Jim "The Traveler" U.'s Profile

A trip back to New York City would not be complete without a visit to one of newly named Michelin star restaurants:  Tori Shin.  It was on my to-go list forever, and all the more so now with this latest honor.  

I know Michelin recommendations can be a little iffy when the cuisine is not western-European, and the idea of nominating a place that specializes in grilled chicken does sound crazy; however, Tori Shin is the real deal.  They offer up a complete dining experience unlike any other, and it is absolutely wonderful to sit through.  It's like being transported directly to Tokyo for a couple of hours.  

The menu was simple enough:  Omakase, $55.  Yes, you can order a la carte, but why?  You will miss the entire progression as you work your way through the bird and miss the experience of being served chicken in so many different ways.  The omakase is affordably priced and includes really way too much food:  pickled vegetables, grated daikon, a seasonal dish, 6 skewers of meat, 2 skewers of vegetables, a choice of a rice dish, and dessert.  I can be gluttonous and I am no stranger to tasting menus, but I have to say this was a lot of food.  

Pickled vegetables:  Simple enough beginning, good palate cleanser.  

Seasonal dish:  Shrimp with pickled lotus, 2 lightly seared pieces of duck, and a small bowl of vegetables.  The duck was amazing, tender and buttery.  A little bit of the Japanese mustard sauce complemented it ever so nicely.  The rest of this dish was good as well making for a strong start.  

Skewers of vegetables:  Asparagus and enoki.  Both of these vegetables grill well and paired well with the meat-intensive fare.  

Skewers of chicken:  Served individually, you never knew what you will be eating next.  It was a real treat to be served toriniku medium rare.  If you think chicken needs to be cooked all the way through, you are really missing out here:  undercooked, on purpose for this selection, it is absolutely delicious and the texture is completely different.  The tsukune (meatballs) were a joy to eat as well.  The other 4 selections were also very enjoyable.  You could really pick up the charcoal in some of them, and at times, you had no idea what part of the bird you were actually eating.  (Accents are very thick here).  Overall, fantastic progression, but it did get to be a little heavy towards the end.  I could have used a little relief a skewer or two before finishing.  

Transition course:  A small bowl of egg custard with vegetables.  I am not a fan of egg custard at all, so this was one of the more awkward transitions for me, but it was rendered well.  

Choice of rice dish:  I was out of my league here, not really being able to pontificate about the nuances of soboro don versus oyako don.  I just authortitatively opted for the first selection which was "special" and required a $5 supplement.  I knew I would be in for a treat, so I was not sweating the choice.  I was presented with a rather large rice bowl covered with seasoned, ground chicken, and topped with an egg yolk and greens.  To the right of this bowl was a smaller cup of chicken broth.  My goodness, these were both so delicious.  The broth was made from a proper stock and was exploding with flavor.  I think I will be immune to colds for at least 6 months after having that.  The ground chicken did not look appetizing but it was very rich in taste and it just felt decadent to slather that warm egg yolk into it.  My only regret was that I was completely unable to finish this dish, just too much food.  

Dessert:  I opted for the shiso sorbet.  Surprisingly this was not an afterthought.  It tasted great.  Nice refreshing way to end the rather extravagant feast.  

The service was friendly but not especially adept and often my server was absent.  I ordered tea to accompany the meal, and it took quite a bit of time to exchange my bottle of iced tea (a miscommunication apparently)  for a proper mug of hot tea.  Sometimes dishes stacked up too before they were taken away.  Also, points off for not serving me anything really weird.  I said I was game, but they assumed I wasn't.  

Overall, an absolute must!  Get a couple of friends together and have a blast here.  

4.5 stars

I was in Manhattan the day before the Manhattan Half-Marathon, and I wanted to carbo-load for good measure.  It's on the eve of race days that my high standards for Italian fare go out the window, and I embrace the Americanized comfort food of my youth.  Down with Emilia-Romagna and up with Mulberry Street, so to speak.  What better street in Manhattan to get a huge plate of pasta doused and drenched in red sauce than Mulberry?  It's perfect for clueless tourists and runners alike.  

I just chanced on La Mela semi-randomly.  My only criterion was to try a place I hadn't tried before.  Scanning the menu outside, I was immediately met with their barker who seemingly came out of nowhere.  He gave me the spiel on the restaurant, their pasta, and so forth and I soon found myself seated inside.  

Looking over the menu, I kept it pretty simple and ordered the rigatoni bolognese ($15) and some coffee (it was pretty cold outside).  The coffee was unremarkable, and the wait for the pasta began.  Ten minutes became twenty and soon approached thirty minutes by the time my dish arrived.  A speedy, inexpensive lunch service this was not.  The dish though arrived as expected with plenty of pasta and a ridiculous amount of sauce.  I have to give them great credit for handling the pasta noodles well.  They had great texture and were perfectly al dente.  The rigatoni were of pretty good quality too, and I was happy to see that they were completely drained before the sauce was added.  The sauce was definitely not a bolognese in the sense of Bologna, but rather a simple marinara with ground beef incorporated into it.  It was flavorful and functional, but not particularly inspired.  Very filling dish though, and I was happy to eat all of it.  

The service and ambiance were just okay.  The walls are adorned with many photos of (minor) celebrities past who have visited the restaurant.  It apparently had a heyday, but the photos mostly seem pretty dated now.  Beyond the photos, one had a view of the street which was a little bit more interesting.  

Overall, fairly standard for Mulberry.  I have definitely been to better restaurants on this street, but there was nothing really below my low expectations here.  

2.75 stars

I was wandering aimlessly on the UWS in the frigid cold, and decided to use the Yelp app to find a nearby coffee shop, and this is where it took me:  a tea shop.  That's about useful as the app gets I am afraid, but it all worked out.  

Spices and Tease actually does serve coffee if that is your want, but you will feel like an idiot doing it, or at least I did.  Once I got a sense of my surroundings and noticed the generous selection of fresh teas around me, I promptly change my order over to tea.  I opted for a large Rooibos tea with a touch of honey; and, oh is that pain au chocolat they are selling too?  Yeah, I had that as well.  The French salesman with the thick French accent who I had to speak to in French to complete my transaction all kind of assured me that that would be a good choice to make.

The tea was excellent.  It was in the 20s, the wind was blowing, and it had just snowed.  Tea with honey really hit the spot, and it was so flavorful too.  The pain au chocolat was decent as well, not having skimped on the chocolate.  Tea drinkers have a lot to celebrate with this quaint shop.  The only obvious drawback was the very limited seating (3 backless chairs along a narrow shelf lining the front window).  This forced many to stand and congregate.  Nonetheless, at $5.50 all in, I was pretty pleased.

I was waiting to head back to DC and I had a couple of hours to kill.  I decided to try a random bar a few blocks away from Penn Station to help kill the time.  It served its purpose in that regard, but it was definitely not the kind of place you would insist on going or the kind of place where you arrange for friends to meet you there.  I think they just pick up a lot of Madison Square Garden / Penn Station traffic and rely on that.  

The bar area is nice.  I loved the high, tin-plated ceiling, the descending lamps with black bulbs, and the general feeling that you were drinking in a passably nice bar.  They had a few flat screens all tuned to the Rangers game at the time of my visit.  They are definitely a Rangers bar which is obvious both by their location and the Rangers photos on the wall.  The beer selection is relatively modest and not the cheapest to be had, but you could get okay selections like Goose Island IPA or Sam Adams Seasonal ($7/pint).  I tried my hand at a rum and coke ($7.50), but I came up empty on that one.  The taste was a little strange, and the drink was weak.  

The bar menu included all the typical fried food one would expect.  I tried the "homemade" mozzarella sticks.  Their uniform size told me though that these were previously frozen and purchased in bulk.  Six of them for $9 served with a boring marinara sauce (advertised as tangy) had me regretting the choice.  Really, how hard is it to cut a cylinder of cheese, bread it, and fry it?  

There was really nothing to make me to want to come back, but there is nothing really wrong with the place either, aside from the bar food.  

2.5 stars

I was lured to McCrady's by the recent profile piece of Chef Sean Brock in the New Yorker (10/31/2011).  His dedication to food really came through in the article.  I am sad to report though, that he is a regional chef that is trying much too hard.  Eating at McCrady's proved to not be the highlight of our trip to Charleston.  

The misadventure really began with the reservation.  More than 2 weeks out, I was only able to secure a 2-top at an off-peak hour for a Saturday night.  It would have to do, but then our plans changed.  The week of the reservation, we needed to amend the dinner to accommodate 3 people rather than 2 as my girlfriend's father was going to be in town as well.  Unfortunately, there was simply no way to make any change to the existing reservation unless we were willing to eat just before closing time.  We resigned ourselves to our existing reservation and arranged for my girlfriend's father to dine elsewhere that evening, alone.  Would you believe that when we arrived at the restaurant, we were seated at a table for 4?  Unforgivable.  

Matters soon became worse.  Apparently, it was "Restaurant Week".  This meant that the normal 4-course, $60 prix-fixe menu was not available; rather, the menu had been abbreviated to a 3-course, $40 prix-fixe menu with no option of being able to choose the original menu.  I specifically asked if I would be allowed to add a course?  No.  So much for accommodations.  Three courses it was going to be.  This proved to be a good thing though, since I don't think I could have sat through a 4th course here.  One bright note, the wine menu offered wine pairings for each of the 3 courses for a mere $20.  

1st course:  I opted for the Barbecued Veal Sweetbreads.  This was very nicely done.  Choosing to barbecue sweetbreads was certainly a novel approach, and it was handled delicately.  There was great textural contrast with crisped kale and thin slivers of turnip.  This was, oddly enough, paired with a Riesling which I think worked.  Solid start.  

2nd course:  Duo of Katahdin Lamb.  Served as three monoliths of lamb, two of these were "meat glue" wonders and cooked entirely through, and the third was a piece of belly.  The dish was complemented by a number of elements including wild mushrooms, salsify, and huge a puffed mushroom straddling the lamb pieces.  The variations in height, texture, and color were all there, but it never felt particularly inspired.  A better cut of lamb might have helped matters.  The wine pairing was a varietal from the Bekaa valley in Lebanon, which was a first for me.  I liked the wine, but the 3 ounce pour was insufficient for this rather massive dish.  I would have thought that the main course would have a full pour.  

3rd course:  Chocolate Mousse.  Okay, this dish was absolutely ridiculous!  One would expect a French classic.  I direct the reader to the attached photo.  Further, I challenge the reader to find the mousse in the photo!  What a horrible dish.  The mousse was in fact a thin log about the size of a magic marker.  It was not sieved.  Strangely, it was housed in a beet fruit roll-up.  There was a dollop of passion fruit cream, chocolate puffed rice, beets, hazelnut, and some explosion of red over the side of the dish that was just off-putting.  What the hell was this exactly?  It didn't taste good.  It was a laborious to eat, and it was a very annoying way to end the meal.  The pairing of Madeira helped though.  

There were no amuse bouches, no palate cleanser, and no bonbons.  The service was acceptable, but the servers were not particularly knowledgeable.  If you ask a question outside of their memorized script, you will easily be met with an awkward, nonsensical answer.  We did manage to see Chef Brock on the floor, but he was only there for a minute and he only bothered to visit with one table.  

Only the first course was well composed, and everything went downhill from there.  Nothing else about the restaurant was particularly pleasing.  Pass.

I had no idea that Italian food would be so hard to come by on a Friday night in Charleston.  I really just wanted to load up on carbohydrates for the Charleston half-marathon the following morning, nothing more.  Walking around downtown, Il Cortile Del Re was our 5th choice for Italian food after learning that two of the nearby Italian restaurants would not have a table available until at least 9:30pm, that one Italian restaurant was closed that weekend for renovations, and another Italian restaurant simply did not exist anymore (thanks, Yelp app).  Even here, we had to settle for 3 seats at the bar if we wanted something to eat before too late in the evening.  I have never seen anything like that.

Sitting at the bar was about as dreadful as it could be, too.  I was at the extreme end and, therefore, had to share my dining space with the reservation book, the ringing phone, and the host who towered over me for much of my dinner.  Occasionally, I would be interrupted by a server pounding empty wine bottles in front of my face or other servers bumping into my back on every pass into the bar area.  The only saving grace for this maddening setup was that the host was actually gregarious and friendly.  It made dining here, bearable.  

The food was a slightly better state of affairs over all.  I opted for the Legumi Toscani soup ($7) and the Spaghetti ai Frutti di Mare ($17).  The Tuscan bean soup was unremarkable and didn't merit the price.  It was a little on the thin side, and did not have much flavor, even from the beans.  There was no finish with olive oil either, which was a miss.  The spaghetti dish was a bit better.  What I really liked about it was that the seafood was handled rather well.  The scallops were pan seared before being mixed in, and they tasted wonderful.  The shrimp and mussels were appropriately cooked as well.  The sauce probably would have been decent and even spicy as advertised, if it were not for the fact that the noodles were improperly strained.  It was very clear that the noodles were pretty watery when they were mixed with the sauce, which thinned the sauce, muted the flavors, and resulted in a collecting pond of tomato water in the bottom of my dish.  This is not the way to treat pasta, though it is commonly done this way, sadly.  

Passable, I suppose, and I met my very low standard of having enough stored glycogen in my system for the next day's race.  Higher expectations than that?  Surely, you can stand to do a little bit better.

2.5 stars

We were duped by Hotwire!  I chose a 4-star hotel in "downtown" Charleston and wound up with the Marriott which is located nowhere near downtown.  At the very least, the downtown area should be walkable from the hotel.  Unless 2.5 miles each way is your idea of a convenient walk, you will likely be disappointed.  The hotel is convenient to absolutely nothing except a VA hospital.  Every time we wanted to go into town, we had to drive and waste a bit of time searching for parking.  I know they offer a shuttle from the hotel at $6/person, but it is fairly infrequent and doesn't make sense to take considering there is a free city trolley that they fail to mention, and if we really were downtown, we wouldn't need a trolley in the first place.  

The hotel itself was fairly charming in its lobby and common spaces, and doubles as a small convention center.  The rooms were a different matter.  Walking the hallway of our floor, it smelled of shampoo.  There is no circulation at all, so the smell of cleaning fluids lingers about.  In our room, because there was no circulation, our window was beaded with water drops.  It always looked like it was raining outside.  The only time we could get the water drops to clear up was if we kept the room at a very low temperature.  It was all rather inconvenient.  The tiny bathroom that required a maintenance call didn't help matters much.  

The downstairs coffee shop had some rather delicious coffee and sold sports drinks which was great, until I saw that the price for 1 coffee and 1 sports drink cost over $6.  Ouch!  

The parking and internet were free, so that was cost effective at least.  

Breakdown:

(room rate) $125/night + (fees) $27.30/night = too much money for the hotel.

We actual stayed at the Mill's House via Hotwire for less money than this and had a much, much grander time in the heart of downtown.

We couldn't very well leave Charleston without a proper southern breakfast, so a trip to Hominy Grill was in order.  

We called and verified that they open at 9am on Sundays, and off we went arriving a few minutes later.  Every single space was taken in their parking lot, the entire restaurant was full, and the courtyard was overflowing with people.  At this point, they had been open for less than 10 minutes.  What?  Apparently, many arrive before they open in anticipation of being in the first seating.  Arriving at opening guaranteed us a spot in the "second" seating which meant that we had to wait around for 45 minutes in the cold for enough first-comers to depart.  The staff tried to make the wait pretty manageable though by selling coffee and alcohol at an outside bar, and having heat lamps in the courtyard.  

Eventually our party was called, and we proceeded into a country-style parlor room.  It felt genuine, like visiting a southern relative and having dinner in their home.  The padded seats on the wooden chairs, the ceiling fans, the wooden floors, the intricate ceilings, were all so charming.  This was definitely a place you wanted to linger and have a good home-cooked meal.  

Looking over the menu, I went traditional and had the shrimp and grits which, strangely, was the priciest option on the menu ($17) and opted for coffee to drink.  The coffee was pretty disappointing, but the shrimp and grits were refined and tasty!  The grits were allowed to set, and were dotted with several shrimp, mushrooms, green onions, and tasty pieces of double cut bacon.  The bacon was intense and a joy to eat.  The mushrooms really rounded out the dish nicely, and the grits were treated properly.  The shrimp were somewhat disappointing though, not having much flavor and being cooked slightly more than I would have liked.  That aside, it was still a solid dish.  

Service was a complete miss with a scattered server who seemed in over her head.  No friendly banter here, but we managed just the same.  

Overall, 3.5 stars, but I will round up.  Their food is pretty good, and they have a nice tradition, and I was happy to partake in it.

Rachel Ray has been here as has Anthony Bourdain.  I guess it was finally my turn, though no one actually bothered to film me eating their delicious food -- how rude!

Yeah, Jestine's is a draw for locals and tourists like and is easily spotted by the long line emanating from its main door at any given hour of the day; expect at least a 30 minute wait at off-peak times.  They promise "southern food with lots of soul", and they certainly deliver.  

The menu is a real joy to read over because it includes so many traditionally southern choices that are seldom available elsewhere:  fried green tomatoes, pecan fried whiting, po boys, okra gumbo, Coca-Cola cake, and even YooHoos to drink!  Where to begin, right?  

I wound up ordering the special of the day which was a proper gumbo with a side of mac and cheese and opted for the famous Coca-Cola cake for dessert.  I had fun eating everything! The gumbo was rustically prepared with large cuts of tomatoes, okra, sausage, and shrimp served in a thin broth over rice.  It was pretty flavorful, but not especially bold.  I was able to help it somewhat with the inclusion of "Lillie's of Charleston" hot sauce.  All told though, I ate it in record time.  The sides were solid.  My mac and cheese was creamy with a nice texture on top and tasted great.  I had a try at the black eyed peas, and those were fantastic.  The Coca-Cola cake was great.  It is especially rich, so it will likely need to be shared.  It had a nice blend of flavors, presumably due to that strange blend of soda, buttermilk, cocoa, vanilla, and marshmallows that doesn't make much sense at all, yet they come together so nicely.  Special shout out to David P. for making the suggestion to try it here -- I was impressed!  

Overall, it is definitely worth the wait in line, and it's a fun place to try at least once.  The service was super friendly, and everything felt down home.  Good spot!

I traveled in from Washington, D.C. for the half-marathon race on Saturday, and it was easily the best of the 4 races I have run so far at that distance.  I know opinions vary a bit regarding this race depending on which race was ran and how fast one ran it, so I will just detail what I observed about it.  

The course for the half-marathon (which coincided with the marathon course for the first 11 miles or so) was mostly beautiful and remarkably flat.  It began downtown near the French Quarter, passed by the Battery, continued through town, before making its way out to North Charleston, Riverfront Park, and a finish at the expo site.  The full marathon course split in North Charleston and meandered for quite a bit there before finishing at the expo site.  I thought running through town was just amazing; Charleston is so beautiful and it is a joy to run through.  The Park was splendid too.  The long connecting stretch was gritty at times, but it was so flat, it was perfect for getting a fast time.  This was definitely the flattest course I have ever seen, with only 1 hillock to accommodate a bridge crossing -- it was great!  Along the course they had a lot of volunteers manning fluid stations, playing instrumental music, and offering support to runners going so far as to high-five us.  There was definitely great community turnout for this race.  Also, for the serious runners, they had pacing groups at 1:30 and 1:45 times for the half and comparable times for the full.  And little touches like the 9th mile coinciding with "Success Street" and another street called "Sans Souci", all real names, made the race memorable in more ways than one.      

The swag was great!  I got a full length sleeve technical shirt from Repreve for the Planet with Sorbtek technology.  It features a beautiful painting on the front entitled "These Old Houses" depicting houses and palm trees in downtown Charleston.  It is a great shirt!  The medals were really nicely done too.  At the expo we were treated to a bowl of shrimp and grits and 2 beers.  Imagine my surprise that the beer choices included Shock Top Belgian White!!  Wow!  It paired well with the rather excellent shrimp and grits, too.  They had this amazing, gumbo-like broth they poured over them that made it amazing, and the shrimp were perfectly cooked.  The add-ins included shredded cheese, jalapeños, green onions, and hot sauce.  It was such a great way to finish a race -- best food options ever!  They also had a selection of fruits, a mix of bagels from Panera, and bottles of iced tea.  I was pretty happy.    

For me, the trip was definitely worth the drive in from DC.  It wasn't for others though.  Since I finished relatively early (1:43:52), I missed how the race sort of fell apart for those in the middle and back of the pack.  Apparently they ran out of cups at a number of the water stations, ran out of medals too (they will be mailed out), pulled down the expo tent after only a few hours, and offered little fanfare for those finishing the full marathon.  Undoubtedly these are kinks that will likely be ironed out by the third edition of the race next year, but it certainly made the race less than enjoyable for some.  I personally think the full marathon needs to be handled a little bit differently, since it seemed like all of the love and attention went to those running the half, and, well, we only did half the work.  With that said, I loved the non-traditional inclusion of a youth marathon (they run 25 miles in segments in advance and the final 1.2 miles in an actual race), which I never heard of before, and a bike race -- great options for everyone to participate.