raji

Both Meskerem aren't as good as Queen of Sheba IMO

Great report man - I've been out a dozen or so times - I'm a season ticket holder. As a season ticket holder, even though I'm up in the Promenade, I have access to all of the clubs including the Sterling, Ebbets and Caesar clubs on the 3 levels, but I tend to walk and watch and eat around the stadium, I'm too into the game. I think this is a big win for our New Yorker restaurateurs - I expected nothing less from Danny Meyer, Dave Pasternack and Drew Neirpont all under one (very large) roof, while our cousins up north feature a Hard Rock Cafe and "Food Network Chefs", where guest chefs I guess are somehow involved in large buffets and chafing dishes.... I'm extremely happy with the food options and have stopped bringing my own food to the stadium. Most of Danny Meyer's options are the same prices as his restaurants. My favorite has to be the $9.50 3-taco platter. When SF-born Keith Hernandez is praising the authentic tacos on-air, you know it's gonna be good. Even if a hot dog is in order, you can turn a $4.50 plump nathan's dog into practically a Chicago-style dog, with relish, chiles, raw onion, cooked onions, saurkraut and other condiments all available. I wonder how long that will last, seems like it could get out of hand if there was a bad bunch of fans around. I guess I'll see what happens the next time the Phillies are in town. I would say the biggest improvements are 1) service, as Danny Meyer arranged for the entire old and new Citifield staff to be re-trained (even Omar Minaya attended) 2) execution, they have proper kitchens now and seem to at least be trying a lot harder, 3) variety, and 4) pricing. Yeah we all expected some jacked up stadium prices, but they are pretty reasonable for most things, so you're paying on average another 75 cents for what you got at the old stadium, but a much much higher quality product. All that and Brooklyn Lager is on tap, a pint for $6.25, literally 20 seconds from my seat. That's cheaper than most of Manhattan! I think like the teams themselves, the Yankees are catering to baseball tourists while the Mets cater to New Yorkers by bringing in our culinary hometown heroes...

Marseilles, HK, Market Cafe

Not sure what you mean when you say this - you went inside when they had first opened their doors for the day?

Walking down Curry Hill today I saw the Bollywood-themed place next to Madras Mahal has remodeled and re-opened as Dhaba. It's very promising, first and foremost because it is run by Shiva Natarajan who runs one of my favorite Indian restaurants, Chola, as well as others I am quite fond of in the tri-state area. You can see the menu here: http://www.highwaydhaba.com/menu.htm While the more familiar dishes are of course there, there is a much wider range of Northern dishes and spicing strategies available than you might find elsewhere, I'm excited to try out a lot of the dishes. It also seems like a place I can safely take my British friends, who moan about not being able to find "good indian food in ny" because they can't find their British "curries". What I always like about this group of restaurants is they don't go the butter, ghee and food coloring route that a lot of non-vegetarian places and aren't afraid to use authentic spices - preparation is always very good for the price. I did the buffet today, and for $10, while it was the usual suspects, Chicken Tikka Masala, Goat Curry, Chana, saag, biryani, basmati rice, they were all awfully good, gulub jaman were available for a dessert, and they also brought a chaat plate out with a great Bhel Puri and potato samosas, as well as breads, and someone from the kitchen also brought out some great tandoori chicken - for breads alone you usually have to pay, but all that was inclusive of the buffet. Their chicken I loved because they didn't have to do the in-human red-coloring thing, they did a much more home-cooked version of it which was very good. They're also doing a late-night thang with kingfisher on tap, so that might have to be a latenight spot for me...

Yeah - Moose, try out Aburiya or Soba Totto for lunch - they have a great assortment of lunch specials nowadays, I've been frequenting them

I don't think it's worth it to get into the Famous Ray's vs. Famous Original Ray's vs. Famous Ray's of Greenwich Village vs. Original Ray's vs. Ray's pizza argument - I set out on my bicycle 15 years ago to try to settle this once and for all, several of them have claims to the name, the one at 6th and 11th had the most articles posted to that effect from the pantheon of journalism, the Post and the Daily News, and at the time, the best of the slices. So I'll add to Fat Guy's assertion; the Ray's slice at 6th and 11th is probably the best of a bad category. However Ray's has changed of the years. I only started with it in the early nineties. At that time, and I believe this is the formula that got them through the 80s, they would build a large pie piled with coarsely grated mozzarella cheese that was piled up a good four inches, nearly reaching the roof of the oven it was being shoved into. 1 of those slices was pure bliss when drunk (or sober), 2 was very filling and probably filled your quota for cheap mozz for the month. Then around the late 90s, they started posting signs saying they couldn't pile on as much cheese as they used to because of rising costs. I think by this time they were 1.75 a slice. Then they started posted signs about how they were forced to use this cheaper cheese and couldn't use whole-milk mozz anymore, and they were using some cheaper Wisconsin approximate that was forced upon them by their cheese distributor. I can't remember the details exactly, maybe a more regular customer from 98-04 could remind me, but there was definitely some drama going on. I've started going back the first few years (probably for the same nostalgic reasons some of you go) - but it's not the same slice as 10 years ago, and definitely less cheese. Can anyone clarify the cheese drama that Ray's went through?

Moose, would help to know where you are coming from - TsukUshi is still very good. Has anyone compared Kyo Ya with Sugiyama? Is Sugiyama just dated or stodgy at this point? I'm a little wary of Kyo Ya because of the michelin and the prices, but I don't want to pass judgement until I try it personally. Sounds like you've really go the New American/French covered, and it's not hard to figure out who the new hot blondes are in this category - Agree with EMW about Queen of Sheba. I think Curry Hill is worth a visit if you haven't been lately, Saravanaas, Tamarind.. If you haven't been to Aburiya Kinnosuke, this is a very unique ethnic Japanese experience. It serves whole categories of Japanese food not found elsewhere. If you drive to get here, might be time to hit Flushing or Woodside, you can check out whole swaths of Asia there

Thanks raji -- that is good to know. I figured it was something related to the broth itself, and thus couldn't be fixed. I didn't realize that soy is commonly added to the broth when putting a bowl of ramen together. Emily ← If it's a shoyuramen, definitely Not so much curryramen, so maybe they screwed up would not be the first time at RaiRaiKen

Next time if it's too salty, send it back Unless they ruined the house tare, they probably had a heavy hand with the soy sauce

It was great back in the day when it was the only thing like it. Still the widest selection of sake below 34th, if that's your thing. Not sure if they ever updated for the shochu boom, I haven't been there in several years. Food was always only passable. Really depends on what your poison is...

I don't consider it cheap. To me, Crispo is not a cheap restaurant, but a moderate restaurant that's a very good value. ← Yeah - I got the roasted asparagus with parmesan, a beefsteak/bufalo mozz. caprese, truffle-topped ravioli cooked in pancetta stuffed with ricotta, another cheese and spinach special, hedgehog-crusted striped bass, a draft Peroni, a glass of wine, and a martini all for a hundo - everything was really really great. Almost forgot about this place.

Well the man did say he was drinking. And the only thing remotely positive about Kenka is it is the cheapest you will find Kirin draft in Manhattan. Kirin's rep told me himself. I think it's still like $8 for a large pitcher. If you're drunk enough you won't know the difference between Taisho and uptown yakitori. have at it! dba is the best bar in the east village, bar none (rimshot!)

Yuva, Chola, and definitely Tamarind, and not just cuz the executive chef shares my name

If not the East village as you mentioned, Hell's Kitchen could serve you very well, between 42nd and 57th and 9th and 10th Avenues there are countless bars which would definitely do the trick. stay away from 8th avenue, it's almost all touristy bull Oh yeah and the LES although I think there's kind of an age cutoff for how you might enjoy it

Hi guys - thank you for all the recommendations!! (Especially Mr. Rosendorf!)- Yes, we're staying in Hollywood but have a car. Not that getting around Miami Beach is any fun during WMC, but it's the quietest (relatively) that I've ever seen it - Thursday night was hectic so didn't get to dine selectively. For tonight I think some of the options on Normandy are looking good. Also from your map, Red Light sounds good. Parillada sounds like a good idea, i think it's the same thing as churrascaria, no? Don't know if we have the appetite.... Last night we did manage to make it to Hiro's Yakko-san and I appreciate the recommendation. I was glad to see a Japanese chef cooking Japanese, so rare outside of a few of the major cities. I know I'm completely spoiled up in NY but it was good for such a far-reaching izakaya menu. I thought the sashimi moriawase would be a good choice, hoping that the fish had been sourced locally, and it was pretty good for the most part, but I have to admit that something in there DID cause me some intestinal distress... It might have been the beef tongue salad, i wish they served that yakiniku style with a dip of sesame oil and salt. Vegetable Tempura was all good and correctly prepared. I was stuffed by the time the kurobuta belly arrived, i thought it would be more of moist preparation, so was a bit surprised how tough it was. I probably should have asked for recommendations first! because it would really benefit repeat visits to see what they do really well. But definitely did the job - if it's good enough for Ichiro and Matsui, good enough for me!

Hey Miami egulleteers - NY-gulleteer here, (some of you might know me from my posts in the NY forum) down for a few days for conference, looking for what's hot locally, not necessarily at the upper end of Miami Beach and Downtown prices, great local gastro-pubs and representative of the best the area has to offer. Not necessarily looking for anything I can readily get in NYC with the exception of needing a few very solid, very authentic Japanese restaurants. I'm as pickier if not a lot pickier than a native Japanese in that aspect. staying in Hollywood, will probably catch a spring training game in PSL TIA for any help!!! Pointing to other threads in this forum also very helpful!

I second cookshop, has always delivered for me. Also why not Il Bastardo, solid Italian food, great prices, greater wine list

Sietsema reviewed RockMeisha ロクメイシャ(if you want to google some pics from Japanese-in-NY blogs) , it's been there for several years. I've put them in my NY ramen top 5 for some time but haven't been back recently, honestly if I have $14 to drop on a ramen I'll walk over and get an akamaru modern at Ippudo, if I want the accompanying izakaya experience without the bastardization of "Japanaese tapas" that others have done with it, then I'll go to rockmeisha, I don't know why I haven't gotten there recently, it's seemingly always closed when I go, or if I am looking at izakaya fun I've already somehow migrated towards the east side by then...

I walked by here on Sunday hoping for a teishoku (set) lunch. Virtually all restaurants in Japan offer this and most in Midtown east offer it to cater to the Japanese business crowd. Shouldn't expect that on weekends but would be nice on weekdays, would be a way for them to introduce themselves, I doubt they'll try it.

I'm pretty sure it's not - but you're right, the only difference being that Mujirushi in Japan is where you go to buy cheap, well-designed Chinese made goods - a Japanese version of "No-Ad" (mujirushi ryohin means no brand but quality goods), and then they come here via the MOMA store and find people are willing to pay $20 for a plastic spatula in an interesting shape. When I go to Japan I stock up on Muji. Meanwhile the Inakaya here is a copy of the premise in Japan. The poor decision-making on both being tone-deafness

The bar room is open: http://www.themodernnyc.com/modern/modern.html It's a little noisier at night but the booths are spaced way apart at Marseilles, very good food and wine

The scene I was thinking was the "old 96er" scene from the Great Outdoors. Needless to say John Candy is now dead. I've been to Hill Country, I think the untrimmed fat is extreme, it shouldn't be part of the weigh-in. My buddy didn't touch it, I was stupid enough to eat it and now I can't fit into my pants.

Sneak I'll go with you as long as you allow me to order their most expensive bottle of shochu

Honestly for $13 you can watch Japanese people yell militaristic orders to eachother at Ippudo. A robatayaki is supposed to be simple, country-style preparations of hyper-fresh ingredients. Imagine a small seaside Japanese fishing village where fish are plucked still writhing out of the sea, plopped on a stick and charred up in a salt crust over a red-hot charcoal. Even Inakaya's name is supposed to evoke this - "inaka" means countryside in Japan. If you want to call someone a country bumkin in Japan you call them an "inakaimo", a country potato. Blech I hate when stuff gets all bastardized in translation