Talde Visited 8/30/2017 2.5 Forks

Talde  8 Erie St., Jersey City,  NJ 07302

There's been a lot of buzz around Jersey City as the new place to live and eat given how expensive everything else in Manhattan and Brooklyn have become.  Talde's original location is in Park Slope and I remember given it a scathing review but I had to actually go back and re-read to job my memory on why I hated it so much.  Yikes, I did not like it at all.  But when my VP was in town and suggested Talde in Jersey City, I was trying to keep an open mind that maybe it would be different at this location, plus I've never really eaten in Jersey City so I wanted to see what all the buzz was about. 

Umm, not to sound like an elitist but if this is one of the better restaurants in JC, I don't have a ton of high hopes for the area.  It is located on a bustling cute street in the neighborhood which seemed to be lots of fun.  The restaurant itself was open and spacious and nicely designed.  We got there on a Thursday night and they had a live band in front that was so loud that I could barely hear or understand the person standing 2 inches from me.  That was one of my first problems with this place - you're not a bar so why do you have deafening music playing?  We were a fairly large party (about 15 people) so we were seated at this long concrete slab in the middle of the restaurant.  Our waiter was very nice but when you have this big of a party, the waiter should try to take control of the situation otherwise it becomes chaos with ordering, which is what happened.  Everyone was confused, no one knew who was order for who and in the end we split up into 3 sections and had people from each part of the table ordered for their little area.  The menu overall isn't huge, it has about 5 noodle dishes and 5 entrees and a handful of appetizers and sides.  We asked the waiter how we should order and he said something crazy like 4 appetizers, 1 noodle, 1 entree and a side PER PERSON (turns out he wasn't entirely wrong).  We all thought that sounded crazy to order 6-7 dishes for person, so we ordered 4 total appetizers and 4 total noodle + entree + sides for our little corner of 5 people.  We got yuzu guacamole, edamame bao, pretzel pork and chive dumplings, spring rolls, chow fun, whole branzino, hanger steak, and blue crab fried rice. 

The waiter did warn us that the food will come out as it's ready but with this big of a group that's a huge mistake.  They should course it out otherwise only certain parts of the table will get food while others will be waiting around.  And that's exactly what happened.  We waited FOREVER for even just the appetizers to come out and they were so small for a group of 5 that we were splitting them into tiny pieces so that everybody could have something and not starve to death.  The descriptions of everything on the menu seemed a little off than what they were.  For example, the yuzu guacamole was really more crispy rice with some avocado spread on top.  Granted the menu did mention crispy rice, but the headline was guacamole and that's not how people expect to see guacamole.  The edamame bao was weird and again it did say on the menu that it was a falafel format but that was buried in the description.  When most people see edamame, I don't think they assume it's chopped up into a falafel.  As someone who loves chow fun, this one was not good.  First, it comes out all rolled up which is such a mistake because it gets sticky and dried out really quickly if it's not soaking in moisture.  I immediately tried to break it apart and drown it in the pork and mustard green base but it still ended up being really dry and hard to eat - good chow fun should be slippery and moist (that sounds kind of gross).  Where the food did redeem itself was with the branzino and blue crab fried rice.  The branzino was wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed with turmeric and tomato - nothing more delicious and Asian to me than steamed whole fish.  The fried rice was a good addition and not too greasy or salty and it had a nice generous helping of blue crab meat in it.  The other parts of the table ordered a bunch of other things like the chicken, short ribs and pork that got passed down and weren't too bad.  By the time everyone got their food and we ate it, we had probably been at the restaurant for almost 3+ hours.   It was an incredibly exhausting meal. 

While the last few courses did redeem this place a bit, the insane amount of time we had to wait for our food and the obnoxiously loud music made it really hard for me to like this place.  After re-reading my previous review, it doesn't look like too much has changed from my last experience. While I'm still interested in seeing what JC has to offer, I'm not sure if this is really the best first impression.

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Souvlaki GR Visited 8/28/2017 4 Forks

Souvlaki GR  116 Stanton St., New York, NY 10002

I had been wanting to go to Souvlaki GR for a while purely because of how adorable it looked from the outside.  It's a stark contrast to all the other drab NYC buildings in the area although it does have a bit of a Disney-fied feel to it.  But on a rainy day in August, stepping into this blue and white delight was exactly what I needed.  The inside also has the same blue and white decor and if you've ever been to Greece before, it does transport you back there. 

Like most other Greek places in the city, this one is quite laid back and casual.  The host was really nice and let me sit at a table and wait for 30 minutes without giving me grief for it. The menu is a classic line up of dips, pitas, and lamb dishes.  As I've mentioned many times before, Greek food is such an underrated cuisine and it's definitely one that I could eat all the time.  We started with the tzatziki dip ($7.50) and the Greek salad ($13.5) because that's just what you do in a Greek restaurant. As for my main, I was struggling between the octopus and some kind of pita dish but in the end the lamb pita ($8.75) won out.  As you can see the prices were super reasonable for a really healthy and hearty meal.  To me, it's hard to get the basics of Greek food wrong because a lot of it is food in its natural state with a lot of olive oil, lemon and herbs on it.  Everything was simple but flavorful.  It was a nice change of pace from the heavy/fried food I had been eating in Quebec although they also had Greek fries which I would have ordinarily ordered if I wasn't totally fried out.

In the end, it the perfect casual and affordable place to catch up with friends.  It's not loud (clearly I'm old), serves solid food and they don't rush you out despite it being quite busy.  Since I don't live off the F train anymore coming to the LES is kind of a pain (although they have a Midtown location too but that's even more of a pain) but I would definitely put this on the list of places to return to, especially if you're missing the beautiful white and blue vibes of Greece.  While you don't get the same blue water view, you can at least close your eyes and imagine yourself away from the city for just a few hours.  Total bill:  $28/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

48 Hours in Quebec City - Part 2 - Visited 8/25-8/27/2017 2.5 - 3.5 Forks

Cassis Monna & Filles 721, Chemin Royal, Saint-Pierre-de-l'Île d'Orléans                           3.5 Forks

If you have the time, I would recommend that you rent a car while you are in Quebec City so that you can explore some of the other sites that are a short drive away.  One of the places that's talked about a lot is Ile de Orleans, which is their version of wine country.  But let me be clear, it is absolutely nothing like Sonoma or Nappa but if you set your expectations a bit lower, there are a few nice places to check out here.  It's fairly rural and much more spread out than Holly and I anticipated, so I recommend that you stop by Cassis Monna first to grab a bite to eat as well as to a map to plot out your way around the area.

While Ile de Orleans may not be on the same level of other vineyard towns, Cassis Monna and Filles is definitely unique in its own sense in that it's mainly focused on the black currant.  They have an adorable restaurant and ice cream shop on the first floor as well as a tasting room and small artisanal store down below where you can buy bottles of wine.  There are several picnic benches out back where you can relax and take in the lovely view of the river as well.  It's such a lush and relaxing setting to be surrounded by.

I never really thought of black currant very much but it's delicious.  The tasting we did was great and the store is something you would find in Brooklyn - lots of jams and other mason jar preservatives that I seriously contemplated buying.  As expected, the menu in the restaurant focuses on the black currant.   You can get salad with black currant, quiche with black currant, sandwiches with a black currant jam or a pulled pork sandwich with black current wine in it.  Holly and I opted for the popcorn chicken with black currant honey ($8 CAD).  It's essentially fried chicken bites and lots fries on the side - so it was a lot of fried action.  They were salty and addictive and I couldn't stop popping them in my mouth.  I felt like a kid again eating chicken fingers or nuggets for lunch.  It was served with salad that had black currant dressing but it was a bit too sticky and sweet for me.  I would have preferred a basic oil/vinegar dressing but I guess that's not what you go at a place like this.

Overall, the food was basically bar food with a cute twist to it.  The food isn't amazing by any stretch but the surrounding area is a lovely respite from the all the tourists (and yes, there are plenty of tourists here too) and it's worth trying out some of the sweet delicious wines. It's 3 forks for the food but 4 forks for the scenery and overall cuteness.  Total bill:  $20/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Le Moine Echanson  585 Rue Saint-jean, Quebec City                                                             2.5 Forks

This review really breaks my heart because all the reviews online were so positive.  It's less of a full blown restaurant and more of a wine bar that serves tapas style food.  But the Yelp pictures and other blogs called it inventive and super creative.  Sadly when we went, it was a really suboptimal experience.  

As with most places in Quebec, the menu seemed to change daily based on what they have but for some reason the night we went they had practically nothing on the menu.  The menu looked a bit small to begin with but they only told us that they were out of 2 of the 4 entrees only after we sat down and ordered some wine.  When your menu only has 4 entrees and you're out of half of them, you should either say something before your guests sit down or go down to the market and figure something out asap.  It's not like we came at 11pm at night, we were there at 8pm on a Saturday when it should have been prime time but the place was barely full (should have been a sign) and the waiter had said that they had a unusually busy Friday so they were left with few options for Saturday.  That sounds like really poor planning to me.  

Similar to L'Affaire Est Ketchup, this place looks like its run by 3 guys in total but that's still not an excuse.  While it's mainly a wine bar, if you're going to have a food menu, you should ensure it's enough food to carry you through the night.  Since we had ordered wine we felt guilty getting up and leaving, so we ordered a few snacks to nibble on.  Unfortunately, we were so annoyed that nothing really sounded all that great.  I opted to get a half dozen oysters and then we also got the fried eggplant appetizer.  Holly asked if they had a meat and cheese plate since we saw it online and they said they could put something together (why not put that on the menu?!). 

I will say that the oysters were quite good and that's what carried this review.  I would have preferred them to have been chilled instead of at room temperature oysters but they were plump, briney and shucked well.  If I knew my night was going to consist of only oysters and wine, I probably would have had a much more favorable opinion of this place.  Next we got the fried eggplant which turned out to be steamed eggplant with no seasoning or flavor to it.  Even though I love eggplant, this was totally void of anything on it - a little soy sauce, sesame oil and scallion would have made a huge difference. What was even sadder was the meat and cheese plate - it only consisted of some sliced hard sausage and goat cheese with some soft bread.  It's hard to call it a plate when you only had 1 of each.  The waiter was really nice and kept asking us if we were ok but we felt really bad expressing any disappointment.  I wanted to give him some feedback but in the end, we just paid our bill and left.  

If expectations were set in the beginning that they didn't have much food, I probably would have had a much different opinion of our experience.  If you're looking for a funky organic wine bar, this is your place but if you're looking for a culinary wonderland, definitely ask before sitting down. Total bill:  $33/pp with tax, tip and wine

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Sapristi  1001 Rue Saint-Jean, Quebec City                                                                                 3 Forks

Since our flight back to NYC wasn't until 3pm, we were able to squeeze in one more meal before we left and honestly, I wasn't all that jazzed about it.  It's not that the food in Quebec City was terrible (it wasn't), it just wasn't as exciting or innovative as I thought.  At the end of our 48 hours there, we didn't want many more fried food or frankly disappointing experiences.  We wanted something simple and reliable. What's more reliable than Italian food?

We went back to the Petite Champlain area an if you go even further down the steps toward the river there are several outdoor cafes with a nice view.  We ended up randomly picking this place based on Yelp feedback.  It was honestly a fine meal and like the rest of our trip, nothing incredible but a very solid option.  Unlike our last dinner, the menu here was quite extensive.  They had a wide variety of pizzas, pastas, salads, flatbreads and other entrees.  Since I had essentially eaten my weight in fries on this trip, I went for the beef tartare ($20 CAD) and a french onion soup ($8.50 CAD).

The french onion soup was tasty but over salted a bit and could have used more cheese (but then again, you can never have enough cheese).  The beer tartare was a nice respite from all the fried food and it was served with chopped up fillet of beef, shallots, dijon mustard and pine nuts along with some thin toasted bread.  I was disappointed by the lack of egg but eating this felt much cleaner and healthier than any of the food I had consumed in the past 36 hours which was pretty much cheese and fries.

The pastas and pizzas looked great and I would say those are probably their stronger suits - but there are literally tons of other restaurants that look and feel exactly the same as this place on the same side street.  I'm bummed that our culinary adventures stalled a bit on this city but it's still a lovely place to visit and everyone there was very friendly and kind.  I would recommend it as a relaxing weekend getaway from the city and hopefully as time goes by, there will be more going on in the food scene. Total bill:  $ 30/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

48 Hours in Quebec City - Part 1 - Visited 8/25-8/27/2017 3.5-4 Forks

Le Lapin Saute  52 Rue du Petit-Champlain, Quebec City, QC G1K 4H4, Canada             4 Forks

When you think of Canada, Montreal and Vancouver are usually the darlings for the Great White North but Quebec City also has gotten some buzz with its quaint European charm and winter wonderland feel during Christmas time.  There's been no better time to visit Canada than in the last few years with the US dollar doing really well, so when my friend Holly expressed interest in checking out Quebec, I was on board with that even though it was in the summer time.

In term of Canada, I've only been to Montreal before and while I would still say that Montreal is more hip and happening, Quebec City has it's own appeal too.  It's only a 1.5 hour plane ride away from NYC but quite a world of difference.  It's predominantly a French speaking city but everyone also speak English.  But it's that French sensibility that makes it so adorable.  In the center of town is the touristy but super cute Petite Champlain area which is their Old Town section.  It's a small section of the city that's got cobblestone streets and adorable flower boxes outside each of the buildings - adorable.  It kind of make you feel like you're in Europe.  The city is a decent size that I think 48 hours is plenty of time to hit the highlights and then some.  The only big bummer is that I didn't think the food scene was all that.  Of course poutine is everywhere and because it's so far up North there is a lot of heavy meats like bison but it wasn't really a go-to food destination for me.  That's where it's neighbor Montreal has it beat.  It's possible that I didn't go to the right places but nothing during the whole weekend felt like a home run to me.  Our meal at Le Lapin Saute - while in the most touristy part of town was probably the most satisfying for me.

It's in the heart of the Petite Champlain and it surrounded by cute stores.  If it's nice outside, I'd recommend getting a table outside so that you can people watch.  If you know any French, you know that the star of the menu is le lapin, or rabbit.  While they have several non-rabbit dishes, it is the focus on the menu and rabbit comes in many forms here:  poutine, rillettes, confit, braised, or in a puff pastry.  It's kind of sad to think about but I tried to block it out of my mind.  We came for a light lunch since we had dinner reservations at 8pm, so we didn't go totally nuts.  We started with an appetizer of smoked duck breast ($8 CAD) and I got the half size portion of rabbit poutine ($9 CAD) and Holly got the grilled cheese ($17 CAD).  The smoked duck breast was served cold and sliced thinly, almost like a charcuterie plate.  It came on soft pieces of toast and sour but tasty cornichons.  It was a simple but solid way to start the meal.  Since I was in Canada, I had to get the poutine.  It felt wrong not to get it at least once on the trip.  For those of you who don't know what it is, it's basically fries covered in cheese curds and gravy.  It's the most perfect drunk food but it's not something I would necessarily endorse eating regularly.  But it's a Qubecois specialty and I figured why not get it with rabbit?  The rabbit was light and almost shredded in texture and was actually a nice touch. What I liked about this dish was that it wasn't drowning in gravy so it kept the fries a bit crispy.  I'm really glad I got a half size because that was the right amount of food.

Our waiter was this adorable French speaking guy who looked like he couldn't have been older than college age.  He was super sweet and recommended a delicious local rose where I could have had an entire bottle but settled for 2 delicious glasses instead.  The place was packed the whole time we were there and since it's right on the main strip of the busy street, it's a prime place to sit down for a snack and people watch.  I'd definitely recommend this place even if you don't like or want rabbit but don't knock it til you try it!  Total bill:  $33/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

L'Affaire Est Ketchup  46 Rue Saint-Joseph E, Quebec City, QC G1K 3A7, Canada              3.5 Forks

This was my eagerly awaited dinner reservation of the trip - mostly because it was on Anthony Bourdain's show and he really liked what was going on with it.  It's in the hipster part of town that's called Saint Roch - it's a bit away from the touristy center which is always a good sign in my book. Basically it's their version of Brooklyn.  The name of the restaurant translates into a local saying of essentially, "everything is ok!"  

When you walk in, I could tell this was a unique "restaurant".  I use restaurant in quotes because it's run by basically 4 guys and the kitchen is essentially like a kitchen you'd find in someone's home. It's by no means a full service facility that's got a host, waiter, bus boy, runner, sous chef, chef, etc.  It's 4 guys doing everything - so I admire them for that.  But with that comes a lot of operational challenges even though they did everything with a smile.  The decor is super dark and cozy.  The menu is on a chalkboard (that seems to be a bit theme with restaurants in Quebec City) and rotates everyday depending on what they have and want to cook.  Unfortunately since it was so dim, the poor waiter came around and read out loud the entire menu to each and every table - sometimes in both French and English.  Holly and I tried to listen to what he was telling other tables so that he didn't have to repeat himself but inevitably we needed him to review some of the dishes.  We settled for the scallop ceviche ($16 CAD) and mushroom with goat ($15 CAD) to start and we each got the bison steak for our entree ($28 CAD) - I mean when in Rome or in this case Quebec City.  

Their wine system is a bit unique - they have a giant bookcase stacked with different wine and you can review them and then point to the bottle you want.  It's a bit confusing and as someone who isn't an expert in wine, not helpful because you still end up having to ask for help.  

The scallop dish came out first and it was less of a ceviche and more of a carpaccio.  It was several thinly sliced pieces of raw scallops which were nice and refreshing.  The mushrooms on the other hand, were not as refreshing.  It was a bunch of sauteed mushrooms with diced goat meat in it and it was overly salted and the goat meat overcooked.  It tasted like something I could have made at home by throwing some mushrooms in a pain and heating them over a hot flame.  

After this we waited quite a while for our entree.   It'll give them a pass since it was 4 guys working the whole restaurant but it makes you realize how painfully slow it can be without a full service staff. At first glance, the bison steak was beautiful - it looked juicy and meaty. To be fair, the waiter warned us that there was a nerve that ran down the middle of the piece of bison, so we should cut with caution.  I really did try my best to cut around it but the nerve made it really hard to cut and maneuver around.  The meat around it was tender and cooked medium rare but the immediate area around the nerve was super chewy and very difficult to eat.  It came with your standard offering of roasted vegetables and potatoes, which I could take or leave but I guess you have to have something besides just a piece of meat on a plate.

We were pretty full by this point and should have stopped there but I'm a sucker for a good cheese plate (especially after my trip to France) and Quebec City supposedly has a good cheese scene too, so we ended the night with a cheese plate.   It was a pretty solid cheese plate with a stinky but yummy blue cheese, a triple cream cheese, mild goat cheese and another kind of mild hard cheese.

Overall, I liked the vibe of this place and I respect and appreciate any kind of small business trying to make it on their own.  The staff was super friendly and you could tell very crazed.  I can't say it was a meal that was worthy of 4 forks but you could tell they cooked with heart and for that I'm a fan, I just wished the food was a bit more solid.  Total bill:  $78/pp with tax, tip and wine

Made Nice Visited 8/21/207 3 Forks

Made Nice  8 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001

One of the big stories in the restaurant biz this summer was that Eleven Madison Park was closing temporarily for renovations over the summer.  While the guys behind it worked on a pop-up version in the Hamptons, they also opened up this fast casual joint in the NoMad area as well.  It's quite different from the fancy pants feel of Eleven Madison - you order for the counter and can either take it out or sit at one of the tables in the restaurant.  There's no waitstaff and no frills.  The menu here is mostly salad bowls and sides but the main star of the show is the chicken frites which is only available after 5pm and on Saturdays.  Neel and I opted for the chicken ($22), a side of broccoli and one of salad type dish that is escaping my mind.  But we were mainly here for the chicken.  We took it to the park and made a mini picnic out of it, complete with an illegal bottle of wine. 

The chicken is a half roasted chicken served with lemon parmesan stuffing, herb fries and a side of pickled vegetables.  So yes, essentially it's a rotisserie chicken.  None the less, I was excited because it came from the guys of Eleven Madison park and maybe it would be some mind blowing chicken. Unfortunately it was not.  It was a totally fine chicken and maybe it was because we were hunched over in the grass eating it that made it a bit of a less an ideal setting but this chicken didn't change my life.  Maybe it's too high of a standard but for $22 for only 1/2 a chicken, I was expecting more.  It is a totally decent chicken but I've had much juicier and more flavorful rotisserie chicken from Costco - that is not meant to be a disparaging remark, they actually have fucking amazing whole rotisserie chicken for less than $10.  The fries were also fine although they were bit a on the skinny and soggy side for me.  The side salads were also perfectly fine although also not particularly memorable.  It was nice to sit in the park and eat something a bit more high brow than sandwiches, but it just all was a tad underwhelming. 

All of that being said, I'm still glad I tried it out and some of the other items on the menu like the chicken rice, khao salad, and tuna nicoise made with seared tuna all sounded like things I might come back and try if I was in the neighborhood.   It's definitely not the caliber I expected from the guys who created the #1 restaurant in NYC but I guess that is a really hard act to follow, especially when you're in the fast casual space.  Total bill:  $23.95/pp with tax and sodas

Bareli's By the Sea Visited 8/12/2017 2.5 Forks

Bareli's By the Sea  1505 Ocean Ave., Spring Lake, NJ 07762

Every summer, a good friend from B-school invites a few of us down to Spring Lake for a weekend of relaxation and unwinding.  It's such a nice reprieve from the city and while it's definitely got its fair share of giant homes, it has a much more relaxed feel than the Hamptons. 

This summer the weekend that my friends and I all went coincided with my friend Richelle's birthday, so Kristin booked a reservation at Bareli's on Saturday night.  The view is great as it's literally right by the water and the set-up is open and spacious.  We were running a bit late from our 7:30 reservation, so we called to let them know and the guy on the other end said it was no problem at all. Great!  We head over as fast as we can and get there by 7:50pm and the hostess there was clearly not the same person who answered the phone.  She looked at us with this deadpan look and told us our reservation was at 7:30, which we said we knew and that's why we called.  After a bit of discussion, she walked us to the back room and asked if we could wait at the bar while they cleared a table for us.  We had actually reserved a table outside but, hey we were late, so we couldn't really argue with that.  The table that was supposed to be ours was already cleared, they just needed to put silverware on it, which literally took them 20 minutes to do.  I know it's a busy Saturday night but it shouldn't take that long to set a table.  

We finally did sit down and it kind of all went downhill from there.  One caveat is that I will say our waiter was very nice and attentive.  I don't think any of the service issues were his fault but I'll get to that in a second.  The menu here is pretty standard sea-side Italian food.  Kind of what you would expect from and for a Jersey crowd.  We started with an order of the calamari ($13), watermelon salad and a penne ala grappa ($18) and then most of us ended up getting the scallops ($35) for our entree.  The starters were totally fine - nothing mind blowing but satisfying starters none the less.  I personally find watermelon feta salad to be really weird combination and this one seemed like a salad that someone threw together for a backyard BBQ.  There was just something missing from it.  Then we waited and waited and waited for our food.  We must have waited over 40 minutes for our food that even our waiter was embarrassed by it.  While he was very apologetic, in my opinion a good restaurant would offer something in return for the wait, either a round of drinks or some kind of appetizer because we were all ready to keel over in hunger.  Mind you, scallops should be one of THE fastest dishes to cook because they taken no more than 5-10 mins to sear on each side.  At this point, half the restaurant had cleared out and it was close to 10pm.  We finally got our food and it was one of those moments where you were like "this took 45 mins to make?".  I know the restaurant was busy and I can empathize but any wait past 30 mins for your food is quite ridiculous.  I'll give credit and say the dish had about 5 very large and firm pieces of scallop which was great but the side of veggies with it was a bit underwhelming considering the wait.

Since it was a birthday, we had to get a dessert (especially since they put giant sparklers in them).  We ended up getting a chocolate lava type cake which was fine but we were all really tired and slightly drunk by that point that we didn't really enjoy it all that much.

Part of me feels bad giving this place a low rating because the food wasn't terrible and our waiter was truly very apologetic but one of my biggest pet peeves is an egregious wait for food with no reparation.  Unless the food is truly outstanding, bad service always leaves a bad taste in my mouth (no pun intended).   If we had gotten our food on time, I probably would have netted out at a 3.5 fork rating anyways.  Total bill with drinks:  $100/pp with tax and tip

Decoy Visited 8/13/2017 4 Forks

Decoy  529 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014

I've always loved Peking Duck but it's definitely not something you eat everyday.  I've only always had it in traditional Chinese restaurants but when I saw pictures of the whole duck prixe fixe situation at Decoy, I felt like I had to try it out.  Decoy is part of the Red Farm empire and is located downstairs in a small basement space.  You must make a reservation in advance if you want to guarantee yourself a whole duck but you can roll in and try your luck if you want (especially if you want to eat things besides duck).

With the whole duck prixe fixe, you get your choice of an assortment of appetizers, sides and another main course - for $69/pp.  For our assortment of extras,  we got the shrimp and snow pea dumplings, oxtail dumplings, sautéed snow peas, vegetable fried rice, and the sautéed dice lamb.  Yes, all of that food along with an entire whole duck - obviously you'll be taking a lot of food home afterwards.  The dumplings were great - steamed and fresh although the oxtail one was a bit heavy for me.  We got the snow peas because we felt like we needed a green and as usual, it was fantastic.  Like most greens in a Chinese restaurant, it's got a ton of garlic and oil which makes it delicious.  The fried rice was a nice carb supplement - it wasn't super greasy like the kind of fried rice you would get in take out joint but in the end it is just a basic rice dish.  The star of the show is obviously the duck which comes with 10 pancakes and 3 different sauces.  Before you get into the duck, you are served a shot of duck consomme to get you primed for the whole experience.  The skin was perfectly crispy and the meat was juicy with the right amount of fat on it - combined with the scallion and sauces it's a heavenly bite.  There really is nothing like a perfect Peking Duck bite wrapped in a thin pancake.  Then after all this food, they served the lamb dish.  It was complete overkill but we had to try it.  It was served with Chinese broccoli and pickled shallots and I was kind of expecting it to be like a spicy cumin lamb dish but it wasn't really like it at all.  It didn't have the heat or spice level to it but combined with a bite of fried rice and snow peas, it was pretty damn tasty too.

Despite our best efforts, we couldn't finish all the food.  The wait staff was nice enough to split all the food equally into take home bags for us and it made for a decent lunch the next day - the lamb was better than the duck since the crispiness of the skin doesn't hold up at all overnight.  Overall, it was a great experience and the amount of food is crazy.  While I really enjoyed the quality and taste of all the food, I wished they offered a prixe fixe that was smaller and cheaper.  Let's be honest, you can get a whole duck in Chinatown for half the price and it'll be just as good.  If you order a la carte, it's way more expensive ($85 for just the duck and main dishes are $32+) so technically you are getting a great deal - it's just unnecessary.  If they offered a prixe fixe "light" version,  I could definitely see myself coming here more but at the current price point, I probably won't come back often unless someone is visiting from out of town because it is quite the experience.  Total bill with lots of wine:  $133/pp with tax and tip

Hattie B's Hot Chicken Visited 8/10/2017 4 Forks

Hattie B's Hot Chicken    112 19th Ave S., Nashville, TN 37203

When I asked a few friends what's the one place I should go to if I had only 24 hours in Nashville, almost everyone said Hattie B's.  So I guess that settles it.  Nashville is legendary for its hot chicken and this is really the only place anyone ever talks about.  Yes, it's a tourist trap but there were also plenty of locals there too.

I stupidly thought there would be no line when I went at 2pm on a random Thursday but it was about a 30-40 mins wait in the blistering hot sun.  According to my driver, there is always a wait.  You order at the counter and they give you a number to put on your table.  The menu is really quite simple - hot chicken in either a plate or sandwich format and you pick your spice level (no heat to shut the cluck up).   They also have a yummy line up of Southern side dishes and if you get a plate, you get a choice of 2 sides.  Since it was just me, I opted for the small dark meat plate ($8.50) hot (which is the 3rd hottest level) with collard greens and pimento mac and cheese along with a banana pudding ($3) and a large ice tea ($2.25).  God damn, I love the prices here.

I was ready to sweat my face off with the heat of the spice but either I've gotten better with my spice tolerance or it wasn't really as spicy as everyone made it out to be.  It definitely had heat to it but I didn't feel like my face was going to fall off or anything like that.  But the chicken was juicy and tender and not greasy or oily on the outside.  It was also the right amount of crispiness on the outside. The mac and cheese was gooey in the most unhealthiest of ways but that's what makes it so good. It's not some fancy pants mac and cheese made with gouda or gruyere but it's good old fashion yellow oozey cheese.  I got the collard greens to be "healthy" but in all honesty I think it had pork in it as well but that's what gives it its salty, smokey flavor.  By this point, I was stuffed and had to run to the airport but I took my banana pudding with me and you know what?  It was just as good in the cab too.  It was probably even better since the wafers were soft and melted into the pudding.  Banana pudding is one of my favorite unsung dessert heroes and this one at $3, really hit the spot.

It would have been sacrilege if I visited Nashville and didn't try out this place.  It was worth the wait even with the slightly annoying tourist population but the staff is super sweet, the food at it's Southern best and cheap as hell - what more could a girl ask for?  Total bill: $17 with tax and tip