Unfortunately not every restaurant I eat at is always a success. Went to iCi last night in Fort Greene and left very disappointed! I've been to ici before during restaurant week, and it was ok, but being that it was restaurant week, it was very busy, they ran out of a few things and it was just a lil chaotic. The place was charming tho and I wanted to give it another try. Plus I like places that serve seasonal, organic, new American fare.
So there were about 4 other tables occupied besides ours, but the lights were up so high that it felt more empty than it needed to. The music was also really low so I could hear other tables talk. The room itself is really nice, but these minor adjustments would've really improved the ambiance.
So we ordered a dandelion salad with a poached egg, bacon and an anchovy dressing. It was ok, had too much going on and it was kind of difficult to eat. There was also an arugula and beet salad with blue cheese that was also ok, just unimaginative and something you see on every other menu in town. We got a potato/leek soup as well that was simply bland and might as well have come out of a can.
As we're waiting for our entrees, the two servers start unsetting the room! I hate this, it's rude and i feel rushed. And it's not like we were there a long time keeping them! Infact, another table was just seated! The servers were just not using their brains and were obviously unsupervised, which I guess they needed to be!So all I hear is glasses lanking and silverware clinking and it was just annoying.
Then our entrees come. The chicken that was supposed to be served with spatzle and fall vegetables was just wrong! First of all, it looked like a half portion, the chicken was just dry, the veggies just slopped on a plate and no frigging spatzle!! So we tell the waitress, and she was very confused, didn't know what to do, didn't offer us anything else, had to double check with the kitchen cause on her own she didn't see if there was spatzle or not. Whatever, not the biggest deal, but she handled the situation poorly, obviously not the brightest crayon in the box. The striped bass I got was just ok with cabbage or something. The food wasn't terrible, but the service was. It just really pisses me off to go out to eat, pay for mediocre food that I could've done a better job with and bad service!
They did send out a chocoalte dessert thingy with the bill which was awkward because the waitress just put it down and in a heavy asian accent said "dis fo chicken". What?! Ok, so ur apologizing or just putting this down with our bill so it ups your tip lady?! Seriously, at this point it was just funny and I felt embarrassed for the place. Seems that ici has just simply given up.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Chestnut on Smith
I first heard about this place a few years back, read about it in TONY, passed by it dozens of times and kept telling myself I need to try it and eventually forgot. So they recently opened a bar and that's been getting a lot of buzz and reminded me that the place exixted. So I grab my accomplice on some random wednesday night and off we go to Smith St! It really is the kind of place that you could pass by so many times without even knowing it's there, unless you're looking for it, which I like. We go in, the first thing we see is this big, mahogony, cozy bar which we have to pass through to get to the dining room, cause we're here to eat, not drink, right?
So the dining room is very simple, cozy, wooden tables, exposed brick. The room could use a fireplace or something, being that the back of the room has a lil bit of a vacant feel to it, but these are minor things.
So we're seated, intimate table, dark room, windows to watch the passerbys on smith-I'm happy. Our server comes over and tells us about their tues-wed $30 3 course prix-fixe dinner which surprisingly wasn't a special limited menu as it usually is in most places. It excluded a couple of appetizers, but even then, you could order those as a main course and have it be part of the prix-fixe. Very reasonable & accomadating, I think. A few things on the menu we were unfamiliar with, the server was very knowledgeable and helpful without being annoying and overwhelming.
So first course we get potato gnocchi with prociutto and oyster mushrooms-it was great! The gnocchi was crispy and chewey, the mushrooms and prociutto went perfectly and we practically licked the plate! We also got grilled calamari with romseco quinoa, which was pretty tasty as well. The quinoa(very healthy grain similar to cous-cous) was stuffed inside the calamari which made the dish a lil unique, and the calamari had a nice texture and wasn't overcharred, which I always fear when ordering something grilled.
Main course, I got sriped bass with sauteed squash and a chorizo and lovage puree. The bass was cooked perfect, it was a nice and airy, delicate fish. I honestly didn't love the other components, and didn't feel any chorizo come through on the dish which i was looking foward to, but still a good dish. My other half got rabbit cannelloni, chard, ricotta & chive jus. We didn't exactly know what cannelloni, but it's like a crepe shapped pasta that is stuffed. So the rabbit, chard and ricotta were stuffed inside this pasta and I loved it! It was certainly different from any type of pasta dish I've ever had, but in some way it was nostaligic, like something my grandmothers made before. It was hearty and warming, but not heavy. Mish wasn't too wild about it, but we both agreed it was good.
So we're stuffed and we still get a dessert?! Ok, we can't pass it up, it's included people!! So we got a chocolate & peanut butter mousse that was ok and a poached pear with a ginger tuille and pistachio ice cream that was also ok. I mean- we were force feeding ourselves at this point. We definitely could've done without the dessert, but like I said it was included in what I think is a great deal! $30 for 3 courses of good quality, well made, yummy food is a steal! I would even go back if there wasn't a prix-fixe.
Oh, and I have to mention, I did notice a lot of people ordered a juicy looking pork chop. What's up with the pork chops?! Well, there will a be a next time!
So the dining room is very simple, cozy, wooden tables, exposed brick. The room could use a fireplace or something, being that the back of the room has a lil bit of a vacant feel to it, but these are minor things.
So we're seated, intimate table, dark room, windows to watch the passerbys on smith-I'm happy. Our server comes over and tells us about their tues-wed $30 3 course prix-fixe dinner which surprisingly wasn't a special limited menu as it usually is in most places. It excluded a couple of appetizers, but even then, you could order those as a main course and have it be part of the prix-fixe. Very reasonable & accomadating, I think. A few things on the menu we were unfamiliar with, the server was very knowledgeable and helpful without being annoying and overwhelming.
So first course we get potato gnocchi with prociutto and oyster mushrooms-it was great! The gnocchi was crispy and chewey, the mushrooms and prociutto went perfectly and we practically licked the plate! We also got grilled calamari with romseco quinoa, which was pretty tasty as well. The quinoa(very healthy grain similar to cous-cous) was stuffed inside the calamari which made the dish a lil unique, and the calamari had a nice texture and wasn't overcharred, which I always fear when ordering something grilled.
Main course, I got sriped bass with sauteed squash and a chorizo and lovage puree. The bass was cooked perfect, it was a nice and airy, delicate fish. I honestly didn't love the other components, and didn't feel any chorizo come through on the dish which i was looking foward to, but still a good dish. My other half got rabbit cannelloni, chard, ricotta & chive jus. We didn't exactly know what cannelloni, but it's like a crepe shapped pasta that is stuffed. So the rabbit, chard and ricotta were stuffed inside this pasta and I loved it! It was certainly different from any type of pasta dish I've ever had, but in some way it was nostaligic, like something my grandmothers made before. It was hearty and warming, but not heavy. Mish wasn't too wild about it, but we both agreed it was good.
So we're stuffed and we still get a dessert?! Ok, we can't pass it up, it's included people!! So we got a chocolate & peanut butter mousse that was ok and a poached pear with a ginger tuille and pistachio ice cream that was also ok. I mean- we were force feeding ourselves at this point. We definitely could've done without the dessert, but like I said it was included in what I think is a great deal! $30 for 3 courses of good quality, well made, yummy food is a steal! I would even go back if there wasn't a prix-fixe.
Oh, and I have to mention, I did notice a lot of people ordered a juicy looking pork chop. What's up with the pork chops?! Well, there will a be a next time!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Brunch at Clinton St. Baking Co.
Apparently, in a city with thousands of places to go to for brunch, this one just simply can not be ignored. I mean this place has been voted best brunch in the city by this one, that one and everyone else! So we must try. So we pull up one saturday afternoon (yes pull up, we drove from brooklyn) to Clinton st., right off of houston. Theres a fair amount of people gathered outside under the red awning, so I jump out of the car to put our name on the wait list, since I know usually theres no reservations for brunch, and let the Mish look for parking. The wait:1 1/2 hours!!! No way, I'm already starving, I may hurt someone by the time my turn comes to eat! Ok, we wait, walk around, get some coffee, come back, wait some more, make fun of some of the people we're waiting with (believe me there's plenty to make fun of with all these ohioan wannabe nyers), and then seriously an hour and half later we sit! I thought i heard angels sing! It's bitter sweet, we're happy to be sitting, but angry cuz we know we still have to wait for out food after we order.
Finally the food is here, Misha got the spanish scramble with chorizo, onions, tomatoes, monteray jack cheese with hash browns and it is gooooood. The hash browns are awesome and crispy and the scrambled with the melted cheese and bold flavors were a hit! I got the buttermilk bisquit sandwich with scrambled eggs, cheddar, tomato jam and hash browns. It was ok. My hash browns were great too, but after trying mikes really flavorful breakfast, mine seemed a lil bland, even with the tasty bacon. Don't get me wrong, it was good, the eggs were fluffy, the cheese melted all over & the bisquit was good, as it should be, hence the baking co. in the title. I do hear the pancakes are the thing to get here, I just usually prefer savory over sweet. I think this place does brunch well. Reasonable prices, organic eggs, quality ingredients & fresh squeezed oj. This is a bakery people, so try some baked goods/sweets for me since I don't always have the desire for that kind of stuff.
Finally the food is here, Misha got the spanish scramble with chorizo, onions, tomatoes, monteray jack cheese with hash browns and it is gooooood. The hash browns are awesome and crispy and the scrambled with the melted cheese and bold flavors were a hit! I got the buttermilk bisquit sandwich with scrambled eggs, cheddar, tomato jam and hash browns. It was ok. My hash browns were great too, but after trying mikes really flavorful breakfast, mine seemed a lil bland, even with the tasty bacon. Don't get me wrong, it was good, the eggs were fluffy, the cheese melted all over & the bisquit was good, as it should be, hence the baking co. in the title. I do hear the pancakes are the thing to get here, I just usually prefer savory over sweet. I think this place does brunch well. Reasonable prices, organic eggs, quality ingredients & fresh squeezed oj. This is a bakery people, so try some baked goods/sweets for me since I don't always have the desire for that kind of stuff.
A score at Perry St.
Yesterday, I made my way out to the city for a sample sale, which was a success, yes! So I found myself hungry in the meatpacking district around lunchtime with many places to choose from. However, I've been really wanting to go to Jean-Georges for lunch since it's supposed to be one of the best deals in the city($28 for 3 courses), but it was too far. I remembered Perry St. (another one of Jean-Georges restaurants, just more casual) is open for lunch and much closer so off we went. On the way we pass Jerry Seinfelds garage which was open so naturally i did some peeking. I thought this was some kind of urban legend, but I saw it people, its real! Seriously, why am I not that rich?
Back to the restaurant, located right on Perry & West St. (aka west side hwy to me) in one of the glassy Meier buildings, we entered this really elegant and simple dining room with lovely buttery white leather banquettes and dark wood tables. The room did feel a lil vacant not being full, but a fair amount patrons were in the dining room.
We get a table immediately with plenty left to spare. And menus down, lets order, I'm hungry! They start us off with a sweet potato/parmesan soup amuse bouche. An amuse bouche which literally translates to mouth amuser in French, is a bite sized way to excite your taste buds before the first course sent out by the kitchen in some fine dining restaurants. This one was just so creamy and looked and almost kind of felt like microwaved butter with that white foam on top except tastier. I had ordered cream of tomato soup as one of my courses and quickly changed the order after the amuse bouche for fear of getting another flavored buttery, creamy, just too heavy for lunch soup. I opted for the artic char sashimi with crispy skins, lemon & olive oil instead, which I was pretty happy with. It was light, fresh and tasty. Misha, who's been with me the whole time btw, ordered the roasted beet, ricotta and crystallized wasabi salad, like I knew he would. I really liked this dish as well, the ricotta was so nice and fluffy, beets were super flavorful and there were also some kind of candied nuts that were really delish and added a nice touch.
Next course, I got skate with a fennel sald. The skate was equally crispy and equally plump and juicy, pretty tasty. There was some kind of citrusy sauce on the skate which with the fennel salad was just a lil too much acidity on the dish, which I think maybe another ingredient could've improved it. My other half got a slowly cooked salmon with maitake mushroom, green onions and a black truffle sauce. The salmon was very tender and moist and all the components went quite well together, I thought. The black truffle sauce was also nice, as these tend to be very over powering, this one was mild and perfect for the well balanced dish.
And then there was dessert. One was a molten chocalate cake with pistachio ice cream and it was devine! You really can't find a chocolate cake like this just anywhere, with a crispy outside and a gooey center just so yummy. The second was a ricotta cheesecake with a concorde grape sorbet. The cheesecake was good, very good, but for me that sorbet stole it's thunder.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the whole lunch. The quality was wonderful, the service was good and the price was right, well except for the $10 bottle of pellegrino, but all in all, I was a happy camper.
Back to the restaurant, located right on Perry & West St. (aka west side hwy to me) in one of the glassy Meier buildings, we entered this really elegant and simple dining room with lovely buttery white leather banquettes and dark wood tables. The room did feel a lil vacant not being full, but a fair amount patrons were in the dining room.
We get a table immediately with plenty left to spare. And menus down, lets order, I'm hungry! They start us off with a sweet potato/parmesan soup amuse bouche. An amuse bouche which literally translates to mouth amuser in French, is a bite sized way to excite your taste buds before the first course sent out by the kitchen in some fine dining restaurants. This one was just so creamy and looked and almost kind of felt like microwaved butter with that white foam on top except tastier. I had ordered cream of tomato soup as one of my courses and quickly changed the order after the amuse bouche for fear of getting another flavored buttery, creamy, just too heavy for lunch soup. I opted for the artic char sashimi with crispy skins, lemon & olive oil instead, which I was pretty happy with. It was light, fresh and tasty. Misha, who's been with me the whole time btw, ordered the roasted beet, ricotta and crystallized wasabi salad, like I knew he would. I really liked this dish as well, the ricotta was so nice and fluffy, beets were super flavorful and there were also some kind of candied nuts that were really delish and added a nice touch.
Next course, I got skate with a fennel sald. The skate was equally crispy and equally plump and juicy, pretty tasty. There was some kind of citrusy sauce on the skate which with the fennel salad was just a lil too much acidity on the dish, which I think maybe another ingredient could've improved it. My other half got a slowly cooked salmon with maitake mushroom, green onions and a black truffle sauce. The salmon was very tender and moist and all the components went quite well together, I thought. The black truffle sauce was also nice, as these tend to be very over powering, this one was mild and perfect for the well balanced dish.
And then there was dessert. One was a molten chocalate cake with pistachio ice cream and it was devine! You really can't find a chocolate cake like this just anywhere, with a crispy outside and a gooey center just so yummy. The second was a ricotta cheesecake with a concorde grape sorbet. The cheesecake was good, very good, but for me that sorbet stole it's thunder.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the whole lunch. The quality was wonderful, the service was good and the price was right, well except for the $10 bottle of pellegrino, but all in all, I was a happy camper.
Monday, September 29, 2008
The cutest Little Owl
So this weekend, my fellow critic,Misha, and I went to the Little Owl in the west village. A lil gem with seasonal american fare. I gotta say, the neighborhood it's in and the street it's on are incredibly charming in itself, let alone the actual restaurant! We get there with no reservations and its no problem, but I really think we got lucky so I would reccomend making reservations ahead of time. We ordered the meatball sliders, which were just great, "exactly what a meatball should be" says Misha and I agree; we got the clam chowder which was a special, it was good, but thats it; the fritto misto, basically fried shrimp calamari, etc. with coriander ailoi was ok, I was actually kind of pissed at myself for ordering that one since I kept eyeing these wonderful looking salads being brought out...to other tables to my dismay. For mains, we got potato wrapped scallops with wilted spinach and a goat cheese gnocchi with braised lamb, which was actually an app, but we did have 3 other apps and it was more than enough. The scallops were good, the potatoes they were wrapped in were nice and crispy and it was just a nice, pleasant, light dish. The gnocchi was good as well, and I really enjoyed the lamb with it. Misha and I shared everything, and they split it all up for us in the kitchen which was not only cute but really convenient. I do have to say however, I think the pork chop is probably the thing to get here, almost everyone in the place ordered it, and for good reason I'm sure. It was our first time here though, we didn't know, but I will come back for it. Then for dessert the waiter recommended the stawberry/rhubarb crisp with marscapone ice cream.....mmmmmmmmmmm! It was just so delish, the perfect way to end our meal!
This place is so cozy and addorable and the food is just right! I'd love to be here on a cold winter night when the first flakes of the season fall, enjoying some red wine and some wonderful food, but I'm sure it's great every season! Definitely one of my lil gems!
This place is so cozy and addorable and the food is just right! I'd love to be here on a cold winter night when the first flakes of the season fall, enjoying some red wine and some wonderful food, but I'm sure it's great every season! Definitely one of my lil gems!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Welcome to my blog!!! well sorta
I'm taking the inititive to start this blog for my girlfriend. Her name is Justyna and I'm Michael.
We've been talking about her starting a blog for some time now and it just never developed. Justyna is 24 and works in the restarant industry. I am 28 and work for an advertising agency with a sick, crazy, ocd boss and enjoy playing poker. One thing we definetly enjoy good food and good drinks.
My reason for her starting a blog was mainly to share her knowledge of food, cool places and the food industry in general. (Mostly in the Brooklyn and other boroughs) Both of us are pretty laid back and like the simple things in life, tho our lives aren't always as simple.
I probably really suck at blogging and writing so here is a lil restaurant story about our dinner friday night. So we go to this cool place that Justyna picked out...she saw this chef on the finale of Top Chef and decided she wanted to go to this place. Blue Hill http://www.bluehillnyc.com/main.html is a place where everything or just bout everythign is cooked from the chefs farm upstate NY. Anyway we decide to go for the chefs tasting menu with wine pairings...granted we never eat out like this, to tell you the truth I was a bit uncomfy, all natural feelings tho. A Texas couple sits next to us through out the middle of our meal and start chatting it up. We think nothing of it and are friendly and pleasant back. Then they proceed to make a comment followed by 2-3 questions about our dish. So by the 3rd time we are like comon, we just wanna enjoy our meal. In the end however we reconcile our differences and chatted up with the hospitable Texans. We shake hands and they're on their way. After they leave the host and waitress proceed to tell us that they just paid for our meal!!!! It was surreal to say the least. I mean that was $350 meal. Yay for cool experiences.
I hope you guys enjoy this blog. Justyna will update this as we go on our adventures of the perfect combo of food, drinks and service.
The pic above is by Water Taxi Beach @ Victor Calderone
Ciao
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