Home on 8th

I don't get it. Honestly, nothing special here. The lunch specials are fairly priced, but you could do better. The quality was decent but the food was no where near memorable. I ordered the garlic chicken. It was listed as spicy, but wasn't, and did not taste very much like garlic. The fried rice had an off taste to it and the egg drop soup lacked flavor. At least the delivery process was easy. I feel bad if this is what vegans and vegetarians think is terrific. I want to give it another chance, maybe another dish would be better?


391 8th Ave

Le Cirque: Ladies who lunch

We totally cheaped it up and didn't order anything extra with our restaurant week lunch and they still treated us respectfully. The space is just a teeny tiny almost a smidge bit tacky... I do love that the gents must wear jackets, I wore one too just for fun. Its not stuffy, its classy.
The sour dough-ish bread is great. The shrimp appetizer was a bit salty, but I enjoyed the match with carrots. Even though I CANNOT eat grapefruit (vom vom vom), I chose the scallop with hazelnut and grapefruit and pushed the bitter nastiness aside. I really enjoyed the dill, hazelnut, and sunchoke combo. The scallops were pretty good. The creme brulee had the perfect amount of sweetness, but it really could have been warmer. I liked my friends chocolate cake and tart sorbet. I think restaurant week is a great time to go, just so you can say you have been. I left satisfied and more full that I thought I would be.

151 E 58th St

Hagi

I was planning on putting our names down and going to Sapporo to wait but we got a table right away on a Friday night at 8:30, I was so not expecting that. I'm sure if we were more than 2 people that would not have been the case.
We had a blast here! Do not order the vinegar drinks, I have no idea why I did, it tasted like vinegar... The plum sour is delish though.
The deep fried octopus special was a favorite, as was the fatty pork. Eggplant was not impressive and we tried many skewers that were just ok. I tried uni for the first time and enjoyed it.
Somehow I ended up spending a lot more than I intended.
Food is 3 stars but the variety, experience, and cheap drinks are more like 4.
I want to go back to drink more and order differently.


152 W 49th St

Perbacco: cheese creme brulee dream

The place is so cute I felt cuter by being there. The tiny place was packed, but my party of 2 was able to get a seat quickly, maybe due to the snowy night. The place is packed; your neighbors will hear your coversations. We learned the couple next to us requested their dishes without cheese and wanted to order a bottle of Port- weirdddooos.

I came for the Parmesan creme brulee and was not disappointed. It really was a beautiful thing with the intensely cheesey flavor, burnt cheese top, and balsamic reduction to balance it all.
I enjoyed the semolina gnochi and fried sage leaves, although the accompanying lamb ragu was not that special. The portion size and price was very fair. The menu does a great job at offering main dishes that range from very affordable ($14) to more expensive. The menu is less friendly for the calorie minded, as my dining companion noted. Service was attentive and never pushy.

234 E 4th Street

Szechuan Gourmet

I was expecting to be wowed- Bruni, you steered me wrong. Had to wait a bit for a table at lunch time, as expected. The lunch specials are well priced, and I really enjoyed the hot and sour soup. I was so excited for the hyped up pork belly, but it was really not so great. It was mostly fat, and not the good kind. Believe me, I have drooled over pork belly dishes that are 99% porcine fat, this was not so pleasurable. And to make matters worse... they would not sing happy birthday to my friend when I snuck away and asked. Not cool, I was really looking forward to embarrassing him.


21 W 39th Street

Bar Carrera

Very lovable little establishment. You can't help but enjoy the way it is decorated. The tiny dining room opens at 7, so we sat at the bar, and as it was early, the place was not at all crowded. We enjoyed a carafe of cucumber sangria, normally I am a red sangria person, but this was refreshing and different. The strawberry sangria is also delicious, also not your typical sangria with the fruity and clove-ness of it. A 15 dollar carafe is 4 full glasses, its a really great deal. It made me happy that this place served a drink with coke and red wine, that my friends always make fun of me for loving. One bartender was easy on the eyes, but kind of a dodo and didn't seem to know much about anything, and on another occasion the bartender was much more fun and intelligentWe ordered a simple chorizo tapa and a more interesting one of bread, queso, jamon, almond spread, and a raisin vinaigrette that brought it to a different level. The egg in a blanket tapas (truffled egg, jamon, manchego, brioche) is outrageously amazing- even though it was 6 dollars for one bite. The portions are tiny, but its a good environment to relax and reminisce of vacationing in Spain.

Little Poland: food of our motherland

I think they serve honest food here. I am a big borscht fan and I enjoy theirs even though they don't offer a version with meat. The combo platter is a beautiful thing. The bigos and stuffed cabbage are delicious! And it comes with your choice of 4 pierogi and some keilbasa. I don't think I could ever finish that bad boy by myself. The kompot fruit drink was pretty odd, but I kinda liked it. This is not a high class establishment, but it has no pretensions about it and thats what I like. I definitely want to take advantage of the byo policy soon.


200 2nd Avenue

La Vineria

Came here to celebrate a much improved LSAT score. Great neighborhood place with nicely prepared food. For a sit down Italian restaurant- it really is not expensive. We were lucky we were only two- we got seated immediately on a Saturday night. Others in larger groups had to wait (unfortunately they crowded around the front of the tiny restaurant, where our table was located) Excellent service and pleasant ambiance besides the people waiting, it does make a great date. According to the recent Times review they make their own pasta, and that was what drew me in. I enjoyed the pasta with veal sauce and would recommend it as a perfect balance between choosing from their meat dishes or getting pasta. They have also been awarded for their wine list, we were lauded for our choice of red- La Planeta, which went well with the meal.


737 9th Ave

Sip Sak

Despite no bellydancing, hookahs, or whatever fun middle eastern gimmicks-my friends and I really enjoyed this classy-casual, not too expensive Turkish restaurant. Some of these friends have sensitive stomachs and palates (superlame, yes this puts a strain on our friendships), yet everyone enjoyed their food here.
I have found no truth to the rumors that the owner here is awful; all the staff was really friendly to us even after a rowdy discussion about sharting that disturbed other diners AND even after we broke a wine bottle on the floor (turkish wine, worth trying).
I love the manti- dumpling things in a yogurt sauce and the lamb pizza. A lamb special entree was also good- and huge. We also enjoyed a grilled octupus appetizer even though the portion was really small.

recommendation if there is a wait: We enjoyed a happy hour with some decent mojitos and margaritas across the street while waiting for our table.


928 2nd Ave

Cheburechnaya Inc

Conveniently located around the corner to the worst Social Security office in all of the boroughs, this place can offer a comfort after the hours of waiting for your appointment.

I usually order things to go here and don't have to wait especially long.You must order the samcy with rib. Its very filling and the pastry and meat inside are both delicious, just pick out the fat.
The typical bread- noni toki, doesn't look like much but it has a great flavor.
Chebureki are the popular fried and filled savory pastries. I once ordered a meat cheburkeki and found the meat nauseatingly undercooked. The cabbage is best, followed by mushroom.
The green pilaf is very good.
They have a great selection of grilled meats, complete with lamb testicles and heart.

Visit the grocery store next to the restaurant and get some crazy Eastern European beer to go with your meal.


9209 63rd Dr

Thái Son

I enjoy this Viet resaurant a great deal. The pho was yumz and large for 550. But the most notable dish was a special written on the wall- house special clams. Maybe the best asian style clams I have ever had: brown sauce, with tomatoes, a little sweet, tangy- amazing!

89 Baxter St

The Soup Spot

The soups are pretty stellar as well as convenient in this less than stellar neighborhood. The small is a great snack for 3.50 with the bread and an orange; its like your mommy packed you a lunch with all the food groups. They have a great variety for such a little place. On a nice, not too hot day I recommend grabbing a soup and sitting on the post office steps. The bisques are very good. I had an enjoyable spicy crab and corn soup today. The gazpacho isn't anything exciting, but gazpacho is never ever bad unless made with salmonella tomatoes, and its the appropriate summer alternative to the hot soups.

Lezzette Mediterranean Cucina

Lezzette's is good, but nothing to write home about. The food is on the pricey side, but at least its fresh. I usually stick with the salad bar when I am needing a healthy lunch of a few selections including, tabbouleh, feta cheese, chicken, and nice pasta salads. Its up to about $6 a pound now, I can usually get by with around $6 worth of food. They throw in 2 pieces of bad bread, how sweet of them. Although I wouldn't rave about Lezzette's, I would be sad to see it go.


369 W 34th St

Hyo Dong Gak: You will love these noodles, I promise

I was craving noodles in brown sauce (jajangmyun) so I took some coworkers here to experience it. I chose this place after reading positive yelp reviews. I would not chose this place walking by if I didn't know about it.
We definitely got the white people treatment so that subtracts a star. We were given a different menu and had to request the other menu that had the noodles we wanted on it. Also they didn't give us kimchee and pickled turnip until I asked for it, though every other table received it after being seated.
This barely dampened our lunch experience. We had no problem seating our 7 person group at lunch time. The large portions of savory noodles were loved by everyone who took my advice and ordered it. Note that the menu lists the dish as noodle with brown sauce or special noodle with brown sauce which is a dollar more. Apparently the special version is more fresh so we went with that one. Perfect, cheap, satisfying, crowd pleasing meal.



51 W 35th St Frnt