Tocqueville

My friend Max's dad works in the restaurant business, he publishes a magazine called Great Places, so naturally he would have connections in the resauranteur world. Therefore when we heard that Marco Moreira, the owner and proprietor of Tocqueville and 15 East, two Japanese/French restaurants located on 15th street and 5th avenue wanted us to eat at his restaurant, Tocqueville, Max and I were very thrilled for two reasons. The first being that we got to go to a world-class restaurant for FREE nonetheless, and secondly we got to go alone. Now going alone brought many dangers with it other than crossing the street safely, and things like that. Not once, but twice, I had to convince Max to not get the 96 dollar tasting menu, in fear of appearing too snobby. We did get many comments from a very funny couple sitting next to us. They thought that it was very strange for us to be eating at the fine establishment all by ourselves. Well we thought it was very strange for them to be at the restaurants by themselves. Hey, we had to take the pressure off of us. However, they were very nice people who were very interesting. However, their conversations were a little bit too intense, so we stopped listening in. Max and I both the same thing, the pasta with Sea Urchin. It came in a bowl, and it looked delicious from the second we first saw it. The only problem with it was that there was a cream overload, and it was a little too filling for an appetizer, falling into the category of risottos and heavy purees. However, I was rather sure that this restaurant's dessert would continue the paragon of virtue that had made it so famous and reputable. The entree that I ordered was the sea bass, which I found very interesting. However, while the quality of the fish was excellent, the meal itself continued to be a paradox; starting off good, yet gradually losing points as something just did not quite fit in with the dish. Max order the steak which he said was excellent and hearty. For our desserts, Max and I both ordered the churros which we found to be delicious. It came with two dipping sauces, chocolate and caramel, the former being the more preferred of the two. However, one of the funniest things that took place during the meal was when Max blew out all of the candles near us, frustrating our beloved server Mary, to no end. Overall, Max and I greatly enjoyed the meal, and had a ton of fun, especially when Mary and I made up a secret handshake together. I think that Tocqueville fully deserves a 7.8/10.

Waverly Diner

Recently, I have been trying to go to less expensive restaurants in the hope of making my blog more kid-friendly, and enjoying the process more. I think that when you go to expensive restaurants, it puts a damper on the blog because technically, I should not even be going to those restaurants. Therefore, when my dad got two tickets for him and I to see the Thornton Wilder play, Our Town, I wanted to pick a cheap place for us to eat in before the play started. I had been looking forward to eating a burger all week. I had been promised one in hopes of breaking out of the restraining (times 100) diet of my mother. We chose The Waverly Diner because it was very near the theater, and it was known to be very quick. However, I had only been there for breakfast, and after waiting 45 minutes for the burger we were becoming increasingly worried. I thought that the service was extremely inattentive, and they did not make an effort to change, when requested. The decor was extremely interesting, because it was one of the gems of New York's olden day's, where everyone had big fros, and wore tight spandex that were constricting to the extremities of the body.. That time was otherwise known as the 70's. The diner seemed like an oasis in the desert to people who were not part of that dainty movement. After an extremely long wait, I had to wolf down my bacon cheeseburger which was very bland, and not unique from any other burger that I had eaten in the past. However, the night was very interesting, and I had a lot of fun. The burger was definitely not the crown jewel of the evening. I give the Waverly diner a 4.6/10.

Arigato Sushi

When I went to California on spring break, many surprises lurked around the corners. I ran into Kobe Bryant at Disneyland. I noticed that pretty much every single restaurant in The Golden State has garlic bread on their menu. And finally, I discovered that California's sushi was rather good. I went to Santa Barbara with my grandmother, and we decided to eat at a sushi restaurant named Arigato. After driving to the restaurant in my uncle Max's Mazzerati, and running into the Bachelor's Andrew Firestone on the way there, the six-person group that we made up entered the two-level cosmopolitan sushi restaurant. However, there was a 45 minute wait, so we stopped by Oprah's favorite bar. After returning, we ordered a magic mushroom roll which had five types of mushrooms, asparagus and avocado. We also ordered a Dracula roll with tuna, ahi, albacore, endive and onion. Another of the strange dishes we wanted to try was the wiki wiki roll with crab, shrimp, papaya, sprouts and avocado. While all of these rolls were unusual, and did not use the most commonly mixed ingredients, the gold shot topped off the list for just plain weird. The components of it were: sea urchin, quail egg and lime juice. It was unbelievably good, and it made my tongue tingle. Also, we ordered two orders of the shrimp gyoza just because it had such tenderness, and tastiness. I asked for two pieces of the smelt roe sushi which had been just prepared in the kitchen. It was very good, but it had too much of a salty component to it. Our last dish was the foie gras which was very rich, and I hated it. But that was just my opinion. Overall, I really loved the food, and the service was quick, elegant and polite. The decor was a little plain and simple, but that probably was because we were on the top floor of the restaurant. The dinner was a little bit expensive, but the meal was definitely worth it. I give Arigato a 8.1/10. It's main highlight was the gold shot.

I felt really grown up.

Jean-Georges

For me, math is the hardest subject. After all, I write reviews, not equations. So on a Thursday evening, with twenty math problems on my palette, I was not excited for the upcoming night. However, there was one bright side to the evening, other than it being my grandmother's birthday. She was taking us to Jean-Georges, the casual part. When I was told, the first thing that went through my mind was not: "Oh, yeah, I'm so excited!" No. Not at all. Instead, it was: "Jesus, I am so fricking spoiled." After doing most of my math problems wrong, and having to correct them, we began the three block walk through the chilled air to the ridonculously big Trump Hotel. Yes, I meant ridonculous, and not ridiculous. As we entered the restaurant, the warm draft of air brought back partial feeling to my extremities. We relinquished our coats to the coat check, and half walked, half plodded into the restaurant. My grandma had already arrived along with her partner, and my gangster cousin Ivan and his wife. After a long discussion, I talked him out of the $65 steak, and advised him to go with the chicken. Then, when everyone started talking about the recession, I began to doze. Stocks, and market trading are not my thing. However, the aroma of freshly fried salt and pepper calamari will wake someone just as well as Ambien can make someone sleep. The calamari was delicious, its crispiness providing a great contrast to the aioli, and the lemon. After that amazing appetizer was taken away, my pasta and lobster arrived. I am not very familiar with lobster, so eating it was an adventure. It was served with passion fruit, which I felt took away from the dish, by making it too sweet. The excessive sweetness was one of the lower points of the meal. The service was elegant, but seemed a little bit too relaxed. The waiters were socializing with each other, and talking when they were not supposed to. I had read the same thing in Zagat Survey. The decor was simplistic, but very beautiful. For dessert, I ordered some mixed berry and green apple sorbet. It I was very satisfied with the meal, but it could have been improved. I give Jean-Georges a 8.6/10. However, I think that in the event of my family going to another fantastic restaurant like this, I believe that I should stay home. After all, we are in a recession.

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The Souper Bowl

I was in the midst of a very large predicament. As I entered the restaurant I had two reasons to be afraid. The first one was that I was judging in a soup contest that was hosted by the New Shul, and I was not even close to competent compared with the other guest judges. Marco A. Moreira owns the much-respected Franco-Japanese restaurants Tocqueville and 15 East. Akhtar Nawab is the owner of Elettaria and has worked at Craft and Gramercy Tavern. And last, but certainly not least, Stephen Lyle is the chef and owner of Village restaurant, which hosted the event. There is a second thing I was afraid of: who I would choose as my winner. Many of my friends’ parents were entering, as was my mother. I had a conflict of interest.
However, I overcame my difficulties and began to judge. Here are the soups that were good, just not among the elite.
- The Minestrone soup was an interesting take on a contemporary favorite.
- The Steelers Broccoli and Cheese paid full homage to the Super Bowl qualifying team.
- Everything but the Kitchen Sink was a quaint soup with a strange name.
- Sanchocho de Gallina tasted like it had just arrived from a South American country.
- The Chicken soup was one of the better chicken soups, even though it was a tad bit salty.
- The Matzoh Ball Soup (thanks to Joan) had a perfect Matzoh ball.
- A Jew Married an Italian was a play on a most traditional Italian soup.
- The Chicken soup with Farfaline and Pesto was under-spiced, but still flavorful.
- Just the Broth was an interesting concept that was extremely under-spiced.
- The Herkimer New York Chicken soup was one of the more Jewish soups that I tasted, which is a compliment.
- Safta's Chicken soup had a good blend of broth, noodles, Matzoh ball and carrots.
- The Bean soup nicely arranged, but it was not really a soup, because it did not have a broth.
- The Mushroom Barley soup was well executed except for the fact that the barley was overcooked.
--The Pistachio Soup was so creamy that one couldn’t possibly eat a whole bowl of it.
- The Chicken Soup with Cabbage was one of the more spicy soups, and there was a little bit too much cabbage in it.
My three favorites over all were the Butternut Squash soup, The Carrot Ginger Coconut soup, and the Jewish Penicillin.
The Jewish Penicillin was the over all winner for the chicken soup category, because of its supreme taste, and its contrast between hearty and light flavors.
My mom made the squash soup, but since it was my mom, I could not give her the title, because it would seem biased. However her soup was refreshing, and it was an excellent feat on her part to pull off a squash soup as she did.
The overall winner of the contest was the Carrot Ginger soup, as it was the most creative and it had the most taste over all. It was made by my good friend Steve Fried who had no doubt been assisted by my friend Max, or the soup would not have been half as good. No, Steve is a wonderful chef, and his soup was scrumptious.
I was very content with most of the soups, and I thank the contestants for letting a child decide who gets the $65 gift card to Cowgirl Hall of Fame restaurant.