Samurai Visited 1/14/11 3 Forks

Samurai 149 N 6th St, (between Bedford Ave & Berry St), Brooklyn, NY 11211

 I've been to Samurai a few times before and it's nothing really amazing but not terrible either.  It's in a 1 block radius of 2 other neighborhood sushi joints on Bedford (Mizu and Miyako) and I'm usually pretty indifferent between the 3.  I will say that this one probably has the least appealing decor but that's ok.  It's a pretty low key joint that offers a fairly decent menu.  The one plus that this place has that the others don't is that they offer a sweet potato tempura appetizer ($5).  Now for me, besides the shrimp, the sweet potato is the best kind of tempura and this actually the only sushi place, fancy or not, that offers a sweet potato only tempura option.  

They don't have a spicy dinner combo which I usually like to get in these types of places, but we did order a few other special rolls that were surprisingly filling.  We got a basic yellow tail scallion roll ($5.50), a sunrise roll which had spicy crab meat, cucumber, and topped with blackpepper salmon ($10), and a dancing scallop roll which had spicy scallop, crabmeat, scallion and topped with crunch ($10).  They were all pretty decent sized and came in 8 pieces and while in the past I could have eaten all three rolls myself, I was pretty full from splitting these rolls with Dan.  While I like crunch on my sushi, there was too much crunch on the dancing scallop roll, it was literally covering the entire roll to the point where it soaked up all the soy sauce and made it thick and hard to deal with. 

In the end the total bill with a small bottle of unfiltered sake ($13) was $47 without tip.  It's a decent neighborhood joint but it's definitely not for those wanting a fancy experience.

Hung Ry Visited 1/13/11 3.5 Forks

Hung Ry  55 Bond St, (between Lafayette St & Bowery), New York, NY 10012

 I walked into Hung Ry at 6pm on a Thursday night and it was completely empty.  The host asked if I had a reservation and I wanted to give him this look.  When I said no, he looked pained and finally said "well, it looks like I can seat you tonight."  Well, thank you.  But in all fairness he was actually really nice about it and when the clock turned 7pm, I soon realized he said what he said (it was completely packed by then). 
The menu is actually fairly limited and they specialize in hand pulled noodles with broths that come with exotic meats like ox tail, veal cheek, and tongue.  Aarti and I each got appetizers to start; she got the composed vegetables ($7) of beets, carrots, and radish, while I got the short ribs, diakon and shiso ($7).  The veggies looked beautiful and very "organic" and fresh looking.  It made me feel healthy just looking at it.  My short ribs were quite delicious.  The meat was cooked perfectly and melted in my mouth.  I could have done without the foam (I never really quite understood its function) and the diakon was actually really spicy for some reason.  For our main noodle dishes, I got the ox tail, beef brisket, turnips, and black currant ($15) and Aarti got the only veggie option of squash, tamarind, and vegetables ($12).  I was torn between the ox tail and pork belly and the waitress told me that the pork belly was super smoky tasting, and since I generally don't get ox tail at restaurants, I thought I would give it a go.  The waitress was also very adamant that we get the "thick" noodles instead of the thin ones because they don't sop up all the broth.  

While I am a sucker for a good noodle/ramen dish and to be honest, this did not blow me away.  Not sure if it's because I'm Asian and have had my fair share of excellent and cheap noodle dishes, but I walked away thinking "well, that was a good meal but..."  The ox tail was cooked very tender, so that wasn't really the issue.  The dish just reminded me of a basic Niu Rou Mian (beef noodle soup) that I used to eat when I was young...the broth was a bit salty but had that beefy taste to it.  When the waitress mentioned that the noodles were going to be thick, I envisioned more of a udon style noodle, but it was thinner than udon but thicker than ramen. 

When the bill came it was $55 (includes a $5 beer for me and a $4.50 fancy lychee soda for Aarti) which I thought was a bit much for a noodle soup.  I know the quality and the fanciness of the place does merit it to be a bit more expensive than your average Chinatown noodle joint, I don't think it should be this much.

Pure Thai Shophouse Visited 1/7/11 4 Forks

Pure Thai Shophouse  766 9th Ave, (between 51st St & 52nd St), New York, NY 10019

 Ahh, the first review of the year turned out to be a good one.  I had read about Pure as part of the current trend of really good and authentic Thai restaurants (Kin Shop and Lotus of Siam as the other few).  The restaurant is in Hell's Kitchen which has tons of really great cheap Thai restaurants.  But unlike Kin Shop this place is not expensive and has more of a cute cozy noodle shop feel as opposed to a fancy upscale place.  
When I first walked in they greeted me with Sa-Wat-Dee which is hello in Thai and it immediately brought me back to Thailand.  Plus the fact that there was an open kitchen in the middle of the restaurant with giant pots of sauces really made me think of the street food in Thailand.  The menu there is simple yet there is a lot of variety.  It's mostly appetizers and then a bunch of stir-fry and noodle dishes.  I had a pretty hard time deciding what I wanted...they had a dish called Krabi noodles that I was so curious about since I was just in Krabi but there was a big disclaimer on the menu saying that it was NOT for the faint of heart and no returns were accepted.  Given my experience with spicy food in Thailand, I decided that probably wasn't for me.  Instead I chose the fried rice with lump crab meat ($10) and a fried egg ($2 extra) and Aarti got a broad noodle dish with tofu ($9) and we both got thai iced tea ($3.50/each).

The service was super friendly and fast.  The iced tea came out in these super cute mini vases with crushed ice and was pretty tasty but not too sweet.  Our main dishes came out and the portions were pretty generous.  While I didn't see a ton of crab at first, when I was trying to pick out a bite for Aarti to eat I started to realize that it was pretty mixed in there and I could definitely taste its subtlety.  I was worried that the fried egg wasn't runny inside but once I cut it open the yolk was very nice and runny and it immediately brought me back to the fried rice in Thailand that all had fried eggs on it. My first bite was great and thought it was definitely one of the better fried rice dishes I've had in the city.  It wasn't greasy at all and had a lot of great flavor to it.  Aarti said she liked her dish but that it had a slightly overwhelming citrus taste but the noodles looked very wet and saucy and the tofu pieces were quite large. 

There were tons of other dishes on the meal that I would love to try and the best part of the meal was that the total bill was $30.   

Peels Visited 12/30/10 3 Forks

Peels 325 Bowery, (between 2nd St & Bleecker St), New York, NY 10003

 I will give Peels props for being a visually cute restaurant.  The inside is very warm and cozy feeling with the upstairs consisting of mostly wooden/country-feel communal tables.  It almost kind of reminded me of the inside of a ski cabin.  The menu matches the feel of the restaurant in that it's mostly southern/homey food.  They are well known for their biscuit sandwiches, but what bothered me was that they literally itemize the entire sandwich: they charge you $3 for the biscuit itself, then if you want eggs it's another $3, cheese is another $1 and bacon/sausage is another $2 and it doesn't come with any sides.  The menu has a section for more breakfast type food (eggs, grits, etc) and a section that's more lunch-y (sandwiches, salads, etc).  I was torn between getting a sandwich or an egg dish.  In the end I opted for the Attius Finch ($12), which was roasted pork, fried egg, and cornbread with gravy.  Nancy got the Greens and Eggs ($11) which was poached eggs with collard greens, mushrooms, onions and a biscuit.  

I should mention that the service at this point was lacking.  Our waiter took forever to take our order and I noticed that he also took forever to take our neighboring customers (to the point where the host actually took their order).  Our food came out and I was a bit underwhelmed by the presentation.  It was a piece of pork and fried eggs with a side of cornbread (like I ordered) with gravy poured on top of them.  I couldn't put my finger on it, but something was just lacking with the way our food was presented.  I will say that the pork and gravy were quite tasty and I could have had another slice of it.  The eggs were fine..the yolk was a bit overcooked but not to the point where I was pissed.  I was disappointed with the cornbread. It was very dry despite the gravy and had this grainy texture to it.  Nancy's food also looked a bit austere, but she finished the whole dish, so I guess it couldn't have been that bad although she also agreed that she wasn't wow'd by her meal.  We decided to split a piece of monkey bread ($3), which I thought would be something along the lines of banana bread (I mean, hello, don't monkeys eat bananas?!), but it turned out to be closer to a cinnamon bun.  It turned out to be good but again, nothing amazing.  The one thing that made me kind of want to come back was looking at the other food that people around us were eating.  The guy to the left of us got the Meltin Melnick, which was a huge sandwich with brioche bread, applewood bacon and cheddar cheese...it looked pretty damn good and heart stopping.  The couple next to us got the the turkey sandwiches and they looked pretty tasty (they came with a side of chips which the menu didn't mention).  Our total bill was $17/pp with tax and tip.  I wonder if I had ordered something else if I would have had a better experience, but I'm willing to give it another try at some point.  

Num Pang Visited 12/29/10 4 Forks

Num Pang 21 E 12th St, (between 5th Ave & University Pl), New York, NY 10003

 Having just returned from Cambodia and falling in love with the country, I was eager to seek out what sort of Cambodian restaurants existed in New York (although really the cuisine there was fairly generic South East Asian fare).  Num Pang has actually been on my list for places to try for a while because I love Vietnamese sandwiches and when I had heard about this place I was very curious. 
When I got to the place Aarti was already waiting outside and from the outside the place looked kind of dumpy.  I was curious why Aarti was waiting outside in the cold, but I slowly realized that there is no place to really stand (at least on the first level).  When you open the door you essentially walk right into the kitchen, so you have to know exactly what you are going to order before walking in.  I got the pepercorn catfish sandwich and Aarti got the cauliflower sandwich ($7.50 each).  They do have a very small seating area upstairs (which you get to via a narrow winding staircase) and once upstairs there are only about 6-7 stools and a high counter, so definitely don't go to this place thinking you can have a real sit down meal.  Luckily we got there so early that we had the whole place to ourselves so we could spread out and talk as loudly as we wanted to.
Ok, to the sandwich...it was really good and it reminded me of this place called Xie Xie that used to be in Hell's Kitchen (and was owned by Angela Sosa, a current contestant on Top Chef).  While I don't recall seeing or having any sandwiches while I was in Cambodia, that didn't really deter me from enjoying my food.  The bread was very soft, which a bit of toasty crunch on top, and very similar to a Vietnamese sandwich it comes with cucumbers, thinly sliced carrots, mayo, spices and cilantro.  The catfish was seasoned well and cooked well...I just would have preferred a thicker piece of catfish...it was a bit on the thin side.  They also had a variety of other really good sounding sandwiches there that I would gladly go back and try.  The only downside is that this place is cash only.

Burger Joint Visited 12/26/10 3 Forks

Burger Joint  4827 Fairmont Ave, Bethesda, MD 20814

 When Jeana had told me she wanted to meet up the Burger Joint, I immediately thought of the Burger Joint in New York that's in the Parker Meridien Hotel which is amazing.  But this place is not a part of the one in New York and is its own chain in the VA/DC/MD area.  In any case, Jeana had raved about the burgers so I was pretty excited about it.  It's more of a fast food joint rather than a restaurant.  You order at the counter and wait for your little buzzer thing to light up and you seat yourself in booths.  My first reaction was that except for the regular burger, the other "specialty" burgers were a lot pricier than they should be.  I ended up getting a turkey burger with cheese and it was $11 and an order of fries were almost $3.  So I was a bit shocked that I paid $15 for what was essentially a fancier fast food burger, but I was willing to have an open mind about it.  I wasn't wow'd by it but it wasn't a terrible burger either. The turkey burger did taste like it was home-made and it was a very hefty burger, but it reminded me of veggie burger because it had a sort of a crumbly texture that veggie burgers have.  One of my pet peeves is a burger bun that can't hold a burger and this one held up for a while but then slowly fell apart after I was half way through, but that could have been due to the pile of mayo, lettuce, tomato, onions, and pickles on it, making the bread pretty damp.  The fries were thick cut and pretty good, but I could barely eat them after finishing the burger.  Jeana got the rootbeer float which essentially came with a cup full of ice cream and then they give you a bottle of A&W rootbeer and she was raving about it.  If I am there again, I will try the standard burger and save myself some $$. 

Salaam Bombay Visited 12/22/10 3.75 Forks

Salaam Bombay 319 Greenwich St, (between Reade St & Duane St), New York, NY 10013

 Now that Aarti has "retired" from work, we thought that it would be fun if we met up for a nice long lunch before we left for the holidays.  Luckily work is very slow the week of x-mas so I was able to take off two hours for one of our favorite styles of food: Indian Lunch Buffet!  The best way to have many types of Asian food is buffet style because you want to be able to try many different dishes...just having 1 main dish just isn't satisfying, so having food buffet style is just perfect.  There are two Indian lunch options by my office: Taj Tribeca and Salaam Bombay.  I had been to Taj before and it's about $18 while Salaam was only $14, so I figured I might as well try Salaam out and see what it's like. 
It was extremely packed when we by the time we got there already (around 12:15).  The restaurant is quite nice inside and much fancier looking than I thought.  I don't remember all the different dishes that were in the buffet line but it was pretty extensive.  I remember there was a lightly battered chicken dish, paneer, chicken tikka, an eggplant dish, samosas, and basically every kind of Indian food you would normally order at an Indian restaurant. They give us fresh, soft naan bread at the table (you can see them making it in this room in front of you) to help sop up all the fattening, but yummy sauces.  I had about  1 1/2 plates before I was completely full.  All in all, it was a great Indian lunch buffet for $14.  The one downside was that it took forever for us to pay the bill.  We had our credit cards sticking out of the bill holder for at least 15 minutes before I had to practically shove it in someone's face to take it.   We are hoping to make it monthly lunch date going forward.