New York Restaurant Reviews – Page 5 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Pokpok

127 Columbia Street between Kane and Degraw Streets, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
$55 each for 5 people, with drinks, with tip
718/923.9322
♥ ♥

After a bland dinner at Mission Chinese the week before, I was eager to taste what a Portland, Oregon chef could bring to discerning New York City diners.

Tastiest:
1. Cha Cha La Vong – a turmeric-marinated catfish fried with scallions and, surprise, dill; served with vermicelli, fresh mint leaves, cilantro and peanuts
2. Kai Yaang – roasted hen stuffed with lemongrass, garlic, pepper and cilantro
3. Phak Buung Fai Daeng – water spinach wok-fried with fish sauce, chili and garlic

Notable:
1. The Chiang Mai sausage was described as having aromatics, but it failed to mention that it will be overwhelmingly kaffir lime leaves

Questionable:
1. 20% service fee was automatically added to our bill – I thought that was for a group of 6 or more
2. $1 fee charged to every credit card because we used 4 and their limit is 3
3. No American Express accepted

Ootoya

8 West 18th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues
$58 each for 2 people, no drinks, with tip
212.255/0018
♥ ♥

Ootoya may be a restaurant chain, but the newly opened New York City branch looks anything but.

Tastiest:
1. Grilled beef tongue – will be the most buttery thing you’ll ever put in your mouth this season
2. Tonkatsu – The pork tonkatsu will make you believe in breaded meat again

Notable:
1. Tofu salad – The soft tofu will remind you of freshly made burrata; make sure you drizzle the dressing all over the greens to get the salad’s whole flavor profile; a little salt may need to be added

Good:
1. Sushi – The fish is fresh, just nothing exceptional. The chirashizushi is a very good deal if you’ll only eat one thing and expect to be full.
2. Yakitori – Just like any other grilled vegetables from Japanese yakitori joints, the asparagus wrapped with bacon are standouts. The okra may have been a tad too mature.

Service:
1. Japanese politeness galore. I will expect more rowdiness when the liquor license comes through.

Parish Hall

109 A North 3rd Street between Berry and Wythe in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$86 each for 3 people, with 3 drinks apiece, without tip
718/782.2602
♥ ♥ ♥

The disclaimer here is that I made a small investment on Parish Hall to finally fulfill one of my dreams of being a small part of the restaurant business. I also wanted to support George Weld, someone I’ve known since the dot-com days when we used to pretend we were actually working. But the fact of the matter is that I will still give this restaurant a good review even if I did not know George and even if I wasn’t a fan of his first venture, Egg.

If I can eat the duck breast everyday with a side of their “new field greens”, I’d be totally content. I’ve had the duck twice the last three times I visited (fourth if you count them hosting the Gastronauts’ 6th anniversary), and both times it was cooked impeccably. I was just bummed that I had to share it with my friends.

The salad’s composition depends on what greens they have in the kitchen that day, taking the concept of farm-to-table to a whole new level since George actually owns Goatfell Farm which provides most of their vegetables. They’ve had dandelion, arugula, mizuna, chickweed, watercress and all sorts of lettuces, and all of them tasted fresh, earthy and healthy. During one visit, nasturtium was on my plate; it was peppery and tasted so much like a… green–there’s really no other way to describe its rawness.

Equally delicious is the grilled rack of lamb and roasted shoulder and equally surprising to see on the plate was the flax and nettle pesto that came with it, not so much of a sauce but a dollop so you can lather as little or as much as you want. (But don’t worry, no stings included!) The homey dumpling also changes depending on what ingredients are on hand. I loved the version with asparagus, pears–and what again?–spinach cream and fennel pollen. A most recent addition was trout in a clean broth with some fiddleheads and the perfect cubes of apples. The dishes seem simple, but simple is never easy to implement in the kitchen. I think a chef’s skills are more challenged when he or she can make something so complicated look so simple to us mortals.

If you walk past the restaurant or go to their Web site, you’ll read a variety of the produce they present: beet, maple, apple-sorrel sauces, purée of parsnips, green garlic aioli, nettle yogurt, kohlrabi and sunchokes chips. I would like to think I’ve had my share of eating in some of America’s best restaurants, but nowhere else have I been perplexed about ingredients that are so straightforwardly named. Thomas Keller’s menus always come with quotation marks to describe their food, but with Parish Hall you get the list of ingredients and still have to ask the servers about them.

George has described their cooking as “the truth of the Northeast”–I suppose I didn’t know anything about what this part of the country can offer. Parish Hall and chef Evan Hanczor shows it can offer so much.

Some photos from my last few visits:

A simple Alpine breakfast named after the highest peak in the Catskills with a slow-cooked egg, some charcuterie, mustard and jam. I like the touch of fresh radishes on the plate to cut through the richness.

Water buffalo pastrami made especially for the Gastronauts’ 6th anniversary. You won’t see this on the regular menu though.

A plate of beautiful radishes:

Danji

346 West 52nd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues
212/586.2880
$66 for my share with 2 others, with drinks, with tip
♥ ♥

Tastiest:
1. Spicy whelk salad with buckwheat noodles – just enough saltiness and spiciness. It’s refreshing to see whelks on the menu.
2. Poached sablefish with spicy daikon – reminded me of a wonderful dish I had at Tojo’s in Vancouver, only not as much finesse
3. Tofu with ginger-scallion dressing – I couldn’t tell what kind of tofu it was because it was stringy. I wondered if it was the fried batter that made it so because it had the texture of mozzarella cheese.
4. Makgeolli, or Korean rice beer – They called it rice beer, but I read that it’s mostly referred to as rice wine. It’s quite thin but milky, and the sourness and sweetness are both very subtle.

Most boring:
1. Kimchi-bacon-chorizo “paella” with fried egg – I think they called it paella because it was on a sizzling plate, but it reminded me of a dish you make with your leftovers topped with a fried egg. It’s good–just not worth $16.

Overrated:
1. Bulgogi sliders – Even Ruth Reichl wrote a poem about them, but it’s still the same bulgogi flavor you get outside of the Los Angeles area: a little too sweet and lazy

Service:
The maître d’ was impatient when the place was crowded from about 6:30pm until 9pm. She just had it from every customer insisting they were the next ones to be seated. We never saw her again until my friend ordered another glass of Riesling, but the entire staff was more attentive after the dinner rush was over.

Isa

38 Wythe Street off South 2nd Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
347/689.3594
$70 each for 2 people, with 2 drinks, without tip
♥ ♥ ♥

When Eater.com announced that Masten Lake would be closing, a small part of me hurt. I haven’t been in a restaurant that was as delicious and creative as Masten Lake since Momofuku Ssam, and even though I had to trek to Williamsburg from Harlem to eat there, I was so excited about it that I didn’t mind the L commute. Enter Isa, another restaurant in almost the same area that could very well replace my love for Masten Lake.

Notable:
1. Their prix-fixe menu is the best deal in town for $50 for three courses.

Tastiest:
1. The beet salad was so pretty. Each plate reminded me of Eleven Madison Park, which I totally did not expect in a hipster place like Isa.
2. The mackerel was overwhelming in that same awesome way Masten Lake’s version impressed me.
3. The grilled and shaved celeriac was a nice surprise.
4. The grapefruit curd was so interesting that I had to compliment the cute Asian girl in the back responsible for it.

Service:
The dapperly-dressed man at the front of the house–ascot, natch–told us that all tables were committed until 10:30pm, but that we can sit at the bar since it’s first-come first-served basis. We returned a few minutes later and ordered some nice cocktails with bourbon and lemon dew and also a rum drink with mint. Said dapper man stopped by later to say that he was glad we made it after all.