First, check out my Ride & Review video of this place HERE:
This place used to be the original location of Black Iron Burger, I think.
My wife and I stopped in on a mini food crawl and gave it a shot. It was good!
The 6oz patty was cooked properly, with a nice crust from the flat top. The toppings were well portioned, and the bun held up, for the most part.
Fries could have used a bit of salt, but the onion rings were perfect.
I would definitely go back. I really like the cross between a luncheonette and a pub vibe that they have going here, and the staff was delightful. Next time I’ll try their signature burger that has brie and caramelized onions.
Check out my Ride & Review of this joint HERE first.
Long story short: you can kip this place! The pepperoni slice is fine, but at $5-$6 a slice, this place is a rip off.
I feel like you can do better at a good dollar slice joint. The toppings on this pesto and fresh mozz “Genovese” slice were nice, but the dough was a little gummy – maybe underbaked – and dense.
Finally, the official name of the restaurant is “Luzzo’s La Pizza Napoletana,” but there is nothing Neapolitan about this pizza. It’s a standard slice joint that’s oddly reminiscent of some national chain pizzerias, like Sbarro’s or Little Caesar’s.
First check out this quick Ride & Review video HERE:
This joint offers 13 pieces with unlimited sake for $120. We had about 4 or 5 carafes of the stuff, so we definitely got our money’s worth. Our favotire pieces were the lean and fatty tuna, the foie gras on crispy mochi, and the bowl of uni, ikura and caviar. Awesome! Would go back for sure! Only criticism was the sterile, medical office type lighting being a bit “fluorescent blue,” if that makes sense, and the loudness of the music.
First, check out this kickass Ride & Review video HERE:
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My wife sent me an Instagram post from this place about a special burrata and mortadella app they were running. When I realized how close it was to our place, I called up and grabbed a reservation for dinner later that day. The food on their account looked awesome, and I’m always looking to try neighborhood joints like this.
The meal was incredible. First, let me say that the table bread was so good! They had an onion focaccia and some Italian bread, served with olive oil (watch the video to see it).
We started with that special burrata app, which had spicy salami, prosciutto and mortadella along with the burrata.
Next up, fritto misto, with calamari, shrimp and zucchini. LOTS of the seafood. Great portion!
We also had the grilled calamari, which is marinated in olive oil for a day before being grilled. This was lovely.
For the second half of the meal, we did two pastas and their smoked mozzarella chicken parm.
Although the cheese wasn’t bubbly or melted out, the dish was still really great. The chicken was pounded out enough to be tender, but not so thin that it lost juiciness.
The first pasta was a Sorrento style long, thick ribbon called scialatiella.
I love a thick pasta, and this was easily one of my favorite pasta dishes of the year.
Cavatelli with sausage, peas, and mushrooms in a white truffle cream sauce was next. This was so damn tasty. Cavatelli is typically my favorite pasta shape. All the pasta here is hand made in house, and really well made at that.
For dessert we tried the panna cotta. This was so smooth, creamy and delicious. The berry compote on the bottom was just the right amount of sweet acidity to cut that rich creaminess.
What a meal! We plan to be regulars here, and we can’t wait to go back. Check out the bottom line of the receipt. That shit had me cracking up!
Casa Adela is a local Alphabet City Puerto Rican joint that serves up some really delicious and wallet-friendly food.
It’s been recommended to me by several people, and my wife and I finally made it over to try it out. Here’s a quick Ride & Review video of the experience:
We started with the chicken chicharrones, which were AWESOME, especially with that West Indian scotch bonnet and papaya hot sauce.
Next up was the oxtail stew. This was really flavorful, and the oxtail itself was incredibly tender without being dried out. It was legitimately perfect.
The pernil was juicy as well, with a nice strip of crispy, sticky, fatty skin on top. Amazing! That was my favorite bite of the meal, with the oxtail just behind it.
This, too, went nicely with the hot sauce.
Lastly, we had a half roast chicken. The same red spice used on the fried chicken skin is also used on the roasted skin. Whatever it is, it’s beautiful and delicious.
This place is cash only and they do not offer delivery, so I think I’ll be making many more trips here with the bike to pick up food in the future.
My wife and I went to Down and Out in the East Village to try their crazy “double dozens” oyster happy hour. They currently offer two varieties of oysters for $1.50ea, but when you order a dozen, you get a second dozen for free. Essentially, they’re $0.75ea, which is the cheapest I’ve seen them in town!
We tried both the Kusshi (small ones, west coast of Canada) and Glidden Point (pictured above). My wife preferred the Kusshi, and I liked the ones from Glidden Point.
We also tried their “oyster pan roast,” which is a really nice bisque-like oyster and potato soup. It might not be much to look at in the photo, but I assure you it was delicious!
We also got down on their blue claw crab cake sandwich, which was nice and tasty, topped with a home made slaw.
They also serve a lot of high end canned fish items, like these sardines.
Their deviled quail eggs are good too. These come eight pieces per order.
Lots of these food items are discounted at happy hour, like the oysters. The happy hour runs daily from 4pm-7pm, and they also offer two different beers for $3, as well as discounted cocktails.
Most notable about this place, however, is the great whiskey selection, which includes some very rare, vintage bottles that the owner/bartender Josh secured from various estate sales.
He gave us some samples of a few really nice old bottles, like that Canadian Club from 1940! Soon there will be an entire separate menu of vintage whiskeys here, which will nearly double the current selection of whiskey on the menu. Stay tuned!
The best way to get a feel for this restaurant is to watch my Ride & Review video on YouTube:
But for the traditionalists out there, here’s a breakdown of everything we had:
STARTERS
1. Oysters
These were beautifully presented.
2. Croquettes
Seriously delicious and addictive. The outer shell is thin and crispy, and inside is a delicious explosion of high end Spanish ham and cheese.
3. Mortadella
Yes. With some creamy ricotta on the bottom, this really took the starters over the top.
4. Iberico Ham
This was some seriously high quality stuff. Melts in your mouth!
PASTA
1. Cavatelli
I really dig this spicy beef version of my favorite pasta style, cavatelli.
2. Pappardelle
Probably one of the top three dishes of the night. The Iberico pork ragu was nuts!
3. Curry Lamb Bechamel Lasagna
This is a game changer! Make sure you get this. If you like cumin lamb szechuan noodles, you will love this Italian take on it.
4. Fideua
This squid ink “pasta paella” was my favorite dish of the night. The squid was perfectly cooked, and the pasta was so tasty.
MEAT MAINS
1. Iberico Pork Meatballs
This works as a shared starter too, but I could eat this every day. This is also top three of the meal.
2. Short Rib
So tender and flavorful. Ruben does a similar dish at his other restaurants and all of them are great.
3. Chicken Milanese
This could benefit from a slightly flatter pounding, but there was a sweetness to this from either apricot or honey that was incredible.
SEAFOOD MAINS
1. Whole Fish
Perfectly deboned and beautifully presented.
2. Mussels
Save some sourdough bread to drag through the deeply flavorful sauce that comes with the perfectly cooked mussels.
3. Shrimp
These Spanish style garlic and spicy oil shrimp were absolutely perfect.
VEG
We had the broccolini with Romesco sauce. Even the veg here is off the charts good.
The radicchio salad was also really nice, with poached pears and walnuts.
I’ve said it before with Nai, Emilia and Amigo: Ruben deserves a Michelin star at his restaurants. Everything he puts out is delicious and innovative. He’s one of the city’s most under the radar chefs. So much talent! I highly recommend all four of his restaurants.
Once again my friend Ruben absolutely nails it with his third restaurant, Emilia. Check out this quick video of some of the dishes we tried:
I can’t wait to go back and try more stuff. He is still in the process of perfecting the burger (he’s working on the bun), so I’ll definitely try that again.
Favorite items so far: artichoke with soy cured egg and crispy sunchokes, red snapper, and monkfish liver mousse.
Two Hands is one of the deep-fried Korean style corndog joints that popped up all over the city in the last couple of years. This was the first time I ever tried one of them. I didn’t like it. Too sweet and too doughy, despite the beef dog inside being good quality.
