Tag Archives: chicken

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

Tre

November 9, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

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

American, New Orleans, Restaurant Reviews

Willie’s Chicken Shack

October 7, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

If you spend any amount of time in NOLA, you will come across a Willie’s Chicken Shack. They’re everywhere! And they’re delicious.

We scored some fried chicken late night before passing out for the night. It was worth every greasy, salty, delicious bite.

WILLIE’S CHICKEN SHACK
428 Canal St.
New Orleans, LA 70130

Latin/Mexican & Caribbean, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Comal

August 20, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

Comal is a new Mexico City -inspired restaurant in the lower east side. They offer up some really unique dishes that you won’t commonly see at popular Mexican restaurants.

We started the meal with three skewers: al pastor chicken, beef tongue, and mushrooms.

The al pastor was our favorite of these. I think the mushrooms would have been better grilled, and the tongue was a bit gamey in flavor.

Next up, the cobia aguachile. This had great flavor; bright, fresh and refreshingly spicy.

The beef tartare was nice as well. It came with some lettuce cups and was topped with fried crickets! I’ve had them before. They’re not really my thing, so I let The Cake Dealer have them all.

For our main courses we did the skate wing in squid ink sauce, which are like a delicious spicy mole/curry cross breed. The fish was perfectly cooked.

We also had the half chicken, which was really tender and juicy. All the flavor was in the skin and the earthy, spicy sauce.

The stuffed wing with pickled tomatillo was a nice tough to go with it, but ultimately it seemed like a lot of extra chef work for little reward on our end. We liked the regular parts of the chicken better.

On the side, we had the Comal rice, which was essentially a small bowl of rice and beans for $10 (overpriced), and the squash and zucchini with cherries and cheese (so unique and awesome).

For dessert, we had their raspberry and vanilla soft serve swirl. This his the spot on a hot day.

COMAL
116 Forsyth St.
New York, NY 10002

East Village, Italian, Parms, Restaurant Reviews

House of Pasta

July 22, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

My wife and I popped in here because we heard good things. We started with some nice cocktails, and a beautiful bread basket with focaccia and basil-infused olive oil.

Then moved on to the roasted octopus and crispy artichokes.

Both of these were great, and the octopus came with a few pieces of crispy artichoke as well. We were glad that we ordered the artichoke side dish for some extra though. They were delicious! Also the cauliflower puree underneath the octopus was so flavorful. I could eat that like a dip all day!

In the middle course, we had the dinner special of truffle pappardelle with chicken milanese, as well as the fusili with red pesto and straciatella.

Both of these were expertly seasoned and beautifully plated. We really enjoyed these. The red pesto was a unique mix of walnuts and red pepper that I had never had before. The Milanese was fried super crisp and pounded super thin. Perfect.

For the main course, we had their crispy pork shoulder with fennel and arugula salad. At $22 this is an absolute steal.

The skin was perfectly crisp, covering a layer of deliciously sticky fat and tender, juicy braised pork. Amazing.

For dessert, we had their tiramisu. This was really nice as well.

We love this place, and we can’t wait to go back! We also noticed that they have some excellent buy-one get-one free deals on Uber Eats. Needless to say, we will definitely be going back and also ordering delivery.

HOUSE OF PASTA
511 E 12th St.
New York, NY 10009

American, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Bar Contra

May 27, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

My wife and I stopped in here for a quick meal and drinks at the bar. Here’s what we had:

Montauk Royal Red Prawns

These beauties are served raw over ice and dusted with umeboshi (dried pickled plum). I really liked these.

American Wagyu Tartare

This was probably one of the best tartare dishes I’ve ever had. It came with crispy fried artichoke, fried shallot and ramp oil.

Smoked Pacific Oyster “Tartare”

This was essentially a dressed up tin of high quality smoked oysters, minced up with red onion and aioli, which you then spread on toast points.

Stuffed Chicken Wings

These were stuffed with stilton, pork sausage and scallion. I think there may have been some hatch chili involved too. The flavor was excellent on these.

Potato Ice Cream Sundae

Totally unique. I could taste the potato knowing that it was made from that. but otherwise I might not have. It was not too sweet, which I really appreciated. This was also served with blueberries.

I can’t wait to go back for more drinks and food. Everything was so good!

BAR CONTRA
138 Orchard St.
New York, NY 10002

American, French, Restaurant Reviews, Upper East Side

Cafe Commerce

February 9, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

Chef Harold Moore recently re-opened Cafe Commerce on the upper east side. I came up with my friends Jay and Jeremy, who you know better as “The Dishelin Guide” and “NYC Food FOMO” on Instagram. We tried a bunch of shit.

First, I started out with an ODB (dirty gin martini with blue cheese olives and olive brine) at the bar. This was delicious, so I had another with dinner.

To start, we went in on some beef carpaccio, which is served with horseradish, mayo and capers on top of a flat tater tot. Incredible!

These scallops with mushrooms and escargot butter were a smash hit, too.

As a middle course, we did the rabbit papparedelle with bacon and olives. This was really nice, but it could have used a pinch of finishing salt on top.

For the mains, we went big. First, Harold’s famous roast chicken. This is huge, and comes with a side of whipped potatoes and foie gras stuffing.

You can see the potatoes in the video, along with the other side of nduja Brussels sprouts that we ordered.

Next, we had the Thursday night rack of lamb special. This was the winning dish, hands down.

It came with a decadent fig and pistachio mustard glaze that paired nicely with that perfectly cooked lamb.

Last up, Harold’s famous coconut cake. A massive slice!

Everything here is great. I can’t wait to go back to try more stuff.

CAFE COMMERCE
964 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY 10021

Lower East Side/Chinatown, Mediterranean, Restaurant Reviews

Zaad

November 17, 2024 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

When my wife and I first walked by here, they let us try some falafel for free. It was delicious, so we were sold. I ran it back when using the Too Good to Go app, and for $7 I got this awesome box of chicken shawarma over rice with a salad.

I’ll definitely be back to try more stuff, especially the Philly cheesesteak. I’ve been searching for a good one in the area.

ZAAD
250 Broome St.
New York, NY 10002

American, Diner, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Betty

November 4, 2024 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

This spot is pretty good. I might go back for the fried chicken bites and perhaps to try the burger, which looked good when it came out to another person’s table.

BETTY
193 Henry St.
New York, NY 10002

American, Chinese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Pecking House Chicken

October 24, 2024 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

This spot recently opened down by Two Bridges, and I’ve been psyched to try it out.

We got five items; three mains and two sides.

1. The Blackened Chicken Sandwich

This was probably my favorite of all the items. It has a distinctly earthy Mexican flavor to it from the Oaxaca cheese and pickled jalapeños. Absolute banger.

2. Chili Quarter Chicken

I expected this to be wetter, spicier and saltier based on what I’ve seen on Instagram to date, but it was still goo. A bit expensive at $9 without a side, but I’d definitely get it again (perhaps the extra hot version though).

3. Salted Egg Wings

These were delicious. No dipping sauce needed! The batter from the salted yolk comes in nice and crisp, and with the wings being slightly smaller than your typical bar room Buffalo wings, you get a perfect ratio or meat to crisp with every bite.

4. Chicken Salt Fries

These could have used a bit more crisp on them, but they were tasty. Also – not too salty! Nicely seasoned, as a matter of fact.

5. Charred Cukes w/Ginger

These were unique! Charring the cucumber softens them a bit and adds a different flavor profile to them that I’ve never experienced before. The ginger sauce isn’t too pungent, so you still get all that fresh cucumber flavor to cool off from the spicy food between bites.

PECKING HOUSE CHICKEN
83 Henry Street
Shop 1
New York, NY 10002

African/Middle Eastern, Burgers, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Mediterranean, Parms, Restaurant Reviews

Eastwood

September 28, 2024 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I came here twice. The first visit was just for a snack and a drink, so I never wrote it up. But now that we’ve had a full meal here, I figured I would put together a review from both experiences.

On the first visit, we had drinks, an Israeli scotch egg, and some cake. They have a nice selection of beer and wine. Saison Dupont is my favorite of all time.

The Israeli scotch egg is surrounded by falafel, which was unique and delicious.

On the second visit we did some entrees. My wife had the lamb burger, which comes with crunchy slaw and a harissa mayo. She added Gruyere cheese at the owner’s suggestion. It was absolutely delicious. Easily a top three lamb burger.

I had the chicken schnitzel plate, which came with fries and a salad. The schnitzel was unique in that it was breaded with a sesame seed batter!

I really liked it.

The cake we had on our first visit was a flourless chocolate birthday cake, which, I think, may have even been vegan. I liked it more than my wife did.