Posts from the ‘Shovel Time’ Category

Mar 16

Pie

1/2

Part of the great NYC pizza frenzy of 2002-03. Their shtick is pizza by the
pound. But as it's just around the corner from James', it was at least worth
a try. A small slice of potato-rosemary and egg and bacon were quite good.
My only issue might be the potato, which they also do at Sullivan St. Bakery
and though I've only sampled it once, if I'm correct the potatoes stay soft.
Here they reheat the potato slices and they become like potato chips, and
well, I don't care that much for potato chips. Heck, they'd make good
homemade potato chips, if you're into that sort of snack, but I'd like a
little chew to my thinly sliced tuber. Nonetheless, Pie beats other blah
pies nearby (no, I'm not referring to Otto).

Pie* 124 Fourth Ave., New York, NY

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Mar 7

Keen’s

I've declared Keens the fertile-making steak house. I'd always considered
myself more of a Luger (not Lugers, dammit, no extra Ss, just like it's not
Barnes & Nobles either) girl, and now I know why. James's college pal, Pat,
the recent transplant, got in his head that Luger was the place to impress,
the spot to take the ladies (nevermind that he didn't have a lady, and the
few dates he eventually scored were with a vegetarian).

Then another old college buddy that James isn't fond of took Pat to
Keens and that's when all hell broke loose. Keens took the place of Luger in
his mind as the chicks-dig-it restaurant (I don't know where he got the idea
girls are nuts for meat and potatoes from in the first place). His fate was
sealed when he took a mousey, classic meat and potatoes gal/coworker out to
Keens. Soon after, we don't know if it was actually that night, he knocked
her up.

There might be something to all this. I recall a beef council commercial
where the old stodgy guys get scared because their steakhouse has been
overrun by women, one very pregnant. What, is iron the latest aphrodisiac?
Beef might be what's for dinner, but you'd better think twice about what
you're going to get for dessert.

KeensSteakhousee * 72 W.
36th St., New York, NY

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Feb 22

La Maison du Couscous

Couscous, tagines, and bastilla, oh my. There's almost nothing finer than
that sweet/savory flavor combo you get from meat and sugar. Meat pies beat
all. This place has it all over Moustache (hmm…they're not Moroccan, are
they? You know what I mean). The staff is incredibly friendly and the food
is affordable, even to folks like me. If La Maison du Couscous was in a
hipper neighborhood than Bay Ridge, it'd be a crowded mess for sure.

LaMaison du
Couscous * 484 77th St., Brooklyn,NY

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Feb 21

Cafe Borobudur

I guess I eat, well at least I order, too much. A request for Nasi goreng, fish in chili sauce, sate, corn fritters and fried chicken caused the waitstaff to move us from a two-seater to a bigger table. Was I a pig? I started eavesdropping and people on one side of us were just eating soup, while the couple on the other side were only eating appetizers. What's wrong with these people?

Cafe Borobudur * 128 E. Fourth St., New York, NY

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Feb 14

Suba

I'm not sure what I'd expected for my Valentine's Day treat (though I'd
hinted at AZ) but I wouldn't have predicted Suba. I think I was just scared
because of their gimmicky dinner in the dark thing, and that I'd heard the
Valentine's dinner came with a blindfolded dessert tasting. Who needs all
that forced sensualness? All was fine, the duck with coriander (I usually
don't like whole coriander seeds), avocado, scallop, and potatoes was nice,
and thankfully, the dessert sampler came with an optional sans blindfold.
This is another one of those special occasion dinners where I drank enough
to make detailed food recall fuzzy.

Suba* 109 Ludlow St., New
York, NY

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Jan 31

Brick Lane Curry House

1/2

I think this non-sixth street style, sixth street Indian has potential, but
much of its charm was lost on a busy Friday night. The wait was double the
20 minutes quoted, pushy angry patrons filled the tiny bar area, and once we
finally got a table (and stupidly agreed to sit in the same cramped bar
area) a group of people leaving knocked our papadums and sauce on to the
floor. This was the first bit of food we'd received in almost an hour, so it
was irksome. Even more irksome was the way the staff gave us dirty looks and
acted put out in cleaning up the mess, as if we were the ones who'd
knocked the plate off the table.

The vindaloo and saag were perfectly acceptable, but the pissy waitstaff
and unpleasant patrons will likely keep me from returning.

Brick Lane Curry House * 342 E. Sixth St., New York, NY

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Jan 17

Master Grill

Master Grill is to rodizio as East Buffet is to Chinese. Over-the-top,
all-you-can-eat decadence with live entertainment, lights, neon, large
families. When it's a choice between quality or novelty, the latter tends to
win out with me.

I wanted meat, and I got it: beef, quail, bacon-wrapped turkey,
sausages, duck, lamb. Crab legs and salmon from the buffet rounded out my
low-carb frenzy.

It's not the sort of place you'd want to make a habit out of, and
located on that crazy industrial strip of Queens with a view of The Bronx,
it's unlikely you would unless you lived in the area.

MasterGrill * 3409 College
Point Blvd., Flushing,NY

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Jan 4

DiFara’s

1/2

OK, this is like the holy grail of pizza, so I can't explain my chronic
reluctance to give it a try. People go nuts for Sripraphai as NYC's ultimate
Thai, and I've never had a problem giving into the mania — but pizza — I
don't know. On my final carbohydrate-eating weekend, it seemed like as good
a time as any to pay a visit. The thing with places like this is the
routine, like you're not a regular, and you know there's going to be a
procedure or unspoken rules. I mean, this is NYC. I was aware that
everything is handmade on the spot and that it's manned by an older
gentleman. This makes for a long wait, and everyone else seemed to be
ordering plain slices. I wanted an artichoke and an eggplant, while James
wanted pepperoni. This seemed to cause trauma, at least on our end. James
became convinced he was going to make an entire pie with each topping and
out of confusion we'd be charged for three whole pizzas. I didn't believe
this, but was confused on how they seem to make an entire pie for one unique
slice. See, I didn't know the procedure. We could've made it more efficient
by ordering the same toppings. I got nervous we weren't going to get pizza
at all because like 20 minutes had passed, but it all worked out in the end.
And the pizza was pretty damn good. A nice crispy crust, fresh mozzarella,
parmesan grated on the spot and vegetables sauted to order. I understand
the time involved, but it made me nervous because that's the way I am.
(1/4/03)

This time we thought we were being smart by calling ahead for a pizza
with eggplant and pepperoni, but I don't know that it makes any difference,
or that you're even able to do that. When we showed up 45 minutes later and
the pizza hadn't even been started. What can you do? Don't good things come
to those who wait? Maybe in the rest of the country, but that adage seems to
go against the grain of most New Yorkers. Once again, a very good pizza
resulted. Everything will be fine once I develop my patience building
skills. (2/15/03)

DiFara's * 1424 Avenue J, Brooklyn, NY

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Dec 31

Alias

You can't blame me for not remembering the finer details of my food, it was
New Year's Eve, after all. The amounts of alcohol that precede, accompany
and follow special occasion meals can seriously affect my recall ability.
There was a prix fixe menu from which I selected a sunchoke soup with apple
and bacon, a main of steak (I don't even remember the cut) with a blue
cheese sauce and a molten chocolate cake that was without choice. I have
nothing bad to say about the dining experience, but enough with the molten
cakes, already.

Alias * 76 Clinton St.,
New York, NY

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Dec 8

Mesa Grill

1/2

"Everybody likes Bobby Flay" goes some annoying guy in an annoying Food TV
commercial. That is a flat-out lie, but I have no beefs with Bobby's
restaurant. I'm not so into the '80s Southwestern, bold flavors thing, but
the brunch is surprisingly good (I go nuts because it seems like our friends
go to the same brunch place, Teddy's, a block from their apartments every
single freaking weekend. Why do I care? It just annoys me when people won't
venture beyond the place on their corner. Or maybe I'm just jealous because
I've never had a place on my corner).

The woman at the neighboring table was surprisingly non-good. The bread
basket filled with baked goodies and jalepeno jelly, chicken sweet potato
hash with poached eggs and chile hollandaise and home fries was almost
ruined by listening to some twat (sorry, I've been addicted to that word
lately) go on and on about weddings, her expense account and her brand new
$500 boots (which unfortunately I couldn't see, as she was too close). She
committed ten million food faux pas. She asked about the burger. She ordered
a salad. Her friend ordered the exact salad. You don't order salads and
burgers at restaurants that do other things better (both her and the
level-headed friend shamelessly ogled our food, not without surprise) and
you don't order the same thing as your dining partner unless it's like a bbq
place or chicken shack, you know, a place known for their one thing. She
didn't know what tomatillos were, but made it seem like this was the
waiter's problem, not hers. This is the kind of woman who abuses customer
service, returns things after wearing them and is mean to "the help." When
the waiter innocently asked, "how is everything" she matter-of-factly
replied, "I'm bored," as if it was his job to play court jester.

My mouth was happy, my eyes and ears were in hell. I think it's the Food
TV curse. Demanding people who care very little about food and lots about
dining out. God help me the day I dine at an Emeril venture.

Mesa Grill * 102 Fifth Ave.,
New York, NY

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