Restaurant experiment: Kittichai

Kittichai

60 Thompson Street between Spring Street and Broome Street

New York, NY 10012

212-219-2000

http://kittichairestaurant.com/index2.html

As it was Leslie’s birthday, she was selected this establishment to celebrate her birth.  Since Dave and I showed up before the guest of honor, we chilled in the restaurant’s bar until Leslie arrived.  The restaurant, especially the lobby and bar, are decorated splendidly.  Some cool ironwork of Thai script.  However, the price for a dirty martini wasn’t cool.  $15???  Eep.

Our large party was seated by the pond.  Inside the pond were candles floating in glass bowls, and because there was some sort of stealth current, the bowls lazily made a circle around the pond again and again.  Dave and I had fun joking with our table neighbors Andrew and Matt about which candle was going to win the race and who had placed bets on said candle.

Dave and I decided to split the caramelized pork belly with crab salad and Thai herbs ($15) as an appetizer.  It came out looking like so and was quite pleasing.  Just the right amount of crunch on the outside.  And they proceeded to win the admiration of Matt.  Success.

My main course was the pan seared scallops in a  turmeric-coconut cream broth ($28).  Yes, you are looking at that right.  This wasn’t an appetizer.  There were only three large scallops in the bowl.  $28 for this?  That’s $9.33 per scallop.  Kittichai is lucky that the scallops were fresh and prepared skillfully.  The broth was warming, and good thing too, as Old Man Winter was outside in full force.

Someone ordered the “Sankaya” Pandan-Valrhona white chocolate fondue” ($8) for Leslie and everyone to share.  I had a bite myself.  The white chocolate is actually green.  Wrap your heads around that.  Aside from that fun fact, I remember that it was okay.

So I was disappointment in my scallops (note to self: don’t order scallops again at any restaurant), but Kittichai proved to be a sexy restaurant for Leslie to celebrate another year.  I will admit that I kept looking around in case I was able to spot a celeb sitting nearby.  Alas, no luck.

Happy birthday Leslie!

Restaurant experiment: Chai

Chai

930 Eighth Avenue at 55th Street

New York, NY 10019

212-707-8778

http://www.chai-restaurants.com [The URL is missing the "s" on the business card!  Shame!]

Mike, a Midtown restaurant review for you!

Leslie and I came here after a showing of Secretariat (characteristically Disney cheesy but with exciting horseracing scenes).  I had jotted down a list of dinner joints not too far away, and since Leslie had been to some already, it came down to Guantanamera and Chai.  Guantanamera’s menu had a few more bucks added to each item, so Chai it was.  A bevy of other folks had the same idea; practically all of the tiny tables were occupied.  But no fear, we were able to be seated promptly.

Rather, seated promptly at a table so close to surrounding tables, it was practically like dining in the laps of other diners.  Never been a fan of this trick.  As with practically all Thai places in NYC, Chai sports a slinky modern design.  I guess the benefit of such a teeny space is that the servers can’t hide from you and are pretty attentive.

Leslie ordered the pad sea eiw while I tried out the kao pad lychee which was “fried rice with lychee nuts served with shrimps, egg and scallions in a flavorful chef’s sauce.”  We also ordered Thai iced teas which were not on the food menu or drink menu, but what Thai restaurant doesn’t have Thai iced tea?

Anyway, the first thing you notice is that the portion is not stingy.  +1.  I rarely eat lychees prepared in meals, usually just as they are, so it was kind of novel to have bursts of sweetness alongside traditional fried rice tastes.  Lots of nuts in there too.  Thumbs up.

The bill was ~$25 for two entrees and two non-alcoholic drinks.  Radness.  But there was a note on the check holder that read the minimum was $15 to use a credit card.  Leslie and I had wanted to split the bill onto our two cards, Leslie pointing out that splitting the check and with tip would be ~$15 on each piece of plastic.  The waitress wasn’t having it but wasn’t expressing herself very clearly.  Leslie gave up trying to talk sense into the woman.  Minimums are dumb.

Aside from that credit card blip, I was happy with my eatery suggestion and rewarded myself with a virtual pat on the back.  Chai was a smart dining pick, meaning dirt cheap and rather delicious.  Leslie and I waddled down Eighth Avenue, and I felt nearly sick but in a content way.  If that is even possible.

Restaurant experiment: Angelo’s Pizza

Angelo’s Pizza

117 West 57th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues

New York, NY 10019

212-333-4333

http://www.angelospizzany.com/

“The service is as bad as our waitress’s accent!”–Leslie

Let me set the scene.  Leslie and I had 45 minutes to eat dinner.  The original move was to go to one of those deli/multifood places that are all the rage in NYC, but Leslie decided to eschew that notion and squeeze in a quick dinner at Angelo’s, since she’s been here before and knew it was stomach-friendly.

She asked the platinum blond middle-aged hostess if we could be in and out in 45 minutes.

“Sure.”

Um, that didn’t transpire.

We were seated downstairs, and I picked out a small table near the kitchen where I could observe an overweight customer swap out his chair for a nearby one, then swap that one out for another one.  Pointy rolls emerged, and we ate the bread by dipping it into olive oil.  Leslie raved about the fried zucchini & eggplant with garlic yogurt dip ($10), so we shared that.  I don’t even care for eggplant, but I liked this.  Deep fry anything and I’ll be happy, I guess.  Mmm, tzaziki-like dip.  Hot and fresh!

Leslie and I shared a small pie with ricotta and roasted peppers.  It was taking ages to come out, following the devouring of the zucchini and eggplant.  We concluded we should ask the waitress for the check when the pizza was dropped off.

Our waitress was a young woman with a strong Eastern European accent.  She wasn’t exactly a Rhodes Scholar.  Leslie tried to explain to her in the lengthy dead time post-appetizer that we were in a hurry, and the waitress was confused and asked if we wanted the pizza and the appetizer to come out at the same time.  Huh?  Not like we can travel back in time.

The pizza came out, but I couldn’t enjoy it that much because of the time limitations.  The peppers were not too roasty but the ricotta was a smart pick.  Nice pizza.  No Lombardi’s, but what is?

A small pizza is $15, and $2.50 will get you one topping.  So $20 (including tip) each for the dinner was slightly too much.  But it’s Midtown and touristy, so I guess Angelo’s can get away with it.  If that zucchini eggplant fried delicacy wasn’t so fine…

Restaurant experiment: BCD Tofu House

BCD Tofu House

17 West 32nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway

New York, NY 10001

212-967-1900

http://www.bcdtofu.com/bcd_eng.php

Leslie invited me out to lunch at this Korean place in K-town.  She’d been a couple of times before and knew it to be a solid choice.  Since it was igloo weather outside (snowflakes were falling as I walked to and from the subway), tofu soup sounded like it would hit the spot.

The NYC branch of this chain was busy when I stepped in around 2pm on a Saturday.  But luckily Leslie and I didn’t have to wait that long to be seated, and at least it wasn’t 9pm on a Saturday.

The little dishes appeared promptly, as well as cups of tea.  I was surprised that one of the dishes was a fish for each one of us.  A whole little fish.  That was tasty, as well as the baby bok choy, bean sprouts, and pickles.  Oh yeah, the pasta salad too.  Pasta salad doesn’t seem very Korean to me, but I ate and liked it nevertheless.  I let the kim chee be.  Too spicy.  A new item to me was old prepared rice, scrubbed off the sides of a bowl, sitting in tea.  While I found it positive, there was too much other food to deal with, and there was already regular rice.  Another time.

Leslie recommended the tofu soup with beef and assorted seafood.  The bowl was presented bubbling like some witch’s concoction.  I cracked a raw egg into the broth and nibbled on the other treats so the soup could cool down some.  We also ordered the soups mild because Leslie gave me insider scoop that the plain level was boring and bland, and mild was just right.  I think the waitress gave us medium instead which sort of detracted from the overall effect.  The assorted seafood consisted of shrimp and mussels for the most part.  Warning: the picture below is not for those wary of raw eggs and shrimp heads.

We grumbled about the hardly vigilant service.  I mentioned that there were lots of employees but no one was paying attention to us.  Leslie commented that they were not waiters, but standers.  Indeed.  To my astonishment, Leslie stated that the little dishes, once empty, were supposed to be promptly refilled.  You could have fooled me.  And it seems like most other Korean places do not do that.  Leslie had to flag down a serviceperson to request a refill.  Later I had to wave down someone else for more tea.

At around $11 a pop at lunch with all those edible extras, you can’t go wrong here at BCD Tofu House.  Unless they give you medium when you wanted mild.  As an added laugh, the paper towel dispenser in the bathroom is helpfully labelled “paper towels.”

Restaurant experiment: Curry Leaf

Curry Leaf

99 Lexington Avenue at 27th Street

New York, NY 10016

212-725-5558

http://www.curryleafnyc.com

Leslie and I met up for a weekday lunch.  I suggested Saravanaas but the line was flowing out the door, so we nixed that and wandered up Lex, ending up at Curry Leaf which was less crowded.

We both ordered the lunch prix fixe and picked out the tandoori platter: “chicken tikka, tandoori chicken, seek kabob & one vegetable curry” along with basmati rice, naan, salad, and rice pudding.  A fair deal for $9.95, considering that neither of us were able to finish everything.  Hello, dinner.

The salad was just iceberg with an oily dressing.  The naan was terrific, warm, airy, soft, and fresh.  The rice was good.  But I think not all of the items listed on the menu were included, and maybe they ran out because it just looked like tandoori chicken only.  Which is okay because I like it, but that was odd.  It was a teensy bit dry but still really delightful.  My veggie of choice was  saag paneer, “cottage cheese & spinach cooked in butter flavored tomato gravy.”  I’ve had saag paneer a couple of times and wasn’t expecting spicy.  Leslie and I are spice wimps and didn’t desire to have our taste buds lasered off, so I was surprised that the saag was a little spicy though it was certainly manageable.

The rice pudding wasn’t on the menu so it was  pleasant surprise and saved me from ordering a mango lassi.  It was slightly chilled, not too ricey, with strong coconut flavors and a smidge of sliced almonds.  I don’t even like rice pudding all that much, and I enjoyed this.

Bad: I saw a mammoth fly hanging out above a painting on the wall.  Ew.  Still, the food’s better than Banana Leaf.

Restaurant experiment: La Parisienne

La Parisienne

910 Seventh Avenue between 57th and 58th Streets

New York, NY 10019

212-765-4591

Leslie and I were looking for a place to eat in between a double feature.  She suggested we go to La Parisienne.  Was it a French place?, I asked her.  No, it wasn’t.  Just a diner trying to be fancy.

Run by old Greek men, La Parisienne isn’t particularly French in any regard.  The booth we sat in had a little placard with New Line Cinema on it for some reason, along with other names.  I ordered a burger which was servicable.  I forgot that when I don’t order the deluxe at diners, the burger is basically naked.  And who wants that?  I did a special request for raw onions, and the waiter obliged, and there was no exorbitant fee tacked on for that.  Because you never know in NYC, I say as I recall a certain sour cream incident at La Palapa with Leslie.

But with Burger Joint just down the street, this simply can’t compare.

Maybe the Greek fare would totally rock my tastebuds?

I ordered a slice of New York cheesecake because I needed more food and there was time to kill.  With the first bite, I couldn’t decided how I felt about the cake and Leslie commented that my face said it all.  After I kept eating, I decided that it wasn’t bad. 

And why was the diner closing at 9pm on Saturday?  Strange diner.