Category Archives: East Village

Pylos, a Greek gem in the East Village

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PylosPylos
128 E 7th St
(between Avenue A & 1st Ave)
New York, NY 10009

PylosStarted with this glass goblet of some Greek wine that the waiter suggested. I told him I like my wines like how I like Beyonce – full bodied, which is exactly what this wine was. Great for a cold spring night.PylosOur meal began with complimentary piping hot soft pita with creamy hummus on the side. This is something I would pay for as an appetizer. It tasted even better because it was free.

PylosWe ordered the Htapothi Scharas ($16), a classic grilled, marinated octopus with a balsamic reduction sauce and capers. It is the most expensive appetizer on the menu but is so highly recommended by all Yelpers that I had to get it. And they were so right. The octopus was DELICIOUS. Continue reading →

Prime & Beyond – an American steakhouse with Korean BBQ

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Prime & BeyondPrime and Beyond
90 E 10th St
(at 3rd Ave)
New York, NY 10003

Prime & Beyond is a steakhouse that originated in Fort Lee, NJ. In 2011, it opened its second location in East Village. Prime & Beyond is a traditional steakhouse with Korean accents. Actually, it has more than accents; it straight up has Korean bbq options on the menu. Cleverly, the guys from Prime & Beyond who inputted their info into Yelp categorized its initial NJ restaurant as “Korean.” There is a huge Korean population in Fort Lee (Wiki says Korean Americans accounted for 23.5% of the population in 2010) and it makes marketing sense to have the steakhouse under “Korean.” For the East Village location, where the crowd may be more diverse, it is categorized as “American (traditional).” Without looking at the menu first, you would assume that you are entering a traditional Smith & Wollensky-esque steakhouse. For once, I didn’t look ahead at the menu before going simply because I didn’t have time.

Prime & Beyond
I immediately spotted Korean bbq influences after looking at the menu. In addition to tradition steaks, the restaurant has a short rib stew, kalbi (bbq short rib), bulgogi (Korean bbq beef), spicy pork, and for $5, will serve your steak with a side of Korean scallion salad (the kind that comes with all Korean bbq meals). After we placed our orders, we were immediately served a generous portion of salad with what tasted like a soy sauce based dressing. Free appetizers are a Korean tradition (aka. “ban chan” or small appetizers that come with any Korean meal you have in Ktown) so the free salad stood out at this steakhouse.

Prime & BeyondThe next “Asian” thing I noticed was that after we had our salad and the waitress came by to swap out our plates, she brought along a napkin for each person to put their utensils on. I have always thought it was really strange that Americans put their utensils directly on the (potentially very dirty) table. I was happy to see that Prime & Beyond felt the same way about utensils.

Prime & BeyondMe, LAW, E.R., and A. Z. shared the Prime & Beyond Bacon Strips ($7). The bacon strips were 50% fat and 50% lean meat. The flavor was great, salty and smokey with a nice charred exterior in certain bites. Though, I must say that Peter Luger’s bacon smokes this bacon any day. The lean meat portion of the bacon was way too tough, almost like a jerky. It just didn’t melt in your mouth the same way Luger’s does. Continue reading →

New Kid on the Block – Kura’s Omakase Leaves You Feeling Happy

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IMG_8528Kura
130 St Mark’s Pl
(between Avenue A & 1st Ave)
New York, NY 10009

Kura is a new Japanese restaurant on St. Mark’s that is NOT owned by the St. Mark’s Japanese restauranteur legend (who owns Soba-Ya, Robataya, Cha-An, Curry-Ya, and Shabu-Tatsu). It’s actually owned by Huey Cheng, a fellow middle school classmate of mine from Beijing. He recently moved to New York and has been working on this venture with Chef Ishizuka (with many more to come).

Kura is an intimate sushi restaurant that doesn’t have a menu. It’s currently hidden under some scaffolding, but even without the scaffolding, the entrance is small enough that one might just walk past it. It also doesn’t have windows. All these things make it sound like a pretentiously expensive restaurant, but it isn’t. At all. Kura is modestly elegant; the smooth, matte, white ash wood decor makes the place feel homey. It’s just dim enough and small enough to feel intimate; yet, the soft warm lighting allows you to see your food clearly and the seating is arranged such that you don’t feel claustrophobic (even without the windows.)

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LAW took me here on Tuesday night and we tried the omakase with both cooked foods and sushi. Chef Ishizuka specializes in Osaka cuisine, which tends to be on the sweeter side. We started with a yellowtail sashimi with a light ponzu type sauce with lots of scallions. The chef includes some kind of fish skin chopped up in the mixture, which adds a little fattiness and, surprisingly, crunchiness. It is slightly sweet with a citrus aftertaste. LAW claims this is the best yellowtail he has ever had in his life.
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Cafe Himalaya

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Cafe Himalaya
78 E 1st St
New York, NY 10009

On a Friday night, R.S., A.C., and I grabbed dinner at Cafe Himalaya, a tiny, cheap, and incredibly busy restaurant on 1st and 1st. The food is Himalayan/Nepalese and is very vegetarian friendly. We sat down at about 7:00pm and watched the line of people grow. It was cold outside so they all waited inside, squished between tables while staring at our food as we ate. It was as if they were counting down for their turn on the swing. Not ideal for a mini high school reunion catch up dinner. Probably a better venue for a quick dinner before a night out across Houston in Lower East Side. We all started with a cup of homemade darjeeling tea with milk and sugar ($1.50). It tasted like Hong Kong milk tea with condensed milk. It was a little creamy for my taste but R.S. and A.C. both got second rounds. They also have butter tea… which I had my share of in Tibet. If you haven’t had it, it’s worth trying. It’s tea with salt, butter, and milk… very much an acquired taste.

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R.S. ordered the Tsel Khowa ($7.50), a mixed vegetable curry cooked “Nepali style” with basmati rice. I didn’t get to try it but like Serious Eats said, it looked like there was too much broth. I prefer heartier curries, not watered down soups. On the other hand, vegetables did look fresh. Continue reading →

Prima, seafood and cocktails on first and first.

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PrimaPrima
58 East 1 St
New York, NY 10003

Seafood, seafood, seafood. I often crave great seafood but rarely find places worth going to a second time. I’m not too sure I would go to Prima again but the food was pretty amazing. Prima is a tiny restaurant hidden on 1st and 1st. The space is tiny. The seats are tiny. The food is tiny too. But the food is deelicious and incredibly fresh. Think Upstate but with a nicer ambiance. And instead of beers at Upstate, you order cocktails at Prima. I ordered the Prima Mimosa ($10), with Little Blanc, Raspberry Puree, Yuzu Juice, Rose Water, and Prosecco. The drink was light, sweet, and slightly tart, like a grown-up sweet tart.

Prima    Prima
For our apps, we shared the crab cakes ($14) with radish, pickles, and tartar sauce, and the octopus ($14) with aromatic oil, nicoise olives, feta, and preserved lemon. The menu said crab cakeS so I left it that way in my description, even though in my photo it clearly displays a singular crab cake. Sure, the cake was good and filled with way more fresh crab meat than flour but $14 for a tiny tiny cake is a bit too much, don’t you think? Particularly because the crab cake wasn’t anything special. I can get that at any decent seafood chain. The octopus, on the other hand, was worth trying. Octopus is often too rubbery but when made right, is chewy and tender. The preserved lemon, a common Indian condiment, added more than just a slight acidity, as a fresh lemon would. Preserved lemons are intensely lemony, almost like a lemon syrup without the sweetness.

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Japadog, take two.

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Japadog
30 St Marks PL
(between Cooper Sq & Astor Pl)
Manhattan, NY 10003

Here’s Japadog’s second chance. I came here almost a year ago when it first opened and wasn’t too impressed. We were actually taking F.H. and A.H. to Soba-Ya but got there 15 minutes before it opened for lunch so needed to kill some time. Japadog is right around the corner and happens to open slightly earlier than all the neighboring restaurants – smart. Continue reading →

Sao Mai, perfect for a healthy winter meal.

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Sao Mai
203 1st Ave
(between 13th St & 12th St)
New York, NY 10003

These nights have been cold. Normally on a cold winter night, I’ll crave something hot and hearty. But the heaviness of Thanksgiving dinner (with some leftovers still in the fridge, like J.W.’s shepherd’s pie which I had for lunch two days in a row…) has made me crave hot foods that are light. How many of those can you think of?


Vietnamese food is overall one of the healthier cuisines. It uses more natural herbs for flavoring and tends to use water or broth over oil. Pho is the perfect combination of hot and light. A bowl of pho consists of rice noodles in a beef broth made by simmering beef bones, oxtails, flank steak, charred onion, ginger, and other spices. Compared to other noodle soups, pho is definitely a much lighter option. The rice noodles are almost airy and compensate by being great soup sponges. The soup is flavorful but still clear, allowing you to drink up every last drop without feeling sick (this also depends on how much MSG the restaurant uses). Continue reading →

Sandwiches at The Brindle Room

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Brindle Room
277 E 10th St
(between 1st Ave & Avenue A)
New York, NY 10009

I came wanting to try their brunch because they have things such as Biscuits & Gravy and Shrimp & Grits. I’ve clearly been going to North Carolina too much lately. We went on a weekday when Y.P. was visiting and found that they only served brunch on weekends. I should’ve known. The lunch menu is far less interesting (mainly just sandwiches) but we were committed and so we stayed.

I ordered the Lemon Basil Vinaigrette Three Herb Chicken & Sautéed Kale ($9), pictured above. The bread was great – crusty and soaked in olive oil. The chicken and kale were surprisingly cold. Completely cold. It took a couple of bites to adjust because I was expecting a warm sandwich… I ultimately enjoyed the sandwich and liked the subtle flavors of garlic and herbs but will probably not order this again.


The highlight of the meal was definitely the fries. We ordered a side of Italian Fries, which included Parmesan Rosemary Fries, Basil & Roasted Garlic Aioli ($5). The fries were so savory and tasty with bits of sharp parmesan flavor in every bite. I love that they kept all of the potato skin because it gave each fry a thicker texture on the skin side which fried very nicely. Continue reading →

Sundaes & Cones – great homemade ice cream with lots of Asian flavors

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Sundaes & Cones
95 E 10th St
(at 3rd Ave)
New York, NY 10003

After a 20 hour work day, right after an 18 hour work day, the weekend arrived and the sun came out to play.  I had the usual at Soba-Ya for lunch and decided that I really wanted some ice cream.  Normally, LAW suggests that we get a tub of Haagen Dazs and make root beer floats at home but no, that day I wanted some real ice cream served to me by the scoop.  I wanted hard ice cream as well, none of that mushy soft serve stuff that I usually love from Mickey D’s.  I yelped the best ice cream places closest to Soba-Ya and found Sundaes & Cones.  It is rated 4/5 and has 465 reviews – solid.


The “Sundaes & Cones” name conjured up an image of a small-town ice cream place with families lining up for some good ol’ cookies ‘n cream.  It turned out to be an Asian ice cream place with a variety of interesting and unique flavors, such as black sesame, taro, ginger, Thai iced tea, green tea, mango, lychee, etc.  You get the picture.  Asian flavors aside, they also have the usuals like vanilla, chocolate, cookie dough, etc.  But they also have flavors like avocado, corn, pumpkin, strawberry cheesecake… think Il Laboratorio (ice cream place in LES that reminds me of a hospital) but more homey.

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Saint’s Alp Teahouse

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Saint’s Alp Teahouse
39 3rd Ave
(between Great Jones St & Bowery)
New York, NY 10003

Oh have I grown.  Saint’s Alp was the first bubble tea place I was introduced to as a college student in Boston visiting New York for exciting weekends in the big city.  Boston’s bubble tea scene is pretty limited.  Very few places in Boston have their own bubble tea sealing machine, a sign of their inauthenticity.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here is a comparison:

    
Left is a bubble tea from Kung Fu Tea I was saving in my fridge as a post-dinner treat.  See how the cup is sealed at the top in plastic?  There is a satisfaction of popping that straw through the plastic and it only comes with getting quality bubble tea.  Many places serve the tea and bubbles like the photo on the right.  It’s usually made with some “tea-mix” and crumbly tapioca.  No good.  If a place invests in a sealer, you know they intend to make good bubble tea.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a sufficient relationship (I’m studying for the LSAT, forgive me) but a necessary one, if serves quality bubble tea then has sealer, not if has sealer than serves quality.  There are plenty of places that have invested in a sealer and just can’t get their tea right. Continue reading →