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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.