Today's Review Roundup includes: Ba Xuyen, Ida Mae Kitchen-n-Lounge, Schiller’s Liquor Bar, Mojo, El Maguey Y La Tuna, Minado, Grotta Azzurra, Pylos, Pier 116, Sette, Choice, Lulu's
Village Voice Robert Sietsema reviews Ba Xuyen (Brooklyn): File this one under Extremely Cheap Eats.
. . . . Halfway around the world, the hero was simultaneously being invented by the Vietnamese. Also deploying a modified baguette—one that combined rice and wheat flours—they piled on rubbery pâté, sliced pork, and anisey Chinese sausage. Then they garnished it with sweet pickled vegetables and cilantro, and smeared it with chile paste. Known as banh mi, the resulting clash of cultures and flavors represents an invention as formidable as the Italian American hero.
. . . . But the sine qua non of Ba Xuyen remains the Vietnamese hero, and the shockingly low price of $2.75 makes it one of the cheapest full meals in town. I dutifully ate my way through all eight choices, including the surprisingly delicious sardine. Though some extol the chicken (#6), I vastly prefer the meatball banh mi (#4), made from succulent orbs of pork and onion that could be mistaken for Italian meatballs save for a faint whiff of fish sauce.
NYMetro.com reviews Ida Mae Kitchen-n-Lounge: As a recovering Southerner, I am surprised to find that I have yet to read a review of Ida Mae that has peaked my interest enough to consider a visit, and the reviews aren't even bad.
My quite delicious barbecued short ribs came to the table de-boned, in the shape of a little cupola, on top of a pedestal of crispy pommes au gratin. The barbecue sauce was a sweet, tomato-based mesquite glaze, and the greens were classic French haricots verts, salted with bits of cured bacon. Likewise, the pork tostada at Ida Mae isn’t really a pork tostada at all. It’s a pork loin of the highest quality, grilled to a kind of professional, gourmet pinkness, cut in precious medallions, and served over black beans, an ancho-chili purée, and corn pudding baked in the shape of a tart. I also detected an odd tart-shaped object buried in another deconstructionist dish called “lamb chop style gumbo.” It turned out to be a rice cake, which was no substitute for real, rib-sticking gumbo rice, although the dish was rescued by the baby lamb chops, which were perfectly cooked and spiced with sassafras.
Keith McNally's Schiller's Liquor Bar to open next week: " “I’m sick of French bistros,” says McNally, improbably. Instead of a croque monsieur, there’s Welsh rarebit, plus rotisserie chicken, fried-oyster po’ boys, and, as a tribute to the neighborhood’s immigrant past, German specials like wiener schnitzel with spaetzle. McNally hopes to woo locals with homemade doughnuts and coffee, a frozen-margarita machine, and low prices (everything—except that steak—is $15 or under). Compulsive hand-scrubbers take note: The bathrooms, according to McNally, are pectacular."
Minado sounds like an o.k. choice if you're into the sushi buffet thing. I'm sure I'll go at least once. "The serving table runs nearly the entire length of the block-wide restaurant, and, in spite of the slightly scary all-you-can-eat-sushi-and-sashimi concept ($23.95 during the week, $25.95 on weekends), the seafood is of decent quality and freshness thanks to a fairly high turnover rate, a scrum of fastidious sushi chefs, and headset-wearing waitresses who keep everything spotless."
I thought I was losing my mind last week when I noticed that Nong was now Choice. Thankfully there is confirmation that I'm not so crazy -- "Lickety-split, the Pan-Asian Nong has become a New American comfort-food canteen where the user-friendly menu format seems inspired by the one at Amuse. Everything is conveniently organized by price, from “mom’s potato salad” and onion rings for $4 to pan-roasted trout for $16."
Yet another coffee bar and (organic) tea salon -- Lulu's. "For the time being, the beverage menu is supplemented by Ruben’s empanadas, ice-cream floats, and quiche from East Harlem bakery La Tropezienne, but come fall, owner and interior designer Tyler Leonard plans to start serving fondues and infused hot and cold sakes, available, like everything else, in two sizes: “petite” or “big-assed.”
