Restaurant experiment: Red Rooster

Okay, I’m finding it hilarious that I go to a place called BLUE Smoke and now somewhere called RED Rooster. Need to find a WHITE _____ restaurant to complete the patriotic triad.

This was my first trip back to Harlem in some time.  Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster has only opened in December, but it’s been a happening spot ever since.  I must say this is not my first encounter with Marcus and Harlem.  When I visited the Target on 116th Street last year, he had a line of kitchen linens that he had designed in honor of that particular Target (or something like that).

Lily and I elected to go here since it’s been getting a lot of buzz (RR has been in the news as the site of an Obama fundraiser) and is in an area familiar to us.  We got a reservation easily enough for dinner.  The front bar scene was hopping.  I liked the openness of the space.  There are no tables outside unlike Chez Lucienne next door, but it feels non-stuffy inside.  We were seated at a communal table, sandwiched between two women who had something to do with real estate and kept looking at apartments on a glowing iPad and between a mother and young daughter, celebrating the daughter’s success in school.  Both sets of diners were chatty and nice.  The table was too wide though; I had to yell or project strongly so that Lily could hear me, and in return, I had to strain my ear devices to hear her words.

Here’s the vantage point from my seat:

Neat decor!  But for those of you into celebrity chef sightings, no Marcus Samuelsson was in the kitchen, whipping up meatballs.  Alas.

The menu is heavily soul-comfort food, with touches of Ethiopian and Swedish.  I went in not reading any Yelp reviews so that I could go in without influences.  I settled on “The Fried Yard Bird ($21)” since hey, I was in a place with a farm fowl in the title.

What was kind of annoying was that the waiter, a good guy, kept trying to push add-ons.  “Would you be interested in anything to munch on?  Pickles or nuts?”  “How about any appetizers?”  It was like that the whole time.  I don’t know if that was how he was trained or what, but it got old.  If we want stuff, we’ll ask for it.  At least he and the other staff members were attentive; my water glass never was completely drained.  To thwart the endless requests to buy more, I said I was going to save room for dessert.  Despite all those pushes for sides and appetizers, we were granted complimentary bread.  The olive oil dip had a very familiar taste to it that I couldn’t put my finger on.  Cheese?  No, not quite.  And the the mom next to us provided the answer since she too was wondering: chickpeas.  Ah yes!

Here is the yard bird.  A shaker of extra spice came out too, but since the red-orange sauce already burned my mouth, I didn’t mess around with that.  I really like the collard greens.  I started with the drumstick and was taken by the non-dry aspect of the meat.  The skin also had a unique flavor to it.  But the breast was not as rewarding with the meat, and then I was getting a little sick of the breading which was getting a little mealy.  I wanted more collard greens!

The dessert I saved room for ended up being the black and white mud ($8).  While black and white cookies are dumb and popular in NYC for what reason, I don’t know, I wanted to try this since it sounded terrific.  Oreo cookie crust, layer of white chocolate thick mousse, layer of chocolate thick mousse, topped with sea salt and candied orange peel (which Lily mistook for a French fry).  The plate and the dessert itself were chilled.  Refreshingly chocolatey.  But too much for one person, so Lily helped me polish the chocolate craziness off.  Though as I ate more and more, I thought there was too much salt in the crust and top.  This reminds me very much so of the dessert I had at Marlow and Sons.  Again, ease up on the sea salt.

Make a special trip to scope out the bathrooms; you’ll be glad you did.

Restaurant experiment: Clinton Street Baking Company

Clinton Street Baking Company

4 Clinton Street between Houston and Stanton Streets

New York, NY 10002

646-602-6263

http://clintonstreetbaking.com/

Clinton St. Baking Company is one of the biggest names in the Manhattan brunch scene, hands down.  With 1000+ Yelp reviews and 1+ hourlong waits, and zillions of reviews and mentions in magazines and guidebooks, the stats speak for themselves.  Lily and I decided to brave a wait to have a delightful pre-film brunch; we planned on seeing Jane Eyre after at the nearby Landmark Sunshine.

I was a tad late (darn you, F train) but no matter, Lily had put our names down and was waiting outside.  The hostess told her 30-40 minutes, but we quickly concluded that the times given were probably random and arbitrary.  I’ll spare you the boring details of our wait.  At least the weather was helping us in this regard, with sunshine and milder temperatures (50s) making it easy to wait outside.  Plus it was amusing to stare at the diners by the big windows, spying on their brunches; I spotted a bloody mary in the hands of one such patron. 

Finally the hostess popped her head out the door and asked “Lily?” and we zipped inside.  We maneuvered into our two top near the bathroom, toward the back of the small space.  It was actually a good spot, with only one side of people as the other side was the wall, easy access to the facilities, and a peek into the bustling kitchen.

Even though I had reviewed the menu outside, I was still on the fence about what to order.  Chocolate chunk pancakes (there were also blueberry and banana walnut), a waffle special, eggs Benedict?  Lily couldn’t resist her lifesaving Maine blueberry pancakes ($13), and I couldn’t stay away from eggs Benedict ($15).  Even though I was tempted to go the pancake route because Clinton Street is famous for the cakes in a pan, Lily suggested I get the eggs B and agreed to let me sample the pancakes.  I was satisfied with this compromise.  We paired up our entrees with glasses of freshly squeezed citrus ($3.50 each): her orange and me grapefruit.

Lily kindly cut me a sliver from her short stack. 

Eggs Benedict.  The hollandaise here is quite mayo-y, so if that isn’t your bag, then steer clear.  The breakout star of this production is the biscuit which is crumbly and  buttery and way amazing.  Yum, so delightful.  I will have to dock a point for the yolk being more solid than runny, but not a huge deal.

There’s certainly pressure to get you up and out as soon as possible.  A busboy whisked Lily’s plate away as soon as she ate the last airy morsel, and a check was dropped off immediately after.  When I wrapped up, the waitress came by and asked “Do you need change?” before we had even cracked open the black pleather.  Somewhat irritating, along with the face that Clinton Street is cash only.  We can take a hint though.

Due to its fame, there are a fair share of tourists here.  At the next table over, five women were stuffed into a table seating four people.  They were definitely tourists as one woman was wearing a necklace with a large cross on it, and they were asking themselves if LES was pronounced “Les” or L.E.S.

P.S.  The movie was not as impressive as the brunch!

Restaurant experiment: Jane

Jane

100 West Houston Street between Thompson Street and LaGuardia Place

New York, NY 10012

212-254-7000

http://www.ctrnyc.com/JANE/index.html

We were trying to decide where to go for dinner, somewhere not too expensive and in lower Manhattan.  I put together a laundry list of establishments, and BenM enthusiastically chose Jane, and Lily seconded the motion.  So I made a reservation and met the two and BenG at Jane.  Though making a reservation wasn’t really needed at that point; we were there at 6:30 and there were two tables eating.  I felt a little bad since Arturo’s next door was packed to the gills.  But no matter.

Lily and I were curious about the homemade soft drinks ($4), and she ended up with the fresh squeezed lemonade and I with the pomegranate lemonade, and also BenM with the plain lemonade.  Though I have to admit I also wanted the passion limeade sparkler and iced green tea.  They all sounded delightful.  Luckily the pomegranate lemonade met expectations, namely being extremely tart.  Yowza.  Me like.

Our waiter brought over a bread basket.  Lily waxed happiness about these spicy homemade chips, and there were fat hunks of fluffy regular bread.  I was torn between the steak salad and roasted salmon but in the end, choose the salmon.  BenM too wanted the omega 3 fatty acid fish, and Lily had the Jane Burger, and BenG the moules frites.  The $20 roasted salmon came with “artichoke puree, grilled asparagus, dill vinaigrette.”

Seriously?  I loved this dish.  My main criticism would be that the portion was small.  Both BenM and I adored the salmon and sides but were not completely stuffed, as evidenced by our gobbling of the bread basket bread (I used the absorbent bread to sop up the dill vinaigrette), asking for more free bread, and sneaking Lily’s fries (with her permission).  Mmm, rosemary fries with fresh rosemary.  I don’t know that BenG finished his generous bowl of fries either.  He let me sample a moule, tasty.  Back to my dish, the artichoke puree was phenomenal!  It was reminiscent of mashed potatoes but with that distinctive zing of the ‘choke.  Buttery, creamy, deliciousness.  More please.  And more salmon while you’re at it, gracias.  Fell apart at the touch of my knife, oh yeah.

As Jane began to attract more diners, the noise level rose proportionally, high ceilings not helping.  I was wondering why we were seated at a circular table in the center of the room, while there were plenty of open tables by the wall.  Must be so that people walking by see the restaurant as having guests inside?  Our table was very close to an adjacent table.  I hate it when you can feel a server slipping by between the back of your chair and another chair.  And it doesn’t help when the another chair is eventually filled.  Boo, tight seating.  The huge picture windows at the front gave me sweet views of traffic rumbling by on Houston.

Jane’s clientele ranged from family dinners to couples to groups of friends, all ages.  I definitely think of Jane as a place that would satisfy folks of all sorts.  The brunch is supposedly terrific as well.  All four of us spilled onto Houston happy, going off into the night.

Restaurant experiment: Merrion Square

Merrion Square

1840 Second Avenue at 95th Street

New York, NY 10128

212-831-7696

http://www.merrionsquarenyc.com/

Thanks to The Onion, I learned about Merrion Square and its terrific deals, deals which were doing their job, luring me to the establishment.  I guess with all the Second Avenue subway construction, Merrion Square might be having to work harder, luring people in.  Free wings with pitchers?  Free burgers with drinks?  Whoa, I’m totally there.

So one night, Lily, Afua, and I met up at the Square.  Since it was still after work time, the place wasn’t very crowded which was fine by us.  At least we weren’t the only folks there which is never a fun situation.  Due to being on a corner, a reasonable amount of sunlight entered the space.  For the game enthusiasts, there’s skee ball as well as pool to be played.  The bartender did double duty as waiter.  Because it was rather chill when Lily and I initially showed up, he came back to our table too often, but as MS received more guests, his visits became infrequent.

Lily and I ordered a pitcher of Blue Moon.  When the bill came later, we were shocked that it cost $26.  That’s a bit much.  At least the free wings took the edge off of that shocker.  Eep.

The three of us dove eagerly into the eight buffalo wings.  They were on the spicy side and slathered in sauce.  I prefer my wings to be very fried and crunchy; these were softer.  But not bad.  We also took advantage of the free burger with drink purchase deal.  As to be expected, fries were not a part of the special but we ordered some fries a la carte and snacked on cajun curlies.  Hooray for several fry options!  Out of blue cheese for the burger?  Bummer dude.  You had to pay extra for the cheese but $1 isn’t bad for a burger.  The bun was not made of strong stuff but the chuck was pure beef and not too dry for well done.  Quesadillas and chicken fingers were also good bar food. 

Later, three adults brought some daughter to the place, and this group of four sat at the table next to us.  Why do you bring children to a bar?  This ain’t Park Slope, people!  Then I kept thinking about that Reese Witherspoon movie.  “You have a baby.  In a  bar.”  Or something like that. 

While the food isn’t exactly anything to drool over, the lack of pretension and throngs of people will encourage us to return.

Restaurant experiment: Ottomanelli New York Grill

Ottomanelli NY Grill

1424 Lexington Avenue at 93rd Street

New York, NY 10128

212-426-6886

http://www.nycotto.com/new_york_grill.php

Okay Ottomanelli, if you state that you open at 11am, open at 11am.  Don’t make Lily and I waste time at a nearby snobby pet store.  And they were still setting up while patrons such as us were ready to place orders.  Hmm.

All might be forgotten because this place has a sick brunch deal on the weekends.  For $10, you get two alcoholic drinks (mimosa, Prosecco, Bloody Mary), tea or coffee, and an entree.  Some of the entree choices included challah french toast, frittatas, and omelettes.  Lily and I settled on burgers.  There is a wide selection of cheeses to pick from which helped mollify me.  I decided to mix it up and nix blue in favor of creamy goat.  Service was slightly nice though inattentive and a little slow, oh well (I asked for tea and got coffee).  I asked for our seconds of booze and we were both served the same drink as our first even though that’s not what we wanted.  At least we could trade because Lily and I both wanted the same drinks in the reverse order.  And the mimosas and Proseccos were having no complaints for me.  Bloody Mary fans, you’ll have to find out how they are yourself.

Waffle fries do mix it up a little (ah, memories of Chick-fil-A) , and the huge pickle wedge is fab.  No tomato served with the burger oddly enough, maybe Ottomanelli thinks ketchup will serve both roles?  Earning points with me was the generosity of the goat cheese serving.  Meat-wise, you basically can’t go wrong with a burger from a restaurant that has its own butcher shop.

On our way out, the waiter stopped us because he thought we were talking about his hometown in Florida.  We weren’t.  ???  If you’re dying to have a killer brunch deal in this economy, you’ll find it in several locations in the Upper East of Ottomanelli NY Grills.

And how many bags are you checking today?

This post was inspired by Lily’s Facebook status update sometime in the latter part of 2009.

Bags and dark circles under your peepers automatically make you appear haggard and old.  That’s not desired, considering today’s image-conscious society.  I must confess that I am not heavily affected by this issue, but whenver I see a gal or fella with blackening underneath the ocular orbits, I think, “Someone needs sleep!” 

The causes of undereye darkness vary, but one major cause is your genes and pigment levels.  Sunlight, dermatitis, eczema, wimpy diet, partying until 5am, meds, boozing, ciggies, allergies, even getting old can cause this problem.  Thin skin is no good.  Shrink those vessels!  Looks like dilated blood vessels are to blame as well.

There’s no shortage of undereye circle concealers and creams but the evidence proving they actually do jack is not really there.  The latest trend is injecting fillers such as Restylane® and Juvederm® in the bad spots.  Yeouch!  Be cautious though, these fillers are not approved for this malady; you’re off-label.

Filling you in on fillers: cosmetic fillers are typically used to smooth away folds on the face.  They consist of hyaluronic acid (HA) which is naturally found in your body, with the biggest quantity in your eyes and joints.  HA is either whipped up in the good old lab or extracted from rooster combs (wha?!).  Other uses include eye/corneal surgery and osteoarthritis.

If you don’t want to spend $500 to have derms pop HA into your face, here are some less ouchy ways to combat the undereye gremlins.

1. Cold compresses: cold shrinks vessels.
2. Concealers (makeup) and vitamin creams
3. Pillows: elevating you head reduces the amount of blood in the target areas.
4. Sinus flushing: to reduce congestion
5. Rest!

References:

• http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/fashion/12SKIN.html
• http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dark-circles-under-eyes/MY00346
• http://thedermblog.com/2009/04/26/what-causes-dark-circles-under-your-eyes/
• http://www.restylaneusa.com/about-restylane.html
• http://www.juvederm.com/what_is_juvederm/what_is.aspx
• http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1062-HYALURONIC+ACID.aspx?activeIngredientId=1062&activeIngredientName=HYALURONIC+ACID&source=2

Restaurant experiment: Han Bat

Han Bat

53 West 35th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues

New York, NY 10001

212-629-5588

After shopping at Macy’s, Lily and I ended up with Korean for dinner because hey, K-town is right there.  Avoiding the madness of the Korean restaurants on 32nd Street, we ambled up to 35th Street (Lily’s idea).  Han Bat was next to a couple of other places.  Folks were waiting around for tables, but we were seated right away.  Sometimes it pays to be a party of two!

I was actually focused on what I wanted and not overwhelmed by the multitude of choices, so I suggested to Lily that we get the scallion pancake and some meat.  Han Bat only had a scallion pancake with shellfish (pajun), and I would have preferred no squid, but whatever.  Meat-wise, we got the bul go ki.

I always forget about the free appetizers.  Too much spicy stuff.  I stuck to the non-red items and foisted the red items onto Lily.  Good veggies: zucchini and bean sprouts.  The squares in the middle, we couldn’t figure out.

The pajun was tasty, and its inside was 90% scallions and squid versus the bready part.  We had to share one small bowl of rice though which wasn’t the best thing.  What can you do?  It’s NYC after all. 

 

The bill was about $40 per person.  If only Korean food were slightly cheaper!

Restaurant experiment: Yo In Yo Out

Yo In Yo Out

1569 Lexington Avenue between 100th & 101st Streets

New York, NY 10029

212-987-5450

http://yoinyoout.com/

As That Girl says, the name is just bad.  I don’t get what the owners were going for with that.  Yo In Yo Out isn’t a take away place, and it’s not the epitome of speediness.  A mystery.

Lily and I stepped into Yo In Yo Out (YIYO) as the first diners of the evening.  The enthusiastic owner/hostess/waitress made us feel welcome, no doubt.  The space also features a sitting area, much like a coffeehouse.  So YIYO could have that going on for it.

I ordered the truffle croque monsieur.  Yo In Yo Out’s version featured the gruyere cheese on top of the brioche.  Ham & cheese, failproof!  So not stingy with either, as you can see.  The side salad was fine, just your basic salad.  I like potato chips.

To my surprise, I had some room for dessert and hemmed and hawed over my options at the dessert case.  I finally chose one of the specials of the day, the raspberry tart.  I was expecting something a little sweeter than what I was actually consuming.  The nutty (almondy) base was thick and not too sweet.  Pretty presentation, no?

As time passed and more people filled into the eatery, the service seemed to decline.  I think they could benefit by adding at least one more waitperson since there were major lags between servicepoints (water refills, getting the check, etc).  Then it was a little awkward because the owner lady was talking to her kitchen staff about scheduling issues (the kitchen is open).  Um, maybe that should be discussed after hours.

In summary, be sure to stop by Yo In Yo Out when you are in a particularly patient mood!

Restaurant experiment: BXL Cafe

BXL Cafe

125 West 43rd Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue

New York, NY 10036

212-768-0200

http://bxlcafe.pregraphic.com/

I’m doing good with the Belgian places in NYC. Here’s another one to assess.

BXL was on Lily’s Yelp bookmarks, so we gave it a shot because we were in the Times Square area. Let me tell you, shutting down the traffic that feeds into the square is totally boss. It makes an already unbearable area much improved.

Lily and Jesse ordered beers and burgers. I expressed my disappointment that they decided not to go with cheese on their burgers. For shame! Note: they wanted me to specifically mention this in my writeup.

As for yours truly, I ordered the American Prepare or steak tartare if you will, for $17. I must admit I prefer the raw meat that Le Singe Vert serves up since BXL made it too peppery/mustardy for me. The fries were seasoned well and crunchy, but that all went downhill after they cooled off. Lily agreed. Note to self or to people going here and planning on chowing down on fries: eat them while they’re hot.

I stole sips from Lily’s Lindemans Framboise: “spontaneously fermented raspberry lambic. Very sweet, perfect with dessert. 5%.” Suggested by the waitress with the Eastern European accent. Dessert beer? Now that’s a concept I can fully support.

BXL was hopping with the post-work happy hour crowd, but that tapered off. Not too many tourists for that part of town though. It was still noisy with chatter, and if you’re into sports on the television, BXL can help you out there. I don’t know much about the beer selection, but it seemed adequate enough.

Restaurant experiment: Lombardi’s Pizza

Lombardi’s Pizza

32 Spring Street at Mott Street

New York, NY 10012

212-941-7994

http://www.firstpizza.com/

I was stoked to knock off two New York institutions in one night (the other being Katz’s). And no waits and throngs of tourists. Score!

Usually I am on my burger quest, but now I’ve taken a wee detour into a pizza quest. Lily was hungry, we were in Soho, I suggested Lombardi’s. That worked. On the way, we saw a dalmatian at the FDNY station. Novelty.

The hostess was wearing some earpiece like a Secret Service telemarketer combo. We were seated in the first dining room; I was surprised at how large Lombardi’s is. There was an obnoxious large group which needed to shut up, especially the loud talker man. After some deliberation, Lily and I agreed to share a small pizza with sauteed garlic spinach; it won out over roasted red peppers.

And was that the right choice or what? Totally appetizing. Marvelous sauce and fresh mozzarella. The center of the circle’s crust wasn’t falling apart. The outer crust was a tiny too much floured, but no biggie. The spinach brought the pizza to a whole new level. It all worked. It’s like one of those days where the sun is shining, it’s not too humid, you are wearing a new snazzy outfit, you left work early, and you excited about meeting friends for dinner at a place you picked out (wait, that’s me). Modify that to your liking.

It was about $20 total. Cash only, sigh. I might wait fifteen minutes in a line for Lombardi’s. Generous, because I dislike waiting in lines. This just well maybe perhaps might be the best pizza in Manhattan??? At the very least, it’s the oldest parlor in the US, birthed in 1905. Ancient!