Tag Archives: food

Amsterdam, Dutch, Fusion, Other, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye, Spanish, Steakhouse Reviews

The Food of Amsterdam

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My wife and I took a trip to Amsterdam, and, while there, we are a ton of really delicious shit. Here’s a quick rundown of the food.

Cafes and bars offer a great way to sit down, relax and hydrate. They also have some great snacks.

Arendsnest had this huge slab of cured pork belly:

Cafe Belgique had some insane olives. HUGE!

The Louis Bar ham and cheese tosti was super low budget.

Such an awesome bar, by the way. The building has been there since the early 1600s..

Wester Cafe won the bar snacks competition. Bitterballen, fried sausages, and fried cheese wrapped in egg roll wrappers.

But we also liked the fried seafood and cocktails at Pompa.

The bars in general were really awesome and old. This one (In t’ Aepjen) was ape themed for some reason:

One of the most impressive bars we went to was actually at our hotel, the De L’Europe hotel. There was a speakeasy in the back called Chapter 1896, and it had, basically, a museum of Macallan selections.

The hotel had great breakfast included, and with a nice view too.

The Heineken Experience gave me a new appreciation for the brand.

Other bars we enjoyed:

Dutch Courage and Wynand Fockink for genever.

Cafe t’ Smalle

The Old Sailor

Kikkie

Kaap Tein

Cafe Staalmeesters

Of course we got steak along the way. Sagardi was one of the best European steakhouses I’ve ever been to. This is a Basque/Spanish style steakhouse, serving vaca vieja (old dairy cow). I generally don’t love this stuff, but here, it was amazing. A 9/10 for the steak (rib eye), and I think the total score would be somewhere around 90 as well.

Amsterdam is known for its pancakes. We went to Upstairs Pancakes, a small 4-table spot that’s up a very steep set of stairs. We loved the bacon, brie and honey pancake. Maybe the best bite of the trip!

I think the best sweet items we had were the stroopwafel at Hans Egstorf (overpriced tourist trap, and I prefer the plain instead of the ones with toppings), and the apple pie at Winkel (absolutely insane – so fucking good).

We enjoyed some find dining experiences while we were there, too. First, the very long but very delicious meal at Kaagman & Kortekaas.

Next, the wonderful meal at De Silveren Spiegel:

Hard to choose a favorite between the two.

We also had some Indonesian food, as the Indonesian people have a long and interconnected history with the Dutch through the spice trade and colonialism/immigration. We had a great lunch at Sampurna.

Our worst meal in terms of both service and food was at t’ Westerhuys. It sucks when you get a double whammy like that.

Too much of a tourist trap, perhaps, but at least we got to try some more Dutch food (meatball stamppot, ossenwurst – like a beef carpaccio or tartare). The dessert was the best part of the meal (tompouce – tart crust with strawberry icing on top and custard in between – kind of like a pop tart or toaster strudel).

It’s housed in a beautiful old church building annex though.

We sampled a shitload of cheeses, both in the countryside at a cheesemaking facility, and in the town at shops.

We had some great french fries at the Keukenhof tulip gardens.

Here are some flower pics:

On our last night, we had a seafood feast at The Seafood Bar.

An amazing trip, and I feel like we barely scratched the surface. There were still a lot of places that we didn’t get to try on our itinerary (food halls, bars, etc). I think we need a return trip!

Mediterranean, Restaurant Reviews, West Village

Crevette

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First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

I took my wife to Crevette for our anniversary for a nice seafood-focused dinner. The cocktails here are nice. I did a classic martini, and instead of bread the table was adorned with a small place of mixed olives.

Here’s what we had to eat:

Pink Shrimp:

These were a bit pricey but they were indeed tasty. I’m not sure they were work $8 each, however.

Red Shrimp Carpaccio:

This was delicious. Easily the winner between the two shrimp starters. I would get this again for sure.

We threw in some meat here with a blood sausage and merguez sausage skewer, as well as an octopus skewer.

Both were nice but I think I preferred the octopus.

Next up were the mushroom courses.

Mushroom and Foie Gras with Egg:

This was great but we only had two small pieces of foie on the dish. I was hoping for a bit more. The mushrooms were delicious though.

Spanish Tortilla with Ramps & Morels:

This was probably my favorite dish of the night. The tortilla was really nicely made, and the morels were absolutely perfect. Ramps are always nice when they’re in season.

For one of our mains, we did the lamb ribs:

These were delicious. That had a nice candied bark on the outside. I just wish that I liked the sauce a bit more. It was sort of eggplant-ish.

We also had the Dover sole for two.

The woman who filleted this table side did a horrific job of getting the meat off of the bones. We ended up having to eat very carefully to avoid gagging on the tiny bones. The fish was nice, but I would not get this again. I would have liked a little bit of crisp on the skin. I think perhaps I was expecting a different preparation.

For dessert, we did a soft serve sundae and a lemon tart. Both of these were excellent. I think I liked these next best, just after the Spanish tortilla with morels.

CREVETTE
10 Downing St.
New York, NY 10014

Italian, Japanese, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Union Square/Flatiron

Aqua

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First, check out my Ride & Review video, HERE:

My wife and I came here with another foodie and social media influencer couple to try out some of this new restaurant’s menu. Aqua has both Italian and Japanese menus, so you can have a full-on omakase here, or you can dine a la carte and dig into some pasta or veal Milanese.

We selected eight items from this menu, and then had two versions of their tiramisu (one classic Italian, and one Japanese):

First off, they make some really nice cocktails, which is clutch since they have a gigantic bar (the whole space is pretty massive, actually).

We started with the mushroom and truffle arancini. These were delicious bites.

The lobster bisque pizzette was really unique. I’ve never had something like that. It makes for great table bread to share as a snack.

This red prawn carpaccio was absolutely incredible. This is a must order when you go here.

These little nuggets of fried rock shrimp were really tasty. They don’t look like much, but I was hooked. I could not stop popping them.

The oxtail and truffle mafalde was perfectly cooked and seasoned, and the oxtail was super tender and savory.

Here’s a shot of their 12-piece sashimi omakase, which has all of your favorites, salmon belly being my favorite.

This eight-piece roll had salmon and scallop, which was nice.

And finally, the yuzu shiso marinated lamb chops. These were awesome. After the red prawn carpaccio, this was probably my favorite item.

For dessert, we tried the classic tiramisu and the matcha/green team tiramisu. I think we all agreed that the classic version was better. I didn’t snap any photos of that, so you’ll just have to watch the video to see them!

AQUA
902 Broadway
New York, NY 10010

American, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Other Cuts, Restaurant Reviews

Beauty & Essex

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First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

The Cake Dealer and I finally made it over to Beauty & Essex after living down here since late 2020. She had been to the bar once before, but I had only ever been inside to make a meat delivery when I was working at Golden Packing in 2021. The chef, Derrick Prince, was on some cooking competition TV shows back in the day, and since then, I’ve always enjoyed following along on his social media and trying out his food whenever I could. He’s a really talented chef.

First off, the service here is impeccable. This is the same for all Tao Group properties. Really great staff that genuinely cares. They started us off with complimentary glasses of bubbly. It was a nice glass too, not some cheap garbage. I ordered a martini as well, and it was made very nicely.

We ordered two apps, but Derrick sent out three more! We had the pleasure of trying the French dips on toast. the shishito peppers, the sea bass tacos, the grilled cheese and tomato soup dumplings, and the steak tartare quesadillas. I think my favorites were the French dips and the sea bass tacos, but The Cake Dealer preferred the dumplings. All of them were great though.

For our mains, we ordered the Peruvian chicken and the beef Wellington.

Both of these were delicious, but I think the winner for both of us was the chicken. Shocker! But there was just something about the jalapeno salsa verde, the squash, carrot and zucchini ribbons underneath, and those little shreds of crispy potato and peas on top that just came together in a magical way. Incredible.

And that’s not to trash the Wellington at all. It was cooked to an absolutely perfect, butter-knife tender medium rare. The sauce was velvety smooth, the pastry was crispy and light. A really great representation of that this dish is meant to be. This is a 9/10, especially since the price was shockingly low to me at like $65. The beef alone would cost more than that at a steakhouse, not including all the prep and labor to make it into a Wellington. Great value.

On the side, we ordered the caulilini, which consisted of broccolini and cauliflowerini (a cross between cauliflower and broccolini), served in a parmesan broth. This was really nice, but Derrick sent out these roasted Kyoto carrots that blew us away. They were roasted for hours and served with some sort of blood orange agrodolce sauce. Good enough to make you understand vegetarians.

For dessert, we tried these beauties that were shaped like cherries, which had either a vanilla or white chocolate mousse inside of a chocolate shell that was covered in a cherry glaze and plopped on top of a hazelnut and chocolate crumble. Perfect way to end the meal.

I highly recommend this place, and I will definitely be going back to try more of the menu. They even offer a brunch pre fixe, which comes with an app, an entree, a side, and a glass of sparkling rose for $35. Another steal of a deal in my opinion.

BEAUTY & ESSEX
146 Essex St.
New York, NY 10002

American, Chinese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Pecking House Chicken

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First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

This spot recently opened down by Two Bridges, and I’ve been psyched to try it out.

We got five items; three mains and two sides.

1. The Blackened Chicken Sandwich

This was probably my favorite of all the items. It has a distinctly earthy Mexican flavor to it from the Oaxaca cheese and pickled jalapeños. Absolute banger.

2. Chili Quarter Chicken

I expected this to be wetter, spicier and saltier based on what I’ve seen on Instagram to date, but it was still goo. A bit expensive at $9 without a side, but I’d definitely get it again (perhaps the extra hot version though).

3. Salted Egg Wings

These were delicious. No dipping sauce needed! The batter from the salted yolk comes in nice and crisp, and with the wings being slightly smaller than your typical bar room Buffalo wings, you get a perfect ratio or meat to crisp with every bite.

4. Chicken Salt Fries

These could have used a bit more crisp on them, but they were tasty. Also – not too salty! Nicely seasoned, as a matter of fact.

5. Charred Cukes w/Ginger

These were unique! Charring the cucumber softens them a bit and adds a different flavor profile to them that I’ve never experienced before. The ginger sauce isn’t too pungent, so you still get all that fresh cucumber flavor to cool off from the spicy food between bites.

PECKING HOUSE CHICKEN
83 Henry Street
Shop 1
New York, NY 10002

Japanese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Shhh

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First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

This secretive omakase joint in the back of an ice cream shop serves up 14 or 18 course omakase meals with unlimited sake for just $96 or $126, respectively.

My favorite pieces were the snappers, scallop and tuna. But the real stars of the show were the appetizers: cod sperm sack and chawanmushi with uni and crab meat!

Snappers:

Scallop:

Tuna:

I can’t believe I ate cum. And I’ll definitely be back for more, especially the soft serve ice cream (not made from cum).

Here are some of the other items:

The cum was torched:

SHHH
113 Division St.
New York, NY 10002

Chinese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

Bo Ky

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Bo Ky is a mixed Vietnamese pho and Chinese restaurant in Chinatown that’s been around for a long ass time.

I went in last weekend with my wife, who hadn’t been there since college, and we tried some stuff.

I ordered the beef belly soup, which was really good with a hit of spice.

My wife ordered a Cambodian style hu teiu soup that had mixed seafood and pork in it. This was more like a consomme and had some sweetness to it.

We also shared a fried shrimp roll on the side. This reminded me of shrimp toast.

Nice spot! I would go back.

BO KY
80 Bayard St.
New York, NY 10013

Japanese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Toriya

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My wife and I just realized that a yakitori joint opened up by us late last year. we went this past weekend to try it out.

Check out the Ride & Review HERE first, then read below.

First, great beer selection! Hitachino Nest beer is one of my favorites.

On Sundays, edamame is just a buck.

We tried a bunch of skewers, obviously. I think the yuzu thighs and chicken skins were my favorite, but we also had some gizzards, cartilage, tenderloin, mushrooms, and shrimp.

This raw octopus dish with wasabi was really nice too.

The fried squid legs were our least favorite, but they were still great. I really liked that they came with a pair of scissors!

Not only will we be back here soon, but we will be regulars. I’m so happy this is in our neighborhood!

TORIYA
178 Stanton St.
New York, NY 10002

Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews, Spanish

Da Li

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My wife and I have walked by this tapas bar that turns clubby at night a hundred times, and we have always wanted to go in. This time, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

Their $10 martini during happy hour was perfect.

We also tried some of their tapas menu, which was also discounted (basically two-for-one).

We will definitely be back to try more!

DA LI
37 Market St.
New York, NY 10002

East Village, Japanese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Yokox

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First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

This joint serves up a 15-course omakase for just $89! It’s really close by, so we had to give it a try.

My favorite items were the crab handroll, the stripekack, and the scallop with uni.

Great spot! No liquor license yet, and they don’t let you BYOB, but they said the license is in the works and they should have beer and wine soon.

I can’t wait to go back to try it again. The chef said the fish can change on a daily basis, and he likes to use a lot of unique and different fish than you normally see.

YOKOX
41 Avenue B
New York, NY