Parked= epic fail

Yerba Buena- sexy latin vibe on Ave A

Finally, a classy latin place with damn good food. The bar is decorated with blue and green lights (not Meatpacking District-esque, thank god) and features drinks such as the Hemingway (flor de caña rum, maraschino liqueur, and fresh juices) and the Boludo "Yerba Mate" (yerba mate infused pisco, grapefruit & lime cordials and fresh lemon juice).
To start off, we got the guacamole, a good judge of what kind of food we can expect for the rest of the night. It had a lighter appearance due to the added queso fresco in it, but it still had a spicy kick, making it pretty good. The chips were generic.
Next, we had the blue corn meal crusted calamari with a tomato salad tamarind vinaigrette. Let me tell you darling, it was absolutely divine. There was a bit of a fork war to get the last pieces.
For the last "botana" (appetizer), we got the empanadas of spinach, manchego, fig, with a spicy green dipping sauce. True to empanada form, crunchy and spicy, these babies reminded me of a little Venezuelan street cart.
Though we didn't make it to dessert (too many margaritas), I saw people munching on Churros and drinking Cortaditos. La proxima vez..

TONDA - fancy pizza replaces EU

As I predicted, EU didn't last more than 1.5 years, despite its breathtaking Tribeca-esque space. Thankfully, the co-owners of BREAD got rid of the strange cow themed decorations, but replaced them with even stranger portraits of chairs with transparent women admist them.
In these belt-tightening times, a fancy pizza place is just what we need- especially when its being cooked in a $30,000 oven that you can feel the heat of when you walk in the door. To get down to business, we first ordered the Margarita pizza for $10. It was pretty damn good, though a bit cheesier than I prefer (i'm the saucy type). Perfectly cooked, the crust was crunchy but not burnt.
Next, recommended by the server, we tried the Roasted Egg, speck asparagus, mozzarella, fresh tomato. Normally, i would never order such a thing, but it turned out to be refreshingly yummy. It didn't taste eggy at all (gracias adios) and the egg whites gave the mozzarella a silky consistency.
This place is well worth the walk to Avenue B.
I dare someone to try the Fresh Tomato, smelt, parsley roasted garlic pizza.

Tacos Matamoros--Brooklyn/Sunset Park

Tacos Matamoros
4508 5th Ave
(between 45th St & 46th St)
Brooklyn, NY 11220

Last night I went with several friends to Tacos Matamoros. It was at the suggestion of our friend Jongre, who is a chef and therefore more of a food connoisseur than myself.
Coming from work in mid manhattan, it was an hour trek to get there. I would still say it was worth it but only on occasion.

First of all, it was cheap- not only for the food but the restaurant is also BYOB. And cheap=good for me right now. The tacos were $1.25-$1.75 a taco. The beef nachos were about $5. I was able to be full off two small tacos and the nachos. The guys in the group ate 7-9 tacos each and some flautas.

Second, the place was clean and quaint. Nothing fancy. Mexican soap operas (with no sound) were playing on 2 televisions in the restaurant. We weren't the only gringos in the place, but close to it.

We sat down with our 2 six packs of negra modelo and prepared to stuff our faces with awesome authentic mexican tacos- per the reputation of the restaurant. The adventurous ones in the group got tacos with meat I wouldn't touch: things like tendons and cheeks. I will report that they seemed very happy with their tacos. On the safer side, I got 1 el pastor taco and 1 chorizo taco along with a "safety" of beef nachos. In addition, I ordered my favorite food in the world: guacamole.

The tacos: I do not know if the pineapple was left out of the el pastor taco or if it was too little to notice- but it was still good. The chorizo taco was good as well- but the meat was not as tasty as the el pastor. The beef nachos were exactly what i signed up for: safe and good enough. The guac. was good but not the best i have ever had.

General rating: It was good and worth the trip. But I now realize that I am not the best person to be rating this restaurant anyway. I am a texan that was raised on tex-mex. And I love tex-mex. So, even if I knew I was getting authentic mexican- that of which is regarded so much higher than tex-mex- I still can't help it- what I really wanted was tex-mex.

Get Fresh (Table and Market)- A mix of comfort and health food in Park Slope

Though empty at 8pm on Tuesday night, Get Fresh was undeniably cute with its small candlelit marble tables and produce lined walls. Though beyond my ideal budget by a smidge Al promised that the reviews on menupages had been good, so we gave it a go. Why not?

The servings were small, but the prices were more than reasonable-- when it comes to quality we certainly got what we paid for. The slow roasted beets were chilled and tossed with olive oil, fresh tarragon, and my favorite sea salt by Maldon, while the cheese plate paired homemade goat's cheese, with blood orange cardamom chutney, honey comb, macadamia nuts and two other local cheeses. In fact, everything on the menu was either organic or local, and tasted wonderful. The half roasted chicken with braised winter vegetables was divine, moist and tender while crunchy on the outside and drizzled with a gravy. Al said it was a little salty, but really, you can never have too much salt, can you?

The only thing that disappointed was the desert: bread pudding with tres leches and a miniscule scoop of chocolate ice cream. The main issue was that it just wasn't our thing, not that it was unsavory. My only advice would be to put a trio of gelatos on the desert menu for people who are feeling a bit down home after their comforting meal.

http://www.getfreshnyc.com/

Thor- Norse for really bad food on the LES

I could forgive Thor for the bad service, tacky decor, and borderline offensive maître'd, but I cannot forgive Thor for screwing up my duck salad.

Okay, I should clarify, it's not that the restaurant screwed up per se, but rather that the very basis of their recipe undermined what is so wonderful and unique about duck, and transformed what I usually consider to be the most delectable of birds into chewy chunks of oversalted meat tossed with cheap truffle oil. True, the cheeseburger was good, the fries acceptable, and the pathetic serving of risotto was adequately palateable for a dish that is so easy to screw up, but that salad... it was so bad that when I was still hungry at the end of the meal I chose to go to punjabi's on Houston st for a three dollar bowl of rice with curry rather than risk further offending my tastebuds...

Oh and those chairs? Just as uncomfortable as they look. My ass fell asleep before the free bread came, which, come to think of it, was probably the best part of the meal.

Mobile Blogging from here.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Thai Son- Chinatown Vietnamese delights

The first advice I have for anyone looking for good Vietnamese food is to abandon New York and move to Pittsburgh where they can have a one armed man feed them a variety of noodle dishes on holiday themed plastic table cloths while his son-in-law unloads fresh groceries from the Lexus. The man at Tram's Kitchen knows food I tell them, you cannot find good Vietnamese food in New York. Give up while you're ahead.

But after six years of trial and error I may have actually found Vietnamese food in New York that tastes like... Vietnam.

Despite its poorly chosen name, Thai Son is unexpectedly authentic. We chose it because it was almost completely full at dinner time, with not a white person in sight (I did find one later, hidden in a booth in the corner), and getting the same old thing at Pho Pasteur next door was getting... old.

Al looked around and ordered the dish he saw most often: Pho with Beef, $5. It was huge. And since the menu had few chicken items, and I fear vegetarian dishes in Chinatown, I sprang for the vermicelli noodles with grilled shrimp and lettuce, $6. It was perfect. In fact, it reminded me of Tram's.

The vermicelli was thick, white, and round, cut into three inch segments, tossed with shredded lettuce, basil, scallions and the classic salty sweet fish sauce that so many other restaurants fail at getting just right. A perfect spring dish, the noodles were cool and refreshing next to the shrimp warm off the grill. Thai Son may not be the last New York Vietnamese restaurant I try, but it will certainly be the yardstick by which I will measure all others.