Beronberon Visited 10/22/2014 1.5 Forks

Beronberon 245 E 10th St., New York, NY 10009

Beronberon opened where the old beloved East Village staple Sapporo East used to be.  I had walked past Sapporo East a million times and each time it was packed with people and I always told myself that I should check it out one day.  Alas, it shuttered back in January so I never got that chance, but I noticed that it had re-opened but under a different name and they had also re-done the interior so that it was  bit more fancy.  I wasn't in the mood for a sit down meal so I decided to get take out on the way home from work.  I know that sushi take out is generally more expensive than ordering Thai or Chinese but I was taken aback by how much I spent and sadly the quality of it didn't match up. 

I was scouring the menu for some kind of roll combo that came with soup/salad because it was a cold and rainy night and while their menu was certainly very extensive, I didn't see what I was looking for. So I opted for a spicy scallop roll ($7.50), a spicy tuna roll ($6.50), the moriawase appetizer ($12) and a miso soup ($2).  It honestly didn't sound like a lot of food and I know sashimi is pricier, but there's just something about getting a bill for $30+ for take out that just doesn't seem right.  But I knew the prices going into ordering, so I guess I shouldn't really have been that shocked. 

I'll start with the basics and say that the miso soup was your standard miso soup.  I mean, 9 times out of 10, most places are using the same miso package and hot water, so it's hard to mess that one up.  I tried the moriawase which was a sashimi appetizer that came with 1 piece of tuna, 2 pieces of salmon, 2 pieces of octopus, and 2 pieces of white fish.  My question is, why is there only 1 piece of tuna when everything else is 2 pieces?!  The sashimi was not very impressive - it didn't taste fishy or not fresh but it didn't really taste like the melt in your mouth type of sashimi either.   It was very bleh, especially the octopus.  I would have preferred that they just stuck with tuna, salmon and white fish. Next I moved on to the rolls and again very unimpressed.  The spicy scallop was chunks of raw scallop with spicy mayo - which is the way I like it but it seems like the spicy mayo only made it to half of the pieces, not all of them, so the first few bites I had were just bits of scallop.  Plus there was way too much rice on the rolls and it just made for a very heavy roll.  Next I tried the spicy tuna and this is where I actually thought something tasted off - it tasted fishy and good sushi should never taste fishy.  It didn't smell bad and luckily I didn't feel sick afterwards, but something was just not right about it.

All in all, I was really disappointed by my food and I know take out is different from eating in the restaurant but it shouldn't be too different.  With so many other amazing Japanese options in the city (cheap and expensive), I just can't really justify going back here again.  Total bill:  $35

Photo Credit:  Bedfordandbowery.com

Red Door Visited 5/17/2014 1.5 Forks

Red Door 2118 N Damen Ave., Chicago, IL 60647

So the Red Door touts itself as a gastropub, but in reality it's just a nice bar that happens to serve "fancy" food - which sadly is pretty bad food.  I guess in hindsight I should have known that a bar that serves poke, gnocchi, and spare ribs should be a bit suspect. 

But I guess the one good thing about this place is that they have a very nice outdoor space that is great for summer time day drinking.  Unfortunately, Deanna and I went on a cold-ish day for dinner.  As I mentioned the menu is a bit wonky and doesn't really seem to have any cohesion to it but we went in with an open mind.  Despite not having a ton of vegetarian entrees, they did say that they were able to turn any of the veggie appetizers into entree size portions which I thought was nice of them.  I am a sucker for poke, so I felt like I had to try the one they had here ($15) and the waitress mentioned that it would probably not be enough for a full meal, so I also got the ricotta gnocchi as well ($12) while Deanna got the grilled cauliflower ($8) and the mushroom quinoa ($11).  When the poke came out, I immediately noticed that the tuna wasn't bright red like fresh tuna should be - in fact it was a bit dull pink/grey and it didn't have any of that fresh clean flavor that poke should have nor did it have the soy/scallion/sesame oil seasoning to it which is key to the entire dish.  All of this was laying on a huge bed of sticky rice which made the whole dish too heavy and just unpleasant.   In my mind I was thinking that I was lucky that I also ordered the gnocchi because I was still pretty hungry after the poke.  Well that was a bad assumption because the gnocchi was just as flavorless and bad as the poke.  The gnocchi was too dense and it was totally lacking in salt or really much taste.  It was served with asparagus pesto and to be honest, that didn't really help the dish much, if at all.   I kind of felt like I was just eating chunks of dough with some green sauce on it.  I didn't try Deanna's dishes but she also mentioned that she was less than impressed with them, especially the mushroom quinoa which looked like something I could make at home myself with instant quinoa and bits of mushroom. 

I should have known to stick with the basics like a burger at a bar/restaurant - especially in Chicago. The only reason I would go back would be for the nice outdoor space and the nice staff - but I will definitely eat dinner else where before heading over.  Total bill:  $38/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Bayside Buffet Visited 6/28/2013 1.5 Forks

Bayside Buffet Mandalay Bay, 3950 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89119

Ah, Vegas buffets.  Outside of gambling and clubbing, Las Vegas buffets are probably the one thing that most tourists get excited about it.  They are legendary for their extensive and endless variety of food and some of them are even pretty well respected as a food destination.  I will say that even though I generally find buffet food to be kind of gross, I was a tad bit excited to check out at least 1 buffet while I was in town.  Unfortunately, I didn't really have time except for Friday morning before I left for the airport and honestly the only reason I even went to one was because I got up around 6AM due to the time difference and was starving.  I knew that the one at the Mandalay wasn't going to be a luxurious buffet but I figured Hey, it's Vegas, how bad can the buffet be?

Umm, the answer is kind of bad.  For $20, I only managed to muster up one plate of food and the best part of the meal was the fresh squeezed grapefruit juice.  The buffet is divided up in to the "main" buffet and the dessert section.  The main section consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, pancakes, a make your own eggs benedict station, omelettes to order, steak, and a large baked salmon.  There's also a bagel station, fresh fruit station and ice cream station.  Truly underwhelming basic selection of breakfast food.  It reminded me of the buffets I used to love when I was a kid at Bob's Big Boy but that was also over 15 years ago and also when I had a less discerning palate.  It only took one glance at the food to see that it was truly mass produced food.  The food looked like it had been sitting out for a while as well.  I nibbled on some bacon which was a bit too greasy for me and eggs w/salmon, which wasn't that great since the salmon was too dry.  The hash browns were nice and crispy and that was probably the 2nd best part of the meal after the grapefruit juice.  I also tried the steak which was over cooked and dry.  The bit of smoked salmon that I got was fine, not awful but not amazing either.   I remember the last time I was in Vegas I went to the breakfast buffet at the Paris Hotel and was so blown away by the sheer variety of food that I probably spent hours there just because I wanted to try everything.  It was the total opposite experience here and maybe I set my expectation levels too high because I spent about 30 minutes and then left.  I finished off my meal with a plate of fruit because I felt like I had to get something else for my $20 besides what amounted to a Denny's breakfast.   I don't think I would complain so much about it if it was $10 but for $20 I should have definitely saved myself the money and gone straight to the lounge and had some pretty decent lemon ricotta pancakes and herbed eggs with a fresh glass of champagne instead.  

Photo Credit: Yelp

BAD (Breakfast All Day) Visited 12/12/10 1.5 Forks

BAD 131 Grand St, (between Berry St & Rodney St),Williamsburg, NY 11211

When a restaurant's initials are B.A.D, you should probably take that as a sign that the food is bad.  This place was actually beyond bad.  The menu wasn't as extensive as one would think when you're full restaurant name is breakfast all day and they gave us as a xerox copy, not even a real menu.  I ordered the Eggs Firenze ($9), which sounded like it was supposed to be a spinach benedict dish.  The description said that it was 2 poached eggs on an english muffin with spinach and hollandaise sauce and it came with a side of homefries, grits or regular fries and toast.  I had asked for homefries and wheat toast. Dan got the breakfast burrito ($8.50) and a cup of coffee.  Let's just say that the coffee was the best part of the meal.  First, we waited forever for our food despite being practically the only people in the place.  When I got my food I could tell immediately that it would not be good.  At first glance the eggs definitely didn't look poached and when I cut into them, they were essentially hard boiled.  There was about 1/2 a teaspoon of hollandaise sauce and instead of it being on an english muffin, they just put the 2 eggs on the wheat toast that was pretty much burned.  The side of homefries was very small and it was mostly peppers and onions.  Dan's burrito didn't even come wrapped.  They put all the ingredients on a giant tortilla wrap and left it open.  Needless to say, Dan had a tough time eating it as a burrito.  Luckily his dish was so big that I ate 1/4 of it because I could barely finish my food.  When it came time to get the check that also took a long time.  The only good thing out of this meal was that the total bill came to $20, which I think is still too much.

Bugaboo Creek Visited 9/3/10 1.5 Forks

Bugaboo Creek  15710 Shady Grove Rd, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Every time I come home I have a list of the usual places I go to: Pho 75, Takshibana, Dim Sum, and ordering crabs.  But this time my mom kept telling me about this "great deal" that her friend was raving about and she even went for a "test run" at this place before I came home.  So I felt bad not going, so I thought I would give it a try. 

Right when we pulled up to this place, I knew it was going to be bad.  Everything about it screamed CHAIN restaurant and bad chain restaurant at that.  It looked like a bad version of Outback, if that's even possible.  But again, I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt since my mom said it was ok the last time she went.  The place has all these fakes mooseheads and was full of kids and older people.  The menu is full of your typical chain restaurant food: nachos, spinach dip, burgers, etc.  We all split an order of the spinach dip to start ($7.95).  My mom had these coupons for lobster specials ($15.99), so that's what we all ordered...it was originally $24.99, which after eating the meal is absolutely ridiculous overpriced.  On paper the lobster dinner sounded like a good meal:  1 1/4 lb lobster, a side salad, corn and choice of 1 side.  In an effort to be healthy I got a side order of steamed broccoli instead of fries or mashed potatoes. 

We waited a bit for our food to come out and then it did, it was just bleh looking.  The corn looked like it had been run over by a truck and could not hold a light to the yummy farmer's market corn that I have been eating at home.  The lobster felt more like 1/4 lb instead of 1 1/4 lb...I was done with it in about 5 minutes.  The salad was actually pretty good and the broccoli was fine (I mean, how do you mess up steamed veggies).  When Dan's meal came out, his butter dish literally had 1 drop of butter.  Even our waitress looked at his meal and was like WTF? and was super embarrassed by it.  Our waitress was fine and nice enough but generally forgot lots of stuff and just seemed overwhelmed on a Friday night. 

I could tell that most of us didn't like our meal at all and I felt bad to insult it given how much my mom had talked about it, but I think she recognized that it wasn't the best meal.  The total bill with the coupon was $100, which I still think is outrageous given the quality of the food, but I guess that's what we get for going to a chain restaurant hidden behind a Red Lobster.

Dumont Visited 4/24/10 1.5 Forks

Dumont 432 Union Ave,Brooklyn, NY 11206

DuMont is one of those places I really want to like. The outside patio area is almost nice enough to make me want to forget all the bad things about this place. Now I've been to DuMont before for dinner and while it was not mind-blowing, sometimes you just want a nice juicy burger or mac&cheese. I remember finding it slightly overpriced, but after looking at the brunch menu on-line, they looked affordable.

The brunch started out nice enough. We got a nice table outside and hot yummy donut holes right away. Then we waited...and waited...and waited, until I almost stood up and walked out. We had sat down for over 20 mins with no one coming to take our order, drink or food. People who were sitting across the restaurant who had come in after us were already getting their food and we hadn't even ordered. Our waitress was tending to other customers, but didn't once come over or make eye contact to say that she saw us. When we finally did order, I got the eggs benedict ($10) and white sangria ($9) in honor of Magda's. Dan got the eggs, grits, and chipotle sausage with a red sangria. So everything was fine until the table next to us, who not only sat down after us but ordered after us got their food first! I was so enraged and if I could have thought of a place nearby to eat at, I would have walked out at that point. But then our food came out pretty quickly afterwards. The food was fine. The eggs were runny and the potatoes were actually nice and crispy on the outside. While there were 2 eggs, it only came on 1 muffin, which I think is a cop-out. Dan thought his chipotle sausage was too oily and wasn't impressed with his meal overall. The sangria was also not that great, it didn't taste that strong and had a weird aftertaste, although dan pointed out that mine was an apricot flavor sangria, so that might have been it. Another thing that bothered me was that they didn't bring dan's coffee out til after everything else had come out. WTF?

The waitress was nice but mildly apologized for waiting but it wasn't enough for me. The total bill was $46, which was the same price we paid for our dinner at Umi Nom last night (granted we didn't order alcohol) and was much better experience overall. The the service wasn't an issue I might have given this place 2.5 Forks and consider going back, but at the very least I won't be back for brunch again.

Okeanos Visited 2/20/10 1.5 Forks

Okeanos 314 7th Ave
(between 4th Ave & 8th St) Brooklyn, NY 11215


I had originally been excited that a new restaurant was opening up on 7th Ave, but yet again, I feel like the quality of restaurants on this street is pretty disappointing. Dan and I mainly went b/c he had seen the menu when walking by one day and they had Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine on their brunch menu. We were starving when we went b/c I had waited an hour to get my taxes done, so were were very excited to sit down and eat. The place was pretty empty when we went at 1pm, which generally isn't a great sign. Dan and I really miss 2nd Street Cafe which had amazing brunchy egg products and have been dying to find a proper substitute. He ordered the eggs benedict ($10) and I order the eggs florentine ($10) and each got coffee ($2/each).

One minor complaint is that when we ordered our coffee they didn't bring any cream or milk out and after I asked for it, they brought a little thing of milk, which was fine, but then they brought a little bowl of empty creamer! WTF? The food came out and Dan's meal looked pretty standard but mine looked pretty different. I was expecting basically eggs benedict but with spinach instead of ham. But mine was baked in a baking dish and had 2 pieces of bread covered with cheesy spinach and 2 "poached" eggs. I don't understand how any restaurant, especially one that is practically empty, can't get poached eggs correctly. The eggs were completely over cooked. I like my poached eggs runny and these were almost cooked all the way through. The other bad part of my meal was that the bread was completely hard and I could barely cut through it. I ended up just not eating it.

The potatoes were flavorful but Dan's main complaint was that they were too big and that hash potatoes shouldn't require so much cutting. We agreed that the highlight of our meal was the side salad, which is never a good sign.

Pagoda, Visited 2/12/10 1.5 Forks

Pagoda 333 Graham Avenue
(between Devoe St & Metropolitan Ave)

This place is very close to Dan's house and with us being lazy, we decided this was the easiest choice. There are so many good cheap Thai places in New York/Brooklyn, but this isn't really one of them. First, the menu is pretty basic and just had your standard thai fare, nothing exotic or different. We ordered the pad see yu ($8.50) and some kind of noodle in curry dish ($8.50) and 2 thai ice teas. They then told us that they only had enough ingredients for 1 thai ice tea...it was only 8:30pm on a Friday. What kind of thai place only has ingredients for 1 thai ice tea during rush hour? But oh well. The food was pretty basic, nothing to write home about. I thought there weren't enough noodles in my pad see yu, I left still feeling hungry. But at least the bill only came out to $21. If I had to have thai in this part of Williamsburg, I would pick Cheers Thai over this place.

Hill Country - Visited 12/18/2009 - 1.5 Forks

Hill Country - 30 West 26th Street NY, NY 10010

I visited this BBQ place for a friend's birthday party last friday and conceptually it sounded like a great place.  After all, who doesn't like BBQ? The atmosphere was like a old style Texas country BBQ restaurant - lots of wood and country music going on.  When you enter, they give you a "meal ticket" where they tally up your drinks and food and then you hand your ticket over when you leave.  They had an ok line up of beer, whiskey and cocktails. I stuck with a Blue Moon ($6) while secretly craving a Texas Rose ($11).  We go upstairs to the market to order our meat and I was surprised by the prices, most of the meats were around $22+.  They had brisket (moist and lean), ribs (beef and pork), sausage (for $6.50/each), pork shoulder and lots of sides. I decided to go with .70 lbs of moist brisket ($15) and a side of baked beans ($5.50) while Dan got pork ribs and shoulder (total $16).  The brisket was a bit too fatty for me and the ribs were very difficult to eat. To me ribs should fall off the bone when you eat them.  These required a fork and knife and I still couldn't get most of the meat off.  Overall, I was pretty disappointed in the food and the prices.  When I checked out, I had spent $40 and Dan has spent $25.  You can definitely get much better BBQ for much cheaper in the city.