...more recent posts
salesman they say are only as good as thier last sale, so to me restaurants are only as good as thier last meal, so 66 gets downgraded to 3*, still loved but not on the level as WD or Kai anymore......rumor is I have been downgraded also.....tonight I had 3 meals between 6:00 and 11:00, the first was tasty Thai (1* stuff) and I got BYOB ok, biggest table is 10 (heres someone else's review... 56 PAM REAL THAI FOOD No one is quite sure why there are so many Siamese restaurants in Hell's Kitchen, but most agree that the majority have toned down Thai food for the American palate, throwing the bottle of fish sauce away. Not so at Pam's, where sharp sour, salty, and fishy flavors are promulgated. Noodle dishes and yum are particularly recommended, as is duck with chile sauce. 404 West 49th Street, Manhattan 333-7500)..second was 66, and some dishes were great again but it lost something....WD50 for 3 great app's (the soup is on the menu tonight w/ watercress) ended the night...
Hangawi's new place was nothing special (Franchia 34/35 Park), we were not full so we went to another Korean for meat and nothing special (32nd St right off Bway, south side).....stick to Hangawi or WOOCHON (IMHO)
Last night at Hangawi (possibly due to no Frank energy) the meal was not as good as the last time, still fab and one of the Fav NY Eats 2003......but now 2*.....going to thier new spot on Thursday, saw the menu looks yummy
The true cynic’s review of WD50, but without the compunctions of being an actual food critic. Cindy Adams serves up the borscht (belt).
(The print version had a big picture of Wylie offering a plate of food, instead of the shot of Rudi’s former aide-de-adultery.)
Earthy meal at Rosewater (4 course muchroom menu) in Brooklyn, 2*
Last nite's meal #6 at wd50 was Rocking again, my fav's keep tasting better to me, and WD sent up out a (nasturtium leaf i believe) gaspacho that went to the top of the charts for dish of the year.....
Went to my local fish joint, The Minnow, he sent me out a slice of bluefish barely cooked, it was insane good, then hands me a photo of him with a captain on a boat holding the fish, caught 11 hours earlier, now thats fresh fish......he also had a yummy soup from this time last year, spring pea with wasabi cream:>)....
We ate at Ping's (all the way down Mott Street, just before Chatam Sq.) recently but I forgot to write. We used to love this place when it was at 25 E. B'way. Then he moved out to Queens where we never visited. And now he's back in Manhattan.
In any case, definitely worth a look. The menu seriously rewards the adventurous eater. Lots of very weird animal parts and organs. I know that's a half assed review, but since I don't eat that stuff I don't feel like I really can comment. It sure looked good though. And my fish and veggies were all great, although I don't think that is the point of this place.
Kai was awesome to me and my guest was blow away, I met the chef at WD50 recently so he said I want to cook for you (which ment we had the $110 menu and not the Iron Goddess at $85).....jasmine tea, a sweet grilled fish began the show on arugula with some fragrant flavorful sauce, next a soup with "lake seaweed" plus very textured eel, raw fish course with fruit gelatin and caviar, abalone(sp?), another japanese fish with a wasabi sauce and some greens served with tea, granite (my favorite i have tasted, brite herbs are added), tender steak and spring veggie's toped with f. gras to which the poured on a another flavorful sauce, fantastic noodle dish, lastly a hugh assortment of desserts served with tea (during the meal we drank Monquit Champagne followed by Sake)...one of my favorite places to eat period, the use of fragrance, texture, color, and flavor rocks....
Went to Morrell Wine Bar the new one, didnt taste the food but it was easy to find a nice priced bottle to drink and i liked the room very much......
Highly recommended: "modern kaiseki" (dinner in eight, ten, twelve or more courses) at Sugiyama on W55th (Broadway & 8th). From $60 and up, plus sake -- watch out for the Fukuju at 17% alcohol! We had three fish-based meals ($100), one w Kobe beef ($150). A special vegetarian kaiseki is available with one day's advance notice. (212) 956-0670. Certainly as creative as Bond Street or Kai.
quick Greece notes:
Santorini food was not so good, overpriced and lack luster (amazing town we stayed it, one of the most beautiful rooms we have ever rented), even the fish tavernas on the water were just ok compaired to the north, one place was cool to me called Koukoumalvos where we ate langostines in white chocolate sauce (lime, fennel seed, ginger) and lamb w/ coffee sauce w/minted yougurt but the grape leave pasta was not helped by the wacky combo of smoked salmon and mint and zucchini TO ME......
Athens/Thessaloniki you could not find a bad meal if you avoided the tourist spots, we ate so much awesome taverna food, and had one 4* yummy nite that was a meal of 2003 for sure (sea urchin risotto to die for, grapeleaves stuffed with langostines, squid pesto "pasta" on tiny fried potatos, a soup with mushroom/truffle balls, mullet over eggplant, grouper in a tomatoe/carrot broth that made me lick the bowl, great wine guy and the bill scary cheap compaired to NYC prices (and all we got special price treatment was on the wine but just slightly) @ Varoulko, 14 Deligiorgi St, Pireas....and a few 2* meals also.....
FYI: Morrell's Restaurant review from today's Diner's Journal. Wine's the thing, some good deals to be found.
Soup blog. I haven't tried any of the recipes, but it looks like it might be good. Nice looking site in any case.
San Jose Merc has coverage of Vietnamese cuisine today.
the slanted door
Vietnamese food in the south bay
south bay restaurant list
2003 James Beard Award winners announced.
NYMag Readers Poll Winner Best Meatballs is one of my 4* Dishes for 2003 also:
Best Meatballs
Il Gattopardo
33 West 54th Street
212-246-0412
It used to be that the humble Italian-American meatball never went anywhere without its constant companion, spaghetti. Recently, though, thanks to the surge in popularity of a more authentic southern-Italian cooking—or perhaps because of creative differences with its former pasta partner—meatballs have gone solo, assuming leading roles in restaurants from the Rocco DiSpirito–revamped Tuscan to Frank DeCarlo’s Peasant spinoff, Ápizz. Our award, however, goes to the unimpeachably authentic Neapolitan version at Il Gattopardo. Made from veal and beef and wrapped in an almost translucent Savoy-cabbage leaf that seals in the juices and makes for cute little bundles that resemble Shanghai dumplings, they’re much lighter than their Americanized cousins, airiness being the mark of a good meatball. Salerno-born chef Vito Gnazzo serves them three to an order as an appetizer on a bed of baby greens with a fragrant thyme-white-wine sauce—one bite and you’ll never think of them as spaghetti’s sidekick again.
Our buddy and fellow blogger (oh yeah, and he imports wine or something) Joe Dresner is getting a little attention. Word is this article will be picked up by a major media outlet.
seafood watch: choice for healthy oceans