24 hours in Berlin Visited 6/23/2018 4 Forks

Huftgold  Neue Bahnhofstr. 29

In between my 2 weeks in Amsterdam, I figured it would be fun to take a quick jaunt over to Berlin to see my friend Jill.  She was about to move from Berlin to London soon, so I figured now was the time to go otherwise, I probably make the trek over.  To be honest, even though most people rave about Berlin it was just never top on my list to check out.  It kind of reminded me of being a grey and stern city - and that is exactly what I got when I visited.  No knock to the city and I'm sure I didn't get to see even half of it while I was there, but I didn't get the warm and fuzzies when I went to visit.

Luckily, the one fun thing that was going on while I was there was that it was the World Cup and Germany was playing while I was there.  Jill and I met up with one of her friends at a local bar/restaurant where they were showing the game outside.  It wasn't a huge space but they hung a large TV outside and you could still order drinks and food while you watched the game.  Since I was in Germany, I felt like it was my duty to get wiener schnitzel while I was in town.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a very thin veal cutlet that's breaded and pan fried.  It was served with buttery mashed potatoes, a mushroom sauce and a salad.   Everytime I eat veal, I feel super guilty but it was delicious and paired with the mashed potatoes and a squeeze of lemon, it was German food heaven.  The place seemed like a fun local place to hang out - I didn't see a ton of tourists, so if you're in that part of town and looking for a casual place to hang out, I'd definitely recommend this place.  Unfortunately I can't remember how much our bill was but it was quite affordable and the nice waiter even gave us a free shot at the end.

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Rolf's Bar and Restaurant Visited 2/2/2017 2.5 Forks

Rolf's Bar and Restaurant  281 3rd Ave., New York, NY 10010

Ahh Rolf's.  It's a New York institution that I've somehow avoided for 15 years but it felt like something I should cross off my list.  They're famous for their elaborate holiday decorations and if you try to go during the holiday it is an absolute madhouse.  Seriously, Holly and I tried to go at 6pm on a random December night and the line was wrapped around the corner.  But the secret is that they keep up these decorations until May, so unless you are die hard about needing to be there in December, you're much better off going after the holidays are over. 

This time around Holly and I went in early February and just like that, there was zero line to get it. When you walk in, you're "greeted" by a very gruff German dude who asked us if we had a reservation.  We said no and he said "you must have a reservation" - mind you the place was practically half empty so we were so confused.  We asked if we could make a reservation for right now (how does that even make any sense?!) and he then walked us to a booth.  So weird. The decorations are definitely very impressive.  It's super festive and you feel like you're trapped in some holiday wonderland (or horror house - depends on how you feel about dolls being strapped to walls). Not surprising, the menu is typical German food: schnitzel, pork chops, and lots of sausage dishes.  I opted for the bratwurst platter ($25) and Holly got the wiener schnitzel ($30).  It's definitely way overpriced for what is was but I guess you're paying for the holiday spirit. 

I was expecting the bratwurst to be grilled but instead it was boiled which is definitely not ideal since the best part of the sausage is the grill marks and smokiness of it.  Boiling sausage is reminds me of a wet sock - although it obviously tasted better than a wet sock.  If you mixed it all together with the mashed potato and sauerkraut, it was an edible bite.  The mashed potato was a bit watery and thin for my liking but again, if you mix everything together it's fine.  

As expected you don't come here for the food - you come here to take an Instagram worthy picture of the lights and decorations and for a few beers or glasses of mulled wine.  There are much much better places in the city if you want real German food but I'm still glad I went and got my holiday cheer on. Total bill:  $54/pp with tax and tip

The Marrow Visited 1/4/2013 3 Forks

The Marrow 99 Bank St., (between Hudson St & Greenwich St), New York, NY 10014

This entry marks my 400th entry!  It's so crazy to think that I've actually managed to keep this blog up for 4 years and I want to thank everyone who made this happen and I hope to keep this going for a while.  

I was thrilled to review The Marrow as my first review in 2013 and as my 400th review because I love love love Harold Dieterle and his other restaurants Kin Shop and Perilla. So it makes me a bit sad that I didn't really love his new restaurant.  The menu here has a German flare to it and let's be honest, with the exception of schnitzel, there's not a lot about German food that I love.  But I was going with an open mind and empty stomach.  Nancy and I showed up on a Friday night at 6:30 hoping that we were there early enough to snag a table and because Nancy had thought that they didn't take reservations.  Well lesson learned they do take reservations.  The hostess then told me that they couldn't seat us at all that night which I was shocked by.  I totally get that they are booked but to not have any tables reserved for walk-ins is a bit extreme.  She did soften the blow by telling us that they serve the full menu at the bar and she even pointed out which couple was just waiting for their friend to arrive so that we could strategically position ourselves near them when they got up.  So luckily we were able to snag two seats at the bar by 7pm.  The menu has a list of meat plates, starters, entrees, and sides and we asked the bartender how we should order.  He looked at us and said "The starters are appetizer sized and the entrees are entree sized.  So you can order how you like."  Umm - that wasn't super helpful.  It would have been more helpful if he suggested how many plates to order or even made some menu suggestions but I guess being the bartender isn't quite the same as the waiter.  So Nancy and I decided to order one of each section to try them out. From the meat plate section we got the housemade weisswurt with apple butter ($6), from the starter we got the bone marrow ($16), from the entree we got the pan fried duck schnitzel ($28) and from the sides we got the bamboo rice risotto ($14).  We were served a nice hot and delicious pretzel-like roll to start and it came with a side of olive oil and dijon mustard.  I loved the idea of a roll with the pretzel twist to bring out the German theme.  The weisswurt and marrow came out first.  To be honest, I didn't know exactly what to expect with the weisswurt but when it came out it was not what I thought.  I assumed it might be some kind of hot sausage type dish but this was 3 cold pale hot-dog like links with 3 dots of apple butter on it. It was fine and the apple butter was a nice sweet touch but it just felt like I was eating one of those mini cocktail party weiners.  On the other hand, I knew what to expect from the bone marrow and I was super excited about it because it was served with sea urchin, fried potatoes, lemon aioli, baby celery greens on top and a side of toasted bread.  I loved the idea of the sea urchin on top and there was a fairly decent helping of it but there just wasn't enough marrow in the bone to really make the dish work.  I know marrow is a delicacy but there was probably about 1 tablespoon of marrow tops in here tops and that was a bit disappointing, especially for $16.  I just didn't get the fatty gluttonous feel to it that I usually do when I eat marrow.  Then came the duck schnitzel and risotto.  I will give the restaurant big props for actually splitting the dish into two separate plates because they knew were were sharing.  To me that screams thoughtfulness and attention to detail.  The duck was beaten flat and then pan fried and served with spaetzle, hazelnuts, cucumber potato salad and stewed wolfberries.  The presentation was fine but there's just something about serving something that is fried that just makes the dish seem less fancy.  Of all the ingredients on the dish I strangely liked the cucumber potato salad the most.  The duck itself on its own wasn't really that interesting or flavorful but if you combined it with the cucumber potato salad or spaetzle in one bite, then it became a bit more interesting on the palate.  The risotto was served in this tiny casserole type pot and was made with leek puree and served with a steamed egg on top that was pretty much raw.  I liked this dish a lot and used it as a way to moisten the slightly dry duck.  To top off the night we ordered the ricotta cheesecake ($10).  And then we waited for it and waited for it to the point where we wanted to ask about it.  But soon it came and they immediately apologized for the wait and said that dessert would be on the house.  Now that's what I call excellent customer service.  The cheesecake was great, nice and soft but not too filling and the crust had just the right amount of crunch to it. 

All in all the meal itself was fine but given how much I really love his other two restaurants, I just wasn't really blown away by the meal here.  Maybe it's the German theme or because we went during the first few weeks of opening but to me, it's the weakest of the three restaurants Harold's opened.   But I was impressed with the level of customer service which can often at times make or break a meal.  I hope the restaurant does well for the sake of the owners but I think I'll stick to his other two places in the city for now.  Total bill: $52/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit: Village Voice