FoodMayhem

We went to Posto Posto last night and I have to complain about how tight the squeeze is. We sat in a booth and it’s really not enough space for 4 people. Being winter, the coats make it worse. There’s just nowhere to put your stuff. Then when you get food, there isn’t enough room on the table for each persons plate, and the experience winds up being general discomfort.

For a pizza place, they do a pretty nice job with salads, fresh and nicely plated. The Mediterranean Salad has a lot of color and the dressing it light.

We were really impressed that the Caesar Salad dressing was actually made with anchovy and that the amount of dressing was appropriate. I don’t think I’ve eaten Caesar Salad in years because I’m so afraid of the standard globs of dressing.

For pizza, Posto wasn’t kidding about the thin crust. It’s pretty close to a cracker, which achieves crispiness, but then lacks the chewiness of a well developed dough. The sauce and cheese on the Classico is fresh and tasty, and pretty light.

We also got another pie, half Shroomtown, half Meatball Classic. Lon liked the meatballs, I didn’t (too much thyme), but we both agree that it was very skimpy on the cheese, which made it not really pizza for me. The Shroom half, covered in portobellos, shitake, white button, and truffle oil, was wonderful, hearty and well seasoned. Generally, the ingredients were very good but the crusts are what hold the pizzas back from being great.

We ended with a Warm Brownie a la Mode, which was ordinary but nicely plated. You can have it with espresso but no coffee or capuccino. Weird huh?

With tax and tip, the meal came out to about $88 (for 4 people), which is alright, but I don’t think I’ll be going back.

Lately, Domino’s has been advertising like crazy about their Oven Baked Sandwiches. I’m a total sucker for food advertising, so I’ve been dying to try one. Tim suggested using RetailMeNot.com’s Domino’s Page, to get some coupons, which we did, and we ordered all four of the types of sandwiches: Chicken Bacon Ranch, Philly Cheese Steak, Italian, and Chicken Parm.

We followed our order status closely using the really nifty Domino’s Pizza Tracker. Our “Delivery Expert”, Celio, was incredibly impressed that we knew his name when he showed up. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to directly pay our compliments to Pablo, who prepared our order.

Tim snapped a few pics of the sandwiches before we gobbled them up. If you want to see his full set check them out on Flickr.

I was surprised at the size of the sandwich, they look a bit smaller than expected. But actually, they are a good size for $4.99 (or less with coupon). They come pre-cut (on a steep angle), so we cut the halves in half, and all four of us got a quarter of each sandwich. Our initial impressions were that they are not particularly attractive sandwiches, and they are unbelievably greasy. Later I found out that they are soaked in a “butter flavored oil”.

After eating, I asked Melinda, Gabe, and Tim to rank the sandwiches from best to worst, and we came up with the following rating (lower numbers are better):

In my opinion, the table very accurately reflects the reality of the sandwiches. The Italian and Philly are both about the same and both are substantially more enjoyable than the two chicken sandwiches. The chicken meat itself is part of the problem; it literally tastes like shoe rubber. I’m not going to describe those two except to say: don’t order them.

The Philly Cheese Steak has steak, provolone cheese, onions, mushrooms. As long as you don’t go in expecting a real philly cheese steak, as you could get in Philadelphia, you may enjoy the sandwich. The provolone is milky and the onions are sweet.

The Italian has pepperoni, salami, ham, banana peppers, along with peppers, onions, and provolone cheese. It is quite salty and the meats are oily, but it tastes similar to what one would expect an Italian sandwich to taste like.

In the end, the sandwichs are ok for the price. But if you compare them to the market (Subway and Quizno’s), I’ve got to recommend you stick with Subway and Quizno’s. Except that Domino’s delivers to you, everything else is worse. The bread is worse, the quality of ingredients is worse, and all four of us were queasy for the rest of the afternoon. You probably never hear about the other side of food during reviews, but let me advise you: this food will make you gasy! I’ve never felt sick after eating Subway; and while I’m not a big fan of Quizno’s, I’ve never been sick after them as well.

As another aside, while writing this I looked up the nutrition info about the sandwiches. Almost 900 calories, 106% daily sodium 110% saturated fat; that is disgusting. I feel worse now.

Yesterday I was going to try Sakae Sushi with Jamie. He is a sushi-fan and both of us were excited to give Sakae a try. It seems like an interesting place as patrons order on computer and receive food by conveyor belt. Unfortunately, standing there in the cold, pouring rain, I read that they were closed for kitchen renovations. Fortunately, our favorite sushi place is just down the block. So off to Sushi Yasuda Jamie and I went.

Unfortunately, Chef Tomura was busy serving four other patrons, so we sat one seat over with his neighboring chef, who is always very nice as well (I don’t know his name). We shmoozed as we ate through various nigiri and make sushi. During that first round I got to try Cobia; which is not a rare fish, but not often seen in the NYC sushi scene. I didn’t have the camera with me, but I can tell you it is a white fish with a tender, bouncy meat. I really enjoyed it.

We were feeling pretty full (by lunch standardS); but, this being Jamie’s first time and having told me he loves eel, he tried the White Sea Eel (sawani), which is my favorite piece. He loved it. I also tried another piece of Botan Shrimp, which was so delicious.

I was happy to see that Chef Tomura is back from Japan; Jessica and I will see him again soon.

My parents came into the city last night to pick up some stuff, so we decided to try Giorgio’s of Gramercy Giorgio’s of Gramercy. It was surprisingly empty, even for a Sunday evening. The bread and olive oil aren’t worth eating, but luckily, I wasn’t at all hungry (after the late mega brunch at Compass). They also offer a complimentary plate of cucumbers topped with pastrami cured salmon and chopped apples. Both the look and taste of it seemed like an attempt on fancy and elegant, which it did not quite accomplish, but was tasty anyway.

Our waitress told us they were known for the Roasted Oysters so we tried them and they were certainly the best item of the night. Shallots are just a wonderful match to the fragrance of the sea, and although these were perfectly cooked, I still prefer raw, because it’s meatier that way.

Lon also ordered a half plate of Bucatini with Smoked Trout and Butternut Squash as an appetizer. ( I love places that let you order half servings of pasta.) This was one of those decadent dishes that tastes so good for two bites and then it’s too much for me. The smoked trout was wonderful though, and the butternut squash unnecessary.

I really wanted a light pasta, like a tomato based sauce, but oddly there was nothing on the menu that wasn’t creamy or a cheese sauce. I ended up selecting the bolognese, but even their bolognese is a creamy bolognese, covered in cheese. On the menu, it’s with penne, but when I found out that the linguine was fresh pasta, I had to have that. Although heavy and way over-sauced (which is preferable to some people), it was quite comforting.

Lon’s Berkshire Pork Chop was rather boring, just pan fried with salt and pepper. It sat on a massive amount of sweet potato mash that was overly sweetened by maple syrup (sweet even by Lon’s standards).

My mom ordered the Linguine with Shrimp and Lobster in a vodka sauce (again creamy). The flavor was wonderful, the pasta al dente, but the shrimp were a tad over-cooked.

My dad ordered a special, Hanger Steak with White Beans and Broccoli Rabe. I didn’t try it because he ordered it medium, and I can’t eat steak like that. Plus I had just eaten Steak and Eggs a few hours ago.

Large portions, but otherwise, we weren’t too happy with dinner. Mainly, the atmosphere is dark and very red. It feels like a steak house in an old movie, where men are smoking cigars (no one was actually smoking inside) and bookies hang around.

Compass Compass serves a lavish and filling brunch. It’s set up as a pre-fix where each person chooses their entree and several starters and desserts are served for the table. First, a basket of cornbread, chocolate chip crumb muffins, and a cinnamon bun arrives. The cornbread had too much baking powder or soda which leaves that lingering chemical taste in your mouth. The muffins were not special, but the cinnamon bun was adored by all, soft and not-too-sweet dough, very sweet frosting on top. It was simple but good.

Next, a plentiful bowl of rich Greek yogurt, with granola, grapes, and pineapple. It’s not the standard fruit, but it works, and probably any fruit would be great with this amazingly thick yogurt that could coat anything.

Still on the starters, we get an assorted plate of goodies: tasty pork sausages, wonderfully fresh smoked trout and smoked salmon, mushroom tartlets that were too pungent with under-baked shells, nice herbed cream cheese, and toasts that looked formerly grilled but were now cold. By now I’m already full, and entrees are about to come.

Lon ordered the Archtic Char with deep fried cauliflower, roasted red beets, and black truffle vinaigrette. He asked for rare and got medium.

Carol ordered the Eggs Benedict, which were a little past the oozing stage, but came with flavorful potatoes.

I ordered the Steak and Eggs. The Filet Mignon was perfectly medium-rare as requested and the jus was heavenly. You can’t see underneath the meat, but there was a bit of sauteed spinach, and under that, an oily but flavorful mix of roasted peppers and waxy potatoes with skin on. Although the flavors were very enjoyable, it was too heavy for brunch. Even the sunny side up eggs had oil drizzled over them.

The dessert was a four piece tasting. I didn’t eat the mini biscotti. The Oatmeal Financier was chewy and tasted only of brown sugar. I liked the light Cheesecake puff, nicely balanced with pineapple and vanilla bean. Everyone loved the Coffee Brownie Sundae in a shot glass, topped with these tiny chocolate wafer balls.

The meal is full of hit and misses, but it’s such an enourmous amount of food that you’re better off not eating everything. At $28 per person, we think the price is pretty good. It’s a nice place with good service, that takes reservations for brunch. The one thing to be aware of is that they charge for coffee by the cup (a very small cup). I didn’t know and assumed refills were included. I got one refill to that tiny cup and my two cups cost $7. That part, I think is a mega rip off.

Flushing is the place to go for dim sum, but we were in Chinatown on Saturday, so we gave Golden Unicorn Golden Unicorn a try. Lon and I got our own little table (two tops are rare at dim sum), and there was no wait at prime time (a sign of the economy). We started with Shrimp wrapped in Rice Noodles; the shrimp were over-cooked.

The Steamed Roast Pork buns were a tad too sweet, but the dough was soft and fluffy, and certainly fresh.

We also got the Roast Pork Pastry, which is pretty much irresistible anywhere. Buttery layers of pastry, filled with sweet meat, yum…

The Spinach and Shrimp Dumpling tasted like fresh spinach and mediocre shrimp. The shrimp in the sticky rice had a nice texture but it didn’t taste like much, and the rice was hard (under-cooked).

Our favorite was the Clams in Black Bean Sauce, plump and juicy little clams, a balanced sauce, on an overflowing plate.

The veggies ( I don’t know the English name for these) must have been blanched first and then sauteed, resulting in over-cooked and oily veggies.

We ended with Fish Balls, which we almost forgot to take a pic of. They were a bit denser than normal and more flavorful.

If you go at prime time, most of the dishes are hot and fresh, but execution falls below Flushing standards. But if you’re not willing to make the trek to Queens, Golden Unicorn is ok. You’ll pay more for it too though, about $20 per person.