New York Restaurant Reviews – Page 40 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Chinese Mirch

120 Lexington Avenue corner of 28th Street
212/532.3663
$65 for two, without drinks, with tip
♥

Mirch is loosely translated as spicy in Hindi and the combination of Sichuan and Cantonese cuisines happily bring out the intense flavor of Indian cooking. The positive is that the dishes are lighter than what I am used to because pork and beef are not in the menu in honor of the Muslim and Hindi diets. The negative is that the distinctive flavor of all the cuisines combined may be too much for a diner with a less friendly stomach. Indeed, mine protested when I got home–three times.

We ordered the lime coriander soup which was deliciously sour for me. It was clear broth but a little gooey, perhaps a little cornstarch made it so. This is exactly what the Chinese Indian combination was like throughout our entire meal–saucy and spicy. We also had their notorious chicken lollipops, wing meat pulled back to form a ball at the other end of the bone. My brother makes them at home but the Mirch version has enough garlic to make them addicting. They’re deep-fried to crunchy perfection that I had to order one serving to go so that my father can taste them. The deep-fried okra were served in a container fit for Belgian fries and each okra sliver was coated in batter and peppered with paprika and other chili spices. The vegetarian meatballs were quite good, too, and even after eating one of the green chiles swimming in even more sauce, we were still craving for more. The chicken and garlic noodles were satisfying although the chicken bits were barely detectable. I loved pouring the vinegar that was on our table over them.

The waiters are friendly but the service is abrupt. Our waiter tried to take plates away twice even though we were still eating. He also tipped over the okra container to see if we were done with them that I was tempted to slap him on the arm so he would chill. We ordered a bowl of rice when the two main courses were served but it never came. When it was included in our bill and I alerted the cashier, they insisted that we ate the rice they brought to our table. Our waiter pointed to a small grain of rice on our table and asked, But what is this over here? as if we would really try to skip over paying $1.39. They let the bill stand, as I suggested, and I gave them $1.39 less on the tip. Can you blame me if I just didn’t want to pay for what wasn’t served? The waiters also let us leave without giving us the leftovers we asked to take home. It was a good thing we remembered half a block away. When we opened our bag, the new order of chicken lollipops were there (I ordered two but they only gave and charged me for one) but the leftover noodles weren’t. We were just too tired to correct another mistake that we just decided to walk away.

Bar Bossa

232 Elizabeth Street between Houston and Prince
212/625.2345
$57 for one, with four drinks, with tip
â™¥ â™¥

Both times I’ve eaten at Bar Bossa, I sat in the back room with a group of friends where bathroom visitors always say, Oh, I didn’t know there was a table back here. Sitting in the back is like sitting in someone’s cozy and well-lit home where the whiff of the good food about to come out from the kitchen floats around. You can reserve the back ahead of time, but in one of our visits, we walked in and were accommodated without any problems. (Check out the soap in the bathroom as I’m sure it will be a topic of conversation at your table.) I’ve also dined at the bar alone–yes, I was very proud of myself, too–and I enjoy their fish entree with braised tomatoes.

The owners are English and Brazilian but the Latinos in the kitchen run the show, churning out specials like pork chops with chayote, pineapple and potato peppered with crispy sausage and breaded beef steak with rice and watercress. Their offerings play on all kinds of cuisine: baked crab meat in a clam shell, beef carpaccio on a bed of mixed greens and even Italian paninis. Several cocktails and a bottle of wine later, even the assorted desserts taste good: bananas baked in coconut, Guiness chocolate cake, passion fruit-flavored sponge cake with whipped cream. The bar is proud of their caipirinhas which come in different flavors. With the amount of liquor they put in them, they have no reason not to be.

Otto Pizzeria e Enoteca

One Fifth Avenue on 8th Street
212/995.9559
$90 for three, with several drinks, with tip
♥ ♥

When a group of my friends and I just want a laid-back night with good food but can’t afford the other Batali establishments, we end up at Otto where we can eat thin-crust pizzas cooked on a flat-iron griddle. My favorite is the funghi and taleggio pizza with earthy mushrooms and fragrant taleggio cheese. The fennel with bottarga, or Italian caviar, showered with mozarella and pecorino pizza is also delicious. For those who want something more familiar, the classic marinara and pepperoni pizzas are also available as well as smaller pasta dishes like penne, spaghetti and linguine. We spend most of our money in antipasti like prosciutto, octopus, tomato and mozarella salad and the anchovies.

The service is brisk especially when the place is hopping on weekends. If you prefer to skip the dining room, there are tables at the bar where you can just stand and hover over your food and Italian wine. During one visit, our waiter bumped into our table and spilled water all over my brother’s lap. They apologized by bringing him a complimentary beer and dessert afterwards. It’s not Babbo, but your wallet will gladly thank you for it.

Blue Ribbon Brooklyn

280 5th Avenue between 1st Street and Garfield Place, Park Slope, Brooklyn
718/840.0404
about $300 for three, with several drinks, without tip
♥ ♥

It’s been years since I’ve been to Park Slope. The Dr. used to live there and it was back then when he took me to Blue Ribbon for dinner. My brother was in town and we happened to be driving around Brooklyn one rainy Saturday, so when dinner time came up, I suggested we go back to his old ‘hood.

Nothing’s changed about the restaurant. It’s still crowded and people still wait for their turn to be seated either at the bar or the dining room in the back. We were lucky that a table for three just opened up when we walked in. The menu hasn’t changed either. Seasonal seafoods still dominate the menu–a pound of crayfish were ordered to start with a dozen oysters. Their bone marrow and oxtail marmalade is still one of our favorites. When you poke out the fat and eat it with the sweetness of the jelly preserve, you’ll understand why. The steak tartare was just another plate of appreciated excess with the several glasses of sparkling and red wine we drank.

The service is pretty attentive even though the place is so busy. A Blue Ribbon experience usually ends up not needing the attention of the service staff: you just eat and eat.

Related post/s:
Roasted bone marrow recipe

SoHo Park

62 Prince Street corner of Lafayette
212/219.2129
about $15 for one, with a drink, without tip
♥

A really uncool name for such a great space and location, SoHo Park opened this week to all kinds of hungry and curious visitors. There were fashionable girls in line while the Brooks Brothers-wearing boys sat at the bar; even backpack-carrying guys joined gray-haired ladies in the dining area. I stopped by after work when they first opened and ordered a Hoegaarden and a Stella at the bar. The bartender had no clue how much beers were. I said, let’s just make it $11, shall we? And he did. (They probably were about $5 apiece anyway.) After drinks, I wanted to see if I can sit on one of the camouflage-covered benches outside. I waited for the hostess to let me know how long the wait was but I could never get her attention. She needed help from other employees fast!

I returned the next day for lunch and the line was long. There were plenty of seats inside but of course, the benches outside were already taken. After we ordered, we were given old license plates that had our order numbers written on them. Perhaps a nice touch to their “park” theme but the servers walked all over the restaurant in search of the correct numbers when delivering orders. (It was 1pm, by the way, but the girl at the counter was still compelled to greet each person in line a good morning.)

The double Park burger was juicy but I didn’t get cheese with it–I wasn’t reminded by the girl at the counter that I could order it as an extra. The hand-cut Belgian fries were also pretty good.
The grilled cheese with pesto smelled heavenly and tasted like it was indeed freshly-made. The onion rings were crunchy, greasy and was our best guilty pleasure side order. The different sauces were notable especially the red-pepper ketchup and the garlic aioli. (Redundant, I know, but they had different kinds of aioli.) The turkey portobello mushroom sandwich was a bit boring and dry but the focacia bread and the barely detectable sauce saved it. (I hope they correct the misspelling on their menu board before my next visit, though.) We also ordered the fried pickles which just turned out to be, well, hot. I think I like my Gus’ pickles just the way they are.

The food took a while to come because of the time of day, but when they did, we were pretty content (and hungry). The foot traffic will be good for business for sure, but they have to act quickly and focus on the service before they start turning people away.