John Dory Oyster Bar Visited 7/14/2011 3.5 Forks

John Dory Oyster Bar 1196 Broadway, (between 28th St & 29th St), New York, NY 10001

Yes, I know, I have been giving out a lot of 3.5 forks these days but so many restaurants that I've been to lately are good and borderline great but not quite complete stand-outs.  That's kind of how I felt about the John Dory Oyster Bar...good food overall and I would definitely come back but nothing was mind blowing. 


This is April Bloomfield's 2nd take at a seafood restaurant and it seems to be a big hit with the city because not only was Gail Simmons and Robert Verdi there, but it just seemed to have been filled with lots of "well to do" people.  As my friend Nancy pointed out, there was a woman sitting next to us clutching to her Berkin bag because she refused to put it on the floor or use the hooks that were provided under the tables. 


The decor is pretty funky and airy feeling.  I dug the brightly colored chairs and the general open vibe of the place, although there seemed to be more high stool/bar seats than actual tables.  The menu, while long looking, actually doesn't have a lot of entrees or big dishes on the menu.  It consists of a lot of crudo, snacks and small plates.  We started with the happy hour special of 6 oysters and 1 glass of wine for $15 (I took the wine since Nancy wasn't drinking).  We got the west coast fanny bay oysters and they were delicious and fresh.  Even though our waitress said that the east coast ones were bigger and plumper, these are just the right size.  I don't like oysters that are so tiny you barely can taste anything but the salty water but I also don't like the ones that are so big that you kind of almost need to chew it for fear you may choke on it.  These were served with a lemon and a nice light vinaigrette.  I really wish oysters weren't so damn expensive, otherwise I really could just sit there all day and eat endless amounts of them.  From the menu we got the chorizo stuffed calamari ($16) and the frika and mushroom salad ($14).  I was afraid this wasn't enough food so the waitress suggested the parker rolls ($4.50) which I kind of thought was nice of her not to "suggest" a really expensive dish on the menu.  I really did want to try the pan oyster roast since I had it at the Grand Central Oyster bar (and didn't really love it) but this one came with uni spread on a piece of bread to it sounded like it had potential.  Unfortunately, it's just too hard to split that among two people so we decided to skip it. 


The calamari and salad came out and they looked so small in size that I was sure I would still be hungry later.  But on the plus side they were both excellent small plates.  The calamari was the body part of the squid, not the tentacles, and then stuffed with a surprisingly very spicy chorizo and rice mixture and served with smoked tomato and beans.  It was basically 4-5 bites worth of food but those are 4-5 very tasty bites.  The salad came with mushrooms, frika (which is almost like a barley/brown grain) and arugala and onions.  It was very lightly but appropriately dressed with what tasted to just be olive oil and vinegar.  So simple yet so different from any salad I've seen before.  I felt super healthy eating this salad but for $14 it could have been a lot bigger.  What actually was kind of the star of the meal was the parker rolls.  They are home-made rolls but then just covered in butter and drizzled with salt and pipping hot.  I used them to sop up the smoked tomato and beans from the calamari  and then proceeded to eat another half roll just on its own.  These are dangerous rolls because I could just see myself sitting there and eating an entire basket without even knowing.

Overall, I really liked the vibe, decor and the service was pretty good.  While I did enjoy the quality of my food, the portions could have been bigger for what we were paying.  Although I do think that you really have to get a larger variety of plates (or at least more than 2 dishes) to really get the best meal here. I saw lot of people just ordering piles of oysters and other raw bar items, which do tend to add up on the bill if you're not careful, but they are also part of the reason why so many people come to a seafood place like this.  Total bill $51 for two (excluding tip).  

Aria Wine Bar Visited 7/6/2011 3.5 Forks

Aria 117 Perry St., (between Hudson St & Greenwich St), New York, NY 10014

Aria is one of those places in the West Village that is just painfully cute.  I've actually walked past this place a few times before and always commented on its cuteness.  So I was pleased when my friend Holly suggested that we grab a drink at this place last Wednesday night.  Even on a Wednesday, this place was packed.  We were lucky to grab two bar stools by the window. 


The decor here is rustic charm, but I generally am not a huge fan of communal seating mostly because it doesn't give you much privacy and it makes for just a much louder setting.  The place is a wine bar and they serve tapas as well.  Their wine was actually fairly reasonably priced as I was able to get a good tasting malbec for $6/glass (although I am no wine snob so who knows if it was really a fine wine or not).  They had a fairly good selection of tapas, cheeses and meats.  But when our waiter read us the specials, we were hooked.  From the specials list we ordered the mushroom crostini, the bufala cheese and the mussels.  We should have asked how much the specials were, but since all the tapas on the menu were listed at $9, we assumed they would be in the same ball park.  Big mistake but to be discussed later.  The wine there is served in your not so traditional wine glasses.  In fact, they are served in these almost jam jar like cups, which I think was weird considering it wasn't a quirky hipster type place that usually serves drinks in mason jars.  


The mushroom crostini and bufala came out first.  The crostinis were pretty huge and toasted well.  They were covered in a variety of mushrooms and melted cheese and it was delicious.  Meanwhile the bufala was totally not what I expected because the plate was huge and came with a tomatoes and lots of prosciutto.  The cheese was really soft and and if you've had buffalo mozzarella before, it's got a different consistency that your typical mozzarella.  It's much wetter and falls apart much easier.  Taste-wise, the cheese, tomatoes and meat all went really well.  Everything was going well with our 1st two dishes and we continued to order more wine.  Then our mussels came out and it was a disappointment compared to the first two dishes.  The mussels were tiny and dry and the only redeeming quality of the dish was the garlic, white wine oil it was simmering in.  That part was so good that I was sopping up bottom of it with my bread, but as I was dipping my bread, that's when I noticed that our table was totally slanted and a bunch of oil dripped all over me because my plate was so tilted.  

Overall, this place is a great place if you want to grab some wine and small plate and just be surrounded by rustic cuteness.  But I was a bit put back when we got the bill and discovered that our bufala was $16 and the mussels were $14!!  If I had known that, I'm not sure I would have gotten them as those prices are much higher than the prices of all the other tapas on the menu.  Total bill was $48/pp with tax and tip but includes 3 glasses of wine each.   

Coast Sushi Visited 7/3/2011 3.5 Forks

Coast Sushi 2045 N Damen Ave., Chicago, IL 60647

It has been years since I've been to a sushi restaurant in Chicago so I was pretty excited to give another sushi place a try.  Luckily, this place was within walking distance Deanna's place which was a nice plus.  Coast was definitely one of the more trendy fancy sushi places I've been to in a while...it's not your more local mom and pop place run by Japanese people. 


The inside was sleek and dark.  I almost felt like I wasn't dressed up enough.  Although it was pretty hot outside, it was almost too cold inside the restaurant.  I understand wanting to keep a sushi restaurant cold inside but this place felt like a meat locker.  It was also extremely dark that I felt like I could have fallen asleep at dinner at one point.  The restaurant is clearly more angled towards those on dates but that shouldn't deter you from going with your friends.  The menu had a nice variety of elegant sounding rolls and dishes.  The nice thing about the menu was that they had a specific vegetarian section which is great since it's already hard enough for vegetarians to find stuff to eat at a sushi restaurant.  I was this close to ordering my usual spicy salmon, spicy scallop and spicy tuna or yellowtail roll, but figured I should opt for something I usually don't get.  Deanna and I split the ginger salad ($5) for an appetizer.  While I got the chirashi ($23) and Deanna got 2 special vegetarian rolls.  Deanna also ordered a hot tea because it was so cold inside and you figured should come out pretty immediately.  But we waited and waited for it and the waitress made some comment how they were freshly brewing it.  Our salad came out before the hot tea, which is really just a bit ridiculous.  The salad was a basic mixed green salad with toasted sesame seeds with very very light dressing.  It was too light for me.  Normally I LOVE ginger dressing so I wished there was much more of it on the salad. 

When Deanna's tea finally did come out, it was lukewarm!  How is that possible? It was so baffling and instead Deanna just opted for a miso soup.  Miso soup came with my chirashi dish and the way they served it was in a large tea cup with no spoon.  I wished they had served it just with a bowl and spoon because it was a bit hard to sip the seaweed and tofu without a spoon.  Next the chirashi came out and it was quite lovely looking.  It had your usual line up of fish on a bed of tasty sushi grade rice.  The fish was definitely very fresh and clean tasting but my only complaint was that they pieces were a bit too small.  I know that the cuts of fish shouldn't be huge, but these could have been just a bit bigger to satisfy my hunger because at the end I was pouring soy sauce on my rice to fill me up.  Deanna's rolls were also pretty good and different than your standard cucumber avocado roll for vegetarians.  I can't remember what was in it exactly now, but they tried to make the rolls as fancy and exotic as possible without using fish.  Although one thing that did annoy me was that one of the rolls was gigantic..it was one of those type of rolls that unless you had Angelina Jolie's mouth, it just impossible to fit into 1 bite but then if you bit through it, the roll just ends up falling apart.    


Overall, it was a pleasant meal and it definitely felt like a nice night out on the town.  We did think that they would comp us for Deanna's miso soup since it took forever to get us her tea and then it was cold, but instead all they did was just charge us for the tea instead of the soup because it was cheaper.  Total bill $62 (including tax and tip).

Annapurna Visited 7/3/2011 4 Forks

Annapurna 2608 W Devon Ave., Chicago, IL 60659

 Now this is what I'm talking about.  At my core, I just love really good cheap ethnic food. For as many years I've been going to Chicago, I've never been to Devon Street, which is the heart of the Indian community.  I went with Aarti to get some sari blouses tailored and ended up just walking around the street.  After a long hot day, we had worked up an appetite, despite eating only 3 hours ago. 

Annapurna is one of Aarti's favorite places on Devon and I can see why.  The decor is basically a fast food restaurant type place, which is fine by me if you're going for cheap eats. We got samosas, chaat, and Pav Bhaji (all of which Aarti ordered for us).  The samosas were delicious...not too heavy on the dough and fairly moist on the inside.  The chaat was served with these small flaky chip like creations and it was served on top of yogurt, cilantro, chickpeas and a spicy/tangy mixture.  It was sweet, sour, spicy, crunchy and cooling all at once.  I had never had it before, but it was amazing and wanted to more of it.  It was also helpful as a cooling agent when I ate the pav bhaji.  Pav bhaji is basically an Indian version of a sloppy joe.  It's served with this spicy veggie mixture, cilantro, onion and then it's served on a buttery, toasted hamburger bun.  It was fabulous and addictive.  Simple design, complex flavors.  Despite being spicy, I couldn't stop eating the veggie mixture.  At one point, I just poured the yogurt chaat on top of the veggie mixture and ate them together, otherwise my mouth would have just died from the spiciness.  I was so glad that I finally got to try a cheap good eats place on Devon because I had heard so much about it.  And the other fabulous thing was that all our food (2 orders of samosas, 1 chaat and 2 orders of pav bhaji) was $14.  Holy crap that's some serious cheap eats.

Deleece Visited 7/3/2011 2.5 Forks

Deleece 4004 N Southport Ave., Chicago, IL 60613

 Deleece seems like one of those places that has a lot of potential but the food just needs to step it up.  We at a celebratory brunch there for my best friend's engagement.  The place looked like it would be a cute go-to neighborhood type place with cute outdoor seating and a large space indoors. 


The brunch menu had a lot of great sounding options including different kinds of benedict, a breakfast burrito, frittatas, french toast, sandwiches, burgers and salads.  They are also "famous" for their beignets so we started with two orders of those.  I've had great beignets in New Orleans before and they should be light and fluffy and addictive.  These were chewy, dense and really rich.  The carmel sauce on top of it was very sweet and sticky but it was the best part of the dish.

I got the breakfast burrito ($8) because who doesn't like eggs, cheese, guac and sour cream for breakfast? Unfortunately, the addition of the chorizo, which you think would be a positive addition, made the burrito really oily and greasy.  At one point, when I cut the burrito open, a bunch of oil came out.  I understand that when cooked chorizo releases lots of grease, but they could have done a better job of not transferring it into the tortilla.  The roasted potatoes that were served with it were just ok, nothing like the potatoes I had a Longman and Eagle.

I give them points for the nice outdoor seating and the fact everyone was able to find something they could eat on the menu and the prices are very reasonable.  The waitstaff was also really friendly which was also a redeeming quality of this place, but sadly the food just didn't help them earn any more forks.  

Topolobampo Visited 7/2/2011 3.5 Forks

Topolobampo 445 N Clark St., Chicago, IL 60654

I have been a fan of Rick Bayless for a while and have been bummed that every time I'm in Chicago, I can never get a reservation at any of his restaurants.  So when we decided to celebrate my friend's engagement/marriage in Chicago over the 4th of July in April, I immediately went on OpenTable and made a reservation.  Even 4 months out, the only reservation they had left on a Saturday was at 9pm.  


The restaurant is attached to Rick Bayless' other restaurant Frontera Grill, which is a bit confusing.  They are literally in the same space but just divided up into separate rooms.  As soon as we walked into the restaurant, I immediately wished that I had reserved Frontera Grill instead.  Of the two, it was the more lively, fun, and youthful part of the restaurant.  I didn't get to see the menu but from what I was seeing coming out of the kitchen, it looked to be more casual dinning.  Not that I didn't like my meal at Topolobampo, but it was definitely much more mature and stuffy environment.  There was no music and it was just much more formal (we had white table cloths and fine silverware for Christ sakes) and quiet.  Plus every one in there was over the age of 50.  


The menu is fine Mexican dining and the prices definitely reflect that.  They mainly focus on the tasting menu ($90 per person), but you can also order a la carte too which is what we did.  We ordered the quisdo fundido  ($13.50), the Ensalada Topolobampo ($9) and the Chayote ($13) to split for the table.  I then ordered the pork 3 ways ($38) as my main entree while Soph got the hen ($38) and Deanna and Aarti got the only vegetarian entree on the menu of eggplant ($25).  The waiter was definitely overly chatty and kept calling us senioritas and describing all the dishes in extremely detail.  Deanna and Soph thought that he was mocking us because he might have thought we were too young looking for the restaurant.  I can see what they were saying but I think his personality might just be that way.  But he definitely was much more friendly and ass-kissy to the other two tables next to us.


The appetizers came out and they were all pretty small but packed great flavors.  Usually when I get queso fundido, it comes out in this flaming hot bowl and the cheesy is super gooey.  Here the cheese was almost smoked/roasted and there wasn't a whole lot of it, but what was there was definitely flavorful.  The salad was fine, nothing really to write home about but it did have a fabulous creamy-lime dressing.  I didn't quite get what the chayote was all about.  It looked like a small pear with some sauce on top of it. It definitely was an interesting taste but I couldn't quite figure it out.  What I did figure out and love were the handmade tortillas.  They were soft and warm and delicious.  I actually ate 3 of them just during the appetizer section.  Next our entrees came out and I was exited for my dish since the gentleman next to me told me it was amazing and to ask for extra tortillas.  The pork came as a roasted loin,braised shoulder and belly and crispy chicharron with black rice and beans.  After they serve you the dish, they then poured a dark brown sauce all over it that was similar to a smoky chipotle like sauce.  I will agree and say that the pork was all excellent.  Strangely enough, even though the apps were small I was kind of full when my entree arrived (damn you mango mojito and all your sugar!).  I did manage to wrap most of the pork in several tortillas and I could see why the man told me to ask for more tortillas because I could have used them to sop up the rest of the sauce.  But I just couldn't do it, I was so full.  I almost wanted to cry when they took my plate away when it still had food on there.  I didn't try anyone else's dishes but everyone seemed really pleased with their food. 

For dessert, we go the torta de Chocolate y fresas ($10) and the mil hojas de fresa con jasmin ($10).  The table next to us was raving about the dessert, but honestly I wasn't all that blown away by it.  I thought the chocolate tort was way to rich and the mil hojas (a strawberry short-cake/napoleon type dessert) was definitely good but not really worth $10.  

Don't get me wrong, I had a great meal and I'm glad to have gone there.  But the entire meal took way too long (we were there for almost 3 hours) and the atmosphere was much more stuffy than I thought.  It kind of sucked to hear the loud music and fun atmosphere just inches away from us.  Meanwhile, we were partaking in very fine dining that cost us way too much money.  On the plus side, Rick Bayless did come out and he started talking to the table next to us, but he didn't stop to say hello to us.  Oh well.  

Longman and Eagle Visited 7/2/2011 4.5 Forks

Longman and Eagle 2657 N Kedzie Ave., Chicago, IL 60647

 Holy shit, this place caught me totally off guard.  Who knew this many hipsters could be found in one place in Chicago? And that this place also doubles as a hotel? But besides the ironic facial hair and tattoos, the food and whiskey selection here is top notch.  Deanna and I went for an early brunch (11 AMish on a Saturday) and there was already a 30 minute wait.  But luckily, 2 seats opened up at the bar and we decided to stay there and order food.  


Given that this is also a whiskey bar, the focus of the food is pretty Southern focused, so that means lots of pig dishes, hash, and grits.  But luckily for the vegetarians, they also have several delicious sounding vegetarian-only dishes.  I got the crab benedict ($13) and Deanna got the omelete with seasonal veggies (peas, ramps, and other fresh market veggies for $11).  The only downfall of sitting at the bar is that we didn't really have a dedicated waiter/waitress, we just had the bartender and he was too busy running around making drinks for others to be attentive.  Deanna wanted coffee and it took forever to get it served and they never really re-filled our water glasses.  But once the food came out, I could have cared less if we were just ignored for the rest of the meal.  The crab benedict was completely out of this world.  There was a good helping of fresh real crab meat (no filler) and it was covered in amazing hollandaise sauce with perfectly running poached eggs and soft english muffins.  It comes with crispy potatoes and these must have been some of the best potatoes I've had in a really long time.  They were crisp on the outside, but not burned and soft in the inside.  I have been trying to watch my cholesterol but screw that.  If licking my plate wasn't rude, I would have done that with this dish.  I recommend getting a fork full of everything in one bite to really get the best taste.  I had a small bite of Deanna's dish and it was also really well cooked and she raved about it as well...saying the veggies were really fresh tasting.  I saw other people's dishes and they also looked mouth-watering.  They really know how to cook an egg as I saw the duck egg hash and the eggs were the most picture perfect sunnyside eggs I have ever seen.  Next time, I will try sitting at an actual table to get more attentive service and I will most definitely be back for dinner and a whiskey flight. Total bill $50 for two.