Kibo
Located in the old Japanais space near Union Square, Kibo is a BR guest Restaurant, and benefits from the well oiled BR guest machine to ensure quality food, great ambiance and extremely efficient and courteous service.
While I am sure they spent a lot of money on renovations to the restaurant space, to the my untrained eye, the entrance and the dining room looked unchanged from the Japonais days, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as the space is impressive design wise with a long dining room, ample bar area and tall ceilings. One change worth highlighting is the addition of a new Robata grill, which cooks meats and fish at 1,000 degrees to result in the perfect sear on the outside and juiciness on the inside… More on that later…
The first thing to impress me about the restaurant was the efficient service. Our waitress, Amy W., was just so nice and so knowledgeable about the concept, the menu items, and other interesting details. She was supported by a team that was always coming to clean up the table, pour water (which appeared to be bottled water of some type, at no extra charge) and make sure everything was going smoothly.
We started with drinks, after all, this was a night out to celebrate my four year anniversary of marriage to my beautiful wife!! I have been in NYC for years and have gotten used to the $16 cocktail. When I saw that my wife’s, Kibo San, the restaurant’s signature cocktail featuring Vodka, Pama, Lychee, Egg White Froth, was $10, I thought “this is a bargain.” This statement only applies in NYC, I guess. She enjoyed the light, flavorful (and inexpensive) cocktail. I enjoyed a Six point Bengali Tiger IPA. Looks good, doesn’t it?
Now, for the food… We started with the Japanese Caesar Salad with sesame dressing. For $9 the salad was a generous portion of romaine lettuce with french bread croutons, Parmesan, walnuts, and as a pleasant surprise, slices of apples. Perfect start to the meal with some great liberties taken to adapt/modernize this traditional salad.
Because we had to try the Robata grill, next came prawns. Prepared on a skewer, the portion was three large prawns. The kimchi sauce added some impact, but the highlight was the impact of Robata grill, which as described, perfectly seared the prawns on the outside and cooked it just the right amount to maintain juiciness. The prawns were a highlight – they looked so good when they came out that I forgot to take a picture (and I rarely forget)!
Next, we each had a sushi roll. My wife, California, and I had the Rainbow - tuna, hamachi, fluke, salmon, and tobiko. These rolls were both compact in size but not in flavor. The fish was fresh and the tobiko and strong wasabi made my roll really pop. I got the impression that these rolls resembled the sushi from the other BR guest restaurants ( in a good way).
For an entree, we shared the Skirt Steak with mushroom, shishito, and shallots. It was juicy and flavorful. It went perfectly with the Chicken Soboro (fried rice, but not in the way the habachi/Chinese take out prepares it).
To complete the sampling of creative Japanese delights, our waitress brought over a slice of their soon to be famous 20 layer chocolate cake. It is worth coming to Kibo just to try this dessert. I didn’t count the layers – if you would like to, the slice is pictured below. This was a special chocolate desert from a taste perspective and a flavor perspective . It was topped with homemade green tea ice cream.
If that wasn’t enough, she also brought us two classes of champagne to toast our Anniversary.
Kibo was a perfect place to celebrate a special evening for two. From looking around, it also appeared to be a great place for large groups – lots of 20/30 somethings seemed to file in around 9pm on Saturday night, which is good, because in addition to great food, the restaurant is playing up the fact that they have a DJ and lots of bar space.
When all was said and done, our meal came to $109. In terms of what we had (even without the comped dessert and drink) it was a relative bargain in the NYC dining space.
All the best to Kibo.
Rating:
Food – 8/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 9/10
Category:
Food Type – Japanese
Style – Casual
Price – Moderate
111 East 18th St at Park Ave South
New York, NY 10003
P: 212 824 2770
E: info@kibonyc.com
My Maki Sushi – Closed
11/2011 – Sorry to see My Maki has closed.
My Maki is the Chipolte or Subway of sushi. Located near Grand Central, it is in a good location for the business and on-the-go crowd. I stopped in for an after work snack, but would go to My Maki for lunch if I worked near Grand Central.
Here’s how it works:
- Pick the wrap – 10-piece roll wrapped in traditional Japanese Nori ($5.90) or 10-piece roll wrapped in neutral flavored wrap made of soybean ($6.90).
- Pick what’s inside – large selection of the common ingredients such as tuna, eel, and a few uncommon ones like crawfish. Price range is $1.50 to $2.95.
- Pick extras – All the stuff you’d expect like Avocado, Cucumber, etc. and a few different ones like Doritos and thai basil. (First two are free, additional are 75 cents).
- Pick an external topping like masago, sesame seeds or spicy bread crumbs.
- Finally, pick from one of their freshly prepared sauces including spicy mayo, edamame jalapeno, karashi mustard, citrus ponzu, thai chili sea and sweet unagi (eel) (75 cents)
The roll I had was tuna, shatakes, carrot, and avocado wrapped in nori and topped with masago.
The food was fresh and I got exactly what I wanted in a quick period of time. Though the concept is fairly innovative, from an ingredient perspective I would like to see a larger variety of more unique ingrdients. I also would like to see some more luxurious options.
All in all, I paid $12 for a large tuna roll, which I could have gotten on seamlessweb from 121 Midori Sushi (formerly Kiku Sushi 3). For those of you who don’t know me, that was a joke. I frequently make fun of the infultration of low quality sushi in the neighborhood. In addition to a lackluster selection in the Murray Hill Neighborhood, sushi places tend to result to shady tactics to attract customers on Seamlessweb.
My Maki addresses exactly what’s wrong with the NYC sushi scene. According to their press release, “My Maki was created after the founders discovered that it was nearly impossible for an on-the-go customer to get a high-quality sushi lunch quickly in Manhattan. Typically customers are faced with two unappealing options at opposite ends of the sushi spectrum: Traditional full-service sushi restaurants where average order preparation times are fifteen to twenty minutes, the environments are dull and uninviting, and prices are high; and deli sushi where a very limited assortment of pre-packaged rolls made with hard, tasteless rice and questionable fish sit for hours in a refrigerated case. (My Maki Press Release)”
I see no reason why this restaurant won’t thrive, after all, how could all the crappy, undifferentiated places survive in this market? Here are a few ideas to position My Maki for success.
- Get people to undersatand what it is and how it works - The key is to get people to understand the concept and give it a try. Spend more money with a talented graphic artist to design signs to walk people through the process.
- Help people find the place – Though the location is centrally located near Grand Central, it can be easily missed. The only reason I saw was I choose to walk on 43rd when I leave GCT.
- Innovative target marketing - Take a lesson from Vic’s Bagel Bar, who is doing innovative things like serving liquor at night while offering a crowd of recent college grads beer pong.
- Ingredient Management - Learn what’s selling and what’s not and take off low performers and don’t be afraid to introduce more innovative ingredients/specials.
- Give people a reason to come in for dinner (or to bring sushi home) possibly for a discounted price.
- Offer brown rice.
Rating:
Food – 7/10
Ambiance – 7/10
Service – 9/10
Category:
Food Type – Sushi
Style – Casual
Price – Moderate
212-682-2795
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
Donatella
We went to Donatella to see and taste pizza from their famous oven. The oven is the centerpiece of the restaurant. It was constructed piece by piece with materials shipped from Italy (890 pieces including dozens of volcanic-soil mud bricks and bags of Neapolitan sand and cement). The flashy gold tiles on the outside are purely for aesthetics. The wood burning oven gets hot, 700 degrees to be exact, to “create a pizza that is both soft in the middle and crispy on the ends, in the authentic Neapolitan tradition (Donatella Menu).”
We opted to do a family style meal so we could try the many specialty items on the menu.
We started the meal with bruchetta with sea salt. At $4, it is the best deal on the menu. Esentially, it is a pizza without the cheese and sauce. It was a prime example of how the oven works. It came out right away because it was cooked in less than a minute in the oven. I loved the crispy, burnt parts, which were a perfect complement to the soft parts. We almost ordered another.
The salad, mesculin with candied walnuts was composed organic mixed greens, pecorino, and this really tangy lemon dressing. It was served on a cold plate, which a nice touch. The menu said the greens were from Blooming Hill Farm, so I looked up why Blooming Hill farm is special. Blooming Hill Farm is in Blooming Grove, NY. It Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm. “CSA members make a commitment to support the farm by purchasing a share, and the farmer, through their support, plans his growing season based on the resources from the local community(http://www.bloominghillfarm.com/csa.php ).” There’s a long list of restaurants that support the farm and its products. http://www.bloominghillfarm.com/customers.php. Ok, enough about the lettuce.
Other entrées we enjoyed included the MARGHERITA pizza with san marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, pecorino, basil. The sauce was sweet. While it was a good pizza, all the ingredients made the middle soggy. Try the bruchetta to get a true appreciation for the oven/pizza crust.
The roast of the day was a large pork chop on top of creamy polenta with a rich mushroom sauce. It was juicy.
Another highlight was the PACCHERI ALLA GENOVESE with braised beef & sweet onion sugo, parmigiano reggiano. The fresh Paccheri (or Oversized Rigatoni) were cooked al dente. The sauce was sweet and rich. Excellent dish.
All in all, everything came together, for a lovely meal. We arrived at 8 pm for a relatively quiet start to the meal. By the time we left at 9 pm, the crowd picked up significantly. The crowd was young. Lots of big groups. A perfect place to start out a night out with friends.
Rating:
Food – 8/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – Italian
Style – Casual
Price – Moderate
Wanna go?
Address/phone –
184 8th Ave.
NEW YORK, NY 10011
BTN 19th & 20th
PH: 212.493.5150
Web – http://donatellanyc.com/
Plein Sud NYC
Plein Sud is a French brasserie located inside the Smyth Hotel in Tribeca. The Chef is Ed Cotton, who was runner up in Season 7 of Top Chef (Washington DC). We went for an enjoyable brunch with friends and their 10 month old. Judging from the four strollers lined up in the entrance and the well behaved kids all over the restaurant, this is a popular destination for parents with little ones.
I ordered their extremely fresh Nicoise salad. I appreciated the fresh, non-fishy tuna, flavorful sardines, the crispy green beans, the fresh bib lettuce (which reminded me of lettuce I had in Hawaii on my honeymoon) the pealed grape tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, raddish for color, scallions, and a light vinagarette. The salad was a winner and I would come back and order it again.
Others at the table enjoyed scrambled eggs, buttermilk pancakes with fresh blueberries, and eggs Norwegian, toasted english muffins / smoked salmon / 2 poached eggs with sauce hollandaise.
I understand that this is a hotel restautant and for this reason they have to charge $14 for the bread basket with croissants, muffins, etc. Had it been provided on the table with compliments of the house (as they do at B R Guest restaurants), it would have been a nice touch.
I am intrigued by this place and would like to go back for dinner one of these days.
Rating:
Food – 8/10
Ambiance – 9/10
Service – 8/10
Category:
Food Type – French
Style – Casual
Price – Moderate
Wanna go?
Address/phone –85 West Broadway, 1(212)204-5555
Web – pleinsudnyc.com
Riverpark: A Tom Colicchio Restaurant
Exquisite, expertly prepared food, friendly and efficient service… Tom Collicio’s Riverpark didn’t disappoint food wise and service wise. But, my reviews are rarely just about the food…The other elements I will prominently describe in this review may be the difference between success and failure of Riverpark (if not reconciled soon).
Before we get into the meal, let’s talk about the location and layout of the restaurant….The only problem with the whole experience was “flow:”
- The flow to get the the restaurant within the strange off-the-street office area near a shelter off first ave. It was a dark city block that’s in the process of being developed. While Riverpark will do well with the captive audience in the office park during the day, the restaurant is really out of the way for nights and weekend casual diners.
- The flow to get into the restaurant from the dark office’s lobby with small temporary lights on the floor to ensure you don’t go someplace you aren’t supposed to. It was down right confusing to get to the bathroom, which was quite a hike from my table in the restaurant.
- Most notably, the flow of the strange layout within the restaurant just didn’t make sense to me. The waiter explained that the restaurant has two menus, the main dining room and the cafe, however, when you ask for a waterfront window seat, arguably a more appealing seat than the small platform behind a bar that blocks the view, you are in the cafe. You can have both menus throughout the restaurant. All the bar seats have their backs facing the large windows with water views. One may argue that while it was nice to have water views, there’s really no view to really speak of, no bridges, no Pepsi sign, pretty much nothing.
In a city of many equally good food options, flow (or lack thereof) can be the difference between success and failure of Riverpark.
I can’t be as critical of the food. It was good… especially the appetizers. A highlight was the Mushroom Consommé with roasted mushrooms, frisée, pecorino crouton. The bowl came to the table with a significant crouton with micro greens, and three types of mushrooms in the middle. The waiter then poured an insignificant amount of delectable, light and delicate mushroom broth. The amount was too small to get to get more than a couple small spoonfulls. Double or triple the broth supplied would have made the dish even better.
The cavatell with smoked lamb, sheep’s milk ricotta, mint, horseradish was wonderful. The pulled lamb mixed perfectly with the punchy bits of mint. The sauce’s consistency was light and the perfect bind for the pasta. It was a generous portion.
For my entree, I opted for the healthier steamed branzino with cauliflower, leeks, almonds, and anchovy. The dish consisted of two nicely sized fillets wrapped in leek. In the middle was a very flavorful red pepper tapenade. On the side was a small amount of over salted cauliflower and almond mix. If I were to go back, there are many food options I would consider including the chicken for two, the ribeye for two and the pork.
For dessert, the chocolate tart with salted caramel and chocolate sherbert was delicate and coarse at the same time, the perfect mix of salty and sweet.
A significant investment was made in Riverpark. I am confident that the restaurant will evolve over time, especially when the office park is fully developed..
Rating:
Food – 9/10
Ambiance – 7/10
Service – 9/10
Category:
Food Type – American (new)
Style – Trendy
Price – Moderate
Wanna go?
Address/phone – 450 E 29th St (At 1st Ave), (212) 729-9790
web - riverparknyc.com
menu - menupages.com/restaurants/riverpark/menu
Open Table - opentable.com/riverpark
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
Rye House
I spend a lot of time in Rye (train station I go to each day for work), so when I had the opportunity to go to the Rye House in NYC on a Friday night, I figured why not keep living the work week…(bleh).
Rye House does a good job attracting a bar crowd and a dinner crowd. I also hear they do a great brunch. We had dinner.
We shared several apps. The onion tart included cream sherry, goat cheese, arugula, pickled shallots. Best part of the dish was the onions. We figured the spring onion soup – sourdough crouton, provolone - would use the same onions, so we ordered after we finished the tart. In addition to the excellent onions, we especially liked the chicken stock base. I would have liked more flavorful cheese that was cooked a little more. Nothing like charred cheese on the bowl.
Henry Fudge—a farmer, businessman and preacher—is the driving force behind Fudge Family Farms.image: fudgepork.com
When I asked the waitress what to order, she responded, “The pork…” I stopped her before she completed her thought because the pork chop was what stood out to me on the menu. The “Fudge Farm Pork Chop” was accompanied by broccolini, mashed yukon golds and garlic butter. I loved how the pork was char grilled . It was very juicy. When I took my first bite, it tasted as if I were eating porterhouse steak.
I would be “fudging” if I were to say I understood the significance of Fudge Farms when I ordered. My internet research on Fudge Farms reveals that several other popular restaurants like Tipsy Parton serve Fudge Farms Pork. Henry Fudge was a visionary in the world of pork. In the 60′s, when everyone was saying that leaner pigs are best, he went the other way. Fudge said “an ideal hog is like a pro football lineman—big, rugged and wide in every direction (fudgepork.com).” His Pork tastes betters because he raises his hogs outside (who knew most are raised inside these days?). He also did a significant amount of research into his breed of hogs, Durocs. According to fudgepork.com, “Durocs are considered the breed with the best meat quality and the pork contains more marbling and fat than most of the breeds currently raised for market.”
Ok, enough about Pork. Rye House also have a great burger on the menu. And don’t forget about the long list of mico brews and specialty cocktails.
Sorry about no photos, It was quite dark in the dining room.
Rating:
Food – 7/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 8/10
Category:
Food Type – American
Style – Casual
Price – Reasonable
Address/ phone: 11 W 17th St (Btwn 5th & 6th Ave), 212-255-7260
Web – ryehousenyc.com
Menu: menupages.com/restaurants/rye-house/menu
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.
Boi to Go
Update 9/8/2010 : There’s a for rent side on the window of Boi to go – told you so!
Boi oh boy… I am not sure what to say about Boi, but at this point I am confident it won’t be good.
Now I am not an expert on Vietnamese food, but I can’t imagine going to Vietnam and getting something that resembled what I just ate at Boi to Go.
Step 1 – Select one base – rice, noodles, burrito, salad or wrap. I picked Jasmine rice. My first wrong choice. They said rice noodles would have been lighter… looking back having one “light” element to the dish would have be nice.
Step 2- Select a meat. I picked curried chicken meat balls with honey-hoisin. Second wrong choice.
Step 3- Add lots of seemingly unrelated items to the top. I am talking corn, peanut, cabbage, lettuce, etc.
Step 4- Top it all off with an overpowering sauce. I picked peanut, but all I could taste was the hoison from the meatballs (they may have given me the wrong sauce).
The plate was overwhelming to look at, overwhelming to attempt to eat, and as I sit to write this review, my stomach feels quite overwhelmed as well.
To top it off, this bowl was not cheap $11 with drink). It might be due to the fact that they are paying the salaries of literally 6 people behind the counter with about 3 customers while I was there. Also, the expensive midtown location is in a very intimidating building (the one with 24 hr police presence and concrete barricades on 42 street and 2nd).
Rating:
Food – 5/10
Ambiance – 5/10
Service – 6/10
Category:
Food Type – Vietnamese
Style – Casual
Price – Moderate
Address/ phone: 800 2nd Ave (Btwn 42nd & 43rd St), 212- 681-1122
menu: menupages.com/restaurants/boi-to-go/menu