Casa Neta 12/10/2017 3 Forks

Casa Neta 40 E 20th St., New York, NY 10003

I had been battling a terrible cold since Thanksgiving but at some point I had to leave the house and mingle with humanity.  Unfortunately, one of the side effects of having my cold was a persistent cough and lack of taste buds.  That made for eating out not really the most fun thing to do but I still met up with Lav since we would be leaving for the holidays soon and I couldn't be sitting at home in my rob anymore.  

Casa Neta is much more of a mezcal bar than a restaurant.  In fact, the night we were there, someone had rented out the entire bar section for a holiday party but the rest of the restaurant was open and we got to watch people filter in and out of the party.  They try to give off a whole day of the dead vibe, which I normally like here but it was trying a bit too hard.  The menu is what you would expect from a place like this:  mostly tacos, quesadilla, and chips and guacamole.  We started with the chips and guacamole/salsa ($17), the queso fundido without chorizo ($14) and I got the fish tacos ($12) while Lav got the casa salad ($12).

The chips and guacamole and salsa was nothing really special - very typical starter.  It was a bit shocking that they charge $5 for the salsa - it seems like that's the kind of thing that should be free at a Mexican restaurant.  To me, it's like the starter bread you get a Italian places.  The queso fundido was a mix of manchego, oaxaca and poblano - my issue with most queso is that if not eaten right away, it gets super gelatinous and gross.  We were toggling between that and the guacamole and my margarita, so it was a bit hard to not let it cool off a bit.  Maybe it was because I didn't have my taste buds going on full blast but I thought this dish could have used more seasoning and heat.  Perhaps that is what the chorizo would have brought but the dish still shouldn't suffer too much without it.  The fish tacos were the version I usually like: beer battered with aioli.  It wasn't a terrible dish but again, it felt like it was missing something.   Compared to the one I had in Sonoma, it definitely fell short.  Lav's salad honestly looked like a giant plate of lettuce, although it had black beans, roasted corn, radish, onion, tomato, avocado, cilantro and a lime vinaigrette but none of those ingredients really bring out the best in a salad.  We ended the night with the churros bowl ($8)  which was sweet and tasty although probably a bit gimmick-y - we would have done just fine with regular churros.   

I'm not sure if my sickness and lack of taste buds had much to do with my experience there (I'm sure it did).  But the general feeling here was that it felt a bit like a meh Murray Hill hangout.  It's totally fine in a pinch but I'm honestly not sure how long I see this place lasting in an area like this.  Total bill:  $53/pp with tax, tip and drink

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Dons Bogam Black Visited/ 12/1/2017 4 Forks

Dons Bogam Black 

276 5th Ave, 

New York, NY 10001

Every time I have Korean BBQ, I forget how much I love it.  But it's really hard to eat in small groups of people but Holly and I were craving red meat and were in K-town already, so we figured we were up for the task.  Dons Bogam Black is a bit away from the heart of K-town, on a quieter section of 5th Ave.  It's sleeker and more upscale looking than some of the other K-town BBQ places but it's got the same kind of menu and frantic feel of the other BBQ places. 

Like most places in K-town, the menu is extensive and overwhelming.  Even though we were here for BBQ, I would have happily ordered 50 other dishes there like any of the stews, bibimbap, japchae, or beef tartar.  They have a long list of meat, chicken, and seafood options for the BBQ but ordering them on their own can get quite expensive since a single dish can range from $30-45/plate or up to $95/plate for the wagyu version.  They have a few platter options which is a great deal if you want to try a few things but don't want to spend hundred's of dollars.  We got the 5 Variety of Beef Platter for Two ($82) which included rib eye steak, short ribs, marinated short ribs, skirt steak and beef brisket.  They also have a great bar menu and we ordered the fried tiger shrimp ($16) as a way to offset all the meat we were eating.  The BBQ platter came with a side of tofu stew which was great because I was really craving it and now I didn't have to order it separately.  

As with a typical Korean experience, we got a nice line up of banchan - I don't remember all the different dishes that came it but it felt like a pretty standard line up.  The waitress comes to your table with a cart and cuts up all the meat for our platter.  She flips it on our BBQ for us - so we don't do any of the work which is kind of nice.  The brisket came first and while good, Holly felt it had a bit more fat to it than she would like.  I'm used to those cuts with other Asian dishes, so I didn't mind but I can see why people aren't into it.  But after that, all the other cuts of beef were fantastic.  Super tender and melt in your mouth.  We got a few dipping sauces and small helping of salt which helped to season and flavor the beef.  I've been trying to be more healthy but it's meals like this that make a realize that a good red meat dinner really hits the spot.  I was also a huge fan of the tofu stew.  I had a terrible cold and this really helped to open up my sinus' and was a perfect cozy winter time dish.   During the whole meal, they never brought out our shrimp dish.  I kept reminding them and finally our waitress came back but she had brought out raw shrimp for the BBQ - she totally got it mixed up.  Sigh, luckily we were pretty stuffed from all the meat and I would have been ok if they didn't bring it out but it finally came out and I was really happy they did.  It was 2 huge pieces of tiger shrimp, butterflied and lightly fried on the outside.  It was the perfect texture and fantastic with the tartar sauce it came with.  Clearly not healthy but still delicious.  

I was close to giving this place 4.5 forks but the service was a bit off.  We had to ask for certain things over and over again, which was really annoying. They were really nice but I hate repeating myself.  The place was hopping when we left around 9ish - it was full of families and big groups and it was mostly Koreans which was a nice sign.  I would definitely come back here, preferably with more people and go to town with the BBQ order.  Or I could also see myself coming here and saddling up to the bar - they've got a solid bar menu with poke, beef tartar and the fried shrimp and some solid cocktails.  If you're looking for a fun BBQ place that a little more luxurious but not super stuffy, I'd definitely add this to your list.  Total bill:  $88/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp 

Chaplin's Visited 11/24/2017 3.5 Forks

Chaplin's 1501 9th St NW, Washington, DC 20001

Now when I come home for the holidays, I try to meet up with my friends in DC a bit more just to check out the scene.  The food and drink scene has definitely come in to its own and while it's still not NYC to me, it's definitely stepped up over the years. 

I met up with my friend Dan and Kevin after seeing Mean Girls the musical (which I would highly recommend - super fun and campy).  We started at another bar with a few drinks and we were at the point that we needed to eat or be in real trouble.  We went to Chaplin's which wasn't too far from where we were and unbeknownst to me, it turned out to actually be a ramen bar.  It's got this dark funky decor to it and it was definitely not very Japanese, so if I were to pass it I wouldn't have guessed that they were serving Asian inspired food.   The menu is pretty extensive here with a lot of appetizers but their main section is a variety of ramen dishes.  We started with the chaplin buns ($9) and then I got the Stamina Spicy ramen ($14) since I had a bit of congestion going on and thought something spicy would help.  I should note that if you come here before 7pm it's happy hour and they have 1/2 off wine and they have an AMAZING Cab Sauv from Silver Ghost in Napa Valley - it's usually $18 a glass but if you can get it for $9 a glass, do it and drink as many glasses as you can. 

The buns came with braised pork, cucumber, lettuce, carrot, in a steamed white bao bun.  I could have done without the cucumber and carrot part of it, but otherwise it was a standard but tasty pork bun.  As for my ramen, it was indeed spicy AF.  It came out pretty red looking and it tasted how it looked - it was definitely spicy and cleared out my nostrils but it didn't burn or hurt me like some other crazy spicy foods I've had.  It had your sliced pork, scallions and poached egg as well as some ginger an garlic.  I would have liked some bok choy or seaweed in it but I didn't feel like it warranted the extra $4 and making my ramen almost $20.  To me, those are kind of basic ingredients that should be in any ramen dish. 

The meal definitely hit the spot and helped with a congestion issue.  Unlike my other Asian fusion experiences I didn't feel like this was a total fail but compared to true ramen places like Ippudo, it's still not quite up to snuff.   But if I lived here I would definitely come at happy hour, order 2 or 3 glasses of the Ghost Silver Cag Sauv and maybe a less spicy ramen and feel fairly satisfied.  Total bill:  $44/pp with tax, tip and drinks 

Rice and Gold Visited 11/20/2017 3 Forks

Rice and Gold  50 Bowery, New York, NY 10013

One of the very few perks of my job is that sometimes get invited to hotel parties and openings as they are trying to win my client's corporate business.  I had been to the 50 Bowery Hotel before and it's actually a really cool and funky hotel in the heart of Chinatown.  It's got a fantastic rooftop bar but the last time I was there, the restaurant hadn't opened yet.  When it did open, the hotel's GM invited me and my team for a private dinner there. 

I didn't know at the time but the restaurant is run by Dale Talde and unfortunately I just haven't had any good luck with any of his previous restaurants before.  There was just something off about all of them and while this was one better than both of them, I'm not sure I would come screaming back here again.  Part of it was probably because our hotel partners really ordered way too much food and I was so full before the main dishes arrived that it kind of ruined the entire experience. 

Our hotel partners kindly created a custom menu just for us - it turned out to be an 12 course meal.  Most of it were dishes I probably would have wanted to try to so I can't complain about the choices - it was just the quantity of food.  Since there were 11 of us they brought out 3 of everything on the menu, so that was 33 dishes that came past our table.  Way too much food.  As with every other Dale Talde restaurant, the menu here is Asian fusion (you know my feeling about Asian fusion).   The menu started with candied pork buns, lobster and shrimp hargow and pho soup dumplings.  For entrees, we had the crispy papaya salad, octopus skewer, thai fried chicken rice, whole smoke branzino and pork sisig.  For sides, they brought out fried Brussels sprouts and charred eggplant.  On paper they all sounded delicious and if I wasn't a picky eater about Asian food, I probably would have really enjoyed everything.  But for me, I believe you should stick with the traditional ways for some of these dishes - like the hargow.  No need for the lobster and the soup dumplings plus pho soup base didn't really go together in my opinion.  They weren't necessarily bad dishes but I just prefer the traditional versions of each.  The pork buns were more like the char siu bao type and not the pork belly type that I was envisioning in my head.  They were tasty and small, so it was really easy to pop like 3 or 4 in your mouth easily.

The crispy papaya salad would have been good if it didn't have all the fried component to it.  The octopus skewer was nice and tender but not particularly Asian for me.  But this point I was so full and nothing I really ate after this point tasted good because my stomach was so full.  The fried rice was eh - I mean, it was a chicken fried rice so there wasn't much that was super impressive about it.  I did regret not having more room for the branzino.  I love a whole fish and the few bites I had of this were pretty tasty with the caper ginger relish and citrus ponzu.  I didn't try the pork sisig but unfortunately not many of us did.  It came on a bed of broad noodles but since no one really touched it, the noodles ended up all sticking together.   I didn't try any of the sides but apparently they were a huge hit with everyone else.   For dessert they brought out some kind of citrus dish and ice cream - it was a nice way to cleanse the palate from an otherwise very heavy meal.

Overall, it wasn't a terrible experience but just very overwhelming with the sheer amount of food put in front of us.  We ended up having a ton of leftovers and Susanne took some home but she mentioned that it smelled really bad the next day, so she ended up throwing it all out, which is a shame.  I will say that the space and design is really funky and cool - it matches the aesthetic of the rest of the hotel.  Given that this hotel is in the heart of Chinatown, it would be a mistake to come here to eat Asian food when you're literally surrounded by tons of more authentic options.  True, they may look a bit more sketchy but food wise, you would be getting a more traditional meal for a lot less money too.  I would come here for a few cocktails and appetizers and definitely hit the rooftop bar before heading out into the city for a real meal. 

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Diner Visited 11/19/2017 2 Forks

Diner  85 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11211

Ugh this review REALLY hurts to write because Diner is the OG of restaurants in Williamsburg.  It was here before any hipster or artist moved into the neighborhood and has remained a darling of the food blog world.  It put the Williamsburg restaurant scene on the map before there even was a scene.  I hadn't been in over 8 years but when Lav offered to come to BK for dinner, I thought it was worth a re-visit.  I remembered that they don't have a set menu and that it changes daily but I figured they would have something vegetarian friendly to eat. 

Their schtick is that they scribble the menu on the brown paper table mat when in all honesty they could just slowly recite it back to you.  Maybe I'm getting old but it's really dark inside so having them scribble all over the table wasn't helpful.  They should just go with a chalkboard or print out format.  As the waitress was telling us the dishes, we realized quickly that there was practically nothing vegetarian on the menu.  They had was a gem lettuce appetizer and a main dish of beans.  I mean I understand not having multiple veggie dishes but this was just sad.  Lav asked to see if she could get the onion rings on the side that they were offering with the steak but they said that they couldn't do it because they counted out the same number of steak to onion rings.  Lame.  But we didn't want to walk out, so we made do with what they had.  I got the burger that they were famous for because nothing else was really speaking to me and I figured a good burger is always a winner.

Unfortunately, everything about this meal made me sad.  The burger was dry and not medium rare at all.  I could barely taste the cheese and there was really no flavor to any of it at all.  The fries were super salty and didn't help the meal either.  Lav mentioned her dish wasn't good (I mean it was a plate of beans so how good could it really be?) and she barely finished it.  We tried to redeem the meal with a flourless chocolate cake which I thought was actually ok, but Lav wasn't having any of it.  The waitress was non-engaging and not really accommodating to our needs.  To top it all off, my burger and the bean dish were both over $25 each.  WTF?!  I can't give this place a total goose egg because I know it's better than this but this was really so disappointing.  Maybe 3rd times a charm?  Total bill:  $33.75

Photo Credit: Yelp

Martina Pizzeria Visited 11/18/2017 3.5 Forks

Martina Pizzeria  198 E 11th St., New York, NY 10003

I traditionally love everything and anything Danny Meyer does - case in point, Daily Provisions is my current Achilles heel as I will eat that roast beef sandwich as often as I can.  So maybe I had really high unfair expectation for Martina.  To be fair, it was described as more of a fast casual restaurant and shouldn't really be compared to a Marta or Maialino but it was still a bit more underwhelming than my other Union Square Hospitality experiences. 

Anuja, Amy and I decided to have a pizza crawl and Martina was first on our stop and Emily in the West Village as our 2nd stop.  Anuja got a great Gilt City deal where we could order up to $50 of food, which at a fast casual place is actually a lot of food.  The menu has a good line up of appetizers, salads and pizzas - they have a red pie section and white pie section.  The pizzas are 10 inch individual size thin crust Roman style pies, so don't expect a traditional NY slice.  We got the suppli ($4), arugula salad ($6), a margherita (red) pizza with mushroom ($9) and the ortolana ($10) (white) pizza.  The suppli is a fried risotto ball stuffed with mozzarella and it was as yummy as it sounds.  I could have eaten entire bag of them.  I mean what could be better than fried goodness and cheese?  The arugula salad was fairly standard fare with lemon juice, olive oil, and cheese.  It was a bit plain but given that we were planning on eating all day it felt important to get some greens in. 

As for the pizzas, they were good but compared to our next stop Emily's, it didn't stack up.  I like a thin crust pizza but it's just never as satisfying as a thicker crust pizza.  The margherita was a standard red sauce pizza but don't get me wrong, it was still tasty just not mouth watering.  The white pizza had kale, mozzarella, and pecorino cheese so a fun twist to a veggie pizza.  Unfortunately, similar to a white sauce pasta, there's just something that's not the same with a white pizza pie compared to a red pie.  They're always fine but I want to like it more than I do.  

Overall it was a fun experience and if you're looking for fast casual, Martina checks all the boxes.  I guess for me, pizza isn't a fast casual kind of place for me.  It's a sit down, red sauce and chill with beer kind of meal for me. 

Photo Credit:  Yelp 

5ive Spice Visited 11/15/2017 4.5 Forks

5ive Spice  52 5th Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11217

This place is officially my new go-to place if I'm ever seeing something at Barclay's Center.  It's less than 10 minutes away, cheap, fast and super delicious.  A win-win for everyone!  Although I spent 10 yrs in Park Slope, I didn't really spend a lot of time in the area closer to Barclay's Center only because when I lived there there was no Barclay's Center yet - jesus do I feel old.  There are actually a ton of places near the center to eat, so don't fret, you won't be stuck with stadium food if you don't want to (although I'll be the first to say that the food at Barclay's is actually much better than a place like MSG).   Aarti and I were there to see Janet Jackson and I wasn't really in the mood for fries or something super greasy and Aarti wasn't feeling well from our last food outing on Sunday anyways. 

I stumbled upon 5ive spice and had a bit of hesitation going into it.  While the bulk of the menu here is Vietnamese comfort food (pho and banh mi) they have this weird taco section and they also serve sides like chips and guacamole and brussels sprouts.  I generally have a distain for any kind of fusion food and this seemed especially disjointed.  But I'm a sucker for pho and desperate for a place that serves a good one so I figured, why not?  

The clientele was definitely very Park Slope - I'm not saying that in a derogatory way but it's not like I stepped into a place full of screaming Asians, which is how I typically like my Asian restaurants.  Ha!  I got the traditional beef pho ($10) and hot Vietnamese coffee ($3.50) - pretty standard but you gotta get the basics right before you try anything else.  I gotta say, I was very impressed!  The broth was flavorful, the noodles the right texture and the best part was that the beef was thinly sliced and raw which is exactly how I like my meat in pho.  It was really one of the better phos I've had in the NYC area in a long time.  The coffee was great too and served in the traditional dripper.  I know that 4.5 forks seems very high and it's honestly much closer to a 4.25 fork rating but it's been a while since I really enjoyed a pho this much. 

The only thing that gives me pause is that I excitedly texted my friend Virginia who is Vietnamese and lives in the hood and she had more of a lukewarm reaction to this place.  I definitely trust her judgement but I would definitely still come back here anytime I'm headed to Barclay's.  The service is super quick which is even better if you're in a hurry or think you'll be late.  The only downside is that it's cash only but when your meal is likely to be less than $20 I guess that's ok.  Total bill:  $16 with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp