2008 Year in Edible Review

12/31/2008

Dear Readers:
2008 was a year of truly remarkable events – sea change moments that we collectively thought we would perhaps never see. We saw: the demise of a handful of venerable financial giants, and subsequently, investment banking as we knew it; the first truly viable female presidential candidate; arguably the greatest Olympic feat ever – 8-gold medals in a single Olympic games by the same person; billions of dollars worth of fraudulent activity orchestrated by mere individuals; and of course, the event that became this country’s (and the world’s) fixation over the course of the year, a phenomenon that transcended race, religion, and conventional thinking as to what is possible, and, I dare say, the reclamation of a lost faith in the American Dream…this, of course, was the creation of the Edible Review.

I had mulled over the idea of a food blog focused on restaurants for quite some time but only in early 2008 did I decide that I should just jump in and do it. Although I have no illusions (despite what is written above) about the size of my readership, it has been a wonderful learning experience and an opportunity to express and hone my thoughts on food, restaurants, and hospitality. I hope that it has also been as worthwhile for the five or so people who have read my entries. The point, as the title of the blog suggests, is first and foremost to be useful. If anyone has learned anything from it aside from me, that makes me quite happy.

Here are some random thoughts that come to mind as I look back on 2008 and also look forward to what will surely be the year in which the Edible Review supplants the Michelin guide as the world’s most renowned restaurant guide:
- The breadth and energy of the NYC’s food industry never fails to amaze me. It’s an education in food, and no one is above it, certainly not food writers.
- Food writers have it a whole lot easier than the people making and serving the food. I try not to get on my high horse too much for several reasons. Chiefly, even though this blog isn’t the New York Times, anything you put in front of the public eye has potential to affect a business, and thus someone’s livelihood. Most industries don’t have this level of exposure and vulnerability, and it’s not something to take lightly. The big other reason is that I don’t think we respect and appreciate enough, the difficulty of running and working in a restaurant. The reality is that I don’t have the guts to do it myself and so here I sit comfortably up on my perch. I feel like a coward, and even a jerk.
- It will be interesting to see how the food industry reacts to the economic woes – it’ll be survival mode in an already tough industry. But there is so much passion in the food industry that, I don’t doubt for a second that the culinary evolution will continue unabated.
- There’s nothing that satisfies quite like slow-cooked meats.
- Soccarat was my favorite new restaurant of 2008 and probably my favorite overall.

With that, I say thank you – restaurants and readers - and happy 2009.

Ten Penh

12/6/2008

Washington, DC: 1001 Pennsylvania Ave, NW - (202) 393-4500

Price: High End

Rating (1-10): 6

Full Review:
Ten Penh is a large-scale Pan-Asian restaurant that has been playing host to power brokers of the DC downtown scene since its opening in summer 2000. The food is interesting and well-executed. But Ten Penh is more abut about the overall fun of the experience, plates, and drinks. It’s good for big group dinners or catching up with friends, or before a night on the town. It’s not DC’s best in culture, refinement, or sophistication; but it's a taste of those things, it’s satisfying, and most importantly, it’s a good time.

In my mind, the descriptor “Pan-Asian” is usually a tip-off that it's not really Asian. It’s like saying a restaurant is European: a mile wide, an inch deep. At Ten Penh, the menu is described as Pan-Asian, but it’s essentially an American style of Asian that caters to a penchant for large portions, dramatic plating, and strong flavors. Like the colorful, large décor and high ceilings of this showy restaurant, the food lacks a bit of subtlety – ironically, one of the few traits that one might correctly be able to qualify as Pan-Asian.

While the menu thankfully isn’t a regurgitation of typical Asian style dishes – chicken pad thai, drunken noodle, sukiyaki, chicken satay with peanut sauce, kobe beef, chicken and cashew, etc – it’s more about glitz than true culinary impact. Most of the plates tend to wow with presentation and size – for example, a lot of deep-fried stuff piled to impressive heights. I can appreciate the effort and the creativity in the visual, but sometimes I’m weary that it’s a substitute for the quality of the cooking itself. That said, it all came out pretty well. The lamb was cooked and seasoned/spiced well, the Chilean sea bass was light and tender, and the lobster was mostly soft accompanied by a flavorful jus.

It’s not perfection, certainly. Their Thai shrimp curry was a bit too sweet on account of over-pineappling. The duck roll appetizer was too dry all around – the wrapper and the duck – but still tasted good. The salad was passable and the short ribs were a bit on the sweet side but bold in flavor and tender, with an appetizing carmelized sheen. Overall, they're satisfying, hearty dishes, not overly heavy and pleasing to the taste buds.

But again, I believe the goal of this place centers on the experience – and to their credit, the service is friendly and accommodating. They went out of their way to make our experience fun and memorable, not only accommodating a large size table but allowing us to pull a “surprise” birthday party near our table. The restaurant made specially printed menus recognizing the birthday, and allowed us to bring our own cake and champagne (though with plating and corking fees). It’s this kind of flexibility and hospitality that leaves you walking away happy for the selection of Ten Penh for dinner.

By now, the name Ten Penh is widely recognizable to residents of DC - a downtown power lunch spot, pretty good food. That seems about right but I think there’s more to it than that - I believe the people at Ten Penh care about quality of the food and the experience. Just take a look at the wares, which are of a surprisingly nice quality (Laguiole knives, individual heavy cast iron pots, etc.). At some point, there was a conscious decision made to spend the extra cash to provide top notch stuff. That said, on second look, they’re also slightly worn, chipped, or broken from heavy usage – not quite what they once might have been. Similarly, it seems like Ten Penh may also have already seen its heyday. We’ll see if they can keep it fresh, new. As far as Pan-Asian restaurants go, it’s one that I’d root for.

Momofuku Ko

11/6/2008
East Village: 163 1st Ave (between 10th and 11th St)

Price: Break the Bank
Rating (1-10): 8

Momofuku Ko is a fun experience for anyone who wants to do some adventurous eating. While fun doesn’t always lead to success in the dishes, Ko isn't something you come across everyday. If you like asking questions about food, being in a kitchen, and interacting with the cooks, this is your place, because you will sit right in front of the cooks and literally feel the heat off the stove. The now iconic Chef David Chang (2008 James Beard Award Best Chef for NYC) has put a lot of thought into this very intimate experience and the set multi-course menu. Prepare for ingredients you hadn’t ever heard of (pine needle oil). Be sure to peer over the counter as the cooks assemble your next dish with painstaking care and detail. Take a guess at what you think is going to be next (you’ll be wrong). Ask yourself, “who the f thinks of that?” By the end, it’s likely you’ll be pretty exhausted from a full stomach and a mental challenge. Truth be told, it’s not the kind of meal that I’d want on a regular basis, but if you’re in the mood to experiment and enter a food playground, where at least some of the things will please the palate, check it out.

The Ko offerings are complex and involve ingredients you’d have to be a true expert to know. It’s one thing just to put a cool, little known ingredient on a plate, and say “Tadaaaaa!” It’s a whole other thing to use take that ingredient and use it intelligently and with purpose. In most of the dishes at Ko, there was a “wow” moment when you taste why certain ingredients are there, and how they pull the dish together – and that is impressive. The shiso leaf and the pink lemon pull together the lobster and shrimp ceviche, the best I’ve ever had. The mustard greens on top of the braised lamb belly are a great complement, and add surprisingly strong mustardy flavor. The candied nuts in the famed foie gras / lychee / Riesling gelee dish give a nice crunchy texture and add sweetness to balance out the alcohol in the gelee as well as the richness of the foie. A bit of chive on top of the raw fluke is the perfect complement to the fish and white soy - poppy sauce. The bits of coffee together with the venison are awesome. The “pretzel” flavored ice cream desert (who the f thinks of that?) works alongside the refreshing green apple puree underneath. The dishes seemed to “turn” on these ingredients.

Most of the dishes were enjoyable (and gone in a matter of seconds) – lobster and shrimp ceviche; smoked soft-boiled egg with caviar; long island fluke sashimi; mandarin orange fruit and sorbet. But a couple that were surprisingly off. Thin-sliced porchini mushroom and egg noodle with mushroom broth poured over top sounded wonderful but the broth was intolerably salty, with way too much soy sauce. Instead of subtly enhancing the flavor of the fresh porcini, the broth drowned it. And a pine needle oil that was supposedly in the dish was completely wiped out. This seemed to be an error in execution, rather than conception; if the broth were prepared well, this would have a great dish. By contrast, monkfish served below a delicious piece of uni (sea urchin), and resting in a shellfish broth, was problematic in conception as well as execution. What was most unappealing was the cold uni paired with hot fish; the contrast in temperature was a bit gross. Overall, the monkfish was rubbery and forgettable, the shellfish broth was fine, and I thought – as I often do with seared tuna – that I’d rather just have had the uni in sushi form.

Although, for the most part, I liked the courses individually, as a full meal, the experimental menu is a bit incoherent and perplexing to the stomach. Ko may be trying to take you on a adventure but the ingredients and dishes were so wide ranging that it left our party feeling strange, due to the intense variety along with a lot of heavy stuff (braised lamb, venison, fried cheese, foie gras). We were not a particularly faint of heart crew either; we tend to seek out the crazy stuff. Still, to be fair, this is what you sign up for.

What we did not sign up for, and what was most disappointing, was the service of the hostess/server. While the cooks do well at preparing the meals, conversing with guests, and entertaining simultaneously, the servers seem to be the ones dropping the ball. Or, as it were, the glasses, twice (once on my leg). They also turned off the lights in the restaurant without realizing it. But it’s not so much that they messed up – everyone does – but the only ones who really seemed to be concerned were the cooks across the counter. Throughout the night, the only truly personable service we received was from the cooks. From the “front of the house” side, the attitude was lax and nonchalant, and in addition, rude. For example, the wine menu, which we opted out of, was uncomfortably pushed on us, with a tone of expectation, rather than offering. How is that supposed to make you feel comfortable? As laid back as the Momofukus are intended to be, it’s still a high end meal and there’s a difference between being casual and being careless.

David Chang strikes me as a cook’s chef; he’s a no frills kind of guy who’s not in it for the celebrity. He understands a cook’s mentality: the perspective of the guys grinding it out in the kitchen trenches every day and night, getting paid beans, trying to develop their foundation of skills and ideas – while hoping that some day, they too will have an opportunity to run a kitchen. Chang encourages creativity and thoughtfulness in his cooks, and it seems to be his philosophy and mission to help them experiment, grow, and try to develop new culinary ideas. From what the cooks at Ko told me, they do indeed have the freedom to propose new dishes and collaborate on new menu items. In this high-end laboratory, the cooks also have the unique opportunity to get out of the “back of the house” and interact with the customers, across the quasi-sushi counter. They see the expressions of delight on your face and stand at the table with you. It strikes me as a very rare opportunity for an up and coming cook. Chang is putting a whole lot of trust in his cooks and he’s creating a style of mentorship all his own. Whether or not you like his food, I believe it’s something you have to applaud.

I’ve long thought that the numerous critics that gushed like cloned idiots over Ko without any real critique, have done this place a disservice. First, they have set expectations impossibly high. Please temper your expectations and know what you’re getting into. Second, they have sparked a general craze over this place that is borderline bizarre. They’ve made it into something that I’m not sure David Chang intended it to be: a scene. As a result, chances are against you that you’ll be able to get a reservation, at least for the time being. If you don’t get one, life has not passed you by, believe it or not. You can always go up the road to Momofuku Ssam for great David Chang food, where you’ll find dishes that are just as good if not better (pork buns – still the best). They might not be as quirky and adventurous as they are at Ko, and you won’t get to sit directly in front of the cooks when they’re making it – but I love that stuff, and even I would say, don’t go scouring Craigslist for a reservation. Go when the time is right and have fun when you do.

At the end of the day, my service experience aside, Ko is a wonderfully unique dining experience and for $100, it’s worth the money. You’ll be getting a great deal of personal attention from the professionals who make the food, high quality ingredients, and the opportunity to be a part of a kitchen lab that is pushing new culinary ideas forward. If you do have the opportunity, it’s one worth grabbing, provided you have some cash and an open mind.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns

10/19/2008
Poncatino Hills, NY: 630 Bedford Rd - (914) 366-9600
Price: Break the Bank
Rating (1-10): 10


I think the most appropriate word to describe Blue Hill at Stone Barns is ‘idyllic.’ It says something when, even after waiting on your reservation for two months at an already hyped restaurant, it utterly blows you away. If you have the opportunity and a bit of a budget, go - and make it an all-day affair. You’ll enjoy fresh varieties of food you never knew existed, presented delicately, playfully, and tastefully. You’ll learn about what you’re eating and where it comes from. You’ll be coddled by an army of smiling, earnest, and comfortably formal staff. You’ll see where everything comes from as you stroll the sprawling countryside before or after your meal. For a day, you’ll feel like a Rockefeller.

Of course, Blue Hill at Stone Barns has the unfair advantage of being situated on a picturesque upstate Rockefeller upstate. For a chef, for a restaurant, I could not imagine a more ideal setup: a fully functional farm to source natural, seasonal, and ridiculously local food, well-financed backers, a campus of beautifully preserved old stone structures, and a food-aware clientele. But they seem to have found the perfect chef for this set up: Dan Barber, who has become something of a hero within the local, natural food movement. Chef Barber splits his time between his restaurant in the Village and this restaurant and despite his rising national celebrity, he’s actually here, in the kitchen.

True to its mission, all parts of Blue Hill at Stone Barns work in rhythm with nature, a restaurant within a broader ecosystem. No wonder Chef Barber is so admired in the eat fresh, eat local Alice Waters movement. You don’t need signs telling you it’s “All Natural” or “100% Organic” or “Certified Free Range.”

That’s all a given. The restaurant fits so seamlessly into the farm, and follows and maximizes the environment it’s in. Somehow, being here brings a calm over you, some kind of Update New York Zen.

There are many wonderful restaurants in NYC with the same food philosophy as Stone Barns, but you just can’t get a truly living-off-the-land kind of experience in the Village, not even at Blue Hill’s NYC outpost itself. One server offered to go pick tea leaves to make tea for a nearby table. Kind of says it all.







It’s almost intimidating to walk into a place with such a depth of knowledge about the production and preparations of food and ingredients (in fact, it’s a learning institution than runs tours and educational programs for children and various groups). But it’s not in a snobby way, it’s just what they do and love.

For brunch, Blue Hill offers a tasting menu of several courses that aren’t laid out on the menu. Instead, the server asks some questions to gauge your preferences, eating restrictions, and adventurousness. And then the menu shifts, so what one table gets will probably differ from what the next table gets. It’s flexible, personable, and fun.

Our first dish was a roasted eggplant broth mixed with various wild mushrooms, a deeply yellow, creamy poached egg, and a type of spinach. The mushrooms are the main feature – large, earthy chunks in a savory, slightly acidic yellow broth. Next up, freshwater, smoked eel in a Manhattan-style chowder with miniature cubed vegetables – carrot, celery, garlic, potato, maybe more, in a bright orange tomato broth. The veggies are crunchy and slightly sweet, and the eel, which is caught in northeastern streams, is a bit tough because at this time the eel are spawning, working hard, getting tougher. It’s a smoky, gamey, and oddly appealing.

A pork plate followed, with braised pork belly glistening with fat, pork sausage that reminds you how meat is supposed to taste, roasted mini apple (who knew?), apple puree, pork jus, and fresh collard green leaves. This is a pork lover’s dream but – and this is a small matter - a tad too much sweetness from the apple. On the next plate sat a fat chunk of braised lamb’s neck with jus, a squash blossom, and an assortment of shell beans – rich, salty almost corned beef flavor, layered with fat. The dish is wonderful to look at. But our (only) criticism was the choice of fat-laden braised meat dishes in two consecutive courses, which is a bit heavy.

For dessert, we got three plates for two people: a play on strawberry shortcake with mini strawberries, citrus, cream between two blinis, and vanilla bean ice cream and yogurt on the side; pumpkin and chocolate cake with a righteous piece of pumpkin, and ice cream; and an apple dessert layered with meringue and ginger ice cream on the side. This is some of the best dessert I’ve ever had with elements that blend beautifully together. The strawberry and the apple desserts were my favorites.









We enjoyed the meal along with several cups of tasty Brazilian bean coffee over the course of three swift but careless, leisurely hours. Blue Hill service is impeccable and friendly, and it seems like the staff flash a warm smile whenever they pass by your table. They clearly love the food and the mission here, and are happy to discuss the backstory of where it all came from, who is responsible for cultivating it, etc. It’s ‘you can do no wrong,’ bend over backwards, ‘no request is unreasonable’ kind of service. Their attention to detail and conversational manner add to a brand of hospitality befitting of the atmosphere. (And one thing I noticed – no ice in the water! Ice often makes water too cold and also clumsy to drink. Here, they don’t pour ice in your glass, a novel, smart idea.)

The entire estate is tastefully decorated with clean lines and modern furnishings while retaining the rustic outdoor feel. We sat in a banquette that looks out across the rest of the dining room which is surrounded by windows that stream in sunlight and surrounding scenery. The dining room features high ceilings, exposed buttresses, and great people watching as well as food spying on other tables. It’s comfortable and classy, clean and efficient. You want to be here. All told: the cost per person was $77. By any standard, this is more than fair.

After our meal, we took a kitchen tour, saw the herb garden, and the wandered surprisingly freely around the grounds and adjacent state park. You want to see where the pork comes from? Go check out the pigs. Beef? Cows. Arugula? Greenhouse. Chicken? Chickens. Honey? Bee farm. You get the idea.

Maybe it's the whole idea of going to Stone Barns and being in this setting that predisposes a visitor to being utterly taken by this place. That may be why I walked away with almost no thought to how it could have been better. One thing is clear: Chef Barber’s life is not bad. During our post-meal exploration of the Stone Barns grounds, he jogged by us down a winding path with fall foliage colors in the background – probably catching a breath of fresh air before heading back to his culinary playground to plan what items to showcase at dinner. You should really see it for yourself.

Socarrat

9/30/2008

Chelsea: 259 W. 19th St (near 8th Ave) - (212) 462-1000

Price Range: High End

Rating (1-10): 9

Soccarat is one of the most exciting restaurants I have been to in a while and I recommend it without hesitation. It's not often that I'm sitting at the table not even mid-way through my food and thinking, "I can't wait to come back here." Socarrat is a cozy, narrow restaurant with a long communal table down the middle, friendly service, classy, quirky interior design, and food you love to love.

Prior to this experience, I don't believe that I had ever had true paella, despite having ordered it off of numerous menus in multiple countries, including Spain. The great search is now over as this crusty pan of seafood-essence soaked rice lived up to the image I had always held for what it could and should be. The paella comes served in a large, circular black pan that is layered with rice (squid ink black rice also available) and mixed with various types of meats and veggies depending on your selection. It's quite a sight and the pictures on this website or the restaurants don't do the dishes justice. True to the name Socarrat, which refers to the cripy rice baked onto the bottom of the pan, there is delicious crunch, especially around the edge of the pan where it gets hottest. The rice has soaked up the seafood flavor which also is the smell you get as you walk into the wonderfully aromatic room. In terms of basic ingredients, paella is actually fairly simple - rice is the star of this dish. Just goes to show that sometimes, in fact, often times, the most basic thing done right is the most delicious thing.

Our "Socarrat Paella" came with mussels, clams, beef, chicken, cuttlefish, and squid. The seafood was somehow tender and not overcooked and rubbery like it often comes out with inauthentic paella. It's strongly seasoned, perhaps a bit on the salty side, but I found myself scraping the pan for every last bit I could scoop. Other mouth-watering varieties are also available and come in serving sizes that have a minimum of 2 people. It's filling and little heavy so you'll be happy with these generous portions.

The prelude to the paella is a "I want it all" selection of tapas that entertains and satifies while you wait for your paella, which takes 30 minutes to prepare (a good sign) . The Calamar a la Plancha squid dish with garlicky butter sauce and lemon is flavorful, tastes of the sea, and leaves you with a pool of sauce that you can clean off with a piece of bread, like you would with some great mussels. The Tocino con Datiles - braised pork belly with slices of green apple, date puree and roasted potatoes - is wonderfully fatty, hearty pork seared to a fox-brown color. The date puree and potato are perhaps a bit superfluous, or just fail to come thru, but the apple adds a nice fresh crispy sweetness to the savory pork. Usually in a menu, there are a few dishes that just don't seem that interesting or appealing, but that wasn't the case with this tapas - I'd put my money on any item.

Either there's someone at Socarrat with a design background or a great eye for decor, as this thoughtfully adorned restaurant incorporates art, rustic ornamentation, and also some sleek features like a mirrored table. (Only downside is that it's not good for large groups unless you can get the round table at the front.) If you look around and in the bathroom, you'll see evidence of a lot of attention to detail. This kind of conscientiousness is also a feature of the service, which is hospitable, and relaxed. At one point, a server came by to help us scoop out the paella, encouraging us to keep eating. There was no pressure, and instead just friendly staff occasionally checking in while bustling around this busy little joint. If you get a chance, look around for a portly gentleman named Lolo (real name: Jesus Manso) - he's the owner of Socarrat (as well as nearby tapas bar La Nacional). A quick conversation with him and how he got here 24 years ago from northwestern Spain will reveal to you where the warmth, character, and passion of this place come from.

On the cover of the menu, is a definition of the word soccarat and on the restaurant website is this description: "The delectable crust that forms on the bottom of the paella pan when the liquid is rendered and the rice reaches its peak of succulence." I couldn't have said it better. THIS is paella. Does this restaurant have soul? Yes, and it shows through in every facet of the experience.

Lucali

9/28/2008

Carroll Gardens: 575 Henry St (near Carroll St) - (718) 858-4086

Price: Mid-Range

Rating (1-10): 8

Lucali pizza is a top notch pizza operation with a cozy, fragrant, rustic setting. This is the kind of place that could easily be in the running for the oft-discusssed "best pizza in New York" distinction. In combination with the pizza itself, a very pleasant dining area, and it's one of the best pizza joints I've ever been to.

The bubbly, slightly burnt crust of the brick-oven pizza is fairly thin and crusty but also has a layer of soft doughy-ness to it as well. The sauce is a slightly sweet tomato sauce with a range of basic toppings: basil, mushrooms, artichoke, onions, olives, garlic, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, etc. But they keep it refreshingly simple, emphasizing the quality of the ingredients and the pizza crust. This pizza was light and I didn't feel weighted down like I had eaten a pizza dinner; in this respect, it reminded me a lot of Franny's, another outstanding Brooklyn pizzeria.

Other offerings on the menu are limited to calzones. So if you're not looking for pizza or calzone, obviously Lucali's is not the place to go. I appreciate the focus here as I think it only makes their craft better and more consistent. There is genuine effort put into a high quality product here - stemming from owner Mark Iacono, who built and opened the restaurant two years ago after deciding to jump into the world of pizza on no experience.

The eating area is separated from the kitchen by only a counter where uncut vegetables are displayed. Perhaps the radiant heat from the brick over is the reason it's a bit toasty in here. But it also adds to a nice sense of kitchen cozyness because you are in the kitchen. The dimly lit room is romantic and fun, with a slight buzz echoing through the high-ceilinged room. The decor is rustic, wood, just what you'd expect. Service at Lucali is relaxed, responsive, and very friendly. It's casual joint and the service keeps it chill as well.

A few other helpful tidbits: it's byob (which means you have to bring drinks and perhaps risk that they'll get warm while you're waiting - but also means a cheaper bill! There's a few bodega's a couple blocks away); it's cash only; and you'll have to wait, outside. Call ahead. You can also get to-go pizzas, although it's never nearly as good as eating it there.

No way around it, Lucali's is awesome. If you're serious about pizza, you should make a visit.

Buddy's Burrito & Taco Bar

9/26/2008
Carroll Gardens: 260 Court St (near Butler St) - (718) 488-8695
Price: Cheap Eats
Rating (1-10): 5


Buddy's Burrito & Taco Bar is a slightly above average Mexican food joint. It's better than a Chipotle or some kind of chain Mexican and affordable at about $3 per taco. But I also think it's more for the "I need to eat" situation rather than a "I want something awesome" situation.

The tacos come with two, tasty soft shells and you can get beef, chicken, shrimp, or fish. The chicken is fine, the beef was probably best, and the fish was not good. The steak is marinated and thin sliced with a nice char from the grill. The fish taco comes with a deep fried rectangular rod of fish. It always confuses me why a company would produce a product like this since we all know that there are no right angles on a fish. In any case, it tastes fishy and just reminds of what one might find in the frozen foods section of Costco. On the fish is a pinkish, spiced mayo-like sauce which does not add appeal to the taco.

My favorite part is probably the availability of several different types of sauces, red and green in varying degrees of hotness. I always find that these sauces are essential in adding a bit of flavor and heat, fresh feeling, and moisture to tacos. The eatery part of Buddie's is sort of hot and doesn't seem that clean - not the most pleasant dining area although not entirely objectionable either. If I had a nice spot outside or at a nearby friend's place, I'd get it to go.

Overall, I'd say I haven't found a better quick grab n' go style Mexican food joint (other than the Mexican ballfields in Red Hook) in Brooklyn.

Pinche Taqueria

9/21/2008

Soho: 227 Mott St (and Spring St) - (212) 625-0090

Price: Cheap Eats

Rating (1-10): 6

Pinche Taqueria is a fun spot to drop in and grab some cheap eats done well and light. It's casual and kind of hipster New Yorky but not in an annoying way. Prices are very fair and for around $10, you can grab a filling meal, and hang out in the small eating area or just outside (if weather is nice) and enjoy the SoHo scene.

The menu is pleasantly varied selection of tacos, burritos, salads, and other fixins - with fish, pork (braised and grilled), beef, shrimp, chicken - and the food comes out quick. It's mostly good but it's not a homerun. The braised pork taco (carnitas) has a porky flavor although tougher than most things braised. The chicken (pollo asado) had char flavor but a bit on the rubbery side and the fish taco (pescado), a deep fried piece of fish, is soft and tasty, especially with a squeeze of lime. The tacos are served with crispy onions, cilantro, a pleasantly unadorned guac, and a side of green or red salsa. (If you can get extra salsa, I'd recommend giving it an extra douse for extra flavor.) What's nice is that, thanks to the toppings, these tacos have a light, fresh feeling, even the deep fried fish. For what is essentially street food, it's comfortably above average in quality, taste and healthiness.

If you're looking for a quick and affordable bite or if you got a hankerin' for some Mexican food, I'd recommend popping in on Pinche Taqueria. Chances are, you'll at least think it's worth the ~$10 you spend.

Song

8/27/2008

Park Slope: 295 5th Ave (and 2nd st) - (718) 965-1108

Price Range: Cheap Eats

Rating (1-10): 6

Song is a neighborhood "go-to" restaurant when you need take out, delivery, or a satisfying but cheap - yet somehow fancy - sitdown meal. It's solid, generously-portioned Thai food in a sleekly designed restaurant. I've enjoyed all my meals here - standard Thai fare: pad thai, masaman curry, green curry, fried rice, chili basil sauce krapow dishes, spicy noodles, etc. In short, it gives you your money's worth and probably more. If you're looking for Thai and you're in Park Slope, look no further. (If you're in Carroll Gardens area, you can call on its identical sister restaurant Joya).

Of course, if you're being critical, Song isn't super gourmet and the menu doesn't change a lot so it could get old if you go too much. The service could be better and the music is sometimes too loud. It's not daring or innovative from a strictly culinary perspective...but it does what it does well.

The service is friendly enough and fast. The design of the place is clean and contemporary and there's a nice, quiet backyard if you want the outside dining. You can also go to a pretty cool looking bar for a drink if that's all you want. All this for sub-$5 appetizers, sub-$7 pad thai/noodle dishes, sub-$8 curries, and moderately priced drinks.

The consistency, good taste, affordability, and "hip feel" of Song are make it one of the better cheap eats places I've been to in New York.

Barrio

8/9/2008
Park Slope: 210 7th Ave (and 3rd St) - (718) 965-4000
Price: Mid-Range
Rating (1-10): 7


If you find yourself strolling around the Park Slope neighborhood or vicinity, you should stop by Barrio for a relaxed atmosphere and solid Mexican food. I thought a rating of 7 might be high but in the end, decided it fair considering for the atmosphere, the quality of the food, and the value.

The food is fresh and light - a pleasant change from other Mexican joints that, though satisfying, leave you feeling like jabba the hut. I enjoyed the flavors in all of the dishes that I tried - and the variety of flavors in particular: delicious calamari-conconut flavored rice with spicy grilled shrimp; a "chile arbol" peanut mole, which tastes strongly of peanut and goes with a roast pork; or a chicken enchilada in a red salsa puree with more typical heat and a bit of tanginess. The seasoned doesn't burn your mouth out or go crazy with one element - sweet, sour, spicy, etc - and offset the balance - in fact, the food both in taste, freshness, and composition achieves a nice balance.

The fish tacos appetizer - though small in portion - were light and pleasantly simple, letting the ingredients be themselves with cilantro, cabbage, and citrus. The Yucatan shrimp dish were meaty, juicy (and not rubbery), strongly seasoned, and nicely charred. And the chicken enchilada was gone in about 5 minutes - the cheese (a crumbled queso fresco), raw onion, red salsa sauce, along with the chicken and tortilla were simply a great combo that and no part of it was unpleasant.

Improvements could be made - such as the addition of a starch to the Puebla pork dish, which would have been better served over rice to catch some of the pork juice and sauce. And I do wonder about the authenticity of the menu - some of the stuff they could do without like the chile caesar salad or granola and yogurt served at brunch. The concern is not only that it makes it disappointingly generic, but also might bring into question the ability to produce real Mexican food. It strikes me as a lack of confidence to stick with one true theme.

As enjoyable as the food at Barrio is the atmosphere, particularly in the warmer weather with all the open windows and a large outdoor eating area, looking out onto the stoller-filled, but pleasant and spacious intersection at 7th ave and 3rd st. With relaxing music (which I can't name) playing through the speakers and friendly, personable, unpretentious servers, the ambiance is calming and struck me as a place you could come back to consistently, for casual dinners, dates, or just to chill and grab a quick drink or bite. Although the owners seemed to have gotten it right with a lot of things about Barrio, the color selection of the exterior awning is a bit odd - bright orange and pink. On the one hand, its loud and vibrant and is about energy, but it's a bit of a shock. They say that people go crazy sitting in a red room - sitting under the awning outside on a sunny day might be a good place to conduct that experiment. I opted to sit inside given the heat lamp-like glow. I'll go when it's nighttime.

When I first visited Barrio, the service was a bit cluttered since it was one of the first weeks of operation, but they have since gotten into rhythm and continue to be a friendly establishment. Although it is possible to rack up a hefty bill here, especially if you get into the drink menu, there are more than enough very reasonable items so that you don't get to the cusp of feeling a significant pinch on the wallet. Given the fun atmosphere, good value, and quality of food, I wouldn't be surprised if Barrio starts to build up a contingent of neighborhood "regulars." I'm considering it myself.

Walter's Cafe

7/18/2008
Portland, Maine: 15 Exchange St - (207) 871 -9258

Price: Mid-Range

Rating (1-10): 6

Walter's Cafe is an enjoyable dining experience set in a nice space in the heart of the port area of Portland, Maine. The food is ambitious but is hit or miss, the wine list is good, and the service is decent. All in all, it's not bad but it's not great. You should go here for the ambiance and the steak, but several of the dishes were disappointing.

Steer clear of the caesar salad which was unremarkable and simply a head of romaine on a plate with some caesar dressing and cherry tomatoes. Zero points for ingenuity on a barely passing caesar. I would also not recommend the lobster pasta or the mushroom pasta, both of which come with a delicious sounding description but end up being somewhat boring. The ingredients - lobster and wild mushrooms respectively - sound amazing and then come out and are kind of ho-hum, maybe not the best usage (for example, I'd rather just have the lobster in the shell with butter and lemon).

The star here is the steak and I would definitely go back just for that. It comes with a stilton butter, which is very nice and adds that strong salty flavor. Also on the plate is sauce bordelaise, which is fine and doesn't hurt, but it's more just along for the ride. The meat is incredibly tender and delicious. I was savoring every bite and wish there was another. It has been a while since I've had a steak this good in a restaurant, and fortunately, it's not at steakhouse prices.

Walter's Cafe is a pretty good restaurant and it might suit your fancy but it's not a place that left a particularly strong impression or elicits a strong recommendation from me. Unless you're talking about the steak, which blew my mind.

Standard Bakery

7/18/2008
Portland, Maine: 75 Commercial St - (207) 773-2112
Price: Cheap Eats
Rating (1-10): 8

Standard Bakery is a haven for baked goods. Maybe it's a general thing about bakeries, but happiness just seems to pervade this place.

Standard is the kind of place that makes you look forward to waking up so you can stumble over and get a coffee and chose a treat of your choice - scone, croissant, cookie, or some other torturously good looking thing. It's probably not the most healthy thing in the world, but in small doses, it won't kill you. The breads, which are also served in Standard's upper-scale sister restaurants, are high quality as well and could be a satisfying meal by itself.

The staff is friendly and the atmoshere is warm, as a bakery should be, although as far as seating, there's only really a small patio area just outside of the front door. As long as you're not looking for an elaborate sitdown breakfast or brunch, this is all you need to chill out and enjoy a quick bite.

So if you're in Portland, Maine and looking for a simple breakfast or baked goods, this is the place to be.

Street and Co

7/17/2008

Portland, Maine: 33 Wharf St - (207) 775-0887

Price: Mid-Range

Rating (1-10): 7

Street and Co is the kind of restaurant that seems to blend perfectly with a quaint costal town like Portland. The food is solid and comes out with exciting presentation, but above all, the ambiance gets you in the mood for a cozy New England seafood experience. Service is casual here and it's not particularly remarkable but it's friendly enough.

Dim candle light, exposed brick, bunches of dried herbs hanging from wooden ceiling beams, simple white tshirt server uniforms, and an extremely aromatic interior all contribute to a rustic, warm atmosphere. It's a lot easier said than done to create this kind of environment without it being cheesy or forced or pretentious. The 'organic' feel is kind of trendy right now but Street and Co feels like a place that was onto it long before.

The food is more or less Italian with heavy doses of seafood, which you expect and want, being on the water in lobster capital USA. Many of the dishes (presumably those cooked on the stovetop) come out served in an actual beat-up saute pan, which adds to the simple and straightforward idea - no dots and swirls and Miro-looking dishes here. The mussels appetizer is truly delicious, with a rich, garlicky broth. You could just dip bread (which is from nearby Standard Bakery and also delicious) into this broth all night and leave totally happy. The crab and avocado appetizer is uncomplicated and fresh with a very generous serving of crab; it's a good selection if you're looking for light, healthy, unadulterated taste of the sea - the only downside is that the meat is mostly broken up and you don't get the large lumps o' crab that offer big, meaty bites.

The plates get more dramatic with the entrees, headlined by the lobster diavolo: a mammoth two person pasta in a saute pan, loaded down with a red sauce packed with an assortment of seafood including mussels, squid, lobster in the shell. When you see this on the menu, you figure, "when in Rome..." The diavolo is good enough but the joy of this dish comes less from the taste of the food and more from seeing the presentation and all the stuff in the sauce. The food itself could use some refinement: the sauce was quite oversalted, for one. And when cracking the lobster claws, water came rushing out into the dish, watering down the sauce. Clipping the ends of the claws prior to putting it in the dish would drain a lot of this water. The more simple lobster with butter-garlic sauce over pasta is a similar dish that tastes better - but perhaps it's not as exciting or chaotic as the diavolo. But one thing to emphasize is that with either one, and most any other dish I saw, is that you get your money's worth. These are very generous portions and they don't sacrifice the quality of the ingredients. I like places like this because it feels very hospitable.

The service is a bit scattered but not intended to be super-high end anyway. They might forget a thing or two that you ask for, or more than one person might come over and ask you the same question. But the weaknesses are not egregious and the bottom line is that you come to have a good time, and in places like these, you don't hold the staff over the fire. You get friendly, warm atmosphere and pleasing food for good value. Of course, for Street and Co to take it to the next level and really be a place that grabs a spot in your heart, it'll have to improve the personability and attention to detail in its service.

When you go visit Portland, Maine, I think it's this kind of dining experience you're looking for. You come to the town because you want to cozy, quaint, relaxed feel - and you want to get hit over the head with seafood. Street and Co delivers well on all of those things.

Makoto

6/28/2008

Washington DC: 4822 Macarthur Blvd NW - (202) 298-6866

Price Range: High End

Rating (1-10): 5

Full Review:

My recommendation for this place is easy: pass. If you're considering going, it probably means you're willing to spend some cash, and if you're gonna do that, you can find a more enjoyable experience elsewhere. At Makoto, treating patrons with tact or a true sense of hospitality is apparently optional. The food would actually be pretty average in Japan but they seem to be pretty impressed with themselves. What concerns me is that people will walk away thinking that Makoto and its austere, cold service are characteristic of authentic Japanese; that's not how it is supposed to be done. Both the food and the service should be artful, and they only come close with the former. I don't buy the hype about Makoto; I'm convinced it gets the kind of praise that it does largely because there's just a dearth of good Japanese restaurants in Washington DC.

A while back, I stopped in for a fine lunch, but our service at dinner was strikingly bad. Upon arriving at the restaurant, we were greeted with a curtain, and were unsure if we should peek in and announce our presence. When a server clad in a kimono emerged, she informed us that we would have a short wait in the shoebox sized waiting area, and gave us a wooden box to sit on. It was a few minutes before our 8 o'clock reservation (which required that we give a credit card number); we waited until 8:40 to be seated, with untruthful promises that we would be seated shortly sprinkled in periodically.

In one awkward moment during our wait, a couple entered the shoebox waiting area and two servers emerged - and then got into an uncomfortable exchange bordering on argument. After a momentary pause, the servers turned their attention back to the couple and found that their reservation was lost. The matter was sorted out and the head server then yelled (literally) that she needed to speak with her subordinate immediately in the kitchen. Once the comically uncoordinated servers left the shoebox, we looked over the at the couple and all of us acknowledged the strangeness of the exchange we had just witnessed.

It's also interesting to note the signage that greets you as you walk into the restaurant, and prepare you for the experience here. On the center of the front door is a gold plaque reading "Proper Attire Required." Then, inside the door, another plaque more specifically stating the dress code, prominently displayed on an otherwise undecorated wall. Directly below that is a sign telling you to turn off your cell piece. And finally, on the opposite wall, another sign declaring that the restaurant is not responsible if any of your stuff gets taken from the foyer area. Not exactly the most welcoming decor.

After being seated, we were hungry. We knew that we would be ordering the tasting menu, so my mother asked on her way to the bathroom if we could order as soon as possible. Before she was able to return, the head server flew over to me at the sushi counter and forcefully explained that I should order because we had asked to do so, shoving the menu in my hands and pointing vigorously at my options. There was a false friendliness that barely masked the server's overall impatient, temperamental, highly abrasive demeanor. How could a restaurant put their front of the house in the hands of such a colossally unpleasant woman?

After ordering, we were brought a kind of sake that we didn't actually want. It turns out we had ordered the wrong kind, partly because we ordered in Japanese and our server did not understand. At the risk of sounding insensitive, I found it troublesome that a server at Makoto would not speak Japanese - not only because it's a place that seems to insist so strongly on being traditional in its ways, but also because items on the menu, including the sake, are written in Japanese. What's the point of this if you have to translate it for the server anyway? In any mid to high-end French restaurant, I would expect that the server will have the training to recognize any item written on the menu in French, even if he/she doesn't actually speak fluently. So should it be anywhere where a menu item is written in a foreign language.

Before the food came out, I checked if I had any new text messages on my phone which was on silent. The head server flew at me once again yelling (again), as if I had stepped on the baby Jesus. She said that I had to turn off my phone immediately and that they would stop service if the chef saw me checking text messages. Perhaps what I did was insulting to the chef, which I take the blame for - but I cannot accept the reaction as a rational way of dealing with the situation.

And this was emblematic of the way our experience was in general: I understand why they have their rules and I understand the spirit behind it. But at almost every turn, they lack grace and tact in the way they enforce those rules. As a result, it feels contricted, stiff, and unfriendly. For example:

• I probably shouldn't even be checking my phone, but I don't need to be screamed at or told that they might not serve me. An alternative is to ask politely to refrain from using my phone in the restaurant; or better yet, if she had explained that the chef takes his craft very seriously and would like me to focus fully on the experience he is trying to deliver. Not only would I respect that, it would be a learning experience for me.
• They don't have to display prominent gold plaques that tell you all the things you're not supposed to do as you walk into the restaurant.
• They don't need to take your credit card number when you make a reservation, which comes off as some kind of veiled threat; rather, they could ask for your phone number and call to confirm your reservation prior to your arrival.

I don't find the reasons for what they do objectionable, it's the manner in which they do it.

The food is good - but as you might guess, it really was not the focal point in this atmosphere. The meal was nicely presented and sometimes quite delicious. For $60, the tasting menu is a decent deal because you get 9 courses including dessert, and the plates are probably about as good of Japanese food as you'll find in DC. Unfortunately, there isn't much drama or excitement as the dishes are brought to you. Instead, it feels like the courses are churned out in a machine-like fashion, as if there's a dish on deck for you as soon as the one you're working on can be bussed away. All the better though: with the service the way it was, I was ready to pound out the courses like a set of push-ups and get on my way. Here's a rundown:

#1: Opener of smoky, smallish green beans and conch. The conch is light, tastes nice.
#2: Nice sashimi plate was nice and came with a fresh grated wasabi which is always better. The tuna in particular was flavorful and meaty but still tender.
#3: A playful dish - salmon sashimi wrapped in a thin layer of radish in a cream sauce with a tomato, in a yellow boat-shaped dish. That was good, although somewhat unremarkable other than the visual. On the side was a piece of unagi (eel) on toasted bread sprinkled with cheese - weird and unnecessary. The other part of this dish was kombu (kelp) on a scallop which was outright disgusting. The strong kombu flavor complemented the scallop in a way that made it taste rotten.

#4: A deep-fried crab not with tempura batter or panko but with broken up osembe (rice crackers). It's a novel idea but again not necessary as the layer of osembe (though crunchy, salty, and delicious) overwhelmed the crab both in mass and in flavor. You need a big thick chunk of crab to make this work; anyting that's not the body, therefore, is more like a stick of fried osembe and a waste of crab meat. It's good with lemon and salt.

#5: Steamed fish with greens was one of the best dishes: flavorful, tender fish and vegetables in a broth of typically Japanese stock flavor.
#6: The sushi plate was disappointing considering the praise this place gets as one of the premier sushi places not only in DC but on the east coast. Not only were the sushi pieces too similar or the same as the sashimi plate, it was as small as I have ever seen. This is iSushi and unlike an iPod, smaller is not better.#7: I chose a common Japanese preparation of miso-flavored broiled orange roughy was light and nice in flavor but overcooked and surprisingly tough. Another option, the yellowtail is more tender and a meatier fish. #8: Last of the savory dishes, the soba dish, my favorite partly because of its refreshing nature but mostly because of the broth, which is made at the counter and adjusted for flavor by the chef. It's very good - the most memorable flavor of the night. The noodles are cooked to a perfect texture and there are several options for your garnish. I had the grated yam, which was nice.
#9: Dessert - a yuzu sherbet which was a nice ender to the meal: icy, not too sweet, with the yuzu flavor refreshing your mouth. If this was at an icy stand in my neighborhood, I'd probably get it 5 times a week.

Overall, I just didn't feel that the food was remarkable, certainly not enough to excuse the gruff treatment. In Japan, this place would be average, and there the top notch places may have many rules but they'll be revealed to you in far more subtle and artful ways. You'll follow them out of respect for the establishment naturally, not because they are harshly imposed upon you. And at no point would their sense of courtesy slip; for example, yelling at a customer would be inexcusable. Of course, to be fair, you'll also pay a lot more as well. But at the end of the day $60 per person warrants an enjoyable night out, and Makoto did not deliver that. If all you care about is the food, then maybe it's ok because it's as good as any Japanese food in DC and you'll get a full meal out of the tasting menu.

For me, it's a one and done.