I stopped into Alfie’s for a late night bite to get my burger fix in. The meat was not seasoned enough, but it was certainly cooked to the proper temperature. It was good and juicy. I just wish they packed on some salt and pepper before slapping this titty-fuck onto the grill. The rosemary herb fries were nicely cooked too, but they needed seasoning and salt as well:
ALFIE’S
800 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10019
I grabbed a local Groupon deal for this joint to try out their burger. It turned out to be a pretty good meal. $30 for two drinks, two entrees, and a shared app.
We started off with some drinks, beer & wine:
Next came the apps (we ordered an additional). Bacon and onion mac and cheese, followed by chili duck sauce shrimp. Both were tasty, though I didn’t think the $3 up charge for the bacon and onion in the mac was worth it. Also the shrimp came with a thousand island dipping sauce which didn’t mix well with the asian style sauce that was already on them. Other than that the batter and frying were perfect.
Then the burger came out. I ordered a burger with American cheese, bacon, and jalapeños. My only gripe was that the bun was a little flakey/crusty, but other than that it was well seasoned, they used fresh jalapeños, the bacon was crisp, the cheese was melty and good, and the burger was cooked just right.
The fries were pretty good too – nicely salted, unlike Thalia from the night before, but with that same natural cut style.
My wife had a salmon sandwich that looked pretty nice as well, topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, and avocado.
HUDSON EATERY
601 W. 57th St.
New York, NY 10019
McHale’s was once known for its great burgers. It recently closed, switched locations (slightly) and re-opened. I’m not sure if the management is the same, or the chef, or any of that. The place is gorgeous inside, very classy and old school-ish. And yet they play UFC fight events in there, which is good for me since I am a fan.
On to the burger.
At $13 for the McHale’s burger with a slice of american and fries, this baby is near perfect. The only downer was the sesame seed bun that was a bit crumbly and got thin along the bottom once the burger was stacked up. It came with lettuce, onion, tomato and pickle. Photo lighting credit goes to my chicken-sandwich eating friend, who sacrificed half an apartment rental commission to dine with yours truly. That’s a $600 chicken sandwich he had!
Fries were great too – well seasoned and crispy.
MCHALES
251 W. 51st St.
New York, NY 10019
Cha Pas is a pretty good little mostly-Vietnamese restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. They serve up some pretty good food here, but the prices reflect a place that is not like the downtown joints. This is more expensive. For some dishes, it’s worth it, but for others, not so much. That said, everything I’ve had here is very good. I’ve tried the banh mi, the pho, the Vietnamese chicken wings, the clay pot pork belly, and the chicken curry. No real disappointments to speak of, and the Vietnamese coffee is very good. They also have some more difficult to find Southeast Asian beers as well, and a really cool painted, exposed brick wall on the inside.
CHA PAS
314 W. 52nd St.
New York, NY 10019
UPDATE: THIS PLACE IS NOW CLOSED
My wife and I have alway sheen big fans of Baluchi’s because of their consistency with the dishes that we like, and their amazing lunch specials and dinner combo meals. At lunch time, nearly everything is half off, and that includes weekends. At dinner, they have combo meals for something like $16 that come with naan, rice, a main dish, and an appetizer. You really can’t beat the price. We were happy to find a new location near our apartment, which is being run by a gentleman who is trying to bring the recipes back to a more authentic Indian cuisine as opposed to the Americanized versions at the other locations. I’m always a big fan of the saagwala chicken here – it always delivers exactly what I want.
BALUCHI’S
493 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10018
NOTE: THIS JOINT IS NOW CLOSED!
Thalia over on 8th Avenue has an amazing oyster deal. EVERY DAY from 7:00pm through 1:00am they have dollar oysters, and they are GOOD. The times I have gone, they were all nice quality, clean Bluepoints. What a steal! And with a great drink menu, this place is the perfect spot for grabbing a quick bite and buzz.
On a second trip for oysters, we had a full meal here. I had the burger. It was essentially my LGBT sandwich with a burger patty in the mix. While it was really nicely cooked, it needed just a bit more seasoning, as did the fries.
The fries had a great texture and flavor – just lacked a little salt.
My wife had pasta made from zucchini, which was nice and light, and topped with beans, mushrooms, and cheese.
For dessert we shared a velvet chocolate mousse. It had some cake on the bottom which I didn’t like as much as the mousse portion, but it was nice.
Check out this great drink I had too – really refreshing and tasty:
On another trip I had the spaghetti. Really simple but well executed. I found the sauce to be a bit too sweet, so I slapped some globs of the kalamata olive spread into it (the spread comes with the table breads). That made it perfect.
*DOLLAR OYSTERS NO LONGER AVAILABLE*
THALIA
828 8th Ave.
New York, NY 10019
This little joint looked promising as a spot to grab some Chinese style noodle soup. As we sat down, though, both my wife and I decided that we wanted dry noodles rather than a soup. I went with the same bet and picked roast pork noodles, and my wife went with roast duck. The duck was a bit greasy, and was an efforted meal, as you had to chew around small bones due to how the meat was chopped after cooking. The roast pork, however, was very nice. I went with chow fun noodles (wide ribbons) and my wife went with regular soup noodles.
While my wife wasn’t as happy with her meal as I was, I think we’d both go back at some point to try a few other dishes.
MEE NOODLE
795 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10019
I found this place as I was strolling around the new neighborhood. Since finding it, I’ve been here twice. The first time was for happy hour, where my wife and I had some great sliders, some roasted corn, and beer.
As you can see, we tried a nice variety of sliders. if I recall, habanero cheddar was my favorite. I was impressed enough to go back a second time with my cousin, this time for a proper burger. I had the “Miss Hula Burger,” with ham, swiss, honey mustard and pineapple.
While it was delicious, I realize that there is a revolting string of fat hanging down the front of the burger. I wanted to show this in all it’s glory, warts and all. And I apologize if you just threw up a little bit in your mouth. But you can trust me that the food here is good.
UPDATE 7/13/17
I came back in for lunch on a weekday and discovered a really great special that they run during those hours: $10 for a burger and a beer! Excellent.
ISLAND BURGER
766 9th Ave
New York, NY 10019
Totto and Totto II essentially have the exact same menu; chicken or miso based. I actually enjoyed the ramen more at Totto II than here at the original location, but I could deb going bonkers in thinking there is a difference in taste. Here’s a shot of the mega ramen from Totto, along with a little shot of the kitchen.
As you may have guessed from my review of Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop, I do not like the way these green onions are sliced (though these are still not as bad as Ivan). Aside from that, mega ramen might be one of the best bowls around.
TOTTO – HELL’S KITCHEN
464 W 51st St
New York, NY 10019
TOTTO – MIDTOWN WEST
248 E 52nd St
New York, NY 10022
The Hell’s Kitchen version of this joint is slightly better, in my opinion, than the Flatiron spot. Admittedly, though, went to the Flatiron spot after eating Maialino’s “Roman Ramen,” so I may have to go back there another time, as my taste buds may have been spoiled by the awesomeness at Maialino.
There is seating only for 11 or 12 people. At times there is a short line, but nothing too insane.
The food here is very cost friendly, and the portions are generous. I haven’t had a bad bowl yet, though I still give the edge to Menkui-Tei in this ‘hood for personal preference.
Shoyu ramen:
Another bowl of Terakawa ramen:
The Ma-Yu black garlic ramen is MUCH better here than at the flatiron location. Beautiful.
The “whopper” bowl is amazingly huge. It comes with tons of wavy egg noodles, all the fixings from the Terakawa ramen (ginger, mushrooms, LOTS of sliced pork, scallions, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts), the black garlic oil seasonings from the Ma-Yu ramen, a full boiled egg and fresh cabbage. This is a fuckload of food to eat for only $14!!! The shit was mounded high like a mountain peak, and nearly overflowing.
On a subsequent visit, I was happy to see that the restaurant switched from the circular pork roll style meat to legit slab pork belly. They also swapped the noodles in the massive “whopper” bowl to a larger, thicker noodle that was a nice, welcome change!
TERAKAWA
885C 9th Ave
New York, NY 10019
