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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
