A Full Belly

Sumile

6 Vegetarian Spots

Dosa Hut (photos of dosa, desert, Shamas)
102 Lexington Ave, on the corner 27th St.
Vegans love South Indian food because almost all of it is already vegan. This is a great place for dinner or lunch, and--because it's nice and still affordable--we often see people on dates there. Shamas Kahn, the owner, is extremely enthusiastic about the menu and is happy to answer any questions you might have. His true passion is traditional South Indian food, although he offers many more options to keep his customers happy.

Dinner at Aki on West 4th

Last night we were wandering around the West Village looking for a place to have dinner, when we came across Aki on West 4th, a Japanese sushi restaurant often praised on the Chowhound boards. Inside, we found 2 seats at the sushi bar waiting for us. Chef-owner "Siggy" was behind the bar, moving to a perceptible beat as he deftly prepared sushi for a full-house plus a stream of takeout orders.

We decided to share Omakase B, which included our choice of 3 appetizers, chef's choice of sushi, and dessert. "Omakase" roughly translates to "Chef, I'm in your hands." For our appetizers, we chose Uni mousse (uni mousse with junsai (thread-like water plant) in yuzu-flavored gelée), hamachi steak (sake lees marinated yellowtail, baby bok choy, enoki-mushroom ginger sauce), and tuna mille-feuille (pictured above; tuna, fuji apple, avocado, shiso and tobiko with white balsamic sauce).

When fresh and properly prepared, uni (sea urchin roe) is delightful -- sweet and melt-in-your-mouth good. Under any other circumstances, uni can be a less than an enjoyable experience and is not recommended. Thankfully and as expected, the uni mousse was excellent -- slightly sweet with a citrus undertone.

The tuna mille-feuille was beautifully prepared, and we found the combination of tuna, fuji apple and avocado very pleasing.

Chef-owner "Siggy" once worked as the private chef to the Japanese Ambassador to the West Indies, and the Jamaican influence was evident in the tuna with fried plantain roll served as part of our sushi selection.

For dessert, we had the green tea tiramisu and tofu panna cotta. Also on the dessert menu was a lychee liqueur gelatin with mixed fruit, which according to our sushi bar neighbor, was also very good.

Overall, a fantastic meal and attentive service, all reasonably price. We will definitely be back soon.

Aki on West 4th
181 West 4th Street
Btwn 6th & 7th Avenues
212-989-5440

Reviews: Citysearch, NYMetro

Openings

NYMetro restaurant openings for the week of October 6th:

Pearson’s Texas Barbecue (170 East 81st Street): “The big cuts of meat—the pork shoulders and briskets—get cooked overnight; they go for twelve, fourteen, sixteen hours,” says barbecue legend Robert Pearson, who comes out of retirement this week to open Pearson’s Texas Barbecue with partners Ken Aretsky and Ellen Goldberg in the old Butterfield 81 space."

Grotto (100 Forsyth Street): "For now, [Lauren] Collura’s limited menu features toothsome crostini, an invigorating hazelnut-flecked smoked-trout salad, and rosemary-tinged chicken spiedini grilled in the backyard. Once Con Ed turns on the gas, she’ll debut the elegant pastas we remember from her boutique-basement days."

Loreley (7 Rivington Street): ". . . A dozen German beers are on tap just in time for Oktoberfest, and next week, the kitchen swings into gear with a menu built by Momm’s own mom, who aims to reveal German food’s little-known lighter side—liverwurst on organic seven-grain with sprouts, cod with mustard sauce and cucumber-dill salad, and even a Loreley Cobb."

Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar (246 East 5th Street): "Restaurateurs Jack and Grace Lamb like staying close to home: They live across the street from their sushi bar, Jewel Bako, and around the corner from their Blue Goose Café. But their latest venture, Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar, is even more convenient—it occupies the first and second floors of their own carriage house."

Pacifico (269 Pacific Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn):"Owner Jimmy Mamary (of Patois, Schnäck, and Gowanus Yacht Club fame) has built on the site of a lot that was once used for parking off-duty frankfurter carts, but chef (and Mesa Grill graduate) Joe Pounds’s “glorified taco stand” menu (flank-steak fajitas, chile rellenos, and chorizo skewers) shouldn’t conjure up any dirty-water-dog ghosts."

NYC: Review Roundup

Today's review roundup includes: Schiller's Liquor Bar, Say Cheese, 325 Spring Street, Annisa

Citysearch reviews Schiller's Liquor Bar (131 Rivington St):

At dinner, a nicely gamey chopped liver mousse, watercress salad with blue cheese and walnuts, and meatloaf with mashed potatoes (Tuesday's special) standout among the better-than-average bistro fare. But it's brunch and breakfast that showcase the kitchen's best work: From the eggs Hussard--poached atop a brilliant ham, tomato and mushroom mix doused with Bordelaise and Hollandaise--to the simple fines herb omelette and homemade donuts, everything is done well. For dessert, the dense, sticky caramel cake with vanilla ice cream is just about perfect.

Citysearch reviews Say Cheese (649 9th Ave):

This cherry sliver of a spot, bright with yellow porthole lights and bouncy pop music, attracts after-school teens, lunching theater folks, and weekenders on their way out of town--all of them happily indulging their inner child with gooey-good grilled cheese sandwiches. Take a seat at a wood table along the exposed brick walls--it's just as swift as takeaway.

NYMetro reviews 325 Spring Street (325 Spring Street):

Truffles are all over the menu at 325 Spring Street, and if you can’t actually bear to order them, you can peruse a little showcase in the foyer that is full of expensive truffle products (truffle oils, truffle pastes, truffle jellies) to buy. The restaurant is located on the far-western edge of Soho, in the old (truffle-colored) UPS Building.

. . . I counted eight truffle items on the appetizer-and-salad section of the menu alone, and if these don’t fulfill your truffle longings, you can order a ten-gram “supplement” of black truffles, to eat as a side dish, like potato chips.

. . . These creations are the conceptual work of Clément Bruno, a noted truffle hound from the south of France. Chef Bruno isn’t actually in the kitchen, however (he oversees the New York menu while operating a well-known truffle boutique in a town called Lorgues), and in his absence the proceedings can get a little rocky. Our table enjoyed most of the other truffle items, particularly a giant, crusty wheel of bread ($20) piled with shavings of white summer truffle (it costs $32 if you pile on black truffles, too) and four kinds of melted cheese. However, the chilled pea soup was gelatinous and not very fresh, and the wan, watery crab consommé tasted like something from the kitchen of an ambitious, up-market old persons’ home. The lobster minestrone was marginally better than that, although it was served flattened out in the bowl, so the ingredients looked disparate and a little lonely, like they’d washed up from the sea. And my order of vegetable ravioli was so overwhelmed with sage that my extremely herb-conscious colleague thought the kitchen had made some kind of tragic mistake.

NYNewsday reviews Annisa (13 Barrow St):

Anita Lo, the mega-talented chef at Annisa, will surprise you, but all the surprises will be pleasant ones. When was the last time you ate grilled squid with watermelon and fresh pandanus leaf, an intense green seasoning with a floral flavor? Never, I'll bet. What's more, at most restaurants, you would be skeptical about trying such a dish. At Annisa, a calm space tucked away on a Greenwich Village side street, you need not fear.

As with, seemingly, all that Lo touches, the dish was exquisite. Silken fluke sashimi with plums and pickled red onions was startling in its clarity. Zucchini blossom pancake and delicate globe squash with brilliantly applied "Korean spices" will perk up jaded taste buds that have suffered through one too many contrived dishes around town.

There is nothing boring here.

Bistro Mania

NY Newsday's Bistro Mania lists 10 favorite bistros. Below are their picks for Manhattan and Brooklyn:

MANHATTAN:
Payard (1032 Lexington Avenue)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYTimes

Park Bistro (414 Park Avenue South)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYTimes

db Bistro Moderne (55 West 44th Street)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYTimes

BROOKLYN:
Bistro St. Mark's (76 St. Mark's Avenue)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYTimes

360 (360 Van Brunt Street)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYTimes

Quercy (242 Court Street)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYTimes

Bao Noodles

Last night we paid a visit to the just opened Bao Noodles (391 Second Avenue, near 23rd St). It was very much a first week open experience -- inexperienced server, no liquor license yet, appetizer arrived afterour entrees, etc. But that's all to be expected. We had sugarcane shrimp, spicy beef stew and rice noodle soup, and crispy whole snapper with tamarind sauce. Overall, Bao Noodles is a great addition to the neighborhood, and we looking forwarding to visiting again in a few weeks to explore the menu further.

New York City Oyster Festival

Via MUG, New York City Oyster Festival
"To celebrate the time when New York was the capital of the booming northeastern oyster industry …
wealthy merchants built elegant rowhouses like the Merchant’s House … and oyster bars lined
the streets of Lower Manhattan."
Saturday, October 4 from noon-9pm
Hanover Square and Stone Street
Oysters and Guinness, a shucking competition at 2pm, and live music

See today's MUG for a list of places to eat oysters (WD-50, Crudo, Pearl Oyster Bar, Mary's Fish Camp, and opening tomorrow Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar).

Best of Manhattan 2003

New York Press Best of Manhattan 2003: Eats & Drinks

Besides many of the traditonal "Best Of" categories like "Best New Restaurant" (Otto) that you would expect, there are plenty that you wouldn't have thought of including:

Best 100-Year-Old Microorganism
Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Bulgaricus
Yonah Schimmel Knishes Bakery, 137 E. Houston St. (betw. Forsyth & Eldridge Sts.)

Best Thing Since Sliced Bread
Fried Mars Bar
A Salt & Battery, 80 2nd Ave. (betw. 4th & 5th Sts.)

Best Angst-Ridden Baker
Lawrence Elliot
The Read Cafe, 158 Bedford Ave. (betw. N. 8th & N. 9th Sts.), Williamsburg

Best Place to Eat Seven Eel Rolls Because You Must
Kinoko Japanese Restaurant
165 W. 72nd St. (betw. B’way & Columbus Ave.)

NYC: Review Roundup

Today's review roundup includes Café des Artistes, 360, Dumonet, Chennai Garden:

NYTimes Restaurants William Grimes gives Café des Artistes 2 stars (1 West 67th Street):

If ever a restaurant had fine, aristocratic bone structure it is Café des Artistes, with its zigzag floor plan, intimate booths and romantic bar. Diners have only to take one step inside, and the tumultuous New York world outside disappears in a flash, replaced by lush floral displays, flattering lighting and Howard Chandler Christy's pastel murals of naked beauties prancing through romantic landscapes. It's an erotic dream straight from the id of the Arrow Shirt Man. Diners still stare, transfixed.

The clientele does not look for experimental food, and the menu does not force the issue. In an odd way, Café des Artistes functions as a kind of neighborhood restaurant for Manhattan's upper crust.

RECOMMENDED DISHES Country pâté; pot au feu; lobster in basil-Sauternes sauce; John Dory with corn and chanterelles; squab with garlic flan; Ilona torte, banana torte.

NYTimes $25 and Under Eric Asimov reviews 360 (Van Brunt Street (Wolcott Street), Red Hook, Brooklyn) -- a $20 three-course prix fixe sounds like an affordable and worthwhile adventure:

By many definitions, one would call 360 French. The daily menu is written in French, in a blurred, overstruck font reminiscent of a clattering manual typewriter, and the wines are almost all French. There is a cheese course, and one of the owners, Arnaud Erhart, is from Alsace, though his English contains only phantom cobwebs of an accent. Yet every dish on the menu would be as at home in an American restaurant as in a French one.

. . . .The food is intensely seasonal, like a chilled corn soup that captures perfectly its late-summer sweetness and yet is never one dimensional. The chef, Alexander Tchistov, excels at pairings, serving sea scallops roasted to where they are about to explode with flavor together with crisp sautéed cauliflower and peeled cherry tomatoes, which look like orange and red baubles.

. . . .You will not find a rib-eye steak and French fries at 360; too ordinary. But you may find an astonishingly flavorful chicken breast with a pleasingly crisp exterior, puréed potatoes flavored with garlic and rosemary, or a dorade with green and yellow wax beans, the fish sautéed just enough to coax out its reticent flavor.

BEST DISHES Chilled corn soup; sea scallops; steak tartare; seared Spanish mackerel; field greens; spaetzle with braised chicken; roasted chicken breast; sautéed dorade; sautéed cod; banana and plum crepes.

NYPost Steve Cuozzo reviews the relaunched Dumonet (Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th Street):

Except for an inelegant but satisfying plate of fresh mackerel, I'd skip all the $14 first courses, which seem drawn from a 1960 resort menu.

I'd splurge instead on $19.50 "in season" starters built around fresh morels, as earthy and sensuous as black truffles. They are divine, none more so than cream-laden baked duck egg served in a cocotte.

Most entrees are worth $32, even when they're basically bistro dishes. Dreamy tarragon-hollandaise sauce could turn me off to sissy vegetable reductions - but it couldn't bail out dull poached halibut. On the other hand, a glorious cut of Pacific salmon is even better with "light" sorrel butter cream that more honestly is "extra heavy."

Village Voice Robert Sietsema reviews Chennai Garden (129 East 27th Street): First, what's a "dosa"?

These delectable vegetarian crepes are made from a batter of ground rice and urad dal (a tiny beige bean) that's allowed to ferment into frothiness over a period of a day or two. With a vigorous swirling motion the batter is spread on a griddle, heaped with a potato mixture, then rolled into a thick blunt. It's served with a dense coconut chutney for scooping, and a thin soup called sambar for dipping and drinking. Though the pancake part has been around southern India since the 10th century, the idea of stuffing and rolling probably came from the French, who plied the Coromandel Coast south of Madras in the 17th century.

Chennai Garden, a new and elegant walk-down café named after the modern moniker of metropolitan Madras, specializes in dosas and snacks—such as iddlies (ricey dumplings) and utthapams (thicker pancakes with vegetables mixed into the batter)—created by similar means. There are 14 types of dosa alone ($6.45 to $8.95). To the untrained eye they are barely distinguishable. Masala dosa is queen mother of all, as long as a baseball bat and toasty brown in color, invariably evoking oohs and aahs from Indians and non-Indians alike as the waiter bears it in like a retainer carrying a pasha's crown. Take away the potato stuffing and call it a paper dosa. The unfilled variety demonstrates that to its most ardent fans, the real payoff is not the filling but the crispy pancake. For the cost-conscious diner, however, that wad of starchy stuffing also containing cashews, dal, onions, and cilantro in a mild masala makes the treat a full meal.

Gourmet's Best

Gourmet's Guide to America's Best Restaurants 2003 is out, and here are the picks for NYC. Pleasantly surprised to see Tabla make the list, puzzled to see Craft as the "Buzz" pick:

BUSINESS:
Le Bernardin (155 West 51st Street)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYMetro, NYTimes

BUZZ:
Craft (43 East 19th Street)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYMetro, NYTimes

PERSONAL FAVORITE:
Tabla (11 Madison Avenue)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYMetro, NYTimes

NEIGHBORHOOD GEMS:
'Inoteca (98 Rivington Street)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYMetro

Blue Hill (75 Washington Place)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYMetro, NYTimes

L'Impero (45 Tudor City Place)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYMetro, NYTimes

New feature

I've recently begun documenting some of our dining experiences with my digital camera. Keeping a copy of the menu is nice, but a few words describing the entree or dessert just doesn't trigger the same kind of mouthwatering memories. I'll be posting the photos in the newly created NYC Eats -- In Photos photo album (now linked to from the sidebar to your left) for everyone's enjoyment. Bon appetit!

Good Eating: Seafood

NYTimes Good Eating wishes for an endless summer with this list of restaurants "inspired by the humble fish shack":

FISH
280 Bleecker Street (Jones Street)
Reviews: NYTimes

HURRICANE HOPEFUL
139 North Sixth Street (Bedford Avenue), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Reviews: Digital City, NYTimes

MARY'S FISH CAMP
64 Charles Street (West Fourth Street)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYTimes

THE MERMAID INN
96 Second Avenue (near Fifth Street)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYTimes

PEARL OYSTER BAR
18 Cornelia Street (near Bleecker Street)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYTimes

PIER 116 BEER GARDEN AND EATS
116 Smith Street (Pacific Street), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Reviews: Digital City

SHORE
41 Murray Street (Church Street)
Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City

takeout menu organizer

The perfect accessory for any New York City household -- the takeout menu organizer!

Meet the Chefs Day

Via NYTimes Spare Times:

"MEET THE CHEFS DAY," Carmine Street between Bleecker and Bedford Streets, Greenwich Village. Featuring food from more than 30 area restaurants. Tomorrow, 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tickets, $5 a tasting ($20 for five tastings purchased in advance); proceeds to benefit the Downing Street Preschool Cooperative and Our Lady of Pompei Elementary School. Also, raffles. Sponsored by the Carmine Street Block Association.

Does anyone have more info. on this event?

Openings

NYMetro restaurant openings for the week of September 29th:

Pop Burger (58–60 Ninth Avenue): "During the day, a streetside fast-food counter dispenses burgers, dogs, onion rings, and fries. At night, there’s the added attraction of the back room, a luxe pool hall and lounge outfitted with low-slung banquettes, a kicky sound system, and its own limited snacky menu."

Sample Conservas (152 Smith Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn): "For their second venture together, chef-partners Josh Cohen and Maio Martinez have gone from one extreme—the labor-intensive, slow-cooked Carolina-style barbecue at Biscuit—to another. At Sample Conservas, the kitchen is relieved from cooking altogether: Ingredients arrive jarred, canned, pre-smoked, salt-cured, or air-dried, and the prep work involves little more than a can opener and a slotted spoon. Inspired by a conserva bar in Spain, this type of restaurant makes things easy on the kitchen (unless the “chef” is confronted with a recalcitrant lid)."

Bao Noodles (391 Second Avenue, near 23rd Street): "Michael Huynh, chef-architect of the East Village hotspot Bao 111, has won a lot of fans with his sophisticated Vietnamese cooking, and they’re clamoring for more. Hence the more casual, inexpensive, and soup-centric Bao Noodles, where Huynh focuses on four distinct Vietnamese cooking styles—Mekong River, Hanoi, Saigon, and Hue—each represented by a $15 prix fixe family-style meal. He rounds out the menu with spring and summer rolls, seared-beef and seafood salads, clay-pot and stir-fried specialties, and, of course, oodles of noodles. Takeout and delivery, too."

Australian Homemade (115 St. Marks Pl.): "Another high-design sweet shop in the Rice to Riches mode, this one plies chocolates and fancy, airy ice cream, in flavors like mocha hazelnut and strawberry cheesecake."

Candle 79 (154 E. 79th St.): "This bigger, ritzier branch of Candle Cafe entices Upper East Siders to eat their vegetables—not to mention their beans, grains, and tofu."

Matsuri (88 Ninth Ave.): "Tadashi Ono’s home-style Japanese cooking seems the perfect match for the subterranean restaurant and sushi bar at the Maritime Hotel, sure to become many a hipster’s high-style home away from home."

PM (50 Gansevoort St.): "The meatpacking district’s latest lounge has a Haitian theme, a Creole tapas menu, and a design scheme that its publicists compare to “a forsaken gentleman’s club in the tropics.” "

NYC: Review Roundup

Today's Review Roundup includes: Mix, ’inoteca, Bread Tribeca, Time Cafe, Lunasa, The Knickerbocker, Walkers, Cafe on Clinton, Lento's

NYTimes Diner's Journal William Grimes visits Mix (68 West 58th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Ave):

Mix in New York is Mr. Ducasse's latest experiment in populist food, a kind of follow-up to his Spoon restaurants in Paris and London. It's a tribute to home cooking and homey flavors, both French and American, with a slight bias toward the Atlantic coasts of both nations. As with many a summer Hollywood movie, it doesn't pay to think too hard about the concept. Thinking interferes with pleasure, and there's a lot to love at this highly stylized, very quirky restaurant, which brings some much-needed fun to the New York dining scene.

NYMetro reviews ’inoteca (98 Rivington Street):

There are six sections to the menu, not counting dessert, and the biggest, not surprisingly, is pane, which is also divided into three subsections called tramezzini (little tea sandwiches), panini, and bruschetta. My favorite of the tramezzini was the one made with chicken (it’s served Grandma-style, with the crusts cut off), and all of the panini combinations seemed quite superior (try the one made with salty bresaola and Fontina cheese), except the pork version, which was overstuffed and fatty. The king of the bruschetta category was a little square of toast hollowed in the middle like a toad-in-the-hole and filled with egg, bits of truffle, and more melted Fontina cheese. The best of the larger piatti category was a dense square of vegetable lasagne (made not with pasta but with layers of eggplant), and if you want to order just one of the fritti, try the prawns, which are flavored with a light sweet-and-sour sauce and intertwined with crinkly strips of bacon.

NYMetro reviews Bread Tribeca (301 Church Street):

Like lots of the food at Bread Tribeca, these uptown dishes are efficiently produced and competently presented. If you’re a devotee of the original Bread, they probably won’t make you forget the quirky pleasures of the snug little room back on Spring Street. But then, no one ever succeeded in the big city by sitting still, and ambition always has its costs.

NY Newsday's 10 Tried and True Neighborhood Restaurants:

Manhattan:

Time Cafe. NoHo's comfortable neighborhood standby is still going strong at the corner of Great Jones and Lafayette, with one of the area's best sidewalk cafes -- set far enough back from the street so you're not inhaling bus exhaust along with your grilled fish. [Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City ]

Lunasa. This is definitely not your grandfather's Irish bar. Although it's new, it's well on the way toward becoming a neighborhood hangout. The room is sleek and sophisticated and the bar food veers toward the tapas-esque. . .

The Knickerbocker. Talk about your neighborhood fave. The up-front bar at The Knick is always jammed with locals who come for classic cocktails, friendly bar staff, and a varied bar menu that ranges from pizza and buffalo wings to ribs to salmon tartare and sushi. In back is the more formal restaurant, with its wide circular booths and excellent steaks. [Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City]

Walkers. When we say this place has been around forever, we mean forever: There has been a tavern at this address since 1877. . .[Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City]

Brooklyn:

Cafe on Clinton. They have the neighborly vibe down to a T here, The crowd ranges from families early in the evening to couples as the night wears on. . . . The menu is plenty varied, but it concentrates on uncomplicated dishes like filet mignon, grilled pork chops, pastas, salads, fish, and hamburgers, just the way a neighborhood place should. [Reviews: Citysearch]

Lento's. Fans call the pizza here among the best in the city, with a thin crust, fresh-tasting tomato sauce, and just enough cheese. [Reviews: Digital City]

The decline of "classic" cuisine

The New York Observer on La Côte Basque and the decline of "classic" cuisine:

For the moment, the pressing question is: Does the demise of La Côte Basque carry significance larger than its own misfortune? And will the dwindling fraternité of similar establishments soon find themselves on the embalming table? I went out and asked more than a dozen chefs and restaurateurs what they thought about this.

. . . . I recently thumbed through various New York restaurant guides and newspaper articles from over the past 25 years and found that in 1975, there existed about 25 restaurants that could be considered more or less "traditional classic French" (that is, elegant trappings, black-tie captains, time-honored dishes). In the 1994 edition of my own New York Times Guide to Restaurants in New York City, there were 14. Today, I count eight—and that’s stretching it—including the lavish but largely contemporary Daniel, Alain Ducasse, Chanterelle, Lutèce and Café des Artistes. If a precise definition is applied, the only troopers holding the Maginot Line include La Grenouille, La Caravelle and Le Perigord.

Update: NYTimes on the closing of La Côte Basque

Food & Wine Notes

Be sure to check out today's Food & Wine Notes at MUG. And if you haven't already, subscribe.

NYC: Review Roundup

Today's Review Roundup includes Chipotle Mexican Grill, Rocco's, El Maguey y la Tuna, Lever House.

NYTimes $25 and Under Eric Asimov reviews Chipotle Mexican Grill (150 East 44th Street, between 3rd and Lex):

Regardless of how one feels about chains, this first Chipotle in New York City produces undeniably good food, including the last things I would expect: forceful spicing, fresh, good-quality ingredients and attention to details. What's more, while the components of Chipotle's burritos, fajitas and tacos are made in advance, they are assembled to order, a crucial element in the leap from sustenance to pleasure.

BEST DISHES Burritos (pork, barbacoa, steak), burrito bol, guacamole and chips.

NYTimes Restaurants William Grimes revisits Rocco's and gives it one star:

. . . . Fun is fun — and Rocco's really is a lot of fun — but eventually everyone has to eat the food on the plate.

It's pretty good. Early on, this was not so. The squishy pasta and bumbling service that enchanted viewers lived on for a while after the cameras left. But as the more hopeless members of the team departed, the restaurant got down to the actual work of preparing and serving food, and at the moment most of it is more than respectable.

Mama's meatballs, juicy and mildly spiced, are about as good as meatballs can get, which is not saying a lot, but that's the level of ambition at Rocco's. Zucchini flowers stuffed with melted ricotta are a little oily, but that's the house style. Lots of oil, lots of garlic and a ton of sauce are inscribed in Rocco's DNA.

RECOMMENDED DISHES Crispy lemony shrimp, Mama's meatballs, duck prosciutto, grilled shrimp, rabbit cacciatore, soft polenta, fusilli pomodorini, cheesecake, raspberry jam tart.

Village Voice Robert Sietsema reviews El Maguey y la Tuna, formerly of Williamsburg (321 East Houston Street):

Pedaling down East Houston a couple of weeks ago, I nearly fell off my bike when I spotted a spruce storefront emblazoned El Maguey y la Tuna. Could it be the same place? One taste of the mole ranchero ($9.95) confirmed it—a half-chicken gobbed with a gritty red sauce that deserves a place among the city's culinary wonders. Associated with Puebla and Michoacán, it employs two flavorful dried chiles—the guajillo and the costeño—trading licks in the sauce like heavy-metal guitar gods.

Despite the continued excellence of certain dishes, it was clear to a bunch of regulars that convened at the new joint one summer evening that there was now a certain—how shall we say it—restraint in the menu. The chiles had largely disappeared from many dishes, and there was a tendency, as Marisa delicately put it, to "dump meat into everything."

. . . . Isn't it ironic, we pondered, that just as McDonald's is tossing some serious chiles into the burritos at its subsidiary Chipotle, and just as Bobby Flay is seen caressing chiles on seemingly every TV station, and just as salsa has replaced ketchup as the national condiment—our local Mexican hang is banishing chiles?

NYPost reviews Lever House (390 Park Ave at 53rd Street):

But Lever House is not just another place with an "ingredient-driven" American menu. It burst on the scene with so much buzz, it's hard to focus on what you're actually eating.

One owner flaunts fashion-world credentials; two others run Page Six-ish downtown places like Canteen and Joe's Pub. At buttoned-down Lever House, it's as if Paris Hilton crashed a board meeting and danced on the desk tops.

. . . . One appetizer is a must: Maya shrimp ($14) wrapped in pancetta and skewered with rosemary sprigs. Smoky and sweet, they're so good I was tempted more than once to skip everything else.

That would be a mistake. Chilled lobster and corn chowder ($14), garnished with chopped lobster and chives, possessed revelatory purity. Greenmarket freshness pervades sparkling salads, like tempura-fried okra ($12) with crisp haricot vert, yellow wax beans and green and yellow romano beans.

Wild Alaska roast salmon ($26) is lavished in butter sauce fragrant with watercress, tarragon, chives, chervil, parsley and shallots, while luxurious filet mignon ($34) is poached in red wine with thyme, peppercorns and wild mushrooms.

When the kitchen backfires, it's loud enough to rattle Park Avenue. Overcooked halibut ($28) arrived near-cold. Shrimp and lobster risotto ($26) wasted good shellfish on lumpy rice overloaded with red peppers.

Quick Review: Better Burger

The idea behind Better Burger (178 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street and 565 Third Avenue at 37th Street) is burgers that are better for you and better tasting. Meat and poultry burgers are antibiotic, hormone, nitrate, and filler free; lower and fat than what they refer to as "the big boys."

On our visit we had a beef burger and a turkey burger. The beef burger was seemingly greasier than a "big boy" burger and otherwise a pretty average burger. The turkey burger was better than a typical turkey burger, which can sometimes have a not quite natural texture. We also sampled some of the organic condiments -- our favorites were the spicy wasabi sauce and karma ketchup. Better Burger's french fries have 2/3 less fat than regular fries thanks to air-baking -- if that's true, no complaints. We washed it all down with a very tasty and refreshing mango lemonade.

 

Reviews: Digital City, NYMetro.com, NYTimes

Upcoming events at 92nd St. Y

Remaining talks in the 92nd Street Y Food Talks series (Subscriptions:$65, $25 per):

East Coast, West Coast & In Between
Jeremiah Tower and Arthur Schwartz
Mon, Sept 15 @ 8:15

The New American Chef
Bobby Flay, Jonathan Waxman, Rozanne Gold and Gail Greene
Alexandra Leaf, moderator
Tues, Dec 2 @ 8

The Making of a Great Chef
Daniel Boulud and David Bouley
Thurs, Jan 15 @ 8:15

* * * * *

NYTimes Dining Tours

While poking around the NYTimes Dining & Wine section I stumbled across video dining tours, a feature that has not been maintained but accompanied many of the restaurant reviews completed in late 2001. Narrated by William Grimes and including glimpses into restaurant kitchens and dining rooms, the videos are fanastic viewing. I did some digging and compiled a list of all the dining tours I found below. Enjoy!

Openings

Openings for the week of September 22nd via NYMetro:

Sumile (154 West 13th Street): "After passing through the kitchens of David Bouley and Rocco DiSpirito, DeChellis auditioned for the owner of Sumile (the singer of the Japanese pop act Dreams Come True) and beat out the competition with flights of Japanese-inspired culinary fancy like Kumamoto oysters with pineapple vinegar, and bean salad dressed in XO sauce and uni."

Café Luise (129 Rivington Street): "Luise, however, has its mellow charms, chief among them low prices and a freewheeling, eclectic menu that ranges from braised oxtail and lima beans to Provençal potato pizzettes. For now, it’s cash only and byo."

Schiller's Liquor Bar

Lockharte Steele reviews Schiller's Liquor Bar (131 Rivington St at Norfolk St):

We're sorry for irresponsibly spreading the "German-Jewish" rumors, cuz this joint is a bistro—straight up, kids, if you don't count the once-a-week weiner schnitzel special—with good food done at a nice price. Though you may want to travel to check it out (best reason to visit from afar: the tilework), it's really a gift to the neighborhood, a place that will be at its best 3pm on a winter Saturday.

See also: Felix Salmon's review.

Other reviews: Digital City, NYTimes

Official website, including menus

NYC: Review Roundup

Today's Review Roundup includes: The Restaurant at Splashlight Studios, Le Madeleine, Panino Sportivo Roma, River Cafe

NYTimes' Diner's Journal William Grimes visits The Restaurant at Splashlight Studios (535 West 35th Street, near 11th Avenue):

The restaurant, open only for lunch and only on weekdays, is a joint venture between Splashlight Studios and Creative Edge Parties, a catering company known for feeding the crowds at parties given by MTV and Vanity Fair. The menu, not surprisingly, consists of chic food intended for chic people. It's light, international and attractively presented. It's also perplexing. Winners like yellow-tomato gazpacho soup, a real zinger with sweet bits of watermelon and crab meat, seem to be offset by the very strange shrimp toast, a sort of crostini with damp shrimp sludge heavily applied.

. . . . So it's up and down at Splashlight. The best ups include a lobster roll with tomato-fennel salad, white corn fritters with green-tomato relish, and a mythical swordfish served with fava beans, corn and sweet Vidalia onions in a lemon-chive jus. I say mythical because the swordfish never materialized on my visits. Instead, mahi-mahi filled in.

New York Newsday reviews Le Madeleine (403 W. 43rd St., between 9th and 10th Ave.):

Le Madeleine, now 23 years old, remains a reliably good, energetic, satisfying spot, fairly priced and to the point.

You'll enjoy steamed mussels, with zesty merguez sausage in a saffron-tomato broth. Or try the terrine of duck and pheasant foie gras, with pickled pearl onions. Marinated, grilled quail: tender and paired with beets, applewood-smoked bacon and shiitake mushrooms.

. . . . Le Madeleine swims ahead of several competitors with sweet, delicate sauteed skate, finished in brown butter-mustard sauce, and accompanied by savory white beans, pancetta and spinach. Sauteed halibut in a tomato and shallot sauce, and grilled salmon complemented by roasted fennel and a caper-spiked sherry vinaigrette are dependable alternatives.

NY Daily News reviews Panino Sportivo Roma (1231 Amsterdam Ave. at 120th St.):

Sandwiches include not only panini pressed on rolls and baguettes, but canapes (which I'd call bruschetta) and tramenzini made on toasted, crustless white bread. All the fillings are first-rate, from the prosciutto di Parma they serve with sun-dried tomato paste on a canape ($5) to the smoked salmon they press with toasted pine nuts and pesto on a crusty roll ($8.50), to the mozzarella that they get from Italy twice a week and offer on a plate with dead-ripe tomatoes and basil ($5).

A salad of greens, cherry tomatoes, corn and Italian tuna ($8.50) is dressed with fresh lemon juice and what the menu abbreviates as EVOO - extra-virgin olive oil - and comes with slender batons of bread brushed with garlic oil. A tremenzino grilled on white bread with smoked ham and melted Fontina ($6) is made lively with a surprising hot sauce.

NYMetro reviews River Cafe (1 Water Street, Brooklyn):

Even allowing for Mayor Bloomberg’s misguided extinguishing of the necklaces of lights spanning the East River crossings, the panorama from under the Brooklyn Bridge produces a blasé-busting, hyperventilating rush of civic pride. Dining on the comfortably lounge-lit floating barge, simply decorated to defer to the obvious visual splendor, with a pianist who cannily plinks instead of plunders, is like living in a Woody Allen movie—one of the wonderful ones, with all the Gershwin, and the specter of looming lechery replaced by the possibility of a happy ending.

Do your part to play along, and nothing at the River Café will dispel the illusion. The staff is smart, attentive, and blessedly innocent of the huckstering and bum’s rushing that often characterize staples of the tourist circuit. The current, unheralded chef is Brad Steelman, and he appears neither jaded nor coasting, nor desperate to be loved for anything but his cooking.

Great Food, Good Hearts

Great Food, Good Hearts -- a guide to New York's City Harvest restaurant donors.

About City Harvest: "City Harvest is the nation's oldest and largest food rescue organization, dedicated to feeding hungry people in New York City. City Harvest picks up excess food from places such as restaurants and grocers and delivers the food to soup kitchens, food pantries, day care and senior citizen centers, homeless shelters and other places that serve those in need. In fiscal year 2002, City Harvest rescued nearly 16 million pounds of food."

(Via Gawker)

NYC: Review Roundup

Today's Review Roundup includes: Suenos, Schnäck, Café Kashkar, Church & Dey, That Little Café

NYTimes Restaurants William Grimes reviews Suenos (311 West 17th Street):

My first meal at Sueños was my best. The restaurant had just opened, and the crowds had not arrived. When they did, the kitchen and the dining-room staff buckled under the strain. The service simply falls apart when the dining room fills up. I saw diners get up and leave after being seated and waiting eternally, almost existentially, for a waiter to appear. Meals that should take an hour and a half at most can drag on for two hours or more. The kitchen, often, does not execute well.

Sometimes, Sueños seems like two businesses, a jolly bar up front dispensing great tropical cocktails and a rickety restaurant in back, filled with frustrated patrons dying to get their forks into some chili-rubbed goat. Half of them are no doubt giving a silent prayer of thanks to the guacamole goddess in the back, their only defense against starvation.

RECOMMENDED DISHES Mezcal-cured salmon terrine; fava bean and goat-cheese empanada; guacamole with chile de árbol tortillas; lobster and corn fritters; tamarind-glazed sirloin; chicken and squash blossom enchiladas; bittersweet chocolate cake.

NYTimes $25 and Under Eric Asimov reviews Schnäck (122 Union Street near Columbia Street, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn):

Like a semaphore, the brief menu hoists a motto to the top of the page: "Hot dogs, cold beer — it's not complicated." Is it a liberating credo? Or a sneer at those who would have you believe that short-order cooking is an art? I can't say I've decided, though the hot dogs are just fine.

All told, Schnäck isn't much. It's not meant to be, and that's the beauty of it. Alan Harding, one of three owners, is a chef who has worked his way down from the hip mid-1990's Nosmo King in Chelsea to a cadre of increasingly simple restaurants in Brooklyn. With Schnäck, he has touched bottom, and is loving it.

Village Voice Robert Sietsema reviews Café Kashkar (1141 Brighton Beach Avenue, Brooklyn):

Café Kashkar is New York's first Uighur eatery. It's named after Kashgar, an oasis with a famous Sunday market 100 miles east of the Tajikistan border. When Marco Polo visited there in the 13th century, he was impressed: "The inhabitants . . . have very fine orchards and vineyards and flourishing estates . . . The country is the starting point from which many merchants set out to market their wares all over the world."

Chief among Uighur delicacies is plov ($6), called "plow" on the awning, and "fried rice" on the menu. This version mixes chunks of well-cooked beef, instead of the usual mutton, with plump grains of very short rice. According to a friend who's sojourned in Central Asia, the brilliant orange hue is due to unrefined sunflower oil. Another well-executed standard is samsa ($1.50). In contrast to the kosher Uzbeki places in town that serve a big-domed turnover, the halal samsa at Kashkar consists of four miniature conjoined mutton pies, easily pulled apart and hospitably shared around the table.

If you only read one review in its entirety today, this is the one -- NYPost Steve Cuozzo gives a scathing review of Church & Dey (Millenium Hilton Hotel, at Ground Zero):

Some people may feel that wining and dining at Ground Zero is inappropriate no matter what is served; others will regard the experience as reaffirming life. The debate will go on. What's beyond debate is that if you run a restaurant there, it had better have some dignity.

Nobody expects high culinary art in a Hilton, but we have a right, at least, to basic respect for the craft of cooking. The menu billed as "A Taste of America" insults the national bounty with flavorless "Kansas City" beefsteak drowned in short-order grease.

. . . . Entrees are hideous around the clock. Two particularly seared themselves into memory: striped bass in a dark and stormy goo called "wild mushroom compote" and "Louisiana jambalaya" - gluey rice that should be served out of a trough, heaped with strips of arid chicken and Andouille sausage.

NYPost reviews That Little Café (147 E. Houston St. between Eldridge and Forsyth):

The yellow-walled Lower East Side spot has a colorful tile floor underfoot, five small mosaic tables and a warm staff dishing out an eclectic mix of salads, sandwiches, breakfast items and daily specials from morning till night. And this will make you smile: Except for some specials, it's all under $10.

Douglas Psaltis at Mix

NYTimes on Douglas Psaltis, the 29 year-old native New Yorker who also happens to be the chef running the kitchen at Alain Ducasse's just opened Mix:

Mr. Psaltis, who has embraced his new responsibilities with almost joyous energy and little trepidation, is from Huntington, on Long Island. He played football and lacrosse at Ohio State University, had zero interest in academics and quit after three semesters.

"All I wanted to do was cook," he said. "My mother was really upset. She didn't want me to wind up like my grandfather."

From the time he was 10, he said, he loved helping his grandfather, a first-generation immigrant from Andros, Greece, who had a diner in Jamaica. "I was the one who piled the meringue on the pies," he said.

$1 value menu, Chinatown style

Mike of Satan's Laundromat illustrates just how far a dollar will get you at the Deluxe Food Market on Elizabeth St.

8th Annual Harvest in the Square

UPDATE: Harvest in the Square originally planned for Thursday, September 18, has been RESCHEDULED for Thursday, October 2. Tickets for the 9/18 will be honored on 10/2.

Thursday, September 18th: "More than 45 restaurants from the Union Square area will be getting together for the 8th Annual Harvest in the Square. The event takes place in the same space as the Union Square Greenmarket Farmers Market, and chefs offer small tastes (many of which will feature fresh produce from the Greenmarket) of what their restaurants have to offer. This year's participating restaurants include Blue Water Grill, Union Square Café, The City Bakery, Tamarind and Eleven Madison Park. Admission: $75 advance, $90 at door. 212-460-1208." (Via gayot.com)

According to the press release, "Harvest in the Square is a fundraiser benefiting the Union Square Local Development Corporation’s neighborhood initiatives. This year, the LDC is pleased to announce the launching of a Capital Campaign for the Redesign of Union Square Park’s North Plaza. Net proceeds from Harvest in the Square 2003 will be used to kick off this exciting public/private initiative that will enhance and beautify the playgrounds, concession, Greenmarket Farmers Market and open spaces."

Find out more about the Union Square LDC at unionsquarenyc.org.

Read on for complete list of participating restaurants.

Openings

Some of this week's openings, via NYMetro:

Alaine Ducasse's Mix (68 West 58th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Ave): "Alain Ducasse, take two—this time, with two prix fixe menus that borrow freely from the American-comfort-food canon, and décor that combines French tradition with ultra-modern attitude. The celebrity chef isn’t gunning for four stars, just a loyal following happy to bask in his exalted aura." See also DailyCandy, Digital City.

Red Cafe (78 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn): Chef Mark Shenk "new itty-bitty bistro in Park Slope. . . .The menu, like the crimson-walled restaurant, is petite but intriguing, with appetizers like risotto cakes with chicken-liver sauce and pancetta, and an open-faced sandwich of beets, goat cheese, walnuts, and chard."

Suzie Wong’s Late Night Cafe at Lotus (409 West 14th Street, near 9th Ave): "an homage to the 1960 William Holden movie about an artist and his Hong Kong–prostitute muse. From midnight to 3 a.m., the back room is staffed by cheongsam-clad look-alikes toting exotic cocktails and miniature takeout containers of satays, baby back ribs, Vietnamese spring rolls, and shu mai, alluringly priced from $5 to $9." Tyson Ophaso is the new chef (previously at the now closed Nong). Perhaps I'm being a grouch, but I hate this idea.

Kasadela (647 East 11th Street, near Ave B): ". . . a cozy, brick-walled East Village sake house, where [Yujen] Pan serves a concise, affordable assortment of rice wines and $10-and-under traditional Japanese snacks. . . "

Lighthouse Tavern (243 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn): "Rounding out the predictable lineup of burgers, nachos, and wings is an assortment of Costa Rican bocas, snacks like chicharrones, tortas, and enyucados (stuffed yucca balls). Factor in fifteen beers on tap, a kitchen that serves past midnight, and owners who consider the place an extension of their own home—black leather sofa and all."

Teany website

Moby's Teany (90 Rivington St. at Orchard St.) now has its own website, including menu and tea list.
(Via Absolutely Vile)

Reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYMetro, NYTimes

Dinner at WD-50

Friday night and a birthday combined for the perfect excuse to enjoy our first meal at WD~50. We started off with the ruby red shrimp and squid linguine -- both were outstanding and the squid linguine particularly memorable. For our main course, I had the monkfish and he had the Flatiron beef. The monkfish was the one disappoint of the evening -- too subtle to be compelling and ultimately bland, except for the accompanying medallion of monkfish liver. In contrast, the flatiron beef was melt-in-your mouth good and the accompanying bone marrow tart was perfectly delightful on the tongue. We finished it all off with tomato-mango ravioli and Gianduja parfait. The tomato-mango ravioli was an unusal and pleasing flavor combination, and served with a rich yogurt sorbet; the Gianduja parfait was simply perfect. We look forward to exploring the menu further on our next visit.

Our meal:
Appetizers:
Ruby red shrimp, onion-clove compote, red pepper
Squid linguine, canteloupe melon, serrano ham, sweet paprika
Mains:
Monkfish, snow peas, oyster mushrooms, bonito broth, mint oil
Flatiron beef, chinese broccoli, shallots, smoked paprika/bone marrow tart
Desserts:
Gianduja parfait, chocolate cream, kumquat coulis
Tomato-mango ravioli, yogurt sorbet, crunchy honey

Reviews: Citysearch, NYMetro, NYPost, NYTimes

WD~50
50 Clinton Street
Phone: 212.477.2900

Inexpensive eats

NYTimes Good Eating on inexpensive eats in Manhattan -- the list:

CARACAS AREPA BAR
91 East Seventh Street (near First Avenue)

CHARLES'S SOUTHERN-STYLE KITCHEN
2841 Frederick Douglass Boulevard (151st Street)

GREEN TABLE
Chelsea Market, 75 Ninth Avenue (15th Street)

HABIB'S PLACE
130 St. Marks Place (near Avenue A)

MAMA'S FOOD SHOP
200 East Third Street (Avenue B)

38TH STREET RESTAURANT AND BAKERY
273 West 38th Street (near Eighth Avenue)

'WICHCRAFT
49 East 19th Street (near Park Avenue South)

A very bad idea

I could be wrong, but Salon Mexico chef Alan Miguel Kaplan's $65 "El Burrito Sashimi" sounds like a very, very bad idea.

Reviews of Salon Mexico: Citysearch, NYTimes

NYC: Review Roundup

Today's Review Roundup includes: North Square, Sabor Restaurant, The Biltmore Room, Kuma Inn, Django

NY Daily News reviews North Square (in the Washington Square Hotel, 103 Waverly Place):

North Square - how apt. There's something decidedly four-square about dining here, from the relaxed service and honest prices to the American Bistro cuisine (prepared by Yoel Cruz, a Mexican-born, French-trained chef with Southwestern licks). The menu is just familiar enough to keep you grounded, but has enough sex appeal - and surprises - to keep your interest. . . . In many ways, North Square is like that "square" woman at the party you might overlook. She's not the one turning heads, but scratch beneath the surface and you may find she's a keeper.

NY Daily News reviews Sabor Restaurant (1725 Second Ave. at 89th St.):

In Spain, a tapa is a bite, a snack - the handful of almonds or single shrimp that you eat to help the sherry go down. But not in New York. Here bigger is better, and a tapa is a substantial plateful of food, somewhere between an appetizer and a Weight Watchers main course. At least that's how it is at Sabor.

Chicken croquettes ($5.95) are three baseball-size spheres of minced smoked chicken under a crunchy crust; arepitas ($7.95) are two thick corn cakes topped with melted cheese and smoky slices of grilled chorizo. Crab cakes ($6.95) are burger-large patties of sweet crabmeat dotted with black beans and served with a tangy salsa of roasted corn and diced red peppers.

MUG reviews The Biltmore Room (290 8th, between 24th and 25th): Chef Gary Robins is the consulting chef at The Biltmore Room. "It's early days; this has the potential to become the best restaurant in Chelsea."

While we wish that restaurants would lay off the Chilean sea bass until the supply is replenished, it must be said that it's delicious here: marinated in miso and surrounded by a Japanese coterie of eggplant, pickled lotus, and somen noodles.

With entrees averaging $25, the Biltmore places itself in the serious dining category. If they can strap Mr. Robins into the kitchen, all hell might break loose – which, really, is all the Biltmore needs.

NYMetro reviews Kuma Inn (113 Ludlow Street, second floor): "With big flavors and small prices, Kuma Inn gives tapas a Thai-Philippine twist (and a dash of Bouley and Boulud)."

King Phojanakong opened Kuma Inn four months ago, and its obscure Lower East Side location and narrow specialization—plus a $10 price ceiling—have made it a true destination restaurant. Small and unfussy, with an open kitchen and an artful, bamboo-accented décor, Kuma feels like a cross between a sake speakeasy and an Asian Cheers, where the smiling waitress remembers what you drank last time (one of nineteen rice wines, probably, or a floral, refreshing Australian white), and the chef stops by each table to gauge reactions.

NYTimes Diner's Journal William Grimes visits Django (480 Lexington Avenue at 46th Street):

Mr. Tovar has an easy way of working exotic influences into his food, especially flavors and spices from the Middle East and Mediterranean. The vaguely Moroccan décor of the upstairs dining room is reflected in one of Mr. Tovar's best entrees, a rich tagine of ribeye nuggets in a heady, stewlike green peppercorn jus, thickened with braised romaine and shallots. Manzanilla sherry adds a salty tang to rack of pork with watercress gnocchi and sweet onion, while espelette peppers bring a Basque touch to pancetta-wrapped cod in a black-olive marinade.

foodie

Gothamist reports on "foodie," a "New York Food Event":

Joseph spends a couple weeks developing his menu, and then invites around 40-50 fellow foodies to enjoy a 6 course food-and-wine pairing menu every two months. Locations change from event to event, but the same meticulous attention and care to the experience is given at each. foodie has been word of mouth of late, and Gothamist was fortunate enough to be invited to his fourth foodielast month.

. . . . Joseph's next foodie will be in late October. foodie is $95 per person, for a six course meal, including wine at each course. For more information, e-mail: foodieny@hotmail.com

Fat Guy, Openings, Resy

NYMetro's Fall Preview is up, including upcoming restaurant openings. Here is the list for September.

The Morning News likes Steven A. Shaw a.k.a. The Fat Guy, who says "But the reality is that the best restaurants in a city like New York, where there are so many serious gourmets sharing so much information and where the food press is so saturated with journalists who spend every waking moment chasing down leads, are almost always well-known. So as dull as it sounds I’d have to begin by recommending a pastrami sandwich at Katz’s Deli, a couple of frankfurters and a papaya drink at Papaya King, and a steak at Peter Luger."

Be sure to continue reading for his "dream-day of eating around New York City."

shelovesny.com's resy - "RE•SY (reh'zee) n. 1. the slny index that gauges the relative heat of a restaurant. 2. the time at which one can secure a same day reservation for a party of two; measured with a simple phone call."

Lunch at Choga

Lunch at Choga: Spicy tofu custard stew, kimchee, beef teriyaki combination box.
(145 Bleecker St., between Laguardia Place And Thompson Sts.)

Review: Citysearch

The Food Section Agenda

Be sure to check out Agenda: 9/3 to 9/9 at The Food Section for a week's worth of foodie friendly events.

NYC: Review Roundup

Today's Review Roundup includes: Sushi Yasu, Sage, Big Eat

NYTimes $25 and Under Eric Asimov reviews Sushi Yasu (Washington Jefferson Hotel, 324 West 51st Street):

Sushi Yasu is a serious, no-nonsense place where visiting businessmen can get a traditional Japanese meal, can even drink themselves silly if they like, and follow it up with a breakfast of grilled fish and miso soup the next morning. The sushi is straightforward and very good, and if you splurge for an omakase meal — allowing the chefs to choose — you might end up with something unusual and exceptional. Despite its name, some of the best dishes at Sushi Yasu are not sushi at all. And the lunch prices especially are excellent.

BEST DISHES Sushi and sashimi, steamed egg custard, lobster and grapefruit, grilled pork belly, broiled blackened tuna steak, om-rice, katsu-don, una-don, yakinuku-don.

NYTimes Restaurants William Grimes reviews Sage (331 Park Avenue South @ 24th Street):

TanDa has re-emerged as Sage, a New American bistro, and it feels like a much happier place. The food is simpler, and the prices are lower. As a result, diners are more likely to feel that they're getting value for money. Sage is aiming a lot lower, but it's hitting the target.

RECOMMENDED DISHES Crab cake with lime-chipotle aioli; grilled tuna with corn-mango salsa; braised pork sandwich; honey glazed duck breast with nectarines; caramelized black cod with blood orange sauce; striped bass with escabeche onions; pound cake with roasted peaches.

And so does the NY Post:

The menu has its inevitable highs and lows. Winners include a sparkling $9 salad of warm goat cheese beignet with watercress and frisee, candied walnuts and beet coulis. The crisply breaded goat cheese squirts under the fork like chicken Kiev; they could call it "chevre Kiev."

I didn't expect much from pan-seared sea scallops for $10; I've had waterlogged, flavorless ones for $30. But Sage's were the real thing. Vanilla-scented corn and fava bean ragout turned out to be perfectly balanced - a quality lacking in chilled cucumber gazpacho ($7) that tasted only of liquid cucumber.

Village Voice Robert Sietsema reviews Big Eat (97 Bowery):

The sprawling 175-item menu jumps like a crazy monkey from Malaysian curries to Cantonese stir-fries to Korean hot pots to Japanese teriyakis to the roast beef of Olde England. Modern Hong Kong chefs take all of Asia as their purview, and gleefully dabble in Western food, too.

Once we'd discovered the eclectic menu's triumphs—like the honey-garlic chicken, the steamed pea-leaf shoots, and the nut-brown crispy squab—we started perversely searching out the duds. Though it sounded like some hippie's nightmare, god mother fried rice ($7.95) was delicious and subtle, dotted with bits of mushroom and chive. Loaded with ground beef cooked to grayness, beef and parsley soup tasted good anyway, powerfully perfumed with cilantro.

Cookies and Couscous for sale

West Village restaurant, Cookies and Couscous, for sale on Ebay.

(Via Rachelleb)