Tag Archives: brooklyn

Brooklyn, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Ume

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I took my wife to Ume for her birthday. This place serves an Omakase set of 12 pieces for $73.

Everything is really delicious, but my favorite three bites were the red snapper (center, with broccoli florette), the fatty tuna belly, (bottom center, with truffle) and the quail egg with crispy fish skin (center right).

We also grabbed this “literally everything don” bowl, which was better than the actual omakase (and more killing) for just $60.

Really enjoyed that.

A few negative things to note here: the enclosed outdoor garden area is too cold for winter dining. They leave the door open between the inside area and the garden, so even if you’re sitting inside, you’re going to be cold. To make matters worse, they double down on that chill factor with their “no shoes” concept (my toes were icy). Sitting on the floor isn’t too comfortable either but I’m not really gonna complain about that. I didn’t mind it so much.

UME
237 Kent Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11249

Brooklyn, Ramen

Tsuta

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Tsuta is the world’s first Michelin starred ramen joint.

It just opened this past Friday, so there was a line when my friend and I showed up to try it. We waited about 1.5hrs in the bitter cold, but once that ramen hit our lips, it was worth it.

I tried the spicy mala tonkotsu ramen, which had a nice tingly broth from the Szechuan peppercorns that are infused in it. All of their noodles are soba, which I was initially worried about because I generally prefer egg noodles with thick broth ramen. But these noodles were perfect, and they went well with the rich, spicy broth.

This was $20 for the regular sized bowl. It comes with one slice of chashu pork. I added the seasoned soft boiled egg for an additonal $4.

Our apps came out after the ramen, which wasn’t so bad considering the place was brand new and absolutely slammed. Some of my friends who also went complained of even worse problems. Of these, the chicken was probably the best, but I’d rather share a second bowl of ramen than get these again.

Next visit, I’ll have to try their signature bowls (shio and shoyu), which feature truffle oils.

TSUTA
22 Old Fulton St
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Brooklyn, Pizza

Leo

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This joint slings some tasty sourdough pizza. I’ve always wanted to try a sourdough slice, and I was finally able to do so here at Leo.

I highly recommend this place; the slices have a distinct “freshly made at grandma’s house” kind of flavor to them.

I need to go back to try their potato slice, as well as their soft serve – apparently they’re famous for both, and I’m a huge sucker for soft serve.

My first visit was during a @NYCZoozClub food crawl. Check out the video below if you’re interested. And use code JOHNNYPRIME for $150 off your Zooz bike at www.zoozbikes.com.

My last visit was just this past weekend on January 2nd, 2023. I tried the pepperoni slice and it was incredible!

Check out the ride and review video:

LEO
123 Havemeyer Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Brooklyn, Pizza

Fini Pizza

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If you’d rather WATCH this review, check out my ride and review video. If you’d rather read it, then continue below.

That bike makes the city so small. I can get everywhere so fast now. If you’re interested in one for yourself, use my coupon code JOHNNYPRIME for $150 off at www.zoozbikes.com.

I tried two slices here, pepperoni and Sicilian.

The regular pepperoni slice was good. Great crust. The sauce was a little sweet so I was happy to have the pepperoni on there to balance it out with some spice.

The Sicilian was incredible. I highly recommend this. It has a homemade flavor to it, but with pro-quality amazing dough. Light. Airy. Crisp. PERFECT.

I’m usually not a fan of Sicilian because it can get heavy. But I can easily eat a bunch of slices of Fini’s Sicilian. Look at this:

I’ll definitely be back to try some more pies.

FINI PIZZA
305 Bedford Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Brooklyn, Burgers

Blue Collar Hamburgers

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I have to say, the simplicity and perfection of this burger blew me away. My photos suck, because I had to use a flash and didn’t have my light, but I really loved this. Nice regular patty – I’m so tired of smash burgers being everywhere now. Crisp texture on that patty! Great cheese coverage. Perfect soft bun. My only gripe was that the tomato was cut a bit thick.

I also got a hot dog – they’re split-griddled. PERFECT!

I will definitely be back here again.

BLUE COLLAR HAMBURGERS
160 Havemeyer St
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Brooklyn, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Chef Katsu Brooklyn

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This place is great. Some of the guys from the NYC Zooz Club and I hit this spot after riding around for a bit. Their curry sauce covered fried chicken thigh sandwiches are amazing.

I got mine with cheese. It was perfect, and the fries were bangin’ too.

Get over here and try this place. I’ll definitely be back for sure. Also, if you want to see some video of our bike gang ride from the day, check out the below:

CHEF KATSU BROOKLYN
143 Greene Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11238

Brooklyn, Japanese, Ramen, Restaurant Reviews, Spanish

Koko Ramen and Manchego

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This joint has two names and serves two types of cuisine: Manchego serves tapas, and Koko serves ramen. My wife and I tried a couple of items from each menu.

TAPAS

The octopus was awesome. Perfectly cooked, nicely seasoned.

The calamari was meh. A little dried out.

RAMEN

The ramen was pretty good. Not among the top tier, but good enough that if I was ever in the area again, I’d go back to try the tonkotsu. The main reason I tried their spicy chicken miso ramen was because the menu said their tonkotsu was also chicken based broth, but with char siu pork in it. I was confused, and didn’t feel like asking questions since the service was crazy slow (they were slammed).

The salmon ramen was light. It was a shio style chicken based broth.

MANCHEGO / KOKO RAMEN
375 Marlborough Rd
Brooklyn, NY 11226

Brooklyn, Deli

Defonte’s

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I finally got over to Defonte’s to try some sandwiches. My buddy Nick and I rode over on our Zooz bikes. It took us 10 or 15 minutes from downtown Manhattan – a trip that would otherwise take a half hour and cost an arm and a leg in cab or Uber fees.

These things really are the best way to get around the boros, especially for food crawls! If you want one, get one with my coupon code JOHNNYPRIME for $100 off at THIS WEBSITE.

Anyway, we started with the hot roast beef dip sandwich that’s topped with fried eggplant and fresh house made mozz. Awesome!

Next up was the Italian special, which is a cold sandwich that features a variety of Italian meats, along with some spicy bomba sauce, lettuce, tomato and dressing. This was the big winner for me.

I’ll be back here for sure, especially to try the roast pork sandwiches, and something chock full of mortadella.

DEFONTE’S
379 Columbia St.
Brooklyn, NY 11231

French, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye

Francie

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The newly Michelin-starred Francie in Brooklyn was a mix of both great and “meh” dishes. I’m honestly a bit shocked that they received a star, but one or two items that we tried were truly top notch.

We started with the sourdough bread and lard, the duck mortadella, and a duck sausage that was on special for the night.

The duck sausage was the winner of these, but I must also point out that the lard that came with the bread was killer. They should be selling it by the jar. It had a nice hint of lemon to it that cut the fatness just right.

We also tried the barigoule (braised artichoke, fried chicken, mushrooms, egg yolk). This was really unique and tasty, and I’m glad we tried it.

We tried four pasta dishes. Of these, the rigatoni with green garlic and fennel pollen sausage was the best, followed by the tortelli with suckling pig and cracklings (despite the second being slightly too salty). The cavatelli was good for a more veggie friendly option, but the lobster ravioli was a bit of a let down to several of us.

For the mains, we ordered two entrees for two: the rib steak and the dry aged duck crown.

Both were beautifully cooked and presented.

But the duck was the star of the show. Perfectly crisped skin atop a layer of buttery soft rendered fat, with juicy, succulent, pink duck flesh beneath. Big win.

The steak was just meh. There was something sweet going on that didn’t sit well with me – I believe it was a molasses glaze. I still ate a shitload of it, but for the price point of $175 I would never order it again. It was too small in addition to having a confusing flavor profile, especially with the weird maple hollandaise that it came with. 6/10.

Over all, I highly recommend coming here for the duck apps, the rigatoni and tortelli pasta dishes, and the duck crown. Skip on the rest. For drinks, they do make very nice cocktails, but they’re pricey.

FRANCIE
34 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY 11249

Press Reviews, Product Reviews, Recipes

Romeo Meats “Stingray Steak”

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Romeo Meats has been serving the local Bensonhurst Brooklyn area and surrounding restaurants since the 1950s.

I recently had the pleasure of trying one of their gigantic dry aged tomahawk steaks.

This friggin’ thing was 2.5″ thick!

Needless to say, I was worried about overcooking the outside and simultaneously undercooking the inside, so I tried something a little different than my usual pan searing or sous vide techniques for thick cuts.

First I coated both sides with salt and “dry brined” it in the fridge for a few days. Then I massaged some Res Antiqva olive oil onto it once it got back up to room temperature, and then added some cracked black pepper. I seared it on a cast iron grill pan for about six mins each side (three mins, turn 90 degrees, three mins, FLIP, three mins, turn 90 degrees, three mins, OFF/REST). After that, I let it rest for a few minutes before roasting it low and slow for about an hour at 170F. Finally, I blasted the fat side under the broiler for about 5 minutes just before removing it from the oven. It rested up to about 125F-130F. The result was like prime rib on the inside, but with a steakhouse crust on the outside. Watch:

Absolutely amazing! I hope you give this preparation and plating a try with your next monster sized rib eye. I call it the broken hearted tomahawk, or the stingray.