I was told it was BYOB, and although I had spent the whole fashion week drinking, and told myself just to order coke, I pursuaded myself to go across the street and buy a bottle of wine (a great $11 red) for myself.
I sat at a table of four by myself. The dining room is casual and modern. The lighting is brightly dim, if that makes sense; almost orange. It was a large square room, which made me think of it like a fancied cafeteria. It looked good though.
I wasn't too hungry but did want to try some dishes. They have a nice selection of flatbreads, and I went with the Braised Short Rib flatbread with marinated cherry tomatoes and sweet horseradish cream ($12). It was excellent and delicious.
I also had an entree of Butternut Squash Agnolotti with brown butter, sage and toasted hazlenuts ($22). The dish was sweet, and was definitely an autumn/winter dish. But, it was still very good.
I felt obligated to try a dessert, and went with the Orchard Chocolate cake with dark chocolate outside, warm milk chocolate inside, and mascarpone whipped cream. This was a great dessert, especially for a chocolate lover. I dont know how they did it, but the inside was really warm, and delicious. The marscapone whipped cream was the best whipped cream I have ever had in my life-deliciously perfect!
The Orchard is definitely a place I'd like to go back to and try all of their dishes. I definitely recommend this place!
The Orchard
162 Orchard Street (between Stanton and Rivington)
New York, NY 10002
[ add comment ] | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 492 )Friday night I decided to head to The Little Owl in the West Village, a restaurant I had read a lot about; all good things. Frank Bruni of the NY Times was raving about it's pork chop, so I figured I may as well head on down to see what he was raving about.
Before I left, I called to see if they took reservations, and let them know I would be dining alone. I asked if maybe I could sit at the bar, for I didn't want to take a table away from more people. The guy on the phone, Gabrielle, who happened to be the manager/co-owner said to me not to worry, we'll do whatever we can to accommodate you. This was already a good sign of what was to come.
The Little Owl sits on the quiet corner of Bedford and Grove in the West Village. It's a small restaurant, and when I walked in the first phrase that came into my mind was "Neighborhood spot". Although small, it is very charming. My favorite aspect of the restaurant is that there are large windows inside where you can look into the kitchen. I love this!
There were four barstools at the bar, all taken. Gabrielle got a chair for me and put me at the head of the bar to accommodate me. I ordered a $12 glass of wine from the Shinn Estate on Long Island, called Wild Boar Doe. It was sweet, and great.
For my appetizer I started with the Ricotta Cavatelli ($11) with fava beans, tomato broth and pancetta. It was excellent. The pasta was perfectly cooked, fluffy almost. The broth was soothing.
And then I had the Pork Chop ($19) with parmesan butter beans and wild dandelion. I must admit, Bruni was right. It was actually the best pork chop I've ever had. Crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside. It was a massive hunk of deliciousness!
For dessert I tried the chocolate brownie with espresso ice cream. Well, at least that is what it said on the menu. In fact, I was given chocolate ice cream, and when I brought this to the server's attention she told me that they had run out of espresso. This was minor, the chocolate was fine, but I do wish I was told this before I ordered, for I was really looking foward to some espresso ice cream. The brownie was fine, but nothing too spectacular.
But, I left The Little Owl feeling very satisfied, a big smile on my face. I couldn't wait to come back. The Little Owl is the perfect neighborhood restaurant, and in fact, is not even in my neighborhood! Thus, The Little Owl is the perfect restaurant-period.
The Little Owl
90 Bedford St, At Grove St
New York 10014
[ add comment ] | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 500 )When I heard that four sushi chefs from big and popular sushi restaurants in NYC (Megu, Nobu 57) teamed up to open a new, smaller Japanese spot in the East Village I was intrigued.
Last night was my first encounter with Le Miu. It is a long restaurant with a bar up front, not overly chic. It was nice and simple which suited me just fine. The restaurant was not crowded at all, it was a Tuesday night, and I decided to dine at the sushi bar. I had sushi on Sunday (from Haru-very good), so opted not to have it again. They had a special tapas menu which looked good, so I decided to try some tapas.
The first one I tried was the Rock Shrimp tempura with the chef's sour cream. I've had great rock shrimp tempura appetizers both at NOBU and Bond St. and was eager to compare Le Miu's take on the dish. I sat alone at the bar, staring into the sushi windows waiting for the dish. I'm not sure if it was because I was just tired, lonely and bored, but it seemed to have been taking a long time. I kept looking around the restaurant to confirm with myself that there were probably only around eight other tables full. When it finally arrived I encountered a hot and somewhat tasty dish. The shrimp were perfectly cooked, and the sauce had a nice kick to it, but for some reason it left a weird after-taste, almost like cheddar cheese! So, the dish was fine, but I prefer Nobu and Bond St.'s Rock Shrimp tempura.
My next tapas was recommended by one of the cooks there. It was called chicken karage, which tasted almost like a General Tso's chicken dish, with it's sweet sauce. It was hot and fine as well.
My final tapas was the best of the night, and was quite intriguing, and more of what I expected in creativity and taste. It was cubed pork infused in soy sauce with Japanese pumpkin tempura. It was excellent. Tender, tasty, perfect.
For dessert I decided to have a spicy tuna roll, just to get my sushi fix in, and use it as a comparison to other spicy tuna rolls at other sushi spots. The roll was fine, and the interesting touch they added was cucumber in it, which I never encountered in a spicy tuna roll. It gave it a nice crunch and snap to it, but I felt it was also a bit too cold and wet, and would have preferred just the tuna, no cucumber.
Would I go back to Le Miu? Yes. They have a chef's tasting menu for $55 that sparked my interest. They also had interesting dishes from the kitchen I wanted to try as well. But, the entire time I was there, during my Japanese tapas experience, I couldn't stop thinking about Oga Japanese tapas, my pick for one of the best hidden treasures in NYC, and great Japanese tapas.
So for a low-key, different Japanese restaurant experience I recommend Le Miu. For the best and most unusual Japanese tapas in NYC, Oga is the spot.
Le Miu
107 Avenue A, (Btwn 6th & 7th St )
New York, NY 10009
Oga Japanese Tapas (this restaurant has closed)
143 East 47th Street (bet. 3rd and Lexington)
New York, NY 10017
[ add comment ] | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 576 )Saturday night my friend who writes reviews for NY Magazine invited me to dinner at Empanada Mama, a small empanada spot in Hells Kitchen I had recommended to him.
I was excited for two reasons. The first being I had been there once before and enjoyed the empanadas, thus the reason for the recommendation. The second reason of course was that I was not paying!
The the long list of empanadas are made in either wheat flour or corn flour. We ordered a bunch of them. From the wheat side we tried the cheesesteak, spicy chicken, and the spinach and cheese. From the corn side we ordered the chili and beef, and chicken with peas and carrots.
Every empanada we tasted was truly excellent. The corn flour ones were a tad crispier, and I liked that. All the meat inside, including the chicken and beef was very tender and juicy-perfectly cooked.
We also tried the veal and rice ball tapas. I never tried anything like it and it was also wonderful.
For dessert we tried the belgian chocolate and banana empanada, as well as the fig, cheese and belgian chocolate empanada. They were both delicious, and in fact the fig, cheese, and chocolate empanada turned out to be my favorite one of all. I never thought chocolate and cheese would be a great pairing. But the warmth of the chocolate and melted cheese together was superb.
The most amazing fact about this restaurant is the pricing. Each empanada ranges from $1.75 to $3.00 each. This is truly one of the best deals in town. I recommend Empanada Mama to anyone interested in a great deal and great food.
Empanada Mama
763 9th Ave, (at 51st St)
New York, NY 10019
[ add comment ] | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 195 )Friday night after a comedy show in the East Village I decided to head to a Ma*Ya, a thai restaurant that was recommended on Time Out NY on Demand - channel 1112.
Ma*Ya has a few tables on the first floor, and a bunch more downstairs. I sat upstairs, and I felt as if i were in a hut on the outskirts of Bangkok, as I watched the rain pour down.
As I perused the menu I was given a complimentary basket of shrimp chips with peanut dipping sauce. I always love free snacks and food. And I loved this snack, with its delicious tasting sauce. What a great start!
The menu is made up of tapas, appetizers and entrees. I tried a tapas of stir-fried panang curry peanut with beef ($7.50) (which I believe is actually Malaysian). It was very good, and I enjoyed the vegetables that came with it as well.
I asked both waiters what their favorite dish was, and both told me it was the appetizer of crispy ribs in spicy tamarind glaze ($8.95)-so I ordered it. They were really good too. It was very sweet, but also had a nice kick of spiciness to it. It was cooked perfectly, the meat fell off the bone.
I really enjoyed the food and atmosphere here. The place is cool and hip, with a real homey feeling though. In fact, I enjoyed my experience so much, I went again with my family on Sunday.
I was very excited to try more of Ma*ya's dishes, and they didn't disappoint. We asked Kevin, my waiter from Friday night for recommendations, and we heeded his advice. We started with the Malaysian flat breads with chicken curry dipping sauce, the spicy thai chicken lettuce cup, and the Asian crusted Ahi Tuna.
The flatbreads ($4.95) were excellent. Warm, crispy, and the dipping sauce was addictively tasty. The chicken lettuce cups ($7.95), were refreshing, flavorful, light, and also tasty. The tuna ($7.95) was rare and simple, but very nice.
For entrees we had Grilled skirt steak with Thai chili dipping sauce, Jumbo Shrimp and Japanese eggplant in red curry coconut sauce, and the Crispy filet whole fish with Thai long bean basil spicy three flavor sauce.
The steak ($16.95) was perfectly cook, tender, and didn't even need the sauce, which was too tangy for me. The Jumbo shrimp ($16.00) was excellent. The red curry sauce had the perfect balance of sweetness and spiciness and I loved the dish. The standout of the night was the Crispy whole fish ($18.95). The meat just fell of the bone and the flavors were powerful and amazing; it was truly a great dish.
I really love this place and recommend it for anybody in the neighborhood, or if you want to go on a cool date with your signifcant other, family, or by yourself, it's worth the trip to the East Village. The prices are great, and it truly is a great bang for your buck. So for great flavors in a great atomosphere Ma*ya hits the spot.
Ma*Ya (Hurupan Kitchen)
234 E 4th St, New York 10009
Btwn Ave A & Ave B
[ add comment ] | permalink | related link |
( 2.9 / 585 )Back Next
Calendar
