Neta Visited 4/9/2012 3 Forks

Neta  61 W 8th St., (between Avenue Of The Americas & Greenwich Ave), New York, NY 10011

It has been a long time since I had been to a really nice sushi place so I was excited to try this place out with Nancy and Nils last night.  This place is run by Masa alums, so you know that this is not your corner mom and pop type of sushi. It's fancy pants sushi.   Strangely enough, it's located on what I think is one of the worst streets in the West Village, W. 8th Street.  It's so weird to me as to why this street fails to do well when it's literally surrounded by other great streets, but every restaurant I know here that has opened in the past 2 years has closed down and even when I took a short walk before I was to meet my friends, a lot of places were closed or just looked run down.

So it's surprising that a high end place would open on this street.  It's actually pretty easy to miss the entrance as there is really no sign except for a small door with the name discretely written in black on it. When I walked inside, I started to feel a bit out of place.  Even though I had come from work and was in work attire, it just seemed a bit too upscale for me.  But the waitstaff was super nice and let me sit down before Nancy and Nils arrived.  We had gotten a seat at the bar which was great and I could immediately tell that the quality of the food would be top notch and high end.

While I don't regret not ordering the omakase, in hindsight, I do think it would have been the better experience.  It was just hard to justify spending $95 on a random Monday night outing.  Instead, we chose to order a la carte.  The waiter suggested 3-5 small plates and then a few rolls.  We ordered the Neta Spicy Salmon ($13) and the King Mushrooms ($9), toro and scallion roll ($28, yes that's $28 for 1 roll), Kanpachi & Spicy Potato roll ($10), Unagi Cucumber roll ($11), Dungeness Crab Avocado roll ($15), and the soft shell crab roll ($15).  The King Mushroom came out first and it was 4-5 thinly sliced pieces of mushroom served with spicy pomme frites (which were like fried potato shavings) and serrano peppers.  It was good but I wasn't getting a whole lot of flavor to it besides the spiciness of the potato and peppers.  King mushrooms are a favorite of mine mainly for their firm texture and there just wasn't enough mushroom to go around to really get a sense of that. Next came the spicy salmon which was nothing how I imaged it.  First of all, it came out sizzling hot plate with the crispy rice still crackling on the bottom and salmon on top of the rice and then topped with bonito flakes.  It was an interesting concept, but I didn't really taste much besides the rice.  There need to be more salmon to make it really stand out. 

Next came the rolls and in true high class style, they don't give you any wasabi and only a very limited supply of very light soy sauce.  All the rolls here were definitely light on the rice and cut very small (almost bite sized).  The toro roll was my first glimpse of actual raw fish here and I must say the toro was amazing.  It just melted in your mouth and the seaweed that it was wrapped in was so thin and not over powering.  I was a bit disappointed to only see 4 pieces.  For $28, I expected more pieces.  The unagi cucumber, soft shell crab roll, and kanpachi roll were ok...I didn't feel wow'd by them.  I generally don't order rolls that don't have raw fish in them or I usually steer away from rolls that have a fried component to it because it usually takes over the flavor, but the waiter did suggest several of these, so we thought they were worth ordering.  The pieces were just cut too small to really get a true sense of the high quality ingredients.  I know authentic sushi is not supposed to be these giant, monster sized pieces you see at Yama or in other places, but I need something of substance to get my palate going.  I did enjoy the dungeness crab avocado roll as the crab meat was very fresh and prominent in the roll, but when I think about it, it was really a very high quality California roll.  All in all, I did truly appreciate the food here, I just think we should have stuck with more of the raw fish dishes.  As I watched the sushi chefs cut mouth watering pieces of salmon, yellowtail and tuna right in front of me, I wished that I had ponied up for the omakase (although I'm sure I would have financially regretted it later on).  The up side is that all this sharing made eating here pretty affordable.  Total bill: $43/pp with tax and tip.

Photo Credit: Eater.com 

Tartine Visited 4/8/2012 2 Forks

Tartine 253 W 11th St., (between 4th St & Waverly Pl), New York, NY 10014

My request for the perfect benedict continues in New York.  I thought that Tartine had a lot of promise since they had Eggs Florentine, regular Eggs Benedict and Eggs Norvegienne on the menu.  They also had other classic French dishes like Croque Monsieur, Croque Madam, and then other random breakfast stuff like corned beef hash.  I went straight for the Eggs Norvegienne ($15.50) which was the benedict with salmon instead of ham.  Aarti got the Egge Florentine (spinach instead of ham) and Will got the Croque Madam.

When the dish came out, I still held out hope that it would be great.  The first off thing I noticed was a bone in my salmon, which actually didn't bother me a whole lot (I guess this is because I grew up eating lots of whole fish which was always full of tiny bones).  But the real issue I had with this dish was that the English muffin was rock hard.  I mean, it wasn't just overly toasted..I could barely to cut into it.  Even Will made a comment that I seemed to be trying too hard to cut into the dish.  And this was with an actual butter knife and not some kind of wimpy plastic utensil. You'd think that bread should be pretty easy to cut into.   I also thought the eggs were a bit overpoached...they just weren't runny enough.  The bright side of the dish was actually the potatoes.  They were pretty unique since they were mixed with tomato and spring onion and that was a pretty tasty combination.  At first I thought that maybe it was just my English muffins were overly toasted but Aarti mentioned that hers were also rock hard and she had to eat around them.  It looked like Will's dish was the winner of the morning as it looked nice and cheesy.   Another downside is that it's cash only, but luckily since it came out to $20/pp, it was easy to pay.  One small plus side is the location of this restaurant.  It's on a super cute, picturesque street of the West Village and if you can get a seat outside, it might make your meal a bit more palatable.

Photo Credit: Yelp 

Parm Visited 4/7/2012 4 Forks

Parm 248 Mulberry St., (between Spring St & Prince St), New York, NY 10012

Lav and I have had a love/hate relationship with Parm for the past 4 months.  We tried to go there twice for dinner and each time we were told it would be almost a two hour wait.  So each time we left dejected and annoyed.  However, this time around we found ourselves right by Parm at 5pm and decided to give it another go.  I should have known that a place that is owned by Torrisi (a place that I seriously love) would have had a very particular seating situation.  Basically, they have a limited menu during the day and if you want to have access to the full menu, they don't start serving until 6pm.  The trick is that they start to take names for the 6pm seating at 5:45pm.  So get your butt there around 5:45pm to be one of the first 7-8 names on the list or else be relegated to waiting another hour.  The restaurant is so small on the inside that once they seat the first group of people, the tables don't turn over for another hour or so (similar to my experience at Mary's on Friday) and hence the constantly long wait.  

So 3rd times a charm and we were seated at 6:10pm.  The full menu itself is actually more limiting than I thought.  They have a bunch of appetizers (garlic bread, pizza knots, etc), vegetable side dishes, main entrees that come in either roll, hero or platter form, and then they have daily specials.  The special for the night was veal parm and the waitress could not stop talking about it, but it sounded like it was a bit too much for me.  Lav and I started with the B&G Poppers ($6), garlic bread  ($7) and I got the chicken parm platter with ziti ($17).  The B&G poppers are jalapeno peppers stuffed with cheese and then lightly battered and fried and served with aoli mayo.  I'm not a huge fan of jalapeno peppers but these were pretty good and they weren't too spicy but there was still a serious kick to it.  The garlic bread was perfectly toasted and it came with ricotta cheese/marinara sauce side.  It wasn't too heavy on the garlic but it was still deliciously crispy.  Next came the main dish and I was totally surprised that it was normally portioned.  I was totally expecting it to be this monstrous dish but there were 2 small-medium lightly breaded pieces of chicken breast and a small square of ziti.  I haven't had chicken parm in years and this one made me want to put it into rotation.  The chicken breasts were super juicy despite being breaded and covered in sauce and cheese.  I appreciated the fact that you could actually taste the chicken and wasn't overwhelmed by too much sauce.  I overheard the waitress telling the next table that the ziti was seared on all sides to get this even crunchiness to it and I could totally see what she was talking about.  The ziti was a great side dish to the parm and while it wasn't mind blowing, it was a very tasty dish.  I also tried Lav's eggplant parm and it was super hearty and the eggplant was cooked perfectly (not undercooked or too soggy as they tend to absorb a lot of moisture).  To be honest, the kicker was the dessert.  We got the zeppole filled with chocolate hazelnut sauce ($7).  It's basically a donut hole but they were fresh and right out of the oven and just oozing with goodness.  They were covered with sugar and even as someone who doesn't like chocolate, I loved them.  I would have also been interested in trying the version filled with jelly also (clearly just a jelly donut).  

For all the hoopla, I'm glad I finally got to eat here.  The seating situation does make it slightly infuriating and I think you can order most of the dishes as take-out so that might be a less mind numbing experience.   I could see myself coming here and ordering a hero/sandwich to go next time instead of trying to battle the crowds.  Total bill: $63/pp with tip, tax and 2 drinks each

Photo Credit: Yelp 

Buttermilk Channel Visited 4/7/2012 3.5 Forks

Buttermilk Channel 524 Court St., (between Nelson St & Huntington St), Brooklyn, NY 11231

I had been to Buttermilk Channel many years ago when it first opened.  It didn't blow my mind but I thought that it was a solid joint.  Over the years it became more and more popular especially since famous people like Beyonce and Jay-Z have shown up multiple times. 


So I wasn't surprised when I showed up on a Saturday and the wait was quoted as 30-45 minutes.  Crazytown.  Luckily for us, a 2 top opened up at the bar in 15 minutes.  I ordered the breakfast scramble with house cured lox, green onion and cream cheese which came with hashbrown, toast, salad and your choice of juice, mimosa, bellini, or sparkling wine for $11, which is a pretty great deal.  I also ordered a side of bacon ($5) and the buttermilk biscuits ($4) which I split with my friend.  The scramble came out and it didn't look like what I was expecting.  The eggs were in a small bowl and the hashbrown was a small circular cut.  The eggs were moist and the combination of the green onion and salmon were great.  The cream cheese was really just used  for some light flavoring/texture as you couldn't really actually see the cream cheese in the dish.  I enjoyed the eggs a lot but unfortunately the hashbrown was overcooked and a bit burnt.  The side of bacon was huge, almost 5-6 slices in total.  Some were cooked perfectly crispy with some fat left on it and some were a bit overcooked and too dry but overall the bacon strips were a solid addition to my egg dish.   Meanwhile the biscuits were a bit on the heavy side.  They were very buttery and flakey...but almost too flakey.  The biscuits were so heavy that my friend and I could barely split just one together.   I was so full that I didn't eve get to try the toast or salad.


Overall, I still think Buttermilk Channel is a solid place to go for a meal.  But best brunch in Brooklyn and a 45 minute wait? Hmmm, not 100% sure on that.  However, the prices were super reasonable and it's in a great neighborhood of Brooklyn.  Total bill: $24/pp. 


Photo Credit: Yelp

Mary's Fish Camp Visited 4/7/2012 4 Forks

Mary's Fish Camp 64 Charles St., (between 4th St & Bleecker St), New York, NY 10014

Ahhh, Mary's Fish Camp.  This was one of the first "nice" restaurants that I went to when I first moved to NYC and this was the first place where I ever had a lobster roll.  This is also the place where I waited almost 2 hours for a table and was about to get seated when Gwynneth Paltrow walked in and got seated right in front of me (this is only 1 of the many reasons why I find her super annoying).   I've always had a soft spot for this restaurant yet hadn't been back in a really long time.  Not because it wasn't good but because there are a whole slew of similar seafood places that offer similar and equally tasty dishes: Pearl Oyster Bar, Mermaid Inn/Oyster Bar, Ed's Chowder House, Red Hook Lobster Pound, etc.

Holly and I decided to come back here since it was Good Friday and she needed a place that had good veggie or seafood options.  No slight to all my vegetarian friends, but if those are my two choices, I will easily take seafood.  I got to Mary's at 6:20pm, exactly 20 minutes after they opened and they were already packed and the waiting list was 45-60 minutes!  Basically, you have to get there right when it opens or be prepared to wait at least an hour plus.  The main reason is because the restaurant can only fit 25 people max.  So Holly and I went around the corner to get a drink and came back around 7pm.  When I walked in this group of 3 that had been there when I first walked in was still there.  They looked at me and said "yes, we're still here and only 2 people have left since you left to get your drink."  Luckily, that first round of seating was starting to finish up their meal and all of us were seated within the next 15-20 minutes.

We were seated at the bar and quite frankly, I didn't really need to look at the menu.  Let's be honest, I knew I was getting the lobster roll ($32) who was I kidding? I did contemplate some other options and their specials did sound and look good, but I almost never get to have lobster rolls these days so I had to indulge.  We also split the fried oysters and clams ($11).  When the waitress took our order, she said "ah, this is what everyone orders."  Ok, so we're not super original, but who cares?  The fried oysters and clams were great, very light breaded but for some reason it was a bit hard to tell which were the oysters and which were the clams.  It should be pretty easy to tell the difference, but the pieces of seafood weren't huge, so I just made a guess that the ones that were more round and circular were the oysters.  Next came the lobster rolls and it was fabulous.  There were large delicious chunks of lobster (mostly from the tail and a few cuts of the claw) and they were put in a seriously buttery hot dog bun.  I will say that if you don't like mayo, stay away from this dish because it was definitely heavy on the mayo (but I don't mind that).  The one negative I would say about this dish is the fries.  They were just too thin for me as I tend to like thick cut fries better.  They also put a TON of fries on the plate to mask the fact that you're paying $30+ for a kind of small main dish.  Don't get me wrong, I loved the lobster roll but I definitely didn't walk out of there super full.

I'm amazed at how crazy packed this place is after all these years.  It's still a great place to go if you are a seafood lover and if you have the patience of priest.  When we left, they were quoting 2+ hours, and yet people were still waiting.  Just pray that Gwynneth does walk in when you're about to be seated.  Total bill: $74/pp with tax, tip and 2 glasses of wine each

Photo Credit: Yelp

Gravy Visited 4/1/2012 3 Forks

Gravy 32 E 21st St., (between Park Ave S & Broadway), New York, NY 10010

When you hear a name like Gravy, you obviously assume that it's all about heart stopping Southern-soul food.  While there were some very Southern dishes such as crawfish benedict, and a shrimp po'boy, I was rather surprised that they delegated a lot of the more Southern traditional dishes to side dishes such as biscuits and gravy, grits, and fried green tomatoes.  You'd think these would be big front and center dishes or that they would serve their main dishes with grits instead of potatoes or fries.

I ordered the Tasso Benedict ($15) which was served with tasso ham, arugula, and a chipotle hollandaise sauce.  Anyone who reads this blog knows that I jump at any chance to order a benedict, so I was torn between the crawfish and tasso benedict and for some reason I just couldn't picture crawfish being a great mix with eggs.  When some of the other gals ordered their dishes, they were told their dishes came with sides of fries or potatoes so I had kind of assumed that my dish would too.  But sadly it did not.  It was just the bendict and for $15 I was kind of hoping it be a bit more than that.  If I had known, I might have ordered a side of fried green tomatoes.  The bendict itself was was completely drenched in hollandaise sauce and I never thought I would say that there was such thing as too much hollandaise sauce, but this was really bordering on too much.  The eggs themselves were very runny and when mixed with the sauce, it literally made me feel like I was drinking cholesterol.  The ham was extremely small and was barely a 1/4 of the size of the English muffin.  If there's going to be ham with a benedict, it should be big enough so that you have enough of it with every bite.  Here there was barely enough ham for 2 bites. The arugula was tossed haphazardly on the dish like an afterthought and it was sitting in so much sauce that it was kind of soggy at first bite.  I didn't get to try anyone else's dish but 2 girls got the duck sandwich and they commented on how much duck was in the sandwich and a few of the girls did comment on liking the potatoes and fries that came with their food.

I think if you're going to be a Southern restaurant, you might as well go all out and be a Southern-heart-stopping-gut-expanding restaurant, which Gravy was not.  The space itself is nice and spacious, so it was a good choice for our big group of 7.  They also had a great deal of $16 for an entree and a brunch cocktail.  Total bill: $21/pp with tax and tip.

Photo Credit: Yelp

Ayza Wine and Chocolate Bar Visited 3/30/2012 2.5 Forks

Ayza Wine and Chocolate Bar 11 W 31st St., (between 5th Ave & Broadway), New York, NY 10001

Ayza is in this really weird part of the city.  It's not quite K-town and not quite Midtown.  But despite its random location it was pretty crowded on a late Friday night (maybe because it's near MSG).  This place is really mostly a dessert/martini bar but a bunch of us ended up there after drinking already, so we were starving for actual food.  Luckily they do have a selection of appetizers, salads, tartines, paninis and other entrees.  We ordered the artichoke dip ($7), angry chicken lollipops ($8) and white truffle pizza ($10) for the table and I got the smoked chicken panini ($11). 

The waitstaff was a little surly at first (forcing us to move tables when we just wanted to add one more person, repeatedly asking to take our menus when we hadn't finished ordering yet, and not giving us plates or utensils after repeated asks) but they ended up being sweet and nice at the end.  Of all the appetizers, I actually really did like the chicken lollipops.  They were these cute little chicken drum-stick like bites and the meat perfectly came off the bone.  Unlike chicken wings, there was a good amount of meat on the bones and you didn't have to work for your food.  I actually didn't try the dip but it seemed to do well with the other gals and the pizza was fine, nothing great.  The panini was also just ok, it tasted like something I probably could have made at home.  I will say that it was actually a pretty hefty-thick sandwich which was very filling, not something that you would think of when you order a panini at a wine bar.  The salad that came with the panini was too salty for me and had an overwhelming olive taste to it.

We then moved on to dessert and got chocolate covered strawberries ($9), the 20 layer creme cake brulee ($12) and the warm molten chocolate cake ($9).  For $9, I thought that there would be more than 2 strawberries, but that's all we got (although I will say that they were 2 very large strawberries) and that was pretty disappointing.  I'll be honest and say that I don't love chocolate covered strawberries in general but I did try a piece and the chocolate was just too thick and all I could taste was the chocolate and not the strawberry.  I was actually excited for the 20 layer cake and somehow envisioned it to be this giant extravagant dessert.  But it ended up tasting like a giant cream puff.  The 20 layers consisted of crepe batter and whipped cream, but they were very thin and the actual cake wasn't any thicker than a regular piece of cake.  Boo.  The molten cake was also very eh but then again I'm not really a chocolate cake person.  All in all, the place would be good for just the wine and martinis (there were tons of different kinds of chocolate martinis which was unique and interesting) but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if you're looking for a real sit-down meal.  Total bill: $26/pp for food.

Photo Credit: Yelp