Fonda Chelsea

189 Ninth Avenue

(between 21st and 22nd Streets)

Continuing with my annual Halloween tradition of spending Halloween with my sister, we decided to go for upscale Mexican (in honor of both Halloween and Day of the Dead).

 

We decided to share a couple of appetizers as our meal, and they were more than filling.

We started with our favorite dish of the night: a made-to-order, mild Guacamole ($12.95 for two). It came with both a bucket of chips AND four hand-pressed soft tortillas (YUM!!). As we were wondering if we should have gone up to a “medium” spice, our server kindly provided us with some chile pepper on the side for us to spice accordingly to our own taste.

 

My sister ordered the special soup of the day: the Sopa de Frijol Con Chochoyones—a black-bean velvet soup with epazote masa dumplings, queso fresco, and crispy tortilla bits ($8.95).

It came in a large soup bowl and with all the black beans and doughy dumplings, my sister was basically finished eating for the rest of the night.

 

The other appetizers we ordered were disappointing.

We had the Duck Zarape ($13.95), which were soft tortillas filled with braised duck with roasted tomato-habanero cream sauce was rather tasteless. Yes, the sauce did add a spicy zing to the dish, but the meat itself was rather dry. So it just seemed like a cream sauce was added to mask the taste of the dry meat.

 

Our final appetizer was the Taquito de Pollo (three soft corn tortillas filled with pulled crispy Guajillo chicken with onions, cilantro, and salsa verde) for $9.95. While the onions, cilantro, and salsa verde was tasty, the chicken, like the duck, tasted too dry and worse I needed a knife to cut it as it was too hard for me to chew.

 

 

We also ordered a bottle of the L.A. Cette Sauvignon Blanc, which was a perfect accompaniment with our meal. My recommendation would be to take a sip after having some of the guacamole (especially with some additional topping of chile pepper!). It’s refreshing and clean-tasting, with a long finish.

Pros:

The guacamole!

Food is filling.

 

Cons:

Wish they had a restroom on the first floor. Bathrooms are only located on the second level of the restaurant.
 

Final Thoughts

Will definitely return for more guacamole!

BXL Zoute

50 West 22nd Street

(between Fifth and Sixth Avenues)

Happy Halloween!

When it’s Halloween, NYC restaurants get in on the spooky action—and BXL Zoute does not disappoint!

 

What it also doesn’t disappoint in is great French bistro fare for a brisk, autumn afternoon. Especially if you are in the mood for a Croque Madame ($13):

 

 

My friend ordered the Vegetable Sandwich ($14) with grilled onions, squash, zucchini, peppers, endive, and carrots.

 

What I also really appreciated was that both sandwiches came with de rigeur frites (which is a must in any restaurant claiming to be a bistro) and a healthy salad. The salad made me feel a little less guilty about my melted cheese and fried egg sandwich.

 

Pros:

Friendly, attentive service.

Very open to serving young children.

Great coffee with free refills.

Cons:

Wish they had lunch specials for their sandwiches similar to what they offer for their mussels/omelet special.

 

Final Thoughts

Will return when I have another Croque Madame craving!

Villa Jolanda: A Most Adorable Gift!

If you are searching for a super cute sparkling wine that could be given as a celebratory gift for a very good friend or that special someone, Villa Jolanda’s limited edition Valentine’s Day bottle would be a perfect option.

The bottle has cartoon illustrations of a couple being flown up in heart balloons. And the words “I Love You” are written in multiple languages: French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, etc.

The wine is very bubbly and when you pop the cork, it releases delicate gossamer puffs. The taste is very dry, and for an additional festive touch you can add a strawberry slice.

Best of all, it’s a great gift for under $15!

UPDATE: There is even a special holiday edition of the wine!

And make special note of the cork before discarding!!

Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!

Ravagh Persian Grill

11 East 30th Street

(between Fifth and Madison Avenues)

Ravagh Persian Grill (a rather upscale-looking Mediterranean restaurant) is an excellent option for a midtown lunch if you’re shopping at Macy’s or visiting the Empire State Building.

For $20 for two (not including tip) you can share an appetizer (babaganoush) and an entrée (chicken shish kebab) and be so full that you don’t have to eat for the rest of the day.

The secret is the yummy, warm pita bread that the servers bring out before you even order. And with two side-dipping sauces that are yogurt based and dill based.

 

Helpful Hint: I like to mix the two together on my plate), you can completely fill yourself especially as they generously provide free refills on the bread!

The bread is particularly tasty combined with the babaganoush.

 

And the chicken shish kebab (which comes with a grilled onion and tomato and basmati rice) is really moist and juicy. My mouth waters just thinking about it!

 

I have gone twice for lunch and both times I have never been able to finish my meal.

So if you’re hungry, and you’re on a budget, head to Ravagh Persian Grill!

McDonald's Bacon Clubhouse

Various Locations

Yes, it’s another review about fast food!

Earlier this year, McDonald’s came out with their new Bacon Clubhouse, which features applewood smoked bacon and their special Bic Mac sauce.

Under the sandwich box lid, you can find their mission statement for the sandwich:

Discover What You Love: With ingredients like thick cut applewood smoked bacon, special sauce & caramelized onions, all mingling on a soft & warm artisanal roll.

 

You can have it with either a beef or chicken (grilled or crispy).

 

 

Over the past month, I have tried all three versions the sandwich.

The Grilled Chicken Clubhouse:

 

The Crispy Chicken Clubhouse:

 

The Burger Clubhouse:

 

Ranking:

#1: Grilled chicken. The chicken was juicy and moist. And the special sauce with the chicken was a surprisingly good combination.

#2: Burger. Decent-sized burger, but a bit too much special sauce.

#3: Crispy chicken.  Found the chicken to be a bit dry and the crispy skin was soggy. Yuck!

 

My overall comments:

I found it a bit hard to eat with my hands. It’s a bit messy as the sauce kept dripping out. I needed to plate it and then eat it with a knife and a fork. The artisanal bun is a bit sweet, but tasty and definitely preferable to the thin sesame seed bun that you would find on a Big Mac.  And although I do remember loving the McDonald’s special sauce on the Big Mac as a kid, I found it a bit much on this sandwich. And at $4.99 for the clubhouse sandwich, if I have a craving for the sauce, I’d stick with the lower-priced Big Mac.

The Red Cat

227 Tenth Avenue

(between 24th and 23rd Streets)

A friend called at the last minute about getting together for a Saturday brunch.

Had always wanted to try the brunch at The Red Cat, so decided this would be a good opportunity to go as it is not one of those Chelsea “brunch hotspots” where you go for bottomless drink specials, and therefore a good place to go if you’re looking for someplace where you can have a long, civilized chat with a friend.

Helpful Hint: Do make a reservation. I believe it was because I made a reservation that I was seated at a corner booth.

The dining room ambience is bright and open and airy, and I loved the lanterns on the ceiling. Must be lovely at night!

 

For our cocktails, my friend had ordered the pineapple ginger fizz (you might be able to see a bit of in the photo below--it is the yellow drink on the left), which she was not a fan of—it tasted like medicine to me. Luckily, I had ordered the fragola—macerated strawberries with sparkling wine. So I gave her my drink and our waiter kindly did not charge her for the ginger fizz. Classy!

I ordered a glass of the Sauvignon Blanc de Sant-Bris 2012. You know you’re in a classy brunch joint when you order a glass of wine and your waiter arrives with the bottle so that you may taste it before he pours you the entire glass. I confess that I did end up saying no to a glass of red to accompany dessert, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

 

The Sauvignon Blanc was perfect for a hot, humid summer day. Citrusy, light and crispy, and absolutely refreshing!

 

For appetizers we ordered their signature appetizer dish—light tempura of green beans. My friend found them rather tasteless and she had to add salt (which they have in a small dish on the table so that the customer could flavor their dish to their personal taste), but I found it to be perfect paired with a honey-mustard dipping sauce. It was sort of like eating fried edamame. Sadly my photo is a bit out-of-focus, but thought I would include anyway.

We also ordered a side of their sautéed corn (another touted customer favorite), which was really good and buttery!

As well as a side of herbed fries, which came with a Dijon mustard-type dipping sauce. With that we definitely satisfied our salt fix!

We both ordered the schmaltz fried egg for our entrée, which was served atop a potato pancake, brisket, spinach, and maple jus. Everything tasted super fresh and the fried egg was cooked perfectly.

Loved mixing in the yolk with the potato pancake. Awesome!

Only complaint is that the maple jus made the dish a bit too sweet for my liking.
 

For dessert we ordered the peach crostada with blueberry ice cream and ginger sauce. Lovely presentation, and the perfect light and flaky dessert to have on a summer afternoon.

 

As I had earlier mentioned, the red wine that I originally chose to accompany our dessert, I ended up rejecting (so the waiter offering a tasting really does pay off!). Instead, after hearing that I wanted a non-tannic wine, our waiter suggested that I try the Pinot Noir from the Becker Estate. Smooth!

 

Final Thoughts

It is a definitely a dining experience. So it’s a perfect place to go to if you’re looking for someplace special to catch up with a friend you don’t normally see of if you’re celebrating a special event. But it is a bit pricey to go on a regular basis.

Spice (Chelsea Location)

263 Eighth Avenue

(corner of 22nd Street)

Tasty and affordable lunch special!

Spice has various locations, but I am writing specifically about the one indicated at the above address.

For an appetizer and an entrée, the pricing varies from $8 to $10 depending upon selection. As opposed to many lunch specials, the options are quite varied.

For our appetizers, we ordered the pot stickers—dumplings wrapped in house skin with chicken, scallion with sour ponzu sauce. Salty goodness!

And the signature shrimp fritters—ground shrimp and chicken with honey chili sauce.

 

Warning! High-heat alert. Needs to cool down before you make the mistake of popping it in your mouth.

 

For our entrees, we chose the Hawaiian ginger and pineapple dish with chicken. Glad we tried it, but wouldn’t order again as there wasn’t anything that I would consider a standout.

 

One dish that I would order again and again would be the seafood rice bowl. It comes with scallops, shrimps, squid, mussels, bamboo shoot, scallion, mushroom, and Thai gravy sauce all over jasmine rice. All of the seafood is cooked to perfection and this is a meal that you can order for lunch, and then finish for dinner as the portion is that generous. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

The other highlight of the meal, were the non-alcoholic drink specials for $4. I ordered the Pink Lady with Pearls (image on the left), which tasted like candy. My friend ordered the Iced Chrysanthemum Tea (which brought back childhood memories of my mom making me chrysanthemum tea whenever I had a cold sore—not only was it supposedly good for you, but it was like drinking honey!).

Pros:

Big, open space with booth seating available.

Nice, large restroom.

Attentive service.

Cons:

Wish they offered dinner special pricing.

Final Thoughts

Will definitely go back for their seafood rice bowl lunch special, and to try their other specialty lunch drinks.

As  a side note:

I did return a few days later to try their takeout. I ordered the duck wrap appetizer. (Note to self: don’t every order again for takeout as it turns into mess in the container by the time you get it home!)

 

And for the entrée, I went for the black noodles (broad rice noodle with egg and broccoli) with tofu. They also were kind enough to lightly fry the tofu for me, as it is usually served soft. The black noodle is basically chow fun, but it seemed sweetened with what tasted like duck sauce. Would order again, but it definitely does not measure up to the seafood rice bowl!