Category Archives: Restaurant Reviews

Downtown, German, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Clinton Hall

August 4, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

CHECK OUT THE RIDE & REVIEW HERE!!!

This recent addition (last 2 years) to the downtown barscape benefits from ample seating (indoor and outdoor), a massive amount of space, and a good selection of beer.

My wife and I stopped here for a quick drink and a bite before seeing an extremely overpriced and under-sized studio apartment that is up for sale nearby.

Pretty cool to see a few kids playing with the giant Jenga set on one bench. Nice.

I was happy to see that it was happy hour on the weekend, so that’s a big plus.

We started with a pair of $5 pints (growler was filled with water):

My pour, on the right, was a little bit shy of a full glass, but whatever.

I ordered the chicken sandwich, which came with fries, and was topped with lettuce, pesto sauce and brie cheese on a potato bun:

Pretty good. The breast was juicy – not dry as I expected it might be.

My wife had the crispy buffalo cauliflower, an interesting concoction that almost makes you feel like you’re eating healthy if it weren’t for the buttery hot sauce and crumbled blue cheese sprinkled all over the batter-fried veggie morsels. Tasty!

This part of downtown could use a kick in the ass for nightlife and daytime boozing. Clinton Hall is a welcome addition to the area.

UPDATE 11/10/2023 – Great food options here, and a perfect spot for our Electric Wednesday ebike meetup.

CLINTON HALL
90 Washington St.
New York, NY 10006

Flash Deals, Indian, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Bombay Grill House

July 26, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This little Hell’s Kitchen joint offered up a decent Groupon that made it worth while to try. An app, two entrees, two drinks and a bread for $30.

I had a banana lassi. It was good, but I wish it was colder. Drinking room temperature banana yogurt isn’t that appealing. My wife had a pistachio shake, but it was more like a lassi than what we expected a shake to be (cold, creamy, ice cream-ish). They both looked exactly the same, so here is a generic shot. Can you guess which this is?

For the app, we shared some lamb kebob, which came to us plated and un-skewered. This was deliciously spiced lamb that was minced into a sausage-like texture.

I ate a biryani lamb and spicy rice dish, and my wife had a lamb curry that was mild and creamy.

As you can tell, this was a lamb-centric meal. The biryani was a bit dry and oddly spiced, but tasty nonetheless. In hindsight I probably should have gone with my staple Indian food order to test the waters, chicken saag.

My wife’s lamb curry was the winner on the day. It was creamy, mildly spiced, and mildly sweet from the presence of pineapple.

Our bread selection was a naan that was filled with coconut and pistachio. Really nice.

BOMBAY GRILL HOUSE
764 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10019

American, Downtown, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Wogies

July 26, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Wogies is known around town as having some great Philly cheesesteaks. I had been to the one in the west village once before. When I was downtown to meet a friend at a bar, I noticed a new Wogies location down by Rector Street on Trinity. I gave it a shot on my way home.

I tried a chicken and regular Philly cheesesteak, both with wiz, American and onions.

Pretty tasty. Only down side is that the cheese was not evenly distributed throughout the meat. It was mostly packed into the back of the sandwich, where the top and bottom sandwich bread meet, at the crease.

This other one I tried from the west village location was a cheeseburger hero. Pretty good, though heavy on the lettuce:

WOGIE’S
39 Greenwich Ave.
New York, NY 10014

American, Burgers, Downtown, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Pier A Harbor House

July 26, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This joint is awesome in the summer time. The music is going, the doors and windows are all wide open, and everyone is at the bar or eating outside along the pier.

I tried the burger. It was very under seasoned, but it did have a really nice char. The potato bun was slightly stale, but the rest of the toppings and the ratio of toppings to meat was correct.

They also cooked it just right, so this place is on the right path to a good burger. It just needs some minor tweaking.

Fries were pretty good. Thick, seasoned style fries that had a good crisp exterior and a soft interior.

PIER A HARBOR HOUSE
22 Battery Pl.
New York, NY 10004

American, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Poulette

July 20, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I ordered some stuff here for delivery. I was excited at the prospect of eating roasted chicken from a place that specifically deals in such an item and nearly nothing else. I was expecting one of the best roasted chickens in my life. If that’s all you really do, as a restaurant, you need to excel at it. Unfortunately Poulette failed to deliver good roasted chicken. We ordered a half chicken. It was pretty dry and the flavoring on the skin had a bitter component that I wasn’t too fond of.

The brussels side was cooked with a vinegar and mustard base that really ruined the flavor of the sprouts. All you really need to do is roast them with some seasoning and chicken drippings from the roasting process for a really successful item. What a failure.

On the bright side, the french fries were good, as were the salt and pepper chicken wings. Both remained very crispy despite closed-container transport. The wings were expertly seasoned and cooked to a beautiful golden brown. They consisted of drumettes and wings with the little wing bone still attached, for extra nibbling. Sadly, the sesame glazed wings were a let-down. They were overly sauced to the point of undesirable sogginess. Good flavor in the sauce, but executed poorly. Perhaps that sauce needs to be in a container on the side rather than drenched all over the wings.

Apologies for the lack of photos. I was too hungry to whip out the cell phone this time. Take my advice though: if you come here, stick to the salt and pepper wings and the french fries. If roasted chicken is what you are craving, I say go to Inti.

POULETTE
790 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10019

Burgers, Midtown East, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Taproom No.307

July 20, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Some friends of ours took my wife and me here for brunch/lunch over the weekend. I was impressed with the beer selection, and I really enjoyed the burger. I got a classic American cheeseburger, with lettuce, tomato and onion. They topped it with some chipotle mayo, which was nice.

It was cooked to medium, which was just how I ordered.

I went with tots instead of fries. They were awesome. Nice and crispy outside, soft inside.

If you’re a beer and burger person, this is definitely a great place to get down on some brews and burgs. Go for it! They have a lot of other great food too, including a full brunch menu, personal pizzas from a nice brick oven in the back, salads, etc.

TAPROOM NO.307
307 3rd Ave.
New York, NY 10010

Mediterranean, Midtown East, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews

Hummus 21

July 7, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I recently had the opportunity to eat at this really nice Kosher Mediterranean joint over on 1st Avenue between 57th and 58th for a press dinner.

The restaurant is simply and elegantly decorated with white table cloths, white textured wainscoting on the walls, and a patterned tin ceiling. Wide glass windows open out to the sidewalk along 1st Avenue to give the restaurant an airy, street-side feel without the hassle of being on the sidewalk, in the sun, or bumped by passers by.

There’s a private room in the back for parties and events, which can accommodate about 20-25 people. The restaurant also offers daily happy hour specials, as you can see from the chalkboard below:

Although they are not yet open for lunch, they do offer a brunch menu on weekends.

Chef/owner Sam is a young man of 25 years, but he’s been working in kitchens and learning the trade since he was 15, via his father. He spent time running a restaurant in London before he opened up shop here in NYC just six months back. He keeps a small, skilled team by his side, and he runs the show on everything from the apps through desserts. Yes: he even makes all desserts in-house. Pretty impressive for someone so young. He’s truly a skilled chef, and the meal demonstrated to me that he can cook anything and cook it well, to boot.

Whenever I dig on Kosher food, I’m typically apprehensive, because I always feel like a restaurant will have to sacrifice something in the flavor department in order to satisfy the Kosher dietary requirements. That is NOT the case with Hummus 21. Everything I sampled here was incredible, and I tried a lot of stuff from the menu, as you’ll see below. Everything was fresh, well balanced, light and healthy. The short summary is that I would definitely eat here again, and again, and again.

Tables are set with a nice bottle of olive oil and some fresh olives for snacking, and the wine list features a variety of nice selections from all over the world, including a great Israeli pinot noir and a light rose.

First, we sampled four types of hummus with some fresh pita bread.

The first was topped with white tahini, olive oil and toasted pine nuts. This had a very creamy, traditional flavor to it.

The next one was topped with Moroccan style chicken, tahini and a chimichurri sauce. This was probably my favorite of the four. Each bite offered a dynamic range of flavors and textures.

The third was my next favorite, which was topped with a spicy jalapeno sauce, garlic, cilantro and olive oil. Absolutely delicious. I can eat it all day long!

The last hummus selection was topped with whole chic peas, tahini and some lemon juice. Really nice pop from the lemon.

Our next items were golden-brown falafel footballs. These came with a really nice green dipping sauce. They were perfectly cooked: crispy on the outside but still flavorful and juicy on the inside.

This next dish was beautifully presented – an appetizer sampler with six different items:

First was a lentil kofta: a lentil cake fried with chic pea flour. This was probably one of my top three selections of the night. It was so tasty, light and crispy.

Next was the bureka duo. One was filled with potato, and the other with mushroom. These reminded me of knish, only very tasty and with a nice, flaky puff pastry and sesame crust on the outside.

Third was the kibbe, which was ground, spiced beef battered with wheat flour and fried to a golden brown crisp. These were amazing. I could easily see these selling like wild if they were served on a stick from a food cart or food truck. Could be the next big craze to sweep the city!

The dolma (grape leaves filled with basmati rice) had a slightly sweet note to them, and were drizzled with tahini sauce. Very good.

Next was briwat, aka Moroccan beef cigars! These were like spiced beef egg rolls, only not greasy, and very light and crispy.

Last was this Israeli chopped salad, which was comprised of tomato, cucumber, onion, parsley, olive oil, lemon vinaigrette and mint. Very refreshing, and a great way to cleanse the palette before the main courses come out to the table.

For the entrees, we sampled three plates. First was Mediterranean red chicken: boneless chicken thigh served on a sizzling skillet with both sweet and hot peppers, cilantro and onion. This was really juicy and flavorful. Perfectly cooked, it was probably my favorite item of the night.

The second entree was sen’ya, which is a 50/50 ground beef and lamb mixture, formed into a patty and grilled, topped with tahini, and garnished with roasted pine nuts and a side of couscous. These were great; and that means something coming from a meat aficionado such as myself. I instantly started thinking of how amazing this would be if served on a bun with some lettuce, tomato, and tahini sauce: like a Mediterranean burger. The char on the patty was so perfect. It added a great texture to the outside, and the inside had such a unique flavor combination of Mediterranean and middle eastern spices. Highly recommended.

Last was a rice and lentil dish with tahini sauce, topped with fried onions and served with a spiral cut salad of carrot and cucumber, which was lightly pickled and flavored with lemon.

Sam had stepped up his game with each item that came to the table, so I wasn’t surprised at the quality of the food when the desserts came out. Everything was beautiful, unique, and delicious. First was kadaif, a Lebanese vanilla soy cream cake served on top of shredded filo dough and drizzled with tahini. This was my favorite of the desserts. It was cold, crunchy, creamy, and sweet, with just a hint of salt that made all the flavors jump out.

My next favorite was the traditional baklava. This was executed perfectly. It was light and not too sweet or drenched in honey, as so many other baklava desserts can be. I loved it.

This malabi custard had a light vanilla flavor, topped with shredded coconut and rose water sauce that really made it stand out as one of the most unique items of the night.

The chocolate molten lava cake was rich and decadent, and came with little wedges of homemade halva, which I was excited to see! I used to love it as a child and I hardly ever see it anymore these days.

Our host ordered a Moroccan tea, which comes presented in a beautiful pot with a really fancy little cup. Very nice!

So that about does it for Hummus 21. I hope you guys get a chance to check this place out. If you’re like me, and you don’t follow any sort of Kosher dietary restrictions, I promise you will still love the food here. Everything is absolutely delicious.

HUMMUS 21 IS CLOSED

Japanese, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Torishin West

July 5, 2015 Johnny Prime 3 Comments

For quite some time I’ve been fascinated by the idea of small, yakitori bar type joints in Japan. For those that don’t know what this concept is, it is essentially a long bar with open flame coals where the well drinks would be. All manner of chicken parts are grilled on skewers, charred over the coals before you and served up hot and fresh to your plate. I’ve never been to Japan, and therefore have never been to an authentic yakitori joint. Now, you may be thinking that NYC would surely have an authentic place like this, being a cultural melting pot and all. The problem is that NYC’s zoning laws don’t allow for open-flame charcoal style cooking indoors at restaurants. So any place that claims to be BBQ, or grilling style (like Korean BBQ, for example) is actually a cheap knock off version that is done with electric heater cooking coils and infrared grills. NOT real charcoal.

So anyway, with that caveat placed firmly up top, we can get down to the goods. Torishin is a NYC yakitori restaurant located in the 50s on the west side. We tried a shitload of chicken, with a bit of pork and veggies mixed in as well. Unfortunately there is no open-facing bar where you can watch the chefs cook this stuff in front of you, like you can in Japan, but the end products were all really nice. I enjoyed every course of this yakitori omakase.

First was a bowl of pickled cukes and daikon. Unimpressive, for me.

This next bowl is meant to ba a palate cleanser. Shredded daikon. I’m really not too much of a fan of daikon to begin with, so I barely dipped into this:

Next, more daikon. This time a thick “burger patty” of it, topped with shrimp, veggies, and a dreaded piece of eggplant (which is a disgusting, vile vegetable).

Now on to some good shit. Chicken hearts. These were very tasty, and probably one of my favorites of the evening. They tasted, to me, like mild beef skirt steak.

Chicken breast wrapped in shiso leaf:

Chicken thigh (mmmmmmm):

Mushroom caps:

Pork belly:

Crab and shrimp with black mushrooms and yuzu jelly:

Asparagus. To me, this is a colossal waste of money. Essentially each skewer comes out to like $8 a pop. This plate was for four people. So we each got one asparagus shoot, which cost us $8 each. Rip off.

Chicken meatballs. Very tasty!

Chicken thigh meat wrapped in chicken skin. I liked this skewer a lot.

To finish off, we were given a choice of rice dish. This first one came in a broth, more like a soup:

This one was rice with ground chicken on top and a small cup of chicken broth on the side:

Dessert was either a shiso sorbet (left), sake jelly with kiwi and cherry (center), or strawberry sorbet (right). I went with the shiso sorbet and absolutely loved it. Very refreshing.

TORISHIN WEST
362 W. 53rd St.
New York, NY 10019

American, Burgers, Midtown West, Other, Restaurant Reviews

North River Lobster Company

July 5, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Allow me to introduce you to one of the coolest eating experiences in NYC.

These folks have a big ass ferry boat that has been decked out with bars and seating, where they serve up shit like lobster rolls, grilled whole lobster, burgers, and even fresh shellfish. It’s docked over on 41st and the West Side Highway.

The boat is free to ride. You can board and eat starting at noon. It takes about five or six 45-minute long rides each day, at which point you can enjoy views of the upper west side’s skyline as you approach the GWB (without actually going under it).

We tried a whole mess of shit when my wife and I went with her family. The food is just mediocre, really, but the atmosphere is awesome, especially on a nice sunny day like we had.

Here’s the lobster roll, which was more like lobster salad. I enjoyed it, but I’ve definitely had better around town. It comes with a bag of nice kettle cooked potato chips and coleslaw.

The lobster tacos are comprised of essentially the same meat/salad as the lobster roll, only with the slaw on the taco itself, accompanied by a bit of guacamole, some lettuce and a wedge of lime.

The Pat LaFrieda burger was a bit overcooked for my liking, and slightly grainy in texture, but it was a decent burger nonetheless. I wasn’t about to be a hard critic given the fact that I was eating out of a floating kitchen.

Here’s a look at the french fries. One order was regular, which came with the burger, and the other was a separate order of truffle blue cheese fries, which were really tasty.

This interesting snack was a lobster corn dog. Essentially a lobster meat mash that has been battered and deep fried on a stick. Nice.

They serve up a variety of beer and sodas too. The blueberry soda was nice, as was this lobster ale:

The cost is a bit pricey, but you are also on a boat, so take that into account.

NORTH RIVER LOBSTER COMPANY
Pier 81
W 41st St
New York, NY 10036

Commentary, Italian, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Union Square/Flatiron

Osteria del Principe

July 3, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Tabelog hosted another great food event, this time at Osteria del Principe, an Italian cured meat-centric spot down by the Flatiron building.

The restaurant/store is the flagship location, and is run by Principe di San Daniele, a world class prosciutto manufacturer in Italy. So you know you’re getting top notch meats here when you eat.

Tabelog invited a bunch of us ass-kicking NYC food bloggers and reviewers to mix and mingle while tasting some really nice meats and wines. Here’s a menu of things we tasted:

As you can see from this sheet, we were asked to rate and judge the various sliced meats and wines:

First I created a nice cushioned base with a bite or two of freshly baked focaccia bread:

Here’s my second (or was it third?) plate of meat. I needed to try everything a few times to figure out my rankings.

I ultimately put the truffle ham in first place, followed by the 20-month prosciutto and mortadella right behind. Then the 16-month prosciutto, with the speck being at the bottom. Surprising! That truffle ham really had an amazing flavor that wasn’t overpowering. It was a cured meat.

Here are some shots of the two ham slicings. The ones with the brownish edge is the rosemary ham, and the other is the truffle ham:

This board has the speck on the left, and the mortadella on the right:

As you can see, there was a fancy old fashioned hand crank meat slicer set up with the 20-month prosciutto.

The slices were served in little paper cones:

I really couldn’t get enough of those. So good: soft, not too salty, and really nicely flavored. One of the gents from the Gotham Burger Social Club fashioned one meat cone into a lapel flower for his suit jacket. Brilliant!

So that was just the sliced meats that were laying around for our consumption. There was also a huge wheel of cheese that was being sliced/scraped and shoved into little brown paper bags for snacking. “Raspadura” Bella Lodi:

The tomato and burrata caprese salad was refreshing and light, with a great herb kick:

The prosciutto and melon was a perfect balance of sweet, savory and juicy all in one bite. These were amazing, not to mention gorgeously plated/presented:

This polenta was wrapped with speck and then baked until crispy. Absolutely delicious! I need to try making this at home now:

The grilled octopus skewers were a nice break from the pork overload. Wait.. is there even such a thing as pork overload? Anyway, they were warm and charred to a nice half-crisp texture, and accompanied by slices of grape tomato:

The slices of Piadina (bread portion) with porchetta inside were really awesome too. Especially when topped with some of the freshly scraped cheese. This meat item may have been the best of the day. I almost wish it was showcased differently, because I feel like it got missed by some of the other bloggers.

Lastly, the house-made tagliolino pasta was set in a light cream sauce and cooked with the 16-month prosciutto, then topped with a nice slice of it. Fucking amazing. The prosciutto was allowed to season the whole dish without any extras needed, other than some finely minced herbs and a little fresh pepper. So simple, yet so good.

All around awesome meal, and I was happy because it was extremely meat-centric. The wines were pretty good too, specifically the Ribolla Nera, which was a red wine that had robust flavor but was still lighter on the palette.