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.

Oncheon is all about hot pot, Korean style. What I was curious about was how different was Japanese hot pot from Korean. It’s not that different. Both use high end quality meat, and their broths resemble their cultures. For example, Japanese hot pot tends to be light with miso or seaweed type flavors. The Korean hot pot seems to be similar to what you might find in Korean restaurants. I made a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Friday night without any issues.

We saw an early afternoon theater show, and right after, we decided to check out Argentine food. Baires Grill was appealing because it is a Miami chain, and this is their only non-Miami location. We are planning on visiting Miami in the near future, so I was curious to see how this food differs than other Argentine restaurants we’ve been to. We walked in around 4 PM on a Saturday without reservations, and they seated us immediately without issues.

Kochi has been on my list for a while now. I’ve been to several of the Chef’s other restaurants, and they’re all delightful. This is his first solo project, after working in kitchens like Le Bernardin, Per Se, and Morimoto. What’s also great about this restaurant is that it’s very easy to get a reservation if you just book a few days out. We were able to get one at 5:30 PM on a Friday without any issues.

Many Thai restaurants are located around the Midtown area. This one is a modern Thai restaurant inspired by the flavors of Bangkok street food. Unlike other Thai restaurants, the menu here has some interesting options that lured us in. The name comes from the airport code for Bangkok in Thailand. Since we were around the area, I made a reservation for 2 just a few hours before very easily.

The Dynamo Room is a relatively new steakhouse located in the Penn District, right next to Madison Square Garden and in the heart of the area. The whole area feels like Times Square, considering how there are a lot of police presence with a lot of crowds. The restaurant seats 200 people, and I was easily able to make a reservation at 5:30 PM for 4 people without any issues. What initially attracted me to this restaurant was the summer restaurant week menu. For $45, it seemed like a good deal, especially given that the items seem to represent their normal menu.

Sirrah is a fairly new restaurant near the Meatpacking District. One of its appeals to me was that it offers a relatively decently priced prix fixe menu. I felt like it was similar to some of these French restaurants, e.g. Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote, that offered steak frites. Reservations are pretty easy to get, even a day before so we got a 5:30 PM reservation for a Friday. Because the weather was nice outside, they also opened the side doors to let fresh air in. The entrance to the restaurant is not very loud.

Sushi Kashiba is located adjacent to the Pike Place Market. When I was doing research on restaurants to try out, I learned that Chef Shiro Kashiba trained under Jiro Ono (Jiro Dreams of Sushi). I also learned that Daisuke Nakazawa (chef of Sushi Nakazawa) also worked under Chef Kashiba. Online, everyone raved about how delicious the place was, so we decided to try this out. I made a reservation for 5:30 PM for a Friday evening, and they actually seated us earlier. Reservations for tables are much more accessible compared to NYC restaurants.