Rippers is a famous beachside burger shop in Rockaway. This joint serves up big, juicy, perfectly cooked burgers for the hungry masses at the beach.
I have to say this was one of the best burgers I’ve had since I went to Lions Bar.
The griddle cook offered the burger a nice textural crunch, and the inside was cooked to a perfect juicy medium. Good cheese coverage, and not too many toppings or sauces.
The fries were also really crispy and nice too, with some seafood/Old Bay type seasoning on them.
RIPPERS
86-01 Shore Front Pkwy
Rockaway Beach, NY 11693
If you’re in LIC and looking for Vietnamese food, one option you have is Cyclo.
I stopped in here with a few of my ebike friends for a bowl of pho and some other snacks.
The quail egg fried wontons were unique. I would skip on the sweet chili sauce.
The beef skewers were a bit better, in my oopinion.
The clay pot beef stew wasn’t hot enough to crisp up the rice on the bottom of the serving vessel (which wasn’t really hot), but it was tasty and came with a side of veg.
The pho was pretty good. This is on par with some of the basic Chinatown spots near me. This runs you $18, and it came with sliced eye round and brisket.
CYCLO
5-51 47th Ave #573
Long Island City, NY 11101
Sushi Hayashi is one of the “all you can eat” sushi/omakase spots that are trending now in the city. This spot is a pretty good deal. The pieces are all decent, and you get a solid amount of sushi for $98 in the omakase (14 courses). The salmon, shima aji and shrimp were our favorite pieces from the omakase. The wagyu fell short, and there was no uni, but over all this was a worth-while omakase.
Once you’re finished with the 14-course omakase, you get two rounds of “all you can eat” sushi ordering, which is limited to a selection of eel, scallop, lean tuna or fatty tuna. The toppings and garnishes are done away with during this time (just a brush of sauce, and some torching for the fatty tuna), and you’ll be charged $6 per piece for any nigiri that you order but don’t finish. The record is 72 pieces eaten. Insane.
I went with nine extra pieces total during this “all you can eat” portion of the meal; three each of the lean tuna, fatty tuna and scallop.
They really have the system down pat, and they operate like a well-oiled machine.
They’ve created the first fast food style omakase! Highly American! What follows below is a photo dump of all the courses.
Two appetizers:
Ten nigiri pieces:
The roll portion of the omakase:
Round 1 AYCE:
Round 2 AYCE:
Dessert: matcha ice cream.
SUSHI HAYASHI
355 E 50th Street
New York, NY 10022
Rosie’s is a big, fun Mexican spot on the corner of 2nd Street and 2nd Avenue. The Cake Dealer and I tried a few items at the bar. They make some nice margaritas here, so definitely start with one of those. If you want a nice bar snack, get the chicharrones. They’re huge and delicious.
One of my favorite items was the squash blossom quesadilla. Everything about this was just perfect. I wish I had ordered three of them.
The tacos here are pretty good, as are the tortillas, which are made right in the middle of the restaurant. You can watch them being made at a bar, like you’re at a sushi counter.
We tried the shrimp, fish and al pastor tacos. Of these, the al pastor was the best, with the shrimp coming in just behind at second place.
We also tried the flan, which was really light and tasty.
Comal is a new Mexico City -inspired restaurant in the lower east side. They offer up some really unique dishes that you won’t commonly see at popular Mexican restaurants.
We started the meal with three skewers: al pastor chicken, beef tongue, and mushrooms.
The al pastor was our favorite of these. I think the mushrooms would have been better grilled, and the tongue was a bit gamey in flavor.
Next up, the cobia aguachile. This had great flavor; bright, fresh and refreshingly spicy.
The beef tartare was nice as well. It came with some lettuce cups and was topped with fried crickets! I’ve had them before. They’re not really my thing, so I let The Cake Dealer have them all.
For our main courses we did the skate wing in squid ink sauce, which are like a delicious spicy mole/curry cross breed. The fish was perfectly cooked.
We also had the half chicken, which was really tender and juicy. All the flavor was in the skin and the earthy, spicy sauce.
The stuffed wing with pickled tomatillo was a nice tough to go with it, but ultimately it seemed like a lot of extra chef work for little reward on our end. We liked the regular parts of the chicken better.
On the side, we had the Comal rice, which was essentially a small bowl of rice and beans for $10 (overpriced), and the squash and zucchini with cherries and cheese (so unique and awesome).
For dessert, we had their raspberry and vanilla soft serve swirl. This his the spot on a hot day.
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.
Bar Oliver is a small Spanish style tapas and pintxos joint at the intersection of Oliver, St. James, East Broadway, Bowery and Worth downtown.
My wife and I stopped in for drinks when they first opened, but now that the menu is fully built out, we wanted to go in and try some food.
We started with the Montauk red shrimp pintxos. These were tasty little bites. Expensive at $18 for two, but that’s the way of live here now I guess.
Next up, the mushrooms. These come with a beautiful egg yolk on top to break and mix in. Loved this dish.
We also tried the skate cheeks. These were served in a nice bright tomato sauce and ate more like a soup than I had expected. There were three to four good sized fish cheeks in there.
We contemplated getting a larger format rib eye, but instead we went with the wagyu hanger steak, which comes with fries and is served atop a really nice piquillo pepper sauce.
The steak was perfectly cooked, but it was a bit small for my liking. I’d say around 6oz. But at $39 it isn’t a bad deal. I give this a, 9/10. Perfectly cooked, nicely seasoned, great flavor and texture.
For dessert we did the Spanish cheesecake. To me, it ate more like a standard cheesecake. Still good though.
I would definitely go back to try more items. Especially the larger steaks. They had a good selection of local beef and domestic wagyu cross breed, all dry aged.
I pulled up on this Bushwick spot before hitting Electric Wednesday nearby at KCBC.
I went with their $11 special; three carnitas tacos.
These were really great. They’re served sort of gringo style, meaning they have lettuce, tomato and sour cream on them. I’m totally fine with that!
I think the tortillas could spend a bit more time getting toasted on the flat top, and the carnitas could have more variable chunks in the mix. The meat almost seemed more like pulled pork that had been crisped up a little bit on the plancha, but really no complaints about that at all.
I will definitely go back here and try more!
TORTILLERIA MEXICANA LOS HERMANOS
271 Starr St.
Brooklyn, NY 11237
My wife and I popped in here because we heard good things. We started with some nice cocktails, and a beautiful bread basket with focaccia and basil-infused olive oil.
Then moved on to the roasted octopus and crispy artichokes.
Both of these were great, and the octopus came with a few pieces of crispy artichoke as well. We were glad that we ordered the artichoke side dish for some extra though. They were delicious! Also the cauliflower puree underneath the octopus was so flavorful. I could eat that like a dip all day!
In the middle course, we had the dinner special of truffle pappardelle with chicken milanese, as well as the fusili with red pesto and straciatella.
Both of these were expertly seasoned and beautifully plated. We really enjoyed these. The red pesto was a unique mix of walnuts and red pepper that I had never had before. The Milanese was fried super crisp and pounded super thin. Perfect.
For the main course, we had their crispy pork shoulder with fennel and arugula salad. At $22 this is an absolute steal.
The skin was perfectly crisp, covering a layer of deliciously sticky fat and tender, juicy braised pork. Amazing.
For dessert, we had their tiramisu. This was really nice as well.
We love this place, and we can’t wait to go back! We also noticed that they have some excellent buy-one get-one free deals on Uber Eats. Needless to say, we will definitely be going back and also ordering delivery.
