Chinese Club Visited 8/5/2018 2 Forks

Chinese Club  208 Grand St., Brooklyn, NY 11211

Aarti and I both independently sent each other texts messages about this place because it's Indo-Chinese, which is totally us!  There are a few locations but we went to the one in Williamsburg and when we stepped in, I had visions of us being there before when it was some other SE Asian restaurant and remember it being bad.  So that was kind of a bad omen (Note:  this restaurant has since closed, so I guess my gut was right).  I've been to Indo-Chinese places before in the city (Chinese Mirch) and loved the combination, so I was excited to try this place out. 

Unfortunately, it just wasn't very good.  We split the bhel salad ($9),  I got the banana leaf fish ($25) and Aarti got the dry hakka chili with tofu ($14).  The bhel salad was bhel mix, chutney, avocado, chili, onion, cilantro, and cucumber.  Bhel is an Indian snack that's kind of like a rice puff snack with lots of spices and flavor.  The salad was waay to spicy and too sweet at the same time.  Neither of us enjoyed it very much.  Sadly the same can be said for our main entrees.  My fish dish was fairly expensive for what it was - white fish, steamed inside of a banana leaf with okra and onion.  The fish was covered in spices but not in a good way.  If it's possible, it tasted like an unhealthy fish dish.  The waiter had sold Aarti on the dry chili hakka dish saying it was a classic and really good.  All it was was stir fry with fried tofu - very meh too. 

Sadly, I'm not surprised this place closed down.   It had a lot of potential and Indo-Chinese isn't something that you see very often but it just wasn't executed very well here.  Total price: $31/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit: Yelp

Hwa Yuan Visited 8/4/2018 4.5 Forks

Hwa Yuan  42 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002

I'm usually not a huge fan of "nice" Chinese restaurants - I've always had a soft spot of the mom and pop places where they scream at you and there is like a bed in the bathroom.  But I'll admit, that sometimes they are kind of dirty and can gross me out.  So when I read about this luxurious Chinatown legend making a comeback earlier this year, I had to try it out. 

When you step in, you can automatically tell that it's different from most of the Chinatown places.  First, it's super clean, quiet and has fancy white tablecloths.  It's got a very elegant Western feel to it with a few Asian influences injected in the decor.  The crowd was mostly non-Asians and the GM is an older white guy, so you know it's fancy.  All of that made me a bit nervous that the food wasn't going to be great or that it was going to be Americanized and with the exception of one dish, the food was outstanding.   We started with a whole Peking Duck ($65), sautéed pea shoots ($18), jellyfish ($18), baked black cod ($38) and soup dumplings ($10).  As you can tell from the prices, it's definitely much more expensive than your typical Chinatown joint but the quality and cleanliness is so much higher.

The duck was delicious and they carve it at your table.  They bring the whole duck (head on) to show you, which is honestly a bit much, even for me.  It looked a bit skinny when they first brought it out but it was lean with the right amount of fat to it and the skin was really good.  The best part of the meal was actually when my dad asked if they could turn the bones and left overs into a soup.  They just combined it with some broth, veggie and tofu but it was really fantastic.  The sautéed pea shoots and soup dumplings were both tasty and delicious - standard Chinese fare but so damn good.  But the star of the night for me was the jellyfish dish.  It was so good - fresh with the right amount of crunch and tang of vinegar.   I could have ordered 3 more of them and eaten it on my own.  Sadly the one let down of the night was the black cod.  Usually I get a whole fish when I'm at Chinese restaurants (and with people who would eat it with me) but we decided to go cod filet and it was such bad dish, especially for the price.  It was like a total Westernized dish - a small piece of cod fillet marinated in soy and mirin.  It was overcooked and under-marinated - terrible combination. 

Overall, it was such a pleasant surprise and definitely reminded me that you don't have to settle for gross restaurants to get good authentic food - but you will have to pay up for it.  The staff was super nice and I know I kind of gave crap about it being a bit stuffy but it was a nice change of pace.  I wouldn't say I would come here everyday because of the prices but I can definitely seem myself taking my parents here when they are in town. 

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Vice Versa Visited 7/27/2018 3.5 Forks

Vice Versa  325 W 51st St., New York, NY 10019

If you're wondering did I have two dinners in one night?  The answer is yes.  I had double booked myself but I didn't want to cancel either of my plans so I had the early dinner with Allison at Kyma and then headed over to a birthday dinner at Vice Versa for my friend Dan.  I was originally just going to go for "1 drink" but since it was his birthday, I ended up staying for the whole dinner and ordering yet another full meal.  Opps.  Needless to say, I did not feel the best the next day.

I've been here before to meet Dan for drinks and it's a classic Hell's Kitchen/Pre-Theater joint.  The clientele is a bit older but the crowd always feels like they are regulars here with the staff.  The nice thing is that it's never super crowded and everyone is super chill here (maybe too much so).  The menu here is traditional Italian with a nice line up of antipasti dishes, vegetables, lots of home made pastas and fish and meat dishes.  So there is truly something for everyone.  The table split the grilled calamari and some other appetizers and I got the spaghetti with crab ($25) because lord knows I needed another full meal at that point.  The calamari was fine, nothing really special.  But the crab pasta was delicious and not too fishy.  Since it was Dan's birthday, we got several desserts and the stand-out was the tiramisu.

Overall, it was a fun night because it was such a lower stress place where you could really relax and hang out with friends.  The food got the job done but what docked this place half a fork was the shaky and uneven service.   It just felt a bit disorganized.  If you're looking for a low key place in Midtown, it's worth a visit but I wouldn't necessarily go with you're in a hurry or don't have a ton of patience.  Total bill:  $110/pp with tax, tip and lots of drinks

Photo credit: Yelp

Kyma Visited 7/27/2018 3 Forks

Kyma  15 W 18th St., New York, NY 10011

As many of you know, I love Greek food and think it's highly underrated.  So when a lot of the food blogs were buzzing about this new place (which apparently has a cult following in Long Island), I felt like I had to check it out.  It's kind of on a random, non-descript street in the Flatiron District but the decor inside was lovely.  Spacious, bright and white - as you would expect from something with a Greek theme to it.

The menu is huge, traditional and authentic:  delicious dips, spanakopita, saganaki, lots of seafood dishes, whole fishes, salads and they also had lamb and pork chops.  Really robust menu and it was even a bit overwhelming for two people.  Allison and I landed on the dips ($16), Greek salad ($20), and we split a whole bronzino ($32).   As with most Greek restaurants, the dips were fabulous and the Greek salad outstanding with the tomatoes being the star.  But unfortunately, the whole fish was a real bummer for me.  I guess I'm used to the type of whole fish in Chinese restaurants where they literally give you the whole fish and you pick it apart.  Instead, here they say it's the whole fish but they filet it for you, which I guess is helpful if you don't want to deal with the bones.  While I love that Greek food is so simple and delicious with just a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of salt, this just felt super meh to me.  It was really underwhelming and for $32, I expected a big, more tender fish.  Paying $32 for a flat fish left me still feeling hungry.

Another weird thing that happened to me here (which is of no fault of the restaurant) is that I started to feel itchy in the lip and ever since this meal, I had what felt like an allergic reaction in my lips for a good 4 weeks.  It was really weird and I have no idea what it could have been but this experience kind of clouded my memory of eating her too.  But either way, I left dinner still feeling hungry and it wasn't clear to me why there was so much buzz about this place to begin with.  The menu was huge so it's possible that I could have had a much better meal with other options but I'm not sure if I will be running back to this place so soon.  Total bill:  $101/pp with tax, tip and a few drinks

L'Amico Visited 7/21/2018 3 Forks

L'Amico 851 6th Ave., Eventi Hotel, New York, NY 10001

A bunch of us were headed to the Taylor Swift concert (don't ask) at Giant Stadium for a fun Friday night out.  Since the show didn't start until 8:30ish, we thought it would be better to eat dinner in the city on the West side and then head over vs. eating really bad stadium food or hot dogs. 

L'Amico was jammed packed which was really surprising to me because it's kind of in this weird location in the mid-30's.  But I guess it was a nice day and they had an open air patio and everyone was looking to take advantage of the sun.  We had a fairly large group of people (many of them are notorious for being late) and while I understand most restaurants don't like to seat incomplete parties, often times if you say you'll order for the table, they are willing to be flexible.  They were completely inflexible here to the point where we just had to lie and say our party was reduced to 4 instead of 6.  Yes, yes, it's partially our fault for having tardiness but I'm not a fan of places that are not willing to work with you at all.  They could have seated us at our intended table while we ordered and waited for our friends, but instead we were seated at a tiny table in the corner that clearly wasn't going to work. 

4 of us sat down and just started ordering a bunch of different dishes.  We got the yellowtail ($17), tuna crudo ($17), and avocado salad ($17) to start and I got the bolognese rigatoni ($27) for my entree.  My initial reaction is that this place was way overpriced.  To pay almost $30 for pasta and $20 for small appetizers is kind of ridiculous (I know, it's NYC and it's sadly starting to become the norm).  All of the appetizers were just meh, with the avocado salad being the most uninspiring dish of the 3.

Luckily the rigatoni was quite delicious and made up for the mediocre appetizers.  The pasta was definitely the highlight of the night.  But what irks me the most about this place was the service.  It was PAINFULLY slow and we had to flag down our waiter countless times.  When our 2 friends finally showed up, they wouldn't let them sit with us saying it was a fire hazard and told them the only room for them was at the tiny bar.  We didn't want our friends to be there by myself so we quickly finished our food, skipped dessert and ended up getting one more round of drinks with them at the bar before leaving.  The one nice thing the manager did was to comp our friend's drinks but the whole thing could have been avoided if they just sat us at a larger table to begin with.

Overall, the whole experience was meh.  Maybe they were having a bad night and we didn't really do ourselves any favors but it was just a frustrating experience to begin with.  It's kind of your basic Italian New York restaurant that gets the job done for the most part, but isn't really super exciting or worth another visit unless you happen to be in the area.   For the price we paid, you can definitely get better service elsewhere but that rigatoni was pretty damn good, so I'm torn a bit here.  Go and let me know what you think!  Total bill: $95 with tax and tip

Wanpaku Visited 7/20/2018 3.5 Forks

Wanpaku  621 Manhattan Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11222

Another Asian opening in the area!  I was super excited to see this new place because like sushi, there is a dearth of ramen places within walking distance of where I live.  I came during lunch on a hot July Friday afternoon, which is so not ramen weather.  But I was still excited to try it out anyways.  The decor is lovely and when I went it was totally empty but then again it was 12pm on a weekday.

The menu has a nice line up for Japanese small plates like homemade tofu, Japanese eggplant, pork buns and salmon tartare.  They also had one of my favorites:  fried oysters ($8), which I had to try!  They also have a good variety of ramen - from chicken broth to beef broth to even 2 vegetarian versions (one is even gluten free - welcome to Brooklyn).  They also have katsu dishes (Japanese curry) and donburi.   When I went they also had seasonal specials like the cold ceviche ramen.  Since it was so hot outside and because I love raw seafood, I had to try this dish. 

The fried oysters came our first and they were served with a Japanese tartare sauce.  Usually I find it hard to go wrong with anything fried but this one was mushy and not that great.  It's almost like it was under fried.  The best part of any fried dish is the crunch and this one didn't have it.  Plus if the crunch isn't there then at least the oyster part should be nice and plump and this one wasn't.  So I was a bit anxious about what was to come.  Luckily the cold ramen was much better.  I will say cold ramen just doesn't stack up to a nice hot ramen with fatty broth and sliced pork in it.  But this tasted healthier and there was a good portion of shrimp (cooked), raw tuna and salmon with masago and avocado.  It could have used a bit more flavoring or even a cold broth to add some saltiness to it. 

The place leans more towards the trendy hipster side and I wouldn't say it's super authentic but if you're in the mood for some Japanese small bites and ramen, it's worth checking out.  There's also a super cute hidden bar in the back called The Hidden Pearl that is like a speakeasy with tiki drinks.  It's small, dark and kind of random but also worth checking out if you're in the area, on a date or have out of town friends.  Total bill:  $33 with tax and tip

Okozushi Visited 7/15/2018 3.5 Forks

Okozushi  376 Graham Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11211

I was beyond excited when I saw the first signs of this place a few months ago.  First, there is a severe lack of ANY sushi (let alone good sushi) in the neighborhood and second, it's by the same people as Okonomi and Osakana - both places that I love in my area.  These two places focus on more authentic Japanese food and locally sourced fish and the mentality here is no different.  

A heads up that the space is tiny but cute.  The 3 of us sat the bar and we sit perfectly but other than that there are only 2 other small tables inside.  It's walk-in only so I would say come on the earlier side if you don't want to wait around a while.  While it's sushi, buyer beware as it's definitely not your typical sushi.  There are no spicy tuna rolls, sashimi or anything of the like.  They say that the sushi here is Kyoto style sushi, which to be honest, I'm not really sure what that means since I've sadly never been to Kyoto (yet!).   But apparently it means box pressed sushi (hakozushi) and temari (ball shaped sushi) style.  The fish used here is also untraditional - it was more tilefish, grouper, mackerel and the like and you had to pay extra for salmon.  They have several price points depending on how much you want  to eat (ranging from $25 to $50).   I went for the middle option of $35 - 6 pieces of hakozushi, 2 pieces of temari and 2 hand rolls.  The fish here is lightly cured and topped with unusual toppings like pickled vegetables and blue cheese.  Interesting combination and flavor profiles for sure.  I am a bit of a fish snob and I wasn't a huge fan of the white fish nor the blue fish but the other types were fine.  My one big gripe was that the ratio of rice to fish was too high - sometimes I felt like all I was eating was rice.  But I will say the rice was delicious and perfectly made so at least it was tolerable when you are eating all those carbs.  You are also served a hearty fish broth in the beginning which is a nice touch and I would also highly recommend getting the green tea.  It's almost like a matcha green tea and it's delightful.   It's all very interesting and tasty but I'm honestly not sure if it's something that I would come back for on a regular basis (even though it's <5 5="" a="" also="" and="" apt="" broth="" face="inherit" fish="" font="" from="" get="" green="" highly="" house="" i="" mins="" my="" nbsp="" nice="" ou="" recommend="" start="" tea="" the="" to="" walk="" would=""> 

I'm really glad I tried it and they even have take-out now but I think I prefer the more "traditional" style sushi places with spicy rolls and salmon, tuna yellowtail sashimi type place.  I love the fact that they are trying something new but in a neighborhood where you can't get any decent sushi, it's a bit too far out for me to want to come back and order from it regularly.   One nice thing here is that gratuity is included.  Total bill:  $38 with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp