62 Charles Street
New York, NY 10014
(212) 243-9513
I'm seldom this negative about a restaurant, but I was really quite appalled by the dish that Sevilla claims is a paella. Paella is about infusing wonderful flavors into rice by cooking everything, together. Based on what they served to me, It was clear that this restaurant had cooked the rice separately from all the other ingredients and combined them to order, not cooked them to order. Flavors were not at all integrated, seafood was not at all fresh, shrimp had been carelessly deveined (i.e. many were not deveined at all) and the dish did not include any saffron, a key ingredient in traditional paella. There was also no sign at all of the crust that is supposed to develop on the bottom of the paella pan.
Please call this dish what it is, Sevilla: arroz con pollo, camarones y chorizo. It is NOT a paella and does that wonderful dish a great injustice.
Pros:
- Sangria was likable and relatively authentic, though spiked with low quality brandy.
- low key neighborhood restaurant feel
- efficient and dignified service
Cons:
- poorly made food
- non-fresh, poorly cleaned seafood
- wines only available by the bottle
Other observations:
- portion sizes are huge
- if you wish to share plates, however, there is an extra sharing charge
- the restaurant seems to be family friendly; there were a few non-infant children, there
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sammy's Halal (New York, NY)
West 4th at Broadway
New York, NY 10012
Not bad. I can see why this cart has a following. The texture of the gyro meat is a bit less processed than at many carts (i.e. the meat really tastes like meat... albeit beef more than lamb), the other components were competently made / combined. The fellow who was working the cart asked me if I wanted any hot sauce. I told him "just a little bit" and didn't figure out why he smiled broadly at me as he applied the sauce, until later. That stuff is POTENT (and delicious). The white sauce -- on the mayonnaisier side of things -- is nothing spectacular, but was added with greater restraint than at many other places -- a good thing in my book.
No cilantro that I could detect. Also no tomatoes, only lettuce. (It is November, so no surprise.)
The rice at this cart is a bit different from the rice used at many other carts: It's less intensely spiced and it's a little softer. I read somewhere that Sammy's uses basmati rice, but I don't think they do -- at least not at this location. It's solid, nothing astounding.
This cart is better than average, but I don't think I'd personally go far out of my way to eat there. (By way of reference, I also wouldn't eat at the 53rd St. and 6th Ave. cart if it weren't right by my office and I couldn't go there at off hours when there's little to no line.) Luckily Sammy's is close to home, so I don't need to make much of a detour. I'm glad to have it around.
New York, NY 10012
Not bad. I can see why this cart has a following. The texture of the gyro meat is a bit less processed than at many carts (i.e. the meat really tastes like meat... albeit beef more than lamb), the other components were competently made / combined. The fellow who was working the cart asked me if I wanted any hot sauce. I told him "just a little bit" and didn't figure out why he smiled broadly at me as he applied the sauce, until later. That stuff is POTENT (and delicious). The white sauce -- on the mayonnaisier side of things -- is nothing spectacular, but was added with greater restraint than at many other places -- a good thing in my book.
No cilantro that I could detect. Also no tomatoes, only lettuce. (It is November, so no surprise.)
The rice at this cart is a bit different from the rice used at many other carts: It's less intensely spiced and it's a little softer. I read somewhere that Sammy's uses basmati rice, but I don't think they do -- at least not at this location. It's solid, nothing astounding.
This cart is better than average, but I don't think I'd personally go far out of my way to eat there. (By way of reference, I also wouldn't eat at the 53rd St. and 6th Ave. cart if it weren't right by my office and I couldn't go there at off hours when there's little to no line.) Luckily Sammy's is close to home, so I don't need to make much of a detour. I'm glad to have it around.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Sho Shaun Hergatt (New York, NY)
November 2009
40 Broad St # 2
New York, NY 10004-2315
(212) 809-3993
Justin and I had a fairly good meal, tonight, at Sho Shaun Hergatt, a new restaurant in the Financial District. This neighborhood is known as a bit of a culinary wasteland with few, if any, serious restaurants outside of a few old-school, chain steakhouses filled with frat boy finance guys and their much younger girlfriends. SSH has been heralded as the restaurant to turn all this around.
We had:
1. Three canapes: (a) poached quail and caviar on a round crouton; (b) goat cheese with chives, I think, between two cheese tuiles; and (c) a lobster mousse with gelee. (These are my unofficial translations of what we had. The fellow who announced the dishes had a very quiet voice and mostly addressed Justin throughout dinner, so I didn't hear the full descriptions.) My poached quail egg -- which looked beautifully soft -- made a run for it as the waiter was setting the plate down, much to his embarrassment. The wait staff kindly replaced it with another quail egg, but it was a hard boiled one, sadly. I really should've picked the first egg off the table and eaten it: he would've been less embarrassed (at least on his own behalf) and I would've gotten my lovely, soft poached egg!
Flavors were all interesting and distinctive. The goat cheese with tuile was my favorite, very delicately flavored and attention grabbing at the same time. The lobster mousse was VERY rich and generously portioned. I might not have wanted my appetizer had I eaten it all.
2. Amuse of hamachi tartare with soy / ginger dressing. Very nice dressing -- great flavor -- but it sort of overwhelmed the delicate flavor of hamachi. The hamachi had also been sitting in the sauce long enough to 'cook' a bit, so was not as tender as it could've been.
3. Appetizers. I had the "hand picked" peekytoe crab (I guess hand picked out of the crab legs?) with galangal gelée and santa barbara uni. The crab was finely chopped and mixed with tobiko, shaped into three 'eggs'; galangal gelee came as a very thin, delicately flavored layer, placed carefully over each 'egg'; and each 'egg' was garnished with a tiny sliver of uni.
This was my favorite dish of the evening. All the ingredients were impeccably fresh and flavorful, including the uni, which was a pleasant surprise (given that even very nice restaurants like Picholine and Daniel have served uni that tasted off to me). All of the flavors were extremely complimentary, each enhancing, but never overshadowing the others.
Justin had the red chili and coconut milk glazed quail with shiitake duxelle and wilted tetragonia. The bite that I had of the quail breast was lovely, subtly sauced, moist. The duxelle was well made. The bite of the drumstick I had was oversauced, however, with something that tasted similar to nuoc leo with coconut milk added. I'm sure the meat was wonderful, underneath (it seemed crisp and moist -- fried?), so it was a shame that I couldn't really taste it under all that sauce. Tetragonia was a nice foil (color-wise and taste-wise). Wish there'd been a teeny bit more of it and maybe less quail. Portions are very generous for this style of restaurant, in general.
4. Mains. I had caramelized Scottish salmon with hon shemiji, tatsoi and Thai basil froth. This dish was great from an aromatherapeutic standpoint, the basil smelled so nice. But I have to take issue with the salmon, which came as a thick, huge medallion. Not only was it 'fishy' (so odd, given that the more fragile uni was perfect!), but despite being cooked medium rare -- correctly cooked this way by the look of it -- it tasted oddly dry in the mouth. There was little if any seasoning other than salt, so I'm not sure I understand where the caramelization was supposed to've come into the dish. The hon shemiji and tasoi were thoughtful garnishes for the salmon, but both were oversalted. This could've been such a wonderful dish, I think -- the combination of ingredients is so intelligent -- but it just was not well executed in my case.
Justin had the roasted Maine lobster with polenta and Burgundy jus. This was perfectly cooked with a small pool of lovely soft polenta and an absolutely beautiful jus. This dish was as well made as some I've had at Le Bernardin.
5. Dessert was a banana millefuille with lime mousse and coconut sorbet and a Tahitian vanilla something -- mousse (?) with walnut tuile. Both were light, not overly sweet and a lovely way to end the meal. The flavors in the banana millefuille dish worked nicely together. The lime was very subtle and not in any way overwhelming.
6. Mignardise. They brought us a tray of an apricot flavored macaron (great!!!! soft/crisp/intense flavor, though a bit too sweet), burnt marshmallow on a graham cracker (ok... probably wonderful if you like marshmallow, but I don't, really), chocolate bonbons with something that reminded me of caramel-flavored kaya on the inside (very good... wonderful crispy texture on the outsdie, but too sweet), mango jellies (again, too sweet but lovely flavor).
The service was ... very plentiful. Without exaggeration, I think about 10-12 different people waited on our table. On the plus side, during our meal, we saw Chef Hergatt come out of the kitchen and greet a table of three older folks. He was on the floor for about two minutes in all and quickly returned to the kitchen. Good sign that he's hard at work back there.
Decor was pretty stunning. It's lavish and modern and a bit over the top, but manages to be warmer and more comfortable to me than places like EMP. The restaurant seems like it'd a wonderful choice for a romantic event -- like an anniversary or engagement.
Clearly a lot of thought went into this menu and combinations tend towards being both refined / restrained and very innovative. I really like the direction it's taking.
40 Broad St # 2
New York, NY 10004-2315
(212) 809-3993
Justin and I had a fairly good meal, tonight, at Sho Shaun Hergatt, a new restaurant in the Financial District. This neighborhood is known as a bit of a culinary wasteland with few, if any, serious restaurants outside of a few old-school, chain steakhouses filled with frat boy finance guys and their much younger girlfriends. SSH has been heralded as the restaurant to turn all this around.
We had:
1. Three canapes: (a) poached quail and caviar on a round crouton; (b) goat cheese with chives, I think, between two cheese tuiles; and (c) a lobster mousse with gelee. (These are my unofficial translations of what we had. The fellow who announced the dishes had a very quiet voice and mostly addressed Justin throughout dinner, so I didn't hear the full descriptions.) My poached quail egg -- which looked beautifully soft -- made a run for it as the waiter was setting the plate down, much to his embarrassment. The wait staff kindly replaced it with another quail egg, but it was a hard boiled one, sadly. I really should've picked the first egg off the table and eaten it: he would've been less embarrassed (at least on his own behalf) and I would've gotten my lovely, soft poached egg!
Flavors were all interesting and distinctive. The goat cheese with tuile was my favorite, very delicately flavored and attention grabbing at the same time. The lobster mousse was VERY rich and generously portioned. I might not have wanted my appetizer had I eaten it all.
2. Amuse of hamachi tartare with soy / ginger dressing. Very nice dressing -- great flavor -- but it sort of overwhelmed the delicate flavor of hamachi. The hamachi had also been sitting in the sauce long enough to 'cook' a bit, so was not as tender as it could've been.
3. Appetizers. I had the "hand picked" peekytoe crab (I guess hand picked out of the crab legs?) with galangal gelée and santa barbara uni. The crab was finely chopped and mixed with tobiko, shaped into three 'eggs'; galangal gelee came as a very thin, delicately flavored layer, placed carefully over each 'egg'; and each 'egg' was garnished with a tiny sliver of uni.
This was my favorite dish of the evening. All the ingredients were impeccably fresh and flavorful, including the uni, which was a pleasant surprise (given that even very nice restaurants like Picholine and Daniel have served uni that tasted off to me). All of the flavors were extremely complimentary, each enhancing, but never overshadowing the others.
Justin had the red chili and coconut milk glazed quail with shiitake duxelle and wilted tetragonia. The bite that I had of the quail breast was lovely, subtly sauced, moist. The duxelle was well made. The bite of the drumstick I had was oversauced, however, with something that tasted similar to nuoc leo with coconut milk added. I'm sure the meat was wonderful, underneath (it seemed crisp and moist -- fried?), so it was a shame that I couldn't really taste it under all that sauce. Tetragonia was a nice foil (color-wise and taste-wise). Wish there'd been a teeny bit more of it and maybe less quail. Portions are very generous for this style of restaurant, in general.
4. Mains. I had caramelized Scottish salmon with hon shemiji, tatsoi and Thai basil froth. This dish was great from an aromatherapeutic standpoint, the basil smelled so nice. But I have to take issue with the salmon, which came as a thick, huge medallion. Not only was it 'fishy' (so odd, given that the more fragile uni was perfect!), but despite being cooked medium rare -- correctly cooked this way by the look of it -- it tasted oddly dry in the mouth. There was little if any seasoning other than salt, so I'm not sure I understand where the caramelization was supposed to've come into the dish. The hon shemiji and tasoi were thoughtful garnishes for the salmon, but both were oversalted. This could've been such a wonderful dish, I think -- the combination of ingredients is so intelligent -- but it just was not well executed in my case.
Justin had the roasted Maine lobster with polenta and Burgundy jus. This was perfectly cooked with a small pool of lovely soft polenta and an absolutely beautiful jus. This dish was as well made as some I've had at Le Bernardin.
5. Dessert was a banana millefuille with lime mousse and coconut sorbet and a Tahitian vanilla something -- mousse (?) with walnut tuile. Both were light, not overly sweet and a lovely way to end the meal. The flavors in the banana millefuille dish worked nicely together. The lime was very subtle and not in any way overwhelming.
6. Mignardise. They brought us a tray of an apricot flavored macaron (great!!!! soft/crisp/intense flavor, though a bit too sweet), burnt marshmallow on a graham cracker (ok... probably wonderful if you like marshmallow, but I don't, really), chocolate bonbons with something that reminded me of caramel-flavored kaya on the inside (very good... wonderful crispy texture on the outsdie, but too sweet), mango jellies (again, too sweet but lovely flavor).
The service was ... very plentiful. Without exaggeration, I think about 10-12 different people waited on our table. On the plus side, during our meal, we saw Chef Hergatt come out of the kitchen and greet a table of three older folks. He was on the floor for about two minutes in all and quickly returned to the kitchen. Good sign that he's hard at work back there.
Decor was pretty stunning. It's lavish and modern and a bit over the top, but manages to be warmer and more comfortable to me than places like EMP. The restaurant seems like it'd a wonderful choice for a romantic event -- like an anniversary or engagement.
Clearly a lot of thought went into this menu and combinations tend towards being both refined / restrained and very innovative. I really like the direction it's taking.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Village Yokocho (New York, NY)
8 Stuyvesant St
New York, NY 10003
(212) 598-3041
New York, NY 10003
(212) 598-3041
In truth, the food is far from being the best izakaya food Manhattan has to offer, but there's something about Village Yokocho that's incredibly endearing nonetheless. It's inexpensive, friendly, a bit grungy, and the food is solid and good enough especially when washed down with a cheap Sapporo. There are some interesting / fun options like chicken cartilage yakitori; lotus root, mountain burdock and shiitake stew; chuhai; passable Korean barbecue; okonomiyaki; etc...
I would not personally order the sashimi / sushi, here. Go early in the evening (7 p.m. or earlier), since wait times can be pretty bad, later.
I would not personally order the sashimi / sushi, here. Go early in the evening (7 p.m. or earlier), since wait times can be pretty bad, later.
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