The Smith
The Smith is absolutely brilliant for expanding to Midtown East, in an area where real estate values are down due to a mid-2000 crane crash. The restaurant attracts an older crowd than the the original location’s largely NYU student crowd. The crowd was bustling with a reminded me of my Syracuse University days.. it was like a fashion show of the latest expensive jeans and expensive strollers. True, I have both expensive jeans and my son’s iCandy (expensive) stroller is better than all those fancy Bugaboos I saw today, but that’s besides the point.
Anyway, we had a reservation but weren’t seated for 20 mins after our res time. With a kid who has scheduled feeding times, it is harder to wait even 20 mins than my pre-baby days. When we were seated, service was really fast, almost rushed. The the food quality was noticeably lower than what I remembered from the Union Sq location back in the day. I used to go all the time – check out my positive review below. The pricing also is now really inflated for the portions/food quality.
My cousin had a ranchero scramble, which was $16. It included chipotle salsa, black beans, tortillas, cheddar, avocado. It looked and tasted so plain. Though the menu says, ”WE SUPPORT LOCAL, NATURAL, SUSTAINABLE & ORGANIC PRACTICES WHENEVER POSSIBLE,” it appeared to not be possible for this dish. The dish looked like supermarket tortillas, runny eggs, Goya beans and avocado, stacked, but not stacked in a tasty looking way, it didn’t blend like some of the rancheros I’ve had in my day. The only way my cousin was able to get some satisfaction from the dish was to pile on the house made hot sauce, which he said was quite good. It came with a free bloody mary, bellini, blood orange mimosa, passion punch or fresh squeezed juice. I sipped the mimosa and it tasted like Andre Champagne and Tropicana. My $18 shrimp salad with avocado, fennel, oranges, grilled onions, frisée, watercress, basil viniagrette could be called refreshing, but I felt the shrimp portion was slightly skimpy and they cut the shrimp in half to make it appear like I was getting more for my money. Also, after I was finished, I felt like I needed to go out for lunch.
If you want a brunch in NYC with a legitimate free cocktail and an amazing bread basket, stick with Primehouse.
With all the above said, the Smith will thrive because it is a scene. They can continue doing what they are doing and the crowds will continue to pour in!
The Smith Midtown - 956 Second Avenue NYC (at the corner of 51st).
***
The Smith has a great variety of food at reasonable prices (even with the recent noticeable price increases on the most popular items). It is a cool setting. Lots of NYUers frequent The Smith. With each time I go, I always say I am not going to rush back but then end up back soon thereafter. It’s a good place for a casual meal with friends.
Start with two bottles or water – flat in the clear bottle, sparking in green. Free premium water is a nice touch. They also give fresh French bread wrapped in white paper.
The Smith constantly delivers a better mac and cheese than others I have had. Love the presentation in a cast iron pan. It is always piping hot, crispy on top and the variety of cheeses makes it really flavorful.
Entrees are hit or miss. My friend recently said of the roasted cod with curried cauliflower, toasted almonds, red pepper romesco ($21). “The cod is bland but when you mix it with the shit below, it makes it better.”
I have always enjoyed the vegetable “bibimbap” – sushi rice, shiitake, spinach, edamame, sunny up egg ($16). My other friend said “it’s the best bibimbap I’ve had outside a Korean Restaurant.”
I’ve also been told the charbroiled chicken with smashed potato and roasted garlic is good.
Don’t forget about the $6 draft beers and inexpensive carafes of wine.
Also, top the night off with a $5 sundae for dessert. Make it special with the birthday sundae and they’ll put in a candle even if it isn’t your birthday.
Rating:
Food – 7/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – American
Style – Casual
Price – Reasonable
Wanna go?
Address/phone – 55 3rd Avenue, 212-420-9800
website -ctrnyc.com/THESMITH
menu - ctrnyc.com/THESMITH/thesmithwebsite/menus.html
OpenTable – opentable.com/the-smith
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/
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
Il Buco
Il Buco is ”First class farm-to-table Italian in a rustic setting.” You can walk one block down the street to Gemma and enjoy Italian in a similar setting. The difference between Il Buco and Gemma is authenticity. Smaller Il Buco started from the ground up and has a history to back up its rustic look and feel. Gemma, much like the connected Bowery Hotel, appears to be constructed to look authentic, much like the Italian restaurants in a newly constructed hotel in Las Vegas. You may get good food at the significantly larger Gemma, but for me, there is something more authentic about Il Buco which is what dining is all about in NYC.
With a little digging on the internet, my appreciation of Il Buco and what the owners achieved increased. Upon entering the dining room, you are immediately transformed from the big city to an intimate dining room with clever lighting fixtures, brass pots, butcher block tables, and fresh flowers. In a city where restaurants come and go, Il Buco has withstood the test of time. Founded in 1994, Il Buco didn’t start as a restaurant…it evolved into a restaurant from an antique shop! This explains the charming rustic decor. Here is an interesting passage on Il Buco’s history from ilbuco.com:
“It was a modern day trading post dedicated to the exchange of crafts and culture between the Old World and the New. Shoppers would often join them for their midday “pranzo” prepared in their tiny back kitchen. Soon they transformed the rustic antique store into a charming enoteca with an eclectic menu – part Italian, part Spanish, part invention, dedicated to local ingredients with a wine list made up of small boutique producers.”
As I write the review the morning after dining, knowing this story makes me appreciate the menu and the dining experience even more. Il Buco was farm to table before the term was coined. Enough history… now to the food!
The menu had four pastas and four main course items. As you may have expected, the menu changes nightly based on what the chef gets from the farm that day. Upon first glance at the menu, I was convinced of my entrée. The Spanish mackerel with golden beets blood oranges segments, green olives, accompanied by a slice of lemon and a dollop of sour cream. The fish, which would be used for sushi more often if it were bigger, was simply prepared with just the right amount of light seasoning, maybe just salt and pepper. I loved how the salty fish and olives combined with the sweet beets and blood oranges to achieve that always appealing and ever popular “salty and sweet” juxtaposition. As someone who’s on a diet these days, I appreciated this healthy option. The rest of the table ordered and enjoyed creative and freshly prepared mushroom risotto, rigatoni with a chicken ragu, gnocci and chicken.
Top the food off with with an attentive servers who provide thoughtful recommendations and an excellent wine list, featuring small batches from unique purveyors and we have a winner. I highly recommend Il Buco.
Rating:
Food – 9/10
Ambiance – 10/10
Service – 9/10
Category:
Food Type – Italian
Style – Cozy
Price – Expensive
Wanna go?
Address/phone –47 Bond Street (between Lafayette & Bowery)
Web – http://ilbuco.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
AquaGrill Oyster Bar
It started well and ended well, but I could leave the middle behind.
Upon walking in, you could tell that AquaGrill takes their oysters seriously. Take a look at this display!
We knew we had to order oysters, but I will admit we don’t know the first things about oysters. So, we had the waitress pick out 6 varieties. The oyster variety, the freshness, the temperature, the sweet cocktail sauce with fresh horseradish. All excellent.
Here’s the list of what we had.
After the oysters, the wairess brought over this amuse bouche of salmon on fresh potato chips. Because one of the people in our party couldn’t eat fish, she brought a plate of the chips, which was a nice touch. Despite the nice gesture, we would have been better off without this part of the meal. The salmon was a little runny and was overpowered by the chips.
Service was attentive for the most part and had all the niceties of a fancy restaurant… like constantly filed water glass and the folding of napkins of guests who leave the table. The only problem was long period we waited for our meal. Two at our table ordered stakes (one of two non-seafood items on the menu). The sirloin came out overcooked. Upon looking at the steaks, the manager immediately removed both steaks off our bill, gave us the option got get something else and and gave us a free dessert. I was impressed, how well the manager handled the situation.
I must say, The Seared Diver Sea Scallops with Dungeness Crabmeat Risotto and Sugar Snap Peas in a Tomato Shellfish, was a well prepared, excellent dish. The scallops were cooked medium rare as recommended by the chef. The very rich sauce and risotto, which was a clear departure from my diet, was worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed.
Though I enjoyed the entree, if I were to go back to Aqua Grill, I wouldn’t come back to order an entrée. I would have my oysters then order dessert (another slight diet departure). The Aquagrill “Saturday Night Soufflé” was executed perfectly, piping hot, rich and airy. The warm apple tart was just right, crispy and tart and also piping hot. The Coconut Panna Cotta with Mango, Pineapple and Papaya and Passion Fruit Sauce was really refreshing. The coffee was strong and piping hot, just how I like it. They also gave us a plate of assorted cookies and chocolates, which was a nice touch.
Rating:
Food – 8/10
Ambiance – 8/10
Service – 8/10
Category:
Food Type – Seafood
Style – Casual (a comfortable nice meal out)
Price – Expensive
Wanna go?
Address/phone – 210 Spring Street (corner of 6th Avenue), 212-274-0505
web – aquagrill.com
Karczma Polish Restaurant
Greenpoint is 10 minute drive from Midtown, but a walk down the streets reveals a different world. Often called “Little Poland,” the neighborhood has second largest concentration Polish in the United States after Chicago.
I had the pleasure of having dinner at Karczma Polish Restaurant. The restaurant prides it self on being “the best and inexpensive.” Karczma is full of character, with decorations that resemble an old Polish farmhouse with a wishing well, costumes on the wall, and other authentic decor. Service is friendly and all the young waitresses were wearing authentic polish dresses.
The food is as traditional as you can have. I am not a Polish food expert, but I have had my share of Polish staples. I started with White Borscht in Bread, for $3.50 the borscht came in a scooped out sour dough bread bowl. The soup tasted this tasted of bacon and potato. I enjoyed the saturated bread after I finished the soup.
For dinner, I had the “Plate Of Polish Specialties.” For $10.50, the entree included everything you could desire from a Polish menu, Pierogis, Potato Pancakes, Polish Kielbasa, Hunter’s Stew and Stuffed Cabbage. It was a nice combination of tastes and textures. sweet, sour, crispy and crunchy. The food came out piping hot… It was very filling… I took half home.
Wash it down with an inexpensive Polish beer served in an authentic mug.
If you are in the mood for something different (and filling), I highly recommend a quick trip to Greenpoint.
Rating:
Food – 7/10
Ambiance – 9/10
Service – 8/10
Category:
Food Type – Polish
Style – Casual
Price – Reasonable
Wanna go?
Address/phone – 136 Greenpoint Ave (between Franklin St & Manhattan Ave), (718) 349-1744
karczmabrooklyn.com
Le Relais de Venise
There was nothing like arriving in Paris and finding Le Relais de Venise. Our email recommendation from a friend of a friend said, “you can have anything you want at Le Relais de Venise as long as it is steak.”
I write this review after realizing that I could relive my France steak experience in NYC and several other locations around the world including London and Barcelona. The ONLY difference between NYC and France (the two restaurants I had the pleasure of trying thus far) was a larger, more modern and spacious NYC location. The food tasted the same, it was presented the same way by waitresses who dress the same and act the same, same wine and dessert… exactly the same!
Here’s the menu….
Within minutes of sitting, we were served our Green salad with walnuts. Crispy lettuce, tangy dressing – the perfect start to our meal.
After we finished the salad, like clockwork, steak and frites were presented on a small plate. The steak was prepared as ordered, it was butter soft but unlike like fillet mignon, it had more flavor and personality. In addition to the natural steak flavors, it is covered in a rich, but not too rich, “secret” green sauce. I wasn’t sure what the sauce was in France and I didn’t venture to ask because I didn’t understand the language. In NYC I asked the waitress what was in the secret sauce….she said, ” If I knew I would tell you.” She said lots of people ask, but they don’t tell her, so she couldn’t tell us. Trust me, it is good!! The frites are thin and crispy.
After we finished what would certainly be enough for a meal, then came serving two of steak frites. That’s the way they do it, so who am I to question why?
We washed it all down with 2005 Relais de Venise – Côtes de Bordeaux – $21.95 (full)/ $11.50 (half). Where can you get a bottle for this price?! Normally house wine isn’t so smooth and easy to drink.
For dessert, they have a full menu, but they steer you to the best items with bold red underlines. In Paris and in NYC, we had Le Vacherin du Relais, which included.
- row 1 – vanilla ice cream
- row 2- crunchy, yet chewy meringue crisp
- row 3 – hazelnut ice cream
- row 4 – another meringue crisp
- row 5 – whipped cread
- covered in rich and smooth chocolate syrup (I am not talking Hershey’s here).
Almost tall enough to fall, but not quite. It only fell when it was attacked by two forks.
After dessert. No check until you ask. Just sit back, enjoy your remaining wine, and talk. No pressure here.
Rating:
Food – 9/10
Ambiance – 9/10
Service – 9/10
Category:
Food Type – French
Style – Casual
Price – Reasonable
No reservations (but we were able to sit without a wait prime time on Saturday night)
Address/ phone: 590 Lexington Ave (Corner of 52nd street), 1 212-758-3989