Relish

The outside of the place looks like a retro 70’s diner, but the type of food that is served is New American/ eclectic style with a bold Manhattan price. All the dishes were well thought out and well presented. There is a chef in the kitchen, not just random cooks.

Steamed Mussels White wine, tomato, saffron, ginger and garlic 13.00 served in French Bristol style. The white wine sauce was creamy with micro chunks of slightly undercooked potatoes yet not overpowering the savory taste of the mussels. Served with two crispy slices of baguette.

Grilled Sirloin Burger with fries, onion rings or mixed greens cheddar, swiss, american, blue cheese or bacon add $1, poblano relish add $1. 13.00. My choice was the medium rare cheddar relish burger (lettuce and tomato) with rings on the side—one of the better burgers I’ve had in NYC. The more than half inch thick Burger retained a juicy tenderness of the sirloin. Onion rings came in big sizes and crunchiness—right out of the fryer. Satisfying.

Scallops with lobster sauce over risotto was the Saturday night special. Scallops were cooked just right, surrounded in a bed of creamy risotto with white wine. The sauce joins the delicate seafood with the hearty grain into one savory plate.

The Chocolate Pepsi cake similar to a 3 layered devil chocolate cake. Not too thick, generic yet good.

Overall don’t be fooled by the exterior, Relish has talent and the food are created and integrated with modern skills and technique.

Insider Tip: You can choose from the traditional retro dinning or a contemporary blue lounge setting.

Relish 225 Wythe Street, Brooklyn 11211 At N 3rd St

good enough to eat

The name is deceiving—after dining at this ‘comfy’ and ‘homestyle’ upper west side joint, your common sense and unsatisfied stomach will tell you it was ‘not good enough to pay’--for those inflated prices. I am not ‘hating’ on the 15 dollar per entrée dishes, in fact I’ve been to casual pubs such as the Spotted pig, and dished out 17 dollars for a burger and let me tell you, that was worth 17 dollars compared to the burger at ‘not good enough to eat.’ It would not be fair to compare these two. For one, ‘good enough to eat’ does not understand how to work with the food they put in e.g. unifying different ingredients in one plate.

The lowdown on the dishes:

My order, Pizza with olives and anchovies on focaccia was soggy focaccia—in no way crispy on the edges or on the base, topped with tasteless canned tomato sauce with scattered mozzarella cheese dropped off by whole anchovies and olives. Can I begin how disappointed I was on this 16 dollar pizza. This dish was amateur. The size was not nearly close to a regular slice of pizza from any hole in the wall joint.

Scallops with shiitake mushrooms and breaded zucchini: this was the special for the evening, but the scallops were not special or fresh instead they were rubbery. The whole dish did not come together; the scallops, welted and shrilled mushrooms and soggy deep fried zucchini were out of place and overcooked as if they were three separate bad dishes. Perhaps they all came together for their over-cooked-ness.

To play it safe at any restaurant order a burger. The Burger 8 oz. on a homemade oat roll with french fries, side of lettuce, tomato and pickle with sharp cheddar cheese $14 was the cheapest and merely decent.

Good enough to eat…or is it?

483 Amsterdam Ave (at 83rd Street) New York, NY 10024 (212) 496-0163

Rub BBQ

Originally we were set on Dallas BBQ’s over at Times Square but my sense of adventure for new BBQ sparked me to ignore my mate’s desire and headed to Rub.

It’s a Friday night, the place was packed, and we were seated promptly to a table in the hall by the restrooms— with a side view of peoples’ rear ends at the bar. The seating was UN-dine-ABLE for any night—no less for a full house Friday night. (FYI, the hall to the restrooms were also a waiting area so we were surrounded by vouchers and drunks— many that were in between.

All the food came at once, the appetizer: BBQ Bacon Chunks house cured and triple smoked berkshire black pork belly bacon (nitrate free) 7.95 can not be any fatter and damaging to the arteries. The presentation was god awful, 6-7 chunks of lard, no way crispy nor tasty but flabby served with 3 stingy yellow cut slices of pickle—at first I thought it was a side but it was indeed the 8 dollar app. that was highly unexpected. Very very poor choice.

Under the specialty menu was the Szechwan Smoked Duck the baron goes eastern. It has a little heat and a little sweet (1/2) 14.75. Not bad. Half of duck roasted with the bones cut in the bias. Though, Duck is naturally sweeter than chicken, the skin was marinated with sweet sauce which enforced a shine to the layer. The duck was tender.

The meat platter: Told that the Pulled Pork, and BBQ Beef Brisket was the most popular, I ordered the two meat with two sides of Super Fries and Cornbread for 18.75. The Pulled pork was very straight forward, shredded pork moist in BBQ sauce. The BBQ Beef Brisket was dry and very disappointing and quick bland. I had to pour in more BBQ to the Brisket to pretend that I was not eating Brisket jerky—even jerky retains more flavor. The super fries were surely superbly over fried, there is a fine line between crispy fries from burnt thus hard fries. Cornbread: similar to the ones you make from the box.

After the entrees, who would have thought about dessert????? Deep fried Oreo: Four deep fried dough stuffed with an ‘Oreo’ powdered with sugar. We couldn’t eat the dessert because it was steaming hot. Given our poor seating, and a human barricade by the bar and hungry impatient patricians, I had to push my way through to the counter and pay my bill.

Everything with an ice tea summed to $55 including my most poorly tipped tip. Oh was I 'rub'-bed the wrong way...

Insider tip: Try for a seat in the very back of the restaurant to avoid the incoming traffic and drunks.

Ordered Dishes:

BBQ Bacon Chunks house cured and triple smoked berkshire black pork belly bacon (nitrate free) 7.95

Szechwan Smoked Duck the baron goes eastern. it has a little heat and a little sweet (1/2) 14.75

Meat Platter: Pulled Pork, and BBQ Beef Brisket, two sides 18.75

RUB -Barbecue, Bar Food 208 W 23rd St, New York 10011 Btwn 7th & 8th Ave Phone: 212-524-4300

Deborah

A row of tables aligned in a space proportional to the perimeters of a hallway. The small dining space does not mean small prices. The décor can be compared to any boutique trendy restaurant. The kitchen is situated in the middle of the restaurant where you can pass by as you head to the restroom, and there are seating in the back with tight spacing. The prices are definitely above average, the portions are below average. The dishes are tasty but not satisfying to the pocket. I personally expected more from the dishes for the prices we were paying for. Aside from the excuse that the portions were not large enough (which many may argue to be very weak), the dishes did not show any innovative, avant-garde emphasis nor organic ingredients.

That said, lets dish it out:

Deborah's bbq Glazed Half Duck slow cooked and basted till crisp, served over sweet smashed potatoes $23: With the bone intact, surprisingly sweet plus extra boost of sweetness from the potatoes served in a soup bowl--(very awkward for a serving bowl).

Grilled New Zealand Lamb Kebobs skewered, served on salad of watercress, haricot vert, marinated tomatoes, parsley, red onion and hot house cucumbers tossed in a feta-yogurt dressing topped with crumbled feta $22: I asked for median rare but I got median well instead… part of the reason may be because the lamb were sliced thinner than average kebob sizes. It was practically close to being sliced lamb but in squares.

With these two petite entrees, a glass of red zinfandel that goes well with the duck and 15 percent tip, the bill came out to approx. $80. Oxymoron.

Deborah 43 Carmine St., New York, NY 10014 nr. Bleecker St. 212-242-2606

The Brooklyn Restaurant Week

Come out to Brooklyn for The Brooklyn Restaurant Week starting from March 24 to the 31st. Get dibs on pre fixe dinners for as less as $23 per person.

http://nymag.com/restaurants/articles/restaurantweek/brooklyn/

Supercore Café

Supercore Café

Housing both a contemporary approach to Japanese home cooking dishes and western influenced café menu—sandwiches—by young hip Japanese; the décor was deceiving; no indication of any celebratory Japanese collectables or samurai pictorials; the restaurant could have passed for a French Bristo at first glance. In fact one would not have guessed it was a Japanese restaurant without looking at the menu posted outside.

Expect no California roll—no sushi or sushi chef behind the counter making you any sashimi. I got a sense that the owner(s) are very westernized but still carry their fond memories of slow home cooking when their moms are somewhere in suburban Tokyo.

Food: In the platter section was the curry beef stew; I can not say the presentation was appealing. The stew was not consistant; I had a very finely shredded beef and discovered big chunks. The texture of the sauce was married in water and clump. The taste was rather different than typical stew; it hinted a touch of bitterness. A strong and distinctive flavor; a dish you either love or can do without. It’s a dish that screams out; I am Japanese! and oh how this reminds me of my childhood. In my case, I exchanged it with my dining companion.

I traded my stew for the chicken-niche ~ (something-to be corrected) listed under the classic Japanese section (I’m thinking why isn’t the stew under here?). There were some very Asian vegetables in this soup dish. But the broth was so sweet that it hardly gave any credibility to the vegetables’ natural sweetness.

Along with the entrees, was also a separate order of the kimchee tofu; it was nothing fancy—a 3x3x3 tofu cube sitting in a soy sauce base topped with kimchee with finely julienned seaweed wrap. One side called hijiha; another version of seaweed, this type was not the green kind but thinner, shorter and black. It takes getting use to.

There goes the dessert, I rarely go for a dessert, but the sesame cheesecake made its way to the table. It was hard—overly crusted on all sides, it was like a sandwich cheesecake but made in a pie form. Clearly it was in the fridge too long; thus, hard to eat.

The tab was not bad; in fact very do-able; similar to the cost of going to china-town and going all out (splurging in C-town). Anyhow for a table for two with a beer came out to $37 not counting the tip. The prices are modest, but Supercore sticks to the traditional Japanese portion control. You come out not overly stuffed but a good feeling that it was “just right.”

305 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11211 between South First and South Second. 718.302.1629

The Spotted Pig

The Spotted Pig

So the idea and the movement of the gastro-pub started with this west village joint. Very well settled place where servers are hip and yet attentive, decor preserves that cute comfort theme and the food…was well- presented but— a bit salty. However, kudos to the chef; she captured an interesting balance of texture.

Food Analysis:

We started out with an appetizer, aka ‘the plate.’ Sheep's Ricotta Gnudi with Brown Butter & Sage. Gnudi are basically gnocchi stuffed with ricotta in a ball, semi- soaking in a pool of creamy butter and brown-doses-of-contrast and garnished with crispy baked sage to add great texture to the dish. The sage did wonders for the dish, in terms of waking the gnudi’s flavor up!

The entrees arrived. We ordered the house favorites; the two that are almost always in the menu. I ordered the Char-grilled Burger with Roquefort Cheese & Shoestrings. Presentation was great; the shoestring potatoes were piled up high. Though the bun was bigger than the burger itself, the patty was cooked just as asked; medium rare. Toped with the patty was a strong dose of Roquefort Cheese. Personally I would have the cheese on the side; the Roquefort was overwhelming the goodness of the meat. Back to the shoestrings, very good, the combination of toasted garlic and rosemary infused into the deep fry of thin laces of potato was smart and very flavorful—yet the salt was given too generously.

Next up was the Grilled Calf’s Liver with Onions and Crispy Pancetta—props to the chef. Who would ever think calf’s liver would make it to an American restaurant—oh it’s a seller. This dish is unique in two ways; one: the calf liver was cooked medium rare which brought out the tenderness and buttery sumptuous flavor, I would say the texture of the liver was playing tricks on my taste buds—highly sensational. Secondly, the crispy pancetta neutralized the buttery liver with a salty crunch to balance that saturated fixation as well as pairing the lovely artery clogging agents with a refreshing, lightly bedded balsamic vinaigrette dandelions. The texture on the liver dish gets high marks, the salt content of this dish gets low marks for its high level of salt content.

For two people, the three dishes and a glass of homemade draft beer (Spotted Pig - Bitter) came out to $80 (with tip). Not cheap, not even close to cheap. It is more like paying for the experience and appreciation of the unimagined edible parts of a pig and ‘good’ and ‘high quality’ ingredients that are placed on your dish (there is detail involved) then perhaps you will find it worth the money.

Sheep's Ricotta Gnudi with Brown Butter & Sage $ 15

Char-grilled Burger with Roquefort Cheese & Shoestrings $ 17

Grilled Calf’s Liver with Onions and Crispy Pancetta $16

The Spotted Pig. 314 W. 11th Street @ Greenwich St. New York, NY 10014 Tel: (212) 620-0393