I started off with three appetizers; Lump Crab Cake ($19.95), Canadian Bacon, Extra Thick ($3 a slice), and the Caesar Salad ($11.95).
The Canadian Bacon was truly extra thick, had a wonderful glaze on it, and was quite delicious.
The Caesar Salad was perfect. The lettuce was fresh and crisp, and the dressing had a slight flavor of anchovies, which I loved. It was definitely one of the best Caesar salads I have encountered.
The Lump Crab Cakes were great as well. I hate crab cakes that are made with mostly breading, and the breading on these crab cakes was almost non-existent, just the way I like it!
For my main course I wanted to get a Porterhouse, and they only had a Porterhouse for 2 ($82.95), so I went with it! (Please note I planned on taking home leftovers, for I knew there was no way I could consume all this food in one sitting!) The Porterhouse came out on a sizzling platter and it was a great presentation. The meat was perfectly cooked medium as I requested and had a great char to it. I will tell you this was by far the best steak experience of my life. It was a great and wonderful steak. Benjamin Steakhouse also makes its own steak sauce, which I added at times to give the meat an extra little sweet tang.
Of course to really get the true steak house experience I ordered a side of Creamed Spinach ($8.95) and the German Potatoes ($11.95). Both were great. I loved the kick of garlic to the spinach and the slightly burnt top to the potatoes.
Benjamin Steakhouse is the quintessential steak house. If I were to picture what a steak house is and should be, Benjamin Steakhouse would be it. The staff was very attentive too, placing more steak and creamed spinach on my plate for me at times! (Of course, I was one of the few diners there, for it was an early dinner, but they were still great.) In fact, I entertained many of them with my magic throughout the meal!
So if you need to fill that steak craving and want to feel like a King, Benjamin Steakhouse will satisfy all your desires.
Benjamin Steakhouse
52 East 41st (bet. Madison and Park)
New York, NY 10017
212-297-9177
www.benjaminsteakhouse.com
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( 2.8 / 529 )The NYC FOODIE dish of the week is the Fried Chicken "Blue Ribbon Style" ($24.50) hailing from Blue Ribbon Sushi and Grill located in the 6 Columbus Hotel.
I finally had this dish after having heard about it several times since the place opened and is definitely worth all the hype. It is coated with matzo meal and flour and accompanied with a side of wasabi honey sauce giving the meat the perfect sweet kick it deserves. The $24.50 price tag is a tad steep for any fried chicken dish, but the crispiness, tenderness, and flavors of the chicken made me forget the price.
So for a great unique take on fried chicken, stop by Blue Ribbon Sushi and Grill and thank me later.
Blue Ribbon Sushi and Grill
308 W. 58th St. (bet. 8th and 9th)
New York, NY 10019
212-397-0404
www.blueribbonrestaurants.com
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( 2.9 / 588 )A friend of mine took me out to Bar Bao, the new restaurant on the Upper West Side, formerly Rain. The redesigned space looks great; it's very large and very comfortable. The Vietnamese menu helmed by Michael Huynh (Bao 111, Bao Noodles) looks great... on paper. We ordered Daikon Duck Hash ($12), Chili Garlic Tiger Shrimp ($12), Berkshire Pork Belly ($22), Crispy Whole Red Snapper ($27) and Vermicelli Noodles ($14). Also, two desserts, not even worth mentioning.
None of the dishes impressed me. The whole time during our dinner I could not help but think about all those Vietnamese restaurants in Chinatown with better, more flavorful food, for half the price! This is not a good bang for your buck.
My recommendation is you can come for a drink or two if you live in the neighborhood, but then head to Chinatown to fill your Vietnamese food cravings.
Bar Bao
100 W. 82nd St. (at Columbus Ave)
New York, NY 10024
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( 2.8 / 439 )
Dear NYC Foodie lovers,
I am NYC Foodette, NYC Foodie's younger sister. Last night I went to Candle 79 with our other sister (no relation to the film The Other Sister). Believe it or not, I had wanted to check it out even before Frank Bruni's one-star review since I have recently (a little over 6 months ago) become a "pescatarian" with vegan tendencies. This means I do not eat any meat that comes from land animals and I try to avoid all dairy products as much as possible, but I do eat a fair amout of seafood, especially sushi. Judgement expected and accepted...
Ok, onto the meal. We shared everything, as usual - even the drink, not as usual (both the sharing of it and the fact that it was non-alcoholic). Our sweet, vegan waiter Christopher had the bartender conveniently split into two glasses the Antioxidant Potion: concord grape, pomegranate, cranberry, lemon, sparkling water ($7). This drink was right up my alley - bold flavors, refreshing, and just the right amount of tartness. This was one of about 10 juicy mixtures, and there are also around 8 delicious-seeming cocktails that I would like to try when it's not a school night (no, I'm not a student, but old sayings die hard).
We were then served our starter and our salad simultaneously. We had the Wild Mushroom and Spinach Pate served with crostini, roasted garlic bulb and balsamic reduction ($14) and the Beet Salad with mache, arugula, apples, baby carrots, haricots verts, toasted pecans and a vanilla-fig dressing. The salad was also supposed to come with fennel, but we asked them not to add it as neither my sister nor I is a fan of the anise-flavored plant. The fennel-less salad was very tasty; it was sweet and light, and the perfect complement to our other dish. The pate was much more filling than I would have expected, and the balance of spinach and mushroom was perfect. I must admit, however, that what attracted me most on the plate was the roasted garlic bulb. I probably shouldn't admit this in a public forum, but when we had finished the rest of the dish, I picked up the near-empty garlic clove and ate every last drop I could extract without looking like a complete neanderthal (no offense, Geico dudes).
By the time our entree arrived (right after we finished our previous course) I was pretty full, but was still excited to try our next dish: Porcini Crusted Tofu with garlic mashed potatoes, sauteed spinach and cabernet-wild mushroom sauce ($22). In case you couldn't tell, my sister and I are really into spinach and mushrooms, and they were both great in this dish. The most prevalent flavor was the mushrooms, and those found in the sauce were some of the best I've had. The sauce was generously poured over the tofu, which was sliced for easy sharing and eating and cooked perfectly. It was a great dish, and something I definitely can't cook at home.
At this point the level of fullness was ridiculous, but who can resist vegan dessert? We went for the Live Key Lime Tart with nut granola crust, key-lime cashew cream and huckleberry ice cream ($13). A few of the items on the menu say "live" and this just means it's a completely raw dish. I think I would have enjoyed the tart a bit more had I had a bit more room in my stomach, but it was a pleasant way to end the meal. I would have preferred the "custard" to be a bit more tart, but the huckleberry ice cream (magically dairy-free) made up for it.
You know how sometimes you feel like you're dreaming even though it's the middle of the day and you are clearly awake? Well by the end of the meal that's how I felt, but more intensely than I ever have. Perhaps it was something in the wild mushrooms... I left feeling totally satisfied, slightly stoned, and very excited for my next adventure at this diner- and planet-friendly haven.
Candle 79
154 E 79th Street
New York, NY 10075
(212) 537-7179
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( 3 / 354 )Last night I attended "FergusStock" at The Spotted Pig. Fergus Henderson is one of London's most acclaimed chefs (St. John restaurant), and when I heard he would be a guest chef at The Spotted Pig last night, I knew I needed to take advantage of this culinary opportunity. Mr. Henderson is known for his use of offal (the internal organs of a butchered animal) and what has been called "nose to tail" eating, which not everyone is a fan of, but as someone who likes to experiment, I was game!
There was a two and a half hour wait for a table for one, but luckily after grabbing a beer at the upstairs bar (and running into chef/Food Network star Anne Burrell), I found a lone seat at the downstairs bar. Even more luckily for me, that seat was next to another lone diner who ordered the Pot-Roast Half Pig's Head (for 2). The Pig's Head looked amazing and obviously too large for one, and this chap (Alex from London) who ordered it for himself was super kind and offered to share the dish with me!
The Pig's Head was actually amazing! The meat was juicy and tender and melted in my mouth. The flavors were salty and sweet, but so perfectly balanced and executed, that it was truly divine. After my first bite, I honestly got a tear in my eye - it was that good. A culinary dream come true! The skin was crisp to perfection, and Alex let me have the best part: the crispy pig's ear - phenomenal!
My new dining partner, who hailed from London and is a regular at Mr. Henderson's restaurant St. John, recommended I order the Ox Tongue And Bread with Green Sauce as well as the Deviled Kidney on Toast. And I ordered just that.
The Ox Tongue dish was simple and refreshing. It was basically a salad of greens with ox tongue and bread (which looked and tasted like soft croutons.) I didn't really see any green sauce, but whatever sauce was on the dish was tangy and nice.
The Deviled Kidney on Toast was mindblowing! Now, I'm not a huge kidney eater (who is?), but this dish which consisted of around 5 lamb kidneys on toast, was phenomenal. I'm not exactly sure how they were cooked or what was in the sauce, but it was truly delicious. It must have been some sort of red wine or marsala sauce in combination with some cayenne pepper to give the kidneys the perfect kick and sweetness they deserved. Again, I think I had another tear in my eye after my first bite.
As I expected, the place was filled with other note-worthy chefs wanting to feast on this unique and great food. Momofuku empire king David Chang walked in (Mr. Henderson will be cooking at Momofuku Noodle Bar tonight), as well as Barbuto's Jonathan Waxman, to name a few.
Unfortunately, Fergus Henderson only stops by The Spotted Pig to cook once a year. So, for "nose to tail" eating at its finest, purchase a ticket to London, or mark your calendar now for his next visit.
The Spotted Pig
314 W. 11th St. (at Greenwich St.)
New York, NY 10014
212-620-0393
www.thespottedpig.com
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