Jump to content

Dryden

participating member
  • Posts

    481
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Dryden

  1. The chicken is back. That is enough reason by itself to be happy...
  2. Anyone know how to get these in the US? We need to replace our nonstick, which isn't anymore...
  3. Dryden

    Shang

    Quick add- we normally don't visit restaurants this soon after opening, either, but my wife's dad was in town and we wanted to try something special for him. If the place can manage to smooth things out and be really remarkable, I'll give it double kudos, because to get to that level from what we experienced would really be an impressive achievement.
  4. Dryden

    Shang

    I actually didn't hate anything at Wakiya, to me, it was much of what I experienced at Shang - no bombs, but a ton of "eh", and a couple of dishes that were okay but nothing that would make me want to come back to eat them again. The foie gras, the wagyu were OK, but given the way the menu is built, as kathryn says, they more or less shout out, "we are the home run, amazing dishes here", and they just didn't hit that level at all. And Doc, if that's your take on the Momos, then you absolutely need to go back right this very minute, because you're missing out on some truly amazing stuff.
  5. Dryden

    Shang

    kathryn- completely agree with your comments. The flavors are just bland, which is about the most disappointing thing you can have for this kind of food.
  6. Dryden

    Shang

    Doc, having read your full report, I find it interesting that we basically ate none of the same dishes, other than the dim sum veggies, which we seem to agree on that the crust makes no sense at all, and the foie gras/squab dish, which was pretty good. I find it interesting that you mention that much of the food might make more sense with cultural context. My wife is chinese, and we went with her father (who is, obviously, also chinese). His comments, basically throughout our entire meal - "There is nothing chinese about this food." FWIW.
  7. Dryden

    Shang

    Went to Shang yesterday evening, tried a good cross section of the menu. We had a 6 PM reservation, as we were eating with our little one and my wife's father (who is Chinese). We were finally seated at 6:30, as staff meeting was running late. Not a good sign out of the gate... Food finally hit the table around 7. In total, had the oxtail soup, dim sum vegetable, turnip cake, steamed savory rice squares, wild garlic shrimp with XO, stir fried orzo, squab breast and foie gras and kobe beef. Coconut creme caramel and warm black sesame and peanut tong yuan for dessert. To summarize - vastly disappointing. Service was very, very slow, flavors were off, a lot of the compositions didn't make a ton of sense - there seems to be a predilection toward a crispy noodle/kataifi crust on top of a number of dishes. On the dim sum veggies, it had bonded all of the dumplings together to make it impossible to eat any of them individually without smashing through it, with a fair amount of effort. In the tong yuan broth, there were grapes. I have no idea what they were meant to accomplish, but they added nothing to the dish at all (which badly needed more sugar). It reminds me a lot of Wakiya, although the style of high-end Chinese is very different, it has many of the same failings. The flavors are just way too underdeveloped and the dishes are way too busy, and end up in a mess. Why New York can't get a place comparable to the Flower Drum in Melbourne, I have no idea, because we sorely need one...
  8. Dryden

    Shang

    Anyone been?
  9. bluefoot mushrooms
  10. It hasn't been the same since Fauchon closed, that's for sure. To clarify, while I don't think Bouchon makes exceptional quality macarons, they are worth checking out for the macaron lover just for the unusual flavors they put out, the likes of which I have not seen anywhere else.
  11. Of all of the ingredients that every French person in the world can get anywhere, and the New York cook can't seem to find at all, chervil seems to be the most inconvenient... Sure, Garden of Eden and Whole Foods have it once in a blue moon, but does anyone know of a market or something anywhere that has it most of the time?
  12. Try Madeleine patisserie on 23rd, has a ton of flavors. Bouchon Bakery has some pretty nice seasonal ones as well.
  13. Stopped by last night after dinner at Ssam, very few people there, but the line moves at a truly glacial pace. There was really only one person filling orders, Christina Tosi and the other folks were working more on making sure orders were headed out to the kitchen. They were making new items as the night went on, though - when we showed up, there was no crack pie, but one came out of the over while we were waiting. The salty pistachio caramel is really good, I didn't find it overly salty, either. The grapefruit was amazing - one of the sourest, best palate cleansers ever. We took a volcano home and ate it later - it is exactly what a hot pocket would be if you made it with good bread, cheese and meat. Very satisfying. The carrot cake probably wouldn't appeal to everyone - my wife found it overly sweet - but it's very dense and the slices are enormous. It's the kind of cake you could eat for a couple of hours and keep going back for a bite every 5 or 10 minutes, not sure anyone would be able to polish it off in one sitting. Finished with the tristar strawberry milk - it's amazing, exactly as Kathryn described it, it's like Quik on steroids. Maybe a little too sweet as well, but delicious.
  14. More importantly, what happened to the half/whole chicken? Is it coming back? If not, can it be ordered for special occasions? I miss it so much, I kind of want to cry... They had a pig tail special this weekend that was incredible, though.
  15. Le Pain Quotidien usually has it.
  16. I was there the same day. but I did get the veggies. Who knows? Where were you seated? ← We were the second group of two from the back, so the 3rd and 4th people from the end. Wonder what the deal was, certainly no one tried to stop us or mention it or anything. Seemed tacky to inquire, but now I think we should have.
  17. Now, 15 East could get a star, and I would support that... I will say that we had some really lackluster lunch service at EMP when we were there. I was quite surprised, things just took forever to get to the table, and we had specifically asked them to speed things up, as we needed to be out in an hour and a half (which wasn't that short of a time).
  18. Went for lunch @ Ko today. Just phenomenal. Same menu as stated before, place was full. We found the pace of the meal nice, and a refreshing change from other places (1 turn will do that...) - we could have probably been out of there in 1 1/2 or 2 hours, but the pacing of the meal is set up to have it take the full 3+. No pickled veggies to take home, though... Anyone know what the deal is with those? We were so looking forward to them.
  19. Dryden

    Matsugen

    Much closer to my experience than any of the other reviews I've read...
  20. You get the small bowl of soba at 15 east in addition to the regular sushi... It's an exception to the rule. Or you sit at a table and just do the soba... :-)
  21. Just want to raise a point for 15 East's soba - they claim to have the honmura an person, and while it isn't quite the same as it used to be, it's pretty darn close and, in my opinion, a ton better than sobaya, and a bit better than matsugen. Haven't been to koh or totto, though. Mostly, if someone could make kamonan(ban) the way they used to, I could die happy... Also, they had the best freaking tempura I've ever had in NYC. No one else is even close on this one.
  22. Dryden

    Matsugen

    Soba noodles and duck broth - what else do you need?
  23. Dryden

    Matsugen

    But- bottom line- the soba isn't that good. Offering a lot of different varieties of mediocrity doesn't make something more than mediocre. And while it is "only buckwheat", the duck broth, for example, just doesn't taste that rich or that flavorful, which is a rather large problem - but I'm apparently the only one that thinks so.
  24. Capogiro delivers, too, and is way better than both laboratorio and ciao bella. www.capogirogelato.com
  25. There are great falafel sandwiches at Alfanoose...
×
×
  • Create New...