2nd Ave/Lower East Side

Approx @ 2113 Nostrand Ave Brooklyn, NY. All of this tropical weather has me missing home so I stopped in to Fisherman’s Cove near school today because of the awning promising jerk chicken and fish. The menu inside is more extensive and I couldn’t decide between the curry goat, oxtail, and stew chicken of my happiest memories. I decide on the jerk chicken and throw in a beef pattie, plantains, mac and cheese and a ting because I can’t resist. Carrying my loot back to the office, it’s all I can do to keep from drooling. I’m salivating in anticipation. The food is perfect Caribbean food, bland and salty despite the use of West Indian spices and I am transported back to the chicken shack, Villa Morales and days spent absorbing the endless sun. Nostalgia makes me as sad as it does happy.

Recommended!

L>R

Broadway and Spring St. Soho: feeling like treating myself while waiting for a local establishment to open, I stopped into the first decent-looking cafe in the area. As soon as I ordered an everything bagel with lox and cream cheese, I realized that my choice was likely not the best. You’re in New York, it’ll be fine, I reassured myself. It was fine but only fine. The bagel was too much like bread with no satisfying chew or boiled crust. The lox was mealy and overpowered by an excessive amount of onion. The cappuccino was excellent, however, so bari is a great place to get espresso drinks if you’re in the area. The rest of the breakfast menu looks intriguing so if I’m ever stuck in Soho looking for breakfast again, I’m willing to try something else.

Recommended but not worth a special trip

Forest Hills, NY: New York bagels. In a city full of potential clichés, this place makes you realize why they’re there in the first place. The bagels (especially the everything) are amazing; chewy and dense but not difficult to bite. The house lox is delicate and perfectly salted. They also have a great tofu cream cheese that keeps mme. fromage happy.

Highly recommended! It alone is worth the trip to Forest Hills.

Gotta Getta Breakfast

Queens location. This restaurant makes me worry that there’s no decent dining options in Queens. Don’t get me wrong. Nick’s pizza just down the street is the best I’ve had but that’s just a place to grab a pie and a beer, not where I want to go on a decent date night with my wife.

She wants a steak and a glass of wine and I want some apps and a beer. (aged.) seems like it fits the bill when we look at the menu and we’re seated right away at 9 o’clock on a Sunday night. We quickly realize that we’re not dressed in the requisite “fancy date night” attire of our fellow diners. Our worst fears are confirmed as our waiter fawns over the woman in a strapless gold gown and her heavily gelled male companion at the table next to us—who only order a $22 appetizer sampler—but neglects our bread and water. We have to ask for both.

I order mussels Luciano and the short rib appetizers while my wife orders a petit filet medium rare and frets that she’s going to get ribeye medium well. It’s early and clear that the service is completely inattentive but the kitchen hasn’t been tested. Wait and see.

The filet is a beautiful piece of tenderloin cooked exactly to temperature. The short ribs are tough but the wasabi gravy gives them an interesting kick. The mussels are fresh but the white wine lemon sauce is heavy with the unnecessary addition of cream.

We don’t see our waiter for the duration of our meal and have to flag him down when we’re tired of having empty wine glasses. He gets a 15% tip and should be happy to have that much.

The prices are what one would expect for someplace trying to pass themselves off as a decent mid-priced steak house. Our meal is about $100 with 3 glasses of wine and a beer.

Le fromage est mort!: there are 100 places in New York where you can have the same meal at the same price with better service and another 100 where you can have better food at the same price with better service.

Mmm… Hoppy.

Mislabeled. Pure goat cheese. Crumbly but creamy with strong dirt taste and very pungent. A fave!

Soft sheep’s milk cheese. Earthy and rich, stinky and complex.