Category Archives: Other

Lower East Side/Chinatown, Other, Restaurant Reviews

Binondo

November 29, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I had been meaning to try this spot for a while. The day after Thanksgiving, we gave it a shot.

First, the complimentary egg drop soup was fantastic. I could eat a gallo.

The chicken sisig bites were more like cold chicken salad than the sisig I expected. But they were still good.

The butter shrimp were perfectly cooked and came in a delicious sauce that went well with everything, especially rice.

What better way to come down from Thanksgiving than with a 3lb cripsy pork shank?

This was an insane deal at $50.

We finished off with banana and jack fruit egg rolls and guanabana ice cream.

Delicious meal. I will definitely be back for some of the stew dishes, a proper sisig entree dish, and the lechon. Also worth noting – this place serves up some really unique and delicious cocktails.

BINONDO
50 East Broadway
New York, NY 10002

New Orleans, Other, Restaurant Reviews

Hot Benny’s

October 7, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Not much to say about this little coffee spot near the casino in NOLA, but the coffee was great, the beignets were supposedly better than Cafe Du Monde, and they served an amazing bloody!

HOT BENNY’S
364 Canal St
New Orleans, LA 70130

Lower East Side/Chinatown, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Other, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye

Balvanera

September 14, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Balvanera is an Argentine wine bar and steak-focused restaurant. We went with another couple, so we were able to try a bunch of stuff.

We started with four small plates:

Octopus

Roasted Beets

Blood Sausage

Burrata & Squash

All of these were really great, but I think we all sort of agreed that the octopus was the best, with the blood sausage either close behind or tied. Really great flavors on this stuff. The blood sausage had none of that grainy, irony, gamey flavor that you sometimes get with low quality or overcooked blood sausage. It had a sticky sweetness to it that was hard to describe. The octopus was so incredibly tender, and the Romesco sauce was killer.

We went with the 25oz, 28-day, dry-aged rib eye for our main course ($120).

This was cooked to a perfect medium rare, but it lacked a little bit of that dry-aged flavor. It was present mostly around the edges and along the bone. But that didn’t matter, because the flavor was so great. This is a solid 8/10 steak, potentially bordering on 9/10 if the aged flavor bumps up on future visits (definitely going back).

For dessert, we did a chocolate tart and flan. Both of these were pretty nice, but I think next time I will focus more on the small plates in the savory department instead of the sweet stuff.

BALVANERA
152 Stanton St
New York, NY 10002

Lower East Side/Chinatown, Other, Restaurant Reviews

87 Ludlow

August 18, 2024 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

87 Ludlow is a relatively new bar and restaurant that offers up an ice happy hour, chock full of nice cocktails and interesting Filipino food.

My wife and I stopped in for a quick meal last week. Here’s what we got:

Oyster Sisig, which I didn’t get a photo of, but you can see a bit of it in the beginning of this video here (my wife is mixing the quail egg into it):

The Isaw (crispy pork intestines) was excellent!

I think the penang curry mussels were my favoritie though:

We also enjoyed the crispy pork knuckle.

And last, the uni noodles:

87 LUDLOW
87 Ludlow St.
New York, NY 10002

East Village, Fusion, Other, Restaurant Reviews

Paradise Lost

January 22, 2024 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I didn’t really take pics at this place, so you should watch my episode of Around the Hood HERE:

This place is an awesome tiki bar in the east village that serves up some great food in addition to their awesome selection of tiki drinks.

We tried the Holy Ground ribs, chicken thigh skewers, pastrami musubi and shrimp skewers. All were good, but the ribs stood out as the best, with the shrimp being the last in the lineup.

I will definitely be back here again to try more tiki drinks!

PARADISE LOST
100 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10003

East Village, Fusion, Japanese, Korean, Other, Restaurant Reviews, Thai, Vietnamese

Ama Raw Bar

December 11, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

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.

AMA RAW BAR
190 Avenue B
New York, NY 10009

Lower East Side/Chinatown, Other, Restaurant Reviews

Kalye

October 3, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Check out my Ride & Review first HERE:

Kalye is a relatively new-ish (open since November 2022) Filipino food joint on the Lower East Side. My buddy Ivan (@eyebahnrides) wanted to check it out, so we made a video out of the occasion. We swapped bikes and each did a review of the other persons bike, then we finished up at Kalye.

We started with the lumpia and a little dish of macaroni salad. Both were great. They air fry here, so the lumpia weren’t greasy or oily. Great crisp, and this went perfectly with our first round of beer (San Miguel).

Next, we moved on to the sisig and lechon. Both of these pork dishes were incredible.

The lechon had such a great crisp on the skin, and the belly was rendered out and cooked perfectly. Both dishes were paired with a wonderful garlic rice, and we put down our second round of beer; Red Horse.

Last, dessert. Halo halo. Absolutely delicious ube soft serve ice cream atop chipped ice, coconut, sweet mung bean and grass jelly.

This place was excellent. The plan is to go back with our wives for a double date.

KALYE
251 Broome St
New York, NY 10002

Chinese, Food Halls, Fusion, Japanese, Korean, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Other, Restaurant Reviews, Thai, Vietnamese

Essex Pearl

July 17, 2022 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This place is incredible!

My wife and I have been dying to come here ever since we saw them setting up shop at Market Line soon after we moved in. It’s a beautiful seafood bar, done up really fancy as a place you’d love to just sit and have a cocktail, but also with open view to the kitchen and prep stations for all the delicious food.

We tried a lot of shit, so let me get right into it.

Raw littleneck clams topped with crispy shallots and a fish sauce mignonette. Perfect way to open up the meal. Pair this with their pickled ginger, shochu and gin martini.

Dry aged rib eye tartare, coarse cut. So tender and flavorful! The shrimp chips make for a perfect vehicle for mouth entry, and they add a great textural crunch.

Cumin lamb belly skewers. I really loved these. If you love cumin lamb noodles at places like Xian Famous, you need to try this. It’s LAMB BACON!

Tiger prawns. You’ll want to drink the sauce! This item was the whole reason my wife wanted to go, and it really delivered. It was her favorite dish (along with the hamachi collar).

Crispy baby octopus with Thai lemongrass curry and fried Thai basil. Ask for a small bowl of rice so none of that curry goes to waste!

The grilled pork jowls were next. This was probably my favorite of the meal. It comes with a lime pepper sauce that acts like a Carolina style vinegar BBQ sauce, almost, but Asian style as lime and pepper are common in places like Vietnam and Cambodia. It cuts the fat of the jowls so perfectly I can’t even describe it properly!

Turmeric dill hamachi collar. This is so delicious and large, it’s enough to share among two people. Light, flavorful, and amazingly aromatic.

Laotian ginger pork sausage over garlic noodles. WOW! The sausage is made in house and it’s so fucking good!

We washed it all down with this watermelon and lychee slushee. So refreshing and just the right amount of natural sweetness.

I can’t wait to go back and try the rest of the menu, especially their surf and turf!

ESSEX PEARL
88 Essex Street
Cellar Level
New York, NY 10002

Burgers, Fusion, Other, Queens, Restaurant Reviews

Carla

July 17, 2022 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I stopped in here with some of the guys from the Zooz electric bike club (for $150 off your bike, use code JOHNNYPRIME at www.zoozbikes.com).

We sat outside, but then it started pouring, so we went inside. The place was nice enough to let us put our bikes into their covered outdoor seating area to stay dry.

Anyway, I tried their burger. I wasn’t crazy about the pickled cabbage on it, but the rest was great. The waffle fries were perfectly crispy with a good spice seasoning on it, like Old Bay/cajun. The egg is unnecessary, but it didn’t make it sloppy or anything. Good crispy bacon, which I broke up a little bit for neater coverage.

I would definitely eat here again if I was in the area. The service was excellent, and the menu was unique. In particular, I’d like to try their pho and banh mi sandwich.

CARLA
2503 40th Ave
Queens, NY 11101

Other, Product Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, West Village

Myers of Keswick

February 26, 2021 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

At the conclusion of a short British food tour, my friends and I wandered into Myers of Keswick. This place is a grocery store of sorts, that specializes in British imports of all types. Canned foods, dry foods, soft drinks, candy, etc. But they also have a gorgeous deli case with fresh foods, and they’re known for their meat pies.

First we broke into the steak & ale pie, which was my favorite of the two we tasted on site.

Absolutely perfect, buttery, flakey crust. Deliciously tender, juicy beef and gravy inside. Awesome.

Next up was the curry lamb pie. This was beautiful.

It, too, was masterful, with great spices and flavors.

For dessert, a scone with clotted cream and jam. So British! It actually reminded me of the creamed cheese and jelly sandwiches that I used to eat as a kid, only much better.