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Bond Girl

eGullet Society staff emeritus
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Posts posted by Bond Girl

    Matsuri

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    After having heard great reviews from my Japanese hairstylist on Matsuri, I decided to check it out for myself. From the outside, the restaurant was hardly impressive, hidden behind a heavy wooden door on the lower level of the Maritime hotel. Once inside, you find a cavernous interior with breathtaking arches on the ceiling and floating paper lanterns. The place was definitely buzzing on a friday night with thumping music and parading designer labels. However, compared to the setting, the food was somewhat anti-climatic. The menu consisted of the usual assortment of sushi and sashimi that you would find in any average Japanese restaurant, plus the usual cooked entrees like tempura, yakitori and noodle dishes. If you happen to be looking for the chef's omakase, you are out of luck here. What's worse is that if you are indecisive, you won't get any help from the sushi chefs behind the bar.

    I first had yellow tail and toro sashimi which just seemed like slabs of fish arranged on my plate, but the toro were fresh enough and yellow tail tasted clean. Next I had: Abalone sashimi, which was so tough that you can't eat it; Giant clam, which were nice and crunchy; a sweet shrimp that melted in my mouth and a piece of sea urchin sushi that was rich and earthy in tone. After that I ran out of luck in getting the sushi chef's attention so I decided to have dessert.

    My server did not know much about the dessert menu since he hasn't tried anything on it, but after checking out the desserts of my fellow diners I settled on the Tapioca tart with Japanese Pears. It was essentially tapioca pudding in a cookie cup topped with gingered pears. The cookie was tasty but the tapioca pudding was almost tasteless and the ginger flavor on the pear topping were so strong that it overwhelmed everything. Other desserts sound just as unappealing (chocolate topped chestnut cream with red beans, pumpkin cheese cake with vanilla ice cream etc)

    Overall, the menu was uninventive, the sushi was fresher than the average Japanese restaurant but not great, the dessert was terrible, the service very spotty, but the decor was phenomenal.

    If you are looking for a great scene with acceptable food, then Matsuri would be your kind of place, but if you are looking for a great sushi restaurant save your money and go to Jewel Bako instead.

    Burger Club

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    My catfish was very well executed. It had a nice crunchy crust and was nice and juicey on the inside. The okra stew that went with it was nice as well but could be much spicier. I will definitely go back for the grill shrimp.

    The company was terrific. I really enjoyed meeting everyone. Happy B-day suzanne!

    lobster souffle

    in eGullet Q&A with Jeffrey Steingarten

    Posted

    Jeffrey -- that would be great, and not improper at all. If it's okay with you, we could then copy it into the eGullet Recipe archive so that it would be easy for people to find.

    Thanks much for being so generous with your time here at eGullet.

    Dear Richard and Bond Girl:

    Plese tell me how to send in the recipe. It's written in MS Word for Windows. I'd be happy to.

    Jeffrey

    P. S. And Bond Girl, why are you called that. Do you work at Bond Street? Are you a rich young Bond trader. Etc.

    I neither work on Bond Street or am a wealthy bond trader, but a mere 007 fan. :laugh:

    Babies/Children in Restaurants (merged topic)

    in Restaurant Life

    Posted

    I usually do not mind babies, infants and toddlers in a high end restaurant as long as the parents know their children and can control them reasonably well. What I can't deal with parents who insisted on taking their obviously cranky child into a restaurant and then ignores all the screaming, crying and wailing. I am aslo somewhat conflicted about women who insisted on breast feeding their child in a high end restaurant. On one hand, I think it's every woman's right to breast feed their child whenever and whereever she feels like, on the other hand, I find sitting at a table with woman opening breast feeding her child is somewhat embarrassing. Then again, I don't have any children.

    El Bulli I have no idea?

    in Spain & Portugal: Dining

    Posted

    The mind reels at the image of a loud, brash Texan wearing a cowboy hat, smoking a big fat cigar and sitting down for dinner at El Bulli and harassing the waitstaff due to the lack of burritos.

    "What? No burritos? What about fajitas? Don't you Spaniards cook anything us normal people like to eat? What's this foam shit?"

    Jason, that is too funny!!

    Casa Mono and Bar Jamón

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    fried bay leaves?  can you tell us more about this??!!?

    Yes, please.

    It's whole bay leaves dipped in Bagnet batter, and when you eat it, you pull the bay leave out, so your teeth and the dough get the bay leave flavor and you don't get the thing stuck in your throat.

    Casa Mono and Bar Jamón

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    Eden kept all the notes, so you will have to wait for her "official" version. But, from what I had, which was limited by my neurotic constitution, the Pan Con Tomate reminded me of Cal Pep in Barcelona and was gobbled up by everyone. The artichokes was full of lemon flavors and satified this artichoke lover. The Bacalao Croquets were nice and crunchy on the outside and light within. While the brussel sprouts may not have turned Lauren into an avid lover of brussel sprouts, it was nicely caramelized and made Lauren into a Brussel Sprout convert. The scallops served in its pink shells wowed all of us with its pretty appearance but no one liked it except me. Then again, I like my scallops nice and soft with the scallop mustard. The duck egg was servd over these tiny baby potatoes made me feel like I was having breakfast, and the pieces of meat on top which we thought was ham turned out to be dried Tuna. Everyone who can eat meat was admant about not having any of JJ's tripe and sweetbreads, but everyone ended up taking second bites.

    The best part was the dessert. We ordered fried bay leaves, which was good but weird, and ice cream sundae, which was rich and delicious.

    All around I think I would not go to Casa Mono for any culinary feats, but I would go there for the simple rustic cooking that is the absolute delight of one's evening.

    Hearth

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    By the way, even though Tom Colicchio is an investor in the restaurant, this place IS NOT part of the Craft empire, and to assume it would really be doing Hearth and the chef a great injustice.

    Hearth

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    The tasting menu is $48, figure in tax and tip should take you to $60. However, since it's a block away from my apartment, I've stopped in on the days when I didn't feel like cooking, order an entree and a dessert for $40.00 drink, tax and tip included.

    Casa Mono and Bar Jamón

    in New York: Dining

    Posted

    Should we start a new topic to round up people whose food I can try, I mean, um, friends?

    Soba? alacarte? bourdain(:smile:)?

    JJ are you accusing me of hording my own food?!!! :shock: I do share.... :laugh:

    :laugh::laugh: Oops. I meant that you and I need more eating companions so we can both pick at their food! :smile:

    True! Okay, Soba?!!! Alacarte?!!! :laugh:

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