David S.'s Profile

I'm not usually into Indian food, but my night at Bombay Talkie was definitely better than my other Indian restaurant experiences.  Food was less spicy than usual which is better for me; I'm not a spicy kind of guy!  Wine was really excellent and, best of all,....

...there was nice and relaxing chill/deep sexy house music playing in the bathroom!

Hate to be a party pooper on this but I have a sad story to tell.  It is a story of the color blind chefs at Jerne.  

I used to love Jerne as the food was awesome and hanging out by the fireplace in the lounge where we could order from Jerne's menu was great to relax by the fire and enjoy dinner and the wonderful satellite radio chll channel.

But alas, something very sad happened.

I ordered a Filet Mignon and asked for medium.  When it finally came (it must have taken at least 30 minutes), it was well-done.  I took a few cuts through it; no dice.  All grey.  

I called the server over and asked her to redo the steak.  It came back again after about 10 minutes, and by this time I'm looking at my watch because I need to leave for the airport soon.

I get the steak and it's WELL-DONE again.  At this point, I'm tired of having extra chewy steak and realize how sad it must be that they hired a color blind chef, that could not tell the difference between reds and greys.  Obviously this guy had no clue about what medium was and what well done was.

I felt very sad.  Too bad I will never go back.  Once a mistake, I get a bit annoyed.  Twice a mistake - well I can only have sympathy for the color blind chef back there but hey I like my steak medium and not a chewy well done and don't want to pay $42 to eat something I don't like.

About 2 years ago I came here looking for a mound of pasta, as I was carbo-loading for the NYC Marathon the next day.  Unfortunately, ordering a dish of pasta here didn't quite satisfy my need to gorge on complex carbs as it was too dainty for an athlete about to PR the next day!  

I just went there again today and ordered some salmon take-out plus bruschetta.  I didn't want to eat there as it was getting crowded on this Wednesday night, but instead brought my dinner home so I could yelp and eat at the same time.  Too bad though; there were some nice lookers there but I was just too much in a anti-social had-too-much-of-NYC-crowd mood and left the nice views for the sanctity of my apartment and my laptop.

So definitely a nice, decent place for dinner, but just don't expect to carbo load there before the NYC Marathon.  Better to go to Gristedes and buy some pasta and Ragu and just eat that.  Or order two pasta dishes to fill up for your PR the next day...!

Zoe was a nice place to duck into on a wet, dreary NY day since Balthazar was way too crowded.  It was warm and the wine wall looked pretty good but, alas, inappropriate for lunch with my kid.

The food was OK.  Thin crust Greek pizza was pretty good, but American cuisine these days seems very bland to me.  Or maybe I'm just a picky eater.  How many times can you have sandwiches, chicken caesar salads, cobb salads, and pizza in one week?  

How about some creativity you dang American cuisine chefs?

Been here many times and love the Miso Black Cod, which somehow is better than their Chilean Sea Bass.  Super fresh sashimi tastes awesome and I'd say it is one of the best Japanese places in the city.

One more secret: Trying to make reservations at other restaurants the day of a Broadway show really sucks.  BUT I always seem to be able to get in here.  So if you need a great place to eat before a show, this is it.

Oh, and the mango and green tea mochi dessert is awesome...

This place is super gaudy.  Must be some Victorian decor thing with some really weird looking chandeliers, and then that strange gorilla/King Kong topiary outside staring at me while I eat....

What struck me was the Blind Waiter that served us.  By "blind" I mean that there are waiters who never see you, despite the fact that you may be waving your hands in the air trying to get their attention.  They come over to you in the beginning, but then afterwards if you need them, they seem to survey the crowd as they pass their gaze across the room, but yet can't see anyone or anything even though you're jumping up and down.

Sure you could shout "hey you come over here and help us" but that would disturb the rest of the patrons.  Should I disturb the other patrons because this restaurant decides to hire Blind Waiters?

So beware of Blind Waiters when you go to Tavern on the Green.  The food is a bit indifferent, the atmosphere is interesting but too gaudy for my taste, and throw in dealing with Blind Waiters...well...maybe I should just go somewhere else....

I've been here many times and every time the homey food just keeps me coming back.

I came on a Monday (when I never am in NYC) and the special was the Bolito Misto which was boiled meats of all sorts.  WOW.  Man these meats were super tender and the dipping sauces were delicious.  Incredible.

Make it there on Monday nite if you can, and order a glass of the Montepulciano de Abruzzo.

Walking into this restaurant is like descending into the basement.  Something I hadn't counted on but once we got in, it was quite nice.

Definitely a hot spot for the local Los Gatos beautiful ladies.  How does one look at all the "scenery" when you're there having dinner with someone?  I wish someone would write a book about how to secretly glance at all the lovelies walking back and forth in nice attire while avoiding getting slapped by your companion, who happens to be looking straight at you as your peripheral vision skillfully checks out everyone walking past...

Oh yeah, the food was great too.

Did I mention the nice "scenery"?

Love the decor!  So hip.  

Watch out if you order the French Fries.  You get this huge big cone full of fries which you'll never finish.  It's like a bag of popcorn or bigger.

And the lamb shank.  Sheesh.  Serious barbarian feast territory.  Just grab it by the bone and take a bite off.  (Our lady friend was not amused...)

But go and bring a big appetite with you.  Surprisingly large portions for a foo-foo fusion Vietnamese-French place.  You expect smaller dishes but they give you so much!

I went in today and saw a whole crew of people just hanging out with laptops.  It's sort of cafe-like, but not really.  I like their half sandwich/soup combo and it's decent enough for a quick meal.

Definitely a nice place to hang out and get some work done on your laptop via WIFI and beats trying to get across Lincoln Blvd to the Starbucks across the way.  Many more tables here than over at Starbucks, which can be crowded with the people who don't want to crossover Lincoln to get over to THIS side of the street.

Other than that, somewhat ordinary with relatively tame music and you can get something to eat or just coffee.