Taki Sushi Visited 2/27/2015 2 Forks

Taki Sushi 60 W 48th St., 2nd Fl., New York, NY 10036

I found myself in the middle of Midtown during lunch on a cold Friday afternoon and figured it was easier to grab some food while I was in the area vs. waiting to eat when I got home.  I have always been a sucker for good cheap sushi lunch special so when I saw this place across the street, I figured it would be fine.  I was prepared for the worst because it was on the 2nd floor of a non-descript building, figuring there would no one there but I was pleasantly surprised to find it completely packed - usually a good sign. 

Their lunch menu is your typical mom and pop sushi lunch menu:  bento boxes, sushi rolls specials, sushi and/or sashimi specials, udon noodles, and teriyaki specials.  I opted for the 3 rolls special for $12.95 which comes with soup and salad.  I got the spicy salmon, spicy white tuna and yellowtail and scallion roll - all very basic rolls.  The soup and salad were your typical miso soup and green salad with ginger carrot dressing - totally acceptable and fine.  Sadly, I couldn't say the same for my rolls.  I wasn't expecting mind blowing Nobu quality sushi but I was expecting something that was good enough for lunch.  It was clear that they were slammed and rushed through making the rolls because most of them weren't even fully closed.  Half of the yellowtail scallion rolls had unraveled opened and were just a mess. The other rolls also fell apart as soon I picked them up.  If they had just managed to actually make them into actual rolls, the food would have been fine but it was just such careless sloppy work that I was really annoyed.  I get that they were extremely busy during lunch but it just isn't acceptable to pay this little attention to your food presentation. 

I would say this place is fine in a pinch if you are in the area but I wouldn't hold your breath and expect anything worth writing home about.  Total bill:  $16 with tax and tip. 

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong Visited 2/24/2015 3.5 Forks

Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong 1 E 32nd St., New York, NY 10016

Ahh - Korean BBQ.  It's really such an amazing food experience but it's one of those things that requires a lot of time and stomach space.  Eric, Borami and I ended up here for our team dinner because Eric had never tried Korean BBQ and Borami and I love it.  I had read about this place on Grubstreet and how it was a well known LA chain that everybody loves, so it sounded like a great option.  There's a location in Flushing but the new location in the city is right on the edge of Koreatown.  The place opens at 5pm and we got there around 6pm and it was already pretty crowded with the entire 2nd floor already full.  

The menu is pretty standard - cuts of beef and pork, meat combos and then a few sides.  We opted for the small pork combo ($48) which came with pork jowl, seared pork belly, pork collar and spicy pork belly.  The waitress said that the small was enough for 2, so we ordered an order of the beef short rib ($29) as well and then I also wanted to get the seafood pancake.  The one absolutely weird thing here was that they did NOT have bulgogi on the menu.  What kind of Korean BBQ place doesn't have this staple meat item?!  That was incredibly disappointing and probably the main reason I can't give this place 4 forks.  

But on to the food.  What I love about Korean BBQ is that the meal itself comes with a lot of side dishes - we had tofu, scallion and bean sprouts, kimchi, spicy soy bean past stew and then strangely steam egg and corn with cheese.  The last two were things that I've actually never seen before in Korean BBQ.  It was an interesting touch but not sure if I really needed it with my meal. The waitress started with all pork first and she stands there and cuts and cooks it for us.  To be honest, there was so much of it I had no clue which cuts I was eating but everything was delicious - meaty and fatty at the same time.  We had chosen the pork because I had read on Yelp that a lot of people had preferred the pork to the beef here but after trying both I have to say that I actually preferred the beef cut that we had over the pork.  I can't believe the waitress told us that the small combo only ate 2 people because we were all stuffed the brim after just the pork cuts that we ended up leaving behind quite a few bites of meat which made me so sad.  We were probably also stuffed because of giant pancake dish we had also - it was a bit too thick in the batter for me but it had a nice crunch on the outside and it was stuffed with seafood and scallions on the inside.  I think I was confusing it with the Chinese version where it's thinner and lighter because this one was pretty dense. 

The service was very attentive and the waitress was really nice but then this weird thing happened where the owner (?) came out and asked us how our meal was and kept talking about the meats we had and it was just kind of odd - I couldn't tell if he legitimately wanted to talk to us to understand our thoughts because the place was new or if he was trying to kick us out of our table because we were sitting there for a bit mulling over if we could finish the last bites of food.  It was definitely crowded and I get that they wanted to turn our table over but I really hate feeling rushed, especially in a place like this where you are eating a LOT of food and sometimes you need a 2nd wind to finish everything.  In any case, it was a fun night even though we only stayed for 1 1/2 hours.  It's definitely a good option in the city but without the bulgogi it didn't quite feel like the right experience.  Total bill:  $58/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Randolph Brooklyn Visited 2/22/2015 3.5 Forks

Randolph Brooklyn 104 S 4th St., Brooklyn, NY 11249

Randolph is becoming a small empire in NYC with two locations in the LES and now one in Brooklyn.  I had been to Randolph Beer in the city a few years ago and loved the low key vibe and the fact that they also had great drinks and food there, so when the one in Williamsburg opened, I was eager to check it out.

In true Williamsburg fashion, it's more hipster and honestly leans a bit too much on a post-college/millennial scene.  The one in the city had a more homey and comforting feel and this one was louder and bigger.  But it's one of the rarely places in Williamsburg that has bottomless boozy brunch - which we actually ended up not doing but it's just always good to know that it's an option if you want it.  The menu had a bunch of different items but it's mostly on the southern comfort side.  I ended up getting the fried chicken sandwich, Jenn got the breakfast nachos ($13) and Kristin got the egg white and veggie scramble ($12).  As I mentioned, they have a fantastic drink menu but none of us were particularly in the mood for pitchers of bloody mary's or mimosas, so Kristin and I got the hot cider ($14) which was great on such a cold morning.  The fried chicken sandwich was a buttermilk boneless fried chicken breast with slaw and served with waffle fries.  I'm not going to lie but I really got this dish for the waffle fries because they are one my favorite things in the world and a definite weak spot for me.  The fries were delicious, crispy and incredibly addictive.  The sandwich itself was good but the batter was a bit too thick for me as I tasted more batter than chicken.  But it went well with the fries - I just would have preferred a slightly juicier and more seasoned piece of chicken.  I didn't try Jenn or Krisitin's dish but they both mentioned that they liked it.  The breakfast nachos came with cheddar and jack cheese, baked eggs, beans, and ranchero sauce on top of chips (luckily Jenn and I had just both come from Pure Barre so we didn't feel so guilty).

The bar/restaurant only opens at noon but by the time we left around 1:30ish it was getting full of late waking locals.  It's definitely a fun/young place and if you're looking for a restarant in Williamsburg that does boozy brunch (the whole table has to do it), it's a good place to check out.   I still prefer the one in the city more but it's hard to justify going out there when there's one so close to where I live where I can still get those waffle fries.   Total bill:  $50/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

L & W Oyster Co. Visited 2/13/2015 3 Forks

L & W Oyster Co.  254 5th Ave., New York, NY 10001

I had walked past this place a few times in the past year and made a mental note to check it out one day because I do love a good oyster bar/restaurant.  Strangely enough, Holly and I always seem to end up at seafood restaurants when we meet for dinner and this was no exception.  Trying to get a reservation the day before Valentine's Day on Opentable seemed to be just as difficult as getting a reservation on Valentine's Day, so it was nice that I was able to snag a table for 3 on a Friday night here.

As the name indicates, this place is pretty much seafood focused and there are TONS of options. Unfortunately, no one at the table was in the mood and/or liked raw oysters but Holly and I did split the fried oyster tacos and the tuna ceviche ($15) to start and we also got a side of homemade cheddar cheese goldfish crackers ($4) to nibble on as well.   The fried oysters came in small hard shell tacos which is something you don't actually really see that often anymore.  I mean, think about it, when was the last time you had a hard shell taco?  The filling inside was good but I would have preferred a soft shell tortilla instead since it was fried food stuff inside a seemingly hard fried outside.  The tuna ceviche was served with a large heaping of avocado, Japanese seasoning and some grapefruit slices.  It was a pretty good dish but it actually could have been a bit cleaner and simpler without some of the seasoning on top of it.

For my main entree, I got the Lobster BLT ($26) which sounded amazing - lobster, bacon, arugula, tomato, pickled garlic and sriracha aioli.  It came on this giant buttery toasted Texas style toast and as much as it pains me to say this, it was almost too buttery.  There was so much bread and butter that it was hard for me to really taste the lobster in there, which should have been the main focus of the sandwich but it sadly wasn't.  It was definitely a lot of food but I feel like it didn't showcase the main ingredients very well.  I was also a bit disappointed that for $26 they served chips instead of fries or even a salad.  Chips kind of seemed like a cop out side dish but at least they were tasty chips.

Despite all this food that we had, Holly, Christine and I still had room for dessert.  We ended up ordering both a chocolate cake and a strawberry shortcake.  I had several bites of the strawberry one and it was light and a nice way to refresh my palate after eating a carb heavy entree.

All in all, the meal was fine but I felt like there was definite room for improvements.  I personally like my seafood to be a bit cleaner, lighter and more in its natural state.  Maybe my opinion might have been a bit different if I had gotten some food from the raw bar.  Total bill:  $80/pp with tax, tip and drinks.

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Russ and Daughters Cafe Visited 2/10/2015 3.5 Forks

Russ and Daughters Cafe 127 Orchard St., New York, NY 10002

The Russ and Daughters store on Houston Street is a New York institution that been around forever and everyone knows that its THE place to get your smoked fish products and other Jewish delicatessens. I went there years ago to get a bagel and lox sandwich and it makes you realize what a real bagel, lox and cream cheese sandwich should taste like.  So I was super super excited when they opened a full blown restaurant so that you can sit down and try out a bunch of different dishes.

Allison and I went super early on a random Tuesday night and it was pretty empty.  The menu is full of what you would expect from a place like this:  latkes, pastrami, smoked fish, caviar, pickled herring, kugel, and blintzes.  If we had time, we probably would have ordered the entire menu but we were in kind of a hurry, so we opted for the stuffed cabbage (special for the night) and the classic board ($16) - we were going to order more but the waiter said that the cabbage was a huge dish so we figured we wouldn't push ourselves.  Turns out, the portions were on the small side instead and we totally should have ordered more.  The stuffed cabbage was filled with rice and barley and covered in a tomato sauce and served with a deliciously crisp baked potato and a small salad.  While the cabbage was tasty, it didn't have any ground meat in it, so it felt like it was missing a key flavor profile. The dish could have had a bit more seasoning to it since cabbage and rice on their own isn't very flavorful. Meanwhile The Classic board came with Nova smoked salmon, cream cheese, tomato, red onion, capers and your choice of bagel, bialy, rye or pumpernickel - we opted for a toasted everything bagel. As expected the smoked salmon was fantastic - it was very thinly sliced and had a great consistency to it.  The tomato was incredibly ripe and juicy and I would have eaten an entire plate of that on my own.  The capers add a great salty kick to everything and at some point I was just popping them individually in my mouth.  The cream cheese actually tasted a bit more like goat cheese - it was very sweet and while it was good, I would have preferred your basic standard full fat cream cheese.  The one let down was the bagel - it was just ok.  There wasn't anything wrong with it, but there wasn't anything great about it either.   While I did enjoy the spread, I did think it was pretty expensive for what it was - essentially it's a deconstructed sandwich and I can't imagine walking into a bagel store, asking for lox and cream cheese and then paying $16 for it - even if it is delicious and good, it's just overpriced for what it is.  I would have preferred to have had more smoked salmon and no bread product instead.

Since the portions were so small, we ended up ordering the knishes ($8) as well.  A word of warning if you are going to get this dish:  the spicy mustard will go directly to your brain.  I'm not even joking - not knowing how full of horseradish it would be, I covered my knish in mustard and my brain almost shut down from it.  Again - good dish but small portion.

All and all, Russ and Daughters Cafe has a lot to offer and they clearly have done a great job with the cafe.  It looks like a great place to come to for breakfast or brunch as they also have a full egg section to the menu.   I just wish that their portions were a bit bigger and if you are going to get a board, maybe go with the bialy because let's be honest, the bread portion of that dish is really just the carrying vessel for the lox and tomato.  Total bill:  $25/pp with tax, tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Dimes Visited 2/7/2015 3.5 Forks

Dimes 143 Division St., New York, NY 10002

The cross section of Chinatown/Lower East Side seems to be the new hipster hot spot these days. There are tons of new restaurants popping up these days and Dimes is one that has gotten a lot of press these days.  I had actually tried to go to Dimes last year with my friend Nicole since she lives around the corner, but the place is literally the size of my kitchen and the wait was awful, so we left but I had bookmarked it as some place to return.

The appeal of Dimes is that it's like being in California - it's all healthy, clean, crunchy, granola type food but all in a good way.  The menu is full of salads and entrees with things like farro, quinoa, bulgar wheat, kale, and acai bowls (it's the only place I've seen acai outside of Brazil).   So you get the idea. I opted for the Summer Tacos ($8) because it was one of the rare items that had egg in it and it was brunch time, so I had to go with something that was more egg-y.  We also got the Love Toast ($6) for the table and I got a hot chai tea ($3.50).  The toast was essentially 2 pieces of wheat toast with housemade tahini, mint, honey and topped with raspberries.  I liked the combination of the tahini and honey - it was really filling and rich - it was kind of like having peanut butter and honey but slightly different with the tahini.  It's definitely something to think about as a substitute for my breads in the future.  Next came the summer tacos - luckily there were 2 of them but it didn't come with anything else on the plate.  Although I guess for $8, it makes sense that that's all you're going to get. At least they were some damn delicious tacos.  They are made with perfectly soft scrambled eggs, spicy mango salsa, tomatillo, cheddar cheese, avocado, hot sauce and cilantro.  The taco shell is a nice soft flour tortilla and all the flavors blend really well for each other.  It was a nice "healthy" breakfast - no meat, no carbs (except for the tortillas obviously) and not a lot of grease or oil to it. They were really quite fantastic and it made me think that I could go straight home and make my own breakfast tacos but I'm sure they wouldn't be as good.

The reason I don't give this place a higher rating is that it's really just a shitshow waiting for a table and then when you do sit down, it's a bit uncomfortably tight.  Luckily we had gotten one of the corner tables because we were a group of 3 but otherwise, everyone else seemed to be piled on top of each other.  It's just too small of the space to keep up with the demand.  The clientele is also a bit too hipster/model/too cool for school kind of vibe but I really can't complain when I do live in the epi-center of hipsterville.  I would definitely come back, maybe during an off hour when it's not so crowded.  If you're looking for some healthy, clean eating, Dimes is worth the trek and even if you're too lazy to wait, at least you can still walk around and grab some great food nearby in Chinatown. Total bill:  $20/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Via Carota Visited 2/6/2015 3 Forks

Via Carota 51 Grove St., New York, NY 10014

So this review might be a bit unfair because I had such high expectations for this place and while the food wasn't terrible, it just didn't floor me like the two other restaurants by Jody Williams and Rita Sodi (Buvette and I Sodi).  I Sodi is absolutely one of my favorite Italian restaurants in the city and often gets over-shadowed behind the big names such as Babbo and L'Artusi, but it is one of the best in the city.  So when they opened another Italian restaurant nearby, I was all for it. 

Lav and I met up around 6:30 on a Friday and we were one of the last people to get seated at a two top - after that the place definitely filled up and people were waiting a while at the bar.  The menu has several appetizers, lots of veggie small plates, a few pastas and then a few secondi dishes. We opted to start with the cauliflower gratin ($10) and the cabbage salad ($10) to start and I got the pappardelle pasta with ragu ($19) and Lav got the squash ($10) and pickled beets for her main ($10).  While this was an Italian restaurant, I was surprised that they only had 4 pastas on the menu and that they were all a bit on the heavy side - gnocchi with gorgonzola and a few others that I can't remember now - but I was surprised that there wasn't at least one lighter pasta dish on the menu.  

The 2 starters came out and I really enjoyed them.  The cauliflower gratin is pretty the same as the one they have at Buvette - it's rich, creamy and cheesy - what's not to like about that combination.  For some good counterbalance, the shredded cabbage was light yet tangy and served up with some toasted farro and served with shaved parmesan cheese.   While these weren't particularly innovative dishes, they got the meal off to a good start. 

My pappardelle looked and smelled good and it generally tasted pretty good too.  But the noodles were kind of stuck together and at some point I forgot that I was eating a pappardelle pasta and thought I was having a ravioli because the pasta was sticking into square pockets in between the ragu. The dish was not bad but I remember eating at I Sodi and thinking to myself that I was having an out of body eating experience. and I wasn't getting that vibe here.   Lav had a similar experience with her dishes - she liked them but wasn't really blown away by them - especially the squash dish that had a giant piece of smoked cheese on top of it.  We were hoping to redeem our meal with dessert - unfortunately I made the mistake of ordering the olive oil panna cotta ($8) - I actually didn't mind it because it had a nice dash of sea salt on the top but it was essentially olive oil pudding which isn't what you think of when you order Italian dessert.  To be fair, the dessert was exactly as advertised, I just wasn't thinking straight when I was ordering the dessert.  We saw a waiter walk by with some sweet chocolate looking dessert and asked what it was and he said it was the hazelnut semifreddo ($8) and immediately ordered one of those.  It was a much better dessert - a smooth chocolate base with a light fluffy creme fraiche top and toasted hazelnuts sprinkled on the inside.  This was clearly the best dessert to have and in fairness to the waitress she did say that this was her favorite dessert but I just wasn't sold on it because I'm not a huge hazelnut fan but this one worked well.

Overall, the meal was good but based on all the hype and expectation, it didn't really rise to the occasion and stand out from its predecessors.  Plus based on how much I spent on dinner, I felt like I could have gotten a better meal somewhere else for less.  But I should note that they make a mean Old Fashion ($14), it was probably one of the best Old Fashions I've had in a while.   Total bill:  $96/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp