Category Archives: Restaurant Reviews

Brooklyn, Latin/Mexican & Caribbean, Restaurant Reviews

Habana Outpost

September 25, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I was really hoping for a great burrito here, something to rival my pure love for Charly’s, but I was disappointed. I came here for a quick dinner before a concert at the Barclay’s Ccenter. All signs pointed to this being a great meal, but ultimately it was just average. The burrito I had was actually crappy. Dry, no cheese, and light on flavor. I guess it was healthy for all the asshole smelly hippies over in Brooklyn these days. The cuban sandwich, on the other hand, was delightful. I’d eat that again, but I am fairly certain I can find an as-good cuban sammy if I were drunk and blind in Hell’s Kitchen. You can skip this place, but I do admit that the outdoor drinking is pretty fun, especially for a concert pre-game.

HABANA OUTPOST
757 Fulton St.
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Banh Mi, Midtown West, Pho, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

Cha Pas

September 25, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Cha Pas is a pretty good little mostly-Vietnamese restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. They serve up some pretty good food here, but the prices reflect a place that is not like the downtown joints. This is more expensive. For some dishes, it’s worth it, but for others, not so much. That said, everything I’ve had here is very good. I’ve tried the banh mi, the pho, the Vietnamese chicken wings, the clay pot pork belly, and the chicken curry. No real disappointments to speak of, and the Vietnamese coffee is very good. They also have some more difficult to find Southeast Asian beers as well, and a really cool painted, exposed brick wall on the inside.

CHA PAS
314 W. 52nd St.
New York, NY 10019

Indian, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Baluchi’s

September 25, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

UPDATE: THIS PLACE IS NOW CLOSED

My wife and I have alway sheen big fans of Baluchi’s because of their consistency with the dishes that we like, and their amazing lunch specials and dinner combo meals. At lunch time, nearly everything is half off, and that includes weekends. At dinner, they have combo meals for something like $16 that come with naan, rice, a main dish, and an appetizer. You really can’t beat the price. We were happy to find a new location near our apartment, which is being run by a gentleman who is trying to bring the recipes back to a more authentic Indian cuisine as opposed to the Americanized versions at the other locations. I’m always a big fan of the saagwala chicken here – it always delivers exactly what I want.

BALUCHI’S
493 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10018

American, Burgers, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Thalia’s Dollar Oyster Special

September 25, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

NOTE: THIS JOINT IS NOW CLOSED!

Thalia over on 8th Avenue has an amazing oyster deal. EVERY DAY from 7:00pm through 1:00am they have dollar oysters, and they are GOOD. The times I have gone, they were all nice quality, clean Bluepoints. What a steal! And with a great drink menu, this place is the perfect spot for grabbing a quick bite and buzz.

On a second trip for oysters, we had a full meal here. I had the burger. It was essentially my LGBT sandwich with a burger patty in the mix. While it was really nicely cooked, it needed just a bit more seasoning, as did the fries.

The fries had a great texture and flavor – just lacked a little salt.

My wife had pasta made from zucchini, which was nice and light, and topped with beans, mushrooms, and cheese.

For dessert we shared a velvet chocolate mousse. It had some cake on the bottom which I didn’t like as much as the mousse portion, but it was nice.

Check out this great drink I had too – really refreshing and tasty:

On another trip I had the spaghetti. Really simple but well executed. I found the sauce to be a bit too sweet, so I slapped some globs of the kalamata olive spread into it (the spread comes with the table breads). That made it perfect.

*DOLLAR OYSTERS NO LONGER AVAILABLE*

THALIA
828 8th Ave.
New York, NY 10019

Burgers, Flash Deals, Midtown West, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Iron Bar’s Pig Wings

September 25, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

“Pig Wings” are making a big showing now on bar and restaurant menus. WTF are they, you ask? They are small portions of bone-in pork that have been trimmed down to look like little drumsticks of sorts, with a hunk of meat surrounding the bone. I figured I would mention these fuckers since they are pretty good at Iron Bar over on 8th Avenue and 45th Street. They were crisp and juicy, with a really great dipping sauce to boot. I’m hoping to see more of them at other spots in the future.

I came back to this joint when I picked up an Amazon Local deal for $20 that scored me $40 worth of food and drink. Pretty sweet deal. I tried their Iron Burger, which had gorgonzola, grilled onions, and crispy prosciutto. Fucking sweet. Cooked perfectly, lots of funky flavor from the cheese, and good juiciness without going overboard. The fries were excellent too – nice battered style, really crispy, nice and soft inside.

My buddy picked up the Juicy Lucy burger, which is a patty stuffed with cheddar cheese. He gave it the thumbs up and said it was a great burger. Looks beautiful, right?

IRON BAR
713 8th Ave.
New York, NY 10036

German, Midtown West, Parms, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Reichenbach Hall

September 24, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This place is a massive German / Bavarian beer hall in midtown that serves up massive brews in massive mugs (and boots).

I came here soon after it opened with a lot of excitement in my heart, because I absolutely LOVE German beer halls. There’s just something about the fun group atmosphere that makes it unique.

Anyway, it was here that I discovered a really amazing grapefruit beer (Schoffenhofer). After drinking it, I was on the hunt, and even found some at a local distributor on Long Island. Needless to say, the fridge remained stocked with them until we moved back to the city.

Aside from the great beer selection, they have a nice fun menu too. We tried the pate, the HUGE pretzels, the wieners, and some sausage.

I sincerely hope this place becomes a bigger draw with bar folks. It has the potential for being one of the city’s best places for drinks.

UPDATE – SCHNITZEL WAS AWESOME!!!

REICHENBACH HALL
5 W. 37th St.
New York, NY 10018

Chinese, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Mee Noodle

September 24, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This little joint looked promising as a spot to grab some Chinese style noodle soup. As we sat down, though, both my wife and I decided that we wanted dry noodles rather than a soup. I went with the same bet and picked roast pork noodles, and my wife went with roast duck. The duck was a bit greasy, and was an efforted meal, as you had to chew around small bones due to how the meat was chopped after cooking. The roast pork, however, was very nice. I went with chow fun noodles (wide ribbons) and my wife went with regular soup noodles.

While my wife wasn’t as happy with her meal as I was, I think we’d both go back at some point to try a few other dishes.

MEE NOODLE
795 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10019

Burgers, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews, Upper West Side

E’s Bar

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I’ve been coming here for the great trivia games on Tuesday nights, with first place prize being a $75 bar tab, second place at $50 and third place at $35. We won the $75 tab three weeks in a row, so I’ve been able to sample a bunch of the food here. Best thing so far: the burger and fries. So fucking good. Really nicely seasoned, great flavors, good toppings. Do yourself a favor and get in here to try it out.

I also tried the tomato watermelon gazpacho, which was really nice and fresh, as well as the falafel burger with red pepper fries. Pretty good, but the regular burger wins by a long shot.

E’S BAR
511 Amsterdam Ave.
New York, NY 10024

American, Burgers, Long Island, Restaurant Reviews

Nicky’s on the Bay

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Nicky’s is a great spot for summertime food on Long Island. They do a good job with seafood, but I just had to try the burger here at long last. Blue cheese and sautéed onions. OH YEAH! Throw in some oysters and tropical drinks for good measure and you’re all set.

NICKY’S ON THE BAY
150 Clinton Ave.
Bay Shore, NY 11706

Burgers, Flash Deals, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Rothman’s

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

On their last day in business, I came in with a Groupon for a burger lunch. Having never been here before, I figured I would try the burger for lunch, and if satisfied, I would go back for dinner to have a steak before they officially closed shop. I had alway sheared good things about the steak. On the flip side, I had been warned that they tend to overcook the burgers, but I did not heed the alarms. Mine was overcooked too. Well, maybe not grossly overcooked, but the meat was very dense and dry, even with the egg on top! Fries were decent, but not on par with other places I’ve been to. Needless to say, I did not end up going back for a steak. Burger was pricey even with the Groupon deal, and the food was not that great.