My wife and I stopped in here to try some stuff at the bar just before they transitioned from the lunch shift to the dinner shift. Here’s what we had:
Vietnamese Beef Carpaccio:
This was awesome. Great herbs on top, nice tender American wagyu beef, raw, thinly sliced, and dressed nicely with fish sauce, shallots, and crispy garlic.
Crab Cakes:
Also awesome. These were basically patties made from egg, pork, and lump crab. The dipping sauce served with this was incredible, and if you take a bite each time with some of the Thai basil, you’ll be in heaven.
Pho Hanoi:
The northern style pho had a nice cinnamon aroma, but it was more mild on flavor than it smelled. There was a generous amount of quality beef in the bowl, along with nicely cooked noodles.
Banh Mi:
We ordered the traditional Banh Mi, but one glaring thing that stood out as not traditional was the presence of lettuce on the sandwich, and the absence of daikon. We still liked it, and the bread was very good, but we took the lettuce off.
Duck:
We ordered the crispy roasted duck as well. The sauce was a bit sweet, so it was important for me to eat each bite with one of the dried chili peppers that came with the dish. The little supremes of grapefruit helped cool it down afterwards.
We also tried four cocktails, all of which were really interesting. They definitely sit outside the box of traditional cocktails.
Overall I liked this place and would probably go back. I think there may be a bit of Thai influence in the dishes, but I enjoyed.
My wife found out about a special dairy cow beef dinner at ACRU, in which cuts from all over the animal are featured on the tasting menu. We gave it a shot! But check out my Ride & Review video for this meal HERE first:
Okay so here’s the menu we had:
The first round of bites came with some raw sliced beef in a tart shell. Admittedly, I forgot what the waiter said about that item. I assume it was the “tetaki” (misspelled on the menu I think). Tataki is a Japanese preparation that basically means seared outside and raw inside, and that seems to match what we had on the tart. It was good!
This next plate had bresaola and a skewer of yakitori style tongue. Both of these were great, but my wife had some chewy bits on her skewer. I definitely wanted more of that bresaola!
Next up was a duo of raw applications: neck tartare and shabu shabu style top round.
The top round could have been sliced a bit thinner, or perhaps swapped out for tenderloin, but otherwise it was good and flavorful. I think the beef broth that came with it could have been hotter too, that way the meat would cook a little bit, like it does in shabu shabu or Vietnamese pho.
Both my and my wife’s tartare dishes were a bit chewy in parts. Otherwise it was tasty though. I really liked the horseradish and crispy salsify.
Next up was brisket. It was intensely flavorful and peppery, but I definitely needed to eat it with the slaw because it was a bit too dry. This was served with some beef fat brushed flatbread as well.
For the main course, we had 60-day dry aged strip and rib eye.
The strip was from the back end of the loin, where there’s some connective tissue that separates the strip loin muscle from the sirloin muscle. This was easy enough to identify and cut around for someone who knows their meat anatomy, but I could see someone complaining if they chewed on that seam. I liked the fact that we essentially got to try two different muscles here, and the sauce on this, with the allium, was delicious.
The rib eye was beautifully plated, and simply treated/cooked, but I think we preferred the flavor of the strip/sirloin. Both had a mild aged flavor and were perfectly cooked to medium rare. The rib eye came with some greens and a scallion pancake as well.
The chuck meat pie was fun, but I think It could have been made bigger and better by incorporating some potato, peas and carrots inside. Perhaps they were going for a purist’s approach here, to focus on the flavor of the chuck. The sauce was delicious on this, and the pastry was perfect.
Dessert was our favorite part of the meal, I think.
This first dish was sort of like a deconstructed tres leches cake. It was excellent.
To finish off the meal, we had some beef fat caramels. These were nice. A rare treat around these parts. I think this is an Aussie or British thing. The flake sea salt really made them pop.
All in this was a fun meal. I probably wouldn’t do it again, since I felt like, while there were some hits, there were some misses as well, and, over all, the portions were a bit small. I get that this is a tasting menu, but I went home hungry after we spent nearly $400 (the same thing happens to me with omakase). I do, however, definitely want to try some of the larger items from their regular menu, namely the duck crown and the Denver steak.
This joint used to be called ZZ’s Clam Bar. It’s a Major Food Group spot, like Carbone just a few doors down, The Grill, and The Lobster Club. It’s a fancy, small speakeasy spot that only serves raw bar type food. We basically tried almost everything (we skipped the caviar service and the scallop crudo).
The shellfish were really nice, served along with some really chef’d up sauces.
We tried both toasts. One was like a tuna tartate, and the other was trout roe with truffle honey. The trout roe was clearly the winner here, and it was easily one of the best bites of the night.
The first crudo we did was the hiramasa, which reminded me of kampachi or hamachi. Very mild fish flavor, really nicely treated. Fresh!
Our next crudo was the smoked salmon. This was incredible. Also one of the best bites of the night. The dijon and dill really hit on this, and it paired perfectly with the rye toast points that it came with.
The lobster salad was the only thing we didn’t love. It had too much mayo on it or something, but it was still perfectly cooked and nicely chilled. Also really beautiful.
Last, the beef carpaccio with uni, lobster and caviar.
This was definitely the star of the show for me. It was so delicious and decadent.
The portion size was generous too, which I guess is expected at $105.
As with other Major Food Group spots, the pricing is somewhat astronomical, but the quality is always top notch.
This place has great cocktails too, by the way. I was drinking Gibsons.
The Cake Dealer had a Paloma and a margarita. Easily the best Paloma we have ever had. Way better than the margarita.
Leonetta is Chef Ed Cotton’s new restaurant, located in Murray Hill, where the old Brother Jimmy’s used to be located.
Ed Cotton was on Top Chef season 7, and he also heads up the kitchen at Jack & Charlie’s as well, which os one of my favorite places to eat.
My wife and I came here after the new year to run through the menu. Here’s what we tried:
Grilled Octopus Salad
This was a warm salad that ate almost like a salsa. The octopus was cooked perfectly.
Lamb Tartare
This was one of our favorites of the night. The lamb was super tender, and the added items really made it pop, especially the pomegranate seeds.
Tuna Puttanesca
This was my favorite of the three “raw bar” items that we started with. The Kalamata olive and raw tuna combination was divine.
Next we moved on to a pasta dish made with tiny rigatoni and lamb ragout.
The stewed/braised lamb was really delicious. My only critique here would be to make the chic peas fried crispy for some added texture.
We did some charred broccolini on the side here, which was the best broccolini I’ve ever had. Great char, cooked perfectly, wonderful bright flavors.
For our mains, we started with the 14oz strip steak with zataar-seasoned steak fries and harissa ketchup.
This was cooked perfectly. Although there was no dry-aging involved, the flavor still popped due to the seasonings. This is an easy 8/10.
We also tried the fried pork shank shawarma with pickles and zataar-spiced pita bread.
This dish was a home run. The exterior was fried to an amazing crisp. The skin crackled as you cut it.
The meat was cooked perfectly, and paired well with the street-style red and white sauces, like you might see at a halal falafel, lamb, chicken and rice cart.
On the side, we did some roasted mushrooms, which were absolutely delicious. Ed always nails the mushroom offerings.
For dessert, we tried the special panna cotta.
This was topped with orange caramelized pistachios. I absolutely loved it, but it did have a thicker than expected texture. Almost thicker than Labneh or Greek yogurt.
The cocktails here are amazing, so don’t miss the opportunity to go downstairs to Leo’s Famous, their beautiful lounge with a fireplace, for a night cap.
I can’t wait to go back and try the rest of the menu.
This joint, while definitely not a traditional Izakaya in appearance, still serves up some outstanding food and cocktails. Their martini is pretty much absolute perfection.
Our favorite items were the crispy pigs ears and the clams.
But really everything was awesome. The egg trio was pricey at $185.
Very nice tartare made with bluefin tuna.
The miso butterscotch Brussels were extremely unique!
The pork jowl could have used a bit more texture on the outside, but otherwise super tender and very flavorful.
And more unique goodies for dessert: soy sauce tiramisu and basil shiso sorbet.
For our final meal of the trip to Charleston, we went to the often difficult to reserve Fig with a couple that I’m friends with who live nearby. I managed to score a last minute reservation at 9:15pm, and we ended up closing down the joint at close to midnight. It turned out to be our overall best meal of the trip. Let’s get into it…
We started with a bunch of items that we all shared. Broiled oysters aji dolce, chicken liver pate, raw hogfish (similar to snapper) with rice and popcorn (crazy!), lamb bolognese ricotta gnocchi, and wagyu beef tartare.
These were, each of them, all-star level dishes, and I am hard-pressed to pick a favorite among them. I would order each of them again in a heartbeat, but I think I was most surprised by the hogfish. It was so unique, and I’m a sucker for popcorn. The gnocchi was definitely meant to be a main dish, but we shared among the four of us.
For mains, we also went heavy with five dishes. Baked wreckfish, sautéed flounder, mustard crusted swordfish, Berkshire pork milanese and lump crab spaghetti with lemon and bottarga.
Again, everything really incredible. I think, though, what stood out the most to me was the swordfish. The capers and mustard crust really paired beautifully with the medium-rare cooked fish. Loved it!
For dessert, we went with these lemon curd cream puffs, which were really nice.
I highly recommend Fig if you’re in Charleston. Absolutely delicious!
First, check out my kickass Ride & Review video HERE:
If you haven’t heard about this place, it’s a very exclusive Amex Black card-holders joint. You CAN get access to it you have an Amex Platinum card, which my wife has. We were able to snag a reservation for 6:30PM on a Friday, and the experience was incredible. Seriously – watch the video above for the full effect.
We started with some cocktails that we really enjoyed. The stand out for me was the incredibly beautiful and delicious Carbon Martini, made with squid ink!
Our apps were a pair of tartare dishes. Table side wagyu beef tartare, and tuna tartare. Both incredible!
Next, we shared a wagyu burger. This was perfect. Thin slices of tomato, onion, pickles and just a single leaf of Bibb lettuce. Crispy bacon. Melty cheese and a special sauce. Perfect cook temp.
For entrees, we had lamb loin and aged strip steak (Snake River Farms). Both beautifully plated. The strip was 45-days aged, and 10oz.
I think we both liked the lamb slightly better. It came with a killer lamb sausage meatball wrapped in spinach (watch the video). Steak 9/10. Lamb 10/10.
For dessert we had a Lebanese pistachio milk flan called mouhalabieh, and a vanilla eclair. Both great.
Excellent table bread and butter here.
Some of the incredible views:
If you ever have the opportunity to dine or have drinks here, I highly recommend it. It’s definitely worth throwing on your bucket list.
CENTURION LOUNGE
1 Vanderbilt Ave
55th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Cornelius is a new French and American style joint in Grand Central. My wife and I came in to give it a try, as the menu looked pretty incredible.
We started with some cocktails, all of which were killer. My favorites were the Sazerac (not pictured) and the caviar martini. If you have some time before you start to eat, grab the espresso old fashioned. That also works well with dessert too though.
We started with this foie gras terrine, which wasn’t on the menu. This is basically delicious meat butter, and it would also pair well with their cheese plate. We had that for dessert.
Next up was the beef tartare. This is made from hand cut prime tenderloin, but the bump of caviar is extra/not standard. I really loved this, and it’s definitely large enough to eat as a main course.
We shared this beautiful 28oz, 30-day dry aged NY strip/shell steak on the bone.
The sauce is a velvety and mild Hollandaise, and draped over the bone is a nice portion of sautéed broccoli rabe. On top, shaved Perigord black truffle. 9/10 – very tender, well rested, and great aged flavor coming through on that evenly browned crust.
Of course we didn’t stop there. These two dishes were both beautiful and well executed, but the winner of the night goes to the duck leg confit. The lamb collops of tenderloin were perfect, it’s just that the duck was masterfully prepared, The meat was so tender and well seasoned/balanced. And with a huge bed of lentils underneath, it was filling as well. Make sure you order that!
For dessert, along with the cheese plate up above, we had these incredible dolce de leche donuts. WOW! I was actually shoving some of the currant jelly into the hole to make them even more decadent.
This place is crazy good, and I really can’t wait to go back to try the chateaubriand for two and a few other items that look great.
I was recently invited into this place for a media dinner, complimentary in exchange for posting content on Instagram. Here’s what we had:
The Good
Perfect espresso martini. And I mean perfect!
Awesome pappardelle with porcini mushrooms. Pictured here is a half portion size. They split the dish even though I asked them not to.
Octopus with chic pea puree. This was on the upper side of okay, just about at the good level.
The Bad & The Ugly
Complimentary plate of cheese and meats. Meh.
Steak Tartare. This needed salt/seasoning. I also didn’t like the burrata cream on the bottom, but the sun dried tomato was a nice, unique topper. It was ugly though, and I had to add some crumbled parm from the plate above to give it a pop of flavor.
The porterhouse was overcooked, under seasoned, dry, and tasted as if it was a plate of leftovers that was re-heated in a toaster oven. If you’ve ever done that, you know exactly what I mean. It was noted as being dry-aged, but I didn’t taste it. There was little to no char on it either. 4/10.
We skipped dessert since it was starting to get late. The service was slow toward the end of the meal (busy overcooking the steak, perhaps). I kid. The restaurant did get pretty full and busy later on. The restaurant is in the back of a Hyatt hotel lobby, which is weird. I wonder if that’s where they serve the complimentary breakfast in the morning.
I probably won’t go back, but if I did, I would definitely stick to the pasta selections and the wine/cocktails.
RAMERINO ITALIAN PRIME
16 E 39th St
New York, NY 10016
This joint opened recently and is connected to the 9 Orchard hotel. There’s a lot I want to try here, but on this first trip my wife and I just stopped in for a couple of cocktails and some snacks.
The cocktails are great. I had a Gibson that used basil syrup in the mix. Very herbal and unique.
I also tried their amari-based old fashioned, which was really strong at first. But as the ice mellowed it out, it was perfect.
We had the Oysters Rockefeller, which were quite expensive at $24 for four. They were delicious, however, and reminded us of the flavor profile of escargots.
We also had an order of their perfectly cooked fries, which come with ketchup, mayo, and dijon. I love that they give you dijon automatically. It’s my favorite condiment.
Based on this trip, we will definitely be back to try more of the menu. Stay tuned for updates!
UPDATE 10-15-2022
On a second trip, after a LOT of hype in the food media world, I noticed a decline here.
First off, the nice ice cube in the old fashioned is gone now, and they replaced it with a bunch of small regular ice cubes. Bad move!
We started with the steak tartare, which was fairly good although it was very heavy on the onion and vinegar. The parm crisp on top was nice though.
The burger is no longer on the menu. I was excited to try it but they had a steak on special, so I went with that.
$185! Get the fuck outta here for 32oz!
It was just okay. Cooked perfectly, nice crust. But the meat itself was pretty dense and tough in places, and a good amount of connective tissue that was inedible. The best parts were along the bone, and edges, where some aged flavor managed to creep in. 6/10.
My wife’s duck was better, but parts of the dish were insanely salty.
The bread and butter here is fantastic, and complimentary. Get it.
