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189 Spring St
New York, NY 10012
(212) 219-2773

Dominique Ansel Bakery  

Category: Bakeries
Neighborhood: South Village

5.0 star rating
1/22/2012
The epitome of incredible French pastries. I binged myself with a canele and Dominique's Kouign Amman (or DKA).

The canele has a dark crust with a rum flavor. The inside is a soft, creamy cake.
The DKA is somewhat of a cake and a croissant. It isn't as fluffy as either with its hard crunchy crust covered with sugar. The better of the two if you can only get one.
The two came to $9.00, which it is well worth it. You won't have pastries like this ever again.

Words can't begin to describe how good they are. All you need to do is try them. Do it.

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442 Amsterdam Ave
New York, NY 10024
(212) 580-9080

The Gin Mill  

Categories: American (Traditional), Bars
Neighborhood: Upper West Side

3.0 star rating
1/22/2012
Basically all the bars in the are owned by the same people and the Gin Mill is the sports bar version with tables for food in the back. Like the other bars, they have really good Happy Hour specials, but I personally prefer Jake's Dilemma. It has a more social atmosphere instead of the dozens of televisions.

However, if your plan is for a some food and sports viewing, then this is a decent spot for the area.

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1300 Jericho Tpke
New Hyde Park, NY 11040
(516) 326-0100

Angelina's Fireshack & Pizzeria  

Categories: Pizza, Sandwiches

2.0 star rating
1/22/2012
I want to give this 2.5 because it at least serves decent beer (Stone Ale, Sixpoint). I suggest the Sixpoint Sweet Action.

While they do have pizza, I couldn't pull myself to order pizza when Umberto's is literally blocks away. Their Grandma's is some of the best pizza on Long Island, so I did not want to betray them by ordering pizza here.

I went with the Asher Smasher, which is a smart sandwich. Multiple meats including turkey and chicken cutlet and topped with cole slaw, fries, and BBQ sauce. Unfortunately, it came out cold despite being freshly toasted. The price is reasonable at $10.00 with a side of fries, but still underwhelming.

However, if you want a sandwich, go to Juliebelle's in Great Neck. You'll thank me.

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30 St Marks PL
Manhattan, NY 10003
(646) 476-2324

Japadog  

Categories: Japanese, Hot Dogs
Neighborhood: East Village

3.0 star rating
1/20/2012
The hot dog is a versatile animal and I like seeing it dressed up with different flavors. I went with the Croquette because the carbs from the bun are obviously not enough, I had to have a fried piece of potato in there as well.

The buns are bigger than your normal buns (the open face variety). This assures they can stuff a decent amount in there. While I wasn't blown away by the hot dog itself, the wasabi mayo is a must. Mayo already goes extremely well with Japanese flavors and the wasabi gives it a kick that pushes it over the top. It's basically horseradish.

In the end, I would rather go down a few avenues for Crif Dogs considering their hot dogs are cheaper/same price.

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98 Northern Blvd
Great Neck, NY 11021
(516) 466-2240

Juliebelle's Gourmet Market and Sandwich Shop  

Category: Sandwiches

5.0 star rating
Update - 1/12/2012
This place still continues to blow me away with their mind blowingly over the top delicious sandwiches. I would suggest the Kobayashi Maru (steak, pulled pork, cheese, mushroom, and onions) if you're looking for a heart attack in the near future, in a good way.

Thankfully, they have extended their hours to 9PM so now you can even go for an early dinner. Love that they did this.

Best sandwiches on Long Island. No contest.

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1 Previous Review: Hide »

  • 5.0 star rating
    9/3/2011

    I'm glad this place opened right near me. It's basically a sandwich shop, but with a hugely overwhelming menu. The menu must have at least 50 sandwiches of all sorts with many different toppings, many types of hot dogs, grilled cheeses, breakfast options, salads, ice cream sundaes, and much more. It really has everything you could possibly want.

    They suggested chicken because that's their specialty. I would get the Mexican themed one with sour cream, pico, and more with grilled chicken instead of cutlet. You can make it a meal with their fantastic fries, which is served with a ranch dressing.

    Unfortunately, it closes at 6:00, so you can't get dinner here, but it's perfect for lunch. They have seating inside if you aren't taking it to go.

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73 Sullivan St
New York, NY 10012
(212) 334-9435

Grandaisy Bakery  

Category: Bakeries
Neighborhood: South Village

5.0 star rating
1/10/2012 1 Check-in Here
The first most enticing thing you'll notice walking in is their pizza. Even though they may not be a pizza place, they just do something I want. Square pizza, thin crust, amazing toppings. They have cauliflower, straight tomato, potato (should've gotten this), mushroom, and more. I think they might be able to heat up your slices.

I personally want my food, especially pizza, scalding hot. My cold slice of mushroom slice ($3.00) was incredible. Nice amount of salt, well cooked mushrooms, thin easy crust. I can't fathom what it would taste like if it was hot. Next time, I'll surely explore their other pizzas.

Finally, you must get their pizza Bianca (focaccia with olive oil and rosemary), which gets you a huge slice for $1.75. Great for just a snack or to make sandwiches with at home.

Bring on my favorite food, bring on the bread.

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270 Lafayette St
New York, NY 10012
(212) 625-1717

La Colombe  

Category: Coffee & Tea
Neighborhood: SoHo

3.0 star rating
1/10/2012
The first thing you will notice walking in and awkwardly spinning your head 360 degrees (Exorcist style) while looking up is that there is no menu.

I just walked straight up and ordered a cappuccino ($3.50). Apparently, the lack of a menu is a purposeful decision. You can just order whatever coffee based drink you like. I like the idea of customization, but I can't completely support it. First, it assumes that people are willing to pay whatever you charge. I may start sounding like an old grandfather, but "in this economy..." Second, it's daunting for someone who wants to try this place out. Unless they research the place or hear about it through someone else, a random customer walking in might just immediately walk out because they have no clue what the deal is.

Presentation wise, the cup and saucer are beautifully painted. The foam is artfully poured into a flower shape.

Taste wise, it's a well made cup of cappuccino, however, I would like to see it a little bit hotter. Then again, if you don't have 15 minutes there to slowly sip on your drink, it still is a hot enough temperature to enjoy and drink at a reasonable pace.

The shop is a bit small and only has seating for maybe 8 people. However, walking uptown, I was surprised that blocks away on Lafayette, there also is another much larger La Colombe. I would suggest checking that out with its huge wide open space.

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137-40 Northern Blvd
Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 353-1808

Hunan House Restaurant  

Category: Chinese
Neighborhoods: Downtown Flushing, Flushing

2.0 star rating
1/9/2012
"Hee haw, hee haw," goes by mother as she takes quick little breaths of air with her puckered lips. I sit there shaking my head, bewildered what she could be enjoying about this. While spicy food may bring pain and agony to some, there is nothing more the Queen of Spice, my mother, loves when eating. With the sweat building on her forehead and her tongue becoming numb as if she were at the dentist's, there must be some masochistic pleasure to this overloading of one's taste buds.

Onto the spicy Hunan food:
Cumin lamb: I really like other versions of this dish. However, this is loaded with what I consider mostly inedible, dried chili peppers, and chunks of ginger and garlic. I preferred Little Pepper's (another Hunan restaurant in Flushing) version with leeks. Don't get me wrong, the lamb is still delicious along with the spiciness.

Eggplant: A great dish of baked eggplant with salted egg yolk and minced pork. Unfortunately, there is a half inch of oil on the bottom and eggplant soaks up oil like a sponge.

Fish head with spicy red peppers: Another fine dish spoiled by a pool of oil on the bottom. It actually is not just a huge fish head, as there is not much meat on the head, it comes with front half of the fish as well. The spicy and slightly sour peppers compliment the soft meat well.

While the dishes are well thought out, the execution was lacking. One thing I like about traditional Chinese restaurants is their simple and clean food. Here, the prices are good, the menu selection is great, but I just could not get passed the greasiness.

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11 W 32nd St
New York, NY 10001
(212) 564-3436

MK Karaoke  

Category: Karaoke
Neighborhoods: Midtown West, Koreatown

3.0 star rating
1/9/2012
A cool, swank place to bring a group for karaoke. The staff is extremely kind and checks up on you quite often. The English karaoke list was not the most expansive or up to date that I've seen, but it's reasonable and sufficient. There's a wide selection, a large selection of Korean songs obviously, but they even had other Asian languages.

The large controllers are quite self explanatory and they even give you tambourines if you really want to get frisky.

My only qualm is that the place is pricey. The karaoke pricing is not bad, but I would suggest grabbing a few drinks beforehand.

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881 10th Ave
New York, NY 10019
(212) 582-1222

Justino's Pizzeria  

Category: Pizza
Neighborhoods: Hell's Kitchen, Midtown West

4.0 star rating
1/9/2012
We have a high standard for pizza here in New York and this place surprisingly met the requirements of my picky pizza palette.

Along with the other reviews, I too support their Grandma's. The other slice that I highly suggest is one with chicken cutlet, tomatoes, and ricotta. No clue what it was called, but I really would like seeing this slice around more. It's by no means a "light" meal, but having a less oily ricotta cheese instead of mozzarella and tomato chunks instead of sauce really lifts up a slice.

Both cost me a total of $8.50, which doesn't seem bad for New York considering I had two specialty slices, one with toppings.

Unfortunately, they do use a decent amount of cornstarch on the bottom of their crusts. If you have some horrible nightmares of Domino's and their heavy hand with cornstarch, then I would think twice about ordering here.

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    Congrats on making '12 Elite, Darwin!

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    Sounds perfect to me!

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