New York Restaurant Reviews – Page 38 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Casa Mono

52 Irving Place corner of 17th Street
212/253.2773
$120 for two, with two drinks, with tip
♥ ♥

Mario Batali took a lit bit of convincing to let Chef Andy Nusser open up a Spanish tapas bar under his name, but as told in Heat, a tasting knocked their socks off. Two years after they first opened, the place is still packed and the wait to sit at the bar is still long. We went out one cold night after I wrote about Barcelona with plans on eating at Bar Jamon but I’ve been there so many times that I just wanted to see how its sister restaurant compared. Without reservations, the wait for the bar was an hour. We put our names down anyway and waited in the pub down the street. One Guiness later, the maitre d’ called to seat us. We put our coats back on and ran back to the restaurant where he gave us two choices: a table that we will need to give up after an hour and a half for another couple who actually had reservations, or at the bar where we can watch the chefs cook. Which do you think we chose?

We split four plates and a dessert with our small carafes of red wine. We saw that the Cal Pep of Barcelona had its influence here with their deep-fried green peppers and chipirones, or baby squid, with garbanzos, or chick peas. The giant duck egg is also a mainstay but we skipped those dishes because we wanted to try something with Casa Mono’s own signature on it.

The cockles, or small clams, were cooked with sloppy scrambled eggs topped with scallions. It was a good combination but we could barely taste the clams. The sweetbreads were toasty on the outside and soft in the inside and the roasted fennel was a nice touch. I would like to think I’m difficult to impress and only good chefs would think of bringing two things like them together.
Speaking of another great combination, the pig trotters were made into breaded square patties sandwiched with white anchovies. The vinegary taste of the small fish provided a great balance to the overwhelmingly gelatinous and sticky quality of the pig’s feet. It’s definitely not for everybody but I loved it. (And if your dining companion ends up liking it, too, I suggest that you keep him.)

I had to admit that I only ordered the cock’s combs because I was tickled to say it. (What, the cockles weren’t enough?) Because they were cooked in a porcini reduction, they tasted like mushrooms even though they had the consistency of soft tofu. They looked like black slugs on our plates but the earthy taste was very addicting. Two scoops of plum ice cream with candied orange rinds and crunchy orange-flavored nuts were the perfect ending to these flavorful, sometimes oversalted, dishes.

Go to Bar Jamon if you want to have simpler tapas like cured meats, but Casa Mono is worth a try if you want to experience the Batali influence in Catalan cooking.

La Esquina

106 Kenmare Street between Lafayette and Cleveland Place
646/613.7100
about $18 for one, with one drink, without tip
♥

I celebrated my 2005 birthday in the basement of La Esquina. My guests and I had to walk through the door marked with an Employees Only sticker, down the stairs and past the kitchen to get to the dungeon-like setting of the restaurant. I had to reserve a table for thirteen pretty quickly with my credit card because the word had just gotten out about this “secret place.” I ended up throwing my party a day after Vogue Magazine did theirs.

Nowadays, I usually end up in their corner spot, called The Corner, for a quick taco or grilled corn on the cob. Whether it’s hot out or not, The Corner always has pretty people standing outside. But the cafe around the block is a much better place for a sit-down meal. The nopales, or cactus, salad is refreshing with tomato salsa and parmesan shavings. I also like their fish tacos. A chunk of grilled fish comes in a skewer on a bed of lettuce, tomato, onions and radishes with green salsa wrapped in warm tortilla.

My only gripe is that their tacos cost $8 for two. I’d eat more often here if I didn’t have to contribute to their rent, but alas, feeling like you’re a part of the cool crowd of New York City comes at a high price. For a more down-to-earth Mexican experience, check out my Searching for a Good Taco food project, but if you want to be seen and heard, La Esquina is still one of those places.

New Malaysia

46-48 in the Chinatown Arcade between Canal and Bayard
212/964.0284
about $25 for two, without drinks, without tip
♥ ♥

Don’t let the hard-to-pronounce items on the menu stop you from ordering food from New Malaysia. For my first visit, I ordered the more traditional nasi lemak and the roti canai just to be on the safe side. After those two dishes, I knew I had to come back with a bigger stomach. When Anna’s Malaysian friend told me that New York has the best Malaysian food, I raised an eyebrow. I don’t know many Malaysian restaurants in the city except for the so-so Jaya on Baxter and the Indo-Malay Nyonya and Penang franchises, so I was willing to try New Malaysia as soon as I could.

I was more adventurous during my second visit and I ordered the asam laksa, a spicy and sour soup with lemongrass broth and crushed sardines. If it weren’t so salty, it would be my new anti-cold soup of choice. Too bad it doesn’t come in a smaller bowl. The kang kung belacan is stewed in shrimp and anchovy paste, much like how Filipinos cook the swamp vegetable (spelled kang kong). It seems a little steep for $8 a plate but we cleaned it off even with four other dishes.

Xe Lua

86 Mulberry Street between Canal and Bayard
212/577.8887
$18 for two, without drinks, without tip
♥ ♥ ♥

Anthony Bourdain once said that most people know that Vietnamese food is good but they just don’t have a clue how good. In New York City, it’s hard to find a really good Vietnamese place. I used to have a few favorite spots in Chinatown, but lately, they’ve gotten lazy about making the pho. You rarely get that beefy taste in the broth anymore.

The pho at Xe Lua not only taste beefy, they are gigantic. For less than $6, it is a good lunch deal which will surely warm the senses. Their broth oozes with flavor; it’s full, rich and tasty. The rice dishes are promising, too. The chicken served with mixed vegetables in lemongrass sauce tasted as good as it sounded. The crispy squid shared as an appetizer is indeed crispy. Even though it comes with brown sauce, you can still taste the squid.

With its vellum business card and witty menu–sections are divided as Porky, Chicken Little, Where’s the Beef? and No Meat Allow–Xe Lua is obviously the youngest Vietnamese joint in Chinatown. The bamboo bridge connecting the front to the main dining room with cloud-painted walls and water fountain are hokey, but Xe Lua is still trying to impress the neighborhood and I’m happy to give them the chance.

Le Bernardin

155 West 51st Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues
212/554.1515
about $300 for two, with matching drinks, without tip
♥ ♥ ♥

After dining at Le Bernardin for the Dr.’s birthday, I realized that it shouldn’t be categorized as French. The name may be French but the menu definitely screams New American. There were a lot of Asian ingredients like lemongrass, soy and wasabi. The South American influence was also present with ceviche waving the Peruvian–or Ecuadorian, if you prefer–flag. I was surprised to see spicy chorizo, too, but I got over it as soon as the Dr. picked his meals: Peking duck and green papaya salad with black bass, langoustine with chayote and pears, kampachi with ginger-coriander emulsion. (One of his wines was a “Naiades” Verdejo from Rueda, Spain, the same wine I had at Alinea. Funny that.)

A $100 prix fixe lets you pick one dish from the three sections of almost raw, barely touched and lightly cooked selections; the fourth course is dessert. I started with the four ways of fluke, from simple to complex combinations. Ceviche is easy to make but it’s even easier to mess up. With Le Bernardin’s take, I just wanted to slurp the sauce and soup from each bowl. A 2003 Slovakian Riesling from Chateau Bela was crisp and a good match. I couldn’t pass up the warm uni custard with julienned sisho leaves because I’ve just never had sea urchin prepared like it before. The two fresh unis on top reminded me of that ocean flavor I always crave. It was barely detectable from the custard–the right amount of uni-ness. For my main course, I went for the pan-roasted monkfish with confit peppers, patatas bravas and chorizo emulsion. I didn’t really understand why it was called a tribute to GaudÃ except for its Catalan ingredients. Perhaps it was the striped garnish, the simple lines. A glass of Pessac-lÃ©ognan from ChÃ¢teau Smith Haut Lafitte was, for lack of a less pretentious word, exquisite. My dessert consisted of warm peaches topped with strawberries and drizzled with honey.

We had a very early table and we dined with the demographic we’ve gotten used to seeing around us–we seem to travel to destinations and reserve restaurants “adults” frequent–so we were mostly treated by the staff as if we’ve been dining there for years. The service was neither short nor exceptional. What surprised me, however, was how old-fashioned Le Bernardin was. The entire room buzzed as it approached the more popular dinner time but it could use a little oomph in decor and lighting to match Chef Eric Ripert’s eclectic menu.