Category Archives: Nolita/Soho

French, Nolita/Soho, Other, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews

Taureau

November 19, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Taureau is a French fondue joint down in SoHo that’s owned and operated by the same badass chef dude, Didier, who runs neighboring La Sirene and cross-town East Village gem Le Village.

My wife and I were invited here to round out a trio of press dinners for Didier’s restaurants.

The atmosphere here is cozy, with dim, warm lighting. Taureau derives its name, logo and decor concepts from the Taurus zodiac sign. It’s an earth sign specifically, and everything served and used for decor is of the earth (no fish on the menu, lots of natural objects for decor, dark wood and earth tones for the seating and tables, etc).

The concept of fondue is pretty simple: melted cheeses, hot oils, mulled wines and melted chocolates, in which various meats, veggies, fruits, breads and other items are dunked and dipped prior to eating. It’s not complicated or messed with here at Taureau. As with his traditional French bistro La Sirene, Didier has kept his fondue concept restaurant straightforward, and I believe it’s the only fondue gig in town.

The fondue experience is inherently communal. No guys: there’s no LSD, cult leaders, hippies or outdoor multi-day music festivals. I only mean “communal” as in everyone is using the same cooking vessel. As such this lends itself to be a good place to go both with a group of friends, or even for an intimate date. After you share cooking vessels, you can share a bed together. And with music like Barry White playing during the meal, the mood for such behavior is subconsciously set. One caution I will give you is this: be prepared to come away with a scent of cooking oil on your clothing. Didier has some good air circulation in the restaurant, so it wasn’t as thick as I expected. However sometimes the fondue pots can smoke up a little bit, and the oil smells can cling to your fabrics – JUST the oil smells though; the cheese and chocolate smells don’t cling. So even though Barry White may have lubricated your libido while you were indulging in chocolate covered strawberries with your lover, you both may come away with a “fast food employee” smell on your persons that could ruin the mood. I suppose you can simply double down on the sexy and eat topless if you want; then there will be no smell on your clothing. However, while it’s perfectly legal to go topless in NYC, it may be frowned upon by the restaurant and its diners, and if you drip hot oil, liquefied cheese or melted chocolate on your nipples, you may regret the topless dining decision very quickly (unless, of course, you’re into that weird shit).

I have to be honest here: I had been to a fondue joint out on Long Island once and I didn’t like it very much. It felt over-priced and the food was underwhelming. But here, I knew I was in good hands with Didier. Everything I have ever tasted from his kitchens was high quality and really delicious. As such I was excited to dive in.

Okay so, basically, you choose your price point and fondue accompaniments (very reasonably priced, ranging from $43/pp to $52/pp), and soon the food starts to come out as the fondue pots heat up on built-in electric heaters that are embedded in the tables. They serve wine too, so you can pair your cheese fondue with white, and then transition over to red for the meats:

The first course is a salad along with some croutons, which is unlimited if you choose to gorge yourself:

The salad is mixed greens, lightly but evenly dressed. The croutons are for your cheese fondue course that comes out with this. We tried four different cheese concoctions. The first was a nutmeg-infused cheese, which smelled like fall:

Then a combination of various Swiss cheeses:

And a cauldron of Monterey jack and cheddar cheese:

But my favorite was this earthy truffle perigord cheese:

It went perfectly with our side items for dipping, which consisted of broccoli, chorizo, fennel sausage, and portobello mushrooms:

In particular, the mushrooms with the truffle cheese was an incredible “double-down” on the earthy flavor notes. And the chorizo went really nicely with the nutmeg cheese. The spice of the sausage was off-set and balanced by that touch of sweetness from the cheese. We kept diving in, dipping food, and dodging and ducking from any errant drips of melty cheese as we reached over and across each other. Dodge, dip, dive, duck and dodge. Just like the five D’s of dodgeball, from the Dodgeball movie:

Some drip-catching plates could have been helpful, I suppose, and I guess we could add a 6th D for the dodgeball reference, for Didier. He has truly created some really amazing cheese combinations, and that truffle cheese was the big star of the show for the evening. I just kept going at it, even when all that was left to dip was the broccoli!

After about 15 hits of truffle cheese, I thought I might be full, but then the meat course came out. Our cheese fondue pots were swapped for four new pots: red wine, vegetable oil, olive oil and peanut oil. The idea here is to dunk your meat in for varying amounts of time (depending how thoroughly cooked you want it), and then add a little sauce to it before eating. The sauces included a dijon cream, truffle red wine reduction, peppercorn gravy, gorgonzola cream and Hollandaise.

The sauces paired in unique ways depending on which meat you chose, and which fondue pot you used for cooking the meat. The meats are all marinated and pre-sliced, by the way, for maximum tenderness. Our meat selections were as follows:

Pork (cook for 45 seconds):

Chicken (cook for 45 seconds):

Filet Mignon (medium rare 15 seconds):

Hanger Steak (medium rare 15 seconds):

My favorite pairings were (1) hanger steak cooked in olive oil and topped with the truffle red wine reduction sauce; (2) filet mignon cooked in red wine and topped with the gorgonzola sauce; (3) pork cooked in red wine and topped with the peppercorn gravy; and (4) chicken cooked in peanut oil and topped with the dijon cream sauce. Really good shit.

Dessert, as you can imagine, involved copious quantities of melted chocolate. We tried both the milk and dark chocolate varieties:

We were served a plate of sliced fruit and dessert breads for dipping. Bananas, pineapples, apples, kiwi, grapes, strawberries, banana bread, white chocolate bread and even marshmallows were all involved.

You can mix and match to your heart’s desire. I was actually surprised to find that I liked kiwi with milk chocolate. Pretty interesting.

But you can’t really beat the simplicity of a chocolate covered banana or marshmallow:

That about covers it for this really fun fondue night. If you’re up for something unique and different for dinner, this is definitely the way to go. When you go, tell Didier that Johnny Prime sends his regards.

TAUREAU
558 Broome St.
New York, NY 10013

Burgers, Nolita/Soho, Press Reviews

Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer

October 9, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This little bar style burger joint in Soho slings some really great burgers.

The place proudly advertises that they use Pat LaFrieda beef in the grind. It pays off because the meat is really fantastic, and the burgers are cooked to a nice medium rare.

We tried a few different burger styles. The All-American is a classic patty with American cheese, lettuce, pickle, tomato and a Thousand Island type sauce. The burger is served open face style so you can stack it however you like.

Each comes with a side of fries as well.

And it is cooked to medium rare whether you like it or not:

It tasted exactly how you want your burger to taste. Big bold flavor, melty cheese, and perfectly seasoned beef cooked to pink through and through. The potato buns here are strong, sweet and pliable too. Excellent.

This steak au poivre burger was topped with blue cheese and served with a peppercorn gravy. The cheese didn’t overpower, and the peppercorn sauce really made this burger stand out as what was probably the best of the night. I felt like I was eating a steak!

The Texan has cheddar and bacon, with an onion ring on top. This had great classic beefy flavor, with a robust kick from the bacon.

And the Greg Norman is made with wagyu beef and topped with arugula and blue cheese, with a buttermilk dill sauce on the side.

The beef on the Greg Norman was top notch. That shit was so funky, earthy and savory that I just wanted to keep going and going. It was probably the best wagyu burger I’ve ever had. Look at how amazing this redness is…

We gave the onion rings and sweet potato fries a try as well, which you can substitute instead of regular fries for a small up charge. I liked the regular fries the best of the three, but here’s a shot of the sweet potato jammies for y our edification:

In addition to having a great beer selection, they also have some nice shakes as well. My wife tried a coffee flavored shake, which was really creamy and tasty:

They even do some fun collaborations sometimes, like this St. Patrick’s Day burger (Pat LaFreda) that is topped with Katz Deli corned beef.

Oh, and they serve some dynamite wings as well.

BLACK TAP
529 Broome St
New York, NY 10013

Italian, Nolita/Soho, Pizza, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews

Adoro Lei

October 7, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I was invited here for a press event pizza party by a friend of mine who works in the food business.

I’m always on the hunt for good pizza, so I was psyched to try this place. But this joint is more than just pizza. They have great cocktails, a really nice menu, and a good beer selection as well.

That’s the pizza oven up top, and just underneath, you can see this dude rolling out the pizza dough with a wine bottle. That’s some old school type shit!

Let me guide you through this awesome meal. First, we had the “Burrata Divine,” which is a nice tasty blob of burrata cheese on top of eggplant with some grape tomatoes and arugula, drizzled with a truffle honey.

This was some good shit. The burrata was soft and flavorful, and the truffle honey was a nice touch of sweet against the peppery arugula.

Next up was “Chianti Kale,” a kale, spinach and shitake mushroom salad with shaved ricotta and fried salsify, tossed in a Chianti-sesame dressing. I’m usually quick to mock kale, but this was actually an awesome salad. It had depth to it from the sesame and Chianti dressing.

We also had the “Sous-Vide Beets.” The beets were warm and plated at the base of the dish, with arugula, frisee, candied walnuts, goat cheese and blackberries on top. This was tossed with a walnut dressing.

This was earthy, sweet, hearty and savory all at once. Now that I know beets are this good when cooked sous vide, I’ll definitely be throwing them in my homemade machine at the old Johnny Prime Food Research Lab.

We snacked on some grilled shishito peppers with shaved almonds while waiting for the next courses to arrive. These were lightly salted. Very nice, with a mild heat to them.

My favorite items of the night were these “Adoro Sliders,” which were essentially braised veal and pork meatballs with a tomato sauce and sheep’s milk ricotta on a slider bun.

The bun was soft and strong, as you would expect from any good burger. The meat was tender and juicy, just like a really good meatball. This was the perfect Italian burger. I loved it. They’re a bit pricey at three for $14, but well worth the money in terms of taste.

Another star dish was the “Lovers’ Purses.” These were pasta dumplings filled with cheese, and served with pear, brown butter sage sauce, roasted walnuts, arugula and parmesan shavings.

They were dense and cooked al dente, but they weren’t heavy.

The last of the pre-pizza items was the “Espresso Tuna.”

Cooked to a perfect rare / medium rare, this tuna had an espresso dry rub and was served on top of spinach and fingerling potatoes, and topped with toasted pistachio nuts and roasted red peppers. The pomegranate Thai basil reduction sauce was what really set this dish apart. The acidity was perfectly balanced against the sweet components, and despite the distinctively Asian ingredients, it really tasted like a natural Italian dish. Nicely done.

Okay so here comes the pizza. I will start with the least favorite – which is by no means “not good” – and work my way to the best. This first pie is the traditional tomato sauce and cheese style, called “Casanova” at this joint.

The flavors were good, just not as robust as some of the other items from the night. This pie was a bit limp in the center, where the sauce and cheese were heaviest, so any lack of stiffness in the crust will cause some concern.

Next up was the “Veronica” pizza. This had burrata, kale, grape tomatoes, pecorino and basil.

Not a bad pie, but also just not as memorable as a good traditional or a really unique specialty pie. The crust was nice and crisp, and the toppings weren’t too heavy or overpowering of one another.

The big winner was the “Pietro.” This is essentially an arugula and prosciutto style dry pie, topped with marinated cherry tomatoes, basil, pecorino, shaved parmesan and truffle oil.

The use of truffle oil was delicate and skilled here. It wasn’t overpowering. The cheeses were perfect with the prosciutto, and despite this being bold on flavor, it never overwhelmed my palate. I’d come back for this any day. Look at us going bonkers with the photos and ooey gooey slices!

We also got to try some dessert. First was this nutella pizza, which was sweet dough on top and bottom, sandwiching a nice layer of nutella and topped with powdered sugar.

Be careful not to breathe in when taking a bite. That powdered sugar can be a coughing fit in the making!

There was also a really nice fried dough item called nutella fingers, which consisted of logs of fried dough served with nutella, blackberries and whipped cream. Simple and delicious. This was my favorite of the two desserts. The dough was crisp on the outside but pillow-soft on the inside, and nice and warm the whole way through.

All the while during the meal we were having a beer tasting. We tried six different brews. My favorite ended up being an Ommegang, with the Bluepoint Toasted right behind.

Get down here for some food. You will definitely go home happy!

ADORO LEI
287 Hudson St.
New York, NY 10013

Filet Mignon, French, Full Points for Flavor, Nolita/Soho, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews

La Sirene

May 29, 2015 Johnny Prime 1 Comment

What’s more diddy than P-Diddy? Didier:

I guess I should say WHO is more diddy than P-Diddy. Okay you’re probably confused…

Didier is the owner, chef and manager of three excellent NYC French restaurants. I’ve written a rave review of Le Village from a previous press meal, and now I’m writing one for La Sirene, the popular classical French joint on Broome Street, just east of Varick at the lower edge of Soho.

Anyway, Didier is an intense, animated guy who is really passionate about his food. Everything he serves is of superior quality and taste, and made right there in-house. After eating at two of his restaurants, I can safely say that there is nothing that the man can’t execute with flawless precision. Every app, entree and dessert I’ve tasted has ranged from far above average to excellent, with one or two “best I’ve ever had” things in there as well.

Didier focuses his energy on classic French dishes, made from family recipes that he has been honing for upwards of 30 years. Some of these dishes are so labor intensive that you wonder how the hell he could be cranking them out seven days a week. Even some of the sauces take days to prepare, all from scratch – from roasted bone stock, reduced with wine, and distilled into just a few ounces of absolute heaven in a bowl.

Other French places I have been to will have something like coq au vin or cassoulet on the menu, yet every time you go in and ask for it, they are somehow not able to make it for you. They’re “out” of cassoulet. And other French joints only serve those crazy, impossible dishes one day a week. “Monday Dinner Special: Coq au Vin.” Not served any other day of the week. This is not the case at La Sirene. Didier cranks these fucks out like a machine, and they are all amazing, and available every damn day for hundreds of diners. That is quite impressive, to say the least.

So let’s get right down to business, shall we?

La Sirene recently acquired a liquor license (it used to be solely BYOB), so we started with some Spanish wine: Temperanillo (red) and Airen (white). Both were smooth, but I tend to gravitate toward red in general.

The table bread is all made in-house, and is a rustic farmhouse style with a crusty outside and a soft, fluffy, absorbent inside that’s excellent for dipping into the sauces that come with the mussels.

While I got to taste a little bit of everything that each of the five press diners ate, I will try to just focus on the items that my wife and I ordered – really because I ate more of those items than the others.

First was the sauteed baby octopus. This was simply tossed with garlic, parsley, tomato, olive oil and mushrooms, and served warm on a bed of mixed greens. The ‘pus was perfectly cooked. Nice and tender, with great flavors. Although one doesn’t exactly associate this sort of dish with classic French cuisine (it sounds more Mediterranean / Greek-Italian), it was a definite crowd pleaser. Everyone liked it.

My wife had the Creole mussels, which were served in a creamy tomato and chorizo broth with herbs. We liked this a whole lot better than the other mussel dish we tried, which was “Rochelaises” style, with curry and apples. The chorizo just goes so well with shellfish, and I was sopping up that amazing sauce with bread for a while after the mussels were fully devoured.

When in France, do as the French do: Eat snails. These little shits were so damned tasty. Buttery, garlicky, herby and tender. I could easily put down three dozen of these like nothing. Didier’s escargot is a must-try, and the best version of the dish that I’ve ever had.

The entrees were spectacular. Until this meal, I had never tried cassoulet. I think I might have just spoiled myself with this first. My expectations and standards on future cassoulet meals are now way too high, thanks to Didier. It’s like having a rib eye at Del Frisco’s for the first steak of your life. While I have nothing to which to compare Didier’s cassoulet, I can safely say that it is amazing. Behold, my new favorite French dish:

It was so hearty and packed with flavor. So many different types of meat were happily co-mingling in this rustic dish. It was like a dream-come-true. Inside was a delicious potpourri of cannellini beans, carrots, tomatoes, garlic, duck confit, slab bacon and pork sausage, all braised with duck fat, white wine stock and foie gras jus. Come on… And on top was an array of homemade bread crumbs that were broiled to crispy perfection, so that every bite of this dish had texture versatility as well as flavor variety.

It was difficult to pull myself away from that cassolet. It was my wife’s dish. I, of course, had steak. At first I was conflicted: should I order the hanger steak, one of Didier’s signature items, or the “Tournedos Rossini,” a signature filet mignon item? BOTH STEAK and BOTH SIGNATURE DISHES! It was like Sophie’s Choice for me, except, unlike Sophie, (SPOILER ALERT) I didn’t have to hand one of my children over to the Nazis to save mine and my other child’s lives.

Okay, so after much back-and-forth, I quietly resolved that I would just come back again soon for the hanger steak. I ordered the “Tournedos Rossini,” which is filet mignon, topped with fois gras, truffles and a shallot/port wine reduction sauce.

This was nothing short of decadent. The fois gras added that much needed fat element back into the cut of tenderloin. So good. And it was expertly cooked to medium rare as well.

I was thoroughly impressed. For a non-steakhouse, this place does an excellent job with the world’s most prized and sought-after beef cut. Bravo!

Our entrees were served with a nice side plate of veggies. Celery with breadcrumbs and garlic (my favorite of the four), butternut squash, green beans (really fucking delicious, by the way – how on earth does one make green beans so damned good), and carrot puree. This plate comes with each entree, but sometimes Didier will mix up the contents depending on what’s fresh and in season.

Dessert is such a treat when you’re at a place that really knows what the fuck they’re doing in the kitchen. La Sirene is one of those places. We tried five different desserts, and I made damn sure to take nice photos of each and every one, because they were all stellar.

I’ll start with the chantilly here. Essentially this was a cream puff item: puff pastry filled with vanilla whipped cream. Simple, elegant, light – and a cool, refreshing way to end a meal.

The steakhouse man in me will always look for a creme brulee of some kind. The one offered here is a banana brulee. Custard with banana and cookie in it. Really delicious and perfectly executed, with generous chunks of very ripe and sweet bananas inside.

This strawberry tart was actually my favorite dessert of the five. The tart crust itself was flakey, buttery and light. It was sweet, yet slightly savory, to counter-balance against the sweet strawberries, whipped cream and custard that was on top. A real winner for me. I wish I was able to eat more of this.

My order was the profiteroles. These were essentially the same as the chantilly cream puffs, except filled with vanilla ice cream and draped in melty chocolate. Fucking awesome. And the whipped cream added that lightness that I wanted at dessert time, in addition to the sweetness.

My wife ordered the chocolate lava cake. This was a sight to see. It comes served on a long plate consisting of three items: whipped cream, the cake itself and vanilla ice cream. See below:

But when you cut into this baby, that ooey-gooey melty chocolate lava just oozes out of the center.

I’m usually not a big chocolate-on-top-of-chocolate fan at dessert time, but this was a really great dish with a stunning presentation.

I think that about wraps it up. I look forward to coming back to try the other signature beef dish, the hanger steak, and I eventually plan to try out Didier’s third dining establishment, the fondue joint next door called Taureau. So far Didier is two for two with La Sirene and Le Village. Essentially he has taken victories at the Derby and Preakness, and I am interested to see if he will score the Triple Crown at Belmont. See what I did there? That’s a horse racing metaphor, because the Belmont Stakes are just a few weeks away, and we have a potential Triple Crown winner on our hands this year.

LA SIRENE
558 Broome St.
New York, NY 10013

American, Burgers, Carcass Club/Beast Feast, Nolita/Soho, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Other Cuts, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Burger & Barrel

April 20, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This place easily comes in as one of my favorite burgers in the city. I tried the bash burger (bacon and onion jam), and the classic (lettuce and tomato). Both came with American cheese as the standard, and both were fucking amazing: great bun, and astounding meat flavor. The fries were perfectly cooked and seasoned as well, and the batter on the onion rings was so crisp and delicious.. I’ll definitely be dining here again, especially for the prime rib dinner.

The bash burger was so good that you didn’t miss the crunch from the lettuce or the coolness of the tomato:

The classic was firing on all cylinders. Every aspect of this thing worked. Tomato was sliced a little thicker than I normally like, but it was not unwieldy because the other stuff was all the right thickness.

It’s no wonder this place, which is run by the same folks at Bowery Meat Company, is running away with all sorts of burger awards.

UPDATE 4/20/15

I went back yesterday with my wife and my parents to celebrate me and my wife’s 6th wedding anniversary.

We did the prime rib dinner for four, which you will need to reserve in advance because they need lots of time to prep the roast (I think it cooks for 8 hours). Check out the menu:

We started with a few brews since we were walking around a lot that afternoon and needed some refreshments:

The family style apps were pretty delicious. First were these little chicken lollipops. Super crispy skin, some Korean style BBQ sauce drizzled over with sesame seeds and some greens. These are addicting. I only wish there were eight instead of six in the order, that way we each could have eaten two. They’re a little too good to stop at just one, despite the massive amount of food yet to come.

The tuna tartare was nice, light and refreshing. It was topped with an avocado spread and served with waffle-cut potato chips. Everything was just right on this dish.

Next up were the individually ordered salads. Since there were three to choose from, we had one of each and then an extra that was doubled. So we ordered two of the beet salads. The beets were perfectly roasted, and the toasted walnuts gave good texture and crunch to the salad. The goat cheese was so soft and velvety, and the orange segments added a citrus pop that really made this salad stand out as the best of the three.

The kale salad had butternut squash, faro and cranberries. This was dressed nicely with a honey mustard vinaigrette.

The last of the salads was apple and arugula with shaved fennel, pine nuts and parmigiano, lightly dressed with a light apple vinegar.

The star of the show is this Creekstone Farms roasted prime rib.

This is a LOT of beef for just four people. The waiter said that it comes out to about 14oz per person, but that is a serious understatement. I think my cut alone, which wasn’t as big as my dad’s, was about 24oz.

So thick and juicy. The seasoning got way down into the meat, and the crust of spices along the outside edges was incredible. The fat was pretty much all edible meat jello – so tasty. Not one bite became monotonous or boring, as is the case many times with prime rib. This had a ton of character. I can’t even describe to you how amazing the restaurant smelled when they carried this bad boy out to us. They also served it with two sauces: bordelaise and peppercorn poivre sauce. Both were great but I tended to hit the peppercorn sauce a little more often.

Even the sides were amazing here. First, I’ve never tasted a tater tot so good in my life. They were perfectly crisp, and herbed up nice with rosemary flavor.

The brussels sprouts were crispy and light, but packed a ton of flavor. I could eat this like a snack while watching TV.

The spinach was perfectly seasoned and sautéed in garlic and oil – no heavy cream to weigh down the meal.

And the potatoes were so unique. They seemed like they were ripped up, baked and fried fingerlings with caramelized onions. They had a really dynamic texture of crisp and soft mixed throughout.

Finally, for dessert we had apple fritters with chocolate truffles, topped with ice cream and caramel sauce. These were like little doughnuts made from apple. Nice and crisp on the outside, with a perfectly cooked apple on the inside. I’m usually not a huge fan of chocolate but that truffle was excellent!

The staff was really great here, and they brought us out a complimentary pair of mini bottles of rose champagne when they overheard us talking about the fact that we were celebrating an anniversary. Really nice touch, and the champagne was tasty!

Overall this is one of my favorite places to eat in the city right now.

The bar has a great, fun atmosphere, and every item I’ve tried here is pretty much an example of the best I’ve had. This doesn’t come as much of a shocker though, because all of the restaurants in their group as just as amazing. If you haven’t been here yet, get your ass down here ASAP and try some of the items pictured above. I promise, you will not be disappointed.

UPDATE 3/26/18

Subsequent return trips to B&B for the prime rib:

BURGER & BARREL
25 W. Houston St.
New York, NY 10012

Eastern European, Mediterranean, Nolita/Soho, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews

Balzem

March 12, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I was recently invited to a press dinner at Balzem, a little Mediterranean spot near the corner of Mott and Spring in Nolita that opened in the Spring of 2014.

The dining room is rustic, with an airy 12-foot beamed ceiling, old mirrors, iron hanging light fixtures, and lots of reclaimed wood.

The surprisingly roomy bar offers a wide selection of Mediterranean wines (40 different wines!), imported beer, and even some wine cocktails like the Hot Cab Manhattan, the Balzem Fizz, and the Ginger Ride. I tried the Efes beer (Turkish pilsner), which was nice, light and refreshing.

The bar crowd definitely picked up at around 8:30pm, and it was actually getting pretty crowded by time we left at 9:30pm. Also worth mentioning here is the fact they they offer happy hour specials EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK from 5:00pm-7:00pm, where they have $6 Mediterranean wines, $5 beers, $1 oysters and $5 tapas/mezzes. That’s freaking amazing! I’ll definitely be back on weekends, for sure.

Here’s a quick shot of Mehdi (left), wine director and general manager, and Balahan (right), owner and executive chef.

The menu features lots of tapas and mezzes, even some pizza, in addition to a smaller selection of entrees. Here’s the tasting menu we had for the press dinner, along with the wines that were paired with each course:

The table bread was a nice crispy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside, country style loaf, sliced and served with olive oil (with a variety of olives swimming in the dish):

The chicken breast and orzo soup was really tasty. Made from a light tomato broth with Turkish red pepper paste, it packs a great flavor that you can accent with a squeeze of lemon. This dish was based on a family recipe that Balahan’s mother used to make.

That red pepper paste, by the way, is not made from bell peppers, but a different kind – more like a Cubanelle – that’s red instead of green. It’s something that Balahan made as a kid growing up in Turkey, when his family would retreat to the mountains to cool off during the hot months. There, they made red pepper paste, pastries and breads. Sounds like a great way to spend the Summer – sign me the fuck up!

Next were the prosciutto wraps, which was my favorite item of the night. The meat was thin and perfectly cured. It was soft, and not too salty. The burrata cheese was perfection as well. High quality ingredients presented in a very un-fucked-with manner so that they shine.

Basil leaf, balsamic reduction drizzle and some roasted red peppers is all they added. The green you see beneath the wraps are actually flattened pieces of pepper. Very nice, especially when paired with the clean rose we were served.

We jumped out of order here to try the other cold dish; the branzini ceviche. This was really mild, despite being cured in lemon vinegar. This is the first time I’ve seen branzino prepared in a ceviche. I really liked how it wasn’t a soupy bowl of tart citrus, like you get in most joints. It was cleanly presented with some arugula and dill.

Next up was the grilled shrimp dish. These were beautifully presented on a slice of grilled zucchini with parsley and garlic dressing, and accompanied by an arugula salad with tomato and lemon vinaigrette. There was a swipe of chipotle sauce too, so this dish was spicy. The sweet white wine we had with it was the perfect compliment to balance out the spice levels.

The shrimp were cooked just right.

My next favorite dish, after the prosciutto, was this octopus fucker. It was braised for 45-50 minutes in white wine that was spiced with lemon, bay leaf and black pepper. Then blasted on the grill for a nice charred and crispy outer edge, and finished in butter. So soft and light, yet meaty and satisfying.

These zucchini pancakes were fucking great. Part of me wanted a more crisp texture, but when I got down on them a little more I didn’t mind. They’re made with feta, mint, scallions, parsley, dill, eggs and flour, then topped with a yogurt cream sauce. I could actually go vedge (vadge) with food like this. Awesome.

Last of the small plates, and my least favorite of the small plates, was the Italian meatballs dish. The garlic tomato sauce was nice; velvety, smooth, sweet yet tangy and spicy… but the meat was a little dense for my liking, and I wasn’t a big fan of the pine nuts and raisins within. The ball itself was made from good quality veal, worked with thyme and basil. I just have a very picky sense when it comes to meatballs: it’s very difficult to compete with my mom’s. I did really like the sleepy-time red wine that was served with the meatballs (Nero D’Avola, Mortilla 2013).

Now for the entree – lamb skewers with flat bread and some sauces. Yes!

The sauces were mint, parsley, garlic, oil and vinegar (left) and yogurt (right).

The lamb was cooked perfectly. It was light, flavorful and soft. No overly gamey flavors, no chewy sinew, nothing. Nice and simple, but well executed.

We sampled three sides with the entree. First, and by far the best of them, was the truffle mac and cheese. It wasn’t over the top like some “truffled” items are these days. This was a gentle and proper use of the truffle, with perfectly cooked fusilli pasta and quality cheeses.

Same goes for the presence of truffle in the potato gratin side – not too aggressive. I liked this dish too – it just needed a little pinch of salt as you went down into the deeper layers of potato.

The last, and least liked of the sides (and probably our least favorite overall) was the wheat and veggie rice. It had good texture, but the flavors were a little flat, it was a bit dry, and it just didn’t seem to go well with our entree.

And just when you thought you tried too much food, along comes dessert. All ye fat men rejoice, for there is chocolate ahead in thy future:

Chocolate layer cake (this ended up being my favorite of the three despite my usual hatred of chocolate cake). The cake itself was a slight bit dry, but the hint of salt really made it work in terms of flavor.

Chocolate mousse cake. Nice texture, creamy and flavorful.

And finally, tiramisu. You could taste the rum in this bad boy, but it wasn’t overpowering. It was moist and flavorful. The others liked this dessert the best (I was outnumbered).

That about wraps it up for Balzem. Highlights of the meal were definitely the prosciutto wraps, the octopus and the ceviche. Those would be absolute must-try items, especially if they’re only $5 a pop at happy hour. That shit’s a no-brainer. The ambiance is also killer here. Really nice inside. And when you go (you will), you should chat with Balahan and Mehdi. Both guys are really awesome, friendly, and hands-on. In fact, the service in this joint is top notch and classy. It makes a great date spot, a great pre-game spot for food and drinks, and it has that amazing happy hour. I will definitely be back as a paying customer. Most likely I will head down for happy hour, but the brunch menu looks enticing, as well as the lunch deals ($12 for soup/sandwich or soup/salad).

BALZEM
202 Mott St.
New York, NY 10012

Burgers, Nolita/Soho, Other, Restaurant Reviews

Ruby’s

January 24, 2015 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

My buddy and I came in here after our first intended place for a burger ended up being closed for the day. It turns out that we were better off at this spot, as this ended up being one of the best burgers I’ve had in NYC to date.

I ordered the classic cheeseburger, which came in double patty format with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and Ruby’s sauce, which you can see oozing down the side in the above photo. Check the cut shot below:

The burgers were cooked to a perfect medium, and the bun was a strong yet soft potato style jammy. This shit was so good I almost ordered a second/came in my pants.

My buddy got the Bronte burger, which came on grilled/pressed bread with a sweet chili sauce. Very nice as well, but that burger above was the big winner.

Worth noting: the fries here are spectacular as well. They are shoestring style, but fried to a perfect crisp and served with an herb mayo on the side. Awesome. I’ll be back here again for sure.

RUBY’S
219 Mulberry St.
New York, NY 10012

American, Nolita/Soho, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews

Parlor

November 8, 2014 Johnny Prime 4 Comments

Parlor is an exclusive, private social club that has a unique focus on fine dining and creations from chef Hilary Ambrose, who was previously a sous chef at Bouley, according to the materials I was sent.

About a week or so ago I received what I thought was yet another wedding invitation: another summons for a gift, as Seinfeld would put it. When I looked closely, I noticed that it was a special invitation for me and a guest to dine for free at this exclusive, invite-only social club.

The invitation included some press, some info about the restaurant, a sample menu, and a secret link to make a reservation for their preview dinner. I had originally included said link here in this review, but the people at Parlor politely asked me to remove it. I’ll play ball, I guess. Read on…

After browsing the website, and poking around at some reviews online, I found that membership is $1500 a year, plus a minimum $250 bar tab per quarter. Meals are “free” for up to four people, but not including a $10 per seat charge, plus the cost of drinks, tax and tip (which they automatically include in the bill at 20%, yet they still suggest that you tip an additional $10 per head on top of that). You can go as often as you want; you just need to make reservations ahead of time.

This isn’t a terrible deal, if it weren’t for the fact that my wife and I are constantly going to new places on a regular basis. If I had felt content in having been to all the greatest restaurants in NYC, if I felt the need to impress people with fancy and exclusive members-only type environments, or if I wanted a home-base kind of place to always go to for a solid meal once a week, I would certainly entertain the idea of joining a dining club (though maybe not this one). The fact that this place is recruiting little-old-me tells me that lots of people with their fingers on the pulse of NYC’s food scene think the same way that I do. Exclusive food clubs seem to be for pretentious people like the investment bankers in American Psycho, in the 80’s, or loser kids who need to create a social networking website and a facade of coolness in order to feel as if they’re well-liked. I’m not above dining with the masses. Food just needs to be good: it doesn’t need to be elitist or exclusive.

I was invited to join a free, exclusive underground dining club run by a celebrity chef about six months ago as well. Both my wife and I joined, created our online profiles, etc., but we haven’t bothered to go to any events yet. There are just too many amazing regular places to go to. My wife and I don’t want to commit to any one restaurant or one chef. We are enjoying being food whores.

If we joined a place like this we’d always feel like we would have to go and “get our money’s worth” and eat enough meals to tally up to the $2500+ yearly cost of membership. My wife compared it to a timeshare vacation. She’s absolutely right! It’s a timeshare restaurant. HA!

But hey – timeshares aren’t NOT for everyone. In other words, if you plan to use your membership well, then go for it! This could be the perfect thing for someone who needs to constantly entertain new clients, or who wants to impress friends or family, etc. I don’t mean to say all this to mock the place or to shit on members-only clubs. Not at all. My point is that it’s just not for me.

Alright enough of the commentary. Let’s get to what matters the most: the fucking food!

My buddy that I brought as a guest loved the concept and was intrigued by the atmosphere. I had somewhat of a soured flavor in my mind because my wife and I had our preview dinner reservation revoked a few weeks back due to over-crowding, despite making the reservation several weeks in advance. I believe Paul Mitchell (hair products guy) was in the house, so things were a bit hectic when we arrived. My wife had no interest in going back after that, and neither did I, really… but I thought my friend might enjoy it so I re-scheduled. I figured I may as well give it a shot to see what it was all about.

We started with an amuse of sweet corn financier. Or as normal people call it: corn bread. It was a little dry to be honest.

I snapped this and then soon realized I needed the flash.

The appetizer, which was by far the best part of the meal, was a slow poached egg with shaved chicken and shaved truffle, then topped with a parmesan froth and a crispy asparagus spear that was crusted with rice cake crisps on the bottom. The egg was nicely cooked – not too snotty, great yolk consistency, good flavor from the truffle without being too heavy.

The main course was a choice of swordfish or lamb porterhouse. I went with the lamb, naturally. It was an extremely small portion; maybe four to six ounces, max. I was hoping for two or three of these, since they are essentially two small “medallions” on each side of the t-bone. It was served with a yogurt cream, leek, potato and assorted veggies/greens. The meat was nicely executed and well seasoned, but I think the stars of the plate were the little tomato ball-bombs that you see nestled in the yogurt cream. They were bursting with flavor and juice.

My buddy had the swordfish. It was pretty good, though maybe just a bit overcooked. Also small in terms of portion size; the fish is maybe a 2.5in cube. We were definitely still hungry coming out of the entree course.

For dessert there was espresso ice cream with milk froth, goat’s milk caramel and hazelnuts. This was a nice, flavorful ice cream. It sort of looked like a mushroom from Super Mario Brothers, which is great, but we were still hungry after finishing the meal.

So, our “free” meal cost us $72 and we were still hungry afterwards. Now imagine having to pay another $1500 each year in membership fees. Nah. I’ll pass.

The best part of the experience here was this drink that my friend had at the bar: the Hudson Frost. Sort of like a white Russian who is on vacation in Hawaii and got drunk on an Italian digestif. Seriously though – great cocktail.

So I was thinking about the meal, the atmosphere, the space, etc., while pissing in the bathroom. They have these black and white photos of partying celebs and such on the walls. The one in the bathroom looked like JFK Jr. making bull horns while dancing. So we have a bull in the bathroom… next to the toilet… I took a pic. I call my work of art here “BULLSHIT.” A nice apropos closing to a sub-par, supra-priced and generally unfulfilling dining experience:

PARLOR
286 Spring St.
New York, NY 10013

Italian, Nolita/Soho, Restaurant Reviews

Torrisi

November 2, 2014 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

UPDATE! NEW TORRISI IS OPEN!!!

The new address is: 275 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10012

Here are some delicious bites my wife and I tried:

I came here with my wife and her cousin for the ten course $100 price fix meal.

It’s tough to get a rez here because it is such a tiny spot; very few tables:

The ladies had a sparkling rose, and I tried three different beers, which seemed to pair nicely with the meal as I went through the courses. My favorite was the white rascal belgian style white ale.

So here’s how shit went down in terms of food:

Amuse:
Beggar’s purse with housemade buffalo mozzarella, tied up with chive string and filled with trout roe and crispy bread crumbs. This was a great, briny bite. I could pop these in my mouth like snacks all night.

One:
Squash macchiato with brown butter and bay leaf apple cider and mulled spices. This was a great little shot of liquid, like a tea, or consommé soup.

Two:
Japanese abalone sous vide with pickled and charred celery, hazelnut purée and chopped hazelnuts. This was really refreshing and delicate. I was wishing I had a huge bowl of it instead of a little salsa or french onion dip sized dish.

Three:
East coast Blue crab in gelee minestrone with squash, preserved tomatoes, green beans, bread crumbs, black beans and basil pistou. I hardly had any crab in my serving, but otherwise it was pretty good. It was more like a salad than a soup for sure, due to the gelee technique used.

Four:
The “mixed grill” course had a few components. First was a Rhode Island oyster with dill, smokey grilled cherry mignonette and fresh ground horseradish. This was an excellent bite. By far one of the better dishes served.

Then came a trumpet royal/king mushroom “mille feuille in terrine” (lots of thin slices) that was seared in foie gras butter and topped with sea salt flakes. My favorite of the night. It was meaty, fatty, and packed with flavor. Wonderful texture too – nice crunch and bite to it on the edges, yet it was still soft like a mushroom at the same time.

The last part of the mixed grill was a veal terrine made with tongue, tail, sweetbreads and carrot sausage with pickled fennel salad and smoked brioche pretzels. There were three mustards too: Bavarian, fig, and nectar. My favorite was the nectar. Since there were three of us dining, I was sort of hoping we would each get a slice of terrine. Not the case. I think it is usually one slice per two guests, so we did get a little more than what is typically served. Still not quite enough in my opinion.

Five:
East coast diver scallop with super thinly sliced white and matsutaki mushrooms in a marsala bouillon with sliced chives. It sat on a nice display of bay leaf and crushed scallop shells. This was really pretty, and also tasty. The scallop was perfectly cooked and then sliced sashimi style.

Six:
Scottish salmon tartare filled cannelloni with salmon roe, basil, crispy shallots and Meyer lemon zest. This was a great little log of pasta. I’ve never had salmon with pasta before, so it was a great surprise for me.

Seven:
Sheep’s milk gnocchi with chestnut, chives and brown butter ragu with shallots and pecorino. This was a sweet pillow of pasta. Dessert pasta, almost. Very well done though.

Eight:
Squab cacciatore skin-on breast with mulberry and walnut dumpling and juniper berry and walnut sauce. This was reminiscent of a duck dish. Perfectly executed breast and a great sweet yet savory sauce.

Palate Cleanser:
Lemon ginger Italian ice. The ginger really gave it a great spicy kick. Loved it.

Coffee:
Espresso for me, cappuccino for the ladies.

Nine:
Whipped ricotta cheesecake with finger lime graham cracker dusting and olive oil, served in eggshells that sat on a porcelain rabbit’s ass area. Nice presentation. Great bite of cheesecake here. Very soft and creamy.

Ten:
Italian rainbow/tricolor almond/orange sponge cake with chocolate ganache, almond slivers and custard. This was quintessential Italian. The back of the slice was the tricolor cookie/cake. It was beautiful, but not my type of dessert per se. Again I was expecting a third slice here since we were three diners. But again I think the regular portion is one slice for two diners. In this case it was enough for the three of us since none of us particularly loved this dish.

So that’s about it. I liked the meal very much, but I felt it was a bit expensive for the small portion sizes (despite it being a ten course tasting menu I was still hungry afterwards). That said, I doubt I’d come back unless it was for some sort of special event. Here’s the bill for three people:

We were sent home with a little box of desserts as well. Nice touch. Out of the items listed on the paper, my favorite was the spicy mango gumdrop thing.

TORRISI IS CLOSED

Full Points for Flavor, Italian, Nolita/Soho, NY Strip, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews

Costata

October 20, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Costata overall score: 94

NOTE: THIS JOINT IS NOW CLOSED!!! Very unfortunate…

Ever since this joint opened I’ve been itching to try it out. As an eye-talian WOP, I was intrigued by the idea of an Italian steak joint. After the great meal at Quality Italian, I figured this place would be up to snuff as well. We had a generous gift card to knock the bill down too. Check out the results:

Flavor: 10

I ordered the boneless rib eye, however when the entrees came out, they delivered me a bone-in strip. Doh! I was gearing up for a rough experience, so my wife and I started digging into her lamb chops to get started. The manager, Adele, came over to the table with the strip in hand and said, basically, that since it was already cooked, we could just have both. WHAT!?!??! I felt so terrible, not to mention I am trying to count calories on a new diet. But how could I resist? I accepted the gift of beef and started chowing on the strip while waiting for the rib eye. The flavor was incredible. I got halfway through the strip and had to hold myself back to save room for the rib eye. But when the rib eye came out, it was like next level shit. Perfectly cooked. And the lamb was pretty incredible too. I hold back from a full score of 10 here simply because there was some gristle type fat that was too rugged to eat, but for the most part the fat was very melty and jelly-ish, even on the edge of the strip, which really surprised me.

Check this beast out – I went back for a second time and we ordered the rib eye for two. This was an easy 10.

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 10

You seriously can’t miss here. They have filet, strip and rib eye for one, but they also have porterhouse, rib eye and strip for two. Quality here is all prime and aged, so you are in good hands no matter what you choose to stuff down your esophagus.

Portion Size & Plating: 10

Portions are all sizable here. My wife and I sat at the bar in order to take advantage of some smaller sized items at a cheaper price (see below under bar and apps) and even those were a good size. So when you are ordering off the regular menu as opposed to the bar menu, you are getting king-sized shit. As for the cuts, the boneless rib eye is 18oz, the bone-in strip is 18oz, the boneless strip is 12oz, and the filet is 10oz. Then you have the big guns. Strip for two is 36oz, porterhouse for two is 40oz, and rib eye for two is 44oz. Even the lamb chops are 14oz. Big shit. Plating is nice – steaks come with a grilled lemon and some useless greens.

Price: 10

We had a gift card AND we took advantage of some happy hour pricing at the bar, so we did well. below is the bill before knocking off the gift card money. As you can see we ordered a lot of shit, and we were not charged for that mistaken bone-in strip.

William Price II

Bar: 10

This place has two bars: a small one near the entrance, just past the host station and stairway, and a larger one upstairs at the front of the dining room. Both are well stocked with interesting spirits and potions for concocting ass-kicking cocktails. We tried a bunch of stuff. Alex, the bartender downstairs, was really sociable and he mixed a great drink. Although it’s a small spot, I could definitely see myself hanging here after work for a drink and a bite – especially when the happy hour menu has so many great drinks and food items for half price. That, along with Alex, made me give the bar a full 10 points despite its small size.

Specials and Other Meats: 8

There was nothing on special/off the menu, but the menu did have veal, lamb and chicken by way of alterna-meats. The lamb was perfect by the way.

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 9

We tried LOTS of shit here due to the convenience of the bar menu. I’ll start with what we sampled at the bar.

First was half a dozen oysters for only $9 – all from the east coast. Three were from CT (naked cowboy) and the other three from RI (east beach blonde). Both delicious, though I preferred the naked cowboys from CT.

the oysters blondes on left cowboys on right — the oysters
blondes on left
cowboys on right

Next was the trio of crudo for $12. We picked amberjack (delicate, but with a little kick of chili and shallot), fluke (a little tougher to chew, but clean/crisp, and topped with caviar), and the scallop (soft and buttery, with a great truffle puree beneath).

trio of crudo top - scallop mid - fluke bottom - jack — trio of crudo
top – scallop
mid – fluke
bottom – jack

Then a steak tartare. Yes – this was only $11 on the bar menu. It’s like a full-sized app! It was diced a bit too large for my liking, as some pieces remained chewy, but it was packed with earthy flavor due to the mushroom cream at the bottom. This was served with a little plate of cheese chips as well.

At the table we tried an app sized portion of the garganelli pasta with speck and radicchio. It was creamy and savory – really nice. Slightly salty due to the speck, but I think they managed just fine.

Then an order of octopus with pork belly. The octopus was perfectly cooked, and the skinny end had a really great char across the suction cups that really gave it a nice flavor. However, the bed of orange rind relish underneath was too bitter for my liking.

On the side, we had the creamed spinach, of course. it was very creamy, but not overly heavy or salty. They topped it with some crispy onion too. Very nice.

For dessert, we tried a trio of sorbets: blood orange, grapefruit campari, and pear. Each tasted very much like the fruit, but a bit too bitter on the back end for the grapefruit.

sorbets (for my wife's bday) — sorbets (for my wife’s bday)

On a second visit we dove into a nice romaine lettuce salad with crispy anchovies, very nicely dressed, and with shaved cheese on top:

We also had an app sized bowl of spaghetti with clams (Little Necks and razors) in a garlicky butter sauce:

On the side we tried the crispy artichokes. Very good, well cut so as not to include the woody bits of leaf, and the heart texture was just right. However, a dipping sauce would be a nice added touch for this.

Seafood Selection: 9

There’s a great deal of seafood on the menu. Caviar selections, many different crudos, five different kinds of oysters, sea bass, langostines, lobster, and some innovative apps as well. Something a little more manly would have rounded out the score here to a 10 – like maybe a swordfish steak done in a new/unique way.

Service: 10

Everyone here was incredible. Our waitress, Amber, was wonderful. I felt really bad when the wrong item came out to the table (strip instead of rib eye), and for a second I almost considered just sticking with the strip.. but I HAVE to try rib eye to rate a steakhouse fairly. When they said we could keep the strip anyway, I was blown away. What an incredible attitude to have towards customers! There was no way my wife and I were going to finish all that meat, so we ended up giving our leftovers to a hungry war veteran who was begging for FOOD, not money, on the subway. I figured it was only fair to give away what I did not pay for. The people at Costata, I’m sure, will be happy to know that the misfire of the strip ended up helping someone in need. When someone is asking for food, you KNOW they are not trying to scam. I hope she (the veteran) enjoys the wonderful meal we gave her. I’d say it was about 14oz-16oz of strip and rib eye, plus nearly a full sized side of creamed spinach. OH – I have to mention the table breads here too – they served rosemary flavored focaccia bread with a small dish of garlicky lard instead of butter – SWEET!

The second visit came with a nice little goodbye baggie of popcorn:

Ambiance: 8

They didn’t change the layout much from when this place was Fiamma. I think they could have benefited from throwing some booths in rather than just tables. It was very nice though, and they were playing great music (classic rock and oldies).

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Costata overall score: 94

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carnivore connoisseur