Amazing 66 Visited 5/27/2018 3 Forks

Amazing 66  66 Mott St., New York, NY 10013

I've got to learn to stop coming to Chinatown and expecting great Chinese food - it's just so easy and trekking to Flushing is such a pain in my butt.  It's not to say all the food in Chinatown is bad, it's really a crapshoot on what you'll get.   Again, the decor here is typical of a place in Chinatown, which means there is none but at least it was slightly cleaner than Joy Luck Palace.  

My mom and I came to Chinatown in search of whole steamed fish - I love it but it's hard to find friends who will eat it with me because the head kind of freaks people out and it's not something I would order on my own (although, let's be honest, I probably could eat the whole thing myself).  When my mom is in town, she goes off menu and just asks the waiters in Chinese what's good.  They told us the usual fish we like (tilapia) wasn't good here and instead recommended the steamed flounder.  I haven't had this dish in years and it's usually pretty good but the only downside is that it's not as meaty as other fishes.  What's nice about this fish is that the bones are very easily removed but again the meat isn't as tender.  There's also no real meat around the head area which is disappointing because anyone who is a seasoned eater knows that the fish's head is the the best part.  If you've seen this fish in the wild, it's essentially a very skinny flat fish and that's exactly what you get texture wise.  But the meat that you do get is tasty, just don't expect to get full off of it.  

We also ordered jellyfish with sliced pig knuckles and sautéed Chinese greens (I don't know what it is in English but it's one of my favorite greens that I rarely see anymore).  The jelly fish was great - if you haven't had it before, if it's done right, it's cold, crunchy and tangy and I love it.  It's usually paired with braised sliced pig knuckle which I used to have reservations about eating it as it reminds me of eating headcheese, but once you get over that, it's actually quite good.  

Unfortunately, my favorite greens were the most disappointing part of the meal.  They were clearly not in season and the best part are the leaves but instead they served it up with a ton of stem.  The stem is much tougher and not as tasty and the whole thing was this sad light green color instead of a dark green.  Even with a ton of garlic, the dish still couldn't really be salvaged.  

Overall the meal was satisfying and very filling but the bad greens and not being able to get a whole steamed tilapia kind of bummed me out.  The other bummer was that most of the restaurant was filled with tourists eating giant plates of pan fried noodles.  Now don't get me wrong, I freaking love pan fried noodles and frankly they looked pretty good here but it was a bit unsettling to not see another Asian person there besides the waitstaff - it made me feel like I was in a tourist trap.  Oh well, they can't all be winners, next time I'll come here and just eat a plate of freaking noodles instead.  Total bill:  $71 for 2 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Joy Luck Palace Visited 5/27/2018 2 Forks

Joy Luck Palace  

98 Mott St., 

New York, NY 10013

As much as I love dim sum, there are few really consistently solid places in the city that I love.  When my mom was in town, I was willing to try some place that was different than my usual place (Golden Unicorn).  I'm not gonna lie, part of me was also drawn to this place based on their cute pig baos - I mean who can resist such an adorable thing?  Only thing is that I forgot that I actually don't like baos and schtick like this usually means that the food isn't that great.  I should have listened to myself. 

The space is typical of a dim sum place in Chinatown:  it's enormous, it's loud and the waiting process is painful.  When we finally sit down, I was less than underwhelmed.  I've shared tables in Chinese places before and I've turned a blind eye to some of the cleanliness issues but I couldn't get over either here.  The tablecloths were pretty dirty and it just felt like the place hadn't been cleaned in a while. 

Usually in places like this, I can get over stuff like that if the food is good, but it just wasn't here.  The carts were slow and I felt like the variety wasn't as great as other dim sum places I've been to.  As I mentioned I don't really like baos, so we didn't get the cute pig buns but I did see a few people get them.  Everything was super unmemorable, unimpressive and I left feeling that it was a wasted meal.  Even though places like Golden Unicorn can be hit or miss, they're generally a hit and there are so many other options in Chinatown than here.  Unfortunately I can't remember the total bill but either way, not really worth it unless you want an Instagram pix of the pig bun which is why I'm giving it 2 forks for their marketing effort. 

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Wondee Siam Visited 5/26/2018 4 Forks

Wondee Siam 792 9th Ave., New York, NY 10019

Yes, yes, yes.  I could have sworn I had written a review of this place before because I've definitely been there a few times in the past but I guess I never did or it was before I started this blog.  In any case, I have a soft spot of this place.  If you every crave Thai food, Hell's Kitchen is a fantastic neighborhood for really solid authentic Thai restaurants.  Almost half of 9th Ave is lined with small, tasty and super affordable Thai joints.  I believe there is a Wondee Siam II not too far away but I prefer this original location 

My mom and I were originally going to Pure Thai Shophouse, but it was a 45 mins wait and we had show tickets, so we walked 1 block down and ducked in here.  We got really lucky because right after we sat down, there was an immediate wait.  The place is tiny - probably 6-7 tables total and only 2 tables fit more than 2 people.  The menu is your typical Thai mom and pop place but I noticed that 2 Thai people sitting next to us who clearly got the secret Thai menu - ha!  I knew they existed in every ethnic restaurant.  But it made me feel like we were in the right place if there were Thai folks ordering on the sly here.  I was totally fine that we got the Americanized menu because I was in total lame but satisfying pad thai kind of mood.   We got a papaya salad to start ($12) and I got a chicken pad thai ($14) while my mom got the Key Mao noodle ($14). 

Like any Thai place, the food comes out fast and furious which was good because we had 45 mins to order and eat.  The papaya salad was enormous - it could have been a meal in it of itself.  It was awesome - a plate piled high with shaved green papaya, peanuts, string bean, tomato, chili and lime juice.  It was the right amount of tartness and spiciness.  We pretty much polished off the whole thing which was a mistake because that practically left no room for our noodle dishes, which were also the size of our heads.  The pad thai was your standard pad thai but super flavorful and the noodles were the right texture.  I kept eating and eating, yet the plate of noodles never seemed to get smaller.   If we weren't in such a hurry, there looked like a lot of other authentic dishes to try.  The other table next to us ordered a whole red snapper which looked amazing - maybe next time.  It's the perfect place to go before a Broadway show - walking distance to most theaters and the service is super fast but nice at the same time.   Total bill:  $50 for 2 people with tax and tip. 

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Ichiran Visited 5/25/2018 3.5 Forks

Ichiran  374 Johnson Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11206

There was been a LOT of buzz about Ichiran since it opened 2 years ago as it is a famous ramen chain in Japan.  It's famous not just for it's great flavors but because of it's unique seating arrangement.  This is the perfect place for introverts because you essentially eat in an isolation booth without having to see/talk to another human - yes, you heard me right.   You eat alone in a booth that kind of reminded me of the testing booth used when you take the GMAT.  You basically sit alone and you don't see your server or really talk to anyone.  Instead, you circle what you want on the paper menu, you slip the paper under the window and the waiter comes and gets it.  If you need more water,  you can ring a bell and the waiter will come and give you more water - but overall, the whole experience is very low on human interaction.  The good news is that if you come with someone else, they can open up one side of the booth so that you can talk to each other. 

As for the menu, there's really just 1 thing on the menu: 1 kind of ramen.  But you can pick how it's done from how strong you want the dashi (broth), richness of the broth, how much garlic, with or without scallions, with or without pork, level of spiciness, and then you can add additional toppings like egg, seaweed, mushroom or if you want more noodles.  They actually gave us a free coupon for more noodles, which originally I didn't think I would need but trust me, take the free coupon and get the additional noodles.  You'll need it to go with the abundance of broth you get.  I went with the recommended traditional version - medium dashi, medium richness, medium amount of garlic, with scallion and pork, medium spicy and medium firmness to the noodles.  Plus I got a hard boiled soy egg ($2.90 extra).  

I will say that the presentation is definitely Instagram worthy.  It's beautiful and looks picture perfect.  The flavor was exactly as described - everything was medium, ha!  The broth was nice and salty and the noodles were chewy and absorbed the flavors of the broth well.  You are definitely left with more broth which is where the extra noodles come in handy.  So why didn't I give it more forks?  Well, for spending over $20 on ramen, there wasn't enough pork or other toppings.  Basically it's a $25 bowl of broth, noodles and 2 slices of pork which is hard for me to swallow, especially when the same bowl costs $7 in Japan.  Yes, I realize that Ippudo and other top ramen places are priced not that far off but at least that's in the city.  This is in a random industrial strip in Bushwick.  All in all, it's a fun experiment and now there is one in Midtown so you don't have to trek to this one.  Total bill: $47 for 2 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Win Son Visited 5/25/2018 3 Forks

Win Son 159 Graham Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11206

While many people know and love Chinese food, there is a difference between Chinese food and Taiwanese food.  There isn't a huge difference but there are certain dishes that are unique to Taiwan, so it was interesting to see this place pop up where it was all about Taiwanese food.  Plus it was on my street (although it's much closer to the edge of Bushwick) so I felt I had to check it out.  My mom was in town so I figured she was a good judge of whether or not this place was good.

We went after checking out an open house near by on a Friday and the place was jammed packed....with tons of young hipsters.  Not that I am surprised but it was a bit disappointing to see that is wasn't the type of place that had more Asians in it given the uniqueness of the food.  The menu has the "best of" Taiwanese food on there like O-a jian (oyster pancake), stinky tofu, zhajian mian (my favorite Chinse noodle dish), so we were pretty excited to try a bunch of stuff.  Unfortunately, it's been a while since I visited,  so I'm a little fuzzy all the dishes we got but I remember getting the o-a jian ($12), pea shoot tops ($11), clams and basil ($14) and the zhajian mian ($16).  These are all dishes that I normally love and while they weren't terrible here they just felt, well too hipster for me.  It didn't taste traditional or authentic - it's like they were prettied up for the audience.  I've had the o-a jian in a night market in Taiwan and it's delicious and the one here was fine but it just didn't wow me in any way.  We had the same sentiment for all the other dishes.  I'm sure I'm being super judge-y and harsh because it's not in some dingy basement of a mall in Flushing or Chinatown but my mom and I walked out feeling kind of meh about it.  But I will say that if this encourages others to check out and see Taiwanese food as a separate and different cuisine as Chinese food, I'm all for it.   All in all, the pricing is affordable and the crowd is young and fun so if you're looking for a different cuisine in East Williamsburg, I'd still recommend it but I personally am not running back to it asap. 

Photo Credit: Yelp

Wokuni Visited 5/24/2018 3 Forks

Wokuni  327 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10016

I had a lot of high hopes for this place.  It's gotten rave reviews on many blogs for its fresh fish flown in directly from the fish markets in Tokyo and it's affordable options.  Compared to my last sushi obsession, the vibe here is more upscale and sleeker.  None the less, I was excited to try it out with my mom visiting as they had great looking lunch specials - much fancier than the usual 3 roll combo.  

The crowd definitely caters to the business crowd, which makes sense given it's Grand Central location.  Unfortunately we didn't get there early enough to snag one of the 5 Wokuni-Don bowls, but I'm not really sure why there are only 5 available all day since it's just assorted sashimi with shrimp tempura.  In any case, my mom and I started with the fried tofu in dashi broth ($8) and both got the kaisen-don($18), which was 4 kinds of assorted sashimi, spicy tartare and ikura.  In retrospect, we shouldn't have gotten the same thing and one of us should have gotten the bara chirashi, which was also $18 and while it's also 4 kinds of fish, the presentation of it was much cooler and it would have been nice to try something different.  

The tofu was delicious - lightly fried and fantastically paired with the dashi.  I love silken tofu and it's a great start to any meal.  Unfortunately, this is where things go downhill.  We waited and waited and waiter for our entrees to show and they never did.  People seated to the left and right of us, who all came later than us got their entire meals before we did.  I had to flag down the waiter several times and he apologized profusely for it and eventually after almost 40 mins we got our food.  You could tell the restaurant was still going through growing pains or lacked some kind of operational efficiency as other tables were complaining of the same thing.  When we finally got our food, it was definitely fresh and of quality fish but I was so pissed that I couldn't really enjoy my meal properly. 

While I know it wasn't the waiters fault and he was clearly embarrassed, there was no attempt to offer anything as a compensation for the wait.  I'm not looking for them to comp our our whole but some kind of acknowledgement like a drink or another appetizer while we waited would have been nice.  What frustrated me the most was that the waiter didn't even realize we didn't get our food - I had to point it out a few times for him.  In the end, if the service kinks are worked out, I would be open to going again but there are so many sushi places in NYC, that's hard for me to motivate.  Total bill:  $60 for 2 people with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Sushi Yasaka Visited 5/21/2018 5 Forks

Sushi Yasaka  251 W 72nd St., New York, NY 10023

OMG - where has this place been my whole life??!  I'm so obsessed with this place and can't believe I haven't been there before.  I've never been a fan of the UWS but this is a place where I would 100% go out of my way to go.  The best thing is that it's not some fancy pants sushi place - in fact it's much more of a local, mom and pop joint but the quality and value is second to none. 

I was in that blissful state of being in between jobs, so I was able to take long leisurely lunches in the city and there's nothing I love more than a good ole fashion sushi lunch special.  Even though it was a weekday, the place was fully jammed so you should definitely make a reservation.  It makes me wonder, where the hell do these people do for work?!?  In any case, the menu has quite a few options but I went straight for the Miyabi lunch - for $18 you got 4 pieces of sushi, 7 pieces of sashimi, an oyster, a 6 piece roll of your choice, soup and salad - a seriously amazing deal.  I was tempted to go for the regular Miyabi combo which had the same thing but 6 pieces of sushi and 8 pieces of sashimi but I figured I didn't need to spend $28 when I could get the lunch special.  As a treat to myself, I got a spicy scallop roll as well.  This was beyond plenty of food.  This is what fresh fish is supposed to look and taste like.  Even the 1 oyster was fantastic.  The fish was all gorgeous in cut and color (I make it sound like a freakin diamond ring).  It's this kind of sushi that makes me happy and crave sushi every day of the week.  Don't get me wrong, I love a fancy pants sushi place every now and then too but you can't eat there all the time.  While I can't say this place is oozing with Japanese authenticity, I can say with 100% confidence that if I live anywhere near this place, I would be spending significant amounts of time and money here.  In fact, just writing about this place makes me want to take a detour up there after work next week.  Total bill:  $33 with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Baz Bagel and Restaurant Visited 5/19/2018 3.5 Forks

Baz Bagel and Restaurant  181 Grand St., New York, NY 10013

Who knew that a bagel restaurant could actually be so hipster?  I guess you can make anything hipster these days.  The place is in the weird area that's not quite Soho or Chinatown but it's a small cute and funky space that I would have never found on my own if Aarti hadn't. It was super crowded and it only has a few small tables in the back, otherwise you can just order at the counter to go.  

The menu is quite overwhelming with every kind of bagel and breakfast variety you can think of and there is a slight Jewish deli slant to it with lots of lox and whitefish options. They also have latkes and salads if you really don't want a bagel.  On top of everything else on the menu, you can just make your own bagel dish like you would at any other deli in NYC.  After hemming and hawing for 20 mins, I finally landed on the Bunny Breakfast ($14) - eggs your way (I asked for a soft scramble), avocado, nova salmon, and served with a bagel with cream cheese (I got everything bagel with scallion cream cheese).   This is everything I love in a breakfast dish but slightly deconstructed.  The eggs were nice and softly scrambled, the lox nicely smoked and as for the avocado, it's hard to f*ck up ripe avocado slices.  My one complaint actually was the bagel.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad but it also wasn't mind blowing and it could have been a bit more chewy for me.  I still have visions of a sausage, egg and cheese on an everything bagel La Bagel Delight - my all time favorite bagel place and no bagel place has really stood up to that for me.  I know bagels are a touchy subject in New York and I do truly believe that NYC has the best bagel anywhere, you just need to find your own place.  This is definitely a cute place and I like all the variety they have, I'm just not sure if I would actually go specifically for the bagel.  Total bill:  $17/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

6 days in Punta de Mita - Part 3 Visited 5/11 - 5/17/2018 3-4 Forks

Don Pedro's Bar and Restaurant  Calle Marlin 2, 63734 Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit                 3 Forks

After being "trapped" at the lovely St. Regis for a few days, I was itching a bit to explore outside of the resort.  Enter Sayulita.  It's about a 30 min drive and it could not be more different than the St. Regis.  It is a small sleepy, hippie, surfer town and it was a breath of fresh air.  Not that I don't love to be pampered a bit but it's also nice to be able to sit down and have a $2 beer every once in a while.  The town is right on the beach and there are tons of young and old surfers just hanging out in the waters all day.  There are a bunch of cute shops and bars near the Square but beyond that not much else.  It's very much a backpacker town but we did see a few families there as well. 

After walking around for a bit and buying some cheap gifts, we settled on Don Pedro's for dinner mostly because it was right on the beach and we got a fantastic view of the sunset.  The set up of the restaurant is a bit weird because the downstairs is huge but they were having a salsa class when we went, so they took us upstairs to eat.  Despite it's great location, it was fairly empty, although a few more people did trickle in later.

The menu is not really Mexican - they had pizzas, pastas and grilled meats so it kind of was catering to American tourists.  They gave us these really tasty homemade chips to start and delicious pico de gallo that tasted like it was just a fresh jar of tomatoes poured in a bowl. I started with the octopus carpaccio and had the ahi tuna steak as my main course.  The carpaccio was refreshing but it wasn't really carpaccio or at least how I envision carpaccio to be.  It was more like a ceviche in that it was cut up into small chunks and served with red chilies.  As for the tuna steak, it was like any other tuna steak I've had before except it had a huge piece of sinew running through my steak which was quite unappetizing. It was served on a bed of mashed potatoes and thin crispy onion rings.  It honestly felt a bit like a Trader Joe's meal and I'm not saying that in a terrible way but just that it was pretty basic. 

While the food was just ok, the views are lovely and I could definitely see myself sitting there with a cold beer and chips/salsa all night.   The other pro to this place being that it's not on the resort was that it's super cheap.  Total bill:  $24/pp for tax and tips

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Venazu  W Hotel, 63734 Punta de Mita, Nayarit, Mexico                                                         3.5 Forks

After 4 amazing days at the St. Regis, Holly and I moved to the W Hotel about 30 minutes away to check out a different scene.  I may be getting too old for the W Hotel or maybe we were just super spoiled by the St. Regis but it was just a very different feel.  There were parts of this hotel that I did like better though - the beach was 100% better and more expansive.  And there were a few more onsite restaurant options as well - although it's probably because there is literally no where else to go near this hotel. 

There is a Spice Market (yes, that same Spice Market) but since we were in Mexico, we figured we'd go to the more Mexican focused restaurant.  Since it was low season, there was practically no one there which was kind of weird but the waiter was so nice and super friendly that he made it less weird.  We started with a fresh corn salad it was was fantastic.  Light, refreshing and came with yummy chunks of Oaxaca cheese.  For my main dish, I got what was described as a "sea bass" but it definitely wasn't of the "Chilean" variety and tasted much more like a regular white fish with a slightly weird chili rub on it.  It was a huge piece of fish and I couldn't even finish it.  Of course we had to end the meal with churros which is always a winner.  They were warm and served with the standard yummy dipping sauce of chocolate and caramel.  The meal was satisfying but not necessarily something I have been dreaming of since I left.  But if you're staying at the W in Punta de Mita, it's not a terrible option.  Total bill:  $115 for 2 people with tax, tip and drinks

Chevicheria W Hotel, 63734 Punta de Mita, Nayarit, Mexico                                                  4 Forks

Ugh, this is a terrible photo of what was otherwise one of my favorite meals on the trip.  I wish I had more time to eat there more than just once but I was only at the W for 2 nights, so I had dinner here by myself after Holly left.   This isn't really a restaurant but a super casual truck next to the pool that serves a bunch of different kinds of ceviches and nothing else.  I rolled up in a bathing suit and shorts and sat on a stool with a beer.  Love it.  I can't tell you how fresh and delicious these dishes were.  I was so excited and overwhelmed by all the options that I ordered two for myself for dinner (ceviche Yucatan and Ceviche Nayrait) and they were definitely plenty as a whole meal.   I don't remember what was exactly in them but rest assured they were both exactly what a ceviche should be - a bit of tang but clean tasting.  I was hoping I could squeeze in one more meal here before my flight out but they are only open from 11-7pm and I had to leave at 11:30, so it was cutting it a bit too close.  My only complaint is that it's a little bit pricey for what it is but hey, this is what happens when you're in a pretty isolated hotel and it's a price I was willing to deal with on my last night here to not eat another mashed potato dish.  Total bill:  $37/pp with tax, tip, and a beer