NY Eating Journal

A buddy of mine and I were recently discussing some of the finer restaurants in Seattle, and I remembered putting together a fun eating journal during my A.T. Kearney days. This incredible gastronomic adventure occured while I was staffed on a project for a major i-bank in NY. I'll try to put one together for Seattle and Dallas too.

New York City - Scores reflect mainly the food, and may be biased by
overall enjoyment

Wed 3/8 - Masa (8/10) - Chef's creations were fantastic, but
over-priced. I was expecting
nirvana, but this place cannot displace Kuruma Zushi. The decor was
minimalistic, plain wooden tables and wall-hangings of Japanese
caligraphy.
* Miso clam soup - very good starter, excellent clam flavor
* Toro tartare with black caviar - very nice, one of my favorites
* Toro pieces in a stone bowl - good
* Shabu Shabu with Japanese Grouper - clear broth with scallions
* Poached Japanese small-fish - oil-based flavoring, light taste
* Uni and truffle risotto - excellent, rich and buttery
* Assorted sushi - small pieces, but great variety
* Grapefruit sorbet - refreshing!
* 3 types of sake - enjoyable, but needs more kick
* Pomegranate cocktail - quite good

Tue 3/7 - Aureole (8/10) - Awesome place, right across from Geisha
* Tripe dish - a special of the day, unique character from the
preparation (French/Italian?)
* 48-Hour Braised Kobe Style Beef Cheeks - damn good beef,
exceptionally soft and flavorful (next time should try the
chateaubriand!)
* Fresh Strawberries with creme Chantilly - wow, so this is
strawberries and cream!
* Chianti and some Chablis - both were great
* Calvados - strong, delicious

Mon 3/6 - Sushiden (8/10) - Delivery from this place near Lehman.
Great food and presentation, especially for a place that delivers!
* Sashimi over sushi rice
* Grilled shitake mushrooms
* Miso soup

Sun 3/5 - Per Se (?/10) - Biggest fiasco ever... missed the reservation.
Huge penalty. Ridiculous.

Sat 3/4 - Le Colonial (7/10) - CNN's recommendation for
French-Vietnamese, excellent decor reminiscent of colonization period,
ceiling fans, old photos, 1920's French interior design. Not as
memorable as Slanted Door
* Pho soup - good beefy flavor
* shrimp soup - tangy, powerful shrimp flavor
* mixed vegetables - good source of fiber
* fresh greens and mint with tenderloin cubes
* fried spring rolls - tasty
* Vietnamese pancake/crepe - light, crispy, but not too filling
* fried banana dessert - OK, nothing like Bangkok
* mango sundae - OK

Fri 3/3 - Le Bernardin (7/10) - known for seafood concoctions, French
roll was good, came with Chris, Andrew P. Service was a bit
unattentive, and food was high quality but not spectacular.
* Appetizer - lobster bisque, nice chunks of lobster
* Thin-sliced raw tuna with fois gras and olive oil - tasty
* Open-faced lobster ravioli in fois gras and truffle sauce - very nice
* Monkfish - served lukewarm, temperature was not to my liking, good taste
* Assortment of cheese - 2 soft Frenches, 1 creamy blue, 1 sharp Spanish blue
* White wine - dry, crisp. I think I prefer off-dry, more balanced fruit tones

Thur 3/2 - Thai Delivery - ordered a big giant whole fish.
Mechanically difficult to eat.

Wed 3/1 - Random 24/7 Times Square diner (unrate-able) - Stumbled into
this tourist trip around 12 am for some late night sustenance. The day
was productive, working on the model with good results.

Tue 2/28 - Jean Georges (7/10) - right across the Time Warner Center,
nice area. Very cold night.
* Appetizers - salmon spring roll, grapefruit puree with cheese
* Scallop tartare with black truffle and crouton - interesting,
truffle bits were intense
* Steamed shrimp with mushrooms and foam - sweet, light, fresh
texture, very nice
* Beef tenderloin with truffle cream sauce and truffle string potato -
quite good. quite good.
* Exotic fruit dessert - 4 tasting items, nothing too memorable
* Pinot wine - intense aroma, but lacked a full-mouth feel. Defintely
prefer Cabs.
* 20-year port - thought we had ordered cavados. Too sweet, not to my liking

Mon 2/27 - Sapporo Ramen House (8/10) - this place does not
disappoint, and its fast too. Late night working, so time is of the
essence.
* Miso Ramen - smaller than the Sapporo special, and a tad salty
* Gyoza - ok
* Pork Katsu - very tasty

Sun 2/26 - Wolfgang's Steakhouse (8/10)
* Raw sliced onion and tomato - interesting, basic, too much onion for me
* Porterhouse for 2 - satisfying, black crusted exterior, very
flavorful, juicy and soft
* Key lime pie - full mouth texture with whipped cream on side, nice

Fri 2/24 - Daniel (9/10) - most upscale location so far, fine French
dining. Waiter used to work in San Francisco's Gary Danko, very nice
decor
* mini-tasting appetizers (puff pastry, cheese-filled shell, smoked salmon)
* black truffle braised poulard (chicken breast) - excellent, rich
explosion of flavors
* Wagyu-breed filet mignon - split by manager and other analyst, very
very tender
* grapefruit tatin and grapefruit soup - not too rich, good balance of
fruit and creaminess
* white wine - 2002 Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin 1st Cru Les Frionnes,
refreshing with satisfying flavors and texture, one of the best white
I've tasted

Thur 2/23 - Sparks (4/10) - relatively famous NYC steakhouse
* proscuitto with melon - good as expected
* green salad - ordinary
* filet mignon - ordered rare, disappointing, lots of fat and gristle,
poorly developed flavors, had to spit out a few unchewable pieces

Wed 2/22 - Kuruma Zushi (10/10) - unbelievably good sushi, this place
is a traditional Japanese sushi house that only served sushi/sashimi -
was tucked away in an unassuming location near Lehman Brothers. A few
of us walked right by before realizing we missed it. We had our
Japanese principal orchestrate the chef-tasting course.
* O-Toro (very fatty tuna) - melts away with velvet texture - unbelievable!!
* Toro (fatty tuna) - Actually enjoyed this even more, felt the flavor
explode in mouth - best item tonight!
* Some type of Aji - awesome
* Another type of Aji - wow
* Spicy salmon rolls - ridiculously good, firm sweet rice,
* Scallop - not as big as I wanted, but nice sweet seafood flavors
* Unagi - best I've had, not soggy, and a delicate almost flaky texture
* Raw shrimp - soft gooey texture with a sweet finish
* Red snapper or sea bream (can't remember) - very very good
* Uni - huge lump, impressive, buttery, and apparently will increase
uric acid (not good)
* Mirugai - as expected
* Bonito - finished with this - clean, solid, to-the-point
* Bottle of Sapporo to drain it all down... perfect

Tue 2/21 - Brasserie - (6/10) Came here for lunch at 11:45 am.
* Lobster club sandwish - pretty mayonnaise-y
* Japanese squash soup - OK
Ordered dinner from Thai place near ATK office

Mon 2/20 - No dinner - worked all night in the ATK office until 4 am.
Checked into W Times Square, nice but weird shower configuration. Had
50th floor view of Times Square which was great. Flat screen TV was
not HD, disappointed.

Sun 2/19 - Walked over to a Cantonese noodle house near ATK office - quite good

Sat 2/18 - Lunch at Patsy's Pizzeria (7/10) - delicious pizza, but
somewhat pricey
Dessert at Serendipity (3/10) - hugely overrated, and the chocolate
desserts were pretty bad. La Lanterna Cafe Di Vitoria (6/10) -
fantastic ambiance, perfect for our 12-person gathering, not too loud,
dark, warm, cozy, comfortable. Near Washington Sq park. Tonight stayed
w/ Kevin Ori Naomi in W Union Square - 3rd floor room not too
impressive, no view
* Proscuitto pizza - decent
* White wine - terrible
Later, cabbed over to Yakitory Taisho (8/10) - this place is awesome.
* Two orders of A - variety of chicken skewers, tasty tasty tasty
* Three salmon onigiri - just what I wanted
* Fries - fantastic
* Pork cartilage - cold, interesting

Fri 2/17 - Yakitori Taisho (8/10) - got here late, around 11:30 pm
with manager, and met up with Mr. Sheu. Two adjacent locations, but
this one seemed more genuine.
* One order of A - chicken skewer variety, awesome
* One order of B - chicken balls, skins, gizzard, pork, etc... perfect stuff
* Onigiri w/ roe - perfectly toasted

Thur 2/16 - Sapporo Ramen (8/10) - late night working, grabbed a quick bite
* Sapporo Special Ramen - very very good broth, with sliced pork
* Gyoza - tasty stuff

Wed 2/15 - Hung out with Svec at 1020, grabbed some pizza near the Westin

Tue 2/14 - Esca (8/10) - upscale Italian restaurant, came here with Stacey
* St. Simone oysters - yum
* Blue Point oysters - yummy
* Raw mahi mahi - very tasty
* Raw fluke - also tasty
* Spaghetti - very good, a bit spicy, with lobster pieces
* Grilled pompano, fileted - too full by this time, but excellent fish
* Bellini - champagne with pomegranate juice
* Special Cocktail - cosmo-style with blood orange juice

Mon 2/13 - Blue Fin (6/10) - at the W Times Square. Came here with the ATK team
* Assorted sushi starters - pretty good
* Sea Bass - good, nothing memorable

Sun 2/12 - Sick Today. Ate free appetizers at the Westin Times Square.

Sat 2/11 - Tabla (2/10) - seriously disappointed with this popular
Indian restaurant. Not only was the food unimpressive, the new-age
interpretation was not what I was looking for. Moreover, I became
rather sick the next day, and blame the food from this restaurant.
* Garlic Naan - OK, pretty good mango dipping Chutney
* Saag Paneer - OK pizza-type dish with goat cheese and creamed spinach
* Lamb Sandwich - edible

Fri 2/10 - Spice Market, again (8/10) - came with Stacey, this place
did not disappoint, but we ordered bit too much food
* Papaya salad - good, same as last visit
* Pepper shrimp - a "popular" item, but I don't recommend this, too salty
* Pattaya - Stacey's cocktail, I think
* Sticky rice - same as before, very good
* Halibut - can't remember
* Grilled chicken with kumquats - awesome, just like last time
* Kirin light - good to cut calories I guess, but not as tasty as regular

Thur 2/9 - Sugiyama (8/10) - Food was great, but was so tired that
couldn't really enjoy it. Boss wasn't as thrilled.
Ordered the omakase kaiseki dinner, set course with chef's own
creations. Would go back if given another chance.
* steak strips grilled on a hot stone - really interesting. The stone
was actually glowing orange when it arrived.
* assorted sashimi - good stuff

Wed 2/8 - Morimoto (8/10) - of the Iron Chef Morimoto. Apparently,
this restaurant just opened 1 week ago, and was booked solid for 30
days. Somehow, Chris and I walked in and got a table at 11:30 pm. The
food was great, but service was not totally smooth. Decor was really
cool with a white angular club-like feel, but I preferred Nobu's
earth-tones.
* Mixed green salad - OK. Not anything special. Mori -1
* Toro tartare - wow, this was good, and beautifully presented. Tied with Nobu.
* Morimoto Sashimi - very nice. Tied with Nobu.
* Spicy King Crab - fantastically unique dish, and tasty! Mori +1
* Rock Shrimp - uh oh, not so impressive here. Mori -2
* Ramen Soup - Iron Chef's "Chicken Soup", larger than expected, but
pretty good. Mori +1
* Udon - very good. Even with Nobu.
* Spicy Tuna Maki - good stuff

Tue 2/7 - takeout from Italian at 163 W. 47th (6/10)
* Branzino - fish dish that was pretty good

Mon 2/6 - Spice Market (8/10) - wow! like Ko-Tao restaurant turned
into a swank lounge. Got here at 11 pm, and was sort of eating in a
slightly sleepy stupor.
* grilled new york steak - meaty, satisfying
* grilled chicken with kumquats - awesome
* sticky rice - tasted like coconuts and chicken
* noodles - ok
* papaya salad - old reliable, refreshing
* chicken somosas - excellent, even the cilantro dipping sauce was pretty good

Friday 2/3 - Serafina (8/10) - different location from before
* lobster salad - good stuff
* thin-sliced filet mignon salad - yumm
* grilled halibut - not bad, quite light
* seafood pasta - surprisingly tasty, very very good sauce
* chocolate cake of some sort - not too sweet, nice texture
* bottle of sauvignon blanc

Thursday 2/2 - Strip House (9/10)
* tomato and basil appetizer - refreshing
* 14 oz filet mignon - awesome!
* goose fat potatoes - interesting, but I had higher expectations
* green beans - OK
* Johnny Walker Blue - $31 for 2 oz, but very very smooth, no alcohol taste

Wednesday 2/1 - Serafina (7/10)
* bruschetta - pretty good
* mango Salad - really good
* lobster Carpaccio - good, but not as good as mango salad
* Veuve Cliquot risotto w/ truffle - good, but not as good as Taipei
Bellini's risotto
* fresh fruit with special fruit sauce - not a bad choice
* Warm apple pie baked in brick oven (sampled) - too mushy
* single shot espresso machiato - strong!

Tuesday 1/31 - Nobu (9/10)
* toro tartare - very soft and tasty
* sashimi salad w/ Matsuhisa dressing - excellent fish
* Yellowtail sashimi w/ jalapeno - pretty good, interesting
* Kobe-brand beef - excellent, thin-sliced
* rock shrimp tempura - not recommended
* miso black cod - tasty, but overrated as the most "popular" dish
* roasted eggplant - very very good
* chicken skewers - solid
* Japanese cheesecake - ok
* Nobu reserve beer - yeasty w/ lychee finish
* Sake
* (wanted to try live scallops sushi, but they ran out)

Monday 1/30 - Remi (7/10)
* goat cheese salad - decent
* bacon cheese ravioli - very rich