Eating at Cacio e Pepe is a friendly, cozy experience. The food is good, the service is attentive, the lighting is flattering – there's hardly anything bad to say about the place. We went in a big group and made reservations (which ended up not being necessary – though on a previous attempt the place was completely packed, so just in case?

As appetizers, Jim and I split the tasty very smoky mozzarella and prosciutto. It started things off on the right foot, but the pasta dishes were the real stars of the evening. We shared the gnocchi with wild boar ragu (photo from flickr) that was rich and tangy and soothing. The traditional cacio e pepe was also yummy and it's presentation was dramatic. Our waiter brought out a huge practically hollowed out round of parm and mixed the fresh pasta, pepper and cheese within it. My apologies for failing to get a photo. You'll just have to go yourself, trust me you won't mind.

The only shaky step came at the very end, and maybe its our own fault for ordering the most bizarre sounding dish on the menu: white chocolate with candied olives, and Gorgonzola. They call themselves creative roman, but with this dish I think they got too carried away. All the individual elements were good, but combined, it was just too bizarre to totally enjoy. Mike's panna cotta was superb though.

Stick to the classic dishes, and particularly enjoy their fresh pastas which everyone at my table was thrilled with and Cacio e Pepe could easily turn into a standby spot when you're craving decently priced Italian that no one else knows about

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Posted on March 10, 2008

Sadly, it seems like my office will be moving to dreaded midtown sometime this year. There is lots I'll miss about Soho, most of it food related, of course. There's Calexico the amazing taco truck, there's Ogawa, Crosby Connection, Village Minghala, and Whole Foods?all the great Soho places you hear about, but the one place I might end up missing most of all isn't hip, known, talked about, or even named. It's the deli next to Ricky's on Broadway, right below Houston that serves bibimbop. You'll only know it by the bibimbop sign and if you're squeamish, you might not want to go in to eat.

It's not dirty or anything, just a typical bodega like deli with bad lighting and a salad bar. Not the kind of place you'd expect to find a great meal. But there is decent, veggie packed udon and reasonable packaged sushi, but the true treasure here is the delectable bibimbop with chicken (don't go near the beef) in a hulking bowl with a fried egg, veggies, rice and a side of miso soup. It's around seven dollars and is the fastest, most satisfying meal in the neighborhood. The Mexican guys that work here are friendly and really know how to make their Korean dishes. Oh man, I really am going to miss it.

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Posted on February 25, 2008

Back in 1913, when Grand Central was new and state of the art, Jermon Brody opened the legendary Grand Central Oyster Bar in the lower level of the commuter hub.

The first thing you'll notice when you enter are the grand vaulted tile ceilings, which were restored to their original state after a fire in 1997. Red checkered tablecloths and an awesome 1970s signage give the magnificent architecture a sense of homeyness.

They take reservations, which I highly recommend. Even on a Saturday at 1pm, the place was fairly crowded. Not a surprise considering how many people rush through the terminal every day.

Once you're done gawking at the ceiling, a crisp white shirted man shows you to your table. Be prepared for an overwhelmingly over-stuffed menu filled with fresh catches, appetizers, platters, cold options, raw bar, cooked shellfish, lobsters, stews, and a few non-seafood options.

We both got the Grand Central oyster platters: eight plump, briny mollusks with the classic accompaniments. If you're just passing through and have an affinity for the celebrated and feared delicacy, I recommend stopping in and ordering this dish. At roughly $20, it's not a exactly a steal, but consider the extra dollars spent on ambiance.

Next we got our own chowders, Jim: an appropriately rich and creamy New England, me: a tangy Manhattan swimming with fresh clams. This could have been our complete meal on most days, but on this day we were starving, purposely skipping breakfast in order to gorge ourselves on a seafood feast. And so the feast continued.

In order to sample as much as possible, we got the foursome of cold seafood salads which included poached salmon, gigantic shrimp with a zesty sauce, crab meat Caesar, and a basil squid salad. We also shared a lobster roll that was really very good and positively stuffed with large, fresh chunks of lobster meat, not faked up with lots of celery and onions. It wasn't the best lobster roll I've ever had, but it was noteworthy for the quality and amount of the meat.

I guess my only complaint is that while everything we had was very, very good, we've tasted better versions of each dish elsewhere. Oysters at Marlow and Sons, squid at Zenon Taverna, lobster rolls in Maine and Massachusetts, and Manhattan clam chowder made at home. Still, one can't fault a place for failing to have the very best version of everything; lots of tourist spots that offer an impressive interior barely make their food decent to ensure repeat business–which is not the case here.

Book a table, share the oysters and lobster roll and take in one of the many marvels of the city, one that most of us who live here don't often notice anymore.

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Posted on February 11, 2008

After initially being “greeted” by the kind of bitchy gay ma”tre de one would expect only to find in the pages of an unfunny sitcom spec script, we were a bit surprised by the interior, which didn't quite fit with hunk Sam Mason, who I once saw talking on the cell phone in a perfectly fitting flared pin stripe suit and pointy pink leather shoes. Despite the quirky touch of taxidermy in the back, it was a bit stuffy.

Later, when headed downstairs to use the rest room I learned that that is where the party is at, but we were upstairs, the only place to be for the extravagant chef's menu which we had to get since Jim had a generous gift certificate from his boss as part of his bonus. Not too surprisingly, the experience is similar in many ways to WD-50 where Mason made his name with inventive sweets. Tailor proves his magic touch mixing sweet and salty works for entrees too.

The tasting menu is slightly less daring than Dufresne's but more more accessible, I wouldn't hesitate to take a picky eater here despite the odd sounding combinations–but please, no irate emails if you spend a fortune on someone who just can't wrap their head around peanut butter foie gras.

And speaking of that peanut butter foie gras, which we had after a light spoonful of passion fruit mixed with other odds and ends, it was my favorite dish all evening. The two flavors and textures melded perfectly. Bits of sweet pear accompanied the memorable dish. Next was scallops with coffee soil and papaya and warm pleasant combination of the sea and a very sweet, almost cinnamonny after taste. Next was chocolate miso cod with snow pea and rice cracker, another nice one, but not quite as unforgettable. The pork belly, however, with miso and butterscotch was awesome. This is the dish I've read praise about the most and it is totally worthy. It reminded me of holiday hams with this special thick, sweet, sticky honey mustard my mom would get, and the meat was incredibly succulent.

For dessert, our first dish was sublime, Jim's favorite, and mine after the foie gras: Pretzel Ice Cream with beer foam! It was just perfect, that's all I can say. It was a hard act to follow but the soft chocolate with sesame ice cream, peanuts, and a mole shell was also great.

Thanks to a super attentive and likable staff (minus one ma”tre de) that stuffy atmosphere we first noticed faded away. Our main waiter was great and Nadine, the mix master, was extremely helpful with the impressive (and expensive) cocktail menu.

The drinks at Tailor are as noteworthy as the food and I would have liked to have sampled more, so I think a stop at the downstairs bar might be in order soon – if only to try the Bazooka cocktail, which I was too full to enjoy this trip. I did however have the violet fizz, a drink I was certain to love and did and the Waylon: a bourbon and smoked coke concoction that would sit well with any bourbon fan.

Tailor is a pricey affair, but worth the splurge if you like to experiment with food. If you want a gentler price tag, you can skip the tasting menu and just order the peanut butter foie gras, the miso butterscotch pork belly, and the pretzel ice cream a la carte to get all the best of the best.

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Posted on January 28, 2008

I can almost recapture a warm, yummy-in-my-belly feeling just writing this; see, Ramen Setagaya, the new noodle spot on First Avenue, was such a pleasing eating experience that even thinking back on all the details of the meal is satisfying. And it's all in the details when it comes to ramen, the simple but complex dish treated with reverence and awe in Japan. At least, that's what I'm lead to believe by the movie Tampopo.

Foodies here in the states also take this bowl of noodles, egg, pork, vegetables and broth (all of which you can see in this lovely photo from Gothamist) very seriously and, if they're to be believed, Ramen Setagaya is the very best in the city. If you don't trust them, listen to the spirited chef Charlie Huh, who famously challenged Momofuku when he opened. And if you feel you can't trust any of the above, you can always listen to me.

While I cannot compare this to all the competition, this was not only an exceptional ramen, but one of the most gratifying food experiences of any kind. Most run of the mill ramens that I've had suffer from the sad indignity of flavorless broth. Here however, the broth is fragrant, rich, full of flavor with a fishy tinge of greatness. Floating in the broth are toothsome curly ramen noodles the likes of which top ramen has never known. Also present? Fresh scallions for crispness, seaweed, bamboo shoots, and beautiful pork slices. Two of the slices are glistening and fatty and melt in your mouth, the other two are hearty and lean. But what amazed me the most was the egg. Cut in half in the perfect state between soft and hard boiled, most people would have to take a photo to see an egg kept in that condition.

The food is so good, including their gyoza, that we didn't even mind a wait (there was a line at 5:00 pm, only thirty minutes after they opened for dinner) or the stools. The tiny space is bustling and transports you to a ramen house in Tokyo, which always reminds me of Blade Runner – although this spot is too bright and cheery for the likes of a robot killer.

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Posted on January 14, 2008