Friday, November 20, 2009
Breast Cancer Site!!!!
Hey guys if the Breast Cancer Site can get a million fans on their facebook page, they will donate $100K towards Breast Cancer Research! All it takes is a click of a mouse, let's do it for all the breast cancer (and all other cancer) survivors out there! We can all make a difference!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Nov. 8, 2009 - Local Goods
So of course sundays represent 2 things to Mike and I, (1) the end of the weekend and all of our fun excursions (boo...) and (2) Sunday Pro Football!!!! We decided to stop at Local (http://www.localcafenyc.com/) located on W. 33rd and 8th Ave. Again, as this is bar food, I don't feel like it merits a FULL review. What is worth mentioning is that they have 4 floors! Well more like 3.5 floors. They have the main bar when you walk in, downstairs is the lounge, updstairs is the Rooftop (with heat lamps! Woo hoo!) and halfway between the main bar and rooftop is the patio! Good grief, talk about options, no wonder NYers are always either utterly confused or totally indecisive we have tooo many options ... that can be a bad thing, you know!
Mike and I decided to share the buffalo chicken strips and a turkey club. The buffalo chicken strips smelled ridiculously spicy but it was just more of a pungent sauce rather than actually spicy which was OK by me coz I wasn't looking to spice myself out necessarily. The portions were pretty good and the fries that came with the Turkey Club were nice and crispy although I felt that they were a little too too salty, they probably could have laid off the salt shaker, they shook it a little too much in my opinion, but Mike loved it.
The Turkey Club was good but nothing stellar, it was solid though. All in all, I think they have a solid menu and it's a good place to hang out after work for those who want a small break before their travels home. The rooftop might be fun on a friday or saturday night, on a separate note though Mike did mention that during their happy hour (4PM - 7PM, Mon-Fri, I think) they have $3 Foster Oil Cans, Ha! I had no idea what an "oil can" was until Mike explained it to me, guess you learn something everyday huh? LOL! Check it out ya'll, it's a solid spot.
Mike and I decided to share the buffalo chicken strips and a turkey club. The buffalo chicken strips smelled ridiculously spicy but it was just more of a pungent sauce rather than actually spicy which was OK by me coz I wasn't looking to spice myself out necessarily. The portions were pretty good and the fries that came with the Turkey Club were nice and crispy although I felt that they were a little too too salty, they probably could have laid off the salt shaker, they shook it a little too much in my opinion, but Mike loved it.
The Turkey Club was good but nothing stellar, it was solid though. All in all, I think they have a solid menu and it's a good place to hang out after work for those who want a small break before their travels home. The rooftop might be fun on a friday or saturday night, on a separate note though Mike did mention that during their happy hour (4PM - 7PM, Mon-Fri, I think) they have $3 Foster Oil Cans, Ha! I had no idea what an "oil can" was until Mike explained it to me, guess you learn something everyday huh? LOL! Check it out ya'll, it's a solid spot.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Nov. 7, 2009 - Wanderings - some good, some bad
As a note of mention just b/c i don't want anyone going here, we had a TERRIBLE lunch! We went to this chinese restaurant called "Oriental Noodle" located on E 45th b/w 3rd Ave and Lexington. Well, I thought it was terrible, Mike who's much nicer than me said that atleast it was edible ... bah humbug, lol! We ordered "hot" not cold, sesame noodles that apparently had the "spicy" annotation next to it, but if that was spicy then i'm miss america. Then we ordered scallion pancakes.... worst scallion pancakes i've ever had. How do you mess up scallion pancakes?!?!?!?! The name suggests it and even says the word "pancake" in it's title, so why was it hard as a hockey puck!? They should have called it scallion crisps or pucks! The only thing that might have been fair (and i'm being nice) was the moo shu pork, which came with only 2 wraps, wtf?! You know, Jason and I ordered this exact same meal at Green Bo Restaurant down in Chinatown and it's amazing how Green Bo's meal was utterly fantastic and Oriental Noodle was utterly disgusting/mediocre. I mean it was sooooo mediocre I was speechless and completely dumbfounded. Yuck. If you ever see this restaurant ... R.U.N.!!!!
Mike and I spent the afternoon, post lunch nastiness walking around Bryant Square Park looking at all the little cute shops that were open and the skaters on the newly opened ice rink. Which is by the way FREE!!!! Get your skates pplz, we're goin' ice skating! The only nice cap off to that dirth of food we had just finished was that we stopped at the little Max Brenner shop and ordered some thick hot chocolate, which should have been hotter, but was good anyways and super duper chocolatey! Yum!
For dinner since we were both pooped and decided that we'd be better off stayin' in and relaxin' which i'm really glad that we did (we also watched HITCH, coz Mike hadn't seen the movie!) we ordered from Portofino Pizza and Pasta (2nd Ave @ 58th St) some Chicken Parmigiana Heros which were very good! It was a great price for so much hero! $6.95 for like a foot long, i'm sure it could have used more marinara sauce on there but the truth is we probably didn't need it so I didn't really make a fuss. LOL! Nice and quiet evening with a great boyf for great company .... mmmm, loved it. =)
Mike and I spent the afternoon, post lunch nastiness walking around Bryant Square Park looking at all the little cute shops that were open and the skaters on the newly opened ice rink. Which is by the way FREE!!!! Get your skates pplz, we're goin' ice skating! The only nice cap off to that dirth of food we had just finished was that we stopped at the little Max Brenner shop and ordered some thick hot chocolate, which should have been hotter, but was good anyways and super duper chocolatey! Yum!
For dinner since we were both pooped and decided that we'd be better off stayin' in and relaxin' which i'm really glad that we did (we also watched HITCH, coz Mike hadn't seen the movie!) we ordered from Portofino Pizza and Pasta (2nd Ave @ 58th St) some Chicken Parmigiana Heros which were very good! It was a great price for so much hero! $6.95 for like a foot long, i'm sure it could have used more marinara sauce on there but the truth is we probably didn't need it so I didn't really make a fuss. LOL! Nice and quiet evening with a great boyf for great company .... mmmm, loved it. =)
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Nov. 6, 2009 - We caught De Feeeesh! Peace out Murph!
The scene; it's friday (11/6)night, Mike and I are huntin' for food as usual (on the late side - we were supposed to go to my friend's bday party at Duet 35, needless to say ... we didn't make it, lol, damn - being honest though, didn't feel like karaoke! Ha!). I suggest Casa Mono/Bar Jamon (jen, jane and I have tried to go to this place on several occasions unsuccessfully as it's usually jam packed and the menu being entirely in spanish isn't exactly helpful for the others in the party as they don't understand it and i'm not the best at explainin' ... sigh, today was no different). I can tell by the way Mike is lookin' at the menu that he's not entirely impressed and sho'nuff he says, "this looks kinda fancy shmancy, I can't even read half of what's on the menu!"
So now the hunt resumes and I happen to remember that we had noted some time ago that we had been interested in a restaurant called "Catch De Fish". I looked around and saw that we were on 17th and Irving Place and Catch De Fish was only at 15th and 3rd Ave. We decided to go in and I have to say it was one of the best decisions we made that day!
Name: Catch De Fish (http://www.catchdefish.com/)
Location: 147 Third Avenue (@ E. 15th S), New York, NY 10003
Contact: (212)477-7799
Cuisine: Thai Fusion/Seafood
Price: Seafood is reasonably priced, even a little bit cheaper than expected, but definitely well worth the funds you'll shell out.
The Review:
Mike and I went here with nothing but the hope that the food "sounded" good. We'd passed by the restaurant several times during our epic hikes throughout the island known as Manhattan. The restaurant looked inviting, the restaurant always had people in it if not completely full which is generally a good sign. I mean, NYers are fairly discerning eaters, it's pretty simple, "if we like it, we come back. If we don't, you shut down." LOL!
The restaurant gives you the option to order dishes that they have pre-prepared or you can create your own dish, you pick the protein and then the sauce that you desire to accompany the protein. Mike and I decided that we both wanted to create our own:
For an appetizer we ordered the FRESH ROLL which came out in beautiful presentation with a tamarind-apricot and mayo-wasabi sauce drizzle patterning the plate. The crab meat, shrimp and veggies that filled the inside of the fresh rolls were extremely fresh and crisp and delicious. It was a lovely start for 2 hungry people that didn't make us feel like we were overstuffing ourselves nor outlined the fact that we were starving (you know what i'm talking about too ya'll ... those appies that have all of one bite and after the one bit you're hungrier than before you ate the one bite). The waitress also notified us that they had a happy hour (it was 10ish) and you could have 2 beers for $7 or 2 wines for $11. I decided to have the pinot grigio and Mike had the Shiraz.
For dindin Mike ordered the Swordfish with the Spice Butter & Sea Salt Sauce (is your mouth watering yet?). At first the waiter suggested that the swordfish would be best with their Thai Basil Sauce so Mike ordered that, to which then the waiter promptly notified Mike that they were out of the Thai Basil Sauce! Ha! (WTF?!) I mean, if you're out, why mention it and get the customer all excited? LOL.
I ordered the Chicken with Green Curry Sauce. Now the green curry sauce is not the common green curry sauce you would think of when you order Thai food. It was thick versus watery and was closer to a thick green indian curry dipping sauce but it didn't taste like the indian green curry. The chicken was perfect! It was succulent and juicy and the green curry sauce had the perfect kick and paired well with the pinot grigio! I was in heaven. Both of our entrees came served on top of some pickled/grilled veggie assortment (squash, carrots, broccoli, etc). I even had the opportunity to try some of the swordfish (thanks Mike!) and it was very well cooked with a very nice flavor! Both, Mike and I were very pleased with our selections and the presentation was beautiful and appetizing, the appetizer was perfectly portioned and the staff was very friendly. The decorations were minimal, at best, but the overall ambiance of the restaurant was relatively romantic and cute.
I will definitely come back to this restaurant again in the future to try other entrees with the other types of sauces available, b/c if they taste anything like the chicken with green curry sauce that I had, I can only imagine how wonderful the other dishes will be! Yum!!!!
After our fantastic dinner, we went to Murphy's good-bye bash. Boo... we're really gonna miss you Murph!!!! We went to this place called Professor Thom's located on 2nd Ave b/w 13th and 14th Sts. It was an interesting dive and we had the upstairs portion which was nice. Alot of people we hadn't seen in awhile showed up which was really nice and then we moved the party out to this other dive called Drop off Service ... not interesting either. But they did have many board games available to which Mike and his friends took interest in, ha! Mike and I were the only 2 left helpin' Murphy out with his last good ol' hooray in NYC before Philly. Needless to say, he was successful! =) Way to go Murph! Post that, got home and passed out. Promptly. LOL!
So now the hunt resumes and I happen to remember that we had noted some time ago that we had been interested in a restaurant called "Catch De Fish". I looked around and saw that we were on 17th and Irving Place and Catch De Fish was only at 15th and 3rd Ave. We decided to go in and I have to say it was one of the best decisions we made that day!
Name: Catch De Fish (http://www.catchdefish.com/)
Location: 147 Third Avenue (@ E. 15th S), New York, NY 10003
Contact: (212)477-7799
Cuisine: Thai Fusion/Seafood
Price: Seafood is reasonably priced, even a little bit cheaper than expected, but definitely well worth the funds you'll shell out.
The Review:
Mike and I went here with nothing but the hope that the food "sounded" good. We'd passed by the restaurant several times during our epic hikes throughout the island known as Manhattan. The restaurant looked inviting, the restaurant always had people in it if not completely full which is generally a good sign. I mean, NYers are fairly discerning eaters, it's pretty simple, "if we like it, we come back. If we don't, you shut down." LOL!
The restaurant gives you the option to order dishes that they have pre-prepared or you can create your own dish, you pick the protein and then the sauce that you desire to accompany the protein. Mike and I decided that we both wanted to create our own:
For an appetizer we ordered the FRESH ROLL which came out in beautiful presentation with a tamarind-apricot and mayo-wasabi sauce drizzle patterning the plate. The crab meat, shrimp and veggies that filled the inside of the fresh rolls were extremely fresh and crisp and delicious. It was a lovely start for 2 hungry people that didn't make us feel like we were overstuffing ourselves nor outlined the fact that we were starving (you know what i'm talking about too ya'll ... those appies that have all of one bite and after the one bit you're hungrier than before you ate the one bite). The waitress also notified us that they had a happy hour (it was 10ish) and you could have 2 beers for $7 or 2 wines for $11. I decided to have the pinot grigio and Mike had the Shiraz.
For dindin Mike ordered the Swordfish with the Spice Butter & Sea Salt Sauce (is your mouth watering yet?). At first the waiter suggested that the swordfish would be best with their Thai Basil Sauce so Mike ordered that, to which then the waiter promptly notified Mike that they were out of the Thai Basil Sauce! Ha! (WTF?!) I mean, if you're out, why mention it and get the customer all excited? LOL.
I ordered the Chicken with Green Curry Sauce. Now the green curry sauce is not the common green curry sauce you would think of when you order Thai food. It was thick versus watery and was closer to a thick green indian curry dipping sauce but it didn't taste like the indian green curry. The chicken was perfect! It was succulent and juicy and the green curry sauce had the perfect kick and paired well with the pinot grigio! I was in heaven. Both of our entrees came served on top of some pickled/grilled veggie assortment (squash, carrots, broccoli, etc). I even had the opportunity to try some of the swordfish (thanks Mike!) and it was very well cooked with a very nice flavor! Both, Mike and I were very pleased with our selections and the presentation was beautiful and appetizing, the appetizer was perfectly portioned and the staff was very friendly. The decorations were minimal, at best, but the overall ambiance of the restaurant was relatively romantic and cute.
I will definitely come back to this restaurant again in the future to try other entrees with the other types of sauces available, b/c if they taste anything like the chicken with green curry sauce that I had, I can only imagine how wonderful the other dishes will be! Yum!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After our fantastic dinner, we went to Murphy's good-bye bash. Boo... we're really gonna miss you Murph!!!! We went to this place called Professor Thom's located on 2nd Ave b/w 13th and 14th Sts. It was an interesting dive and we had the upstairs portion which was nice. Alot of people we hadn't seen in awhile showed up which was really nice and then we moved the party out to this other dive called Drop off Service ... not interesting either. But they did have many board games available to which Mike and his friends took interest in, ha! Mike and I were the only 2 left helpin' Murphy out with his last good ol' hooray in NYC before Philly. Needless to say, he was successful! =) Way to go Murph! Post that, got home and passed out. Promptly. LOL!
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