First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:
This spot offers a great 18-course omakase for just $100. I’m just going to dump the photos I snapped for each piece, but our favorites were the following: oyster appetizer, shrimp, red snapper, shima aji, both medium and fatty tuna, uni, salmon, wagyu spoon, and the shrimp and uni hand roll we added at the end. We would definitely come back here again.
SUSHI BY M
75 E 4th Street
New York, NY 10003
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
First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:
This joint used to be called ZZ’s Clam Bar. It’s a Major Food Group spot, like Carbone just a few doors down, The Grill, and The Lobster Club. It’s a fancy, small speakeasy spot that only serves raw bar type food. We basically tried almost everything (we skipped the caviar service and the scallop crudo).
The shellfish were really nice, served along with some really chef’d up sauces.
We tried both toasts. One was like a tuna tartate, and the other was trout roe with truffle honey. The trout roe was clearly the winner here, and it was easily one of the best bites of the night.
The first crudo we did was the hiramasa, which reminded me of kampachi or hamachi. Very mild fish flavor, really nicely treated. Fresh!
Our next crudo was the smoked salmon. This was incredible. Also one of the best bites of the night. The dijon and dill really hit on this, and it paired perfectly with the rye toast points that it came with.
The lobster salad was the only thing we didn’t love. It had too much mayo on it or something, but it was still perfectly cooked and nicely chilled. Also really beautiful.
Last, the beef carpaccio with uni, lobster and caviar.
This was definitely the star of the show for me. It was so delicious and decadent.
The portion size was generous too, which I guess is expected at $105.
As with other Major Food Group spots, the pricing is somewhat astronomical, but the quality is always top notch.
This place has great cocktails too, by the way. I was drinking Gibsons.
The Cake Dealer had a Paloma and a margarita. Easily the best Paloma we have ever had. Way better than the margarita.
THE CLAM BAR
169 Thompson St.
New York, NY 10012
My first bite during my second visit to Charleston was Oyster House. We just stopped in for a drink and a snack before getting onto a horse-drawn carriage tour of the city. We tried a nice variety of both local and northeast oysters. I think we liked the Lady Fingers the best (long ones).
The shuckers were awesome, and it was a nice treat to sit at the raw bar instead of the regular bar or a table.
OYSTER HOUSE
35 S Market St
Charleston, SC 29401
First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:
The Wayland is a nice bar at the corner of 9th Street and Avenue C that serves up some great deals at Happy Hour. Namely, $1.50 oysters, and a $12 “beer and burger” deal.
Both are top notch quality, and they really do a nice job with cocktails too, like this shallot infused gin gibson.
I can’t wait to go back and try more stuff. That “Lost Lady” burger was a killer double patty with American and a great special sauce. Nice and simple. Get here!
THE WAYLAND
700 E 9th St
New York, NY 10009
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
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
My wife and I had a great meat at Hortus. We started with some of their wine and beer cocktails. This beauty was made with plum wine:
Then we dove into the apps. First, a chilled seafood plate with lobster tail, shrimp, oysters and tuna tartare.
Next up, crispy octopus and fried lobster claws with uni and caviar. HOLY SHIT THESE WERE GOOD!
For entrees, we had truffle rice with uni and ikura/roe, and short rib. Both excellent, but I surprisingly favored the rice dish.
On the side, some roasted fall veggies. These had a sweet and tangy glaze on these.
Dessert was green tea tiramisu and rice pudding. The tiramisu was the winner for us.
Great meal! I’d definitely come back here, and look forward to doing so soon.
HORTUS
271 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10016
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
My wife and I popped in here for a quick lunch and to take advantage of the all day dollar oyster special.
The oysters were great. Mild, creamy, fresh and crisp. I only wish they also served them with horseradish and a cocktail sauce. The grilled calamari appetizer was great, served atop a salad of arugula with balsamic and orange supremes.
My wife had fish tacos, which were very nice (no pics), and I had the burger. This was great, though I wish I had gone with cheddar instead of Swiss (they were out of American). That little thing on top, under the pickles, is crispy cheese! That was a nice bonus.
We will definitely be going back here.
MILA’S FISH & HOOK
81 Ludlow St
New York, NY 10002
