Gourmand Syndrome

Soba Ulala

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:43:55 -0400

Soba Ulala is a new concept from the Hirohisa team, where it’s centered around house-made soba and how they carry forward their familiar restaurant flavors in a more relaxed a’la carte style. The former Michelin star restaurant will be moving to a new location, and this Thompson Street location converted to this concept. We were in in the Soho area, and I abruptly made the reservation for 5:30 PM for 2 on a Thursday evening at 5:15 PM. Reservations seem fairly easy to get, so thankfully it wasn’t too stressful.

Vinny's of Carroll Gardens

Sat, 19 Sep 2026 22:03:15 -0400

Vinny’s looks like a very local neighborhood Italian spot that seems to attract a variety of people, including small parties and takeout. It’s not fancy, but it reminded me a lot of the Italian large portion type of restaurants that are spread out throughout the city. On a very lazy Saturday, we decided to give this place a try, so we walked in for 2 around 6 PM on a Saturday without reservations. As expected from the outside, they rotate through people pretty quickly as they come in to eat and leave.

Grandma's Home

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 21:43:28 -0400

The first Grandma’s Home opened in Hangzhou, which is the capital of China’s Zhejiang province. This location is the first American outpost of this popular Chinese chain. Zhejiang flavors tend to focus on seafood and local produce with a delicate, mellow sweetness with light soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, or local vinegars. It’s also different because it’s not as greasy as other Chinese regional foods. I made a reservation for this the day before, and it was very available. When we walked in around 5:30 PM, the restaurant was pretty empty, so perhaps reservations are unneeded.

Restaurant Yuu

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 22:03:29 -0400

Restaurant Yuu has been on my list for quite some time. The menu appeared interesting in that it was neither very Japanese forward nor French forward. It felt like it could be a new experience, and surprisingly it had plenty of seats available just a few days before I made the reservation. Chef Yuu Shimano trained with classical French technique but layered on Japanese perspectives focusing on restraint and attention to the ingredients in a dish. This is located at the edge where Greenpoint meets North Williamsburg.

Saverne

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 16:02:43 -0400

Saverne is Gabriel Kreuther’s modern wood-fired French brasserie using traditional techniques of letting wood flames add layers of smokiness to seasonal ingredients. Saverne actually opened a while ago around March 2026, but it closed just after 8 days due to mechanical issue. It just reopened in July 2026. Having been to Gabriel Kreuther, the chef’s Michelin 2-star restaurant, we were quite excited to see what he had in mind for a more casual outing. One of the main allures of the restaurant was that it has a wood-fire oven and grill where they cook your meats and then prepare your food. We made a reservation for 2 easily for 6 PM on a Friday evening.

L&B Spumoni Gardens

Mon, 07 Sep 2026 22:40:31 -0400

L&B Spumoni Gardens is a very well-known New York Italian eatery that began over 80 years ago. If you make a trek to Coney Island for the first time, people tell you that you have to try either the original Di Fara’s pizza or L&B Spumoni Gardens. A friend had gone to Di Fara and said it was just like a regular slice, so I decided to check out the latter. From Coney Island, you can take the yellow line north to stop by 86th St, and then walk about 0.2 m (.032 km north).

Salswee

Sun, 06 Sep 2026 21:42:14 -0400

Shortly after Tenjou, we decided to look for desserts around the area. I stumbled onto this restaurant, and it reminded me a bit of [Lysee]({< relref “lysee” >}), where the desserts seem very interesting to look at. The restaurant is similar to many of the newer dessert places around the city, where you can look into the counter and pick the items that you want. From their website, they aim to make hyper-realistic fruit desserts with artisanal quality and unique flavor combinations.

Tenjou

Sun, 06 Sep 2026 20:51:44 -0400

Tenjou was on my list for a while. The menu looked pretty decent, and the prices weren’t ridiculous. One of the pictures showed the egg rice (omurice), which looked pretty good. As a general Japanese restaurant, it seemed to have plenty to offer in the Flatiron area, especially something for everyone. We stopped by while in the area without reservations, and it was very easy to walk in for 2 people.

RUA Thai

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 20:12:36 -0400

My partner was craving Thai on Smith St., so we were left to just a few options. There are just two restaurants near us, “Thaism” and this one. The former seemed to be very casual with very typical flavors, but this one seemed a bit more inventive. I learned that the chef worked in many restaurants previously, and this is his first restaurant that he co-owns with colleagues he met along his journey. We walked into this restaurant around 4:00 PM on a Saturday without any concerns for waiting.

L'abeille à Côté

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:08:06 -0400

L’abeille à Côte sits between 2 of its sibling restaurants, the Michelin-starred L’abeille and Muku. The host described to me that this particular restaurant was a French Japanese restaurant leaning more towards the Japanese side. Muku was a pure Japanese kaiseki, and L’abeille was a French Japanese leaning more towards French. The cuisine here is described with offering a playful interpretation of the refined. When I took a look at the menu, it was intriguing to see some of the dishes. I made a reservations a few days prior for 6 PM on a Friday evening for 2 people very easily.

Andamiro

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 21:10:45 -0400

I was curious how the Brooklyn areas around Park Slope were like for Korean food. I found this restaurant nearby, and it sort of specializes in gukbap. Gukbap is basically Korean comfort food consisting of cooked rice in a hot, savory soup. When I visited South Korea for work many years ago, this was a dish that I frequently got just because it felt it was healthy, and it had really good flavors. We walked in around 5:00 PM for 2 without reservations, though it filled up pretty fast shortly after.

Bonnie's Grill

Sat, 29 Aug 2026 20:49:27 -0400

We were desiring for a burger, and we haven’t explored this area. Along 4th Ave, there are a lot of restaurants that offer slightly different vibes than the ones on Smith St. Smith St. comes across more hipster-like, whereas these restaurants have that appearance on the outside, but with plenty of family presence. We had a few choices of burger places, but we ended up here primarily because my partner also desired wings. We walked in for 2 on a Saturday evening without waiting.

Cafe Spaghetti

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 20:07:31 -0400

Cafe Spaghetti is Chef Sal Lamboglia’s ode to the neighborhood Italian restaurant. Along with Cafe Spaghetti, the chef also has Swoony, Sal Tang, and Bar Ferdinando nearby. Aside from great neighborhood reviews, it also has a lush backyard garden. We made a reservation for 2 just 30 minutes before arriving at 6 PM. We were initially seated inside of the restaurant, but we decided to ask to be seated in the backyard.

S&P Lunch

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 21:13:31 -0400

S&P Lunch is located near Madison Park, which is where the original Shake Shack is located. They are known for its classic Jewish deli fare with a 1920s luncheonette vibe. This used to be “Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop”, but that closed just right before the pandemic. In place, Eric Finkelstein and Matt Ross took over this space and decided to honor the original S&P Sandwich Shop that opened in this spot in 1928. We walked in on a late Saturday afternoon around 4:00 PM without needing to wait.

Cotra

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 20:07:50 -0400

This low key Japanese restaurant is located near the Gowanus area where there are many new rental apartments getting built up. This one was rated pretty high on general lists, so I was curious how the food was going to be. The menu items generally seemed typical, and nothing quite stood out. However because it was on some lists, I felt it worthwhile to give it a try. We actually made a reservation about an hour before our intended time, so that gives you an idea how easy it was to get in.

5ive Spice

Sun, 16 Aug 2026 21:31:16 -0400

We were in the Nolita area doing some errands, and we ventured to this street looking for some food. There are many restaurants to pick from, but my partner did not want anything spicy or filling. From where we stood, I looked across the street, and I saw this pho place. We were also decently near the Lower East Side, but it started to rain and steered us towards eating at this restaurant. We walked in for 2 around 4:30 PM on a Saturday afternoon without reservations easily. As of this writing in addition to the Nolita location, they also have it in Gramercy and Park Slope.

Levant on Smith

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 21:45:42 -0400

In our adventure to explore Smith St near the Cobble Hill area, we saw this restaurant several times as we walked by. I had mistaken this restaurant to be part of Levante in Long Island City, but this was completely different. We noticed it was Restaurant Week, and the menu consisted of many items already on their menu. We felt this would be a good opportunity to try the different things and see how it goes. We were able to make a reservation about 30 minutes before our arrival which I think is a great benefit to dining in this area.

Landmark Cevicheria

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:02:12 -0400

One of my partner’s favorite foods is Peruvian cuisine, specifically ceviches for some reason. Our gold standard for comparison is Mario’s in Los Angeles. We’ve been to a number of places, and there haven’t been many that can compare to the value proposition. We decided to try this restaurant close to us to see how it would be like, since the prices seem fairly reasonable. We walked in for 2 around 5:30 PM on a Friday without issue.

Howoo

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 11:07:19 -0400

Howoo was on my list for some time, and my goodness my partner finally felt like eating Korean BBQ again. Normally, they are open to this, but they have not picked this cuisine for quite some time. I don’t remember why exactly I had Howoo on my list, but when it first opened, the pictures made it seem like it had good meats. One of our favorites, Yoon Haeundae Galbi, had excellent meat quality, and it was well worth the premium prices for good quality cuts. This one with their “set” menus appeared attractive in their own regard. We walked in for 2 at around 4:30 PM right before the swarm of people arrived.

Cafe Mars

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 21:43:58 -0400

In the area we’ve moved into, there are a ton of Brooklyn restaurants to try out. The area definitely has a different feel to the food. Cafe Mars is an experimental, whimsical Italian restaurant. Somehow they also scored a Michelin Bib. They are definitely trying to push the boundaries of what “Italian” means, and when you walk in, you will see it with your eyes. We walked in on a Friday evening without reservations at around 6:30 PM.

Dean's

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 20:49:11 -0400

Dean’s comes from chef-owner Jess Shadbolt and co-owner/beverage director Annie Shi. The two were behind a restaurant called “King” in SoHo, and they pay homage to coastal heritage cooking with the name being an inspiration from “Dean Fryer”, who is a childhood fisherman from the chef’s hometown in Suffolk, England. This restaurant has been garnering some trends for a while because it is an ode to the British pub, and I had the opportunity to try this out. I walked in around 7:30 PM on a weekday evening and sat solo at the bar.

Karazishi Botan

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 22:42:50 -0400

This is a neighborhood ramen shop headed by Fumihiro “Foo” Kanegae, who is a renowned ramen master and executive chef known for creating hundreds of ramen variations. He was formerly a master chef at Ippudo, but has sinced opened his solo restaurant here. As a lover of ramen, I had the opportunity to check this out and see if it matches my palate. As I walked in, I noticed the chef has many special soups and ramen types, so I already felt this might be a repeatable place.

Gyuya

Sun, 02 Aug 2026 08:35:34 -0400

In this side of Brooklyn, we were visiting Industry City which is in an area around the vicinity of Sunset Park. This area was a converted set of warehouses into a mall of sorts that has eateries, furniture stores, and “Japan Village”. Japan Village is basically a small Japanese market and a set of Japanese eateries. As we were leaving, we decided to try one of these restaurants to get a sense of how it tasted compared to areas in Manhattan. My partner was craving for Gyuya, which was a Japanese BBQ place.

Torrisi

Sat, 01 Aug 2026 10:50:02 -0400

Torrisi is housed within the iconic Puck Building on Mulberry Street, right in the heart of Nolita. The restaurant comes from the Major Food Group, most well known for Carbone and The Grill. The one annoying part about this restaurant is how difficult it is to get a reservation. They seem to only release specific timeslots late in the evening (like after 10 PM), and none around the 5-6 PM. I was scouting for a few days, and so I opted for the lunch times on the weekend instead of trying for dinner on a weekday or weekend. After 3-4 tries, I was able to manually snipe a reservation for 12:00 PM on a Saturday. I took a look at the menu, and I noticed it was not too drastically different than dinner.

Osteria Radisa

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 21:04:06 -0400

This Osteria offers dishes linked to the region of Romagna offering very fresh ingredients. I picked this restaurant because I was looking for lasagna, a favorite of my partner. As we continue to explore the area, we were surprised by the quality of the restaurant dishes here. It was not just a neighborhood restaurant, but the food was surprisingly pretty darn good. We were able to walk in around 6:00 PM on a Friday evening without reservations, though we had to sit at the bar.