VinDivine - Living it Up John & Janine Style

Bar Americain - NYC Midtown West

+: great menu & food, solid service, nice Manhattan/city vibe
-: 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 is great), his own line of sauces and rubs, and 10 cookbooks. Damn I hate slackers!

Hey Flay, take some time off and hang with your hot wife! Speaking of hot wife, it’s Stephanie March, the actress that played ADA Alex Cabot in Law & Order until recently. And yes, she was standing just a few feet from us with a group of friends when we were here. Newsflash – I just heard she signed on for another 10 episodes. Wait, this isn’t Entertainment Tonight. It’s VdV. So let’s get back to the real story.

This place is ginormous. I mean it’s…grand. Did I just say ‘grand’?. Sorry. Gotta seat at least 200 folks. Huge, open floor plan, soaring ceiling with a mezzanine and wide-open kitchen. You can ask for ‘Bobby’s Table’ to actually get  a full-on glimpse of the happenings in the kitchen. I dunno how often Bobby’s here  though.

First off, the place was pretty packed when we were there. Late afternoon/early PM before the theatre. The place was jammin', especially the bar. First kudos to this place? Even though were two deep at the bar, we got  immediate service. Main reason: my wife Janine is smokin’ hot and about 6’ in heels. Yee Haw! But the bartenders here don’t have that typical tunnel-vision so many do. Very cool. ‘Cuz I despise waiting for a cocktail!

And even with the crowds, we got seated in under 30 minutes. Turn ‘em and burn ‘em Bobby!

The menu here is eclectic and seems way bigger than it really is in sheer number of selections. Well played, Bobby. They have a raw bar, 10 appys including an awesome Vidalia Onion Soup w/ Vermont Cheddar, a tasty, filling bowl that could go toe-to-toe with most traditional French Onion Soups. Another killer is the Spicy Tuna Tartare. I know, I know, you’re asking: "VdV, when the hell is this staple on all appy menus gonna wear itself out and swim away into the sunset?" Hey I hear ya. But ya want Bobby to keep this one on 4-ever. This Tartare is excellent sushi-grade tuna, cut into generous chunks and seasoned perfectly with jalapeno and smoke. Yes, smoke. Don’t know how he got that smoky accent in there but it works.

He dishes up 8-10 entrees including Duck w/ Dirty Wild Rice, Mussels & Fries, and Grilled Tuna w/ Red & Green Chile Sauce and Crispy Squash Blossom. Four steaks (Rib Eye, NY, Hangar and Filet), a ‘Plate of the Day’ and a dozen or so sides.  For a side, try the Hot Potato Chips w/ Blue Cheese Sauce. This is a generous portion of warm, fresh-made chips and a vat of creamy blue sauce to dip. The chips coulda used a little ‘heat’ to balance with the blue cheese, but still damn tasty.  Unfortunately, I’d skip the Gulf Shrimp & Grits w/ bacon, Green Onions & Garlic. As lip-smacking delish as it sounds, the shrimp were too shrimpy (almost cocktail-sized) and the grits were completely bland. Which makes absolutely no sense but trust In VinDivine!

So, to wrap it up, this place has exceptionally good service, a menu for everyone, and somehow keeps it all together with food quality. A great spot for just a drink, but if you have the time make sure to at least grab a couple appys to nosh on if not a full-on supper. That said, it's not a 'hang out' or place I'd go that often.

VdV Ratings: (out of 10):
Food: 9
Ambiance: 8
Service: 9.5
PRICE: $$$ (most appys $12-18; entrees $30-40)
Overall: 9

Hours:
Mon-Fri 11:45a-2:30p; 5p-10p (11p on Thus, 11:30p on Fri)
Sat 11:30a-2:30p; 5p-11:30P
Sun 11:30a-2:30p; 5p-10p

Bar Americain
152 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019
212.265.9700
www.baramericain.com

John's Pizzeria - NYC

So ya may have heard - we've been on the hunt for the perfect pizza lately. Especially when we visit our home away from home, NYC. You can thank our clogged arteries and sky-high cholesterol for all this work, you VdVers! Anyhoo, some of you VdV fans reco'd us to go to John's Pizzeria on Bleecker.

How the hell in our NYC days and many LATE nights on Bleecker have we missed this joint? I mean, it's been around forever and is a stone's throw from Peculiar Pub. And like Lombardi's (or vice versa), just whole pies - no slices, no credit cards, no kidding. This place also won Best Pizza on Citysearch 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2004. Come on you slackers, where've ya been the past few years? Don't get fat and lazy on us.

Walking into this place (after a slight wait) is like walking into the rathskeller at my college; crappy old booths with graffiti carved so deep you can't believe the booth is still standing. Johnny got his trusty pocket knife out to find a place where we'd be immortalized at John's but alas, no space left.There's also a huge mural of what we think is the Blue Grotto in Capri, Italy on one of the walls. JHC this isn't an art review, so we'll move on.

This place is kinda like the In-N-Out Burger of pizzerias. Keep it basic and rock it, baby! These guys have an idiot's (I mean this in a good way) menu -  they keep it simple & cheap, not to confuse the late-night drunk crowd:

• Pasta with either marinara, meat sauce or meatballs all $8-10.
• Three sides - a salad, a meatball or a meatball sandwich (ok that's more like 2 1/2 sides)
• One (yes ONE) Calzone. And it's a big mo-fo. $16, and could feed an entire table.
• A 6-slice small ($12)  or 8-slice large ($14) pie. Not thin or thick crust, none of this 'do ya want Pineapple & Ham on that' BS that west-coasters seem to crave. It's heresy I'm tellin' you!  Do ya feel me? Anyhoo, $2 per topping and once again basics like sausage, pepperoni, onion, mushrooms, meatballs, anchovies.
• Bevvies? Red or white wine $7, beer $4.50, soda $1.50.

We started with the basic salad and some vino blanc, and upgraded to an entire bottle for $21 bones! Yeah baby! Ain't no fancy-shmancy Riedel stemware here either just plain ole' water glasses.

OK, onto the pie! We went small in a lame attempt to control our expanding waistlines (proof above, count 'em only 6 slices!) We did a basic shroom & onion 'za. Like Lombardi's it's coal-fired brick oven pizza and chef-boy-ar-dee can you taste it. The sauce was really fresh, slightly sweet and the cheese was just good basic cheese. The crust of the first few slices come out as stiff as a 16-year old boy after flipping though the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue if you get my drift. Near the end of the pie the crust is more limp, but that's what happens in life, huh? That's what we hear anyway;)

Kick-ass pizza pies if you're around the Village. Oh yeah, there are a couple different locations I guess, we're talking John's on Bleecker. We'll give it a solid 8 outta 10, meaning we'd walk 20 blocks for it.

John's Pizzeria
278 Bleecker Street (@ Jones)
347- 706-3336

Nobu 57 - NYC

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 a bunch of a-hole wall streeters), and were ready to be underwhelmed. I mean, after all the hype Nobu gets how could it live up?!

Well, when the waiter walked up, asked if we'd been there before and when we said "Nope", snarked "Then just hand the menus back and I'll do the ordering..." I reckoned we were well on our way to an experience that would earn them the Smackdown o' the Year award on VdV. It's like "Listen dipshit, we live in San Francisco, we're not sushi virgins." Oh well, ya know what? After that little gaffe, it was all yummy goodness. I mean, OTH gimme more 'o that $50 yellowtail sashimi lip-smakin' good yummy goodness. Get my drift?

We started off the adventure with, well, after a coupla Hanger Limesh. Any place on the East Coast that carry's Alemeda's favorite gets huge points. First off,  the Sashimi Salad. The seared tuna looked soo good in the little glass cooler dealy, that Janine pounced on it. Bravo J! This mighta been the highlight of the meal, seriously.

Next up? Watercress rock shrimp salad. This sucker rocked. Little critters never tasted so good. Usually I'm dipping them into some acky mayo dip someone calls "tarter sauce" just to cover the taste. Not so with these!

The yellowtail sashimi wth jalapeño is out of this freakin world. We can't get enough of this kick ass meal.  Yellow tail and jalapeño, two great tastes. "Hey you've got your yellowtail in my jalepeño! You've got your jalepeño in my yellow tail!" Nah, doesn't really work. We'll stick to pb and chocolate for that. You wouldn't really know that my J doesn't really dig sushi believe it or not, but I think Nobu is turning her around a bit. She liked the Yellowtail so much that we asked for it in a roll made with soy paper not seaweed. (The seaweed grosses J out, I've learned to live with it. You pick your battles after 13 years.)

I thought the mushroom soup would be a big fat ho-hum,  but let me tell you I had to pry that sucka out of J's paws to slurp down some of the yummy goodness. Worth every slurp!

Celeb sighting you ask? Howared freakin' Stern dining with one of his daughters! Ya can't miss him.

Anyhoo, it ain't cheap folks. This is no hole in the wall sushi, no sirreee. Bring out the Amex platinum cuz you might just hit yer limits.

Nobu 57
40 West 57th St.
New York, NY 10019
212-757-3000

Lombardi's Pizza - NYC

So in addition to discovering the best of the best buffalo wings, we're also on a mission to find the best pizza outside of Capri Italy, which would just so happen to be the pizza at Ristorante Aurora (OMG this stuff rocks the world. Their linguine with clam sauce is also the best on God's green earth, The clams are teensy tiny and yummy). So hop a jet and get to Capri, slackers!

So anyway, we took to a very cool blog about pizza called Slice (this must be the fattest blogger in the world, I think he eats pizza breakfast lunch and dinner) and the reco of the hair stylist that styles next to John's stylist Ashlee (OK, TMI)  and found Lombardi's Pizza. Touted as one of the first pizzerias in America we had to discover if a place that has been around for a century could fire up a pie since the Bay Area can't really seem to. (Except of course you A16, Little Star, Golden Boy and Delfina). And, could they stand out in one of the 'Za capitals of the world? A place where every fleabag slice joint churns out pizza that rivals most of the best places here in sunny 'ol vegan-eatin' SF?

We ventured out of our mid-town digs at the Chambers Hotel, got a cab and went downtown to the corner of Spring Street and Mott. Little Italy, bitches! Woo Hoo! Put me in the mood for a back-to-back-to-back Godfather marathon when we got back to Chambers. Well, maybe a back-to-back since G3 SUCKS ASS. I mean, that whole 'Love you, cuz' thing with Andy Garcia and Sophia Coppola getting it on? I think I just vomited in my mouth. 

Oh well, cinematic liberties and ADD aside, the East Village is cool and having lived in NYC, I can't believe I never got to this joint since it is pretty cheap and I was dirt poor. That said this place is cash-only! Cool. Love places like that...NOT! At least install an f'ing ATM Lombardi's! Might help control the dine-n-dash, know what I mean?!

Anyhoo, we arrived in our stretch limo (kidding!) to a line outside and shoved past the riff raff (again, just kidding! We didn't actually shove them;) and went in to see if we could...SURPRISE...belly up to the bar. Well, missy, sure ya can...but ya can't order food there.  So all we could get was vino as we waited for a table and tried not to steal some old codger's pie.

We waited for an hour (that equated to about 4 glasses of bad wine at the bar) then got seated. The hostess took us back through the kitchen into another part of the restaurant. Seemed like a different building actually. Who cares, we're here for the pizza, right?

At this point we're ready to gnaw each other's limbs off so we quickly order a house salad cuz it seems like somewhat of a wait for the pie. Salad was good, and gone in about 3 minutes. Details? F the details it's SALAD. Jeez.

Onto the pizza. This pizza is special cuz it's coal-oven pizza, few pizzerias do it this way. Maybe because coal kills. I dunno. But if it helps bake a killer 'Za then screw the people down wind! We ordered a small pie which is about 14". We got half mushroom and half plain (Margarita). And damn it was fantastic. Why, kittens? 1) we were Donner-party hungry 2) the crust is awesome. Thin but firm. You can hold it in one hand and it doesn't buckle in two. But on the other hand, it doesn't snap in two and disintegrate when you bite into it either. Nice! 3) The Mozzarella cheese was f-r-e-sh and in nice big blobs all over the 'za. Mmmm. 4) They gave us a side of pizza sauce so we could dunk it! Yeah baby!

Contrary to Pazza Notte another pizza fave in midtown, this crust was crunchy but Pazza Notte is solid for those who like it limp (fyi, limp is good only for pizza)! 

All in all, not sure it was worth over a stinkin' hour wait but a great foodie experience. We hit it on a sunny Saturday afternoon so prolly off-peak it's a faster serve. We give it a solid 8 outta 10.

Lombardi's Pizza
32 Spring Street (Mott)
New York, NY 10012
212-941-7994

Pazza Notte

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 pizza? Well DO YA PUNK? Look at me when I’m talking to you! Hey, outside of Napoli itself, NYC is home to the thin crust ‘za. Ya got Ray’s, Jimmy’s, Johnnys’ whatever. But Pazza Notte is The Don. He kicks the others’ scrawny asses.

We discovered this cute little spot the last time we were in nyc, and scurried back over there as soon as we got into Manhattan last night, after 36 hours in a little place called Crazyville (aka Janine’s hometown).

P-N is located on 6th between 55th and 56th in Midtown. Nice place, not too fancy but nice and comfy. This ain't no pizza joint - it’s an Italian restaurant but the only thing we’ve had is their thin crust ‘za. It’s nice and dark, good vibe and usually pretty crowded, with lots of booths and …wait for it…a bar! ☺ Which we bellied up to of course.

So we get a couple pies, a Margarita and a Fungi, figuring we’d just have some of each since we really only wanted one ‘za, but they don’t do ½ and ½ (and they don’t do slices either, but there’s no way you only want one slice).

We each polish off Piece 1 like a pair of rabid coyotes. Not a word uttered between us. Second slice? Slightly more appreciation of the spices, sauce, and killer paper-thin crust. We may have even taken the time out to mutter “Mmm. This stuff good.” or something like that, we both had our mouths full. Then we do the swap – I hand over a slice of marg for a slice of ‘shroom. It’s like Lather. Rinse. Repeat. We each polish off two slices of the other pronto. Then we start to pick around, all nice and polite. Even sharing. “Here have some more of mine. Please. I could never finish it.” “Thanks, sweetie, here have some of mine too…” Then suddenly we’re both down to the last slice and it’s like we both go Cybil: “What the hell are you looking at?! Keep your f’ing grimy paws off my pizza!!” And that’s just how good this stuff is.

They also have some 2-1 drink special that for some reason we didn’t seem to qualify for, maybe it’s only if you drink well booze. Anyhoo I think it happens every night and runs until close. Kick-ass TC Za and Twofers? Woo Hoo! 

Pazza Notte
1375A 6th
New York, NY 10019
(212) 765-6288

Sir Harry's Bar - NYC

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 the Pied Piper at the Palace. However, Sir Harry's...not so much like the Palace.

Sure it has that old school vibe, dark mysterious place, tables with the wooden inlays of checker board (like anyone's gonna pull out the checkers and start playin'), old-fashioned carpet, chairs with wheels on them (classy!) and you're outta-towner drunks. Oh yeah.

Guy to our left: Digging his finger's in the bar gravel until his fave gravel is gone, so he starts to dig in ours! Reason #1 for NEVER EATING BAR GRAVEL. Guy to his left, WAY overweight, screaming at the top of his lungs, outtatowner, walking right up to the 42" TV, blocking everyone's view so he can "hear" what they're saying. Helloooo, it was close captioned, that doesn't mean get "close". But he was so drunk he couldn't follow the bouncing ball. Then this guy proceeds to go to a random table to eat that bar gravel. Reason #2 for NEVER EATING BAR GRAVEL.

Anyhoo, it's a bar if your desperate for a drink, or you just want to people watch...

Sir Harry's Bar
The Waldorf Astoria
301 Park Ave., New York, NY 10022 at 50th St.
212-872-4890

The Beacon - NYC

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, our superman concierge where to go for a quick fun lunch. "The Beacon!" he cried. Ok, sounds good. So he walked us a few doors down, came in wink, wink, "Hi hon, can you VIP these lovely people?" Love the Joseph. When did VIP become a verb?

What looked from the front like your generic-run-of-the-mill NY restaurant with little-to-no character ended up being this cavernous 20's like cool place. Seriously shock for the J&J, I mean look at the logo, would you run in?  We're immediately whisked down into this pit-like room to a huge table and treated like royalty. They thought we might be in it for the long-haul but we were short on time. Too bad. If Janine didn't have a meeting it mighta been an all dayer. We did have to stop an order of complementary oysters coming to the table. a) didn't have the time, b) who sends oysters? That was very nice of them.

Nothing really "light" about this menu. This is like the place where all the media moguls take their clients out and PIG out. No, CHOW down. No, strap the feedbag on. No, gimme the vomitorium. No lie. We searched the menu for that quick lite salad to no avail. But we did find the greens. We split a HUGE salmon salad, light on the salad, heavy on the slab o' salmon. We also got the seared tuna nicoise both salads very good and very large.

We couldn't let this yummy grub go on without a glass o' trusty ole Rosé to wash it down with but we had to ask our waitress (training wheels on, oh boy) about 5 times for it. Hmmmm, don't put the training wheels on the VIPs beacon! Kidding only kidding.

All in all, a GREAT find in midtown. Not sure what the after work bar scene is, perhaps next time!

Quality Meats - NYC

We go to NYC a lot, maybe once a quarter and sorry to say VinDiviners, that you're not going to get new hotel recos from yours truly. Why? Cuz we stay at one cool, happenin' place, that's right, The Chambers Hotel. And it's because of the treatment we get from everyone there, especially José, the Concierge who WALKED us to this new restaurant in the rain to make sure we got right in and got a table. José is the man. Not to mention Joseph, who walked us and "vip'd" us at the Beacon. Love you two.

Now onto Quality Meats. When José first recommended it, we were like, "Is he taking us to some big ole' Chicago syle, cigar smoky, fat guys sittin' around a table undoing the top button of their pants typa place?" With a name like Quality Meats that's why we thought. Boy were we wrong. It's very industrial, jam packed with pretty people. Cool lighting, small place, very cozy. The Smith & Wollensky Group owns this and if you've ever been to one of those meateries, you know it's gonna be the bomb.

But whoa, they only had a 12oz filet mignon (filet, shocker huh?) and we weren't hungry enough for two of those. But we did have a chuckle at the 64 oz. Ribeye for two. Wow. They also serve 3 Filet medallions all cooked in their different ways. Sharing? You KNOW we love the share plates. So we ordered up one of those and it was a lip smacka. We also ordered up the Sashimi of Hamachi which I wouldn't order again cuz...and to top off of protein bonanza we had the Sauteed Spinach, very good.

Funny? What's up with NYC and all of the conversations that happen about climbing the corporate ladder? Guy next to us was on a date (she didn't take her overcoat and scarf off the entire night, wassup widat?) He looked like George Peppard way before The A-Team, maybe in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Anyhoo, he's chattin' up his chillin' lady (literally), talking about how he's the star of his sales team. In fact, he was psyched his manager said he's not "on the team" he's "outside the team". Was that a compliment? This guy sure thought so...LOL. Tool. And of course ALL THE DUDES are suits. Don't blame QM for that.

Drinks? Wine by the glass this time. John the Roshambo Zin, love that wine. Janine: a Ferari Carano Blend. The wine list is pretty ridiculous. Finished it up with some porto, yummy, yummy.

Quality Meats
57 West 58th Street (6th)
New York, NY 10019
T: 212.371.7777
F: 212.317.9362

The Modern - NYC

We've had some CRAZY travelling between NY and Boston of late. Good for us and good for the VDVers cuz we've got some new sh-- to talk about. NO, not about Boston! Well...you guys do have...uh...I mean, I really love your...whew. lol. Anyway, kids, we are naturally talkin' about NYC. Wanna hear about it - here we go:

The Modern is rockin'. Mod, you could say. Damn I loved the Mod Squad. Especially Peggy Lipton (she's the blonde)...Anyhoo, why did we not know about The Modern sooner? For chrissakes, we stay a mere two blocks away at the Chambers each time we're in NY! Ahh, that's why - 'cuz it's next to a MUSEUM. Yipes! Culture!! I mean, we're too busy rooting out the best of the best wining & dining for you guys to get all cultural and stuff. But, since it is right in the MOMA, they use all of the designers' products to pimp the place out. It's a nice, large, bright space with an enormous bar (see below) and café area separated by frosted white glass panels from the main, fancier dining room. Very clean, white, bright. I said it was Mod! Another shining star for Danny Meyer of Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern fame. Wow, he hit it with this one.

The centerpiece? A ginormously long bar made out of slabs of unfinished white marble. For those of you who know the J&J, we are huge aficionados of the Mod look and we notice stupid little things like this. White marble unfinished for a BAR no less? The drink spillage alone would ruin it! Of course our bartender knew that there was a blahblahblah-thane coating on it to prevent this. Whew! We got our breathe back and ordered drinks. And spilled a little on the bar just to test it out. (For those of you who don't know us we are also fans of a long bar, see our equation on the District post.)

The food was another story. Small plates...nah...microscopic plates really. Kiddie-menu size. Those freeze-dried 'if hell freezes over' packet size. Tiny. OK, I think you get the picture. BUT, whatcha get, you're gonna like. Danny wouldn't let us down! Does it matter what we had? Not really but I'll tell ya anyway cuz the menu is constantly changin'. First off, the menu is 'American Nouveau' so a nice range of meats, fishes, and the like. Our faves - Black Angus Beef Tenderloin - RARE of course, if they serve salmon or scallops of any kind when you go, mmmm, mmmmm. Make sure when you go you try a bit of meat, fish and poultry cuz it's all gonna be great but just make sure that for every two people you get at least 5 plates.

Oh, and bonus for the J&J. Bandol Rosé on the menu. And as opposed to the food, served in full-size portions! Wooohooo! Drink a bottle...no...two!

The Modern Restaurant
11 West 53rd Street
New York (212) 333.1220

 

Four Seasons Bar - NYC - Midtown

This place, on 57th St. between Madison & Park, appears like it was created by someone who had beau coup cash and petite peu good style…"Hey, I'm a windbag with a boatload of dough to spend, let's see what type of cold, lifeless, cavern-like place we can build, then shove sticks up the asses of the bar staff. Oh! Then let's charge $32 a glass for Moet Rosé! That'll keep out the riff-raff.” And all the fun people too!

A quick aside – is it pronounced ‘Mo-ett’ or ‘Mo-ay’? I've heard argument both ways, since it has that umlaut dealy over the 'o', that you them pronounce the following consonant. But then it doesn't sound all Frenchy. So who knows.

Back to the story: They weren’t done yet! “…Then, let's light it up so brightly that guests will need to wear sunglasses inside even on a cloudy day, and let's mirror the back wall to double the light! And to cap off the un-cozy vibe we're shooting for, NO BOOTHS. That’ll really top-off the hospital cafeteria ambiance."  Well, brother, if that’s your cup of tea, shuffle on over to the Manhattan Four Seasons bar. The Bar, as they call it.

Wow folks, the San Francisco Four Seasons Bar ROCKS on this one. How do we know? We go there to knock a couple back after we work out at the Sports Club LA just next door!

BTW: Just read that the Prince of Saudi Arabia and Bill Gates offered $3.7 billion for the chain. When I saw them mention the prince, I thought “Hey, maybe they’ll glam this place out in purple and start piping in some righteous tunes!” Oh, wait. Different Prince. And Bill Gates? Well, we all know his design sense. 'Nuff said. And like we said, expense wasn’t what was spared here, it was good taste.

Overall rating: 3/10. Skip it!
Bar Gravel rating: 6/10. Fresh nuts, lotsa pistachios. That’s what saved ‘em from total rating annihilation.

The Bar at Four Season Hotel
57 East 57th Street (cool address anyway)
New York, NY 10022