FRESS:

[yiddish] To eat like an animal, i.e., quickly, noisily, and in great quantity.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Bourbon Street: Hurricanes and gator

Restaurant row is not my favorite street in this area. Its full of gimmicky places and under-whelming food. Bourbon street may be a bit gimmicky but they have an impressive happy hour. $5 can get you a mint julep, a dark n stormy, hurricane and a few others, and they are not skimpy. The drinks are nicely sized and acceptably strong. We could not resit ordering the alligator in a blanket appetizer- everyone can agree that pigs in a blanket is one of the best foods ever and its not everyday you get to consume alligator. I am glad we went for it, it is delicious! I don't know if I would come here for dinner, but its a conveniently located spot for happy hour and a snack. And they have big screen tvs everywhere if sports are your thing.

346 W 46th St

Carmine's: not just for tourists

Sometimes you have to say screw you to the road less traveled. A group of 8 of us headed to Carmine's for a birthday celebration. We were in the mood for big portions and looked forward to conquering the giant platters. We were promptly seated for our 8 oclock reservation. Carmine's does a good job at acommodating large groups and it was easy to snag our Friday reservation. Service was Speedy Gonzalez as I am sure would be important to help their table turnover.  We ordered a few bottles of reasonably priced and reasonable tasting red wine. To start we kept it simple and got the caesar salad and fried calamari, you can't go wrong there.  Had to get the salad to ensure some vitamins and minerals in the meal, yea right- that thing was covered in dressing and packing the calories. Its almost embarrassing how much I liked both the salad and the calamari. We had the penne a la vodka, veal saltimbucca, and the chicken special of the day. I am guessing the secret behind everything being tasty is vats of butter.  I think we did a good job at ordering here, we got a variety of flavors and were too stuffed for dessert. You better believe the small amount of leftovers made an ideal late night post-drinking snack. 

200 w 44th

Thai Stir Fry


Made this last week and it came out pretty darn good and was pretty darn fast and easy. We cut up flank steak and added is to a stir fry of asparagus, peppers, garlic, mushrooms, red and yellow onions, with vinegar, lime juice, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and a lot of cilantro. Its healthy balance of meat and veggies. 


Room Service: Thai'ed up in a pretty package




When I first passed by this place I thought it was some kind of new lounge. When I found out it was just ANOTHER 9th avenue Thai place I was disappointed. But the few reviews out about the restaurant were glowing, so I figured it couldn't hurt to check it out. This restaurant opened here in March and its other location is in Chelsea. The place is gorgeous: grey scale walls, classy moldings, a perfectly gaudy gaudy chandelier right in the middle, a cow print bar, vintage mirrors all around, and an entrance with huge glass windows and white door.  Maybe that sounds weird all together, but trust me, it worked. The Detox cocktail made me feel healthier as I sipped it; its an organic vodka cocktail with ginger, pomegranate, honey, and cucumber. Another cocktail on the menu is Redbull vodka, however they claim they use the original redbull that originated in Thailand. I am not a redbull expert, so I didn't taste too much of a difference, but its a cool idea. The menu has a lot of options, with standard dishes you would expect from a Thai restaurant along with more creative choices from what they call the "eat like a bangkokian" section. I normally like to pick something more interesting over pad thai, but Room Service offers the standard version and the bangkok version which is actually wrapped in an egg crepe.  A note at the bottom of the menu suggests adding on sun-dried shrimp, a typical bangkok snack. How could I resist that? The Room Service Pad Thai is presented beautifully and comes with regular shrimp (good), scallops and mussels (not as good) along with noodles that benefited from the hot sauce dotted along the side of the plate and th mango shreds on top. I really liked the sun dried shrimp, they are briny and have a fun texture, like some kind of shrimp jerky. The Bangkok pumpkin chicken curry had the perfect level of spiciness, but I would have liked to taste more pumpkin instead of just a standard curry taste. 
 I would love to come back here for dinner as well as for the lunch special. One last noteworthy element of this place would be the flashy/sexy  ethnic garb of the staff, they match the pretty plates and interior. 

690 9th Ave