NYC Restaurant Reviews | donuts4dinner.com
I’m in Houston, Texas, with my boyfriend at the moment and am astounded by how much Mexican food these people have access to. I know we’re lucky in NYC to have a little bit of everything, but I’m suddenly feeling very deprived with only one taco joint on my block back in Brooklyn. Here, there are family-owned Mexican places next to huge Mexican chain restaurants next to slightly different versions of the huge Mexican chain restaurants. Driving across the Katy Freeway, my mouth waters right and left at all of the neon signs. So I was here for less than 24 hours when I started searching Yelp for the best Mexican food in Houston and found Chavez Mexican Cafe.
We started off with a big bowl of corn chips with two homemade salsas, one spicy and one sweet, and then ordered everything on the menu. j/k, the menu is gigantic, but we ordered enough food that our server told us there were plenty of take-home boxes in the back. And here I thought my appetite would be appropriate in Texas, where everything’s supposedly bigger.
queso flameado
This melted cheese with chorizo, mushrooms, onions, and poblano peppers was set on fire before our eyes and served with flour and corn tortillas. The cheese was super chewy and dripping with all of the oils and juices from the meat and vegetables. Wrapped up like a little gift in a tortilla, it was the kind of savory guilty pleasure bite that made me unable to stop eating more of it.
shrimp tacos
With sauteed shrimp, all of the creamy and crunchy toppings you can think of, and those floppy corn tortillas. The lemon cream sauce made these nice and bright, and our server brought us an extra bean soup because we were sharing them. The service here was very friendly and attentive in general, but I really noticed this one little extra.
bean soup
deep-fried avocado stuffed with beef, chicken enchilada
Apparently whole deep-fried stuffed avocados exist elsewhere, but I’d never heard of them until I saw the menu for Chavez Mexican Cafe. I got mine stuffed with beef and cheese because one of the reviews I read said that it doesn’t even make sense how tender the beef is here. I expected the big chunks of meat inside to be chewy despite that review just based on their size, but they really were fork-tender and a nice contrast to the creamy avocado and its crispy coating. A chicken enchilada, rice, and refried beans rounded out the plate, and all of them were flavorful in ways that made them compete with the avocado to be the stand-out element of the dish. The rice and beans were so good I’d make a meal of them alone.
inside the deep-fried avocado
pollo con crema
I persuaded Jack to order this grilled chicken breast covered with sauteed shrimp, Mexican crema, and chipotle just so I could try it. We usually eat low-carb, and I was excited that such a great unbreaded entree option existed, but I also really needed to try that deep-fried avocado. The chicken was pounded thin to make it sort of like a meaty flatbread, and the sauce that I expected to be overly rich was actually acidic and light.
margarita
Margaritas are $2.49 during happy hour, which happens to last all day Monday to Wednesday. And they’re only $4.99 regularly, so, you know, get them every day.
Chavez Mexican Cafe is a really, really unassuming place, as you can see from the decor. We loved the booths along the side walls that felt very private, but apparently the place gets crazy on weekend nights, and for good reason. Every bit of food we had here was fresh, clearly made with love, and bursting with unexpected flavor. Chef Chavez came out of the kitchen to tell us about leaving his well-paying former job behind to work hard doing what he’s passionate about, which is making Mexican food that just tastes great. He says he feels a little bad that the other Mexican restaurants around him sometimes sit empty when there’s a line out the door at his . . . but not that bad.
Houston, TX 77080 (map)
Can’t Quit You, Bareburger
I’ve been a pretty bad food blogger lately, in part because I’ve been a pretty bad restaurant-goer lately, in part because I’ve been a pretty great home-cooker lately. (If you’re looking for recipes involving all manner of melting cheese on things you find around the house, I’m your gal.) But my friends and I were all still off our diets on Saturday night last weekend after Thanksgiving, so we headed off to find some sloppy Brooklyn Heights Mexican food. But on the way, my boyfriend decided he wanted Bareburger, because there’s really nothing sloppier.
I only had my camera phone with me, so the pictures are crappy, but I think they give you a good idea of what Bareburger is all about, which is DEEP-FRIED STUFF on top of JUICY THINGS, with a side of BACKFAT and BELLYROLL. I got the brisket burger, which is stacked with smoky brisket, pepperjack cheese, raw red onions, smoked paprika mayonnaise, and panko-crusted butter pickle chips. They recommended bison for the burger patty (there’s also elk, ostrich, wild boar, lamb, turkey, etc.), but I said NO and took mine with beef. Of course. And I mean, it’s just sort of unfair; there are crispy fried pickles on top of the thing and in between the buns. I’m not going to not love this.
brisket burger
Of course we split a side of onion rings and fries (the Bare Snacks size, not the Bare Sides size, because the much-larger Snacks size also comes with four dipping sauces), and then I had the Banana Fritter Sundae, which was their organic vanilla ice cream topped with caramel sauce, studded with deep-fried fritters, and served with toasted walnuts, which I asked for on the side, because nuts ruin ice cream and everyone knows it. The ice cream was pretty standard, but the fritters were super crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside and full of that special much-better-flavor that bananas have when they’re cooked.
banana fritter sundae
And that, of course, led to GIANT BEERS, which my friend Kim is so tastefully modeling below. This is the medium size. She couldn’t actually lift the glass with one hand until the beer was half gone. But the best drink, if you ask me, is their Moscow Mule, which they pump full of tangy, spicy, legitimate ginger and then plop a piece of candied ginger in.
Kim, ready for 600 fluid ounces of whatever this is
Sometimes I try to quit Bareburger for the sake of my wallet, because that brisket burger is $14 on its own, and I’m not a woman who’s going to forego the fries. It’s not even my favorite burger in NYC, and Shake Shack is even closer to my apartment. But sometimes I just really want the tallest, fattest, finger-lickingest burger I can get my hands on, and Bareburger has it.
New York, 11201 (map)
and a bunch of other locations
Egg Fast Low-Carb Ice Cream Recipe
A couple of months ago, I read about the egg fast on the low-carb blog I Breathe I’m Hungry and decided to try it for myself. I had the same amazing results she did during the five days I did the fast, and since then, I’ve been using an egg-heavy diet as a great way to get the weight back off after a weekend of eating towers of tea sandwiches and scones with my ladyfriends or reviewing pizza for my column. I love the taste of eggs and think they’re basically the perfect health food, so finding the I Breathe I’m Hungry low-carb egg fast ice cream was so exciting for me.
The texture is amazing, so ice-cream-like that you’ll never believe how few ingredients are in it . . . and that none of them are milk and cream! Heavy whipping cream seems to stall my weightloss if I use more than a couple of tablespoons a day in my coffee, so a whole bowl of regular low-carb ice cream is out of the question for me if I want to lose weight. But this egg fast ice cream doesn’t affect me at all, and it’s suuuuuuuch a pleasure to eat. The problem is that I don’t care for the taste of Splenda in her recipe from all of the sugar-free syrup. Artificial sweeteners really stand out to me sometimes, so I was left with a lot of Splenda aftertaste with the original egg fast ice cream.
So here’s my take the very excellent I Breathe I’m Hungry Egg Fast Frozen Custard:
INGREDIENTS
8 oz cream cheese (right out of the fridge is fine) 1 cup water
10 egg yolks (use the leftover whites for a berry meringue)
1.5 Tbsp Torani sugar-free syrup (caramel is my favorite, but take your pick)
1/2 cup xylitol (Xlear Xylosweet is the one I use; it tastes just like sugar to me) pinch of salt optional: 1 tsp vanilla
optional: 6 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
INSTRUCTIONS
In a medium microwave-safe bowl, plop the cream cheese into the water and microwave on high for a minute and a half. Whisk them together until you get a smooth, frothy mixture. (I like to use a hand mixer to make it easier.) Add the sugar-free syrup and egg yolks and whisk again until smooth. If you want to give it a richer flavor, whisk in the vanilla. If you want to make the chocolate version, whisk in the unsweetened cocoa powder.
Microwave the mixture on high for 30 seconds, and then whisk it again. Repeat this 5 times. (I think the idea is that if you do all of the microwaving at once, you’ll end up with cooked eggs in your ice cream, which I can tell you from experience is gross.)
Chill the mixture in the refrigerator or freezer until it’s cold, and then process it your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. (I have the Cuisinart ICE-21 and absolutely love it.) When it looks like you just have a few minutes left (just keep testing it with a spoon until you start getting a consistency you like), it’s a good idea to add in 3 Tbsp of any liquor you like. Something like whiskey is going to give it a little flavor, while something like vodka will leave the flavor alone; the point is just to keep the ice cream from crystallizing when you freeze it.
It’s going to be a little melty still when you pull it out of the ice cream maker (hence my pictures), but it’ll be perfect after a couple of hours in the freezer. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!
spinning in the ice cream maker and looking like a butt
the super rich chocolate version
the buttery caramel version
with raspberry whipped cream and unsweetened baking chocolate chunks
the final product in my Tovolo Ice Cream Tub
The New Brunch Menu at Ted’s Montana Grill
If you’re like me, you probably think of Ted’s Montana Grill as a place for business deals, happy hours, and big, juicy bison steaks. The Midtown location in NYC is great for all of those things, with its hardwoods and low lighting and intimate booths, but when Creative Communications Consultants invited me in to try a complementary meal at Ted’s Montana Grill, they encouraged me to give the newly-revamped brunch menu a chance.
Because Ted’s is in a more business-oriented part of town, I would’ve never thought of it for brunch, and the massive space was pretty quiet when we arrived at 1 p.m. An hour later, though, things were filling up, so I guess it just takes people a little time to make their way uptown. The staff told my boyfriend and me that when designing the new brunch menu, they wanted to please the people who were there for breakfast foods and the people who wanted to eat the Ted’s signature items no matter the time of day, so we ordered a mix of the two.
There’s a dim lamp in each of the high-walled booths and a map of the American West covering each table. It’s very handsome and atmospheric.
We had just come back from a trip to the Philippines, so my boyfriend adorably tried to order a glass of pineapple juice. Ted’s doesn’t have that, but they do have fresh-squeezed orange and grapefruit juices with thick paper straws.
Some nice half-sour pickles arrived for us to savor while we admired the gigantic bison head on the wall behind us. These were perfectly salty and still retained so much of their cucumber flavor. I wanted to put them on a burger immediately.
bison short rib hash
They’re not lying when they say everything is made in-house here; we could tell that the sweet corn had been cut right off the cob for this dish. It was filled with tender, fall-apart bison short ribs with tons of BBQ flavor. They tasted so beefy, yet with just a hint of something extra. The rich flavors of the onion and peppers hit us first, but then a little brightness from the cucumber came in at the end. There was so much depth in this plate; certain bites had a combination of flavors that made me pause to enjoy the bliss.
Absolute Best Fish sandwich
I’m a little bit skeptical when you start using too many superlatives, but this really was one of the finest fish sandwiches I’ve had. The breading was crunchy but not too thick, the cod was so flaky it didn’t want to stay contained in the breading, and the grainy bun added earthiness and made the sandwich feel more upscale. I’m such a tartar sauce snob, but this one was very flavorful with its chives and capers and totally passed my test. The coleslaw was so tangy, and I loved the green onion in it. And the fries–OMG, perfect. They were like county fair fries, super crispy and with the skin still on, extra salty and oily without being greasy. This wasn’t only a great fish sandwich but a great plate all around, where even the side dishes were stars.
huevos rancheros
This isn’t usually something I’d order (I want carbs on carbs with extra meat for brunch), but the manager told us it was one of her favorites and that we’d want to eat the house-made tomatillo salsa on everything. Apparently the chef had a Latino friend consult on how to make it extra-authentic, and we did think it was a winner. It actually tasted like it had mango or pineapple added to it, but it turns out that was just the natural sweetness of the tomatillo. It gave us a slow burn in the back of the throat, tamed by the egg and crispy tortilla. It could’ve actually been spicier for my taste, but this was a really hearty dish, great for vegetarians who still eat eggs.
French toast
This is exactly what I want from French toast. It was like someone took the very best banana bread from their grandma’s kitchen to make this. The outside had a crunchy coating, and the inside was nice and fluffy, not too dense. The bananas on the side were cooked down to sugary-sweetness, and they imparted a little of their flavor onto the dollop of smooth whipped cream. Even the butter served alongside the dish somehow seemed exceptional, just because it was salted. I would order this every time, with a short rib hash to take care of the part of me that loves savory alongside my sweet.
Growing up in Ohio, my family farm was down the road from a field full of bison, and my mom used to take my little sister and me to the field on summer afternoons to visit them. I have such fond memories of those times and remember how majestic I used to think the bison were, so it sort of warms my heart that Ted’s Montana Grill brought the bison back to the American table and made a market for bison farmers. On top of that, I loved everything I ate at Ted’s. I’ll think about that tender short rib, those county fair fries, and the crispy coating on the French toast for a long time to come, and with bottomless brunch cocktails, I know other New Yorkers are going to love this new menu, too.
Sottocasa: Authentic Neapolitan Pizza in Brooklyn
I’m writing pizzeria reviews as Examiner.com’s Manhattan Pizza Examiner. I know it shows that I have the palate of a 5-year-old, but pizza’s easily my favourite food, so you can count on me for plenty of fangirling over crust and sauce in these articles.
I live a couple of blocks from Sottocasa but would have never noticed it, hidden away as it is underground between two staircases. I was looking for it, though, because one of my favorite Brooklyn pizza chefs, the owner of Emily, trained here for years and still talks about what great pizza it is. The owner of Sottocasa trained at NYC favorite Kestè, so it’s a Russian nesting doll of great pizzaiole around here.
I’ve considered delivery from Sottocasa before, but they have this policy of only delivering one pizza at a time to preserve the integrity of the crust for each customer. While I really appreciate the idea, when I get a hankering for pizza, it must be satiated immediately. I’m glad I waited to eat at the restaurant, though, because it’s an adorable candle-lit spot with a glass-enclosed backyard covered in breezy cloth and twinkling lights. Read the rest here!