La Boite en Bois
Went to La Boite en Bois last night, the 22 Zagat rated Upper West Sider’s pre-theater Menu. Very cute place – the ambiance reminded me of my last trip to France and the little cafes I dined at. The restaurant was more than slightly cramped, but that added to the ambiance. It’s one of those places where you can’t help talking with the people at the next tables.
Service was friendly and efficient. We especially liked the fact that they made their onion soup for my wife, which was not on the dinner menu. The soup paled in comparison to the amazing onion soup we had at Artisinal the other week, but it was a nice gesture.
The pre-theater dinner offering is a $44 prix fix with traditional French favorites like pate, French onion soup and escargot for apps and duck, steak au poivre, etc. for entrees. I had the specials of the night. I started with pumpkin soup. It was creamless. In my opinion, it was a little too liquidy and lacked impact/flavor. I needed to salt and pepper it up to eat. Next, I had the entree special which included little pieces of monkfish, salmon with a large scallop and a large shrimp cooked in parchment paper with creamy leek sauce. For the record, I hate ordering fish and then ending up with creamy sauces but that was my fault. Nevertheless, I ate it and it was good – I especially enjoyed the leeks and sauce. Another nice compliment to the entree was a generous portion of risotto with mixed vegetables and simple steamed spinach. To close out the meal, I enjoyed a tasty bread pudding but since this restaurant is blocks away from Magnolia, I would recommend skipping dessert at La Boite en Bois and heading to Magnolia.
In summary, I would go for lunch to La Boite en Bois but would skip dinner. It was fun getting out with my wife on our historic October snowstorm, but when I think back to this night a couple of weeks from now, it will be hard to remember the food.
Food – 6/10
Ambiance – 6/10
Service – 8/10
Category:
Food Type – French
Style – Casual
Price – Moderate
Wanna go?
75 W 68th St, Near Columbus Ave., New York
Breakfast at Norma’s
When the waiter arrived immediately with the brightest, freshest orange juice I had ever seen and quickly told me of the unlimited refills, I went for it. Then I went for one for my wife – a few others at the table went for it.. Norma’s OJ was just right… not too tart, no pulp. Not sure how they made it – never looks like that when I buy fresh squeezed from the grocery store.
Would you like some coffee?… Of course… The French Press Pot of Coffee, which came in a stainless steel pot, looked good, smelled excellent… and had notes of …. Actually, I have no ideas to how to describe… but it was a good, rich cup of coffee.
Then we looked at the menu – each “unlimited glass” of OJ was $9. All in all, the entire table went for $36 of fresh squeezed OJ. I drank more OJ at brunch than I had in the last year! The unlimited French Press Pot of Coffee was $7 per person!
As we walked out with our non-alcohol induced OJ buzz, we noticed a table that planned ahead for this famous OJ. They brought out a flask of vodka and quickly spiked the OJ. Next time!
I should have done a little more research before I came, but then again, this was a lazy sunday brunch with friends, so I won’t be too hard on myself.
Norma’s is in Le Parker Meridian Hotel and has a menu with “The Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata,” which costs $100 for a regular with 1oz sevruga caviar and $1,000 for a super size with 10oz sevruga caviar. The menu proclaims, “Norma dares you to expense this!”
I had the “Flat-As-A-pancake Crabcake” spiced with habañero pepper served with dill yogurt mustard sauce. The zingy sauce came in a well-executed thick corn bread batter onion ring. The crab was fresh and lightly pan fried. The salad was a little over dressed but what do you expect for $24?!
Others at the table enjoyed the Egg White Frittata Of Shrimp with oven-roasted roma tomato and spinach, and Scrambled Eggs And Bacon Breakfast Quesadilla with monterey jack cheese, guacamole and salsa.
If I were to go again, I would order something from the “Mom Can’t Make This” section like the Super Moist French Toast with an orange infused honey drizzle created in the 15th century by juan del encina or the “Egg Cellent” Breakfast Dumplings stuffed with scrambled egg, shrimp and mushroom. The dumplings came like a Dim Sum order from Chinatown.
When the bill came, breakfast was a whopping $45/person with tip! Though price was mentioned throughout this review, the creative menu of large poritions and extremely high quality ingredients, niceties like fresh French Press Pot of Coffee, & people watching made it a worthy splurge!
Rating:
Food – 8/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 9/10
Category:
Food Type – American
Style – Casual/ Trendy
Price – Expensive
Wanna go?
Address/phone – 118 W. 57th St
Web: http://www.parkermeridien.com/eat1.php
Menu: http://www.parkermeridien.com/PDF/BreakfastNormasNY.pdf
Compass
My compass lead me to the West Side or maybe it was Google Maps. Nevertheless, we arrived at Compass, a well established New American for a dinner with friends. Compass offers straight-forward continental items featuring fresh seasonal summer highlights with occasional bursts of creativity. The setting is sleek and spacious and not stuffy (unlike some competitors in the same price point.)
I was wowed by timely and attentive service. We were quickly greeted by a waitress. Within minutes the first course of our three course tasting menu was presented in unison by three servers. Same thing happened for the mains and dessert. Other service niceties included a unique bread basket of corn bread & biscuits with honey butter, a small amuse bouche of octopus salad between apps and entrees, a little plate of house made chocolates and strawberry marshmallows after dessert, and a bagged muffin for breakfast the next day. Just those little extras make it worth finding Compass.
Onto the food. The $35 price fixe menu is available all year. The menu changes seasonally.
We started with the marinated tomato salad with red and yellow tomatoes, goat cheese, petite herb salad, and raspberry vinaigrette.
The chilled sweet corn soup was a pureed soup. The waiter poured it table side. The smooth soup was enhanced by the small amount of Pickled Watermelon and confit shrimp.
We were off to a great start…. Our table tried all three entrees on the summer tasting menu.
- Roasted Hanger Steak with Creamy Polenta, Tomato Red Swiss Chard Gratin, Cipollini Onion, Red Wine Sauce.
- Bo-Bo Farms Organic Chicken with California Carrots, Sugar Snap Peas, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Lemon Grass Chicken Jus
- Atlantic Salmon with Israeli Couscous, English Peas, Squash, Mascarpone Cheese, Serrano Ham.
Though the entrees featured hearty portions and desirable ingredients, we were less impressed by the dishes than the appetizers, desserts and service. It wasn’t that there weren’t well prepared… It wasn’t that they weren’t cooked to order…. they were just much less memorable.
Dessert were two appealing All American choices. The Cheesecake Parfait with Strawberry Salad, Graham Cracker Crumble was light airy and refreshing. The chocolate mousse was elegant and rich Caramel Popcorn and “Popcorn Sherbet” were creative accouterments.
Rating:
Food – 7/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 9/10
Category:
Food Type – American
Style – Casual
Price – Reasonable
Address/ phone: 208 West 70th Street (Amsterdam & West End Ave.), 212-875-8600
Frozen Yogurt, Ice Cream, Ices – The Treats of Summer
The frozen dessert landscape has changed remarkably in recent years. While I am happy to welcome many creative new additions to the marketplace, I also enjoy the time tested traditional ice cream and other frozen treats like lemon ice. Here is my guide to frozen treats.
Frozen Yogurt
Over the last three years we have seen the proliferation of expensive “premium” frozen yogurt in NYC… it started with Pinkberry, then came Red Mango. Even though Pinkberry arrived to NYC first, it is well documented that Red Mango started before Pinkberry.
From there, copy cat after copy cat. The funniest one I noticed a couple of years ago was Red Cherry, which has since gone out of business. Red Cherry doesn’t make sense. Red Mango works because mangoes are not red. Pink Berry, the same thing, there is a chance that a pinkberry exists, but you are more likely to come across a blueberry or a blackberry. There are plenty of red cherries…
Another relatively prominent expensive yogurt place is BerryWild.
Maybe some of you will disagree, but for me there’s very little difference between the three… I feel the yogurt all tastes relatively the same. All charge about the same and have similar topping offerings.
The Pinkberries of the world have almost totally displaced an old NYC favorite, TastiDelight. I never really enjoyed Tasti-D. While we used to order Tasti-D, the premium price for a styrofoam cup of this stuff always bothered me more than paying a premium Pinkberry or Red Mango that at least come with fresh fruit toppings.
Another frozen yogurt category is “weigh and pay.” We have these places that bank on the human instinct to not be able to control themselves. There’s 16 Handles and Phileo Yogurt (by way of Philadelphia, could you tell?), which my friend calls “yogurt land.” Both offer lots of machines featuring tart and not tart flavors. They let visitors take what they want, top it with healthy toppings or candy, weigh it, pay (enough to buy gallons of yogurt from the grocery store), then enjoy.
Recently I went to Jersey and visited Bischoff’s. Since 1934, Bischoff’s has been serving up ice cream sundaes in the same way. My family has been going to Bischoff’s for three generations. My dad, who grew up in Teaneck, used to take dates there in High School.
While I enjoy fro yo as a grab and go treat in the city or the mall, it is nice to sit down and have real ice cream. We asked and they don’t even have frozen yogurt at Bischoff’s! Take a look at these two sundaes that cost a total of $16! There were four of us and we couldn’t finish either one of them.
A City Ice Cream Favorite – Mister Softee
Summer is here and you know what that means….we will see Mister Softee on every other block in the city. According to the Mister Softee website, Mister Softee is the largest franchiser of soft ice cream trucks in the United States. Mister Softee is light soft serve ice cream – creamy with lots of air. Lots of creative ways to enjoy, including the double cone. Don’t forget to dip your cone in chocolate, strawberry, etc. Check out some Mister and Ms. Softee Profiles on Midtown Lunch.
On the topic of Mister Softee, please keep in mind that not all Mister Softee trucks are created equally. If you are in the mood for Mister Softee, please look at the truck carefully. If it doesn’t specifically say Mister Softee, it isn’t (meaning, they buy cheaper, less enjoyable product and try and sell it for the same price). Check out this 2008 article on Mister Softee Knockoffs.
Real Mister Softee
Clearly not Mister Softee!
If I find some better examples of fake Mister Softee trucks, I will update. There are plenty out there, believe me.
Lemon Ice (and other flavors)
There is only one King and he’s from Queens.
I have been enjoying the Lemon Ice King of Corona my entire life but the establishment has been around for twice as long as me (over 60 years). Read my full review.
La NewYorkina Modern Mexican Ice Pops
It was a hot day, I was thirsty and in the mood for something sweet. I had enough Mister softee and fancy frozen yogurt for the week. I walked into the Hester Street Fair, and the answer was looking at me. La NewYorkina “modern mexican ice pops.” Such a simple and refreshing idea.
I asked what the most popular flavor was, and Fanny, one of the propieters, served me Mango con Chile (Spicy Mango). The $4 pop was filled with large mango chunks. The chili made for an occasional bursts of spice. If the pop isn’t spicy enough for your taste, Fany offers seasoning to sprinkle (like you would pepper flakes on a pizza).
Other flavors include:
- Fresa-Strawberry
- Tamarindo Fresco- Fresh Tamarind
- Horchata- Cinnamon Rice Milk
- Jamaica- Hibiscus
- Pina con Menta- Pineapple Mint
- Nuez- Pecan
Fanny explained that she makes the pops after hours in a local wholesale bakery after 7pm during the week. It is a simple process from the cutting of the fruit, to the freezing. literally what you see is what you get. Check out these Facebook pics of the process.
At this point, they are getting ready for the Hester Street Fair each week. I see no reason why this concept can’t go bigger with a food truck or even a well positioned storefront.
Find La Newyorkina at the Hester Street Fair, every Saturday and Sunday,
10am to 6pm.
In Summary…
There is a right place and a right time for frozen treats and we certainly have a lot of options in the NYC Metro area… Enjoy! Please comment below on any of your favorites that I missed.
New York City Street Fair Food Guide
It’s that time of the year. Last weekend as I walked my way through NYC, I stumbled across three New York City street fairs.
This guide will go through NYC street fair food options. I will divide street fair food into three categories.
- Food I look forward to eating at each fair
- Food I never consider eating because I am scared of unintended consequences (i.e indigestion, a lost tooth)
- Pleasant surprises
Hopefully this guide will help locals and tourists alike to navigate NYC street fair food options.
Food I look forward to eating at each fair
I will pick up some pickles if, for some reason, I have no pickles in my fridge.
Kettle corn: I most likely won’t buy this, I have plenty of equally enjoyable Orville Redenbacher at home, but I will try a free sample.
Sticking with corn, how can you go wrong with fresh corn? I like how most use the grill to char the corn.
Another corn product is the sweet corn arepa. How can you go wrong with melted mozzarella and sweet corn?
Food I never consider eating because I am scared of unintended consequences
This may be controversial but I never want a candy apple during the summer. Candy Apples are a Fall food for me. I am also afraid that I will lose a tooth when I bite into the hard shell.
Dirty hands making falafel balls and frying in oil on a dirty street, no thanks. The same applies to Zeppoles. I will sometimes try a spinach pie though.
Fear of indigestion, continued…
No desire to have one of those smoothies. How could they possibly wash all that fruit with no running water? They also use the same dirty blenders all day! If you do happen to be by a fair when it’s closing they may sell bananas and other unused fruit for next to nothing. That I will go for!
I may have a crepe or two in Paris, but not on a NYC street…
Pleasant surprises
I would try a lobster roll at lunch time!
As the summer goes by, I will add some pictures of some of the pleasant surprise food options that I come across.
Street Fair Calendars:
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
You can smell bar-b-que from blocks away. When you enter the Dinosaur, the unique decor has you looking up, down, left and right. The unique decor even makes it’s way to the bathroom… You can’t help but be curious how and why the walls got to be the way they are (must be a Dinosaur tradition- the bathroom walls look this way in Syracuse as well). Simply stated, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que has character.
Ok, enough bathroom talk.. I don’t stray much when I go to Dinosaur. I always start with an Ape Hanger Ale, an upstate NY brew made especially for Dinosaur.
Next, SWAG DRUNKEN SPICY SHRIMP BOIL PLATE - Peel & Eat shrimp cooked in a raging boil of beer, old bay, cayenne, herbs & spices. Served cold with Habanero Cocktail sauce. Strange that they had ranch on the plate last time. The waitress brought the cocktail sauce soon thereafter.
For dinner, sometimes a sampler, the rest of the time Tres Hombres (it depends how much chicken I had the during the week). Tres Hombres is a spirited serving of Bar-B-Que pork, Texas Beef Brisket (sliced) & Bar-B-Que ribs….($18.95). There is something about those baked beans– I think it’s horseradish- they are my favorite. I also enjoy the cole slaw. I have tried lots of BBQ meats and sauces throughout the city, and I always hold everything up to the Dinosaur as the gold standard.
Always end with a creamy key lime pie.
Don’t forget to stock up on sauces before you go. Or, you can just buy online. It is clear that the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que franchise works, as I can now even find their products in the local grocery stores in NJ.
Rating:
Food – 9/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – BBQ
Style – Casual
Price – Reasonable
Wanna go?
Address/phone : 646 W 131st St., 212-694-1777
website/menu: dinosaurbarbque.com/nycIndex.php
OpenTable: opentable.com/dinosaur-bar-b-que
Calle Ocho
Calle Ocho is a large street festival in Miami and an Upper West Side Latin-American Restaurant. I will be reviewing the UWS restaurant.
This expansive space pulls off being able to attract a bar crowd up front and a dining crowd in back with their unique layout. Their Latin American menu includes lots of ceviche, steak, beans, etc. I enjoyed the experience but every time I pay over $20 per entrée for Latin Food I think about all the high quality options that are “cooked with love” in Harlem and the outer boroughs.
Price aside, the food was good. I had the charcoal braised pork shank served over a polenta like tamal en casuela with fresh mushrooms. The mushrooms weren’t cream based but tasted just like Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup (I mean that in the most flattering way possible). The portion was generous, the meat came right off the bone. I appreciated how everything mixed together in a soupy way. It also made for really good leftovers. I would even venture to say I enjoyed the dish more the second day!
I have had better sangria. It was a little sweet for my taste. I enjoyed
the calle ocho amber after I gave up on the sangria.
Rating:
Food – 8/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – Latin
Style – Casual
Price – Expensive
Wanna go?
Address/phone –
446 Columbus Avenue, 10024, 212-873-5025
website- calleochonyc.com/
menus – menupages.com/restaurants/calle-ocho
Open Table- opentable.com/calle-ocho