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
Macelleria
Having experienced many Italian restaurants in NYC, I typically say most in NYC are either really good or really bad. Macelleria is somewhere in the middle.
We enjoyed a well executed Italian meal with efficient service in a festive environment. Macelleria is the perfect place for a celebration – the crowd is young and the energy is high. The restaurant is next to several trendy clubs/nightspots.
A few nitpick items stand out as separates Macelleria from some of the higher rated establishments.
We started with pasta. I had the wild boar pappardelle. The pasta was piping hot and cooked perfectly but I thought the wild boar sauce tasted and looked like standard chuck meat. The waiter said it was cooked for over three hours but I didn’t get the special “wild boar” taste I’m used to from ordering the dish at other places. We shared the Prime Dry Aged New York Strip Steak as well as the Branzino – both were well done. They were both very flavorful.
The sides were nothing to write home about… the spinach was a little bitter from my friend’s perspective. The roasted potatoes were crunchy and crispy but I could have used a few more on the plate.
Dessert was good, but they tried to play off standard “food service” ice cream as gelato.
Rating:
Food – 7/10
Ambiance – 7/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – Italian
Style – Casual
Price – Moderate (Meatpacking price inflation)
Wanna go?
Address/phone –
48 Gansevoort St | Btwn Greenwich & Washington St, 212-741-2555
website- macelleriarestaurant.com
menus – menupages.com/restaurants/macelleria
Open Table- opentable.com/macelleria
Luke’s Lobster
I had a taste of Maine in the East Village. The meal included small rolls, one lobster, one crab and one shrimp, two Empress claws, a Maine root beer, and some chips. Not bad for $20. I am by no means a lobster roll expert, but from my perspective, everything was executed really well. I really enjoyed that I was biting into big chunks of meat, without fillers and lots of mayo. The soft roll was lightly buttered and toasted. The special seasoning, which was lightly dusted on each roll added some pizazz to the taste. Service was fast and efficient and they do a good job making the you feel like you are in Maine in the 5×5 dining area. I had been meaning to go for a while now.. glad I made it.
Rating:
Food – 7/10
Ambiance – 7/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – Seafood
Style – Casual
Price – Moderate
Wanna go?
Address/phone – 93 E 7th St, New York, NY 10009, (212) 387-8487
Woo Chon
Best bibimbap north of 33rd Street. Every time I go I can count on a wide array of fresh banchan (small dishes of appetizers served before a Korean meal). Loved the rice cake, scallions, kimchee, spouts and seaweed today. They are generous with seconds. Hope they have fishcake next time. So much better than a stale bread basket.
Back to why I came, bibimbap…the seafood gobdol (hot stone)bibimbap has some of the freshest ingredients I have had at a Korean restaurant. It included shrimp, mussels, squid, mushrooms & greens. Instead of mixing with hot sauce, they mix with a soy scallion sesame mixture. And when I say they mix, that means that the waitress actually mixes the dish for you table side. The surprise at the end is the crunchy rice that burns onto the bowl. The bowl is to hot to touch even at the end of your meal.
They brag about being in business for 27 years. The age of the restaurant shows in the decor, it also smells a little musty when you walk in before the small of bbq beef permeates the space. Love the R&B music playing in the background.
Rating:
Food – 8/10
Ambiance – 6/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – Korean
Style – Casual
Price – Moderate
Wanna go?
Address/phone – 8 W 36th St, New York, NY 10018, (212) 695-0676
Hell’s Kitchen
Simple and straight forward American lunch fare. Well executed. Perfect for a “client lunch” with R/GA yet I can see how the sleek and modern restaurant can become a “hot spot” for the dinner crowd in this up-and-coming neighborhood.
I had the grilled portobello sandwich with red peppers, cheddar cheese and red onion marmalade. It was a well executed sandwich –everything served a purpose. The unlikely sharp cheddar (rather than the typical mozzarella) and tasty peppers and marmalade was a nice contrast to the simple and really juicy, generous portobello portion. Loved the fact that while the mushroom was juicy, everything was contained in a large foccocia roll that didn’t get soggy. I ate every bite.
The table ordered salads, sandwiches, and salmon. All seemed to enjoy.
Service was fine at first and food came quickly but waitress went MIA after we ordered. Could have used an iced tea refill.
Rating:
Food – 7/10
Ambiance – 7/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – American
Style – Casual, Trendy
Price – Moderate
Wanna go?
Address/phone – 523 9th Ave, New York, NY 10018, (212) 947-4208
Angelo and Maxies
A&M has been around for years and has always delivered a quality meal each time I have dined there. It doesn’t have the snob appeal of many of the other nyc steak houses and that’s what makes it good. The crowd is younger. A highlight is the bread basket, which included some pretzel rolls and onion rolls. We almost cancelled our order because the bread would have been enough to eat! Last time, my wife enjoyed a burger with cottage fries. I had an Asian inspired steak (fillet) salad with onions, porchinis and cashews. Nice piece soft steak for $17.95. We shared an apple crumble with quality vanilla ice cream. It was a really generous portion.
Rating:
Food – 7/10
Ambiance – 7/10
Service – 7/10
Category:
Food Type – Steakhouse
Style – Casual
Price – Moderate
Wanna go?
Address/phone – 233 Park Ave S, New York, NY 10003, (212) 220-9200