Archive for the ‘Restaurant Reviews’ Category
Kris is bananas for brunch
t says: g and I met up with some friends at Kris for brunch the other weekend. Our brunchmates were Kris-obsessed, so when they heard that g and I had never gone, their hearts broke (I exaggerate for effect …). It has been a while since we’ve gone, so my memory has faded about what everyone else had. <Checks his iPhone> Actually. That’s a lie. I can’t remember what anyone else had because I was too busy focused on this:
bananas
I apologize for the quality of that photo, but I was trying to be nonchalant with my photo-taking (I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of our friends … and I didn’t want to embarrass our friends in front of the restaurant staff, either). And boy am I glad I did … because I totally housed this dish in a matter of 5 minutes. These pecan-crusted brioche french toast slices are topped with caramelized banana. It reminded me of a more elegant form of this monster (that I still love/miss/cherish to this very day). Say what you will about how “boring” some nuts, French toast, and bananas are, but this was damn delicious. All the textures were dead-on. Give me a scoop of bacon ice cream up in there and I could have gone into a food coma a happy man … as it was, I ended the meal pleasantly full, not grossly full … until, of course, we split an order of the nutella crepes which were amazing (although I have to confess that the dish is really kinda-sortuva pretty obvious excuse to just eat nutella for breakfast).
g had some kind of egg dish. If she was still awake at the time I was writing this, I would ask her about its details. I do remember her being happy, though – happy enough to want to try it again – both for brunch AND dinner!
It’s still early in the game to make a call on Kris, but I have to say that so far, it seems like they’re going to make a strong case for us to journey south-of-South more often!
have a capogiro affogato … even if it’s not on the menu
t says: A colleague and I hit up Capogiro for a post-lunch pick-me-up. Anticipating a somewhat-boring afternoon, we wanted some caffeine, but also wanted an excuse to have gelato as well. Problem solved:
affogato!
This concoction of coffee/espresso and gelato wasn’t on the menu, but the gelato-dude (?gelateer? gelatorista?) was happy to concoct one for the each of us. I went with marshmallow gelato, and the end result, while not quite in the proportions I was expecting (it was quite a good bit of gelato for a small amount of liquid … but I guess I could then reason that I was getting my mone’s worth!), was delicious. It reminded me of a hot chocolate with marshmallow … except with coffee … leading me wonder: why don’t people routinely add marshmallow to their coffee as they do hot chocolate? I think I might have to start! Also, while I had never had their marshmallow before, it might just be my new second-favorite flavor! (You can’t beat the dark chocolate.) So check out an affogato the next time you’re there – you can get your sugar-high and caffeine-rush on all at once!
sadface dinners …
t says: g and I have hit up two dinner recently that left us a little … wanting … I’m going to consolidate their stories here so we can minimize the number of negative posts …
Brick American Eatery. It’s no wonder there seems to be a “deal” like a Groupon going on here every time we turn around … the food is a miss! I don’t want to harp on every dish we got (actually, dz’s dinner, the Asian noodles and the Fish-n-Chips, looked pretty darned tasty! … nevermind they were the least “American” items on the menu), so I’ll pick the worst of the ones we had (i.e. out of 4 appetizers and 3 mains). It was mine. Check it:
the food was so bad that the picture didn’t even warrant a proper Snapdish quick-fix.
The sprouts: pale, no char, no texture. The steak: pale, minimal Maillard, no flavor. The jus: insipid, no salt, no pepper. People! It’s a steak! It’s a steak and Brussels sprouts! It was popular in 2009! If the $25 all-you-can-eat steak is better than yours, you should just take steak off the menu so you can stop breaking the hearts of customers. No matter how good dz’s entrees looked, nothing can save a restaurant from a bad steak … the mediocre salmon and stale duck nachos didn’t help either. Consequently, I have no choice but to withhold adsz’s stamp of approval (actually … it makes me wish we had a stamp of dismissal … can I do that?). Fortunately, the company was good, and the glass of wine was deep …
Jamonera. So, going in, I imagined that Jamonera would have been like Amada with the feel of Barbuzzo … Man-o-man was I disappointed. And it wasn’t just me! It was g and kp, too! (And kp is perhaps the second-nicest-guy-in-the-world!) The dish the best encapsulates our frustration:
Papa Frita Snoozefest!
So … the papa frita … It’s normally a deliciously fried seasoned potato. And the one thing jamonera did superbly was frying it – I have never had so wonderfully-a-crisped potato. But they were missing one very important aspect of the dish … flavor. What was that weak aioli they had going on? Where’s the seasoning? Where’s the oomph? I wanted it to hit my mouth and make me go “wow”, and then follow it up with a warm, soothing hug of fried-potato-comfort … and this did neither (I don’t find that quantity of aioli comforting … clog-inducing, yes, comforting, no). The other items we sampled that night were similarly lacking in flavor. Their albondigas made me wish I was at Barbuzzo. Their charcuterie made me wish I was at Amada or GTC. The were definitely not winning any adsz awards that night! Oh well – I guess even the mighty Val and Marcie can disappoint once in a while! I suspect that Jamongera may go the way of the Bindi. It’s ok – there’s always Lolita and Barbuzzo …
Bibou … we love you
t says: a, v, g, and I went to Bibou recently. We did invite several others to join, but no one could quite make it. This was very problematic for a and me. You see, when there’s only four people, we’re only going to go through 3-4 bottles of wine. When there’s eight people, we can open 8 – which means we can taste more interesting wine! And isn’t that the point – to taste!? Well, undeterred by the limited number of people, we still showed up with 6 bottles … you know … just so we could make some game-time decisions (and in case the servers wanted to get in on the action).
Now once again, Bibou already gets SO much love on this blog that it’s absolutely pointless to re-hash awesome dishes like the escargots and pig’s feet. I think v put it best earlier in the day when she said, “if I get there tonight, and there’s no pig’s foot, I am going to cry in the restaurant.” And I believe her. Fortunately, no one cried that night …
g says: We only get to Bibou once or twice a year, so when we are lucky enough to score a reservation, we take our meal very seriously (hence v’s fear of the kitchen running out of pig’s feet). Generally, we each stick to familiar classics — escargot and pig’s feet for t, crudo and beouf for moi — because it is so hard to justify ordering something new when we are guaranteed a sensational dining experience with our old standbys. These are the dishes that we dream about as we anxiously await the day of our reservation, after all.
We threw caution to the wind this time around, and some new items hit the table with thrilling results. My picks for the winners of this meal both fall into this new category of “interesting” rather than classic dishes that remain on Bibou’s menu at all times. v’s squash consomme (that’s right, a clear broth soup made from squash of all things) was, in my opinion, the best first course. none of us had ever even heard of such a thing <t interrupts: for the record – i’ve heard of consommes, but just never had one>, but the deep flavors just blew us away. I also believe that my main course was the winner of that round, an arctic char with bulgar wheat in a buerre rouge sauce. That’s right, fish in a red wine sauce. Intriguing, right? It was AMAZING. Pierre told us that it was a special item on the menu for that week only; I would say that “special” is right on the money for describing that dish.
Apparently, branching out beyond our “usuals” at Bibou really pays off. I chuckle to myself when I think of how apprehensive I felt when looking at the menu that night (i.e. the minor flash of panic that came over me when I toyed with the idea of ordering something other than the boeuf that I love so much). Did I really think that I would receive a sub-par meal from arguably the best restaurant in the city? Probably not. But now I have confirmed that trying something new could provide an exciting experience without feeling sorry that I didn’t order my old favorite. And now I have a new flavor of the month for adsz!
it’s not a “proper” adsz-style dinner unless the glass:diner ratio is at least 4:1 (not including water glasses).
This mysterious, very dark brown puddle was a squash consomme. It’s a clear broth. Like, if you were in the hospital and required to be “on a clear diet”, this would still qualify. However – it was so jam-packed full of flavor (it tasted like fall) that it knocked our socks off.
Arctic char in beurre rouge sauce (butter, red wine, shallots) over bulgar wheat (tasted like Thanksgiving stuffing!) with a fricasse of persimmon and anaheim pepper. g declared it the winner of our main courses. v agreed with that assessment in terms of creativity, but for taste, she had to vote still for her favorite pig’s feet and lentils.
another table abandoned their remaining Sauterne … so our server allowed us to share it (there was more than a glass per person leftover!) … result: he gets a little bigger tip, and we get a little happier …
t says: Bibou still brings down the house in terms of food. The four of us just can’t get enough. And talking to Pierre is always such a delight. Now I know there are some Bibou-haters out there … and that’s fine … we just can’t be friends … ha.
We did have some delightful wines that night, including a bottle we got from Napa: 2009 Blackbird Arise. This is a serious California Merlot-based wine. If you’ve never had some Blackbird before, it’s excusable to lie/cheat/steal so you can try it – it’ll change your opinion on Cali-Merlot. (I’m not saying it’s a Right Bank Bordeaux doppleganger, but it’s something better than the “F-in’ Merlot” mentioned in Sideways).
Thanks Pierre. And, we missed you, Charlotte.
Sotto Update …
t says: g and I revisited Sotto and have updated the original post. Point: we were impressed!
i have steak belly …
t says: I visited GTC with cm and his cousin. We had one goal: all-you-can-eat-steak-for-$25. I’ll skip the formalities and get straight to the meat of the review …
steak and fries
The steak was actually very good. This is not like one of those all-you-can-eat smorgasboards where you cram as much top round in your mouth as you can. This is actually well-prepared meat! Beware – they only serve it rare and medium, though – so if you want it well-done, then don’t bother. I went for medium, and it was wonderfully tender, with a good browning on the outside of each medallion maximal flavor. It was a real treat to be afforded the opportunity to eat as much good-tasting meat as I wanted. So … for this meal, I wanted to “play it smart” and maximize my quantity of cow consumption. I ended up going through three servings of cow (pictured above is one serving). To accomplish this feat (I’m a somewhat-smaller-than-average guy, so I feel like this deserves a gold star), I resolved to the following strategies:
1) Minimize table bread consumption. This was difficult because I really do like GTC’s olive oils – but sacrifices must be made!
2) Minimize salad consumption. I know that in the grand scheme, a plate of salad is but a drop in the bucket/stomach … but let’s face it – space is space! I ate some of it as an apology to my bowels for the impending onslaught of meat that was coming … sorry guys! (By the way, the salad, while very straightforward – greens in a light dressing – was very fresh and tasty – I would have eaten the entire place had all-you-can-eat-meat not been offered).
3) Avoid the cream. When I ordered, I opted for the wine-based Bordelaise sauce – I figured the other two were more cream-based and would fill me up. It was hands-down more delicious than the peppercorn sauce, and none of us went for the bearnaise – next time, maybe?
4) Ration the frites. The format of the dinner is this: you get one plate of steak and fries, and as you run out of things, you ask your server for more, and then a food runner appears with a serving plate of your desired item (i.e. steak or fries) and adds it to your plate. So, let’s say you consume all the steak, but only half the fries – they’ll come by and offer you more steak! This is a brilliant way to do things, limiting wasted fries and excessive dishes. It also allows you to just keep on going with the steak at whatever speed you desire, regardless your frites status.. Hooray!
5) Post-meal walk and caffeine. With all of the fat/meat consumed, I avoided the “too-disgusted-to-move” feeling with a nice long walk home, fueled by the caffeine in one of GTC’s coffee drinks. Not a bad way to end the night … now if only I could fall asleep instead of blogging this entry right now …
P.S. The first bottle of wine at GTC is corkage-free. Bottles after that are charged corkage – something in the $10-$20 range.
Sotto: no frills, just food
t says: There’s a tiny restaurant that opened up on 24th Street right next to the Walnut St bridge. We’ve been watching the renovations for some time, now, hoping that something delicious was going to move in. What was bizarre, though, is that the blogosphere didn’t report any new restaurant going up in that location, leading us to believe that it was going to be a front of some sort.
When we saw it was open, we decided it was time to visit. Fortunately, we then saw this post, suggesting that the place was going to be a real restaurant, and not a vital piece of an organized crime syndicate. That’s good.
October 2012, Thursday Dinner, Party of 2. It was astonishingly empty when we got there, but picked up by the time we left. We sat by ourselves, and the servers were very attentive (we were the only ones there in the beginning, so the moment we stirred, they were all over us). But they were polite and we liked the enthusiasm.
g and I got down to business:
saute of broccoli rabe
The rabe was wonderfully-textured, with just the right amount of bitter and spice. This is how g makes broccoli rabe – it’s simple and delicious. We would come to find that this was going to be a recurring theme:
dittelini and chicken
pasta and seafood
We went for pastas (we’re predictable like that). Both dishes featured perfectly-textured pasta with just the right amount of bite. The sauces were insanely simple. The added meats/seafood/veggies were tastefully done. But in actuality, nothing was at all that “deeply flavored” … for example, these pastas are not Melograno-tasty, and they’re not going to knock-your-socks-off. Rather, these were bowls of pasta that some Italian grandmother would make and the younger generations strive to emulate. They did fill us up (the servings are large – don’t let the ridiculously-super-XXXL bowls above throw you) and completely disarmed us – this was comfort pasta, seemingly designed to lull you into a state of relaxation that brings to close an otherwise crazy day. With no thought required to eat this food (“simple” is good, right?) our conversations ran wild, from stories of growing up in South Jersey, to lost stethoscopes, to who-we-hoped-would-date-whom. And before we knew it, we were lingering over the last few drops of wine in our glass, realizing it was time to go to our actual home. Well – we did have some dessert in there, too:
tiramisu like an Italian grandmother/aunt would make it
Nice job Sotto. You’re not fancy or frilly. You’re not pushing boundaries. But you are making solid pasta at reasonable prices within walking distance from our home. We’ll be back on those weekdays when we roll in the door, are too tired to cook, and are too impatient to wait for delivery … which is more often that one would think …
EDIT: Boom. Within 2 weeks of our last visit, g and I were back at Sotto for some cheap, yummy pasta. This time we did the bolognese and the matriciana. Wow. They were superb. I mean I’m almost about to take back that “not pushing boundaries” thing, because I’m going to go out on a limb and just say it: Sotto’s “matriciana” is as good as Melograno’s “amatriciana”. Wonderful! The bolognese didn’t quite have the finesse of Melogran’s wild boar bologenese (Sotto uses ground meat and a more “tomato-y” sauce), but g was still very satisfied. We’ll be back for sure …
after dinner sneeze 