weinoo

Maybe it's just hard to taste bagels after Szechwan food?

14 hours ago, Bob Wells said:

Just happened upon this thread and thought I'd mention that Russ & Daughters sells a superior bialy too. Well worth the wait. 

Russ & Daughters' bialys used to come from Kossar's.

And R & D is now baking their own bagels. Their previous source was a bagel shop in Brooklyn.

Rebelle is the new restaurant from the Pearl & Ash team. As a matter of fact, it's right next door to Pearl & Ash, on Bowery. And they've found a great chef in Paris, formerly the chef de cuisine at Daniel Rose's Spring. He's now in NYC, cooking at Rebelle, which opened Monday night.

They  have a wine list of 1,500+ bottles. And we ate there last night.

Rebelle, A Touch of Paris on The Bowery

I thought this note on the bill about appreciating cash tips was interesting. I've seen that type of sign at my hair salon, but this is the first time I've seen it on a restaurant bill.

This is interesting.  There have been any number of cases here in NYC over the years, with restaurateurs getting sued for "improperly handling" tips. Certainly, cash tips, and even more certainly, no tips but fair wages, would help to alleviate even any appearance of impropriety.

Enough of that bs.  We were back again Friday eve pre-dinner, which was somewhere else. Yes, indeed, the jalapeno fritters are delicious, and the one other food item we tried, mushrooms escabeche, were also quite good.

This is what their draught set-up is - quite minimalist...

Wouldn't it be awesome if we had a cider bar in DC?

Hey - at least you've got a sherry bar!

Indeed, the Spanish ciders (and often the French ciders from Brittany) are quite funky - especially the aroma.

They're some of the first ciders that were available here on a wide basis - mostly in Spanish restaurants

Correct - we haven't eaten any of the food, and though not billed as vegetarian, the owner says:  "We're calling it 'cider-focused cuisine.'"

Be forewarned...we walked over on Saturday night, to have a cider before going elsewhere for dinner, and it was a total shitshow. Packed and no room to even stand and have a glass. This was at 7 PM. Weeknights will be a much better bet for a while, and it may not change at all on the weekends, considering its location is right in the heart of the lower east side, lovingly dubbed Hell Square.

Good question.  If not, I imagine a top 10.

From the owners of The Queens Kickshaw comes their new venture, WASSAiL - a cider bar and restaurant, located on Orchard St., on the lower east side of Manhattan.

The Queens Kickshaw has been known, since its opening, as one of the best places to get your cider on.  Trouble is, it's in Astoria, not exactly an easy schlep from Manhattan. So, I was extremely excited when I read that the owners had taken a space, right here in my neighborhood.

It opened this week. And to say I'm happy would be an understatement. We visited Tuesday night, their public opening, and were wowed - at any one time, they'll have between 80 - 100 ciders available, from all over the globe. There will be about a dozen available on draught, and a bunch more available by the glass. We only tasted 7 or 8, so we've got a ways to go.

And of course, I blogged about it as well.

Hail WASSAiL

We managed at $75 pp. Didn't drink a lot (which is rare, and which many times runs 50% of our bill, and which is how restaurants stay in business here) and had plenty of food.

But yes, that's often what dinner costs at the top places in NYC. And these days, 3 NY Times' stars equals many of the top places. Next week, for our anniversary, we're going back to Gramercy Tavern - the tasting menu is a great deal at $128 per. So, I guess that bill will top $300.

Remember - it's cheaper than going to Mexico City.

Cosme is probably one of the hottest openings of late 2014, and one of the 2 or 3 best openings of last year in NYC.

This week, the Times' review hit, and it's a 3-star rave up.

The New Yorker review also hit this week.

Adam Platt in New York/Grub Street grudgingly gives it 3 stars.

Time Out New York - utter rave.

And this nebbishy Jewish kid from Long Island liked it too...Tasty Travails.

I attended the auction of the restaurant's equipment, hoping to score something for my kitchen - it was depressing in more ways than one, including not scoring anything for my kitchen, since it was a madhouse, and people were bidding ridiculous amounts for a lot of the stuff.

The Bonnet cooking suite, which was one of only 5 or 6 in NYC, was the most interesting item.  At one point, Wylie's dad Dewey, who was a co-owner, came out and announced to the crowd that if anyone bought it, they would knock down the wall to the kitchen to enable the suite to be removed - it was installed before the wall went up and came in on a forklift through the front window. Interesting stuff.

I had two meals here before it shuttered (it is closed now, right?) and was very happy with both experiences, especially the first. He may be a little too in to the molecular gastronomy but his flavors and combinations all work and are rooted in good food.  Somewhere I have a lot of photos that I will have to dig up and post.  I wonder what is next for him.

Well, he can pretty much always be found floating around the kitchen at Alder, where our last meal showed a kitchen in top form.

As an aside, you used to be able to (allegedly) get giant Margaritas (in to-go-cups) at El Sombrero.

Those were the days.

One of them already opened and closed on the lower east side in Manhattan. I think there's another in NYC that is still open.

Even if one is not too nearby, it's at the nexus of a ton of subways...4, 5, 6, L, N, Q and R.

I prefer shopping here on Wednesdays and sometimes Fridays, but it needs to be early on Friday. It's a zoo later and usually all day Saturday.

We stopped in (just Significant Eater and me) to MCF's new home Tuesday night (which was night 2 of service), and while there was a scrum up front, we managed to get a table in the dining room, after only a 30 minute wait, downstairs in that bar area.  Tried some dishes we hadn't had before, and that probably are new to the menu. 

A Koji fried chicken dish was fine, 1/2 a bird cut nicely, crispy skin and juicy meat.  The Cantina influence is obvious, as it's served with a tart, spicy tomatillo dipping sauce. The Hainan chicken influence is there too, as the chicken looks like Hainanese chicken, served on a nice bed of sticky rice, along with a side of sliced cucumbers. The half chicken was under $20.

There are 3 fried rice dishes on the menu now. We opted for the beef jerky fried rice, and Sig Eater proclaimed it her favorite dish of the night. Our third thoroughly enjoyable dish was a green papaya and banana blossoms salad, with shredded chicken and pickled tea leaves, nice and vinegar-y...almost makes you think you're eating healthy, which we are trying to do a little more, even when dining out (it ain't easy).

Fourth up was the weirdest dish of the night, a Napa cabbage steamed in chamomile and Masala milk...it didn't float our boat, but I suppose it would serve as a nice counterpoint - had we had ordered a bunch of spicy stuff.  

Any issues? Sure - the cocktail we tried  (OK, she tried - I refused) blew.  Some sort of weird old-fashioned, with way too many ingredients, way too sweet, and just not something you want to drink before this food. They need some help with the cocktail list, beer list and wine list, in my opinion. Of course, it doesn't matter what I think if you can crank out 300 cocktails a night at  $13 a pop - Ka Ching!  But seriously, how about a Pegu Club cocktail, which might be great before food like  this. And, like Leah did at Pig & Khao, just put some damn PBRs  in cans on the list...not all this other weird shit. I mean, there are 2 ciders, neither of which are really drinkable with food like this.

Anyway, overall - of course we'll be back - and plenty.  The food menu is extensive and I look forward to trying it all - even some of the wood-burning oven stuff, when I get around to it. But I'll cocktail first at home, and drink tea and/or water with my meal. Just like I do at Great NY Noodletown.

It's easy to say that stuff now (the "always been about packaging" shit), that he runs, along with Bastianich, a mega empire.

But his first shows on the Food Network, when TFN was about cooking and teaching, were true gems.

And having eaten at Po when he was the chef, as well as Lupa, Babbo, Del Posto, Otto, et.al. - anyone that knows anything about the esthetic of Italian cooking knows that he understands it and carries it off well.

The "real" reviews are starting to roll in. Significant Eater and I were back last Friday night; we ate too much (that mushroom pizza!) and it was as good, if not better, than our first meal.

Ryan Sutton - Delivers the Goods

Adam Platt - Command Your Attention

when I can just get on the 7 train to queens and get it at the source for 1/5th the price. Batali to me has always been about packaging.

I think the source for a lot of the pasta is Italy.

Does the 7 train go there?

Chef John has left the room.  The chef de cuisine is Ryan Henderson, who was formerly the sous. I haven't been in a month or two due to circumstances beyond my control, but my guess is the food will still be as good, since Wylie is always hanging around the kitchen.

And with wd-50 about to close (end of November), I imagine Wylie will be bugging the staff on a constant basis.

With Chef Nick Anderer at the helm, the newest restaurant from Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group hits the ground running. Nick is also the head chef at Maialino, another favorite of ours; Marta is Nick's and Danny's latest take on Roman cuisine, that of the Roman pizzeria, as a matter of fact.

That (a Roman pizzeria) means that in addition to pizza, there's plenty of other good stuff to eat. And eat we did - 4 of us scarfed down a good portion of the menu - there wasn't anything I wouldn't have again (well, maybe the octopus, but that's just 'cause I'm sick of octopus in general).

3 pies, beer brined chicken, a bunch of apps, cocktails, wine - we were happy campers. Here's the Margherita...

And a full blog post, with a few more pictures...

Marta, My Dear

For those who are interested, Mission Chinese Food New York will be reopening in the recently closed Rosette space.  Rosette was a beautiful restaurant, with great food, that I already miss. But I am comforted by the fact that, practically across the street, I'll have the new Mission Chinese Food.

The address is 171 East Broadway.  Practically right outside the East Broadway stop on the "F" subway line.

As one who has attended a few of these in the past (The Hester Street Fair is located on our co-op owned property), all I can say is it's a major zoo.

I actually think that's what Mintwood has morphed into...more meh than when it opened.

All well and good to the 2 above posters.

But you still have to bring it when it comes to what's on the plate - and 2 nights ago, they didn't.  We must've tried 8 - 10 items - nothing left me wanting it again.  And the crackers are just wrong when it comes to serving them with the dips/spreads.  Didn't they used to serve pitas with those?

And I'm sorry - but with so many places making proper cocktails, these were just made quite flippantly.