Updated June 8, 2022

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.

Updated March 31, 2019

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.

Updated March 30, 2019

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.

March 24, 2019

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.

March 17, 2019

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.

Updated March 17, 2019

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.

Updated March 17, 2019

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.

Updated February 23, 2019

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.

Updated February 17, 2019

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.

Updated February 9, 2019

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.