Totto Ramen Visited 5/14/2012 3 Forks

Totto Ramen 366 W 52nd St., (between 9th Ave & 8th Ave), New York, NY 10019

You'd think with my impending trip to Asia that I would lay off the Asian food, but instead I've had pho, sushi, bimbimbop, and dim sum in the past 4 days.  And now I've rounded off the food tour of Asia with a ramen dinner last night.  My good friend Neera was in town and she was coming from Long Island City, so I wanted to find a place that was easy to get to for all of us.  I ended up picking Totto Ramen since it was close to the E train and easy to get to for all of the dinner guests.

I knew that there would be a line but when I got there at 8:30pm, there was huge crowd that you could see a block away.  They have a self-sign in system and there were about 14 names ahead of us by then.  They also have a policy of only seating max 4 people at once.  There are only 2 tables that seat 4 people and the entire size of the rest of the restaurant is the size of a shoebox, so whatever your party size is, be prepared to wait but if you have 4 people be prepared to wait an especially long time.  In the end, we waited about an hour to get seated.  The inside of the restaurant transported me back to Japan with a very authentic look and feel and an all Japanese staff busily running around and yelling.


The menu has 6 different kinds of ramen, lots of topping options (corn, extra meat, scallion, bean sprout, avocado, egg, seaweed and spicy sesame oil),  and then there are a few specials on the board next to your table.  I chose the Totto Miso Ramen ($10.25) and the spicy tuna don ($6).  I clearly didn't need to order the tuna don but I am a sucker for anything that has raw fish on top of rice.  The tuna don was served with chopped tuna sashimi, onion, scallion, and flying fish roe in chefs special sauce served over rice, cucumber and kombu seaweed.  I didn't really see or taste the fish roe and there was this weird almost rice crispy like ingredient to the dish which definitely added an interesting texture and twist to the dish.  It was a bit hard to mix and eat the rice and sashimi together with chopsticks so that made the overall eating experience was a bit annoying but it was a nice way to start a meal.  Next came the ramen and it was steaming hot.  I literally felt like I was in a spa getting a steam facial.  The ramen was tender and I actually didn't think there was enough noodles in the bowl (although it could have been that I just ate really quickly).  The one thing that looked a bit different from other ramen I've had was this huge scoop of miso and ground pork on top of the noodles.  It kind of looked like pate and that was kind of weird to me and it didn't really taste like anything.  So I didn't really get the point of it.  There were two pieces of pork that looked a bit dry but upon biting into them were soft and tender and very tasty.  The rest of the bowl was served with a hardboiled egg, LOTS of scallion (almost too much), bean sprouts and onion.  While the ramen and broth were both good, I have to say that Ippudo's ramen is better.   It just didn't have the intense flavor and addictive nature of Ippudo's ramen (maybe that's actually better for my health?).  At Ippudo I practically lapped the broth but here, I just ate the noodles and didn't really touch the broth.  It could be because I had the tuna don before and wasn't as hungry.  I would come back here but definitely not if the wait is still an hour plus.  Total bill: $78 total for 4 people, includes 2 beers, 2 appetizers and 4 bowls of ramen.

Photo Credit: Yelp

Woo Lae Oak Visited 5/12/2012 3 Forks

Woo Lae Oak 8240 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA 22182

Usually when I come home to MD, my eating patterns are super consistent: Pho 75, Tachibana, and dim sum at New Fortune.  That's usually all I have time for when I come home for just a weekend.  But since this weekend was Mother's Day, I figured I would let my mom pick some place different since she was saying how she never really gets to try a lot of new places these days. 


We were originally going to try this Spanish Tapas place but they weren't open for lunch and after hemming and hawing, we did end up back at Tachibana for lunch (still one of the better sushi places I've been to in MD) but for dinner she decided that she wanted Korean food.  She had been to Woo Lae Oak for lunch but never dinner and thought it would be too expensive, but since I was paying I told her it wasn't a big deal.  Strangely enough, Woo Lae Oak was the name of this fancy Korean place that used to be in NYC that I always wanted to try but never did.  I'm not sure if these are related or not, but none the less I was glad to try it.  The inside is definitely fancier than your typical Asian restaurant and the waitstaff is very formal and serious.  The menu consists of the appetizers, Korean BBQ, soup dishes, rice dishes, noodle dishes, and then what they call All Time Favorite entrees.  To be honest, the prices weren't that bad unless you were ordering the BBQ, but that's expected when you order BBQ at any Korean place (or at least the places I've been to).   We thought that BBQ would be too much for 2 people, so we ordered the Haemul Pajeon (seafood and scallion pancake -$10), the Soon Tofu Jigae (tofu stew with seafood - $13) and the seafood bimbimbop ($16).  

The small order of pancake (you can order the larger one for $15) had 4 pieces which was perfect for us.  I usually find these pancakes very greasy and oily but this one was strangely not so.  I did fine the batter a little bit too thick and would have preferred it to be a bit crispier.  The inside had scallion, oyster, squid and shrimp, but to be honest I didn't really see or taste most of them. I know they were in there but it wasn't like they were prominently featured in the pancake.  Next came the tofu stew and bimbimbop.  I started with the tofu stew which was basically super soft silky tofu with spices and the same seafood combination that was in the pancake.  At least here, I definitely could tell that there was scallop and there were 2 medium sized tiger shrimp with the shells on.  While I liked the dish, it did look like something I could probably make myself.  Even though the dish was not huge, served with white rice, I was pretty full by the end of it.  I forced myself to eat 2 spoonfuls of the bimbimbop.  Of course this one had seafood in it too (clearly my mom and I are cut from the same cloth).  I did notice that I didn't see a fried egg on this which was a bit disappointing because that's the best part of bimbimbop but when I thought about it, it might have been weird with the seafood.  The two bites I had were pretty good, the chili paste had flavor and heat but was still sweet.  There was lots of pickled veggies and kimchi in it which just added to the intense flavors of the dish.  I really wish I had more room for it so that I could give it a better assessment.  Even though we were full, since it was a "holiday" we did order dessert as well.  I will still stand by the fact that I don't think Asian dessert are good.  Their dessert menu was clearly more Westernized, which was totally fine by me.  We ordered the blood orange mousse cake ($8).  It was a very light orange mousse with a layer of almost orange rinds (I don't think that's what they were but it was almost a tough/hard layer of orange that wasn't the fleshy part) and light vanilla cake.  It was totally fine and I loved the fact that it was super super light but again, it wasn't anything to write home about.    


The one huge disappointment of this restaurant was the service.  Our waitress never checked on us after she took our order and I constantly had to ask for a re-fill of water.  By the time we wanted to order dessert, we had to flag down a hostess to help place the order and to get our bimbimbop boxed up (and when I say boxed up, they had you a container for you to box yourself).  I don't always like waitstaff that is too attentive, but you should come by at least once or twice to ask if there's anything else we want, especially if you notice that we have finished our main meal.  I'm glad I tried a new place in MD and I would come back here again but I wouldn't say that it gets a spot on the permanent rotation. Total bill: $59 with tax and tip. 

Note, I know I'm listing this under MD when it's really in VA, but I'm just too lazy to create a new tag. 


Photo Credit: Yelp

Kimchi Taco Truck Visited 5/7/2012 4 Forks

Kimchi Taco Truck

With the World Financial Center undergoing massive changes, there is seriously a lack food options (not that they were great to begin with) in the building.  So it was a seriously welcomed change when they brought together a bunch of different food trucks during lunch time starting this spring.  The line-up changes everyday but I had only been going to the Taim truck because I love their food there so much.  But Allison and I figured that it was time to try something different today.   I had seen the Kimchi Taco truck there but I had an allegiance to Korilla and wasn't sure if it would be as good.  But I figured it was worth a try.

On Monday's the popularity contest is usually between the Taim and Kimchi Taco truck.  Today was no different.  Luckily, we got there relatively early (11:45AM) so the line was still bearable.  Any time after noon, expect to wait at least 20 minutes for your food.  I took a peek in the truck and was a bit concerned that there wasn't a single Asian person working the truck.  Now don't get me wrong, that by no means guarantees that the food is good or authentic but kimchi is a pretty specific type of Asian food that isn't seen in many places outside of traditional Korean restaurants and takes a serious cook to know what they are doing.  The menu is a mix of tacos, kimchi bowl, kim cheesesteak (with Cheez Whiz!) and a few sides.  I opted for the kimchi bowl with multigrain rice and Korean BBQ short rib ($8).   This was pretty much a burrito bowl served with lettuce, fresh kimchi, pico de gallo, pickled daikon, green onion and lots of short rib.  I was impressed with the quantity of food and the quality wasn't bad either.  The multigrain rice was unique.  I can't quite explain what the rice was but I've actually bought it before in Asian supermarkets.  It's got a thicker texture and it's purple and has other grains in it.  It's super healthy and much heartier than regular brown rice.  The kimchi was fresh and had strong flavors although it could have used a bit more cabbage.  I did ask for it medium spicy but to be honest it wasn't spicy at all so that was a bit disappointing.  The short rib was tender and you could definitely taste the marinate that it was soaking in.   This was a great cafeteria alternative and I would definitely come back to try the other proteins they offered: spicy seared pork, spicy pulled chicken, and tofu edamame falafel.  However,  Korilla is better and more authentic tasting and their sauces are definitely what sets them apart of Kimchi Taco.  But since they are not an option, I will still gladly choose Kimchi Taco over a turkey burger from the cafeteria any day of the week.

Photo Credit: Yelp    

Eatery Visited 5/5/2012 2.5 Forks

Eatery 798 9th Ave., (between 52nd St & 53rd St), New York, NY 10019

I know it's been a while since I've written here since I've been trying to be good with my food budget recently.  So I wished my first entry in two weeks could be a great one.  This is just eh. 

I often get asked "where should I go to eat?" and I usually have a few good suggestions.  But I realize that most of my suggestions are downtown or in Brooklyn.  So when my friend from high school asked for a suggestion of a nice-ish place in Hell's Kitchen I was actually stumped.  I know a few divey good Thai places like Pam's Real Thai, Wodee Siam, or Pure Thai Shophouse.  But that's all I got in that area.  Unfortunately we were supposed to have dinner at Print in the Ink48 Hotel but they screwed up our reservation so we were left walking around 9th Ave looking for a place to eat at 9pm on Saturday.  Somehow we ended up at Eatery which looked nice enough from the outside. 

From the outside I assumed that the menu would be all-American, it pretty much was with lots of salads, pasta and burgers.  But then it also had this weird Pan-Asian and Mexican vibe to it with dumplings, tofu stir-fry, and quesadillas.  Weird right? It's generally not a great sign when a restaurant has got an identity crisis.  In honor of Cino de Mayo they were offering a Mahi Mahi special with tostadas and a chipotle cream.  The waiter was raving about it so I decided go for it.  My friend got the quesadilla and the fish tacos while his friend got the burger.  Instead of bread, they offer you these Asian-like shrimp chips with sesame seeds.  It was actually pretty good and a nice alternative to bread.  The quesadilla came out first and was also pretty decent.  Nothing spectacular but the tortilla was nice and soft and the grilled chicken was juicy.  While I wasn't expecting the Mahi Mahi dish to be a real homage to Cinco de Mayo, I thought it would be more "Mexican".  Instead it was a decently cooked piece of fish on top of essentially what was a bunch of corn chips, lettuce and tomato.  The chipotle cream didn't have a lot of flavor to it and I would have preferred actual sour cream.  The dish was fine, it just seemed like something I probably could have made myself.  There wasn't a whole lot of finesse to the dish.   I took a look at my friend's fish tacos they also seemed to lack any real sophistication to it.  I'm not saying my food has to be fancy but it should at least look like something I can't re-create so easily at home.  When the waiter came around to offer dessert, we got convinced by his raving description of the fruit tart (I really need to learn that it's a waiter's job to convince people to order stuff they may not want).  The tart also wasn't very impressive.  The fruit it in was actually fresh and big but the custard in it was way too sweet.      


All in all, I wasn't super impressed with The Eatery food-wise.  But the decor is nicer than your usual Hell's Kitchen dive and the waitstaff was sweet.  Next time I'm in Hell's Kitchen I"ll probably still stick to the Thai hole in the walls.  Total price: $43/pp with tax, tip and cocktails. 

Photo Credit: Yelp

Del Posto Visited 4/19/2012 2.5 Forks

Del Posto 85 10th Ave., (between 15th St & 16th St), New York, NY 10011

I know, I know.  I gave DEL POSTO, a Michelin starred and NY Times 4 star rated restaurant, 2.5 Forks?! Putting it in the ranks of places like Tara Thai but also The Dutch.  How can that be? I'll tell you how.


I will put it out there that Del Posto is not a terrible restaurant, my personal experience just wasn't all that.  I should preface that unlike my usual self I didn't do any research on Del Posto before I went to dinner.  I had been in all day training for 2 days at work and I just didn't have the time or energy to preview it online or read the reviews.  I figured that it was so well-known that I didn't need to.  I guess if I had read up on it, I would have known that it was way more elegant than I expected.  I've been to many of Mario Batali's other restaurants in NYC and LA and while they are all nice none of them were stuffy or old school.  Well, the minute I walked into Del Posto I immediately felt out of place.  I came straight from work training where I was wearing jeans (at least they were my nice jeans) and a casual sweater.  When I walked in, I immediately noticed how beautiful, ornate, and formal the decor was.  Lots of beautiful wood and there was piano in the back with an actual piano player.  There were also lots of grey haired people in suits and dresses.  The average age of the clientele must have been 60, which in itself is not an issue for me, but it just totally wasn't what I was expecting.  I was expecting something a bit more casual but still high-brow...I guess like a Lupa or Mozza (Mario's restaurant in LA).  

Lav and I were seated at 8:30pm and before we could even put our butts in the seat the waitstaff brings over a tiny stool for us to put our purses on.  What?! The only other place that I've known to do this, as Lav had mentioned, was Blue Hill at Stone Barns.  So now everything was starting to fall into place in terms of expectations.   As our waitress handed over the drink list she mentioned that the chef would like to send over an amuse bouche.  Fabulous!  She graciously asked if any of us had any food allergies or issues, which I always appreciate since you never know these days.  This was then where things started to go downhill.  We waited, then waited and waited for someone to at least give us a menu.  We had gotten our drinks and I had practically finished mine (I highly recommend the Whiskey Smash - amazing drink) and we still hadn't even gotten our menu.  After 25 minutes, I finally waved down our waitress to give us our menu.  Another downfall of not researching before hand was that I didn't know that the main focus of the menu was the tasting menu.  I had naively assumed we'd just order a couple of pastas and appetizers (which there was but I'll explain that in a bit). The waitress explained that on the left hand side was the 7 course $145 tasting menu, on the right hand side was the 5 course $115 tasting menu and that we could order most items a la carte but none of the prices were listed on the menu.  It gave me the feeling that it was gauche or not encouraged to not order the tasting menu.  Lav and I figured that as long as we were here, we might as well just got with the 5 course tasting menu.  I started with the Lobster Fra Diavolo with Garlic Bread Panna Cotta & Seaweeds, then you are required to pick 2 pastas that you and your table mate share, so we got the Tortello Puzzone with Taleggio Dolce & Black Truffle Butter at the absolute insistence of our waiter (yes, somehow the woman who told us about our amuse bouche order stopped showing up and we now had this super nice and adorable Tim Gunn look alike waiter) and the Oreccheitte with Lamb Neck Ragu, Orange Carrots, Rye Crumbs & Toasted Sage (one version made without lamb for Lav), and the for the secondi I ordered the swordfish with nvoltini, Smoky Cabbage, Arborio Salad & Fondo of Barolo.  Note that our amuse bouches had still not arrived at this point and it was around 9:20pm at this point.

Finally they bring out the amuse bouche and the bread basket almost an hour after we had been seated.  I'm not sure why they couldn't have brought out the bread basket before hand so that we weren't starving?  My amuse bouche was a small fried risotto ball, a small slide of toasted bread with butter and lardo and a soup.  They were all good but not mind blowing.  As a vegetarian, Lav got a piece of broccoli tempura with 25 year aged balsamic vinegar (our waiter kept emphasizing the age of the balsamic) and 2 other veggie items that are escaping my mind right now.  She also wasn't blown away by her dishes and we were both left wondering how that took 45 minutes to make.  Luckily our antipasti didn't take another hour to come out.  I do want to emphasize that all the busboys, servers, and waiters there (and there were many of them. I couldn't even keep track of them) were all incredibly polite and well-mannered.  You could tell that they were trained well and took their jobs very seriously.  At first Lav's antipasti came out with octopus on it and our waiter immediately started yelling at the busboys to remove the dish.  It was a bit alarming but it was nice of him to notice and remove it without us having to say anything. But it was then that we realized that many of the vegetarian dishes that Lav got were just the same dishes that came with a meat or seafood but with that the meat or seafood was removed....almost like she was eating the garnish.  Not a great feeling.  It would have been better if they created an actual vegetarian dish where the veggies were the focus and not just an after thought.  But I will say that my lobster dish was pretty good. It was chilled lobster tail and knuckle and they were very substantial pieces and delicious.  The panna cotta did taste exactly like garlic bead but I would have preferred actual garlic bread instead.

Our pasta dish came out next and this was where I was prepared to be blown away.  Afterall, it was supposed to be an Italian restaurant and pasta should be there they shine. The waiter had talked up the tortello because of the black truffle butter so I was very excited by it.  We each got 3 pieces of an almost hat shaped like pasta.  I should have let it cool but of course I was so excited that I bit into it and almost burned myself in the process.  My first impression was that it tasted like I was eating a big hunk of brie.  The filling was so incredibly rich that I could barely get through the 3 pieces that I had on my plate.  You could tell that everything was of the highest quality but it was just too rich for me to real enjoy.  We also later realized that there was an extra $20 charge for this dish.  I totally did not think it warranted the extra charge at all.  The orecchiette came out and again it felt like Lav's dish just kind of got the shaft because instead of lamb they just put a lot more carrots on her dish.  They could have made her dish more inventive or added something else in place of the lamb to really make it its own dish.  The lamb neck had almost a ground beef consistency and it was a nice combination with the toasted sage.  Again it was a good dish but not amazing.  I was actually starting to get pretty full at this point but I still had my swordfish and dessert.  Also it was about 10pm at this point and I was about to fall asleep in my food. I definitely did not anticipate this being a 3+ hour meal and was not mentally prepared for it.  Luckily the swordfish came out not too long after the 2nd pasta dish.  To be honest I had just run out of steam by the time this dish got to me.  I just wanted to finish it quickly and get home so I probably didn't really savor or enjoy it as much as I should have.  As the server was explaining my dish to me I had no idea what she was saying.  What is involtini or an arborio salad?!  I will say that swordfish was cooked perfectly, nice and tender but not dry or overcooked.  The best part of the dish was the 3 pieces of swordfish belly wrapped in cabbage.  The cabbage kept a lot of moisture in the belly and it was delicious.  The other parts of the dish weren't super memorable and I couldn't even really figure out what I was eating by then.  At this point I couldn't wait for dessert to roll around.  I ordered the butterscotch semifreddo and Lav got the Chocolate Ricotta tortino with toasted pistachios and extra virgin olive oil gelato.  Luckily both our desserts were great and it helped us to get out of our cranky mood.  The semifreddo was almost like ice cream but more like a frozen mousse.  It actually tasted more like coffee instead of butterscotch but luckily I like coffee so that was fine with me.  I had a bite of the chocolate ricotta dish and it was surprisingly light tasting despite looking super rich and filling.  While both desserts were great, the best part was actually these 2 sugar donut hole type pastries they brought out filled with rich fluffy cream.   I could have had 10 of them, they were that good.  They also brought out a jar of Italian cookies but given that it was almost 11:30pm at that time and I was pretty full, I just couldn't go there.  Sadly, it took another 15-20 minutes to get our check and pay it, despite the fact that there were only 10 tables left in the entire restaurant.  In total our meal took 3 1/2 hours which I don't have a problem with in general, it just wasn't something I was expecting on a random Thursday night outing.

The total bill ended up being close to $200/pp with tax and tip.  Ouch.  Looking back we shouldn't have felt shamed/guilt-ed into getting the tasting menu.  We probably could have had a much more satisfying and affordable meal had we each just ordered a few dishes a la carte.  Don't get me wrong, Del Posto is a beautiful restaurant and I can definitely see why it's so highly regarded, I just didn't have that great of a personal experience.  I was also surprised at the lack of innovation on the vegetarian dishes.  I always feel like vegetarians kind of get screwed in general in situations like this but it was super evident this night.  I would go back but only if someone else pays for me. :)

Photo Credit: Yelp

Kajitsu Visited 4/14/2012 4 Forks

Kajitsu 414 E 9th St., (between 1st Ave & Avenue A), New York, NY 10009

Kajitsu is a truly unique experience in NYC.  I've never been to a place like this in New York before and I can honestly say that I have and will never have a similar meal anywhere (except for in Japan).   And for that, I give it 4 forks.  The food itself is very different and out of the box but I can't say that I loved it so much that I will come back.  It's like how I felt about going to Egypt:  I'm glad I went, had a great time there, can check it off my list of places I've always wanted to go, but probably won't go back.

Kajitsu is one of those very clean and minimalistic Japanese places.  Also, note that it is NOT a sushi or noodle restaurant.  It is an all vegetarian restaurant.  There basically isn't a menu, you either order the 4-course meal ($50), the 7-course meal ($70) or the "special" 8 course menu ($100) but they only offer that meal to 5 tables all night so you need to pre-order in advance.  Aarti, Will and I opted for the 7 course meal.  Luckily, they do leave the menu on a small piece of paper in front of you so that you know what you are eating as you are served and the waitstaff graciously describes each dish (and they give detailed instructions on how to eat them too!).  

Our first dish was the spring vegetable sushi with crispy cherry leaf.  I was a bit weary about the leaf as it literally looked like a giant leaf that looked like it fell off a tree that was lightly battered and fried, but it was amazing.  You could barely taste the leaf part, all you could really taste was a light and crispy tempura.  The vegetables were clean and consisted of asparagus, zucchini and some other veggies I wasn't 100% sure what they were.  

Next was the grated cauliflower soup which was fabulous.  You could really taste the cauliflower but it wasn't overpowering.  Next was a dish of bamboo shots, white asparagus, pickled vegetables and red gelee.  This dish was all sort of confusing because I usually don't like bamboo shoots but nothing on the dish looked or tasted like bamboo shots to me.  I was a bit freaked out by the red gelee dish but it just tasted like pickled cabbage.  There was some fried gluten like component to the dish that was my favorite part of the dish but frankly I couldn't tell you what it was exactly. 

Next was the udon noodles with a trio of vegetables.  Usually when I hear udon I think of thick white noodles, but these were thin almost soba like noodles.  You could tell that they were homemade and they were super light as compared to the pasta they use for Italian dishes.  It was served with light dipping sauce on the side and you are supposed to dip the noodles in the sauce which was a bit difficult.  Why can't you just pour the dipping sauce into the bowl of noodles? But I didn't want to offend the restaurant, so I followed instructions!  The vegetables were again some asparagus, "lettuce" (I use quotation marks because that's what the waitress called it but it seemed more like kale or spinach) and again some kind of pickled vegetable/radish.  This dish was super light and clean tasting.  As with most Japanese food, there isn't a lot of oil, grease or salt and this was the epitome of that kind of style of cooking.  The 5th course was grilled fennel with yuba in an English pea sauce.  The fennel was perfectly cooked, it was super tender and soft and melted in your mouth.  The yuba was actually cubes of tofu skin and this was actually one my favorite ingredients/components of the night (maybe because I actually knew what it was and had it before in Chinese food).  The pea sauce was a light pea puree and was nicely done.  

By the time the 6th course came around, I was actually starting to get pretty full and thought that maybe I made a mistake in ordering 7 courses.   The 6th dish was house-made mochi with butterbur and scallion sauce.  For some reason when I saw the word mochi, I assumed this would be a sweet dish.  But no, it was a savory dish.  The mochi was lightly fried and crispy on the outside and it was a heavy/dense mouthful.  If you are avoiding carbs or gluten, this would be your ultimate nightmare.  This dish was served with a very light broth on the side and super fresh thin slices of seaweed.  You poured the broth into the dish and then mixed in the seaweed with the chopped scallions and mochi.  Totally unique and different from anything I've had before (not that anything I had up until this point wasn't different from anything I've had before).  By the time the last course arrived I was starting to feel like I have had enough, even though I wasn't super full.  There's just only so much of this kind of food you can have in one sitting and mind you, by this time I think over 2 hours had gone by.  The last course was a sweet red bean tofu dish served with vegetable and kumquat chips.  It was totally fine by Asian dessert standards, but then again, desserts are a strong suit for most Asian countries.  The kumquat chip was a strange taste...as Aarti said, it was like eating a burst of sunshine.   Last and definitely least we were served asian candies with freshly whisked green tea.  The "candies" were almost like eating smarties or those weird chalkly mints you sometimes get in a waiting room.  So in a sense, they weren't great.  The whisked green tea was very fresh tasting....it was a bright green powder that they put into a cup and then pour hot water into and then they whisk very quickly until it's frothy.   

Overall, my meal felt like a cleansing of the system.  Everything about it was pure and and unprocessed.  It was great to be able to sit at the counter and watch them make all the food and you can see how basically everything seemed to be steamed, pickled or raw.  There was very little frying going on and you could tell that there were no preservatives, very little salt or sugar used in the food.  It was just a really natural meal and honestly I didn't miss the fact that there wasn't any meat or seafood (although that would have been nice).  It's a great experience and one that I do recommend, especially vegetarians.  Unlike most of eating experiences, I don't think I would ever see these dishes on another restaurants menu because they were just that different and unique.  Plus this place rotates their menu every month, so don't even expect to see these dishes if you go.  While I do recommend Kajitsu, I just don't see myself committing to a 3+ hour meal of 7 courses like this on a regular basis.  

Total bill: $85/pp with tax.

Photo Credit: Yelp

Super Linda Visited 4/11/2012 3.5 Forks

Super Linda 109 W Broadway, (between Duane St & Reade St), New York, NY 10013

Apparently Super Linda is supposed to be the new La Esquina in that it's a hot Latin restaurant that is also part time club.  But when Amy, Kristin, Anuja and I walked in on a Wednesday night at 6:30, it was practically empty and there were actually families there.  So not exactly what we were thinking but of course it was pretty early on a weekday.  


The hostess was this too-cool for school Australian model who wouldn't seat us until our whole party was here, which was a bit ridiculous because 4 out of the 5 of us were there.  So then we had to lie and say there were 4 of us for dinner and then as we were getting seated we said it was actually 5 of us and luckily at that moment Kristen walked in.  Despite the hostess' slightly snotty attitude our waitress was great.  As we were ordering cocktails, she out right told me, "I was told that the cocktail you order sucked by my last customer."  Uh ok.  So she offered to let me order it and if I didn't like it she told me I could take it back and order something else, which was pretty cool of her.  And you know what? She was right about the cocktail, the Topanga Canyon.  I originally ordered it because it had Stoli and raspberry but it also had orange crush and that just ruined the whole drink.  Instead I got a prosecco with elderflower and lemon which was nice and refreshing.  In terms of food, we ordered a bunch of food for the whole table: scallop ceviche with chile, lime and avocado ($14), 2 orders of the shrimp balls ($12), tostada do esquitas ($8), ravioli with ricotta, walnuts, spinach and mushroom ($18), flat iron steak with pumpkin and grilled scallion ($26), the red and green snapper ($28) and a side of braised kale ($4).  

The scallop ceviche came out on a plate, which I actually thought was a bit weird since they usually get served in a tall glass, but regardless, the scallop was nice and fresh but honestly it could have used a bit more salt and more lime/tartness.  The shrimp balls were tasty and all shrimp (no filler) and  served in this spicy red sauce.  It totally reminded me of the shrimp balls you get at dim sum but at x3 of the price.  The tostada do esquitas was basically the yummy Mexican corn shucked on to a small tortilla.  It came with all the fixins of the corn on the cob, the mayo, lime, and cotija cheese.  But while I usually love that type of corn, I just wasn't wow'd by this dish.  What makes the corn on the cob work is that you get to drown yourself in mayo and cheese but it was hard to do that in this dish.  It was totally fine but nothing amazing. 

Next came the main entrees.  I really enjoyed the flank steak, it was perfectly pink and raw in the middle and seared nicely on the outside.  When they said that it was served with pumpkin, I was a bit unsure if it was in season, but it was actually a sweet potato and it was quite delicious and was a great combination with the meat.  The snapper was served almost like a whole fish (there wasn't a head but the tail was still on) and half of it was covered in a red sauce and the other half in a green sauce (hence the name of the dish).  They gave us tiny tortillas with this dish so I guess we were supposed to make our own mini fish tacos? I didn't and just ate the fish by itself.  I thought the fish was cooked well (although it didn't taste like snapper and more like a more generic white fish) but Kristin had said that she found tons of bones in her bite, so that was a bit unsettling for her.  The ravioli didn't look like ravioli at all, it all just seemed like all the ingredients mushed into a bowl but that could be because I was one of the last people to get to the dish and a bunch of the gals had cut the raviolis in half so none of them were intact by the time the dish arrived to my seat.  Last but not least the kale was actually one of my favorite dishes of the night even though it was just a side dish.  I haven't had kale in a long time but this was delicious and just the right texture.  Not soggy or overly raw and tough.  It totally has inspired me to make it myself at home. 

By the time we were done eating, the place was packed and starting to get that more clubby vibe.  But where it gets super chi-chi is when you walk downstairs.  There is small almost secret room that was pumping super loud music and seemed more like a bar than an extension of the restaurant.  It was a fun night out with the girls, but after getting the bill ($70/pp) I wasn't really sure how we spent that much money after splitting all the dishes that were mostly sides.  I guess those cocktails really did add up!

Photo Credit: Eater