Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Tribeca | FRENCH
PRO: Very authentic, causal French, and awesome wings! CON: Not much So what’d we decide to eat in NYC the day before leaving for France? French food, bien sur! Talk about bringing sand to the beach. But just to throw in a dumb curveball, we order…Chicken Wings! Hey, they had them as a special, don’t blame us. So....more
Monday, June 7, 2010
Tribeca | MEXICAN
Greetings Chef Aarón Sanchez, We just missed you at Centrico, where we had a fab lunch at the bar, and your main man Juan mixed us some mean Partida Repo Ritas. BTW, Juan was overall just as awesome, nice guy that gave prompt, friendly service. So. You may (not) remember us – we (fictionally) met at a....more
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Lower East Side | ITALIAN
PRO: Cute neighborhood spot, decent food CON: Definitely not an authentic ‘Apizz’ OK sucka, if you call it ‘Apizz’ make it ‘Apizz’. Hear me?! Straight outta New Haven, Connecticut, bitch! Somma the best thin crust outside of Capri, Napoli or certain areas of NYC or SF. That’s Amoré. Oops. I mean, that’s Apizz. And gimme a little....more
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
West Village | THAI
PRO: Cool space, nice people & service, OK spot for a drink + appy or a date CON: Many dishes not well conceived, and not really authentically Thai- seeming Hmmm. I smell a place that has an identity crisis. I mean, Betel is calling itself a Thai food restaurant, but our take is it leans more toward....more
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
SoHo | CA/AMERICAN
PRO: Happenin’ place day & night, outdoor seating CON: Slight douche factor, but typically worth it Yeah lots of us have heard of this happenin’ spot in SoHo. It’s on a great corner, Prince & Lafayette, gets a solid attractive crowd, decent eats, a model lounge…WTF? A ‘Model Lounge?’ Is that like a Model Zoo? No, not....more
Monday, March 22, 2010
West Village | WINE BAR
PRO: Great space, good Italian wine selection, great bar stools…really! CON: Not much, obviously heavy on Italian wines OK, we cruised this spot (as some others ‘cruised’ me. I was looking pretty sharp) the other night in between other venues. In between 10 Downing and…WTF was it…whatever. But we saw Centro, it looked cool and we went....more
Monday, March 22, 2010
SoHo | PIZZA
PRO: Great pies, cool space, very good menu, solid service CON: If ya still hate Nate, you SF-ers! So, I like Pizza. Pretty much if you torture tabby kittens (F those Siamese) and still toss a great pie, I’m your friend. Hey has anyone tried that Tabby Kitten Pie at Little Star? Ooops. Just kidding, call off....more
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
West Village | MEDITERRANEAN
PRO: Great space and vibe, great food, fresh ingredients and nice preparation CON: Not much, really No, not that 10 Downing, sucka. We didn’t eat with Prime Minister Gordon Brown. I think he’d be a buzz kill anyway. But we did eat with the next best thing, Chef Jonnatan Leiva, the San Francisco Chronicle 2008 Rising Star....more
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
PRO: Big menu, good grub in a swank setting, strong drinks, famous bathrooms! CON: Not great service if you get seated upstairs Alright, alright. The bathrooms. The crappers at this place get so much press it basically sets this spot up for failure. I mean, known for your bathrooms? It’s gotta be a big downer, right? But....more
Thursday, January 28, 2010
PRO: Cool space, good sophisticated yet laid-back vibe CON: Not much Yo NY! I’ve got yer new hang-out & after work watering hole. See, here at VdV we’re always on the lookout for a cool new (at least to us) bar. We enjoy a cocktail or two. On occasion. That’s if your definition of ‘on occasion’ is....more
Monday, January 25, 2010
PRO: Always good, cozy space, brasserie feel, great menu and food. And awesome for late night eats CON: Not much We ducked into this cool little spot yesterday, hadn’t been here in a couple years. Good ol’ Blue Ribbon, always consistent. We like consistency. Unless you suck. Then we’re going to unfriend you. Anyway, this is a great....more
Sunday, January 24, 2010
PRO: Good vibe & people watching, great bar scene and awesome Lil’ Big Macs! CON: Inconsistency! Dining experience kinda sucked…. So this is the tale of two tastings. Damn, alliteration again. Shit. Why a tale of two tastings, you ask? ‘Cuz we went here twice, Einstein. Once last weekend when we were ‘wowed’ and since we were....more
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
PRO: Authentic French brasserie atmosphere, good food, fun vibe CON: Getting a seat can be tricky! So after about a gazillion times of swinging by Balthazar hoping to score a seat for weekend lunch or din din (no, we don’t plan far enough ahead to ever reserve), lurking around like desperate beggars and then leaving with our....more
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Tribeca | CA/AMERICAN | PUB
PRO: Zucchini Carbonera! Good food & service, comfortable space CON: I don’t get the ‘Gastro Pub’ positioning We swung into recently opened Brinkley’s on Broome St. the other night. We got there a bit early so we grabbed a couple margys at Mexican Radio while we waited for them to open at 5p. Yes, kittens, we will....more
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Lower East Side | CA/AMERICAN | CASUAL
PRO: French Onion Soup Dumplings, fun, creative menu CON: Nothing really. Unless you don’t enjoy French Onion Soup Dumplings We have just three words for you to remember: French Onion Soup Dumplings. OK, bye! Seriously, through some f’d up alchemy a genius actually concocted this dish. Think about it – it’s soup in a dumpling vessel. Brilliant!....more
Friday, October 2, 2009
West Village | CASUAL
PRO: Give me a minute CON: Pretty much all of it Hey! Don’t you dare call this my place, sucka. You take this casa, we don’t want any part of it. Boo casa. OK that was childish. So the fine folks at Thrillist wrote this place up a few weeks ago, and we decided to take a....more
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Chelsea | CA/AMERICAN | SPORTS
PRO: Huge space, good layout, 45 HDTVs, good menu CON: Bad for crowd-phobic people, not enough single women (yet) Just what this gay part of NY needed, a raging sports bar! No, I’m dead serious. And these dudes brought it strong. The Ainsworth is about 6,000 square feet, seats 375, has about four dozen big fat HD....more
Sunday, August 23, 2009
West Village | BISTRO | PUB
PRO: Awesome deviled eggs, great vibe CON: If you go prime time you’ll probably wait awhile for a seat Our chef friend Jonny Leiva raved about the deviled eggs at The Spotted Pig, so we had to go. There must be 1,000 pigs adorning this place, from clay pigs to pig paintings to a small pack of....more
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Meatpacking | CUBAN | FANCY & SCMANCY
PRO: Awesome ambiance, very authentic, great live music and a huge bar CON: Food was a little disappointing What can we say, besides “Say hello to my leetle friend”. Sorry, couldn’t help but interject my fave Tony Montana line. Anyhoo, this place is straight outta 1950’s Cuba (not that we have been to Cuba, nor were we....more
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Midtown West | BISTRO | FANCY & SCMANCY
PRO: great menu & food, solid service, nice Manhattan/city vibe CON: definitely not regular ‘hang out’ type of spot Bar Americain is 1 of 4 restaurants from Bobby Flay, the others being Mesa Grill, Bobby Flay Steak, & Bobby’s Burger Palace. You know Bobby, he has about 50 different shows on Food Network (like Grill It!, which....more
Friday, January 23, 2009
Midtown West | SUSHI | FANCY & SCMANCY
PRO: Howard Stern star-sighting (yeah, we’re starved here in SF), excellent sushi, great scene CON: Not cheap, bar area can get swamped by annoying finance-type d-bags during happy hour Yep that’s right. We strolled into the NYC Nobu 57 like we owned the place, grabbed two spots at the upstairs bar (the downstairs bar was full of....more
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Midtown West | PIZZA! | ITALIAN | CASUAL
PRO: Great super-thin crust pizza CON: Not if you’re a crispy crust fan OK first things first. No whining (or unsubscribing;) about this being the first post in a month, and then NOT having it be SF-related. We’re gonna start cranking out local slop real soon! Oh yeah, Happy New Year! So, do ya wanna kick-ass thin crust....more
Sunday, September 9, 2007
We had to be at the Waldorf Astoria for a convention so right after we took a moment to try out their old-school bar Sir Harry’s. We don’t have a problem with old school bars, given the choice we like new, hip, trendy but hey, a cool bar is a cool bar. Hey we love....more
Monday, September 3, 2007
Midtown West | CA/AMERICAN | OLD SCHOOL
PRO: Solid food, nice deco decor CON: Kinda old school, but not necessarily old-school cool We musta walked past this place no less than a hundred times. It’s a few doors down from our fave hotel the Chambers. Janine had a meeting downtown and after running the loop in CPark we were hungryyyy. So we asked Joseph,....more