Category Archives: East Village

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

Casa Adela

Leave a comment

Casa Adela is a local Alphabet City Puerto Rican joint that serves up some really delicious and wallet-friendly food.

It’s been recommended to me by several people, and my wife and I finally made it over to try it out. Here’s a quick Ride & Review video of the experience:

We started with the chicken chicharrones, which were AWESOME, especially with that West Indian scotch bonnet and papaya hot sauce.

Next up was the oxtail stew. This was really flavorful, and the oxtail itself was incredibly tender without being dried out. It was legitimately perfect.

The pernil was juicy as well, with a nice strip of crispy, sticky, fatty skin on top. Amazing! That was my favorite bite of the meal, with the oxtail just behind it.

This, too, went nicely with the hot sauce.

Lastly, we had a half roast chicken. The same red spice used on the fried chicken skin is also used on the roasted skin. Whatever it is, it’s beautiful and delicious.

This place is cash only and they do not offer delivery, so I think I’ll be making many more trips here with the bike to pick up food in the future.

CASA ADELA
66 Avenue C
New York, NY 10009

American, East Village, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Down and Out

Leave a comment

My wife and I went to Down and Out in the East Village to try their crazy “double dozens” oyster happy hour. They currently offer two varieties of oysters for $1.50ea, but when you order a dozen, you get a second dozen for free. Essentially, they’re $0.75ea, which is the cheapest I’ve seen them in town!

We tried both the Kusshi (small ones, west coast of Canada) and Glidden Point (pictured above). My wife preferred the Kusshi, and I liked the ones from Glidden Point.

We also tried their “oyster pan roast,” which is a really nice bisque-like oyster and potato soup. It might not be much to look at in the photo, but I assure you it was delicious!

We also got down on their blue claw crab cake sandwich, which was nice and tasty, topped with a home made slaw.

They also serve a lot of high end canned fish items, like these sardines.

Their deviled quail eggs are good too. These come eight pieces per order.

Lots of these food items are discounted at happy hour, like the oysters. The happy hour runs daily from 4pm-7pm, and they also offer two different beers for $3, as well as discounted cocktails.

Most notable about this place, however, is the great whiskey selection, which includes some very rare, vintage bottles that the owner/bartender Josh secured from various estate sales.

He gave us some samples of a few really nice old bottles, like that Canadian Club from 1940! Soon there will be an entire separate menu of vintage whiskeys here, which will nearly double the current selection of whiskey on the menu. Stay tuned!

DOWN AND OUT
503 E 6th Street
New York, NY 10009

East Village, Parms, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Spanish

Kobo by Nai

Leave a comment

The best way to get a feel for this restaurant is to watch my Ride & Review video on YouTube:

But for the traditionalists out there, here’s a breakdown of everything we had:

STARTERS

1. Oysters

These were beautifully presented.

2. Croquettes

Seriously delicious and addictive. The outer shell is thin and crispy, and inside is a delicious explosion of high end Spanish ham and cheese.

3. Mortadella

Yes. With some creamy ricotta on the bottom, this really took the starters over the top.

4. Iberico Ham

This was some seriously high quality stuff. Melts in your mouth!

PASTA

1. Cavatelli

I really dig this spicy beef version of my favorite pasta style, cavatelli.

2. Pappardelle

Probably one of the top three dishes of the night. The Iberico pork ragu was nuts!

3. Curry Lamb Bechamel Lasagna

This is a game changer! Make sure you get this. If you like cumin lamb szechuan noodles, you will love this Italian take on it.

4. Fideua

This squid ink “pasta paella” was my favorite dish of the night. The squid was perfectly cooked, and the pasta was so tasty.

MEAT MAINS

1. Iberico Pork Meatballs

This works as a shared starter too, but I could eat this every day. This is also top three of the meal.

2. Short Rib

So tender and flavorful. Ruben does a similar dish at his other restaurants and all of them are great.

3. Chicken Milanese

This could benefit from a slightly flatter pounding, but there was a sweetness to this from either apricot or honey that was incredible.

SEAFOOD MAINS

1. Whole Fish

Perfectly deboned and beautifully presented.

2. Mussels

Save some sourdough bread to drag through the deeply flavorful sauce that comes with the perfectly cooked mussels.

3. Shrimp

These Spanish style garlic and spicy oil shrimp were absolutely perfect.

VEG

We had the broccolini with Romesco sauce. Even the veg here is off the charts good.

The radicchio salad was also really nice, with poached pears and walnuts.

I’ve said it before with Nai, Emilia and Amigo: Ruben deserves a Michelin star at his restaurants. Everything he puts out is delicious and innovative. He’s one of the city’s most under the radar chefs. So much talent! I highly recommend all four of his restaurants.

KOBO BY NAI
202 Avenue A
New York, NY 10009

Burgers, East Village, Fusion, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Spanish

Emilia by Nai

Leave a comment

Once again my friend Ruben absolutely nails it with his third restaurant, Emilia. Check out this quick video of some of the dishes we tried:

I can’t wait to go back and try more stuff. He is still in the process of perfecting the burger (he’s working on the bun), so I’ll definitely try that again.

Favorite items so far: artichoke with soy cured egg and crispy sunchokes, red snapper, and monkfish liver mousse.

EMILIA BY NAI
174 1st Ave.
New York, NY 10009

East Village, Korean, Restaurant Reviews

Two Hands

Leave a comment

Two Hands is one of the deep-fried Korean style corndog joints that popped up all over the city in the last couple of years. This was the first time I ever tried one of them. I didn’t like it. Too sweet and too doughy, despite the beef dog inside being good quality.

TWO HANDS
147 Avenue A
SSTO
New York, NY 10009

East Village, Pizza

Village Square Pizza

Leave a comment

AWESOME square pepperoni slices at this joint. That’s really all there is to say!

VILLAGE SQUARE PIZZA
147 Avenue A
New York, NY 10009

Burgers, East Village, Italian

Gemma

Leave a comment

I finally got to try some of the food at Gemma in the Bowery Hotel. Started with a delicious orecchiette pasta with broccoli rabe pesto and sweet Italian sausage.

Next up: beautiful burger with broiled cheddar on top.

My favorite dish was the Cornish hen. So flavorful!

And a really nicely cooked center cut New York strip steak.

We finished off with some pistachio cream cannoli.

Really great meal!

GEMMA
335 Bowery
New York, NY 10003

American, Burgers, East Village, Restaurant Reviews

Great Jones Distilling

Leave a comment

After trying their bourbon a few times and really enjoying it, I finally got over to Great Jones Distillery for some food and drinks.

My wife and I tried a flight of their spirits as well as their fancy burger.

The burger is topped with a bacon and bourbon jam, blue or cheddar cheese (we chose blue based on the waitress’ recommendation) and potato chips.

It was cooked perfectly, and the fries were good. However, we wish we picked cheddar since the blue sort of overpowered that bacon and bourbon jam. But otherwise it was good.

I’m a fan of their bourbon too, so we picked up a bottle on the way out. I’m looking forward to going back for a tour and a steak.

GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO
686 Broadway
New York, NY 10012

Burgers, East Village

Bastard Burger at Bronx Brewery

Leave a comment

My wife and I just tried Bastard Burger over at the new Bronx Brewery location in the east village.

The beer selection is great – a little something for everyone, as opposed to just non-stop shitty IPAs. We tried a cardamom ale, and a saison. Both were tasty.

The burger is quality as well. I’m not a huge fan of the stringy cheddar, but the patty, toppings, bun and sauce were all good.

The “Ziggy” fries are awesome. Crispy and well seasoned. I’d definitely eat here again.

BASTARD BURGER
64 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10003

East Village, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Kissaki

Leave a comment

I took my wife to Kissaki for her birthday since she likes omakase restaurants. This place did a great job. We went with their 13-course tasting menu, swapping out sashimi for nigiri on the sushi pieces, and we also shared a sake pairing (four generous pours that progressed through the meal).

My favorite items were the Santa Barbara uni, the thin sliced squid, the Japanese barracuda, and the Spanish mackerel.

I’m no omakase expert, but this place seemed to deliver very good quality at a great starting price point of $120 (for the nigiri – add $60 for the sashimi).

My only gripe: they should offer a combo of both nigiri and sashimi, since some of the nigiri sushi looked really interesting with wild toppings and flavors, while the sashimi pieces were more traditional and plain. A mixed piece menu would be a great way to get a taste of both modern and traditional.

KISSAKI BOWERY
319 Bowery
New York, NY 10003