Ho Foods Visited 8/19/2018 4 Forks

Ho Foods  110 E 7th St., New York, NY 10009

The big trend these days in New York is the boom of Chinese noodle shops - specifically the Taiwanese beef noodle soup variety.  I've has this multiple times in Taiwan and when it's done right, it's spicy, flavorful and all kinds of deliciousness.  I met up with my friend Lily on a random Sunday night and the place was jammed.  Granted there are only 8 seats in the entire place but I always expect Sundays to be a slow night.  I guess this is what happens when you live in New York, there is never a slow night.  The wait was almost an hour, which is a bit annoying when you factor in that they pretty much only sell 1 dish, so it should be a pretty easy decision for most people. 

We finally sit down at 8:30pm (which is not super late) and they have already run out of the pork belly side dish and apple cider drink.  That's kind of annoying - clearly they need to plan their inventory a bit better.  As I mentioned, the place pretty much only has beef noodle soup on the menu - you can add the level of spiciness to it, extra meat or tendon for extra.  I got it with the wide noodle and rich and spicy broth ($14.50 + $2.50 for the rich and spicy).  They did still have the soft tofu side dish ($8) left which was fabulous - it was super rich, creamy and covered in bonito flakes and a century egg.  As for the noodle dish, it was pretty damn authentic.  The cuts of beef were tender and the broth was super flavorful and pretty spot on.  It's a classic comfort food dish.

My only complaint about this experience would be that it's a bit overpriced ($17 for a bowl of noodle soup) and that they ran out of the pork belly side and only drink option pretty early on in the evening.  That being said, I would still come back and it's definitely the kind of place where you can come alone on rainy night and feel wrapped in its comforting essence.  Total bill:  $27/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Ikinari Steak Visited 4/28/2018 3.5 Forks

Ikinari Steak  90 E 10th St., New York, NY 10003

This place had been on my list for a while not because I thought the food would be amazing but because of the kitch factor - it's a chain in Japan where you stand up while you eat your steak.  Luckily the East Village location added some chairs but it's still quite super casual and laid back.  They have a few different cuts of meat (ribeye, sirloin, and filet) that you order by weight - if you're a first timer, it's confusing to know how much to order but I got the 10 oz top ribeye and it was just the right size ($2.50 per oz).  I would recommend that you ask the waiter to trim off as much fat as possible since it adds to the weight and it's not worth eating.  The steak comes with onion, corn and another veggie side and Cicily and I added a side of garlic pepper rice ($8) because we thought we needed something else with our meal.   That is essentially the entire menu, so it's fairly limiting and if you don't eat meat, there isn't much to eat (unlike at a traditional steakhouse where you can make an entire meal out of veggie sides). 

The food comes out pretty quickly and let's just say that presentation isn't their strong suit.  It basically comes out in a hot skillet and it kind of reminded me of being in a cafeteria - not necessarily in a bad way, just a simple way.  The corn and broccoli were basic with nothing on it.  The meat was a pretty decent size cut and served simply too - seasoned with salt and pepper and not much else.  There is steak sauce on the table that you can use but I like my steak on the clean and simple side so I ate it as is.  I'll say that it was a decent cut of steak and I was very full afterwards but it had a lot of fat on it, despite me asking them to cut a lot of it off.   I usually don't mind some fat on my steak but this was too much even for me.  As for the garlic pepper rice it was literally white rice with black pepper and some sautéed garlic on it.   I thought it would be more along the lines of a veggie fried rice but nope it was just rice with pepper.  

Overall, it was an interesting experience and if you're a big meat eater or some who likes to eat a lot of steak, I would recommend it because it's very definitely reasonably priced compared to a traditional steak house.  Don't come expecting a blow out meal but it's a unique experience for sure (I can totally see why it's popular in Japan).  Total bill:  $42/pp with tip and tax

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 

Madame Vo Visited 7/11/2017 4 Forks

Madame Vo  212 E 10th St., New York, NY 10003

Despite all the heat and humidity, I always crave pho even in the summer time.  So when the wait at Tim Wo Han was still over an hour on a random Tuesday, Virginia and I decided to check out Madame Vo instead.  It was also jammed packed but the host said it would only be a 15 minute wait, which was great.  My first impression is that it's definitely not your mom and pop Vietnamese restaurant - it's catered much more to the hipster East Village crowd but the host and wait staff were all Asian so I figured it still had some authentic qualities to it. 

The menu has a similar vibe to Hanoi House, which is of a highly curated greatest hits menu from a more traditional mom and pop place.  You'll find your typical spring rolls, summer rolls, banh xeo, pho, bun bo hue, and bo luc lac type dishes here.  Unlike my favorite pho places, there is only 1 kind here but luckily it's a pretty damn good kind.  VA and I split the fried spring rolls ($12) and I obviously had to get the pho ($16) while she got the vermicelli bowl ($14).  

The spring rolls came 4 to an order and were nicely fried and filled with shrimp, crab and pork.   It came with the usual fixings of the lettuce wrap and fish sauce to dip into.  It was a solid order, although with anything fried, it is hard to go wrong with that format but the filling was fresh and tasty.   Now that I'm writing this, I realized that we got another fried spring roll dish as well and frankly that was totally unnecessary order, especially for 2 people, I would recommend just 1 appetizer or if you are going to get two, don't get two spring rolls.   

The pho came out and it was a fairly large bowl but at $16 I would expect nothing less.  The smell and flavor was immediately intoxicating.  I could tell that it was at the very least going to be a tasty dish.  The broth was excellent and it was served with all the "best of" meats for the dish - brisket, eye round, bone marrow and meatballs.  For $5 extra, you could have also added short rib or $3 for oxtail but the idea of spending almost $20 for pho just didn't sit right with me.  And you know what?  The pho was excellent without them.  I would have liked less meatballs (or no meatballs) and more eye round instead.  Unlike some of the broths I've had in Chinatown, this one was not too oily and it had the right flavor combination.  The noodles were soft and the right texture for the broth.  I'm not sure if it was the heat or not but saldy I couldn't finish my meal - this is by no means a reflection on the quality of the pho but more on how much food there was and how freakin hot it was.  While I know leftover pho isn't as good as it is when it's served fresh, I couldn't bring myself to leave it behind (and yes, I can confirm that leftover pho is not good).  I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed my meal here as I was expecting to be lukewarm on it.  It's pretty on par with the fancy pants pho at Hanoi House and I would say that they are both a step up from some of the bleh places in Chinatown but it still doesn't match up to my all time favorite place at home, Pho 75.  

While I generally am not a huge fan of "gentrified" Asian places, I am starting to warm up to them when the food is executed well.  I will always prefer hole in the wall, mom and pop places, but some of these "nicer" places are still able to deliver on the the authenticity of the food without dumbing the food down.  My biggest complaint thought with places like this is the price.  Paying $16 for a pho (while delicious) is completely outrageous in my book but I guess that's the price you pay to live in NYC.  Total bill:  $41/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Hanoi House 4/15/2017 4 Forks

Hanoi House  119 Saint Marks Pl, New York, NY 10009

Despite all the amazing food options NYC has to offer, truly mind blowing Vietnamese street food is something that has been missing from the scene (with the exception of Bunker but it's all the way out in a not-so-convenient part of Brooklyn) and it breaks my heart because it's one of my favorite foods ever.   But Hanoi House opened recently to rave reviews so I was eager to try it.  One of the first things that I noticed immediately about this place was that it was definitely more for hipsters as it's located right in the East Village and when you walked in, it was this dark, cramped room filled with non-Asians.  But in spirit of keeping an open mind, I put my name down and waited almost an hour for my table on a Saturday night.

Once my text came through, I had to shove my way through the door and was seated practically on top of another table.  Space constraints aside, I was excited for the food.  The menu definitely has an authentic feel to it and if you're a vegetarian, you're a bit SOL as the only things that didn't have meat or seafood in it were the veggie sides or the vegetable crepe.  But I was here for 1 thing, their pho ($13). You can fancy up your pho with either oxtail (+$3) or bone marrow ($3.5) - even though I love both, I opted for the oxtail because it's something that I really don't eat all that much anymore.  Lisa and I shared the spring rolls ($9) and the papaya salad ($14) and she got the shaking beef ($28) as an entree.

The spring rolls were served traditionally with the dipping sauce made of fish sauce, herbs and lettuce wraps.  You could tell that they were double fried which is the authentic way to make them, so an A on the spring rolls.  Next came the papaya salad - this one was served with crispy pig ear, which sounds gross but it really wasn't.  It just came it some saltiness and crunch to it.  The papaya salad itself was nice but could have used a bit more heat/spiciness to it.

Finally came my pho.  It smelled great and the broth didn't look oily at all.  The one disappointed was that this pho wasn't served with the traditional side plate of bean sprouts, basil or mint.  WTF?  But I will say that the fragrance and the taste of the cuts of meat in the broth were pretty damn good.  The noodles were nice and soft and the oxtail was a nice variation on the traditional cuts of brisket.  I inhaled the whole thing and of the phos I've had in the city, it's definitely on the right track.  But I still missed my bean sprouts and extra sauces you get at a real pho place.  Lisa seemed to like her shaking beef but didn't seem totally in love with it so based on her reaction, I would say her specific meal was a 3.5 rating.  We were pretty full by then so we didn't order dessert but apparently their che sundae is famously addictive.  Oh well, next time.

Overall, I enjoyed by pho greatly but did miss the traditional "sides" that come with it and kind of the low brow feel of a non-fancy Asian place.  My watch outs here are that your definitely going to pay more than if you were at a authentic mom and pop type of place (I mean my pho with $16!!), the place is full of hipsters and you will definitely feel cramped at your table but let's be honest, those are the same gripes that apply to every other hot trendy restaurant in NYC, so I'd definitely give this place a try maybe a few months after the hype has died down.  Total price:  $42/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Ravagh Persian Grill 4/14/2017 4 Forks

Ravagh Persian  125 1st Ave., New York, NY 10003

When my friend Mabel first mentioned getting Persian food, I poo poo'd her.  I was feeling Thai food but couldn't come up with any good places to go in the neighborhood so I decided to give this a go. And I was really glad I did because it was just what we needed.  It's an assuming quiet neighborhood restaurant with good food, big portions and really nice waitstaff.  Who knew Persian food was so tasty? 

The menu is very similar to Greek or Mediterranean food with lots of grilled meats, vegetables and seafood plates as well as spreads and stews.  We started with a chopped salad ($8) and I got the lamb shish kebob ($17) and Mabel got the shrimp kebob ($21).  The chopped salad was a huge portion and delicious - it was chopped lettuce, steak tomato, cucumber, red onion, feta cheese and tossed with a lot of tasty vinaigrette.  It was pretty much a classic Greek salad - I could have eaten the entire thing and it's definitely big enough to me an entree.  But luckily I left room for my main entree - again it was a huge portion.  It was a heaping plate of cut up tender pieces of lamb served with a basmati type white and yellow rice and a grilled tomato and onion.  The meat had been marinated and was cooked to just the right temperature.   The combination of tomato, lamb and rice with some of the green sauce they give you is a great mouthful.  Normally I have a huge appetite and clean my plate no matter what but even here I couldn't finish all my food.  These days in New York, it's hard to find a place where they give you enough food that you can't finish it.   I didn't try the shrimp but it looked like it was cooked well and tasty too.

The clientele is a lot of locals and the atmosphere is pretty low key, which was perfect for two friends to catch up and have a conversation without having to yell at each other from across the table.  The one con would be that I had ordered an eggplant appetizer to start but they totally forgot about it but it was really ok in the end because of the portion size of everything else and it wasn't on the check, so we were probably better off that we didn't get it.  Persian food definitely doesn't get the hype of Greek food but if you're looking for a no frills, casual place with good grill plates in the East Village, Ravagh should be on your radar screen.  Total bill:  $31/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Little Tong Visited 4/8/2017 3 Forks

Little Tong  177 1st Ave., New York, NY 10003

Little Tong has been getting a lot of buzz since it's from a WD-50 alum and there's been a huge noodle trend in the city for the last few years.  The food here is from the Yunnan province which is the southwest region of China bordering Tibet, Burma, Laos and Vietnam.  Yunnan food hasn't really gotten quite the hype that Sichuan food has these days but I guess Little Tong is trying to change it. 

Aarti and I actually randomly stumbled upon this place as we were walking around the city on a gorgeous Saturday.  There was a bit of a line but since we weren't starving we were more than ok to put our name down and wait the 45 minutes they told us it would be.  They have a very very small "bar" in the back if you want to wait.  I use the term bar loosely because it's literally a communal counter top in the back and the wait staff pours either wine or beer for you.  I would recommend you go somewhere else because it's a bit claustrophobic back there.  But the waitstaff was super nice so it made sticking around not so bad.  The place is rather small and there is only 1 large table in the front that seats groups of 4, so I would definitely recommend that you come in smaller groups. 

The menu here is fairly basic:  a handful of appetizers and 6 different kinds of noodles to choose from.  We opted for the soy beans ($6), cucumbers ($4) and the ghost chicken ($7) to start and I got the little pot mixian ($16) and Aarti got the vegetarian version ($14).  For some reason when I read the word soy bean, I didn't compute that it was basically just edamame, so when basically a bowl of edamame came out I was stupidly surprised.  So you've been warned.  The edamame was fine, it was covered in a fermented black bean paste which gave it a bit of a different taste to the kind you would normally get at a sushi restaurant.  Next the cucumber dish was like a traditional chilled smashed chili cucumber dish with some heat to it and this one some had mint to it, which was a bit different. The ghost chicken was cold shredded chicken with pickled red onions and fresh herbs.  It was a nice meaty cold dish to start the meal. 

I had been torn on what kind of noodle to get but lots of people seemed to have gotten the little pot because it came in a copper pot filled with broth, so I went for it, but looking back I wonder if I should have gotten the dan dan noodles instead.  Mixian noodles are basically spaghetti shaped rice noodles - they're softer and more slippery than your traditional noodles.  The little pot was served with pork broth, minced pork belly, shittake mushrooms, garlic, chives, pickled mustard stems, pea shoots and a mustard vinaigrette.  So in theory, it sounds like a really hearty noodle soup dish.  Only it wasn't.  It felt really thin and lacking in substance and needed more flavor and heat to the dish.  It just felt like a very average noodle soup dish that wasn't super filling.  Aarti's vegetarian version was similarly lacking and while we had been enamored with the service earlier, we had to flag down 3 different waitresses to get a side of fermented chili just to give her dish some flavor.

Overall, the meal wasn't terrible, just underwhelming.  Maybe it was because I had just been to the Mala Project where the Sichuan heat and flavors hit you hard in the face but this meal felt a bit too delicate.  Despite the staff being a slow with the chili, the service in general was excellent - very nice and pleasant people who worked there.  With all the other great and cheaper noodle options in the city, I'm not sure I would run back to this place but if someone did want to try it out, perhaps I would try a the grandma's noodle or the dan dan noodle and give it another fair shake.  Total bill:  $34/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp  

Mala Project Visited 3/10/2017 4.5 Forks

Mala Project  22 1st Ave., New York, NY 10009

I used to be a total puss about spicy food (I know, I'm a terrible Asian) but I've definitely gotten better in the last couple of years.  So I was super excited to try this place with Laura last week since it was supposed to be authentic Sichuan food in dry pot format.  We went at 7pm on a Friday and was informed by the hipster hostess that it would be a 2 hour wait.  Grrrr.  We decided to give our name and call them on their bluff while we got wine next door.   Lo and behold, they called us 45 minutes later! Patience does pay off!

The menu here is the same concept as regular hot pot except there's no broth - so let's be honest, it's basically spicy stir fry.  Like hot pot, you get a whole long list of ingredients to choose from ranging from meat, chicken, seafood, veggie, tofu and noodles.  They also have a nice list of appetizers to choose from too which is a nice change from the traditional hot pot places where you're stuffing your face with just hot pot.  We started with the turnip and jelly fish salad ($8) and then each ordered our own bowl (although you can also share bowls too) - they recommend that 1 person order 3-6 ingredients or if you're two people 8-10 ingredients.  I was starving and wanted to order 10 ingredients on my own but tried to reign it in - I got the eye of round ($5), fish ball ($4), enoki mushroom ($4), tofu skin ($4) and fish cake ($6).  If I could, I would have ordered more mushrooms, bok choy, glass noodle, pork belly, and much much more.  The difference between here and regular hot pot is that it's not all you can eat, which was something I had to adjust to.  I got my mild spicy - I struggled if I wanted it spicy but I figured I didn't want to push my luck.  Laura got hers spicy and we're not sure if they toned it down because they didn't want to cause complaints but her spice level wasn't really that far off from my bowl.  Bummer. 

But in general, the food was excellent and at least for me, the right amount of spiciness.  Sichuan spice is not like Indian spice or Thai spice - it's like a numbing painful spice that can really get to you if you don't know your tolerance level well. They give you a side of rice which was nice to mix it all in and it helps to fill you up since you can't slurp up the soup like in hot pot. 

The jelly fish appetizer was also excellent.  I haven't had that dish in a long time and it's not found in a lot of Chinese places outside of Chinatown but it was perfectly crunchy and tangy from the vinegar in it.  I just wished the portions were bigger for $8.  And that's my overall problem with this place - while I am giving it 4.5 forks because I truly enjoyed my meal, the price I paid for it was definitely overpriced, especially when you think about how other places in Chinatown offer similar soup based meals at a cheaper all-you-can-eat price (granted, I will give you that their ingredients here are probably fresher and better quality).   That being said, I will definitely go back anytime and order it spicy next time!  Total bill:  $61/pp with tax, tip and a bottle of wine

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Fish Cheeks Visited 2/4/2017 4.5 Forks

Fish Cheeks  55 Bond St., New York, NY 10012

Thai food, we all love it and I used to eat pad thai by the truck full for dinner.  While take-out Thai will always have a spot in my heart, true authentic food it is not.  For real authentic Thai food that hits you in the face with flavor and spice you usually to have to trek out to Queens or Red Hook to go to Pok Pok but luckily Fish Cheeks fills that gap in the city.

I actually went for lunch on a random Saturday and as a warning their lunch menu while delicious is quite limiting.  The dinner menu isn't really any bigger but if don't have your heart set on a specific dish, going for lunch is a nice intro to the place.  The space itself is beautiful - spacious, bright and colorful, it actually reminded me more of a Caribbean restaurant than a Thai restaurant.  As I mentioned the lunch menu is small - 3 noodle dishes or 5 rice dishes.  If you're a vegetarian or don't eat seafood, don't even bother, there is nothing you can eat here.  But if you do eat seafood and or meat, everything looked amazing.  Since it was such a freezing cold day, I opted for the Senn Lek Tom Yum Noodle dish ($16) and Lily got the crab fried rice with egg ($18) and we got a side of pork belly ($8).

When I hear pork belly I usually think of BBQ, so I had no idea what to think when we ordered a side of pork belly but it turned out to be amazing and delicious.  It's mostly focused on the crispy skin and the beautiful fatty meat underneath but in small bite sized pieces and it's served with intense green chili dipping sauce.  I could have popped 100 of them in my mouth.  The tom yum noodle soup was served in a spicy lemongrass broth and topped with mussels, shrimp, squid, soft boiled egg, cilantro, galangal and thin rice noodles.  It punched you in the face with intensity and flavor which I loved.  Lily and I switched off and I tried the crab fried rice and it was packed with huge chunks of fresh crab meat and prik nam pla which is a delicious Thai sauce consisting of chilies, fish sauce, lime and brown sugar.  I would take that sauce and pretty much coat it on everything I could eat if I could.  I had come to lunch with a slight cold but all the heat of the chili really cleansed my nasal system quickly.  We saved room for dessert and got the key lime pie (I know, not very Thai) and it was fabulous - super tart with a nice graham cracker crust.

Before I wrote this I read Pete Wells' review on this place and while he didn't love it as much as I did he did write that "It’s not a groundbreaking restaurant; it simply cooks the way I wish more Thai kitchens did" and I would whole-heartedly agree with him on that.  While there is always a need for your mom and pop Thai take out with your pad thai and curries, I wished there were more places like this that didn't require a trip to Queens.  Total bill:  $36/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Hot Pot Central Visited 1/12/2017 3 Forks

Hot Pot Central  188 2nd Ave., New York, NY 10003

One of my all time favorite Chinese "cuisines" is hot pot.  It's comforting, easy and so delicious. Most of the places in Chinatown like 99 Favor Taste are the All You Can Eat variety and while the quality of the food isn't bad, it's also not 5 star either.  But it's always satisfying and filling.  Janet and I decided to check out a new place that was in the East Village on one of the hottest days (in the 60's) in January.  Hot pot is best when it's nice and chilly outside but oh well.

It was completely empty when we got there at 6:30 on a Thursday but it slowly started to fill up afterwards.  We were surprised when we opened the menu to learn that this was NOT all-you-can-eat and you had to order each individual ingredient which can add up when you were expecting to go-to town with the ordering.  Plus they charge you separately for the broth.  WTF - how can you eat hot pot without broth??  They have a few combinations that seemed reasonable so we got the beef combo with came with 2 types of meat, cabbage, enoki mushrooms, tofu, spinach, your choice of dumplings and a salad.  We also got a side of fish balls ($8) and rice noodles because it's impossible to eat hot pot without them. 

For some reason when they said dumplings, I thought that they would be cooked already but they were hand made raw dumplings that you put in the hot pot - cute but unexpected and frankly I would have preferred to not had the dumplings or salad and had choice of two other ingredients.  The salad that came with the combo was totally unnecessary and really just random because most Asians don't really eat salad.  The ingredients were definitely of high quality - especially the beef.  It was nice and red and you can tell not the usual frozen kind that they just throw at you in an AYCE situation.  The fish balls were also not frozen and definitely fresh and hand made.  Since they weren't frozen, it had a different texture than the usual kind we're used to - I didn't mind it but Janet wasn't a huge fan of it. While we were disappointed that we couldn't keep ordering, we were actually pretty full by the time we finished everything and probably wouldn't have ended up ordering much more anyways.  The best part of the entire meal was the broth at the end after it's had all the veggies and meat soaking in there for a while.  I could have drank it by the bowl full. 

Overall, it was a totally fine experience and I can see why they charge a bit more because the quality and freshness of the ingredients are a bit better.  But it wasn't that much better or mind blowing that I would stop going to Favor Taste or any of the other AYCE places.  The whole point of hot pot is to over-indulge and enjoy yourself and it's kind of hard to do when you're paying a higher price or an experience that you know you can get for cheaper 15 minutes away.   Plus I don't know if it's because it's not in Chinatown and didn't have that slightly seedy Chinatown flare to it, but it seemed to cater more to non-Asians in a way that made it not so authentic.  Total bill:  $45/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Whitman's Visited 1/7/2017 3.5 Forks

Whitman's  406 E 9th St., New York, NY 10009

After our first brunch at Superiority Burger, Anuja, Amy and I were unfortunately still hungry.  There wasn't much left on the menu there and we were really craving fries, so we ventured next door to Whitman's to fill our fries craving.  This place is the ultimate burger/sandwich place, so they must have good fries right? 

Yes, they definitely hit the spot.  It's a cute cozy place if you're looking for something casual and low key.  They have a pretty extensive menu of all types of burgers and sandwiches and you can put almost any topping on them too.  Since we had literally just had a burger, Anuja and I split the grilled cheese and fries ($9) since having a 2nd burger seemed egregious but only having fries didn't seem like enough food.  Amy got the Brussels Sprout salad ($7) because she's good like that and knew that having something healthy was better for her.  

This was a nice way to "top off" our last meal.  The grilled cheese was on a thick white Pullman bread with melted gruyere, cheddar and American cheese - yum!  But the bread was a bit soggy in the middle but with that much cheese I can see why.  The fries were great - crunchy and salty,  which would have been perfect with the veggie burger earlier.  Amy said her salad was great and it did look really healthy and lightly dressed.  I wouldn't say that anything we had was super mind blowing but there was nothing wrong with anything we ate either.

The price point is great here and it was a nice snowy weather get away for comfort food.  I would like to return to have a real burger to take advantage of what they are really known for.  Total bill:  $20/pp with tax, tip and wine

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Superiority Burger Visited 1/7/2017 3.5 Forks

Superiority Burger  430 E 9th St., New York, NY 10009

One of the big trends of 2016 was the emergence of veggie forward/vegan food.  Vegetarianism and veganism is obviously not new but there was an emergence of restaurants in NYC that focused just on vegetables - By Chloe, Nix, Avant Garden and Ladybird just to name a few.  So it makes sense that those on the veggie train would try to create the ultimate veggie burger.  Momofuku Nishi tried to do it in the most innovative way by actually making it bleed, but I don't think that's necessary to make a really good veggie burger. 

Superiority Burger has gotten a ton of buzz as being one the best veggie burgers around, so I checked it out during my monthly Rabbit Habit date with Anuja and Amy.  First, this place is not a restaurant, it's really more of a take-out joint with 4 tiny seats.  Be prepared to wait or just grab it to go and sit in the park if it's nice outside.  The menu is really limited:  veggie burger, large veggie burger, sloppy joe type sandwich, broccoli salad, and romaine salad.  I was really bummed that they didn't have fries on the menu (they're vegetarian right?!?!) but I guess it's healthier that way.  In any case, I got the regular veggie burger ($6) and the tahini romaine salad ($6).  If you are hungry I would strongly recommend you get the large burger, it's only $3 more and you'll be a lot more satisfied in the end, trust me. 

The burger is topped with toasted munster cheese, lettuce, tomato, and pickle all on a soft potato bun. If it sounds like the making of a great burger, it was.  It reminded more of a falafel burger in terms of consistency and texture.  It definitely wasn't trying to be a meat substitute but I liked that it also wasn't some kind of nasty bean burger that many veggie restaurants try to do.  It was a solid burger that I would most definitely have again but it was just really too small if you're hungry.  This is where I really missed having fries as that would have definitely filled me up.  The salad was tasty with the tahini ranch dressing but I'm generally not a huge fan of romaine.  The salad was described as having cauliflower and sneaky avocado - the avocado was very sneaky as you could barely see or taste any of it in the salad which was a bummer.  I had a bite of the broccoli salad and that was much better in my opinion.  It had a slight charred taste and it was topped with red chili, cilantro and cashew. 

The menu here apparently changes (not the burger but the salads and sides) and a couple came in after us who were clearly friends with the owner and they got to order an off menu pastrami sandwich which looked great, so either be friends with the owners or wait a few months for new items to appear. 

Overall, it was definitely one of the better veggie burgers I've had in a while.  But the lack of fries made me feel like my meal wasn't really complete.  If I lived in the East Village or found myself walking around the hood, I would definitely stop by but I'm not sure if I would necessarily go out of my way from BK to have it again.  Anuja and I had debated if we wanted to split yet another burger because that's how hungry we still were but instead he opted to have a 2nd brunch at next door.  More to come on that meal....Total bill:  $13/pp

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Tim Ho Wan Visited 12/14/2016 4 Forks

Tim Ho Wan  85 4th Ave., New York, NY 10003

The opening of Tim Ho Wan has been one of the most highly anticipated restaurant openings in a while.  It's been touted as the world's cheapest Michelin starred restaurant (the original is in Hong Kong) mostly because it's all dim sum style.  The first US output opened in the East Village this past week to a insane frenzy.  Virginia and I managed to sweet talk our way into the friends and family soft opening before it was open to the general public on Friday.  This was all totally by accident.  I saw that they were done with construction so when VA and I had dinner plans during the week, I suggested that we give this place a try not knowing that it wasn't really open to the public yet. 

I got there late and VA texted me asking if I had made a reservation, which I hadn't (and they don't take them anyways).  So when I walked in she told me that we were likely not going to sit because everyone there was part of some private event.  But in true VA style, she managed to make friends with the hostess and with a little bit of waiting, we were seated at a table!  While this place is all dim sum, it's not like in Chinatown where they have push carts.  You order by the menu and they bring it to your table, which is totally fine with me because it actually allows you to get exactly what you want because sometimes with the push carts they don't always have what you want.  The prices were all in the $4.00-$5.50 range so totally reasonable.  The menu has the usual line up of traditional dim sum - there wasn't anything that I wanted that wasn't on there.  We ordered the roast pork buns, rice crepes with shrimp and minced meat, shu mai, hargow, turnip cake, sticky rice wrapped in a lotus leaf and chiu chow dumplings.  

Since it was still a soft opening, things were a bit chaotic but once the food came out, it was all good. We started with the roast pork buns, which usually I never order because they tend to be really heavy on the bread but these were really delicious.  The break was fluffy and soft and not too dense.  The pork was sweet and salty and roasted to perfection.  If every pork bun tasted like this, I would totally get them.  Next came the rice crepes - which is my favorite dim sum dish, I usually order 2 because I can eat an entire plate myself.  It was soft, moist and not too greasy or oily.  I still prefer the shrimp one to the meat one but they were both fantastic and really well done.  Next came with shu mai and har gow in the steamed bamboo baskets.  They were piping hot and super fresh.  This is what makes getting dim sum made to order vs. cart better because with the carts you never know how long the dishes have been sitting there for and many times the ones I've gotten can be cold and not very fresh tasting.  You can tell that these dumplings were delicately hand made and not some frozen shit thrown into a steamer.  The one dumpling I wasn't a huge fan of was the chiu chow but mostly because I didn't like the filling of water chestnuts and peanuts not because of how it was made.  The sticky rice was actually my favorite dish of the night - it was a very large portion and perfect texture of rice - sticky but still moist and filled with tender pork and Chinese sausage inside.  I was scrapping the bottom of the leaf to make sure that I got every single bite.   If there was one slightly disappointing dish of the night, it was the turnip cake.  It was a bit undercooked and soft - normally I like it a bit crunchy and slightly burned on the outside and this was missing that element but at least it wasn't super greasy which this dish can easily get.  

We decided to end the meal with a dessert, which I normally wouldn't recommend at a dim sum place because dessert is not Chinese people's strong suit.  But we decided to try to goji berry jello, which was just eh.  I don't particularly love goji berries and the jello didn't have ton of flavor to it but it was a bit of a refreshing palate cleanser.

But now comes the crazy part of the meal. We ask for the check and instead of getting a check we just got a survey and comment card.  Waaa??  Apparently the reason it was so crazy and why we technically shouldn't have been seated was because it was truly for friends and family and they weren't charging anyone for the night.  WTF?!?!  Amazing.  I would have easily paid but we literally had no idea how much these were, so we left a $20 tip.  I wish I could say these type of cool things happen to me all the time because I blog about food but it was literally by chance and circumstance.

Overall, this place is a hit and the food is way cleaner and fresher than the places in Chinatown.  But I had read that on opening day, people were waiting 2-3 hours to get seated which I would definitely not wait around for.  Definitely wait until things have died down a bit, but it's a fantastic addition to the dim sum world without having to trek to Chinatown or Queens.

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Black Ant Visited 12/1/2016 4 Forks

Black Ant  60 2nd Ave., New York, NY 10003

I recently booked a trip to Mexico City, so I've been a bit obsessed lately with traditional Mexican food.  I remembered a friend telling me about Black Ant, so I was able to convince Holly to check it out with me Friday night.

This is no Tex Mex food where everything is dripping in cheese and sour cream.  It's the kind of place where they have gresshoppers and goat as their main forms of protein.  We started with the black ant guacamole ($13) - I had to ask what black ant salt was and it's exactly what you think it is, crushed up black ants mixed with salt.  I felt like we had to try something adventurous.  We also got a side of plantains ($10) and I got the lehcon ($26) and Holly got the octopus ($27).  We were really tempted to also get the fish tacos since they sounded amazing but our stomachs were way bigger than our eyes at this point and I'm glad we refrained.   I was kind of expecting to see a bunch of this black ant salt in the guacamole but it was honestly barely noticeable.  It was really just normal guacamole served with freshly made tortilla chips.  There was a hint of mango and pomegranate so I guess it wasn't 100% "normal" but it was a pretty solid dish.  The plantains were also great - served in a smokey mole sauce and sprinkled with melted cotija cheese.  It was a lovely way to start the meal.

The entrees were no different either.  We had a bit of a snafu when they gave Holly the wrong dish and honestly it was bit too dark and we were starting to get a bit to tipsy to recognize it right away. They gave her the duck dumplings and I tried a bite and we were both confused.  Luckily when we flagged down the waiter, he knew immediately that it was the wrong order and brought out the octopus right away.   As for my lechon - it was a big block of suckling pig deliciousness.  Juicy, flavorful and the meat fell apart instantly.  The also give you a side of fresh corn tortillas, which I would normally skip but for some reason decided to try and it was magical.  I have been trying to avoid eating so much meat because of my high cholesterol but it's dishes like this that make it really hard to give up. I had a bite of the octopus and it was super tender and tasty as well.

We got the churros ($10) to end the meal because, well, how can you not get churros?!?  They were sweet and crunchy - albeit a bit too crunchy.  They probably were fried a bit too long and could have been more fluffy as Holly noted.  But overall, it was a fantastic way to end the meal.

This meal got me super excited for my trip to Mexico City.  The only reason I didn't give it 4.5 forks was for the really slow service in the beginning and the fact that they had this really annoying blinking light near where we were sitting that almost made it seem like we were in a rave.  Luckily it was fixed but it was highly distracting.  However, after seeing this picture of what the fish tacos looked like, I would be more than happy to try this place out again soon.  A fair warning, the margaritas are really strong - you've been warned.  Total bill:  $85/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Estela Visited 10/21/2016 4.5 Forks

Estela  47 E Houston St., New York, NY 10012

Estela has been on my list for a while as it's been on several "Best of" list for the past 3 years.  While it is a somewhat casual setting, the menu always seemed a bit too stuffy for me to really put a ton of effort into checking out.   Plus it's super difficult to get a reservation at a normal time - in fact, Richelle and I ended up getting a 5:30pm slot on a Friday night which isn't ideal but honestly, we ended up staying for 3 hours, so it actually turned out pretty well for us. 

The menu is similar to what I had at Freek's Mill before, which is American tapas.  And similar to Freek's Mill, the prices are somewhat ridiculous, even more so here at $17-37 per small plate.  The waiter recommended 6 plates for 2 people, so you can do the math on that one.  Richelle and I were in baller mode, so we really went all out on the menu:  beef tartare ($18), fried arroz negro ($23), lamb ribs ($22), ricotta dumplings ($25), and monkfish ($32).   While Richelle and I had a hard time deciding among all the dishes, the one dish we both agreed to get immediately was the beef tartare.  It was really fantastic - chopped well and seasoned with capers and sunchokes, it was an excellent tartare that was perfectly executed.  Next we tried the black fried rice with squid. This one had a paella like consistency with a crunchy bottom to it, which was a nice touch.  I will caution you that if don't like fishy tasting dishes, this probably won't be for you.  I enjoyed it but not as much as some other squid ink dishes that I've had before. 

Next came the lamb ribs and they were incredible.  There were 4 pieces that were herb crusted with charmoula and honey and the meat fell right off the bones.  I have a love/hate relationship with ribs and this one fell on the love side.  Next, we ordered the ricotta dumplings because the waiter said that they were "life changing" - those were the exact words he used.  So while Richelle doesn't eat cheese, we felt compelled to get them.  They were light and fluffy and served with thinly shaved mushrooms on top.  I tried to get Richelle to try one because it wasn't cheese-y gooe-y in texture since it's ricotta but she wasn't having any of it.  It was definitely a lovely pillow-y dish, but I can't say it was life changing and having to eat the whole thing myself was a bit of a challenge with all the other food. Next came the monkfish.  We had been struggling to decide between the monkfish or swordfish and the waiter was saying that the monkfish was heartier and the swordfish was lighter.  I normally don't love swordfish, so we decided to go with something heartier.  In retrospect, I kind of wish we got the swordfish instead because this fish was a bit too tough for me.  It wasn't flakey and it just had a toughness that I don't love when it comes to my fish - but again, it's not like I didn't know it going into it, so it's was a risk we took that didn't quite pay off.  This was where our original order ended but yet we were still a bit hungry.  So we hemmed and hawed between getting the swordfish, mussels, steak or desserts.  We netted out at the steak ($37) and 2 desserts, the chocolate cake ($12) and a sweet potato rum cake ($12).   The steak was 2 smallish pieces cooked medium rare and served with charred eggplant and leeks.  The original form comes with a melted taleggio cheese sauce on top but we got it on the side for Richelle's sake.  The steak was cooked perfectly and while you would think the cheese sauce would have tasted kind of weird with it, I was actually really glad to have had it because the strong stinky flavor of it really paired well with the meat. I can't explain it but it just worked. 

At this point, we were drunk and full but had to get dessert.  The chocolate cake came with this out of this world creme fraiche topping covered with coco powder on top.  The cake was moist but had a bit of a flourless consistency to it and overall it was a very non-sweet dessert, which I like but I can see how some people might be turned off by, so just know that going into.  We got the sweet potato dessert because it sounded so unique.  It was basically cold shredded sweet potato sitting on top of a rum soaked cake - it was interesting but the coldness of the dish really threw me off a bit. 

But what really put this dinner over the edge was the mind blowing wine (a red from Umbria) we had with dinner.  Yes it was $100 but it was really something special.  It paired really well with the meat dishes we had.  The service was excellent with the waiter being really patient in explaining almost the entire menu for us, although I didn't quite buy his "life changing" opinion of the dumplings.  The ambiance is cozy and dark but quite lively because it was incredibly packed.  I'm not sure I would say it's one of the best restaurants in the world as many have stated but it's worth checking out if you're a long standing New Yorker and need a new place to cross off your list.  It's definitely pricey and for that I was close to giving it 4 forks but in a head-to-head comparison of Freek's Mill, it's definitely the better choice.  Total bill:  $200/pp with tax and tip and lots of drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Hou Yi Hot Pot Visited/ 10/14/2016 3.5 Forks

Hou Yi Hot Pot  92 Hester St., New York, NY 10002

One of my favorite Chinese foods is hot pot - I guess it's not really a food but a form of cooking but regardless, it's got a soft spot in my heart.  Janet and I usually go to 99 Favor Taste in Chinatown but for some reason they had no openings on a random Friday night, so we tried a new place in the East Village. 

The concept is the same, all you can eat hot pot for 2 hours with a same kind of ingredients and sauces.  The one difference here is that you share pots but it is split into 2 so that you can try different broths but I kind of like having my own to dip and cook with.  We got the herb beef and herb pork which was fine but the pork bone broth at 99 Favor Taste is much better.  We got the usually suspect of ingredients:  sliced beef, sliced pork, enoki mushrooms, fish tofu, fish balls, napa cabbage, shrimp, corn, and rice noodles.  The portions are a bit smaller than 99 Favor Taste but since it's all you can eat, it doesn't really matter all that much but we did have to re-order a bunch of things several times which the wait staff seemed a bit annoyed by.  It's easy to go over zealous with the food here, which we easily did here but that's part of the fun with hot pot. 

They are a bit aggressive with the dish clearing, coming by every so often trying to clear our plates away but judging by the wait the place had, I can see why they are always hustling.  They don't give you plastic bags here to protect your jacket and bags, so be prepared to just have everything on or near you smell like hot pot.  Overall,  it was a filling experience but I would still recommend 99 Favor Taste if you 're looking for better broth and slightly more ingredients (plus they do Korean BBQ there too but it's just always way too much food to do both).  Total bill:  $75 with tax and tip for 2 people

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Thursday Kitchen Visited 10/7/2016 4 Forks

Thursday Kitchen  424 E 9th St., New York, NY 10009

I'll be honest, I was drawn to Thursday Kitchen because of the promise of glow-in-the-dark drinks in a Capri sun bag.  Yes, this is how they serve their cocktails.  Fascinating right?  How can you not want to check it out? 

Holly and I met there early on a Friday night and by 6:15pm and they were pretty packed already. Although neither of us were starving, but we felt like if we didn't grab a table now, we would be waiting a long time.  We were hoping to maybe leisurely start with drinks and then transition over to food but that didn't really happen.  As soon as we sat down, multiple people were asking us if we were ready to order which was kind of annoying.  I will say that by the time we left at 8:30pm, there was a really long line outside, so I guess it was kind of warranted for them to churn as many tables as possible.  The first good sign of this place was that it was packed full of Asians - it is a Korean tapas place but it it's in the East Village so I was expecting more artist/hipsters than anything else.

They don't have a liquor license but they do have soju cocktails which is what comes in the glow in the dark bags.  The one I got had smashed up strawberries and was good but it didn't really taste very strong.  Holly got one that had a bunch of herbs in it and she wasn't a huge fan as the basil was way too overpowering.   But they are fun drinks to try out none the less.

The menu is tapas style and they recommended 2 plates per person but I honestly felt like you could get 3 or more if you're really hungry.  We opted for the ugly potato ($8), the octopus ($9), truffle mac and cheese ($9) and the kimchi paella ($12).  The octopus was very very small thin slices served with a mango salsa type garnish.  It was a bit underwhelming because usually octopus dishes have nice thick hearty pieces to it and this was too delicate for me.  Next was the truffle mac and cheese and it was as advertised, super cheesy and delicious.  The twist to this dish was that it had manila clams in it, which I know sounds kind of gross but it actually really worked.  My only gripe was that I wish this dish was larger as it was really like 3-4 bites max per person.  Next came the kimchi paella which wasn't really a paella but more like a really creamy risotto.  It came with green New Zealand mussels (my favorite), shrimp and kimchi in it.  The waiter kept telling us before that it was cheesey and we thought he was talking about the mac and cheese but I can see how one would describe this dish as cheesey too.   Lastly we had the ugly potato which was crispy potato with melted cheese and BBQ sauce on it.  The parts of the potato that weren't super brunt were great but there was probably more burnt ends than I would have liked in there.  I really wanted to try the matcha bread pudding but we were both full from so much cheesey foods that we couldn't do it but it sounded delicious.

I'll give this place kudos for being incredibly unique and creative, which is something that's been missing from a lot of places I've been to lately.  You can definitely taste the Korean flavors in the food and it was great to see them honor those elements with a slight twist to it.  Again, my usual gripe with tapas is that when you like a dish (i.e. the truffle mac and cheese) you just wish you had more of it vs. such a small portion. Definitely get here early if you don't want to wait around.  Total bill:  $43/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Sushi on Jones Visited 9/8/2016 4.5 Forks

Sushi on Jones  Bowery Market, 348 Bowery, New York, NY 10012

Sometimes you want great sushi but don't want to pay crazy money or sit around for 3 hours having the chef explain every single insane cut of fish he got that day.  Enter Sushi on Jones.  It's a genius idea.  It's a  pop-up omakase meal from the sushi chef at Sushi Dojo that's served rapid style - 12 pieces served in 30 mins all for $50.   The place is tiny - only 4 real seats at the outdoor Bowery Market but you don't have to worry about waiting for too long because the seats turnover every 30 mins!  You can, however, make reservations now so that might change the wait time but in general it's a pretty well oiled machine.  

Anuja, Amy and I sat down at the bar stools and we were immediately served sushi as soon as we sat down.  The menu consists of scallop (the best piece of the night!), crab, hamachi, uni (2nd best piece of the night), eel, botan shrimp, 2 tuna, 2 salmon and 2 wagyu beef plus you can get a wagyu + uni piece for an extra $12.   All standard but tasty cuts of fish.  I was actually surprised that they served uni and botan given the $50 price point.  Excellent deal.  The quality and taste of each of them were superb and you didn't even realize that you were not in a fancy pants sushi restaurant in Midtown.  I was very impressed by the quality of it given the set-up.   The sushi chefs were really nice and told you what each fish was, asked if you had any fish you didn't like and then just basically got to work. They ended with 5 minutes to spare so that you can order any extra pieces - we each got one extra piece of scallop ($5) because it was melt in your mouth delicious.  The rice was also well done and the right temperature and consistency for sushi.  

It was such a pleasant experience that it was actually really sad when it was done in 30 minutes.   The quality made you want to sit and order more.  They also let you sneakily BYOB - I'd recommend getting a screw top and leaving it in the bag, they will provide the coffee cups for you to use.

I'm not sure how they will deal with this in the winter time as it doesn't make sense to sit outside in the cold no matter how delicious the food is - so I'd say get over there as fast as you can now before it's shut down for the season.  My only complaint is that they served me the wagyu + uni piece without asking if I wanted it.  While I didn't mind eating it and probably would have ordered it anyways, they really should have asked if I wanted it since it is $12/pop.   Total bill:  $85 with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp