I often find myself on the upper west side, particularly near lincoln center. I like the vibe there. Further up, at 185 west 80th street, my girlfriend Ana and I on saturday ran into a wine bar called Cava. It calls itself a caribbean wine bar, which is new in my book. But when you think about it, the cuban food they offer would naturally go well with wine. We didn’t have much, as we dropped in just to relax our shopping weary legs before heading to Fairway, the ultimate gourmet supermarket on 75 street and broadway. So we had glasses of ice water (blame the weather for our wimpiness); I had a glass of a rioja/cabernet blend, and we shared the cuban dessert delicacy, tres leches cake. While the frosting seemed like something out of a Kraft container (not homemade), the cake itself was moist and sweet and spongy, and only $7. Wine was about double that at $13 and came in a nice sized glass. I found the waitress to be attitudinally quite positive.
Tags: Caribbean food, cuban food, Wine, wine bar, wine bars
Tonight after fish tacos at Pinche Taqueria in NoLita, I stopped by Stogo. It’s a gourmet organic dairy free ice cream spot in the East Village (159 2nd Ave, on 10th St.). I was hankering for a coffee or something to seal in the taste of the tacos. I’m not big on vegan. Nothing wrong with it in concept, but it often lacks taste, unless the quality is really high, like some of the awesome desserts at Whole Foods. Stogo offers ice cream of different varieties (of course the term ice cream is a misnomer because the whole point is that it contains no animal products and therefore no cream, which is what makes it vegan). Its ice creams are: soy-based, hemp-based (made out of hemp seeds), coconut-based and water-based, which is basically an Italian ice. I had a double-scoop cup of soy ice cream with flavors chocolate and peanut butter fudge. Though not as sinfully delicious as a quality ice cream, it was quite tasty and worth the try. Stogo ice creams all are organic, dairy free (as mentioned), contain no refined sugar, etc. Any major drawback? The price of the two scoops was $6.25. Quite a hit, but again, delicious. Do go and try out Stogo. If you have dietary needs or an ideological bent that trend vegan, it certainly fits the bill.
Tags: ice cream, organic, soy ice cream, vegan
I was eating a hamburger at Good Burger the other day, when an Einstein flash of brilliance hit me. The location of the chain on Broadway at 17th St. right above Union Square in Manhattan, serves medium rare burgers that are really medium well/medium rare. In other words, they are overcooked. This happens every time. Which means that the way they cook their meat needs to be converted on a relative scale if you sincerely wish to get the burger done the way you want it. So I started ordering burgers rare. Low and behold, I got a medium rare burger. Bingo. Just what I wanted. Why does this happen, you ask? My theory is that the place is mismanaged. They either don’t know how to cook a patty correctly or they don’t care. The other reason could be that they assume they are making the right decision to overcook the beef in order to make it safer. Either way, it’s a little annoying. Okay, the burgers are organic and very tasty when you get them the way you wanted them. But the fries are an afterthought, the place plays pulse pounding house music, etc, etc. I guess I’m okay with it, though, since I have cracked the burger relativity code and get my meat the way I want it, even if I’m ordering it less cooked than the state in which it’s provide to me. So I guess Einstein would give Good Burger a break too.
Tags: burgers, Hamburgers
My friend Marc and I met up last night at the Corner Bistro (W. 4 St East of Hudson) in the West Village. Intent on chomping on a couple of their famous burgers, we were thwarted by a monumental crowd of people with just the same thing on their minds. It was 8 pm, an hour after the much more tame time of 7 pm when it’s possible to belly up to the bar with a partner in crime and down a Bistro Burger (yes, capitalized. God is capitalized, isn’t it?). So Marc, being a West Villager himself, knew the lay of the land, and suggested we eat at French Roast on 11th St and 6th Ave, which also has a location on the Upper West Side. We got there, were seated near the bathroom–not necessarily a bad thing since I’d eaten a bowl of vegetarian chili at Juice Generation (W. 4th but further east of Corner Bistro). I don’t like sitting near the bathroom for other obvious reasons but finally I had a reason to be close to it. (Sorry, dear readers, let’s about-face to the food and drink part). Marc ordered a white wine, I ordered a red (rioja); he had the ravioli, I went for the burger and fries. It came with a garnish of little pickles. The fries were nice fresh cut and cooked numbers that I wolfed down like a man who hadn’t eaten in quite a few hours and certainly hadn’t just downed a bowl of spiced beans. What’s more, the meat was cooked perfectly medium rare. The bun seemed a bit lifeless but at $10.75 for the patty and fries, I was in burger heaven.
Tags: burgers, French bistro, fries, Hamburgers
I took my dad out for his birthday dinner at Cafe Cortadito (3rd st between aves B and C) in Manhattan’s East Village. Let me tell you that I’ve dined on the skirt steak there before, but this time seemed different. It shone as one of the best steaks I have ever had. The long strip of flesh popped with flavor. It was about twice the size of what you’d get in a reputable bistro, and cooked even better. The surface of the meat had a slight crispness while the inside was tender and cooked perfectly medium rare; it was served with chimichurri sauce and al dente white rice on the side. The old man’s cut was cooked rare, just as he asked. Not only that, but Cortadito offers a nice array of many Spanish and Argentine wines for under $50, under $40 and even under $30 that go great with red meat; we had a Spanish Duero red for $35. We also noshed on a nice avocado salad with watercress, red onions and balsamic dressing. It all came with warm pressed buttered bread. The desserts of tres leches cake and flan de coco were awesome, just bursting with piquancy. All this was presented by the charming and beautiful lady who runs the place along with her chef husband. The bill: just $135 including a solid $20 tip. Check this place out, let me know what you think.
Tags: cheap eats, cuban cuisine, East village restaurants, steak, Wine
Bar Boulud is terrible. Terribly good, that is.
I thought that’d be a better lead-in than saying it was terrific, which it is, but I’m just like all those other bloggers trying to make a headline among the buzz created by a zillion others like me out in cyberspace.
Last Friday made it the third time I’ve eaten at Bar Boulud (located on Broadway oppositeLincoln Center between 63 and 64 Sts) since Restaurant Week over a year ago; the second occasion with my girlfriend Ana.
We both don’t appreciate it when waiters grab our plates before we’re done eating, give us the check before we want it, and things like that. Call us fussy. Whatev. But I only mention those objectionable situations because they didn’t happen. Just like the last time we were there, the food was expensive, the service helpful, efficient and unobtrusive; and yes, the food was good.
To be honest, I wish they had a more reasonably priced selection of wines by the glass (most $10 or more–a lot more), but they weren’t stingy with the pours (try Bar Veloce in the East Village for the stingiest pours ever).
We didn’t have a full dinner. In fact, we had just dined (we use the term loosely) at Mama Mexico on Broadway, where they prefer to give you weak margaritas, festering enchiladas and stingy servings of salsa for a king’s ransom–at least if you look at the proportion of food quality vs. price. So we needed a couple glasses of wine and hors d’oeuvres to chase the grease and memories off our palates and out of our heads.
And it did. A simple pate, some popovers (is that French) brought gratis and, most important, the proper service, made things right. Ahhh. Bar Boulud is a restaurant, not a bar! If only all the other restaurants out there raised the level of service to that of a good bar, say, the Corner Bistro in the West Village, and the world would be a more civilized place.
Tags: Daniel Boulud, French food, Lincoln Center
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