All posts by Johnny Prime

American, CUISINE, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Union Square/Flatiron

Amphora

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Amphora recently opened in the flatiron district. After The Lamb’s Club closed, Chef Jack Logue and basically his entire team shifted gears and got to work opening this new spot. It’s a shame that The Lamb’s Club closed, as the space was really beautiful, but I’m happy that we can still get Jack’s food elsewhere.

Amphora is set up around three tasting menus: three, four and seven courses – all available with wine pairings. They do offer some great cocktails as well. We tried the “As Per My Latest Email” and “O.O.O.”

We opted for the four course menu, with an added main, but before the first course comes you you are treated to a few tasty bites and slurps. First is this truffle and rosemary broth. Delicious.

Next is a trio of amuses: a sturgeon cigar, a tomato, and steak tartare. All excellent, but I obviously liked the tartare best.

Then there is some nice warm rosemary brioche with yogurt butter. Super interesting! I loved that butter!

For the first course, we chose the tri-colored beets with goat cheese and the bluefin tuna crudo with watermelon tomato ponzu. Both were excellent. My wife liked the beets better, but I preferred the tuna.

For our next course, we tried two pastas: sweet corn agnolotti and raviolo vitello tonnato. Again, both excellent. Two very different stuffed pastas. One leaning a bit sweet from the corn, and the other more savory. The white wine pairings with these really brought out their unique flavors.

We tried all three of the mains: Atlantic black bass, Rohan duck and citrus Wagyu rib eye. Believe it or not, I liked the fish the best here. It was just so light and flavorful, perfectly cooked, and paired with a nice selection of squash and zucchini.

My wife preferred the duck, which was perfectly cooked with crispy skin on top and nicely rendered fat. Paired with a little tartlet of cherry and also some liver mousse.

Finally, the beef was perfectly cooked and served with potato and mushroom. Absolutely stunning.

For dessert, we tried the milk chocolate mousse with hazelnut and praline, along with the “peaches and cream” (olive oil sponge cake, peach sorbet, and sabayon). Both were great, but we preferred the chocolate mousse.

After dessert, we were treated to a selection of small cookies and sweets. Oreo style, coconut, raspberry jelly,  and cheese cake.

What a meal! I can’t wait to go back and do a full wine pairing with the seven course tasting menu. I highly recommend this place!

AMPHORA
43 East 20th St.
New York, NY 10003

Commentary

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I hope you enjoy these bikes as much as I do!

Fusion, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Dolce Memento

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My wife and I tried this new spot by us that was being built out for months with some really beautiful and unique decor inside. It used to be the location of Soft Swerve ice cream, which I was bummed about when it closed. Of course I forgot to get a photo of the new, decked out interior. But we tried a bunch of stuff, so I will get right into it.

We started with two octopus apps and an order of escargots. All were great, but I think we liked the unsliced octopus tentacle the best. That one also came with roasted potatoes as well.

The sliced one came with pita bread that you are meant to wipe through the sauce. That octopus was super tender.

The escargots were nice, although not as snappy as I prefer, and came with fried bread for dipping into the butter and herb divots.

In the middle, we had one of their sushi rolls, but the rice was a little mushy and also dry, and the sauces were too sweet for our liking.

Our main course was amazing – the Greek and Peruvian half-roasted chicken. I honestly don’t remember liking any other chicken dish in my life as much as this one.

Needless to say, we will be back to try more of their “Mediterrasian” fusion dishes.

They also have nice low ABV wine and sake cocktails, FYI. No liquor license, I presume.

DOLCE MEMENTO
221 East Broadway
New York, NY 10002

Banh Mi

Hoi An

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Our friends just opened a banh mi shop in Chelsea Market called Hoi An. They offer a ton of great food at good prices.

We tried two of their sandwiches: the classic/house sandwich, and the brisket pastrami pho sandwich. Tough to choose a winner between these two.

The brisket is equal parts Katz deli, and equal parts your favorite bowl of pho from Chinatown. Totally unique and delicious.

But the traditional sandwich hits hard, packing a ton of flavor from house made pate and meats. This is a top three banh mi for me.

We also loved their papaya salad with beef jerky. Tender and delicious. A nice mix of sweet and spicy.

But don’t sleep on their summer rolls. These sausage summer rolls might have been my favorite of the day.

They also serve some nice Vietnamese egg coffee, tea, and this coconut and coffee slush:

I can’t wait to go back and try the rest of the menu!

HOI AN
Chelsea Market
75 9th Avenue
New York, NY 10011

East Village, Italian, Parms, Restaurant Reviews

Prosciutto

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First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

My wife and I tried this place recently, which features nice wines, sliced meats, good pastas, meat-focused entrees, and classic Italian desserts.

We sipped on some wine while eating a unique starter that tasted like the onions in a French onion soup, topped with mashed potatoes, and then sprinkled with crispy pancetta. delicious.

Next was pistachio dough tortelli with a mortadella stuffing. These were salty, but still very delicious.

For our main, we tried the veal cutlet, which was almost like a modified Milanese. It was breaded and fried, then topped with a melted cheese sauce and prosciutto.

This was very salty as well, mainly due to the cheese sauce. But there was also a funky flavor on the tail bits. Not sure what, but I didn’t love it.

Dessert was incredible: almond panna cotta. I could eat buckets of this.

Despite the over-salting and funky veal, I would definitely come back here to try more stuff.

PROSCIUTTO
435 E 9th Street
New York, NY 10009

Banh Mi, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

After Eden

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First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

This spot serves up some great happy hour cocktails, and you can munch on a nice banh mi while you sip.

This is a top five banh mi sandwich for me. The bread could use a little work, but the meats are really high quality and feel home made.

The pastry dishes you can skip. The dough was a little soggy from steam, if not undercooked. Of these, we liked the sweet one better (second pic).

The crispy rice noodle rolls with pork were great, on the other hand.

Nice coffee drinks too. We will definitely go back.

AFTER EDEN
162 Orchard Street
New York, NY 10002

Banh Mi, Pho, Restaurant Reviews, Union Square/Flatiron, Vietnamese

La Dong

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First, check out the video of our food HERE:

My wife and I stopped in here to try some stuff at the bar just before they transitioned from the lunch shift to the dinner shift. Here’s what we had:

Vietnamese Beef Carpaccio:

This was awesome. Great herbs on top, nice tender American wagyu beef, raw, thinly sliced, and dressed nicely with fish sauce, shallots, and crispy garlic.

Crab Cakes:

Also awesome. These were basically patties made from egg, pork, and lump crab. The dipping sauce served with this was incredible, and if you take a bite each time with some of the Thai basil, you’ll be in heaven.

Pho Hanoi:

The northern style pho had a nice cinnamon aroma, but it was more mild on flavor than it smelled. There was a generous amount of quality beef in the bowl, along with nicely cooked noodles.

Banh Mi:

We ordered the traditional Banh Mi, but one glaring thing that stood out as not traditional was the presence of lettuce on the sandwich, and the absence of daikon. We still liked it, and the bread was very good, but we took the lettuce off.

Duck:

We ordered the crispy roasted duck as well. The sauce was a bit sweet, so it was important for me to eat each bite with one of the dried chili peppers that came with the dish. The little supremes of grapefruit helped cool it down afterwards.

We also tried four cocktails, all of which were really interesting. They definitely sit outside the box of traditional cocktails.

Overall I liked this place and would probably go back. I think there may be a bit of Thai influence in the dishes, but I enjoyed.

LA DONG
11 East 17th Street
New York, NY 10003

Banh Mi, Lower East Side/Chinatown

Phe

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Phe is a small Vietnamese coffee and banh mi shop on Forsyth Street in Chinatown. I picked up two banh mi sandwiches and drank a fish sauce caramel iced coffee while waiting for the food. The coffee was delicious. Don’t let the presence of fish deceive you. As for the sandwiches, they rank in my top three, along with Banh Mi Co Ut and Banh Anh Em.

The bread is so good here, made in house. I got both the ham (traditional) and crispy skin roasted pork belly. The other option they offer is tofu (skip). The Cake Dealer approved.

Between these, the crispy pork belly was my winner, but I know friends who feel otherwise. The Cake Dealer agreed with me though, so that speaks volumes. There was a hint of something spicy in it, and there was also a cured egg yolk spread of some kind, I think, that really made it pop.

In either case, I’ll definitely be back for more.

Phe
72 Forsyth Street
New York, NY 10002

American, Burgers, East Village, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Limo Bar

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First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

This spot has swiftly become known for their stiff drinks and small bites. My wife and I tried a pair of their martinis: the pickle, and the clean dirty. Both were great.

We moved on to small bites, which included mini burgers, mini glizzies, and shoestring fries. These were all delicious. I was surprised to see the burgers cooked to a nice medium and still having decent thickness for the patties.

Although a bit expensive, I would definitely go back and try more stuff. Go give this place a shot!

LIMO BAR
33 Avenue B
New York, NY 10009

American, Burgers, CUISINE, East Village, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Royale

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First, watch my Ride & Review video HERE:

I finally got over to Royale to try the burger that I’ve heard so much about. It was good! We ordered the Royale with cheese (not the smash burger).

This was probably about a 6oz patty, perfectly cooked to medium with nice cheese melt and cheese coverage.

Bun could use a little work, but it had a nice toast on it, and I appreciated the thinly sliced tomato, onion, lettuce and pickle on the side. Fries were good. Natural cut style, not too salty but good and crisp.

I would definitely go again.

ROYALE
157 Avenue C
New York, NY 10009