Category Archives: American

American, Nolita/Soho, Restaurant Reviews

Musket Room

Leave a comment

My wife and I went to Musket Room this past weekend to try their tasting menu. Overall it was good, but I feel like, for the price, you really aren’t getting a lot of food. Some of it was aggressively acidic as well, but that I didn’t mind so much. I was still hungry when I got home, and after a $500 meal, that should never be the case.

First course; sourdough bread with chicken butter (nice that they gave this to us on the house), red snapper tartare, oysters three ways (half shell, grilled and fried), and prawns.

Of these, the prawns were the big winners.

Next course; duck confit (this was dry), and crab congee.

The congee, while a bit more “whole grain” than porridge style, was delicious. It had crab and sunchokes in it.

Main course; venison and pork ($15 upcharge for the pork instead of the tilefish).

These were both excellent, with the pork being slightly more excellent than the venison. But two slices and three slices? Come on…

Dessert was nice. We had some complimentary French Amer (amaro).

The chocolate cloud with orange cream cake was just slightly less delicious than the sweet potato gratin with toasted ice cream.

There was also a little platter of cookies and things. Very nice.

I probably wouldn’t go back, but the food was indeed very good, as were the cocktails.

MUSKET ROOM
265 Elizabeth Street
New York, NY 10012

American, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Other Cuts, Restaurant Reviews

Bufon

Leave a comment

Bufon is a new meat and seafood focused joint in the lower east side. My wife and I tried five items from a menu that we really wanted to ravage. We definitely plan to go back to try more items.

Sunchoke

This was fantastic. Really nice, fresh and mildly starchy.

Halibut

The sauce on this was crack. It was some sort of buerre blanc with bottarga.

Pork Chop

Delicious. Served with butter beans and chopped up Chinese sausage. Super unique.

Picanha

Roasted to perfection. The fat was delicious as well. Scored and rendered to become a beef gelatin of sorts. Skip the vinegar based Creole salsa and get the au poivre for a more classic Sunday roast feel. 9/10.

Crispy Confit Potato

I didn’t expect a fancy hash brown, but it was really good.

No dessert was offered yet. They literally just opened. Interior decor still a work in progress, and the windows still needed to be cleaned!

BUFON
78 Rivington Street
New York NY 10002

American, Midtown East, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye

Seafire Grill

Leave a comment

I hit Seafire Grill with some buddies from high school. While this can technically fit into the steakhouse review format, I decided to keep it quick and easy, since the thrust of the menu here is seafood.

Speaking of seafood, we had a nice selection of raw east and west coast oysters to start, along with grilled calamari and Spanish octopus.

Of course I had steak for my main course. This was a nice 8/10. Rib eye, dry-aged on sight.

Nice seared tuna entree.

The sides were all good. We did creamed spinach, truffle mashed potatoes, and caulilini. For dessert, pecan pie and apple strudel.

They also mix a good martini at the bar.

SEAFIRE GRILL
158 E 48th St.
New York, NY 10017

American, New Orleans, Restaurant Reviews

Mother’s Restaurant

Leave a comment

This southern food restaurant is a staple in NOLA. On my last trip to the “Big Easy” I was finally able to try it.

They’re known for their po’ bouys, so I had to try the Famous Ferdi special: a po’ boy packed with baked ham, roast beef, debris and gravy, served dressed.

Absolutely incredible, and I think this was the best bite of the 2025 trip.

The waitress came over and gave us this plate of collared greens, shrimp etouffee and green beans. Someone had ordered it and left, or they made an extra by mistake.

This didn’t look like much, but it was absolutely amazing! Definitely need to come back here next visit.

MOTHER’S RESTAURANT
401 Poydras St
New Orleans, LA 70130

American, New Orleans, Restaurant Reviews

Gumbo Shop

Leave a comment

We stopped into this joint for a quick bite. I tried the special gumbo of the day, which was called the Cajun gumbo. It consisted of chicken, andouille sausage, crawfish and shrimp. It was really tasty!

GUMBO SHOP
630 St Peter
New Orleans, LA 70116

American, New Orleans, Restaurant Reviews

Willie’s Chicken Shack

Leave a comment

If you spend any amount of time in NOLA, you will come across a Willie’s Chicken Shack. They’re everywhere! And they’re delicious.

We scored some fried chicken late night before passing out for the night. It was worth every greasy, salty, delicious bite.

WILLIE’S CHICKEN SHACK
428 Canal St.
New Orleans, LA 70130

American, Burgers, East Village

Virginia’s

Leave a comment

My wife and I stopped into Virginia’s during their weekend happy hour to try the famous burger.

I have to say, it was pretty good. They cooked it to a nice medium / medium rare.

For $30 it came with fries and a glass or wine or beer.

The fries were super crispy and well seasoned.

The shrimp cocktail was juicy and flavorful.

And the drinks were pretty good prices as well. $10 wine, $5 pickle back, $4 high life.

I would definitely go back to try more.

VIRGINIA’S
200 E 3rd St.
New York, NY 10009

American, East Village, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

G’s Cheesesteaks

Leave a comment

I didn’t take any photos of this place, but you can watch my Ride & Review HERE:

This is by far my favorite cheesesteak: The Long Hot. It has steak, crumbled sausage, long hot peppers, cooper sharp, and fried red onions. Perfect. And all on a fresh made sesame seed bun.

You can’t beat it. I’m so happy this place is in my neighborhood. They have great deals on Uber Eats, and awesome happy hour specials.

G’s CHEESESTEAKS
6 Avenue B
New York, NY 10009

American, German, Italian, Parms, Restaurant Reviews, West Village

Anton’s

Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

This place was pretty good! We rode here in the afternoon on July 4th, so we took advantage of their hot dog special.

This was a really tasty veal dog with dijon and kraut on a sesame seed bun.

We also had their bucatini made with thick cut bacon in a sort of Amatriciana sauce.

The pasta was perfectly cooked!

Then we moved on to their chicken schnitzel.

Crispy fried, pounded flat dark meat served with a side of cucumber and baby romaine salad and a dijon relish. Awesome.

I would definitely go back here again to try more items.

ANTON’S
570 Hudson St.
New York, NY 10014

American, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Bar Contra

Leave a comment

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