Locanda Vini e Olii

Brooklyn is far. So far that I almost finished an entire People magazine in one trip. Also I had the time to ponder how far away Brooklyn was. In fact, it was so far that we had to drive. But that was OK. I knew we were in for a great meal, and I also knew that we had some great company, some of my parents friends, Tod and David. After I exited the car, I was not able to find the restaurant, since the name of it looked like it was placed upon a drugstore's awning. We entered the dim room and immediately saw our hosts. We were quickly informed that they had ordered the six-course tasting menu that everyone was going to share. After waiting for about ten more minutes, the dishes arrived. In fact, I will tell you about my favorites only, or else most of you would spend an hour reading about them. One of my favorites was the shrimp with black chick peas because it was unique and new, and I had never had something so scrumptious before at an Italian restaurant. I loved the calamari in the tomato sauce, as well as the Branzino, as both tasted like they had been plucked from the sea only minutes before we devoured it. I also loved beef carrpaccio with roasted porcini mushrooms because it was fresh and flavorful. However, I thought that the Kitchen over-powered the dishes, over-spicing them. I found the service to be slow, and I also noticed that you felt important in the restaurant, but that was not due to the help. The decor was beautiful and rustic, and it made the restaurant much more welcoming. I really liked the meal we had that was made up of pasta, meat and seafood, but I also found the dessert delicious. I ordered a cake that was like a cookie. It was hard, fresh, energizing and crunchy, but it also had a very concentrated flavor. Overall, I would give Vini e Olii 7.4/10.

Souper Bowl

I have recently been invited to be a guest judge in the Souper Bowl, a soup cook-off that is being hosted by my synagogue, the New Shul. There are going to be many entries of which I will have to rate and judge along with three celebrity judges who I am going to be in awe of most of the time. The judges include; the chef who owns the restaurant Village, the chef/owner of Ellataria and former chef of Gramercy Tavern and Craft. And last, but certainly no least, the third judge will be the woman who took over the Second Avenue deli after her father unfortunately passed away. I will soon get back to you about the winner etc.

Gramercy Tavern

I was wet and I was pissed. After driving for around 20 minutes with my grandmother in the pouring rain, I was very happy to set foot in a place in which water didn't outnumber people by one million. We were welcomed rather discreetly, but I hardly noticed since I was so excited to finally be there. We sat down and were immediately greeted by our waitress who informed us about the specials. I ordered the oysters which I shared with my grandmother, Francine, along with the octopus and the Kielbasa. Kielbasa is a very strong German sausage. The oysters were succulent and rich, both with and without the delicious chili sauce that it was served with. The octopus, which was my appetizer was served with a very peculiar looking pink mayonnaise sauce that greatly enriched it. I enjoyed it very much, and I believed at the time, and I still believe today that along with the oysters, the octopus was the strongest point of the meal. My Kielbasa came, and even though it looked very appetizing, I found it rather coarse and heavy. I also found that it's potatoes served as an unnecessary starch. I soon ordered my dessert, which was a German chocolate cake. It was, as I found, more or less only focused on decor, and not so much on taste. And in a way, that was how I mostly felt about the restaurant as well. I thought that it was not in any way comparable to Union Square Cafe, the other Danny Meyer restaurant that I have visited. All together, I was very, very disappointed with the way that the meal turned out. Other than the oysters and the octopus, the only thing that I found was positive was the beautiful decor. Overall, I give Gramercy Tavern a 7.7/10.

Terra

After getting pulled over by the Santa Fe police, and getting issued a written warning, my grandmother, along with the entire family was looking forward to arriving at the restaurant. We drove around for three more miles, until we finally saw the Auberge De Soleil that housed the restaurant in which we hoped to find gastronomical heaven. While it might not have exceeded our expectations, Terra, was modern-looking, fresh, and very expensive. However, for a very good deal, I was able to get the thirty-three dollar prix fixe, which included an appetizer, an entree, and best of all a dessert. For my appetizer, I ordered the squid risotto, and while it was extremely rich, it was also very tasty and well-presented. My parents got salads, that were also very good, as they described them to me. For the entree, my grandmother and I ordered the same exact thing. The grilled swordfish arrived with spinach along with the sous-chef. He told us about his future in the cooking business, and how he hoped to do an internship at Daniel, located on 65th street in NYC. He was very nice and it provided a very interesting look into the cooking scene in Santa Fe. New Mexico. Our entrees were very moist, but the spinach took around twelve minutes to chew just one piece. However, the entrees provided what was asked of them. Then came the desserts. My apple donuts came with a delicious burnt caramel sauce. However, they were not even apple donuts, the were more like fried apples. Everything was very good at this meal, including the service. I also enjoyed the space, for it was very beautiful. Also the manager was one of the best managers that I have ever met for many different reasons. He was welcoming, he was nice, and he just made the meal much better. I give Terra a 7.9/10.

Blaue Gans

After the long taxi ride, and the even longer lecture at the museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park, I was salivating for any kind of meal, even T.G.I Friday's. So when we entered the funky, hip Austrian restaurant called Blaue Gans I was discretely excited. On my first attempt to order a drink, I chose a Shirley temple. The answer was negatory. After all, where did I think I was, some American restaurant? I ended up ordering a boysenberry smoothie, even though it was the waiter who suggested it and I had no idea what a boysenberry was. However, when it came, along with my oysters that I would share with my uncle, I was very surprised. The smoothie was a sweet contrast to the more sour oysters. However, they had an exceptional freshness to them that I had tasted in few other places. Once they took it away, and I finished the smoothie, my entree arrived. It was a jager schnitzel, which translated into English is fried veal. It was surrounded by spaetzel in a wonderful cream sauce. It was delicious, but unbelievably rich and heavy. After I polished off the plate, I ordered dessert. It was an apple pie, with an Austrian twist on it. However, after my six carb meal, I was not allowed to finish it, so we took it home. I really enjoyed Blaue Gans, and it was a really interesting place to eat at. However, the decor gave me a bit of a headache, and I could not understand what the waiter said. Overall, I give Blaue Gans a 7.8/10.

Sushi Yasuda

The rain splattered all over the taxi. As I looked up at the massive black office building with apprehensive excitement, I began to picture the meal that was going to commence in less than an hour. Sushi Yasuda. Nobody that I had ever told it about knew what it was. Except for one man. Jeffrey Stein was an extremely nice man, and he was best friends with the president of the Florida Marlins. I had heard many things about Sushi Yasuda, which was, located right in Midtown near Grand Central Station. After entering his office on the 37th floor of the building that I had just been staring at. After meeting all of his office co-workers, we began the wet march to the restaurant. After walking three miserable, Shawshank Redemption rain-scene reminding blocks, we entered the fresh and healthy restaurant named Sushi Yasuda. Sushi Yasuda was a refreshing look at a traditional sushi restaurant. It had a very simple décor, it was completely wood-paneled, and it just made for a very comfortable and relaxing meal. For our starters, Jeff ordered a seaweed salad, while I ordered a miso soup that came with mushrooms in it. The soup was very warm, and the seaweed salad took your taste buds on a roller coaster. Then we ordered the Omasake, or literally translated, the chef’s choice. We also ordered around twelve pieces of sushi, and some sashimi. We devoured the Omasake, which included tuna, salmon, yellowtail, anchovy, scallop, and Giant Conch sashimi. We also ordered salmon, tuna, conch, scallop, yellowtail, fluke, and roe sushi. It was very simple, but it was also delicious. The sushi, just like the décor was very simple, but very delicious. For desert we ordered mochi ice cream, and it tasted just like a pastry. After Jeff drove me home, we bid adieu, and he drove off into the rain. It was a very nice meal, and I enjoyed it very much. I give Sushi Yasuda a 8.6/10.