josie's

3rd (37/38)

website

neal joined me for dinner recently at josie's, an organic healthy-ish restaurant located in murray hill. josie's is one of my favorite places to eat because it is guilt-free. the food is natural, organic, low-fat, non-fried, simple, and tasty. the vibe reminds me of california - clean lines, bright colors, a juice bar.

i love to order the grilled veggie plate, the pasta with turkey meatballs, grilled salmon, pumpkin ravioli, grilled chicken with brown rice, and potato/broccoli dumplings (pictured in a tomato and white truffle coulis). derek doesn't like this place, possibly because its a little on the bland side. but i think everything is delicious, especially for people who love veggies and free-range poultry.

sea king

23rd (2/3)

website

i was craving noodle soup but too lazy to head downtown to kuai la mian in chinatown. i normally avoid restaurants that have too many things on their menu and the sea king has two menus - one for chinese food and another for sushi and japanese food.

the decor (dragons carved out of ivory) gave me a hint that this might really be a chinese restaurant, so i felt safe ordering the szechuan pork and pickled cabbage noodle soup. not anywhere close to as good as what my mom makes, but the noodles actually tasted similar to hand-pulled noodles and the pork was crispy and tasty. it was a decent bowl of noodles and managed to satisfy my craving, but i still prefer chinatown (and mom's, of course).

chinese mirch

28th/lex

website

neal is a new new yorker, but he's already got excellent restaurant recs. we met up for dinner at chinese mirch, which serves indian chinese food. neal being indian, me being chinese - we were very intrigued by the combination. the restaurant doesn't have a whole lot of tables, but it has a nice waiting area and decent soju cocktails to keep you occupied while you wait. the restaurant is also dimly lit, so apologies for the fuzzy photo.

the photo, however, is of the best cauliflower dish i have ever had in my life. amazing. its only served as an appetizer at chinese mirch - it's called "gobi manchurian." the cauliflower is lightly fried so that it's crispy and then tossed with a slightly spicy mix of garlic, onion, ginger, and cilantro. spicy, garlickly, delicious. in general, i'm still a little confused by the indian chinese food concept, but the gobi manchurian appears to be a mix between indian spiced cauliflower dishes and chinese traditional "salt & pepper" preparation of fried foods. delicious! next time, i'll probably order 3 plates of the gobi manchurian instead of entrees.

koryodang

new york, ny

website

after eating spicy korean food, i like to indulge in a cool dessert. in k-town, there's not a whole lot of choices (unless you want frozen yogurt, ew). i've actually been to koryodang quite a few times. it's interesting because i'm pretty sure that the servers neither speak nor understand english. which is fine, because other than taking your order, they don't really pay any attention to you. also, this place is really expensive ($7 for a coffee). i know, i'm really talking it up. whatever - it's a lowkey and convenient place to get some post-dinner sweets.

jinny ordered a korean shaved ice dessert with fruit, red beans, and mochi that looked quite delicious. i saw that they served crepes and decided to order a plain crepe with powdered sugar. the server appeared to understand and acquiesce. however, when my dessert arrived, it was a gigantic crepe stuffed with a slice of cake soaked in liquer, piles of bananas, and whipped cream, then topped with chocolate sauce, almonds, and a ridiculous amount of powdered sugar. and a side of ice cream. it wasn't bad, but it wasn't what i wanted. oh well, i'll be back anyway.

natural tofu

32nd (5th/bway)

link to yelp

despite the granola-sounding name, it's just a typical korean restaurant. located at 34 W. 32nd, you have to walk through an office lobby and go up the stairs toward the "seoul garden" sign to find the place. the ventilation isn't great and jinny was attacked by a giant bug. not good.

i ordered the tofu soup (mild) and jinny did the same (spicy). my tofu soup was alright, but i prefer smaller pieces of seafood and meat. the kalbi on the side was decent, but nothing special. and the ban chan was just okay. combine the just-okay food with the ventilation and infestation issues ... i think we'll try a different k-town spot next time.

arirang

new york, ny

link to yelp

korean comfort food! who knew? well, jinny. she brought me to arirang in k-town. it's a little hard to find, so i'm going to include the address in this post: 32 W 32nd St. we ordered the seafood pajeon and chicken soup with homemade noodles (kal-jaebi). as you can see from the photo, the portions are huge. and very filling. be careful, the noodles will expand after you've eaten them...

the pajeon had fresh tasty bits of seafood, lots of green onions, and wasn't too greasy. i usually prefer my pajeon flatter and crispier, but it was still good. the noodles are like thick jiaozi wrappers - chewy and doughy. the soup was very rich and hearty - like a poultry version of tonkotsu broth. tastes just like the chicken broth my mom makes at home. this noodle soup is perfect if you're ever feeling under the weather or otherwise in need of doughy noodles.

rare bar & grill

new york, ny

website

the best thing about rare bar & grill is the "french fry tasting plate." everyone here orders it. three types of french fries: shoestring, "cottage" (they call them waffle fries where i'm from), and sweet potato. it's a perfect basket for me and derek to share. we both like waffle fries, i love sweet potato fries and derek loves shoestring fries. the sweet potato fries are served with a honey maple sauce that tastes like the icing on a maple bar. the fries also come with chipotle aioli, mexican ketchup, and garlic aioli. since everyone orders them, they're always fresh and crispy on the outside, soft and steamy on the inside.

they make burgers too and some people really love these burgers. derek and i don't. but we couldn't eat fries for dinner (could we?), so we each ordered a burger. you have to order these burgers medium or rarer otherwise they turn out like a hockey puck. we ordered ours medium and they were pretty good, especially when i added the chipotle fry sauce. derek liked his because it was covered with mushrooms and gooey swiss cheese.

resto

new york, ny

website

i love the rustic interior of this restaurant. it feels like we're sitting in a pacific northwest lodge and that if we looked out the window, we'd see an evergreen forest instead of apartment buildings. makes me a little homesick. i've been here a few times for dinner, which was amazing - pork toast with caviar, anyone? the theme is belgian, but the real focus is fresh quality ingredients from local farms (um, as local as you can get to manhattan). derek and i have been searching for a great brunch spot in our neighborhood and i think this might be it.

everything on the menu looked so good that it took me about 10-15 minutes to decide what to order. eventually, derek had to pull the menu away from me. i had the eggs benedict - two eggs over two belgian waffles stuffed with ham, served with a side salad and home fries. the waffles had a hint of sweetness so i decided to treat those as dessert and eat the eggs with the crispy onion-y home fries. the fries were a little salty, but matched well with the eggs. the waffles went very well with the excellent bowl-sized "cup" of coffee. (i think they ship their coffee in from portland!) derek had the chicken and waffles (pictured), which were pretty darn good. one of the menu items that caught my eye was the "belgian hangover pasta" with vermont ham, gruyere, sunny egg, and black pepper. i may have to drink myself into a hangover just so i can order that the next day.

'inoteca

new york, ny

website

'inoteca was one of the first small-plates restaurants that i found in the city. the LES original is better than the gramercy version, but tends to be more crowded and lacks the "liquori" drink selection. when we first started going to 'inoteca, the entire menu was in italian and we had to have the waiter explain every single item. the waitstaff was always friendly and helpful, but its an unwieldy system. now they have a translation guide, but it only translates certain terms. oh well. by now, i've been here enough times for me to know what to order.

and that would be - the truffle egg toast with asparagus (pictured). it has declined in quality lately, but it's still good. derek likes the spicy spaghetti with pomodoro. my favorite drink is the luce del sole - grapefruit vodka, aperol, honey, freshly squeezed lemon & orange juices. it's served with these absurdly large ice cubes which i love and which keep the drink icy cold. so good. 'inoteca is reliable and close, but i think alta, sorella, and casellula are better choices for small-plates restaurants.

baoguette

new york, ny

link to baoguette on yelp

ordered the baoguette from baoguette. derek and i are on a quest to find an authentic banh mi sandwich in manhattan (or if not authentic, yummy enough to overcome the inauthenticity.) baoguette had excellent barbecued pork (see dark red meat in the middle) and a good spicy sauce. but there was just too much pork and it overwhelmed the vegetables (i know, you're shocked that i thought there was too much pork, me too). plus the bread was underwhelming. that said, would probably eat there again to try their other sandwiches but the search for a good banh mi continues ...

also - note that my labels are inaccurate and will probably reflect a skewed understanding of geography, food, and prices. whatever.