I’ve been meaning to try Paulie Gee’s in Greenpoint for a while, but I never got around to it. My wife and I were walking by their newish spot in the East Village so we stopped in to try a couple of slices.
We tried their Margherita slice, and their Freddy Pepperoni (L&B style, sauce on top, with roni cups).
The Margherita had too much flop, but the square slice was excellent. Great dough and crust. Nice bright sauce. I’d get that again, and possibly try some of the other interesting slices that they offer.
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.
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.
This new Vietnamese joint specializes in hot pot, but their regular menu items are pretty great too.
We tried the pork jowls, the baby clams, and the beef pho. All were awesome, and I think the pho here is my favorite of all time. Also huge props to the wagyu betel leaf wraps. I really loved those as well.
The hot pot we ordered was a mix of seafood and beef. I felt the broth was a bit too sweet, but over all it was very good.
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.
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.
