All posts by Johnny Prime

Chinese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Excellent Dumpling House

February 23, 2016 Johnny Prime 5 Comments

NOTE: THIS JOINT IS CLOSED

Day two of jury duty gave me the opportunity to finally try Excellent Dumpling House, a small joint just below Canal on Lafayette that slings some decent cheap grub.

I grabbed three items to fuel my sense of civic duty.

1) fried pork dumplings.
These were crispy and light. I gobbled them up pretty quickly and was waiting for my next dish. I have to say, I was impressed with these and I had very low expectations going into it.

2) bbq duck egg roll
This was just mediocre. I was expecting a more dry experience as opposed to a highly sauced inside. That’s fine. It was just a little bland and slightly heavier on the vegetables as opposed to the duck.

3) steamed shrimp and crab dumplings
These were excellent. A full, good quality and perfectly cooked shrimp was inside each, along with some crab meat mash. The sauce it came with was like a spicy cream sauce. Not a fan of that. But the dumplings themselves were great. The skin didn’t rip too much, yet it wasn’t too thick and gummy.

These three items came to $17.50 with tax and tip included.

EXCELLENT DUMPLING HOUSE
111 Lafayette St
New York, NY 10013

Lower East Side/Chinatown, Pho, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

Nha Trang Centre

February 22, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I am stuck waiting to see whether I have to serve on a jury down here, but the plus side is that there are some decent cheap eats joints nearby in Chinatown.

This is my second or third time eating here. My wife and I used to live around the block from about 2006-2009, and during that time was probably the last time we went.

I grabbed two of my four standard favorite Vietnamese items for lunch: pho and banh cuon. The other two are summer rolls (goi cuon) and spring rolls (cha gio).

The pho was a bit lacking in flavor. I missed the robust punch that should be associated with the broth. The noodles and beef were both of good quality though, and both the basil and the bean sprouts were nice and fresh. I generally order the Pho Tai, which contains just slides eye round meat, not the beef balls, tendon, tripe or brisket. So that could be why the broth was less flavorful. However I doubt they use different cooking vessels to create the base pho stock/broth, so diner beware.

The banh cuon, on the other hand, was pretty good. For those who don’t know what this is, the menu calls it “Vietnamese ravioli.” It’s wide, flat rice noodles that are rolled or filled with seasoned chopped meat inside – typically pork – and then topped with fish sauce, crispy fried onion, scallions, and thick slices of a processed kind of pork roll that’s similar to a bologna style lunch or deli meat. That description may sound weird to your western eyes/ears, but I assure you it’s good. Here, it was served on top of bean sprouts and some chopped lettuce.

Those two items, plus a beer, came to $21 with tax and tip included. Pretty great.

I was so pumped on the fact that I was back down in our old neighborhood with easy access to cheap Vietnamese food that I went back for dinner. There was this pork rice dish that caught my eye while I was there: Com Suon Bi Cha.

This is barbecued pork chop, shredded pork and steamed egg cake with white rice. The shredded pork was a mixture of gelatinous bits and roast pork, which go nicely with the rice for texture. The thin-sliced BBQ pork was delicious and exactly what I expected. It was tasty and had no gristled fat, with an awesome lemongrass and charred grill flavor. The rice was a tiny grain that absorbed the fish sauce nicely, and the egg cake contained a mash of what I assume was fish sauce and more ground pork meat. It came with carrots, bean sprouts, cucumber and tomato.

I also grabbed an order each of Cha Gio.

The spring rolls were crispy. I think they had more mushroom and veggies than pork inside, but I didn’t mind because all the fixings were nice and fresh. You wrap these fuckers in lettuce and then fill with cucumber, pickled daikon, carrot and mint leaves. Then you dip that shit in fish sauce and hot sauce. Delicious.

And that’s it. Tomorrow I’ll be hitting either another Vietnamese joint or a dumpling place. Nha Trang Centre is definitely good for a Vietnamese food fix. I’d skip the pho, but the other stuff is good.

NHA TRANG CENTRE
148 Centre St
New York, NY 10013

Burgers, Midtown East, Other, Restaurant Reviews, Union Square/Flatiron

Resto

February 20, 2016 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

UPDATE – This joint is now CLOSED.

Resto is a small Belgian joint that recently became known for having a really good burger, in addition to their kickass beer menu. I apologize for the obnoxious watermarks on these photos, but I’ve been having way too many issues with people jacking my photos and using them for their various social media pages and websites without giving me the photo credit.

My two buddies and I started with lamb ribs and steak tartare.

The ribs were awesome. They were tasty and fatty, and the honey and pear sauce was delicious. It came dressed with some dried figs and fresh pear as well.

The tartare, however, was a little lacking. I feel it needed less pickled flavors and more pepper and egg. The meat quality was good, but it had an odd meat flavored gelatin mixed in as well.

The burger is a pork and beef blend. As such it gets cooked through. I thought this would be a problem, since I like a burger to be medium, but the meat retained good juiciness. Topped with red onion, pickles and gruyere, this baby is a very nice addition to the NYC burger scene. They chose the right bun too. A simple potato roll.

The steak style fries were good too – nicely fried and seasoned.

For dessert we had this ice cream and waffle sunday. It was drizzled with caramel and topped with shaved almonds. The crispy pieces of warm waffles were the perfect contrast to the ice cream.

RESTO
111 E 29th St
New York, NY 10016

Burgers, Midtown East

Salvation Burger

February 18, 2016 Johnny Prime 8 Comments

April Bloomfield’s newest spot, Salvation Burger, is a dedicated burger joint that has been marketed as a fast casual bar atmosphere. However with a full wait staff, hefty pricing and less than speedy service, it falls more in line with a traditional restaurant than a fast casual burger joint.

This place has already built up some serious hype from the foodie community in the two short weeks that it’s been open. Instagram, Eater, Thrillist, and all sorts of NYC-centric publications are buzzing with glee over this place. My conclusion is that the hype is ill-placed, to put it lightly. Now allow me put it not-so-lightly…

The burgers are a fucking rip off, and they’re mediocre-tasting at best. Their “Salvation Burger” comes in at a whopping $25. It LOOKS pretty, but it also looks small:

The table next to us said, “Oh, this place has sliders!” They do not. However, while the burgers DO look small, they actually eat big. I was full. The Salvation Burger is probably 6-8oz, which is a decent size, but at $25 for a fucking burger I am expecting perfection in the execution. Let me explain…

Our waitress informed us that the chef suggests medium rare. Perfect. When good ground beef is involved, I’m all for medium rare. However ours was nearly raw. I didn’t mind as much, but my wife did, because parts of her half were rubbery and cold (we shared). My wife, like me, loves a medium rare piece of meat. We are regular steak eaters (obviously), and we regularly order our beef medium rare. On occasion I will even get a filet cooked black and blue. A FILET, with very little fat content. With ground beef, however, or a rib eye, for example, you need a bit more heat to render out the fat content. This burger was simply not cooked properly. Furthermore, the caramelized onion and tallegio cheese completely overpowered and over-funked the flavor of the beef. Failure.

We also tried the classic, which is two 3.5oz patties covered with American cheese and topped with pickles and special sauce.

This was the better of the two burgers in the flavor department, to me anyway, because I enjoy a classic American style double above all else. Unfortunately, however, the patties were way overcooked to a bone-dry-if-not-for-the-smothering-of-cheese well done. There was a good crisp in that first bite from the sear on the patty; I had high hopes! But then the grainy texture of overcooked meat kicked in, and the day was ruined. What a shame.

Both burgers could benefit from a leaf or two of crisp lettuce (which is similar to the comment that I made about the burger at The Spotted Pig), but on the plus side the buns were excellent. Soft and easy to get down on, yet supple and strong enough to hold up to the wetness of the shit between.

The fries were perfect. They were crispy and golden brown. Despite not coming with the burger (separate $5 charge for fries), they were a good value; one order is enough to share among two people.

We also each tried a milkshake. My wife had the orange creamsicle, which she liked very much, and I had the toasted marshmallow. The toasted marshmallow shake was a bit too salty. I understand the idea behind adding a pop of salt to this shake to simulate the toasted marshmallow, and to bring out certain flavors, but this was simply too much salt. And, again, at $7 a pop for milkshakes, one should expect perfection.

I am not a cheap person by any stretch of the imagination, nor am I a big complainer. I drop cash willingly on food, and I’m especially eager to do so when I find it to be worthy. I don’t even mind so much when I am not 100% satisfied with a meal. Every joint has an off day. But here, I left feeling disgusted with the amount that I paid for two underwhelming burgers, two mediocre shakes (on average) and an order of fries. All in, I spent $77. Look at this fucking bill.

For that price I can eat for three days and have more meal-satisfaction at a place like Lucky’s Famous, Steak n Shake or Genuine Roadside. In fact I would take those burgers over these any day of the week. What a complete and utter rip off. Sorry, fellow food enthusiasts, but I just can’t get onboard this hype train. Fuck that.

SALVATION BURGER
230 E 51st St
New York, NY 10022

Recipes

Homemade Pasta

February 15, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Making fresh pasta is easy as hell. First make a volcano well out of flour. Then add two egg yolks and one whole egg. Start to “scramble” the eggs within the flour well, adding a little bit of flour from the well into the eggs as you beat them. Add a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of olive oil, and keep going.

Once the dough starts to thicken and stick to the fork pretty heavily, you can switch off to mixing with your hands (make sure they’re clean first, you filthy bastard). Knead the dough with your fingers and hands, picking up some flour here and there to keep it from sticking to your hands too much. Knead some more. Eventually you’ll get a nice dough that snaps back a little bit when you squish it in your hands. That means you’re done. Coat with a little bit of olive oil and refrigerate in plastic wrap (or freeze to use at a later date).

After about a half hour in the fridge, my wife and I rolled the dough out into log shapes, or snakes, and then cut them into a rustic cavatelli style pasta, using the prongs of a fork to get a little bit of texture onto the pasta. That texture helps the sauce cling to the pasta better.

You can watch the whole process come together below:

Fresh pasta cooks up much quicker than boxed pasta. Fettuccine, for example, takes only about two minutes. The kind we made here is a bit thicker, so it’ll take longer to cook through.

My wife made a kickass carbonara for them, using minced pancetta, peas, heavy cream and various cheeses. This shit was delicious.

American, Burgers, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Other Cuts, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye, Union Square/Flatiron

The Clocktower

February 13, 2016 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

My wife and I came here for an early Valentine’s Day date. We chomped though a good deal of food, so I’ll just get right to it.

The decor here is incredible. It’s elegant yet old fashioned-inspired. High ceilings, big fireplace, wide-planked dark wood floors, dark wainscoting, etc.

The bar is a destination in itself, and they make some really unique cocktails that utilize ingredients you’d never expect to see in a drink, like chicken stock and pea puree.

Table bread is a nice warm and toasty loaf that’s served with a soft, freshly salted whipped butter.

We started with a dashi cured smoked salmon appetizer that was topped with puffed rice, greens and a soft boiled quail egg.

This had a bright and acidic pop to it. A great way to start the meal.

Our next course was a burger, which we shared.

This this was pretty much perfect. By far, this was the best thing we ate here.

It was seared to a nice crisp on the outside, and a beautiful medium rare on the inside.

On top was lettuce, bacon, red onion, pickle, cheddar cheese and special sauce. Nothing too fancy – just really good quality shit. The bun was toasted and warm on the outside but soft like a potato roll on the inside. Just the right balance.

The fries were thick, long and hand-cut – like John Bobbitt’s dick – only crunchy on the outside and soft inside, like mashed potatoes. They could have used a little bit more seasoning or salt, but they were so perfectly cooked that I didn’t mind.

Our awesome waiter Jake, who had really great suggestions on drinks and food items, cleared the table and presented us with these kickass plates as we awaited out main course.

For our main course we ordered the cote de boeuf for two, which was a 40oz bone-in rib eye that came with gratin potatoes (two servings), a green bean salad, and bone marrow jus.

This thing was beautiful. The sear on the outside was like a salty and crisp meat bark, and the aroma was out of this world. It was dressed up with some lightly roasted garlic cloves and thyme.

As you can see, the meat was cooked to a gorgeous pink medium rare, and every bite was tender and juicy. The fat was so soft and mushy too – completely edible. Nine out of ten!

I wasn’t much of a fan of the bone marrow jus. For some reason it wasn’t working for me in the flavor department, but it did smell wonderful.

The potatoes were pretty good. With gratin style potatoes, I always find myself wishing that the chef had done several thinner crisped preparations and then layered them before serving, that way there is some more of that delicious top crunchy texture as you work your way down into the middle.

The green bean salad was nothing to scoff at. It was topped with truffle and tossed with foie gras! This thing was so earthy from the truffles, the truffle oil, the toasted hazelnuts and the foie that it was almost like having another meat course.

By time dessert rolled around we were pretty full, so we just shared this chocolate custard item with a cocktail that was made from cheerios milk and bourbon called “The American Seriel Killer.”

To our surprise, Jake later brought over a tin of shortbread, brittle and English toffee, along with a special dessert plate of grapefruit sorbet since he learned that we were celebrating a special occasion. Killer service here.

I highly recommend this place. At $25 the burger may seem a bit steep at first, but it’s a half pound of some of the best eating you’ll ever have, and it also comes with those delicious fries. Similarly, at $135 the steak for two may seem steep, but you get three sides with it, and I guarantee you will go home full and satisfied.

UPDATE 12/26/2022

We came back! This time for Christmas dinner. We tried the steak tartare, the scotch egg, the Beef Wellington, the prime rib, and the sticky toffee pudding. Everything was great! 9/10 on both the prime rib and Beef Wellington.

THE CLOCKTOWER
5 Madison Ave
New York, NY 10010

Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Spanish, Upper West Side

Andanada

February 12, 2016 Johnny Prime 1 Comment

NOTE: THIS PLACE IS NOW CLOSED

Tabelog hosted another press dinner with a collection of about 30 NYC food bloggers, influential instagrammers and publication writers. This time the event kicked off at Andanada, a Spanish tapas joint on the upper west side.

Michelin rated chef Manuel Berganza popped off a string of really tasty bites in this multi-course tapas tasting in a rustic yet upscale setting that elevates tavern food to the fine-dining level.

Since there’s a lot to talk about, I’m just going to get right down to business and tell you what we ate. Read on:

First was this shot of warm butternut squash cream. It was velvety smooth, but I think it could have used just a small hit of salt.

This cleverly displayed flower pot of purple endive was a nice fresh snack. Endive is traditionally served before or after meals to aid in digestion. It was served with a blue cheese spread.

Next was this little manchego cheese stuffed “puff” airbag of flatbread that included a little hit of quince fruit jam as well. Beautiful presentation and a delicious bite!

Table bread consists of a very nice foccacia style bread (but without the annoying herbs and oily toppings). This was addicting!

This next item was one of my favorites of the night. It was a soft boiled quail egg served on a fried potato nest with chicken liver pate. SO DELICIOUS! The crunch of the potato nest, the ooze of the egg yolk and the richness of the pate made for a really dynamic bite.

These little guys are creamy mushroom duxelle croquettes with a marinated mushroom cap on top. They burst with flavor!

These are potatoes. My guess is something like fingerling, since the shape is small and round. They’re fried to a crisp and then served with three sauces: a garlic aioli, a spicy sauce and a sweet sauce. I preferred the aioli (also went nicely on the bread), but I think the potatoes could have benefited from a hit of salt right after they came out of the fryer.

Next was fried (but not heavily breaded) calamari with eggplant mousse. The calamari was incredibly tender and perfectly cooked. The eggplant I could skip, because I am generally not a fan of eggplant, but I did like the texture of the mousse much better than the flesh of the actual vegetable itself.

My other favorite dish was this octopus terrine, which was served over whipped potato foam and broccoli rabe puree. SO TENDER. This went fast and seemed to be a favorite with everyone else as well. I considered asking for a second plate.

These fried artichokes don’t look glamorous, but they taste great. They were crispy outside, soft inside and nicely accented with shaved manchego cheese and a cream sauce.

Another great item was the salmon tartare potato salad. In addition to the raw diced salmon on top, there was peas, salmon roe, hard boiled egg and (obviously) potato within. Very interesting take on traditional salmon tartare.

A Spanish classic is “albondigas,” or meatballs. These were accompanied by pickled celery, carrot puree and trinxat: a mashed potato item typically married with cabbage and pork.

Another big crowd pleaser, and staple Spanish classic, is paella. This seafood paella was our final savory course. It had a great crispy texture to the rice, from sticking to the bottom of the pan while cooking. It came with clams, mussels, scallops, shrimp and fish. Very nicely executed.

The first dessert I tasted was this caramelized egg yolk flan with citrus gel, green apples and dried meringue. The texture was super smooth and creamy. If you’re a fan of custards, you’ll love this.

The other dessert was my favorite of the two: almond cake with raspberries and olive oil gelato. This was perfect for me. It wasn’t too sweet to the point of being overpowering, and the cake was moist without being too dense. The gelato was a great accent to a great cake. I highly recommend this if you’re undecided on dessert.

To sum up, I haven’t been to that many tapas places. Maybe half a dozen over the course of my adulthood? Maybe ten? While I am no expert, I think this comes in on the upper end of the few that I’ve tried to date. This joint is located near my apartment as well, so I’m sure I’ll be back again soon.

East Village, Italian, Pizza, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews

Via Della Pace

February 12, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

UPDATE: This place is now CLOSED

Food promo titans Eaters Drinkers and The Creative Shake put together a great pizza tasting event at Via Della Pace Pizza, a cozy East Village joint that slings some really creative and unique pizza pies. I’m generally a traditionalist when it comes to pizza, but I was sold on these puppies.

Giovanni Bartocci and Marco Ventura co-own both Via Della Pace (another nearby restaurant) and Via Della Pace Pizza (this place).

With the support of his family in Italy, Giovanni Nasti, the pizza chef at VDP Pizza, has employed creative ways to get color into the dough without using a single drop of food coloring. Essentially, he has invented colored pizza dough! As such, the thrust of this event was to showcase VDP Pizza’s multi-colored dough pies, of which we tried four (black, red, green and yellow).

For black he uses squid ink. For red: beets and red wine. For green, it’s spinach. And for yellow, the key is saffron. Pretty smart, and completely natural.

Each colored dough has it’s own set of toppings. As you can see in the pic above, the toppings and dough components compliment and highlight one another to make for great pops of flavor.

The yellow saffron dough is topped with pomegranate seeds, guacamole and asparagus. The cheese is mozzarella. Very pretty!

The green spinach dough is topped with mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil. Super simple and traditional, but for the green dough. Absolutely wonderful.

My two favorites (couldn’t choose a winner) were red and black. The red beets/wine pie is topped with gorgonzola, mozzarella, sausage, polenta and shaved black truffles. This baby was super earthy and savory. Definitely my kind of pie.

The black squid ink pie is topped with red cabbage, smoked salmon, poppy seeds, sour cream, chives, mozzarella and tomato sauce. It may sound odd, but I assure you it works in every way. The day of the event was apparently both National Pizza Day AND National Bagel & Lox Day. As such, this was a perfect mash-up of epic Jewtalian proportions. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and I highly recommend that my readers give it a try. It’s so unique and tasty!

The good people at VDP also put out some non-colored dough pies from their pizza menu. The first was the Vespasiano, which is topped with fior di latte, burrata, mixed vegetables and olives.

The second was similar to their Augusto pie: prosciutto, olives, arugula, mozzarella and shaved parmigiano. Absolutely delicious. A perfect balance of savory-sweet and salty.

This third one came out as I was about to leave for the night. It’s a shame, too, because it looks like my kind of pizza! Very traditional. Oh well. I guess that just means I will be back for more…

For dessert, which came out a few minutes before that last pizza, we had these extremely addicting “Zoccolette alla Nutella Fritte.” These are nutella-filled zeppoli-like creations: fried pizza dough with hazelnut chocolate spread inside. Pop these babies with some ice cream or gelato and prepare to grow a few belt sizes.

That about covers it. I categorize this as a type 1 pizza joint (they sell pies only – no individual slices), with a nice selection of food items aside from just the pizza. It’s a full restaurant.

VIA DELLA PACE
130 St. Marks Pl.
New York, NY 10009

Brooklyn, Mediterranean, Press Reviews, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews

Atlas Steakhouse

February 11, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Atlas Steakhouse overall score: 78

My wife and I came to this Mediterranean style steak joint for a press meal. For us, heading out to Brooklyn is almost like a road trip, so we were looking forward to coming here and trying something new, outside the usual midtown hustle. This joint is a small mom-and-pop style restaurant, so it was a welcome change from the big mega steakhouses that are bankrolled by huge restaurant group chains in midtown. There aren’t many fine dining restaurants in this area of Brooklyn, so this is a welcome addition. It opened in the Summer of 2015 and seems to be doing well so far.

Flavor: 7
My wife and I split the tomahawk bone-in rib eye for two. The meat itself was nice and juicy, and had good flavor from the generous peppering. It could have used a bit more crusting, but that’s not a big deal because there was very little bleed-out (as you can see from the photo of the plate below).

Unfortunately, however, it was overcooked. We ordered it medium rare, and it came out closer to medium well. Part of that is due to the thickness of the cut (difficult to cook evenly throughout), but part was simply just a mistake in the kitchen.

If I had to guess what happened, based on how the meat looked when it came out, I’d say it was probably cooked to rare, then sliced and finished off under the broiler to bring it up a bit more. Aside from that, it was tasty.

Each steak comes with four sauces. One is a horseradish sauce, one is steak sauce, one is peppercorn gravy and one is a tomato-based sauce. All were good, but I think I liked the steak sauce the best (left).

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 7
There’s a good deal of options here. All the basics are covered for the major chops (plus a skirt), and there are various size and bone options for each. Very nice. Our cut didn’t have too much of the Spinalis cap, but from what I understand they offer table-side meat selection, so you can typically pick exactly the right cut for you. The website indicates that Atlas ages their steak on site, but I’m not certain whether the quality is prime or choice. The quality of fat on our cut was a bit more gristled than what I usually like, but not unacceptable by any means. There was very little waste on our place. We gobbled down everything. Some portions of the steak were a little bit grainy in texture, but I think that was because of the overcooking mishap.

Portion Size & Plating: 8
Portions are big here. Our rib eye was 48oz! And the plating is done nicely here because they use an elevated platter, that way the big steak plate doesn’t crowd the table and take up valuable dining space. I wish more steakhouses would do the same! Other than that, it is pretty basic. Nothing too fancy. Just simple and elegant.

Price: 9
The prices here are something you might expect in the suburbs. It’s refreshing to see a huge 48oz steak for two listed at just $76. Excellent! And it’s just a quick subway ride away on the B/Q. If you’re on a tighter budget but still looking for a pretty good steak, then this is your place.

Bar: 8
The bar is beautifully decorated. It’s situated near the street so you get some good light, and being located on a major street like Coney Island Avenue makes for a good place to pop in for a drink or a quick bite at the bar, especially if the live music is in session. They have a great looking burger selection on the menu. What better place to throw down on a lamb burger that at the bar?

Specials and Other Meats: 7
There were no specials off the menu, but you can go with lamb, veal or chicken if you aren’t man enough for beef. They even offer some vegetarian options for the truly vaginal.

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 7
We started with the crab cake. This was a good size, and chock full of meat. It had a light crisp on the outside. I think it just needed a pop of some other kind of flavor inside. Perhaps a hit of spice like jalapeño or cherry pepper, or even some celery for a lithe more crunch.

We also tried the Moroccan oxtail cigars. These are essentially egg roll wrappers that have a nice braised, tender, spiced oxtail meat inside. These were our favorite of the appetizers we tried.

One of the highlights of this section is the mushroom and spinach gratin. Essentially this is creamed spinach with minced mushrooms in the mix. Absolutely delicious, and it’s one of the best spinach dishes I’ve had at a steakhouse! The big monster steak joints of Manhattan should take note of this gem of a dish. The mushrooms soak up tons of flavor, and the texture becomes dynamic rather than just a mushy goop. I loved it.

For our first dessert, we tried this crepe cake with chocolate mousse in the layers. Beautiful.

It was a bit more stiff in texture than I expected, likely because they have to prepare it well ahead of time and store it in the fridge, but I enjoyed it because it had great flavor and was something different from the standard, run-of-the mill steakhouse desserts like tiramisu, creme brûlée and flan.

Next up was yet another unique item, but this one was much more successful. The menu labels it a mango tiramisu, though it is more like a mango mousse re-invention of, or spin on, tiramisu.

The mango and whipped cream mixture will take you back to the flavor of creamsicles from your childhood. Also there are little buried treasures hidden within the mousse: cream puffs!!! We absolutely loved this dessert. Coffee was good too. Strong!

Seafood Selection: 7
There’s salmon, branzino and tuna on the entree menu, and a good deal of shellfish on the appetizer menu. Not a bad showing for a small steakhouse! This is on par with the big boys in midtown.

Service: 10
The service here is great. Our waitress had great suggestions for dessert, and everything was nicely timed and cleaned up quickly. They’re attentive, without being in your face.

The table bread was toasty warm – super fresh – and came with a delicious garlic herb butter.

Ambiance: 8
This place has a really nice decor. It’s a great chic look, but still comfortable. I was very impressed at this place for being a small operation, and they’re truly done an amazing job with the space.

Atlas also has live music in the evenings (smooth guitar, mellow saxophone and piano), and they just started offering brunch on weekends. They’re also affiliated with the newly restored King’s Theater nearby, which is beautiful. They are one of three vendors who are permitted to advertise and serve in the establishment. That’ll be great for business!

ATLAS STEAKHOUSE
943 Coney Island Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11230

Chinese, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Xi’an Famous Noodles

February 9, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Xi’an Famous noodles are good even in take-out form. My wife brought home some nice wide, flat chow fun style noodles for dinner tonight: one with beef, one with chicken and one with pork.

A photo posted by Johnny Prime (@johnnyprimecc) on Sep 9, 2016 at 12:44pm PDT

I think the chicken was the best, because the meat was just so incredibly tender. The pork was tasty, but a little dry. The beef was spicy and had a more robust kick to it, but ultimately I kept going back to the chicken for the meat.

We also tried some sweet and sour tofu soup, which was pretty good as well:

But the most interesting item of the night goes to this “lamb burger.” It wasn’t really in patty form. It was more like a Sloppy Joe, with loose chopped meat and some peppers, onions and spices.