Gramercy, Flatiron

5 Reasons to Visit Flatiron District this Month

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Ziggy

The Flatiron district is one of my favorite areas in NYC. It is the first area I think about when I need to kill some time. You got great architecture, artsy park, some of the best dining in NYC like Maialino and ABC Kitchen, and a stone throw away from Union Square and the village, Curry Hill, Koreatown and other great hoods. If all that is not enough here are 5 reasons to head to Flatiron today

1. New art at Madison Square Park. Orly Genger’s Red, Yellow, and Blue. 3 structures of layers of hand painted ropes in 3 areas of the park. I’ve seen a lot of art over the years at the park and this is one of the most stunning

http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/art

2. Madison Square Eats. They are back. New York’s finest in the food business dishing out some super tasty snacks. We are talking about Roberta’s Pizza (try the Bee Sting pizza), momofuku milk bar, Red Hook Lobster Pound, Arancini Bros., Bar Suzette, Hong Kong Street Cart and much much more (note that was 2 muches).

Avoid midweek during lunch however unless you don’t mind painful lines. More painful than standing in a full bus on a Friday night for 90 minutes as I did the other day. It was getting somewhat frustrating at some point but then luckily we all got that loud announcement again. “City bus operators are protected by state law. assaulting a bus operator is a felony!” Well thank goodness. And what perfect timing as I was just getting riled up. I mean is it really necessary to wake an entire bus of tired New Yorkers after work with this announcement. I can just imagine the meetings they had about what announcements they should do with their brand spanking new buses with fancy announcement systems. ” Hey lets remind them that assaulting a driver is a felony in case, you know, they are plotting something”, “Oh and lets also remind them what the fare is in case they forgot” We just paid it!!

3. Eataly. Still there and not going anywhere by the look of the crowds. I’ve been there 3 more times in the last 4 weeks alone and had more delicious Italian goodness like this Asparagus and egg dish in Le Verdure.

4. ABC Cocina. Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Dan Kluger’s much hyped Spanish tapa extension to the ultra popular farm to table ABC Kitchen.

5. Do you really need a 5th reason? Seriously why are you still reading? I gave you 4 perfectly fine reasons above including great food, flowers and painted ropes next to flowers. What else do you want? You know what, I had a great 5th reason but I’m choosing not to share it at this time. Instead I leave you with more pictures of painted rope with flowers, food, and for my Australian readers a squirrel…

Chote Nawab – Dinner and movie, without the movie

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Ziggy

As I’m munching on a fiery Indian snack I picked up at a deli in Curry Hill/Little India, I ask myself how come I don’t visit that area more often. I love Indian food, I eat Indian on a regular basis, and I love Bollywood movies. Ok, the last part is not really true. But whenever I pick my Indian order at Basera Indian Bistro I find myself staring at some pretty neat Bollywoody action for a few minutes. I think over the years I’ve watched an entire movie 2 minutes at the time. Just like with Full House episodes at home as my kids watch it religiously for some time now. My favorite part of that Bollywood movie is when the bad guy dies, the pretty girl is rescued, and a huge dance-off unfolds which includes the dead guy.

Chhote Nawab (with the extra h there) was a Bollywood movie, a bad one looks like according the 12 votes on IMDB. Why on earth would they name a restaurants after a terrible movie that received 12 votes on IMDB. Bloomberg do something! Is it because owner, Shiva Natarajan who owns more than 10 other establishments including 3 on the same block as Chote Nawab simply ran out of possible names? Ok, lets get to business…

Fantastic meal! I’m not sure I’ve had better Indian in NYC including some of the higher end spots

Waiter was extremely delighted with my first choice of the Tunde Ke kebab (“Very good choice sir”) as an app but then things went south in a hurry as he got a little annoyed when we asked for 2 main veggy dishes to bring with the first course as well. With that said I prefer a waiter that speaks his mind and we proceeded to have a nice chat later on.

The Tunde Ke kebab (pictured on top) was interesting but after a few bites I felt the need to have something else with it like the veggies or some sauce, which doesnt take anything away from the dish. It came sizzling in a dutch oven, with a spoon sitting on top which we could have used as a potato in a hot potato game.

Bindi Sasuralwali – it says on the menu “okra you would eat at your in laws house” – Flat out lie! Not my in laws I’ll tell you that. I’m not even sure they know what Okra is. But the dish was good and so was the eggplant with a nice peanut masala (Baghara Baigan Mirchi)

Shrimp Pappas was another sauce dish. Not one of my favorites but enjoyable nonetheless. Its cooked with Kokum, an Indian fruit and came with one dried Kokum which didnt taste that great but the dish overall worked well.

Lamb Biryani was one of the better Biryanis I’ve had. Tastes much better thna it looks. Comes with 2 sauces but I didnt feel the need for any. The only thing I wished I had ordered the goat instead if the lamb. Loved the bread covering it – nice touch. BTW, the garlic naan is very good here

The highlight for me was the Chicken Kori Gassi which was packed with flavor. Couldnt stop eating it. The chicken was super tender and very tasty. And a decent amount of heat as with most of the dishes we got

Overall, lets just say I took my time before I washed my hands later that day. Thoroughly enjoyed Chote Nawab

Chicken Kori Gassi

Categories: Gramercy, Flatiron, New York City | Tags: Chote Nawab, Chote Nawab nyc, food, NYC food, NYC restaurants, restaurants | 6 Comments

Madison Square Eats Highlights

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Ziggy

One week to go. Run, dont crawl to Madison Square Park for some of the yummiest snacks New York City has to offer. The who’s who and what’s what of the NY food fair celebrities participating in this bi-annual month-long event. You got the Roberta’s, the Red Hook Lobster Pounds, the Mayhems, the Stouts, the Momofukus, you name it. The only minor issue is finding a table. If things get desperate you may need to use that fake Arthritis book you’ve been carrying in your purse and pretend to read it in front of the people sitting. I’ve seen this trick on the bus once where some fool got up and gave his seat. Ok, it was me – I got a big heart so sue me. But I digress

Here are some of the goodies we enjoyed on a recent trip…

Baby Got Back Ribs – Nicely seasoned dry rub ribs. Considering this is not exactly straight from the grill this was actually fairly tasty, falling off the bone ribs.

Broken English – Trapizzinos. Romes’s biggest import since Giada De Laurentiis. Like Pizza pita stuffed with all kinds yuminess. We tried the beef, chicken, veggie Trapizzinos, all delicious!

Red Hook Lobster Pound – Lobster rolls. You cant go to one of those without having a lobster roll. Perfection in a bun.

Hong Kong Street Cart – Ja Jiang hot noodle with pork belly and 5 spice tofu. Another winner. A lot of flavor packed in this one.

Ilili – Lamb Shawarma wrap. Perhaps the only dud of the evening and I’m a big fan of Ilili. Somewhat dry and you taste too much wrap. The Phoenician fries with garlic aioli were delish however.

Roberta’s – Bee sting pizza was very tasty. Its spicy Sopressata (spicier than other Sopressata’s I’ve had) and the added honey contributed to interesting contrasting flavors. They also had a nice white brussels sprouts, mushroom and garlic pie which was equally as good (and I’m not a big white fan). And a top notch Margherita

Wafels & Dinges – Belgian Waffles. Perfect finish to a perfect fantastic, slightly chaotic meal.

Categories: Gramercy, Flatiron, New York City | Tags: broken english, food, Hong Kong Street Cart, Madison Square Eats, NYC eats, NYC food, Red Hook Lobster Pound, Roberta's, Trapizzinos, Wafels & Dinges | Leave a comment

Aldea – Ehh!

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Ziggy

You know how it is. You visit another country, come back, miss the food, look for something similar and get mildly to greatly disappointed. With Italian its normally greatly. Aldea (Portuguese) was mildly.

I wanted to visit Aldea for a while now and somehow scored a last minute Friday 8 pm reservations which is a miracle for Michelin Star restaurants. Nice looking multi floor space with an open kitchen. You can even reserve a seat facing the open kitchen which is kinda neat. Every time I sit somewhere where stairs involved I 1) as a parent worry about the food getting to my table safely and 2) feel like I need to tip more.

The food was ok. Started with a selection of ham which was pretty good. They have 3 different hams on the menu but you can ask to try all if you cant make your mind. Sea urchin – I think I’m done with Sea Urchin after 3 tries. Add it to the short list that includes Olives and Bacalau (salted cod). In Portugal, they love their Bacalau and they say they can make it 365 ways for every day of the year. I think we picked the 2 worst days! Should have ordered the gorgeous looking Foie Gras instead of the Urchin

The Shrimp Alhinho was a hit. 5 large, succulent shrimp with a very complex and flavorful sauce that includes roughly 73% of your spice cabinet, Pernot, Brandy and 2 trips to the supermarket. Very nice dish!! Octopus however, not so much. Just not enough.. what you call it… Flavor. Even the squid ink puree couldnt save it. Couldnt help reminiscing about all the amazing Octopus we had in Portugal for a fraction of the price.

For main we had a good but unmemorable Skate and the more memorable house specialty Arroz de Pato. AKA Duck Paella on crack!! Toasty rice mixed with yummy duck, chorizo, not so yummy duck, spices and some clementine creme on the side (nice touch). Very flavorful!

For Dessert, a Banana mousse was a no brainer pick but it wasnt as amazing as it sounded. The Sonhos (little dreams) of chocolate-hazelnut, lemon curd, and salted caramel mini donuts was more like it.

Many items here reminded me of Marea. In Marea I felt like I ordered all the right dishes, but Aldea made me wonder what could have been.

Categories: Gramercy, Flatiron, New York City | Tags: Aldea, Aldea NYC, NYC dining, NYC restaurants | Leave a comment