So I have never had banh mi before in my life and all the recent press and blog coverage really got me salivating to try some. The flavor combination sounded really interesting to me and the idea of wrapping it all up in a sandwich form sounded like it had the potential of becoming an awesome sandwich. Also, one of my favorite blogs, MidtownLunch, did some coverage on a new branch of the Boi chain called Boi Sandwich that opened up recently which walking distance from my office. It was a long walk, but still doable for lunch. Last Friday the weather was too gorgeous to pass up so I met a friend there to pick up a couple sandwiches and enjoyed it at one of the nearby public spaces.
If you haven’t had banh mi before, its basically a bunch of south asian ingredients in a french style baguette (yay colonialism). The boi version includes cilantro, a spicy carrot & daikon (radish) mixture, cucumbers, a meat of your choice, a mixed meat & mushroom pate, and an avocado (which isn’t common). The pate flavor isn’t that strong. I hate liver and didn’t have an issue with it being there. The rest of the vegetable additions were great and made the sandwich burst with flavor. Zach has a great photo and breakdown of all the ingredients here.
For my first banh mi experience, it was pretty good. All the fillings were great and full of flavor and the bread was tasty too. The only bad thing I have to say about it is that the chicken filling I got as the meat portion of the sandwich was dry and overcooked. I am sure at $7.50 it was ridiculously overpriced, but it is midtown and they do have to pay their rent somehow so I am okay with it. And as Zach says, regardless of the fact it is overpriced its still one of the best sandwiches you can get in midtown for $7.50. I think I’ll just have to go again to try the more traditional version of it and report back. I know its a tough job, but someones got to do it… =)
Eventually, I’ll get around to trying the numerous other banh mi places that have been getting so much publicity recently. Feel free to post any recommendations.
Boi Sandwich
708 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10017
(212) 682-1117
Something just felt wrong about sitting in front of a fish tank listening to Britney Spears while eating lasagna, a classic hearty Italian dish. Everything about the decor and atmosphere screamed modern fusion food with cocktails, while the menu was all about classic Italian dishes. It definitely wasn’t food you would see a more authentic place, but the more typical stuff you would see at a good Italian restaurant in the states. Regardless, with a menu like that I was expecting a little less trendy and modern atmosphere. The fish tank really put it over the top.
Most of us got the ground sirloin lasagna, but one of my friends ordered the 4 cheese that came with ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, and gorgonzola which I got to try as well. In terms of filling I thought the cheese filling was better. The ground meat filling was too lean and wasn’t really integrated into the sauce like a good bolognese would be, which is what I think they were going for. The pasta portion itself was cooked properly and wasn’t too mushy or undercooked, but it felt a bit thicker than usual which wasn’t very good.
The wine list was totally depressing. Everything was pretty generic and mass produced stuff you could buy at most suburban supermarkets. I just had water…
In terms of price its a good value because you get a huge portion of lasagna for $10-$15. I could have easily split it with someone else and been pretty satisfied. I think the portion size is way too big for one person, but maybe its just me.
Overall I don’t really think it is worth a return trip. The only really good thing it had going for it was that it was a really good value and conveniently had no wait for a table on a Saturday night.
Lasagna Restaurant
785 9th Ave
New York, NY
(212) 956-1608
They have two other locations..
941 2nd Ave
New York, NY
(212) 308-5353
196 8th Ave
New York, NY
(212) 242-4534
I am reviewing both because in the past two weekends I have spent two afternoons here drinking bloody mary’s to my heart’s content. They both have pretty much the same menu with the exception of two additional dishes that are only available at Bondi Road: fish & chips and oyster shooters. Besides that the rest of the the menu is pretty standard brunch fare with a couple types of poached egg & hollandaise dishes, an omelet, a burger, etc. They used to have many more brunch options a few years ago, but I guess they trimmed it down a bit recently. I ordered the omelet at The Sunburnt Cow and the fish & chips at Bondi Road. The omelet of the day was the same both weekends between the two restaurants (asparagus, tomatoes, and cheese) so I am not certain if it ever really changes. The fish and chips were okay. The fish was a little on the greasy side and the fries/chips weren’t quite crispy enough.
All in all the food is pretty lackluster. But the real reason to go here isn’t to eat, its to drink… And they are very generous with their drinks. They have unlimited drinks for as long as you want during brunch with an entree of your choice for about $18-21 (depends on the entree). The drink choices are bloody mary’s, mimosa’s, foster’s beer, screwdrivers, and greyhounds. I could use a bit more horseradish in the bloody mary, but I think most normal people would enjoy it as it is. The mimosa’s were pretty good. They were made with a combo of sparkling wine and sake which gave it a nice roundness and made it that much easier to drink mass quantities of.
From the moment you sit down they take your drink order. Then throughout the rest of your meal as soon as you finish a drink they bring you a new one. We would be mid-conversation and a new set of drinks would just plop down on the table. After you finish your food they are in a bit of a rush to get you out of your table to serve the next set of people, but you are welcome to unlimited drinks at the bar. Needless to say, I am a bit forgiving about the slightly greasy fish and soft french fries when enjoying unlimited bloody mary’s.
The hostess at Bondi Road was a bit annoying though. When we walked up there the entire place was open, but since they converted their 4 person booths into 6 person tables by adding a table on the end they wouldn’t seat the 4 of us there and made us wait over 30 minutes instead. If we had 2 more people we probably would have been seated immediately, which is pretty lame. Also, they said they had a reservation for the other 4-top that was open even though my friend had called a couple weeks earlier to try to make a reservation and they said they couldn’t.
In terms of seating, Bondi Road is a bit nicer because more of the restaurant gets daylight, but the bar area is also the walkway for the waiters so its a bit hard to hang out by the bar and have a few drinks after you pay your bill. Sunburnt Cow on the other hand, has plenty of bar room that doesn’t have waiters with food walking back and forth, but its a pretty dark and dingy atmosphere. So they both have pluses and minuses, but Sunburnt Cow is a much shorter walk from my apartment so proximity wins out.
Would I go back? Hell yeah!
Would I expect amazing food or service? No way!
Will I walk out feeling drunk and happy about life? Definitely!
Sunburnt Cow
137 Avenue C
New York, NY 10009
(212) 529-0005
Bondi Road
153 Rivington St
New York, NY 10002
(212) 253-5311
Its such a lovely title for a post that I wish I could take credit for it. Its actually the name of a “Zagat Presents” event I went to a few weeks ago at Tabla. It was an all-out 4 course meal dedicated to braised foods paired with some fantastic artisanal beers. The dinner was taking place in their upstairs formal dining room where most of the food served is Indian-inspired menu with French style preparations. This was actually my first time in the upstairs area. I have usually eaten in the downstairs Bread Bar where the menu is a bit closer to traditional Indian food, but still a few big leaps away from it such that you can’t really call it “real Indian food”.
When we were seated we were all given a packet of information containing the menu, a detailed description of the beer it is paired with, and a page full of helpful hints on braising from the executive chef, Floyd Cardoz. At the beginning of each course they poured a glass of beer and brought out the head of the beverage selection for the restaurant to talk a little bit about the beer and why they paired it with the dish. Then the chef came out to talk about the dish and the reasons he had for combining the various elements and techniques together to produce the dish. He also answered any questions we had about how he cooked the dish including specific temperatures that he braised the dish at and for how long. We started off with a salad, then progressed to a seafood dish, meat dish, and dessert. Here is the breakdown..
Salad of Bacon Braised Fennel w/ fingerling potatoes, watercress, meyer lemon, and hot smoked halibut
Beer: Allagash White (Portland, Maine)
Slow Braised Wild Striped Bass w/ baby root vegetables and a sun dried ginger broth
Beer: Dogfish Head - Red & White (Milton, Delaware)
Sweet Spiced Braised Oxtails w/ Poha Pilaf & Peanuts
Weyerbacher - Fireside Ale (Easton, Pennsylvania)
Braised Pineapple w/ an orange polenta fritter and ice cream of Brooklyn hops
Lindemans - Pomme Lambic (Vlezenbeek, Belgium)
In terms of the food it was all very interesting in their own unique ways and the dishes all had good balance to them. Additionally, the drink pairings were very well thought out. It is always impressive to me when a restaurant actually goes out of their way to have well planned drink pairings that make sense. It is equally as disappointing to me when they make a big fuss about having suggested pairings and totally bombing them. Old Vine Cafe was a great example of good drink pairings and Momofuku Ko was unfortunately a great example of bad drink pairings (especially at an $85 supplement). Anyhow, back to the main point of this post…
The freshness of the fennel was well complimented by the smokiness of the bacon and hot smoked halibut. While the meyer lemon and spices helped bridge the dish with the beer which was a Belgian styled white beer made with a generous portion of wheat and a blend of spices. The striped bass was braised/poached at a very low temperature for under 30 minutes just until cooked through. The Red & White it was paired with is another Belgian styled beer that is brewed with coriander and orange peel and then fermented with pinot noir juice. It results in a very unique tasting beer that has the subtle taste & nuances of a red wine while maintaining the freshness of a white ale. The oxtails were amazingly rich and delicious. The slow, long braising really works its charm on a piece of meat like oxtail. It was paired with a dark ale made with 10% smoked malt to give it a bit of crisp bitterness and a touch of smokiness. I have had a few other smoked beers before and what I really liked about this one was that it was a bit more subtle and not overwhelmingly smokey. The last dish was very unique… The combination of the bitter ice cream of hops with the sweet pineapple & orange polenta was again another great exercise of balance. I would never recommend the ice cream on its own (unless you are a real hophead), but with the sweetness of the other dishes it worked quite nicely. The beer was appropriate since apple is probably the lighter styles of the available lambic fruit beers, but I am wondering if a different fruit would have worked better. It was probably the weakest pairing, but I was already under the influence of 3 beers by this point (the last two being 10% & 7.5% ABV) so I was happy to drink something deliciously sweet and palate cleansing after the smoked ale.
My favorite dish of the night was probably the dessert. As in previous posts, I am once a again a sucker for unique flavor combinations in desserts. Recent examples are the olive oil gelato at Otto and the baked apples in chedder pastry at Artisanal. I also love polenta so seeing it in dessert flavored with orange was very welcomed.
My favorite beer was definitely the Red & White by Dogfish Head. While the Allagash White was a wonderfully complex white ale that competes with those made in Belgium, the complexity and multitude of flavors offered by the Red & White were outstanding. It was so smooth I was shocked to learn that it was 10% alcohol and it has definitely become of my favorite beers. Now if I could only buy it somewhere…
If they were doing this same thing again, I would recommend going to it. Unfortunately, as far as I know, this was a one time deal. I don’t know how many of these dishes and beers are available on the regular menu upstairs in the formal dining room (where this dinner was) or downstairs in the Bread Bar. I would imagine you should be able to get something similar to the dishes served the night of the event upstairs, but it might not be exactly the same thing.
Tabla
11 Madison Ave (at 25th Street)
New York, NY 10010
(212) 889-0667
So this is the last and much delayed post about Restaurant Week. It is also the last dinner I had during this year’s winter restaurant week and turned out to actually be a year around deal that they have. They have a wine pairing for a $14 supplement, but the wines are not actually matched with the specific course. Rather, its 3 different wines for each course that may or may not actually go with the meal that you choose. I really hate when they do that. Its clearly not a real wine pairing if the same wine goes with parmesan ghnocchi w/ pork belly, salmon, and soup. I still opted for the pairing because it gave me a chance to try 3 kinds of wines for $14.
I started with the parmesan gnocchi w/ pork belly. It was okay, but not entirely impressive. I have had much better gnocchi at other places in the city before. They do get points for the parmesan & pork belly components which added a bit more flavor to the dish had it been served with a different sauce.
For my main course I chose the chicken cooked under a brick because its one of the signature main courses. The chicken itself was fantastic. Very moist and well cooked. The skin was nice, crispy, and flavorful. No complaints at all about this one.
I actually forgot what I ordered for dessert, but I do remember that the table favorite was definitely the baked apple tarte tatin. It was baked apple slices in a puff pastry shell of some sort that was subtly flavored with chedder cheese. I am a sucker for unique desserts that actually work and this is no exception.
Not sure if this is really worth a return trip, but if I am stuck in midtown east and need to entertain someone that doesn’t want to stray too far from their hotel this wouldn’t be a bad option at all. It might also be a bit more comfortable for out of towners that are used to restaurants that are larger and have more space.
Artisanal
2 Park Ave
New York, NY 10016
(212) 725-8585
This is another overly late post about August, the New American style restaurant in West Village. I made a reservation just a few days in advance during the Winter 2009 Restaurant Week, which has yet to actually end, and managed to get a table for 2 at 7:45 which was further proof that we were in a recession. The atmosphere is rustic, dim, and simple. In terms of space, the seating is a bit on the tight side. Its not any smaller than your average restaurant in east or west village of Manhattan, but it is on the smaller side of the scale.
For appetizers I started with the seared baby squid and chickpeas salad with arugula, oregano, & breadcrumbs. Everything about this a salad was good except for the actual squid itself. Usually the problem I have with squid is that it overcooked and has the texture of a rubber band. This time it was actually the opposite. It was undercooked and the inside was a bit on the slimy side. The rest of the salad however, was great. It was well seasoned and had a nice balance of flavors and textures. My dining companion ordered the cauliflower soup with anchovies, potatoes, & smoked raisins. I didn’t get to actually try any of it, but she said that it was absolutely delicious so if I went back and they still had it on the menu I would want to try it out.
For entrees I ordered the beef short ribs sauerbraten with sliced celery, apples, and horseradish on top of mashed root vegetables served in a hot cast iron skillet. This was just as meaty and rich as short ribs are supposed to be. The toppings helped to cut the fattiness a bit, but not too much that it distracted you from the main attraction. The fact it was served in a cast iron skillet definitely added presentation points. My dining companion got the grilled brook trout with fennel, potatoes, and dill. It was served with the head and the tail, but it was split down the middle so the fillets would rest flat on the plate. This version of trout was much, much better than what I had tried at Bocca and the presentation was much better.
I feel like the desserts were not well thought out though. I ordered the cardamom creme caramel which came with espresso biscotti because I love cardamom. The espresso biscotti was just laid out like a log on top of the creme caramal though which made it impossible to eat. I think the dish would have made a lot more sense if the biscotti had been crumbled rather than served whole. Also, I was interested in the espresso & cardamom flavor combination, but I think black tea would have worked better. It would have been like a deconstructed chai tea dessert and I think the flavors would have gone better together. The other dessert we got was the chocolate bundt cake with ganache and a salted praline brittle of some sort on the side. No complaints about this one, but not very inventive either. If I come back I’d probably hedge on the safe side when ordering desserts because they seem to those better than the inventive ones.
Overall, it was pretty good. I am not sure if it is entirely worth it given that 2 out of the 5 dishes I tried were misses, but during restaurant week it was a pretty good meal for what I paid. I wouldn’t mind making a return trip at some point in the future, but I am not going to rush back anytime soon.
August
359 Bleecker St
New York, NY 10014
(212) 929-4774
So this Bocca is not the generic midtown lunch place that served pizza, panini’s, sushi, & udon soup. This Bocca is on 19th street just north of Union Square and has a Rome inspired menu of Italian food (and thankfully no sushi). It was well over a month ago now that I went here so I will try to piece together whatever I can from my rather fuzzy memory.
I walked in here for a Restaurant Week dinner one night with a few friends after a movie and was pleasantly surprised for a random weeknight dinner. It started off pretty well because the waitress was quite friendly and the sommelier was helpful in providing some good wine suggestions. They gave us a couple different samples of wine and we ended up getting a quartino of the a Sicilian grape variety called Frappato that I had never heard of before (more on that later).
For appetizers we started with the following :
- Rucula: Arugula salad with gorgonzola and roasted red & golden beets
- Polipo: Grilled wild octopus with a warm cannellini bean salad
- Finocchi: Fennel salad with oranges and black olives
Both salads were good, but not fantastic. The real standout here was the octopus salad. Very tender with tons of flavor. The beans were a nice textural contrast to the tender octopus and complimented it quite well.
For entrees we had :
- Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe: Handmade pasta prepared table side with pecorino romano and black pepper
- Coda: Braised oxtail with smoked mozzarella polenta and fried celery
- Trota: Oven roasted fillet of trout with sliced roasted potatoes and a roasted bell pepper salad
I was debating between their other pasta dish and I am quite glad I decided on the tonnarelli. They bring out a giant wheel of pecorino romano and they begin to prepare your “sauce” for the pasta. They start by scraping up some cheese and mixing it with a healthy dose of coarsely grated black pepper. Next, they add the hot pasta (which is like thick spaghetti) to the “bowl” formed by digging out the cheese from dishes prior which melts the cheese they just scraped up for my dish. Then they mix the two together for a bit before plating and handing it to you. The result is fantastic. Definitely rich since the sauce is mostly cheese. Definitely a bit strong on the pepper which could be too much for some people. I would actually fall into that category and wish it had been a bit lighter on the pepper, but still a great dish.
The other entree that I liked was the braised oxtail with fried celery. I almost ordered that instead of the pasta, but I just had braised short ribs two days earlier at August in the West Village and did not want to have another fatty red meat dish as amazing as they are. Very tasty stuff though and the celery was a nice compliment to it. The smoked mozzarella polenta was very lackluster though. The mozzarella was melted on top of the polenta and gave it a greasy taste.
The last entree, the trout, was disappointing to me. It was pretty unmemorable and I would not order it. The potatoes were pretty flavorless and did not seem like a good compliment to the fish in the way it was prepared. I am also not a huge fan of trout to begin with. Anyhow, I noticed later is that it was the only one of the Restaurant Week entrees that was not on the regular menu. That leads me to believe that they just picked a fish dish that was cheap enough to prepare that would fall into their budget for Restaurant Week. I just checked the current extended Restaurant Week menu and saw that they had taken this off the menu and replaced it with a salmon dish.
For desserts we each got one of the three options they had and shared them. I remember them being pretty good, but none of them stand out in my memory right now (it has been over six weeks now).
My friend Rachel did a much more thorough and entertaining review on yelp that is probably worth a read if you are interested in going to this restaurant.
Bocca Restaurant & Bar
39 E 19th St
New York, NY 10003
(212) 387-1200
Every time I go home to Southern California I usually try go back to some of my favorite eateries which range from big chains to small mom & pop shops: In n out, Baja Fresh, Din Tai Fung, & Los Cabos are usually on the list when I go home. When I go to San Diego I usually like to check out Bahia Don Bravo, Point Loma Seafoods, Chilango’s, Cotija’s, etc. Inevitably I end up going to at least one formal meal with my family in LA which is also very good. But its rare when I go home and I have a culinary experience like I had last weekend. This probably goes down in the books as one of the best dinners I have had in Orange County. I am hesitant to call it the best, but I can’t honestly think of any better at the moment.
My parents mentioned it to me a few weeks before I was coming in because they had went there once for dinner and enjoyed it. Looking at the yelp reviews and orange county food blogs I heard nothing but praises so I figured it would a great place to try out.
The format is a bit different anywhere I have been. For one, they only have two seatings for dinner on the weekends… 830 or 530. Which is unfortunate if you need to plan around other things that night, but works out nicely if you don’t because they are not trying to turn the table over as quickly as possible. It creates a nice leisurely pace of eating I used to enjoy when I was living in Spain and went out for lunch. The other thing that is really interesting about the place is that every dish they serve has a suggested wine pairing that you can buy a half glass of for 5 bucks! The wine pairings were very well thought out and made a lot more sense than many other dinners I have been to recently (Momofuku Ko being one of the worst offenders considering what they charge for their pairings).
You can order the small plates a la carte or you can get a 4 course tasting menu with matched wines (4 full glasses) for a very reasonable $65. My dad and I ordered the vegetarian tasting menu and the seasonal tasting menu, respectively. Neither of are vegetarian in any sense, but the dishes they were serving the vegetarian menu sounded really good and it definitely did not disappoint. He did substitute the scallops for the salad in the vegetarian tasting menu though.
The Seasonal Tasting Menu:
- Large Sautéed Prawn, Fried Plantains & a Cajun Riesling Butter Sauce finished with Cream. (Paired with a 2007 Carl Sittmann Riesling, Mosel Germany)
- Hand Made, Lasagnette filled with Crimini Mushroom Duxelle, Pecorino Pepato Cheese & drizzled with a Light Tomato Cream Sauce. (Paired with a 2006 Valcantara Old Vine Garnacha, Carinena Spain)
- Certified All Natural Lamb Meatloaf, on a bed of Caramelized Onions, garnished with Wilted Arugula & a Rich Syrah Demi. (Paired with a 2006 Tortoise Creek Syrah, Languedoc France)
- Mini Canoli filled with Sweet Pistachio & Artisan Ricotta, Garnished with Port Wine Dark Chocolate Sauce. (Paired with a N.V. R.L. Buller & Son Victoria Tawny, Victoria Australia)
The Vegetarian Tasting Menu (modified with scallops instead of a spinach salad)
- Sauteed Sea Scallop on a nest of Crispy Leeks finished with Tarragon Chardonnay Sauce. (Paired with a 2007 Macon-Vinzelles Chardonnay, Burgundy France)
- Mozarella Buratta, Panko Crusted Eggplant, Grape Tomatoes & Basil Pesto (Paired with a N.V. Caposaldo Prosecco, Italy)
- House Made Pan Fried Polenta with Pomodoro Cream Sauce Garnished with Aged Pecorino Romano Cheese (Paired with a 2004 Valle Reale Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Italy)
- Mini Pecan Pie Tartlets garnished with Vanilla Fleur De Sel Butterscotch Sauce & Whipped Cream. (Paired with NV Baroncini Il Santo, Italy)
The rest of the table ordered the following (excluding repeats of the above dishes):
- Fresh Spinach, Dried Fruit, Pine Nuts, Goat Cheese & Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette (paired with 2007 Domaine du Salvard Cheverny)
- Large Shrimp Sauteed in Asian Vodka & finished with Spicy Lemon Grass Curry Sauce, garnished with Flash Fried Glass Noodles (Paired with 2007 Reuscher-Haart Piesporter Riesling)
- Macaroni, Porcini Mushrooms and a blend of Artisan Cheeses (Paired with 2004 Valle Reale Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Italy)
All in all, it was pretty damn amazing food. The negative I could say is that shellfish was a bit overcooked. Both the prawns in my cajun sauce and the shrimp in the asian sauce were a bit on the tough side. In terms of flavor both dishes were strong. The scallops did not suffer from the same issue though. Overall, the highlights were the lasagnette, buratta, and pecan pie (I really liked the touch of salt), but really all of the dishes were amazing.
In terms of service it was spot on as well. They did a thorough explanation of the food and the wine it was paired with and why they were matched. There is only one dining room and the restaurant only seats about 30-35 so its very easy to get someone’s attention if you need something. Also, they bring you a new glass for every glass of wine you get so you are never in a rush to finish off your current one.
If you live in Orange County or happen to be visiting in the area I would definitely recommend making it a point to check this place out before their up their prices. Currently, the $65 for the four courses and four full glasses of wine is a great deal. They are a new restaurant that just opened up a few months ago so they probably dropped their prices to try to survive starting their business in such a tough economy. I am sure as we start to break out of this recession they will start to raise it.
Old Vine Cafe
2937 Bristol St. Suite A-102
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 545-1411
Another place that has been on my radar for years but had never had a chance to visit. Usually for Italian style pizzas I visit Angelo’s in Midtown or Lil Frankies in East Village. The only caveat I have for Lil Frankies is I have never liked any of their pizzas with sauce on it. Everything else though is phenomanal. Anyhow, my cousin has been mentioning Otto’s since I moved here because that was one of his and his wife’s picks when they were living in the city. Being very content with the other Italian style pizza place I had been to in the city so far and having the wealth of other dining options to try out I never really got around to Otto’s. Recently I read some great reviews about their antipasti and their olive oil gelato. Yes, you read that right… olive oil gelato. Sounds weird, but I read nothing but good reviews about it so I had to try it out. Anyhow, the stars seemed to be aligning for me to actually check it out because I was meeting up with a friend that had been there before and she wanted to go back.
We started with a sample of the 5 seafood antipasti and the brussel sprouts antipasti. The seafood antipasti was unfortunately a bit disappointing. The mussels one with pernata and mint was really good, and I would order it again. The rest were interesting and not bad, but not really that amazing either. It wouldn’t be worth a repeat order. The brussel sprouts dish on the other hand was really good and on par with the mussels dish. If I go back I would definitely try out more of the vegetable antipasti dishes.
For pizza’s I ordered the mushroom & tallegio (its like a funky version brie). My friends got the balsalmic onion & goat cheese pizza and the pane frattau pizza with tomato, pecorino, and a sunny side up egg. My favorite was definitely the pane frattau. The tomato had a nice flavor with the pecorino and the egg added a nice rich texture as strange as it sounds. The others were good, but not nearly as good as the pizza’s I have had that were cooked in real ovens at both aforementioned places: Lil Frankies and Angelo’s. The crust just didn’t seem right. I am not sure exactly what it was, but it just didn’t seem normal and not in a good way. Maybe it was because there wasn’t too much crust on the edge of the pizza or maybe because it seemed to be too perfectly uniform. The toppings were definitely interesting though.
I am not entirely sure though what it was about the crust that threw me off, but there was definitely something. I did look into a bit online and found that since they can’t have a real coal or wood oven due to zoning restrictions (they are in a historic building) they have a different method to cook their pizza. They actually start if off on a hot griddle and then finish it in the broiler. That might have something to do it.
Anyhow, the dessert was fantastic. We got the olive oil coppetta and the black & white. The coppetta was an olive oil gelato with fennel seed brittle. lime curd, kumquats and blood orange. The black & white was chocolate chip gelato, hazelnut brittle, creme fraiche gelato, chocolate sauce & caramel crema. They were both awesome, but in different ways. The black & white was a good version of what you expect when you order a dessert, but the olive oil coppetta was my favorite of the two because it was a totally unusual combination of ingredients and flavors you wouldn’t really expect. It all worked though. Especially the combination of the olive oil gelato and the lime curd.
Prices were relatively reasonable taking into consideration the location and the fact it is associated with Mario Batali. With a bottle of wine between the 4 of us it ended up being $45 + tip. The service was a bit off though. Our waitress insisted that we order everything (antipasti & mains) at the same time. I think that is a bit absurd… I would much rather prefer to order the antipasti and then decide on a second course afterwards. It just seems so silly to insist that we are required to order the entire dinner at the same time. I didn’t really press the issue at the time, but I would the next time around because it compresses the dinner experience.
Anyhow, to sum it all up, I wouldn’t mind going back at some point but I won’t be rushing back anytime soon. I did enjoy my lunch at Del Posto thought so I might try some of Batali’s other places out before returning to Otto’s. For Italian style pizza, I have my picks… If I can order dessert at the bar though I wouldn’t mind popping in after dinner somewhere else.
Otto Pizzeria
1 5th Avenue (on 8th street between 5th Ave & University)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 995-9559
This place has been on my radar for nearly a year or two and I was a bit worried all the hype would cause my expectations to be so high that there would be no way it could live up to them. The fact I lived in Thailand for a summer and got to sample the real local stuff on a daily basis doesn’t really help out at all either because. I wasn’t nearly as an adventuresome eater when I was living there, but I did try some interesting dishes when I was living there.
Anyhow, enough with the back story and back to the review…
To start with we each got an order of the coconut juice, which is actually from a can and served with the soft flesh of a young coconut. It is surprisingly really good even if isn’t fresh. My friend supposedly knows the exact brand of juice that they use so I am waiting for him to hook me up with the name and where to buy it. It will be mighty refreshing at the office during the summertime.
For food we started with two appetizers:
- Fried taro root: A fried root vegetable with peanuts served with two kinds of sauce. This is definitely a must try. I haven’t actually had anything like this before, but it was really good. When I go again I might not order it just to try other dishes, but I would definitely have to order it the next time after.
- Papaya salad (som tum) with fried catfish: The catfish is fried to bits and has a texture similar to the crunchy tempura they sprinkle on some kinds of sushi rolls. It was definitely well balanced, but it could have used more heat. Not everyone at the table were pepper-heads like me so we went with a mild order rather than spicy. I’ll have to try it again and ask for it Thai-style spicy.
For our mains we got two curries:
- Green curry with duck: Great curry flavor and the duck was fantastic. Nice and tender, but not too greasy. Thailand was where I started enjoying duck (although in a different form) and this was definitely a reason for me to start enjoying it again. Typically when I have it ends up being too greasy.
- Massaman curry with chicken: The chicken was super tender and just fell apart with my fork. The curry had great flavor as well. I think the potatoes were cut a bit too large for my preference because smaller pieces would have allowed them to pick up more flavor from the curry, but I do remember feeling the same way about most massaman curries I had in Thailand so it might be the more authentic way to prepare it.
We also got a few other dishes:
- Shrimp w/ garlic and pepper: When I had this in Thailand the garlic was actually fried until crispy and then the shrimp was added and quickly cooked in the same hot oil. In this variation, there was plenty of good garlic & pepper flavor, but the garlic was not as crispy as what I had before. It was still very tasty though and went extremely well with the coconut rice.
- Steamed whole striped bass with lime, garlic & chili sauce: This was as tender as I would have expected and properly cooked. The fish itself seemed a bit on the fishy side though. Not too much, but definitely more than I was hoping for given it was layered in spices and other flavors that helped to mask it. Additionally, the dish could have been a bit more intense. More lime, more garlic, more chili, more everything… It was like a watered down version of what I really wanted. The only place I have found to do this dish properly outside of Thailand so far is Rhong-Tiam in the NYU area of West Village. If anyone has any suggestions for other places I should check out, let me know.
- Drunken noodles w/ beef: The flavor of the dish was great and balanced. In terms of texture, there were more noodles that were stuck together than I would have liked though and they felt a bit on the mushy side. I did like how the beef itself was chopped up into smaller bits though.
I tried two types of rices as well:
- Coconut rice
- Chicken stock rice
They are pretty self explanatory. My friend who had been here before recommended to use the chicken rice with the coconut curry dishes and the coconut rice with the others and I have to agree with him. As I mentioned above, the shrimp with garlic & pepper when perfectly with the sweet coconut rice. And the rich curries seemed to be balanced out with the more round flavors of the chicken stock rice.
We also picked up a few desserts which I don’t usually do. Usually when I think of Thai desserts I think of super saturated sweet dishes and I quickly decide to just settle on some water to cleanse my palate. The only exception being a good plate of sticky rice with mango. We tried an interesting dessert of taro root that had some sort of slightly sweet syrup on it. It was very well balanced and helped to clean up your palate after all the spices without being an sugar bomb. We also got the sticky rice and mango which was as I expected and enjoyable.
The highlights for me were the curries and the rice that came with them. Closely following would be the appetizers. Overall it was a pretty good deal because we feasted on appetizers, main dishes, a couple desserts, and a drink each for $25 with a 20% tip. In terms of transportation it was pretty easy to get to because the E, F, V, R, G, & 7 trains are all within about a 5 minute or so walk away from the restaurant.
Will I come back? Hell yeah!
I’ll just be sure to order it spicy instead of mild next time.
Sri Pra Phai
64-13 39th Avenue (between 64th & 65th Street)
Queens, NY 11377
(718) 899-9599