Brasserie Cognac recently opened a restaurant branch right next to Central Park South. At first glance of the menu, it seemed rather basic, but I figured if a restaurant opened in this area, it should be pretty decent. On a Saturday evening, we were able to walk in without reservations and were seated immediately. My first thought looking around was that there are a decent amount of tourists. This restaurant is part of the Serafina family.
A few weeks ago, we went to Le Petit Pecheur because we were on a mission to try all the various seafood places in Astoria. Abuqir was on my list because it was highly rated for its “Egyptian” flavors, freshness, and value. All the NYC food blogs and Queens food crew for some reason feel this is a hidden find and offers good value. We went to this place around 4:00 PM on a Saturday, and there was a late afternoon crowd already.
We finished watching “Punch”, a Broadway play that we won through the lottery. Because we’ve tried an abundant amount of restaurants already, it’s starting to get slim. I was finally able to start trying out some Mexican restaurants, since my partner rarely picks this. Toloache was one that was nearby, and we were able to walk in without reservations at around 5:00 PM on a Saturday evening. We were seated in the second floor near the stairs.
Sartiano’s opened around June 2023, replacing the former The Mercer Kitchen. The menu is helmbed by James Beard Award-winning chef Alfred Portale. This is located near the SOHO shopping area right across the street from Lure Fishbar. I easily made a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM a few days in advance.
The interior is very dark, just like the former Mercer Kitchen restaurant. In many ways, they did not change much of the ambiance here. It felt like a very glowing, happening night spot for a nice night out.
Le Petit Pêcheur is one of the highly rated Astoria seafood places where you can pick your seafood and they will cook it for you. We’ve been to Hamido Seafood and Taverna Kyclades several times, so we’re wondering how this place stacks up. This restaurant opened nearly 1 year ago, and it has been low key on the radar. We were able to walk in without reservations around 4:30 PM on a Saturday afternoon.
In a scramble to look for a restaurant in the Union Square area, I stumbled onto this one, which is about 3 streets north of Union Square. The menu itself looked pretty normal, and when I arrived, the weather was very nice and calm. They had patio seating, and they opened the windows to let the fall breeze seep into the area. I made a reservation for 2 for 6 PM easily.
For our yearly celebration, we decided to come to Jungsik, especially since it was the first NYC Korean restaurant to earn 3 Michelin Stars. I visited this restaurant on a special occasion around June 17, 2017, but I barely remember much about it and did not take pictures. Today is redemption day. I was able to make reservations for 2 fairly easily a few weeks out for a Sunday at 5 PM.
Now that I have a new camera to play with, we’ve been trying to make an effort to travel around the city to practice taking pictures and learning more about the camera. At some point, I’ll start another website sharing and expressing what I got. For now, we were hungry in the Dumbo area, and the bathroom lines to wash your hands were long in the public restroom area within the Timeout Market section. My partner was really irked, so we decided to just walk into Cecconi’s to see if we can be seated. The outdoor section had a wait of upwards of 50 minutes, but the indoor seating was all ready to go. We were seated immediately at 4:30 PM on a Saturday late afternoon without issues.
La Dong was on my list for a while because I wanted to try some different Vietnamese flavors. The menu was quite appealing because there were things on there that I wanted to try since there is a sparseness of Vietnamese flavors in Manhattan. Even though there typically is a crowd outside, it’s quite easy to make reservations. I made a 5:30 PM for 2 reservation on a Friday without issue.
Located near Union Square and Flatiron is this recently opened Thai restaurant that specializes in modern take on Northeastern Thai cuisines. I was able to book a reservation for 2 quite easily just a few days prior for 5:15 PM. Since the restaurant space is quite large, this wasn’t that much of a problem. When we walked in, the vibe had a very familiar dark Asian restaurant vibe that a lot of new Korean, Chinese, and Thai restaurants are trying to do.