Asiate Restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental - Only if You Wanna Say it with Your Chest!

Asiate - Mandarin Oriental - 80 Columbus Circle at 60th Street

After a long and hard three years of starts and stop, I finally got the GMAT score that I needed earlier this summer.  I am excited to apply to business school this fall and I've worked hard.  Given it coincided with the birthday of a friend, I decided to celebrate and hit this place up.  What ensued was, perhaps, the most lavish dinner I've ever been experienced (well Philippe Chao back in 2006 was probably the most lavish), but it was worth every penny.  I mean, I didn't even do this during my days on the Street. I was shook to even take pictures because the place was so classy.  Since it happened so long ago, I don't really remember what I ate.  All I know is that it was 7-course pre-fixe meal with 7 different wine pairings.  I ain't care. I'd do it again, but not for another 5 years. Don't judge me :)  You gotta live your life, always.

The following are just a few pics from what I ate.  I missed like half of the meals before I mustered up the confidence to snap the rest.




Different types of seared tuna






I wanna say this lobster mashed potatoes and shitake mushrooms






Chilled Soba Noodles and a Soft Boiled Quail Egg 

 





That good 'ol Wagyu Beef







Dessert looked like art!






Birthday chocolate dish was mad tasty.







Chocolate-covered strawberries in something like crystallized coconut shavings






We shut the place down. 


Total cost? Let's just say that I pop food to celebrate while people of my generation pop bottles.  Only go here if you have reason to celebrate - like being done with the GMAT and a birthday - and ONLY if you really wanna say it witch Yo CHEST!

Maven Out!

Gravy NYC - A Southern Restaurant in New York City's Gramery Area

Gravy - 32 E. 21st bet Broadway and Park

Gravy is a new southern spot that opened up on April 30th of this year.  It draws its inspiration from  New Orleans culture.  My foodie best friend, Jean, suggested we hit this spot up. Naturally, I was  down.  The place was pretty damned good.

We copped a table in the back of the restaurant

Gravy is mad chill. You'll find people who just want good food and don't care about being seen (I wish I got a photo shot of the bar, but I forgot).  I came in here and was able to relax.  It's a perfect spot for friends to catch up and a great ice breaker spot to take a girl out to.  Jean and I spent 3 hours talking about leveraged buyouts, grad school, friends, gold, debt crises, and how we want to take care of our parents. We literally felt mad comfortable in that place.  Oh yeah, Jean is in fashion and I'm in nonprofit.  Conversation was mad random.


Jean and I both wanted the same things, so we split 'em.  If you're looking to be filled, I would recommend getting your own entree and sharing, but I was just fine with was decision.

Spinach Crab Dip made with Pecorino Romano and cucumber, served with Baguette chips.  Slammin'.

The spinach crab dip did not disappoint.  A welcome surprise was the fact that the crab was actually the star of the show rather than the cheese.  As Jean, pointed out, "there's a lot of crab meat in there!"  At other places, they usually skimp on the meat in dips.

Mmh mmh mmh! A scoop of the dip! The Canon 95s (in vivid setting) represents, yet again!

Fried Green Tomatoes Salad with shaved fennel and goat cheese.  Educational.

We also started out with the fried green tomatoes.  I have to admit, I've never had fried green tomatoes before today, and this was an enlightening experience.  The tomatoes were battered, and this really messed with mind.  I'm used to bitting into battered fried chicken (hey, I'm black), so upon mastication, I kept waiting for the that sinewy chicken texture to hit my taste buds. But then the dish was  like, "Nope it's tomatoes, biyatch! Sak Pase!!!"  And just when I had processed the tomato, the goat cheese came in at the end like, "Whazzup? Goat up in this mug!!" In short, this dish was a journey through the complexity of the dish.  I will be ordering it again.

The Star of the Evening: Scallops & Honey Grits - toasted corn relish with barbecue jus

You gotta get the scallops & honey grits.  TRUST ME.  In my culture, our people normally have chicken with their barbecue sauce; in other words, we usually have more barbecue sauce than meat.  This was not the case with this dish.  Gravy uses just enough bbq sauce so as to not distract from the fact that you are eating a scallop.  The scallop tastes comes out just nicely through the different flavors.  Think of the scallop taste as diver returning to the surface of a pool after diving off a platform baord.  Grits were really good: not over cooked so they still had some of that grainy taste.  And the honey was merely a nice accent, not overpowering.

Crispy Mac and Cheese, lol.

Mac and cheese was cool. I don't think I've ever had fried mac and cheese before.  It even had a little spicy kick to it, although I wish they had used cheddar instead.  The jack cheese left me wanting more. I forgot what kind of oil made up the green stuff. The word is on the tip of my tongue, but I can't remember now for the life of me.

Jean got the blueberry pie.  I don't mess with pie.  She liked this joint.  Vanilla ice cream on top.

I made a makeshift affogato with a scoop of vanilla and black coffee. Jean totally called me out on what I was trying to do, and I was touched that she knew my eating habits so well :)

Dessert was cool.


In short, I recommend this place.  If you're looking for a change of pace from the likes of Justin Timberlake's Southern Hospitality, B. Smiths, or maybe even Red Rooster, then try this spot.  It's definitely a slower speed and a well thought-out concept.

Food Mave Out!

FLEX MUSSELS Dining Review

What up, Foodies?  I'm baaack!! 

Sorry to have kept you waiting,  but I'm back to sharing my eating adventures in New York!  Lego..



Flex Mussels - 154 W. 13th bet 6th and 7th Aves

 I met up with my summer program coordinator.  I call her "magic" because we made magic happen with our sales and trading interns in 2010:  almost all of our kids got full-time job offers. Wouldn't have happened were it not for our work.

I've wanted to check out Flex ever since my physical therapist recommended it to me in April.  The name was clever, and I decided now was a perfect time. Flex is for the people who love mussels, but they do have non mussel food.  They cook their mussels in an assortment of broths, from THAI (curry coconut broth), BOMBAY (Indian curry, garlic, cinnamon, star anise, white wine), to MEXICAN  (chipotle adobo, chorizo, calamari) and PORTUGUESE (linguica, clams, tomatoes, white wine, garlic).  COMPLETE MENU HERE

Flex main dinning hall

Flex's low ceilings make it a cozy spot.  Best thing about this place is that it's not a "scene" place:  People are here for the food, and that's that.  Please be sure to RSVP.  Tough.


 Now, a pot of mussels don't fill no one up.  The mussel entrees go for between $19 and $22, so I thought I was going to have to shell out (no pun intended).  Then I saw this:



All You Can Mussels from 5:30pm-7:30pm for $20!!!

UPDATE AS OF 8/9:  The happy hour has sinced changed to only 2 pots from and the no longer give you beer...WACK!

ALL YOU CAN EAT MUSSELS, UNLIMITED FRIES, and BEER on the classic mussels if you sit at the bar!  You know we had to go in...

Bar.





Fra Diavolo - San Marzano tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, fresh basil


The Fra Diavolo was our favorite.  The basil and tomato sauce hit just right.  We got swole on 'em and ordered two pots!




Classic - white wine, herbs, garlic

The classic was boring.  Meh..

Fries were slammin'.

Magic tried to hate on the mussels by electing to do fish and chips, and she lost.




Fish and Chips lost.  No taste. Bland. Don't do it to yourself.

 Dessert?



Flex Donuts!

 Flex Donuts were amazing. You can get them filled with either wild blueberry, meyer lemon, cinnamon sugar, salted caramel, Fluffernutter, PB&J, or chocolate.  We got the Cinamon sugar, chocolate, and blueberry, and caramel.  You can get 4 for $9 or 6 for $12. 





I don't do berries, so Magic did the heavy lifting on that.



Cinnamon Sugar was that crack!  So addictive



Ain't this camera amazing? The chocolate is literally oozing our of your computer!



Mirked.


Flex Mussels was awesome.  Our service was good, and we stayed there for 2 hours and left full.  Stick to the mussels and dessert and you will be fine.  Ask for Ali! 

Flex is sure leave you happy and, more importantly, John Wallin' on them...

MAVE OUT!



John Wall



Gotham Hall Soiree..

Gotham Hall - 1356 Broadway @ 36th Street

One of the great benefits of being in nonprofit is being able to witness other nonprofits do their thing.  I was introduced to Citizens Committee for New York, which stimulates and supports self-help and civic action to improve the quality of life in New York City and its neighborhoods.  They have people creating beautiful gardens in my native borough - the boogie down Bronx.  Please check them out here @ http://www.citizensnyc.org/about.html and "like" them on Facebook to show your love.If you're an institution, then Gotham Hall is THE place to through a curtain call event.  This beautiful venue has housed Barclays Capital's SEO Diversity event (www.seo-usa.org) and  my alma mater Phillips Academy's annual holiday reception.  If the Roman Coliseum had a retractable roof, then it would Gotham Hall-esque.

The Food:

       Last night's menu options were steak and...steak!  You could only get one item.  But considering that Gotham Hall had to mass-produce about 600 pieces of filet mignon, Gotham Hall prepared a flavorful medium-cooked cut!  Peep:

Meet and potatuhs, come from my lyrical ladles...

So I've been getting beef about the redness of the meat from my Angelo Maxie's post, so I decided to put up a friendlier piece cow.  The beef was very tender and flavorful, almost cooked to perfection. However, the portions were very small, so you know I was that greedy dude who asked for seconds (just kidding).  Hey, as Jay-Z said it, "A closed mouth don't get fed."

Desert...

Passion fruit encased in a candy bar chocolate cup containing a bed of yogurt. I had my first raspberry ever.  I don't know what I was thinking all these years...pretty tasty.

Mezclun salad sprinkled with Walnut. But since they put dressing on it, I ain't eat it.  I'm weird like that.

Highlights from the night..

Yes, there were bagpipes..aside from tyrannosaurus eggs (a la Dave Chapelle), perhaps the most ballinest thing evah!

Bagpipe crew squadin up on stage.

Shout out to Henry Cornell - Chairman of CCNY and MD at Goldman Sachs.  One of the BX's finest. 

Shout out to Mike Young and his daughter Nicole - Recipients of the Osborn Elliot Award for Community Service

Mike and Nicole Young get props for keeping my Bronx beautiful.  With CCNY grants, they turned a completely vacant and drug-infested lot into an amazing garden.  #BXstandUP!

Overall, Gotham Hall is at the top of its class for charitable venue spaces along with Cipriani and Espace.

Overall Rating: A
Food: A-
Ambiance: A+

Basera Indian Bistro NYC: Indian Spice But Not Everything Nice!

Basera Indian Bistro 9th Ave bet. 50th and 51st

I caught with my teacher friend, who was in town for the weekend.  In an unorthodox coup on education, Teacher transitioned to Teach for America after spending a year in finance and a year as a fellow in a school.  This was my first time seeing her since she moved south.

She wanted to grab food that had lots of flavor to offer the palette and I thought Indian.  Rather than visit Mint, my go-to Indian spot in Midtown East,  I decided to take us to Hell's Kitchen and try out the newly-established Basera.

Basera is a Hindi language word meaning meaning "Abode,"  and the location is true to its name.  The restaurant is about 35 tables large and there wasn't a ton of people in the place, so it was just the right ambiance for a private dinner. 

Vegetable Samosa - potatoes and peas wrapped in a light pastry

Miss Teacher said that this was the best vegetable samosa she's ever eaten. She raved about its flakiness and the appropriate blend of potatoes and peas.  I had to agree with the educator, as the texture of the peas remained intact in the pastry creation. 

Chicken Tikka Masala - cubes of grilled chicken in tomato and cream sauce

Teacher decided to go with what she knows best. That's probably why she's doing such amazing things in DC's school system.  Chicken tikka's literal translation is "chunks of chicken" and masala means "mixture of spices."  Usually marinated in spiced and yogurt, the chicken is then baked in a tandoor oven shown below:

Tandoor oven

It is then served in a sauce usually made with tomatoes and coriander.  Basera's rendition of the dish was good.  It didn't really blow my mind but was solid.

Chicken Korma - Chicken Tikka Masala only served with a saffron almond cream sauce

Wait a minute, isn't this like the same dish I showed you earlier?  It was basically chicken tikka masala except with the sauce substitution.  I got the korma for myself and made them make that joint really spicy.  It was good and I could taste the hints of almond, but, again, not anything incredible.

But that Naan was the truth!

These peas are literally popping out of the picture

We took all of our ingredients and hooked up chicken tikka pizzas..

So while we ate and caught each other up on our respective lives, we did have some Bollywood entertainment...

Someone tell this chick to get off her knees, please.

I thought it was pretty cool...

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:  The service was very amateur.  We were really excited when our server/manager, Raj, started to take our orders, as his opinions on menu were thoughtful, He also seemed generally cool.  But then mid way through the dinner, he went home!  I understand that it was close to closing time, but as the server/host, you don't just leave mid way through managing a table, let alone while your restaurant is still open (another server confirmed that he had gone for the evening).  The dude that replaced him was not good.  Example:  Mid-way through taking my drink order, he tried to bounce and come back with my drink.  Only problem was that I wasn't done ordering.  So when I ordered a Ciroc Coconut and Sprite, it wasn't surprising that what came back was a Ciroc Red Berry and grape juice (who drinks that??), and it was brought by our third server of the night.  It was just logistically dysfunctional.  At least they did correct my drink order gratis.

Overall, the food is pretty good and the environment is relaxing, but the restaurant has some logistical kinks to work out.  I say that if you're thinking about this restaurant, it's okay to pass until they get the service right.  Furthermore, Raj the manager should not be leaving early on a Saturday night to go get his freak on.  The manager sets the tone, and it wasn't surprising that the service, and ultimately the restaurant, fell short.

Rating: B -
Food: B
Service: C+

An Exceptional Steak Dinner: Angelo & Maxies

Angelo & Maxies - Corner of 19th and Park Ave. South

"When you're used to filet mignon it's hard to go back to Hamburger Helper." -Jay-Z


When asked where to get a good steak I usually respond in the following order:  1) Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse 2) BLT Prime  3) STK House 3) Strip House, and the only reason why Peter Luger's isn't on this list is because I haven't been there, yet.  I know, blasphemy. My boys wanted to catch up over a steak dinner, but since we were looking for something in the Union Square-ish area and I had walked by Angelo Maxies many a time and wondered what that was like, those four restaurants were out of the question.  So we hooked up a 6:30pm celebration and got it done.

Angelo Maxies' oak wood, stone-layered walls and dimly-lit environment make it the perfect place to catch up with you inner circle of friends.  The waiters are very old school and business-like in their service: they give you the food and the specials with a poker face, say thank you, and then quickly disperse so that you can resume discussing private matters unperturbed.  Love it.  We ordered Captain & Cokes all around and caught up.

Oysters

For an appetizer, we started out with oysters.  We had a mixture of Blue Points from Nova Scotia and Skookums from Washington State. All were fresh and lightly salted from growing in fresh salt waters, most-likely living there up until the beginning of this week. We used the fresh horseradish and cocktail sauce to enhance the flavor.

Ya'll know how I feel about calamari.

The "cali"(mari) was fresh-tasting, although a bit over battered.  Not as great as the calamari that I had a Nougatine, but this dish did the trick and I recommend ordering it.

Entrees..MEAT!

Waiting in anticipation..check out the smoke coming from the grilled wondrous dish..

Teriyaki Filet Mignon with Scallions, Mushrooms & Onions served medium and still smokin!

Eating a steak above medium robs one of the flavor of a good beef cut.

The Oscar - 14 oz. grilled filet mignon topped with crab meat and hollandaise served with grilled asparagus. Served medium rare-ish (in-between medium and medium rare).  Creamed spinach on the side.

All three of us got some variation of the filet mignon.  This was a deviation for me, as the bone-in ribeye has been the main staple in my steak arsenal.  But the last rib eye I got from BLT Prime proved to be too much for my gastrointestinal system to handle, so I opted out this time around. 

This had to be one of the most tender and flavorful filet's I've had.  The meat literally parted like the Red Sea when the knife got to work.  There was almost no work needed to masticate this beefy specimen.  We marveled at how buttery the meat tasted.  Slammin'. This was also my first time using steak sauce. I'm an idiot for not using it to this point..

If you're serious about steak, then Angelo Maxies has to be in rotation.  It's a great place to enjoy some steak with some peace and quiet.  Oh yeah, ask for Frank. He'll take care of ya.

Overall rating: A

Perfect for:  Small small birthday dinners, dinners with friends, and dates.