Category: New York

January 7, 2011

Lunch at Gramercy Tavern

I count myself extremely thankful to be able to dine at some of the places that we do on our trips. I have to admit this trip to New York has been one of our most decadent. My sister and I took our cousins out to lunch at the Gramercy Tavern, a combined restaurant and tavern awarded a one-michelin star for the past six years. Impressive!

Here’s a picture of their menu.

All of their plates and dishes had the same logo.

They provided butter and salt.

To go with a sourdough bread or the brown roll (which I went). Unfortunately we wanted more but the bread guy wasn’t around. This probably explains why the old man at the table next to us distracted the bread man when he came to our table.

This is the Cauliflower, red quinoa, prunes and peanuts dish.

Then the Red King Crab, Sunchokes and apples

Then the Calamari & Carrot Salad, Toasted Pine Nuts and Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette

It was still really cold outside from the blizzard and I needed something to warm me up so for my appetiser, I chose Red Krui Squash Soup, Brussels Sprouts, and Apples. On first taste, the soup simply blew me away. It was everything a think hearty soup should be, perfectly seasoned (not in the way the Brits like) and the brussels sprouts centred in the soup with additional leaves topping it off. The toasted squash seeds added plenty of crunch and the drizzle of, what I’m guessing as, pumpkin seed oil deepening the flavours.

For mains, there was the Roasted Hanger Steak, Fingerling Potatoes, Russian Kale and Bourbon Sauce.

As well as the Red Snapper, Toasted Green Wheat, Kale, Trout Roe, and Squash Sauce

In addition to the Pork Croquette, Red Cabbage, Aji Dulce Pepers and Spiced Port Sauce

And finally my dish, Braised Lamb Shoulder, Heirloom Beans, Wild Mushrooms and Brussels Sprouts. Lamb seemed to appear on many menus, much more than I remembered than ever before in the US. I hoped for a rich, deep, soft lamb minus all the fat and I got it in this umami-rich dish. I counted at least four different types of mushrooms and there was plenty of beans and sauce to go with the dish. I may have been the last to finish, savouring each mouthful.

On to desserts! Here’s the Dried Cherry Cheesecake, Black Pepper Cookie and Cherry Lemon Sorbet. Reports had it the black pepper didn’t really come through.

Next up, the Warm Chocolate Bread Pudding with Cocao Nib Ice Cream.

And apparently, a slightly disappointing Sticky Toffee Fig Cake with Coffee Ice Cream. It apparently didn’t have the toffee flavour it should have had with not much sauce. It does look rather dry doesn’t it?

Finally here was my dessert, Peanut Butter Semifreddo with a chocolate macaroon. Americans obsess about peanut butter, much to most Europeans distaste. I don’t mind it, so I always like to try it in different things. In this dessert it worked really well. You can see the semifreddo served atop half a macaroon and then complemented by yet another one on the side. It was also served with some lightly caramelised hazelnuts.

And finally, some petite fours with yet another macaroon and tiny orange chocolate tart.

I have to say, this place really earns its food. Despite the outward appearance of simple ingredients, each dish really came alive and other than a few misses on the desserts, everyone raved about each of their meals. They have a slightly more casual, dining tavern but I’d be pretty happy going back regardless.

Name: Gramercy Tavern
Found at:
Website: http://www.gramercytavern.com/

January 6, 2011

Hill Country Chicken

I’d put Hill Country Chicken on the list because Hill Country also do some of the best BBQ in New York, and this Fried Chicken place had been getting some rave reviews.

Stepping in for a late lunch, most tables had people at them but we also didn’t realise there was a downstairs.

It took quite a while to digest what was on offer. Plenty of things screamed for attention although the people behind the counter had hugely warm faces and asked if we needed any help.

Here we are ordering their chicken, we tried one of each type – one piece, “Mama El’s Fried Chicken” was a skinless piece, dipped in buttermilk, herbs and then lightly batter before the deep fry, the other fried with skin on and dusted with a special seasoning.

The first thing you notice when biting into the thicken was the moistness of the bird. At least the chicken was well cooked. The skin on both pieces was a bit disappointing. Here I was expecting large crunch and although the one with the skin on just qualifies as crisp, wasn’t consistent throughout. The skinless batter seemed more like an artificial coat than anything.

The fries were nice though – you see them cut them in the open behind the counter and they are well known for freshly frying them and the buttermilk biscuit just as well done.

Name: Hill Country Chicken
Found at: 1123 Broadway (Corner of 25th) New York, NY 10010
Website: http://www.hillcountrychicken.com/

January 6, 2011

Second Trip to WD-50

After cancelling plans at Daniel NYC due to the snow (they had a very limited menu based on deliveries not making it), we looked around at a few other options. I had previously eaten at WD-50 before, but my sister hadn’t so I called up and found that they had a table free for an early dinner at 6:30pm.

You can see from their fairly plain entrance that it doesn’t look that special from the outside. In fact, that small glowing neon light (their name) makes it fit into the rest of the neighbourhood. I remember walking past it last time in the heavy rain, so watch the street numbers at the same time.

We got a table that looked out on all the other ones. I felt it worked quite well until someone sat at the table directly next to us and fortunately they sat down as we were on our dessert courses. There’s some booths to the left as well that are kept for larger groups.

Mmmm. Here’s the menu. Not sure who’s lips they are. Maybe they should have had them licking their lips for what was about to come.

Here’s the wafer thin bread they brought for us to snack on. Covered in nutty toasted sesame seeds, it was a nice way to start the snack whilst waiting.

Our first dish, striped bass, gingerbread, plum and pickled ramp played around with a sweet and sour combination with earthy tones provided by the gingerbread sauce on the plate.

Next up was their playful take on a classic dish, the everything bagel, smoked salmon threads, crispy cream cheese. WD-50 is well known for taking classic ingredients and transforming them into things you’d recognise but not quite in the same way. Here, the tiny bagel is actually a small bit of ice cream. We wondered how they got it to look “toasted”. I wasn’t a big fan of the smoked salmon threads by itself, going much better combined with the other ingredients.

Next up, Foie gras, passionfruit, chinese celery. Here, they cleverly stuffed the foie gras with a passionfruit sauce, helping to cut through the richness of the dish.

Here’s another shot after opening the foie gras.

Another strange dish was the scrambled egg ravioli, charred avocado, kindai kampachi. On the side were tiny bits of crispy potato, all looking cut to the same perfection and toasted to a crisp shell. The scrambled egg “ravioli” looked like it’d been shaped in a mold. It wasn’t stuffed with anything though.

When asked about the next dish by our waiter, I told him the truth, that I wasn’t a big fan of the cold fried chicken, buttermilk-ricotta, tobasco honey sauce, and caviar. I really liked certain elements to the dish such as the tobasco honey sauce which I could have eaten all day. It had a kick to it like normal tobasco wouldn’t. The chicken, whilst tasting delicious, didn’t have the crispness you’d hope for a fried chicken. I think the small bits of crispy chicken skin were supposed to make up for it. I guess that’s the thing about experimental food – some things work, others don’t.

This dish was a bit harder to see, bay scallops, bone marrow, parsnip and black sesame. I’m a huge fan of black sesame. In fact, you could almost call me addicted. Here the black sesame formed a paste/sauce on the bottom with the scallops and parsnips on top and the gooey bone marrow grated on top before the whole bowl was heated under a grill. The result was a rich and soft dish with deep meaty flavours.

I think we both agreed our next dish turned out as one of the best, the beef and bernaise. Inverting the textures you’d expect, here we have a deep flavoured beef consomme, surrounding three bernaise dumplings. I savoured each moment slicing a small part of the dumpling that almost oozed as a rich bernaise sauce would as you cut through it. Mmmm.

I’m guessing our next dish was a take on the seasonal offerings, squab breast, cheese pumpkin, corn bread and pickled cranberries. We didn’t have the sharpest knife to cut into the squab. It really needed it too being surprisingly chewy and had to slice.

Desserts next! First up, White beer ice cream, quince, caramel and caraway. Here, the flavours of the beer really came through though well tempered with both sharp and sweet flavours from the quince and caramel.

Curds win me over all the time, so this next dessert turned out my favourite. Here we ate grapefruit curd, campari, hibiscus and sorrel The grapefruit curd is the solid, almost jelly like substance in the middle. Sorrel came in the form of a delicious ice cream with the sheets of hibiscus those rice-paper thin sheets. A mixture of hazelnuts and other crunchy stuff provided the addition of texture.

Almost done, I think the cocoa nibs won my sister over with soft chocolate, beets, long pepper and ricotta ice cream.

Finally as we had our coffee and tea, they finished up with cocoa packets and a milk ice cream coated in chocolate shortbread. The latter tasted like a small ball of cookie and cream, which I guess it is whilst the cocoa packets contained a powder-like crunchy substance that reminded me of milo.

Looking back at the meal, I think we did the best thing by going for the tasting menu. We sampled lots of different combinations and although I think some of the ingredients appealed to me more on the a la carte menu, it’s hard to really guess how a place like WD-50 delivers them. Next time, I would go back to the a la carte and then try the dessert tasting menu.

Name: WD-50
Found at:50 Clinton Street, New York, NY 10002
Website: http://www.wd-50.com/

January 21, 2009

The KFC Phenomenon – Bon Chon Chicken

KFC (Korean Fried Chicken), not the southern Kentucky kind, is taking over the streets of New York, or at least according to the NY Times. Perhaps it’s the twice cooked, Chinese style frying technique that renders the skin super thin and crispy that makes it so appealing. Or perhaps it’s the care and the diligence that they have about only preparing the chicken fresh so everyone can enjoy the hot and aromatic smells.

Since I didn’t get to go to any Korean Fried Chicken joints on my previous trips to New York, I made some effort to have at least a lunch at one of them, and ended up in the Flushings location of Bon Chon Chicken, conveniently located very near to where I was staying with some relatives. Apparently the chicken is more popular at evening time, when people clock off from work and want a few beers which might explain how we were the only people eating here at lunch time. A few people did ring ahead for their takeaway orders since they have the refreshingly strict, only cook to order policy.

A waiter greeted us promptly when we entered, asking us if we’d been here before and gave us some time to peruse the menu. We thought we’d start with a small selection of wings, and pig out on the fries and popcorn shrimp as I’d read about how they seasoned the fries instead of simply pouring salt on them.

Strangely, he delivered the fries and popcorn shrimp first, as if it was an appetiser, although considering how large the serve was, it would have been plenty for lunch for the both of us. Sprinkled liberally with garlic and rosemary, the shrimp and fries were amazingly crisp and super tasty. Combined with three types of dipping sauces (sweet chilli, hot chilli and a tomato ketchup), we cycled through the different sensations as we finished off the large bowl.

Korean Fried Chicken Wings And Drumsticks at Bon Chon Chicken

It wasn’t too shortly after than he brought out the chicken wings and drumsticks, I think a combination of four pieces of each type. They offer a choice of sauces, and in order to trial both of them, ended up having half and half, the first, a sweet garlic soy, and the other, a hot chilli sauce.

I have to admit that the Korean fried chicken impressed me. The skin stayed super crisp for the entire time, with the insides succulent and juice. What sauce they had didn’t overpower the flavour of the chicken, instead adding a different dimension. They also make it so that the sauce isn’t like what you’d have on buffalo chicken wings – a messy covering that ends up everywhere including your hands and your face. Instead, it seemed like a thin-glaze that somehow stayed on the chicken itself to continually make the chicken stand out.

I have to admit I had a hard time trying to decide which one was my favourite flavours out of the two. The garlic soy was slightly sweet, and the perfect balance, neither being too sweet, nor excessively garlicky. The hot sauce, on the other hand, lived true to its name, even to the point it started to make me sweat. The sauce also wasn’t just hot, it had some nice flavours and I appreciated the fact that the sauce brought on a continual heat, rather than the mustard or wasabi inspired instantaneous hit you might expect.

After our meal, a very reasonable price as well, I can understand why it’s becoming more and more popular. KFC is not a fast food to be taken lightly. It’s a different spin on something very classic and manages to deliver in surprising ways.

Name: Bon Chon Chicken
Found at: 157-18 Northern Blvd, Flushing, NY 11354
Website: http://www.bonchon.com/
The Good: Crisp, amazingly fresh flavours and a unique twist on the classic fried chicken. This location is also a nice place to hang out, having been renovated recently and looking pretty stylish.
The Not So Good: Don’t be fooled by their website describing their chicken as healthy. It may not have as much coating to soak oil up, but fried chicken is still fried chicken.

January 18, 2009

Tapas at Alta

alta On my yearly catch up with Mike in New York, he arranged for us to visit an updated tapas place in the village called Alta. When you walk in, many people chose to eat the bar even though there are tables at the back. Since Mike booked, we were lucky to have one of the tables upstairs, and with an open view of the floor below us, was a really great place to perch for dinner.

The interesting thing about their menu is that it’s not classic moorish food, instead drawing upon a large variety of flavours. We ended up picking three to four dishes each to share, and got to enjoy a mouthful of each dish. Some of my more favourite dishes included the Crispy Brussels Sprouts, Grilled Chorizo Wrapped Gulf Shrimp, Pulled Pork Empanadas, and the Squid Ink Paella. Best of all they also had some amazing desserts including a trio of donuts each filled with a different flavour (chocolate hazelnut ganache, apricot lavender jam, and cardamom cream).

Between the five of us I think we ended up paying US$50 (including tax and tip) though we only had a bottle of sparkling water and two cocktails.

Name: Alta
Location: 64W 10th Street, NYC, 10011
Website: http://altarestaurant.com
The Good: Interesting variety of tapas. Nice spacing around the tables. They even offer a deal where you can order everything on the menu, though you’d want a larger group!
The Bad: Too many dishes to choose from

January 17, 2009

Manhattan’s Max Brenner

With some additional time to kill and some chocolate cravings, we decided to head to Union Square to try out Max Brenner’s. I’d heard about them in Sydney, and saw the store last time I was in Manhattan but couldn’t quite justify having a meal there. It’s location near Union Square is fairly large and definitely popular and even at 4pm seemed to be heaving with people having late lunches or just there for dessert.

Looking around, one of their most popular dishes seemed to be the fondue that included a flaming pot to allow you to “roast” marshmallows and other items that arrive with the hot chocolate pot. The two of us tried half a chocolate pizza (pictured above), though a quarter of it (for both of us) would have been enough. Imagine a light pizza base, smothered with chocolate sauce and then topped with hot chocolate marshmallows. Indulgent? Absolutely, and it was far too sweet for me.

They have some funky mugs like the hug me, and for iced drinks, the bizarrely shaped Alice mug with the words “drink me” on them. They also do other foods that you can follow up with the chocolate menus but given the desserts, they’re probably rich enough by themselves.

Name: Max Brenner
Location: 141 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003
Website: http://www.maxbrenner.com/
The Good: Lots of interesting flavour combinations involving tons of chocolate. A nicely decorated store, airy with plenty of tables. Our waitress was excellent, even informing us that our pizza was still taking some time. Even have some cafe tables for those just wanting a dreamy hot chocolate.
The Not So Good: The round shapes of the room make for some very awkwardly positioned tables. Many of them crammed in right next to each other where you have to shift the table to the left or right unless you’re stick thin (which you definitely won’t be at the end of the meal)

January 16, 2009

Excess Serendipity

I’ve never had a chance to go to Serendipity 3 though it seems to be one of those places people want to go. They’re in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s most expensive dessert (something we didn’t try).

We arrived fairly late in the day and therefore missed the lunchtime rush crowd that apparently results in a long queue, indicative of that it’s one of the current “trends” in New York. The two of us even got to sit at a four person table, almost simply needed to peruse the larger-than-chest-size menu of offerings. Of course, you could have lunch here with plenty of sandwiches, salads and things to share. Well we were here to have dessert in the form of their famous Frozen Hot Chocolate.

Had I known how big it was, we would have shared a single one instead of both getting one although we would have had to get something to meet the $8 minimum order each. Topped with cream (which we both forgot to ask not to have), it was huge, as you can see for yourself in the picture above. How was it? Pretty good although I had to fight one of those ice cream headaches at more than one point, eager to taste it. You can tell that they use a hot chocolate powder, since it has that slightly gritty texture to it. Plentiful, sweet and definitely tasty, was it worth it the $8.50. Just this once.

Name: Serendipity3
Location: 225 E60th Street, NYC, 10022
Website: http://www.serendipity3.com
The Good: Kitsch decore make it an interesting place to sit. Frozen hot chocolate huge!
Not So Good: Waiters could have told us about the serving size. Can be busy at times

January 14, 2009

King of Katsu (Katsuhama)

Katsuhama is a hidden gem just off the main tourist drag not to mention busy-as business strip, Fifth Avenue. It’s a Japanese restaurant that focuses on the golden panko-crumbed portions of food.

They have a small take away section also with but the best part is inside either near the sushi bar or at the many small tables. The menu is simple with different set menus or classic variations including katsu curry and katsu don(buri).

Our waiter, not Japanese, took our order without even writing down so we were sceptical about whether or not he would get it right. Almost immediately we were served a bowl of miso soup, I think, that was complimentary. Strangely I got a second bowl without even asking, I think because a waiter thought I wanted some more.

Soon after we were done with the soup they soon brought out our meals, mine being the assorted katsu including a huge prawn, pork, chicken and a crab meat croquette. All of the fried items sat atop a small wire rack, alongside a large heap of cabbage that you dress with the sesame dressing that sits at the table. Complete with a small bowl of lovely Japanese white rice and the dark katsu sauce provides for a very filling meal.

Service was prompt with fresh green tea for free arriving immediately when we sat down. They also seemed to have plenty of excess salad with a waiter serving up a whole bunch more as soon as I had the last remnants in my mouth. I couldn’t even say no as he was too quick at plating it.

If you’re craving katsu, this is a great place and although slightly disappointed with the pork that was a little too dry, both the prawn and chicken kutlets were simply stunning!

Name: Katsu-hama
Location: 11 E 47th St, New York, NY 10017
Website: http://www.katsuhama.com/
The Good: Katsu perfection! What it does, it does well.
The Not So Good: Can be particularly crowded or crammed in.

January 13, 2009

Foods of New York: Chelsea Market

On my most recent trip to New York, I did the Foods of New York’s Chelsea Market/Meatpacking District tour. Last time, they impressed me with their Greenwich Village tour and although I thought this year’s one was decent, I think I preferred last year’s tour a little bit more. Perhaps it was the fact that our tour guide, though funny, wasn’t particularly memorable, or that a number of the places where we were supposed to visit were shut.

We started off the tour at Eleni’s, a baking artisan specialising in hand decorated and edible cookies and cupcakes. They shut their store down just for us, so that they could serve us one of their hearty cranberry oatmeal cookies, definitely filling and delicious. They also had a special cookie, decorated in celebration of Obama winning the presedential election (picture courtesy of their website). One strange thing about their shop though is that you aren’t allowed to take photographs yet they still strangely put all their photos on their website.

Our guide was funny, reasonable, and extremely hyper that made him pretty entertaining. He gave us some great tips, like eating the bar menu in the lounge of the extravagant Del Posto, or visiting the rooftop bar in the Hotel Gansevoort, a not very well known location with great views looking out to other parts of the city and a break from the night time intensity that the rest of the meat packing district can have.

We then headed into the Chelsea Wine Vault, whose large store front doesn’t even begin to do justice to their apparently several block large vaults where they store not only their own wine, but plenty of other people’s wines as well including numbers of famous restaurateurs, and chefs. I think you can even store your own wine there, should you happen to have that much. Unfortunately we didn’t get to taste any wine, instead heading to Ronny Brook Milk Bar to wash the cookie we had down with some of their rich, creamy chocolate milk.

Our tour guide continued to point out many interesting facts and features of the building, previously owned by the Nabisco Biscuit Factory, and intentionally shaped afterwards to hold gourmet food places. We continued to walk around before stopping at Buon Italia, apparently one of the largest Italian grocery suppliers in New York. Our guide prepared a small platter of cured meats, a number of cheeses, olives and some breadsticks that we then helped ourselves to in very old fashioned picnic plate style. He cleaned up, leaving us to wander the store after which he then brought us to L’Arte Del Gelato where we had a tiny, tiny cone of gelato (I picked the passionfruit sorbet instead) where they focus on seasonal flavours including a weird (only in the US) pumpkin flavoured gelato.

Not too far from there, we ended up in the closed store of Chelsea Market Baskets (think of gift baskets or food hampers) where we had some British cheese, onion relish on a water cracker. Our guide also served us some finishing salts (those that don’t melt away the instant it touches any moisture) though I passed on tasting the smoked salt, pink salt and celery salt since I’m sure I already have too much sodium in my diet. Funnily enough, a lady besides us couldn’t get enough of it, constantly pouring herself a mound each time instead of the few crystals everyone else had.

From there, we finished up our walking around the market with a cup of herbal tea from the T Salon, and some scones (they call biscuit) and jam from Sara Beth’s. After all this food, we then prepared ourselves to head outside of the warmth, into the lightly falling snow to see a guided tour around the rest of the meat packing district. We visited a number of places and significant buildings (like the basement bar of Morimoto’s pictured above), often just standing outside while the guide chatted about some strange aspect about the place. To make up for a number of the closed stores, he also took us into a friend’s B&B, a spectacularly well kept but old building showing us an interior of a place most visitors wouldn’t end up seeing the insides of.

The Chelsea Market/Meatpacking tour that Foods of New York offer is still much better than many other tours out there. I don’t think it quite beat out last year’s tour though for it is a fairly good investment considering it takes about four hours all up.

January 11, 2009

Sushi Samba in the Village

My cousin told us about Sushi Samba last time, a restaurant serving food inspired by Brazilian-Japanese fusions. Apparently we have something like this in London, though I’d never heard of it before and apparently the combination of flavours isn’t particularly common since many Japanese people moved to Brazil. We went along to the one located in Greenwich Village, a brightly lit room with a sushi bar located in the centre, radiating out to the tables lined up against the wall.

We sat at a table almost right next to the bar, a good vantage point for looking out at the rest of the restaurant. It wasn’t particularly busy for a weekday, and apparently they have a rooftop open in the summer, something that’s both ideal and no doubt completely packed out on warm summer weekends.

I started with two appetisers, unable to resist the temptation of the tempura rock shrimp. My last memory of rock shrimp was at Nobu, and at Morimoto, both served tempura-style, then covered in a sweet, slightly tangy and slightly spicy chilli sauce and since rock shrimp seem to only be farmed off the coast of Maine, so I thought that while I was in the states, I should enjoy it while I can. When it arrived, presentation was superb, and although the tempura batter more of a light flouring than it was a light batter, it still let the rock shrimp texture and flavour come through.

I also tried the lobster ceviche at the waitress’ recommendation and because I know that the market price for lobster is particularly reasonable at the moment with decreased demand and the normal farming levels. When it arrived, it almost looked like a whole lobster, with plenty of meat and fairly well dissected already that meant extracting all the flesh with chopsticks wasn’t too difficult. The sauce covering was light and spicy, giving enough heat and tanginess to highlight the sweet sublime flesh. Both dishes were pretty decent serves, particularly considering these were only appetisers, and I almost regretted ordering the two sushi rolls for the entree.

Fortunately I didn’t regret ordering the sushi rolls, the first a Samba 7 roll (crispy lobster, scallion, cucumber, celery, jalapeño with wasabi-chimichurri dipping sauce) and then the daily special roll (kobe beef plus several other ingredients). Both rolls provided some interesting contrast with a bite of the Samba 7 bringing texture, crunch and undertones of heat through the wasabi-chimichurri dipping sauce, with the daily special roll bringing some smokiness and delicately strong flavours from the kobe beef.

Out of the many more fancy restaurants I’d visited on this trip to New York, I think that Sushi Samba definitely served the best food, delighting in flavour, presentation and general value. It’s got great atmosphere and the service was fairly good throughout the night. The restrooms are a little bit confusing, almost maze-like downstairs, and yes, unfortunately, they also had a person helping you out with soap and towels.

Name: Sushi Samba
Located at: Various location. We went to 87 7th Ave S, New York, NY 10014
Website: http://www.sushisamba.com/
The Good: Interesting flavour combinations, quality presentation and great tasting food.
The Not So Good: A small reception might leave some of your party waiting in the cold. Confusing restrooms.