Our Man Sietsema: '(Gasp!) Balsamic Vinegar'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 2:32 PM, February 13, 2008

Our Man has brought us another gastronomic history lesson this week, and a review of First Oasis, a restaurant that "reflects [the Middle Eastern] culinary diaspora is First Oasis on Fourth Avenue, which offers a slightly different (and maybe more assimilated) take on Syrian food than the excellent, more traditional Damascus Gate."

At First Oasis, Sietsema approves of the addition of balsamic vinegar in a fatoosh salad, but not the skimpiness of the crunchy bits of pita. The hummus beats the baba ganoush, the lamb "scores a touchdown" (kebabs and, even better is the ouzi). But when it comes to the raw lamb kebbeh balls, which Sietsema loved most the next day, when he cooked them at home like burgers.

First Oasis

9218 Fourth Avenue

Bay Ridge

(718) 238-4505

Our Man Sietsema: 'Asking Why is Useless'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 2:36 PM, February 6, 2008

Is it acceptable to learn the majority of your history/geography lessons from Robert Sietsema? We feel fine about it. Good Sri Lankan food has arrived in Gramercy, and this week, Our Man walks us through the various influences he tasted.

The restaurant, Nirvana, comes from a Buddhist rather than Muslim or Hindu point of view, which is good for us, because that means there is pork and beef on the menu, but also plenty of vegetarian options.

Sietsema enjoyed the flatbreads called hoppers with vegetarian curry. His favorite entrees came with pittu: "a perfect white cylinder compacted of beaten rice and shredded coconut, which begins to crumble and flake as it lands on your table." This, like the hoppers, comes with a choice of curries, but Sietsema found many of the meat variations bland, until he got lucky and dined on a day when the chef had decided to make a black pork curry:

This signature Sinhalese recipe toasts the spices darkly before grinding them, resulting in a flavor both brooding and complex. And the pork is fatty enough to make the curry glisten in the reflected light of the dining room's wide-screen TV.

Nirvana
218 Third Avenue
212-777-1555

Our Man Sietsema: 'Perfect Pap for Invalids'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 3:41 PM, January 30, 2008

Oh, snap. Sietsema is not a fan of Peter's Since 1969, a new spot on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. We stopped in there a few weeks ago with a very hungover friend, and had some shepherd's's pie and veggies. We couldn't say it was anything special, but when we saw that Our Man was reviewing the place, we hoped we'd find out it had improved. But no! Mushy, bland vegetables do not please anyone, except maybe infants. Plus, this is the former site of Peter's, a Ukrainian butcher shop that Sietsema mourns.

But, if you happen to live nearby, this place isn't a total waste. Really good rotisserie chicken is important, and Peter's sounds real good:

The chickens are the best part of the new Peter’s—big, shambling creatures rubbed with herbs and sloughing moist flesh. You won’t need a knife, or even a fork. The price is right, too—one quarter bird plus two sides and “corn bread” is $8.95. A half-chicken is only a dollar more. Peter’s calls them French-rotisserie chickens, but there’s really nothing French about them except the word “rotisserie.”

Peter's Since 1969

168 Bedford Avenue
Williamsburg

(718) 388-2811

Our Man Sietsema: 'Like a Meatball Nestled in a Brown Raincloud'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 3:22 PM, January 23, 2008

Reading Our Man's review this week, EfV was distracted by visions of a raucous birthday party in Flushing. Sietsema visited a new restaurant dedicated to the art of the hot pot, the Northern Chinese meal in which various morsels are cooked in hot broth right at the table.

We've partaken in Grand Sichuan's incineratingly spicy hot pot, and it's a good time, but at Hot Pot City, the deal sounds too good to be true:

70 items were available—an astonishing number compared with the other hot-pot places in town. The price was amazing, too: $24.95 per person for unlimited cookables, including tax and tip, with the caveat that you must stop ordering after two hours, though you can keep boiling what you still have on hand. For an additional $3, Hot Pot City throws in unlimited dim sum and all the beer you can drink, which arrives in foamy pitchers and tastes like Bud. For a diner with a big appetite and a bottomless reservoir of culinary curiosity, this was one hell of a deal.

It might even be good enough to convince our more provincial friends to get on the 7 train. If it's running.

Hot Pot City

40-33 Main Street

Flushing

(718) 886-3266

Our Man Sietsema: 'A Pig-de-Force'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 1:41 PM, January 16, 2008

Though the bistro is no longer the hippest thing going in the restaurant world, Manhattan is teeming with mediocre ones. But this week, Sietsema turns his attention to a couple of newcomers to the genre that turn out to be better than passable.

Belcourt has the mood down, and wins the roast chicken award. The menu is somewhat hit-or-miss, but when it hits, you get a "delectable lamb burger" or "impossibly tender octopus."

Metro Marché, located inside Port Authority, doesn't feel quintessentially bistro, and the roast chicken there was, at least on one occasion, disappointing, But the menu is a thorough compilation of bistro best-hits, including four versions of moules frites, the ubiquitous frisée salad with lardons, very good crab cakes onion soup, plus a "real bouillabaisse, sporting a brick-red broth, plenty of shellfish and monkfish, and rouille-smeared croutons."

Belcourt

84 East 4th Street

(212) 979-2034

Metro Marché

625 Eighth Avenue

(212) 239-1010

Our Man Sietsema: 'Some of the Best Indian Food in the Region'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 2:59 PM, January 3, 2008

Jersey City is the hot shit, have you heard? Sietsema introduces us to its Little India this week. Specifically, he basks in the meaty joys of Karnataka at Udupi Palace, where Our Man man declares some of the best Indian food in the metropolitan area is being made.

Sounding like really kinky porn, mutton sukka ($7.95) describes several fine large chunks of sheep cooked down to coarse chocolate sludge with coconut milk, like the best examples of beef rendang found in Indonesian restaurants. The sheep, however, is outdone by the goat achari: bone-in pieces of meat, almost full chops, lounging with swatches of lime-skin pickle in thick sauce. The taste is pungently acidic and the color is oily red. Note: Indian gravies are not considered done until oil oozes like the Exxon Valdez.

At Udupi Palace, though, the menu meanders to other regions, too—east for chicken chettinadu, north for alu gobi, and south for dosas.

Udupi Palace

789 Newark Avenue

Jersey City

(201) 876-4773

Our Man Sietsema: 'Oddly Vaginal

Posted by Nina Lalli at 5:10 PM, December 27, 2007

We read Sietsema's review with particular interest this week, as we have recently been loving us some roti, and Our Man, who was recently in Trinidad honing his taste buds, has just discovered a strip of roti shops in Rockaway.

Most exciting, and most likely to get us out there, is news of the presence of duck, which we haven't seen in Bed-Stuy, where we most often consume the bundles of curried meats and vegetables.

Oh, he also found some pastry called "vaginal butter flap," which is your new nickname.

Our Man Sietsema: 'Hooray for BYOB!'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 8:31 AM, December 20, 2007

Jason Neroni's fighting days were entertaining, but we always felt bad for him, being such blog-fodder. Blogs are so mean! Our Man Sietsema has remained a fan, though, and seems very pleased that Neroni has landed in a kitchen—however small—rather than behind bars, without access to pig parts.

And about the pig: At Cantina, a tapas restaurant, Sietsema enjoyed Serrano ham, pork croquettes, and then, unimagineably, something the chef calls pork shoulder "dulce de leche." Here's what Our Man says about that: (We think we'll have to taste it to believe it, though.)

The slab swims, but rather slowly, in a thick, beige pool of semi-liquid caramel, in which saltiness vies with sweetness for dominance. Happily, saltiness wins. Melting caramel in sauce is a science-chef trick, reminding us that Neroni succeeded Wylie Dufresne at 71 Clinton Fresh Food before he went to Porchetta.

Cantina

29 Avenue B

(212) 228-0599

Our Man Sietsema: 'A Bewildering 246-Item Menu'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 2:03 PM, December 12, 2007

Our Man has crashed a Chinese wedding, sampled the foods of many regions, and emerged to declare Pacificana, known mostly for its dim sum, a worthy dinner destination. The huge menu is Cantonese-focused, but sprawls in all directions. Sietsema was pleased with the Northern ventures in lamb and a Hakaniese pork belly, but he advises Sichuan lovers to skip the bland version at Pacificana.

As for the main event, the Cantonese strengths come from the sea—or the fish tank, anyway:

Offered with little fanfare on the lengthy seafood menu, pan-fried whole flounder ($22.95) is a miracle of the fryer's art, and crisp with a rice-flour coating. The maître'd sailed over to ceremoniously debone it, and the freshness and clear flavor of the fish was riveting. And why not? It had been swimming in a tank at the end of the room a few moments ago.

Pacificana

813 55th Street

Sunset Park

(718) 871-2880

Our Man Sietsema: 'But Really, What does it Mean?'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 2:25 PM, December 5, 2007

Our Man has been to the Market, and he wasn't too impressed. Market Table, which SIetsema reviews this week, is the market/restaurant that now stands where Shopsin's used to. Our Man finds it all a little too gimmicky, and the food itself is generally good, but not special enough to redeem the place.

No brilliant inventions or science-chef flourishes here. Instead, we have a standard braised lamb shank deposited on a yellowish amalgam that might be cheese grits or puréed root veggies ($20); and the usual skin-on-chicken piece with a single bone protruding like an amputee's stump ($17). Both are competent but unexciting, and so is a strip steak ($29), disappointingly offered with an artichoke and olive mélange, but no starch.

In addition, the list features such over-fished specimens as cod and halibut, which makes the whole market-driven concept, which is traditionally tied to sustainability efforts, look a tad disingenuous.

Our Man Sietsema: 'Hey, Walima, Why No Lamb?'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 3:13 PM, November 28, 2007

We're pretty sure Sietsema doesn't fast during Ramadan, but nevertheless, he did partake in the breaking of the fast at a new Moroccan restaurant in Astoria, which is, we imagine, the best part. Ramadan is over now, but he's still recommending Walima (if not enthusiastically), a relative gem in a city where Moroccan food has never been a strength.

It sounds like only true standout was the beef tagine, which "proved even better than the chicken, a sweet clotted mass of browned onions with prunes laid across the top, each one decorated with a single toasted almond. The meaty bones oozed marrow. While I'd rather eat desert sand than most couscouses in town, this joint managed to keep the chickpea-studded semolina moist."

Walima

31-06 42nd Street

Astoria

(718) 204-0707

Our Man Sietsema: 'Then There's the Really Nutsy Stuff'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 1:43 PM, November 26, 2007

This week, Our Man Sietsema tests the waters at Hakata Tonton, the Japanese restaurant which took over the old Taka space on Grove Street. But this is not just another sushi restaurant. It's not another izakaya or ramen shop, or yakitori spot, either. If you think you're an expert on Japanese cuisine, you might have to do a little more studying, because chances are you haven't spent a lot of time in the Hakata neighborhood in Fukuoka, a prefecture on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. Have you?

If so, you know they have a bit of a pig foot (tonsoku) fetish, and Hakata Tonton is trying to bring it to the West Village. "In fact, these porcine extremities occur in 33 of the 39 dishes on the menu—and of the six that don't contain pig feet, three are desserts," Our Man tells us.

Sietsema most enjoyed the tonsoku hot-pot, various dumplings, the spaghetti carbonara, and a pig foot broth with Japanese sweet potatoes. We have to admit, fan of piggy ears as we are, we're not well-versed in the toes. We'll have to make a foray into the nutsy stuff soon.

Hakata Tonton

61 Grove Street

(212) 242-3699

Our Man Sietsema: 'Bubble, Bubble, Toil, and Trouble'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 4:29 PM, November 14, 2007

Fellow New Yorkers, aren't you thrilled about what's happening? Isn't it exciting to watch the change? In my younger days, I knew only an East Coast version of Tex-Mex庸or shame! Now, Pueblan/Southern-style Mexican food has emerged as one of our great offerings. I try to keep this in mind when I start to lament some of our culinary endangered species, such as the beloved Jewish deli and the extinct ones we never really knew, like Yorkville's schnitzel parlors.

Today, two of my favorite people/food critics turn their attention to Brooklyn's wonderful world of tacos. Peter Meehan eats perhaps the best tacos he has experienced in New York at Tacos Matamoros in Sunset Park, and Our Man Sietsema wonders if Williamsburg's Broadway could be the next Roosevelt Avenue.

Specifically, Sietsema shares his thoughts on Taco Santana, which is on Keap Street. He recommends the tacos, particularly the suadero carnitas varieties預nd be sure to request todos when it comes to the toppings, so as not to miss out on the traditional onions and cilatro. We'll do that, Siets, but what has this blogger's mouth watering most is the description of the quesadillas:

Running parallel to the taco list are a series of snacks made with fresh masa such as one finds at the Red Hook ballfields, including sopes, huaraches, and quesadillas葉he latter emphatically not the bar-food staple of stacked flour tortillas oozing Velveeta. Instead, Pueblan quesadillas are hand-patted rounds of fresh masa dough folded over fillings as a kind of rustic, free-form taco.

Tacos Matamoros

4508 Fifth Avenue

Sunset Park

(718) 871-7627

Taco Santana

301 Keap Street

Williamsburg

(718) 388-8761

Our Man Sietsema: 'A Real-Estate Jinx has been Broken

Posted by Nina Lalli at 4:07 PM, November 7, 2007

This week, Our Man does what he does best, discovering what sounds like a real gem in Astoria. Poodam's Thai Cuisine specializes in Issan regional cooking, which might as well mean "delicious," because a lot of dishes that we know and love originate there, but have become less spicy and pungent in other parts of Thailand and especially here. some Issan staples are meat salads (larb), sticky rice, papaya salad. We enjoy hot, skanky, fermented flavors, and Sietsema's description have us ready to run to Astoria:

Sausage abounds on the Isaan menu. Another variety resembles the paté in a Vietnamese banh mi sandwich. It comes in thin slices in "pork sausage salad" ($10.95), tossed with purple onions, holy basil, shredded screwpine, shiny lime leaves, and tiny pickled bird chilies. Originating in the city of Chiang Mai, which lies northwest of Isaan near the Chinese border, "Thai sour sausage" is notably less sour than sai aua. In fact, it tastes a lot like a Polish kielbasa, which means it's made with pork and loaded with garlic.

POODAM'S THAI CUISINE

44-19 Broadway

Astoria

(718) 278-3010

Our Man Sietsema: 'The Fluorescent Eggs Look Great on your Shirt'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 12:40 PM, October 31, 2007

Our Man is sticking with pasta at Bocca, the new Flatiron restaurant from chef Salvatore Corea, of Cacio e Pepe and Spiga. Sietsema feared that the newest spawn would be the least good, but comes away very pleased with some dishes, like the spaghetti with guanciale and black truffles and the octopus appetizer, which features apples and salmon roe. We have to say, it's hard to imagine how this dish works, but we trust Our Man.

Among the skippable, Sietsema conveniently names some of the more expensive dishes, like a shredded beef entr馥.

Bocca

39 East 19th Street

212-387-1200

Our Man Sietsema: 'Like a Culinary Jekyll and Hyde

Posted by Nina Lalli at 2:47 PM, October 24, 2007

Our man dines at Jimmy's 43 this week, and weighs the Jekyll (modern, market-driven dishes) against the Hyde ("gussied-up bar food"). Both get high marks, but you'll have to read the review to find out which is ultimately more successful. Sietsema particularly raves about the smoked pork loin, a late-summer heirloom tomato salad, and a snack of honey and fennel pollen-spritzed walnuts. "One expects to be attacked by bees while downing this crunchy and profuse treat." Those nuts sound like they'd go better with a beer attack, thogh, and Jimmy's pays plenty of atention to that need, too.

Who would bother with wine when you can get a Goliath Triple Ale from Belgium ($9 per goblet), or Blue Point's Oktoberfest Ale from Long Island? Since Jimmy's partly espouses locavore thinking, you'd better select an imperial pint of Bengali Tiger I.P.A. from Six Points Brewery ($7), located just across the river in Red Hook.

Our Man Sietsema: The Best of New York

Posted by Nina Lalli at 1:39 PM, October 17, 2007

It's Best of New York week around these parts, and boy are we relieved. This year, Our Man Sietsema's really outdone himself, stepping outside the usual "best" structure and instead, imagining last meals for everyone from Nicole Richie to Lord Byron.

Our Man Sietsema: 'Fried Yuca Puts French Fries to Shame'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 9:21 AM, October 10, 2007

Not long ago, I did a little pupusa sampling in Washington Heights, but this week, Sietsema goes much further at El Salvadoreno, reporting on Salvadoran enchiladas, tamals, quesadillas, and some dishes from elsewhere in Central America and Mexico. And that's all in the appetizer section.

Of course, the pupusas still play a starring roll:

Using the plastic knife, slit a pupusa, spread it open like an empty wallet, and spoon in the curtido. Pupusas ($1.50 to $2 each) are hand-patted pancakes stuffed with your choice of cheese, ground pork, cheese and ground pork, shrimp and cheese, or cheese and loroco, the latter a pickled herbal cousin of oregano. I don't much like the shrimp version (lumpy and bland), but the rest are excellent, delivering a comforting creaminess that functions nicely with the crunchy whiplash of curtido.

We still have a few weeks left at the Red Hook Ball Fields, but aren't you glad to know there are cheesy pillows of goodness, and so much more, uptown too?

El Salvadoreno

1229 St. Nicholas Avenue

212-927-3898

Our Man Sietsema: 'Oh, Blessed Fusion!'

Posted by Nina Lalli at 2:37 PM, October 3, 2007

Our Man has recently spent some time at a Bay Ridge stalwart, a Greek taverna called Plaka that, unlike its Astorian cousins, does not focus on grilled fish, but rather, where Sietsema goes for moussaka and pork shish-kabobs, as well as skordalia. But don't get roped into the lamb chops.

In the end, the best thing he ate wasn't animal or vegetable, but good old dairy. It seems like it was almost mind-altering:

Our favorite app was probably saganaki ($10.50), a big plank of sheep's-milk kasseri cheese deposited in a crock and set aflame with brandy. Eagerly we dipped our pitas in the melty white mass, which oozed oil that provided further lubrication. And as we ate it, the cheese reminded us of a low-lying nimbostratus cloud, auguring rain.

Plaka Taverna

406 86th Street

Bay Ridge

(718) 680-3056

Sietsema Finds the Best Tacos in Queens! Maybe!

Posted by Nina Lalli at 6:21 PM, September 26, 2007

It's a Sietsema double-header this week. Our Man's been busy, not just eating mustard oil in Jackson Heights, but leading a parade of taco enthusiasts (although he also let some vegetarians come, because he's nice) on a search for Roosevelt Avenue's best tacos.

Our Man and his 13-man (and woman) gang walked beneath the 7 train with clipboards in hand, gorging themselves for our sake. And among many good finds, there was once especially special cart:

Nothing that had gone before prepared us for Tacos Morelos. When we first saw this cheerful, gleaming cart at the corner of 94th Street, we noticed that one of the proprietors was wielding a tortilla press, making fresh tortillas for each new order... As far as I know, this is the only place in town you can get food from Morelos.

It looks like it's time to hop on the old 7 train, people.