SoHo – Writing With My Mouth Full

Uncle Boons

7 Spring Street between Elizabeth and Bowery
$216 for 2 people, with a lot of drinks, with tip
646/370.6650
♥ ♥

What?! I can’t hear you!, was my reply to our waiter when he tried to tell us that squeezing some lime juice on our food will make them taste better.

The truth of the matter is that I am getting too old for loud restaurants. I couldn’t even decipher what music they were playing because it was so loud inside with all the chatter. I’m all for chatter and activity in some restaurants but it becomes a problem when I have to scream to make conversation with my friends. It becomes a problem when the most quiet place you can go to is the bathroom. There’s music in there, too! Are we still in SoHo or did we move to the Meatpacking District in between courses?

But speaking of courses, the food was quite tasty. I appreciate that there’s finally Thai food in Manhattan that’s spicy enough to call Thai. One of my pet peeves is when restaurants do not give their diners enough credit and tone down the spiciness of their food. We like to eat! We can take spiciness, you know? The lines to get in Mission Chinese Food and Pok Pok New York should be telling enough. When I want Thai food, I don’t want the Chinese version of Thai food. I want to be reminded of the street food I had in Bangkok and the hawker stall food I had in Singapore. And when I want Thai food, I don’t want to have to go to Queens to get it.

I liked the dip made of smoked catfish and pork that came with French breakfast radishes, sweet peas, and Thai eggplants. To some people, it might be weird to have sliced raw vegetables on a plate without the greens, but it was a good palate cleanser in between the monkfish “cheeks” with noodles in ginger sauce and the grilled sausage and octopus.

Oh, that octopus; I could eat 20 more of those little suckers! I would have been happy to try more of their offerings, but our 2 main courses were as large as the appetizers were tiny. I wished we were able to order the mains in smaller portions as to not miss out, but I suppose I’ll just have to make a return trip–with earplugs on.

Costata

206 Spring Street between Sixth Avenue and Sullivan Street
$155 for 2 people, with drinks, with tip
212/334.3320
♥ ♥ ♥

Matt wanted to buy me dinner while he was in town, so naturally I dragged him to the newest Michael White restaurant I can’t afford. It was 10pm and I was a bit worried that they wouldn’t let us in because kitchens usually close at that time. We walked in and they sat us right away. Our cocktails were pretty amazing and because we skipped on the steak (next time someone else wants to pay for dinner, promise!), the food came pretty fast.

While we waited, they brought out the fresh bread with this little guy on the table: lard in olive oil. It’s a heart attack-inducing treat that we couldn’t stop eating.

My favorite were the crudo razor clams marinated with fennel and small pieces of soppressata. At $22 for 3 pieces though, they’re hard to swallow. I would gladly eat 10 more of them if I can afford them.

The casarecci pasta al nero was to die for. I’ve had squid ink pasta before, but they’ve usually been spaghetti with the squid ink in the sauce. These look like cute little leeches–sorry to say–served with shrimp and cuttlefish with a wonderful chile kick. I’m still dreaming about this dish.

And as if we weren’t full enough, we couldn’t help but order my favorite pasta, the cavatelli, smothered in a super-rich braised oxtail stew. If I could coddle a bowl of this during rainy days with a bold glass of red wine, I would be a happy human being.

Michael White restaurants never disappoint when you want really refined Italian food. Go when you’re on someone else’s tab or celebrating a milestone because it’s definitely pricey for just a regular weeknight.

Sandwiches For Lunch, Downtown New York City

I had one day off between the old job and the next, so I planned a sandwich tour to make up for all those missed New York City lunches while I was in Connecticut. Three sandwich shops were recommended to me by my friend Josh; I needed his help because I’ve been out of the food scene for what I felt was too long. He told me to pick one and enjoy, but true to Cia-style, I went to all three and enlisted my friend Dex to help me put everything down.

Each sandwich shop occupied a sliver of a space, with Torrissi a tad more spacious to accommodate more than three tables. They all had short, straightforward menus, good unpretentious vibes and pretty damn good sandwiches. I give them all ♥ ♥

Rbbts
142 Sullivan Street between Prince and Houston

We ordered the jerk chicken sandwich, the most promising item on their menu. The fish tacos sounded good as well, but they didn’t have them the day we stopped by. The jerk chicken was on the salty side but it was full of flavor and they didn’t skimp on the chicken. A bowl of rice with it would have made me a very happy person, but I’ll take that fresh, crusty bread for lunch just fine.

Local Café
144 Sullivan Street between Prince and Houston

Next door at Local, we opted for the panini with fresh mozarella from Joe’s Dairy. You can’t go any more local than that: Joe’s Dairy has been a fixture of Sullivan Street for so many years even before SoHo exploded into the shopping mecca of downtown New York City. The contrast between the warm, toasty bread against the soft, giving cheese was incredible. The caprese combination is nothing new, but simplicity done well makes a good impression.

Torrisi Italian Specialties
250 Mulberry Street off Prince Street

We walked off the two sandwiches and headed east to Torrisi. Of all the shops we visited, Torrisi is the type of shop I dream of opening in my next life, complete with hanging sausages and aged meats. We kept a low profile and opted for three of their Italian antipasti: fried cauliflower, roasted rabe and roasted bell peppers.

Perhaps it was the time of day, but Torrisi was more bustling than the previous two and we had to wait fifteen minutes before we could eat. It got even busier when the clock hit 2pm and the line wrapped in front of the counter and out the door. I’ll definitely be back again for their sandwiches when I can spend more leisure time to wait.

And during my first week at the new job, I tried the following to add to this set of reviews:

Num Pang Sandwich Shop
21 East 12th Street off University Avenue

I couldn’t wait to taste Num Pang’s pulled pork sandwich after my other friend Caroline told me she thought about it days after she first tasted it. After a late night out, I stopped by to order one duroc pork sandwich with honey and added the ginger barbecued brisket to compare it with. Both smelled delicious and were very filling, but were essentially Cambodian stews in a sandwich. I could have easily eaten the filling with a bowl of white rice. It was humid outside and the sandwiches brought me back to those warm Southeast Asian nights.

Luke’s Lobster
93 East 7th Street off First Avenue

I waited in line for about ten minutes before I was able to order my lobster roll. I waited another fifteen before I actually got my order to-go. Such is the price you have to pay when you join the queue at the sandwich shop du jour and you’re competing with other customers who are also changing their status on Facebook, checking in on Four Square, reviewing on Yelp and, well, spooning on UrbanSpoon.

Luke’s lobster roll, albeit smaller than the rest of the east coast’s, was worth it because I can’t just walk around New York City and get a fresh and trustworthy lobster roll. Was it better than the other rolls I’ve had in Amagansett or Narragansett? It was comparable, but I’ll take it when the craving to spend $14 on a sandwich hits me.

Travertine

19 Kenmare Street off Bowery
212/966.1810
about $85 for two, with two glasses of wine, without tip
♥ ♥

Is it always like this? I had to ask the restaurant manager. He gave me a smirk; he knew exactly what I meant. No, this is the weekend. It’s usually more quiet on a weeknight. I was glad to hear that because I really liked the food at Travertine but I don’t need to eat next to guys with perfectly sculpted five o’clock shadows while a DJ spins Michael Jackson mixes on the side. When I eat, especially if I’m sitting at the bar, I would like to be able to talk to the bartender without screaming and without getting shoved to the side by drunk ladies who take photos of themselves for their Facebook pages.

The beef carpaccio was delicious. The meat was beautifully cut with marbling that formed like snowflakes under a microscope. Beets and micro-greens were sparsely distributed to complement the crumbles of Stilton. The bone marrow aioli brought the two dishes together. The duck breast was very well-seasoned and perfectly cooked. The roasted plums had a hint of lavender that penetrated the thick red wine drizzled all over it. I asked the bartender for the menu again because I couldn’t figure out where that different taste to the plums was coming from.

At Travertine, desserts were not afterthoughts. The basil gelato was to die for, served with a dark chocolate topped with crushed hazelnuts and cocoa nibs. If I had more room, the panna cotta with figs would have been the next candidate.

I’ll heed the manager’s advice next time and visit on a weeknight. I hope the food would be of the same caliber when there is no hoopla.

Jo’s

264 Elizabeth Street between Houston and Prince
212/966.9640
about $40 for one, with a drink, with tip
♥

The night that Jo’s officially opened, I walked by to check out how the old Tasting Room space had transformed. It was before 8pm and it wasn’t crowded, so I decided to stay and sit at the bar for a Vin de Pays and try out the pappardelle with lamb stew as my Wednesday night meal.

One of the greatest things about New York City is that you can sit at a bar alone and there’s usually a fifty per cent chance that you’ll meet someone who’s not as creepy as the rest of the city’s inhabitants. If you’re lucky you could get a free drink out of it, but if you’re really lucky, you can get invited to the menu tasting by the co-owner’s friends. I was in the really lucky category last week. I ended up joining the group next to me while they passed around dishes that the kitchen was churning out for feedback.

Jo’s labels itself as “American bistro”. I think its an appropriate description because they had a mélange of cuisines available. As I sat down at the marbled bar and looked around the dimly-lit space, I expected tapas with expensive wines. The space looks more handsome than the food offered on the down-to-earth menu. On a chalkboard, burgers and fries; a bowl of skewers joined a plate of Thai-spiced chicken pieces; my pappardelle could have been paired with the arugula salad. The back room feels a little bit more diner-like: the Tasting Room heavy stable door is gone and the wine cellar has been moved next to the bathrooms to make room for another group by the main entrance.

Jo’s, named after one of the owners’ mother, might still be having an identity crisis in terms of food while they hash out the details, but while I was there I could feel the love from the owners’ friends and families who showed up to celebrate the opening. The economy might be bad, but people are still out enjoying their early summer nights with good company. It’s another reason why I love New York City. I wish Jo’s the best.

Related post/s:
I still miss the Tasting Room