Category: Restaurants

Babbo is right there at the top of most people’s lists of the best Italian restaurants, and on many of the best of New York restaurants. And, I admit, I have wanted to eat there for quite some time. A combination of events, led of course by the impossibility of getting a reservation has prevented me from satisfying my curiosity (oh, and my lovely wife isn’t a big fan of Italian food). But this well written destruction is too good to ignore.

P.S. This guy is not the most charming restaurant guest, but he does write a very amusing blog post.

I have no one to blame but myself. I knew exactly what I was doing. There was no coercion from my lovely wife, no burning desire for a particular dish, and I had plenty of gas in the tank, Continue reading “Radicchio — Ridgewood, NJ”

Perhaps describing this restaurant as the High Church of Duck Fat is a bit disrespectful, especially because that moniker doesn’t recognize the many pork dishes on the menu. But it is undoubtedly high on the list of places your cardiologist would prefer Continue reading “Au Pied De Cochon — Montreal, Canada”

Slurping up a great ramen broth while sitting in a restaurant filled with slim-hipped hipsters from the East Village* could be a mixed bag. But in this case it was a pleasure. The hipsters were slightly more interested in the food than themselves, and anyone who is interested in eating is, at the very least, tolerable Continue reading “Ippudo — New York, New York”

[This is the first entry from a guest blogger to whom I have given the clever user name of “YoungFoodie.” In case I am being too subtle, she is young, and likes food. Obviously this is a review written more along the lines of a newspaper article than a blog entry, but it’s fun and amusing.]

Toast Restaurant in Montclair New Jersey has a Continue reading “Toast Restaurant — Montclair, NJ (Guest Blogger)”

Real Neapolitan pizza? Yes. Yes! That’s all that is important. Oh, the other stuff is fine. Nice gelato, the espresso is good (the machine is obviously cleaned occasionally), and the sides are good. But there is no reason to eat at this place other than the pizza. Continue reading “A Mano — Ridgewood, New Jersey”

My lovely wife and I recently spent a long weekend in Montreal which, in case you haven’t been following geo-politics, is still in Canada. My Canadian food experience has been limited to drinking Molson beer and eating very good oysters from New Brunswick (I think). But that is going to change, Continue reading “Montreal: Wow!”

The iamnotachef juggernaut hopped nimbly out of its restaurant rut and into a fun little place in the Flatiron District of Manhattan called Punch. True to its name, it has some interesting posters from the old, and now defunct, British humor magazine. And although the food isn’t “funny,” it is certainly fun, which is more than I can say for Blue Smoke, Danny Meyer’s very successful barbecue and jazz joint a few blocks north and east. By every objective measure, I should have been happier with Blue Smoke. The service was, as is the case in all of Meyer’s restaurants, impeccable. The hostess was efficient, the bartenders were professional, everything was appropriate to the theme of the restaurant, and Continue reading “A Tale Of Two Restaurants”

I haven’t had a good meal in a restaurant in more than a month. That is not to say that I haven’t enjoyed myself, or had an excellent dish (The burger I had at Blue Smoke last night was fantastic), but I would like the total package, and it just hasn’t happened recently. I have been cooking a lot, mostly simple stuff that is nonetheless great fun to eat, but nothing thrilling to write about. Sorry. I write this blog to entertain myself. But, I will be going out to dinner in Manhattan, as close to Bryant Park as possible. Unless no one is going to come through with a great restaurant recommendation, in which case I will expand the territory to include all of Manhattan except the East Side (I am allergic to the East Side). Please don’t suggest Per Se, or Daniel, or something silly that will cost me a mortgage payment and I couldn’t get into anyway. I am thinking more along the lines of Union Square Cafe, or Barbuto. Something fun, relatively casual, and with a bar!