Chris F.'s Profile

You have got to be kidding me.

The best smoked salmon I've ever had.

Amazing whitefish salad, a smoky puree that's so intense you can only eat a few bites.

Varieties of herring and salmon salads I haven't tried yet, smoked tuna (!), and the ability to buy massive bulk salmon at cheap prices.

Friendly people and all sorts of free samples to help you figure out exactly which smoked fish is right for you.

And I never heard of it before a month or so ago!

The only con: it's open 8-1 Friday mornings only, and it's not all that convenient to get to on tiny little Gem St.  But I'm fine with that.  It means more fish for me.

Stopped in last night for a late night snack and drink, and enjoyed it a lot.

The burger (ordered with onions) arrived with no onions, but bacon and cheese.  Which was definitely more delicious, but not what I technically asked for.  And the chili dog had really amazing, slow burning, kind of molassesey chili on it.  I wish it'd had a better dog and better bun to go with it, or that I'd just ordered a bowl of chili instead, though.

Decent beers for $4, and very friendly barstaff, even on a crowded Saturday night.

If I'm ever in this neighborhood again, I'll be going back for sure.

Meh, indeed.  The food was OK, the service was OK, but the place just felt kind of soulless.  And we got a server who wasn't all that helpful, and was like "is raw fish ok"?  Really?  We walked into a sushi place.  Come on.

Although on glance at the sushi bar on the way out, all I saw was salmon / whitefish / tuna / shrimp, and not much else, which was a bit off-putting.

Not awful, but nothing resembling good.

The "grilled spicy beef" burrito I'm currently not finishing is a flavorless wrap, and I'm not sure hot sauce is making it any better.

Not as bad as something like El Loco Burrito, but if I'm gonna go for cheapo Mexican, I'm sticking with Yola's.

Stopped in here for a quick dinner.  Seems like a great option if you've got no real agenda, and would be especially welcome super late at night.

Tomato & basil penne, very good, but overpriced for the size at $16+.

Burger, however, is a nice and big 10 oz, with a mountain of frites, and the   cheapest entree on the menu.  So that's a better option.

Went here for a friend's show on a Friday.  Here's what I remember:

- Space is really big, with a stage downstairs.

- The Friday crowd was crappy, but nothing worse than you get in most of Manhattan.

- The sound system for the bands was kind of busted.  Or the sound guy was no good.  Hard to say as a non-engineer.

- The staff were friendly.

- The bathrooms were like 30 seconds away from being splattered with diarrhea.  Really, really gross.

Otherwise, pretty unmemorable, and don't see why I'd end up there again.

My tummy hurts.  

At first, I questioned why the "baguette sandwich" wasn't called "banh mi".  But I got it anyway.  Then realized it was because it is a pile of pork so greasy it dripped out of the sandwich, soaked the carrot / cucumber / cilantro into squishy grossness, and managed to make me feel ill for the last hour.  Also the baguette was over-toasted and not all that good.  And $9.  Yeesh.

Others at the table really liked the vermicelli, as well as the pad thai, though.  Don't think I'll go back to find out.

I can't recommend this guy enough.

Jay is honest and affordable about his pricing, prompt to appointments, intelligent, fun to chat with while he works, and you can just tell is a sincere, nice, really good guy.

He's one of the few businesses I recommend without hesitation (and sometimes without even prompting) to anyone I know who's just moved into a new place or is having any kind of lock issue.  He's done two units and the main doors in my building so far, and is the go-to guy for me with any lock / door / security issues.

YUM YUM YUM.

Had a sampling of stuff from here tonight, and a meal that left us pretty happily full of exclusively yummy stuff ran $70 before drinks.  So, pricey, but not extraordinarily so for the yumtasticness of the food.

Favorites:

Spicy chicken roll.  So often, in the few places this even appears on the menu, this is a chicken tempura strip with some spicy mayo on it.  Not here, where it was nice dark meat chicken, cooked and not fried, in a cut roll that managed to hold itself together really well.  And didn't even have all that much spicy mayo on it.

Sushi meal.  The salad included in the meal was real lettuce (none of that iceberg bullshit), and the fish was fresh, delicious, and had the little secret swipe of wasabi between fish and rice that I love so much, and find so infrequently.

Onigiri.  Really big, with maybe too much rice, but man do I love these fishy ricey seaweed snacks.

And the ambiance, totally adorable, with little booths along the side, and a nice big bar if you want to sit there.  For a romantic date, I'd say go for one of the booths.

Decent banh mi, served up with a smile.  I was so excited when I walked by on Saturday I ran in, had a Classic banh mi, went home, and then came back two hours later with my wife for a meatball banh mi, a BBQ pork banh mi, and a pho.

This is possibly the largest banh mi place I've ever been in.  No hole in the wall, crowded, hidden kitchen here - the prep area is open and visible, and you can look at all the yummy ingredients as they go into your sammich.  Actually kind of reminded me of a Subway.  But in a good way.  The girls behind the counter are super friendly and make your food really really fast.  I was shocked at this both times.

They just opened their doors on Friday (props to Briana G for getting her review in the same day), so they're still working out the kinks (no delivery yet, bubble tea is "coming soon").

At the moment, the sizes are ok - just like their first store on Bedford, you really need about a sandwich and a half if you're hungry, but totally worth the $5.50 most of them cost.

Here's what I've tried so far:
Classic Banh Mi - Ok, didn't have a ton of flavor to it.
Meatball Banh Mi - Really good, especially with all the hot sauce I put on it.
BBQ Pork Banh Mi - This got nommed before I could try it.  So that implies it's pretty good to me.
Pho - Disappointing