Cosme review

December 30, 2014January 2, 2015 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

While much of New York had been in a state of near apoplectic delirium as it anticipated the opening of Mexico City master-chef Enrique Olvera’s newest dining sensation Cosme, I have to confess that I also smooshed my nose against the glass on more than one occasion as I’d walk past the former sleazy strip bar (or “gentlemens club”) to witness the progress. Thankfully the space bears absolutely no resemblance to its former existence. Instead Olvera’s team has created a sleek and moody, dark gray, L-shaped room with sparse lighting, bright wooden surfaces and eye-level racks of wine. In the off chance that there might still be an open ear for improvements, I would make a plea for some desperately needed sound-absorptive materials. Hidden fabric ceiling panels, cushions, rugs…anything to facilitate hearing some of the intricate preparation details from the authentically accented wait staff.

I think it’s imperative to point out that if you’re expecting a typical taco/burrito/quesadilla dinner, you wouldn’t be reading a review by me. Chef Olvera’s menu is the culmination of homegrown authenticity combined with unexpected and unusual international preparations that elevate Mexican cuisine into the culinary stratosphere. The flavoring is bold – but not blunt. The dishes are diverse – but not random. The presentation is full of bright contrasts, but still very appetizing and approachable.

Occidental Heirloom Blue-corn Tortillas with Pumpkin seed and Habanero butter

Instead of bread and butter, they serve a heavenly (yet modest) portion (I was obliged with three subsequent follow-ups) of Occidental Heirloom blue corn Tortillas, that have been dried and freshly fried until they deliver a deeply earthy and dark purple crunch with a curry colored paste of pumpkin seed, garlic, habanero peppers and butter – the perfect introduction to the dozen or so appetizers ranging from sea urchins to eggplants.

Seafood vuelve a la vida

I am a huge fan of ceviche, but no one ever served me a Seafood vuelve a la vida (comes back to life) inside an avocado before. The combination of sweet tomato and horseradish, with morsels of fish inside the cocoon of a creamy avocado is utterly simple, remarkable and wonderful. We had to try the much bleated about Burrata with salsa verde and “weeds”, which is another confident combination of simple flavors and fresh textures that might crisscross multiple borders, but delivers flawlessly nonetheless. The only disappointments to the daily printed menu were the Chicharones which were quizzically sold out by 7:00pm, and our first two wine choices were both temporarily un-locatable, but the main courses proved to be fierce distractions.

Back garlic rubbed NY Strip Steak

It was a fairly close call for the Broiled Red Snapper with a Hoja Santa salsa and plantains, but I ended up settling on the magnificent Black garlic rubbed New York strip steak. Hiding between the rare seared domino sized medallions of tender steak was one of the rare appearances of guacamole in the entire establishment. I had no idea that the über-popular green dip was such a red-headed stepchild, that it needed to be disguised as “avocado purée”! Velvety smooth and finished with tarragon and spiked with wasabi, who cares what they called it – to me it was absolutely delicious.

Duck Carnitas

The most popular dish has to be the Duck Carnitas – and with good reason. The boneless breast of succulent, salty duck literally tears apart with little more than a suggestion, before being inserted snugly into warm, fresh tortillas along with white onions and a citrusy salsa verde. They describe it as a sharable dish, but that depends on the familiarity of your fellow diners.

Husk Meringue

Olvera’s contra-ordinary prowess shifts ceaselessly into the desserts. His two fluffy Husk Meringue halves are actually made from dried, ground corn-husks, which are separated by a surprisingly light and airy mound of corn and mascarpone mousse (although a dose of liquid nitrogen can even make me light and airy) but the dominant sweet and subtle savory combination is the work of a flavor maestro who knows what he’s doing. Also taste-worthy is the unpronounceable yet utterly caramelicious Nixtamalized Carrot paired with a cinnamon cake and sweet-tart cream-cheese ice cream.

Nixtamalized Carrot with Cinnamon Cake

Even though Enrique Olvera named Cosme after his favorite obsession – the cosmos, in my mind the man wasn’t just reaching for the stars – he seems to have clutched a few fistfuls before bringing them down to the Flatiron district to share with the rest of us.

http://www.cosmenyc.com/

Cherche Midi review

December 3, 2014December 3, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

Could it be that Keith McNally (the New York Times proclaimed restaurateur who invented downtown) has the caviar touch when it comes to creating dining hotspots that become indelibly entrenched into the culture of New York City life, or is it even remotely possible that the culinary impresario might only have one, two or possibly three well practiced tricks up his sleeve? The man who brought us Balthazar, Lucky Strike, Pastis, Morandi, Minetta Tavern and so many other hard-to-get-into variations on a very similar and well-regurgitated theme, recently unveiled his empire’s newest clone – Cherche Midi – on the northern edge of his well-trodden stomping ground.

Cherche Midi

Once you recover from the overdose of déjà vu as you step into the brightly lit room, dotted with pillars that stretch the matrix of hexagonal floor tiles apart from the stalactite maze of white balloon light fixtures, you realize that McNally’s manufactured familiarity will probably go a long way to convince many of his loyal diners that he has once again given birth to yet another baby Jesus of the Steak Frites world.

The menu is well peppered with dishes that have continued to satisfy tourists and locals for nearly three decades. The Salade Nicoise is there, so are the Beet Salad and Steak Tartare. There is a new Short-rib and Gruyere spin to the (Black Label) Burger, and although the always delicious Pan-roasted Foie Gras with briefly poached apples in the shade of a mahogany loaf of soft and salty brioche is as remarkable as can be, I couldn’t help feeling a bit stung by the $27 price point for such a paltry portion.

Butternut Squash Soup

On the less-exorbitant side, the addition of micro-diced challah croutons gives a welcome crunch to the decadently creamy Butternut squash Soup.

Lobster Ravioli

Considering the overwhelming popularity of the Steak Frites, the fish-to-meat ratio of entrees (while familiar) is fairly generous. In addition to two ocean and one river fish, the fennel-flavored Bouchot Mussels are finished in Pernod and crème fraiche. But a heavy-handed bombardment of ginger annihilated any trace of shellfish in the Lobster Ravioli with piquillo peppers.

Filet Mignon au Poivre

It was hardly surprising – yet thoroughly delightful to bite into a flawless cut of Filet Mignon au Poivre, sealed with a thin crust of charred peppercorns – neither too peppery nor drowning in jus – accompanied by a handsome harvest of twice-fried in peanut oil, Idaho potato French fries. As a side dish, we tried the Roasted Sunchokes, (which were an off-menu option and should probably remain as such) with an overly-crispy crust and an overly-mushy interior.

Ile Flottante

But I must say that it has been a while since I enjoyed an lle Flottante this good. The multi-textured dessert featured a perfectly poached, foamy meringue floating on a vanilla cream lagoon covered by a fibrous wig of spun sugar. Sweet, light, fluffy and utterly un-sharable.

Only after an hour surrounded by so much familiarity: the tried-and-true French dishes, the white paper-covered tables, the hip crowd and the long burlap-aproned wait staff – did it finally dawn on me that Cherche Midi just increased my chances of landing a reservation at either Minetta Tavern or Balthazar – thanks to the addition of twenty extra tables in a very similar space a mere neighborhood or two away.

http://www.cherchemidiny.com/reservations/

Joe’s Shanghai review

November 21, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

Xiao Long Bow (pronounced: Soup Dumplings) is somewhat of a not too well kept New York secret. Judging by the multi-culti masses who clutch well-worn copies of Zagat’s or concierge-issued city maps while waiting in the doorway of any of the three Joe’s Shanghai locations (Queens, Midtown and Chinatown), it’s obvious that this is a very well telegraphed “must-try-when-in-New-York” hot item. But tourist agendas aside, from time to time, when New Yorkers get that umami-salty itch that needs immediate scratching, nothing satisfies quite like a bamboo steamer basket of tongue-blisteringly hot and uniquely delicious Soup Dumplings.

Soup Dumplings

This rather curious method of trapping a tiny pork meatball inside a mouthful of meaty broth hails from a suburb of Shanghai and is rarely spotted on Chinese menus in the west. Before I divulge the secret behind their preparation, humor me and try to imagine just how tricky it would be to wrap scalding soup inside a thin, square piece of dough without any of it leaking out? (It reminds me of a “Candid Camera” shtick, where unsuspecting victims were asked to wrap helium-filled balloons in brown paper and string.) The answer is chemistry 101 – changing the state of the soup from a liquid to a solid before wrapping (either as ice or gelatin) which melts during the steaming process.

Pork Soup Dumplings with Vinegar sauce

Enjoying Soup Dumplings involves a fairly specific protocol too.

Step 1: After a dumpling is carefully hoisted out of its cabbage blanket and lowered onto a spoon, bite a tiny hole into its side in order to suck out the soup.

Step 2: Add a spoonful of dark Chinese vinegar with shredded ginger to give the remaining solids a blast of sourness.

Step 3: Eat and repeat until complete!

http://www.joeshanghairestaurants.com/

Saxon + Parole review

November 20, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

Saxon and Parole were two racehorses in the 1800’s, and they happen to be the inspiration behind the crop-and-bridle décor at Executive chef Brad Farmerie’s über-popular NoHo bistro. Horses are neither welcome here, nor are they mentioned on the menu in any way, but instead, the generous bar (serving ready-mixed, pre-chilled, ice-free Manhattans on-tap) leads to a couple of wood-framed dining areas teeming with dressage tchotchkes, amongst a spirited stable of regular diners.

Manhattans on-tap

Chef Farmerie keeps the kitchen gimmickry to a minimum. His prowess is more evident in his confident broad-strokes menu featuring abundant favorites done impressively well, with a few whiplashing surprises mixed in. The raw bar items share space with a Razor Clam Egg-Salad or a Sea Urchin Muffin with bacon bits. See what I mean?

Brussels Sprouts with Poached Egg

The “First course” section offers a familiar variety of soup-salad-crudo options, with an obvious commitment to fresh, sustainable and fashionably de rigueur loco-moco-yoko ingredients like watercress and radishes, but the steamed Brussels Sprout Leaf Salad encircling a perfectly runny poached egg, covering smoky lardons with a zesty, salty and heavenly yuzu lemon hollandaise dressing combines everything I love about late autumn.

Grilled Berkshire Pork Chop

Land and sea options are very well represented in the “Second course,” with some standouts including a simply seasoned, yet handsomely fileted Hangar Steak, revealing a dark-pink, marbled and juicy interior – in the shade of a marrow bone brimming with velvety Béarnaise sauce.

Farmerie’s perfectly measured use of Harissa provides just sufficient horsepower to spruce up the Crispy Roast Chicken (on a saddle of barley and faro wheat) giving it a marvelously Moroccan bite.

It’s hardly surprising that the supple, crisp and amazingly moist Grilled Berkshire Pork Chop has become one of the most loyally requested dishes. While it shares the plate with an all-too-safe glazed apple, the limelight is snatched by that creamy and pungent goat-cheese laden polenta.

The only under-whelmer of the evening was the offensively sweet, chili-caramel roasted Brussels Sprouts, which were soon forgotten by the arrival of desserts. As popular as they may be, the Warm Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts with a trio of dipping sauces were left at the starting line by one of the most original S’Mores presentations in history.

Infusing the S’Mores with barrel smoke

We insisted on a table-side demonstration as a ball-jarful of chocolate pudding, graham crackers and marshmallows were forced to inhale a few puffs of barrel smoke before the lid was tightly sealed, trapping an authentic bonfire flavor into the dessert, instantly rewinding me back to my pre-teen summer camp nights.

And so while some from the chewing police may have hemmed and hawed that Saxon + Parole hasn’t altered the culinary horizon enough, I would argue that Farmerie has carved himself an uncontested niche as New York’s torchbearer for reliable, enjoyable and above all impressive comfort cuisine – and let’s not forget those Manhattans on-tap!

http://saxonandparole.com/

Marta review

November 6, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

Marta

When I found out that yet another New York master-chef was about to create his version of yet another pizza joint in a city already so replete with pie options, that our municipal mascot has affectionately become a crusty wedge of pepperoni, I decided to measure the square-footage of my disappointment in advance. I figured that even if Danny Meyer (Mr. Mealtime Midas Touch himself) was able to do to pizzas what he had done to hamburgers with his chain of Shake Shacks, I still couldn’t imagine how much more runway there was to re-invent an 11-inch pizza with a handful of toppings. Couldn’t we all agree that the time has come to focus our culinary attention on a different hangover-curing, post-weed-munchie-satisfying, carb-diet-busting, TV-complimenting snack? Just how many more times does the pizza need to be reborn in our lifetime? Turns out, Marta might very well have been the one we’ve all been waiting for!

The newest star in the Meyer galaxy is a big, bright and bustling showpiece that isn’t just located in the lobby of the Martha Washington Hotel – it is the lobby. The ultra-high-ceilinged trattoria’s whitewashed walls offer views of 29^th street, a voyeur’s mezzanine and a white, marble bar facing the demonstration-style kitchen, under the watchful eye of two inescapably huge, flame-licking, black-tiled pizza ovens.

In addition to a surprisingly affordable all-Italian wine list and an authentic selection of Roman appetizers, salads and entrees, Chef de cuisine Nick Anderer (graciously borrowed from Maialino) has crafted eleven pizzas in two categories: Rosse and Bianche. Heading up the Rosse group is the vanilla of them all, the Margharita Classica (originally made exclusively for Margharita – Italy’s Queen consort – in celebration of the colors of the Italian flag) delectably combining satiny-soft cheese, pungent basil and Mt. Vesuvius lava-sweetened San Marzano tomatoes. As you work your way down, ingredients like house-stretched buffalo mozzarella, anchovies, thyme and sausage are gradually added until we suddenly find ourselves face-to-face with tripe and mint. The tomato-less Bianche group enjoys even more freedom from convention with a wider variety of cheeses, eggs, potatoes, ham, vegetables and white truffles.

Salsiccia

When the cracker-crisp, antique-paper-edged pies appear, it’s clear that Anderer has kept his promise about delivering the thinnest crusts in the land – permitting his fresh ingredients to relish unobstructed in the limelight. Never before have I enjoyed morsels of fragrant pork sausage, scattered between freshly sautéed porcinis, with cream oozing (literally) from dollops of mozzarella over a crunchy red crust as I did with the Salsiccia. And I couldn’t help recalling one of Anderer’s signature Maialino breakfasts with the black-peppery Pecorino and eggs as the heart of the Patate alla Carbonara, concealed beneath a delicious layer of soft potato chunks with chewy lardons of smoky guanciale. It felt a bit like walking in on texture, flavor and aroma in the middle an intimate group hug.

Patate alla Carbonara

Ladies and gentlemen, Marta is not just another pizza joint – it’s front-page news!

www.martamanhattan.com

ABC Cocina review

October 22, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s ABC Cocina might be more rustic and noisier than its big locavore brother ABC Kitchen, but it takes itself a lot less seriously too. On one hand the impressively lavish menu seems to steer solidly in the direction of Iberian-inspired tapas, but then a sudden sharp turn suggests we’re on a runaway taco truck with no brakes, picking up a litany of multi-culti hitchhikers as we perilously head for the border. With a chipotle pepper here or a chorizo there, here a taco, there an empanada and everywhere a salsa…Vong has created the ultimate pan-Latin kitchen comedy, by masterfully staging a telenovela right in the middle of a bullfight.

Spiced Ground Beef Empanadas

Many of the usual suspects are re-imagined with new and exciting textures and flavors like adding hearty eggplant to the Spiced ground Beef Empanadas or laying landmines of crispy chicken skin with lemon zest into the Arroz con Pollo giving the otherwise mundane staple some unexpected crunch and purpose.

Patatas Bravas

I was initially suspicious of the 24-karat gold roasted Patatas Bravas that were nested next to a pool of mysteriously dark and picante sauce suspended in the heart of an ivory aioli, but after mixing the liquids together and then dribbling them over the crispy nuggets, I found myself pleasantly overwhelmed in rosemary rapture.

Grilled Maitake Mushrooms

Even though the woody-smoky-charcoaly Grilled Maitake Mushrooms were crowned with melted herb goat cheese, their tart Fresno pepper vinaigrette might have shifted the earth on its axis by a hair.

Chipotle Chicken Tacos

Of all the gourmet Taco options, the Chipotle Chicken seems to have done the best job at already establishing its own fan club and Twitter account. But as delectable as it might have been, with just the right amount of fuss you’d expect to find inside a floppy masa shell, something was definitely missing. Too dry? Too crunchy? Turns out the grilled Jalapeño salsa was left in the kitchen and only arrived after we had digested the final morsels. Oops! But the sublimely moist and flavorful Grilled Chorizo sausage arrived with all of its parts fortuitously present.

Housemade Chorizo Sausage

While things may have changed slightly since former chef de cuisine Dan Kluger left the ABC’s to start his own venture, his footprints for success are still well-entrenched in these polished-concrete cocina floors. ¡Esta bien!

http://www.abchome.com/eat/abc-cocina/

Flex Mussels review

October 6, 2014October 6, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

Flex Mussels

Can we please hear it for mussels – those inexpensive, scrumptious, highly adaptable and relatively unsung heroes of the shellfish world?

“Bombay” Indian curry, star anise, garlic, cinnamon, white wine

While they might make an appearance on many a menu in many a city, they often seem to do well at being overlooked or under-ordered. Is it the size of their shells that belies the amount of flesh within? Or could it be because they require actual physical contact and dexterous assistance? Or maybe that their classic preparation (white wine, leeks and cream) fails to put the lust back into lackluster?

Thanks to Bobby & Laura Shapiro, the Canadian duo who are somehow able to haul in an endless catch of the most perfectly sized, beardless, Prince Edward Island farm raised bi-valves that snap open as they soak up flavors from all around the world at Flex Mussels.

The menu offers 23 different options that are as delicious as they are audacious. From simple, low-key ingredients you might expect to see in a pot of mussels: Dijon mustard, orange zest, fennel and tomatoes, to some you’d be surprised to see: curry coconut broth, pesto, spinach or Kalamata olives, to some you’d be outright flabbergasted to see: bacon, ham, chipotle adobo, prosciutto or blue cheese. The kitchen goes even further to include lobster, calamari, shrimp, crab and an entire sausage gumbo into some of their most memorable concoctions. My favorite is the Bisque, with hearty chunks of succulent lobster tail, sweet San Marzano tomatoes and a generous hint of brandy in the bread-dippingly delectable garlic cream.

“Gumbo” Andoille sausage, peppers, ochra, shrimp, roux

The scene at both of their strictly informal Manhattan-based bistros (West Village and Upper East Side) is equal parts young, noisy, popular and energetic, with not much room for décor beyond a few enlargements of the Prince Edward Island setting sun, allowing the punch-line-printed (“Mussel-tov”), black T-shirt-wearing staff to deliver pot after steaming pot to the dozen or so crowded tables.

Curiously enough and contrary to the laws of nature and physics, the longer these pots sit on the table, and the deeper you dig to extract your harvest of delight, the hotter they get! Hmm.

Flex Donut Collection

The menu also offers a sizable Not Mussels section, including a wonderfully light and crispy, mixed seafood plate called Burnt Fingers, a very affordable selection of California and European White and Red wines (including a rarely-seen-in-these-parts Turley Old Vines Zinfandel) culminating in the Flex Donut Collection, where 4 or 6 (or more) tennis-ball sized donuts are served with a vanilla dipping sauce on a wooden rack, practically exploding with your choice of sinful fillings, from Salted Caramel and Wild Blueberry to Meyer Lemon…but it’s still all about the mussels!

http://www.flexmussels.com/

Yunnan Kitchen review

October 2, 2014October 9, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

Yunnan Kitchen

When chefs leave restaurants, the impact to a kitchen is far greater than say when a captain leaves his ship. Ships aren’t really expected to do much more than shlepp passengers (who prefer to travel in hordes, unpack only once and who are quite comfortable with their first impression of a foreign destination being the port) without fuss, plague or delay. Restaurant kitchens on the other hand have hungry, expectant, impatient, picky and frequently critical diners to feed, a reputation to uphold – all while serving countless renditions of the same dish monthly, weekly, daily, hourly, minutely without a single fluctuation. Chefs can’t cut corners. They aren’t allowed to improvise or compromise because they are ultimately the first and last reason any diner recommends, revisits or pans a restaurant. So when Doron Wong took over the leadership from Travis Post at Yunnan Kitchen in the Lower East Side over a year ago, he created a fresh and affordable menu with sharable dishes offering a spectrum of Yunnan province flavors – from aromatic petals to gasket-blowing peppers that are part of the reason there is still a pervasive line outside the door.

Ma La Chicken Wings

If New York has flower, theater, diamond and garment districts, then the Lower East Side is the uncontested eclectic food district. Yunnan Kitchen’s rustic space with Clinton-Street-de-rigueur exposed-brick, pressed-steel ceilings and dim lighting is pretty much the final outpost in a row of distinctive and original establishments, where reservations are seldom offered.

Wong has a few signature cocktails that debut many of the spices and aromas that are about to color and define the rest of the evening. The first appearance (of the seemingly abundant) Sichuan peppercorns is added to a sweat-inducing grapefruit, chili, tequila Rita. The next most reached-for ingredient in the house is Chrysanthemum, which becomes the cornerstone for an aromatic, sweet ‘n sour Daiquiri with splashes of citrus and St. Germain.

The broad measuring-tape-sized Spicy Pulled-pork cold noodles, snake around morsels of barbecued pork and cherry tomatoes, which are dressed in chili oil with a more subtle infusion of Chrysanthemum giving them an unexpectedly fragrant – yet spicy perfume.

Mushroom Rice Cakes

Notwithstanding the addition of flecks of ham and the odd chili, the Stir Fried Mushrooms felt a little rubbery to me, with perhaps too much restraint in the flavor department to warrant a position on the very cautiously selected 16-item menu, but the Mushroom Rice Cakes are fabulous. Diagonal slithers of a dense yet remarkably light rice cake, are warmed with the smokiness of fermented chilies in a thick, rich and hearty brown sauce.

Lamb Meatballs Mao Shao

The addition of Yunnan spices to the soft and perfectly juicy Lamb Meatballs Mao Shao is yet another brilliant example of distinctive simplicity.

The all-time favorite Ma La Chicken Wings (with shoulders attached) are an absolute knockout. As you bite through the dry crunch of the ochre skin, waves of warmth begin to envelope your senses from your lips to your nose to your toes, as the unrelenting heat of the Sichuan peppercorns serves up the first punch, followed by a surprising left hook from the Numbing Spices. I managed two rounds before tapping-out.

Ma La Chcolate Crémeaux

The only real disappointment was the Ma La Chocolate Crémeux. The fact that Asian desserts have never found a fan base in the US is nothing new or surprising, but because there was only one lonely option on the menu I felt compelled to give it a try. The doughy train-wreck of a biscuit that tried to commit suicide on uncooked cumin, flanks a scoop of Sichuan pepper-infused Valrhona Chocolate Mousse with curiously sticky marshmallow triangles, feels out-of-character and heavy-handed to have emerged from this kitchen. (Maybe chef Wong can sneak in something simple from one of his neighbors up the street. Just sayin’.)

http://yunnankitchen.com/reservations.htm

El Quinto Piño review

September 18, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

El Quinto Piño

The mere expression “Spanish tapas bar” instantly conjures up a very familiar expectation of a Spanish inspired, small-plates snack bar. It is therefore brave and admirable for Alex Raij and Eder Montero to create a derivative in their Chelsea slither of a bistro – El Quinto Piño, that’s just as traditional as it is bold and quirky. The charming comedor room off of the curved bar feels familiar and intimate in its simple understated design, with mismatched chairs, interesting lighting and a large sound-absorptive woven tapestry.

Nuestras Bravas

The large menu features sufficient “usual-suspect” dishes to satisfy the purists intent on reliving that distant Spanish vacation (or the opportunity to show off their international-ness to their less-travelled friends). In addition there are a few bold spinoffs that improve on the original, and a couple of quirky creations to bolster interest (and stars) amongst the food critic literati. While most of the menu undergoes periodic regional rotation to retain freshness and an element of the unexpected, there are a few permanent staples that are mentioned on a variety of must-try lists.

Croquetas

No tapas bar in its right mind would ever dare open its doors without the mandatory Nuestras Bravas (fried potatoes trickled with spicy aioli), Pan amb Tomaca (tomato and garlic rubbed bread with salt and olive oil) and those crusty shelled, delightfully creamy potato and Serrano ham Croquetas – all of which are as reliably delicious as they are popular and more than make up for the somewhat bashfully-flavored and under-toasted shrimp and squid Fideúa (Valencia short noodle paella).

Uni Panini

On the bold side, creating a po’ boy styled Bocadillo de Calamar has all the best flavors of delicately fried and exquisitely crispy squid legs, adding crunch and sweetness to a tightly wrapped vegetable sandwich. I would also have to concur that the Uni Panini deserves its position as one of Eater.com’s Top 20 sandwiches in all of New York. But while I adore the flavor of sea urchin, I wish someone could have warned me about the lightning-bolt shock of sinus-clearing mustard!

Fideúa

And finally some of the quirkier options that include the Arroz Brut de Conejo, which is a cabbage stuffed with rabbit meat and rice, or the crispy and rather harshly intense ocean-floor surprise taste of sea anemones cooked into soft scrambled eggs known as Revuelto de Ortigulla. The proof that Raij and Montero have solidly catered to just about everyone’s culinary comfort zone is directly proportional to the persistence required to snag a table.

http://elquintopinonyc.com/reservations

Umami Burger review

August 18, 2014August 18, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

You probably wouldn’t believe it, but there is a connection between the words Umami and Chutspah. Umami – borrowed from Japanese – has to do with the perceived fifth “savory” taste after salt, sweet, sour and bitter, and Chutspah is Yiddish for gall, guts, courage, fortitude, determination and a touch of arrogance. But Adam Fleishman (coincidentally Yiddish for “meat man”, hmm…) is the very personification of both. After going for broke, the California native created Umami Burger, a formidably successful franchise from the umpteen-thousandth re-re-re-invention of the hamburger. But when that wasn’t enough, he did the unthinkable – he brought it to New York City. As you can imagine, New Yorkers of all walks of life were unspeakably apoplectic with indignation that Fleishman would have the chutspah to enter their holy burger grail, tell them that he could do it better, and that he was an Angelino no less!

The predictably feverish hype and hoopla blitz ensued, and instead of standing in line for 3+ hours outside their Greenwich Village location (although I’ve read that the wait has shrunk to below 30 minutes for a table nowadays), I decided to sample Fleishman’s creation in its natural habitat. I sat at one of the raw wooden benches with a view of the parking-lot outside the tip of Fred Segal’s ivy-covered clothing empire in Santa Monica, as my server wearing the iconic logo of a cross between a burger and a pair of Rocky-Horror-Picture-Show-ketchup-stained lips on his T-shirt, brought me the Original burger with a side of Smushed Potatoes dredged in a roasted garlic aioli.

The Original

The soft, yet dense Portuguese roll has a cute cattle-brand of a “U” on its lid. The meat is roughly chopped Wagyu steak, which is loosely packed and cooked to a juicy medium-rare with Fleishman’s secret seasonings that are supposed to unleash that unbridled Umami flavor. The toppings are on the unconventional side, with sautéed shitake mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, caramelized onions and a Parmesan crisp wafer that adds an interesting crunch as you bite down.

The overall flavors are definitely restaurant quality. There’s char-grilled depth, salty moisture and a heartiness you wont find in a fast-food factory burger (which always remind me of gray wood-shavings and Purina puppy chow.)

But is it the best burger in the land? Probably not. Is that such a bad thing? Probably not. And will this be the last ever re-invention of the burger as we know it? Most definitely not.

Next time someone wants to reinvent something, why not try Escargot? They’ve been prepared the same way for over 350 years. I think it’s time.

http://www.umami.com/umami-burger/

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