Category Archives: Pub Food

German, New Jersey, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Pilsener Haus & Biergarten

August 29, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This is officially one of my new favorite places. Pilsener Haus & Biergarten is a German beer hall situated in an old factory in North Hoboken, New Jersey.

The interior is expansive and roomy, with really awesome decor.

They serve up some classic Oktoberfest style foods and other German classics – especially tubed meats!

I managed to snap a photo of these delicious mussels during a party that my wife and I attended for a short time.

I know North Hoboken isn’t the most convenient place to go, but this place is well worth the trip. I’m looking forward to another visit with a crew of buddies who also love German beer halls as much as me.

PILSENER HAUS & BIERGARTEN
1422 Grand St
Hoboken, NJ 07030

American, Burgers, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews, Upper East Side

Jones Wood Foundry

August 1, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

JWF is a dynamite place on the upper east side that serves up some really nice traditional British style pub fare. I’m talking everything from scotch eggs, to bangers and mash, to bubble and squeak, to toads in the holes (get your minds out of the gutter).

Me and two “mates” of mine (see how I used the language of the Brits there?) popped in for a quick look-around, and to try the burger. Here’s what we stumbled upon.

A beautifully renovated lower level:

A warm, friendly bar atmosphere:

And a fantastic fucking burger:

I’ll definitely be back up this way to try out some of their other menu items. But let me tell you: this burger comes in as one of the best I’ve had in the city so far. Really juicy. Bun could use a slight upgrade, but otherwise this shit is legit.

SECOND TRIP UPDATE – 8/1/16

The bun certainly got an upgrade in quality, but unfortunately the burger itself was a bit overcooked. It was a bit more like medium well than medium rare.

Fries were pretty great.

JONES WOOD FOUNDRY
401 E. 76th St.
New York, NY 10021

East Village, German, Long Island, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Zum Schneider

August 1, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

One of the most fun bar scenes you will ever experience in Manhattan is Zum Schneider for Oktoberfest. Yeah, yeah, yeah (or, should I say, Ja Ja Ja) I know it gets mobbed in there, and you have to stand on line to get in, but it is SO worth it. The beers are excellent, the food is tasty, and the company is fantastic, always.

This year they are offering the festivities under a huge tent on the Hudson River (at 23rd Street), so we will see how that pans out.

If panned out wonderfully, from the little that I can remember. Check out some pics – it was even a good time in the rain:

A short video of the Ja Ja Ja’s into tune:

Another year in the bag, as a return to the big tent on a very similar weather day brought even more fun:

This time I sampled a lot more of the food, like this nice meat and cheese plate. The blue cheese was good and funky, and the meats were nicely cured (there was even some head cheese).

I saw these fuckers roasting outside, so I had to try one:

It was a simple preparation. Just some seasonings plus char. I liked it.

My buddy had some roast chicken and a potato dumpling in gravy.

And of course we tried some brats and pretzels. The brats were on stale shitty bread but they were at least grilled nicely.

MONTAUK LOCATION UPDATE – JULY 2016

The Montauk location is every bit as awesome as the NYC location, only it is steps from the beach.

We really just came in for a drink before dinner across the street at Harvest, but I couldn’t resist this hax’n pork shank:

So I ordered it as an appetizer of sorts. It was excellent. While not salted enough by itself, when eaten in conjunction with the pickled red and white cabbage, it was perfectly balanced. The cabbage cut the fat nicely too.

The potato dumpling and stuffing balls that came with it were skippable, but the beer braise liquid was amazing. Perhaps just a few slices of nice sourdough bread would have been better.

ZUM SCHNEIDER’S
107 Ave. C
New York, NY 10009

ZUM SCHNEIDER’S MONTAUK
4 S Elmwood Ave
Montauk, NY 11954

Burgers, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews, Upper West Side

Gebhard’s Beer Culture

July 28, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Gebhard’s is a beer connoisseur’s dream bar. Their bottle menu is five or six pages long, printed in tiny 8-point font (perhaps even smaller), and organized by style. Their tap selection is pretty stellar as well. When I was there, I tried a flight of four different brews from Brooklyn. A pilsner, a saison, a sour fruit beer and a stout (pictured below from front to back, or right to left).

All were pretty great, but the stars of this joint, for me, were these White Castle style sliders.

They’re made with Schweid & Sons ground beef, topped with cheese, steamed minced onions, and a dijon-based sauce that will knock your socks off. These little things were awesome, so it’s no surprise that renowned and respected burger expert Rev Ciancio (formerly of Burger Conquest) is promoting these things. It’s safe to say that these are my favorite sliders.

I highly recommend getting up there to try them out for yourselves. The tots were perfectly crisp as well, and, if sliders aren’t your thing, then you can go with the full sized burger.

A photo posted by Rebecca Chu 🔹#chewsnyc (@rebecca_chews_nyc) on Jul 12, 2016 at 8:30pm PDT

GEBHARD’S BEER CULTURE
228 W 72nd St
New York, NY 10023

Burgers, Long Island, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

The Villager

May 31, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

The Villager is a bar out in Babylon, near the train station. After a group of us spent the day drinking out at the wineries on Long Island’s north fork, we came here to get some grub. I have to say: I was pretty surprised at how good the food was. I was not expecting much. Shame on me for assuming shit.

The group started with an order of gouda fries. They were waffle style – nice and crisp – and covered with melted gouda, crumbled bacon and scallions.

I ordered the breakfast burger, which was topped with American cheese, bacon and a fried egg, served on a toasted English muffin.

Since I wasn’t sure what kind of place this was before ordering, I went with medium on the cook. I was kicking myself once I tasted the quality of the meat. I should have gone medium rare. It was still fucking fantastic though, and it came with a side of tater tots.

My wife ordered the duck burger, which was topped with gruyere and applewood smoked bacon. She, too, ordered it medium. The burger was cooked perfectly and had a hearty flavor to it, but, as a result of the medium poultry, was a bit on the dry side.

I will definitely be back here, and next time I will order properly at medium rare for my burger.

THE VILLAGER
262 Deer Park Ave
Babylon, NY 11702

Burgers, Flash Deals, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews, Upper West Side

Joe’s Bar

April 16, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

NOTE: This place is now closed.

My wife grabbed a flash deal for this place.

For something like $25 or $30 we got two burgers, a side of fries and two drinks. Below is a shot of the “Scooby Snack,” which my wife ordered. It was their frozen slush drink of the day. In this case, hibiscus margarita.

Pretty sweet deal, and the food was actually good. Check out the burgers:

That bottom burger is called “Joe’s Burger,” which is a patty that’s topped with sloppy Joe and cheese. Lots of meat. My bacon cheeseburger was a slight bit above medium, but I didn’t mind because it was juicy and well seasoned.

The fries were perfectly cooked, and a pretty good side for $6. It will feed two, no problem.

JOE’S BAR
480 Amsterdam Ave
New York, NY 10024

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

American, Burgers, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews, Tribeca

Church Street Tavern

February 3, 2016 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

I went to Church Street Tavern with my wife and the founder of The Dishelin Guide and the DishEnvy app to finally check out their acclaimed burgers. The talk is accurate. These burgers are fantastic! We tried two: The Wellington and the CST Burger.

Let’s start with The Wellington: the patty is topped with mushroom duxelles (french for chopped mushrooms, onions and shallots sauteed with butter and herbs), foie butter and a cheesy pastry crisp that mimics the puff pastry that typically surrounds a Beef Wellington dish.

You can see it sticking out the side here like a piss-clam tail, or a limp geoduck phallus.

I guess those words aren’t the best to use when describing delicious food, but that’s what comes to mind. Anyway, I was expecting the burger to be wrapped in the pastry, just like traditional Beef Wellington (pictured below), but that wasn’t the case.

The burger was good. It was cooked to a nice medium rare, and the toppings were delicious. The bun held up nicely, didn’t crumble and wasn’t too stiff.

The better burger of the pair, however, was the namesake CST (Church Street Tavern) Burger, which was topped with bacon-onion jam, aged cheddar, and arugula.

It was seved on the same toasted brioche bun, but this burger had a much better flavor to the meat, perhaps from better seasoning and searing. Cooked to a perfect, juicy medium rare, this burger really hit the spot. I’d definitely go back for another.

The big surprise of the evening, though, was this amazing porchetta sandwich that we saw on the menu.

It’s a nice, tender pork sandwich with sauteed spinach and melted Swiss cheese. There were even some crispy pork bits in there for texture. The spinach had a nice hit of garlic to it without having any chunks of the breath-killer hidden inside. And the Swiss was surprisingly tasty to me. I didn’t expect to like Swiss with Italian pork, but it worked. I highly recommend this sandwich.

The fries here are equally satisfying. They’re slightly more squat and thicker than most places, but they’re cooked perfectly and generously-yet-simply seasoned with salt and herbs.

The bar here is pretty nice too, and at happy hour you can get $4 select beers. I had a Session lager:

CHURCH STREET TAVERN
313 Church St.
New York, NY 10013

East Village, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

McSorley’s Old Ale House

January 9, 2016 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

McSorley’s Old Ale House is NYC’s first Irish bar, and it is a place known for limited options. For example, the clientele was limited to men from 1854 until 1970 when it was forced to allow women into the bar. Their motto was “Good Ale, Raw Onions and No Ladies.”

As far as beer goes, your options are limited to their proprietary “McSorley’s” dark beer or light beer. You get two mugs that are mostly filled for the price of one beer, chiefly because it is faster to pour two half-assed mugs than it is to properly pour a full mug while waiting for the head to settle on the beer.

While there, you should definitely man-up and try their infamous liverwurst and onion sandwich. If you’re really feeling manly, spread some of that super spicy – and likely dirty – dijon mustard onto the bread. The stuff graces each table.

Quick story about the wishbones on the light fixture above the bar: They were hung by guys getting ready to deploy in WWI. If they came back they took down a wishbone and made their wish. The ones that didn’t make it back; their wishbone remains on the light fixture. Special thanks to BG for that bit of info.

Also gave the burger a try. For $8 this is a steal!

MCSORLEY’S OLD ALE HOUSE
15 E. 7th St.
New York, NY 10003

American, Burgers, Press Reviews, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews, West Village

The Malt House

December 29, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I came to this cool village joint for a press dinner.

The interior is like an old world tavern, with lots of exposed brick, warm tones and wood beams on the ceiling.

The beer selection is really great, both on tap and in bottles/cans.

Chef Armando cut his teeth at STK and Five Napkin Burger before taking on the executive chef role at both this Malt House location and the newly opened, massive Financial District location.

The bar room is really well apportioned, with an L-shaped stretch that also has some tabletop seating nearby. At happy hour they offer nice food selections and cheap drink options, along with dollar oysters! There’s also a full menu at the bar for the other eats, and they offer flights of beer (four for $10), American whiskey and Scotch whisky.

Here’s what we had on our press tasting:

All the apps came out on a big platter, with the exception of the mussels, of course:

The onion rings had a nice bacon flavor to them. They were fluffy without being too bready, and the onion inside was cooked through.

The baked, fried and grilled wings were excellent – the best of the “fried stuff,” for sure. They had a mild buffalo spiced roquefort sauce on them, but that didn’t take away any of the crisp to the skin.

One of the more unique items on the menu is the fried cheese curds. You just don’t see them all that much around here. They were like small bite-sized bits of “cheese sticks,” only less melty and more airy and bready.

The fried pickles were crispy as hell! They were sliced paper thin first, and then battered and fried. These went nicely with the homemade ranch sauce.

The ranch sauce, by the way, was the best of the three sauces we had (the other two: a house sauce that was similar to thousand island, and a chipotle mayo).

The star of the openers, however, was the crock of mussels that were steamed in a sauce made from roasted tomatoes, chorizo, garlic, herbs (rosemary, for one) and white wine. Delicious.

Chef Armando hits back to back home runs with the burger and the mahi mahi tacos when it comes to the entrees.

The burger is a blend of short rib, chuck and brisket that makes for a tender, juicy and superbly flavorful patty of beef. Topped with onion marmalade, pickles, bacon, lettuce, red onion and cheese, you really can’t go wrong.

The fries on the side, however, were a little bit lacking in comparison to the incredible burger. Not as crispy as I like, and a little heavy on the grease flavor. The truffle fries had a better crisp to them, but I didn’t get much of the truffle flavor, and they were cut a little thicker than I like for French fries.

The tacos are super refreshing, with really nicely cooked fish and fresh ingredients. I’d definitely go back for these.

We seriously tasted an astonishing amount of food on this press event. Next was the open-faced strip steak sandwich on a French baguette, topped with melty gruyere, red onion and arugula.

The steak was pre-sliced but thick, making it good for the open-faced, knife-and-fork format.

The lobster mac and cheese was topped with a generous portion of lobster claw and tail meat, and it had the flavor of truffle oil to bring some earthiness into the dish.

We even tried a salad with grilled chicken. Pretty good. It was nicely dressed and the chicken breast was perfectly cooked.

For dessert, we sampled both the creme brûlée and the chocolate cake. My favorite between the two was the creme brûlée. It was smooth and creamy, nice and evenly textured.

The chocolate cake was served warm, with a scoop of house made vanilla on the side.

The cake was slightly dry, but the ice cream was a good way balance that: eat some ice cream with each bite of cake, and problem solved.

But what can I say: The Cake Dealer really spoils me when it comes to cake and bake.

To sum up: I’ll definitely be back here for some drinks, burgers and tacos. Great shit. Awesome US craft beer selection (like Bourbon County) that rotates out often, and excellent burgers. Most likely I will come for happy hour and indulge in some dollar oysters too.

THE MALT HOUSE
206 Thompson St.
New York, NY 10012

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carnivore connoisseur