Taboon Visited 4/4/2014 3.5 Forks

Taboon 773 10th Ave., New York, NY 10019

When my dad told me that he was coming to NYC for an Art Expo that was located on 12th Ave and 54th and wanted to me to find a restaurant nearby, I was really perplexed.  I mean besides being in a total waste land,  I couldn't even think of anything within a 5 block radius except the Gotham West Market and I didn't want to go there since it was a bit too casual.  I finally found out about Taboon on Opentable and luckily they had a 7:45pm reservation.  

The food here is Greek/Mediterranean which I love so I was excited to try it out.  I was and wasn't surprised by how crowded it was on a Friday.   I'm surprised because it's in such a removed area but also not surprised because if you live/work in that area, it's probably the best dinner option.  My one gripe about the menu is that everything was about $3-5 more expensive than it needed to be except for the dips.  But regardless the menu has a lot of delicious options.  To start we got the red snapper ceviche ($14), the crab meat salad ($14.50) and the sautéed calamari ($11) and then shared the lamb duo ($36) for an entree.  I was tempted to get a tzaziki dip for the bread but figured we had ordered enough food that we didn't need it.  While the bread was delicious, I definitely wished that I gotten the tzaziki because there was just something missing while we were eating the bread.  All the appetizers came out together and at first glance, while they looked great, they definitely looked small.   The ceviche was served chopped up and mixed together with lim juice, avocado, bulghur wheat, cucumber, shallots, cilantro and mint served on a romaine lettuce leaf and then topped with slices of radish.   When I think ceviche, I usually think they are chunks of fish marinated in lime juice not chopped up - while I wasn't a huge fan of this format, the flavor profile was still great.  Very refreshing and light but it was a bit difficult to really taste the fish because it was so cut up.  Next I moved on to the crab meat salad - this came with fresh crab meat, feta cheese, oregano, croutons, tomato and microgreens.   Again, nice fresh flavors but not sure if it really needed the feta cheese in it, but I'm never one to not eat feta on anything.  The calamari was sautéed with lemon oil and fresh herb salsa verde and served on a bed of arugula and cherry tomatoes.  As my dad said, it was a great dish but very small - it only came with 4 small pieces.  So while we had ordered 3 appetizers, I was still really hungry and totally ready for my entree.  The lamb was served two ways - as grilled lamb chops and as lamb meatballs and this was served on a bed of lentils and root vegetables. I'm not sure if they did this because they knew we were sharing but it was nice that there was 2 of each kind, so we didn't have to fight over who got what.  Again, these were also a bit on the smaller side as well but the root vegetables did help fill me up.  The lamb chop was delicious and grilled medium rare.  It fell off the bone and had a nice small amount of fat around it to keep the meat moist.  The meatball was also fabulous and juicy but flavored well with herbs and tasted just like a lamb kebab.

So while it sounded like we ordered a lot of food, I was still a bit hungry at the end of the meal.  Based on the waiter's recommendation, we ordered the date sponge cake ($10).  It was a date sponge cake soaking in rum and then topped with a date compote and English cream and fig reduction.  At first bite it was wonderful but as you start to take more bites of it, the intense sweetness really hits you.  It was to the point where I just really couldn't eat anymore of it because I was starting to feel sick from the sweetness.  All in all, I was glad that I found this place and if I was stuck all the way on the west side again, I would come back here if I needed a fancier establishment than Gotham West.  But do be aware that it's a bit pricey and the portions are on the small side.  Total bill:  $70/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Momoya Visited 4/3/2014 4 Forks

Momoya 185 7th Ave., New York, NY 10011

I had just been complaining that I had been in a very long "meh" restaurant rut these days.  I couldn't figure out if every place I had been to recently really was mediocre if I have just been in a bad mood these days.  I even contemplated discontinuing my blog because I have been so uninspired lately.   But luckily Anuja recommended Momoya and it totally brought me out of my restaurant rut.   Despite the slightly chaotic wait, the food was delicious and made me excited to get back out into the restaurant scene again.

As I said, the wait is kind of crazy.  It's smack dab in the middle of Chelsea and we went on a busy Thursday night but luckily our wait was no longer than 30 minutes.  We opted to start with the mixed green salad ($6) and the tuna avocado ($12) and then split the Black Dynamite roll ($15), the yellowtail scallion roll ($7), the spicy scallop roll ($10), and the salmon crunchy roll ($13).  The mixed salad was a notch better than other mom and pop sushi places because they used dark mixed greens instead of a bunch of iceberg lettuce and they tossed the dressing in with the greens instead of just kind of plopping it on top of the salad so it really coated each piece of green.  The carrot ginger dressing was delicious and made me want to go out and buy it for my own consumption.  The tuna avocado appetizer was served raw (in cubes) and then topped with more mixed green salad and it laid on top of sesame ginger soy dressing.  I thought it was missing some salt or other kind of seasoning.  While I do like my raw fish to be very fresh and it the cleanest state as possible, the tuna here was missing something and it kind of tasted a bit bland but it still didn't keep me and Anuja from eating the whole thing.  Then came the rolls - they were nicely presented all together in a large circular plate but the one that bother me was that the waiter didn't tell us which roll was which, so we kind of had to figure that out on our own.  It wasn't really difficult but that's not the point.  I tried the spicy scallop first because that is my all time favorite roll of any kind and it was pretty damn good here.  It's not the kind with a bunch of spicy mayo on top of it but the more chopped up kind but it really hit the spot and made me happy.  The yellowtail scallion was incredibly fresh and reminded me of why I don't order more yellowtail rolls because it's a great fish.  The Black Dynamite roll was one of those large cut up rolls and it had spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, cucumber and avocado.  I normally don't love the big rolls because they are so hard to eat but this one was just right.   Lastly the salmon crunchy roll had mango, avocado and spicy salmon with crunchy rice on the outside. I don't recall tasting any mango (and I normally don't like rolls that have fruit in it) - maybe it was because I was so intrigued by the crunchy rice on the outside since that was so different.   Even after all the food, we were still a bit hungry and contemplated ordering more food - especially after I saw the table next to us order the rock shrimp tempura that looked amazing.  But we opted for some dessert and got the mochi ice cream ($7).  It was 3 mochi pieces cut in half - strawberry, green tea and red bean.  They were all delicious but I particularly liked the red bean one.

All in all, I glad that I ended up at Momoya because it reminded me of how much I do experiencing new restaurants and enjoying good food.  While it's not like Sushi Nakazawa, it's a perfect place for a more affordable fun night in Chelsea.  Total bill:  $44/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Haru Sushi Visited 3/23/2014 3.5 Forks

Haru Sushi 205 W 43rd St., New York, NY 10036

If there's any part of the city that I really hate, it'll be Times Square.  It's crowded, dirty, and full of horrible shops and restaurants.  Unfortunately, it's also home to most Broadway shows.   I got a great opportunity to see Les Miserables on opening night on Broadway which was awesome but it's always a pain to figure out where to eat pre-theater.  The curtains went up at 6pm, so Allison and I had to have an early bird dinner and luckily Haru has a happy hour deal that lasts until 6pm in the dining room and 7pm at the bar, even on weekends!  Perfect. 

There are a bunch of other Haru locations in the city but strangely I have never been to any of them.  It was actually the perfect pre-theater dinner spot since it was only a 5 minute walk to the theater.  We took full advantage of the happy hour specials - we ordered all the rolls that they had on special, the lobster gyoza ($8) and Allison got a soup as well.  They had 4 different rolls for the happy hour special:  california ($4), spicy tuna ($5), crunchy spicy salmon ($5) and the haru wasabi ($8) - it's a nice combination of rolls and I probably would have ordered the spicy tuna, crunchy spicy salmon and haru wasabi roll anyways, so it was even better that they were on special.  I felt like the rolls weren't going to be enough for dinner so I threw in the lobster gyoza at the last minute - they were ok, a bit overcooked on the pan and even though I love lobster, I still prefer the pork versions here because you really need the juiciness of the meat to make the gyoza taste good on the inside.  The rolls were surprisingly not bad considering that I figured everything in Times Square was going to be pretty bleh.  The california and spicy tuna rolls were your standard sushi rolls that got the job done.  I did find that the crunchy spicy salmon roll had too much of the "crunch" in it which kind of dried it out on the inside but otherwise it was also a solid basic roll.  I was pleasantly surprised by the Haru Wasabi roll which had tuna, salmon, avocado and then it was topped with lots of salmon roe.  My only complaint is that if you're going to use the word wasabi in a roll that it should have wasabi in it, right?  But I did like all the roe they piled on top which gave the roll a nice pop to it. 

All in all, Haru is a nice option if you're forced to grab something to eat in the middle of what is possibility the worst part of NYC.  It's even better if you can swing by during happy hour and take advantage of the drink and food specials.  Total bill:  $25/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

The Butterfly Visited 3/20/2014 3 Forks

The Butterfly 225 W Broadway, New York, NY 10013

Damn, I am really on a mediocre restaurant trend these days.  Sorry about that everyone!  I actually had high hopes that The Butterfly would change that trend because it was a work dinner and usually with a bigger budget there is the possibility of a slightly better meal.  We also chose The Butterfly because it was within walking distance to work and because it's a Michael White restaurant - he's got a line up of some pretty good places around the city.  It's not quite diner food but similar to Empire Diner, it's high end casual food.  They had fried chicken, patty melt, fish and chips, chili dog as well as Arctic Char and steak.   So a real mish-mosh of food.  The good news is that they also have a fun line-up of classic kitchy cocktails like whiskey sours, mai tais, and palomas to help pass the time.  We ordered a bunch of cocktails as we tried to figure out how to order.  At first we thought of doing family style but besides the fried chicken basket, the rest of the dishes were hard to really share, so we opted to order the spinach and artichoke dip ($11), the reuben croquettes ($9) and the maple bacon skewers ($11) to start and I ordered the fish and chips ($20) for my main.  While the waitress was putting in our orders I asked her if she liked the fish and chip dish and she immediately shook her head. WHAT?!  So I asked about the patty melt and she said that was her favorite, so I switched to that instead ($18).   While I usually appreciate a waiter/waitress' desire to let people order what they want, I trust them to tell me if something is not worth ordering.  

To be honest, I wasn't super excited by the appetizers, but the one that I liked the most was the reuben croquette - it was made with house made corned beef sauerkraut, rye and thousand island and then fried like a croquette on the outside.  For some reason I love corned beef (must be from my childhood) and this was a different take on a reuben that I've never had before.  The rest of the apps were just ok.   The spinach and artichoke dip is what you would expect of cheese, spinach and artichoke.  Nothing bad but nothing mind blowing either.  Same for the maple bacon skewers - they came with bacon, brussels sprouts and pecans - you can't go wrong with bacon in any form but it wasn't anything that I craved later on.  I was actually intrigued by my patty melt because it's been a long time since I've had one.  It's essentially a burger but on rye bread instead of a bun and then toasted in a press.  This one also had onions and gruyere and cheddar cheese.  It was a pretty good sandwich and the mix of cheese was a nice touch - although I will say that I felt a bit greasy afterwards as sandwich bread doesn't really hold in the grease of a burger as much as a regular bun.   While I did enjoy my meal, I wouldn't say that it's worth $18 though.   Even though I was pretty full, I managed to save room for dessert mostly because well, I wasn't paying for dinner and felt like I should always try dessert at a place if possible.  We ordered the banana cream pudding ($7), brownie sundae ($9) and the apple crisp ($9).  They were all pretty damn good especially the banana cream pudding - it was a nice palate cleanser to having eaten all the greasy food before. 

All in all, it was a fine dinner but definitely not worthy of a corporate card dinner.  Not that I necessarily want to take advantage on my company dime but usually those are the type of dinners that you wouldn't necessarily have on your own - and well this was almost like my dinner at Empire Diner. It also didn't seem like a typical Michael White place, although I've only been to a few of his places but I've loved the ones I've been to before.  It's a cute enough place for fun cocktails and some snacks and dessert if you're in the hood.

Photo Credit: Yelp

Empire Diner Visited 3/16/2014 3 Forks

Empire Diner 210 10th Ave., New York, NY 10011

Empire Diner is an iconic Chelsea landmark that underwent a recent renovation and re-opened as a more upscale diner but still with a classic diner feel in decor.  The menu has "classic" diner food but all with a twist - so they have lox but it's served with burrata, they have mac and cheese but it's served with black truffle butter and orzo, they have a pork chop that's served with kale and pancetta, and grilled cheese with roasted tomato.

Lav and I started with house salad ($6) and she got the mac and cheese ($10) as a main and the charred broccoli with romano cheese ($6) while I opted for the Empire Burger ($16) because I had just come from Core Fusion and was starving.  The house salad was in this small bowl and it was way over dressed with a very sour like dressing.  It had a kale base which I don't mind but it hadn't sat in the dressing long enough and it still had the tough texture of kale that's unappealing.  I love a good salad (even basic house salads) but this one just didn't do it for me in any way.  The burger came out and the high end twist was that it was served on a brioche bun (of course) and it had special sauce, cheddar cheese, pickles, onion and lettuce and a side of fries.  It was a pretty decent burger, nicely medium rare in the middle and very juicy but not sure if it's really worth $16 as it wasn't anything crazy special.  The fries were nice and crispy and salty and complemented the burger very well.  I had a bite of Lav's mac and cheese and while appreciate that they were trying to do something different, mac and cheese is just something you don't screw with.  I wasn't a huge fan of the orzo base and it wasn't very cheesey in the gooey sense but it was very heavy on the parmesan which is not a cheese that I think works well with a mac and cheese dish.  The broccoli was nicely charred and was served in a stalky presentation - so if you don't like the stalk of a broccoli, don't order this but I didn't mind it.

At this point of the dinner, I was not super impressed but luckily we opted for dessert and that is what really pushed this from a 2.5 to 3 rating.  We opted for the Brooklyn Blackout Cake ($10) - I am normally not a huge chocolate fan but I make an exception for blackout cakes because they are usually so delicious.  The one here was no different.  It was a decadently moist devil's food cake base with a yummy pudding filling.  The slice was huge and served with a refreshing side of creme fraiche and if I hadn't felt so guilty I could have finished the whole thing on my own but I had to exercise restraint and stopped after a few bites.

In the end, I still prefer my diner to be more casual and on the low-brow side.  I appreciate what they were trying to do here especially since it's on the hip 10th Ave which has been opening up a lot of fancy restaurants but it would have been better off staying a true classic diner.  Total bill:  $35/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Cull and Pistol Visited 3/15/2014 3.5 Forks

Cull and Pistol 75 Ninth Ave., New York, NY 10011

One of my all time favorite places in NYC is Chelsea Market - yes, it's super touristy and always crowded but there's something about it that I just love.   I love the idea of being in one place with lots of food related stalls whether it's a restaurant, a kitchen supply store, or a market.  One of my favorite places to stop by is the Lobster Place, the seafood market in the back of the market.  It's ridiculously expensive but just a pretty market to walk around because of how nicely the food is presented.  So I was excited when they opened an oyster bar/seafood restaurant in the space next door. 

The menu is your classic East Coast seafood line-up:  raw bar, scallops, steamed whole lobster, and lobster rolls but then they have other delicious sounding dishes like miso glazed Hamachi collar, bacon wrapped Char, shrimp mole tacos and Uni Tagliatelle.  In terms of lobster rolls they had the CT or ME version.  The CT version being a warm, butter soaked version and the ME being the more cold classic mayo based one.  Holly and I thought it would be fun to get one of each version and split it.  But alas they told us they only had the CT version that night - which I thought was weird because the only difference between the two version is the mayo, so I guess that didn't have mayo that night? We both really wanted lobster rolls, so we just each got a CT version ($25) and split the octopus salad ($16) to start.

The octopus salad was served on a bed of frisee, crispy sunchokes, and then drizzled with a chorizo vinaigrette.  I usually am not a huge fan of frisee because I feel like it's eating dirt and this salad didn't change my impression of it.  There was too much of frisee and not enough leafy greens and the vinaigrette was very overpowering - didn't help that the salad was completely overdressed with it too.  The bits of octopus that we found in the salad were good, not too chewy, but there just wasn't enough of it.  I was pretty excited for our lobster rolls since I hadn't had one in a long time but I usually prefer the ME kind with a touch of mayo on it.  This one was definitely not bad but I still prefer the cold ME version. The bun was perfectly buttered and toasted and there were definitely lots of chunks of lobster meat inside.  While the lobster meat was cut up, I found it hard to take a proper bite because you couldn't really bite through the lobster  pieces - you had to take the whole chunk with each bite.  Usually the combination of lobster and butter is heavenly and it was fine here, but I just missed that chilled temperature and slight tang you get with mayo.  The roll was served with a ton of Old Bay fries and they were super addicting.  As someone from MD, I am completely obsessed with anything that has Old Bay on them and this was no exception.  I almost ate the entire plate of fries which was not a good thing.

All in all, I did enjoy my meal there and I'm never one to complaint about having lobster but somehow I can't help but feel like I would have enjoyed my meal more if I had the ME version.  For $25, it's a pretty good option but since I can't compared apples to apples I'm not sure if I can accurately rank it against some of my favorite lobster rolls like the ones at Pearl Oyster Bar, Mary's Fish Camp or even the Mermaid Inn.  But it does get high ratings for its location inside the Chelsea Market and they do have a $1 oyster happy hour that I would totally come back to check out.  Total bill with a bottle of wine:  $60/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Bar Boulud Visited 3/9/2014 3 Forks

Bar Boulud 1900 Broadway at 64th St., New York, NY 10023

I don't usually go to brunch on the UWS, but Lav and I had just spent a nice early morning at the MoMa and we decided to just walk around the city and ended up near Bar Boulud.  I always had this vision of the UWS being older, more high brow, more expensive and just not my scene.  My brunch here didn't really change my view.  While my meal was totally fine, I spent way more than I wanted on brunch and the vibe was just too stuffy for me.  I mean I rolled into the restaurant in jeans and sweater and there were some people there in 3 piece suits (ok, there were only 2 people like that but for the most part the crowd here is older and not dressed in ripped jeans like me). 

I generally like French food and they have your usual line up of eggs (or ouefs) florentine, croque monsieur, croque madame, quiche, salad nicoise, and omelettes.  They also had a brunch prix fixe but at $32 not including tax and tip, no thank you.  With all our walking, I had developed quite an appetite, so although I usually go for eggs in the morning, I got the Frenchie Burger ($18).  It was made with beef and pork belly confit, roasted tomato, raclette cheese, arugula, and french fries.  Compared to most places, the burger here was a bit on the smaller size, but from a health perspective, I was fine with that.  I will say that the burger was tasty - the pork belly confit was a nice touch and really added a great flavor and moisture profile to it.  The fries were the skinny salty kind and were totally fine.  I demolished the entire thing in a matter of minutes and did enjoy its every bite but I'm just not sure how I feel about paying almost $20 for it.  The restaurant was kind enough to let Lav order the frittata off the prix fixe menu (it was not listed under the a la carte section).  I had a small bite and it was a solid frittata with cheddar cheese and spinach and onions. 

All in all, it was totally a fine brunch experience if not a bit too high brow and expensive for me.  I guess I'll always be more of a downtown/Brooklyn gal, but if you are looking for the that UWS experience this place isn't a bad choice.  Total bill:  $29/pp with tax and tip 

Photo Credit:  Yelp