Barril Grill

Barril Grill is a new Brazilian restaurant in Astoria on Broadway. From what I've heard, the past two ventures there have been unsuccessful, but I think the location is good and the food—particularly the meat—is great. Hopefully this restaurant will stick around for a while.

The restaurant is a little more casual than I had expected, the lighting is too bright and the cafeteria style buffet isn't exactly romantic - and I came here on a date. I guess I was hoping for candlelight and something a bit more exotic. Really though from what I've heard of Brazilian cuisine, the thing to go for is the meat. And we got meat.

After picking a few things out from the buffet including spinach salad, black beans with some kind of meat, and a few other items both hot and cold, we proceeded to the grill window. There, a friendly cook offered us a wide selection including pork and chicken sausage, tenderloin, skirt steak and several other meats, he even gave us little free sample tastes. Everything we tried was very good.

The skirt steak was tender, juicy and flavorful (better than what I had at Novecento). The chicken sausage was flavorful, but not as tasty as the pork. The tenderloin was perfectly medium rare and was also tender and very tasty - my only complaint was that I got too much to eat before it got cold, I should have saved room for seconds.

Best of all, the price can't be beat: the by-the-pound buffet is $6.99. Our entire dinner was $7.00 each (plus a bottle of Argentinian wine, which brought the total cost for my date to an affordable $40). And furthermore the clientèle provided us with some nice entertainment: the restaurant owner was climbing on the tables to clean a water feature in the middle of the dining room, one guy on a date was unknowingly wearing his sweater inside-out, the Brazilian guy at the table next to us wouldn't get off his cell phone, and there seemed to be a DJ setting up but no one there to dance. All in all it was a delicious dinner, next time I'll probably skip the buffet and go straight for the meat counter.

Jerry's Restaurant

Jerry Joseph took a run down cafeteria and turned it into Jerry's--an upscale diner complete with booths, original stainless-steel fixtures and a counter that is not simply a bar, but a place to eat good food.

V's love of mushrooms and our recent experience with Manchego cheese while traveling in the Caribbean combined in one item I found on Jerry's brunch menu so we headed downtown to try it out. It was very good, but I read an inaccurate online menu and was a little surprised by the higher prices.

The decor was comfortable with cool cow-print (or cow skin) booths and bar stools. I didn't get too far into the narrow-but-long restaurant, but it looked more spacious in the back, where the bar is located. The service was a little pretentious, though I suspect that is normal for the neighborhood.

We both tried omelets, V choosing the Mushroom and Manchego while I tried the Chorizo, Onion and Red Pepper omelet. Our server wasn't terribly friendly, I think he could sense we weren't from SoHo, but came all the way from Queens...such tourists. So when I asked if my omelet was served with cheese, he just pointed at the menu, which said nothing about cheese. I added havarti.

Both omelets were tasty, I think we each preferred our own. I felt like V's was too mushroomy, but to her that is what made it good. For me most anything with onions in any form is good. My dish had a good combination of flavors including the onion, though the oil from the chorizo was a little unattractive on my plate. The home fries served on the side weren't anything special. I did enjoy the light salad of fresh greens served on the side, with a nice slightly creamy dressing that was not too overwhelming, but nicely coated the entire salad.

Overall it was a good meal, though the service could be a bit more friendly and the prices a little easier on the wallet.

Dumbo General Store

While wandering through Brooklyn's Dumbo I noticed a little cafe/bar whose sidewalk chalk board noted, "Kitchen open till 11 AM." It was 7 p.m., I thought I'd check it out. As I walked into the Dumbo General Store, I definitely sensed a hipster-vibe, but the place had a nice atmosphere. There was cool, if loud, jazz music playing, vintage tables and chairs, a seating area with a sofa and arm chairs for chatting over a cup of coffee, and an actual store in the back, selling art.

I took a seat at the bar to get a drink, and dining alone I asked what was best on the menu. The bartender suggested going for half a panini and half a salad, and recommended the goat cheese salad and roast chicken panini. I took him up on that and was definitely pleased. The salad was very flavorful with very rich and creamy goat cheese on top.

The panini was amazing. So often I have a sandwich where the bread drowns out all the other flavors, even if the bread is good, it needs to be in the right balance with the other flavors, and this sandwich got it spot on. The bread was crusty and crunchy, the chicken and tomatoes were complimented very nicely with a "special herbed citron mayonnaise" that reminded me of the mustard sauce from Max Brenners, and all together the flavors and textures came together perfectly.

And to boot, I told the bartender about the sign outside, which was supposed to read "Kitchen open till 11 PM," and he gave me a free beer. I tipped well and my total was still only $20.

Mesa Grill

Since its debut in 1991, Mesa Grill continues to be one of the most critically acclaimed restaurants in New York City. Critics tout Bobby Flay as one of this nation's foremost practitioners of Southwestern cuisine. The distinctive decor of Mesa Grill is a Southwestern playground of whim and fantasy.

In going to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill, I anticipated a classy restaurant experience with unique combinations of food. The atmosphere was relaxed and had a southwestern flair to it, and the crowd seemed largely business groups and older couples. The only disappointment was that the courses were poorly timed and the waiter was lacking in friendliness.

I began with the “rough cut" raw tuna nachos with mango hot sauce & avocado crema. I recommend going just for this dish! The raw tuna was heaped high and positioned between the mango hot sauce (which was quite sweet) and the avocado crema. The sweet and salty contrast between the two sauces was the highlight of this dish. Although it came with just 8 chips laid out on each side, it turned out to be the perfect amount.

For the main course I had grilled mahi-mahi with roasted pineapple-cascabel chile sauce and caramelized pineapple-green onion salsa. The fish was grilled to perfection, and the sauce was delicious. The pineapple was a nice touch that gave it the southwestern flair for which Bobby Flay is known.

Dessert was an 'ice cream sandwich' that was composed of thin, dark chocolate wafers surrounding rich dark chocolate ice cream. The perfect sweet treat to end the night!

Although it is an expensive place, this was definitely a culinary treat!

WAVEthai

I've had take-out twice now from WAVEthai and it meets my approval. Just a block from my apartment, the little restaurant doesn't have huge crowds dining in its well decorated dining room, but the food is great as take-out. I'll have to keep checking to see for when it is crowded because that's when I'd like to dine in. There's something about eating-in in an empty restaurant that is unsettling.

I've tried the pad Thai, which I can't say much about in terms of criticism or glowing praise - it was good, a nice big portion (there's always leftovers), and got the mix of flavors and textures down well. I do wish it came with a lime wedge instead of lemon, but that's nothing.

I also tried the peanut curry with chicken. If you don't know what this is, it is almost like a stew or stroganoff, served over rice, or it can be eaten almost like a soup. As take-out it comes in a quart size plastic bowl. The curry had a nice spice to it and I really enjoyed the peanut flavor. The string beans, broccoli and carrot in the mix were a good balance with the chicken.

One nice thing about the menu is the pricing, basically all dishes can be prepared with any choice of meat, poultry or seafood, and each meat sets the price. Chicken is $9. Not a bad deal for a filling and pretty healthy meal. Next time I'll try something from the wok.

Chanpen Thai

To me, Thai cuisine is always hit or miss. Before moving to New York I had a favorite Asian restaurant in the DC area, Cafe Asia, that served my "gold standard" pad Thai. Chanpen Thai in Midtown/Hell's Kitchen came close to meeting that standard. The restaurant's exterior gives a casual, fun appearance, but when we stepped inside it seemed almost formal. New York Magazine notes:

...mirrored walls add a sense of spaciousness to an already amply sized dining room bearing a slightly elevated section in back. Wooden trim with delicate, cut-out engravings skirts the ceiling’s perimeter and gilded figurines are scattered throughout.

I was trying to stretch my culinary horizons (frogs legs?!), but ended up back at my standard pad Thai again, though I mixed it up with shrimp. Woah. It was very good, though I thought it could use a little more lime and a little more peanut. We also tried the calamari which was a really unique preparation, as far as fried squid goes. The calamari was very light in color and texture, not quite flaky, but very crunchy and with a nice Thai sweet and sour sauce.

Even if the restaurant was a little deceiving from the outside—it was no Cafe Asia on the inside—overall it was an affordable and tasty dinner.

Novecento

The idea was to make the Americans feel the real atmosphere of an Argentine place.

Novocento is an Argentine bistro in SoHo which I happened upon with a friend. Honestly there are only two reasons I chose it: first being there were a good number of people eating inside for a Tuesday night and second, the prices on the menu outside looked good (I didn't even look at what the actual food was).

Upon stepping inside I was happy with my choice. The atmosphere was warm and inviting with a good number of people eating and at the bar, but not too crowded that I couldn't sit down for a drink before taking a table. The music playing was loud but not overpowering, and I believe it was Argentinian.

Upon recommendation from our server, I ordered the skirt steak, with chimichurri sauce, and mashed potatoes. (My other choice was the more expensive pan-seared tuna.) I know that skirt steak isn't the most tender cut but I did expect it to be more tender than it was. The sauce was tasty, at bit salty, but good. The mashed potatoes seemed almost like they came from a box - they were overmashed. I wished they came with some kind of gravy or sauce or at least butter, but they were served plain. Odd.

I really liked the restaurant and the atmosphere and the rest of the menu looked good, but overall my meal wasn't as good as I had hoped. Still, Novocento has some allure to me and I will have to go back and try again sometime.