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Archive for eating_new_york

Eating NY – Ikaedama

Sep02

Restaurant: Ikaedama

Location: Newark Airport

Date: July 7, 2017

Cuisine: Ramen

Rating: interesting format, ick ramen

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On our way home from New York we stopped in the Newark terminal to grab some food before being locked into the United snack box scene.

The terminal food area was so glitzy and new looking with “bar” everywhere that I had to give it a try. They even had ramen!

And they seem to have spent a massive amount of money on an ipad based system at EVERY SEAT everywhere in the terminal. It’s very integrated with flight status, ticket scanning, games, point systems, ordering AND paying on the pad. Very very slick and the wave of the future.

My cappuccino came smoothly.

Check out the on-screen ordering. But the ramen took forever (20+ minutes) — even though I was the only one there.

Pork Tonkotsu Ramen. It doesn’t look too bad, although too translucent for tonkotsu. But it didn’t taste like much, just salt water — not like tonkotsu at all. And the meat was essentially pulled pork. Never had that in ramen but I’m sure it has some precedent. Noodles were thin but fine. Menma had icky canned flavor. I ended up eating most of the contents and leaving all of the broth (which was so not worth it). Totally mediocre in every way.

Had to redeem the place by walking across the food court and getting a hazelnut chocolate donut (which was excellent).

I guess the glitzy buildout and fancy ipad scheme can’t stop an airport restaurant from sucking. Why is it that paying a high rent to be in a captive space (be it airports, sports arenas etc) is a recipe for instant mediocrity?

For more New York dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Tatsu – Ramen with a Soul
  2. Eating NY – Joy Luck Palace
  3. Jinya Ramen Bar
  4. Noodle Check – Yamadaya Ramen
  5. Far Eastern Ramen
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: eating_new_york, Ikaedama, New York, Newark Airport, ramen

Eating NY – PizzArte

Sep01

Restaurant: PizzArte

Location: 69 W 55th St, New York, NY 10019. (212) 247-3936

Date: July 6, 2017 & November 30, 2019

Cuisine: Neo-Neapolitan pizza

Rating: Tasty!

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Alex and I had an opportunity to go out to dinner by ourselves in New York — then 2.5 years later he and my wife and I returned…

…so of course we chose pizza.

The menu.

Olives to start.

Bread.

A glass of Aglianico.

Prosciutto e Burrata. 24 Month Aged Prosciutto Di Parma, Burrata Cheese, Castelvetrano Olives, Grilled Country Bread Bruschetta.
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Spinaci. Spinach, beets, goat cheese, mango, pistachio nuts.
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Polpettine Passi e Pinoli. Home-style Neapolitan meatballs, Italian pine nuts, raisins, broccoli rabe.
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Simple pasta for the boy in 2019.

Margherita pizza. San Marzano Tomatoes, Mozzarella, Basil (Alex declined the basil as usual).

Ragu Napoletano. Smoked Buffalo Mozzarella, Traditional Neapolitan Veal And Pork Ragú. Not a traditional topping, but it did make for a delicious pizza.
IMG_0525
Cavofiore e Tartufo. Roasted cauliflower, mozzarella, sausage, black truffle sauce. Interesting, but a bit weird.

The dessert menu.

Chocolate and Vanilla gelato.

Amalfi Coast-Delizia al Limone. Lemon and cream sponge cake.

I LOVE this traditional (circa 1900) Sorento dessert. Traditionally, it’s a dome-shaped lemon sponge cake with limoncello cream and has an amazing Sorento Lemon flavor. You can see one at the source here.

Clearly Alex hated the gelato.
IMG_0530
He looks older but not too different 2.5 years later!
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In 2019, as we were rushing off to see Hamilton I felt the extreme need for speed (aka caffeine) in the form of this macchiato.

PizzArte didn’t disappoint. For whatever reason it was much more satisfying than Marta a couple days before and Alex and I enjoyed our meal immensely. Our server was friendly and delightful and the food was straight up and delicious.

For more New York dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating NY – Marta
  2. San Fran – Starbelly
  3. Eating NY – Baker & Co
  4. Eating San Donato – Pizzeria Pretorio
  5. Eating NY – Grom
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: eating_new_york, New York, Pizza, PizzArte

Eating NY – Waffle & Dinges

Aug31

Restaurant: Waffle & Dinges

Location: 1080-, 1090 6th Ave, New York, NY 10036

Date: July 6, 2017

Cuisine: Belgian Waffle

Rating: how could a waffle & ice cream be bad?

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The culmination of a frantic internet search for a quick breakfast led me to:

Not even realizing (beforehand) that it was just a kiosk. Well I had been drawn in by the web photos of waffles covered in sugary looking dairy products anyway.

Basically you just pick what goes on your waffle. It’s a pretty simple process. There was a lot of sugar options.

Waffle with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, nutella, bacon, and spekuloos spread (sort of a gingerbread caramel). It was sweet and pretty good. The annoying cardboard box/plate and the incredibly soft and flimsy plastic knife and fork did it no justice though. I broke 2 of them trying to saw through the waffle. Plus this was $11!

I think it would have been excellent in a better setting with a proper plate and utensils. I’m never a fan of eating standing up with plastic.

For more New York dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating NY – Baker & Co
  2. Eating NY – Grom
  3. Eating NY – Eat
  4. Eating NY – Cosme
  5. Quick Eats – Bru’s Wiffle
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: eating_new_york, New York, Waffle, Waffle & Dinges

Eating NY – Grom

Aug30

Restaurant: Grom

Location: 233 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10014. (212) 206-1738

Date: July 5, 2017

Cuisine: Gelato

Rating: Good gelato

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After brunch at Baker & Co we just walked by Grom and of course I had to try it.

I like the open to the sidewalk format, fairly close to one in Italy.

They don’t have that many flavors and use the closed tin system popular at the very high end places in Italy. It keeps the gelato better but I have a sweet spot for the big pans of decorated gelato.

Here are the current flavors. Mostly classics.

And the high New York prices.

Chocolate and Stracciatella.

Pistachio and Cassata. The pistachio was good, not quite as good as mine, but good. Texture on both were great. The cassata was pleasant, but didn’t have the more intense almond flavor I like.

Tasting just a few flavors this tasted like real Italian gelato. The sugar balance and temperature were Italian style and made for that nice mouth feel. It was clearly not “mix gelato”. So as American gelato goes, very good. Fairly conservative (i.e. Italian) in flavor selection.

For more New York dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating NY – Laboratorio del Gelato
  2. Eating NY – Marea
  3. Eating Florence – Gelateria Santa Trinita
  4. Eating NY – Eat
  5. Eating San Donato – Pizzeria Pretorio
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: eating_new_york, Gelato, Grom, New York

Eating NY – Baker & Co

Aug28

Restaurant: Baker & Co

Location: 259 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10014. (212) 255-1234

Date: July 5, 2017

Cuisine: Vaguely Italian

Rating: good eggs

_

Off to Greenich Village for brunch — in the middle of the week.

Some google searching brought us here to this menu.

Eggs, scrambled with thick cut bacon and fries. The bacon was so thick it was like a smoked pork chop.

Benedict. With burrata, truffle, poached egg, hollandaise, and prosciutto. GREAT Benedict. I’m going to have to remember this and use the burrata/truffle thing again.

Overall, we were the only people in here and the food seemed solid, but too small a sample to really give any verdict.

For more New York dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Brunch at Tavern – again
  2. Eating NY – Sarabeth’s
  3. Eating NY – Eat
  4. Quick Eats: Brunch at Tavern
  5. Eating NY – 2nd Ave Deli
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Baker & Co, Baker's Lunch, Brunch, eating_new_york, Eggs, New York

Eating NY – 2nd Ave Deli

Aug25

Restaurant: 2nd Ave Deli

Location: 162 E 33rd St, New York, NY 10016.  (212) 689-9000

Date: July 4, 2017

Cuisine: (Kosher) New York Deli

Rating: 3 meat sandwich!

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Most people gravitate toward the “tourist” delis like Katz, but if you want real New York Jewish food you have to go full kosher!

They used to be a couple blocks over last time I was here — actually on 2nd ave — now they are just down the street on 33rd.

The menu.

Dr. Brown’s Black Cherry — got to have it!

Slaw.

Pickles — two types.

Sweet peppers.

Chicken liver. The liver was good, but not sure what you do with the motley collection of veggies underneath.

Triple Bypass Sandwich. A 3 decker sandwich consisting of 3 large potato pancakes and everything but the kitchen sink: salami, pastrami, and corn beef. The pastrami is the best of course.

Fries.

Apple strudel. No butter obviously.

And a complementary shot of chocolate seltzer. I always find the acidity of this drink surprising.

Overall, some solid meat. I added the Russian dressing of course, but probably would have been even better with some cheese — haha. I normally bash Kosher restaurants as (at least in LA) they don’t seem to care a whit about quality. 2nd Ave is solid though for NY Deli — it is what it is.

For more New York dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating NY – Eat
  2. Eating NY – Laboratorio del Gelato
  3. Eating NY – Cosme
  4. Eating NY – Sarabeth’s
  5. Eating NY – Marea
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: 2nd Ave Deli, Deli, eating_new_york, Kosher, New York

Eating NY – Marta

Aug23

Restaurant: Marta

Location: The Redbury Hotel, 29 E 29th St, New York, NY 10016. (212) 651-3800

Date: July 3, 2017

Cuisine: Wood-fire pizza

Rating: Good, but not as good as I hoped

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New York is famous for its pizza, and so I figured to kill two birds with one stone by also trying a Danny Meyer place (recently, not counting a 13 year ago trip to Gramercy Tavern).

So Marta. Joe Tarasco is the executive chef and it describes itself as a “rustic Roman pizzerie.” Minus the 1100 year old stone walls and plus modern design and neo-Neapolitan pizza.

See what I mean about the modern decor.

But it is an attractive space.

The menu. Most of this you would never actually find in Rome.

2016 Comm. G.B. Burlotto Rosato Vino da Tavola. 88 points. Nice medium heavy rose. Somm recommended, made from Nebbiolo.

Suppli al Telefono. Tomato Risotto Croquettes, mozzarella. Sort of like Roman arancini except filled with extra cheese (a decidedly American modification).

Marta Mista. Baby head lettuce, artichokes, marinated sweet peppers, grana padano, red wine vinaigrette.

Insalata di Tonno. Tuna Conserva, buffalo Mozzarella, Baby gem lettuce, capers.

Bietole al Ferri. Ember-roasted beets, salmoriglio, ricotta salata. Beets actually seem to be more common in American salads. I haven’t seen a lot of them in Italy.

Polpettine di Pollo. Chicken Meatballs, black olives, Ricotta, sourdough.

Prosciutto. Prosciutto di Parma, Giardiniera, Grilled Sourdough.

Margherita pizza. Mozzarella, basil.

Kid’s pizza.

Patate alla Carbonara. Potatoes, guanciale, black pepper, pecorino, egg. I had high hopes for this, and the dough was excellent, but the overall taste was dominated by potato. If it had them at all it should have had about 1/4 and more pork, and maybe creme fraiche and egg or something to get more of a proper carbonara balance.

Coppa Cotta — minus the cheese. This is a dairy free version. Shoulder ham, pineapple, mozzarella (missing), and Calabrian Chili.

Pollo Ubriaco. Beer-brined half chicken, charred Caraflex cabbage, Fresno Chili, mint. Not super Italian too.

Spigola. Wild striped bass, roasted squash, cucumber, gazpacho.
 The dessert menu — but we had a Broadway show to catch and didn’t stay.

Overall, Marta was pretty good, and a bit similar in some ways to Santa Monica’s Milo & Olive. It’s slightly Roman. The Arancini and Carbonara are least hint at the Eternal City. I was a little disappointed somehow, maybe it was my too-much-potato Carbonara pizza. It was solid, but I had hoped to have some amazing pizza.

Service was very nice though and the space lovely.

For more New York dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating NY – Eat
  2. Eating NY – Marea
  3. Eating Rome – Roscioli
  4. Eating NY – Sarabeth’s
  5. Eating San Francisco – Absinthe
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Danny Meyer, eating_new_york, Joe Tarasco, Marta, New York

Eating NY – Laboratorio del Gelato

Aug21

Restaurant: il laboratorio del gelato

Location: 188 Ludlow St, New York, NY 10002. (212) 343-9922

Date: July 3, 2017

Cuisine: Gelato

Rating: Good, but not amazing, and tiny expensive portions

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Since this top rated Gelato place was just a few blocks from the Tenement Museum (go if you haven’t been), I just had to try it.

Lower Manhattan for sure, just across from Katz’s Deli.

Check out the prices.

We were here at 11am and the tubs were like this, so they don’t make it every day. Little tubs too without the “styling” often found in Italy. That might not be that cool to New Yorkers though.

Passion fruit and chocolate. Notice the ridiculously tiny scoops. This was $4.50!

Orange chocolate (or something like that, I can’t remember) and hazelnut.

I’m not too bothered by the price, hey although the portions are deceptively tiny. This was good gelato, but it was a little cold/hard and the flavors slightly muted to my taste. For example, the hazelnut had very nice Italian hazelnut flavor, but it wasn’t as intense as I make it — or like it. Plus they had a 2 taste limit with “limited” my sampling so I really didn’t get the best sense of it.

I wasn’t massively impressed. You can find better gelato in Italy if you try 2-3 shops at random. I liked Grom better (review coming in a few days).

For more New York dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Florence – Gelateria Santa Trinita
  2. Eating Milano Marittima – Lo Sporting
  3. Eating San Donato – Pizzeria Pretorio
  4. Eating NY – Marea
  5. Eating NY – Eat
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: eating_new_york, Gelato, il laboratorio del gelato, New York

Eating NY – Joy Luck Palace

Aug18

Restaurant: Joy Luck Palace

Location: 98 Mott St, New York, NY 10013. (212) 219-2828

Date: July 3, 2017

Cuisine: Cantonese Dim Sum

Rating: Not nearly as good as the best in the SGV

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Of course I had to try some Chinese in New York, and since I didn’t have time to go out to Flushing I figured I’d play it safe by looking up a top dimsum place. Eater raved about this one in Chinatown.

It’s in the center of the crowded old school Chinatown streets.

Inside it’s pretty typical of these big one room Cantonese joints. Crazy cove lights. On the “low decor side.” Not nearly as glitzy as something like Grand Harbor. There were no white people — I took this as an encouraging sign.

They still use the cart system. That went out 5+ years ago in the better LA (i.e. SGV) places. I hate the cart system. It’s fast, but the food has been sitting, and it’s hard to get them to come by at the pace you want.

Har gow. These crystal shrimp dumplings were fine. Nothing special. As usual it took some work to get water and sauces.

Sui Mai. Pretty typical as well.

Peanut and more dumpling. Stickier skin, pretty good.

Bean curd with pork and shrimp. Just fine.

Fish balls. Slightly different, but also nothing special.

Pigs inside pigs. Chinese sausage wrapped in bao dough. Cute at least.

Shrimp rice crepe. Not the greatest version of this dish.

Vegetarian fried rice crepe. Slightly different and actually pretty good.

Sticky rice steamed in lotus leaf. Fine but not amazing.

Pig shaped custard buns. Cute again.

Besides the cute pig shaped dimsum this place was fine but utterly mediocre. It was about on par with the Palace in Brentwood, which I consider just passable. The cart system made it hard to get anything interesting and we even ended up repeating. The service was worse than Chinese typical. The atmosphere pretty much unappetizing. If this is Manhattan’s best (and I have no other datapoints to judge by) than it has a LONG LONG way to go to even get in the same league as the 5+ best SGV dimsum houses.

For more New York dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Empress Pavilion – Age without Grace
  2. Eating Milano Marittima – Palace Hotel Breakfast
  3. Don’t Bow for Bao
  4. Ocean Star isn’t such a star
  5. Christmas is for Dim Sum
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Dim sum, dimsum, eating_new_york, Joy Luck Palace, New York

Eating NY – Marea

Aug16

Restaurant: Marea

Location: 240 Central Park S, New York, NY 10019. (212) 582-5100

Date: July 2, 2017

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Great “fancy” Italian

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My family loves Italian food and New York is famous for its Italian, so I figured we try a bunch at a bunch of different levels.

Marea is the modern style of fancy Italian, which some Italian-American lovers dismiss, but is actually fairly representative of high end (Michelin) restaurants in Italy. I know, I’ve eaten at plenty of them. And in fact, Marea has 2 stars itself.

The menu. We all went for the 4 course “deal.”

An amuse of sardine/anchovy and cheese on polenta.

They had a lot of very nice breads like this olive focaccia.

And since two groups ordered the whole fresh Branzino, the fish came out first to show off — just as they do in the Mediterranean.

2013 Azienda Agricola Bucci Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Riserva Villa Bucci. 91 points. I visited this winery 2 years ago. The nose was alive with saline-minerality and zesty citrus tones. On the palate, I found soft, lifted textures with tart citrus, spice and mineral tones. It finished fresh and lively.

Insalta. Sesonal greens, sherry dressing, almond, nectarine, parmigiano.

They have a lot of crudo al taglio on the menu, like this: Tonno. yellowfin tuna, oyster crema, crispy artichoke.

Scampi. Pacific Langoustine, murray river pink salt.

And my Assaggio di tre. From left to right: Scampi Pacific Langoustine, murray river pink salt. Passera. Long island fluke, stone fruit, almond, chive blossom. Dentice. Pacific snapper, lime coriander, crispy skin.

These were nice. I’ve decided that these “western sauces” are MUCH better on crudo (aka sashimi) than on sushi (like Sushi Gari). It doesn’t play well with the rice.

Polipo. grilled octopus, smoked potatoes, radish pickled red onions, chilies, tomato.

1999 Mastroberardino Taurasi Radici Riserva. VM 90-93. Good ruby-red. Red plum, sweet spices, roast coffee, flowers and a loamy nuance on the open-knit nose. Then juicy and stylish in the mouth, combining peppery and soft red fruit qualities with a subtle touch of oaky sweetness. Not a hugely concentrated wine and surprisingly forward, finishing with suave, spreading tannins and an almost sweet quality. There’s nothing wrong with this balanced wine, although I would have expected a little more complexity and depth; I wonder if the production of the 130-year anniversary bottling in the same vintage caused this Riserva to be less concentrated and deep than it might otherwise have been. Readers should take note that 1999 in Taurasi was characterized by a cool growing season, and thus was nothing like the outstanding ’99 vintage in Montalcino or Barolo. Still, I always felt that 1999 in Campania was unjustly overlooked by wine critics at the time, and I think that the wines are starting to show well now.

Twisted trofi pasta with pomodoro sauce. Great texture.

My son’s lizard toys get their own plate of parmesan.

Gnocchetti. Gulf shrimp, chillies, rosemary. First there was Gnocci, then there was gnocchetti.

Spaghetti neri. Seppia, ink, mussels, fresh chili, saffron.

Pansotti. Lamb, bagna cauda, english peas. How can you go wrong with fresh made pasta stuffed with meat and covered in butter?

Rosotto funghi. Wild mushrooms, parmigiano. Perfect creamy texture.

Branzino. Here comes the fish, perfectly filleted.

With sauces.

Brodetto di pesce. Adriatic seafood soup, clams, langoustine, scallop, prawns, bass.

With the broth. The flavor was great and the seafood fresh. It wasn’t the strongest or richest broth, channeling a lighter more delicate vibe rather than the more southern heavy garlic/tomato thing.

Tagliata. Grilled creekstone 50-day dry aged sirloin. braised romaine.

Fingerling potatoes, rosemary.

Wild arugula and lemon.

Market beans, romesco, almonds.

Wild mushrooms, savory.

Dolce.

Trio of sorbetti. Cherry amaretto, strawberry balsamic, blackberry lemon.

Chocolate gelato.

Affogato. vanilla gelato, espresso, amaro, almond sbrisolona. I haven’t seen affogato (mostly) straight up on a 2 star menu before.

Semifreddo tropicale. coconut semifreddo, passion fruit, kiwi, mango, basil.

With a gooey center! This dessert was an 11 by my standards. A perfect expression of coconut and bright tropical fruits. I will make a coconut gelato with almonds and passionfruit coulis to riff off of it.

Cioccolato. domori chocolate, white chocolate ganache, almond stracciatella gelato.

Petite fours. Raspberry pate de fruit.

Mini tiramisu.

My son likes dressing up now.

Overall, Marea was very good. Execution was top notch across the board. Pastas were amazing. Interesting that it’s Adriatic in style, most closely resembling these places I’ve eaten at on Italy’s Adriatic coast: Madonnia del Pescatore and La Frasca. The format is a bit different more American at Marea, with fewer larger courses. I, of course (pun intended), prefer the more smaller dish format. Marea plays it fairly safe too, avoiding some of the weirder (to American taste) choices you might get in Italy. But it is quite Italian.

Service was top notch. Our server was simultaneously very New York, punky, not explicitly Italian, and excellent. Very nice, knowledgable, responsive, accommodating, etc.

The wine list was good and only slightly high. Clientele was more staid and there were quite a number of wealthy Chinese.

For more New York dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Senigallia – Madonnina del Pescatore
  2. Eating Florence – Gelateria Santa Trinita
  3. Eating Milano Marittima – Palace Hotel Breakfast
  4. Eating Tuscany – Boar at Home
  5. Eating NY – Eat
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: eating_new_york, Italian cuisine, marea, New York, Wine

Eating NY – Sarabeth’s

Aug14

Restaurant: Sarabeth’s Central Park South

Location: 40 Central Park S, New York, NY 10021. (212) 826-5959

Date: July 2, 2017

Cuisine: Breakfast

Rating: New/old school?

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Sarabeth’s is a New York breakfast mainstay, located right along the south side of Central Park.

We had to wait over an hour, even at 9am!

The place is huge, and mobbed.

Cappuccino of course.

The menu.

Spinach omelet.

French toast with strawberries.

Pancakes.

Oatmeal with strawberries and banana.
 Omelet and muffin.

I had a crab Benedict, but I guess I forgot to take a picture of it. Sad, as it was the best thing (for my taste).

Overall, Sarabeth’s was very classic. The menu wasn’t super interesting, but execution was solid. Still it’s pricey. And the format is oddly old-school with the white tablecloths and liveried waiters. Certainly fun to try but I’m not sure I would crave it.

For more New York dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating NY – Eat
  2. Quick Eats – Bru’s Wiffle
  3. Eating Milano Marittima – Palace Hotel Breakfast
  4. Eating NY – Cosme
  5. Eating Santa Margherita – Miramare Breakfast
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Breakfast, eating_new_york, New York, Sarabeth's

Eating NY – Cosme

Aug11

Restaurant: Cosme

Location: 35 E 21st St, New York, NY 10010. (212) 913-9659

Date: July 1, 2017

Cuisine: Modern Mexican

Rating: Interesting ultra modern Mexican

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Cosme made #3 of New York restaurants on a list of the best 100 restaurants in the world.

Cosme is a restaurant in New York City’s Flatiron District serving contemporary Mexican-inspired cuisine. World-renowned Chef Enrique Olvera and his team create dishes rooted in Mexican flavors and traditions, while also celebrating local and seasonal ingredients from the Hudson Valley and surrounding region. Cosme’s beverage program focuses on artisanal spirits and mirrors its cuisine, letting the high quality ingredients shine.

The interior mostly subscribed to the “keep it  really dark so they won’t see our minimalist decor.”

The bar area.

It was very crowded and loud.

The menu is all share plates.

A sort of compari/aperol old fashioned. Pretty good.

For my son, a cheese quesadilla (off menu).

Chips with a kind of romesco-like paste. The paste was great.

Cobia al pastor, pineapple puree, cilantro. A nice crudo with sweet and savory notes.

Uni tostada, avocado, bone marrow salsa, cucumber. I liked this a lot, despite the tomatoes. The uni was very briny. We had an uni virgin at the table and she was not a fan — but it is an acquired taste.

Lobster, shiso, ginger mojo, brown butter. You could really taste the lobster. Next biggest note was ginger and butter.

Ayocote bean salad, market greens, charred cucumber vinaigrette. Nice salad, beans were at the bottom.

Morel haurache, fava bean salsa, epazote, black lime. I loved this dish, but it was very spicy. Long serrano type heat.

Pink peppercorn and axiote seafood aguchile. Cerviche basically. Strong lime flavors.

Soft-shell crab with salsa verde and tomatoes. Nice crab.

Branzino a la talla. Very delicious seabass with a lot of flavor.

Duck carnitas, onions, radishes, cilantro. This dish was very highly recommended and it was pricey ($89!). But it’s also about 3 times the food of the other dishes. Lots of duck, maybe most of a duck. It did have the texture of pulled pork too.

There were various condiments that went with it.

So I loaded it up on a blue corn tortilla.

Emmoladas, ricotta, hoja santa, queso fresco. Basically a dark mole with various dairy additives. We had to get the dairy on the side for one person. I love mole and I loved this dish. I basically ate it on tortillas.

Short rib, scallions, cipollini, avocado. Nice chunk of meat.

More tortillas.

The dessert menu.

Husk meringue, corn mousse. I didn’t know what to expect from this dish, but it was fabulous. Very light and fluffy, with a mousse-like texture blending with the crunchier meringue. Light pleasant sweet corn notes.

Rhubarb sundae, chile ancho, shiso, lemongrass ice cream. Super delicious also with unexpected flavors and textures.

Flourless chocolate cake, peanuts, coconut-lime creme fraiche. The second half of it was served “on the side.”

peanuts, coconut-lime creme fraiche. Made for an excellent dessert all by itself.
 Trio of weird sorbet. Calamansi, raspberry, chamoy. All three were made with a very low sugar concentration for sorbet so they weren’t sweet enough even to my Italian tuned taste. The orange one which was a kind of passionfruit/mango with chili (like one of the Mexican candies) was my favorite. Extremely adult.

Overall, an interesting place. It was too loud. Not that trendy new places in LA aren’t too loud, but I don’t like this trend so I’ll call it out. One of my New York friends who sent me there thought so too. We had a hard time talking at our table of 7.

Service was not up to snuff for a restaurant of this quality. It was pleasant, and we didn’t get any attitude (which some people complain about online) but the waiter, while extremely nice and helpful, barely showed up. We “let him go” at the beginning because we were talking and then had to wait about 20 minutes before we saw him again to order drinks (I hate that). Also once we took the order runners brought the food and he didn’t come by for a long time. We got everything in just 2-3 flights which resulting in too many dishes at one time, but he explained that he did this on purpose because we had so many dietary restrictions (which we did) so fair enough.

Food was excellent, but I wasn’t totally blown away. Flavors were very bright and interesting but I thought that Hoja Santa in Barcelona (similar style food) was quite a bit better. Part of this was the format. Hoja Santa was a long small item tasting menu and because they catered to the dietary restrictions on an individual basis made for a much more civilized experience. Staff was just more on point there, but it is Spain and an Adrià brothers restaurant. In summary, I would say that the Cosme kitchen is excellent and doing some really good work but that the whole “experience” needs a bit of tuning to take it from a “trendy NY eatery” up to the level of a world class restaurant.

For more New York dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Barcelona – Hoja Santa
  2. Eating NY – Eat
  3. Eating Senigallia – Madonnina del Pescatore
  4. San Fran – Nopalito
  5. Eating Saigon – Hoa Tuc
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cosme, eating_new_york, Mexican cuisine, New York

Eating NY – Eat

Aug09

Restaurant: Eat

Location: 1064 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10028. (212) 772-0022

Date: July 1, 2017

Cuisine: New York Deli

Rating: Solid updated deli

_

My 2017 New York trip kicks off (appropriately) with some Zabar Deli, specifically the Upper East Side Eat.

Baked goods in the window.

Lots of deli on display.

The menu shows of the Upper East Side Manhattan prices! Deli isn’t super cheap in LA, but you’d have to hunt around to find a $24 grilled cheese!

Bread was impeccable.

Cappuccino.

Cinnamon bagel with whitefish salad. Interesting how they cut one of the sides down to reduce the overall carb-factor of the two whole bagels. The bagels were those smallish chewy really good NY kind, not the oversized bland ones. The whitefish salad was solid. Not a whole lot here on the plate though for $22. Pickles were very light dill, like a grav lox marinate.

Smoked salmon, cream cheese, bagel and capers.

Egg salad on pumpernickel bagel. Side of potato salad.

Plain bagel and cream cheese.

Stuffed salmon. Baked with spinach and onion/fennel.

Scrambled eggs and lox with salad.

Omelet and rie.

They sell gelato and it looked fairly hand made but it was all melted and refrozen.

 The mustache cookie!

Solid deli in a very NY style. NY prices of course, but it’s right next to the park on Madison Ave!

For more New York dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. ThanksGavin 2011 – Salty Saturday
  2. Saturday is for Salt
  3. Salty Saturday 2014
  4. Salty Saturday
  5. ThanksGavin 2015 – Salty Saturday
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Eat, eating_new_york, New York
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