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
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.
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!
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.
My buddy Dave, who I used to work for as a butcher, is a member at Flyfish Club, so he took me and a friend as guests. Chef Capon really worked us hard, so we were insanely full at the end of this meal.
Starters: green bean hummus (incredible); hamachi crudo; octopus carpaccio (also top notch); crispy rice topped with wagyu, tuna, truffle and caviar (a favorite for me); oysters and shrimp cocktail; and sushi rolls.
Mains: bay scallops in the style of escargots (really inventive and unique); pork chop; trio of pasta (casarecce with pistachio pesto, spicy crab and tomato rigatoni, and lamb agnolotti); fries.
For a view of the pasta, check out the video I linked above.
Star of the show: Caesar on a bed of Milanese style chicken.
Dessert: strawberry short cake; cookies with ice cream.
This was an incredible meal. I want to go back to try the omakase with my wife.
My wife and I came here for a quick meal and really enjoyed everything we tried. She had been here soon after they opened for a quick meal at the bar. Now, Corima was awarded a Michelin star and even has a fancy tasting menu. We opted for an a la carte meal, and I’m glad we did. Let me get into it.
We started with two recommendations from the waiter, Francisco, who was AWESOME, by the way…
The first recommendation: Their sourdough flour tortilla. This is CRACK.
It comes with a sort of mole butter, too. I could eat pounds of this stuff. When you go here, do not skip this. I’m not kidding. It doesn’t seem like much, and it’s hard to describe, but this is fantastic.
The second recommendation: Their Beef Cecina Tlayuda. This was essentially like a beef carpaccio on a crispy tortilla. Raw thinly sliced beef on top, lots of flavor packed underneath with alliums and such. This was my favorite dish of the night.
Next up was an absolutely perfectly cooked hamachi collar. It came with a spicy aioli, but the fish was so beautifully cooked and seasoned that it wasn’t necessary.
After that was another seafood item: The spicy surf clam toast with Chinese sausage and super thin sliced tomato. The toast was sourdough. This reminded me of a panzanella.
The duck enmolada was super unique. Think of this like an enchilada, but with a mole sauce instead of a chili-based sauce. Despite this being our least favorite dish of the night, we still vvery much enjoyed it. Literally nothing was left on any of our savory plates.
For our final savory course, we had the 120-day dry aged NY strip steak. This was about 6oz, pre-sliced, perfectly cooked to medium rare and topped with a veal brain Bearnaise sauce! Served with it were some jus roasted white asparagus spears grilled kolrabi cabbage. This was a 9/10. So good.
We ordered one dessert but they sent out all three! Incredible service here. We ordered the chocoflan, thinking it would be flan. It turns out it was more like a brownie topped with whipped cream and ice cream. It was delicious. Unexpected, but delicious. This was my wife’s favorite.
The rhubarb tres leches cake was served with a hibiscus sorbet. It was so light and flavorful. What a treat.
My favorite dessert was the mango granita sorbet with spicy tamarind chamoy and candied sakura leaf. So unique. Spicy and tart, with a bit of sweetness in there to round it out. And doesn’t the plating look kinda like Plankton from Spongebob?
I will definitely be back here for more. What an incredible meal. Put this place on your short list!
My wife scored a heavily discounted Groupon for Le Jardin Bistro so we gave it a shot. The deal came with two cocktails, two apps, and two entrees, with just one or two block outs that were understandable (a $26 foie gras app was one). Here’s what we got:
Apps: Escargots and steak tartare. Both great, and easily can hang with some of the big boy French spots that are super popular and expensive in other neighborhoods.
Entrees: Steak frites and rack of lamb. The lamb was the winner here, and nicely composed with tomatoes, cheese mashed/baked potato, and carrots. The steak was about a 6/10. A little tough, a little thin, and technically not a shell steak (a shell should have bone on two sides – this was boneless).
We added on some desserts: apple pie and strawberry tart. Both were good.
I would definitely come back to try their burger and mussels.
LE JARDIN BISTRO
95 Delancey Street
New York, NY 10002
Okiboru is a small ramen joint that specializes in tsukemen (concentrated broth for dipping noodles in). Since the tsukemen was a combination of fish and chicken broths, I skipped on that and went with the ramen, which was a pork and chicken broth.
This was excellent, and I was glad that I chose this over the tsukemen, since the tsukemen broth was a bit too pungent in terms of fish flavor (my wife had that).
Overall, I would definitely go back for more ramen.
