Onegin in the West Village for Upscale Russian Fare

My then girlfriend (and now fiancee!) and I had a date night and wanted to have some nice warm, stick to your ribs food on a cold night earlier this winter.  I had gotten a Groupon deal for an upscale Russian restaurant called Onegin in the West Village since I enjoy Russian food, and I was glad I did.

The deal consisted of two drinks, two apps, and entrees.  To start we both ordered our apps.  I started with the Solyanka, a warm soup filled with smoked meats, which was great for the cold.

My fiancee never had pelmeni dumplings before, and these delicious little dumplings are some of favorite dumplings of any cuisine.  These ones were made with veal, then boiled and served with sour cream which pairs perfectly with them.  Sooooo good.

For our entrees, she ordered the braised short ribs with truffle barley risotto and endive.  This dish was hearty and the short ribs were tender.  Using barley for the grain was also a nice twist.

I had the chicken and veal cutlets, which were served with a mushroom cream sauce.  The cutlets were very juicy and again, a very hearty dish.  

The deal also involved two flavor infused vodka shots.  These were tasty and strong, but not quite as strong as the drinks from The Russian Tea Room (one was enough to make both of us a little tipsy!)

The meal was great.  While the food doesn't completely blow you away, it was still solid and satisfying.  The portions were huge as well, and we couldn't even finish all that was served.  The ambiance was really nice and is a nice spot for a date. I believe the deal was for $55 for all that you see above, and as of this writing it's still up on Groupon.  

Onegin

391 Avenue of the Americas

(West Village)
New York, NY 10014

Phone number(212) 924-8001

Daddy O in the West Village for Great Bar Food!

I bought a Groupon for a spot near my office so one day after work before a show my brother and I decided to stop by for a drink and a din.  Daddy O is a bar that I've walked by countless times and located right at 7th Ave South, but I've never had the chance to step into the small unassuming bar.

While I didn't see a happy hour list posted, the place was packed.  All the tables were taken so we sat at the bar.  Daddy O does not have a big beer selection, but their house made brew tasted excellent.

The deal came with food, and looking at the menu I HAD to order the "Garbage Plate" (which is an Upstate NY creation).  Daddy O's version is home fries with macaroni salad topped with chili with meat and beans, two burgers, and mustard.  Yes, this is drunk food but tasted awesome even after one beer!  It sounds really weird but all the flavors oddly worked together!  The plate is regularly $15 and is an insane amount of food; I wasn't able to even finish half..

You know you want this!  You just don't know it yet...

By the way, their taters are awesome.  Super crispy, and tastes like it's fried twice.  I wish that you can choose to top them with different items.

Daddy O

44 Bedford St

By 7th Ave South

New York, NY 10014

212-414-8884

Quick NYC Lunch: Grand Sichuan in the West Village!

Decent, reasonably priced Chinese food can be hard to find outside of Chinatown, but luckily enough was able to stumble upon a place near work in the West Village due to a work lunch.  Grand Sichuan, that has great lunch special deals clocking in most from $6 to 8 and serves more authentic fare than Chinese takeout with just a bit of a difference in prices.

Sichuan food = spicy food, and one of the quintessential Sichuan dishes is the Ma Po Tofu...stir fried tofu with ground pork in a spicy, tingly chili sauce.  With the lunch special you can get a choice of brown, white, or fried rice as well as well as soup or spring roll to start.  

The actual dish is pretty authentic, it's spicy with a kick and not toned down for the uninitiated!

We also ordered the spicy double cooked pork...with sauteed pork belly, chilies, and leeks.  Another pretty spicy dish and very tasty, but maybe just a bit greasy....still tasted great though!

Grand Sichuan is a solid stop for lunch in NYC if you're craving Chinese but want better-than-takeout-quality food.  The restaurant also has numerous locations in the city (We went to the 7th Ave South location).

Numero 28 Pizzeria in the East Village for Creative Pizza...Including a Great Pumpkin Topped Pizza!

There are a lot of great pizza places in the city, but if you're in the West or East Village and like crisp thin crust pizzas made with good, fresh ingredients, Numero 28 is a sure bet.

They have a nice selection of toppings from traditional to creative for their pizzas, all of which are fairly reasonably priced.  The pies also come in three lengths, from 14, 18, and 29 inches.  We had a party of three and a $32 Groupon for the East Village location so we opted for a 29 inch pie.  The great thing about the pies at Numero 28 is that for a medium 18 inch, you can get two separate flavor combinations, and for the large 29 inch, you can get three.

Here it is!  The 29 inch is huge and easily serves three people...you can see how big it is compared to the fork on the table and the pizza is divided into three separate flavors:  Truffle and prosciutto, pancetta and pumpkin, and prosciutto and arugula.

The bottom part of the photo above is the Numero 28 Special with truffle cream, prosciutto, and mushrooms.  This was phenomenal and all three toppings together worked really well together.  Also, truffle oil + mushrooms = winning combo!

As good as the truffle pizza was, I've had that the exact toppings before at Keste, which is also an excellent pizza spot in the West Village.  So the real surprise of the night was their "Giulietta" pizza, which has pancetta, pumpkin cream, and buffalo mozzarella... Having pumpkin as a topping sounds totally weird, but it actually tasted amazing!  This is a MUST TRY if you're here...

    
The "San Danielle" is the most traditional of the flavors we ordered that night.  It comes with a traditional tomato and mozzarella topping with arugula and prosciutto....but also good!

As good as the toppings were, the crust is also great.  The crust is thin and crisp, and the topped with good quality toppings.  Numero 28 also has a West Village location.

East Village location:
176 2nd Ave
(between 11th St & 12th St) 
New York, NY 10003


West Village location
28 Carmine St
New York, NY 10014

NYC Sweets: Two Popsicle spots...Popbar and People's Pops

This summer I had the chance to try two upscale and fancy popsicle spots in NYC.  People's Pops has several locations, and I've seen stands at The Highline, Chelsea Market, and Brooklyn Flea Smorgasbourg, while Popbar has a shop in the West Village.

Popbar sells customizable (spellcheck says I just made up a word lol) gelato on a stick that you can dip with chocolate and add toppings such as nuts or coconut.  Here I have the half dipped chocolate and pistachio gelato with crushed pistachios.  It looks really pretty and it's good if you enjoy pistachios, but beyond that the flavors are very familiar really doesn't taste that different than a Nestle Crunch Bar.  

Here is the great display case; it looks so colorful and inviting and just beckons the customer to come in and buy a bar!

People's Pops on the other hand, does not sell any gelato on a stick but just sells popsicles with really unique flavor combinations.  They also sell shaved ice, and when I was there the only flavor they had at that time was  watermelon (at the Highline stand anyway).

The menu sounds great right, so we ordered the peach and jalapeno and the apricot lavender....and WOW both were amazing!  The apricot lavender was a very unique combination and the flavors really come through!  The bar itself is very fragrant and flowery.   The peach jalapeno was great as well; you can really taste both flavors distinctly.  I would urge you to try them the next time you come across their stand.  At $3.50 a pop it's worth it.  The one above is the peach jalapeno and the one below is the apricot lavender.

Dramatic right?  Next time I'm going to have to order the shaved ice to see them shave it by hand!

People's Pops

Various locations 

Popbar

5 Carmine St by 6th Ave

NY, NY 10014

BBQ at Hudson River's Annual Blues and BBQ Fest

This past weekend I went to NYC for Hudson River Park's annual BBQ and Blues event.  Getting there right when it opened a little past 2pm, we were excited (and hungry!) to get our hands on some BBQ.  There were only four vendors there, Dinosaur BBQ, Brother Jimmy's, Daisy Dukes, and Ember Room.  My main goal of going to the event was to finally try the much heralded Dinosaur BBQ, but at the event each of the vendors only had a small variety of BBQ...usually pulled pork sandwiches and ribs.

Dinosaur's line was the longest, and for good reason.  Man their smoked pork ribs are falling off the bone tender, and the flavor is spicy and smoky.  The BBQ sauce they had also had a kick to it as well.  It was easily the best thing we've had all day!

I had been to Brother Jimmy's before last year, and while the BBQ there was just OK, the prices 

were definitely reasonable.  We didn't get their pork ribs, instead opting for the pulled chicken sandwich, was was smoky and delicious. 

Daisy Dukes BBQ had a brisket burger.  Again, this was a good beefy BBQ sandwich, the tangy, mustard based sauce was tasted great!

By far the MOST disappointing thing I've eaten there, and in fact I've eaten in a while, was the sad sad plate of food that was Ember Room's chocolate ribs.  Glancing at the menu it's what immediately caught my eye and since there was barely any line I jumped into to order some and dropped my $10.  When the person in front of me ordered the same and got their order...I thought "Wow, I hope it tastes better than it looks!"

First off, the ribs are not even baby back ribs they're spare ribs!  Second, if you look closely at the picture by clicking on it, you can tell that those ribs WERE NOT SMOKED OR EVEN GRILLED AT ALL!  It seemed like they were boiled in plain water and slathered with a semblance of a bbq chocolate sauce.  The fact that they tasted boiled and sauced afterwards meant that the ribs themselves were SOOOO very bland and the sauce didn't have a chance to mix with the ribs.  Sigh....I cook much better pork ribs at home!  I was actually pissed and thought I could've done better lugging my own food and making some extra money at the event!

Looking back and checking in later at the Ember Room site, I was completely surprised it's actually run by a decent chef, Todd English, and the restaurant itself has some interesting looking food and great reviews.  It's just sad that the food didn't translate well at all to this BBQ event...

This event was ok, but next year I'll have to brave the lines for more variety at the BigApple BBQ event.

Quick NYC Lunch: Potjanee in the West Village

Potjanee is the new name for the Thai place "formerly known as Morakote Siam" on Carmine St.  It's a very small, no frills thai place that has great deals for lunch. Dishes range from about $6 to $7 and the menu is very basic with just a few of the more familiar Thai items that people order.

I LOVE pad see ew, the stir fried thai broad rice noodle dish, with brown sauce, usually cooked with chinese broccoli and egg, with your choice of chicken, beef, or vegetarian.  I also find that one of the hallmarks to see if a Thai place is decent is how they prepare their pad see ew or their pad thai.  In many places both noodle dishes are poorly prepared and are often too greasy, or improperly seasoned or stir fried.

For $7, you get a big plate of yummy pad see ew (known as "drunken noodles" for the uninitiated here) at Potjanee, not bad for lunch!

They also throw in a side salad and spring roll for their lunch special = win!

Here's the outside awning with their contact info...It's really easy to miss this small restaurant!

Potjanee

35 Carmine St
(between Bleecker St & Avenue Of The Americas)
New York, NY 10014

Quick NYC Lunch: Baoguette for delicious Bahn Mi!

For the uninitiated, Bahn Mi sandwiches are Vietnamese sandwiches with French influences that have taken the city by storm during the past several years, with more and more locations that sell these delicious sandwiches around the city.  These sandwiches used to be mostly found in Chinatown before but have spread out all over.  Baoguette is probably the most recognizable place that sells these yummy treats, and they have numerous locations in the city (I went to the West Village spot which shares its space with Pho Sure...a Vietnamese Noodle shop).

Bahn Mi sandwiches are comprised of strips of cold cuts or roast pork, pickled carrots and radish, cilantro, and fresh jalapenos if desired, all served on a toasted baguette.  Chinatown's iterations of the popular sandwich usually run about $4 each.

Baoguette's sandwich is a little more expensive, but I feel justifiably so at $6 because:

 1) Food is so cheap in Chinatown, and 

2) They put A TON of roast pork in their sandwich!

Check out the photo below...

A closer look at the inside...note the thin layers of pork cold cuts (which taste like pate).

What's pictured is the classic "Baoguette" Bahn Mi, but they have other fillings too such as grilled pork chop topped with egg, Curry Beef, Spicy Catfish, BBQ Chicken, and Veggie.  If you haven't done so yet, definitely try a Bahn Mi sandwich...they're quick, cheap, and delicious!

Baoguette (with Pho Sure) 

120 Christopher St. in the West Village

Baoguette stand alone

61 Lexington Ave in Murray Hill

9 Maiden Lane by Wall St.

241 3rd Ave in Gramercy Park

37 St Marks Place in the East Villlage

Quick NYC Lunch: Corner Bistro in the West Village

New York City has been in the midst of a burger revolution for some time now, with more and more Shake Shacks opening and fancier restaurants serving their own take on the classic such as Minetta Tavern's Black Label Burger or Breslin's Lamb Burger (both of which were excellent).   I loooove hamburgers, and I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to get to local stalwart Corner Bistro in the West Village since I'm often in the neighborhood.

Corner Bistro is a no frills bar that has been around for some time, and is known for serving cheap beers and burgers.  I was there recently for lunch and only had their signature Bistro Burger, a bacon cheeseburger with lettuce, onion, and tomato, priced at $7.  The bacon was crisp and perfectly cooked.   The actual burger is thick, and full of flavor.  I had ordered it medium rare, and the inside was juicy and the outside was crisp savory char.  My only gripe is that the bun barely held everything together, otherwise it was a solid burger.

Bistro Burger pre-assembly...

We're gonna need a bigger boat, er...I mean bun!

Corner Bistro

331 W 4th St
(between 12th St & Jane St in the West Village)
New York, NY 10014

Quick NYC Lunch: Z Pizza in the West Village

I often just walk by Z Pizza since it's close to work, but had to stop in for lunch when I saw the special deal they were having:  $1 for a organic, whole wheat slice of pizza.  The sign says it's only for a "Limited time offer" however long that may be.

The slice was great, the whole wheat crust was thin and not heavy like whole wheat can  get.  The cheese was perfectly browned too!  All for $1! Not bad for lunch in NYC! 

Z Pizza
298 Bleecker St
(between Barrow St & Commerce St in the West Village)
Manhattan, NY 10014

NYC Restaurant Week: Perilla in the West Village

I am a huge Top Chef fan (what foodie isn't), and I was happy to finally be able to try Perilla.  Perilla is famous for being  Harold Dieterle's own restaurant that he opened right after winning the first season of Top Chef.   They were featuring a Restaurant Week three course menu (see full menu here).

Bar Snack:  Popcorn with sea salt and Togarashi

While waiting for our table to be prepared, we got the duck fat popcorn sprinkled with sea salt and Togarashi (Japanese powdered chili mix) at the bar for $3.  You don't really get much duck fat flavor but the Togarashi was a great idea as a popcorn seasoning!

Appetizer Courses:  

Spicy Duck Meatballs

Aside from the restaurant week apps, we HAD to try the spicy duck meatballs, Harold's signature dish from Top Chef season 1.  It comes with mint cavatelli pasta and topped with a quail egg.  The flavors of the tangy meatballs and the cool mint are an amazing combo and was probably the best dish I've had all evening!

Braised Rabbit Legs with spaetzle, tarragon, and reisling cream sauce.  

This dish is a perfect winter appetizer...warm, hearty, and full of flavor.

Delirium Carrot Soup with fennel coriander foam.  

Entree Courses:

Roasted Organic Chicken with lentils, turnips, and carrot puree.  

Yes, it's roast chicken but it was prepared very well and all the flavors on the plate melded together very well.

Crispy Neck of Colorado Lamb with farro, eggplant puree, and greek style yogurt.  

Side of Farro Risotto, with tarragon, parmesan, and fresh grape salad. 

Really great flavors but also really filling!

Dessert Courses:  

Gingerbread Cake with pear and creme fraiche ice cream

Chocolate Bread Pudding, with ice cream and strawberry compote

Perilla

9 Jones St. 

(West Village)

NY, NY

212-929-6868

Taim in the West Village

I've been on a falafel kick recently and had a chance to FINALLY try Taim, for lunch one day.  I got the Mixed Falafel platter which comes in three flavors:  Regular, red pepper, and harissa--a yummy Middle Eastern spice.   The falafels themselves were great, but not quite as good as the ones from King of Falafel and Shawarma.  However, everything on the platter itself was delicious!  It comes with hummus, shepherd's salad, some tabbouleh, and some of the best tasting pita I've had!  What makes this pita so good?  It's brushed with zaatar, another savory Middle Eastern spice blend.

You know you want this platter of healthy goodness!

The platter comes with not one, not two, but THREE different sauces for the falafels and pita!

Taim
222 Waverly Place
212-691-1287