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: 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: Fatty Crab

Fatty Crab

2170 Broadway between 76th and 77th Streets

New York, NY 10024

212-496-2722

http://www.fattycrab.com/

This place had been filed away in my food rolodex as a “To Try” since February (thanks Mike).  The Upper West Side outpost is relatively shiny and new; the original is in the West Village, but I’ve never been.

The service was not very attentive.  Or they would come and drop off plates but not pay attention at the end to see if I needed anything else.  I had to blurt out my requests quickly just when they were about to run away. 

Since Stacy and I couldn’t decide on our selections (the waiter suggested the non-spicy dishes for me since most of the menu is heavy-handed with the hot), we decided to get a few things to share. 

Kaya toast & teh tarik ($7)–this was an appetizer but ended up appearing after the other two dishes.  That actually worked out well since the sweetness of the coconutty Nutella-like filling between the toast was dessert-like and pleasing.  The teh tarik was like chai flavored milk.  Not bad.

Watermelon pickle and crispy pork ($15)–pictured on the right of the photograph.  Pickled watermelon was a curiosity.  Slightly ginger tasting.  The pork was a pure delight!  Crispy on the outside, a taste sensation.  Yeah.

Curried bacon sandwich with ramps, aioli, egg garnish ($14)–pictured on the left.  Bacon.  Really, is there anything else I have to say?  How could I not order this?  I could do without the cilantro in that and in the other plate, but oh well.  I’ll suffer if the positives tremendously outweigh the negatives.

The bathroom is a character.  It’s darkness, and there are some photographs verging on lewd being displayed.  The dishes are wonderful but the prices/portion size are not wonderful.  Malaysian food shouldn’t be this costly!

Despite not eating any crab, I was down with the Fatty Crab.  Phat!

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!

Restaurant experiment: Phoenix Park

Phoenix Park

206 East 67th Street between Second and Third Avenues

New York, NY 10065

212-717-8181

http://www.phoenixparkny.com/

Stacy’s new go-to bar was our go-to for dinner as we wanted a solid meal which meant for me, a welcoming burger. Phoenix Park is divided up into several room and even has an outside area but that was full so we resigned ourselves to a back room. It was pretty empty at the onset but filled up rather quickly.

The fries were excellent! Just the way I want ‘em: crunchy, slender, salty. Mad praise for the generous white onion quantity. The patty was cooked slightly freakishly because I ordered medium well, and the beef was charred on the outside and then verging on medium or even medium rare on the inside. Oh well. Overall, the package worked.

The paper menus on the table declared PP to have been open since 1998. How ancient. Hah!

Restaurant experiment: Veritas

Veritas

43 East 20th Street between Broadway and Park Avenue South

New York, NY 10003

212-353-3700

http://www.veritas-nyc.com/

Eight people commanding a restaurant.  Kind of cool but kind of not since Veritas was on the empty side.  Almost creepy.  It’s nice to have attention lavished on you, but a few more full tables would have been nice.  Holiday weekend?  A shame regardless. 

It was AmyL’s idea to check Veritas out.  Even though the chef associated with the place has since departed, it’s still noted for its cuisine (one Michelin star) and mammoth wine list.

We sat around a figure-8 shaped table which sort of segregated our group into two factions.  After some discussion, it was agreed to try out the nine course tasting menu.  Yikes.  I’ve never done a tasting menu that large before…have I even done a tasting menu?  Don’t think so. 

Armed with glasses of riesling, here’s what we had.  It was too dark in the restaurant for perfect pictures; we must make do with a small smattering.  The kind employees gave us menus to take home so we could remember all the dishes we tried.  Perfect!

1. Amuse bouche–asparagus soup with croutons, thumbs up.
2. Lemon marinated langoustine–mmm!  One of my favorites since I’m partial to raw shellfish, and it came with caviar.  Langoustine is also known as scampi and the Norway lobster, as I looked up just now.  Ah, now Red Lobster Shrimp Scampi makes sense.
3. Foie gras mille-feuille–mmm again!  Foie gras with pineapple was a rather unconventional pairing, but it worked. 
4. Lobster nage–eh.  Lobster soup with white asparagus.
5. Fresh white asparagus roti–the yolk from the egg attacked Stacy!  The egg was somewhat bland, but that was balanced out by the saltiness of the jamon.
6. 6.  Sauteed frogs legs–this had to be the most talked about platter during the meal.  The bone was pulled out in such a way that the meat turned into a lollipop.  Plus you had a special dish of water with which to wash your fingers.  What fun!  Mini-chicken drumsticks with green dipping sauce.
7. Wild turbot–another eh.
8. Barbary duck breast–while I did praise this, I was become stuffed at this point and couldn’t enjoy it as much.  Bummer.  Nectarines (whoops, I said peach) and figs were delightfully warm and sweet. 
9. L-Ossau-Iraty–cheese!
10. 10.  Chocolate mille-feuille–again, I was too stuffed.  They sure do like putting gold flakes in the food.
11. 11.  Bonus dessert–marshmallow and Earl Grey truffle and something that I forgot and ate before I took a snapshot.  The other two were not of note, but I drink Earl Grey like nobody’s business, so the Earl Grey chocolate was just my style.

Nine course tasting menus could be a bit of a mixed bag.  I don’t think any one dinner guest of mine was vehemently infatuated with all eleven courses, but we all liked a lot several and were neutral or didn’t like several.  It all evens out.

Healthy debates–err conversation, good friends, fun food.  And that’s the truth that I found in the wine.

Restaurant experiment: The Ethiopian Restaurant

The Ethiopian Restaurant

1582 First Avenue between 83rd and 84th Streets

New York, NY 10028

212-717-7311

http://www.theethiopianrestaurant.com/

Stacy and I have had Ethiopian on the brain since Julie brought it up a few weeks ago. All right, maybe not on the brain, but at least at the very backs of our brains. So when we were deciding on a place for post-happy hour appetite relief, it was settled to come here.

The Ethiopian Restaurant has to be one of the worst names ever. It’s just so uninspired. But it wasn’t too crowded inside like a lot of Upper East Side places can be. Fine by me. I highly recommended the honey wine (tej) to Stacy, so she heeded by advice and ordered a bottle of it for us. The bottle told me it was made in New York State. It’s just mead I guess. But no matter. Stacy was keen on the tej to my relief. Woo hoo!

I ordered the tibs wot (“strips of beef cooked in berbere sauce with an assortment of traditional spices”), and I found it to be pretty finger-licking good.

Sean selected the lamb Ethiopian combo (“Our special combination of yebeg alecha, tibs wot, tikel gomen, misr wot and yabesh gomen”). You honestly can’t go wrong with combos at Ethiopian establishments because you can sample a lot of different plates with your dining companions. That works.

I believe Stacy picked out the doro wot (“spicy chicken stew simmered in berbere, garlic, onion and spiced butter served with a hard-boiled egg”) because it was supposedly insanely spicy, and I was warned to keep away.

All the entrees were about $12-14. The portions were slightly meager, or at least more so compared to my other NYC Ethiopian dining experience at Meskerem. I stuffed myself silly with the injera. Stacy and I are fans of that sour bread.

In a neighborhood that needs all the exciting international cuisines it can get, if you’re in the area, you can’t go terribly wrong by eating at The Ethiopian Restaurant.

Restaurant experiment: Tuck Shop

Tuck Shop

68 East 1st Street between First and Second Avenues

New York, NY 10003

212-979-5200

http://www.tuckshopnyc.com/

Meat pies. Sweeney Todd!

Luckily these pies don’t have people in them. Or so we believe.

Blondie was cranked in the background, and folks floated in and out of the petite pie purveyor. Some to go, some squishing at tables and ledges. I joined Stacy and Julie at the bar where they were nursing brewskis. I tried an Aussie beer; it was all right. The worker dude recommended it to me.

Julie and I picked one of the evening’s specials called “The Kiwi” which was ground beef and cheese. We agreed that you can’t go wrong with that. Words never truer have been uttered. Just a little spicy but not overwhelmingly so for wimpy me. Julie suggested I do a pre-eat picture and a post-eat picture, but the latter turned out rather dreadful, so I am sparing you all. You’ll have to imagine meat with melty cheese in your heads then. For $5-6, you really can’t beat the deal.

Then our trio split the vanilla slice ($3) because our top choice of the rhubarb pie was not available. Sadness. “Vanilla custard, sandwiched between 2 layers of puff pastry finished with a white fondant icing atop.” What a treat! Looks like a Toaster Strudel. To prevent sugar OD, split with friends! Do not eat solo.

Tuck in at the Tuck Shop!

Restaurant experiment: Lima’s Taste

Lima’s Taste

122 Christopher Street at Bedford Street

New York, NY 10014

212-242-0010

http://www.limastaste.com/

Pisco sours, where have you been all my life? We have a lot of catching up to do.

Since Stacy and I were across the street seeing Coraline the musical (one word review: wacky), we came here after to have a post-theater meal. Even though she made a reservation, the staff seemed confused. I have a feeling they didn’t even make note of her call. At any rate, Lima’s Taste was doing brisk business but there was no real wait. It was like 0 degrees in there. I was shivering through the first half of the meal, but later they gave the AC a rest.

Three men asked us for drink orders. Um, this is not a sign of confidence.

Continuing with the passion fruit theme, I ordered a passion fruit pisco sour while Stacy ordered a plain ol’ one. Going to this About.com site, I learned that pisco is a brandy distilled from white muscat grapes, and it was adopted by both Peru and Chile as a national drink. Does the US have a national drink? Looks like no. How sad! You can associate other liquids with other countries, but the US just has ‘em all, so I guess no national drink for us.

Stacy and I shared two appetizers: tuna ceviche with creamy lemon aji sauce ($16) and bacon wrapped shrimp with Peruvian dipping sauce ($11). The tuna ceviche was spicy and cilantro-laden, so I couldn’t approve it personally, but luckily Stacy was there to eat that while I took care of the bacon wrapped shrimp business. I wish the bacon were a little crispier, but oh well. The sauce, green of hue, was yummy.

My main was the rather dull-seeming lamb stew, “hearty helpings of lamb with assorted vegetables & rice” ($17). It’s very comforting, like blankets in winter. Nothing that nutty or bonkers, but that was just what I needed. Too much filling up on appetizers necessitated a to go box. Then the waiter brought it out in an untimely fashion, making me wonder if my leftovers were tossed out or neglected.

Later the Amy Winehouse background music stopped, and disco hits blew out our eardrums. What was up with that? First I assumed birthday party, but nope. My ears were relieved when the music was toned down though considering the neighborhood, I’m not surprised about the music selections. When I think of Peruvian comida, yes, 70s disco hits come to mind, or at least now they certainly will.

P.S. I love this picture. Funky angles, glowing lights, drinks and dinner.  More glam than it was.

Restaurant experiment: Cafe El Portal

Cafe El Portal

174 Elizabeth Street between Kenmare and Spring Streets

New York, NY 10012

212-226-4642

Cafe El Portal is one of those places which is sort of like a hole-in-the-wall but not really, or more like a fake hole-in-the-wall. It’s tiny but not so tiny in that you’re sitting in your table neighbor’s lap. Slightly low on the lights, cheery atmosphere verging on nearly raucous.

Stacy and I got the party started with margaritas. If you are a margarita enthusiast like me, you should find something you like on the drink menu. Frozen, on the rocks, plain, fruity…you’re set. Stacy got the prickly pear non-frozen, and I opted for the frozen passion fruit. Yeah! Just what I needed post-another day at the grind and pre-rocking out.

For my meal, I had the burrito de tinga, “tortilla filled with beans, rice, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and beef cooked in tomato/chiporle sauce” ($10.50). The menu definitely read “chiporle” sauce (as it does on MenuPages), but after Googling, I wonder if it’s supposed to be chipotle and was a typo. Anyway, soft beef and a hint of creamy sweet cinnamon I detected, delightful! I was giving myself a pat on the back for eating it all.

Caveats: no complimentary chips and salsa (though I believe this doesn’t exist in NYC period), no credit cards besides American Express (dumb!). Aside from that, I would recommend the Portal if you’re bopping around the Nolita area. Muy bien.