New York Restaurant Reviews – Page 15 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Irving Mill

116 East 16th Street between Irving Place and Union Square East
212/254.1600â€Ž
$129 for three, with beers, with tip
♥

Wow, they made a big deal about the burgers here. Don’t get me wrong: they were satisfying, but nothing more incredible than what other places in the city has to offer. It also didn’t make up for the confused service we received from our waiter who seemed out of it.

We ordered a few appetizers with our burgers to split between the three of us: salt and pepper pork ribs, crispy pigs’ ears salad with radicchio topped with creme fraiche and arugula-shiitake mushroom salad. We also ordered a side of kale to eat with our burgers. It was perplexing when our waiter brought all the vegetables for appetizers, leaving my friend eating the kale while two of us ate our salads. When we brought this to our waiter’s attention, he seemed to forget that the kale is offered as a side on the menu.

For shiitake, mine looked very much like button mushrooms. I couldn’t pin-point if it was the lack of dressing or tossing of ingredients together in a bowl, but they didn’t meld with the greens. What I expected to be a hearty salad was really dry and boring. I’ve had better salad from delis than this one. The salt and pepper pork ribs brought the same unexciting feeling. How can anything be well-seasoned and at the same time taste bland? When the busboy took away my plate, he spilled the leftover rib juice on our table and we watched as it remained on our table until we had to leave.

I ordered my burger medium-rare but it was pretty rare inside. I didn’t mind it, but I know that that would be unacceptable to many. The fries on the side were limp and soggy. At this point, our waiter disappeared and never returned. We had two different guys bring us coffee and our bill.

The saving grace of the night was the crispy pigs’ ears salad. They were truly crispy and mouth-watering but I would have been more satisfied without the creme fraiche on it. If the service was more pleasant, we would have stayed and ordered extra drinks to try and salvage our night, but we couldn’t wait to get out of there and just give our waiter a break.

Fuleen Seafood Restaurant

11 Division Street between Catherine and Market
212/941.6888â€Ž
$35 for two, without drinks, with tip
♥ ♥

We were in Chinatown, in our usual nursing home mood, craving soup and vegetables when I upped the ante: Should we try something new? I don’t know, man. As far as I’m concerned, everything past Bowery is cat territory. We cracked up but we crossed the street anyway. We walked by Fuleen and it was packed. With Chinese people! It must be good right? Chinese people eating Chinese food? So we walked in.

We skipped the menu and asked our elderly waiter about the pot the Chinese family next to us was devouring. Fish head stew with leeks and ginger, he said. Fish head! We’ll get that!
Trying something new, even for us, is difficult because we already know what we like in a Chinese restaurant and we never want to end up with sweet and spicy chicken with broccoli. Unless we’re with someone who speaks Chinese, we count on our usual fare: xiao long bao and fish steamed with chives from Joe’s Shanghai or dan dan noodles and smoked tofu with celery from Grand Sichuan.

The fish head was a lot of work but the flavor was all there. Every bit of meat we managed to suck and prod out was our reward for persevering. The leeks gave the dish balance and kept the ginger from being too overpowering. With a little bit of white rice and pea shoot leaves on the side, we were full and satisfied. Our waiter recognized our efforts by serving us complementary winter melon soup and a sweet jelly dessert at the end of our meal.

Crossing Bowery paid off after all. Now we wonder what else is up on the horizon.

Txikito

240 Ninth Avenue between 24th and 25th Streets
212/242.4730
$230 for four, with a bottle of wine, with tip
♥ ♥ ♥

I will always be impressed when someone can make something out of almost nothing. When that something is different than usual, I’m even more in awe of the skill that comes with that thought in the first place. At Txikito, there are some skillful people in the kitchen. Take my silverfish salad. Silverfish is easy to find in Chinatown; and cheap, too. At Txikito, they toss them in a light batter, fry to make them crunchy and serve them atop a bowl of wild arugula leaves. Then there are the leeks; poached and then drizzled in vinaigrette and sprinkled with chopped boiled egg. The dish is similar to one of Blue Ribbon’s signature dishes and it worked just fine on our table full of pork. My ultimate favorite “cheap” dish was the beef tongue, made crispy and served with mustard and cornichons. I relished the fact that the other two people at our table ate them–and liked them–because they had no idea what they were eating.

And then there are the dishes that take a lot of preparation and warrant the price on the menu. I’ve eaten octopus carpaccio a few times before, but the Txikito version is one of the best ones. Perhaps tenderized by slapping each piece against a chopping board (a la Jewel Bako) and then drizzled with oil, lemon juice, marjoram and some chili, it was tender and crunchy at the same time: a texture that might be weird to some, but really good to me. The suckling pig special was the most expensive on our bill at $30, but it was succulent and tasty; the meat melting off the bones and all the fat dripping down the crispy skin–pure heaven.

The blistered serrano peppers were hotter in the end than I would have liked; the Catalan version I savored in Barcelona was much sweeter. The crab meat gratin was tasty but unexciting. The blood sausage was wrapped in crispy egg-roll skin; it killed me to pay $8 for them. The small sandwiches of unsmoked bacon seemed out of place with the dinner items, but I liked the finger-food presentation.

Our waitress was very patient and brought out everything in perfect timing and order. One of us never experienced Spanish pintxos before, so I watched the waitress patiently explain the food choices to him. We selected a lot of meat, but she made sure the seafood and vegetables came in between. On a busy Saturday night, they let us stay until 11:30pm even though we were one of the last tables around. As we exited the restaurant, our inexperienced friend said, That has got to be one of the best dinners I’ve had in a long time. Txikito is good for that, but also excellent for someone like me.

Market Table

54 Carmine Street on the corner of Bedford
212/255.2100
$90 each for a group of three, with a bottle of wine, with tip
♥ ♥ ♥

Is it too early to name my favorite restaurant of 2009? Last year, I ate at Dovetail the day after Christmas (and a week after its official opening) and it set the bar for my 2008 dining. If Market Table set the tone for the year last Friday, then the bar is pretty high for me right now.

Four of us giggling girls were ten minutes late for our round table at Market Table. I got a call from the maitre d’ while we were turning the corner on Bedford. I hate being late most of all, so I ran ahead of my friends to apologize to the front of the restaurant. It’s in the old Shopsin’s space with large glass windows facing the corners of Carmine and Bedford, but it’s warm and welcoming as you step inside. The maitre d’ shrugged off our tardiness while our waiter treated us as if we’ve been coming to the restaurant for the last few months.

Market Table opened first with a store, but the demand for more tables was high so they went full force with just the restaurant. Former Mermaid Inn chef Mikey Price joined forces with Little Owlâ€™s Joey Campanaro and Gabriel Stulman to open a larger space in the West Village with a menu that’s hearty and, to be honest, hard to fuck up. At Market Table, the kitchen showed how simple food can be so good if you just execute well.

The beef carpaccio was served with an egg salad, shaved Parmesan cheese, capers and croutons. The thin slices of beef were so fresh, they melted in our mouths. If one of us didn’t like the idea of raw beef, I didn’t have to convince her to try them. The seared scallops were sweet and succulent and lightly charred to perfectly meld with the slices of bitter blood orange and tangy hearts of palm. The hamachi sashimi with the limey vinaigrette was the first one to go; the hazelnuts gave it texture and the apple some crunch.

I can’t give the grilled lamb T-bones justice here. You should just go and order them medium-rare and taste for yourself. Why can’t every lamb I order be as good as this? They were the most expensive item on the menu at $32, but each serving comes with two large chunks good to share between two. Of course, the three of us got our own. The watercress and sunchoke salad that came with it made it extra special, drizzled with red wine reduction and melted Gouda cheese. The pork tenderloin was so moist and naturally sweet with pancetta wrapped around it. The small roasted tomatoes and banana fingerlings made it more exciting than just plain potatoes.

The desserts were the weakest during our visit. The brownie wasn’t the moist type we all were panning for while the butterscotch pudding wasn’t the favorite. I think we were all looking for something more dense and cake-y. (I can only imagine how heavenly it would be if the Dovetail pastry chef swooped in at Market Table.) But if a casual get-together ends with a high-end dining experience, give me a cup of mint tea and I’ll call it a very good night.

Vinegar Hill House

72 Hudson Avenue between Front and Water Streets, near DUMBO Brooklyn
718/522.1018
$40 each for a group of 5, with drinks and tip
♥ ♥

If you’re tired of the lumberjack look because you’ve seen enough of the same style at Freemans, Hearth and even the J. Crew Men’s Shop in TriBeCa, you’re better off going elsewhere. If you like plaid shirts and facial hair, plus a more accommodating service than any of those hipster places in Manhattan, Vinegar Hill House is just your place. (The couple who owns the restaurant met on the job at Freemans.) In a week’s time between my two visits, the vibe in Vinegar Hill House changed dramatically: it was the booze. The restaurant was a little more somber and comforting before they got their liquor license, but now with the hot toddies going around, the buzz is louder and, well, more intoxicating.

A lot has been said about the chicken at Vinegar Hill House and all the good things about it are true: it’s moist and liberally seasoned. But it is still just chicken, and at $16, it should be moist and well-seasoned. The Brussels sprouts were softer during my second visit and I wondered if they were baked that time around instead of roasted. The delicate squares of ravioli were just that, and the pork and trout dishes were without frills. All together, they made a nice meal even if everything is streamlined and very simple, capped with a slice of not-so-Guinness chocolate cake.

I do like a little adventure on my menu and nothing gets me more excited than something out of the box when it comes to classic dishes. I know Jean Adamson is a capable chef, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she brings out the guns as more and more seasonal ingredients come out in the spring. Perhaps it’s to keep Manhattanites away; and in this day and age of too many plaid shirts, that’s just fine with me.