Upper West Side – Page 3 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Gari

370 Columbus Avenue off 78th Street
212/362.4816
$130 for two, with three drinks, with tip
♥

I was craving sushi but did not want to go home too late, so I looked for a sushi place around the upper west side. I found Gari on Columbus Avenue with all its Frank Bruni and Food & Wine writeups on the window and I thought, this could be promising. Because we walked in without a reservation, we weren’t able to sit at the bar. I love ordering the omakase only if I can talk to the sushi chef so that I can watch what’s he’s doing. For ten pieces at about $65 (about $75 if you also want sashimi), I opted for the sushi-by-piece instead. This is my only problem with Gari: the price. We started with the octopus ceviche but I only counted four slivers of octopus in my glass bowl; that comes out about $3 a sliver. I ordered the shrimp and crab rolls because it included woodear mushrooms. I needed to take the rolls apart to look for the mushrooms. I know it’s du jour to be all minimalist, but I’m hungry!

The sushi was pretty good. We ordered our usual favorites: fatty tuna, yellowtail, mackerel, smelt roe with quail egg, fluke and shad. The $14 roll of uni, though, was questionnable. It was fresh but it looked like it was whipped so they ended up looking like melted Kraft cheese. Was this a Zen presentation or was it to save on the uni? The damage with two Sapporos and a glass of Prosecco? $130 for two people. I went home and all I wanted was fried chicken. Next time, I’ll stay in midtown and go back to Sushiden.

Related post/s:
You’ll spend less money at Sushiden

Vintage Wine Bar

2492 Broadway corner of 93rd Street
212/721.9999
about $60 for two hungry people, with tip
â™¥

Before:

After the Cia and Cameron hurricane hit:

Searching For a Good Taco: Upper West Side

For my first search for a good taco, I decided to stay on Amsterdam Avenue and the upper west side, specifically from 100th to 145th Streets. I started on 100th mainly because I wanted to hit a favorite spot on 108th but also because I wanted to end up at Jesus’ Tacos near my apartment, a small store that shares space with Twin Donut. Every time I pass by, I chuckle at the name and I knew that someday, I’m going to have to buy something from there. (Of course, it’s more likely pronounced as Heh-sus than Gee-sus but that’s not as funny.)

I was alone and I immediately found out that two tacos were my limit, maybe three if I pick on the filling and skip the tortilla, so I kept it down to ordering chorizo or ground pork tacos. At the stores where they didn’t carry the pork kind, I either bought beef, goat or chicken. I also didn’t spend more than $2.50 on each taco, the cheapest being two dollars. As for selecting which ones to go to, I looked around as I made my way up Amsterdam Avenue and went in to every store, restaurant and bodega that had an awning painted with the Mexican flag colors and had, well, “tacos” or “Mexican food” plastered on the windows. Banderitas, loud Spanish music or television and a picture of the Lady of Guadalupe were all big pluses.

Noche, 852 Amsterdam Avenue between 101st and 102nd Streets, 212/662.6900

Italian Mexican, 886 Amsterdam Avenue between 102nd and 103rd Streets, 212/316.1427

Los Paisas, 890 Amsterdam Avenue between 103rd and 104th Streets, 212/961.1263

Taqueria y Fonda, 968 Amsterdam Avenue between 107th and 108th Streets, 212/531.0383

Yuca Mexican Products, 1345-49 Amsterdam Avenue corner of 125th Street

Cielito Lindo, 1354 Amsterdam Avenue between 125th and 126th Streets, 212/222.0938

Mex Juquila, 1486 Amsterdam Avenue between 133rd and 134th Streets, 212/694.7142

Jesus’ Taco, 501 West 145th Street on Amsterdam Avenue, 212/234.3330

The verdict: chorizo tacos are indistinguishable; ground pork is ground pork. What makes a difference is how the chorizo is cooked and how the taco is prepared. My favorite was the chorizo taco from Taqueria y Fonda between 107th and 108th Streets because the bits and pieces of pork were grilled, crunchy and toasted. Even the onions were grilled so they added some sweetness to the flavor. Their salsa also came with small pieces of avocado and finding each one was a nice surprise. The chorizo from Cielito Lindo between 125th and 126th Streets came in a close second. They actually cut a sausage into smaller pieces; crunchy chorizo skin is always a plus.

As for the non-chorizo tacos, the goat from Yuca was great and the huge peppers were a nice touch. The chicken from Mex Juquila was pretty much like how white meat tastes: boring and unexciting. Between the two beef tacos I got, I liked the one from Noche better than the ungodly experience at Jesus’.

Pier 2110 Seafood Restaurant

2110 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard off 126th Street
212/280.7437
$110 for two, with two drinks, without tip
no stars

Updated, 2007: Pier 2110 was short-lived

I’ve been living more than twelve years uptown, three of those in Harlem. When I go to a restaurant in the neighborhood, I’ve come to expect that there’d be little to no ambiance and the food will be very simple but down-to-earth. So when a new restaurant bills itself as “Harlem’s Newest Jewel”, I believe it but I expect more.

The Korean-owned Pier 2110 tries hard to be that jewel, but so hard everything comes out garish and overpowering. I know they mean well, serving seafood dishes the locals are already accustomed to and revitalizing the neighborhood, but for a $21 plate of pork chops, I don’t want steamed broccoli with it smothered with plum sauce and then call it “plum-glaze.” My catfish was equally intriguing on their menu: pan-roasted with sweet potato purÃ©e, broccoli florets, fig and rosemary compote and bourbon cider sauce. But for $19, I didn’t expect an overcooked limp fillet with a soup of mashed potato.

They’ve been up and running for almost a month now but the service still needs a lot of sharpening. The maitre d’ didn’t have our names in the computer even though I secured reservations a day before. (No shorts and sneakers allowed, by the way!) A busboy interrupted our waiter and his announcement of the specials to let us know that the rolls were still in the oven. We waited for a few minutes to get our waiter’s attention to ask for a knife to eat our pork chops with–he picked up the knife from the table setting next to us. (He came back with a steak knife after we rejected that.) In between courses, he brought out the bottle of Purell–I am not kidding–so we could squirt and sanitize our hands. He offered us tea before the dessert menu which I thought might be a good way to end our lackluster evening. To our surprise, he came out with a beautiful jeweled box full of…Celestial Seasonings tea bags.

The restaurant’s decor is ocean-themed, but their idea of high-end reminds me of the Red Lobster in Times Square. There are cascading water on glass walls and small fountains, stained glass artwork and aquariums everywhere. There is a “sushi” station offering all kinds of California rolls in the middle of the room, perhaps the same space where Billie Holiday used to perform during the Vaudeville Era. (In fact, the building used to be the Alhambra Theater in 1905.) The staff was very attentive, but Pier 2110 has to offer the kind of service–and food–that’s worth $110 for two people.

Onera

222 West 79th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam
212/873.0200
about $200 for two, with two drinks, with tip
â™¥ â™¥ â™¥

Updated, 2007: Chef Michael Psilakis has turned Onera into cash-only Kefi. He has also opened Anthos at 36 West 52nd Street off Fifth Avenue, 212/582.6900

My party was forty minutes late but the Onera staff was very accommodating. Perhaps I was already sitting and consuming alcohol at the bar and they had no other choice but to wait for my seven other diningmates. When they finally showed up, our table for eight was situated perfectly in the back of the tiny basement restaurant.

When my friends wanted to try something different without paying for a ridiculously expensive omakase at a sushi restaurant, I thought of Onera because Greek is not always the first thing in people’s minds when they think of dinner, so it can only be a curious choice. My friends’ filet mignon were all done the way they preferred. A couple ordered pork tenderloin and they were both delicious, served with fennel and toasted garlic veloutÃ©. I went off the too-familiar list and started with two dishes from their meze menu, or small appetizers. The sea urchin came on top of pickled beets and cheese. Everyone wanted to taste my uni and unfortunately, I had to give up three out of the five on my small plate. The scallops came with yogurt cucumber sauce and a whiff of anise. I only had three pieces so I devoured them before anyone said anything.

For my main meal, I divided my attention between the chilled roasted octopus and the crispy sweetbreads. Again, everyone’s forks were attacking my plates and I could not help but scold them for choosing the steak and the pork belly without thinking of the other items on the menu. But even though I did not have enough, the octopus was nice and tarty and the sweetbreads divine. Even with foie gras and sheep milk fraiche, the sweetbreads were not overly decadent to turn me off.

Onera did not disappoint me, nor my picky friends.