Tag Archives: hells kitchen

Eastern European, Flash Deals, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Balkanika

February 3, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I nabbed a Groupon deal for a seven course tasting for two at this joint, with wine pairings. At $75, it was a steal.

The meal opened with a lightly sweet Macedonian Muscat and a delicious tomato soup. The soup was smooth and velvety, and reminded me almost of a vodka sauce.

Next was the Balkanika salad, which was mixed greens, beets, pine nuts and prosciutto, and served with a light red Macedonian wine. This was a hearty salad. The addition of the beets and prosciutto means that you could easily eat this dish as a main course in a larger portion.

Next was a yogurt, feta, mint, garlic and dill dip/spread served with toasted whole wheat pita bread. This shit would be amazing on an everything bagel instead of cream cheese. It came with a shot of this absinthe/sambuca type of liquor, on the rocks.

Next up was an eggplant and zucchini tapenade with pine nuts, onions, garlic and red peppers. I wasn’t too thrilled about this dish, but then again my wife and I are not bigs fans of eggplant to begin with. This course did not come with a wine pairing.

My favorite course of the night was this spiced beef wrapped in grape leaf and cabbage. Each had its own flavor. In one, the meat was perfumed and spicy. In the other, it was mild and comforting. Both very good in their own way. This dish came with a red; Shiraz.

The last savory course was chicken kebab with yogurt sauce and potatoes. The chicken was nice and tender on these, and the yogurt sauce was thicker than the typical runny white bullshit you get with a kebab. The potatoes were delicious as well. Soft, yet still firm enough to pick up with your form, and deeply flavorful. This came with a white Gavi wine from Italy.

The dessert course was, of course, baklava. It was a little tough to break through with the tiny dessert forks, but the nutty flavor was excellent. It was a bit too sweet, however. Perhaps too much honey. It was served with a flute of Prosecco.

The place even serves their mezes and sides by the pound in what looks like a deli counter. Nice!

BALKANIKA
691 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10036

Midtown West, Pizza

The Best Pizza

January 23, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This little category 2 and 3 joint is on 9th Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets in Hell’s Kitchen. They serve dollar regular slices, but they also offer toppings as well for an up-charge. The dollar slice was a little doughy for my liking, but the sauce and cheese were flavorful. If you like a more filling slice due to the dough being thicker, then this is a great buy for you.

THE BEST PIZZA
748 9th Ave
New York, NY 10019

Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews, Thai

Noodies

January 22, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Noodies is a tiny Thai joint over in Hell’s Kitchen that serves up some excellent shit. My wife and I have only ever ordered takeout for delivery, but we’ve been meaning to get in there to see how the dining experience is.

My standard order is the “drunken noodle,” which consists of bread, flat noodles, ground shrimp, chicken, fried Thai basil, Chinese broccoli, tomatoes, onions and peppers. It’s just the right amount of heat in the spice department too. Really fucking delicious, and it always satisfies.

The Thai fried rice is a real treat. It has shrimp, bacon and egg in it. So good. The tomatoes add a burst of juiciness to the dish as you get down on it.

My wife has been brave enough to try several of the “vegetarian duck” dishes. Surprisingly, these are very good, hearty and satisfying. It really eats like meat. The “material” is some kind of tofu or seitan product, cooked or marinated in a sauce of some kind that adds a ton of flavor. The curries are good, as was this noodle dish that came with a robust vegetable broth on the side incase you want to make it a soup.

My wife and I finally got a chance to eat inside as well. The inside is TINY, but nicely decorated and eclectically.

Plates and bowls fastened to the wall:

Chandeliers made from glasses and strings of glass balls:

We went for a lunch deal where you get a salad and an appetizer free with your entree. We started with some Thai iced teas. Mine was regular (on the left, prior to stirring it up) and my wife’s was lychee:

The salad was simple and light. A little watery at the bottom of the bowl, but the dressing was yummy:

We both got the steamed dumplings app, which comes with two large and dense meat-filled dumplings that are sprinkled with some crispy fried garlic and shallots:

For my entree, I picked the ba mee duck noodles. This was a generous portion size of good quality crispy fried duck breast meat atop some nicely dressed noodles and greens, with a light but tasty broth on the side:

Next time I will try the roast pork and crab meat version. This was great shit.

My wife had the vegetarian duck again, which came with a fried egg on top of the little mound of rice. This is a VERY satisfying dish despite it being meatless:

NOODIES
830 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10019

Chinese, Midtown West, Ramen, Restaurant Reviews, Thai

Puff Cha Ramen

December 31, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

In the annals of not-quite-ramen joints that use the word “ramen” in their name to draw in Ippudo and Totto overflow business in the midtown west area, Puff Cha has to be one of the best.

The place is small inside, with seating for a maximum of 18 guests, but it is very nicely and basically decorated. Colorful.

Like Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns “Ramen,” Puff Cha serves up a bunch of dry and soup noodle dishes, among other things like Thai curry puffs and bubble teas. These are essentially empanada-like puff pastry dough turnovers filled with all sorts of goodies. We tried the Korean BBQ varietal, which was okay but I imagine their signature Thai offerings are much better.

We also dabbled into their chicken wings, which, despite not being as crispy as I like, were definitely nice and flavorful, with a soy-based sticky sauce coating them.

We tried some lunch specials since we were both off from work and wandered in for the deal. I tried the roast pork noodle soup, which was really awesome.

The broth was packed with flavor, yet thin and clear. It was served with thinly sliced roast pork, fresh baby bok choy, scallions, cilantro, and a fried egg roll wrapper of some sort. The noodles were ramen style, and cooked just right.

My soup came with a spring roll too, which was decent. Not greasy, and very light.

My wife tried a “mock duck” in Thai peanut curry sauce, which was surprisingly delicious and very reminiscent of actual fatty duck skin. Nicely done! It was served with rice, baby bok choy, and a bowl of clear fish broth.

My wife’s dish came with a steamed dumpling, which was definitely more Thai or Vietnamese flavored as opposed to Chinese.

The greatest part of this meal was discovering that they have fresh, lightly pickled spicy jalapeño peppers and red onions in a dish for adding to your soups or rice/noodle dishes. Awesome!

In the back, they have a counter-top display case with some homemade desserts that looked simple and nice as well.

Very affordable – especially during the lunch deal times (until 4pm).

PUFF CHA
457 W 50th St
New York, NY 10019

Burgers, Midtown West, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Jasper’s Taphouse & Kitchen

December 30, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I came here for a quick lunch special during the week when we had some time off from work. They offer a great deal: $10 for a cheeseburger with fries (curly or hand-cut) or salad, plus a pint of their house lager. Pretty sweet!

Unfortunately the burger was overcooked (came back well or maybe medium well, rather than medium), under seasoned, and under cheesed (it was one small slice on a thick patty).

The fries were perfectly cooked and crispy, but also lacked some seasoning. My wife had the curly fries, and I had the hand-cut. I liked mine better.

Over all it was still a good deal, but I’d rather pay full price for a perfectly executed burger than save a few bucks on a half-assed job.

JASPER’S TAPHOUSE & KITCHEN
761 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10018 ‎

Midtown West, Pizza

Sacco Pizza

December 30, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Sacco is a little category 2 joint on 9th Avenue in the 50s that I pass by all the time. Today my wife and I wandered in for a slice.

It was pretty good; nice and thin crust, good flavor on the sauce and cheese, and not a lot of oil drip-off.

The problem is, at $2.50 a slice, I found that the nearby dollar slice joint “NY Fresh Pizza” was somewhat on-par, and for the $2.50 price point in this neighborhood, I’d probably go back to Luigi’s or Bella Vita before coming here again. Not a bad slice at all though.

SACCO PIZZA
819 9th Ave
New York, NY 10019

Burgers, Midtown West, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Brickyard Gastropub

December 24, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Brickyard is a bar on 9th Avenue near 52nd Street that has some pretty fair-priced lunch specials.

The one I tried was $10 for a burger and fries, with just $3 drafts of anything on tap. I went with a nice refreshing UFO wheat beer to start off.

The burger was actually pretty decent, but the meat needed more seasoning, as well as an additional slice of cheese. The fries could use a bit more crisp to them as well. Not bad though: burger, fries and beer for $18 with tax and tip included. The pickle spear that came with the burger was a half-sour too, which I really liked.

BRICKYARD GASTROPUB
785 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10019

Banh Mi, Midtown West, Pho, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

CoBa 53

December 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

NOTE: THIS JOINT IS NOW CLOSED

My wife and I came to this joint to try some of the Vietnamese basics. We started with some drinks. I had “33,” which is a beer from Vietnam, and my wife had a lemonade mixed drink.

The first staple item to order is the spring rolls. These were not a hit for us. They were a little bland.

Next, the banh mi sandwich. This had good flavor, but the bread was all wrong (it needs to be a French baguette), and it needed more pate and another layer of meats to really fill it out. I would have liked some more slices of jalepenos and also less cilantro stems and more leaves.

The next big item to get is the pho. I liked the broth. It needed just a slight more oomph, but otherwise it was pretty enjoyable. It had sliced eye round as well as brisket. I added beef balls for an extra $2.

This next items isn’t necessarily a staple item to order, but my wife and I are fond of clay pot dishes. We got the pork belly version and it was really great. It was packed with lots of great porky and fatty meat, a boiled egg, fried tofu, squash and lemongrass.

For dessert we had the coconut lemongrass ice cream. It was a little gummy in texture, but otherwise was an interesting flavor.

Here’s the Willy:

COBA 53
401 W. 53rd St.
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.

ROUTE 66 CAFE
858 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10019

Banh Mi, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

Saigon 9 West Vietnamese Cafe

November 4, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This little place is on 47th Street just east of 9th Avenue, and is almost never open, despite two signs saying that they are open from 9-9 or 10-10. The people who run the joint also run the dry cleaners next door, which is a very busy place. So, as you may guess, the folks over there don’t always get to open up the food shop. They’re sweet as hell – I just wish their storefront was reliably open.

They have a big menu, and a little space.