Mediterranean – Writing With My Mouth Full

ilili

236 Fifth Avenue between 27th and 28th Streets
212/683.2929
around $125 for 4, with drinks, with tip
♥ ♥

After thirteen days eating fresh seafood and vegetables in Dominica for both lunch and dinner, all I wanted to eat upon returning to New York was a bloody steak. It was godsend that Miriam was still in the city the morning my stomach started asking for red meat and I was glad to meet up with her at ilili before she had to go back to London.

ilili, a spacious restaurant specializing in Lebanese, Turkish and Mediterranean dishes, looks like a hotel restaurant and is apparently a party scene at night. When we stopped by for lunch though, the place was quite serene with only the soft buzz of quiet business meetings. It was, of course, the Monday after the blizzard, but I thought New Yorkers will be back on their feet eating after the New Year holiday. I was okay that most people stayed in.

The restaurant’s $20 lunch prix fixe is one of the best deals in the city and includes a main dish and a side. I was set to order their lamb burger until our waiter announced that the day’s special was lamb porterhouse with stuffed eggplants. It sounded too heavy for lunch, but it was hard to say no after Miriam promised that I may have a bite of her burger.

Their grape leaves were just what I needed to start–that Mediterranean taste was the only thing missing in the Caribbean and it was like something new in my mouth. The shared plate of warm pita bread and hummus sealed the deal for me. Miriam’s lamb burger was perfectly cooked and made light by the spicy arugula leaves. The fries were to die for, thick slivers but light and crunchy. The porterhouse was perfectly seasoned with a pistachio crumb on top. The stuffed eggplant was pillowy and bursted with harissa after each bite. They reminded me so much of the vegetables I ate in Tunisia and brought back so many good travel memories.

I guessed that the pistachio ice cream included either lavender or rose water since it gave me that soapy aftertaste, but otherwise creamy and tasty. It may have not been as creamy as their clotted cream in simple syrup with bananas, but what more can you ask for when all you originally wanted was red meat? I can’t wait to return for dinner.

Related post/s:
Tunisia road trip travel journal

12 Chairs

56 MacDougal Street between Houston and Prince
212/254.8640
about $120 for four, with drinks, with tip
â™¥

12 Chairs tastes so much better from the outside than inside. We were famished, but another restaurant around the area couldn’t accommodate four people for at least another hour. We walked down one of my favorite streets in the city and stopped in front of 12 Chairs. It’s one of the restaurants on the block I’ve been meaning to check out but never remember to visit when I’m in the neighborhood. It looked good when we peeked from the street, so we went inside.

And then a shock of light surprised us. Did it all of a sudden transform into a pizza parlor? Why the hell is it so bright inside? We were there with a couple more people, but the space felt abandoned and lonely. The Mediterranean menu looked simple enough, but nothing was so exciting that we just ended up ordering a bunch of appetizers.

I liked the stuffed grape leaves–I never skip them when I see them on any menu. A soft yogurt dip drizzled with olive oil came with them. I appreciated that the beets weren’t from a can, and believe me, even New York restaurants do that. 12 Chairs roasted them just right. The egg salad guacamole was a more interesting dip than it sounds and a good accompaniment to the falafel and pita bread. The veal dumplings were on the heavier side, and the chicken pockets–I don’t know why any restaurant would admit to calling them that–were stuffed with spinach. I was a little more hungry, but because I was already feeling unsure about 12 Chairs, I ordered the safest thing on their list: a medium-rare burger. It unfortunately came with Thousand Island dressing, which I’ve asked to be left out, but it was satisfying until the last bite.

Dani Restaurant

333 Hudson Street corner of Charlton
212/633.9333
$300 for fifteen without drinks, with tip
â™¥

Update, 2008: Dani is now closed and only available for special events.

Dani looked promising as soon as we walked in. Its space on Hudson is so airy and spacious, it made me wonder why other restaurants just don’t move to the West Village. I booked a table during lunch for a big group. They told me over the phone that our tables will be separated in two groups but assured me that they will be next to each other. When we were all seated, we occupied an L-shaped corner but with an empty table in between the two groups. We asked the maitre’d to move the place settings one table over so that we can be together but she never returned to fulfill our request. So there we ate, two groups side by side, separated by a small table in between, standing to pass plates of appetizers from one table to the next.

The lunch menu is very simple with a good selection of sandwiches and salads. There are also some hearty fares like my super al dente orecchiette with lamb or my co-worker’s pasta al forno with smoked mozarella and sausage. A tuna special was deemed mediocre by another co-worker which was curious because I’ve only seen him eat fried chicken during lunch times. Their prix fixe was a good deal with a small bowl of soup, salad and a panini, but those who ordered the paninis alone all disliked the pasta dough chips served on the side. Dani provides a nice space for big parties, but its staff needs to loosen up to accommodate even those who do not order booze during the day and work a little harder for the 20% tip they automatically add to group checks.

Il Buco

47 Bond Street between Lafayette and Bowery
212/533.1932
$180 for four people with a bottle of wine, without tip
♥

We wanted to eat at Il Buco ever since we walked by one night and took a peek inside. Candles were lit that made the ambiance romantic and rustic at the same time. We just knew that it would be a nice place to sit, eat and drink wine with good company. Four of us finally booked a table one cold, winter night to do exactly just that. We could only get a 6pm table with a week’s notice, so we took it. Unfortunately, we were seated right next to the entrance of the wine cellar. Cozy it wasn’t. It looked like they were conducting a field trip down the basement. Guests kept walking in and stepping back out and I kept interrupting our table’s conversation by pushing the door closed to keep the draft from coming in. Our waitress never made a move to transfer us to an unoccupied table even though the restaurant was not completely full before 8pm. We had to ask the bus boy for more bread and olive oil because our waitress kept forgetting us. But since the bus boy only came by to take our plates away, we never had enough.

The menu is Mediterranean, a cuisine that I can enjoy any time, with some Italian specialities. But nothing in the menu made my heart palpitate. The special of the night was braised oxtails on mashed potatoes which I make at home for less than $30. An appetizer portion of baby eels were ordered, only to be canceled when our waitress informed us that it was going to cost us $75.

We ended up ordering the octopus with Umbrian chickpeas and parsley, the bass with fresh pomegranate, lime, red chili and cilantro, the cod with fennel, lemon and red onion with mint salsa verde, the fennel-crusted sashimi-grade tuna and the beef carpaccio. The small plates were at least $12 each. They were all delicious but a little hard on the wallet. We also decided to order full plates of the pappardelle with black trumpet mushrooms and the gnocchi. The pasta servings were so small. I can’t imagine getting them as half orders.

Il Buco is like waking up startled in the middle of a beautiful dream.