Restaurant Review: Manzanilla

After tasting some of Dani Garcia's delicious food at Celebrate Flatiron Chefs! two weeks ago, I was excited to try it out with three of my girlfriends. The space is quite large, so it did not feel busy though it was not as if it was dead. We sat in a booth next to the window looking out at 26th street, and the bar separated our table from the main dining room. This was great because the volume was low and we were able to converse with no problem. Service was fine. Nothing to rave about, but nothing to complain about either. The waitress was nice and answered all of our questions and made a few recommendations. After making a few difficult choices (everything on the menu looks great), we decided on 4 tapas dishes, the paella, and a side. The paella takes about 40 minutes, so it worked out well to start with the tapas and have the paella as our main course.

First out was the famous Montaditos de Rabo de Toro, which is the steamed brioche buns with pulled oxtail, mushrooms, and kale. I tried these at Celebrate Flatiron Chefs! and the ones there were about triple the size as at the restaurant, but equally delicious. The waitress suggested we get two orders because one came with two buns and there were four of us, so we did. This was probably the favorite of the table. The bun is so soft and slightly sweet and the oxtail is tender and savory. This time, since they were smaller versions (like sliders), the oxtail aioli on top was just the right amount.

Montaditos de Rabo de Toro

At about the same time, the Pulpo Con Pipirrana came out. This is octopus salad with cherry tomatoes, apples, oranges, red pepper vinaigrette, and smoke pimenton oil. I love a good octopus salad, and this was just that. I loved how each piece was piled with fruit and tomato and the vinaigrette and smoke pimenton oil were drizzled on. I really appreciated the smokey flavor from the pimenton oil, which is made from paprika. I think it balanced the dish without being overwhelming. This was just a light, fresh, colorful dish and I would definitely order it again.

Pulpo Con Pipirrana

Also at the same time came the Croquetas de Sepia, which is squid ink and cuttlefish croquettes with citrus aioli. These were little fried balls with squid ink stained rice inside and had a little chunk of cuttlefish in the middle. These were extremely rich, but also very salty. It was pretty heavy, even for being small, because of the crispy fried exterior. The aioli was fine, but not memorable. I liked these, but I am not sure I would order them again. Also, we all got black tongues immediately after eating it, very cute.

Croquetas de Sepia

Inside of Croquetas de Sepia

The next tapas dish to come out was the Berenjenas Y Broccolini Frito. This was another table favorite, with roasted eggplant, crispy broccolini, honey, and herb yogurt dressing. It came with two strips of incredibly soft eggplant that was sweet, almost caramelized tasting. The broccolini was roasted until very crispy and brittle and savory. It reminded me of baking kale in the oven, but way better. The two textures balanced each other very well. My only complaint is that I wish there was more eggplant.

Berenjenas Y Broccolini Frito

Now for the main event, Paella de Bogavante. This paella came out in a huge pan with crispy, golden brown rice sticking to the bottom (but not so much that we couldn't scoop it out), and a huge grilled lobster laying across it. There was crispy broccolini, like from the eggplant dish, on top which was great. I could eat an entire plate of that broccolini. So we knew that the paella was also supposed to have cuttlefish and shrimp in it, but we really had to dig to find it. They were chopped up into very small pieces and mixed in with the rice. I guess we were expecting paella with the seafood all still in their shells, or at least whole, so this was different. Once I dug out the rest of the seafood I was a happy camper. This was a really great dish to share.

Paella de Bogavante

The waitress had suggested we get a side of veggies to go with the paella so we went with Calabacines de Verano Salteados. This is sauteed summer squash with crispy onions, cumin, and mint. I liked the mint with this, it really added something refreshing. I also like the crispy onions as a textural component. This dish was otherwise nothing special.

Calabacines de Verano Salteados

Overall, we had a delightful meal. There was nothing that we didn't like, but I would say that the brioche buns and the eggplant dishes were my personal favorite. Will definitely be returning!

Review: Celebrate Flatiron Chefs!

I got VERY lucky to have snagged a last minute ticket to Madison Square Park's annual summertime food and drink tasting event, Celebrate Flatiron Chefs! This grand foodie event features dishes from top restaurants in Flatiron. I braved the 95 degree heat and tried a little bit of almost everything. And here it goes...

The first table I approached was A Voce Madison where Chef Kevin Garcia offered up Etruscan farro salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and fresh herbs in a red wine vinaigrette and smoked duck breast with cherries and pistachios. I actually got the run down from the chef himself, which was cool (and unusual at these types of events). The farro salad was good as a side dish and fresh tasting, but not overwhelmingly amazing that I needed to finish it. The smoked duck breast was tasty and I liked the combo of cherries and pistachios, but it was hard to eat without putting it down and cutting it up (and there were no knives provided at this table). I think at this kind of event, it's important to consider how the food is being consumed, like most people only have one hand free and it's often hard to find a table to post up at.

Next up was La Mar Cebicheria. Executive Chef Victoriano Lopez was offering Cebiche Classico and Quinoa Causa. The Cebiche Classico was made of sashimi grade Long Island fluke in a classic leche de tigre with red onion, habenero, Pervuvian corn and yams. The Quinoa Causa was made of peruvian Quinoa salad over yellow potato causa, avocado, cherry tomatoes, aji amarillo dressing, basil, and balsamic reduction. The fluke was very tasty, fresh, and marinated well, however the fish was served as large chunks which is kind of weird for this kind of dish. The quinoa was fine, but not too memorable.

The next table was The Hurricane Steak and Sushi that had a cool smoking jug of a cocktail called Dark & Stormy made with ginger beer, Gosling's, and kalamansi. This was probably my favorite drink of the night. The chef, Craig Koketsu, also offered a chili lobster roll which was quite enjoyable and plentiful. I don't think I've ever had a lobster roll I didn't like, and this was no exception. I have to admit I was surprised to have liked this table as much as I did considering my one time experience dining there about a year ago was just eh. I know they are known for their cocktails, so it was not surprising that showed this off.

SD26 was next with Matteo Bergamini, the Executive Chef, serving Pappa col Pomodoro and roasted rosemary scented porchetta served with country bread. The Pappa col Pomodoro is a super chunky tomato and basil soup with Tuscan bread chunks in it. This was very good with fresh tomatoes, and not served too hot which was important considering the heat. The porchetta was fine. Really nothing special, except it was served with a scrumptious piece of crispy skin that I only let myself take one bite of (serious self control, thank you very much).

Hello friend.

Hanjan was next, which I was excited for since this place has been on my list for a bit. Hooni Kim, the Chef, served soft tofu with perilla vinaigrette and salmon sashimi with spicy chojang salad. I really did not care for the tofu. It was way too soft and texturally it just was not working for me. However the sashimi was awesome and they provided a nice sized portion. Super fresh and paired well with the salad. I am still intrigued to try more at the restaurant, but definitely not of the tofu.

So, obviously I was excited to see what NoMad had to offer, considering the unbelievable meal I had there about a year ago, and they did not let me down. Their roasted corn salad with smoked tomato and basil topped with corn foam was unreal. I know what you're thinking, corn was the best thing you ate all night? Yes, yes it was. It was just so crispy and savory and the foam provided a nice textural balance. I probably could have had five of these, but I held off since I was only on the sixth station. However I did scrape the bottom of the cup for every last kernel. YUM.

The next station was from Maialino. Their team included Executive Chef Nicholas Anderer, Pastry Chef Rachel Binder, and Chef de Cuisine Jason Pfeifer. They served up housemade bresaola with parmasean, arugula, and mustard vinaigrette and then olive oil cupcakes with marscapone and fresh blackberries. I was underwhelmed by the bresaola, it was basically a rolled up piece of cured meat. Not saying I hate that, but compared to the other offerings, I think they could have stepped it up. However, the cupcakes were full sized, moist, not too sweet, and well balanced. I actually ended up splitting one with the random guy I met at the high tables that were placed around the area, and we both agreed they were very good.

Blue Smoke was up next. Executive Chef Kenny Callaghan presented pork belly "PB&J" which was braised heritage pork belly with jalapeno jelly and peanut sauce. I loved this. I thought it was a cute concept and the flavors came together really well. The jelly was slightly sweet, but with a kick from the jalapeno. The pork was tender and delicious. They also served mini chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, but I did not try them.

The next table was my Portland favorite, Stumptown Coffee Roasters! While I should have been downing the many boozy cocktail options, I decided to break for a fantastic iced coffee. Love this place.

Next is another table I couldn't wait to check out - Eleven Madison Park. You might remember that I recently had an extravagant meal here, and was excited to see that the Pastry Chef, Angela Pinkerton, was actually there serving up sassafras floats with roasted banana ice cream. I said hello (not knowing who she was) and mentioned that I just dined at EMP and she asked if I liked the ice cream when I was there. I said, in fact I LOVED the ice cream and described why. The way she was smiling and nodding tipped me off and I realized it was her. Pretty cool to be able to express to her directly that I was a fan. Anyways, the float was awesome, of course, and super refreshing on this extremely hot day. Two thumbs up and my favorite dessert of the night (unfortunately my photo does not do it justice).

I checked out the Junoon table next, which had their team of Executive Chef Vikas Khanna, Culinary Creative Director Aliya LeeKong, and Chef de Cuisine Adin Langille. They served up watermelon shooters made with kaffir lime, ginger, and green chili basil seeds as well as octopus chaat made with confit octopus, kachumber salad and tamarind chutney. I did not try the watermelon shooter, but the octopus was awesome. Perfectly cooked and great flavor from the confit. One of the top dishes I tried.

I stopped by a tequila table on my way to the other side of the park to try a special cocktail that was made with grapefruit and had a smokey flavor. Very nice.

I noticed this other side of the park was not nearly filled with the caliber of restaurants that I had just visited, however I clearly had to check it all out. It is important to note that I am pretty full at this point and had to be really selective with what I was going for.

First I saw Hill Country Chicken. Executive Chef Elizabeth Karmel and Executive Pitmaster Charles Grund Jr. were serving Hill Country chicken classic drumettes with pimento cheese grits and mini sour cream coffee cake. I had to pass on the drumettes since they were so fried and heavy. The coffee cakes were individually wrapped, so I grabbed one for a later time.

Right next door was Hill Country Barbecue (with the same team), offering post-oak smoked brisket and cool as a cucumber salad. Now I have had the Hill Country brisket before and thoroughly enjoyed it, however this brisket was dry and very flavorful. The cucumbers were also just plain and not exciting. I took one bite and moved on.

Manzanilla is a place I have been wanting to try, and they had Chef Dani Garcia serving up steamed up brioche buns with pulled oxtail, mushroom, and kale. They were topped with an oxtail mayo made from oxtail reduction. He also presented a creamy Spanish vanilla rice pudding. The brioche bun was super soft, kind of like a steamed pork bun, and the pulled oxtail was good. The oxtail mayo was very interesting, however the blob on top was too much and sort of took over the whole thing. The rice pudding was super creamy and really delicious. I am intrigued and still would like to try this spot at another time.

I have been to the Boqueria in Soho, so I figured they would have something good to try. Executive Chef Marc Vidal served grilled baby squid with romensco sauce, fava beans, mint, and frisee. Separately, there was watermelon gazpacho with mint. I liked the squid, as I normally love a good grilled squid, and the gazpacho was wonderful too. Refreshing and even had a slight kick.

Ilili Restaurant brought out a large team with Executive Chef Philippe Masoud, Pastry Chef Matthew O'Haver, Chef de Cuisine Brandon Hicks, and Chef de Cuisine John Shim. They turned out lamb belly with octopus and salsa verde on country bread. They also had a Lebanese cookie with mulberry fluff topped with pistachio fudge. The lamb belly was served on this huge piece of bread and was so difficult to eat. Since I was nearing bursting status, I gave up and tried the cookie instead. Loved this. Such an interesting blend of flavors with the tarty mulberry fluff and the sweet thick pistachio fudge. I could only manage two bites though since I still had a few more stations to hit up.

I have actually never heard of The Cannibal, but Executive Chef Francis Derby put put two nice plates together of lamb and aged goat cheese sausage with snap peas and a pate with special mustard. The pate was fine, but nothing to write home about. The lamb sausage, however, was super tasty. It was pretty greasy so I only took a bite, but the snap peas created a nice balance.

Towards the end of my loop was L&W Oyster Co. with Chef Jason Weiner and Chef de Cuisine David Belknap. I tried their Montauk pearl oysters with cucumber-sake granita. Very good and refreshing.

My stomach was pretty much at max capacity at this point so I decided this was a good time to call it quits. If you're thinking "holy crap this girl can eat," well that's not untrue, but know that I mostly tasted everything I described rather than devouring the entire dish. Anyways, overall, it was a great experience. So many fantastic restaurants were represented (many I have been to, but some I will now keep in mind for future visits) along with their Executive Chefs which was really cool. Major themes of the night - watermelon, gazpacho, cucumber, and quinoa! Thank god most stations were smart about providing only refreshing food and drink since the heat was a major issue. Also, they had some nice musical entertainment.

A pleasant evening all around and I'm so happy I was able to partake in this event!

Restaurant Review: Niu Noodle House

I must start this review by saying how frustrated I am at the unfortunate service situation at Niu Noodle House. However, the food was delicious. It's always the worst when you want to love a place and recommend it to all of your friends, but really my experience was just one thing wrong after another. 

It all started at the bar, where I was waiting for Jeremy to meet me. I was given a drink menu and asked for the bartender's opinion between the mojito and and jasmine-agave vodka gimlet. After he explained that the mojito is made with sake, I opted for the gimlet. Meanwhile, two people sat down to the left of me and one guy to the right of me. All three people were served in between other orders from the tables, and I'm still sitting waiting. I catch the bartender's attention 10 minutes later and he says my drink will be the next one after the next one. Um..ok. So 20 minutes later I get my drink:

Apparently they make the jasmine agave on site, and I could definitely taste it, along with a shit ton of vodka. Ok, so not the best drink I've ever had but fine. Jeremy finally arrives and we get seated. We get two drink menus and one dim sum menu. A few minutes later, a table of three is seated next to us and gets full menus, waters, and a waiter asking if they have any questions. We wait 10 minutes and finally grab the manager who happened to be walking by and ask for menus, water, and mention that no one ever came back to help us. He apologizes and brings over one full menu, so I have to ask for another one so we can both look-what a concept. So, we settle on what we are going to order and end up having to grab the manager again to place the order because still no one came over to check on us. We order a round of dim sum: steamed pork soup dumplings, steamed pork, shrimp, and chive dumplings, steamed chicken dumplings, and steamed pork buns. We also order Niu beef trifecta soup noodle. He specifically asked if we wanted everything to come out together and we said no, please bring the dim sum first.

Now we are chatting and waiting for our meal, and I see large drops of water fall from the ceiling onto Jeremy's plate...gross. It's from the AC or vent or something. So, we grab the manager AGAIN and he seemed to be prepared for this complaint and moved us to a nearby table right away. Meanwhile, I'd like to note that they sat another couple there immediately after we moved, and we watched them sit there for five minutes and then ask to switch tables. Then another couple sat down, and we watch the girl ask the guy to switch seats, but I guess he managed to brave the AC drip because they did not ask to move. I'm just sitting there wondering why they would sit ANYONE there knowing the issue? 

ANYWAY, we get our dim sum, but what do you know? It's the wrong order. Well, they got the pork buns right, but brought out some other type of dumpling that we did not order. They took it back and came out a few minutes later with the correct order. 

I will take a break in my complaining to talk about how good the food was. The dumplings came with three different dipping sauces, but I have no idea what they were to say much about them. The pork soup dumplings were my favorite - made with minced pork infused with pork broth. They sort of pop open when you bite into them and release the yummy broth. The pork, shrimp, and chive dumplings and the chicken dumplings are pretty self explanatory, and the pork buns were typical, which is always fine by me. Overall, the dumplings were all large, stuffed full with the various ingredients, and really just delicious.

Left: Pork, Shrimp, and Chive Dumplings
Right: Pork Soup Dumplings
Not Pictured: Chicken Dumplings

Steamed Pork Buns

So, while we digging into the dim sum, the waiter comes around with our beef trifecta. The table is full of dishes and we specifically asked to wait to bring that out until after. So, we remind him of what we requested and he went away with the dish and came back after they cleared the dim sum.

Now, let's talk about this beef trifecta soup noodle because it was awesome. It comes with a beef broth and we opted for ho fun noodles (wide, flat noodles) instead of ramen. The broth was rich and tasty, the noodles were kind of mushy but in a good way, and the beef (flank steak, short ribs, and beef shank) was so tender and seasoned by the broth. The soup also came with baby bok choy, a hardboiled tea egg, scallions, fried seaweed tempura, and a little sweet corn on the side. Great combination and great dish all around. I think I might have to look past our unfortunate service experience just to have this dish again - that's how much I liked it. 

Beef Trifecta Soup Noodle

Also worth mentioning - great West Village location, very reasonably priced, and has fun, modern decor appealing to a young (ish) crowd. I'm sure the people next to us had a GREAT meal as it seemed they had excellent service and I'm sure they enjoyed their food as much as we did. Perhaps we'll meet again Niu Noodle House, but if only for your beef trifecta...

Restaurant Review: Amura

Jeremy and I were looking for something quick and somewhat healthy after an indulgent 4th of July weekend. We settled on sushi and decided to check out Amura, which is only a few blocks away. We selected the Sushi & Sashimi for Two platter, which included 18 pieces of sashimi, 10 pieces of sushi, a chef's special roll, and a California roll. The platter came with a choice of soup or salad for each of us. We each opted for the salad, which was your typical side salad from a sushi place - some lettuce, a slice of cuc, carrots, and ginger-carrot dressing. Nothing crazy. The platter though was huge and had a wide variety of fish including salmon, tuna, and yellowtail. The chef's special roll was great too - spicy tuna with tuna, salmon and avocado on the outside.

For $45, this was a great deal. It was all fresh and very tasty, and it was plenty of food. We did not leave hungry. Will definitely be returning!