MOCO

MOCO: GLOBAL DINING
516A Third Avenue
New York, NY 10016
(212) 685-3663

Moco was a completely random and unplanned dinner destination. I was working late and was hungry, bored, lonely and fully aware that I haven't updated my blog in about two weeks. The time had come. I owed dinner to Bro for reasons I won't get into for fear that they would expose me as someone lazy, and that was enough to convince him to trek to my office. And off we wandered until along came Moco.



Moco was completely deserted and I couldn't understand why. It looked cool and trendy, funky jazz played overhead, the menu was unique, and they had sofas. Normally, I tell myself that a restaurant is empty for a reason and that reason usually ain't good. But we decided to gamble and we won. Moco was good. There was a miss appetizer, a disappointing sushi roll, and the menu needs to be tweaked, but I thought the place was overall pretty good. As you can see in the photos, there is plenty of seating with a large front bar area, booths in the back, and even a second floor loft area. We grabbed the sofa table up front and proceeded to cocktail it up.



A round of Lychee Martinis (served with a garnish of ginger sour candy) later, we ordered our food. Moco calls itself "global" cuisine, and that makes sense. It's a bizarre twist of Asian and Italian. Appetizers like Fritto Al Nero Di Sepia (black tempura calamari) and entrées like Madras Noodle (vegetable curry udon and fried buckwheat soba with grilled naan and parmesan) are perfect examples of this.

The first thing I tried was the Misostrone Soup, a very strange dish. It's a white miso soup with tofu, seaweed, carrots, zucchini, scallions, and red miso. Quite literally, it is unlike any soup I have ever tasted. For sure, this will appeal to some and be loathed by others. I, for one, thought it was pretty good, but I'll also admit that towards the end, I was getting tired of it. It was a huge bowl, and over time it was as though it's novelty wore off.



The soup was followed up with an appetizer of Ten Ten, skewers of panko crusted okra, shrimp, crab, and salmon served with a miso (and barbecue?) dipping sauce. If you were to ask if this was a hit or a miss, it was a solid miss. The sauce was way too strong and it completely overwhelmed any ounce of flavor that the skewered items had in them... and they didn't have much. Actually, they were pretty bland and despite being different foods, somehow all managed to taste almost identical. Skip it. But don't skip the Mya Mya Teba, which was amazing. These little chicken wings were absolutely incredible. I don't know what they did to them, but they wiped the floor with almost any other chicken wings I can remember. They would be the perfect finger food for grabbing some drinks with friends when you don't want a whole meal. If only they gave you more than a dozen (that sounds like a lot, but they came from an anorexic chicken).

For our main courses, Bro tried the Loco Moco and I tried the Shippo (see photos below). The Loco Moco is a Hawaiian hamburger (ground beef mixed with Parmesan cheese) served atop a large fried egg on a bed of rice. Bro thought he was getting a weird and exotic hamburger, bun and all, but he was way off the mark. Instead, he got two sausage sized hamburgers delicately placed atop an egg and rice. I'll be the first to say that on paper this sounds pitiful, but don't be deceived; it wasn't bad and he ate most of the dish, but backed off on all the rice. My Shippo was a braised oxtail entrée with leek. This dish was incredible. It was so tender that it might have been Jell-o. I used chopsticks to literally just lift the bone from the center of the meat. Our server told us that it had been marinated for three days. Try this. You won't be disappointed... but you may go hungry as it's just about the size of a golf ball.

Finally, we tried one of their sushi rolls, the Italian Roll. This was another miss, or as Bro put it, "a big no". Dried tomato, salmon, and cream cheese, surrounded by rice and dipped in soy sauce just doesn't work.




So what can I say from my experience at Moco? Well, it's clearly got a lot going for it. It's got a cool funky feeling that a lot of places forgo to become more clubby. It's got good drinks and a truly original menu. In fact, I can flat out say that Moco might well have the most unique menu of any of the restaurants that I've reviewed since I started reviewing a year ago. But it needs work. What they did well was hit out of the park and should be commended for it. But there were some dishes that were DOA and those should be cut out. Still, the next time someone asks me where they can go for something really different, Moco will be my suggestion.



We skipped dessert to order more drinks (a Green Tea Martini, a Tamarind Mojito, and a Sapporo).

Four Cocktails, a beer, three appetizers, and two entrées, no dessert, plus tax and tip was $153.

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ATLANTIC GRILL

ATLANTIC GRILL
1341 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10021
(212) 988-9200

The Upper East side is known as a haven for young trophy wives with strollers who like eating lunch with each other. Just wander around on any given weekday afternoon and you'll be constantly dodging four wheeled baby-carriers. Eerily enough, I've never seen a toddler. It's as though once the kid can crawl, they're shipped off to some finishing school.



Most of B.R. Guest's restaurants pepper Manhattan's downtown and West Side. Atlantic Grill is their Upper East Side luxury seafood outpost. When Bro and I showed up this Saturday evening, they were rather crowded. It was 9PM and, despite having a reservation, we waited about ten minutes to be sat.



First off, let me get this out of the way. I don't really like seafood restaurants that try to spice up their menu by adding a sushi bar. It makes the menu feel lopsided and weird. London Lennie's does the same thing. Having said that, the first dish we tried was something our waitress recommended, a sushi special. Our waitress, by the way, was totally cool and that's the main reason I decided to try the dish. This special, the Tempura Soft Shelled Crab Roll, was very good. It was extremely light but, at only five pieces, not very big.

Bro started with his long-time favorite, Lobster Bisque. He liked it very much, but I quite honestly found the dish thin and watery. I like my lobster bisques thick and heavy, like they're a meal unto themselves. Not so much was the Atlantic Grill bisque. My appetizer, my other appetizer, really, was the Yellowtail Tartare Nicoise. This was delicious. Very light, almost like a sushi salad... which really it was, what with the tomato vinaigrette and haricot vert (green beans for youse uncultured types). The yellowtail was perfectly smooth and came within a hair of melting on your tongue.

My entree of choice was the Horseradish Crusted Sustainable Scottish Salmon. I have no idea what that means. But man, did I feel like I did my part for the environment that day. Alongside it were asparagus-leek ravioli and a cherry tomato ragout. Since I like anything asparagus or leek, I figured I couldn't go wrong as far as its sides were concerned. And I didn't. The crust was like a little thin shelf of horseradish essence. I could barely taste it, and that's good since it had to potential to totally overpower the salmon. The salmon itself was very moist and, since I ordered it medium, not overly flaky. Bro went for the Crab Crusted Golden Snapper with herb gnocchi, baby artichokes and a truffle emulsion. Since I didn't eat more than a bite or two, I don't feel like I'm in a great position to fully judge the dish, but Bro ate the whole thing and I certainly liked it a lot.



I was disappointed with the fact that Atlantic Grill, a seafood restaurant, has relatively few unique seafood entrees. Only about a half dozen. The rest are "simply grilled" standard fish dishes with your choice of a side and a sauce. And I can get those at Red Lobster. Speaking of which, Atlantic Grill also has lobster.

For dessert, Bro and I picked from the rather traditional menu. I chose the Apple Streusel Pie with brown butter ice cream. Coming piping hot in a 6" x 4" tin, you could easily share this dessert with someone rather than eat it alone. The apple streusel was quite good, as was the ice cream, which I initially thought I wouldn't like. Bro got the Molten Chocolate Cake with malt crunch ice cream. It was a yawn-inspiring lava cake that seems to have become this decade's dessert of choice. When Bro cut into it, the hot chocolate spilled over the plate and while I couldn't have cared less, he gave it, and I quote: A+++.

Two beers, three appetizers, two entrees, two desserts, a tea, a coffee, tax and tip totaled a robust $155.68.

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METRAZUR

Metrazur has CLOSED.

METRAZUR

Grand Central Terminal

East Balcony
New York, NY 10017

(212) 687-4600

My mom (Shrink) has done many a thing for yours truly. She gave me a place to live for nine months, paid for my college edjamakashun, and lets me crash at her and Dudeman's apartment when it's late, I'm smashed and I don't want to take the subway back to Queens. Some offspring might celebrate their mom by pissing their money away on a Dooney & Bourke handbag. But everyone who sees a name-brand purse in this city assumes it's fake anyway. That's like giving a gift that screams "poser". But you can't fake a good meal. Therefore, it fell upon myself and Bro (and Dudeman) to take said giver of life, money and car out to dinner.



We selected Metrazur, Charlie Palmer's Grand Central gastrohub. I first ate at a Charlie Palmer establishment a few years ago when he ran Kitchen 22 in Flatiron. I liked it enough that I made it a point to go back time and again. Sadly, it has since closed. My hope was that Metrazur would be kinda like Kitchen 22, and it kinda was, though the clientele is noticeably older. Bro and I were the youngest people eating here this Saturday evening by a decade.



Bro and I showed up somewhat earlier than the Rents, so we relaxed at the table and ordered some cocktails. I was very surprised that on a Saturday evening there were free tables. In fact, by the time we left, we were literally the last people in the restaurant. And I didn't think we left that late. Why so empty, I wondered aloud. My guess is that the average diner here has to catch their train to Westchester or, being older, eats ealier. Whatever the reason, I doubt that it was the food.

So how was the food? Okay, the appetizers were hit-or-miss. The entrees were more hit. Bro started with the Risotto, which was amazing. Creamy and sweet with peas and leek and the sharp hint of parmesan cheese. This may have been the best risotto I've ever had. Shrink went for the Caramelized Fennel and Mushroom Bisque, which was also delicious. The dish started with chunks of lobster, around which was poured the bisque itself. I have never much cared for fennel, but I barely noticed it in the dish and truly felt that this was a great soup, though the lobster seemed to have gotten lost in it. Working our way down the totem pole of yumminess, I ordered the Littleneck Clams, which were pretty good, but I've had better. Too many shards of broken shell wound up in my mouth, turning what should have been a rather pleasant dish into a rather annoying one. Dudeman ordered the Greens Salad, which, in his words, was your everyday salad. Nothing more, nothing less. I disagree, the croutons, which were absolutely foul, made it less.



Enter the entrees. Shrink ordered the weakest entree, the Pork Tenderloin. It was good, but not great. She liked it a lot, but I found the meat somewhat bland and overcooked, the verjus sauce with it overly tangy. It came with a stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth banana grits side dish, but you couldn't really taste the banana in it. I liked the broccolini a lot though. Dudeman chose the Monk Fish with a fennel crust, bok choi, shaved asia pear and a soy sauce reduction. I stole the fewest bites of this dish, mostly because Dudeman sat opposite me at the round table and it was awkward passing the plate around. But he enjoyed it and I certainly recall it tasting quite good.



Bro ordered the Crisp Seared Atlantic Salmon, which was the absolute best entree of all. He ordered it medium and felt that he perhaps should have ordered it medium rare. I disagree. It was just right just the way it was. The celeriac and apple sauce it was served with, alongside the green pea pesto, rounded the entire dish out. The salmon dish from one restaurant often tastes similar to the salmon dish of another, and where they differ or stand out is often based on the sauce. Here, the sauce truly pushed the entree to the top of the pile. I ordered the Caramelized Murray's Chicken, served atop a ragout of beans and broccoli rabe puree. This was delicious. The skin was crisp while the meat was perfectly tender, if just a hair dry. I really hate broccoli rabe, but didn't even notice it in the dish where it was basically turned into a kind of gravy.

Metrazur's desserts, while good, felt standard and uninspired when compared to the entrees and even the two great appetizers I mentioned. We ordered all four on the menu and passed them around so everyone could have some. The Warm Arabica Chocolate Cake was essentially a lava cake. It was very rich and if you like rich chocolate things, then you're bound to appreciate this dessert. Shrink and Dudeman thought that this was the best of the desserts. The Tahitian Vanilla Creme Brulee was my choice for best finale. It was a little loose, and if you know creme brulees, you know what I mean. It tasted great, but I'm used to creme brulees being far more firm. There was a choice of two scoops of ice cream or sorbet and we went with the Sorbet. Lime and raspberry. It was good... it was sorbet. Lastly, we ordered the Moscato d'Asti & Fresh Fruit Basket thing, which was mediocre at best. What they call "Grand Marnier laquered berries" was really gelatin with fruit and berries in it and berries dusted with powdered sugar on the side. We ate the berries and pretty much skipped the Jell-o.



This Saturday, but possibly all Saturdays, the meal came with the option of being prix-fixed. For $44 per person, you can have an entree, an appetizer, and a dessert. Plus, if two people order the prix-fix meal, it comes with a bottle of Charlie Palmer's ISC brand house red or house white. We all went prix-fix so we got two bottles of wine, one of each the red and the white. Both bottles were pretty damn good for house wine.

Two cocktails, two bottles of wine, one iced tea, four appetizers, four entrees, four desserts, two coffees and a mint tea, with tax and tip cost roughly $270.

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MILK & HONEY

MILK & HONEY
134 Eldridge Street
New York, NY 10002
(???) ???-????

Milk & Honey is one of a number of hidden bars that have started becoming popular in the Big Apple. Like Please Don't Tell, Milk & Honey evokes the prohibition-era speakeasy vibe. Here, rather than being hidden behind a secret door, it's hidden in plain sight on a block that most normal people would look at and avoid walking down for fear of not coming out on the other side.



The game of Milk & Honey is getting in. The phone number is unlisted and periodically changes. So you need to be in the know or know someone who is. Once you get that number, you send them a text message requesting a table for your party. If there's space, they put you on the list. Then you wait and they'll text message you back if and when there's an opening. You've got 15 minutes or they'll give the table away.

Milk & Honey asks that you only tell the number to people you'd trust in your home without you there. There are precious few of them floating around. Even Bro barely makes the cut. Celebrities like the place because tables are not allowed to communicate with each other. Normal schlubs like the place because they feel like celebrities. Allegedly, no one is given special treatment, no matter who they are.

Dogz and D didn't want to wait around until who-knows-when for high-priced cocktails, leaving Bro and I to go it alone. Their loss, believe me.



Milk & Honey is microscopically small. It's half the size of Please Don't Tell. There are six booths and four seats at the bar. That's it. This means that Bro and I didn't get a table, despite the early reservations, until after midnight. Once inside, it's almost pitch black. Even if you were allowed to talk to the other tables, you couldn't see them to do so. The waitress walks down the single aisle holding a candle to light her way like she were walking through a medieval castle corridor.

Milk & Honey focuses exclusively on cocktails. There's no menu. No beer. Ask for something that you're in the mood for and if they have the ingredients, they'll mix something up for you. They ran out of berries when I was there, but there's a noticeable emphasis on citrus and fruit drinks. Nothing we had tasted anything short of good and going into what we ordered drink by drink would be pointless as there's no menu. Still, here they are, in a nutshell:

I asked if they had any coffee/espresso based drinks and after being given a how-odd-a-request look, they suggested a Dominicana, one of their house specialties. It was very good, very creamy, very coffee-ish, very recommended by me. I also ordered a Sloe Gin Fizz. Not bad, but I make a better one at home. Finally, I asked for a mojito with a splash of cranberry, but was denied the cranberry. Instead they suggested the Jack Rose, a minty pomegranate concoction very similar to what I had initially been itching for. Bro also ordered a few cocktails, but honestly I can't remember what they were. All of 'em were fruity and tasty and that's all that really matters.

Drinks are $15 a pop, plus tip.



NOTE:

While I realize that I might come off like an asshole, please note that I'm blurring M&H's number and refraining from divulging it on the address intentionally. So please don't ask. I am doing this for two reasons: (1) they asked me to, and (2) the more people that have the number, the harder it is for me to get a seat. Selfish, I know. I apologize to you all. But, maybe if we become friends I'll invite you to come with me...

UPDATE 9/23/08:
Well, Milk & Honey's number (the one I blurred up there) is gone. Toodles. Ta ta. Sweet Fanny Adams. And I do not have the new one. AND, word is, it'll go private and be "members only". So now everyone who's been emailing me can stop. There's nothing to get. And speaking of which... Sasha, old bean. Do you think that maybe I could get an invite? I mean, I didn't go publishing the shit out of your number like some places... (cough!-New York Magazine-cough!). Plus, even I denied every single request for for it. So whaddaya say?

UPDATE 4/7/09:
So Milk & Honey has gone (at least temporarily) public. You can email them or send a text. The allure of the unattainable is gone. But so is the pretension. 718-308-6881 is the number for now. I'm willing to bet that when the economy picks up, this number will vanish. Interestingly, on the website, it says that they'll hold the table for 15 minutes. If you're late, you'll lose the table. Standard policy. But then it says that "no shows" will be charged $50. How, exactly is this cash-only establishment going to charge anyone who isn't there anything? An annoying scare tactic, to say the least.

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VENIERO'S PASTICCERIA

VENIERO'S PATICCERIA

324 East 11th Street
New York, NY 10003
(212) 674-7070

Publish Post

I grew up with Veniero's. By the time I knew about the smooth death-by-creaminess that is a Junior's cheesecake, I'd already had the bar set unfairly high with the Veniero's version. By the time Cafe Lalo got irritatingly famous and impossible to get into thanks to long lines populated almost exclusively by tweens and tourists, I'd already been standing on 45 minute long lines to get desserts at Veniero's.

Veniero's is the polar opposite of trendy. While the new pastry places lean heavily towards clean lines and bright colors, Veniero's is virtually the same now as it was eons ago. Dark woods, polished brass, stained glass lamps, waiters in bow ties. But don't let it's turn-of-the-century vibe fool you. Veniero's has a dining section in the rear where you and friend can suck down confections and cappuccinos and it can fill up just as much as the trendy places can.

In fact, the lines at Veniero's can grow to laughably long proportions. I've waited close to an hour on at least one occasion and I've seen them stretch out the door, onto the street, and down to the corner of First Avenue. Are they really that good? Yep. If you happen to be a fan of Italian pastries, you simply cannot go wrong here. If, however, you aren't a fan of lines reminiscent of a trip to Six Flags, then there are other Italian pastry stores right on the same block and, I can attest to the fact that they're very, very good as well.

Okay, I admit it. I went someone insane. My parents were making dinner and, dutiful son that I am, decided to bring the dessert. Next thing I know, I wake up in Veniero's. I hadn't eaten that day and everything started looking good. I couldn't just get one thing, I had to get everything. Or practically close to it. By the time I walked out, I had spent way more on sugar than I could have remotely planned on.

Primarily, I was there for a cake. But having had cheesecake from Veniero's a thousand times, I opted instead for their Windmill Cake. Not a slice. The whole thing. Looking at the photo now, I just want to dive in and sleep on it like a pillow. The windmill cake is basically layer upon layer of chocolate sponge cake and chocolate whipped cream. It's so light that it goes beyond melting in your mouth. It evaporates. It's like eating a chocolate cloud.

I can say similar things about Veniero's idea of what Tiramisu is. Most tiramisus are spongy and somewhat damp cubes of cake and cream and cinnamon-chocolate dust. Everyone has this memory of the perfect tiramisu but no one's ever been able to find it again. Veniero's decided to skip the typical crap meathod and instead go the cake route. It tastes like what it's supposed to without looking like it fell on the floor first. The tiramisu was heavier than the windmill, but so smooth that you almost imagine eating it through a straw.

Backing up these two came a half pound of Rainbow "Cookies", those little cakes that look like chocolate-dipped pride flags. I love these like you wouldn't believe. Give me a cup of tea and I could eat these for hours. On bad days, I actually might have eaten these for hours. Sometimes, the cakes will have been made so long ago that they've started to go stale by the time they're bought, but Veniero's turnover is so high that they don't last long before another batch is brought out. I also grabbed a Cannoli. What more can I say except that if you love cannolis, you'll be in pig heaven. If you don't, they have plenty of other options. But... who doesn't like cannolis?

Such as their Personal Fruit Tarts. There are four varieties: strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, and raspberry. I bought one Blackberry and one Raspberry. Their fruit tarts are pretty much the standard by which I judge other pastry shops' fruit tarts. If the fruit is as fresh, the syrup as sweet without being too sticky, the crust as moist and the custard as smooth, it's a good tart. Otherwise, it's a wannabe. The tarts are amazing.

Finally, I also grabbed a slice of Napoleon Cake to try, a rummy sponge cake filled with layers of vanilla custard and covered with a layer of vanilla and chocolate frosting, which was very good, though not my favorite of all (merely a four star dessert). I got but a single bite before it was basically inhaled by other members of my family.

Veniero's isn't cheap, but it's not too bad. I can't remember all of the prices, but the rainbow cookies were $11 or $12 per pound and the windmill cake was somewhere around $26.

UPDATE 5/7/08:
GASP!!! So according to Eater, Veniero's just got temporarily closed for health violations. That sucks. Part of me feels dumb for having hyped them so much. But I can't. They really are THAT good.

UPDATE 5/13/08:
Well, they're back open folks.

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