All posts by Johnny Prime

Italian, Nolita/Soho, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Parms, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye

Sartiano’s

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First, watch my Ride & Review video HERE:

I went to Sartiano’s with four of my law school buddies after a round or two of drinks at Zero Bond, so we were able to try a lot of stuff.

I apologize for the lack of quality images. I really just shot video here, so as to minimize my use of the light. All the pics below are screen grabs from my video.

The caviar cannoli were delicious bites of savory goodness. They’re pricey, but when you’re going big with a meal like Sartiano’s, you get these! As a matter of fact, these were on the house thanks to my friend being a regular here.

The steak tartare was one of the best I’ve had in a while. There were some crispy sunchokes on top that really made this dish pop!

The fried calamari was almost fried in like a tempura batter, and it came with fried slices of zucchini and squash. I really loved this. perfectly seasoned!

The baked clams are fantastic here. I highly recommend those as well. We grabbed two orders, that way everyone got a few. I actually forgot to mention these in the Ride & Review.

Even the Caesar salad was great. It’s served in layers; almost like a salad lasagna.

The tomahawk was pricey, but it was a solid 8/10 in terms of flavor. The aged flavor was mild, but they do dry-age meats on the premises. It was really nicely cooked (clearly grilled and not seared or broiled)), and adorned with delicious roasted garlic and herbs.

A real beauty.

The veal parm was excellent. This stole the show for us. It rivals Carbone, Ballato and all the other greats in the area. Perfectly crisp with some nice melty mozz and grated parm on tip.

We had some roasted carrots and smash-fried fingerling potatoes to go with the mains, but we also threw down on some pasta as well.

We even had some meatballs on the side, not realizing that we would be getting some more with the “Sunday Sauce.”

The “Sunday Sauce” has a serving of baked ziti (tubes arranged vertically in the dish for extra presentation points) along with a heaping bowl of tomato sauce with slow cooked short rib, sausage, and more meatballs within. Awesome.

We also tried the green cavatelli with Jonah crab, which was really nice and fresh. I wish I had the stomach space to eat more of this.

For dessert, we had some chocolate ice cream for my boring-ass friend Paul, and tiramisu. Both were great.

All in, this was a fantastic meal. I can definitely understand the hype for this place. If you can get a table, do it! Personally, I would love to go again if I could.

SARTIANO’S
99 Prince St.
New York, NY 10012

East Village, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Kawa Omakase

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First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

This new spot is located on 1st Street near 2nd Avenue. They offer a 14-course omakase for $88. We enjoyed the fatty tuna pieces, the shrimp, the king salmon appetizer, and especially the “New York” salmon piece (with tomato) and the tuna hand roll at the end.

I would definitely go back for seasonal menu changes and specials.

KAWA OMAKASE
37 E 1st St.
New York, NY 10003

Downtown, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Dorlan’s Tavern & Oyster Bar

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First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

My wife and I stopped in this place for drinks a while back, and we made note to come back to try the food next time we were down by the seaport. Here’s what we had:

Fried Calamari with Banana Peppers

I wish the banana peppers were battered and fried too, but these were really nicely seasoned and fried.

Al Pastor Tacos

These were expensive at essentially $6/ea, but they were tasty and nicely made.

Fish & Chips

Great fries. Great fish quality, but the batter needs to rest on a cooling rack before being served on the plate. The spots that were touching the plate turned to mush or got soggy, most likely because they hit the plate when they were too hot and couldn’t properly “breathe” on those sides.

I would definitely go back to try the Old Bay flavored chicken tenders, and of course to enjoy their $10 shot and beer special.

DORLAN’S TAVERN & OYSTER BAR
213 Front St.
New York, NY 10038

American, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Bar Contra

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First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

My wife and I stopped in here for a quick meal and drinks at the bar. Here’s what we had:

Montauk Royal Red Prawns

These beauties are served raw over ice and dusted with umeboshi (dried pickled plum). I really liked these.

American Wagyu Tartare

This was probably one of the best tartare dishes I’ve ever had. It came with crispy fried artichoke, fried shallot and ramp oil.

Smoked Pacific Oyster “Tartare”

This was essentially a dressed up tin of high quality smoked oysters, minced up with red onion and aioli, which you then spread on toast points.

Stuffed Chicken Wings

These were stuffed with stilton, pork sausage and scallion. I think there may have been some hatch chili involved too. The flavor was excellent on these.

Potato Ice Cream Sundae

Totally unique. I could taste the potato knowing that it was made from that. but otherwise I might not have. It was not too sweet, which I really appreciated. This was also served with blueberries.

I can’t wait to go back for more drinks and food. Everything was so good!

BAR CONTRA
138 Orchard St.
New York, NY 10002

East Village, Italian, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Parms, Restaurant Reviews

Bar Bianchi

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First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

My wife and I came here for a quick meal to try a few items. Here’s what we had:

Complimentary Bar Snack

Castelvetrano olives and potato chips? Both high quality? Count me ALL THE WAY IN!

Bean Salad

This was a nice, light, yet filling way to start the meal. A substantial amount of beans!

Veal Milanese

This was great. Nice batter fry on this, and it came with a bright, punchy arugula salad.

Olive Oil Ice Cream

For dessert, we had the olive oil ice cream. The flavor was a bit lacking, but otherwise it was creamy and tasty.

I’d definitely come back here to try more stuff.

BAR BIANCHI
5 Avenue A
New York, NY 10009

Japanese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Sushi Lin

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First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

We did the 17-course omakase, which was $125. This was definitely worth the price of admission. Favorites included the oyster and salmon appetizers, as well as the otoro, uni and king crab pieces.

Even the dessert, sesame panna cotta, was nice.

I would definitely go back here.

SUSHI LIN
151 Rivington St.
New York, NY 10002

Banh Mi, East Village, Pho, Vietnamese

Banh Anh Em

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First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

It is seriously tough to get a table at this new Vietnamese place, but luckily my wife is a rock star and made it happen for us. All of the sandwiches here are great, and the traditional banh mi here is the best I’ve ever had. But the simple and small pate with pork floss is magical. The bread they make in house here is insane!

We tried a few soups and a porridge. My favorites were the pho dac biet and the rice porridge with offal meats. So much rich flavor there.

The rice roll tower and steamed rice cups were sort of redundant, but the tower is the way to go because it comes with a whole shitload of things to put on it before rolling up and chowing down.

The steak and egg breakfast style dish had a bit of sweetness that was really warming and comforting. And their house hot sauce should be jarred and sold at high volume. It is incredible!

The iced coffee and coffee flan were both great too, but I was so full from everything else that I couldn’t eat much of the flan.

This place definitely deserves all the hype it’s getting. All of the staple items here are amazing, and they also offer some dishes that are much harder to find at most of the other Vietnamese places around town.

BANH ANH EM
99 3rd Avenue
New York, NY, 10003

Latin/Mexican & Caribbean, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Rebel

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First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

My wife and I hit up this Caribbean/Haitian joint called Rebel nearby. We started with some nice cocktails. Mine was the tumbler – lime, burnt sugar and rum. It was really nice without being too sweet.

We had their jerk wings, which were super tender, and perfectly spicy.

For our mains, we shared fried pork with red beans and rice, and stewed goat with black mushroom rice. Both were great, but we agreed that the stewed goat was the winner. Also the black rice was excellent (no pics, but it’s in the video).

For dessert, we tried their potato bread pudding. This had nice flavors, but the texture was different from what I expected when hearing “bread pudding.” In any event, I think this would be great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

Careful when paying at this place. The 18% tip is already included on your bill. While this is illegal (can only do it with 15% for parties of 6 or more, last I recall), we still gave an extra $5 on top since the service and food were both great. We would definitely go back.

REBEL
29 Clinton St.
New York, NY 10002

Mediterranean, Restaurant Reviews, West Village

Crevette

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First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

I took my wife to Crevette for our anniversary for a nice seafood-focused dinner. The cocktails here are nice. I did a classic martini, and instead of bread the table was adorned with a small place of mixed olives.

Here’s what we had to eat:

Pink Shrimp:

These were a bit pricey but they were indeed tasty. I’m not sure they were work $8 each, however.

Red Shrimp Carpaccio:

This was delicious. Easily the winner between the two shrimp starters. I would get this again for sure.

We threw in some meat here with a blood sausage and merguez sausage skewer, as well as an octopus skewer.

Both were nice but I think I preferred the octopus.

Next up were the mushroom courses.

Mushroom and Foie Gras with Egg:

This was great but we only had two small pieces of foie on the dish. I was hoping for a bit more. The mushrooms were delicious though.

Spanish Tortilla with Ramps & Morels:

This was probably my favorite dish of the night. The tortilla was really nicely made, and the morels were absolutely perfect. Ramps are always nice when they’re in season.

For one of our mains, we did the lamb ribs:

These were delicious. That had a nice candied bark on the outside. I just wish that I liked the sauce a bit more. It was sort of eggplant-ish.

We also had the Dover sole for two.

The woman who filleted this table side did a horrific job of getting the meat off of the bones. We ended up having to eat very carefully to avoid gagging on the tiny bones. The fish was nice, but I would not get this again. I would have liked a little bit of crisp on the skin. I think perhaps I was expecting a different preparation.

For dessert, we did a soft serve sundae and a lemon tart. Both of these were excellent. I think I liked these next best, just after the Spanish tortilla with morels.

CREVETTE
10 Downing St.
New York, NY 10014

American, Nolita/Soho, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, NY Strip, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye

The Corner Store

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The Corner Store is a new bistro type American restaurant over on West Broadway and Houston.

Check out my Ride & Review video HERE first:

I contemplated reviewing this in my steakhouse template, with ten categories of ten points each, but it seems like the website calls this place a restaurant as opposed to a steakhouse. I think we are on the borderline, for sure. In any case, let’s get started…

For the appetizers, we went with fries and horseradish aioli, madai crudo and grilled artichokes.

These are all great but the fries took the cake. They’re an absolute must. It may seem like a waste to get one of the sauces, but the horseradish aioli will work well with your steak later on, so it’s not a bad deal to grab one. The madai was really fresh and bright, and had some added meatiness and texture from the sliced caperberries in the garnish. Great touch! The grilled artichokes really popped because of the mint on there. I haven’t ever had that combination of flavors before. I like it!

On a second visit, we started with the wagyu French dip, which is probably the best item I’ve eaten here.

We also had the tuna tartare on another visit. This was perfect.

For our mains, we did the chicken paillard and the bone-in dry-aged strip steak. Both were incredible. The steak was perfectly cooked to medium rare and sported a mild aged flavor. I would definitely get this again. I give it a score of 9/10.

On a second visit, the dry-aged rib eye (boneless) pulled in with the same score. We also tried the 4oz Margaret River wagyu strip (boneless). Another 9/10.

The chicken was pounded super thin and almost had a potato chip crust on the top side. It comes with a really nice salad that had a good amount of acid in it. This was actually nice to cut the fat of the steak between bites.

For dessert, we had their apple pie with vanilla spice ice cream, and their Samoa cookie sundae. The apple pie was absolutely perfect, and it came with a little container of ice cream that reminded me of the kind you used to get from the ice cream truck, with the little paper tab on the top!

On a second visit, the little tub of ice cream was gone, but a nice raised glass was filled with a nicer ice cream. We also tried the Szechuan peppercorn -seasoned melon, which was nice.

That pie was probably the best dessert I’ve had in years. The sundae was good – a nice soft serve ice cream was under there – but over all there was a little bit too much salt content that took away from the Samoa flavors.

This place is definitely worth visiting again. I can’t wait to try more of their menu!

THE CORNER STORE
475 West Broadway
New York, NY 10012