If you’re not already aware, I’ve been getting pretty deep into the ebike culture and community here in NYC. I run the NYC Zooz Club and I helped create Electric Wednesday with Mike Rios of S3 Crew. Electric Wednesday is the glue that holds the various riding clubs together here in NYC. We’ve created something really special.
And, since I know you’re ultimately here for food and not bikes, I have been using it to go to and from restaurants in a new series I created called Ride & Review!
Finally, if you’re interested in buying a Chimera, you can save $150 by using my discount code at checkout. The code is JOHNNYPRIME.
I own the founders edition, bike number 5, in full titanium.
It’s costly, but now Austin, the creator of the bike, offers a Shadow Chimera, which is made of black steel. That will cut your price nearly in half. DO IT!!!
My wife and I came here twice. The first visit was just for a snack and a drink, so I never wrote it up. But now that we’ve had a full meal here, I figured I would put together a review from both experiences.
On the first visit, we had drinks, an Israeli scotch egg, and some cake. They have a nice selection of beer and wine. Saison Dupont is my favorite of all time.
The Israeli scotch egg is surrounded by falafel, which was unique and delicious.
On the second visit we did some entrees. My wife had the lamb burger, which comes with crunchy slaw and a harissa mayo. She added Gruyere cheese at the owner’s suggestion. It was absolutely delicious. Easily a top three lamb burger.
I had the chicken schnitzel plate, which came with fries and a salad. The schnitzel was unique in that it was breaded with a sesame seed batter!
I really liked it.
The cake we had on our first visit was a flourless chocolate birthday cake, which, I think, may have even been vegan. I liked it more than my wife did.
We will definitely be back to try more items from Eastwood. Super friendly staff, great prices, and great food!
This Italian steak joint just opened up in midtown on Madison Avenue, and the owners were kind enough to invite me in to take photos and promote on social media. Read on below, but first check out my Ride and Review video HERE!
Flavor:
We tried the t-bone, which was a beautiful 24oz hunk of beef. The filet side had a lot of aged flavor on it, and it was incredibly tender. The strip side had an awesome rosemary flavor to it, and was also very tender. I don’t know what they do to their steaks, but you can cut them with a spoon here! That’s how soft the meat is.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available:
There’s a good selection of cuts here, and the menu notes that they are all USDA prime. You have all your standard steakhouse selections, plus some larger format items for sharing.
Portion Size & Plating:
Everything we had was a good portion size for the price point listed on the menu. The plating was nice also – no sizzling plate for the t-bone, of which I am not a fan, so that was good. I am not sure if they do that for the porterhouse.
Price:
Given the location and competition in the area, price is always a tough nut to crack, but this place offers great quality meat for a very fair price.
Bar:
The bar here is really beautiful. A thick marble slab with some princely stools. A beautifully appointed wall of booze, and a nicely mixed martini with Castelvetrano olives is all you need to tie it off.
Specials and Other Meats:
There is a great selection of other proteins here, including pork, veal, lamb and chicken. We went with the veal pizzaiola, which was as delicious as it was beautiful. What a beast!
You can also hit up some alternative meats in the pasta section of the menu. We had the opportunity to try this delicious bowl of cavatelli with an oxtail ragu that was incredible.
Apps, Sides & Desserts:
We didn’t get to try any sides, but the appetizers and desserts were excellent. Most notable were the baked clams and octopus carpaccio, which were both unique and delicious.
We also tried the Caesar salad, which was served on a nicely composed dish with some crispy croutons and three delicious, clean and flavorful anchovies.
This crab cake also really hit the spot, and it is one of their most popular items. I can taste why.
For dessert, we tried the apple strudel and the chocolate salami. We both preferred the chocolate salami, hands down! It was a unique cross between a cookie/cake type thing, and fudge.
Seafood Selection:
We didn’t try any seafood mains, but if the quality of the starters is any indication for those, then the seafood here will be tip-top. We really enjoyed what we tried!
Service:
Service was awesome here. The chef, Diego, even came out to the tables to say hello to all the folks in the dining room, asking if everything was okay. Also worth noting the nice selection of bread for the table here – good stuff!
Ambiance:
The decor here is gorgeous. They have a nice modern but elegant setup here, and the space doubles when you go upstairs. I really can’t wait to come back and try some more of their proteins, especially the lamb loin!
DELBIANCO PRIME
423 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10017
For our final meal of the trip to Charleston, we went to the often difficult to reserve Fig with a couple that I’m friends with who live nearby. I managed to score a last minute reservation at 9:15pm, and we ended up closing down the joint at close to midnight. It turned out to be our overall best meal of the trip. Let’s get into it…
We started with a bunch of items that we all shared. Broiled oysters aji dolce, chicken liver pate, raw hogfish (similar to snapper) with rice and popcorn (crazy!), lamb bolognese ricotta gnocchi, and wagyu beef tartare.
These were, each of them, all-star level dishes, and I am hard-pressed to pick a favorite among them. I would order each of them again in a heartbeat, but I think I was most surprised by the hogfish. It was so unique, and I’m a sucker for popcorn. The gnocchi was definitely meant to be a main dish, but we shared among the four of us.
For mains, we also went heavy with five dishes. Baked wreckfish, sautéed flounder, mustard crusted swordfish, Berkshire pork milanese and lump crab spaghetti with lemon and bottarga.
Again, everything really incredible. I think, though, what stood out the most to me was the swordfish. The capers and mustard crust really paired beautifully with the medium-rare cooked fish. Loved it!
For dessert, we went with these lemon curd cream puffs, which were really nice.
I highly recommend Fig if you’re in Charleston. Absolutely delicious!
Veronika is the restaurant inside the Fotografiska photography museum on Park Avenue near 23rd street. My wife took me here for dinner, and I have to say, everything was pretty great.
We started with two tartares: uni and tuna, and wagyu. I liked the wagyu better but both were really nicely executed.
This German style veal shnitzel with a fried egg on top was the perfect shared course for the middle of the meal. I think the batter could have used a bit of salt after it came out of the fryer, but the capers with anchovy in them definitely added salt to the bites we had with them.
For our mains, we did the bone in strip and the lamb saddle.
Between the two, the lamb was much better. Nice and roasty. Perfect. The strip was dry aged but again it could have used a touch more salt. Perfectly cooked though. 8/10.
For dessert, we had an interesting take on strawberries and cream, served inside a meringue tube of sorts. Here are the before and after pics.
I would definitely go back here again! The food was great, and the ambiance was absolutely stunning.
VERONIKA
281 Park Ave. South
Second Floor
New York, NY 10010
I had been eyeballing Press Club Grill for a while because they have some nice looking large format items, so when @Jennerous_Eats suggested that we go as a foursome on her press invite, I was psyched to do so.
We tried a LOT of stuff, so let me get to it.
First, sourdough bread with fancy piped butter. The butter was a little on the cold side (not as spreadable as you would think for the shape), but I imagine they need to keep that cold so it doesn’t lose its structure or melt.
Next up, steak tartare. This was great! It reminded me of the new version they serve at The Lambs Club, but with a shrimp chip instead of toasted bread of potato chips.
The generous folks at Press Club Grill brought us out a trio of additional starters with the summer salad, the crab rangoon, and the buffalo carrots.
I was stunned by how much I enjoyed the buffalo carrots. They really ate like eat in texture. Also, the crab rangoon was light on that “cream cheese” flavor, so we all enjoyed that as well. Even the salad was bright, fresh and flavorful. Hits all around.
We also tried this mushroom ravioli pasta, which was very nicely executed. The broth was really flavorful and could have doubled as a consomme.
Alright, now on to the big stuff. First, the chicken schnitzel.
This was nice and juicy, but the breading didn’t cling very well to the meat. No matter though, I still enjoyed. It came with a little bowl of spaetzl and a beautifully smooth cream sauce on the side.
The beef Wellington was a sight to behold.
Once sliced, you could really see how perfectly executed it was.
Everything from the bright medium rare pink center to the crispy outer edge of the pastry dough was spot on… Enhance…
ENHANCE!
I would definitely recommend this. The only thing I will say is that it was a bit too heavily salted. I’m not sure if it was the duxelles or something in those outer layers, or maybe too much finishing salt, but I still give it 8/10. Stunning.
Next (oh yeah, we still had more…), was the duck three ways, but they call it Duck a L’Orange for two.
The first of the three ways was a perfectly seared pair of crispy crusty skinned duck breasts a l’orange style.
This was our favorite dish of the night. Big winner. The skin was so crisp and rendered out with textbook level skill, and there was a minimal amount of that nasty bittersweet boozy orange flavor you often get with that style. In fact it ate more Szechaun to me than French. Wonderful.
The second way for the duck was a bowl of wontons. I wished there were more!
The third way was this garlicky duck fried rice. It was lacking in crisp texture on the rice, but still tasty.
For dessert, we tried nearly everything except the baked Alaska (next time). The crowd favorite seemed to be the bananas Foster creme brulee.
My photos here don’t do the beauty justice, so make sure you watch the Ride & Review above.
I wasn’t a huge fan of either the cherries jubilee or the popsicle, though both really were nicely presented.
I think next time I want to try the porterhouse and the baked Alaska for sure. I’m also wondering if this joint needs to be placed into the “steakhouse” category. I’m just not sure. I didn’t do it for The Grill or Monterey, which are similar concepts, so I guess I’ll hold the line and say that this isn’t a steakhouse.
The PR folks who are helping manage the newly opened Palermo Bistro (right on restaurant row) invited me in for a dinner to feature their Parrillada mixed Argentinian grill platter. Here’s what my wife and I had:
First, the Vitel Tone, which is similar to vitello tonnato – the Tuscan dish often made with veal (as the name suggests), or even wild boar, that tastes like tuna. This was great here, made with veal eye round and anchovy.
Next was the octopus, which was very tender inside and crisp outside.
I paid a little extra for this NY strip milanese (along with a drink), because I had to try it out. It was excellent!
That was really all I wanted when I saw the menu online, but the parrillada was better than I expected. Generally, these things let me down, but here, we loved the blood sausage and the hanger steak the most.
On the side, we had mashed potatoes, broccolini and humita, which was similar to a cheese and polenta dish.
For dessert, we had the banana bread pudding with vanilla ice cream. I liked this because it wasn’t too sweet, as many bread puddings can be.
Cocktails and bread service was nice.
I also liked the wall decor.
Give this place a shot – especially for the veal app and the milanese!
First, check out my kickass Ride & Review video HERE:
My wife and I finally made it over to Da Toscano with my buddy and his girlfriend, who are huge fans of the place. We went big, so I’ll get right down to business.
For starters, we had the broiled oysters, which were bathed in crab fat butter. Absolutely delicious.
Then we ate five pasta dishes. Yes, five. My favorites were the lamb neck agnolotti and the orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe sauce.
Insane. So much flavor coming through in that orecchiette from the pickled cherry peppers. And the agnolotti were like little buttery packages of meaty deliciousness.
The squid ink spaghetti with crab and Calabrian chili was delicious as well. Perfectly executed.
The Scialatielli with sour beer and clams was incredibly unique and delicious. We really enjoyed this.
The gnocchi was our least favorite.
For our main courses we went with the veal strip parm and the Bistecca Fiorentina style porterhouse.
The parm was perfectly crisp and delicious.
The steak had a slight age on it from Allen Brothers, and it was rubbed with a porcini mushroom spice. 9/10!
For dessert we had the bomboloni with foie gras, peanut butter and jelly. It was pretty good, but we ended up liking the olive oil cake better.
I highly recommend this place, and I can’t wait to go back to try more stuff.
First, check out this kickass Ride & Review video HERE:
– link –
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!
