Jeremy L.'s Profile

I have encountered several locksmiths that operate with questionable ethical standards in New York City. They largely prey on desperate people who manage to lock themselves out of their apartments and will pay just about anything for an "emergency" locksmith to get them out of a jam.  In fact there are probably a dozen of them called "AAA Locksmith" or even "AA Locksmith" hoping to be the first entry in the phone book (back in the day when anyone actually used a phone book).  

Greenwich Locksmith is an entirely different kind of operation.  I have dealt with them on a couple of occasions now, and I have come away quite impressed.  Phil, who I presume is the owner as he always answers the phone, is an honest, straightforward guy.  I called him last week because the lock on our building's front door wasn't holding. I explained that I didn't really want to pay much to fix it because we have brand new doors on order that will be arriving in a few weeks, and the new doors come with new locks.  So, whatever I paid to fix the near-term problem would be money wasted in the long run.

He said not to worry and he offered to send a guy to my building the next day, free of charge, to assess the situation.  He said if I didn't want to pay for any work, that was fine, but he would at least outline a few options.  In fact he did, and ultimately recommended that we replace the broken electric strike with a new one.  Rather than try to sell us a $600 electric strike that would last many years, he suggested we by a cheapo version that would last several months (until the new doors arrived) but not necessarily much beyond that.  Including installation, he priced the whole job at $250, which seemed perfectly reasonable to me.  

Great, honest work from a local locksmith is worth 5 stars every day of the week. Thanks, Phil!

Jarnac is a classic and classy French restaurant in the west village. It's a small room with 13 tables around the perimeter and one small table for two in the middle.  We had an 8pm reservation, and I guess all the other tables were seated at 7:30pm, so when we arrived, the only available option was the middle table.  As a result, it felt very "New York" as the two waitresses were constantly walking very closely by our table as there isn't a lot of room to spare.  Had we been at any of the other tables, it would have been a more peaceful experience, but it wasn't actually that bad.

Despite the hustle and bustle, it felt quite relaxed because, unlike most NY restaurants, they didn't rush anything.  There was no hovering over us to take our order, and there was a loooong stretch of time between our appetizers and our main course.  We thought the long stretch was a bit strange, and we almost whined about it, but the food was so good that we didn't bother.  About 10 minutes after our plates were cleared, we requested the dessert menu, and with it our waitress brought us two glasses of champagne to apologize for the main course long wait -- it was as if she read our minds.

The ricotta gnocchi appetizer was fantastic, matched only by the truly delicious branzino (they call it by another name, but I can't remember it) and the steak special. The bread pudding and gelato covered by a shot of espresso were near perfect too.

Overall, this is a fabulous and understated restaurant.  It's quaint enough for a nice romantic dinner, but it's by no means an over-the-top lovey dovey place, so you could easily take a friend, family or business associates to enjoy the fine food.

The only thing separating it from a 5-star experience was our middle table seating location and the faux-candle light bulbs they have on the tables in lieu of candles.

Delicatessen offers decent comfort food in the same spirit as it's crosstown "sister restaurant" in Chelsea called Cafeteria.  The crowd here  skews young, and everything -- the food, the decor, the service -- is okay or good but nothing to write home about.

Given its simple fare (the turkey burger and the macaroni and cheese are  my favorites), one might suspect this is a neighborhood restaurant frequented by locals.  But the reality is that it seems to draw an imported crowd. In fact, people who live in the neighborhood hate the place because it's obnoxiously loud and chaotic.  Plus there are a fair number of good, low-key alternatives nearby.

After scrambling to find a table for four on a Saturday in Soho, we dialed half a dozen numbers only to be offered 6pm or 10:30pm seatings.  So, we resorted to an OpenTable search sorted by 8pm availability.  One of a handful that came up was Fr.og, and the Yelp reviews looked pretty good so we gave it a try.

I came away impressed.  

First, the layout and decor: The place is decorated in a shi-shi orange with semi-transparent floor-to-ceiling curtains covering all the walls which are fully mirrored.  It gives off a really neat effect making the place feel much larger than it is.  It also has a massive bathroom -- literally 1/4 of the square feet of the main floor is dedicated to the bathroom (an unusual layout for a Manhattan restaurant)!  It's a wide open, co-ed square room with a shared sink in the middle.  Off of each side are private doors marked M or W (actually, there is only one M door and several W doors, which means there's no line).  Downstairs, there's a bar/lounge area with couches and the potential for a large party table. Although it's in the basement, it had a nice, lively feel to it too.

Second, the food: I sampled the chicken cigars and the tuna tartare appetizers. Both were excellent.  For dinner I had the vegetable tagine with couscous, and it was delicious too.  None of it blew me away, but the prices were average for a nice restaurant in Soho, and I did get a last minute table, so I wasn't expecting to be blown away.

The food probably wasn't quite good enough to merit 5-stars, but the main reason I didn't rate this as top notch was the service.  We got there at 8 and ordered almost right away.  We had a full meal with wine, dessert, etc, and we finished around 10pm.  The food didn't come out very quickly, but it wasn't slow either -- it was just about perfect.  Then the check came, and we put a credit card in the billfold almost immediately.  No one came to pick it up for a good 5-10 minutes, which was fine with our table as we were enjoying a conversation and still nibbling on dessert.  When the waitress did finally retrieve the check, she returned it almost immediately and then asked that we hurry up and leave because "there was a crowded bar of people waiting for a table."  Great restaurants just don't ask tables to hurry up and leave.

Forget the 31derful flavors of Baskin Robbins.  This place takes flavor selection to a whole new level.  If you're into unusual ice cream flavors such as cumin or ginger, then I suppose this place can't be beat. It packs the full selection of flavors you might expect to find in a, no surprise, Bombay food market.

The place itself is a bit of a dump, though, so it's not the scenery or environment that make it a big draw. It's just the ice cream -- the funky flavors in particular.  The mint chocolate chip and coffee flavors were okay, but nothing to write home about. I guess I'm a bit of an ice cream traditionalist.

First, a disclaimer: Alyse, the nutritionist who runs this practice, is my sister. That said, if she weren't a fantastic nutritionist, I wouldn't write her a great review (after all, I have to maintain the integrity of my Yelp persona).  Also, I'd encourage you to look beyond the fact that she hasn't become an active Yelper.  Her nutrition knowledge and counseling skills are infinitely better than her understanding of web 2.0.

She really does know her stuff.  While living in New York City, she had a thriving nutrition practice and her clients included several of my friends and colleagues who all raved about her and, in turn, sent her more clients.  Entirely through word of mouth, she built a robust practice.  Several months ago, however, she moved to Los Angeles and was forced to start all over again.

She has hit the ground running in LA and already has a steady diet of clients (no pun intended).  She has been featured as a nutrition expert on Revolution Health (http://www.revolutionh...), in Polo Magazine and in the esteemed Bel-Air View weekly. She graduated from the top Masters degree program in the country at NYU and received a spot at the most prestigious nutrition internship program.  She truly understands the science behind eating and nutrition and tailors recommendations to individual lifestyles.

I'm not just a proud brother happy to recommend his sister, but I'm also in shape, and I eat well thanks to her sage advice. Whether you're looking to fix a problem or just improve your health and the way you eat, I'd recommend Alyse without any reservations.  If you're frequenting all of the great places to dine-out that are reviewed on Yelp, you could definitely benefit from Alyse's counsel!

Two words: sublime brunch. Whether you're looking for a place for two, a table for 10, or an (after) party for 100 people, this place really delivers.  Despite the dining room's underground location, it's very bright and airy. It's the kind of place you want to sit in and chat for a few hours.

The $27 all you can eat brunch ($14 for kids under 12) is perfect. They have everything you can imagine -- eggs, made-to-order omelets, french toast, pancakes, donuts, fruit salad, smoked salmon, bagels, shrimp cocktails, various breakfast meat, etc. And it's easy accidentally to miss the giant dessert bar with cakes and pastries if you don't take a few minutes to survey the place before filling up your plate.

I suspect their profit margin comes from the drink orders -- they tend not to mention that juices and coffees are an extra $5 per glass/cup, and that leads one to think the all-you-can-consume rule applies to beverages, so watch out for an unpleasant surprise when the bill arrives. But the food is so tasty, and the room is so pleasant that you'll quickly forget about the mimosa you wish you hadn't ordered because it was still worth it.

I'd give it 5 stars, but I just don't love French food.  This "cafe" is an appendage to the famous Jean Gorges restaurant next door. The food and service are of similar, top-notch quality, but I'm told the "real thing" next door is "to die for," whereas Nougatine is just very good.  I had the tuna tartare to start followed by the salmon entree, and I finished it all off with the warm chocolate dessert.  Everything was excellent, but nothing was worth writing home about.  Don't get me wrong, excellent is still excellent, and the bill didn't completely break the bank.  It's pricey, but not off the charts for New York while the "to die for" experience next door requires a second mortgage.

Although a Trump building on Columbus Circle has a tourist ring to it in my mind, you can't go wrong with this place.

Talk about old school! If you have an elevator that's been running since before World War II, then you definitely want to know M&J.  The owners (Mike and James) are true elevator craftsmen. They have been servicing our elevator (the 100th ever installed in New York City) for a few years now. Ever since they took over our service contract from the prior vendor, it's as if the elevator suddenly got 50 years younger. It stops (more or less) at the right spot on all the floors, and more importantly, I can't remember the last time it got stuck!

These guys are real pros. They were initially recommended to my coop by a top architectural engineering firm for some serious plumbing work (replace a major gas line in our building, fix some corroded pipes, etc). They delivered the most compelling proposal, they showed up when they said they would, and everything seems to be working flawlessly. Of course I hope we have no more use for them, because plumbing problems often come with big headaches, but I have added Demar to my speed dial just in case.