing.  Of course I had to be greedy and throw in an order of truffle fries which were probably the least impressive dish of the night and totally not needed.  It could have been a bit crispier and there was too much truffle and parm on it to make it super enjoyable.  But it definitely didn't damper the overall experience.  Total bill:  $72/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Mission Ceviche Visited 9/15/2016 4 Forks

Mission Ceviche  353 W 14th St., New York, NY 10014

Ever since I was in South America a few years ago, I become obsessed with ceviche.  While the city is undergoing a poke insanity right now, ceviche which is kind of like a red headed step-sister dish, hasn't quite picked up around the city.  But when I was at Gotham Poke, I noticed Mission Ceviche in the same food hall so I made a mental note about it.  Luckily, Allison had also made a mental note of it and we made a little field trip out there on a Thursday night.  

In case you haven't been to Gansevoort Market before, it's a casual food hall near the MeatPacking District and each stall has a few seats and then there's a slightly larger seating area in the back. Mission Ceviche is smack in the middle of the food hall, so you can't miss it.  The menu has 2 sections to it:  make your own ceviche and then a few Peurivan style main entrees.  Allison and I shared 1 classic ceviche ($12) and 1 chicken dish   ($12) and got a homemade ginger ale ($3).  We got the ceviche with the catch of the day which was a nice fluke; it is an excellent fish to use for ceviche because it's mild and you can really taste the acidity and citrus of the classic "marinate" or they call it "tiger milk" we got.  You can choose lettuce or quinoa as your base (we got lettuce), so it's quite a healthy dish.  On top of it, it comes with red onion, cilantro, sweet potato mash and giant corn kernels which is very traditional.   It was fresh and tangy and I felt really healthy during the whole process.  My only complaint is that the portion size is a bit small but then again, I was sharing it with someone else when it's really made for 1.  

As for the chicken, I really enjoyed it although it's a totally different dish from the ceviche.  It's a warm dish and much heavier because it's got a curry-like cream sauce to it - it's juicy shredded chicken simmering in a yellow chili pepper cream, parmesan cheese and aioli and you can get it on a base of rice, beans or quinoa (we got the quinoa).   It was like a very hearty chicken stew and the smells and flavors were fantastic - I could see it being a good cold winter night type of dish but probably not something for a hot summer evening. 

Overall, I was really pleased with the food here.  It's hard to find good ceviche not at a sit down restaurant, so I can definitely see myself swinging by here to grab a quick bite to eat.  I just wish the place was a bit more lively and exciting inside - the 2 times I've been there, it's been kind of dead. I'm not sure if it's because they don't really have a great facade outside that indicates all the cool food inside but for now, it's kind of nice to have the place to yourself.  Total bill:  $36 for 2 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

East Coast Poke Visited 9/13/2016 2.5 Forks

East Coast Poke 238 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249

Yes, the poke craze has reached insane levels.  There are new poke joints popping up everywhere in the city and as a big lover of poke, I certainly don't mind all the options.  I was doubly excited when I read that the new Whole Foods in my 'hood was going to have a poke stall in it.  It's an offshoot of East Coast Poke and it's right in the 1st level of the grocery store along with a few other food stalls. 

I popped by the Whole Foods (yes, I'll admit that I love it) during lunch on a weekday so there wasn't much of a line at all.  It's right next to the pre-made sushi counter so it's a bit confusing because you aren't sure if they are there to make sushi or poke.  I ordered the Honolulu - which was a classic version ($11.95).  I was tempted to spend the extra $4 to get more poke but I figured I'd save my money and see what the standard serving looks like.  Turns out the standard serving is not very big. In fact, it's the same small size of what Whole Foods uses for those ridiculously overpriced cut up fruit cups I secretly buy sometimes.   This bowl was filled with lots of rice and very minimal scoping of fish in it.  The fish itself was fine but didn't stand out to me.  There weren't a ton of toppings on it either to make up for the lack of fish - there were some onion and seaweed (which I should note, real traditional poke doesn't have). While I was initially pleased by the fact that it was cheaper than some of the other poke I had in the city, I now know why and would definitely pay more for a hearty portion and just more of everything.

Overall, it was a pretty disappointing experience especially since I was so excited to have a place nearby that I could pop over whenever I was having a craving.  There are plenty of other solid poke options in the city that I wouldn't really waste too much of our time here unless you were really in a bind.  Total bill:  $13 with tax

Photo Credit:  Eater

Gotham Poke Visited 9/12/2016 3.5 Forks

Gotham Poke  353 W 14th St., New York, NY 10014

Usually when I write my reviews, I sneak a peak at Yelp to see what people are saying about the place but I usually don't let it sway me too much.  So I was super surprised to see all the really negative reviews about this place.  Granted a lot of the reviews were for the location at Madison Square Eats and the one I went to was at the Gansevoort Market but still the quality shouldn't be too different.  

While I will admit that this is definitely not traditional style Hawaiian poke, I really didn't have any issues with it and in fact liked it more than some other poke places I've been to (I'm looking at you Williamsburg Whole Foods poke stall).  The poke craze is definitely in full effect in the city and while the people on Yelp seemed to think this place is the worst in the city,  based on my one experience, I disagree with that sentiment.  I got the regular size ($13.50) which comes with 2 "bases" and 1 fish.  The base options are white rice, grain blend, kale and cauliflower, and pickled veggies.  Not sure why they would give you the option of 2 bases but I went with the grain blend plus the kale and cauliflower.  Again, it's not very traditional but it wasn't a bad combination either.  The grain blend was mix of brown, red and black rice with barely and rye - so a much healthier version than the white rice mixture.  The kale and cauliflower added another nice element of healthiness to it, not that fish is bad for you at all but it's combing all the recent uber trendy foods of brown rice, kale and poke in one bowl.  As for my fish base, I got the spicy salmon which came with chunks of raw salmon covered with a spicy mayo and served with seaweed, radish and onion.  So it doesn't have the traditional marinate of soy sauce and sesame oil but it was kind of like a deconstructed spicy salmon roll.

The regular size was enough for a decently filling meal and I appreciated the different healthy toppings and additions to the bowl.  Maybe it's because I stuck to a more "classic" type of poke that it tasted fine - I could see how ordering the seared tuna, chicken or pork options might not be as good. Maybe the 2 locations really are that different but the one on the Gansevoort Market is worth a visit if you are in the area since the market itself is a cute but totally under-utilized food hall.  Total bill:  $13.50

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Sushi on Jones Visited 9/8/2016 4.5 Forks

Sushi on Jones  Bowery Market, 348 Bowery, New York, NY 10012

Sometimes you want great sushi but don't want to pay crazy money or sit around for 3 hours having the chef explain every single insane cut of fish he got that day.  Enter Sushi on Jones.  It's a genius idea.  It's a  pop-up omakase meal from the sushi chef at Sushi Dojo that's served rapid style - 12 pieces served in 30 mins all for $50.   The place is tiny - only 4 real seats at the outdoor Bowery Market but you don't have to worry about waiting for too long because the seats turnover every 30 mins!  You can, however, make reservations now so that might change the wait time but in general it's a pretty well oiled machine.  

Anuja, Amy and I sat down at the bar stools and we were immediately served sushi as soon as we sat down.  The menu consists of scallop (the best piece of the night!), crab, hamachi, uni (2nd best piece of the night), eel, botan shrimp, 2 tuna, 2 salmon and 2 wagyu beef plus you can get a wagyu + uni piece for an extra $12.   All standard but tasty cuts of fish.  I was actually surprised that they served uni and botan given the $50 price point.  Excellent deal.  The quality and taste of each of them were superb and you didn't even realize that you were not in a fancy pants sushi restaurant in Midtown.  I was very impressed by the quality of it given the set-up.   The sushi chefs were really nice and told you what each fish was, asked if you had any fish you didn't like and then just basically got to work. They ended with 5 minutes to spare so that you can order any extra pieces - we each got one extra piece of scallop ($5) because it was melt in your mouth delicious.  The rice was also well done and the right temperature and consistency for sushi.  

It was such a pleasant experience that it was actually really sad when it was done in 30 minutes.   The quality made you want to sit and order more.  They also let you sneakily BYOB - I'd recommend getting a screw top and leaving it in the bag, they will provide the coffee cups for you to use.

I'm not sure how they will deal with this in the winter time as it doesn't make sense to sit outside in the cold no matter how delicious the food is - so I'd say get over there as fast as you can now before it's shut down for the season.  My only complaint is that they served me the wagyu + uni piece without asking if I wanted it.  While I didn't mind eating it and probably would have ordered it anyways, they really should have asked if I wanted it since it is $12/pop.   Total bill:  $85 with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Santa Fe Day 5 Visited 9/5/2016 3 Forks

Luminaria    Inn and Spa at Loretto, 211 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87501

Our last morning in Santa Fe was a quick one as we had to get back to Albuquerque for our 11:45AM flight, so it only made sense to grab dinner in our hotel.  The setting is quite beautiful with a lovely patio that is a really relaxing place to have a meal.  

Unfortunately we were in a hurry and had to be a bit pushy with our waiter - who took it in real stride, so I give him big kudos for dealing with us being anxious and annoying.  I wasn't super hungry and wanted something quick, so Deanna and I just got the steel cut oatmeal with fruit and nuts ($11) and Aarti got the huevos rancheros ($15) - which was kind of a smart move because I should have gone out with a Mexican breakfast bang.  The oatmeal was totally fine - a bit boring as it is freaking oatmeal after all. Maybe adding some brown sugar would have spiced it up a bit but overall it was a fine quick hotel breakfast.   Given the long day I was about to have, I should have gone the breakfast burrito route and I really wish I had more time to really relax and take the time to enjoy my meal.   This is the kind of place where you should get a cup of coffee, a mimosa, a big hearty breakfast burrito and read the newspaper cover to cover.   As expected, it's a hotel restaurant, so it is a bit overpriced but compared to a lot of other hotel restaurants, the price wasn't all that bad.  If you can get a later flight, do it and don't rush through a nice relaxing meal before you take the gorgeous 1 hour drive back.  Total bill:  $70 for 3 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Santa Fe Day 4 Visited 9/4/2016 3.5 - 4 Forks

The Plaza Cafe  54 Lincoln Ave., Santa Fe, NM 87501                                               4 Forks

Another morning, another Mexican breakfast.  We had wanted to go on a hike early in the morning but needed to fuel up and get some breakfast first.  We tried to go to a few other places first and even at 10AM, there were long lines everywhere (this is what you get for going to a city that's mostly older).  The Plaza Diner also had a wait but it was only 15 mins, so we stuck with that instead of hopping around.  

The Plaza Diner is the oldest restaurant in Santa Fe and it shows, but not in a bad way.  It's just very old school and full of locals and tourists alike.  This was actually the first place on the entire trip where I saw chilaquiles on the menu - which is one of my favorite Mexican breakfast dishes.  I was on the verge of getting it when I realized that the huevos divorciados ($10.50) was a similar dish but also came with guacamole, sour cream and salsa - sold.  

Honestly, at the end of the day, it was another really solid Mexican breakfast with beans, chili and eggs.  I got my eggs sunny side up and they were perfectly cooked - very very runny and yolky. Delicious.  The service was great and the location is convenient (right off the local square), what more could you ask for? 

I was definitely getting sick of this kind of food after eating it for 4 days straight but now that I've been home for a few weeks, I really do miss having this kind of flavorful hearty stuff for breakfast. Lesson learned to never take green chili for granted.  Total bill:  $58 for 3 people

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Iconik Coffee Roasters  1600 Lena St., Ste A2, Santa Fe, NM 87505                                       4 Forks

Every city, even Santa Fe, has to have a hipster coffee shop and I found it in Santa Fe at Iconik Coffee Roaster (I mean, even it's name is kind of hipster with the "k" instead of "c").  It's located in a really random part of town behind all these non-descript office buildings but if you're on your way to the insane interactive art experience Meow Wolf  (which I HIGHLY recommend - and even more so if you are on drugs - not that I advocate for that), this is a great pit stop.  It's super spacious and has a real artisanal feel to it - it actually reminded me a bit of Blue Bottle, which I love.  It's also got a similar mission of working direct with coffee farmers and creating coffee that's not mass produced and crafted with love. 

They had a nice small food menu, so I got an iced latte and a veggie stir-fry dish but they had all sorts of yummy sounding sandwiches, bagels and other snacks too.  My traditional opinion about stir fry is that I can make it at home myself so why would I order it out?  And while that's still true, I haven't made it at home in a long time so it was actually a very welcoming and nostalgic meal to have.  It was made with brown rice, a nice medley of fresh vegetables and lots of sriracha in it.  There was nothing mind blowing but it was just done right and it was super satisfying.  Despite eating a bunch of rice, it felt healthy because it was brown rice and chock full of veggies.  I could really see myself hanging out at a place like this if I ever lived in Santa Fe - it was one of the few places in the city that really seemed more geared towards younger people - although it does close at 5pm, so I guess that still makes it kind of geared towards the older crowd/early birds!

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Cafe Pasqual's  121 Don Gaspar Ave., Santa Fe, NM 87501                                           3.5 Forks

Cafe Pasqual's seems to be THE place to eat in Santa Fe.  It constantly had a line out the door and we were only able to get a reservation at 9pm (which is super late in Santa Fe) on Sunday night.   While it was a fine experience, I'm not sure that I really get what all the hype is about and with other options so close by, I'm not sure if I would wait 45 mins in line for it.  In any case, we made our way there late on a Sunday and even though we had reservations, they were not ready for us and it took them almost 30 mins to finally seat us.  It would have been ok if there was a bar or some place to wait, but there is pretty much no lobby, so we had to stand outside.  Even though Santa Fe is a totally safe city, there were a few teens cruising the street with loud music and a crazy homeless person screaming at the top of this lungs so not a super pleasant waiting experience. 

We finally got seated and it was definitely getting late - even for us New Yorkers, to have dinner. Not surprisingly, the menu here has a Mexican slant but unlike some of the other places that we ate at, they actually had other types of dishes on the menu, which was a relief to us.  For starters, we got the little gem salad ($13) and the warm french brie ($17).  For a main entree, I was torn between getting something totally different like the Warm Thai Rain Noodle Salad vs. something traditional like the Bison Burger.  In the end, the bison burger won out because I knew that once I came back to NYC, I wouldn't really indulge in burgers that often and even more rarely with ones that had green chili on it. Plus I can't imagine that the Thai food here would be better than what I could get in NYC.  I opted to get the sauteed mushrooms ($7) toppings - which I highly encourage anyone who orders this dish do. Aarti and Deanna ended up getting the Thai Noodle salad ($26) and the Plato Supremo with chili relleno, enchilada and a tamale ($29).  As you can see from the prices of the last two dishes, this was definitely the most expensive meal we had on the trip. 

The little gem salad was served with romaine, rainbow carrots, sugar snap peas, radishes, chives and then tossed with a homemade ranch dressing.  It was a nice intro salad and dressed nicely with a ranch that wasn't too heavy or creamy.  The brie was served with an entire oven roasted head of garlic and crostini.  I'm usually a huge lover of brie, but this dish was actually a bit underwhelming.  The brie was luke warm so it wasn't gooey and I would have preferred something a bit softer than the thin crostini bites.  It could have also used some honey or extra sweetness to it. 

The burger was served on an English Muffin but I ended up not even eating it because I still felt full from all the rice I had earlier.  The burger came with green chili, jack cheese, caramelized onions, tomato, salsa, and the pile of mushrooms I added.  While I enjoyed the burger, I didn't find it to be in the top 10 of best burgers I had.  It could have been a bit juicier - it's probably because it's bison meat which is leaner and not as fatty (hence delicious) as a beef burger.   The best part of this dish was actually the side of kale salad I got with the burger.  It felt like the first clean veggie dish I had eaten all trip.  It was nicely massaged kale with lemon juice and olive oil that didn't taste rough or tough to chew.  It was actually a really great kale side that I would have gotten as a main if it was offered with some chicken or another protein. 

If I had stopped my meal here, I would have given this place a solid 3 fork review.  Good but over-hyped and over priced.  But what bumped this place up a 1/2 fork was the amazing dessert we had. Since it was our last meal of the trip, we went all out and got the fresh mint ice cream AND the berry shortcake ($11 each).  OMG - that ice cream was freaking amazing and saved this review.  It was totally fresh natural mint that pretty much punched you in the face with freshness. It was amazing yet somehow not overpowering at all.  The shortcake was wonderful and served with fresh cream, a variety of berries and a delicious vanilla ice cream as well.  We should have totally skipped the brie to save calories and room in our stomachs.  By the time our meal ended it was well after 11pm and we were exhausted and literally the only people left in the restaurant.  I definitely had better meals for less on the trip, but I'm glad I stayed til the end and enjoyed the best dessert we had all long weekend.  Total bill:  $210 for 3 people with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp