This is a bar on 3rd Avenue near 13th Street. I grabbed a quick burger here and figured I’d yap about it. Everything was great except for the bun. That shit was crumbling and falling apart once I got halfway through. But the meat, cheese and toppings were all legit. Good flavor. Hit the spot.
NEVADA SMITH’S
100 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10003
My wife and I tried this new joint that has recently hopped the pond from the UK to find a home on our shores on 19th street between 5th and 6th Avenues.
The concept of this place is pretty fucking simple, which I like. They offer three dishes: a burger, a grilled or steamed lobster, or a lobster roll. Each comes with fries and a salad, and each costs $20.
For the burger, what we have is a great 8oz blend of Pat LaFrieda prime meats, topped with American and cheddar cheeses, lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle. Bacon is free to add on top as well. I got mine on the side.
The bun is really nice. It was durable, yet soft, warm and toasty. The black and white sesame seeds were a nice touch. The burger meat itself was delicious. The patty had a nice char and was well seasoned. It was cooked nicely to my specifications:
The grilled lobster was really nice too. The weight of these babies come in at 1.5lbs each, so it’s a pretty good deal when you think about it. It was cooked perfectly, had tons of great flavor, and the grilling technique imparted a nice char.
I’m going to go ahead and say that this lobster roll is the best that I’ve had. I haven’t had too many yet, but this whopper has 6oz of meat, not much filler by way of mayo or chopped veggies, and it is dressed and seasoned perfectly. The meat was so juicy, tender and lumpy. The bun was perfection. It had a light taste of butter, was toasted and firm on the outside, but soft and warm on the inside.
The fries were like McDonalds, but better, which is high praise for me since I love those Mickey D’s fries.
The salad was nice too. A mix of garden greens with some sliced radish, croutons, red onion and a light sprinkling of Parmesan cheese – all dressed deftly with a basic vinaigrette.
Decor is nice in here too, and the space is absolutely MASSIVE.
A variety of condiments and a neat set of shell crackers are on the tables, and you even get a cool plastic lobster bib to rock while you stuff your face with delicious food.
UPDATE 3/11/17 – PRESS REVIEW OF NEW MENU ITEMS
My wife and I came back in to try some new specialty items that were added to the menu. I must say, I was impressed!
First off, they added a smaller burgers to the menu for those with a lighter appetite. But they didn’t stop there. They also used that smaller patty for some specialty burgers. To make up for the smaller 6oz patty, they’ve added amazing toppings like lobster meat, pulled pork and foie gras. We tried both the lobster burger, called “The Beast,” and “The Frenchman,” which had foie gras on top.
Both were great. The foie burger was both funky and sweet: Funky from that rich goose fat, and sweet from the cranberry jam. I mean, look at this – perfection!
Take a look at this tall and proud lobster-topped burger.
It also gets a pop of great flavor from the truffle mayo. That’s Swiss cheese on top, too. So nicely balanced with equal portions of lobster meat and high quality Pat LaFrieda beef.
Now let’s get down to the new lobster roll items. You can see them flanking the original on the menu below.
We tried “The 7 Samurai” and passed on “The Fiesta.” Next time.
This beauty is a lobster roll dressed with ginger mayo, cucumber, sesame and Japanese spices. Really awesome. This was my favorite item of the day. The cucumber, ginger and sesame added a really daring Japanese flavor profile to this New England classic.
And I really can’t say enough good things about the bread they use for the lobster rolls here. I started getting into it in my old review above, but I want to expand a bit on it. It’s like a very thick slice of loaf bread with a half slice or pocket in the center for filling with lobster. The outside is toasted and buttery, but not wet or greasy.
It really is the perfect vehicle for delivering the lobster into your mouth. And everything you order here, as I mentioned above, comes with both fries AND a salad. Both are great.
I don’t know how we managed to fit dessert, but I guess there is a separate, second stomach designated just for dessert in the anatomy of food crazy freaks like me. Chocolate mousse. Awesome.
BURGER & LOBSTER
39 W. 19th St.
New York, NY 10011
Here’s a shameless photo-dump of some mouth watering scenery at Eataly, Flatiron’s legendary Italian food market. I suggest coming here for a long day. Get lunch, walk around, taste shit, walk around some more, taste more shit, and then sit for dinner. Enjoy the food porn, you bastards.
Front signage:
Hallway: like a department store for food.
Desserts:
Signage for what looks like a great roasted meats sandwich joint:
CHEESE!
Nice looking seafood:
“Meat: restaurant:
Shellfish:
Eaters:
Of course I managed to find the meat counter:
Pasta shelves. There are rows and rows of aisles like this.
Expensive fois gras:
Bread bakery:
Pizza:
I’ll preface this little write-up by noting that I only came here to try this brilliantly conceived mash-up of Japanese and Italian – a fusion that was best made in Super Mario Bros. – only this time it was in the food world rather than the video game world. For a limited time Maialino was serving what they called Roman Ramen at the bar. I heard about it here. Now it’s gone! You’re all too late. I tried to warn you on FB.
Okay, so Maialino’s “Roman Ramen” uses farro noodles in a pork broth, with a thick slice of porchetta, black pepper oil, some shaved greens, and, of course, a soft-boiled egg to achieve the most perfect ramen fusion dish one could possibly imagine. Everything just fits well. The noodles reminded me a little bit of the rye style noodles from Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop. They had a nice bite and texture to them. The pork maybe could have been braised better, as there was a slight bit of chew to it, but I didn’t mind so much because the flavor was really outstanding. It was distinctly Italian in flavor but Japanese in delivery. Another ingredient suggestion would be some kind of fungus. Like the Japanese, Italians are quite fond of mushrooms (remember – they are all over Super Mario Bros.): So perhaps some thin sliced raw baby bellas or julienne cut cooked portobellos would fit nicely in this bowl. At only $10 it’s a good deal too. The black pepper oil really sets this bowl apart from the others. I need to locate this stuff ASAP because I can no longer live without it.
Year 2: pork was more thinly sliced, which I ended up liking even better, as it reminded me of prosciutto. Broth was a little more substantial and deep in flavor. Mo’ betta greens, like arugula and some herbs. Still no mushrooms, and this time was a little lighter on the pepper oil (I was a little bummed about that but it was still fucking great).
I washed this bitch down with some Italian brew too – pretty good:
As a side note, the regular menu for this place looked incredible. I’ll definitely be back.
On a second trip, my wife and I came for the lunch price fix menu. For $35 you get any app, any prime or second item for your entree, and biscotti.
For the apps, we chose fried artichokes and the octopus with beans. Both were excellent. The artichokes were crispy and lemony, and the octopus was charred nicely. I’ve had softer octo before, but this was definitely still good.
For the entrees, my wife went with the malfatti, which is a broad pasta noodle that was served in a lemony brown butter sauce with suckling pig. This was great. The pasta was perfectly cooked al dente and the pig was tender and flavorful.
Of course I chose the roasted sirloin for my dish. It was cooked perfectly to medium rare, and it still had a great charred crust on the edges. It was served with onions and potatoes: classic.
I also had to try the cavatelli with escarole and beans. Cavatelli is my favorite pasta, and escarole and beans is one of my favorite classical Italian peasant dishes. They did a great job here. It really reminded me of my mother’s cooking.
I sopped a lot of the nice juices up with the delicious table breads:
The only down side to the meal was the slowness in service. They were really busy, so it took very long to get each course. And they also nearly forgot to bring out the biscotti until I reminded them.
I’m generally not a huge fan of biscotti, or really any Italian cookies for that matter, but the flat, soft gingerbread cookie underneath was really delicious.
Not a bad bill for all we were able to try:
And in a really nice ambiance at that. I love the restaurant. It feels rustic yet elegant all at the same time.
UPDATE 6/5/17
THE BURGER IS BACK! Maialino is once again serving up their special burger, available at the bar from 12-2pm, and then from 10:30pm to close. It’s a delicious patty topped with gorgonzola and crispy pancetta, sitting on a rosemary brioche bun with lettuce and onion. Absurdly good.
MAIALINO
Gramercy Park Hotel
2 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY 10010
Pete’s is the oldest continuously operating establishment in NYC. It opened in 1864 and has not closed or switched locations since.
What’s cool here is that the old cashier’s cage is still right there at the end of the bar. It used to be that the cashier would sit in the cage with the money/register to be protected from being robbed.
They even have this funny old sign for how to live on $15 a week:
The bartender Phil was awesome too; really friendly guy, easy to talk with, outgoing and generally just made the place a great spot to hang out. I hadn’t ever been in here before (shame on me), but he suggested coming back around Christmas time when the lights are up at the bar. Definitely. Thanks Phil!
Anyway we saw this burger on the menu and figured it had to be tried for our second burger of the night:
It turned out to be a bit of a let down. The meat was excellent, as to be expected, but there was not enough cheese. Also the tomato was sliced too thick – almost as thick as the burger patty. The waffle fries were done perfectly though.
A friend of mine met up with me and my buddy here while we were eating before he met with some broad for a date. He was hungry too, so he ordered the regular burger and we all shared:
This was much better eating: definitely better than the huntsman burger. Although my buddy was a little cranked about a pricing discrepancy (bar menu on the wall that he ordered from did not match the printed menu that he was charged from), and the burger was cooked a little under how he wanted it (I would have been fine with that temp – look at it – it looks perfect!), it was indeed a good burger. I think I would take the Old Town burger over this one though, but it was close.
In sum, this was an amazing bar to hang out in. It’s an absolutely amazing piece of NYC history, and it will definitely stay that way with staff like Phil at the bar, who make the place even better.
If burgers ain’t your thing, then try one of their extremely fair-priced brunch deals that range from $12-$15 for three courses, or maybe their delicious corned beef sandwich:
PETE’S TAVERN
129 E. 18th St.
New York, NY 10003
Old Town is one of NYC’s oldest and most awesome bars. It opened in 1892 and has remained relatively unchanged since.
Even the urinals are old, and big (for big cocks): the kind that used to be at the Village Idiot, Ear Inn, Gallagher’s and Pastis.
Anyway the burger here is supposed to be pretty good, as is the burger over at Pete’s down the block, so my buddy had the brilliant idea that we set out to try a few burgers in the area in one night. We ended up hitting three places, because we have massive balls swinging between our legs. Here is the Old Town burger:
This was easily the best burger of the night. Juicy, nicely cooked, a good amount of cheese. Nice and simple. The only down side was that the fries were a bit under-seasoned, and the bun was a little hard or crumbly after toasting. Stick with the potato bun!
OLD TOWN
45 E. 18th St.
New York, NY 10003
UPDATE: THIS LOCATION IS NOW CLOSED!
For the third and final stop on our burger crawl, we hit Clarke’s Standard, which is owned by the PJ Clarke’s folks. I assumed we were splitting another burger like at the last two joints of our crawl (Old Town and Pete’s), but my buddy strapped on a pair of elephant balls and said “fuck that shit I’m getting my own burger.” I have to say I was impressed with his resolve. Not one chicken sandwich all night long, and essentially two beers per location for a total of six… with lots of water in between to stay hydrated and to beat back the raw onions. HAHA! It was a good night, out at 4:30pm, home by 10pm.
This place has a solid little burger, and the fries were hands down the best of the night.
It’s like fast food in terms of atmosphere, but the quality is much better. Check out this mid-squirt money shot:
They even have some cool decor of old meat scales.
The guy who greeted us was Malik – an amazing, funny dude who was talkative and putting everyone in a great mood. He even hooked us up with some ice cream:
The only down side here was that Malik said his favorite steak was from Sizzler. My man – I hope you contact me because we need to grab a steak somewhere else together. I bet even sinking your teeth into one at PJ Clarke’s will change your whole outlook on steaks.
I came here to the Union Square location for the first time with a few buddies before watching one of the US World Cup games.
I had a breakfast burger of some sort, which came with ham and egg on top of that bitch. It was really good, perfectly cooked too, as you can tell from the cut shot.
This was exactly what we needed before stuffing our bellies full of beer before the game, and hours of screaming and yelling for our team.
On a second visit I had the classic cheeseburger. The breakfast burger was better, in my opinion, and the bun is still in need of improvements. Switch to potato!
My wife had an asiago turkey burger, which was good but a little rubbery. I guess that shit happens when you eat turkey.
We did try some wings and an app that was essentially a fried pickle and pastrami fritter. Pretty good showing.
The down side is that they wouldn’t honor the wings or happy hour specials at the tables, despite the bar being filled.
Last item was the smokes shake, which was very nice. The roasted marshmallow on top really brought those flavors home.
5 NAPKIN BURGER
150 E 14th St
New York, NY 10003
UPDATE: THIS LOCATION IS NOW CLOSED!
Terakawa Ramen is the kind of tiny joint that you pop into for a quick fix if you’re in the area. I wouldn’t go out of my way to come here, but they DO do a great job with the basics. At $9 the Terakawa Ramen is a steal. The bowl is huge, and it is really tasty. Stick with the basics though. My wife tried the Mayu black garlic oil ramen, which was essentially the Terakawa ramen but with a heavy layer of burnt tasting black garlic oil that was a bit ashy in texture and look. The Terakawa was much better. The noodles are square in shape, straight, and a nice texture. The scallions are cut properly, and the pork is soft and thinly sliced. Definitely worth a try, and I would certainly go back for seconds, but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it like I would for Bassanova or Totto.
We also tried an order of the Kuro Buta sausage. I was hoping for something a bit different, but it was still tasty. Ultimately not a necessary item. Go for extra pork in the ramen instead.
I’m not quite sure how to handle this write-up for the website. Is it a review, or commentary? Corkbuzz isn’t a steakhouse, and this meal is kind of a “limited time offer,” so I am going to go with commentary, and not give it a full steakhouse review.
Corkbuzz is a unique place in the food world. Primarily it is a wine bar and wine-centric restaurant, but it is also a home-base for wine education, according to their website. As you all may know, I am generally a martini kind of guy, despite the fact that me, my father, and my grandfather all make/made wine (I’ve even made flavored meads, or honey-based wines). Seriously – and I’m not saying this just because he’s my dad: the best wine I’ve ever tasted was my dad’s pinot noir, which he made from scratch with fresh grapes.
So anyway – a buddy of mine emailed me asking if I knew anything about this place, and if I thought the “Steakhouse Sundays” deal was good. He showed me this page:
$500 for 6 people, including tip, with 4 bottles of wine, Pat LaFrieda rib eye, and sides/apps?!?? Uhh… YES… no brainer, that is a GREAT fucking deal! So I told my wife about it, and we decided that we had to jump on it as well. Check out the results below:
First we sat at the bar and waited for our party to arrive. Nice view, and the cocktails were awesome.
Once seated, they presented the first wine:
And brought us the wedge salad:
And shrimp cocktail (a little pathetic, but whatever…)
Next came the red wines…
Then the sides arrived… Roasted cauliflower, and creamed spinach…
Then the steak with potatoes and onion rings…
And finally a pumpkin bread pudding dessert with ricotta whipped cream…
Here are the wines again, for those who are all about it…
Everything was great. We were all full, but not ridiculously over-stuffed to the point of vomitude. The steak was great. I noted that it was a little under-salted, but the steak sauce (some kind of wine reduction) was plenty salty to inject that back into the meat. The sides were all great – especially the roasted cauliflower. The creamed spinach was a bit too firm for my liking, but it was nice that it wasn’t so overly creamy. The potato item would have been better if it was crispy (was a little soggy), but overall a really great meal. The wine alone was worth the price we paid.
CORKBUZZ WINE STUDIO
13 E. 13th St.
New York, NY 10003
