Friday, July 20, 2007

Blair Perrone Steakhouse
885 2nd Avenue (at 47th Street)

I had a totally miserable day on Thursday, ranging from being stuck in the 1st Avenue tunnel due to all the post-explosion road closures to walking home from the UWS in the downpour. Plus, I had not eaten by then, so I wanted a solid, big steak for dinner. Surprisingly, every one of my steakhouse reviews has been of poor quality food and service, such as La Carne Grill, Dylan Prime, Old Homestead, Bull & Bear, and so forth. I was hoping for a lot more this evening at a place I've walked past many times.

It was early but I needed a nice double scotch to start with. The bread for once was excellent, especially the onion ones. Most places have shoddy bread, so tasting nice ones is always nice -- especially when it's the first thing I've eaten all day. For a starter I had some fresh oysters -- 7 to be exact. Not bad.

The service was quite good and attentive, and I enjoyed a few glasses of red alongside my bone-in ribeye. It was cooked a little too much but it was quite good. Nothing fancy, but a good steak. A side of mushrooms done right (especially in light of the mess at Dylan Prime) made it much better.

I left the restaurant happy -- with a doggy-bag with that huge piece of meat. I think if anything, Blair Perrone will be a good fallback steakhouse for me in the future, a good safe bet.

Food: B
Atmosphere: B-
For Lone Diners: A-

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

15 East
15 East 15th Street (between Union Square & 5th)

I have always had issues with fusion cuisine, but a friend of mine sent me a very interesting review of 15 East, so I decided to try it.

It was an early evening on a Summer Tuesday, so it was pretty empty. Nevertheless, I wanted a good meal. The service was excellent -- maybe due to the place being empty. But still, that was much appreciated. A few glasses of wine and sake made the entire process quite nice.

I chose to "fusionise" my dinner by having a sushi start and a kitchen main course. For the starter, I chose a few pieces of sushi. Having grown up in Hawai'i, this is like second nature to me; frankly, I hate this "mainland" invention of the "sushi order paper" since we used to just order at the sushi bar like "normal" people do! So I am overly judgemental when it comes to sushi...

I have to say this place, like many in Manhatten, are overpriced and not very good. The hamachi (yellowtail) was bland, and nothing special. The aoyagi (orange clam) actually tasted a little funky...the fact I'm alive writing this now means it was not dodgy. But still... The kamasu(Japanese "barracuda") was okay. What really failed was the chu-toro (fatty tuna), which was pretty bland, and the expensive o-toro (very fatty tuna) that was small and also semi-bland. I've had better in most places. The presentation was nice, but the fact it came with no wasabi shows this place was not serious when it came to the Japanse stuff...sad.

The main course improved things so much. Maybe they need to keep to the kitchen stuff for most of their service. The black ink risotto was very nice, with a touch of bonito flakes in the flavour. A side of grilled squid was nice, but it was not the advertised item. It seems they are trying to cut corners. It was a good dish nevertheless, but still...

I had a strange panna cotta for dessert and ended up swallowing a lot of papaya seeds...ugh...so I didn't leave the place very happy. Too bad, this place could have been much better. What really killed it (and from what the waitress told me, a frequent complaint) was the lack of coffee at the end... Even with their sister restaurant Tocqueville next door, they didn't have the stuff. I thought, this was a fusion restaurant, with Brazilian music in the background, and no coffee?

Ugh...they gotta do better for me to come back...very disapponting...

Food: B---
Atmosphere: B-
For Lone Diners: B

Hearth
403 East 12th Avenue (at 1st)

It was the start of "Restaurant Week" in New York for the summer...which means sub-standard prix fixe food for most of the city's restaurants. So for me to find a place to eat, it has to be a place not participating in this shambolic promotion...if you like me to elaborate, let me know.

I went to Hearth, as I had a recent good meal at its new sister restaurant Insieme. Me and a friend went on a Monday evening and had a wonderful night in the East Village restaurant, despite a few blunders.

The space was nice and open in the busy East Village, where few good restaurants are. But it was full and happy on a Monday night, rare for the summer in the city -- many restaurants in the West Village and TriBeCa were half-empty...

We enjoyed a beautiful Lagrein red for our dinner, which complemented nearly everything (my favourite). The "veal tongue" was a disappointment -- in the fact that there was just 3 pieces of thinly-sliced tongue over a ton of greens. This was not what I expected, so that started poorly.

After a rather long wait, we were informed that my friend's scallops were ruined for some reason -- so we were given a special mid-course -- the crab and pea soup. It was okay, as a mid-course I guess. After my friend gave an alternate, we were soon presented with the main course. I had the sturgeon, which was actually very nice -- cooked very well, with much flavour. I was not too thrilled with the excessive use of beans, but everything balanced out well. The main course made me happy. My friend liked his replacement dish too.

For dessert I enjoyed the ice cream selection, which was nice -- especially with the unique douglas fir eau de vie -- a little bit of "Christmas spirit" in the summer I guess! I had this earlier at Insieme and loved the uniqueness. I also had a few grappe afterwards to enjoy the night. One thing about this place and its sister restaurant, the winelist and post-dinner drinks list is just amazing...always fantastic, just a treat in itself.

Despite the problems, the staff was incredibly smooth and covered up any problems. This is how a good restaurant is operated, and kudos to them for dealing with any problems quickly and efficiently. Food was okay, but the service was excellent. Always a good choice.

Food: B
Atmosphere: A-
For Lone Diners: B- (*)

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Dylan Prime
62 Laight Street (between Greenwich and Collister)

After a really long subway ride to TriBeCa (thank goodness the AC worked!) through this horribly hot and humid day, I made my way to Dylan Prime. I was craving a good meaty night, so looked at this place as a possibility. It's a hike to this place from Midtown East, having already run back-and-forth from the Financial District, but I did it anyway.

I dined last week at its sister restaurant, Devin Tavern, and had a lukewarm experience, so wondered if this place would be better or not. Sadly, it was not...

The place was rather dark, and it is difficult to read the menu and winelist in that darkness. I like the decor -- from what I could see. However, they should have put more barriers up with the men's restroom. Sorry to be so graphic, but when I am at the urinal, I really don't like seeing my table when someone opens the door... Big minus here.

My first choice of wine was not available -- they had taken many things out from the list online. Oh well. The second choice, a sangiovese from Tuscany, was quite nice. The service was pretty fast and efficient, though the busboy has a bad habit of spilling water everywhere.

The starter was a rather salty gnocchi with lobster and prosciutto. It wasn't bad, but nothing special. The broth was a bit lacking and really didn't fit the context of the dish. So it was a bad mixture I think, not the flavours but the texture. This is like eating dumpling with a hard muck of a sauce. Just didn't work.

Drinking more of the wine, I was hoping for an improvement for the main course -- the "very rich" (as my waitress said) smoked bacon chop. I was hoping for something really nice, maybe something akin to the German Rippchen -- but I was totally wrong. What came out was a charred mess, covered in crusty and burnt barbeque sauce! A good piece of meat ruined! And the side of mushrooms was basically burnt and dry -- much like in Devin Tavern the other night. This is a kitchen problem!

I hoped the sorbets would ease my disappointment, but it didn't. One of them came out like an iceball, with chunks of white ice. Ridiculous. This is just a bad kitchen, from the top down. The only thing that was interesting was the "dessert cocktails" -- of which I had the "peach cobbler". This was actually quite good...the only good thing all night.

The thing that really ticks me off as I left is that this is clearly a failure in the kitchen, the fault of the entire chef hierarchy. The menu items were damaged, the mushrooms at both restaurants were a shambles, and it was just horrible. I would recommend staying away from both of these places until they re-think the whole thing. But if the problem is so high up, it may not be salvageable...

Ugh...

Food: C-
Atmosphere: B-
For Lone Diners: B

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Index...Summer Version...

The list of reviews have grown quickly over the last index, so it's more than time to do another one for the summer...enjoy! I've removed the "top" and "bottom" list and replaced it with another format...let me know what you think!

The recent "hot trio" are:

1) Insieme (7th & 51st)
2) Dani (Hudson & Charlton)
3) Mercat (Bond btwn Lafayette/Bowery)


And the recent "stomach aches" are:

-1) Old Homestead (9th & 14th/15th)
-2) Parea (E20th & Park/B'way)
-3) Cinqueterre (E38th at Madison) [this is not recent, but it's a "hall of shame" winner]


Nevertheless, here's the whole list alphabetically...

212 (E65th at Lexington)
Abboccato (W55th between 6th/7th)
Alcala (E46th & 1st/2nd)
Alfama (Hudson & Perry)
Alto (E53rd between Madison & 5th)
Ammos (Vanderbilt at 45th)
Artisanal Bistro (Park & 32nd)
Avra (E48th between 3rd & Lexington)
Bann (50th & 8th/9th)
Bar Americain (52nd & 6th/7th)
BLT Prime (E22nd between Lexington & Park)
Bolo (E22nd between Park & Broadway)
Bull & Bear Steakhouse (Park & 49th)
Byblos (39th & 3rd)
Cafe Frida (Columbia between 77th & 78th)
Cayuga Room (E44th & Madison/Park)
Cinqueterre (E38th at Madison)
Country (Madison & 28th/29th)
Craft (19th & Park/Broadway)
craftbar (Broadway & 19th/20th)
Da Ciro (Lexington & 33rd/34th)
Dani (Hudson & Charlton)
davidburke & donatella (E61st & Park/Lex)
Devin Tavern (Greenwich between Harrison & Franklin)
Divine Bar [east] (51st between 2nd & 3rd)
Eight Mile Creek (Mulberry between Spring & Prince)
Esca (43rd & 9th)
E.U. (4th between A & B)
Geisha (61st & Park/Madison)
Gennaro (Amsterdam between 92nd & 93rd)
I Trulli (E27th & Park/Lex)
Il Campanello (W31st btwn 6th/7th)
Insieme (7th & 51st)
Japonais (E18th between Park & Irving)
Korea Palace (E54th & Park/Lexington)
Królewskie Jadło (Manhattan Ave in Greenpoint)
La Carne Grill (Lexington & 39th/40th)
La Grenouille (52nd & Madison/5th)
Landmarc (W Broadway between Leonard/Worth)
Les Halles (Park & 28th/29th)
Lonesome Dove Bistro (W21st between 5th & 6th)
Madiba (DeKalb between Carlton & Adelphi in Brooklyn)
Mai House (Franklin & Hudson/Greenwich)
Megu - midtown (1st and 46th)
Mercat (Bond btwn Lafayette/Bowery)
Milos (55th & 6th/7th)
Molyvos (7th & 56th/57th)
Nice Matin (79th & Amsterdam)
Old Homestead (9th & 14th/15th)
Parea (E20th & Park/B'way)
Perry Street (Perry & West)
Philippe (60th & Park/CPE)
Phoenix Garden (E40th & 2nd/3rd)
Porcão (Park & 26th)
Public (Elizabeth between Spring and Prince)
Regional (Broadway between 98th & 99th)
Ruby Foo's (Broadway & 49th)
Tabla (Madison & 26th)
Taksim (2nd & 54th/55th)
Thalia (8th & 50th)
Tintol (W46th & Americas/Broadway)
Tocqueville (15th & USW/5th)
Town (W56th & 5th/6th)
Turkish Kitchen (3rd & 27th/28th)
Ureña (E28th & Park/Madison)
Villa Berulia (34th & Lexington/Park)
wd~50 (Clinton between Stanton & Rivington)


And here are those places not in New York...but still in the US...

Back Home in Lahaina (PCH, Manhattan Beach, CA)
City Tavern (centre, Philadelphia, PA)
Drago (Santa Monica, CA)
Georgia Brown's (downtown, Washington, DC)
Jino's Pars (LAX, Westchester, CA)
Lacroix (Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA)
Nikolai's Roof (downtown, Atlanta, GA)
Pittypat's Porch (downtown, Atlanta, GA)
Sansui Tei (PCH, Redondo Beach, CA)
Sweet Lowdown (midtown, Atlanta, GA)
Tinto (Rittenhouse Square area, Philadelphia, PA)


Here's the Europe list...

Aux Armes de Bruxelles (centre, Brussels)
Barrafina (SoHo, London)
Chez Kristof (Hammersmith, London)
Kishmish (Chelsea, London)
Magdalen (London Bridge, London)
Matsuri [St James's] (Jermyn Street, London)
Royal China [Queensway] (Bayswater, London)
Rules (Covent Garden, London)
Salmu krogs (Riga, Latvia)
Sarkhel's (Wimbledon, London)
Shehrezade (Olympia, London)
St John (Farringdon, London)
Wódka (Kensington, London)

Molyvos
871 7th Avenue (between 55th & 56th)

I've not had Greek food for several weeks since my Brussels journey (long story), but I love Greek food -- even before my college days living above the wonderful kitchen of the Souvlaki House in Ithaca... So when my friend suggested Molyvos for lunch, I was rather keen.

However, after the previous night's dinner at its sister restaurant Abboccato, I was a bit worried about another fit of blandness. But when I got to Molyvos, I felt comfortable. The space was large and decorated minimally, and it was obviously a bigger production. While I waited for my friend I had a nice glass of wine from Santorini.

We ended up sharing a grilled octopus starter, which was rather good -- very flavourful, thank goodness. Service was rather quick too, which was appreciated.

For the main course I had the lamb sandwich. This turned out to be excellent and flavourful. It was nothing like the poor rendition I had at brunch at Parea a week earlier, this was nice. My friend had the lamb chops, and he said it was quite good (compared to my dining partner's lamb from Abboccato that was a relief).

We had split a baklava for dessert with some espresso before taking off. This was a good experience, and maybe this also shows what Abboccato can do on a good day. Well, we'll see...

Food: B
Atmosphere: B
For Lone Diners: B+ (*)

Friday, July 06, 2007

Abboccato
136 West 55th Street (between 6th & 7th)

I had big expectations for Abboccato -- from the interesting menu to the approach to Italian food from the chefs, I wanted a good, solid meal this Thursday evening. A friend and I went there on a Thursday evening for a late dining slot. The place was relatively empty, normal for this particular week and the hour, but I had hoped it wouldn't compromise the food. Sadly, it did.

At first, we were very impressed. The design was very calming and soothing, using very earth colours and somewhat of what I called "dolomite-y" feel to the entire place. The spacing was excellent, compared to some disasters I've been to recently like Town and Mai House. But sadly, things didn't carry on that well through the night.

Service was good and helpful, and the menu looked interesting. I ordered the fritto misto -- a great test of the kitchen for a relatively simple dish. It came out horrible. The baby squid were nearly all batter and was like eating the scraps of the fryer. From the shrimp to the fish, it was extremely bland and boring -- like one of the line cooks forgot to season. Nope, as the dipping sauce was also extremely bland. Turns out this is the problem with the kitchen here, they have no taste buds -- or extremely sensitive ones. This place was blander than bland!

My dining companion enjoyed the spaghetti neri, which was pretty good. I should have gone pasta. Oh well. My main course was the veal cheeks. The three pieces of veal was nice and tender, but it was accompanied by very, very bitter vegetables and a horrible pile of flavourless polenta. Here we go again, they forgot to season! There has to be one line cook that was totally asleep!

My friend had the lamb chops -- which she said was tough and bland. I tried one, and I agreed. In fact, it was way overcooked, charred beyond belief, and just boring. I could easily do this while half drunk and distracted.

The saving grace was a tasting of grappe after dinner in lieu of dessert. I was not thrilled and was somewhat full anyway, so gave up on this place. Sad, it had so much promise. I wonder if it is a seasonal thing. I may try this place again in the autumn, but for now, avoid, avoid, avoid!

Food: C-
Atmosphere: A-
For Lone Diners: B (*)

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Town
15 West 56th Street (between 5th & 6th, at the Chambers Hotel)

I had to run into the tourism area this Thursday afternoon, so I figured, I should reward myself with a fine lunch in putting up with the human traffic. So I chose Town, the "flip-side" to Country -- the other hotel-based eatery of chef Geoffrey Zakarian. With how much I like Country, I expected a lot from this place.

Tucked away in the boutique Chambers Hotel, this was an interesting basement restaurant. Nothing too fancy decor-wise, but the high, multi-level ceiling into the hotel proper was nice. The spacing of the tables, however, was suspect, and it was not condusive to human traffic, no matter how thin!

I read a few reviews about this place. Usually reviews do not prejudice my expectations, but this set did. I heard this place had good food, but the service was atrocious. Those assertions were nearly perfectly on the mark. The waiters were extremely friendly, but absolutely inefficient -- despite the restaurant being less than half empty during a late lunch shift. They were more "foodies" than servers, and -- especially for "foodies" themselves -- rather inefficient. I saw an adjacent table's patrons pour their own wine from a bottle at least 4 steps away from the table! Unacceptable!

Despite the slow service, the experience was not all bad. The starter was a over-flavoured grilled quail salad. The quail was nice but the fruit flavours overwhelmed the fowl and the greens to such an extent I felt I was eating fruit jam raw. Way, way too sweet. Not a good start.

The main course was the risotto with escargots. This was quite nice, a mesh of creamy risotto and a good portion of escargots. The snails were a bit bland, but the overall dish was good -- despite the tiny portion.

I took an espresso and headed out, to avoid the ever-slowing service. It got worse during the meal, which is a shame. This place can be so much better, but it needs tons of work -- and perhaps a serious lecture to the wait staff...

Food: B-
Atmosphere: B-
For Lone Diners: C

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Devin Tavern
363 Greenwich Street (between Franklin & Harrison)

Once summer rolls around, New York is overrun by tourists, and many locals take off for the Hamptons or elsewhere. And during holiday periods, such as 4th of July week, the foot traffic is even less. So it is actually a great time to check out restaurants that are otherwise half empty.

So on the eve of Independence Day, I headed to Devin Tavern in TriBeCa. I had a meeting downtown anyway, so drifted into the rather empty restaurant at 6pm or so -- and it remained nearly empty the entire time I was there.

I must say that's a shame, because Devin Tavern was quite good. The place is pretty big, looking more like a restaurant in other cities where space is less of a premium. It has a "hotel restaurant" look about it, pretty simple with lots of rooms and tables. Service was quick, but maybe that was due to me being the only patron...

The pepper and basil caipirinha was a nice starting cocktail, with a wee bite of crushed white pepper. Nice. With some grenache I embarked on a rather nice dinner. The oysters, a choice from both coasts, turned out pretty nice. The main course was a nice wild boar chop -- at medium. It wasn't very big, but the accompanying spinach spätzle was excellent. I had a side of mushrooms, which was a bit dry.

Overall it was okay. The boar was nice but it tasted very bland -- like it was actually farm-raised or just plain ol' pork. Not quite like the ones I hunted years ago. Nevertheless, it was an okay meal. I skipped out on dessert and headed out to meet up with some other people, but left satisfied. This place can do pretty well if given a chance.

Food: B
Atmosphere: B-
For Lone Diners: B+

Sunday, July 01, 2007

The Cayuga Room
6 East 44th Street (at the Cornell Club, between Madison & Park)

A good friend of mine had suggested dining at the Cornell Club last weekend, as three of my former alumni friends are all celebrating birthdays. I was not very keen on going to a club of my former university, but nevertheless, agreed -- as it was three-birthdays-in-one.

The bar downstairs seems to be chaotic with the bartender not understanding much. After moving to the dining room upstairs -- which has the feel of a hotel restaurant (this is a hotel too) -- it was strange for awhile. The place, on a Friday evening, was totally empty. And the waiter did not know some of the basic single malt scotches...bad start...

By the time everyone arrived through traffic it was running late. Nevertheless, after my oversized scotch (after they figured things out, my "double" order came as a quadruple!), we ordered. The wine list was pretty lame for a club, but doable. The food looked standard hotell-ish, but turned out to be better than most hotels.

For a starter I had the oysters amagansett, which was pretty standard. Nice presentation with the 3 shells, but the taste was pretty ordinary. The main course was the duck breast, which was done medium. It was excellent, one of the better duck breasts I've had in New York. I was rather surprised and it was a good experience.

My table shared a few desserts, but I didn't add too much to this meal. We parted soon as it was a humid and hot evening and we all had very busy Saturdays, so...

I rather not be nostalgic about my uni days, so I doubt this is a place I would go unless prodded. But it's not too bad, considering how easy it would be to get a table here...

Food: B
Atmosphere: C
For Lone Diners: D (*)