Restaurant experiment: Doc Watson’s

Doc Watson’s

1490 Second Avenue between 77th and 78th Streets

New York, NY 10021

212-988-5300

http://www.docwatsons.com

The UES=Irish pub land.

I was surprised by how big Doc Watson’s is; there’s a basement with an outdoor patio attached too.  We were too late for the happy hour specials, but we weren’t missing much judging from the menu.  Wednesday night specials include $8 well drinks.  That doesn’t really sound like a special to me.  Pshaw.

For a second, I spied bacon wrapped scallops on the specials menu and was tempted to order that, but eating scallops in a pub seems a little strange.  Or is it just me?

I got blue cheese on my burger (about 8 bucks).  Oddly enough, the menu states that the 1/2 pound burgers are presented on poppyseed buns, yet what we got were buns of the sesame variety.  These buns were structurally deficient and crumbled under the sheer weight of the patty.  I do like a pure beef taste, and this is what you got with your Doc Watson’s burger.

The cottage fries were pretty good, and they were even better when I added generous splashes of British vinegar.  This was a good night for discoveries.  Earlier elsewhere I sampled a Malibu rum and cranberry juice and was delighted, and then I tried vinegar with fries and was delighted.  Huzzah!

If I were to describe the dining crowd, it’d be business casual.  Very business casual.

Restaurant experiment: Park Slope Ale House

Park Slope Ale House

356 Sixth Avenue at 5th Street

Brooklyn, NY 11215

718-788-1756

When you’re stuck in a torrential downpour with no rain boots, you just want to find the nearest non-sketchy restaurant and just dine there.  And that’s precisely what Dave and I did.  Monsoons are not my friend.

Park Slope Ale House wasn’t too crowded, probably because no one else wanted to venture out in the rain without kayaks.  I’d never been here before despite having passed it a thousand times in my past life.  The place is dark but welcoming.  And you know what else is welcoming?  Burgers!  Dave and I both ordered burgers, and I got mine with blue cheese.  Mmm.  It helped me forget how soaked my socks and the bottoms of my jeans were.

As you can see, the kaiser bun they used dwarfed the patty.  Hey guys, you might want to either up the beef or shrink the bread.  Looks wrong.  The fries had skins which I’m not huge on but was fine. 

Once I was eating a baked potato at someone’s house, and I was asked why I wasn’t eating the skins, and I was confused because I thought you weren’t supposed to eat it.  My family didn’t eat skins and I assumed that’s what everyone did.  Huh.  Storytime over!

The desserts were tempting (chaos pie?) but I was too full from the burger goodness.  Thank for being there when we needed you, Park Slope Ale House!

Restaurant experiment: Big Nick’s

Big Nick’s

2175 Broadway between 76^th and 77^th Streets

New York, NY 10024

212-362-9238

Dave raves about the portcheddar burger here.  Since I can’t pass up a strong burger recommendation, I just had to try it when we had dinner at Big Nick’s.  Big Nick’s is a diner on the Upper West Side with a menu as long as War & Peace.  Seriously.  If there’s something diner-esque that you want, Big Nick’s probably has it.  Also characteristic of this place is how every single inch is covered in some writing advertising some menu item.  It’s almost seizure-inducing.  And the bathroom is located in the kitchen.  And pickles are self serve from a bowl on your table.  Also, they have a really diverse staff.

Luckily for Dave, the burger did not disappoint.  I don’t really like port, but the cheddar wasn’t even that port-like.  It gave the cheddar a more delicate texture, not to mention a glowing color.  It was radiating.  The fries were crispy, and the staff obliged with Dave’s request to make his fries extra crispy.

Big Nick’s, big taste!  Ohhhhh, it’s good I’m not in advertising.

Restaurant experiment: Blondie’s

Blondie’s

212 West 79^th Street between Amsterdam and Broadway

New York, NY 10024

212-362-4360

Blondiessports.com

Wings are wonderful.  Dave agrees and told me all about one of his top wing purveyors, Blondie’s.  In my past, I consumed honey bbq wings as my flavor of choice, but I have been befuddled to not see this option at wing joints in the great city of New York.  So you can picture my utter delight to read on Blondie’s menu that honey bbq wings are available.  Score!  They also have some sort of garlic flavor which was very tempting as well, but honey bbq was to be my choice for the evening.

I ordered the ten wing deal in honey bbq.  These guys were rolling in sauce.  Yum.  Wings+blue cheese=so perfect.

If you like sports in addition to chicken and other bar food, you’re in luck since Blondie’s has TVs all over the place with various games blaring.  I don’t have wings too much nowadays, but I can and will definitely be going back to Blondie’s.  Hmm, might just be my go-to wing bar from now on.

Restaurant experiment: Fig & Olive

Fig & Olive

10 East 52^nd Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues

New York, NY 10022

212-319-2002

http://www.figandolive.com

Stacy and I came here before catching the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at nearby Radio City Music Hall.  Fig & Olive has a few branches (haha) in Manhattan: this one in Midtown, one in the Upper East Side, and one in the Meatpacking District.  F&O strikes me as a place for lawyers, bankers, those sorts.  Or at least this one.  Like kids who were in fraternities and sororities.  Maybe a bit pretentious.

We were seated on the second floor, and it was tight.  And on the loud side.  Stacy and I ordered the prix fixe which was a smart deal for the Restaurant Week price of $35.  Bread appeared with a selection of three olive oils.  The two of us promptly forgot the characteristics of each oil, except one had a kick to it.

Starter

I started off with the tuna tartare.  Delish.  It sort of looks like cat food in the photograph, but take my word for it: in person it wasn’t cat food-like at all.

Entrée

Lamb skewers.  Isn’t the fig pretty?  Figs are so pretty, especially on beds of couscous.  But I was delighted by the fact that the lamb was speared onto rosemary stems.  Neat trick.  And it helps that the lamb was flavored in a most excellent fashion.

Dessert

Pot de crème.  Can’t go wrong with this dish.  Mmm, chocolately.  You’ll have to use your imagination because the picture turned out to be atrocious.

I don’t think I ate any olives during the course of the evening.  False advertising!  Just kidding.  Guess the olive oil sorta counts.  Maybe not exactly my scene, but the food was up to my standards.  Post-meal, I felt adequately prepared to take in the antics of Karen O.

Restaurant experiment: Hollywood Diner

Hollywood Diner

574 Sixth Avenue at 16th Street

New York, NY 10011

212-691-8465

Greg and I came here post-Sunday night Bingo (we didn’t win anything).  We only came here because it was nearby, cheap, and recommended by Tom.  Works for us.  We sat in a booth which afforded a view of people descending into the subway.  It was kind of like a movie.  Good because there wasn’t anything  too Hollywood about the place really.

I ordered a cheeseburger, and it was all right.  There were too many fat fries, and I had to leave some.  To be fair, I was still slightly under the weather and not up to my usual appetite.  Poor orphan fries.

Okay, that’s that.  You know the drill with diners.

Restaurant experiment: Dojo

Dojo

14 West 4th Street at Mercer Street

New York, NY 10012

212-505-8934

I took pictures of my meal but accidentally deleted them in a wine-induced haze from the next restaurant I will write about.  Sigh.  So this will have to be pictureless.

Dave suggested we dine at Dojo since he had given it his seal of approval; plus it is cheap.  Good enough for me.  Dojo is pretty popular with the college crew, judging from all the young ‘uns sitting in the main dining area.  We sat in the bar area which was healthily crowded as well.

Despite the Japanese name, Dojo serves up all sorts of things, from burgers to burritos, salads to sandwiches.  I eschewed the Japanese grub in favor of the chicken parm sandwich with fries.  The fries were skinny and salty which earns an A from me.  The sandwich was huge too: on a baguette the size of my foot, healthy slathers of marinara, and too much chicken which was escaping from the clutches of the buns.  I gave up and had to leave a tiny portion.  Food wasting kills me.

So yes, Dojo is the perfect college kid restaurant!

Restaurant experiment: Prune

Prune

54 East 1st Street between First and Second Avenues

New York, NY 10003

212-677-6221

http://prunerestaurant.com/

After one failed attempt to eat at Prune with AmyL and Mike, I am pleased to be able to mark Prune off the list of places to try.

Prune is popular.  Prune is petite.  Therefore, waits are the norm.  We were told it would be 45 minutes for brunch, but luckily it was more along the lines of 25 minutes.  But it was not the day to wait outside since it was extremely muggy, and the sun was beating down upon New York.  I don’t like waiting (who does?), but I sucked it up and psyched myself up for the delightful meal I would soon be consuming.

I don’t do brunch much, but when I do, I tend to persist with my eggs Benedict thing.  Stacy went with the huevos rancheros, and from the small sample I sampled, I liked, except for the spices and cilantro.

The juice I ordered, the Prune juice, thankfully was prune juice free and was grapefruit juice with hints of Meyer lemon and orange juicyness.  Basically grapefruit juice.  Yum.  The drink menu featured a bevy of specialty bloody marys, so if you like the marys, you’ll be content here (ahem, Mike).  The potatoes rosti were crunching and non-bland and light.

As for the Benedict, I was pleased that there was a generous ladleful of Hollandaise.  Prune’s sauce contains fat amounts of lemon juice.  The English muffin needed to be larger so I could sop up the sauce!  I was sad to leave traces of the bright yellow behind.

No dessert was either available or offered.  Boooooooo.  We assumed it was becuase Prune wants people to get the heck out so more diners can squeeze in.  The bill came with two black rubbery coins.  I popped one in my mouth and determined it to be licorice.  Ew.  Prune should serve prunes instead.  Though I don’t like prunes much, they would be an improvement over black licorice.

Maybe I should try the dinner.  The burger is famous too, and I was crushed it wasn’t available for brunch.  Tears.

How long would I wait to be seated at Prune?  10 minutes (this may change after I evaluate dinner).

Restaurant experiment: 7A

7A

109 Avenue A at 7th Street

New York, NY 10009

212-673-6583

http://www.7acafe.com/

We missed brunch by thirty minutes!  Curses!

Oh well.

And what’s a remedy for a non-hangover hangover?

Cheesey burgers.

Despite the threat of a downpour, Dave and I sat outside under the awning and actually lucked out: no rain.  A raggedy man asked us for change, we observed cars attempting to squeeze into a small parking space, and we dogwatched.

Dave and I both went for cheddar cheese burgers.  He ordered the fries as a side, and for mine, I ordered a salad with ginger scallion dressing at his suggestion.  It was rather thick, to say the least.  A mite too heavy handed with the ginger, but it was still pleasant.  The burgers didn’t look too imposing but rendered us stuffed.  Choice! 

Dave’s fries reminded me of Arby’s curly fries.  Damn, I sure could go for some Arby’s cheddar roast beef sandwiches and curly fries.  Man, what’s with me?  This post makes me sounds like some fries and cheddar obsessed person, which is what I am, but I don’t want to see that blatant!

Dim, teesny co-ed bathroom is blah, but the friendly staff, fat menu, and the fact that it’s 24 hours helps 7A earn a high rating in my book.  Hooray!

Restaurant experiment: Spitzer’s Corner

Spitzer’s Corner

101 Rivington Street at Ludlow Street

New York, NY

212-228-0027

http://www.spitzerscorner.com/

Denied at T Poutine…it was where we planned to go but it wasn’t open yet.  Crushed.  So down the street we went to Spitzer’s Corner, our backup plan.  Hipster land!  They were crawling all over the place.  And it was loud.

After a reasonable wait, we were seated in the back room, at the end of one of the communal tables.  My new theory is that communal tables are supposed to be cool but are simply a cover, an excuse for the closeness of tables in NYC.  I certainly didn’t want to socialize with the girls next to us.  Ugh.

The service was sparse, but at least the girl was friendly enough and didn’t have a permanent sneer on; the bartender chicks had attitude oozing out of their pores.  Julie and I opted for the duck confit ($13).  It needed more duck!  Other things it included were “baby spinach, frisee, arugula, toasted pine nuts, foie gras butter on toasted baguette, passion fruit seeds/vinaigrette.”  It was like this dish was made with me in mind since I am gung ho about duck, foie gras, and passionfruit.  Maybe it was a slice too sour, but overall, it worked like a charm.  Stacy loved her burger; Thomas seemed to seem to be at peace with his grilled cheese, at least I think he didn’t loathe its guts.

The fries took years to arrive and showed up the same time as the mains.  So much for them being an appetizer.  If you can stomach the hipsters, you could do pretty well here.  Reasonable prices!  Gasp, shock, awe!