Tepito

After watching Pitch Perfect last week (which I loooooved btw!!), my friend and I decided that we were in the mood for some margaritas.  The East Village has some excellent choices for tacos so we stopped by Tepito for some taco and margarita goodies.

Tepito (ignore the scaffolding...)

Inside, it's a colorful blue and red themed space with wood tables and chairs.  The first room you walk into has high bar style tables and the second room on the side offers the traditional tables.   

First order of business: scope out the margarita options!  Dining compadre decided on the Mexican Mojito (with muddled pineapple, tequila, mint, and fresh lime juice) and I couldn't resist the call of the Clasica Agave margarita (with tequila, fresh lime juice, and agave nectar).  The drinks were nicely presented and actually pretty large in size!  They tasted pretty good, but sadly were not very strong (was there any tequila??).

Fedora

Hello Piggy Friends!  I hope you all managed to weather Hurricane Sandy!  Turns out, I should have invested more into my Hurricane stockpile (cheese doesn't do too well when you loose power and a working fridge).  Alas...I do not look forward to tossing everything out from my freezer and fridge.  With power not expected to be restored for another couple days, Piggy KL and I have walked up to her place in midtown and now I have hot showers, hot food, and power! 

For now, here's an entry from calmer days...

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I've been exploring the West Village a bit more recently and on one of my walks I passed by Fedora. Located on a cute street in the heart of the West Village, I couldn't resist coming in and giving this place a try!

Fedora in the West Village

It's a small restaurant, so I definitely recommend calling to make a reservation before making the walk over for dinner.  There is a long wooden bar on the left and a row of tables on the right.  Space was definitely tight, and my two dining compadres and I had to squeeze into a two person table (which they just turning sideways to make wider).  TIGHT.

Dining area, before the rush

In an attempt to loosen up, I of course perused the cocktail list and went with the Songbird (there's St. Germain in it how can I resist?!). 

Cocktail menu

I love drinks that come in this classic glass

Looking at the menu, it has a pretty limited selection so make sure to take a look before you commit to coming. 

Brunch: Little Owl

Happy September my fellow piggys!  With Labor Day just this past Monday, I took advantage of the long weekend and snagged myself a spot at The Little Owl for brunch!

Notoriously tiny (or cozy as everyone calls it) and popular, this little neighborhood spot is always fully booked and the waiting list for walk-ins extremely long.  But this Labor Day weekend, I managed to snag a coveted reservation for brunch yay!  I had been to The Little Owl for dinner before and felt meh about my experience.  But I have heard that brunch here is the way to go so what the heck, lets give it a second go!

Located deeeeeep in the West Village, The Little Owl is actually in the building that the tv show Friends made famous.  Look familiar?

The Little Owl is located in the Friends building!

While I had an 11:30am reservation, my dining compadres and I were not seated until noon.  Bummer.  While waiting patiently for our table to finish, we stood outside and watched many many many people come by trying to snag a walk-in spot and walk away unsuccessful.  Moral of the story - come early and/or make a reservation and be prepared to wait a bit.

When you walk in, its a bright space with a homey feel.  I can understand the appeal of dining here - its comforting and relaxing.

Soba Totto

With the great weather we've been having in the city lately, I couldn't resist venturing out of the office and taking a nice long lunch.  On this particular day, I stopped by Soba Totto in Midtown East for a bite.

Main entrance to Soba Totto

As with most lunch places in Midtown East, there was a bit of a crowd during the peak lunch time.  Luckily, our wait was short (<10 minutes)  and we were seated quickly.  As you walk through, you'll notice that the restaurant is nicely decorated with lots of dark wood.  The sushi bar area looks great!  It's only when you sit down at your table that you notice how tightly packed the tables are...

Bar area / waiting room on the side

Sushi bar on one side and table dining on the other side

Brunch: Il Bastardo

This place was completely crazy on a stick.  And I totally loved it - well I probably would have loved it if I was five years younger.  Silly me, I went expecting a nice relaxing brunch in Chelsea but what I got was an AYCD brunch in the middle of Vegas (I can confirm flashblacks). 

AYCD option for $20 with your brunch entree!

As you can see from the menu above, you can add $20 to your meal for the All You Can Drink unlimited Mimosas, Champagne, Screw Drivers, or Bloody Marys option.  At $10-12 for an individual drink, why not go for the unlimited?  When you get the drink, it comes in large wine glasses instead of the usual skinny champagne glasses. And these drinks are constantly refilled - I never ever had less than half in my glass at any time.  Definitely get your $20 worth!!  These drinks were definitely strong though, so go easy.

The drinks are huge and always refilled

As you're sipping your drink and perusing the menu, you won't be able to ignore the music and energy around you.  There's a DJ booth with a DJ spinning club music - yes during brunch!  When a particularly good song comes on, fellow diners get up and dance in the aisles and occasionally free shots get passed around!  It's definitely a carefree happy-go-lucky atmosphere, but if you are trying to catch up with a friend don't expect to hear any conversation here. 

DJ Booth setting the party mood at brunch

Forcella

This post is a sad one for me to write.  I actually loved the food at this restaurant and went back for a second go (within the week no less!), but my experience was soon ruined by the manager himself.  And I can no longer feel positive about a restaurant that treats their customers in this way.  I don't usually feel this strongly against restaurants, so I urge you all to take a look at my post and understand why (I'll start my story from the top, but will put ** next to the meaty parts of my story for those wanting a quick read). 

A Neapolitan pizza place originally located in Williamsburg, Forcella opened an outpost in NoHo on Bowery just last year.  I was mixed after trying the Williamsburg location, but still wanted to stop by the new Bowery location for a taste.  I wasn't disappointed and my eating compadre and I enjoyed our meal at the Bowery location.

Forcella's great store front on Bowery

Big pizza oven

The space was nice on the inside with brick walls and chandeliers.  Loved the variety in terms of seating - tall bar tables up front and more regular tables in the back.  My eating compadre and I choose to sit at the tall bar tables on both occasions.

Mai Sushi

Last week, a girlfriend and I decided to treat ourselves to a nice sit-down lunch.  We picked Mai Sushi located on that street in Midtown East with all the Japanese Restaurants (41st between Madison and 5th).  We had both been to the original restaurant when it was run under a different name, but have yet to give this new version a try! 

Mai Sushi for lunch!

Similar to the old restaurant, the front half of Mai Sushi offers a cold case of ready-to-go items.  Everything looked tasty and I was particularly attracted to the rice bowls (or anything with rice for that matter), but I usually prefer my hot food served hot (not cooked hot, then put in a cold case waiting for me to purchase chilled because the Health Department wills it so. poo).  Only select items such as the tempura and gyoza were in the warm window.  Sushi looked fresh though!

Cold case up front for quick grab 'n go meals

Warm case for select items

kin shop

kin shop has been on my list of places to try for a long time, probably over two years.  It serves contemporary Thai cuisine with really powerful flavors.  No ordinary Pad Thai here! They definitely pack a lot of heat in their dishes, so be warned that this is not the best choice for the mild spice lovers. 

Located in Greenwich Village, the decor of the restaurant seemed washed out and dull, which doesn't reflect their vibrant flavors at all.  The service was mediocre - nothing glaringly bad, but our waiter seemed a bit grumpy, and at times borderline unfriendly.

For starters, we had the Spicy Duck Laab Salad and the Fried Brussells Sprouts with Chinese Sausage.  On the menu, the Spicy Duck Laab Salad has with not one, but 3 asterisks next to it denoting its level of spiciness.  They're serious about this! It has some serious heat.  The first few bites were enjoyable, especially because we love spicy food, but after that our tongues started losing all sense of feeling and soon everything we ate (the brussells sprouts, water, our cocktails, etc.) tasted like the intensely spicy duck.  The dish started out great, but it quickly became overwhelming.

I was disappointed in the Fried Brussells Sprouts, and it wasn't only because all I could taste was the spicy duck (though that didn't help...).  I was expecting to have nice crispy sprouts with lightly browned leaves.  Unfortunately these were soggy, and they just got softer as they bathed in the sauce.  There were a handful of crispy ones which I enjoyed very much, now if only there were more...

Fried Brussells Sprouts || Spicy Duck Laab Salad

Cha-An Japanese Tea House - Part I (Meals)

I've been on a tea kick lately and have been loving all the new tea spots that I've finally been getting around to discovering!  One I've heard so much about for a while now is Cha-An Japanese Tea House.

Entrance to Cha-An Tea House

Located just a block off from St. Marks, this little haven is tucked away in a totally zen second floor space. Just as the sign in the picture below says, when you walk into the Cha-An space you really do "leave your cares behind" and "just feel the quiet moments" as you relax and enjoy their tea house setting

 

Inside of the tea house

Ciano

I've got a soft spot for Italian fine-dining.  In recent years I've realized just how amazing and beautiful homemade sauces and pastas are!  Because of this, it tends to be the cuisine of choice when I'm celebrating a special occasion.  For this recent occasion, the hubby and I originally had a dinner reservation at Chef Michael White's Marea, which we dined at last year.  The food was wonderful (especially the pasta!) but in the heat of the moment, we decided to be adventurous and try something new.  And that is how we wound up at Ciano.  (Boy are we kicking ourselves now!)

Located in Flatiron, Ciano has a rustic feel with a fireplace, dark wood and earthy tones.  We got a great table on the 2nd floor in the corner.  They offer a Pasta Tasting Menu (for $89 per person) which we were really excited to try!

Six course pasta tasting menu at Ciano for $89 per person

Unfortunately it did not live up to our expectations.  The food was ok - while there was nothing particularly negative to note, we both were not wowed by any course.  The downfall of our experience was the service.  I must preface, this is a $$$-category restaurant and is up there in the list of finer dining in NYC.  And with that comes a high expectation for exceptional service.  It fell flat. Here's how my night went...

Upon sitting down, half my place setting was missing.  I asked the server specifically for the missing items, but was brought the wrong ones anyway.  I reminded him I was missing a fork and a plate, not a spoon and a knife.  Perhaps he was just busy and didn't hear me.  *Shrug* let's move on.  I'll sum up the rest of the service later, food first!

First up was the Housemade Egg Caper Noodles with Lobster.  I didn't think the lobster was at it's peak freshness, though hubby thought his tasted fine.  The noodles, sadly, did not seem to be the highlight of this course even thought it was a Pasta Tasting Menu.  Mainly because, there was barely any on the plate.

The little curly-cue you spot are the few strands of pasta

Brunch: Elephant & Castle

Sometimes you give a brunch spot a go and love it.  Then you go back a second time and then finally see it for what it really is.  Total bummer.  I am sad to report that I recently experienced this beauty vs beast type situation during brunch at Elephant & Castle.

Elephant & Castle (pic from nymag)

Beauty experience: The first time I went to brunch at Elephant & Castle, I rolled in around 11am. Crazy I know, but I've recently gotten into the habit of going to brunch early.  Not sure if I've been waking up earlier just to beat the rush, or if I just happen to beat the rush because I've been getting up earlier "naturally".  Either way, that first time brunching at Elephant & Castle was glorious.  We walked right in and got seated right away at a table of our choice.  Score!

The inside was simple and charming.  Yes the service was a bit spotty but I just wrote that off as a one-off occurrence.  My food still came quickly and I enjoyed my brunch.  I promptly put Elephant & Castle on my "favorites" list.

The charming setting inside (pic from nymag)

Fette Sau

This is my first "Piggy says no" review.  It's sad, but this day had to come eventually.  I hope you allow me to explain why I found my experience so disappointing...

Having heard nothing but glowing reviews about this BBQ place in Williamsburg, Fette Sau quickly moved to the top of my "must try" list.  It’s understood that there is a decent wait during peak times, so my friend R and I decided to give it a go on a weeknight at 6pm (and keeping our fingers crossed that no one else likes to eat at granny times which, btw, I specialize in). 

Upon arrival, we noted that there were only a handful of people in front of us and thought “Score - we beat the rush!”  Oh boy, were we wrong.  The handful of people in front of us turned into a miserable and slow 35 minute wait.  As we made our way to the front, I noticed that the inefficiency was due to the lone guy in charge of putting together your selection of meats.  While I appreciated the love he put into each order, it was frustrating to see three other people milling around behind him just waiting for side orders.  I can assure you, the side orders definitely don’t take nearly as long as the meat.  Isn’t there a more efficient way?  Didn’t anyone take operations management and learn about Just-in-Time systems (sorry, the business school side of me escapes every now and then…)?

The case of meats

Maybe I was just grouchy from a long day of work and hungry from smelling BBQ for the last 35 minutes.  Whatever it was, I decided to put my frustration aside and focus on what I was here for – glorious BBQ.  Lucky for eaters that day, it was the first Thursday of the month and Fette Sau offered “Fat Pig Thursday” where an entire pig is roasted for that night’s meal.  Take a look at the menu: