Dominick's Restaurant Visited 3/21/2018 3.5 Forks

Dominick's Restaurant  2335 Arthur Ave., Bronx, NY 10458

It feels a bit like sacrilege that I'm giving this institution anything less than 4 forks but here I am.  This is not to say that I didn't enjoy my experience there, it's just that with all the Italian food I've had in the city (ranging from fancy pants to mom and pop) this falls in somewhere in the middle.

In all my years of living in NYC, I have never been to the legendary Arthur Ave. in the Bronx.  As Will, Aarti, Kinney, Nat and I continue to "plan" our trip to Italy and hit as many red sauce joints in NYC,  it only felt right that we had to visit this area at least once.  While the commute up wasn't necessarily the worst, it is most definitely a hike, especially from Brooklyn - it took almost an hour and a half with all the walking and transferring.

As you would expect the area is filled with very old school, mom and pop Italian places.  The whole street is lined with options but Dominick's is the most popular and famous.  We thought we were doing a smart thing by going at 5:30pm on a Saturday - after all, who eats that early?  Apparently everyone does because it was a 30 minute wait.  They give you a number and you can go upstairs to the bar/waiting room.  When you do get called the main restaurant is kind of a cattle call - it's tight communal seating with you definitely feeling a bit squished in.  There is one lone menu on the back of the wall but essentially the waiter just asks if you want this, this and this and you agree to it.  We started with the anti pasti salad and stuffed artichokes.  Then we got a melange of pastas and broccoli rabe - I can't remember all the details now but it was a lot of family style food happening at the table.  Everyone like the salad - I think mostly for the tangy dressing on it.  The artichokes were a bit difficult to eat, I never know if I should be eating the entire leaf or just sucking the meat off of it?  Then came all the pastas - sadly I don't remember exactly what we got but I do remember a seafood pasta showing up and that being pretty good.  Everything was extremely filling and the atmosphere did make me feel like I was in a loud Italian house for dinner but the one thing that kind of disappointed me was that when we were done with our pastas there was a layer of grease/oil on the bottom.  Obviously I know they use olive oil to cook but there's something about seeing that big shiny puddle when you end a meal that kind of gets you.  Luckily the broccoli rabe helped to make me feeling like I was cleansing my palate and eating something "healthy".

The service was a bit off here compared to the other old school joints.  They were nice younger guys instead of the older gentleman you usually see at other red sauce joints.  We had to ask for several things repeatedly like more water and wine which was annoying and they weren't as jovial or attentive.  The 2nd annoying thing is that it's cash only but luckily the bill was definitely much cheaper than the city so it's not as bad as you think.

Overall, it's still worth a trip up to Arthur Ave. to check out the scene but I think there are other similar red sauce joints in the city and Brooklyn that are much better and easier to get to.  While we didn't get dessert here, there is a lovely mom and pop joint right next door that had amazing tiramisu and coffee - definitely check it out.   Total bill:  ~$35/pp with tax and tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

City Island Lobster House Visited 7/31/2016 3 Forks

City Island Lobster House  691 Bridge St., Bronx, NY 10464

Holly and I had always been interested checking out City Island because of the focus on seafood and it seemed like it could be a fun side trip from the city.  So we hopped in her car and drove about 45 mins up to the Bronx and landed in City Island.  Yes - it is actually an island and it's tiny, about 1 mile long.  We went on kind of a rainy cloudy day, so there weren't a lot of people out.  But I could see how it could be a cute place to visit as it's got a small community feel to it.

City Island is filled with seafood restaurants, so take our pick of places as they line the entire main street.  We opted for the Lobster House which was right off the bridge when you come into the island.  We got there around 1pm but it was eerily empty and quiet.  Again, probably because of the rain as they have a nice outdoor patio that I'm sure would usually be full of people on a sunny afternoon.  We sat down and before we could even order they start bringing out massive amounts of free appetizers.  They bring out a huge side salad, cheese, olives, marinated mushrooms, blueberry muffin and huge loaf of garlic bread with a knife through it.  It was hilarious because it was so unexpected and random.  The menu is a long laundry list of every kind of seafood dish you can image: fish, shrimp, crab legs, and of course lobster.  If you don't like seafood, they also have burgers, ribs and chicken but if you are a vegetarian/vegan, you are pretty much SOL.  

As a seafood lover, it was so overwhelming but I decided on the scallops ($27) and Holly got the lobster roll ($21) because one of us had to get it.  We also got the coconut shrimp ($17) to start. Before our food came out, I had to try all of these "free" appetizers we got.  The salad was pretty basic - mixed greens with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing (it was a tad overdressed for my liking).  he cheese and marinated mushroom plate was tasty and a nice touch.  The garlic bread was a bit too crusty and could have used more garlic (ok, everything can always use more garlic) but I still managed to devour 3 pieces of it for no reason.   If you're not hungry, these dishes more than make up for any appetizer you will order here. 

Our food came out quickly and true to form here, the portions were huge.  The coconut shrimp was 5 ginormous pieces but after taking a bite you realize that it was huge because of all the batter that was on the outside.  It was way too thick and dry and you had to really peel off a lot of the breading to reach the actual shrimp part.  It was kind of unappealing after 1-2 bites.  As for the scallops, usually when you order scallops you get 4-5 pieces at best, there are at least 10-12 pretty decent sized pieces so that was a pleasant surprise.  I ordered them to be broiled instead of fried (thank god), so they were served with a ton of butter and garlic on it. They were pretty good texture wise - although they could have used less butter (gasp!) and garlic to keep the flavors simpler and cleaner (although that's clearly not their style here) but overall it was a satisfying entree.  The scallops came with a side of curly fries which are always yummy but a bit out of place as a seafood side but hey, you're in the Bronx.  I had a bite of Holly's lobster roll and it definitely had good chunks of lobster in it but if you don't like mayo or celery, you won't like this roll very much.  

I'm still glad we came to check out this part of NY - it's a throw back to what the city used to be and you can tell that it's still a tight knit working class community.  I would recommend going when it's sunnier outside so that you can actually sit near the water and enjoy the views.  Just don't come expecting high end super sophisticated seafood - instead expect really casual family friendly (re:  lots of fried food) seafood fare.  Total bill:  $49/pp with tax and tip