tag:www.ambienttraffic.net,2009-04-12:/eaten//6 2010-11-08T00:08:04Z Places I've eaten and bought food at. Movable Type Pro 4.31-en tag:www.ambienttraffic.net,2010:/eaten//6.614 2010-11-07T23:22:29Z 2010-11-08T00:08:04Z

After spending (literally) hours trying to figure out which Italian restaurant to take his parents to, we settled on A Voce. After looking over the menu, it seemed to get the right balance of familiar Italian dishes done with a...

Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1
The restaurant was exactly as we had hoped. We had a spacious table against a wall, so half banquette seating and two chairs. The restaurant was on the quiet side when we arrived, but the noise level built to a pleasant buzz as the evening went on. The server was attentive at the beginning, and knew the menu relatively well (she was able to answer our questions without sputtering), but she was a bit too perky for my taste.

I had a lovely mushroom and walnut soup which had a creamy, velvety texture and an earthy flavor. It was rather filling but I could have had another bowl of it, I enjoyed it so much. Wayne ordered the cassoncini con prosciutto di parma, these amazing fried balls of dough filled with prosciutto that just melted in your mouth. We also ordered the terrina di polpo, the octopus terrine. It had a bright, citrusy flavor and the octopus was cut paper-thin, so the texture was soft and chewy in a good way.

I was actually quite full at that point, so it was a bit harder for me to enjoy the trout as much, but it had a nice grilled charcoal flavor but was still tender at the same time. And perhaps we went overboard, but we did order dessert. The bomboloni were the best, very light even though they were fried, and the chocolate sauce was rich and decadent.

The real test was Wayne's parents: they declared the meal to be amazing and were quite happy with it, so I can definitely recommend it if you have parents coming to town and you want to impress them.
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I hadn't been to Char No. 4 in a while, and we needed a place to take Wayne's family. The trick was finding a restaurant that had something for everyone, that wasn't too exotic for the parents, had vegetarian options,...

Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1
The atmosphere is contemporary and sleek while still creating a feeling of warmth - definitely a plus for parents who aren't used to city restaurants. The banquettes are set up in a way to feel rather cozy and intimate, but it was a bit of a squeeze getting 6 adults in. The waiter was very understanding and patient with our large group, and managed to keep all of our orders and requests straight without getting annoyed. It was busy, as it was a Saturday night, but the pacing was mostly right - the main course came out a bit more slowly than we would have liked, but we were in the mood for lingering anyways, so it turned out fine.

The food was better than I remembered it. The brisket sandwich was tender and flavorful, and of course I could have eaten twice as many pork nuggets as we had ordered. Wayne's mom thought that the chicken was cooked nicely but had too much preserved lemon on it. The drinks list is good and of course the selection of bourbon and whiskey is top notch. Unfortunately I (obviously) couldn't partake in much of it.

It's moderately priced, you can get a sandwich for around $12 or a large entree for between $12-$25. I highly recommend this place if you have family or friends in town and you need to take them somewhere that has a city-ish vibe but perhaps are eaters on the less adventurous side. 
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This place is perpetually busy. They have dim sum whenever you want, you fill out a form and they bring it to you - no carts. They have the standard, garden variety Chinese menu, but of course everything is kosher...

Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1
The staff is on the helpful side, not as gruff as you would expect in Chinatown. So that's a plus. But the lack of flavor in the food is a real turnoff - sometimes it's better to just make food the way that it is rather than trying to imitate meat.
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This mini-chain has multiple locations - I've been to the one on Mercer the most. The coffee is decent, not the best by any stretch of the imagination. However if you have friends who aren't as in to coffee as...

Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1 tag:www.ambienttraffic.net,2010:/eaten//6.610 2010-11-07T22:38:56Z 2010-11-08T00:11:04Z

Excellent coffee, especially the lattes. They have a good selection of pastries, I especially like the apple turnover - very flaky and buttery. The staff is friendly. The place can be busy but it mostly seems like take away, not...

Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1

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Jing Fong is my old standby for dim sum when people are in town, if I want to get together with a lot of friends, or if I'm too lazy to go out to Flushing or Sunset Park to try...

Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1
They are definitely the most consistent when it comes to the quality of the food, and it far surpasses other places in variety. The cart ladies buzz around the floor with stacks of steamers that seem to reach to the ceiling. You can also order noodles directly from the waiters or pick out items like clams, snails or stir fried Chinese vegetables at the stations closer to the wall.

Of course I order my favorites, like cheong fun (rice noodles filled with pork) and roast pork buns, but there's always something new on the carts. This past time we really enjoyed the roast pork, which was served (unusually) on the bone. It was porky and tender with just the right amount of sweetness and smoke. The xiu long bao were rather so-so, as spoons, vinegar and ginger were not provided. But at least it was hot when it reached the table, as the last time I wanted xiu long bao at dim sum at another place it never came! Also, it seems rather difficult to get mini egg tarts. It's something I always order but have never seen at Jing Fong, and the cart ladies always say that they're out.

A few tips: get there before 11 am on the weekends or be prepared to wait. If you want more tea, just tip the top of the pot at an angle. And if you want the waiter to add up your bill, yell "mai dan!" and wave your bill frantically. Also, everyone knows where it is, and you can easily make your way over to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory for some red bean ice cream afterwards.
]]> tag:www.ambienttraffic.net,2009:/eaten//6.553 2009-11-25T03:47:55Z 2009-11-25T04:21:51Z

Joseph Leonard recently opened in the West Village to some acclaim. The menu is seasonal American, with a fancy twist on comfort food, in a rustic/nostalgic setting - lots of rough hewn wood, vintage photographs, and one of those analog...

Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1
I wanted to like this place so badly, but I feel that there are a number of kinks that the restaurant needs to iron out before I would even label it "good". We arrived about 20 minutes before the restaurant opened because it was Cochon night, when a whole pig is brought in and broken down into a number of specials that are only available that night. There were already a number of people waiting, but there didn't seem to be anyone managing the line and it started turning into one of those "creeping as close to the door as possible so as not to get screwed" kind of scene. And it didn't help that there was a photographer and a reporter on the scene asking all sorts of questions and snapping flash photos of the ridiculous crowd. I just wasn't in the mood for jostling other patrons and didn't want to start my night off annoyed.

Mercifully, when the manager let the crowd in, we were somehow all accommodated. We sat down and read over the menu, and asked the waitress a couple of questions, most of which she was unable to answer, answered incorrectly, or was just generally unhelpful ("That dish is great!" "Well why is it great?" "Um, because it's great!"). The food itself was lacking attention to detail. For instance, the lettuce in the caesar salad had been chopped too small - as a result, the warm pork shoulder made the whole thing soggy. It also needed more salt and acid to contrast with the fattiness, the pork shoulder texture was unappealing combined with the lettuce, and the crouton wasn't crunchy enough. It just didn't hit the mark for what I expect a caesar salad to be.

For my entreé I had the Blanquette de Cochon, a pork stew with white gravy stuffed inside a squash. This dish would have been great but for two reasons: the food came out lukewarm and the pork could have been cooked longer. The first is totally unacceptable, especially for a stew. I expect a stew to come out piping hot, with a meaty smelling steam rising up into my face. I was sorely disappointed. Lastly I had a piece of carrot cake, nothing overly memorable but at least it was a satisfying piece of cake.

I think the biggest problem with Joseph Leonard is that its team has lofty ambitions and is trying really hard to produce interesting food, which I give them props for. However, it's missing attention to detail that unfortunately make it miss even the baseline for good food. There really IS a Platonic ideal for a Caesar salad and you can't mess with that. You can play with expectations but you can't miss every element, then it's just not a Caesar salad.

All in all, Joseph Leonard definitely deserves another try, especially on another night (or day) that isn't quite so hectic. 
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I've been to Blaue Gans a number of times over the past few years and there is always something that brings me back, especially when the air's turned chilly and the days get short. The menu is a greatest hits...

Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1
The schnitzel is some of the best that you can find in the city - tender, moist and crunchy, not overcooked and rubbery like so many other places do it. The potato salad is a bit runny and missing some acid for my taste, but the herring salad was spot on - creamy, vinegary tart and in your face fishy. I could have eaten about a gallon of the stuff. The other benefit is the extensive (and affordable) beer and wine selection that is focused on Germany and Austria. It shakes things up a little bit and obviously pairs with the food fantastically.

The crowd always seems a bit mixed - older folks with their grown up children, bohemian hipster types, early 40s Tribeca parents with their 5 year olds, downtown bankers, and academic foodies. At least it keeps the scene interesting, and there is no shortage of people watching. It's definitely the kind of place that I head to when I want to have a satisfying meal at a reasonable price that isn't uber trendy but happening in its own way.
]]> tag:www.ambienttraffic.net,2009:/eaten//6.544 2009-09-11T05:22:24Z 2009-09-11T05:34:15Z

I really wanted to like this place. The decor was achingly hip, with low lighting, a good soundtrack and boldly designed menus. It looked like the food on offer was a bit more adventurous than most Thai joints, in fact...

Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1
I really want to give this place another chance, so I'll keep it mind - but for now it really only deserves 1.5 stars.  ]]> tag:www.ambienttraffic.net,2009:/eaten//6.542 2009-09-09T04:25:36Z 2009-09-09T04:47:08Z

This place was totally unexpected. In fact, I wasn't even supposed to go to this restaurant at all. Originally we had tried to go to a casual place in midtown to try anmitsu, a Japanese dessert made (among many ingredients)...

Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1
So imagine my surprise when we walked down the stairs and saw this beautiful interior with sleek wood slatted walls and stone floor with high ceilings. Every single detail was considered, from the carved wooden chairs to the tiniest spoon. Every single item was presented in a different piece of pottery - the bowl that the anmitsu came in was a soft matte finish on the outside and shiny reflective on the inside, felt so good to hold in my hands, and was exactly the perfect size and shape for the contents within.

The attention to detail extended to the food. We shared a few small dishes and cold udon. The bonito sashimi was meltingly tender and rich, while the scallops had the essence of wood smoke and ocean. We also couldn't resist the pork belly, the mustard gave it just enough kick to cut through the richness. I wanted to savor every single bite, there was such an incredible play between flavors, textures and even temperatures that kept the meal interesting from beginning to end. And of course the anmitsu was so satisfying, again a carefully composed dish that went from the rich earthy black beans to the chewy mochi like white balls to the cold creamy ice cream to the supple yet firm agar agar.

I highly recommend this place - but make sure you make reservations in advance, when we arrived all of the tables had been reserved ahead of time so we had to sit at the bar. It's definitely a good date place or for a special occasion, and for anyone who is looking for a refined yet satisfying dining experience.
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Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1
So of course we focused on ordering the namesake of the restaurant, and we were not disappointed. There were numerous kinds of dosas, with as many kinds of fillings as you could imagine. My dosa was crispy and spicy, with just the right hits of cilantro and chile in every bite. The inside was coated with a dry spicy chile powder and was filled with onions. Wayne ordered the paneer masala dosa, it had a mysterious spicy pungent flavor that I couldn't identify but was completely addictive. Jen ordered the thali, it included an iddly, a vada, a dosa and an uttapam. By far way too much food.  The three chutneys - coconut, some kind of red chutney, and a cilantro chutney were the perfect accompaniments. The portion was so huge though that I couldn't finish it, so I had plenty of leftovers to bring home.

Definitely a place to go for a cheap bite that fills you up.
]]> tag:www.ambienttraffic.net,2009:/eaten//6.522 2009-09-06T16:06:51Z 2009-09-06T21:32:32Z

This place is totally overhyped, unfortunately. We were expecting so much more out of this restaurant but the dishes were not well thought out. There was also a lack of attention to detail on the food itself. The service was...

Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1 This place is totally overhyped, unfortunately. We were expecting so much more out of this restaurant but the dishes were not well thought out. There was also a lack of attention to detail on the food itself. The service was fine - at the level that the restaurant is professing to be. tag:www.ambienttraffic.net,2009:/eaten//6.521 2009-04-12T04:11:16Z 2009-09-06T21:37:13Z

yum! japanese home cooking! small plates! this place is very cute, you'll miss it if you blink. but the food is excellent - perfect pickles, super tender japanese fried chicken, super moist pork belly. definitely a place to take friends...

Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1 yum! japanese home cooking! small plates! this place is very cute, you'll miss it if you blink. but the food is excellent - perfect pickles, super tender japanese fried chicken, super moist pork belly. definitely a place to take friends from out of town. tag:www.ambienttraffic.net,2009:/eaten//6.536 2009-03-01T17:09:30Z 2009-09-07T16:11:50Z

I suppose THE french bistro to go to in NY. I've been for breakfast on numerous occasions and lunch once. It's the place to be seen. Pricey but well-worth it - the food was excellent and you kinda do feel...

Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1 I suppose THE french bistro to go to in NY. I've been for breakfast on numerous occasions and lunch once. It's the place to be seen. Pricey but well-worth it - the food was excellent and you kinda do feel like you're in Paris. Yes that's cheesy but it's true. tag:www.ambienttraffic.net,2008:/eaten//6.524 2008-11-18T22:44:19Z 2009-09-06T22:09:01Z

had brunch here. needed salt and pepper. atmosphere is very "grown-up" - nice big arrangements of fresh flowers. I had the "dressler" - a twist on eggs bennedict - potato galette w/ smoked sturgeon, with poached eggs and hollandaise on...

Tracie http://www.ambienttraffic.net/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=6&id=1 had brunch here. needed salt and pepper. atmosphere is very "grown-up" - nice big arrangements of fresh flowers. I had the "dressler" - a twist on eggs bennedict - potato galette w/ smoked sturgeon, with poached eggs and hollandaise on top. Could have done w/out the side of homefries though, the galette was more than enough. The "baked goods" were of varying quality - the more cake-y items were tastier than the croissant-y ones (underdone). want to try this place for dinner.