First, check out my awesome Ride & Review video for this joint HERE:
Ama Raw Bar has two locations. I met my wife here for happy hour at the alphabet city location to try some of their cocktails and discounted bites. Everything was good. We started with oysters ($1.25ea).
Then we moved on to this nice batter-fried shrimp.
This rice paper chicken quesadilla was unique, but I think it would be excellent if they fried the rice paper wrapper.
The cod cake was nice, a different sort of take on a crab cake using salt cod.
The Szechuan dry rub wings needed a hit of salt and some of that mala numbing spice to really make them perfect. Otherwise, good cook and crunch on them.
“Luscious Mussels” come with a broiled lobster tail and nori fries. These were probably our favorite dish of the night.
Definitely would go back to try the lobster ramen, and also perhaps to try their other west village location.
This new sandwich joint and bar slings some great sandwiches. We ordered for delivery, but it was good enough to mention as a restaurant review here.
We tried a spicy mortadella, a Korean rib sandwich, a meatloaf banh mi, and a chicken Caesar salad sandwich. They have funky names and I forget which ‘wich is which.
The bread is great here, and if I had to choose favorites, I’d go with the banh mi and the mortadella.
CLUBHOUSE SANDOS & SUDS
22 Orchard St
New York, NY 10002
I finally got to try some of the famous pizza in New Haven. My buddy and I took a ride up and tried both Sally’s Apizza and Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana.
First, Pepe’s:
We tried the white clam pie, and their tomato and mozz pie.
Both were pretty good, but we liked the tomato and mozz pie better.
The award winning clam pizza was nice, but I feel like I’ve had better.
Next up was Sally’s:
Here, we tried the tomato and mozz pie, along with the potato and rosemary pie.
We both liked the tomato and mozz pie slightly better, but I have to say, I really enjoyed the potato and rosemary pie. It had a ton of flavor!
Over all, though, the classic was king. And between the two pizza joints, we liked Sally’s better than Pepe’s.
I’m still partial to NYC pizza, but this stuff was pretty good.
FRANK PEPE PIZZERIA NAPOLETANA
157 Wooster St
New Haven, CT 06511
Allure is the new restaurant inside the Belleclaire Hotel on the upper west side, right on the corner of 77th and Broadway. The dining room has a beautiful skylight atrium overhead, almost like an old timey greenhouse.
My wife and I started with a round of delicious cocktails, my favorite of which was the smoked old fashioned, made with pistachio infused spirits.
Next, we had a trio of apps: prawns, tuna tartare and grilled baby cuttlefish. Of these, the prawns were definitely our favorite. The mole-esque sauce and spice levels were absolutely incredible.
For our mains, we had the rainbow trout with charred kale, olives and artichokes, along with the prime NY strip, which comes from Golden Packing.
Both were excellent, but, as predicted, the steak was the winner for me. The reverse was true for my wife.
The steak was a juicy and perfectly cooked center cut gem, smothered with a peppery au poivre cream sauce that I could drink every day. 9/10.
Served with florentino, a sort of broccolini meets cauliflower green-stalked flowering veggie, this is a steal of a composed meal at just $55. The steak was about 12oz. That’s blue cheese or gorgonzola on top, not butter.
We also did a side of mushrooms to go with this. Delicious.
For dessert, we had the “Nutella Kiss” with pistachio ice cream and merengue, and a creme brulee bread pudding. Both were top notch.
I would 100% go back here again. What a beautiful and delicious restaurant!
My wife took me here for a nice dinner last week. I’m calling this a French steakhouse. Not sure if that’s correct, but I feel like it fits into my review categories nicely.
Sadly, the boneless domestic wagyu rib eye was WAY over salted. I hunkered through half of it, but I could not finish and had to give up. It was a beauty though, with a great crust. 5/10.
My wife had the bacon wrapped venison loin, which was much better, despite the little snaggle of connective tissue in the middle.
Nicely cooked. Irony without game flavor. Lean and clean. 8/10.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 7
There’s a good selection of cuts here all day long, but they don’t have enough dry aged selections. I would also like to see more traditional Angus on the menu, as opposed to all the fancy wagyu cross breed shit.
Portion Size & Plating: 8
My steak was like $105 for a pound, which is about right for the domestic wagyu varieties. Portions here are good for everything else, and plating is definitely understated but elegant.
Price: 8
The prices here are average to slightly above, which makes sense for the location near lots of FiDi businesses.
Bar: 8
The bar here is small but nicely appointed as you walk in. No sidewalk people watching views, but its snug and cozy. They made some nice drinks too, both standard cocktails and their signatures.
Specials and Other Meats: 8
I mentioned there was venison, which is rare and nice to see. They also offered a Peri Peri chicken dish, which I’d love to try. It feeds two and is only $68.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 7
We started with the beef tartare summer roll with lemongrass sauce. This was really nice, but they just need to wrap it a bit tighter. This was probably the best dish of the night, with a close second to a side that I’ll discuss below.
Skip the marrow. The table-side service is unnecessary (at least it wasn’t theatrics), and it was mainly just a fancy bread service or sandwich. Probably better off getting a burger and fries for a few dollars less.
The mushrooms were ever more over-salted than the steak We actually had to send them back, which is wild because we NEVER do that.
They replaced it with this bean cassoulet thing, which was actually quite good and was a close second for my favorite dish of the night.
The miso creamed spinach was nice. As you can tell, there’s a distinct theme for trying to bring Asian fusion into the menu.
For dessert, they forgot to bring out our Vietnamese style egg coffee, but the basque style cheesecake was nice enough.
Seafood Selection: 8
We didn’t take on any seafood, but they did have some nice looking shellfish and tower selections, as is common with steakhouses. The king crab cake was a whopping $45. I wonder if that is any good. Too rich for my blood!
Service: 10
Service was really good here. They brought out some complimentary bubbles at the beginning and end of our meal, since my wife told them it was our anniversary on the reservation. They also comped the drinks, desserts and the bogus side for us, which they replaced gratis as well. This was a really great gesture, and they genuinely tried to make the evening nice despite the mishaps. They did forget our coffee, though. I was done complaining for the night, so we just let it slide. A for effort, I guess.
Ambiance: 9
Gorgeous dining space, with big private booths that you can curtain off if you’d like. I really dig the space. Very elegant but casual. A nice balance.
This 13-course omakase joint is a pretty great deal for just $75. It starts off with a few really awesome pieces like the medium fatty tuna, the shima aji and the tuna with truffle.
Then in the middle you have some really unique stuff like the salmon with tomato, and a real banger with the ebi (shrimp).
And toward the end, you get the otoro fatty tuna with caviar, hand rolls, and the delicious Hokkaido uni on toast. Those were definitely some really great pieces.
I would go back here again, for sure. I just wish they allowed you to bring your own bottle of wine. A corkage fee is totally fine – we just have a lot of wine to get through here! That said, they have a great selection of sake and Japanese imported beer.
This little seaport waterfront bar/lounge/restaurant is a great spot for a snack and a drink on the water in nice weather.
We tried the fish and chips, and the fried zucchini chips. Both were good. The fish and chips is not authentic. More like nuggets. But they were good, and so were the fries. Zucchini was nice and crisp too. I would definitely go back!
COBBLE FISH
89 South St Pier 16
New York, NY 10038
Holy Cow has been on my radar to try for a while. Last night, I finally made it in there to try both a burger and a chopped cheese.
Both were mediocre, but the burger was slightly better due to the crisp on the patty, and the overall flavors/special sauce. The buns were strangely dense and hard. The seasoned fries were great though.
Probably won’t be back, but definitely glad I finally tried it.
My wife and I just walked by this place a few weeks ago and we were wondering if it was any good. Then, a few days ago, some friends of ours organized a lunch here. We were psyched to go.
This place is really known for their “blossom chicken,” which is basically a chicken that has had all the meat removed, chopped up, and mixed with shrimp paste to form a sort of chicken-shrimp sausage. Then it’s stuffed back into the skin and cooked until that skin gets golden crisp. It’s amazing!
We also had a really tender, delicious and savory braised pork belly dish. Make sure you order some rice to soak up those amazing juices.
The stuffed tofu (stuffed with pork sausage, I think) was good, but it was my least favorite of the main dishes. It just didn’t have the powerful punch of flavor like the others.
This stir fried white fish or bait fish dish was really tasty. I think this would benefit from a pop of spice, but the ginger in it was really refreshing.
If you’re looking for a big shared appetizer, get the sliced conch on ice. It’s heavy on the wasabi, but if you’re like me, that’s a good thing!
Last, we had some pea shoots with fried baby shrimp on the side. This was more soupy than I expected, as opposed to stir fried. It was still delicious though.
I will definitely be back here to try more dishes. Our waiter showed us a few more items that they consider specialties as he was bringing them to other tables (egg custard with clams, and lobster fried rice).
Cellar 36 is a small wine and tapas bar located in Chinatown owned and operated by the same folks behind The Ten Bells, which I love. Like Ten Bells, Cellar 36 offers a great happy hour deal that includes $20 carafes and $1 oysters. We went for it.
I definitely recommend this spot, and I’ll definitely be back!
