Category Archives: Restaurant Reviews

Lower East Side/Chinatown, Other, Restaurant Reviews

Binondo

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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

Chinese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Yong Chuan

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My foodie friends and I hit this place before the holidays for our annual “Friendsgiving.” My wife and I had ordered delivery from here before, and we liked everything we got. It was time to go in for a proper sit-down meal.

Here’s what we had:

The duck was by far the favorite of the night, with the dumplings coming in second. From prior delivery orders, I can also recommend the kung pao chicken.

YONG CHUAN
90 Clinton Street
New York, NY 10002

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

Bufon

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

Sunchoke

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

Halibut

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

Pork Chop

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

Picanha

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

Crispy Confit Potato

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

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

BUFON
78 Rivington Street
New York NY 10002

Italian, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Parms, Restaurant Reviews

Tre

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My wife and I stopped in Tre for their weekend happy hour menu, which is a great deal and runs from 2-7pm.

We started with some cocktails, which were excellent. The espresso martini and aperol spritz were both well made.

We tried five items.

The fried calamari was dry and rubbery. Skip these.

The sautéed broccoli rabe was tasty, but at $13 it was too small of a portion size (this was from the regular menu, not the happy hour menu).

The fried artichokes were great. Nice crisp, good seasoning, tender.

I also liked the linguine al limone. For a discounted happy hour deal, this was a great buy. Lots of garlic though.

We also ordered the chicken milanese from the main menu. This was perfectly crisp, tender inside, pounded thin, and topped with a nice arugula and tomato salad.

Keep an eye out for the operating fee, which is a 4% charge added to your bill. Not sure why they don’t just raise prices instead. On the flip side, they also offer a cash discount.

Would definitely come back to try more stuff. Give this place a shot.

TRE
173 Ludlow Stree
New York, NY 10002

Latin/Mexican & Caribbean, Queens, Restaurant Reviews

Tacos El Guero

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I stopped in this spot with some ebike friends before our Electric Wednesday weekly meet-up. I was blown away by the size and quality for the price. Tacos range from $4.50 to $5.00, but they’re packed with quality ingredients, and the blue corn tortilla sets them off as unique.

I ate six tacos; carnitas, al pastor, grilled pig’s ear, chorizo, tongue and tripe. All were excellent, but I think the carnitas was the best. The shredded pork was thrown back on the plancha to get crisp. So delicious. I can’t wait to go back and try more.

TACOS EL GUERO
48-11 43rd Ave.
Long Island City, NY 11104

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

Seafire Grill

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

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

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

Nice seared tuna entree.

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

They also mix a good martini at the bar.

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

Japanese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Roku Nana

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Roku Nana is a newly opened sushi and Japanese food joint on Clinton Street. My wife and I came in here to try their sushi, and it was a pretty great deal for the price point.

We started with two rolls; the pink lady and the flamingo.

These were great. I liked the pink lady the best (pink colored roll), and my wife liked the flamingo.

Then, we did their 10-piece premium nigiri dinner, which was $53pp.

It comes with a hand roll as well. The uni was the best, followed by the fatty tuna.

There’s also a speakeasy upstairs serving awesome cocktails.

I would definitely go back again!

ROKU NANA
67 Clinton Street
New York, NY 10002

American, New Orleans, Restaurant Reviews

Mother’s Restaurant

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Orleans, Other, Restaurant Reviews

Hot Benny’s

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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

American, New Orleans, Restaurant Reviews

Gumbo Shop

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

GUMBO SHOP
630 St Peter
New Orleans, LA 70116