Tag Archives: rice

Lower East Side/Chinatown, Other, Restaurant Reviews

Binondo

November 29, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I had been meaning to try this spot for a while. The day after Thanksgiving, we gave it a shot.

First, the complimentary egg drop soup was fantastic. I could eat a gallo.

The chicken sisig bites were more like cold chicken salad than the sisig I expected. But they were still good.

The butter shrimp were perfectly cooked and came in a delicious sauce that went well with everything, especially rice.

What better way to come down from Thanksgiving than with a 3lb cripsy pork shank?

This was an insane deal at $50.

We finished off with banana and jack fruit egg rolls and guanabana ice cream.

Delicious meal. I will definitely be back for some of the stew dishes, a proper sisig entree dish, and the lechon. Also worth noting – this place serves up some really unique and delicious cocktails.

BINONDO
50 East Broadway
New York, NY 10002

Chinese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Big Wong

September 24, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

I’ve been meaning to try this spot for a while, and then recently a friend told me that their rice rolls with homemade crullers inside are great. I had to give them a try.

They were awesome! These had dry shrimp on them, which packed a lot of flavor. We also had the regular roast pork rice rolls. Tough to choose a favorite.

We figured, while we were here, we may as well try some other stuff. The roast pig was a huge portion for $11, and it was incredible.

The roast duck over rice for $8.50 was a pretty good deal, despite the duck being mostly skin and fat (I don’t mind too much).

We also had this heaping bowl of tripe and wonton noodle soup.

The broth lacked flavor, but the insane portion size of noodles, tons of tasty tripe, and I think six wontons made up for that.

Two people over-stuffed for around $55 all-in, with enough leftovers for another full meal for two. Great deal. I will definitely be back here.

BIG WONG
67 Mott St.
New York, NY 10013

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

Rebel

May 8, 2025 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

My wife and I hit up this Caribbean/Haitian joint called Rebel nearby. We started with some nice cocktails. Mine was the tumbler – lime, burnt sugar and rum. It was really nice without being too sweet.

We had their jerk wings, which were super tender, and perfectly spicy.

For our mains, we shared fried pork with red beans and rice, and stewed goat with black mushroom rice. Both were great, but we agreed that the stewed goat was the winner. Also the black rice was excellent (no pics, but it’s in the video).

For dessert, we tried their potato bread pudding. This had nice flavors, but the texture was different from what I expected when hearing “bread pudding.” In any event, I think this would be great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

Careful when paying at this place. The 18% tip is already included on your bill. While this is illegal (can only do it with 15% for parties of 6 or more, last I recall), we still gave an extra $5 on top since the service and food were both great. We would definitely go back.

REBEL
29 Clinton St.
New York, NY 10002

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

Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews, Spanish

Ernesto’s

April 16, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I finally made it over to Ernesto’s! I’m happy this place is really close to home. Check out my Ride & Review video HERE first, and then read on below.

Firstly, the cocktails here are excellent! A bit pricey at $18, but worth it for the skill and flavors.

We tried a bunch of starters. Everything was excellent, but the stand-outs were the croquettes, the squid, the anchovies and the tripe.

Potato Tortilla:

Croquette:

Asparagus Carbonara:

Fried Squid:

Anchovies:

Tripe:

They didn’t have the txuleta (vaca vieja) special on this trip, so we went with the rabbit rice and the blood sausage. Both were great, but we preferred the blood sausage out of the two. It was light and refreshing, which was a complete surprise to us. Blood sausage is usually so heavy!

For dessert we had flan and Basque style cheesecake. Between the two, the cheesecake was the winner.

I will definitely be back here to try the steak when they have it on special again.

ERNESTO’S
259 E Broadway
New York, NY 10002

Brooklyn, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Ume

January 15, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

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

Food Halls, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Gouie

August 16, 2022 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This new sushi counter at Essex Market / The Market Line offers a fairly reasonable sushi dinner that consists of 8 pieces, a hand roll, ikura with rice and uni with rice – all for $85.

I usually love hand rolls, but I didn’t really enjoy this one. I think it was a mix of the Japanese pickle and a too thick/chewy seaweed wrapper.

The sushi pieces were great though, as was the ride. But the real star of the show was this salad that we ordered as a special. It was basically sashimi with some nice veggies.

Pass on the cauliflower, crab, uni and okra cold “soup” that they have on special as well. It was slimy and not soup-like at all. It also needed seasoning.

The light cocktails are a hit. There’s no hard liquor, but they’re made with apertifs, liqueurs and digestifs.

GOUIE
115 Delancey St.
New York, NY 10002

Korean, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews

Hortus

October 21, 2021 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

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

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

El Castillo De Jagua II

March 29, 2021 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check this video out HERE:

A $7 cubano sandwich stuffed to the gills with pernil, a $4 banana shake, a juicy-ass half roast chicken and an ungodly amount of yellow rice? You can’t go wrong at El Castillo de Jagua. This second location, which is right near our new place, offers some amazing food at amazing prices.

The Cuban was probably our favorite. Definitely could benefit from extra pickles and extra ham, but at $7 bucks with perfectly toasted and pressed bread, lots of pernil, and little grease, we were thrilled.

Speaking of, the pernil entree itself was juicy and MASSIVE in terms of serving size.

The roast half chicken comes with exquisitely crispy skin that somehow still remains juicy as well.

The fried pork meat was a blast. It reminded me of Chinese boneless spare ribs, but less sticky sweetness and more of crispy savoriness.

The main dishes come with copious amounts of rice. We picked yellow instead of white. Beans came with the mains as well (not pictured individually, but see the last photo for the serving size to the left of my hand).

The fried plantains had just enough sweetness to make them almost dessert-like.

Speaking of desserts, we were impressed with both the banana and sour sop shakes.

I can NOT wait to explore this menu some more!

EL CASTILLO DE JAGUA
521 Grand St A
New York, NY 10002

Indian, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Dhamaka

March 27, 2021 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I tried Dhamaka last night, using a gift certificate that our friends gave us as a housewarming.

We started with some of their delicious cocktails, and then moved right into some meaty apps. The first thing that came out was my favorite item of the meal – lamb ribs!

These had such awesome flavor and tenderness. The mint chutney that came with it is something they should sell by the jar!

Next up, smoked goat belly. This was cleverly presented in a tiny barrel smoker:

It was a bit too aggressive on the salt level, but over all we loved it. It was similar to some kofta / meatball skewer dishes that we’ve had.

These prawns were a little bit overcooked, as they were difficult to pull from the shell. They were spicy and really tasty, however. Especially the heads.

Our first main was the stewed mutton dish. They smush an entire bulb of roasted garlic into this, paper and all, so be prepared for dragon breath as well as picking garlic paper out of your bites of food! The dragon breath wasn’t so bad actually, but I wish they somehow removed the paper first.