Category Archives: Midtown West

American, Burgers, Midtown West, Other Cuts, Restaurant Reviews, Rib Eye, Steakhouse Reviews, Upper West Side

Landmarc

December 13, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

NOTE: THIS PLACE IS NOW CLOSED (TRIBECA IS STILL OPEN)

My wife and I took a nice long lunch on Friday to check this place out. After we randomly saw Marc Murphy (owner and chef) one day on the street nearby, we figured we needed to check out this location. I’ve been to his Tribeca location several times (great skirt steak – 9/10), prior to creating this blog. The Time Warner Center location is right outside my apartment, so this was a nice easy place to hit. As a side note, I think it’d be cool if Chef Murphy opened up a seafood joint called “Watermarc,” to compliment the Landmarc brand.

We started with the octopus salad. Portion size was great here, for all dishes. The octopus was cooked perfectly, without the skin. It was buttery soft, and served warm, garnished with olives, onions, potato, and some greens. Really nice.

For my entree, I went with the burger (though I will be back for a rib eye soon).

This was excellent. The robust, artisan style potato roll was really soft, yet toasty and durable. The meat was seared to a great outer crisp, and cooked perfectly pink inside without any bleed-out.

It was topped with American cheese (my choice), and served with fries and a salad. The salad was pre-dressed, and sort-of sitting on top of part of the fries, which made that portion soggy. A better service idea would be to put the fries in a side cup.

I put some of the salad greens on the burger, along with the tomato, and lightly half-soured pickles and onions that came with the dish.

Easily one of the best burgers I’ve had in Manhattan to date. If you are into the burger scene, check this place out.

My wife had the bone marrow app for her entree.

Look at how large this order is! FOUR BONES and a bunch of really great, toasty-warm bread (same stuff they give as table bread).

Nice and fatty. And served with onion jam as well. Heart healthy? Haha. Who cares it’s fucking delicious.

On a second trip, we tried the foie gras terrine. This was really delicious. It was creamy as all hell. No grainy texture, and no gamey taste.

The fried calamari was crispy, perfectly cooked, and well seasoned.

The Sunday pasta special was lasagna with short rib. Unbelievable. They put the short rib in the layers of pasts. This is a real winner of a dish. Make sure you try to come on a Sunday for this.

We also tried the rabbit cavatelli with spinach. This was delicious as well. The rabbit was shredded meat, very tender. The cavatelli were soft and light. I usually like a little more al dente, but these won’t weigh you down. The chili peppers were a nice touch.

My rib eye steak was undercooked (it came to me rare instead of medium rare) and a little too wet (not properly seared). The flavor was okay, but the gristled cut made for extra work. They also plopped it directly on top of my french fries, so all the liquid bleed out made my fries extremely soggy and utterly useless. if I had scored the flavor on my traditional steakhouse rating system, this would probably come in at around 6/10. Skip the steak here (skip the rib eye anyway), and go with the other items I raved about above.

We also had creme brûlée and lemon honey sorbet for dessert. The sorbet didn’t have the right texture. It was too hard and icy. The creme brûlée, on the other hand, was pretty much perfect.

LANDMARC
The Shops at Columbus Circle
10 Columbus Cir., #3
New York, NY 10019

Burgers, Midtown West

Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen

December 12, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Heading into the bowels of Manhattan at Times Square / Port Authority is something close to pure hell. Having a burger depot there is the only solace and reason for ever going there, other than to catch a dirty bus out of town.

Schnipper’s is a massive burger factory, yet they still generate some wait time after you order. This joint is a notch above standard fast food, on par with a Shake Shack type of environment.

I got a cheeseburger with crispy onions, lettuce, tomato, pickle and Schnipper’s sauce. Add to that an order of fries, and a vanilla shake. My total was $18.15.

A bit hefty, but I’ll bite. The burger was good; maybe just needed a touch more seasoning/salt. It was nicely cooked to the proper temperature.

The fries were pretty satisfying and on par with a McDonalds-meets-Burger King fry (lightly battered thin, crispy fries).

The shake was good because I didn’t have to dislocate my neck bones to suck the shit up through a single straw. Other joints should take a lesson from Schnipper’s on that angle. Shakes should not be too thick to the point where you need a fucking spoon. They are shakes, after all – not ice cream fucking sundaes.

SCHNIPPER’S QUALITY KITCHEN
620 8th Ave
New York, NY 10018

Midtown West, Pizza

Bella Vita Pizza

December 10, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Bella Vita is a little pizza place on 58th street between 6th and 7th Avenues. I’ve walked by it a bunch of times and was intrigued because the pizza looks like my mom’s style of pizza – unruly sizes of mozzarella scattered upon a saucy pie crust. Let me tell you – the regular slice here was amazing. Not greasy, crisp as hell, soft to bite down on, and tasty as fuck. The sauce itself is sweet but tangy. The mozz is fresh and melty. Al it needed was a few leaves of fresh basil and this place is a done deal for my current favorite in the city. It rivals Saluggi’s. Check it out below – regular slice was $2.75 I think. Sicilian was $3.50 and the topping slice was like $3.25 if I am not mistaken. Yet a pie is only like $19. Not bad. Garlic knots are 3 for $1.25, and they re-heat them by pressing them under a sandwich press, which is awesome!

BELLA VITA PIZZA
158 W 58th St
New York, NY 10019

Korean, Midtown West, Other, Restaurant Reviews

Spot Dessert Bar

December 6, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Up on the third floor of a K-town food mall, this little dessert outpost serves up some really nice treats. The Vietnamese coffee cupcake was pretty good, though I didn’t get a lot of that distinct chicory and sweetened condensed milk flavor that I expected.

The other items were pretty good though, like these things which I thought were churros with icing at first. HA! They were just eclairs

Everything else under the glass looked delicious. Lots of green tea stuff, as you might expect at an Asian style bakery. Also some really tasty ice creams/gelatos.

SPOT DESSERT BAR
11 W. 32nd St.
New York, NY 10001

Korean, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Angry Chicken

December 6, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Tucked away on the third floor of a K-town food court, Angry Chicken roasts up some deliciously sweet and savory whole chickens. They were giving out some free samples when I was up there for dessert at a nearby food vendor. Check these gorgeous things out. Why so angry? Perhaps because they tasted heavily of apple? So what. Throw some spicy sauce on there and this is heaven.

ANGRY CHICKEN IS CLOSED

Midtown West, Pizza

Luigi’s Gourmet

December 5, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I ordered a pie from here for delivery once and we were happy with it. Not overjoyed, but happy. It was a good, fair price ($12), and the shit was crispy instead of runny and floppy, DESPITE being stuck in a pizza box and stuffed in a padded bag where the shit can get steamier than a night in the jungle with the Penthouse Pets. So I made it a point to come back and try a proper slice from under the glass, reheated.

Here’s the verdict: I liked it very much. The sauce was robust, a little spicy kick to it. The crust was crispy and durable, yet soft to bite down. The cheese was properly layered and just the right amount. I also tried a fresh mozz slice (I am a sucker for these). This one had basil and fresh sliced tomatoes on it as well. However, I thought that this lacked flavor when eaten side-by-side with the regular slice. I found myself wanting to add salt or something. Oh well. At least we know the regular slice is legit.

Oh and check out these garlic knots. They look delicious. Next time I will try:

LUIGI’S GOURMET
936 8th Ave
New York, NY 10019

Midtown West, Pizza

99¢ Fresh Pizza

December 5, 2014 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

This little hole-in-the-wall is on Broadway and 55th Street.

I love the idea of a cheap slice of pizza, so I made it my mission to try a bunch of these places to find the best one. This category-3 pizza shop is actually okay.

They are a little bit shy on the cheese and sauce, but if you’re in a rush and want to save a few bucks on your food, this joint will suffice once in a while.

The crust is usually crispy, though a little dry due to lack of enough sauce. You can always throw on a little hot sauce if you need that wetness:

Sometimes the crust can be softer if you get a more fresh pie. There’s not too much grease fall-off when you fold the slice to eat it, which is good on the waist, and nothing will drip down your face as you go to bit it. Sauce is basic – nothing nuanced or great about it. Cheese is just your basic shredded medley, if not all mozz. Standing room only inside, so get comfortable at a ledge on the side of the shop, or eat while you walk down the streets of midtown.

99¢ FRESH PIZZA
1723 Broadway
New York, NY 10019

Burgers, Midtown West, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

P.J. Carney’s

November 22, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This little Irish pub is right around the block from my apartment. Allow the pic below of the signage to fuck with your mind a little…

I was shocked to see the prices so low ($12 for a burger and fries), being they are located on 7th Avenue right near Central Park. I figured it for a tourist trap, but the inside is cozy and inviting, with great light from the windows.

I had heard there was a decent burger here, so I had to check it out.

I had the regular burger with american cheese. The cheese was a bit odd – not in a bad way, just different. It was like the shredded kind you see in a bag to sprinkle over nachos. My burger was a bit over cooked and a bit dry, but it was at least still tasty.

My wife had the Gaelic burger, which was topped with swiss cheese, sautéed onions and confit garlic. Her’s was cooked better and was much juicier, but the bun didn’t hold up well – it got a little messy when eating.

The fries were good and golden-crisp, and the place had some cool beer cocktails that are worth trying. We had the Patch & Orchard and Harvey Weissbanger.

To sum up: I’d probably go back for the convenience and atmosphere factors, but maybe I’d be more careful to order my burger medium rare or rare next time, instead of medium.

PJ CARNEY’S
906 7th Ave.
New York, NY 10019

American, Burgers, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Route 66 Cafe

November 13, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This place intrigued me after I tasted some of their suppliers meats at the wine and food festival. I figured I would give their burger a shot. It was good – lots of flavor. I’d put it above Bareburger but perhaps not quite as good as Penrose. The bread was durable yet soft, the meat was nicely cooked and well handled. The fries were perfectly golden brown and crispy.