Dinosaur “Bar-B-Que” is a New York state BBQ set fo restaurants that first opened in 1983 as a concession stand near Albany, NY for bikers. Since, they’ve expanded to a few more locations, including upstate NY as well as NYC. We’ve been to the Brooklyn location a few years ago, and we remembered it being pretty good. To relive our memories, we decided to visit again on a Sunday afternoon. We were able to walk-in at 4 PM without wait, though there were some logistical issues that did surface when we dined.

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.

We came here around 8:30 PM on a rather cold Saturday evening. Typically there is a long line outside, but today people were crowded and bundled up inside. I put my name down for 2. The wait was approximately 40-50 minutes. We had contemplated leaving when we heard the wait time, but we decided to power through and wait. It was worth it.

On July 1, 2023, we visited this restaurant again, and it has moved from it’s previous location. For a table of 4, we just had to wait approximately 30 minutes on a Saturday around 7:30 PM.

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.

Summary

The place was pretty dead when I went, but the pizza was excellent. In some ways I actually liked this more than Lombardis.

Got a margarita pizza with pepperoni on it, and it was tasty.

Would love to go back and try their stromboli or calzones as well.

Overall Impression

It’s a nice addition to the sparse Long Island City neighborhood. The pepperoni pizza quality and ingredients tasted really good.

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.

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.

Summary

This apparently received a coveted 1 Michelin Star at this time of writing.

Went here for brunch, and I’d love to go back to try the dinner. Just like Casa Enrique, I find it pretty good but pricey for what you get.

The horchata was tasty, but does not beat those horchata machines back in LA. Also, it was loaded with ice, so the amount of liquid you get is pretty small for $6.

Had the churrasco here, and it was pretty good. The chicken and sausage was good. Make sure the steak is ordered medium rare. We ordered medium, and it came out borderline medium well. The caipirinha was really good too. Get the passion fruit and guava. Avoid the kiwi.

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.