wannabechef

This thread hasn't been updated in a while and since I ate here last night I felt I'd do my duty. Went last night around 7:30. Place was packed and we waited 45 minutes. This was fine with us since they told us it would be 1-1.5 hrs. Five of us ordered chipolte wings app, bbq chips, and blue cheese/bacon dip. All were fantastic. I think the wings were almost as good as Dinosaurs. For entree my friend and I split the pulled pork platter, and the rib sampler. I have to say all was incredible. The ribs on the platter were perfectly seasoned, and I think very lightly sauced - which is what I like. I believe one of them may have been dry. The salt and pepper beef ribs were incredible - but slightly overcooked. The St. Louis ribs were nice and meaty and had a slight "snap" to them when you took a bite. This is one major thing that I liked about these as opposed to Dinosaurs ribs. At Dino, when I took a bite, all the meat came off the bone with it. I guess they were overcooked? Pulled pork was also good, but didn't stand out as much as the ribs for me. Maybe it's because I'm more of a "rib guy" anyway. The pork was juicy and flavorful. I like a little bit of crunchies in there which was absent. Do any places have that now? For sides, we got the mac and cheese (not so great. too creamy and similar to Kraft), creamed spinach (awesome), mashed potoatoes (standard) and baked beans (tasty, but too sweet for my taste). We were full and decided to skip desert. Out of the places I've tried, I think Blue Smoke is the best BBQ (ribs) in the city right now. ~WBC

Making your own yogurt is fun and easy. But I gave up after a while because I thought that the plain (lowfat!) danon was a lot better than what i was making. As you can tell from my other posts in this thread - I'm kind of obsessive about Turkish yogurt and am frustrated I can't find the exact thing here. So, what I did was bring a container of yogurt from Turkey to use as my starter! I made a bunch of batches from it but it was never the same as the original. I asked a bunch of people and was told that the commercial yogurts have stabilizers and other things in them to make them firm, etc. I experimented with using non-fat dry milk in the mix to make it firmer. I could never get the right consistency and sourness though. Also, from what I understand, the yogurt culture actully becomes weaker as you keep using it. I never really understood this. How does the starter get started then? This whole chicken-egg thing is very confusing! ~WBC

Huh? ← click here for Sunday brunch menu ← Hah - you're right. I don't remember seeing that stuff when I was there but I wouldn't be surprised. I ignored the omlette station because there was so much other good stuff there I didn't want to fill up on eggs. As for the hot dog - the Turks use hot dogs in strange places sometimes - so I'm not really surprised about that. Now bagels - thats definately not Turkish! Guess they're trying to have something for everyone. I'd stick to the Turkish stuff though.

I would love to check out the opera night sometime! Let us know next time you perform there. I did hear so-so things about their dinner food. So I went in to the brunch with pretty low expectations. Like I said, the food isn't blown away gourmet food or anything, but the ambiance, live jazz, and the ability to sit for hours makes it desirable for me. I can't do the 1.5 hour Manhattan brunch wait and rush at the "in" places. Probably wouldn't go back with just the wife - but its a good place for groups and special occasions I think. Overall I think La Belle is an underrated and not often mentioned place. ~WBC

Huh?

Wow - thanks for letting me know. Definately let me know the store - and the brand if possible. I have seen ayran here with a Turkish name - but it's not really made in Turkey and sadly not as good. I think it is produced here by a Turkish company. The yogurt actually produced in Turkey is far superior to any I have found here. I haven't been able to find any actual dairy products imported from Turkey other than cheeses. I'm sure its very expensive and probably not worth it for them. The thing that annoys me the most is that Danon produces yogurt in Turkey which is pretty much equal to the Turkish brands there - incredible. But the Danon here can't do it. I dont' understand why it's different. I once wrote an email to Danon and they said its a different recipe, etc, catering to a different market. Oh well. Funny you are asking, today i had my first turkish Ayran and of all places here in the US!! I purchased it from a middle eastern store in Queens, New York. I'll check the brand for you next time I am there. There were 2 kinds of ayran available, one which consisted of yogurt only and another which consisted of yogurt flavored with mint. ←

I probably shouldn't be writing this. I know I shouldn't. I don't want this secret to get out. But it needs to. This post will be brief because I think that these pics speak for themselves. Turkish Kitchen is one of the first (if not THE first) upscale Turkish restaurant in the city. They are reliably good for dinner - (but I think there are better Turkish options in the city now) - However, their brunch is simply spectacular. It is around $18 for an open buffet and they have 2 seatings on Sat and Sun. The brunch consists of excellent versions of literally almost every Turkish dish I can think of. Everything from meze (maybe 10 different types), to fresh baked bread, to kebabs, fish, doner, baklava and other exciting deserts. I've been to Turkey numerous times and am actually married to a Turk - and this gets both of our stamps of approval. It's insanely good. If you want to get a good sampling of what Turkish food is all about - from breakfast to lunch, to dinner and desert, go here. I think its a bit early for Raki though - so you can get traditional Turkish tea, or coffee. So, go with an empty stomach, and don't tell anyone else! A SECTION of the savory portion: Desert table view 1 Desert table view 2 ~WBC

A few weeks ago we had a brunch celebration for my parents anniversary at La Belle Epoque. I know this is a relatively popular place, so I was very surprised to find a lack of reviews or even good informatoin about it. So hopefully this will add some quality information into cyberspace. There were only 6 of us for brunch and we had a great time. La Belle Epoque is a New Orleans style ballroom near Union Square. On the weekends, and certain weeknights, they have dinner, and live music - with the main draw being dancing. On the weekends however, they have a laid back jazz brunch which is great. The cost was $25 for an open buffet and included either a bloody mary or mimosa. I believe that combined with the entertainment and high quality food, makes this a great deal. The buffet is sort of divided into four portions. The classic breakfast items being one, a huge assortment of meats, cheeses, olives, etc being the second, and lunch/dinner items as the 3rd. Oh yes, there is desert too - thats the fourth. So you can basically eat an entire days worth of meals in one sitting. Yes - come with an empty stomach. The food has a New Orleans touch to it. The french toast was some of the best I've had and it had 3 or 4 different toppings for it - including dulce de leche. They also have a full omlette station with about 10 fillings. They also make poached eggs to order and have an assortment of sauces for those too. For the lunch items, there was gumbo, a seafood dish, and a bunch of other things I can't remember (it was a while ago). On top of all that, the music was some top notch jazz and the space is just gorgeous. It was a great morning. The thing I like most about this place though - is how laid back it is compared to the other brunch places around the city. They didn't seem to care that we sat there for almost 3 hours. We just kept going up getting more food, listening to the music and talking. It was a great time. The only possible negative aspect was some slightly spotty service. Some of the staff seemed new and didn't seem to know what they were doing - but it didn't detract at all from the experience. Its mostly self service, so how bad can it be? They are available for groups - you can either rent out the whole place, or just reserve a portion of the room for a party. Here are some pics. I didn't really capture the food that well - but you get an idea of the place. Here's the citysearch link: http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/7087343 A shot of the bar The room A part of the buffet The omlette station

Wow, I never heard of all these different variations of Ayran. The only type I've had contains nothing more than water, salt, and yogurt. The quailty of the yogurt is the key here. I've never been able to find any good ayran outside of Turkey - perhaps for the reason that I've never found any yogurt as good as what I've had in Turkey. The yogurt should be very sour, and thick for the Ayran to be good. Surprisngly, I prefer the prepackaged Ayran they sell (Mis brand) to the homemade version sold in restaurants or at home. If anyone knows a place to get Turkish branded Ayran (or yogurt) in the States please let me know! ~WBC

Twiggles - We had an amazing brunch at La Belle Epoque for my parents' anniversary a few weeks ago. The food isn't what I'd call "gourmet" but its extremely good and the space is amazing. It is a beautiful second floor space in a building near Union Square. It is decorated in New Orleans style and the food is New Orleans style as well. The brunch is a jazz brunch and it is an all you can eat buffet. We had a talk with the woman running the place that day and she said you can call ahead and reserve off large sections, or the entire place. I've been meaning to post a review of this place for some time. I have photos at home. Check back soon for a detailed review and pics. ~WBC Update: Heres a link to the review I just wrote http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=64171

Went to Franny's last night for the second time. The first time I wasn't overly impressed (that was right after they opened) so I wanted to give it another shot. I was in a group of 3 on a Friday night and we aren't big spenders (this matters further down my post). Started out with an appetizer of wood-fire roasted cauliflower with fresh breadcrumbs. Have to say I was blown away by this. I'm a huge cauliflower fan and this is one of the best dishes I've had with this veggie. It was basically a thick slice of a head of cauliflower roasted. On top were fresh, garlicy breadcrumbs, raw high quality olive oil, and freshly grated reggiano (I saw them grating it on top of the dish in the back). It blew my mind. Then each of us got our own pizza. First some general words about the pizza: It rocks. The crusts were extremely thin and the thick edges were almost "fluffy" in a way. Each had a perfect amount of sauce which only added to the mix and was not overt in any way. The cheese they use is obviously high quality (you have a choice of regular fresh mozz. or buffalo). I wish they'd just use a slightly bit more cheese though. When it melts you can barely even see its there. Each pie is squirted with raw olive oil, fresh reggiano, and sometimes parsley when it comes out of the oven. The wife got one with chilies, olives and garlic. The original rendition didn't have any cheese on it, but we requested it. Her pie had huge slices of fresh garlic spread all over, and a healthy sprinkling of calamata olives. She loved it. My friend got the plain tomato-buffalo mozzerella pie and loved it. I got the garlic sausage one. The sausage wasn't exactly what I expected but it was really incredible. So that's the food part. Now, that being said, I have two things to complain about with this restaurant. First are the prices. I know there are other threads arguing about how you have to pay for the top notch ingredients, etc and I agree its true. But the bill adds up VERY fast in this place, and left us slightly startled. All we had was what I described above - 3 personal pizzas, 1 appetizer, plus 1 glass of wine (for me only). With tip, it came to almost $80. The other thing I want to complain about is the sometimes snobby attitude of the place. They really try hard to sell items to you. When we only ordered one appetizer we got a dirty look. When only I ordered a drink, the woman snatched the other 2 glasses away so fast to make a statment. Our waitress came to the table to pour my glass. She showed me the bottle, etc. There was only enough wine left in the bottle for one glass of wine (maybe a DROP more). She started to pour my glass and then left that one DROP in the bottle. It wasn't even enough for another 1/5 glass. Come on! Couldn't she just top it off?? My wine glass was still barely half full and she couldn't just give me the rest of what was in the bottle. I thought that was very chincy and it bothered me. I muttered something under my breath but she didn't hear. Oh well. These things all happened before our pizzas even came - and when they did come, it sort of absolved them a bit. But still.... The restaurant just seems a bit full of themselves. They read the specials to you as if you are sitting in Alain Ducasse. I prefer the more "humble" and warm attitude. I wonder if this place was always like this or if success has gotten to their heads. Or maybe they deserve to have this attitude? Despite my negative comments, I think I will be back - because the pizza is that good. ~WBC

Here here! I am adding my voice to the "dislike" group. There is nothing about Magnolia's cupcakes that would define the genre - let alone be edible. Their bananna pudding is passible - but the recipe from the back of the Nilla Wafers box even puts that to shame. But back to the cupcakes - dry, overly sweet - and ridiculously overrated in my opinion. ~WBC

Haha! Good one. Honestly, the fact they did it this way makes me wonder if they even really did this experiment. Imagine how long they must have been sitting - if they had to wait and assemble sandwiches from all those different places to try alltogether. Some of them could've been sitting for quite a long time. I would think that it would literally fall apart after that. Is it possible that this article is actually B.S.? Just wondering... ~WBC

The list is: Wogies Bar & Grill Philly Slim's BB Sandwich Bar Carl's Steaks Tony Lukes 99 Miles from Philly I have a serious issue with this whole "experiment". I call it that because what they did was get a group of people from Philly up here to taste these all as experts. That I don't have so much of a problem with. The thing I couldn't believe is that they got TAKEOUT from all these places to use in the test! How can you accurately rate a food based on takeout? Especially something like a hot, messy, philly cheesesteak sandwich. I can't even believe the sandwiches held up. No wonder all the reviewers complained that many of the rolls lacked "chew". Anyway, of the above places I've only tried Carl's and I like it very much. The best philly cheesesteak I ever had was from Pat's in Philly about 7 years ago. I went back again last year and it was absolutely terrible. Carl's was much better. ~WBC

I can't claim to have tried that many cubanos around town - but the best I've ever had was at Sophies dowtown - the one off Exchange Place. It was perfect and I've yet to taste one that compared to it. After reading this, I'll have to try harder! ~WBC

I would remove Los Pollitos in Brooklyn and replace it with Coco Roco - about 10 blocks south on 5th ave. Far superior to Los Pollitos in my opinion. ~WBC

I'm considering hitting Angon tomorrow night. I was wondering - do you usually order family style - i.e. get a few dishes for the table and split? Or does everyone usually get their own? Also, it may just be myself and my wife - which isn't good for family style. I like to try as many different things as possible of course. Does anyone have any dish recomendations for a two-person meal there? What are the two best dishes for an Angon newbie? thx ~WBC

Octaveman, In your area, I suggest: Azuri Cafe (IMO, best falafel I've eaten - anywhere, including the Middle East) get the falafel platter and let Ezra do his thing Hallo Berlin I can't believe nobody mentioned it. German beer garden and some of the best sausage I've had. Daisy Mae BBQ A little bit more of a hike for you - but doable. I've never been to the "home base" but have tried their pulled pork from their carts and its good stuff. Thats all for now. I'll add more if I think of anything. ~WBC

First, I posted a positive review way up thread. I loved the food at Dino and can't wait to go back. That said, while its my opinion that those bad reviews were off, I don't see why they're not entitled to their own opinion. And like others said, I doubt it will hurt their business. And if it does, well hey, less wait time for us! I do have one suggestion for the management though, if they're reading this thread, as far as ambiance goes. They need to somehow lose the PA system for announcing ready tables. I know its a matter of practicality, but it just felt so cheap. Especially when you're eating at the bar area and you hear announcments every 2 minutes. It feels like you're in Fudruckers or something. Isn't there a more subtle way to let people know their tables are ready? What do other places do? ~WBC

Awesome! I'm there! ~WBC

So, if you were in Istanbul asking for a doner kebab, you will be most likely asked if you want a doner or a kebab. ← That's actually incorrect. The full name in Turkish for the dish is döner kebap - that's how it appear on menus. "Kebap" in Turkish simply means barbequed meat. (The word "şiş" (shish) means skewer) However, almost 100% of the time, you just order it by saying "doner". Shawarma/doner/gyro is one of my favorite foods. Here's my analysis of the varieties: Turkish (döner): From my own experiences, I have found Turkish döner to be the best. Around the city, döner I eat at Turkish places is almost always better than other varieties. I don't know exactly why this is. To my knowledge, the Turkish version has no vinegar and is not marrinated. It's just layers of lamb altneranted with layers of fat, and some seasoning. The traditional way to eat it is with salt, tomatoes and onions, or on a plate with rice. The best I ever had was sebzeli döner in Soutern Turkey - it had chunks of vegetables layered in with the meat and was out of this world. (see pic below) Israeli: Any Israeli shawarma I've had (including in Israel) has been OK but not great. Maybe its the kind of meat they use? Or kosher? I don't know, but it's usually not as good. Greek: Anytime I've had gyros in this city, they've usually been disgraceful. A lot of diners have the "ready-made" frozen gyro strips which they throw on the grill and drown with white sauce. I think I had one homemade one in Astoria once which wasn't bad. If anyone knows any good Greek gyro places in the city please let me know! I really hope they don't use those frozen strips in Greece! Bottom line is this. I'd say from experiecne that 75% of the time in this city, you will not get homemade shwarama. It is a labor intensive and time consuming process to make it - but the places that make their own, no matter the nationality, are always better of course. So that's the #1 criteria. Some places where I've had great doner around town (all Turkish): - Bereket (on Houston) (fast food place) - Turkish Kitchen (more upscale) - Efe Turkish Market (in Bklyn, believe it or not this food market makes incredible döner!) - Ali Baba (on 34th St.) - On MacDougal, Yatagan is the best, and yep, its Turkish ~WBC Edited to add: sebzeli döner (in Turkey) This to me, is the high priest of döner. It's a famous hole in the wall in Izmit, Turkey. The best döner in Turkey is found in Bursa. Supposedly, the guy who cooks in the place below was taught by a famous döner master from Bursa. This was the best I've ever had. (after they serve you, a guy comes around and drizzles melted butter on your meat. MMMMMMM! )

I've picked up the frozen WC burgers in the supermarket before. When microwaved, they happen to taste remarkably like the real thing. BTW, I'm a huge White Castle fan - drunk or not! Tried Sassy Sliders once - wasn't impressed. They may use better ingredients but I still thought that WC prevailed in taste. Maybe I was also turned off by absolutely horrendous service (I think I waited over 25 min for my food) and the place was filthy. I've also noticed differences in quality from one White Castle to another. I don't think they're as consistent as other fast food places for some reason. I got to try these NJ places now! ~WBC

Thanks for the report. One question - is a "soupy" slice considered a good thing?

There are a lot of quality places in Jackson Heigts where you can get out with a huge meal + desert for under $10 pp. For me though its all about the food. I'd pay more at Angon if the quality is better. When I try it I'll be sure to report back. ~WBC

jogoode, thanks for the report. I've read about this place here and other sites as well and have been meaning to try it for a while. I was wondering if you have tried any of the Indian/Pakistani places out in Jackson Heights? I'm curious to hear a comparison of some of those places vs. Angon. After sampling some of the superb Indian food out in Queens, I have a hard time rationalizing paying 4 x as much at Angon. If the food is better at Angon though, thats a different story. ~WBC