Manhattan on Gourmand Syndrome

Grand Brasserie

Fri, 08 May 2026 18:59:47 -0400

Grand Brasserie is a large French restaurant located in the Grand Central Terminal. It’s situated in the historic Vanderbilt Hall. The main parts of the restaurant have an open area view to the Grand Central hall, so you can see the chandeliers and some of the nice subtleties of the terminal. The main interesting aspect of this restaurant is they have a “green room” which used to be the former Michelin Star restaurant “Agern” before it closed during the pandemic. I was easily able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM.

Txula Steak

Fri, 01 May 2026 20:59:59 -0400

Located at Mercado Little Spain, Txula Steak is chef Jose Andres love letter to Spain. He’s one of the chefs that has opened a bunch of restaurants, including Nubeluz, Zaytinya, and Oyamel to name a few. The Mercado Little Spain sits at ground level of mall next to the Vessel. You can enter thru the mall via Little Spain to get here, or enter at ground level off 30th St outside. We easily made reservations for 5:30 PM same day on Friday.

Wanglang

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 23:18:31 -0400

There’s been a recent boom in Thai restaurants opening in NYC. This one has an interesting name and is located in the Flatiron area. It is based on an old riverside town by the Chao Phraya river where there’s a food market serving authentic Thai home-style and street food. I took a look at their menu, and it looked smaller than other Thai restaurants, so I am hoping the flavors are less predictable and more refined. I easily made a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM.

Bar Primi

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:52:52 -0400

Bar Primi is a casual Italian eatery from the NOHO Hospitality Group and Chef Andrew Carmellini. We’ve been to several of his restaurants already (e.g., Locanda Verde, Carne Mare to name a few), and we’ve found the food pretty consistent. This one is less posh and more casual, located near Penn Station and across the street from the Moynihan train station. It was easy to make a reservation just a few days in advance for 2 for 5:30 PM.

The Noortwyck

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:01:47 -0400

The Noortwyck is a casual restaurant that opened a few years ago by Eleven Madison alums, chef Andrew Quinn and sommelier Cedric Nicaise. What I enjoy a lot about restaurants like these is that the menu isn’t super complicated, and you can easily navigate around. The meal is all meant to be shared, and the portion sizes are very friendly. We booked a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Friday evening very easily.

Red Rooster

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 21:34:54 -0400

Red Rooster at one point in the last decade was well known for its fried chicken. From acclaimed chef, Marcus Samuelsson, this was his first restaurant that he opened in December 2010, focusing on casual Southern eats. It became even more famous when it was on the Michelin Guide, but it has since kind of gone off grid. We were in the Bronx area, so we thought this would be a good time to stop by and check it out. We were able to walk in with 2 at 4:45 PM on a Saturday early evening.

Verde

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 20:08:08 -0400

We were walking around the Chelsea area near the Pier, and we had to decide on what to eat. As we walked towards the Little Island, we saw this restaurant that seemed to be open right next to the Crane Club. My partner mentioned they were interested in trying this restaurant, and I did a quick search and noticed this was a pretty new restaurant. The menu wasn’t super interesting, but I figured it was worth a shot. We did a walk-in for 2 at 5:00 PM.

Miss Nellie's

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 21:47:09 -0400

Miss Nellie’s was one of those restaurants near the theaters that always appeared to have an interesting menu. I had this restaurant saved for a few years, so I figured we’d check this out before watching a show. We walked in without reservations for 2 around 5:30 PM without any issues. As I sat down and looked at the menu again, I noticed some of the things I was interested in, such as smoked French Dip, had mushrooms in it. This really narrowed what I would get, so I had some skepticism.

Suki Desu

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 15:28:39 -0400

Suki Desu is a relatively newish sushi restaurant that has a few branches opened in Manhattan. It has a small menu, consisting of mainly kaisen don though it does offer alternatives if you’re not a fan of raw fish. Kaisen don is basically raw seafood on top of rice. Their goal is to make rice bowls with authentic Japanese flavors accessible to everyone. Like the recent trend of hand rolls, this one brings raw fish rice bowls at a very affordable price.

Giuletta

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 12:32:43 -0400

Giuletta is a new casual Italian restaurant right next to Grand Central Terminal and the Met Life building. The word signifies “youthful” in Italian. The restaurant comes from the team behind La Pecora Bianca, which is another casual Italian eatery across Manhattan. I made a reservation for Giuletta a few days in advance pretty easily for 2 people at 5:30 PM on a Friday night. According to the business owner, it is “inspired by the feeling of a summer on the Amalfi Coast, the restaurant combines classic Italian dishes, a lively atmosphere, and a welcoming approach to dining that feels both refined and relaxed.”

Double Knot

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 22:40:01 -0400

At a whim, we’re around near the Bryant Park area. We didn’t make any reservations, and we wanted to try something new. I offered the option of yakitori (or skewers) because I knew about Double Knot being part of this movement of Philly restaurants expanding to NYC. We were able to walk in to this restaurant at around 6:00 PM, when it was prime time for the Midtown after work crowd.

Bucatini

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 21:16:46 -0500

Bucatini has been on my list for a while. It stealthily opened not too long ago, and unfortunately my partner was not asking for Italian restaurant choices for many weeks. This week surprisingly was an exception, and we were able to go visit this restaurant. I made a reservation a few days in advance very easily for a 5:30 PM outing on a Friday evening. Note that when I looked at reservations prior to January, it wasn’t as easy, so I suspect maybe this is the low season for many restaurants except for the most popular ones.

Dubu Haus

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 15:12:28 -0500

Dubu Haus has been on my list for a while since it opened. I really enjoy homemade tofu, especially the medium+ firm kind. What also appealed to me about this restaurant was the bossam wraps. I’m also a fan of wrapping pork belly with vegetables in general. I felt like this would be a very decent Korean homemade type of restaurant that wasn’t centered on BBQ. I was able to make a reservation for 2 a few days in advance without any issue.

Izakaya Seasun

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 13:25:42 -0500

Around the corner from the reputable 260 Sample Sale sight was this Izakaya Seasun place that had been on my list for a while. What attracted me to this was how it had Korean style izakaya and hot pot. Price-wise, it seemed like it wasn’t too expensive and could be a decent place to try tonight. We were able to walk in on a Wednesday evening without any issues of waiting.

Yingtao

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 13:14:41 -0500

For a pre-Valentine’s day dinner, this was one of the few restaurants where it was incredibly easy to make a reservation just a few days in advance. Ying Tao was on my list for a while, and the menu always looked mildly interesting to me. I remember when it first opened, it was one of the few individual Chinese “tasting” in Manhattan that was prepared in a gourmand style way. I was easily able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on the Friday before Valentine’s.

Palladino's

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 17:59:24 -0500

Palladino’s Steak and Seafood is owned by Joseph Palladino, who was a former NYPD officer and opened Nick and Sam’s Steakhouse in Dallas 20 years ago. He wanted to bring this restaurant type back to his motherland city, NYC. This restaurant recently opened in Grand Central Terminal, just opposite of the Apple store in the main concourse on the second level. I was able to make a reservation for 2 very easily for 5:45 for the dining area that has fantastic views of the main Grand Central floor and its beautiful ceiling.

Gramercy Tavern

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 20:37:23 -0500

Gramercy Tavern has been on my list for many years already, and it’s a classic New York City restaurant with Michelin popularity. This is one of Danny Meyer’s well known restaurant, so you can expect the flavors to be very similar to his other restaurants. Getting reservations is normally very easy, but when it comes to restaurant week, it’s quite difficult because it’s one of the few Michelin Star restaurants in the city that serves options from its normal menus.

Lillie's Victorian Establishment

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 23:05:26 -0500

We’ve heard of Lillie’s Victorian Establishment, and it’s been on a list for a while because it’s a very festive restaurant. It’s always difficult to get last minute reservations, but fortunately as we won theater lottery on a cold single-digit weather, there was not a lot of tourist or foot traffic at all in the Times Square area. I was able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM very easily just a few hours in advance. As you can tell from the picture, there was a lot of snow, and the exterior was already decorated with a lot of winter ornaments.

Shuya

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 13:36:20 -0500

When we ate at Ogawa, we were talking to the restaurant manager in Miami, and he said his old friend ran this restaurant in NYC. Apparently this restaurant originally existed in Queens, but it moved into Manhattan. At last, we had a Friday where didn’t really have any plans, so I suggested this restaurant. I was able to book a table for 2 for 6:00 PM on a Friday evening a few days in advance without issues. This restaurant is known for their yuzu flavored ramen.

Motek

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 13:31:59 -0500

Motek might be a familiar restaurant to those that have been to Miami. When we traveled to Miami a few weeks ago, there were a slew of this chain all around the hot areas in Miami. The menu appeared to us as being very Mediterranean, and it is probably a haven for brunch since it has shakshuka and kebabs. They are slated to open 5 total locations in New York, so we decided to check out the recently opened location in Flatiron. I made a reservation for 2 for 5:45 PM on a Friday a few days in advance fairly easily.

Taishoken

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 12:47:27 -0500

As a huge fan of ramen and tsukemen (i.e., dipping noodles), I enjoy trying to find all the good tsukemen. I’ve been to a few places already both in Los Angeles and in New York City, but the thing that really caught my eye here was that his restaurant says it is the “original tsukemen since 1951” whatever that means. The original location actually started out in the bay area in Northern California, and it has some notoriety that west coast people have raved about. They opened an outlet here in NYC fairly recently, so I thought I’d stop in and give it a try on a brisk, cold Wednesday evening.

Eleven Madison Park

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 20:11:01 -0500

Chef Daniel Humm is a Swiss chef who is most well known for the restaurant Eleven Madison Park. I had visited this restaurant in the mid 2010s, when it served proteins such as duck, clams, and fish on their tasting menus. In 2021, the restaurant converted from an omnivore tasting into a plant-based restaurant, a first of its kind to also receive 3 Michelin Stars for it as well. This was extremely controversial because they were charging high prices for a sole plant-based meal. In October 2025, the restaurant pivoted from a plant-based only menu and offered seafood and animal protein choices for a few of its courses. This shift encouraged me to try this restaurant again to see how it’s evolved. We were able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Monday evening without any issues in advance.

Four Twenty Five

Thu, 25 Dec 2025 18:04:53 -0500

Four Twenty Five is a contemporary, elevated restaurant from Chef Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. This restaurant was open on Christmas Day, and it was on our list for a while. They offered a tasting menu which mostly resembled items off their normal menu. The day prior, I was very easily able to book reservations without any issues for 2 at 4 PM. We arrived about 15 minutes early, and they had us wait in the bar area while they prepared our table.

Tatiana

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 16:40:18 -0500

Tatiana is a very popular restaurant, located in the Lincoln Center, from Chef Kwame Onwuachi. Born and raised in New York City, Chef Kwame opened this as his first NYC restaurant, and it immediately got a lot of public attention. He has appeared on many cooking shows, and the James Beard Foundation named him as the 2019 Rising Star Chef of the Year. Since Tatiana’s opening, reservations have been difficult to come by, and many people resort to waiting in lines hours before the opening. My partner had been here before and wanted to show me this restaurant’s flavors. They waited in line ahead for an hour (~4 PM) before opening in 25 degree(F) weather.

Nuyores

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 16:01:12 -0500

Nuyores is a new Peruvian restaurant located in the former spot of Flex Mussels in the West Village and Chelsea boundaries. The restaurant’s cuisine was inspired by the rich flavors of Peru and offers Chilean wines. I stumbled onto this higher-end restaurant looking for something new to try, and I knew my partner loves Peruvian cuisine. We’ve had mostly misses in NYC because they compare NYC Peruvian food to a classic Los Angeles establishment, Mario’s. We made a reservation for 5:30 PM on a Friday evening easily a few days in advance.

Coqodaq

Thu, 27 Nov 2025 13:32:23 -0500

Coqodaq is the second restaurant from owners of Cote Korean steakhouse. This restaurant like Cote is difficult and annoying to snag reservations for a reasonable time. I checked out their Thanksgiving menu, and it seemed close enough to their regular menu. I ended up making a reservation for 1:30 PM on a Thursday fairly easily a few days prior.

This restaurant also was featured in an episode of “Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars”, and it was interesting to learn about the attention they provided to something as straight forward as Korean fried chicken.

Lord's

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 23:22:29 -0500

Lord’s was on my list for many years, and I could never get my partner to be even remotely interested in British food. Although we went to The Clocktower, they weren’t a fan of that type of food. Fortunately, they capitulated for a restaurant near my office, and picked this one without me saying anything. We were able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:45 PM on a Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving.

Santi

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 14:18:08 -0500

Santi is a fine-dining Italian restaurant starring Chef Michael White. What was most noticeable for me was that he co-opened Marea, which ended up getting multiple accolades, including a coveted 2 Michelin Star. This restaurant is located very close to the 5th Ave and 53rd subway, and reservations were quite easy to get a few days in advance. The outside seemed different in that it felt like it was a side entrance into a place on the side a building.

Balthazar

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 17:09:04 -0500

Balthazar is one of the many Keith McNally restaurants in the city. Some of his other restaurants include Pastis, Minetta Tavern, and Cherche Midi. This restaurant has been on our list for quite a while. The menu looks very basic, so we never really had the urge to make a reservation. For this Friday evening, we were able to surprisingly walk-in with 3 people at around 5:30 PM. The restaurant was crowded but not as packed with lines or a crowd as it typically has.

Bar Goyana

Sat, 08 Nov 2025 18:00:18 -0500

We were in the Central Park area towards 100th on the upper east side, and we were looking for some food around the area. We stumbled onto Bar Goyana, which wasn’t that far from where we were. Coincidentally this restaurant is also very close to Chu Ros Thai, which is a pretty decent Thai place in this Harlem area. We were able to walk into this quaint restaurant without any reservations on an early Saturday afternoon. The restaurant seems to be part Brazilian, part Belgium, and part Italian.

Moono

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 13:13:42 -0500

Moono is yet another Korean restaurant that has been on my list for quite a while. Its allure for me was uni rice and Pyongyang cold noodles. I finally got a chance to book this restaurant, and it was easy to book for 2 for 6 PM on a Friday evening. This restaurant is a new project by Chef Kim from Jua. When I learned this, I had higher expectations of what I was to experience. When you arrive at the restaurant, it’s located in this interesting 3-story building.

Yasubee

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 22:57:16 -0500

For a free night on the way back from work, I stopped by this semi-new tsukemen place. For the uninitiated, Japanese tsukemen is basically ramen, except the soup is served on the side, and the noodles are thick by default. Yasubee is actually a restaurant chain with over 80 locations in Japan. They opened a NY location in Flushing, and this Chelsea location is the second one. I walked in on a Wednesday at 6 PM, and the restaurant barely had anyone in. Yasubee is part of the “Kung Fu Tea” family, which includes TKK Fried Chicken and Kung Fu Tea products.

Elephant Ear

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 22:08:26 -0500

Elephant Ear, an interesting name for a Thai restaurant, has been on my list for quite a while. In this area near the theaters, there is an ongoing rotation of Thai restaurants. We happened to catch a Broadway show, so I made a reservation for two people at 6 PM. When we went to the restaurant after our show, they mentioned that there’s a 1.5 hour limit for dining.

Limusina

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 13:41:19 -0400

From the Quality Branded restaurateurs comes another restaurant in a similar vein to popular hits like Bad Roman, Don Angie, and Zou Zous. The cuisine for this restaurant is Mexican-inspired and has all the snazzy colors to indicate this could be fun. This restaurant is near the Hudson Yards area, and it was very easy to make a reservation for 2 for 6 PM on a Friday night. This restaurant is about 1 block away from the E-train exit off 34th.

One White Street

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 15:02:41 -0400

One White Street is located in a 19th century townhouse, that was a downtown hangout for John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Much of their produce is source from Rigor Hill Farm, located in the Hudson Valley. They practice sustainability, and much of their menu revolves around showcasing these ingredients. Originally opened in 2021 by chef Austin Johnson, this restaurant has 1 Michelin Star, and reservations are very easy to come by. We booked a pair for 5:30 PM on a Friday evening just a few days in advanced.

Brasserie Cognac

Sat, 11 Oct 2025 17:09:20 -0400

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.

Toloache

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 13:14:58 -0400

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

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 14:39:37 -0400

Sartiano’s opened around June 2023, replacing the former The Mercer Kitchen. The menu is helmed 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. When we arrived, the place was beginning to become lively.

Ambiance & Service

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.

Isabelle's Osteria

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 13:57:21 -0400

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.

Jungsik

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 22:22:33 -0400

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.

La Dong

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 11:41:17 -0400

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.

Narkara

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 16:38:24 -0400

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

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 16:23:19 -0400

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.

Baires Grill

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 21:45:08 -0400

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

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 19:48:30 -0400

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.

BKK New York

Sun, 17 Aug 2025 18:26:25 -0400

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

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 20:30:04 -0400

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

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 14:33:48 -0400

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.

Papa San

Sun, 27 Jul 2025 23:30:11 -0400

Papa San was on my list for a while, especially from the folks that did Llama Inn. It’s an izakaya (think of Japanese tapas), made with a Peruano-Japanese influence. It’s an interesting blend of cuisines, and it’s not uncommon. In Peru, they do have a lot of Asian influences, such as lomo saltado, where they use soy sauce in the dish. We made a reservation for 2 for 5:00 PM on a Sunday evening very easily. This is located very close to Hudson Yards.

Benjamin Steakhouse Prime

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 11:45:49 -0400

Restaurant Week is notorious for it’s multi-course offerings that feature items that aren’t on their respective restaurant’s menus. Here’s a fun tip. Steak places are typically a really good bang for the buck as they typically offer you things on their menu. As a way to chill out and celebrate solo, I went to Benjamin Prime. I walked in on a Friday around 4:30 PM without any issues alone. They asked if I wanted a table for 1 or sit at a bar, and I asked for a table which they accommodated. This location is a very close walking distance from Bryant Park.

Kisa

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 13:16:52 -0400

Kisa is a Korean restaurant that is serving Baek Ban, which is a traditional Korean meal comprising of rice, soup, and banchan. If you’re into set menus similarly to Japanese bento boxes, this will satisfy that itch. I love Korean food in this manner because it’s all usually really tasty and very solo friendly. I was able to walk in at around 5:30 PM on a Wednesday evening without issues.

Le Chêne

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 21:27:23 -0400

Le Chêne (Le Chene) is the first solo project for husband/wife team, Alexia Duchêne and Roman Duchêne Le May. The menu features refined French recipes with an extensive wine list. When I looked at the menu, it was appealing because it seemed to resonate French with a slight rustic feel to it. I was able to book a reservation for 2 a few weeks out without issues. You can’t miss this restaurant with its yellow door.

The Gallery by Odo

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 14:06:02 -0400

The Gallery by odo is a fusion of a restaurant and art space in the Flatiron area. It’s actually right next door to the odo restaurant and bar. I was easily able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:15 PM a few days in advance. When we walked in, I didn’t really think much of it as an art space. It does have some paintings of outdoor forests hung up on walls and also what appears to be a for-sale dinnerware selection on a table. We didn’t really look extensively as we were here for the food because my partner wanted to try out this place.

Oyamel

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 13:09:44 -0400

Oyamel is one of Jose Andres’ restaurants. Its first location is located in Washington DC, so they decided to open a second here in New York City in Hudson Yards. Jose Andres is one of those chefs and restaurateurs that has a good track record every time they open a restaurant. For his restaurants in NYC, we have been to Zaytinya, Nubeluz, and Spanish Diner. Coincidentally, Spanish Diner has closed and was replaced with Oyamel in the same location. I made a reservation for 2 for 5:00 PM easily for a Friday evening without issues the night prior.

odo

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 20:29:17 -0400

Odo is a Michelin 2-star restaurant located in the Flatiron district of Manhattan. It comes from Chef Hiroki Odo, who moved to New York in 2012 and won a Michelin Star as the head chef at Kajitsu. We looked on the Michelin guide, and we saw this was a 2-star restaurant that we haven’t been to yet. We were able to make a reservation for 2 for 6 PM on a Sunday night without issues.

Bridges

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 14:41:12 -0400

Bridges opened in the late fall last year, and is headed by chef Sam Lawrence who came from Estela, which is on our list to hit. Lately, this restaurant has been getting some notoriety for having good food and a good ambiance. It’s a bit difficult to get to since you have to walk a bit from the subway entrance. I was able to book a reservation for 2 for the bar about a few days in advance for 5:45 PM.

Hamburger America

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 14:40:51 -0400

Hamburger America is a luncheonette-style restaurant with counters for eating a burger. It comes from an American chef George Motz, who is offering an homage to the history of the hamburger. It’s received a number of positive reviews from food critics for some reason, and Yelpers and food bloggers alike rave about this place. I came here as a quick stop around 4:30 PM on a Thursday evening, and I could walk in and sit on the stool without any trouble.

Rosevale Kitchen

Sat, 31 May 2025 22:45:41 -0400

Today was another Broadway showing that we had to attend. Our theater district restaurant pool is thinning a bit, so this one was somewhat difficult to locate. It reminds me of a Midtown staple type of restaurant that is very friendly to the theater crowd, and it’s not hard to get in. We were able to walk in on a Saturday evening around 5 PM without any issues.

Crane Club

Sun, 25 May 2025 17:00:08 -0400

Crane Club is located across the street from Chelsea Market. It’s being led by executive chef Melissa Rodriguez, who formerly oversaw Al Coro, which earned 2 Michelin stars at one point. This restaurant is under the Tao Hospitality Group, which oversees some upscale trendy hot spots like Hakkasan, Lava, and TAO Asian Bistro. We were able to make a reservation for the dining room very easily for 5:30 PM on a Friday night. This restaurant’s food was meant to be unapologetically fancy.

Nubiani

Sat, 24 May 2025 14:48:04 -0400

Nubiani was a Korean BBQ restaurant that had been on my list for quite some time. I was only reminded of it when my partner wanted to go to it because one of their friends tried to walk-in and instead had to go to Love Korean BBQ. I was easily able to make a reservation for Friday, though they only had early PM openings at 4:30. This is located right across the street from Love, inside a building on the third floor. It’s definitely very inconspicuous, but this is a typical pattern for Koreatown restaurants.

Time and Tide

Fri, 16 May 2025 12:40:29 -0400

Time and Tide comes from the Kent Hospitality Group, which owns restaurants such as Saga and Crown Shy. The head chef, Top Chef winner Danny Garcia, overhauled the menu recently, and we got a chance to experience it. The restaurant was inspired to be a steakhouse modeled fish restaurant. I was easily able to make a reservation for 5:30 PM on a Friday night because the restaurant snipers have moved onto newer restaurants.

Becco

Fri, 09 May 2025 23:05:01 -0400

Becco was on our list for a while. This restaurant in the Theater District was always full around theater times, so of course, that’s naturally alluring. It was first opened in 1993 by Lidia Bastianich and her son, Joe, who you might recognize from the U.S. version of the MasterChef series. The Yelp ratings of the food seem surprisingly low compared to the Google counterpart, so that increase our curiosity. We were able to easily make a reservation the earlier in the day for 5:15 PM on a Friday night.

The Leopard at Des Artistes

Sat, 03 May 2025 21:17:47 -0400

We had a show to catch at the Lincoln Center, and the area had a lot of New American and Italian restaurants within half a mile. We’ve rarely explored anywhere north of 60th St. This area is just across the street on the lower west side of Central Park. The restaurant itself is located in a historic residential building called Hotel des Artistes. I was easily able to make a reservation the day before for a 5:15 PM on a Saturday evening.

Locanda Verde

Fri, 02 May 2025 19:55:06 -0400

Chef Andrew Carmellini has some pretty good restaurants (NoHo Hospitality) that we’ve been to. Some recent ones that we really enjoyed include Cafe Carmellini and Carne Mare. Locanda Verde opened a second location in the Hudson Yards area. This is his ode to urban Italian cuisine, and we wanted to try this out because the exterior seemed very nice. I made a reservation for 2 for 5:15 on a Friday evening without any issues.

Revelie Luncheonette

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 18:00:22 -0400

I was looking for a quick and solo type of restaurant around the Hudson Square area. I decided to look into burgers, and I was debating Hamburger America and this Revelie Luncheonette. This restaurant is walk-in only and is across the street from Raoul’s. Since the burgers seem enticing and the restaurant received decent reviews, I decided to give this a try. I was able to walk in at around 5:30 PM on a Thursday and find an empty stool seat.

Il Divino

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 16:36:48 -0400

We went into the city to watch a broadway show, and I had to look for a restaurant in the area without worrying about reservations. I stumbled onto this Hell’s Kitchen Italian restaurant that seemed to have pretty decent menu items. We were able to walk in around 5:00 PM on a Friday evening pretty easily, and there wasn’t much foot traffic at all. We were seated next to the window and had a very casual, quick dinner.

Le Veau d'Or

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 15:22:16 -0400

Le Veau d’Or is French for “the golden calf”. Making reservations for 2 for this was incredibly difficult as it gets sniped the moment the reservations come up. Luckily I checked a random time, and I noticed there was some 5:00 PM slots opened on a Wednesday. This is one of the hottest restaurants in the city because it’s a revived restaurant from the Frenchette and Le Rock chef/owners, Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr. The food is expected to taste much better than the restaurant’s previous life.

Lolita's Kitchen

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 13:44:32 -0400

We were out and about in Central Park taking pictures, and we were looking for a place to check out midday. This no-frills Mexican-like restaurant was near where we walked out of Central Park. We were a bit skeptical of this restaurant since the menu was on the smaller side, but we decided to give it a try. We were seated without reservations pretty easily around 1 PM on a Sunday afternoon.

The View

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 18:39:46 -0400

The View was New York City’s iconic revolving restaurant, bar, and lounge, and recently reopened after a 5-year hiatus. It’s located in the New York Marriott Marquis hotel, and it was recently taken over by the Union Square Hospitality Group (known for places like Gramercy Tavern, Manhatta, and The Modern. Reservations were fairly easy to get, and since I was craving for prime rib, I snagged one just to see how it was like. Previously when this was opened, it was a buffet with not-so-great rated food.

Sozai

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 17:43:35 -0400

We finished watching a matinee of a Broadway show, and we’re running out of desirable early dinner options in the Midtown area. This one was on my list for quite some time as it looked like a restaurant that was a no frills izakaya type restaurant. This restaurant is about 2 doors down from Valerie, a pretty popular Midtown restaurant. We were able to walk in around 4:30 PM on a Saturday without any issues.

Don Don

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 13:45:23 -0400

We decided Don Don because we’ve really been enjoying Chef Sungchul Shim’s restaurants, including Mari and Gui. I made a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Friday just a few days ahead, and it was fairly easy. Located very close to Bryant Park, it’s along the way from Valerie, and it can be easily missed. It’s pretty discreet until you take a look at the front window.

Ambiance & Service

Upon entering, it reminded me of when I was in the South Korea malls where they had a ton of little stools and electric BBQs. People would just congregate, drink, and eat a lot of BBQ things. The atmosphere definitely feels like that as the seats are pretty close together, and the crowd noise can get a little loud.

Gui

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 21:31:33 -0400

Gui caught my attention because it offered a baked Alaska and prime rib. What I did not realize was that this restaurant had some folks with a track record of good Korean foods. Chef Sung Chul Shim comes from Kochi and Mari. Pastry chef, Sarah Smith, comes from many fine kitchens including Le Bernardin and Le Rock. The reservation was very easy to reserve for a 5:15 PM dinner on a Friday night. The restaurant is located on the second floor, but you check in on the first floor.

La Tete d'Or

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 16:54:03 -0400

La Tête d’Or by Daniel is a tribute to timeless flavors and traditions with infusion of French flavors. What attracted me with this restaurant was that chef Daniel Boulud has a pretty decent track record of delivering good refined flavors. We went to Le Gratin previously, and we were very impressed by the taste of everything. As usual because he also holds some type of celebrity status, this restaurant is located in a posh area very close to Eleven Madison. I was able to book a reservation about a week out for 5:30 PM on a Friday night.

Raon

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 17:20:36 -0400

Raon is a new Korean tasting restaurant from Chef Soogil Lim and his wife, Sasook Youn. Their other restaurant, Soogil, is located in the East Village, and they’ve wanted to open a more intimate fine dining type of restaurant. One of the key features that attracted me to this was that they would a tasting menu centered around kimchi. When we went to Meju, we simply adored it. So we wanted to see how this would compare because both restaurants emphasize that kimchi is a key part of the experience. I was able to book a 5:00 PM reservation for a Saturday without much issue. I’m assuming it’s because the restaurant is still fairly new. The restaurant is very close to the N/W train off of Lexington and Bloomingdales.

Roscioli

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 16:46:45 -0500

Roscioli has been on my list for a while since the original location of this restaurant is in Rome. This New York City alternative offers a pasta tasting menu, which looked quite interesting and affordable. I was able to book a reservation about a few weeks out for a 6 PM dinner. Keep in mind that the tasting is located downstairs, whereas the normal restaurant is located street level.

Smithereens

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:46:06 -0500

Smithereens opened pretty recently in last November, and is from chef Nick Tamburo (Claud) and beverage director Nikita Malhotra (Momofuku Ko). This is a New England-style restaurant focused on fresh seafood and some different types of cocktails. Their wine list is pretty extensive, and they also have some pretty interesting glasses of white wines as well. I was able to book a reservation for 5:30 PM for 2 on a Friday evening about a week in advance. The restaurant is located in the East Village off 9th Ave, and it’s located in half floor basement of a building.

Kausa

Sun, 16 Feb 2025 13:41:45 -0500

We had won another theater tickets for this Sunday, so we looked for a place nearby. My partner desired Peruvian food again, specifically lomo saltado. The best lomo saltado place we’ve ever had was actually Mario’s in Los Angeles, and we’ve been struggling to find a comparable place, especially in New York City. We walked in on a late Sunday afternoon without issues, and we were seated promptly. Looking over the menu, they had your typical Peruvian options.

Cafe Zaffri

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 17:45:28 -0500

Cafe Zaffri has been opened for just a week and are going through an early preview of their menu. The executive Chef Mary Attea heads the menu by tapping into her Lebanese roots and incorporating Levantine flavors into a modern menu. Along with the Chef, owners Jennifer and Nicole Vitagliano also came from The Musket Room. We were able to make a reservation for Valentine’s Day at 5:30 PM just a few days before because it hasn’t yet been fully discovered by the populous.

Xie Bao

Sat, 08 Feb 2025 12:58:14 -0500

We had a show this evening, and this “crab house” just recently opened in Manhattan. This originated from a Flushing stall, and their specialty is crab roe over rice or noodle. We were able to walk in on a Saturday evening without reservations. The social media circuit really raved about this dish by showing off the roe, so we decided to try it. I figured there was no need to make reservations since Manhattan Midtown Chinese restaurants are usually pretty easy to get into.

Danji

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 16:18:40 -0500

Danji is Chef Hooni Kim’s first restaurant that opened 15 years ago. It earned a Michelin Star back in 2012 and closed in April 2023 due to a fire. We’ve been to the Chef’s other Michelin Star restaurant, Meju, which was phenomenal for what it was. We decided to check out this to see how it was, so I made a reservation pretty easily a week prior for 5:30 PM for a Friday.

Hawksmoor

Sun, 02 Feb 2025 11:52:36 -0500

Hawksmoor is a London restaurant that has a few other locations in the U.S. This is the first New York City location. In the UK, Hawksmoor is known for its food integrity, drinks, and visually appealing dining areas. They claim they have found the perfect way to cook steaks. One of the biggest appeals for me was they have a “Sunday Roast”, which is supposed to be a heavy Sunday meal. I had to make a reservation for this restaurant a few weeks in advance since the Sunday roast was only served on Sundays in the early-mid afternoons.

Zimmi's

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 11:34:56 -0500

Zimmi’s is a new little French restaurant that recently just opened in the West Village. Its menu comes from chef Maxime Pradié, who draws influences from homestyle Southern French cooking. I looked on Resy, and I was able to get a reservation for 2 at 5:15 PM on a Friday evening. When I arrived, it really resonated the classic West Village restaurant, where the word “quaint” and “rustic” are often used together to describe the ambiance and food.

TabeTomo

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 23:18:21 -0500

I remember a few years ago before the pandemic, TabeTomo was a very new tsukemen centric restaurant, and it was always on my try list. However, I never was able to make it to the restaurant due to how sparse tsukemen was in general in Manhattan, as well as, the restaurant was closed at random times when I tried to visit. Finally tonight, I got a chance to try this out and to compare against other tsukemen places.

Octo

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 13:32:06 -0500

Octo is a Korean-Chinese restaurant that brings Chinese dishes developed in Korea. I visited South Korea back in the 2014s, and they definitely had their own spin on Chinese food, which is what attracted me to this restaurant. South Korea has its fair share of Chinese foods that are pretty similar, considered they have shared cultures. Located near Koreatown, we made a reservation for 5:30 PM on a Friday night very easily. When we arrived, we were seated in a booth that was definitely spacious and comfortable.

Golden Wuish

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 21:56:14 -0500

The Golden Wuish (Duck House) was featured in several social media outlets, and my partner was craving for duck after returning from Boston. I remembered that this looked pretty gimmicky, so it could be fun whilst having a decent dinner. The restaurant is located in a dark spot next to a hotel, so it was initially somewhat odd to locate. When we walked in for our reservation at 5:30 PM on a Friday night, we were seated towards the front.

SAGA

Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:48:41 -0500

SAGA is a Michelin 2-star restaurant run by the Kent Hospitality Group. The late Chef James Kent received a lot of good reviews for his restaurants, and this one was on my list to try, especially after trying Crown Shy. This restaurant is located in the same landmark Art Deco tower as Crown Shy. Crown Shy is located at the first floor, whereas this one is located on the 63rd floor.

Mitr Thai

Thu, 05 Dec 2024 18:25:37 -0500

Mitr Thai is a Midtown Thai restaurant that is located very close to Bryant Park. It can be a great option for Thai if you prefer to stay east of the Theater District. When we walked in around 5:30 PM on a Thursday night, we actually had to wait about 30-40 minutes. The restaurant was very full both downstairs and upstairs. We were seated upstairs in a 2-seater.

Five Acres

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 14:17:02 -0500

The one appeal that attracted me to try out Five Acres was that they offered a Chicago beef sandwich. For some reason, there are very few places that serve this sandwich that I know of. There used to be Hank’s Juicy Beef, but that closed down. The other Chicago beef place that I know of is in deep Brooklyn. Since we were around this Midtown area, I figured now is the right time to give this a shot. We were able to walk into this restaurant at 4:30 PM on a Sunday without reservations. It’s located in the downstairs promenade of Rockafeller Plaza, where all the sit-down restaurants reside near the skating rink.

Cafe Carmellini

Thu, 28 Nov 2024 11:26:18 -0500

For Thanksgiving, we decided to try Cafe Carmellini out because their menu seemed pretty decent and had offerings that were present on their normal menu. My partner is a fan of turkey, so I already know what they were going to get. We made a reservation for 12 PM on Thanksgiving with no issues at all. When we walked in, they had us sit at the bar as they were preparing for Thanksgiving service. This restaurant is located inside the 5th Avenue Hotel.

SaiTong Thai

Sat, 23 Nov 2024 11:11:23 -0500

SaiTong Thai was a relatively new Thai restaurant that opened near the Theater District. One of its allures is that it appears to be an upscale Thai restaurant. The menu when I glanced at it seemed pretty decent although the prices were on the higher side. Since we had a theater date, we decided to check this restaurant out. We easily made a reservation for a Saturday at 5:30 PM.

SEA

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 14:58:29 -0500

SEA is a casual South East Asian restaurant from Chef Jungsik Yim of two Michelin Star restaurant, Jungsik. The restaurant offers a raw bar, small plates, and shareable plates with creativity. We were able to make a reservation pretty last minute for 5:15 PM on a Friday evening fairly easy. We arrived a little early, and they were able to seat us without issue. We had some high expectations that this restaurant will have great flavors.

Tomiño Taberna Gallega

Sat, 16 Nov 2024 15:22:23 -0500

We had a late lunch with some friends, and they wanted to take us to this interesting Spanish restaurant nestled in Little Italy, which is nestled in a few blocks between Nolita and Chinatown. This area is not something we frequent, and we were excited to try this restaurant because we were told that this is very authentic. We arrived around 1:30 in the afternoon, and it was still fairly bustling. This restaurant has a Michelin bib gourmand, which is given out to restaurants with good quality and good value cooking.

Twin Tails

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 16:17:56 -0500

This new Southeast Asian restaurant is located on the third floor of the Columbus Circle mall. The restaurant is part of the “Quality Branded” restaurant group, which also included Quality Italian, Don Angie, and Zou Zou’s to name a few. What was exciting about the menu here was that it was leaning into higher end Vietnamese and Thai flavors. We were able to make a reservation a few days in advance for two people at 5:15 PM on a Friday evening.

Bourbon Steak

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 21:58:49 -0500

Michael Mina is an award winning chef and restaurateur that currently runs and operates over 40 restaurants worldwide. He opened this restaurant in the JW Marriott Essex House, right across from Central Park south and near Columbus Circle. This is his love letter to the classic American steakhouse. Bourbon Steak has multiple locations in the United States, so it’s not an entirely new restaurant. I picked this restaurant particularly because of their prix fixe menu that seems to give a pretty good spread of what this restaurant has to offer.

The Musket Room

Fri, 25 Oct 2024 15:45:00 -0400

The Musket Room has been around for a while, and it is located close to the Broadway/Lafayette train in Manhattan. Chef Mary Attea is the head chef of this restaurant, and according to the Michelin Guide, the kitchen is predominantly women. We picked this restaurant to try for tonight primarily because the menu looked like a slightly different take on New American than what we were used to. I was easily able to book a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Friday evening a few days in advance.

Leitao

Sun, 20 Oct 2024 13:14:53 -0400

No, this isn’t the front of Leitão but a pic of the back. I stumbled onto this restaurant looking for Portuguese or Peruvian restaurants for our Friday dinners. My partner wanted this as the option for this evening, so I made a reservation for 2 at 5:30 PM on a nice Friday evening. The restaurant itself is located about a 0.5 mile (0.8 km) walk from the West 4th subway station. I didn’t take a picture of the front because it was difficult to take pics of the restaurant without having people’s faces directly in the way.

Pure Thai Cookhouse

Sat, 12 Oct 2024 17:10:06 -0400

We won yet another lottery for one of the theater shows, so we were hoping to walk into Wondee Thai. As expected, there was a line outside and a wait inside, so we didn’t want to gamble missing the show if we had waited. We instead opted to walk a block south to this restaurant which had no patrons. We were able to walk in for 2 at 5:30 PM on a Saturday night without reservations. There seemed to be 2 sections to this restaurant, a left and a right. We were seated on the left on a small table with stools.

Artesano

Fri, 11 Oct 2024 23:48:15 -0400

My partner adores Peruvian food, primarily for the ceviche. We’ve been to a handful of Peruvian in the city, but this is one of the first that I saw marketing itself to be more on the higher end. The head chef of this restaurant, Rodrigo Fernandini, came from Chiclayo (Peru) and opened this back in late 2023. We were able to make a reservation for 2 at 5:30 PM on a Friday very easily without trouble. We were seated along the side of the room right next to the kitchen.

Giorgio's of Gramercy

Fri, 04 Oct 2024 21:51:04 -0400

In our quest to find all the “Baked Alaska” restaurants in NYC, this was one that I was surprised to have it priced reasonably. Looking at the menu, everything was affordable compared to the rest of Manhattan. I’ll be honest that I have never heard of this restaurant, and this came up randomly in my search. We easily made a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Friday.

Odre

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 20:49:15 -0400

Odre recently opened a little over a month ago, and it was on my list to checkout. Similar to other Korean small-tasting restaurants, this offered an inexpensive tasting of Korean rustic-style cooking. The restaurant is part of the Hand Hospitality network, which includes Nonono, Cho Dang Gol, Jua, Okdongsik, and many more. I was able to make a reservation fairly easy a few days prior to our visit for a 5:30 PM Friday evening dinner.

Azalea

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 19:52:29 -0400

We won the theater lottery to watch another play in the Theater district. This was on my list for some reason, and it was conveniently very close to the theater. The menu seemed quintessential Italian American type food, and as a bonus, they also have a 3-course theater menu prix fixe for $55 per person. I was able to make a reservation pretty easily for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Wednesday night.

The Kitchen Table at The Modern

Sat, 14 Sep 2024 12:57:55 -0400

We had previously been to The Bar at The Modern, where the value to taste ratio was quite good. In an effort to knock another off our list, we booked The Kitchen experience. On the other side of the bar, there was a dining room with a lot of natural light of the garden of the Museum of Modern Arts. This area served a more extensive tasting menu with wine pairing options. The kitchen is the same, except if you book during lunch, you have access to the dinner tasting menu as well, i.e. the full experience. We made a reservation for 12:00 PM on a Saturday without much difficulties as long as you make the reservation when it opens up.

Mari

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 23:47:44 -0400

Mari is yet another seaweed hand-roll type restaurant in a very crowded space in New York City. The difference from many others though is that this is Korean-centric, and it has earned 1 Michelin Star in both 2022 and 2023. This restaurant is the same team as Kochi, which is also near the area in the Theater District. Since my partner was attending another event, I was looking at this restaurant because perhaps it’d be very solo friendly, and it was quite easy to make a 1-seat reservation the night prior.

Kajiken

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 21:14:56 -0400

Kajiken is located a few streets south of Bryant Park. I originally was trying to do a walk into Tonchin, but they told me there was a 1-hour wait for a single bar seat solo. Irked, I walked towards Bryant Park, and I found that there’s this ramen place that was on my list to try. Interestingly enough, they have both soup-based ramen and dry ramen. Their dry ramen is like most other dry-noodle things where there is some oils and mixtures at the bottom of the bowl, and you simply can mix everything. I was able to walk in about 30 minutes before closing time and was seated without issue.

The Clocktower

Fri, 06 Sep 2024 19:39:08 -0400

The Clocktower has been on my list for a while and was a former 1 Michelin Star restaurant a few years ago. I ended up circling back to this restaurant because we’re desiring to eat as many baked Alaska places as possible. It’s interesting to see how many permutations of this dessert exists. We were able to book a reservation for 2 for a Friday evening without issue. The restaurant is located inside The Edison hotel on the second floor. There are some not-so-clear winding stairs that lead up to the restaurant, or you can take the elevator. In the second floor, we arrived on time for our reservation, but there was no one to greet us nor escort us. It was a confusing entrance.

Frena

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 22:45:43 -0400

Israeli Chef Efi Naon opened a relatively new Moroccan-Israeli and Middle Eastern inspired restaurant in the Hell’s Kitchen area. I saw this on Yelp a few months ago, and the menu items look reasonably interesting. I was able to book a reservation very easily on a Friday for 5:15 PM without any issues. This restaurant is close to the 50th E train station and relatively near some of the outer edges of the Theater District.

Claud

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 12:57:05 -0400

For this week, I offered my partner an option of European or Chinese. Of course they said European. Claud comes from 2 veterans of the Momofuku Ko restaurant, chef Joshua Pinsky and wine expert Chase Sinzer. I remember this restaurant a while back, but it slipped off my radar with all these new openings in the last few years. When I checked Resy, I noticed there were openings on Friday, so the stars aligned. We were able to get a reservation for 2 for 5:15 PM on a Friday relatively easy.

Foxface Natural

Fri, 09 Aug 2024 22:01:59 -0400

Foxface Natural was on my list ever since it opened, and I was always curious about how eclectic their food was going to be because of the various game meats they offer. They are one of the few, if not only, restaurants to serve kangaroo tartare. I saw that they had a tasting menu, and that seemed like a good thing to pursue for a Friday evening. I was able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Friday evening about a week prior.

63 Clinton

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 11:58:22 -0400

Sixty Three (63) Clinton was a restaurant that I had my eyes on for a few months now. They change the menu monthly, so it was previously difficult to time the menu preferences to our food preferences. I finally found a menu (July) worth going for, however, little did I know the day of my reservation was the day the menu changed. We had 2 items on the menu with “mushroom”-like ingredients in it. I was honestly nervous about the experience, but usually I will just go with the chefs’ visions.

Konban

Fri, 26 Jul 2024 21:44:14 -0400

Konban was a new katsu restaurant that was on my radar for a while. When it first opened, reservations were hard to come by. Now a few months later, it’s easy to make a reservation a week out. Because Manhattan has so few katsu-specialized options, this was going to be a very special experience. I was able to make a reservation for 5:30 PM on a Friday night for two people.

Monkey Bar

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 21:27:50 -0400

Monkey Bar is a restaurant from the same people that are behind Au Cheval and 4 Charles in NYC. The Monkey Bar has a rich history dating back to the 1930s, where it formerly served New York City’s upper social class. In 2022, it reopened under the ownership of the 4 Charles team, and they created a menu that was very similar to the aforementioned restaurants. I was craving for prime rib, so I wanted to give this a try since I am reluctant to snipe 4 Charles reservations.

Fulton Fish Co.

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 21:07:53 -0400

We wanted to check out the Tin Building down in South Street Seaport, which is a building by Chef Jean-Georges. It was basically similar to Eataly, where it has a market for different cuisines and restaurants. There are only 2 floors, and there isn’t that much to see in my opinion. However when it comes to food, we decided to try the seafood joint, Fulton Fish Co. We were able to walk in with no reservations at 5:30 PM on a Saturday early evening.

Churrascaria Plataforma

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 18:56:12 -0500

In 2018, I wrote that I liked this place more than Fogo De Chão, which is a global AYCE Brazilian BBQ chain. After our recent trip to Brazil, particularly Sal e Brasa, I wanted to visit this NYC restaurant again to do a comparison. This restaurant is the only location that exists. We had a reservation for 5 PM on a Friday, and there was hardly anyone in the restaurant.

Manhatta

Sun, 26 May 2024 00:21:48 -0400

As a splurge due to this incurable money sucking disease of gourmand syndrome, we splurged for Manhatta. Manhatta is known for its gorgeous views at the 60th floor facing up-town. It is part of Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, which includes The Modern, Gramercy Tavern, Marta, etc. to name a few. Aside from the view that the restaurant offers, the last few years they have made an effort to improve the food. We were able to make a reservation for 2 for the Chef’s Counter without much issue for 5:30 PM.

Le Gratin

Fri, 24 May 2024 00:22:25 -0400

We’re in a mood of exploring some of the food places down near the Financial District. I was looking around, and there weren’t too many options. Le Gratin happened to be from renown chef, Daniel Boulud, so I figure this would be a safe choice. This is located right next to the Beekman Hotel, and there are entrances via the street or through the hotel. We easily made reservations for 2 for 5:45 PM on a Friday without much advance notice.

Jasmine's Caribbean Cuisine

Wed, 22 May 2024 16:45:45 -0400

We had another Broadway show to catch, and this restaurant is located at a convenient “restaurant row” area. This area reminds me a little of St. Marks in East Village, where there is just a street full of restaurants that are also conveniently near theaters. My partner wanted to try this, so they were able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:45 PM on a Wednesday evening. When we walked through the door, it felt like we walked into a shack.

Crown Shy

Fri, 17 May 2024 17:04:27 -0400

I’ve heard many things about Crown Shy, both positive and negative. It’s located in the same building as SAGA, a Michelin 2 Star restaurant, and also a supposed good bar called Overstory. This year, Crown Shy received a Michelin Star, and various public forums raved about their dishes being inventive and good. Since reservations were easy to get, we decided to spend our Friday at this restaurant. It was very easy to book a 5:45 PM dinner reservation for 2.

Cafe Un Deux Trois

Wed, 15 May 2024 16:16:20 -0400

We’ve walked past this restaurant several times eating at various restaurants prior to watching a theater show. Tonight, we had to eat something before our 7 PM show. We made a reservation for this restaurant for 5 PM without any trouble. When you walk in, it seemed like a very bustling restaurant. Looking at the menu prior, I didn’t find it all that interesting, but we thought this was a good day to try it since we had to eat fast.

Sicily Osteria

Fri, 10 May 2024 12:23:06 -0400

We had another Friday outing to watch the Mary Jane broadway show starring Rachel McAdams. Because this was very last minute, my partner was able to book this restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. As we explore more of this area, it’s turning out that there are a good amount of restaurant options especially for Italian food. We made reservations easily for 5:30 PM on a Friday evening. It was noticeable there was a large amount of theater crowds since tables cleared right before 7 and 8 PM.

Chica & the Don

Fri, 03 May 2024 11:49:55 -0400

Chica & The Don is a new Latin restaurant that opened in the Flatiron district. Despite their Yelp site pointing to Flatbush, it really is located in Manhattan. When you walk in, the restaurant has a long corridor to the main dining area. They just opened 3 weeks ago, so I was interested in checking this out before the hype were to build up. We were able to make a reservation relatively easy for 5:45 PM on a Friday early evening.

Okiboru House of Udon

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 22:48:06 -0400

I just have this affinity for noodles. Their sibling location, Okiboru House of Tsukemen, was one of the best I’ve had in the city when it comes to dipping ramen. This restaurant recently opened up marketing itself for udon. Like their tsukemen location, this one offers udon for dipping. Unlike traditional udon, these noodles are much wider and flatter. I was able to walk in by myself at 8 PM on a Tuesday evening, and I immediately was seated.

Smith & Mills

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 15:09:45 -0400

This Smith & Mills location is in the small inner plaza where the Rockafeller rink is. It caught my attention because the Tribeca location apparently had received some high regard, so I thought it’d be worth a shot to check out this location. Although the food options are small, some of it looked pretty tasty. This restaurant is fairly close to Naro. We had a reservation for 3 for 5 PM, and the place was not full at all. I thought this was to be a restaurant, but it seems like the atmosphere is definitely more of a bar.

Class on 38th

Thu, 25 Apr 2024 18:21:02 -0400

Class on 38th was something that seemed interesting at first glance when I was browsing the “Hot and New” sections of Yelp. The menu looked like tapas with a price point that wasn’t too expensive. I went here with a business partner, who was in town and looking for something to try. I made a reservation a few weeks back without any issues for 6 PM on a Thursday. When I walked in, they allowed me to sit early to wait for my guest to arrive.

Steak Frites Bistro

Sun, 21 Apr 2024 16:03:05 -0400

This restaurant has been on my radar for years, and we finally got a chance to try this. What was appealing to me was the price and options that they had. Not only was it steak frites, but you had the opportunity to try different types of steaks if you really wanted. We had an early afternoon theater showing, and this location was within minutes. We were able to walk in around 5:00 PM on a Sunday without reservations, though they told us that we had to finish our food within 2.5 hours.

Osteria Delbianco

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 21:19:25 -0400

We were craving for an early Italian dinner before seeing a Broadway show. Osteria Delbianco actually has two locations: one on 49th and another closer to Bryant Park. Both locations are really easy to get to. We were able to walk in without reservations at around 5 PM on a Friday early evening. The one appeal to me about this restaurant was that it seemed like a local Italian restaurant, and these typically can be hit or miss. The prices seemed reasonable, so we decided to try.

Clinton St Baking Co.

Sat, 13 Apr 2024 13:45:41 -0400

Clinton Street Baking Company is a very popular and well known destination for breakfast for decades. Word of mouth has mentioned that their pancakes and breakfast items have been delightful to eat. My party woke up early to park in line before the restaurant opening at 9 AM on a Saturday morning. It was definitely a struggle for me and my partner to arrive here from where we live, considering how annoying the subway schedules are on weekends. Right when they open, we were about the 6th small party in line, so we were able to be seated pretty easily.

Amarone Scarlatto

Fri, 05 Apr 2024 14:37:34 -0400

My partner had another theater show to go to, so I was tasked for looking something near the Theater District. We were watching some random TV show, and they showed lasagna. I don’t remember the context, but my partner wanted that. As we’re still exploring the Hell’s Kitchen area, I ended up finding this restaurant that we were able to walk in since the reservation system doesn’t work at all.

Monterey

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 19:43:29 -0500

This restaurant is a fairly close walk east of Rockafeller Center. I stumbled onto this restaurant as I was looking for something new and solo-friendly for a Saturday. It turns out that this restaurant has a Friday/Saturday prime rib prix-fixe menu, which has my attention. For $65 per person, you get 3 courses: a caesar salad, prime rib with french fries, and a choice of dessert. That doesn’t seem like a bad deal to me. We were able to make a reservation for 5 PM on a Friday night with no hassle.

Chu Ros Thai

Sat, 02 Mar 2024 12:54:32 -0500

We haven’t really explored much from the middle of Central Park and up. My partner’s friends live in East Harlem, which according to Google maps, begins East 96th and goes north. They chose this neighborhood Thai restaurant, Chu Ros Thai, that they adore and highly recommend. We basically took the local 6 train northbound from the N/W junction, which took about 20 minutes to go up. For a party of 4, we were able to walk in without reservations at around 4 PM on a Saturday evening.

Vinyl Steakhouse

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 12:51:41 -0500

Vinyl Steakhouse has been a steak place that I’ve been wanting to go for quite some time. The Flatiron area has been experiencing many new restaurant openings post pandemic, and this was one of them that was appealing. Similar to Turntable Chicken Jazz, this restaurant has a load of vinyls on display, and it plays music as requested. We were able to walk in on a Friday around 6:30 PM without reservations for 2. They seated us at the front of the restaurant.

Frevo

Sat, 17 Feb 2024 15:46:02 -0500

Frevo was a restaurant that has been on my partner’s list for some time. When we went to Atomix Bar, the chef had also highly recommended the restaurant. The head chef Franco Sampogna is Brazilian and comes from the region that my partner is from. The entrance to the restaurant has a very tiny art gallery, and it’s been recognized on the Michelin Guide with 1 star. We were able to reserve this a few weeks back without any issues.

Bad Roman

Fri, 09 Feb 2024 14:48:41 -0500

Bad Roman is located in the Columbus Circle mall on the third floor. The team that created this restaurant also helped create Don Angie, Quality Eats, Quality Italian, other “Quality Branded” restaurants, Zou Zou’s, and more. There was a lot of social media firepower with this restaurant because of how retro it looked in vibe and style. We were able to book a seating pretty easily for 2 at 5:30 PM.

Ambiance & Service

The restaurant is very bustling, with lots of noise and all types of clientele. You will find many on their date nights, and you will find big parties celebrating something as if they were celebrities. The noise level is pretty loud, and you are seated pretty close to other tables. The music is also on the louder side too, but it wasn’t uncomfortably loud. At times it was hard to hear our server.

The Grill

Fri, 26 Jan 2024 21:48:36 -0500

The Grill was always something on my bucket list not only for a prime rib trolley, but also for Baked Alaska, my favorite dessert. Every place makes this different, so it’s fun to see different interpretations. In addition, this restaurant has always been difficult to get reservations timely, so we were able to book this a few weeks out for 5:30 PM on a Friday evening. The restaurant is located in the Seagram building, and the entrance is located off of 52nd St. You can’t miss it because there’s a carpet laid out.

Osteria Morini

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 21:01:04 -0500

The nice part about Manhattan is you can always find something and somewhere to eat, no matter where you are in the city. On this brisk, cold night, my partner was running errands in Soho, so I was tasked with looking up something. Of course, it takes me about 30 minutes to find something, and Osteria Morini is what we ended up on. Even though they had restaurant week menus, we decided to just order off the regular menu.

Brasserie VietNam

Fri, 12 Jan 2024 17:33:00 -0500

It’s been difficult to find decent Vietnamese restaurants in general in NYC. A lot of them just don’t get the broth in pho right. This one seemed like a more upscale version of general Vietnamese cuisine, and I saw it open less than a year ago on Yelp. It was tough at first to walk in a few times, so fortunately the hype subsided, and I was able to get an easy reservation on Friday at 5:30 PM for 2 people.

Torien

Sat, 23 Dec 2023 15:06:22 -0500

As a Christmas celebration before we embark on a trip, I wanted to knock this final yakitori tasting off the list. We’ve been to a slew of yakitori tasting places, and this is the last one that is on the higher end. Torien still has 1 Michelin Star in 2023, and it also has a sister 1 Michelin Star restaurant, Torishiki, in Tokyo Japan. We were able to make a reservation for this for a Saturday a few weeks back without issues. Let’s see how this compares to the other yakitori tastings, considering they use a special oak for the taste.

Olle

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 20:49:29 -0500

If you visit sample sales frequently, there are 2 nearby the Nomad and Koreatown area. Because the sample sales close at 7 PM sharp, it compels you to look for food during core dinner hours. Fortunately if you go shop right after work and finish around 6 PM on weekdays, foot traffic to restaurants won’t be too bad. Olle is a Korean restaurant about a block away from the sample sale store on 5th Ave. We were able to walk in with no reservations at around 5:30 PM, which the restaurant started coincidentally getting busy around 6 PM.

Heno Heno

Sat, 09 Dec 2023 13:42:31 -0500

My partner had won some tickets to watch Appropriate on Broadway starring Sarah Paulson. The show starts at 8, but we had to pick up the will-call tickets by 7:30. I saw this Japanese small eatery was nearby the theater on 46th St, and I thought this would be a decent restaurant to try out since there’s a lot of little things we can order. We were able to walk in on a Saturday evening at around 5:30 PM before it got busy.

Havana Central

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:05:15 -0500

It was raining on this gloomy Friday, and we wanted to eat somewhere close to Rockafeller. I recalled we had tried to walk into this restaurant on prior days with no success. I looked them up on OpenTable and saw that they had openings throughout the night. We figured it was worth a shot to try to walk in, and we found success. We were seated next to the door inside a glass section of the restaurant towards the front at around 6:30 PM. There was a live trio band playing Cuban style music, and some people dancing near the entrance.

Okdongsik

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 20:37:05 -0500

This restaurant is from a renowned Korean chef (Ok Dongsik) and is a 6 time Michelin Seoul Bib Gourmand restaurant. We were nearby at a popular sample sale, and this was on my list for a while to checkout. The menu is very small and is straight forward. We were able to walk in at around 6:30 PM on a Wednesday evening without reservation. They turn over seats fairly quickly even though there can easily be a line of people waiting.

Marea

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 18:56:06 -0500

Normally during every Thanksgiving Thursday, I cook for my partner some poultry thing whether it be quail or turkey breast. This year we decided to relieve me the duties of frantically looking for materials and cooking for 6 hours for the 2 of us. Marea was closed for a few months, and we’ve always had this on our list. Because it just reopened in October, I decided to pursue the Thanksgiving tasting menu.

Three Roosters

Sun, 19 Nov 2023 13:11:26 -0500

We’ve been just demolishing a ton of restaurants around the Theater District since we’ve been going to a lot of Broadway shows. This restaurant was on our eyes to go to, but they always take a small break between 4 to 5 PM, so it can put a little time crunch if you have a show around 6:30 to 7 PM. However despite the restaurant being small with probably 5 or 6 tables, we were able to walk in on a Sunday evening around 5:30 PM without reservations. The food here is less about your normal Thai food, and more about chicken set meals.

Hunt & Fish Club

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 17:02:29 -0500

My partner was able to secure another show lottery near Times Square. Because I work near here and the fact that they have been able to win so many lottery shows, we’re running out of choices for restaurants. We were walking along 44th, and we stumbled onto this restaurant. After looking at the menu and the ability to walk in without reservations, we decided to try out this restaurant, Hunt & Fish Club. We were able to walk in at around 5:30 PM on a Friday without reservations easily.

Mari.ne Handroll

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 16:57:31 -0500

Mari.ne (MariNe) Hand-Roll Bar is similar to KazuNori where it’s simply a “hand roll” bar. The hand rolls are fairly small, but quite delightful and fresh. You can order them in different flavors, and it’s sure to satisfy anyone that enjoys sushi in hand roll format. We were able to walk in at around 5:45 PM on a Monday evening, but we were told that we had to be done by 6:30 PM due to an upcoming reservation. More on this in a bit.

Lure Fishbar

Fri, 13 Oct 2023 16:57:57 -0400

Lure Fishbar is run by the same hospitality network thath also owns Bar Tulix and Mercer Kitchen, which is closed unfortunately. Whenever we were in the SOHO area, we always thought about checking this place out especially since we couldn’t walk into Balthazar. The restaurant is very seafood straight forward, and it always seems like it has a very steady crowd. The restaurant entrance is actually located down some stairs. We were able to walk in on a Friday evening around 6:30 PM without reservations, but they were only able to seat us at the sushi bar.

Avra Estiatorio

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 16:32:55 -0400

Avra Estiatorio was a restaurant that we wanted to check out for a while now. Because we were going to watch Gutenberg Musical at 8 PM, this fit perfectly for the opportunity. Avra has several locations spread throughout the United States: 3 in Manhattan, 1 in Miami, and 1 in Beverly Hills. It’s a rather posh Greek seafood restaurant, and it’s very similar to all the other upper end ones, such as Limani and Milos. We were able to walk in at around 6 PM without reservations, and we were seated at the upper floor. When we met the hostess, they asked if we were seeing a show, and we acknowledged that we were.

Nasrin's Kitchen

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:37:57 -0400

We decided to checkout a Persian restaurant, that is somewhat close to Central Park and within walkable distance from my work. This is a new restaurant that has been opened for around 3+ months already. In Los Angeles, they have their share of Persian, so it’d be interesting to see how does NYC fare for this cuisine. The restaurant entrance is a little discreet. The door leads to the second floor which is where the restaurant sits. We were able to walk-in for 2 at 5:30 PM without reservations, though the restaurant filled up somewhat afterwards.

Dawa's

Sun, 10 Sep 2023 21:46:52 -0400

Woodside in Queens is an area that has a plethora of Asian eats that are uncommon in Manhattan. Many of these things here are inexpensive compared to Manhattan, and they have particular flavors that probably won’t appeal to the masses in Manhattan. We were around this area on an errand run, so it was convenient for me to look for something here on a Sunday. We were able to walk in around 12 PM without any wait whatsoever. This restaurant was next door to Khun Noo Thai Noodle House.

Aperitivo

Fri, 08 Sep 2023 19:11:50 -0400

It’s yet another Friday, and my partner had to pick up some items around the southeast part of Central Park. This area is fairly close to the Plaza Hotel and the flagship Apple store. This restaurant was on my eyes for a while, but my partner hadn’t built their tolerance or appreciation for Italian food until recently. Fortunately, I finally had a chance to suggest this restaurant as our Friday getaway. We were able to do a walk-in on a Friday evening around 5:45 PM without reservations.

Bōm

Sat, 26 Aug 2023 10:29:27 -0400

Bom is a restaurant located in the back room of its sibling restaurant, Oiji Mi. We had been to that before, and I thought it was pretty decent. Bom was always on my list of things to try, but at $295 per person, I was pretty hesitant and skeptical. This restaurant doesn’t even have a Michelin Star yet. Since reservations are fairly easy and Oiji Mi was pretty good, I thought I’d give this a try since we were celebrating two major milestones in our lives.

Trattoria Dell'arte

Sun, 13 Aug 2023 16:15:35 -0400

We were near this area because we stopped by Nordstroms for some shopping. This area is pretty close to the southern side of Central Park, and we’ve almost tapped out all the restaurants here (or so I thought). Luckily my partner has continued to show interest in Italian foods because I love it. I found this restaurant that wasn’t that far from where we were, and it was also offering a 3 course prix fixe restaurant week menu for $45. We were able to walk in around 4:30 PM on a Sunday without any reservations.

The Bar Room at the Modern

Fri, 11 Aug 2023 14:04:33 -0400

The Modern is a well known 2 star Michelin restaurant that has an appealing tasting menu. Its sibling restaurant, the Bar Room", is located in the same area as the Modern restaurant, but literally is divided by tall gigantic glass panes. The Bar Room has a more casual feel, where there’s music pumping through the speakers, and it feels more bustling like the general NYC city culture. On the other side of the pane is the extravagant tasting menu, which we also visited. Go to the Kitchen Table review for more of how that experience was like.

Tempura Matsui

Fri, 04 Aug 2023 15:48:43 -0400

Tempura Matsui is a Michelin 1-star restaurant in Manhattan that specializes in tempura omakase. I had previously gone to another tempura omakase at Secchu Yokota. As I said previously, I really enjoy tempura as a whole, so I am very curious how a Michelin Star tempura tasting compares to a hidden gem tasting. Fortunately, my partner went to see a Broadway show, so it gave me the ability to solo dine at this restaurant. It was very easy to make reservations for one person the night prior.

Four Four South Village

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 12:53:30 -0400

Taiwanese food is one of the types of cuisines that is seldomly found in Manhattan and just simply cannot compare to the San Gabriel Valley in the greater Los Angeles area in California. I asked my partner before a show if they wanted to check this out, and to my surprise they said yes! Normally they are not fond of this type of food, especially when noodles are around. This is not too far from Broadway theaters. We were able to walk in around 5:30 PM on a Monday without any issues.

Bubby's

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 21:02:10 -0400

I’m not a fan of brunch as whole, but my partner’s friends were in town and they selected this restaurant due to their pancakes. Take note that on Sundays, they do not allow reservations, and only the completed parties can be seated. We arrived at around 10:30 AM, and we ended up waiting about 45 minutes until we were able to get in. Originally we were a group of 5, but luckily one didn’t show up, so we were able to be seated once our whole party arrived.

Secchu Yokota

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 21:47:04 -0400

Tempura is one of those things in Japanese cuisine that is pretty expensive for what it is, but when you find the right batter with the right ingredients, it’s so good. In Torrance in California, it’s been over a decade since I tried specialized tempura, so I was craving it recently. Unfortunately my partner loathes tempura for some odd reason, so I opted to dine alone when they decided to watch a Broadway show. I was able to successfully book a reservation for 1 via their website (through their email link) the day prior for 5:30 PM.

Giardino 54

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 18:03:04 -0400

We were near Broadway and 50th to watch the Back to the Future musical, which was actually surprisingly good. After, we had wanted Thai food, but the restaurant was closed briefly. My partner didn’t use the restrooms at the theater, so I scrambled for another option that had a restroom and found this restaurant off of 54th. We were able to walk in without reservations for 2 at around 5:30 PM on a Saturday night. The host said that the “garden” was saved for just reservations, which we were fine with.

Pranakhon

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 22:44:28 -0400

We’ve recently been on a Thai binge trying different regional Thai foods ranging from southern to northern. I’m finding that northern Thai food tends to be a bit too spicy and too sweet for me, although the tastes are sure to accentuate those who need such bold flavors. This restaurant has recently been acknowledged by Michelin guide and is located near NYU around Union Square. We were able to walk in without reservations at around 5 PM on a Friday night, though they said our meal was limited to 90 minutes.

Chalong

Fri, 07 Jul 2023 19:25:12 -0400

We had a show to go to around 43rd and 9th Ave, so we decided to look around the Hell’s Kitchen area. In this area from my research, there seems to be some pretty good Thai restaurants that have been here for a bit or are opening up. We had recently gone to LumLum, which focused on more Northern Thai cuisine. Here in Chalong which is on 9th Ave between 51st and 52nd, they are focused on more Southern Thai. This restaurant is a few months old, and we were able to get a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM the night prior to our arrival.

Cucina 8 1/2

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 20:25:28 -0400

We were running errands around 5th Avenue, and this restaurant was on my partner’s list. I learned that my partner picked this restaurant because it was on Sex & The City, so I had very low expectations. We stopped by around 5:30 PM on a Friday night, and we were able to walk in without reservations. The restaurant itself is at the bottom of the staircase as you walk in. We were seated in one of the private booths, which was quite comfortable and serene.

Oceana

Fri, 23 Jun 2023 13:13:16 -0400

One of the nice parts of living and working in Manhattan is that there is so much you can do and improvise after work. We had a show at 8 PM from winning a lottery, so it was easy to meet up after work and look for something to eat. Pre-theater prix fixe menus are a nice thing. They are basically a small tasting menu that won’t fill your belly too much, and the price is reasonable. We ended up at Oceana here since we realized we were within its small pre-theater hours of 5-6 PM on Friday.

Kono

Sat, 17 Jun 2023 12:58:26 -0400

Kono has been something on my radar for quite some time. It’s been a bit since we’ve splurged quality yakitori, so I was able to snipe a reservation for a Saturday night out at 5:30 PM fairly quickly on Resy. Chef Atsushi “ATS” Kono was originally at Torishin, and after looking at the menu, I was excited to see what this experience brought. This restaurant focused on kappo-style yakitori omakase featuring organic Amish chicken and seasonable vegetables.

Pizzarte

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 12:06:59 -0400

PizzArte is one of those casual Italian pizza-esque restaurants in the Midtown area. Their goal is to deliver the spirit of Naples with affordable costs. We ended up here after looking for a cheaper Italian restaurant in the area that also had lasagna since we had more expensive plans the next day. We were able to walk in without reservations on a Friday evening around 7:30 PM and were seated upstairs.

Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 15:12:02 -0400

Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare is a renown three Michelin Star restaurant by Chef Cesar Ramirez. It’s inspired by Japanese cuisine with French technique, and the 13 course tasting menu tonight is focused on fish & shellfish with 1 meat course and 4 dessert courses. I was quite excited to come here since moving to NYC. This restaurant was always very difficult to get reservations, so it was great that we were able to when we wanted. This restaurant is currently rated number 61 out of 100 on the The World’s Best 50.

Osteria La Baia

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 18:13:10 -0400

What’s an Italian restaurant in Midtown that didn’t require reservations at 6 PM on a Friday evening after work? This one. It’s very close to the Rockafeller area, right across the street from a food hall. There’s a small car with a ton of flowers coming out of it. You can’t really miss it. We were able to walk in pretty easily, and we were seated towards the front. Because this restaurant is not exactly super popular, the attention and seating was quite comfortable.

Ophelia

Sun, 04 Jun 2023 16:55:53 -0400

Ophelia is a cocktail bar located in Midtown East near 1st Ave and 50th. It’s located at the top of Beekman Tower. This was built in 1928, and it was originally known as the Panhellenic Tower. The bar and hotel originally served as a womens-only club and hotel space for Greek sororities. When you walk into the lobby of the hotel, take the middle elevator to the 26th floor for entrance. We did have to make reservations ahead of time, but they are pretty easy to procure weeks in advance.

Charlie Palmer

Wed, 10 May 2023 19:14:28 -0400

We had yet another show to catch, so we decided to look around the Bryant Park area. I stumbled onto Charlie Palmer, and it had been on my list of steak places to try. What was nice about this place specifically is they offered a 2-course pre-theatre menu for $49 which included a starter and entree. If you wanted dessert, you would have to pay an additional $10. Lucky for us, we weren’t that hungry, so a 2-course meal sounded fine for us. The waiter mentioned that the portion size for either course was the same as if you ordered in peak hours.

Sake Bar Hagi

Sat, 06 May 2023 16:52:29 -0400

Now that we’re back from Hawaii, we went to go see Sweeney Todd, a musical that was one of my favorites. Nearby, we decided to eat something quick and light, so we opted for izakaya. Sake Bar Hagi, according to their website, says it’s New York’s first authentic izakaya since 1985. I’m not sure what that really means, but we’ll find out. We arrived around 5:30 PM on a Saturday evening, and we were seated immediately.

Prime Meat Rokko

Sun, 09 Apr 2023 23:01:20 -0400

We were around the Hell’s Kitchen area catching up on a Broadway musical called “MJ: The Musical” based on Michael Jackson. This area we have rarely explored much, considering early post-pandemic, this area was quite dangerous with the drug users and harassers. Nevertheless, this katsu restaurant has been on my list for years, and I’ve been meaning to check this out. We were able to walk in on a Sunday at around 5:30 PM without any issue.

Tacos Güey

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 16:25:26 -0400

We were in the Flatiron area running errands, and unfortunately the nearby S&P sandwich shop was closed for dinner. As we scoured for food, we did ultimately end up at this Tacos Güey place. I vaguely had remembered that this was a relatively new restaurant, so we opted to try it out. We were able to walk in on a Friday evening at 6:30 PM and find a pair of seats in the bar.

Nubeluz

Sun, 12 Mar 2023 21:47:21 -0400

Nubeluz is a bar from Chef José Andrés located on the 50th floor of The Ritz-Carlton in Nomad with the intent to show visitors the NYC skyline. He has another recently opened restaurant, Zaytinya, on the first floor of this hotel. We were able to make reservations for 4:00 PM on a Sunday a few weeks in advanced. When you walk into the hotel, check in with the concierge who will swipe you up to the floor. When you arrive, you are greeted with the Nubeluz restaurant sign. When you turn right, the hosts will take you to your seating area.

Zou Zou's

Sun, 26 Feb 2023 23:02:18 -0500

Located near the Vessel and Hudson Yards, Zou Zou’s was on my partner’s list for quite some time. They simply love Mediterranean small plates and dips. We actually had to make a reservation a few weeks out to nab our reservation at 5 PM on a Sunday night. The restaurant lies in this little courtyard where it leads into one of the Peloton offices. When we arrived, we were able to check in a few minutes early. The hosts asked us to wait at the bar, and when they were ready for dinner service, they will come get you and bring you to your table.

Le Rock

Fri, 24 Feb 2023 21:30:43 -0500

Le Rock is one of those new hot and busy restaurants around the Rockafeller area because it comes from the team of Frenchette. The majority of the menu is in French, and it had been receiving pretty stellar reviews for the most part. We walked in at 5:45 PM, and we were very fortunate that they were able to seat us due to a prior cancellation. We were told that we would have to be done with dinner within 90 minutes. Despite my partner normally eating slower than most, I thought it was worth a gamble.

Duomo 51

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 20:06:13 -0500

This Memorial Day weekend, we’ve been enjoying our free time just idling at home and doing chores. For Monday, my partner wanted to run some errands, and we were around the Rockafeller area. Because it was still a bit early around 4 PM, it was difficult to find restaurants that had already turned over to their dinner time. Eventually, my partner pointed out this restaurant, and we decided to give it a try. It’s located in the 7th floor of the Hilton DoubleTree hotel on 5th Ave and 51st.

Olio E Più

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 15:27:35 -0500

Olio e Più is a trattoria & enoteca restaurant run by the same group that manages Boucherie. It’s close to the West 4th station in the Village, and it usually has a very lively crowd as it gets toward evening hours. Before the pandemic, the restaurant table space was quite small and tight. Since, they’ve expanded structurally a patio that extends out of the main building, as well as little sidewalk area that is enclosed. If you desire to sit in the actual indoor areas (i.e. not the patio area or the sidewalk area), you probably have to make a reservation a few weeks in advance and book the “Standard” area in OpenTable.

Jua

Sat, 11 Feb 2023 18:54:39 -0500

Jua is one of those new-ish Korean restaurants that has received a number of praises from all sorts of diners. I was able to get a 2-seater a few days before Valentine’s Day on a Saturday evening. It did require me to sit and snipe on Resy, which fortunately was not as difficult as trying to get reservations at Don Angie. Jua is a restaurant by chef Hoyoung Kim, who was the former executive chef of Jungsik. It is a 7-course tasting menu ($135 per person) and utilizes a variety of wood-fire techniques.

La Masseria

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 16:35:12 -0500

We had tickets to watch Phantom of the Opera before it closes in April, and my partner was scouring for some type of restaurant week menu to eat. They landed on this restaurant which is pretty close by as it had last minute vacancy. I already had very low expectations on some of these Italian restaurants that are close to theaters especially ones that are restaurant week driven. The restaurant week menu had some overlap with the normal dishes, but the ingredients to me did not really stand out.

Empellón

Sat, 04 Feb 2023 19:54:48 -0500

As usual, we were again running some errands in this Midtown East area close to Central Park. We are running a bit dry on Italian options, so fortunately my partner finally said “yes” to a Mexican restaurant that I have wanted to go to for a long time. I vaguely recall Empellón having a Michelin Star a while back, but I cannot find any information on it at this time. I even asked ChatGPT, and they thought it had received a star in the Michelin 2019 NYC guide. Regardless, I have wanted to come here to try their infamous dessert.

Felice

Sun, 29 Jan 2023 16:35:12 -0500

Felice appears to be an Italian premium chain restaurant with locations around New York and Florida. We were around the area shopping and walking around for errands of course, and my partner fortunately has been on an Italian binge recently. They really love lasagna, and this restaurant nearby had it on its menu. We were able to walk in on a Sunday without reservation at around 5:30 PM. When you walk in, it appears to be a coffee shop with a barista. The restaurant is actually located on the bottom floor.

Cotenna

Fri, 27 Jan 2023 22:30:17 -0500

West Village is an area that we had walked through at times, but we never really tried many restaurants. Fortunately, it’s very accessible from both where my partner works and where I work. They picked this restaurant at the whim, and the menu looked pretty interesting and also straight forward. I was able to secure a reservation for 5:30 PM the day of without much difficulties. When you arrive here, there seems to be a little sibling restaurant, Aria Wine bar, across the street which seems to have a similar menu. Unfortunately, I did not see a restaurant sign for this one until I stared at the menu taped to the wall and noticed it said Cotenna.

Cha Pa's Noodles and Grill

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 15:46:02 -0500

I work around the Rockafeller area, and I had to walk towards the Midtown West for an errand during lunch. Near the area that I was in, I noticed this Vietnamese pho restaurant that didn’t have many people. Since it was cold outside and before I head back, I decided to check this out for lunch, considering it had some basic pho options. When I walked in, there were some solo diners who were scarfing their noodles fast, so I felt at ease that this was would be a quick lunch spot.

Ilili

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 13:30:43 -0500

On our Fridays, we typically plan a post-work dinner somewhere. Throughout the week, we eat at home a very basic chicken and vegetables dinner, and we use our end of weeks to eat out. This time around, my partner had picked Ilili because it had been on their list for quite some time. I looked online and noticed that they charge $50 if you cancel a reservation, so we decided to risk doing a walk-in right at 5:30 PM. It was not a problem.

Lysée

Sat, 31 Dec 2022 22:44:35 -0500

Dessert bars are not a new thing in NYC, but finding a very good one can be difficult. This one comes from Chef Eunji Lee, who comes from renowned Jungsik. My partner did see the chef in the kitchen when we were there. We were able to make a reservation for this several weeks in advance surprisingly without any hassle. When you walk in, there is a floor level section and an upper level section.

Aquavit

Thu, 29 Dec 2022 16:46:49 -0500

For my partner’s birthday, I had my eye on Aquavit for quite some time. Not only does it have 2 Michelin Stars, but it’s also Scandinavian and Nordic inspired. We’re a bit fatigued from the high end French restaurants since their techniques and flavors are nearly the same as each other. We had been to another Scandinavian Michelin star restaurant, Aska recently, so it would be interesting to compare these two.

Pastis

Tue, 27 Dec 2022 21:18:54 -0500

We were around the Meatpacking District area walking around, and I had stumbled onto this restaurant Pastis in my search for food. I remember reading that this restaurant was a happening place and was one of Keith McNally’s restaurants. Keith McNally is a restaurateur that has opened many NYC restaurants including Augustine, Balthazar, Minetta Tavern, and Cherche Midi. We were able to easily book a reservation for a Tuesday evening at 5 PM without any problems whatsoever. When we walked in, we were welcomed with a very fun atmosphere that resembled somewhat of a French market/cafe.

Tán

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 15:45:57 -0500

My partner saw this restaurant on their Instagram feed, and since it’s a new Mexican restaurant, we thought it’d be interesting to check out. I know absolutely nothing about the Chef Richard Sandoval and Chef Jonatán Gomez Luna Torres, but the menu looked pretty interesting and looks like it can bring an upscale experience and taste of Mexican cuisine. We were able to get 5 PM reservation easily on a Thursday evening, and they still have not gotten their liquor license by our visit tonight. That’s fine because they do offer mocktails, which I am a huge fan of in general.

Gordon Ramsay Fish and Chips

Sat, 17 Dec 2022 23:09:06 -0500

We were around the Times Square area, and this new fast food fish and chips restaurant just opened from Gordon Ramsay. The restaurant also has locations in Las Vegas, Orlando, DC, and now New York City. Gordon Ramsay used to have restaurants opened in NYC, but they have all been closed for quite some time. This is the only restaurant that he now has in NYC. So how was it?

The Mercer Kitchen

Fri, 09 Dec 2022 13:31:41 -0500

We were in the SOHO area doing a quick errand run. Because it was so cold, we decided to eat near the Prince Street subway station. We ended up at The Mercer Kitchen because they had walk-in seating, and it seemed interesting. We were seated in an intimate table right next to the bottom floor’s receptionist. We learned later that this is one of Jean George’s restaurants, and it’s scheduled to close at end of month permanently.

Oppa Bistro

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 16:16:09 -0500

We are likely going to frequent the West Village weekly because we’ve nearly tapped out the heart of the Midtown area. This area is densely populated with a high number of restaurants that goes through frequent turnovers and change. Oppa Bistro was an audible call when we learned that Olio e Piu was very packed at around 5:30 PM on a Friday. We were able to walk into Oppa Bistro with no reservations at around 5:45 PM, and there was just a handful of diners.

Piccola Cucina

Fri, 25 Nov 2022 15:28:26 -0500

I don’t know much about Piccola Cucina other than that it’s real close to Bloomingdales in Midtown. When we tried to stop in at 5:30 PM as a walk-in many months ago, they told us there was a 2 hour wait. Since we knew today we were going to be around the area, I saw they had a few openings and quickly booked a reservation for 6 PM for 2. This review is for the Midtown Uptown location.

Naro

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 15:28:11 -0500

Naro is a new Korean restaurant that opened right next to the Rockafeller ice skating rink. According to the menu, the Naro name was inspired by South Korea’s first ever space vehicle to successfully achieve Earth’s orbit and also from the Korean phrase nah-ro (which means “through me”). Naro focuses on Korean cuisine, drawing inspiration from classic dishes from different moments in Korean history. Lastly, this is the third restaurant from the Atomix and Attaboy founders, so there is definitely some expectations. We actually were able to book a reservation on a Wednesday evening for 5:30 PM without much issue.

The Reading Room

Fri, 11 Nov 2022 21:37:27 -0500

The Reading Room is a restaurant that caught my eye on Yelp’s “New and Hot” list. The menu is fairly small, simple, but seemed like it could be a good one. I’ve been looking for restaurants around my work area that I could potentially refer others for drinks or a not too expensive dinner. This restaurant is located in the back of The Gotham Hotel on 46th between Madison and Fifth Avenue.

Gatsby Landing

Fri, 04 Nov 2022 20:34:22 -0400

Gatsby Landing has been on my list for quite some time. The menu is reasonably priced, and it’s fairly close to my office and close to the 42nd trains. I figured today would be the day to check it out, since my options are running a little thin since I was looking for a walk-in restaurant. We arrived here around 5:30 PM on a Friday evening, and we were able to walk in easily for a party of 2.

The Bar Room

Sun, 30 Oct 2022 16:12:05 -0400

We were in the Midtown area shopping yet again. The previous night we went to Serafina, which was pretty awful. Luckily we had more choices, and this restaurant was nearby. It caught my eye because it had a nice indoor patio area that was lit by natural light similarly to The Milling Room. The menu seemed reasonable as well as the price, so maybe there can be some value found here. We were able to walk in without reservations on a Sunday at 5:30 PM.

Serafina

Sat, 29 Oct 2022 15:18:29 -0400

We were near the Columbus Circle area just shopping and walking around. Generally, this area doesn’t have too many great places to eat, and we couldn’t decide what we were in the mood for. I had proposed the thought of Serafina since I’ve never been there and my partner had a fantastic experience back in their home country. We were able to walk in without reservations during the core hours of dinner.

Okiboru House of Tsukemen

Fri, 28 Oct 2022 13:58:40 -0400

What is tsukemen (つけ麺; pronounced “skee-men”)? It’s basically thick udon served cold with a side of a thick soup/broth for dipping. In Los Angeles, I frequented a place in Sawtelle near the Westside called “Tsujita” that also specialized in something similar. Okiboru recently opened in Manhattan, and it’s famed for being on Michelin’s Bib Gourmand list in Atlanta. They do not take reservations, so when we arrived at this location at 5:15 PM on a Friday, the line outside was about 10 parties ranging from 2 to 6 people per group. It took us about 30-45 minutes of wait before we were seated.

Ai Ki Ya

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 14:42:26 -0400

We had to run errands around Macy’s, so this was a good chance to check out some restaurant that was fairly light and also didn’t have strong smells. We were able to walk in on a Saturday at 5:30 PM with no reservations. We noticed the menus had both skewers and hot pot as options. I saw that many people ordered hot pot with cotton candy on top, and we contemplated briefly but decided not to.

Atomix

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 11:56:25 -0400

This is either a blessing or a curse of the reservation system Tock. When the time comes to make reservations for super hot restaurants, you literally have less than 2 seconds to grab a reservation spot when they become available. I mistakenly grabbed a bar reservation thinking it was the Chef’s Counter, and I was mildly disappointed. However, I refreshed the reservation system about 10 minutes later, and I noticed there were an opening for counter seating the following week. I quickly made the reservation, and then ultimately decided to keep both the bar tasting and the Chef’s counter tasting reservations. This post will be for the Atomix Chef’s Counter menu. To read about the Atomix Bar tasting experience, please click here.

Atomix Bar

Thu, 15 Sep 2022 11:56:19 -0400

For our anniversary, I camped on Tock to make reservations for Atomix. Here, they actually have 2 different menus: a bar tasting menu and a Chef’s counter tasting menu. I actually made reservations for both, with some thought that I was going to sell the bar one because I thought they would be similar. However after some research, I realized they are actually 2 distinct experiences. I ended up keeping both reservations, and so there will be two distinct reviews for Atomix. This one is about the bar. To read the Chef’s counter experience, please click here.

Refinery Rooftop Bar

Sun, 11 Sep 2022 14:43:58 -0400

On this very cloudy Sunday, we originally were planning to go to a “rooftop” outdoor film viewing on top of a hotel. Unfortunately, it got cloudy fast, and it rained throughout most of the day. The hosts cancelled the event, but we still desired to meet up with some friends. We ended up at Refinery Rooftop, which is just around the corner from the cancelled event. Fortunately, they were able to accept walk-ins around 4:30 PM.

Silky Kitchen

Thu, 08 Sep 2022 14:41:33 -0400

Occasionally, I can grab food for myself after work, and I tend to look for noodles. My partner is not a fan at all of noodles, so I took this liberty to look for something that they would not enjoy. Despite the hot and humid weather in NYC, I rarely mind eating hot soups with noodles. Silky Kitchen has a location near where I live in Astoria, so I thought I’d try out its location out in Midtown near Times Square.

Zaytinya

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 14:29:47 -0400

Zaytinya is located right next to the N (yellow) line off 28th St inside of the luxurious Ritz-Carlton hotel on the first floor. This is another restaurant of José Andrés, and the menu has a lot of classical Turkish, Greek, and Lebanese influences. What was appealing to us was the menu had hummus, and the prices did not seem too expensive despite being inside a luxury hotel. When you enter the restaurant, it has a very open and modern Greek ambiance to it, similar to many other Greek restaurants in the city. However (in a good way), there were several things we immediately noticed that separate itself. We made a reservation for a Saturday at 3:30 PM for a late lunch.

LumLum

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 22:40:41 -0400

LumLum is a fairly new Thai restaurant to the city. What attracted me was that it has a lot of Northern Thai flavors and influences in the food. Think Thai but modernized somewhat. When you see some of the photos below, you will see what that means. The restaurant is run by 2 sisters who grew up in Thailand. When you arrive, both the interior and exterior are very social media friendly. We arrived at around 5:10 on a Friday evening after work, and were able to walk in with just a party of 2. When we finished around 6:00, there was a wait outside already.

Black Iron Burger

Fri, 08 Jul 2022 10:47:34 -0400

In the rare occasion nowadays, I am able to sometimes grab dinner solo somewhere. I often debate about the cuisine, and I rarely want to eat something super posh right after work. I noticed a new location of a burger chain opened up. I often confuse the Black Iron Burger with the Blacktap Burger places but not this time. I walked in with no reservations at this 54th and 7th ave location and sat at the bar.

Per Se

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 19:37:58 -0400

Per Se is Thomas Keller’s acclaimed interpretation of the French Laundry restaurant in New York City and has 3 Michelin Stars. I don’t think it’s a replacement for the French Laundry, but it might be indicative of what to expect if we did ever go to Napa Valley to try it out. This restaurant is located in Columbus Circle at the top floor inside the mall. When we walked in, we were astounded by the huge ceiling and the vast feeling of space.

Da Andrea

Sat, 04 Jun 2022 19:59:02 -0400

Having been on a Sopranos binge, the first thought that came to mind was just simply pasta. We were in the Flatiron area and decided to walk down to 13th to check out this Italian restaurant because the menu looked simple and straight forward. We arrived at 5:30 PM on a Saturday evening as a party of 2, and they accommodated us in the back of the restaurant without reservations.

Oiji Mi

Fri, 27 May 2022 17:04:02 -0400

I read about Oiji Mi somewhere, and my gourmand syndrome was kicking in since I felt like I haven’t been to a prix fixe upper end restaurant in a while. Oiji Mi is relatively new, and it comes from the owners of the original East Village’s Oiji. It offers creative contemporary Korean dining composed uniquely for NYC. I saw that they offer a 5 course tasting menu for $125 per person, and the menu looked quite interesting.

Crab House

Fri, 20 May 2022 16:14:15 -0400

I cannot recall the last time I’ve cracked open crab shells and eaten a huge chunk of crab meat. In Los Angeles, I used to go to a lot of seafood buffets, and they would always have a plethora of snow crab legs that you could eat for hours on end. We decided today to venture out to this all you can eat seafood buffet in the city. We were able to walk in with no reservations for 2 around 5:30 PM on a Friday.

Limani

Fri, 06 May 2022 18:19:40 -0400

Normally we have Friday plans in the evening for a dinner restaurant after work. We didn’t plan for anything, so this restaurant was a decision at the whim. My partner always prefers either Latin based restaurants or Mediterranean because there they love hummus. This restaurant was on 51st right next to Rockafeller, so it was easy to access even on a rainy day. When we arrived at 6 PM on a Friday night, we were able to walk in without reservations as the restaurant was pretty empty.

Yama Ramen

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 17:09:27 -0400

This ramen place is pretty close to where I work. It’s located on 48th and 6th ave and is very close to Rockafeller. There is no way you would know of this restaurant unless you were either intentionally looking for it, or if you saw the ground floor sign that indicated this was upstairs. I had some time during my lunch, and decided to take a quick spin to see how this was compared to other ramen spots.

Contra

Sat, 23 Apr 2022 15:24:41 -0400

It was my partner’s friend’s birthday, and they had asked for my partner to make a reservation to a Michelin Star restaurant that was not overwhelmingly expensive (< $120 per person before wine). My partner started looking for more contemporary cuisines, and stumbled onto this which was a bit below the radar of restaurants. I remembered looking at the menu a while back, and nothing really struck me as a must-have … but I’m always open to trying to prove myself wrong.

Carne Mare

Fri, 15 Apr 2022 14:58:48 -0400

Carne Mare is an Italian chophouse restaurant from Andrew Carmellini. He has opened a number of restaurants in NYC already as well as other places in the U.S. The thing that attracted mem to this restaurant was I was craving for prime rib, and then I noticed they had this gorgonzola cured strip-loin that people have been raving about. To add to this, they also offer baked alaska which is basically one of my favorite desserts of all time.

Wayan

Sat, 09 Apr 2022 14:36:26 -0400

We were in the typical SOHO shopping area, walking around, and lounging. We noticed that the traffic in this area is starting to recover and getting a little more traffic than usual. It was around 5 PM, and we started getting a little hungry. I had remembered Wayan receiving a lot of accolades. I often get it confused with Wayla, so I never quite remembered why it was so popular. Fortunately, we were able to do a walk-in on a cloudy Saturday night at 5:15 PM. The host sat us right in front of the kitchen which was pretty cool.

The Mermaid Inn

Sun, 03 Apr 2022 22:33:20 -0400

We had the pleasure of enjoying the company of one of our friends who is coming into town for work. This restaurant is conveniently close to the Highline and was also near their hotel. I vaguely recall that this is a very popular seafood restaurant down in West Village, and it had been on my list for a number of years. Surprisingly, they opened another location here, and we thought we’d go check it out.

Skirt Steak

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 23:36:40 -0400

I’ve always enjoyed simple menus of steak frites. We visited L’entrecote, and it was a pretty good restaurant for a similar value as this one. When I arrived at 5:20 PM and because this restaurant doesn’t take reservations for small parties, there was already a line out of the door. Fortunately the total wait time for us was about 15 minutes in line because we volunteered for bar seats if they were available. We were hoping this restaurant would be another spot of equivalent, if not better, caliber steak frites. So how did it fare?

Zhongzhong Noodles

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 22:56:19 -0400

We planned to meet my partner’s friend on the wonderful Roosevelt Island. For those that haven’t been to Roosevelt Island, there are literally 3 different ways to get there: the F train, the tram (cable car), or transportation via bridge from the Astoria side. With the hopefully slim possibility of living there, my partner wanted to meet their friend and also check out local food delights. Zhongzhong Noodles had been on my list for quite a while, so I figured now is a good time to try it out.

Au Cheval

Fri, 25 Mar 2022 21:44:30 -0400

Au Cheval is well known restaurant based out of Chicago. They specialize in elevated burgers and American dishes. When they opened a New York City location, there were crazy lines out the door. The bigger brother to this restaurant is “4 Charles” which specializes in prime rib. Both the burger and prime rib sandwich at Au Cheval are also found at “4 Charles”. I don’t have the patience to book a “4 Charles” reservation and pay the crazy insane prices for steak, so I thought I’d try some of their offerings here. Because they charge $2.49 plus tax, per person, for a reservation on Resy. It’s pretentious, but that did allow us to secure a reservation easily.

Bar Tulix

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 19:10:57 -0400

Following our Disney World trip and since I started going back to the office, we are starting to do our Friday date nights again. This restaurant appeared in the local news as a brand new restaurant, so we thought we’d give it a try before the crowds started discovering this and also because we missed NYC food after being in Disney World for a week. The restaurant is a partnership between restauranteur John McDonald of Mercer Street Hospitality with partnership with Chef Justin Bazdarich (Oxomoco). We recalled we had a great time at Oxomoco for their brunch.

Bacall's Family Steakhouse

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 15:28:47 -0500

One of our traditions that will be coming back soon is eating out on Fridays after work. We’ve been exploring the heart of midtown area and trying to walk into restaurants without reservations. We tried to go to one of the Cuban restaurants, but unfortunately they required a 40 minute wait. This restaurant wasn’t too far away, but they did have prime rib on the menu. When we arrived, it seems there was some show going on, but we were able to sit at a small table in the bar area.

Miriam

Sun, 20 Feb 2022 21:34:29 -0500

After an early afternoon along the mid section of Central Park at the Natural History museum, I was looking for specifically Mediterranean restaurants within a half mile walk. As usual, we did not have reservations in mind, so we were hoping we could walk in. Sorting by the “hot and new” on Yelp, we decided on Miriam which seemed to be a second Israeli location for the owners. Fortunately, the restaurant was quite open around 4:45 PM, and we were able to walk in. If we had came closer to 6 PM, it probably would’ve been much more difficult to secure a spot.

La Grande Boucherie

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 18:02:12 -0500

We’ve been to Boucherie before on 6th Ave near the West Village. We expected the food here to be similar but not the same as that location.

For my first visit, I was craving for prime rib, and disappointingly, all the other places in the city were pretty expensive at $70 and up. For subsequent visits, it was decided out of convenience because the food was pretty consistent, and they have a decent pre-theater menu for the value.

Valerie

Sat, 12 Feb 2022 16:28:38 -0500

Valentine’s Day … it’s yet another day of the year to spend more money on your partner! Valerie is a restaurant located in Midtown about 3 streets up from Bryant Park. My partner was craving crab cakes and aside from ordering from Jimmy’s Famous Seafood, I was having a lot of trouble finding something. They gave me a list, and I noticed that there was crab cake on this menu. I had no idea what to expect on an early Saturday evening when we arrived.

Genesis House

Sun, 16 Jan 2022 20:14:08 -0500

We saw this restaurant’s opening relatively recently on an NYC openings blog. I wasn’t sure what exactly was the “Genesis House” or what “curated by Onjium” meant, but I figure post pandemic this was an excellent opportunity to make a reservation for something new to please my gourmand syndrome. The Genesis house is kind of interesting. The first floor is a showroom of Genesis vehicles where you can sit in the cars and talk to the different reps. The cars look nice, but this show room felt a little out of place for me. On the second floor is the library and restaurant, and on the lower level is an open meeting area. I learned that Onjium is a 1 Michelin Star out in Seoul. They curated the menu here with both modern and Korean techniques in iconic Korean recipes.

Quality Italian

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 19:31:32 -0500

We were around the Bloomingdales area running some errands back and forth around the Midtown East area and decided to take the risk of looking for a restaurant without making reservations since we normally eat dinner fairly early. This Quality Italian seems to be from the same owners of Quality Meats and Quality Bistro which are on my list. Quality Italian is a modern take on the Italian American steakhouse tradition, and the prices are probably on the mid to high range.

Mission Ceviche

Sat, 04 Dec 2021 17:48:27 -0500

We had to go to the Upper East to return some items, and of course that allowed us to also explore some restaurants around that area. I recall Mission Ceviche having a stall in the Gainsvoort/Chelsea food hall, but I never actually tried it. They actually have a few locations in the city, and fortunately we were near their Upper East Side location. My partner is a ceviche fanatic, so we thought we’d take a look.

Jojo

Sat, 06 Nov 2021 17:00:51 -0500

This restaurant is very close to the Bloomingdales along Lexington in the Upper East side. Surprisingly it has been here for a while, but we seldom come to this neighborhood to grab food. It just so happens we were on an errand run, so my partner was able to grab an early reservation. This is one of the more price friendly restaurants of Jean Georges although it arguably is still on the pricy side.

Amor Loco

Sat, 30 Oct 2021 16:01:13 -0400

We got some new Mexican restaurant coupons for a margarita/beer. This location is quite convenient near Times Square, just a few steps from the heart of it. We made a reservation for a 4:15 PM on a Saturday late afternoon, and the crowd traffic was fairly light outside and inside. The reservation was probably not needed, but you never know. When we arrived at the restaurant, they did ask for proof of vaccination.

Flex Mussels

Sat, 16 Oct 2021 21:46:28 -0400

We had tickets to the Banksy exhibit later in the evening near the border of Chelsea and West Village. This mussel restaurant was something I had liked to go since I moved out to NYC, and finally all stars aligned. Surprisingly, there are not a lot of mussel restaurants in NYC. In Los Angeles in Culver City, I used to go to a place called “Meet in Paris”, and it had literally 10+ different types of mussel broths. This reminded me of those vibes, so I wanted to try this out.

The Harrow

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 21:40:29 -0400

Nearby, we had gotten free tickets to the Intrepid museum which sat on the water along 46th. The museum closed at 5 PM sharp, and we picked this restaurant since it was not too far of a walk. This had been on my list for a few years already, but we’re rarely in the Hell’s Kitchen area. What’s nice about Hell’s Kitchen restaurants is that the restaurant prices are not usually that expensive and the food is pretty good.

Atera

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 15:09:01 -0400

Atera is a two Michelin Star restaurant in New York City. We’ve been wanting to go to this restaurant pre-pandemic, and each time we make a reservation, it was always cancelled due to shifts in NYC rules around the pandemic. Fortunately, the city is coming alive, and the reservation stuck this time around. We celebrated our very special anniversary at 5 PM. The cool thing about this restaurant that attracted me was that it had a temperament pairing of non-alcoholic juices. Although I would have liked to order the wine pairing, I always get full and drunk too fast with alcohol such that it doesn’t make the experience enjoyable. The restaurant is located on Worth Street, and it’s inside a building that looked very discreet on the outside. When you enter the building, the restaurant doors are directly on the left next to the elevators.

The Milling Room

Sat, 04 Sep 2021 10:33:14 -0400

We somehow won tickets to Shakespear in the Park, and we were debating whether we would scour for a restaurant in the west or east side. I was browsing on Yelp, and I saw this was very close to the Delacorte Theater. The interior pictures looked pretty amazing, and the food seemed pretty good although somewhat typical American. We ended up showing up promptly at opening and were seated right away without reservations.

Mr Mistah Oh

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 23:03:06 -0400

On this very humid Friday afternoon, I had to make my way into the Flatiron area to run some errands. This Korean restaurant was something that seemed appealing since we haven’t had Korean food in a while. Normally for decent Korean, you’d have to venture into midtown, but the menu looked pretty decent online. We were fortunate that that they still had the NY restaurant week menu which was quite alluring. It’s $39 for an “entree” choice (dolsot bibimbap, kimchi fried rice, or teriyaki chicken), appetizer (japchae or steamed/fried pork dumplings), and soup (pork kimchi or vegetarian doenjang). We thought it was going to be personal portions, but you can actually just order 1 set and share it. The portion size was surprisingly large.

Soba Noodle Azuma

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 11:44:08 -0400

I’ve been deprived of noodles in the city for a number of months now. Sure, there are sometimes where I get some Taiwanese noodles, but I also love soba noodles too. I was around the Columbus Circle area, and I was scouring for some alternative ramen places. This one peaked my interest because their specialty was not ramen but soba also known as buckwheat noodles. Buckwheat noodles are supposed to be pretty healthy for you, and on a summer NYC day like today, it seems like a win when opting for cold buckwheat noodles with a cold dip.

The Palm Court

Sat, 17 Jul 2021 23:46:53 -0400

I have always heard of tea rooms, but I never thought much of it. We had heard from friends that they had gone to the Plaza Hotel, across the street from Central Park and had a pleasant experience eating sandwiches and drinking tea. I had looked at reservations before COVID, and it was usually pretty difficult to secure reservations. I did a quick glance and made reservations easily since the city is still slowly, albeit surely, opening up.

Estiatorio Milos

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 16:35:42 -0400

My partner saw on their social media that some of their people had raved about this place for lunch. I took a look at the dinner menu here, and it seemed unjustly expensive for what it was. Usually a good indicator of prices starts with oysters. If a restaurant charges $4 for east coast oysters (average price should be around $3), you would expect the restaurant to have higher than usual menu prices. It turns out that the lunch menu prices were way more grounded, and it was a 3 course prix fixe on weekdays.

Le Bernardin

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 17:46:29 -0400

Le Bernardin is a three Michelin Star restaurant in New York City that primarily deals with seafood. The head chef is Eric Ripert, who is very well known in the higher end spectrum of the culinary world. We actually saw him on the floor with a mask on talking to some of the wait staff. This particular occasion was for a birthday celebration. Our reservation was at 5 PM, and it had to be reserved a month in advance. The spinning doors don’t actually open till 5 PM sharp, so there wasn’t too much of a benefit to arrive before.

Daikanyama

Mon, 31 May 2021 15:24:32 -0400

We had walked over the Queensboro bridge to do some casual shopping at the Bloomingdales on Lexington on the Monday of a Memorial Day weekend. Surprisingly, there weren’t many people out and about probably due to people escaping town. Because this was around lunch time, we decided not to trek too far from the department store. This Japanese restaurant was connected indoors to the first floor of the department store. On the outside, they had private transparent glass huts with their own heaters, but we decided to eat indoors.

Keens Steakhouse

Sat, 29 May 2021 20:05:37 -0400

For this memorial weekend, we wanted to go somewhere out of town, but we had to cancel plans including non refundable bus passes. I’ve been watching the Cooking Channel as my background noise, and they had an episode of steak. My partner hadn’t been to Keen’s, and I thought this would be a great time to introduce them to it. I had been here back in 2018 for the first time, and it had a very delicious, if not the best, prime rib. Dinner reservations were difficult to make, so we opted for a lunch reservation instead which was quite easy.

Don Angie

Sun, 23 May 2021 15:23:37 -0400

Summary

This restaurant had been on my peripheral for a while because of the lasagna dish. I didn’t decide to try to book a reservation until I learned it was awarded its first ever Michelin Star. I had tried a few times on Resy, but always missed it. Fortunately, I was able to land a reservation on a weekend at 5 PM EST. The restaurant itself is in West Village and felt like a typical trendy cafe in the area. The tables were social distanced, and had a nice romantic setting.

Madame Vo

Sat, 01 May 2021 14:40:49 -0400

Summary

I haven’t frequent the heart of the East Village for quite some time. Walking through St. Marks, it’s pleasant to see that the city is slowly coming back alive. People still walk around with masks for the most part, and some restaurants have closed. Despite all this, the energy is slowly coming back alive. Since we were in this area and because now everyone is out and about, it’s getting difficult to do walk-in dinings. Next door there was Curry Ya, but there were too many people. So we decided to try out this Vietnamese restaurant since there weren’t many people.

Izakaya Toribar

Sat, 24 Apr 2021 14:44:57 -0400

Summary

When people say Manhattan has practically endless restaurants, it’s quite true. There’s not enough time, money, and health to try all the different restaurants out there. For this visit into the city, we decided to go after yakitori since that was fairly close around the area we were at. We have had previously been to Torishin, a former Michelin 1-star, so I wanted to show my partner different yakitori places that were less upscaled. This one looked like a good candidate. This restaurant, if it weren’t for the outdoors setup, would’ve been a little difficult to spot because it’s in the basement of a building.

Pio Pio

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 15:52:06 -0400

Summary

Pio Pio actually has several stores in the greater New York City. This one is number 8 and is located in Manhattan a few blocks north of Hudson Yards. Remember that the COVID protocols are still applicable. When we walked in, we were seated in an alcove to the left before the stairs that led down to a larger open space dining room. This alcove was pretty nice and it seemed to be catered for parties of 2. The lights were dimmer here for more intimacy.

Haizea

Sun, 14 Feb 2021 23:21:42 -0500

Summary

We were stoked that New York City has reopened indoor dining albeit @ 25% capacity. Yeah, some people say it’s not safe, but they are usually the same people that go visit their friends and family. The restaurants, believe it or not, do an excellent job sanitizing and giving space to diners and each other. Today was Valentine’s Day, and they had a few prixe menu options. We ended up going with Cupid’s Arrow Menu which we shared and was just a tasting of many of their items on the menu.

Nerai

Thu, 31 Dec 2020 22:32:36 -0500

Summary

For New Year’s Eve, we were fortunate to book this restaurant in Midtown East at the very last minute. This was always on our list since outdoor dining was a thing as the pictures of its settings looked quite appealing. Most tables have their own electric heater that sat directly above the table, so it wasn’t too cold compared to other places. For what it’s worth, it was in the high 30s with some wind chills. We did dress warmer just in case though.

Socarrat Paella Bar

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 21:06:58 -0500

Summary

For this very special occasion, I had originally made a reservation for indoor dining at a Michelin restaurant. Unfortunately earlier this month, the governor and mayor disallowed indoor dining, so restaurants can only do outdoor dining for take out. This lovely night turned out to be around 31 degrees F (feels like 25F). They did set up heaters near each table, but it barely helps with the nasty wind chills. Despite this frigid day, let’s checkout the food we ordered.

Love Korean BBQ

Sun, 06 Dec 2020 20:53:01 -0500

Summary

As we enter the end of the year and NYC indoor dining is forced to be shutdown due to a COVID uptick, we wanted to get some last fixin with Korean BBQ. Even though we have tried many of the major Korean BBQ restaurants near Koreatown already, this is one of the few remaining ones to try. When we visited, they check your temperature and had glass dividers between tables. We were fortunate to be seated in a little cubby hole meant for a party of 6-8.

Ravagh

Sat, 17 Oct 2020 14:13:51 -0500

Summary

Unlike the other cuisines in NYC, Persian food is not something that we actively seek out. However, we often are around this area shopping at the now-closed Bed Bath & Beyond and tend to look for restaurants that are very close. This restaurant was something we surprisingly haven’t tried, so we checked it out. I actually haven’t had Persian food since I moved from LA back in 2016, so I am curious to relive those moments again.

Cote

Sun, 04 Oct 2020 21:00:10 -0400

Summary

Indoor dining finally opened again in NYC on September 30, 2020. There are those that feel it’s reckless in this COVID temperament, but we still decided to celebrate by booking an indoor reservation at Cote, a 1 Michelin Star Korean BBQ restaurant. Normally, this is difficult to get a reasonable time, so we were happy it was not too bad. Like all upscale restaurants, they take your temperature via the forehead, and each table is partitioned by a plastic partition. Aside from air conditioning, there’s no way for your aerosols to hit another table unless you tried to spit a few feet up. There’s more than enough space between booths, so it was very enjoyable.

Allora

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 19:34:10 -0400

Summary

Today was our second anniversary, and it’s somewhat difficult to find a decent restaurant that has an outdoor garden that is away from the crowd. After staying up till 4 AM looking for one, I finally found one that was decent. The garden seating area is actually in the back of the restaurant, so there’s very little foot traffic from random people. Luckily the weather wasn’t hot at all.

Spanish Diner

Sun, 06 Sep 2020 16:40:19 -0400

Summary

We were visiting the Edge, which is a touristy spot where you can see the NYC area from 100 floors above, and in this COVID environment, it’s been hard to find some decent outdoor restaurants. We had passed by this place, which is a Jose Andres restaurant, and it seemed interesting. It’s a quasi-indoor place in that you’re eating in the building, but the area feels like you’re in a garage. The garage doors open facing outside, and there are plenty of fans to circulate air. We saw that they spaced out all the tables distantly from each other, so it seemed fine to sit down and eat. This is the Spanish Diner at Mercado Little Spain in the Hudson Yards block.

Cuba

Sun, 12 Jul 2020 13:33:11 -0400

Summary

This is the first outdoor restaurant experience in the COVID-19 temperament where we had waiter service. We were walking around looking for something to eat with a friend, and this was nestled in a small street with a group of restaurants. It had space and tents set up to span all of their tables. I won’t talk much about the ambiance at this particular restaurant because I loathe eating outdoors in humid NYC heat in the city. So let’s go straight to the food.

Mazete

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 18:50:28 -0500

Summary

Typically when we walk north on 6th ave towards Trader Joe’s for groceries, we stop by Cava across the street for a snack. We saw this seemingly new interesting restaurant opened with no one in it. The space is very bright, modern, and definitely has a Japanese cafe-chic vibe to it. This dry “ramen” place just opened along 6th Avenue between 20th and 21st Street.

This is another one of those “pick X of this and Y of that” type of restaurant except the theme here is Japanese.

Tony's Di Napoli

Sun, 02 Feb 2020 22:35:01 -0500

Tony’s Di Napoli is a NYC Italian American restaurant that has been around for a number of decades. It’s probably comparable to Buca Di Beppo or Maggiano, but it is less of a domestic chain than a NYC chain. They serve family style portions, and they have both half and full sizes of many of their pastas. This particular location is located in Times Square, and normally I shy away from this. So how did it go?

Huo Yi Hot Pot

Sun, 02 Feb 2020 10:10:12 -0500

Summary

It seems when it comes to hot pot, East Village is a thriving destination. Usually people try to go to 99 Favor Taste because it also has grillable BBQ meats in addition to hot pots. When people don’t have reservations and are quoted a 2 hour wait time, the next logical option is to look for another hot pot place which just happens to be this place since it’s a few streets down.

Tim Ho Wan

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 16:46:52 -0500

Summary

A friend was in town, and I saw that Tim Ho was near their hotel. This place was always on my list to try given that it had received Michelin recognition at its Hong Kong location. Given I’ve eaten at numerous dim sum places already, they tout themselves as the dim sum specialists, so I already have high expectations.

I don’t remember the drink on the left, but the right was some type of mango cococnut slush. It was pretty good as it wasn’t too sweet.

While We Were Young

Sat, 11 Jan 2020 21:36:31 -0500

Summary

Normally we don’t care about brunches, but this restaurant was surprisingly good and not too expensive. Located in West Village near the “Friends” place and some touristy spots, this is a very quaint and small shop. If I recall, it only has like at most 5 tables with counters spread throughout the place. This place is small, so set your expectations accordingly.

We ordered a glass of orange juice and a One Night Stand. There wasn’t anything particular about the orange juice other than they put ice cubes in it which I thought was weird. However, the One Night Stand was actually pretty refreshing. It’s tequila, watermelon, chili agave, and lime. It has that little spicy kick to it, but not too much. The watermelon rounds it out very nicely.

Torishin

Sun, 29 Dec 2019 14:29:14 -0500

Summary

For this special outing, Yakitori Torishin has been on my list ever since I moved to New York City. I finally had a chance to try this for the girlfriend’s birthday.

We wanted the regular yakitori experience as opposed to the select counter experience. The reason is that I just couldn’t imagine the value from yakitori at literally double the cost of a regular omakase. They brought us into the back room, and we were still seated in front of the chefs.

Hee Korean BBQ Grill

Sat, 28 Dec 2019 16:06:10 -0500

Summary

Korean BBQ in NYC is often straight forward. If you want to eat it, you go to Koreatown for a safe bet. If you go away from Koreatown, you risk eating somewhere that may not satisfy that lust. Perhaps the meat would not be as good, or the side dishes would be awful.

Fortunately this place in Chelsea was actually pretty decent.

I definitely want to preface that the ventilation in this restaurant is not good despite the ducts over the grills, so your clothes will smell.

The Dip

Thu, 26 Dec 2019 16:05:07 -0500

Summary

French dips, let alone good ones, are pretty nonexistent in NYC. I’ve had a good one up in Upper West Side at Jacob’s Pickles, but other that I usually get my cravings by making my own. We just got out of watching the movie theater, and we were reasonably close to this new location. The chef used to work as an executive chef at 4 Charles Prime Rib in the East Village, and they picked a fantastic location on St. Marks between 1st/2nd Ave in the East Village.

Brazil Brazil

Sun, 08 Dec 2019 06:53:57 -0500

Summary

We actually have eaten here before, but we totally forgot to take pictures and document. From the best recollection, we remembered this place as being one of our favorite Brazilian restaurants in NYC. So we decided to visit this again to document.

The maracuja caipirinha we recalled being really good our first time doing. Ordered it again, and it was nothing but a disappointment. The tartness of the passion fruit tasted sour and borderlinen rotten. There was no sweetness, and it tasted very watered down and unflavored. We asked the waitress to bring it back to the bartender because of this. The bartender created another one, and it was slightly better but still didn’t taste fresh.

Buena Vista

Wed, 20 Nov 2019 11:58:27 -0500

Summary

A friend was in town around the Hudson Yards area, and we wanted to look for something around the area. The menu here looked pretty decent, and it was on my bookmarks for quite a while.

The bread came with some type of tomato olive oil medley. It reminded me of bruschetta toppings but more akin to diced tomatoes out of a jar. The sauce itself was alright.

Balzem

Mon, 18 Nov 2019 11:46:08 -0500

Summary

This restaurant is right around the corner of Lombardi’s in Nolita. We were hungry, and of course all the super popular restaurants had wait time. This one though for some reason had none, so why not?

They served us complimentary bread with olive oil and olives. Nothing much to say, but it was a nice gesture and good too.

We also ordered octopus which was cooked in red wine sauce, pan seared and served on arugula salad. The octopus surprisingly had a very nice char to it. It was crunchy or tender at the right spots. I liked how some parts of it was like eating a soft sponge, and others was like biting into a nice crisp.

Wolf

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 17:37:51 -0500

Summary

If you’re around the Rockafeller area and are looking for pretty decent Italian food at a not overly expensive price, this restaurant might be a good candidate. It is located on the 2nd floor of the Nordstrom NYC flagship store near the watches section. We walked in without reservations around 5:30 PM, and we were seated at the bar fairly quickly.

Because Nordstrom doesn’t have the drinks menu online, I’m hoping my memory serves me well. The left is a mai thai, and the right is a mezcal cocktail. The mai thai was doused with passion fruit liqueur which is why I got it in the first place. It wasn’t too strong, and everything tasted very tropically and subtle. The mezcal cocktail had a slight smokey flavor to it. I don’t remember what else was in this though, but it definitely was sweet.

Red Peony Chinese Cuisine

Sat, 02 Nov 2019 14:45:20 -0500

Summary

We were around Central Park near the southern side, and this was on my list of restaurants to try. This new-ish Chinese (Shanghainese) restaurant is located where Joe’s Shanghai used to be in Midtown. It’s not too far from the Apple flagship store.

The stir fry snow pea leaf was mighty tasty. You can taste the subtleness of that wine, and the vegetable itself was tender and delicious.

The Elgin

Fri, 25 Oct 2019 16:12:23 -0400

Summary

We were near Rockafeller and were craving some bar like food. Not too far around the corner is this new-ish bar. Walking in, the interior is very open and seems pretty nice. There are a lot of tables that you can stand or sit on a high stool for drinks. You can tell it’s a pretty social atmosphere. But let’s get to the food.

This is the Detroit pepperoni pan pizza. The thickness of this was rather thin, almost New York like. Flavor wise, it was pretty salty but pretty decent. I wish they were more liberal with the pepperoni, and I am not sure I’m a fan of the thinness of this. I think my mark for great Detroit pan style pizza is Emmy Squared, and this one kind of misses its mark.

Parker and Quinn

Sat, 19 Oct 2019 22:45:48 -0400

Summary

We were just around the block looking to meet a friend for a drink and some bar food at a nearby restaurant. Turns out that restaurant was booked due to a football game, so we had to hunt for another one. This restaurant for whatever reason was dead quiet but opened at the time.

The cured Long Island duck breast came with pomegranate molasses, collard greens, and kabocha squash purée. The duck breast was super tender and crispy. My only gripe was that it was very salty.

Souvlaki GR

Sat, 12 Oct 2019 22:48:16 -0400

Summary

If you’re just shy of Central Park to the south and it’s in the middle of the day, this might be a good option.

On the bottom is the mixed grilled meat platter for two people (psita tis oras poikilia). It’s a combination of lambchops, traditional Greek sauce, pork/beef skewers, and pita and tzatziki. All of this was pretty good. The lambchops were ordered medium rare, and it was tender and delicious. I like the char on this.

Dim Sum Palace

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 15:40:25 -0400

It’s the evening and where could be a good place to get fairly traditional Cantonese style Chinese food? Dim Sum Palace! We originally visited the Midtown location pre-pandemic, and it was pretty decent. Recently, they opened another location in Long Island City in a dense new-aged Chinese area. We’ve been missing Cantonese-style restaurants, especially dim sum, in this very close quartered area of over abundant boba places and spicy cuisines. We were able to walk in without reservations around 5:00 PM on a Saturday without issues. This restaurant is located in the former Brooks 1890 bar next to the Long Island City court house on Jackson Ave.

Kaoru

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 15:39:55 -0400

Summary

This place is basically chirashi haven.

It’s miso soup.

The uni don came with hamachi and spicy tuna and shiso leaf. I wasn’t too much of a fan of the spicy tuna compared to some other places, but it was still pretty good. The spicy tuna had a very particular flavor that was masked of course when you use soy sauce with wasabi. Otherwise, the fish tasted pretty fresh overall. The butter of the sea was delicious.

Gitano Jungle Room

Sun, 22 Sep 2019 18:22:29 -0400

Summary

This place is located near the James Hotel. They have an outdoors garden that has a decent view.

The chilaquiles was basically 2 eggs, crema, salsa verde, and crispy tortillas. There wasn’t much else here. I thought it was pretty primitive and uninteresting. The salsa was good, but you wish there was some more meats and maybe avocado or something else to give it a little more flavor.

Spaghetti Incident

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 18:12:47 -0400

Summary

This is another restaurant on my list to go. I am not crazy about Italian, but I was hungry and wanted something pretty straight forward.

The lasagna bolognese came with ground beef, béchamel, and tomato sauce. The pasta consisted of several very thin sheets with a thin layer of ground beef between each. Careful though, the lasagna was piping hot. It was pretty good, but I think I would’ve preferred more sauce and more cheese as an ode to the normal lasagnas you’d normally get. Otherwise, I think it was pretty good.

Gabriel Kreuther

Sat, 14 Sep 2019 18:03:04 -0400

Summary

This post is going to be a big one. For our first anniversary, we treated ourselves to a nice French place that I think is generally underrated and under the radar. Gabriel Kreuthers has been something that I’ve always wanted to try, and it’s rated 2 Michelin Stars in 2019. We went bold with the Chef’s Carte Blanche Tasting Menu. There are a total of at least 28 dishes spread through of what they say is 9 courses.

I Love Panzerotti

Sat, 07 Sep 2019 21:47:32 -0400

Summary

This little pizza shop is down right at the edge of South/West Village close to a Shake Shack. The panzerottis are like super thin calzones that are frieds as oppose to baked.

The dough that they use here is really tasty. It’s chewy, has a nice bounce, and has a very nice flavor profile to it. The dough definitely has a distinct flavor to it that makes it taste super fresh. They make and fry the panzerotti for each order, so you can be sure it’s super hot when it comes out.

Baodega

Fri, 06 Sep 2019 23:20:02 -0400

Summary

This little spot closed to the edge of Flatiron is a decent place if you’re into Shanghainese food and are not close to Chinatown.

The passion fruit lemonade was good. You can taste the passion fruit, and it mixed well with the lemonade.

The chilled marinated cucumbers were also good too although I felt the cucumbers were not marinated long enough. They were crunchy with an OK kick to them.

The Woo

Mon, 02 Sep 2019 23:18:16 -0400

Summary

This is a surprising decent Korean restaurant in the South Village. Unlike Koreatown BBQ restaurants, this place actually has you cooking the meats just like in Los Angeles.

The banchan was on the blander side of things. The daikon was a little watery. The kimchi radish was decent but wasn’t as pickled as other Korean places. The broccoli was fine. Lastly, the kimchi was decent but again not as fermented as other places.

Xu's Public House

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 21:57:14 -0400

Summary

This seems to be a new upscaled Chinese restaurant that we accidentally stumbled into. The decor is very modern and has a slight pretentious feel to it. I learned that the restaurant likes to advertise it hand makes basically all the dough.

They gave this waffle like starter. It is similar to those red bean cakes but without the red bean.

The dumpling sampler had 4 dumplings. This was a special, so I’ll try my best to remember (top left clockwise): some soup dumpling, some squid ink dumpling with gold flakes, another soup dumpling variant, and shu mai with (crab?) eggs. All the soup dumplings were OK. The skin was thick, but I think with this stuff I still prefer Din Tai Fung or even some places in Flushing. The squid ink dumpling had good flavors, but nothing really tastewise was miles beyond what you can get at some other Chinese restaurants. The shu mai definitely tasted a little more “upscale” but not that much more mind blowing.

Wayla

Sun, 25 Aug 2019 20:53:17 -0400

Summary

This restaurant is a current trendy Thai restaurant that we had to wait a month for our reservations. It’s actually a little hard to spot your first time. It’s basically where people are standing around aimlessly and down the stairs in a very hard to see nook. If there are no people, look for a sign that has an arrow pointing down to the basement.

We opted for the garden/patio seating, and luckily the weather was a perfect mid 70s temperature with very little to no breeze.

Smoke Jazz and Supper Club

Sat, 24 Aug 2019 18:25:30 -0400

Summary

We came here on a date night to do the dinner and jazz thing. We purchased our tickets online, then head over. With the tickets, there’s a required minimum of 1 drink per person if you’re not having dinner, or if you are having dinner, there is a required 1 entree per person sans appetizer.

On this night, it was the Harold Mabern Trio.

The cocktails were ok. It’s been a while, so I don’t quite remember exactly what these were. The red was definitely a spritz of some sort.

Rawbar by Domodomo

Fri, 23 Aug 2019 15:13:32 -0400

Summary

Close to NYU, this is next door to its parent restaurant Domodomo. This is primarily a rawbar, meaning somewhat affordable raw seafood.

The iced green tea is nice for a warm day. The green tea is quite flavorful, but of course if you want it to be sweeter, you can ask for sugar.

We ordered a dozen oysters. Essentially 2 of the following:

Half Moon (Cape Cod Bay, MA) : sweet, medium salnity, clean finish
Wellfleet (Wellfleet Harbor, MA) : briny, creamy, high salinity
Savage Harbour (PEI, Canada) : crisp, sweet, medium salinity
Chekbooktook (New Brunswick) : buttery, sweet, delicate
Duxbury (Duxbury Bay, MA) : briny, sweet, and buttery finish
the daily oysters : can’t remember what the waiter said about these other than being the saltiest of the east coast

They serve oysters with your choice of 2 condiments: cocktail sauce, mignonette, wasabi lime sorbet, thai chili, and ponzu. Pictured is the cocktail sauce and mignonette. East coast oysters tend to be more briny and salty than west coast, but the best part of this is that it’s simply not as expensive as other places. The average Manhattan east coast oyster price is $3 per.

Death Ave

Tue, 20 Aug 2019 14:45:07 -0400

Summary

This is a restaurant located close to the end of the Highline. It’s down on 10th ave at the corner. It’s actually next door to its bar. So if you want to visit this place, don’t open the first door on your left. Open the second door.

The sour beer on the top was quite good. It had some flavors of a Guinness but obviously with the sour in it. The sangria cocktail at the bottom was alright. Not my choice, but wasn’t bad.

Cho Dang Gol

Sun, 18 Aug 2019 22:04:20 -0400

Summary

We were visiting the Morgan Library on a late Sunday afternoon, and this restaurant was close by and on my list. I’ve always been into old school Korean places where the food was centered around non BBQ items such as bossam and kimchi jigae.

The egg soup was served as part of the meal. It’s simply tasted of steamed egg with some scallions on top. Pretty straight forward and pretty good.

Patisserie Fouet

Fri, 09 Aug 2019 14:05:56 -0400

Summary

Patisserie Fouet is another one of those Japanese French style dessert places where they also have a prix fixe (3 desserts).

The yuzu jelly was ok. It is not like the panna cotta pictures on Yelp. It tasted like one of those raindrops that had some yuzu flavors in it. I didn’t care too much for it.

The yuzu sugar sugar came with yuzu mousse, green tea sponge cake, Japanese yam, and black sesame ice cream. The red shell was made from a candy cane type of stickiness. I wasn’t too crazy over this because it sticks to your teeth. The black sesame was definitely one of the stars for this.

Vapiano

Fri, 09 Aug 2019 14:02:43 -0400

Summary

Vapiano seems like it’s a chained Italian fast eatery. For the NYC location, the front desk gives you a card, and you walk up to a pasta station if you want pasta or a pizza station if you want pizza. You then tell the cook what you want, and they make it fresh in front of you. They ask that you take the card and tap the screen with it to get it charged with what you ordered. After you finish your meal, you pay as the cashier as you exit.

Shorty's

Sun, 04 Aug 2019 13:56:39 -0400

Summary

This place is near Stone Street down in the Financial District. I’m always down for a good cheesesteak, and yeah I also butcher the Philly style by ordering provolone over cheeze whiz.

The steak special comes with homemade broccoli rabe, provolone cheese, and I also added hot cherry peppers. These are the cherry peppers that are pickled with a nice kick to it. I thought this sandwich was pretty good, though I still prefer Federoff’s in Williamsburg. The sandwich was pretty big at a decent price, but I still feel Federoff is more complete.

Empire Steak House

Sat, 03 Aug 2019 14:10:38 -0400

Summary

We were looking for a decent steak place that was walkable from where we were. The best steak house in my opinion in the city is Keen’s Steakhouse, so expectations were set pretty low. This venue is fairly nice. It’s close to Smith and Wollensky and located inside some hotel. This was one of the few steakhouses at this time that had hardly any people, so one can only think that this place wouldn’t be that good.

Tap Nyc

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 19:04:27 -0400

Summary

This is a little quaint Brazilian breakfast-ish shop near 72nd Street close to Strawberry Fields. Their specialty is tapioca, açai, and pão (i.e. TAP). Many of their main products are gluten free, for those that really care about that. The Brazilian tapioca can be interpreted to be a crepe, but other than the shape, the texture isn’t really like a crepe at all.

The pão de queijo is basically cheese balls. These are much bigger than what you would get at a typical Brazilian restaurant. They taste similar to it and were quite tasty.

K-Bap

Mon, 22 Jul 2019 20:20:51 -0400

Summary

This is easily walkable from the 5th Ave flagship Apple store for some decent casual Korean food.

The banchan comes with the bulgogi bento box below. It’s basically that white pickled daikon, kimchi radish, and kimchi. Just a note that their kimchi here is super sour compared to other places I’ve been to.

The bulgogi bento box was ok. It came with japchae (Korean sweet potato noodles), bulgogi, fish cake, kimchi daikon, and what tasted similar to tempura potato of some sort. The bulgogi was a little on the greasy side and very sweet. The japchae was pretty decent. The fish cake was pretty good, and so was the daikon. I didn’t care much for the tempura. I think the bulgogi bento box was just OK, and I’d recommend to get something else instead unless you’re hungry and don’t care.

Ichiba

Fri, 05 Jul 2019 13:08:49 -0400

Summary

This ramen place is near NYU and Union Station, so it’s very accessible.

The spicy miso ramen comes with ox bones and marrow broth, spicy miso garlic base, bean sprouts, roasted corn, toasted nori, naruto fishcake, soy braised beef, scallions, and thick wavy noodle. THe broth is super rich, far beyond what I was expecting. It’s not spicy per se, but the soup doesn’t go down super smooth for me. At the end, the spicy pepper would always surprise for some reason. Maybe it’s attributed to the oil and thickness of the broth, I’m not sure. Regardless, I thought the ramen was acceptable, but there are better ones in the city.

Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 13:05:12 -0400

Summary

The Blue Ribbon chain is known for their seafood and sushi. So it was interesting to see them coming out with the fried chicken venture. This has been around for a while, and for the last few years, friends have raved about it.

We got the 4 piece mixed with fries basket. The chicken itself is pretty tender and juicy. The skin is lightly crisped and doesn’t have the batter thickness that something like KFC or Popeyes has. What I did not particularly like was how much seasoning was on the skin. It was salty. The fries themselves were OK. They remind me of Checkers/Rallys batter consistency. This location has all you can drink/fill Boylan soda dispensary. They also have sauces to go along with your fries and chicken.

Carlo's Bakery

Sun, 30 Jun 2019 23:58:31 -0400

Summary

This place is known for the dessert chef featured on Cake Boss. To be quite honest, I’ve never watched it, so I don’t know what to expect.

We got chocolate cannoli, plain cannoli, some red velvet cake thing, and lobster tail. To be honest, the lobster tail was actually quite good and was my favorite of everything. The lobster tail’s pastry thin crust was flaky but not brittle. It tasted like a delicate thin but sturdy crust of a pastel I had at Aldea. The filling was good and not too sweet. The cannolis, to be honest, I could do without. They were actually quite sweet, so I don’t really recommend that as much as the lobster tail if you had to pick one. Lastly, the red velvet cake looking thing was not very good. There wasn’t much cake in it. And if there was, it was blended with all the cream inside.

The Polynesian

Sun, 30 Jun 2019 15:32:05 -0400

Summary

This place is located near 42nd Street and 9 ave in the POD hotel. The restaurant decor is kind of interesting as it does give out a tropical-ish vibe to it. There is an outdoor area that has a lot of those basket woven seats with a cushion on them. From where we sat outdoors, we can see views of the H&M building and the Empire State Building in plain sight.

Kāwi

Sat, 29 Jun 2019 17:15:23 -0400

Summary

We stopped by for lunch for David Chang’s newest Momofuku restaurant and is located in the mall across the street from The Vessel. It’s on the 5th floor near the Bouchon Bakery. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too filled, but then again it’s terribly hot and humid outside.

The trading card cocktail consists of plantation pineapple, cruzan blackstrap, smith & cross rums, trader vic’s macadamia liqueur, curry, and yogurt. I did not like this at all as it was very sweet.

The Fulton

Sun, 23 Jun 2019 23:40:25 -0400

Summary

This place is one of Jean Georges’ new seafood-centric restaurant situated right at the corner of the Pier near South Street Seaport. This area has a tiny Boston like mall where people can shop and eat at some decent restaurants. The iPic theater is also here too.

The area is largely going through some sort of construction. The restaurant is located at the edge of the pier and overlooks the water facing towards the Brooklyn Bridge. In fact, just about everywhere in the restaurant you can see the Brooklyn Bridge without much obstruction. If you do try to make a reservation, I definitely think the second floor seating is more beautiful than the first.

Aldea

Sat, 15 Jun 2019 12:31:42 -0400

I’ve never had Portuguese food other than the pastels, so this is the first for me. This special occasion was for a birthday and to try out a different type of cuisine that is largely not as popular as the mainstream French or Asian themed Michelin Star restaurants.

We got the tasting menu with wine pairing. The hosts were very nice in that we mentioned we’d like to just have wine pairing for 1 person and not the other, so that we can share since we’re not big drinkers. The hosts still gave us 2 glasses and poured smaller samples. I am pretty sure if I had the wine pairing to myself, I would be drunk before I reached the end due to my inability to have the enzymes to process alcohol.

Katsu Hama

Tue, 11 Jun 2019 00:16:35 -0400

Katsu is some of my favorite Japanese food. It’s basically crispy, fried pork cutlets served with a savory sauce. We decided to try this restaurant because it was close to where we were in Midtown. This type of food generally is not overly expensive like other Japanese foods, and it’s pretty filling too. And for whatever reason, the pork cutlets are always really good and hearty too. I’ve also been able to come back to this restaurant several times solo and was able to be seated without much issues.

Narcissa

Sat, 08 Jun 2019 13:30:59 -0400

Summary

I’m introducing a new category for restaurants that have gardens. This one has an interesting one. I didn’t find it particularly that great, but it seems to be an attraction for others. This is tucked near or in the Standard Hotel, I don’t quite remember. In the summer, the indoor seats are mostly vacant, so definitely ask for a seat near the window if you decide to sit inside.

ABC Cocina

Tue, 04 Jun 2019 15:34:10 -0400

Summary

This apparently is one of Jean Georges Vongerichten’s upscale farm-fresh eatery, and it has a Latin American fusion influence. We came here without reservations on a weekday night and were seated at the communal table.

The spring pea guacamole with warm crunchy tortillas was actually pretty good. The chips themselves were nicely salted, and the big tortilla that came with the guacamole was more crunchy than the latter. The split pea guacamole had a nice fresh texture. I wish there was more citrus, but all in all a good start. The birthday friend I came here with thought it was amusing to interrupt my pictures during the n-times I took this picture. This one was the best of the collection of pics I took for this course.

Tonchin

Tue, 28 May 2019 16:46:29 -0400

Summary

This place has a pretty decent ambiance.

The yuzu margarita was surprisingly pretty good. If you haven’t had yuzu before and like citrus, I recommend you get this if it’s available. I just checked their website’s drink menu, and it’s not on there. This drink wasn’t strong at all, and had a really really good before and after taste. I would drink this over any regular margarita any day.

Uva

Mon, 27 May 2019 16:20:26 -0400

Summary

This place is located in the Upper East, and arguably walkable from the MET.

The spiedino di gamberetti was OK to me. Nothing really memorable, but they gave you a decent amount of shrimp.

The antipasto misto was actually pretty good, and they gave a decent variety of meats and cheese. For 2 people, this was quite filling.

The pappardelle al ragu di vitello was good as expected. The pasta could have been cooked just a tad less, but the sauce it sat in was pretty good. The cheese on top was freshly grated by the server.

Nonono

Sun, 26 May 2019 00:04:00 -0400

Nonono is a restaurant from the people behind Her Name is Han. This is located just a few blocks from Korea town. They are part of the Hand Hospitality network, which also includes Atoboy, Cho Dang Gol, and many more. The restaurant offers Japanese grill cuisine with a twist. We’ve been to the restaurant several times, and it’s been a decent value and choice for any small gatherings.

Ambiance & Service

The ambiance feels like a normal Japanese restaurant where there was a lot of activity. The tables are relatively close to each other, so it can get a little tight. However, it was fine talking to your party, so the sound acoustics were good. They have both a floor table area and a second floor area.

Portugrill

Fri, 24 May 2019 15:52:28 -0400

Summary

The food here was just like one of those casual fast food centric places. It’s on Seamless (food delivery service), so enough said.

The churrasco was $18 and was mildly satisfying. They gave you a decent amount of meat, and it was quite tender when ordered “medium rare”. It came with this mayonnaise like green sauce, that had only a mild kick to it. With this, I opted for french fries and pineapple on the side. The french fries were just OK, and the pineapple was kind of bland. The pineapple skin was on at the top, so it wasn’t as great as other places.

The 18th Room

Tue, 21 May 2019 01:32:46 -0400

Cool speak easy spot right next to Bathtub Gin. Seems to be Cuban driven. It has a very jazzy speak easy feel to it. The theme of the menu is pretty cool. On Wednesdays, they have a live cuban band.

The bartenders can craft drinks based on what you’re looking for. I think weekdays are probably the best to come here. The music on the speakers is good and isn’t loud, and you can actually hear people. You can also order snacks here as well.

Bap

Sat, 18 May 2019 14:47:11 -0400

Summary

The food here was surprisingly decent. I usually don’t expect many places in Midtown East to be good, let alone Asian ethnic foods.

We ordered a pineapple Mocktail and a glass of Hite, which is nothing to write home about.

The banchan here was pretty good, although portion size is on the smaller side. You can ask for additional banchan as needed. Here you got kimchi, mixed salad, jalapenos, pickled cauliflower, pickled daikon cubes, and pickled daikon slices. For sauces, you got some soy sauce centric thing that I never remember the name of, salt and pepper, and bean paste. On the top you have fresh large lettuce leaves for wrapping.

Turntable Chicken Jazz

Fri, 17 May 2019 15:57:00 -0400

Summary

The vibe here is pretty cool if you’re into old school jazz environments. The walls have a load of records and lots of old music devices. It does get a little noisy, and sometimes people eat really slow to create a wait. It’s not too different than other typical Korean bar/chicken joints where they have lots of alcohol and Korean bar foods.

The drinks were ok. Started off with a passionfruit lemonade. There are some bubbles, so it doesn’t taste oversweetened compared to normal lemonade. The pineapple soju reminded me of small cans of Dole pineapple juice with some liquor and pineapple chunks in it. They serve the pineapple soju in a carafe.

Los Mariscos

Mon, 06 May 2019 16:34:50 -0400

Summary

This is located in the backside of Chelsea Market along 14th Street. Basically walk towards Tippler, and it’d be on your right side. Can’t really miss it. It seems to be a semi-throwback to Baja style fish tacos.

I got shrimp ceviche, 2 fish tacos, and 1 spicy shrimp taco.

I wanted the fish ceviche, but they were out for whatever reason. The shrimp ceviche was pretty good, although I’m not too much of a fan of it being put on a big tostada shell. I thought it’d be more peruvian style but who would have thought.

Victor's Cafe

Sun, 05 May 2019 17:55:03 -0400

Victor’s Cafe is fairly close to Times Square, but not quite in the Theater District. It’s located on 52nd St near 7th ave, and it has had a steady stream of patrons over the last couple years. What is interesting about this restaurant is that the menu is fairly straight forward, and most of the visitors are people referred by past patrons, including myself. I’m not a fan of Cuban food in general, but this restaurant’s food was surprisingly pleasant.

Lafayette

Sat, 27 Apr 2019 16:41:15 -0400

Summary

I’ve walked by here many times, but I’ve never actually ate here until now. One of our guests loves this place because of the burger.

The prime beef tartare was pretty good. It definitely was tender and tasted like good quality beef.

The rotisserie chicken was really tender. If I had to dock it points, it’d be for how salty the sauce and everything was. Also, it was oily too. However if you’re wondering about the meat, it was juicy and cooked nice.

Paname

Sun, 21 Apr 2019 23:49:42 -0400

Summary

I’m not a fan of brunch at all, so this was the first restaurant in the area I was in that seemed interesting to me. I completely forgot it was Easter Sunday, but luckily their prixe fix menu had all the regulars on it.

The bread was nothing to write home about. It came slightly on the cold side.

The escargots de bourgogne in baby potatoes were actually pretty good. Albeit slightly salty in some bites, they tasted better than the other appetizers on the table.

Dō Cookie Dough

Sat, 20 Apr 2019 20:26:36 -0400

Summary

The cookie dough here is pretty sweet.

Tried multiple flavors, but all of them are all pretty sweet. I also used some of the batter and baked some cookies. They turned out ok, though no different than if you to were make regular cookies. One scoop by the way makes about 5 ok sized cookies.

Honestly, I thought the one of the better things to get was not the dough itself, but the ice cream sandwich. It’s 2 cookie doughs with DO ice cream smashed in between. The ice cream was a nice counter balance to the super sweetness of the cookie dough.

Favela Cubana

Sat, 20 Apr 2019 19:59:30 -0400

Summary

This place has a nice patio and great service. The waitress was very attentive, and the ambiance is definitely very easy-going.

But let’s talk about the food.

The mama margarita I didn’t quite like. It was rather strong and for whatever reason the fruits did not complement well. The pasionfruit caipirinha was not bad, but it wasn’t great. I’ve definitely had better elsewhere in the city. I did think that the drink was made a little strong to my liking.

Quantum Leap

Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:05:50 -0400

Summary

Vegetarian really is not my thing, but I wanted to try this out anyways with my vegetarian buddy. Thankfully, they had fish for protein.

The chips and guacamole were ok. Nothing memorable about it.

The buffalo strips were actually decent. It certainly doesn’t taste anywhere close to chicken, but they have an interesting spongy texture and were pretty good.

The broiled flounder was slightly fishy at some parts but decent in others. Generally, this reminded me of a Cocos/Carrows kind of dish, which is not a bad thing at all considering I enjoy those restaurants.

Serra at La Birreria

Sat, 13 Apr 2019 15:35:57 -0400

Summary

We came by in the spring when they boasted of lush flowers and decorations. Apparently the flowers were not real, but that still does not stop it to become a very photo friendly place. It still is nice during the day because they opened the canopy, and so there was a nice breeze coming in. I think for food, it wasn’t a whole lot of hit, but the ambiance is pretty appealing to those who want to get a drink and just enjoy the colors for photos.

Black Tap Craft Burgers

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 14:58:13 -0400

Summary

Typically on the weekends, both this location and the midtown location have a huge line of people waiting outside. And for what reason?

We came on a Friday night around 5 PM, and there were probably at most 3 or 4 small groups of people in a big space.

The cookie shake was a massive vanila-ish shake that had a bunch of sweets on it. It was good, but it is all sugar. I am pretty sure you can finish these shakes by yourself, but that’s just punishing your diet.

Dirty French

Sat, 30 Mar 2019 14:16:01 -0400

Summary

This place is right around the corner of Katz in the Ludlow Hotel. We sat in the patio area which is much nicer and quieter than indoors where everyone else is sitting.

Starting off, they serve bread that seems to be freshly made for your table. The bread comes with some butter with oil on it, and it’s really good.

We ordered 2 cocktails: Laboulaye which is the green one and Petite Socco which is the red one. My green drink wasn’t as good as the red one. The green was definitely smokey, but I was hoping the bell pepper would provide a more significant kick. The red drink was definitely very good.

Ivan Ramen

Tue, 26 Mar 2019 14:26:50 -0400

Summary

I don’t know much about this ramen spot other than it was on Chef’s Table, and how it really touched a lot of people’s hearts. So my review will be almost based solely on the food itself.

The pork musubi bites were surprisingly good. Each bite is packed full of flavor, although I am rather doubtful that it’s worth $5 a piece.

The Japanese fried chicken were an interesting spin on karaage. The crust was nicely crisp, and the sauce was very tangy. There was a little kick to it too. They served this with a sauce on the side that I don’t quite remember how it tasted like. I do remember that my first thought was that this was oversauced similar to how PF Chang’s would do orange chicken, but nonetheless it was decent.

Thai Noodle House

Sun, 24 Mar 2019 21:54:06 -0400

Summary

I was looking for Wondee Siam but somehow ended up here.

Like most Thai places, there are very few that are bad.

The kanom jeeb is pretty decent. It’s like fried shrimp shiu mai balls.

The country style curry was ordered with Chicken. Despite it having 2 pepper signs on the menu, it’s actually not that spicy. The curry was watery, but it’s easy to consume once you mix the rice with the sauce. The sauce has a ton of salty flavor in it though, so I find it a good match with a thai iced tea.

The Wayfarer

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 15:15:11 -0400

Summary

Stumbled onto this while trying to go to Bobby Vans steak. That place was closed unfortunately. The service here was pretty subpar by New York City standards.

The filet mignon was ordered medium rare, but in my opinion it came out medium. The temperature on the steak as a whole came out cold as if it was sitting there for a tad bit too long. The blue cheese sauce was really salty, but perhaps it was there to hide the lack of taste on the steak.

Anytime

Sun, 10 Mar 2019 14:45:42 -0400

Summary

This place is interesting. It’s like a modern version of typical Korean tapas.

They have these idea cocktails that have flashing lights underneath it. You can click on the switch underneath to alter the different lighting patterns. It’s gimmicky, but I’m sure they are targeting that photo crowd. The drinks themselves were OK. I think I prefer Brazilian style fruit cocktails now.

The hamachi cevichee was decent. It’s just tartare with a different flavor profile, but otherwise, it tasted like what you’d expect.

Kogane Ramen

Thu, 07 Mar 2019 14:15:13 -0400

Summary

This is a relatively new spot that has opened up in the last couple months.

The pork buns were surprisingly decent. I think they were a little expensive for each as is most Manhattan foods, but it was good.

What was interesting to me was lobster ramen. It had miso flavored soup broth and of course lobster meat with shells. They gave a shell cracker on the side, and they definitely did not skimp on the meat. They gave chashu and lobster here. Even though I am pretty good at extracting lobster meat, I never realized how annoyed I’d be at doing it out of a soup. I think I prefer more of the Boiling Crab style if it came to that. The lobster meat definitely was a good value for the cost of this ramen soup (I think like ~18$?). However, next time, I’d probably not let my eyes dictate over my common sense. I think it was a good idea, but for me I felt the work to extract the meat was not worth it.

House Special

Sun, 17 Feb 2019 19:30:41 -0500

Summary

This place is in Chinatown off of Hester St. We were looking for Cantonese style cuisine, and honestly there was nothing spectacular or bad.

The pea shoots with garlic had a taste of wine flavor to it, and was good.

The pepper salted pork chops was good as well. It would have been nice if they added more peppers and scallions.

The pepper salted shrimp was just ok for me. I felt it could’ve been fried a little more.

Emporium Brasil

Sat, 16 Feb 2019 23:13:28 -0500

I wrote back in 2019 that this is one of my favorite Brazilian spots because the food and drinks were pretty good. I revisited this with some coworkers to introduce them to Brazilian food again. Keep in mind that this visit is post COVID, so the menu has changed a bit. Gone are the batidas, but fortunately they had other standard Brazilian dishes to order. It is located in “Little Brazil” in Midtown which is literally very few restaurants situated on half the block.

Rice N Beans

Fri, 15 Feb 2019 23:06:11 -0500

Summary

The caipirinhas were decent.

As usual I dislike the coconut flavored ones but appreciate the passion fruit ones.

The feijoada was the actual star here. It’s much better than some of the other Brazilian places I’ve been to. The meat was plentiful, and the flavor is very good.

The bife acebolado was ordered medium rare, and it was cooked medium to medium well. I don’t understand why Brazilian restaurants have problems cooking the meat less than butchering it again. I didn’t find anything great about this.

Jacobs Pickles

Sun, 03 Feb 2019 21:08:31 -0500

Summary

This is the main site to the sister site Maison Pickle.

The food here is really good, filling, and not too expensive.

Of course, you have to get the pickles. For appetizers, we got 4 pickles (spicy, green beans, green tomatoes, and regular). We also got a side of fried pickles. I liked them all to be honest, and would love to get the carrots next time.

Boucherie

Sat, 02 Feb 2019 20:50:44 -0500

Summary

Walked in on a Saturday at 7 PM with no reservations, and it was packed despite it being pretty frigid outside.

Luckily, we got seats at the bar.

The french onion soup was really good. The gruyere cheese was nice and toasty, and the beef broth with the onions wasn’t salty like typical french onion soups.

The porterhouse of course was cooked a perfect medium rare. The strip side was preferred over the filet mignon. There was some sauce on the side, but we didn’t need to use the sauce on the side because the steak was seasoned well and had a good flavor.

Boqueria

Sat, 12 Jan 2019 16:32:03 -0500

Boqueria is an east coast Spanish tapas chain. The food here is quintessential Spanish shareables, including large paellas. We originally ate here with some friends in the Upper East, but we have also tried this restaurant in Flatiron. Reservations are fairly easy to secure, and it does get busy during core hours. If you have a decent sized party, this is probably a decent restaurant to bring folks that might be into family style sharing.

456 New Shanghai

Sun, 06 Jan 2019 16:09:32 -0500

Summary

Stumbled onto this just walking around.

Was interested in salted pepper pork chops. All we got for a quick afternoon snack was just pan fried rice cakes with pork and the pork chops.

Nothing to write home about, but the food was good for what we ordered. Note that we did not order the soup dumplings because frankly there are a gazillion other places to order this, so why would you order it here? Aside, there were mostly non-Asian customers for whatever reason. However the food was pretty on point and comparable to Los Angeles’ Monterey Park / San Gabriel cheaper restaurants.

Hirohisa

Sat, 29 Dec 2018 17:05:57 -0500

Summary

Hirohisa apparently has been around for a while, but they just received a Michelin star again this year.

With that in mind, I felt the price point $160 pp for the 9-course tasting + $70 sake pairing was a decent price for splurging for a special someone’s birthday dinner.

Just a note: they do respect some allergy restrictions. My guest had lobster specific allergies, and they were able to accomodate easy. She did not have any rashes or swelling at the end of the night.

Nu Noodle

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 19:02:35 -0500

This place’s beef noodles was just OK. I’ve had better. The portion size is just ok. I also got a side of bean curd, and it was a little on the salty side.

Felix

Wed, 19 Dec 2018 19:11:33 -0500

Summary

This place is CASH ONLY as well. Food was pretty good, and it seems like a nice date spot.

I got the steak with bone marrow. The potato (au gratin style) was also pretty good. It also came with a side of brussel sprouts and bacon mish mash. The sauce was salty, but the steak was cooked nicely for a medium rare.

Overall Impression

I’d come back here again if I was near the South Village, had cash, and wanted to eat something French. I suppose since I don’t usually carry cash, then the chances are pretty dim.

Ferris

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 17:52:34 -0500

Summary

We ordered a slew of appetizers.

The drink fir trade.

The blood sausage, bread, and chicken liver mousse was just OK. There wasn’t much memorable about it. The iberico katsu sandwich was surprisingly very good, and I could probably eat a handful of these easy.

The main course, cote de boeuf, was pretty good. I actually did not care too much about the sauces, but the quality of the meat was pretty good and tender.

Mr White

Sat, 15 Dec 2018 19:14:46 -0500

Summary

The clams were OK.

The Nola clams were better than the casino. The casino was so oversalted by the bacon such that you couldn’t taste the clams at all.

The shrimp beignets were forgotten.

The most memorable items were the crawfish dip and the cornbread. The crawfish dip was really good and had a lot of flavor to it. The cornbread was super buttery and was nice as well.

Ipanema

Sat, 08 Dec 2018 18:52:00 -0500

Back in 2018, I wrote, “The food was surprisingly good, and it’s not pricey at all. They give you free sides of rice and beans, so no worries about ordering that.” Now that I am working out of Midtown and fairly close to some of these Brazilian restaurants, I’ve been curious to try some of them again especially after the pandemic. I don’t recall the decor being as “fancy” before, but the menu looked more refined and sophisticated in a good way. We also did not take pictures the last time we were here, so we thought about trying this restaurant again even though we usually try to not repeat restaurants.

Chirp

Fri, 07 Dec 2018 19:24:07 -0500

The lomo saltado was ok. The sauces cost 60 cents extra.

Topaz Noodle Bar

Sun, 02 Dec 2018 19:26:05 -0500

This place was really good for Thai food. Would love to come back again for their Tom Yum noodle soup and their soft shell crab special. Price was not expensive at all either.

Lady M Cake Boutique

Sun, 02 Dec 2018 19:07:59 -0500

This was in a small mall, and it was pretty good. We got the eclairs and apple flan.

Taureau

Sat, 01 Dec 2018 19:09:49 -0500

This place is CASH ONLY. The chocolate fondu was good, but the cheese that we got was just ok. The meat quality was pretty good with the wine broth.

Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns

Sat, 24 Nov 2018 19:02:26 -0500

Good XLB. Was flavorful, BUT the price is pretty expensive for what you get. The dessert XLB filled with nutella/banana was gimmicky but tasted good.

Ninja

Fri, 09 Nov 2018 13:47:21 -0500

Food was bland, but the steak was surprisingly good for a touristy spot. There are a lot of scares from the ninja waiters. The sushi itself was also pretty bland and mediocre.

Holy Ground

Sat, 03 Nov 2018 13:07:49 -0500

Summary

This place was surprisingly good.

The pork belly was really tasty with the fried skin and chicharron on top.

The beef rib is a must get. Pork ribs are a pass due to them being dry. The ambience has a noir feel.

I just looked at the current menu, and I don’t see the pork belly appetizer anymore. Also, I’m not sure what dessert we got, but it was tasty as well.

Baked by Melissa

Mon, 22 Oct 2018 13:45:32 -0500

These are super tiny one bite mini cupcakes. Pretty good though the flavor profiles aren’t that different from each other.

Upland

Mon, 22 Oct 2018 13:40:08 -0500

Got eggs in hell, and it was a nice alternative to shakshookas. Somewhat spicy. The price wasn’t too expensive.

Yoon Haeundae Galbi

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 22:08:34 -0400

I remember visiting Yoon Haeundae Galbi a while back when they first opened. Galbi is basically beef short ribs, and normally in the U.S., these short ribs are rather small. I haven’t found any place in NYC that uses a large rib similar to the ones I had in Suwon, South Korea. When they take the meat off the rib, they also cook the tendons very thoroughly on the grill and it becomes crispy and edible. I’ve been to this restaurant enough times such that I always end up recommending it as a positive alternative to other KBBQ spots.

Dokodemo

Fri, 05 Oct 2018 22:10:57 -0400

Decent Japanese snack place with okonomiyaki and octopus balls. But that’s about it.

Adrienne's Pizza Bar

Sat, 29 Sep 2018 17:36:53 -0400

Was ok. Nothing too memorable. Got the pizza with proscuitto on top. I think they should’ve cut it into smaller pieces.

Bonchon

Sat, 29 Sep 2018 17:33:50 -0400

Pretty bad and expensive. 10 pieces of bites fro $14, and it doesn’t even come with a drink.

Berimbau Do Brasil

Sat, 29 Sep 2018 17:28:09 -0400

Berimbau do Brasil is a fairly well known West Village Brazilian restaurant. According to my first and last notes, I had tried the feijoada and the picanha, and both were excellent. My partner was craving a lot of this food recently, so we decided to try the new Midtown location of this restaurant. The menu has changed decently, but we were interested to see if the flavors were still consistent to their West Village location.

CoBa

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 22:14:06 -0400

Their pho + banhmi combo $12.50 is OK for lunch.

Blue Hill

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 22:09:53 -0400

Place is pretty good but veggie centric. Pretty much farm to table kind of foods.

Gallagher's Steakhouse

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 22:05:59 -0400

Gallaghers is a steakhouse located in the Midtown area near the Theater District. Similar to other Midtown steak places, this has been around for a while, and it has a very old school feel. I had been here many years ago, but I never took pictures nor tried it with my partner. We were able to walk in for 2 at around 9:30 PM on a Thursday night, and we sat at the bar. Even though the bar area can get crowded, these classic steakhouses an accommodate small parties without much issue if there’s room.

Delmonico's

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 22:04:09 -0400

Delmonico’s was a steak restaurant I recall going a long time ago. I wrote that the steak kind of sucked because it wasn’t flavorful or fatty. Now that I’ve gone through an extensive journey in steak world, I’m curious how my palette has updated itself. We went to this restaurant mainly because it apparently is known for its Baked Alaska, my favorite dessert. Fortunately, they offered this dessert option in their restaurant week menu at $60 per person, which includes choice of 1 appetizer, 1 entree, and 1 dessert.

Ikinari

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 22:02:06 -0400

Got the rare strip. It was pretty good for $30 for 14 oz. Not a lot of fat on it. I think the price keeps getting cheaper because not a lot of people go to this.

Chuck and Blade

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 22:00:30 -0400

New York strip was so so. Cream of spinach was not good. There were lots of tendons in the meat. The lava cake dessert was good though.

Quality Eats

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:59:13 -0400

Skirt steak was pretty good. Very affordable. Good date spot I think.

Strip House

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:57:37 -0400

Steak was just OK. Service was slow as hell. Truffle cream of spinach was good.

American Cut

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:56:20 -0400

Decent for the price. This is Marc Forgione’s steak house.

212 Steakhouse

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:54:49 -0400

Ok, this place is the only legit place in NYC that has real kobe certified beef from Japan. It was delicious and cheap… with the groupon.

Old Homestead

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:50:26 -0400

Summary

For the first visit and not pictured, we got the aged rib eye for 2. It was surprisingly good and flavorful.

The applewood smoked slab of bacon was thick and tasty. For 2 people, it’s enough to just get 1.

The prime rib on the bone was super thick and good. Like Keen’s, this is a monster and can probably be shared by 2 people. I would say the thickness of this was probably close to 1.25 inches. I couldn’t finish the whole thing comfortably. It came with cream of horseradish and chunky horseradish on the side. The cream of horseradish was delicious. The consistency was similar to sour cream but with that hint of horseradish in it. The steak itself was cooked a solid medium rare throughout.

Thai Sliders

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:48:22 -0400

Good tom yum noodle soup for lunch. Actually pretty good overall pad thai and pad see ew staples.

Cafe Riazor

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:42:26 -0400

Spanish stuff. Cheap decent lunch.

Grand Central Oyster Bar

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:30:42 -0400

The Grand Central Oyster Bar is a pretty famous spot in New York City located in the Grand Central Terminal off of 42nd St. This is the central train hub that people take to go towards upstate New York and beyond such as Connecticut. I had been here a while back, but this would be the first time for my partner. What better way is there other than to grab some oysters before jumping on a train back home. This location is at the lower level right close to the dining concourse and right next to the 4 columns that has a distinct sound acoustics.

Simply Hooked

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:27:31 -0400

This used to be in the Lower East Side, but I guess they set up shop in this Gansevoort Market area. It wasn’t that good. I prefer the A Salt & Battery place instead.

Hot N Juicy Crawfish

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:26:18 -0400

Got the soft shell poboy. Was decent for lunch. $17 for fries, drink, and a poboy. The normal stuff is rather expensive. Probably a $2-3 per pound markup compared to LA.

Lobster Press

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:24:44 -0400

This is Marc Forgione’s fast food-ish restaurant near Penn Station. I got the chili lobster here, but it’s not as good as having it at the restaurant.

It’s also CLOSED.

A Salt & Battery

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:20:58 -0400

British style fish & chips.

Flora Bar

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:19:08 -0400

Seafood centric. Ambience is good, but the food is eh.

Zadie's Oyster Room

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:17:58 -0400

Different cooking styles for all types of oysters. Was pretty good.

Tal Bagels

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:12:09 -0400

Believe it or not, their pastrami was actually better than Pastrami Queen.

Roccos Pizza Joint

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:09:08 -0400

Got the cheesesteak, and I regret it. This place is eh.

Hank's Juicy Beef

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:07:42 -0400

The only standalone Italian beef sandwich in the city. The other is at the Billsburg Smorgasburg and is a mess to eat. This place is pretty good for fast food.

Pastrami Queen

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 21:05:25 -0400

Pretty good pastrami. It’s no Katz, and it’s not filling, but it was good. It’s thin sliced meats.

Menkoi Sato

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:49:41 -0400

This is the old Mew Men place. Pretty good ramen. The spicy is actually spicy, and the broth is super flavorful. The only caveat is there is not a lot of stuff that comes with the soup. Just a few veggies, and that’s it. They should have some sort of combo or something.

Shinshi Ramen

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:47:51 -0400

Pretty good tsukemen. Get the spicy miso. Tsukemen seems fairly rare in NYC. Still looking for something similar to LA Tsujita.

EAK Ramen

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:44:05 -0400

EAK Ramen is located on 6th Ave close to 14th. I used to venture here all the time pre-pandemic, and there was always a line or people. I was curious to see how the restaurant was like since. Back in September 2018, I thought it was one of the better ramen places, but now, EAK also has a ton more competition all over the city. We were able to walk in on a Sunday early afternoon around 4 PM. We were the only diners, so we thought it was cool that we can eat at non-prime times.

Jin Ramen

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:42:46 -0400

This place was decent. Had to wait about 20 minutes. I think price wise it’s slightly cheaper than East Village stuff.

Niu Noodle House

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:41:43 -0400

Beef noodle ramen was not as good as Taiwanese beef noodle. Passssss.

Ramen Ya

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:40:12 -0400

For whatever reason, there are 2 locations within neighboring vicinity of each other in the West Village. The ramen is similar to Shinsengumi. Slightly disappointed.

Totto Ramen

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:38:59 -0400

I think this is still one of my top favorite ramen places in NYC. It’s cash only.

Mentoku Ramen

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:35:08 -0400

It seems I only wrote “pretty good” on my spreadsheet, and right now I am drawing a blank about this place.

Momosan Ramen

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:32:18 -0400

It’s ok. Broth is not great, but tuna bowl is good. I think this restaurant is owned by Morimoto.

Kuu Ramen

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:31:18 -0400

Not good at all. Was near WTC.

Ippudo

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:28:33 -0400

I had visited Ippudo twice before this time throughout my whole life, once in London and once in the East Village. This original post just had a comment of “Overrated and pricey. I’d skip here any day of the week. Daikokuya in LA is way better”. Because I didn’t take pics of my dinner nearly 4 years ago, I thought about revisiting this Midtown location to try to remember why I was underwhelmed. Let’s just say I now remember why, and it makes perfect sense why I didn’t care for it before.

Zundo Ya

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:27:35 -0400

It’s just ok.

Ramen Misoya

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:26:19 -0400

Recommended by Totto Ramen server for best thick noodle in NYC. Soup was bad and salty. But yeah the noodle was pretty good.

Jun Men Ramen Bar

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:23:29 -0400

It’s similar to Shinsengumi. If in Chelsea and want ramen, Oramen is way better.

Oramen

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:22:15 -0400

This place is pretty good for the area. I like the miso.

Ichiran

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 20:18:27 -0400

This is an updated review for the Midtown / Times Square (Theater District) location for Ichiran. I had been to the original Bushwick location years ago, and I didn’t take pictures nor remembered much about it. The only thing I wrote down was it was a much better version of Shinsengumi. Shinsengumi was a popular Torrance (California) restaurant that served hakata style ramen. They also allowed you to select your flavor profiles, and it was far less busy than Ichiran.

Macchina

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 18:26:23 -0400

They are known on Instagram for their Burrata pizza which was about $25. It was ok. I wouldn’t go out of my way to get it because it literally is just a margarita style pizza with a big piece of burrata cheese in the middle. The burrata wasn’t that soft when cut for some reason.

Pizza Rollio

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 18:24:28 -0400

This place is just OK. Super gimmicky with the rolling pizza thing. Would rather have a slice than that. It’s like eating a super thin pizza that is malleable.

Marta

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 18:23:33 -0400

Pretty good. The meat one with all the salami was good.

Detroit Pizza

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 18:22:01 -0400

The full name of this restaurant is “Lions and Tigers and Squares Detroit Pizza”. Obviously did not want that in the title of the post. Got the pepperoni and yellow peppers, and it was pretty good. Not too expensive… ~$12-14

Martina Pizzeria

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 18:20:08 -0400

Fast food version of Marta’s. It’s good. I like the salami and hot peppers, and it’s fairly inexpensive.

The Flatiron Room

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 18:06:48 -0400

Jazzy bluegrassy restaurant. Same people as Fine & Rare.

Fine and Rare

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 18:05:24 -0400

Summary

I’ve been here a few times already, so this is now a proper post for it. This is a Jazzy restaurant that you can dine-in without paying a cover which is nice. The jazz itself is pretty fun, although predictable if you don’t listen to a special guest.

This is a blackberry gimlet which has reyka vodka, fresh blackberries, and fresh lime. It was pretty good, and it wasn’t too sweet.

The Marshal

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 18:04:20 -0400

Was surprisingly good. Good date place.

Gentleman Farmer

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 18:03:08 -0400

Good date spot, small intimate venue.

Hearth

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 18:01:52 -0400

Was good but nothing particularly struck a note to me. Marc Forgione tasting menu is way better than here.

Maison Pickle

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 17:59:44 -0400

French Dip is really good here, espeically the au jus drippings.

Los Tacos

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 17:44:42 -0400

Pretty good for NYC. Still cannot compare to LA.

Miznon

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 17:43:20 -0400

This place sucks a lot, and it’s expensive. Food was just eh. I got the steak pita, and I was still very hungry. Overrated.

Dizengoff

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 17:41:20 -0400

This place was surprisingly good. The shakshooka and bread was really good. Too bad it’s CLOSED.

Baby Brasa

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 16:34:34 -0400

The chicken was good, but it’s a little pricey though. Seems to be a common theme nowadays.

Riko Peruvian Cuisine

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 16:31:02 -0400

So bad. The lomo saltado is really dry. Can’t seem to find a decent lomo saltado in NYC.

Coppelia

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 16:29:24 -0400

“Gourmet” lomo saltado is like paying $20 tacos. This is a ripoff and not worth the $20+. Good, but not great.

Senor Pollo

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 15:55:02 -0400

This place is pretty cheap. I remember both the lomo and pollo being a bit on the dry side, but it’s so cheap not much of a reason to complain I guess.

Casa Mono

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:06:53 -0500

I had stumbled drunk here back in 2018 not realizing it was a Michelin restaurant. Fortunately, it was on our list to come back to have a more proper dinner where our memory would still function. Our friends wanted a taste of a Michelin type of experience, and in lieu of a tasting menu, we opted for a more shareable format. Reservations are fairly easy to come by, so on a Sunday night, the restaurant wasn’t super full at 5 PM. Casa Mono still today maintains 1 Michelin Star.

Samwon Garden Bbq

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 15:01:19 -0400

Pretty decent Korean BBQ. Also a bit expensive, and not as good as Let’s Meat.

Let’s Meat

Let's Meat

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 15:00:18 -0400

Pretty decent Korean BBQ. A bit expensive, but everything was good.

Her Name Is Han

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:58:32 -0400

Pretty good Korean food. Fairly priced and family style. They have BOSSAM, and it was really good.

To Two Boonsik

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:56:18 -0400

This place is ok. Got the japchae and soondobu. Cheap though.

Tofu Tofu

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:54:43 -0400

Pretty good soon dobu and bo ssam. Lots of food for 1 person. Would come back here again if I was craving bo ssasm I think.

Jeju Noodle Bar

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:53:34 -0400

Pretty good Korean ramyun. A little pricey though.

Atoboy

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:52:13 -0400

Really good for the price point. $39 tasting 3 courses, no tip, and no dessert.

Jongro

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:48:50 -0400

Pretty good. No Korean rice wrap, but meat quality was good.

Mokbar

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:47:13 -0400

It’s right across from the Los Tacos place in Chelsea Market. Got the Korean ramen, and it was abysmal.

Tonkatsu Matsunoya

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:36:46 -0400

This place is pretty bomb and NO TIP NEEDED! Would come back here again. The crust was really good.

Mi Ne Sushi

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:35:21 -0400

Just ok and also cheap sushi. Not great. Don’t trust people when they say this is good sushi.

Momoya

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:33:18 -0400

Just ok. Cheap sushi. Don’t trust people’s palettes when they say this place is good.

Kazunori

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:31:41 -0400

Spawned off LA’s Sugarfish. Cheap 6 piece hand rolls. $32 includes tax, tip, and a Mexican coke. Still room for dessert unfortunately.

Tsurutontan

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:29:49 -0400

I’ve been to Tsurutontan a few times already in various locations including Union Square and Midtown next to Rockafeller Center. When this Japan udon chain first opened in Manhattan a few years ago, there was a massive line because it was the first international location in the USA. The food was outstanding back then, and now it’s gone down a little in quality but still pretty good. This restaurant is known for having mammoth sized udon bowls which will most definitely satiate your appetite. They also have a variety of other Japanese sushi-esque dishes as well.

Sushi on Jones

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:28:05 -0400

Another omakase. Decent sushi place. Fast in/out in 20 minutes. $58 total. Got an extra toro/uni hand roll which added another $20ish.

Ootoya

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:26:01 -0400

Pretty good bento boxing place. A little pricey but no need to tip.

Nakazawa

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:23:47 -0400

It’s an Omakase. Michelin 1 star. Very good for the price. Got sake pairing + sushi + EXTRAS… only $220 per person. The lychee sorbet was awesome.

Shuko

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:22:07 -0400

Really good. Got the kaiseki ($175), and they gave a lot of sushi pieces. The dessert, rhubarb sorbet, was really good.

Shabu Tatsu

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:20:29 -0400

Fairly inexpensive, but not very OG. Portions are small, and no where as good as LA shabu shabu.

Robataya Ny

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:17:46 -0400

This place was such a gimmick. Very showy like Benihanas but way worse. Food was just ok and super pricey. They have bday celebrations… super weird.

But it’s CLOSED.

Kosaka

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:15:42 -0400

Pretty good kaiseki (~$180).

Mew Men

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:13:48 -0400

Japanese lunch was cheap and good. But this place is CLOSED now replaced by Menkoi Sato, a ramen place.

Abiko Curry

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:10:20 -0400

Abiko Curry is a Japanese curry restaurant that I had visited before in Koreatown way back in September of 2018. We were near the neighborhood, and I thought to check it out again. I remembered the curry and flavors being one of my favorite Japanese curry places in the city, but I also remembered that the “medium spicy” level was uncomfortably intense. This time around, I want to give it another try to see if I can get a better feel for it.

Curry Ya

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:08:51 -0400

The spicy pork tonkatsu was pretty good. One of the better Japanese curry places in the city.

Uma Temakeria

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:06:15 -0400

Terrible “sushi burrito”

This place is CLOSED for obvious reasons.

Go Go Curry

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 14:04:46 -0400

Good lunch spot and fast. Cheap.

The Sosta

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 13:58:59 -0400

This place was ok. Pasta was good, but it needs protein. The meat cheese board was just ok.

I Sodi

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 13:55:10 -0400

Food was just ok even though it’s highly recommended by people. Probably a good date place though.

Lasagna Ristorante

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 13:53:40 -0400

Lots of food for lunch and just ok.

Grazie

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 13:49:23 -0400

I only ate here because it was close to the MET. I don’t remember what I had, but I’ve only written that it was good.

Dirty Bird to Go

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 13:22:36 -0400

This place sucks compared to KFC/Popeyes. Yeah I said it.

Fuku

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 13:19:11 -0400

A few doors down from the Ssam bar, this place is pretty good. $12 for a combo which was basically drink, fries, and the sandwich. The Momofuku red sauce is always good.

Unfortunately this is CLOSED.

Westville

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 13:10:08 -0400

This fried chicken sandwich was a special served during lunch and was quite good.

I think Westville’s normal menu seems bland and isn’t that great.

St Tropez

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 15:12:02 -0400

Great for the price, although I was here on a pescetarian date. I thought I could do pescetarian, and I can’t. Would come back for actual meats.

Cherche Midi

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 15:09:54 -0400

Same owner as the Minetta Tavern. Great for the price. I liked teh suckling pork because it was straight up fat with crispy skin. Got the whole fish, and it was great too.

Only problem is it is CLOSED.

Le Relais De Venise L'entrecote

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 15:08:14 -0400

This review is for the Midtown East location of Le Relais De Venise L’entrecote. The previous review I had was for the closed SOHO location, which I was complaining that they charged $5.50 for tap water back in 2018. Fast forward about 3 years later post pandemic, how does this location fare compared to the previous one? I will say much better. Note that this location did not appear to charge for tap water.

Le Singe Vert

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 15:06:52 -0400

Pretty good. Decent price. Don’t have much else to say I guess.

Le Coucou

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 15:05:08 -0400

Amazing place. The baked alaska and veal tongue were really good. It’s also not too expensive.

Le Coq Rico

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 15:02:54 -0400

Specializes in French style chicken. $100 for a whole chicken. Chicken was soft and juicy with that wild flavor. Pretty expensive for what it is, but it was good.

Probably would be OK with Costco chicken over this.

Excuse My French

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 15:01:41 -0400

This was pretty good. Definitely would come back here again when craving for duck rillettes and other charcuteries.

La Maison Du Croque Monsieur

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 15:00:14 -0400

The croque monsieur was mediocre at best.

Raclette

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 14:56:42 -0400

They are super stingy with the cheese, and it stinks the instant you walk in. But otherwise, it’s delicious. You are allotted 2 cheese shavings. One of the guests at my table did not want their second shaving, so I used their second shaving for a total of three shaving. It’s good but not too expensive.

Grom

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:38:23 -0400

I like the gelato here. A bit expensive but good.

Grace Street

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:37:07 -0400

Desserts are pretty good, but I don’t get why there is always a line here.

The milk tea was just ok.

The donuts were good.

Dominique Ansel Kitchen

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:35:16 -0400

Interesting desserts and pretty good. In the summer, they have burrata frozen yogurt as well as some type of watermelon frosty thing.

They’re also known for the Cronut, but it can be bought at the Spring location.

Patisserie Chanson Dessert Bar

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:33:06 -0400

Amazingly good albeit super expensive for a dessert tasting menu. Six courses plus wine pairing for $150+. Geez.

Soft Swerve

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:31:57 -0400

Pretty good matcha soft serve ($5).

Creperie

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:24:39 -0400

Really good and BIG.

Spot Dessert Bar

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:23:16 -0400

Pretty good. Some interesting stuff, but maybe somewhat gimmicky?

Kreuther Chocolate

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:21:46 -0400

Across from Bryant Park. Expensive AF chocolate ($3 pp), but the other desserts were amazing. Really good chocolate though.

Viva La Crepe

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:19:37 -0400

Crepes were whatever. Why?

Maison Kayser

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:15:43 -0400

The Christmas log is good. A lot of Frenchy desserts.

Cafe Zaiya

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:14:29 -0400

Decent black sesame bubble milk tea with red bean dessert bakery stuff.

Prodigy Coffee

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 23:02:31 -0400

This was just OK. Still prefer Toby’s cold brew.

Noodle King of Nyc

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:47:43 -0400

Decent noodles. Cheap. Tastes kind of homely.

Hot Box

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:46:41 -0400

Decent personalized hotpot place. Similar to Boiling Point.

Ho Foods

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:45:17 -0400

Taiwanese beef noodle was pretty good. $$$ but the broth was good. Long wait, but not sure if it’s worth it. I kinda want to make my own again.

Joes Shanghai

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:43:59 -0400

Was good and cheap, but not like amazing. LA XLBs still better.

Just for Fen

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:42:47 -0400

Was decent albeit expensive. Didn’t care for the noodles at all.

Dim Sum Go Go

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:41:33 -0400

This place is very bleh for dim sum. I was the only Asian diner.

99 Favor Taste

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:40:12 -0400

Summary

This place is ok for hotpot and bbq. Keep in mind this is a All You Can Eat restaurant. There are a decent amount of choices for the hot pot meats/veggies as well as the BBQ meats. Downstairs they have tables with a grill and individual hot pots. The tables are huge even though there is always a line now unless you eat off hours. For 2 people, we decided to skip waiting for our own and share a table with other people. Those other people never came, so we basically had the big table to ourselves.

Yuan

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:35:13 -0400

Noodles pretty good, but service sucks big time.

It’s probably why this place is PERMA CLOSED.

Shorty Tang

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:34:03 -0400

So so for lunch. Cash only. The sesame noodles was just ok.

Sunshine

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:30:40 -0400

Dim sum is ok. Less wait than Jing Fong. Chicken feeet not as good as LA.

This is PERMA closed.

Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:29:28 -0400

Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao is one of those XLB restaurants that is not often brought up in the XLB fights because it’s not that accessible. The original location is in Flushing, so it’s a bit far from Manhattan. Many people do end up going to Joe’s Shanghai to get their fix, but fortunately now a Manhattan location of this restaurant has opened in Koreatown.

I had originally gone to the Flushing location and said the following:

Dumpling Man

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:28:07 -0400

XLB was just ok. Price was cheap.

Mimi Cheng's Dumplings

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:20:36 -0400

Expensive for what it is.

The Spotted Pig

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:12:58 -0400

Burger was OK. Very bleu cheesy. The shoestring fries were annoying to eat and overly salty.

Chumleys

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:11:36 -0400

Their burger is better than Minetta’s. Nuff said.

Burger & Barrel

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:09:21 -0400

Got their special $68 white truffle burger. Was good, but not worth it. Don’t spend $68 for white truffles when they’ve practically lose their scent on the plane over here.

Minetta Tavern

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:07:54 -0400

This is the infamous Minetta Tavern. I had been here back in mid 2010s, and it was pretty good. Before I met my partner, I used to come here once every few months to just scarf their Black Label burger. The price for this was just barely over $20. Now in recent times post-pandemic, it’s been a bit more difficult to walk in without reservations. We were able to sit at the bar on a Friday late-afternoon around 4:55 PM without reservations.

5 Napkin Burger

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:06:27 -0400

Overrated. I don’t get why people think this is good. Rather go to Shake Shack or something else.

Creamline

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:05:03 -0400

Pretty good. I like both the fried chicken and cheeseburger. Probably wouldn’t go here again if it’s out of my way.

Momofuku Nishi

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:03:30 -0400

This is suppose to be Italian, but I ate here before they rebranded. They had the Impossible burger here, and it was surprisingly decent.

The red sauce is really good with the fries.

Buns Bar

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:02:21 -0400

Greasy, but good and filling. I skip the sliders and went straight for the regular burger.

Bareburger

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 22:00:56 -0400

Decent gourmet burger. I probably never crave this when I want a burger.

Jack's Wife Freda

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 21:45:41 -0400

Got the Shakshooka. I also asked for hot sauce, and it was some wet guacamole green looking thing. It has a nice kick to it. The shakshooka was also green too instead of the normal red sauce. Has a good kick to it and was also more sour than usual. Also got a side of the duck bacon which was interesting.

Again, skip the lines and sit at the bar.

Buvette

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 21:38:03 -0400

This place is really good. Their steamed eggs are super fluffy, but pretty expensive. It’s crowded but easy to walk in as 1.

Egg Shop

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 21:35:41 -0400

This place sucks, is pricey, and is extremely overrated. I don’t understand why this place has so many people. $18 for a egg on top of salad with fried chicken.

Russ & Daughters Cafe

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 21:23:40 -0400

This place was pretty good, but I feel it’s overrated. It has a lot of lox stuff. I didn’t care much for it, but then again I don’t care about lox either.

Daisy May's Bbq

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 17:22:20 -0400

Terrible BBQ. Go here for cheap stale dry meats in tourist hell.

Oh apparently it’s permanently closed.

Mighty Quinn's BBQ

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 17:16:36 -0400

Their brisket is always good for the price.

Due West

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:51:33 -0400

Great bar/vibe. This new-ish place is definitely going to be popular.

The Ragtrader and Bo Beep Cocktail

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:49:52 -0400

Interesting bar. Bar upstairs is cool. Piano bar downstairs is really KEWL.

The Otheroom

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:48:36 -0400

Good date vibe in the West Village.

Dutch Kills

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:45:12 -0400

Decent vibey bar similar to some LES places, but way out in Queens. But who knows maybe Long Island City might be the next spot after Williamsburg!

Public Hotel

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:42:17 -0400

People come here to drink because they’re retarded. Terrible drinks. College-ish atmosphere. Pretentious for no reason.

Oh, it has the orange escalator hallway that everyone likes to take pictures of. There’s also that purple glass window back that people like too.

Dear Irving

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:40:35 -0400

Good old boys bar. Think jazzy-ish. Nice place.

Attaboy

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:35:55 -0400

You tell them what ingredients you like in your drink, and they make something magical for you.

The Spotted Owl Tavern

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:30:49 -0400

Ok spot.

Mother of Pearl

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:28:40 -0400

Interesting decor. They have a shark drink where it has a bunch of blood on it. Notice a bunch of people bring their dates here.

Mayahuel

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:25:55 -0400

Was a Mezcal speak easy place when I went. Decent mezcal based cocktails. It had a change of ownership recently.

Copper and Oak

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:23:20 -0400

This place is cool. All scotches and nice ambiance.

Standard Biergarten

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:13:19 -0400

Vibe reminds me of Wurstkuche in Los Angeles. But without the distinct dogs and beers. Still cool though.

Employees Only

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:05:32 -0400

It’s alright. Bar gets crowded. Food is decent. It’s a has been.

Raines Law Room

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 01:01:21 -0400

Cool place. It’s in some random building basement, and the couches are comfy. Feels a little noir-ish.

Bathtub Gin

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 14:57:48 -0400

Went here with a friend for the first time. Saw a random bouncer looking guy standing outside of a coffee shop. There’s a door next to the coffee shop that leads into an apartment complex. My friend and I looked at each other. We were thinking we were suppose to open this door, and that this “speak easy” is somewhere in this apartment complex. We tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t turn at all. We stood there with a confused look in our faces as we check the address again. The random bouncer guy asked, “Are you guys looking for the bar?”

The Tippler

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 14:57:48 -0400

Cool place beneath Chelsea Market.

Barn Joo

Sat, 16 Sep 2017 14:57:23 -0400

I had been here several years ago, and it hasn’t changed much at all. This is a Korean bar type restaurant in Union Square with a myriad of different Korean foods including noodles, rice, buns, etc. The last time I was here, I had ordered a bunch of side dishes and had wrote down typical Korean American bar food. This time around, we decided to try out Korean BBQ. The staff led us up the stairs where there were many tables with BBQ grills in them.

Peter Luger

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 21:52:39 -0400

Peter Luger’s steak house has been around for a very long time. At one point, it even had a Michelin Star. Many tourists always recommend eating here and rave about it. The locals though on the other hand are rather indifferent. People have told me that their steaks suck and that their best dishes are their appetizers. Others have told me it’s the best steak they ever had. Does it really live up to the hype? Time to find out.

Momofuku Noodle Bar

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:29:51 -0500

Back in 2012 and like Ippudo, this was supposedly another must-try ramen place that was highly raved by the NYC food scene. I got to this spot right when they opened, and there was already a small line outside in this frigid cold weather. Inside, they have counter top seating for 1-2 people as well as a some picnic table setups for larger parties. There was no David Chang spotted here, but how was the food? Strangely, the food from 2012 to 2025 hasn’t changed much.

Forge

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 18:16:30 -0500

Formerly known as “Marc Forgione”, this restaurant has moved from its prior Tribeca location to a different Tribeca location. Since then, they have lost their Michelin Star, but it is still a staple restaurant for those familiar with the history of this restaurant. It was quite easy to make reservations a few days in advance.

When I first came here in 2012, I wrote:

Marc Forgione is one of the Iron Chefs on Iron Chef America. This is his first restaurant, and at the time of this writing it has 1 Michelin Star. Like Michael Voltaggio, this restaurant is one of his babies, so he periodically is cooking in the kitchen to make sure everything comes out as he desires. Unfortunately he didn’t cook today, but I just want to preface this by saying this is definitely one of my favorite restaurants ever that I’ve tried so far.

WD~50

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:59:21 -0500

I first found out about WD~50 from my friend who wanted to try it out for the longest time. On research, I found out one of the Bravo’s Top Chef previous contestant owns this restaurant. His name is Wylie Dufresne. He is well known for pushing a movement towards molecular gastronomy, which is basically a different way to cook things. This 1 Michelin Star restaurant’s menu is pretty sparse in choices in that you basically choose from 2 different types of tasting menus, the cheaper or the more expensive. Optionally, you could order 2 items off any of the tasting menus at the bar for $25. We of course opted for the expensive one considering we have no plans on coming back any time soon.

Momofuku Ssam

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:47:37 -0500

One of my goals was to knock out some popular Momofuku establishments. SSAM was one of them. The SSAM Bar is on the San Pellegrino world’s 50 best restaurants list at the time of this writing. The service style is basically family style, so there are a lot of sharing plates. Portions are small for large groups probably, but decent sized for small groups 2-4. The decor has a very modern feel to it.

Barrio Chino

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 17:33:37 -0500

This is a very small restaurant in the lower east side, so be prepared to share tables if necessary. In my blog of NYC eats, I totally forgot to blog about this one. This place is supposedly known for their spicy margaritas. My party each ordered habanero margaritas, and they were delectable. They were spicy with a kick, but not overbearing. For many, habaneros are already daunting. But once you soak the habanero into the tequila, it’s really not that bad in terms of spicy.

Rice to Riches

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 16:40:14 -0500

This will be my last NY food post for a while. For the last day to cap off the trip, we went to Rice To Riches in Nolita. This was actually really close to our Blue Ribbon meal a few posts ago. Rice To Riches is basically the equivalent to Baskin Robbins 31 flavors in LA. Instead of many choices of ice cream, you have many choices for tapioca. You also have the option of sampling any flavor that you want. I’m not a huge tapioca person, but I was willing to give this a try

Lombardi's

Sat, 19 May 2012 16:35:48 -0500

Since 1905, Lombardi has been credited with developing New York style pizza and being the first pizzeria in the United States. This has been challenged by many NYC locals especially pizza aficionados. Having been here back in 2012, I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing the evolution of this pizzeria. I’ve been here several times, and it’s always easier to walk in early dinner times vs prime time. You’ll be seated fast and food will come right away especially now there are so many other competing pizza places nearby.

Shake Shack

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:25:01 -0500

I only got a few more NYC eateries to blog about then I’ll be done for now. Shake Shack is basically the west coast’s equivalent to In-N-Out. The one we visited was the original Shake Shack that sits in the middle of some sort of park near Eleven Madison. For a rather chilly day, there was still a long line of people that took approximately 30 minutes for us to get our food. We had time to kill, so why not?

Katz's Delicatessen

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 16:13:03 -0500

Here in Los Angeles, we have a ton of pastrami places. My favorite meat is in fact pastrami. Not only do I enjoy the saltiness flavor in the cured meat, but I also enjoy how tender the meat is. I’ve been to Johnny’s in Culver City, Canter’s Deli near West Hollywood, Jerry’s Famous Deli, Langer’s in Los Angeles, etc. Compared to all those places, I very much prefer Kat’z Deli. The meat is chunky, soft, and super flavorful.

Chikalicious

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 16:02:15 -0500

Per recommendations for dessert after dinner at Momofuku Ko, we visited Chikalicious. All I know is this place is busy normally with lines outside the door. My buddy and I visited it on a Thursday night, and to our surprise it wasn’t overly busy at all. In fact we got there right at 9:30 PM. There were 2 seats at the counter right in front of the Chef Chika. Yes, Chika is her name. She’s shy and quiet yet is very friendly. I’m not a dessert person in general, so it should take something really good to wow me.

Bacaro

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 15:50:02 -0500

I have a ton of food porn pics that I haven’t put online yet, but I’ll get through it. If you don’t know already, I went to New York City this past February and tried out some of the local hot spots. This is my first time to the east coast, so I really didn’t care for any of the touristy places. My buddy and I, per recommendation, went to Bacaro which is Italian inspired cuisine. My plane had just landed about an hour and a half ago, and this is the first place that we went to.

Luke's Lobster

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:42:52 -0500

I had a pleasure of visiting Luke’s Lobster in East Village when I traveled to NYC from Los Angeles. What you see here is the “Taste of Main” sample platter. It consists of: half lobster sandwich, half shrimp sandwich, half crab sandwich, 2 crab claws, 1 bag of chips, and 1 bottle of pop. The only comparison I have for this is The Lobsta Truck here in Los Angeles. For those that don’t know, it basically is a food truck that serves lobster sandwiches that are pretty small.

Doughnut Plant

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 21:25:33 -0400

Doughnut Plant is one of those institutionalized donut places in New York City. Between Dough and this place, it’s really difficult to go wrong, and each person will have their own preference. I remember what was unique about this donut place was mainly their flavors as it was unique and different. The size of the donuts are not as big as Dough, but they are almost as puffy and airy.