Birthday Dinner

Florian

225 Park Avenue South

(between 18th Street and 19th Street)

If you are in search of a restaurant for a birthday dinner celebration, Florian is an excellent choice.

Although, I have already written a blog post on the restaurant, I had to return for their WHOLE lobster pizza ($29). And what a better time to try such a decadent (and pricey!) dish, but at a birthday dinner?

Beautiful presentation, with large pieces of lobster already de-shelled (which I was a bit worried about!) and ready-to-eat!

If you look closely, under the shell of the lobster head is half a lemon.

 

The service was terrific: both friendly and helpful.

We were looking for an appetizer to share that would be light and would accompany the lobster pizza well. Our server recommended that we go with the daily market vegetables (3 for $14). We selected mushrooms, artichokes, and Brussels sprouts. Excellent as extra toppings for the lobster pizza! I was also concerned about the Brussels sprouts (worried that they might be too hard to chew), but they were small and soft and tasty!

 

For our meal, we chose the Falesco Vitiano rosé from Umbria ($33). It was the only rosé the restaurant had on its menu, but it was a light and refreshing wine. It is also a bright-colored rosé with ruby highlights, which makes for a great celebratory drink!

 

And since it was a birthday celebration, we had to have dessert. We went with their tiramisu and the restaurant knowing that it was a birthday dinner came to the table bearing the dessert with a festive sparkler and singing “Happy Birthday.”

 

Note: Do NOT try to blow out the sparkler—it won’t work! Just let it burn down.

The dessert was creamy and inhaled in about two bites. I liked that it came with a side of chocolate bites with pecan nuts.

And, of course, the servers came around with their signature complimentary warm chocolate chip cookies straight from the oven. A perfect exclamation mark to end the birthday celebration!

Momofuku Nishi

232 Eighth Avenue

(between 21st Street and 22nd Street)

David Chang just opened a new Momofuku. In Chelsea!

I only noticed it due to the long lines of people standing outside the restaurant (as no signage is visible).

To avoid the long lines, I suggest going late in the evening, say after 9:30 p.m., which is what we did.

It was perfect timing, as seating was immediately available at either a regular table or a high-top table. We selected the high-top table seating. Each table had a convenient hook to hang personal belongings and outerwear.

 

According to David Chang Momofuku Nishi tries “to not use Italian ingredients to make Italian food.” To accentuate this point, the menu contains footnotes. Yes, footnotes! Foodies, swoon!

 

The dishes are ideal for sharing (as the pricing is steep—average prices are $20 for appetizer, $30 for noodle dishes).

We started with their scallop (tiger’s milk, shio kombu) appetizer ($21). Beautiful presentation. The scallops looked like scallops swimming in sea-green waters!

For our entrée, we went with their chicken and dumplings (broth, torn noodles, and smoked shiitake). It is super tasty, but warning: this dish is VERY rich and heavy. The menu notes that it comes as a broth, but the dish is more similar to a creamy chowder. Would recommend ordering it on a cold winter’s night.

To accompany the meal, I ordered the White Rascal beer ($8). It’s a Beligian-style white ale.

 

My dining companion ordered their homemade ginger soda ($7). Very good and helpful with digesting the chicken and dumplings.

 

As part of the new trend, NO TIPPING is requested on the menu, as the tip is already included in the menu pricing.

Pros:

Friendly service.

Comfortable atmosphere.

Cons:

Pricey.

Final Thoughts

Will return to try their signature Ceci e Pepe noodle dish.

Le Zie

172 Seventh Avenue

(between 20th and 21s Streets)

A friend wanted to meet for an early Friday dinner, but she is very particular about her food. She’s not particularly adventurous and loves seafood. So to play it safe, I decided to recommend Italian.

Le Zie 2000 is a rustic, moderately priced Italian restaurant that has been around for a loooong time in Chelsea. That cinched it for me as a place to suggest as my friend also has a very sensitive stomach, so if a restaurant has been around for a while, I assume it must be doing something right!

 

The last time I’d been to Le Zie was over ten years ago. Part of my reason for not returning had to do with their uncomfortable old-school seating and design. Since then, though they’ve gone through a renovation, which I would give a resounding thumbs-up!

 

First off: Drink selection! I knew we were going to have a good dinner when our server happily let us sample four (4!) different tastings of red wines. We finally settled on the 2011 Primitivo di Manduria “Calidus” from Puglia ($13 per glass). As usual, the primitivo does not disappoint—with its smooth, non-tannic finish it’s really becoming my favorite red.

 

Since I knew that my friend loved seafood, we started off sharing the Price Edward Island mussels (white wine, tomato, basil, garlic croutons) for $15. Sauce was great for dipping our bread in.

 

Choosing an entrée was a bit difficult for me as there were so many delicious-sound entrée options to choose, and after much hemming and hawing and discussion with our server, I finally went with his recommendation of the orechiette, sausage, broccoli rabe, and chili dish ($20). Final verdict: Excellent recommendation. Loved the combination of the pasta and the crunchy rabe and the spicy sausage—topped with parmesan cheese. Delicious!

 

My friend ordered the linguine and clams, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, parsley, crushed red peppers ($23). I tried a little of her dish and I could definitely taste the clams on the pasta.

 

For dessert, the server convinced us to go with their special dessert: raspberry soufflé with chocolate ice cream on the side ($9). We were advised that we would need to wait a while (as it’s a 10-minute prep), but we were still drinking our wine and in no rush. And it was well worth the wait.

Amazingly light! It was like eating a cloud of raspberry. A perfect finish to a heavy pasta meal.

 

I do want to emphasize the excellent service. From on-point food recommendations and bringing us countless refills on our bread basket (as well as giving my friend a dish of fresh garlic cloves upon learning that she wanted some extra garlic in the olive oil that we were dipping our bread in) to not rushing us out even though the restaurant had quickly filled up with some diners waiting to be seated. I also noticed that there were many obvious repeat customers, as they warmly greeted the host and the servers throughout the evening.

I will definitely be a happy, repeat customer to Le Zie!

Pros:

Friendly, excellent service.

Comfortable atmosphere.

Tasty food.

Cons:

A bit pricey. Wished they had a prix fixe lunch/dinner menu.

Final Thoughts

Will definitely return!

They also have a “Lounge” bar located in a back room with a side-street entrance that I must try.

Subway (Tuna Footlong Sandwich)

Various locations

For the month of February, Subway is offering all of their footlong sandwiches for $6.00. Depending upon the location, though, I would recommend double-checking pricing with the food preparer before ordering. Some places only have some of the footlong sandwiches for $6.00; others offer their entire sandwich menu.

For those on a budget the footlong sandwiches are really good options. I would eat half for lunch and save the other half in the fridge for dinner.

So taking advantage of the special pricing, and to satisfy my salt hankering I ordered the tuna footlong sandwich. Also, if you happen to have the crumbly remains of a bag of potato chips lying around, I highly recommend putting those remains on the tuna sandwich. (In this instance, I used some cheddar and sour cream chips, but my favorite are sour cream and garlic chips.)

Awesome! To get that extra awesome crunch, I recommend using chips with ridges!

Hanjan

36 West 26th Street

(between Broadway and Sixth Avenue)

It was Winter Restaurant Week and in spite of the bad weather, I wanted to try at least one restaurant’s special Lunch Menu ($25 for appetizer, entrée, and dessert).

 

Went to a somewhat-difficult-to-find Korean restaurant, Hanjan. For some reason, on many places online it’s listed as being located between Broadway and Madison? If I weren’t meeting someone at the restaurant, I would have probably just called it a day and went elsewhere! After wandering around a bit perplexed I went west and finally found it between Broadway and Sixth.

Upon entering, I found my dining companion waiting for me at a nicely stocked bar.

 

The restaurant itself is of a calming minimalist décor with a communal table in the center of the room.

Luckily, we arrived when the restaurant had just opened as it soon quickly filled up with other diners taking advantage of the Restaurant Week Lunch Menu.

 

As part of the Lunch Menu special they provided namul (their version of banchan), which they typically would charge for. It came with: Korean sweet black beans, muchae (chopped radish with dried chili pepper), and soybean sprouts. Very tasty and light!

 

For our starters, we ordered the fried handmade pork and chive dumplings (decent, but not the best).

And sweet and sour chicken nuggets (lightly fried chicken breast in “tangsoo” sauce). Would not order again as it did not taste like chicken nuggets.

My main reason for returning would be for the entrée I ordered: the ramen noodles in spicy seafood broth (jjam ppong ramyun). Delicious! Unbelievably spicy and perfect to warm up a cold day. The noodles were of perfect consistency and the seafood was plentiful. Drank to the last drop!

My friend ordered what she always orders in a Korean restaurant: the bulgogi beef bibimbap. She thought it was good, but not the best she has tasted. And as I mentioned, she is a bibimbap lover..

 

And we finished off our meal with the black sesame ice cream and sweet potato ice cream. Decent, but again nothing noteworthy to mention.

For drinks, my friend ordered the popular Makgeoli (unfiltered rice beer). She loved it, but I found it a bit too bitter. I guess because of its milky coloring, I was assuming that it would have a more sweet and creamy taste.

 

So instead I ordered the Hite (draft Korean lager made with mineral water). Very light and refreshing—so perfect accompaniment with my spicy ramen seafood soup!

Pros:

Ramen noodles with spicy seafood broth.

Cons:

Aside from the ramen noodle soup, the food is rather average considering the pricing.

More banchan offerings needed.

Final Thoughts

If I’m in the area and need a quick ramen noodle fix I’ll definitely consider returning.

Trattoria Trecolori

254 West 47th Street

(between Broadway and Eighth Avenue)

After watching a weekday evening performance of the smash Broadway play Hamilton (which absolutely lived up to its hype!), we were in search of a nearby restaurant whose kitchen was still open.

Around the corner from the play, we came upon a very cute, low-key Italian restaurant—Trattoria Trecolori.

 

Feeling starved and seeing that they offered homemade black squid ink pasta, it was really a no-brainer. We both ordered the Linguine Nere alla Monsignore. It came with shrimp, scallops, squid, clams, and mussels in a marinara sauce. Delicious and definitely tasted homemade!

We started off with an order of the Caprese (fresh tomato, mozzarella, and basil). Very light and refreshing. Perfect, as we wanted to make room for our main course!

 

To accompany our meal, the server recommended their rosé—a 2014 Abadal: a light and refreshing option to pair with our heavy entrées. As with Mercato, the restaurant only had one type of rosé on their wine list.

 

After a tasting, we decided to order a bottle.

For dessert, we ordered their homemade tiramisu. Another no-brainer, as I always order the tiramisu if it’s on the menu. And like the homemade pasta, their tiramisu tasted fresh and homemade.

 

To cap off the dinner and to accompany the dessert, I ordered a glass of Frangelico—a kind of lighter version of brandy. I haven’t had Frangelico in a loooong time, but decided to treat myself to one. I also highly recommend adding it to your coffee (in lieu of milk and sugar) as an after-dinner drink.

Wonderful way to end a memorable night at the theater!

Pros:

Relaxing atmosphere.

Friendly, excellent service.

Authentic homemade Italian pastas and desserts.

Cons:

More rosé options.

Final Thoughts

Will definitely return, especially after seeing a Broadway play.

Mercato

352 West 39th Street

(between Eighth and Ninth Avenues)

A great small, cozy Italian space that has the feel of being in one’s living room.

The food is absolutely delicious. Starting with the thick dipping sauce (made up of lentils) for the bread. There was also a hint of sun-dried tomatoes as well.

We started off our Italian meal with a small dish of mixed olives marinated in fennel and rosemary. Some of the olives also had a bit of spiciness to their taste, but wasn’t sure if it was due to the brine or the specific olive. It was a perfect pairing with the bread and its accompanying dipping sauce.

We also ordered the Polpette Con Crostini (meatballs, tomato sauce, and garlic crostini) as an appetizer. This dish was probably the weakest of our appetizers as I felt the meatballs were a tiny bit dry.

 

The most interesting appetizer had to be the sardines we ordered. The appetizer came with two grilled whole sardines topped with salmoriglio sauce (a garlicky herb and lemon sauce). Salty goodness! But beware of the bones!

 

We then shared an order of the Linguine Al Frutti di Mare (linguine with mussels, calamari, shrimp, clams, and spicy tomato sauce). The kitchen very kindly separated the dish for us and served it to us on separate plates. Definitely spicy!

For drinks, I started off with their rosé (Puglia 2014). They only offered one type of rosé offering, but it was refreshing and light and went perfectly with the spicy food.

 

Also had a glass of their Primitivo (Amastuola Puglia 2013). Always love a Primitivo (as they tend to have a very smooth finish while still having a full body taste), so I try to order a glass whenever I see it offered on a wine list.

Only off note was their dessert special of a flourless chocolate cake. Disappointingly dry. Glad that I had my glass of Primitivo to wash it down!

Pros:

Relaxing atmosphere.

LOVE the dipping sauce for the bread.

Friendly service.

Cons:

Dessert.

Final Thoughts

Will definitely return if I’m around Penn Station or Port Authority. And to try their other desserts!