First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:
Cellar 36 is a small wine and tapas bar located in Chinatown owned and operated by the same folks behind The Ten Bells, which I love. Like Ten Bells, Cellar 36 offers a great happy hour deal that includes $20 carafes and $1 oysters. We went for it.
I definitely recommend this spot, and I’ll definitely be back!
Cellar 36
36 Market St
New York, NY 10002
My wife and I went to Down and Out in the East Village to try their crazy “double dozens” oyster happy hour. They currently offer two varieties of oysters for $1.50ea, but when you order a dozen, you get a second dozen for free. Essentially, they’re $0.75ea, which is the cheapest I’ve seen them in town!
We tried both the Kusshi (small ones, west coast of Canada) and Glidden Point (pictured above). My wife preferred the Kusshi, and I liked the ones from Glidden Point.
We also tried their “oyster pan roast,” which is a really nice bisque-like oyster and potato soup. It might not be much to look at in the photo, but I assure you it was delicious!
We also got down on their blue claw crab cake sandwich, which was nice and tasty, topped with a home made slaw.
They also serve a lot of high end canned fish items, like these sardines.
Their deviled quail eggs are good too. These come eight pieces per order.
Lots of these food items are discounted at happy hour, like the oysters. The happy hour runs daily from 4pm-7pm, and they also offer two different beers for $3, as well as discounted cocktails.
Most notable about this place, however, is the great whiskey selection, which includes some very rare, vintage bottles that the owner/bartender Josh secured from various estate sales.
He gave us some samples of a few really nice old bottles, like that Canadian Club from 1940! Soon there will be an entire separate menu of vintage whiskeys here, which will nearly double the current selection of whiskey on the menu. Stay tuned!
DOWN AND OUT
503 E 6th Street
New York, NY 10009
Joey Roses dive bar/social club on the Lower East Side that was recently featured on Eater as a spot where you can still get some cheap, good eats. After reading the article and seeing how close it was to home, I had to try it.
The thrust of the article was that, from 5pm-7pm and from 10pm-12am, they offer “buy two get a third free” deal on their sandwiches. Their sandwiches are regularly priced at $8. Can’t beat it!
They’re nicely packed Italian sandwiches, filled with mortadella, beef, salami, you name it. They have a few different selections you can make. My wife and I picked up three different sandwiches. All were good, but the mortadella sandwich was king. It comes with mozz and sweet cherry peppers on it. Killer.
Make sure you also get some of their crispy fried Brussels Sprouts. The touch of agave syrup on them really sets them apart from others. They’re perfect!
This place is so close – we will definitely be back.
JOEY ROSES
174 Rivington St
New York, NY 10002
Weird name, great happy hour.
Zest Sushi has a very extensive menu of items for just $5.50 during happy hour, which also includes their beer and sake offerings as well. My wife and I tried a bunch of stuff, and pretty much everything was great. Here’s the run down:
Mini salmon don.
“Salmon Dream” torched sashimi.
Skewers of crispy squid tentacles.
Crispy oysters (this was the only item I wouldn’t get again).
Takoyaki (fried balls of octopus with bonito).
Crispy salmon skin roll.
For drinks, the better bet is to get the sake. They give you about 10oz for $5.50, and it’s pretty good.
ZEST SUSHI
249 Broome St
New York, NY 10002
The tiny burger at Black Crescent may be overpriced at $13, but it is damn delicious. Great char, lovely beefy chuck flavor, and plenty of cheese coverage.
It’s definitely more of a slider sized burger (it’s sitting on a small ketchup cup in the pic above), but whatever. As long as it’s good.
Pro tip: order the waffle fries for $10: it’s basically enough for three people.
BLACK CRESCENT
76 Clinton St
New York, NY 10002
I’m officially hooked on this place. A while back, my wife and I stopped in for a drink and an app – the fritto misto. We were already sort of full, but that plate of mixed fried items like calamari, olives, lemon rinds, shrimp, and artichoke really made us want to go back.
Last night we finally did! We tried two more apps, meatballs and fried zucchini blossoms. All were incredible. In fact, the meatballs are some of the best I’ve had outside of family.
The fried zucchini blossoms are stuffed with velvery smooth ricotta and served with an anchovy pesto oil. I liked swiping them in the meatball sauce though.
The pasta entrees are pretty large servings! Check out this massive bowl of gnocchi with peas and mushrooms.
The cavatelli with duck meat ragu was a massive serving too.
They had to be half a pound each. We couldn’t finish! I’ll definitely be back here to try more pastas, and perhaps one or two of the fish items from their entree menu.
On another trip, we tried more shit. The radicchio salad and bresaola were both excellent, as were the negronis.
This cuttlefish ink pasta reminded me of Venice.
Finished every damn bite of it.
Great light red sauce with clams too, which reminded me of home.
This pork shank is incredible, on a huge bed of cheese polenta!
This marinated rib eye is decent. I’d get the pork over this, but I still enjoyed because I knew exactly what to expect given the description and the price point.
I give this a 6/10 since I’m comparing it to the big boys in dedicated steak joints, but I would definitely get it again.
For dessert, we tried the hazelnut crumble gelato, the panna cotta and the tiramisu. All really nice.
BACARO
136 Division St
New York, NY 10002
This nice wine bar in the Lower East Side has an awesome happy hour deal that includes $18 carafes of red, white or rose along with dollar oysters in three varieties, every day from open until 7pm. On weekends they open at 3pm so my wife and I popped in to try a bunch of stuff. We were the first ones at the bar. This is what one side of it looks like:
The wine was delicious.
And so was this tomato flavored brandy:
For bites, we did two dozen oysters (eight of each variety, all nicely cleaned and fresh);
Steak tartare (this was really nicely prepared – one of the better tartares I’ve had);
And boquerones/anchovies.
Everything was great, and I can’t wait to go back for more.
THE TEN BELLS
247 Broome St
New York, NY 10002
Bar Belly has a pretty great happy hour that features dollar oysters, among other deals. We went with two dozen of these delicious, crisp, clean oysters, some fries for $6, and, of course, drinks. I highly recommend this oyster happy hour. It goes until 7pm every night.
BAR BELLY
14 Orchard St
New York, NY 10002
I finally got a chance to check out Ardyn, the restaurant that former Charlie Palmer Steakhouse chef Ryan Lory opened in the west village.
The space is beautiful, with a rustic, woodland feel to the dining room.
There’s also a beautiful bar with great cocktails and $1 happy hour oysters from 5-7pm (along with drink specials).
We started with a couple of raw fish dishes. Hamachi tartare and fluke crudo.
Both were awesome and pretty, but if I had to choose one to go back to repeatedly, it would be the hamachi.
Chef Ryan is becoming known for his gorgeous plating – very aesthetic. He also became known for his 50/50 burger at Charlie Palmer. It’s 50% smoked bacon and 50% brisket, with some dry-aged wagyu trim and fat in there to take it over the top.
The only down side here was the thickness of the pickled tomato slice. Half the thickness would be perfect, but that acidy pop did do a great job of cutting the buttery fatness of the rich and well-seasoned burger.
Make sure you don’t neglect the fries here with your burger. They’re amazing and possibly some of the best I’ve ever had.
All the sides were nice, in fact, from the shishitos to the carrots to the greens.
The pastas here are also excellent. We tried two: ramp garganelli with morels, and squid ink cavatelli with uni cream.
It was tough to choose a favorite between the two perfectly cooked and plated pastas, so I suggest getting both if you have room.
But the mains really shined.
First, this absolutely stunning duo of duck containing crispy sliced breast and a house made sausage.
The breast was nice but the sausage stole the show – like when Lex Steele stars in a porno flick with some ugly broad that has gross fake tits.
Of course we had to try the 45-day dry-aged Snake River Farms domestic wagyu rib eye.
This thing was incredible. It had a sexy, deep brown maillard crust on the surface and a rare cook beneath. You can still see the flecks of marbling in the flesh! It could have been cooked slightly longer, but the beef was so high quality that you could eat it like this even without the fat fully rendering out. 9/10.
Dessert was equally stunning. This choclate layer cake with pistachio ice cream was really rich and moist, like Paris Hilton in 2003.
This custard was light yet very satisfying.
And this asian style grapefruit/pomelo dessert was just the right kind of acidy and citrusy way to end the meal with a cleansed palate.
I definitely recommend this place. And if you want a seat close to the action, head to the back and pop your ass onto one of the stools that faces into the kitchen. Be warned though – it’s warm back there!
ARDYN
33 W 8th St
New York, NY 10011
NOTE: THIS PLACE IS NOW CLOSED
I came to Zio to help promote their Meatball Monday special, where you get three meatball sliders for $10.
My favorites are the lamb with ricotta, veal with mozzarella, and chicken with fontina. But you really cant go wrong with the spicy chorizo or even the veggie pesto sliders.
I also tried their lamb ragu pappardelle, which was really nice. The lamb was tender and juicy, and the pasta was perfectly al dente.
I also tried the chicken parm. This was breast meat, and the cheese is home made mozzarella. Nice crisp on this.
Looking forward to going back to trh their veal chop.
ZIO RISTORANTE
17 W 19th St
New York, NY 10011
