Roger L.'s Profile

I've come to realize that the french fries at this place are like crack!  I find myself salivating around lunch-time thinking of these fries.  Oh yeah, try the steak sandwich along with those fries.

p.s. i've only been here for lunch.

Simply amazing!  Celebrity chef or not, this place was remarkable.  

Every bit of food we ate was incredible.  The frisse salad with cubes of parmesan and crispy pancetta was perfectly salty and warm.  I'm not a huge fan of frisse but it works so well in this salad.  Then there's the flatiron steak, served with a red wine reduction and bone marrow.  The steak melts in your mouth, and the sauce compliments it superbly.  We had the whipped potatoes and a plate of mushrooms as sides and both were just as tasty as the entree.  Everything is served family style, so my wife and I shared the steak and sides.

Our server was attentive, knowledgeable and friendly.  

The wine list had a wide range of prices, making it easy to select a nice bottle that wouldn't break the bank.

You owe it to yourself to try Craft.  Even if you tend to shy away from celebrity chefs, you will not be disappointed.

I've been back to Havana Central a couple of times now, mainly for happy hour.  5 bucks for an authentic sugar cane mojito, sold! And the paella is still as good as ever.

I am pretty conflicted about this restaurant.  What started out as a pretty decent experience, ended up horrifically.  

My wife and I made reservations here for our wedding anniversary.  The host looked up our reservation and before he could walk us to our table, another host (I presume) noticed from our reservation that it was our anniversary, and prompted the other host to put us at a different table.  We ended up at a quiet 2-top.  So far so good...

We started the evening with a couple of cocktails.  My wife ordered an off-the-menu cocktail and I explained the ingredients to our server.  It was quite a while before the cocktails made it to the table but nothing terrible.  Still, so far, so good...

We ordered our dinner.  We shared the Boston lettuce salad with gorgonzola cream and bacon, my wife had the black pepper chicken and I had the tuna with chile sauces.  The salad was slightly above average.  My wife's chicken was okay.  My tuna was probably the best dish we had, and it was mainly because of the quality of the red and green chile sauces.  Nothing incredible, but so far, so good.

We ordered dessert, the deep dish chocolate cream pie.  And that's when things went downhill.  We noticed a party of 6 or 8 people sit in a booth just behind us.  The manager instantly swooned over this table, and soon our server was doting over them as well.  Our dessert was delivered by a server's assistant, as our server was obviously too busy with the other table.  By the time we finished our dessert it had been 20 minutes since we last saw our server at our table.  We saw him constantly, just not at our table.

At this point, we could either demand attention by grabbing another server or assistant as they walked by our table, or we see how far this would go.  Call us sick, but we saw this as a little social experiment.  We sat there at the table with nothing but our water glasses, waiting to see how long it would take.  When the bill was finally dropped off, it had been over an hour since we last spoke to our server.  In this hour, we saw both our server and the manager at the other table at least a dozen times.  They were obviously much more important than we were!

All in all, the food was decent, the staff was polite and knowledgeable.  But as soon as someone 'more important' arrives, plan to be completely ignored.

This is our go-to place for after-work drinks.  The back room has several banks of u-shaped seating areas that accommodate large groups.  The drinks are always good and the food is above average for a bar.  I especially like the sliders and the 'little rickys', grilled mini cuban sandwiches.

The only reason I know of this place is that a friend of mine is allergic to gluten and this place serves Red Bridge, a gluten-free beer.  Turns out its a great place to have a beer after work.  The beers are not cheap, starting at about 5 bucks, but they do have a good selection, chill atmosphere and good pub food.  

If you can make it before 4:30, they have a burger and a beer special for $10.  Its a thick, juicy burger on good bread with a plateful of fries and a pint of your choice of a couple of beers.  One of the best deals I've come across for lunch.

4pm New Year's day, we were in mid-town looking for food.  We decided to walk down towards Papillon on 54th since I've had several good lunches there.  Unfortunately it was closed, and we ended up at Europa thinking we could at least get a decent sandwich or some soup.

I'm not sure if it was because of the holiday, but the pickings were slim.  My wife ordered a wrap which was handed to her, ice cold.  She asked to have it heated, like I assume any normal person would.  I had a mushroom quesadilla.  

Once we finally got our food and checked out, we noticed there was absolutely no where to sit.  The place was chock-full of tourists who seemed content to sit there for the rest of the night.  Finally we were able to grab a table, though we had to do the uncomfortable 'stand next to the table while you get up so those other people dont get the table before me' routine.  

Overall the food was sub-par and it was incredibly packed. Eventhough it was a holiday, I can't imagine I'll be back.

Very charming and quiet.  

The food and service were both pretty good.  I had the steak and fries.  The steak was cooked a very nice medium-rare and the large pile of fries were nice and crisp.  My wife had a chicken penne in cream sauce, which was very tasty.  We ordered a bottle of reisling, which they were out of, so we ended up with a decent sauvignon blanc.  For dessert we had a really nice chocolate mousse.

The service was very attentive.  Our water and wine glasses were never empty, and our food came out in a very timely manner.  The only odd part of the whole night was trying to figure out if our server's heavy french accent was authentic or not.

Great brunch!  

Both times I've been I've had the brioche french toast.  Apparently it changes seasonally.  

The first time, in the the summer, the two huge slices of tender brioche were served with berries, maple butter and lemon curd.  The lemon curd was just sweet enough and nicely tart.

In the fall/winter, the french toast was served with caramelized bananas, walnuts and maple butter.  The bananas were just sweet enough, unlike many sweet breakfast dishes, which are far too sweet.

The coffee was dark and rich.  I keep meaning to ask if they sell their beans, since it is by far my favorite coffee in the neighborhood.  The orange juice is freshly squeezed and you can tell by the dark, intensely orange color.

From what I've seen, the brunch wait can be lengthy.  I waited about 20 minutes on a Saturday around noon.  Sometimes I've seen the line spilling out onto the sidewalk.

M2M has become a regular part of our lives.  The $5 burger and fries is the best deal around.  Good-sized burger, well-cooked and fresh sides, what more can you ask for.  

My absolute favorite though is the BLT.  Best $4 I've ever spent (again and again)!  At least 6 or 8 large slices of crispy bacon, fresh lettuce and tomato.  No frills about it, just a very solid sandwich.  I always ask for the bacon extra-cripsy, and they always oblige.  Occassionally I'll get it with avocado as well.

If you're ever in a pinch for a quick, cheap and tasty meal, make sure you hit up M2M.