Archive for the ‘Restaurants’ Category

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Burger Combo at NYC Sliders

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

Previously, Diners.org we visited NYC Sliders at the Clark Street station for the 2, 3 train.  Sheepishly, we did not review their food that time.  So naturally we return with hunger and a camera!

We also saw this sign on their counter. More about Seamless.com in a future article. The Seamlessweb.com link leads to the same page.

We went with a Cheeseburger combo with drink; which includes two cheeseburger sliders, fries, condiments, and a can of soda.  Out of the gates, our order got messed up and we received hamburgers instead of cheeseburgers.

Not pictured: cheesburgers

Aside from that, it wasn’t bad for $7.21 (including tax).  The hamburgers were well-done and tasty while there is literally a mountain of fries that comes with the meal.  Seriously, we think the amount of fries outweigh the burgers!

FRENCH FRIES OVERWHELMING!

Aside from getting hamburgers instead of cheeseburgers, the combo meal was top notch.  A member of our staff commented that the burgers reminded him of the old Big Mac taste back when he was a kid.  Except you know, smaller.

We're trying really hard not to do a White Castle joke.

Overall, we are quite satisfied with NYC Sliders.  Their menu also contain more grab-and-go foods other than hamburgers and cheeseburgers.  We’ll be back to try out more from their menu and with them located literally at the Clark Street station, this may be very soon.

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NYC Sliders – Downtown Brooklyn, Clark Street Station

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

You normally won’t think to go inside a subway station to find someplace to eat, but NYC Sliders doesn’t care.

It was just the other day when we picked this up:

It's like picking up a quest!

Which led us here at the Clark Street Station (2, 3 train) at the Hotel St. George:

A hotel and a subway station all in one!

See? It is a subway station.

Where we found:

We'll let you guys caption this one.

At NYC Sliders, we met Stathis I. and George who work the counter and make the magic happen.

George and Stathis I. at NYC Sliders. That A rating means alot since they serve food in a SUBWAY STATION.

They don’t have a website other than their Yelp page which is here.  You can call them for delivery at (718)-855-8008 with a $10 minimum.   The easiest way to reach NYC Sliders is by taking the 2 or 3 train to Clark Street station.  Once you come out of the elevators, turn left and NYC Sliders should be on your right.

Sadly, we don’t have photos of the food.  So look forward to the next article about NYC Sliders as we sample their menu!

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Zagat Releases Top Ten Restaurants for 2012 Survey

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

The famous restaurant reviewer and ratings organization Zagat has released their list of the Top Ten restaurants for New York City.  This is based on their 2012 New York City Restaurants Survey.  The survey covers 2,111 restaurants in the five boroughs of NYC.

(All information from this point down was provided by Zagat.com)

From the bottom down, we have:

#10

Name: Peter Luger’s Steak House

Location: 178 Broadway, Brooklyn

Phone: 718-387-7400

Cost: $79

Zagat’s review is here.

 

 

#9

Name: La Grenouille

Location: 3 E. 52nd St.

Phone: 212-752-1495

Cost: $108

Zagat’s Review is here.


 

 

#8

Name: Annisa

Location: 13 Barrow St

Phone: 212-741-6699

Cost: $81

Zagat’s Review is here.

 

 

 #7

Name:  Sushi Yasuda

Location: 204 E. 43rd St

Phone: 212-972-1001

Cost: $86

Zagat’s Review is here.

 

 

#6

Name:  Eleven Madison Park

Location: 11 Madison Ave

Phone: 212-889-0905

Cost: $117

Zagat’s Review is here.

 

 

#5

Name: Jean Georges

Location: 1 Central Park W.

Phone: 212-299-3900

Cost: $127

Zagat’s Review is here.

 

 

#4

Name: Bouley

Location: 163 Duane St

Phone: 212-964-2525

Cost: $104

Zagat’s Review is here.

 

 

#3

Name: Per Se

Location: 10 Columbus Circle, 4th fl.

Phone: 212-823-9335

Cost: $325

Zagat’s Review is here.

 

 

#2

Name: Daniel

Location: 60 E. 65th St.

Phone: 212-288-0033

Cost: $137

Zagat’s Review is here.

 

 

and finally, at the top of Zagat’s list:

#1

Name: Le Bernardin

Location: 155 W. 51st St

Phone: 212-554-1515

Cost: $146

Zagat’s Review is here.

 

 

 
There you have it everyone! Congratulations to the top ten and we are sure they are worth the price that Zagat quoted (trust us, the Diners.org had the same reaction as you did).

You can see Zagat’s original listing page here.

If you have dined or would like the diners.org staff to try out one of these restaurants, feel free to message us on the contact form or by clicking here.

 

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Gyu-Kaku Photo Contest

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

Happy Monday to you all! (As happy as a Monday can be)  Gyu-Kaku, a Japanese BBQ dining franchise, just announced a photo contest with a $1000 prize.  Here is what they wrote:

“The Yakiniku Festival 2011 is getting more exciting!

Enter for a chance to win $1000 CASH

 Ask your server about the PHOTO CONTEST  

1. Order Harami & Gyu-Kaku Nigori Sake  

2. Take an exciting photo of yourself enjoying the Harami or Nigori

3. Send your photo to Gyu-Kaku!

Gyu-Kaku East Village: ny@gyu-kaku.com 

Gyu-Kaku Midtown: gyukakumidtown@gyu-kaku.com 

For every entry, you will get a coupon instantly.   

A winner will be awarded $100 Gyu-$$$ per location every week. 

The $1000 cash prize will be awarded to the best photo of the Yakiniku Festival 2011!     

Winners are announced on our main  Gyu-Kaku Facebook page as well as our President’s Facebook page. Go see if you or your friends have won!”

Oddly enough, they did not mention a deadline so we have to assume the contest lasts as long as their Yakiniku Festival.  Here is their flyer:

A photo contest with a cash prize and discounts!

A few members of the Diners.org team ate at Gyu-Kaku’s East Village location at one point for a birthday celebration.  We will definitely revisit the location and post a more elaborate review in the future.  You can read more about their East Village location here.

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Haunted by Lobsterfest and Mai Bento Box

Friday, August 12th, 2011

So, less than a week after arriving back in NYC from the Lobsterfest in Rockland, Maine and what do we see?

This:

It's like we never came back to NYC!

Yes, that is a food van whose specialty is lobster and seafood from Maine.  Yes, we can see the irony.

Their menu.

We can chuckle at these people on line since Lobsterfest is still fresh in our memories.

The line was too long for an impromptu sampling, but it is on our to-do list.  What did we sample today?

Truth in labeling.

That’s “Mai”, a Japanese cuisine restaurant on 16 East 41st Street.  Their phone number is (212)-400-8880 and you can find their website here.  Today was a small lunch meetup in nearby Bryant Park where the New York Public Library is.  As a result, we went and got Bento boxes with sushi to go.

They of course, do more than just Bento boxes.

Much more.

The choices are the usual assortment of Japanese food: beef cutlet, salmon, sushi rolls, etc.  We picked out a beef cutlet bento box, a side of California rolls, and a bottle of unsweetened Japanese Green tea.  Altogether, that amounted to $18.55.

My lap has been upgraded to a table extension.

The food was a bit unwieldy to eat from due to the tiny table we shared at Bryant Park.  As for taste, the food was kept in a open freezer unit which made the rice and cutlet both cold and stiff.  This was perfect for the cucumbers, potatoes, and pickled vegetables.  But for the rice and cutlet it was a dissappointment.

In the end, next time I go to Mai I would try some of their hot food instead.

Posted in Lunch, Restaurants | 1 Comment »

Samuel Adams Brewery, the Helltini, and Lobsterfest!

Wednesday, August 10th, 2011

I am going to need twenty pounds of butter for this

Whoa.  This has been quite a journey and a pleasure for the Diners.org team.   For five days (August 3 to August 7), we made our way up to Boston (Massachusetts), Salem (Massachusetts), and finally to Lobsterfest in Rockland, Maine.  It was an extraordinary trip and we are thankful to all of the people we met on the trip for their hospitality and friendliness.

First off, the Samuel Adams Brewery in Boston, Massachusetts.  It is near the outskirts of Boston, but is accessible by subway.  No need to be modest about your reasons for going: there was a city worker shouting out directions to the brewery right at the turnstiles.  In hindsight, we should have tipped him.

You know what to do.

Hidden among the residential houses is an oldstyle building surrounded by wooden barrels that we are confident believe to be beer.  After paying the tour fee, guests are allowed to sample new brands of Samuel Adams beer and then vote on them.

Samuel Adams takes their awards seriously.

Yes, vote.  The brand with the most votes will be produced for consumption in the following year.

(To the regret of the Diners.org team, we forgot which brands we sampled.  Or how many. MOVING ON.)

Box ol' booze

Inside we are introduced to the methods behind the magic:

 

65 barrels worth of Samuel Adams

The filtration process.

Then we get to see the barrels where the beer sits:

Truth in the name.

Please keep your Donkey Kong jokes to yourself.

Finally, we get to the fun part.  The sampling room:

Classroom chalkboards wish they had this much attention.

Unlike the outside patio before, this wasn’t a ballot for future lines of beer.  This was fresh batches of draft beer fresh from the manufacturing line.

The drinking glasses handed out are pretty nice too.

All Thursday mornings should start like this.

Afterward sampling three different brands of Samuel Adams, the tour is over.  The Diners.org team stayed in Boston for the rest of the day where we dined at a few excellent restaurants.  One of them is “Legal Seafood” which was so amazing, we forgot to take pictures.

We were serious when we told you they are called "Legal Seafood". No, we were not served by lawyers.

Situated on the Long Wharf on Boston’s waterfront, the Diners.org team enjoyed excellent tea and seafood delivered by a very friendly staff.  Check them out at this link.  But all of this would pale to the 20,880 lbs of lobster being cooked up in Rockland, Maine (keep that number handy as you continue reading).

During the drive north, we did a small pitstop in Salem, Massachusetts.  On one hand, members of the team want to check out the Salem Witch Trial museums.  On the other hand, we found a drink call the “Helltini”.

Drinking this might hurt.

The Helltini is a drink offered by the Rockafellas restaurant on their menu.  They also offer a variety of other specialty drinks relevant to the town, but we were only going try our luck once that day.

This is an omen.

Since we have at least one member of the team who is not a driver or backup driver, Diners.org took on this challenge.  Waiver signed and pumped up with adrenaline, our “fearless” team member grabbed the martini glass and…

…chugged it.

One emergency glass of cold water later and our Diners.org team member is awarded his t-shirt.  Mints shortly followed as the team realized we will have to drive with him burping in the car all the way up to Rockland, Maine.

Ah, Rockland's Lobsterfest. How full of... seafood you are.

There are no words to adequately describe the experience of eating at Lobstefest.  So we’re going to let photos and captions do most of the talking.

Just in case you didn't know where you are...

The tents where the magic happens!..... Eating folks, I mean eating.

View of the harbor from the eating tent. Puts a smile on your face knowing there is a fleet of ships out there harvesting seafood for you to chow on.

All you can eat Blueberry pancakes for breakfast!

The awesomeness starts with steamed lobster, corn on the cob, bread, melted butter...

... smoked shrimp, smoked scallops, smoked mussels...

... and of course more lobster.

Somewhere along the way to over 20,000 pounds of lobster being cooked.

Rockland's Lobsterfest parade. Go Rockland go!

As if eating tons of seafood wasn't enough...

... there are carnival games...

... and more games and food.

Live band for the festival!

Ah, that was good.  For the curious, three lobsters with fixings only cost $18.40 at Lobsterfest.  Naturally, the cost drops the less you eat lobster.  Steaming starts at 11AM but from 7AM to 11AM there is all-you-can-eat-pancakes… for $6.

Amazing isn’t it?  We hope you enjoy the photos and perhaps we will see you at Lobsterfest next year!

Diners.org also has video of the Helltini drinking.  We will post that in another article once it is ready.

Now, please excuse me as I hit the gym to work all this extra weight off.

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NYC Restaurant Week (July 11-24)

Friday, July 15th, 2011

 

NYC Restaurant Week 7/11 - 7/24

NYC Resaturant Week 7/11 - 7/24 courtesy of NYCGO.com

A late shout, but those of you who are going to be in New York this week should check out New York City’s Restaurant Week!  During this time, lunch and dinner at participating restaurants are set at fixed prices.  Lunch is $24.07 and Dinner is an even $35.00 for a three course meal.  Booking is done through nycgo.com and is powered by OpenTable.com (which is a reservation service that this writer approves of and uses frequently).

The original purpose of the Restaurant Week was in 1992 to welcome members of the Democractic National Convention.  The event became very popular with local residents with its opportunity to dine at expensive restaurants for a cheaper price.  Since then, the Restaurant Week takes place in January/February and in July each year.

A short list of restaurants taking part in this event includes:

  • Benoit Restaurant
  • Betel
  • Bice Ristorante
  • Bistro Milano
  • Black Duck
  • BLT Bar & Grill
  • Blue Fin
  • Blue Smoke
  • Blue Water Grill
  • Bobby Van’s “The Original”
  • Bobby Van’s Grill – 45th Street
  • Bobby Van’s Grill – 50th Street
  • Bobby Van’s Steakhouse
  • Bobby Van’s Steakhouse & Grill
  • Bocca Restaurant
  • Bond 45
  • BondSt
  • Brasserie
  • Brasserie 1605
  • Brasserie 8 1/2
  • Brasserie Ruhlmann
  • Butter Restaurant
  • Ca Va Brasserie by Todd English
  • Café Boulud
  • Café Centro
  • Café d’Alsace
  • Cafe Fiorello
  • Caffe Grazie

You can see more about the event by clicking here.  To check out each participating restaurant’s menu for the occasion click here.  To book a reservation, click here.

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Chinatown’s Mandarin Court

Friday, July 8th, 2011

It struck me as odd that despite spending a lot of time in New York City’s Chinatown, I hardly mention any of the great meals I had that.  Like a lot of other places, Chinatown has its own assortments of fast eateries, tourist traps, and extravagant restaurants.

I have the great fortune of being a part of the family that likes to venture to places between the second and third items on that list.

Located at 61 Mott Street in the borough of Manhattan, Mandarin Court is around the block from Canal Street (with all of its relevant subway stops) and the Manhattan bridge.  On top of regular dishes and meals, Mandarin Court serves Dim Sum which are small portion dishes moved around in steamer carts through the restaurant.  I’ll cover their Dim Sum dishes another time.

First, Mandarin Court recently went through a renovation.  They went from this:

Mandarin Court prior to renovation

Mandarin Court prior to renovation

And after:

The renovated Mandarin Court

The renovated Mandarin Court, photo courtesy of The Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.

On the outside, the major improvement is the addition of a wheelchair access ramp.  This came as a big relief to me, as most family outings involved at least one elderly relative in a wheelchair.  I dreaded lifting a wheelchair over that step.

In the renovated picture you can see some of the new decor and furniture they put in.  Which is a big improvement over their previous selection:

Mandarin court interior prior to renovation

Mandarin court interior prior to renovation, courtesy of MealMachine

The space hasn’t changed but the colors are warmer and cozy which makes it great for family dinners.

Now, for the food.  I enjoy Mandarin Court for their seafood dishes the most with their meat entries a close second.  Here’s a preview:

Gloriously delicious.

Overall, I find my dining experiences at Mandarin Court to be very enjoyable.  A feeling I’m sure is shared by my extended family as we keep coming back to Mandarin Court for lunch and dinner occasions.

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Thai Son in Chinatown

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Thai Son
89 Baxter St
(between Walker St & White St)
New York, NY 10013
(212) 732-2822

The team here at Diners.org is happy to include a new addition to our team.  Donna is a friend of ours who is willing to share her experiences and opinions on her dining experience.

First up, “Thai Son” in Chinatown (we’ll update this with an

Thai Son is one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants to go to when I am in Chinatown. You can tell if a Vietnamese restaurant is good with just one dish. That dish is the Pho Thai for me.
Honestly speaking, soup is the hardest thing to make in this dish. And if the soup is flavorful, it means they added tons of meat and flavorings in there. At Thai Son, it is exactly so!
The soup is to die for. The beef is cut simply. All it needs is a bit of beansprouts and some basil for me. If you do not wish to order any soup, I would recommend their Summer Rolls,
if you wish to get something not too oily. If you wish for something a bit more oily, I would recommend their Springrolls which also come in Vegetarian flavor. If you are a fan of spicy and you are here on a weekend, I would recommend you to order the Bun Bo Hue.
This is a spicy soup that comes with alot of meat and food for your buck. Their vermicilli noodles are delicous as well. I, personally, like adding springrolls, their barbequed pork (Thit Neung).
I personally think their barbequed pork is one of the best in Chinatown! If you wish to try something on a slightly more safe side, I would recommend their Bun Xeo, which is a Vietnamese crepe (it’s not dessert).
These crepes, I would honestly recommend sharing with someone seeing that they are huge! If you go down their list and see that there are too many things to try out and you’re with a big group, I recommend that you just order one dish per person and share it.
The prices are not bad at all. From what I remember, the cheapest order was $4 and the highest was $25. The $25 being a Vietnamese barbeque meal that I would definitely recommend for big groups as well. Each Person may need to pay $20+ each, but it is worth your money.

Donna also gave us some photos to go with her commentary:

This should be the Bun Bo Hue dish which is a spicy soup. The large bowl in the back is Pho Thai. The spring rolls is Bun Guon with shrimp.

This is their Bun Xeo which is a crepe.

Stay tuned for more posts about Dining with Donna!

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Kyotofu… no it’s not a fighting style

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Kyotofu
705 Ninth Avenue (between 48th & 49th)
New York, NY, 10019
212-974-6012
info@kyotofu-nyc.com
Lunch / Brunch
Tuesday though Sunday, 12:00pm to 5:00 p.m.
Dinner & Dessert Bar
5:00pm to 12:30am Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday
5:00pm to 1:30am Thursday, Friday and Saturday

Yesterday was Japan Day at New York City’s Central Park.  Held at the East Meadow near the 97th Street and 5th Avenue entrance, the event featured samples of Japanese culture.  The team here at Diners.org wanted to go check out the food and tea ceremonies but alas, by the time we got there everything was gone.

So!  Instead we are going to cover our recent visit to Kyotofu, a restaurant that specializes in “Modern Japanese Deserts”.  Contrary to its tagline, Kyotofu is not just a specialty eatery like Nunu Chocolate.  Kyotofu serves both lunch and dinner menus in addition to their deserts.

This is photo from Kyotofu's website showing their NYC location. You can probably see the first problem we have with Kyotofu: There is no obvious sign showing that this is Kyotofu to passerbys. The best they have is a letter-sized flyer right by their door. A bad decision in our opinion since there are quite a few Japanese restaurants in the vicinity. Finding this place was a pain.

But inside it is much nicer.

Here is another photo from Kyotofu's site, this time of their dining area. It wasn't lighted like this when we got there during the day so this was probably taken during the evening. The window binds in the back of the photo is their storefront. The photographer was probably standing next to the bathroom door when this shot was taken.

To be honest, according to Kyotofu’s website description the Manhattan location was “Designed by Japanese architect Hiromi Tsuruta, Kyotofu is a modern take on a traditional Kyoto-style home.”

That may explain the aesthetics, which we have to admit makes the restaurant a nice place to dine in (we spent something along the lines of four hours there).  There are more pictures at Kyotofu’s website which you can check out by clicking here.

Now the food here reflects the artistic goal of Kyotofu.  This isn’t your paper/styrofoam plate joint; every dish comes with its own presentation.  Below are a couple of dishes, deserts, and drinks the diners.org team and friends sampled:

From their summer menu, ZENSAI starters: warm japanese mushroom salad (baby arugula, red onion, and parmesan)

Trio of burgers and I think tofu chips. Aren't they cute?

More tofu chips.

Kyotofu also has dinner menus which allows you to pick a starter, main course, and desert for a much cheaper price. Like typical bento box styles, everything's neat and organized but most importantly... delicious. The mustard sauce is incredible.

Deserts! This is their "trio of sorbets" which is homemade at their location

This is one of their tofu deserts but we forgot which one >_> Tasty though.

Honestly, we forgot which desert this was. One of our friends got this and we have to ask her if she remembers. We will update this when we find out. Still, ain't it pretty?

Kyotofu also serve some very nice homemade drinks. Yeah, we lost the notes on this one too.

Yeah seriously, this is embarrassing. We need better notes on what we ordered when we dine out.

Well, that’s all of the pics we have for you for now.  Many thanks to Donna, Zuchra, and Pedro for the pictures and the fun times.

They also give cooking lessons on Mondays which perked our curiosity.  We will try our best to check that out sometime soon.

Posted in Desserts, Dinner, Lunch, Restaurants | Comments Off

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