Category: Union Square + Murray Hill

Reviews of Union Square + Murray Hill + Gramercy Park Restaurants

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.

Ureña

37 East 28th Street between Park and Madison Avenues
212/213.2328
about $150 for two, with two drinks, without tip
♥ ♥
Update, 2007: Renovated as Pamplona

Ureña is the latest restaurant to open in Murray Hill from one of David Bouley’s apprentice and ex-executive chef of Blue Hill, Alex Ureña. The restaurant has been dubbed one of the ugliest by New York blogs when it opened, but it was obvious that they’ve listened to the critics by the time we visited. They’ve softened the lights to tone down the harshness of the yellow walls and swirl-patterned carpet. The bar is still by the door, but New York City real estate doesn’t come cheap and I can imagine that it will stay there.

Alex Ureña is Dominican and Ureña is billed under Spanish food, but I would categorize it under New American because the menu was a mishmash of different ingredients and cooking techniques. There’s a lot more fish in the menu than I expected, but there’s really nothing unheard of. I wanted to see more of the experimental side of the chef–the El Bulli techniques he’s learned from another mentor, Ferran Adrià.

I did enjoy the octopus and the arctic char with the sweetbreads. The beef ribs also melted like butter. The sauce was a good match to our Grenache. The reward came during dessert with one of Caryn Stabinsky’s creations, of Wylie Dufresne’s WD-50. I loved the beet panna cotta; it was in perfect harmony with the sour cream and orange salt.

Our waiter did not warm up to us until he saw that we loved our dessert. When we were seated, he asked us if we wanted tap or sparkling water. When the boy answered tap, he asked us what “chap” was. He may have left us perplexed, but I’m pretty sure Ureña will finally surprise us the next time we drop by.

Bar Jamon

125 East 17th Street on Irving Place
212/253.2773
about $125 for two, with a few drinks, without tip
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Jamon is Spanish for ham and Bar Jamon is the most recent translation in the New York City scene. Mario Batali’s latest digs is right next to Casa Mono, his fifth restaurant in New York City. The space is good for fifteen couples at most, but more than thirty were inside, even on a Tuesday night. We squeezed ourselves in to eat tapas and drink Spanish wine and new guests jumped to the next stool that freed up. A little jazz and a little Wilco were playing when we were there, but the music was so faint compared to the collective noise of those who had the same idea as we did.

With two bottles of Tempranillo, we shared two plates of ham cured for fourteen months. We also got the sardines en escabeche and marinated anchovies with migas de chorizo or sausage crumbs. We snacked on a plate of two kinds of cheeses and enjoyed their bread with some good olive oil. We didn’t think we’d stay past 9pm because of the crowd but as soon as we snatched the stools in the back, we ended up staying for two more hours.

Bar Jamon is a scene all right, but it’s a New York City scene and that you can’t pass up.