Brooklyn, Burgers

Blue Collar Hamburgers

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Check out the Ride & Review HERE:

I have to say, the simplicity and perfection of this burger blew me away. My photos suck, because I had to use a flash and didn’t have my light, but I really loved this (photos have since been updated). Nice regular patty – I’m so tired of smash burgers being everywhere now, although it WAS a bit smushed. Not quite smashed. Crisp texture on that patty! Great cheese coverage. Perfect soft bun. My only gripe was that the tomato was cut a bit thick.

 

I also got a hot dog – they’re split-griddled. PERFECT!

I will definitely be back here again.

BLUE COLLAR HAMBURGERS
160 Havemeyer St
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Food Halls, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Gouie

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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

Brooklyn, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Chef Katsu Brooklyn

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This place is great. Some of the guys from the NYC Zooz Club and I hit this spot after riding around for a bit. Their curry sauce covered fried chicken thigh sandwiches are amazing.

I got mine with cheese. It was perfect, and the fries were bangin’ too.

Get over here and try this place. I’ll definitely be back for sure. Also, if you want to see some video of our bike gang ride from the day, check out the below:

CHEF KATSU BROOKLYN
143 Greene Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11238

American, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Canary Club

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My wife and I have wanted to try out this cocktail bar and live music lounge for a while. We finally made it in for an early dinner yesterday.

Quick take-aways: Delicious cocktails and good comfort food.

We really liked the broiled oysters and the french fries, as well as the ice cream sundae. The rest was just okay.

The snails were a bit under-seasoned and lacked that “snap” texture.

We also tried the shrimp and crab cake special. The shrimp were slightly overcooked and the batter on the crab cake needed work (no texture). The salad with fried green tomato was really nice though.

The batter on the fried chicken was too hard, but the meat was cooked nicely. The Voodoo seasoned fries were great.

Their coffee-based dessert cocktails are incredible. They have two, and each one is extremely unique, with one even having carrot juice espresso and tahini in it. Wild. They paired really well with the ice cream sundae.

We will be back for cocktails and live music, for sure. But maybe we’ll stick to the oysters and fries in terms of food.

CANARY CLUB
303 Broome St
New York, NY 10002

Brooklyn, Italian, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Porterhouse, Restaurant Reviews

Misi

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Misi is an Italian joint in Williamsburg that serves up some great pasta and an even better porterhouse steak.

Cocktails are really nice, like this negroni sour:

For starters, we did the whipped ricotta with roasted peppers, and the baby artichokes. Both were light and refreshing, but if I had to choose a favorite it would be the artichokes.

Next up was the pasta. We did a lamb ragu citarra as well as a brown butter tortelli stuffed with spinach and ricotta. Normally, I would gravitate toward that lamb ragu, but the tortelli were the winner between the two excellent pastas.

The dry aged porterhouse was awesome.

It was cooked to a nice medium rare and dusted with fennel pollen and rosemary.

The seasoning on it was definitely in the cumin/curry wheelhouse, which was a really nice change of pace.

It came with a side of giganto beans that were really bright and flavorful. Perfectly cooked.

But this steak was an easy 8/10, and I would definitely come back again to try more of the menu.

MISI
329 Kent Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11249

Chinese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

New Spicy Village

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My wife and I finally got over here to try the noodles.

But first, we put down some pork dumplings.

Despite being a little bit soupy, the dry hand-pulled noodles were awesome. We tried the spicy chicken and spicy oxtail. I give the edge to the chicken, mainly because the oxtail wasnt stewed or slow cooked long enough. The bones were cut very thin so that they cook faster, but that unfortunately means the meat will be a bit less tender. Still great though.

Will definitely be back to try the lamb noodles.

NEW SPICY VILLAGE
118 Eldridge St
New York, NY 10002

Chinese, Food Halls, Fusion, Japanese, Korean, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Other, Restaurant Reviews, Thai, Vietnamese

Essex Pearl

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This place is incredible!

My wife and I have been dying to come here ever since we saw them setting up shop at Market Line soon after we moved in. It’s a beautiful seafood bar, done up really fancy as a place you’d love to just sit and have a cocktail, but also with open view to the kitchen and prep stations for all the delicious food.

We tried a lot of shit, so let me get right into it.

Raw littleneck clams topped with crispy shallots and a fish sauce mignonette. Perfect way to open up the meal. Pair this with their pickled ginger, shochu and gin martini.

Dry aged rib eye tartare, coarse cut. So tender and flavorful! The shrimp chips make for a perfect vehicle for mouth entry, and they add a great textural crunch.

Cumin lamb belly skewers. I really loved these. If you love cumin lamb noodles at places like Xian Famous, you need to try this. It’s LAMB BACON!

Tiger prawns. You’ll want to drink the sauce! This item was the whole reason my wife wanted to go, and it really delivered. It was her favorite dish (along with the hamachi collar).

Crispy baby octopus with Thai lemongrass curry and fried Thai basil. Ask for a small bowl of rice so none of that curry goes to waste!

The grilled pork jowls were next. This was probably my favorite of the meal. It comes with a lime pepper sauce that acts like a Carolina style vinegar BBQ sauce, almost, but Asian style as lime and pepper are common in places like Vietnam and Cambodia. It cuts the fat of the jowls so perfectly I can’t even describe it properly!

Turmeric dill hamachi collar. This is so delicious and large, it’s enough to share among two people. Light, flavorful, and amazingly aromatic.

Laotian ginger pork sausage over garlic noodles. WOW! The sausage is made in house and it’s so fucking good!

We washed it all down with this watermelon and lychee slushee. So refreshing and just the right amount of natural sweetness.

I can’t wait to go back and try the rest of the menu, especially their surf and turf!

ESSEX PEARL
88 Essex Street
Cellar Level
New York, NY 10002

Burgers, Fusion, Other, Queens, Restaurant Reviews

Carla

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I stopped in here with some of the guys from the Zooz electric bike club (for $150 off your bike, use code JOHNNYPRIME at www.zoozbikes.com).

We sat outside, but then it started pouring, so we went inside. The place was nice enough to let us put our bikes into their covered outdoor seating area to stay dry.

Anyway, I tried their burger. I wasn’t crazy about the pickled cabbage on it, but the rest was great. The waffle fries were perfectly crispy with a good spice seasoning on it, like Old Bay/cajun. The egg is unnecessary, but it didn’t make it sloppy or anything. Good crispy bacon, which I broke up a little bit for neater coverage.

I would definitely eat here again if I was in the area. The service was excellent, and the menu was unique. In particular, I’d like to try their pho and banh mi sandwich.

CARLA
2503 40th Ave
Queens, NY 11101

Burgers, East Village, Fusion, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Spanish

Emilia by Nai

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Once again my friend Ruben absolutely nails it with his third restaurant, Emilia. Check out this quick video of some of the dishes we tried:

I can’t wait to go back and try more stuff. He is still in the process of perfecting the burger (he’s working on the bun), so I’ll definitely try that again.

Favorite items so far: artichoke with soy cured egg and crispy sunchokes, red snapper, and monkfish liver mousse.

EMILIA BY NAI
174 1st Ave.
New York, NY 10009

American, Flash Deals, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, NY Strip, Restaurant Reviews

Hotel Chantelle

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The Pulsd deal for Hotel Chantelle is pretty good. You get two cocktails, two apps, two entrees, and a shared dessert for $69.

The cocktails are tasty and colorful.

The apps we selected were the steak tartare and the charred octopus. Both were incredible, and I’d go back again for these any day.

The entrees, however, fell a bit short. My strip steak was definitely not a center cut, which is totally fine – they’re using it for the Pulsd deal diners. Be minfdul of connective tissue At $31 regular price, this really is a pair price though. The pepper chimi was unique, and it was cooked properly and had a nice flavor to it. 6/10.

The seafood paella was simultaneously undercooked and wet/soggy. Bad combo! The seafood itself was nice though.

For dessert, a lemon cream tart of sorts. The shell tasted like greasy tortilla and was tough to bite/chew, but the filling was awesome.

All in, not a bad meal, thanks to the saving grace of the apps. I’d come back here for apps and cocktails on the rooftop again for sure. It’s beautiful up there, and even the bar downstairs is cool. I’d skip the entrees though.

HOTEL CHANTELLE
92 Ludlow St
New York, NY 10002

carnivore connoisseur