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Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC
People don't give the original Westville enough credit. If you want a very good buger, a Niman Ranch hotdog, a choice of farm fresh veggies, a piece of real good trout, a dinner size salad and county fair worthy desserts with no attitude and flexible service, Westville, in their tiny kitchen, makes for a very good stop.
The Dessert Files: One Girl Cookies
For the most part I can agree with your assessments. This is a well thought out piece. I still think you are being overgenerous about the whoopie pie (chocolate) which is tasteless and hard. The place is adorable, but the cookies are overrated in taste - they look great - but don't deliver. The attitude on how great these pretty little things are is over the top. The whoopie pie ice cream sandwich was also a big disappointment and given that they are using Salvatore's of brooklyn ricotta cheese - tasteless.
What's Your Favorite New York Cheesecake?
When they are fresh & not very cold, S & S and Juniors are on a par - very good NY Cheesecake, but Veniero's is pure sugar. I would like to see what using Salvatore's ricottta can do for a cheese cake.
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Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: Southside Market Sausage
Posted by The Serious Eats Team, December 19, 2008 at 3:00 PM
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Recent Comments | Response to Comments
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
I am personally glad you did this review. Given the restaurant's pedigree and knowing Sam Hazen's eye for detail and good taste, I was heading to Lucy's the first chance I got. I remember Sam's cooking at Cascabel & how he turned Tavern on the Green around. I am a little shocked at the miserable review, but this was definately a public service. I will wait to see if Lucy's straightens its self out before making the trek. Thanks Carey for the 411.
Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC
People don't give the original Westville enough credit. If you want a very good buger, a Niman Ranch hotdog, a choice of farm fresh veggies, a piece of real good trout, a dinner size salad and county fair worthy desserts with no attitude and flexible service, Westville, in their tiny kitchen, makes for a very good stop.
The Dessert Files: One Girl Cookies
For the most part I can agree with your assessments. This is a well thought out piece. I still think you are being overgenerous about the whoopie pie (chocolate) which is tasteless and hard. The place is adorable, but the cookies are overrated in taste - they look great - but don't deliver. The attitude on how great these pretty little things are is over the top. The whoopie pie ice cream sandwich was also a big disappointment and given that they are using Salvatore's of brooklyn ricotta cheese - tasteless.
What's Your Favorite New York Cheesecake?
When they are fresh & not very cold, S & S and Juniors are on a par - very good NY Cheesecake, but Veniero's is pure sugar. I would like to see what using Salvatore's ricottta can do for a cheese cake.
Serious Eats Finds New York's Best Bagel
While I am not happy with bagel makers on a whole who did not reduce the price of their bagels after the price of flour went down, I must say that Rolen Bagels (who also own Corner Bagels West 235th off Netherland Avenue) Riverdale Avenue & 256th Street in the Bronx are very good too.
The Dessert Files: The Top 5 Pumpkin Sweets to Kick Off Autumn
The whoopie pies at One Girl Cookies are a disappointment if you have ever had a Maine pie.
New York City Wine and Food Festival: Ticket Giveaway, The Grand Tasting
If he was in the kitchen cooking, Todd English cooking Italian food.
Win Tickets To Edible Manhattan's Seaport Birthday Party
Jenn Giblin Blue Smoke to make my birthday cake
Raising the Bar: Devilishly Good Eggs at Pegu Club
Dinosaur BBQ has been making great Deviled Eggs on horseback that you can match with the best chicken wings in NYC. Never fried & smoked for hours finished off on the grill.
New York City Wine and Food Festival: Ticket Giveaway, 'Breakfast of Champions'
In true New Orleans tradition Pain pardou & a sazarac
New York City Wine and Food Festival: Ticket Giveaway, 'Pairing Like A Pro'
Zinfandel is the labradour retriver of wines, it wags its tail & is happy with everything. That being said, a big Zinfandel like a Turley Black Sears or a Biale Lodi goes really well with that giant T-Bone or Porterhouse.
Coffee Chronicles: Behind the Scenes at Counter Culture
Hi Allison,
I have no connection to these guys, but they are awesome & unknown outside of new England. I've brought them back for a few restaurant friends & now we take turns bringing it back or ordering by mail.
www.coffeebydesign.com
Some of the best restaurants in New England use them.
My favorite blends: Rebel blend, Midnight Jazz, Alonzo's Dark & Bakery blend. They don't sell some of their restaurant blends to the puiblic.
"Thanksgiving dinner" sandwich in NYC
Shopsin's has the best Thanksgiving on a sandwich that you won't eat till the next day.
Angelina Pizzabar: Pizza Concept or Seriously Delicious?
Mathew Tivy is a wonderful chef, I am really sorry to hear this place is such a dud. This is the third place I've read about this place being not just bad, but bad with an attitude.
Good take-out food near van Cortland Park (Bronx)
Liebman's is like eating rubber, Cold cut City is a mediocre at best, Garden Gourmet is a decent option.
Best pre-theater restaurant?
Orso hands down. They willeven ask you what show you are seeing & time dinner accordingly. James McMahon is the consumate GM professional. Pizza, risotto & taramisu to kill for....
Sugar Rush: Ice Cream at Jacques Torres
The ice cream was great, we've been there twice and the scooper could not have been nicer. Yes, itwas $3 a scoop, but it was a large scoop. You go to almost any other ice cream place it's $4+ for a scoop. The Chocolate/Banana or the Chocolate/Raspberry were intense. The Rocky Road was sold out both trips....Next time Rocky Road.
Sugar Rush: Yogurt, Uvetta, and Mandorla Gelato at Grom
No Contest, Van Leeuwin ice cream truck or Jacques Torres ice cream is more flavorfull and also priced better. These two use great ingredients and the people working on the truck or in Mr. Chocolate's know what they are doing, are nice and have an interest in serving a great product. GROM is a automaton atmosphere for a very grainy product.
Grilling Tips: John Stage
The Dinosaur BBQ cookbook is easy to use. We just made the potato salad w/ peppers & asparagus....delicious & try the Dino Ranch dressing, you will never use bottle Ranch dressing again!!!
Interview with a Supermarket Kosher Food Buyer
There is variety at Fairway for kosher foods that you don't find anywhere else in the City. Also the prices, where kosher can get high, has the best around!
Win Tickets to the Hot Dog Hootenanny
My favorite's are Rutt's Hutt for pure dog with their sweet mustard relish, for a dog with toppings is Super Duper weenie for great added taste & Sper Dawg in Chicago for a dog "dragged through the garden." The Varisty with chilli in Atlanta and a half-smoke from Ben's Chili Bowl in DC. I do miss Spanky's and I get the Dine's fix from the Hasting's Farmer's Market.
Totonno's Coney Island Reopening Early June
Was the oven destroyed in the fire?
Win Tickets to Taste of Tribeca
I love Marc Forgione, Tribecca Grill & Bouley Upstairs, but I would really like to try Centrico!
Grand Opening of Flip, a New Burger Joint in the Manhattan Bloomingdale's
I see my burger money going someplace else. I think "Macy's" forgot that their sales numbers were not great & that they needed to bring in customers, not repel them. Go to Shake Shack....
Overcooked Burger Send-Back Success at Bacchus in Brooklyn
If you order a burger a certain way, say rare or medium rare, and it comes well done...send it back. Why eat something you didn't order? If it is ordered rare and come rare & just plain sucks, then move on....
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
I'm sure you must feel you had it coming (I should've known, etc), I'm happy you chose to out them. I thumbed through my Zagat last week, checking my experiences against the ratings. I got several attacks of apoplexy. How could these anonymous morons rate this place or that one so highly? But Zagat is a democracy, and opinions are culled, and even dare I say, interpreted from many opinions. Grand Sichuan 9th Ave, one I especially hated for precipitously declining food and offensive servers, got raves. Bar Stuzzichini, one of the finest affordable Sicilian kitchens, passed for good, when after ten visits, I found to be stupendous.
We can all agree on one thing: My stomach and I have been friends too long to pull a thing like that on it..
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
@Carey Jones,
I was really pleased to read this review yesterday just before heading one block from my office to try this place for the first time. It is true that good places to eat around here are limited to Mooncake Foods, my favorite Halal truck, and the French Macaron Cafe, so I truly had high hopes for Lucy's. THANK YOU FOR THE WAKEUP CALL that was this review, but especially, thanks for the heads up about the ambience!
I felt like I was in a cross between the bar at the Cancun airport, and a hooters. CREEPY. However, I ordered the Baja sliders, and those tiny little burgers, covered in mystery sauce they may have been, were COOKED TO PERFECTION. None of the other sliders in the neighborhood come close to the medium-rare perfection of these tasty little treats. I chased them down with the most delicious Michelada I've had in months (I was able to substitute the recommended Corona Light for a Negra Modelo, thank goodness).
Despite being scantily clad on the rainy day that it was, the servers were very friendly. I think it's terrible that they have to wear those outfits, really.
@megperks - REAL Mexican food goldmine on East 116th Street, try Taqueria El Paso, among others.
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
All I can say is "WOW" I mean dayam... this is really a terrible, terrible review. I have friends who work in the area and will definitely be warning them from this... the anger spews from the monitor and hurts! It burns!
PS I'm with the people who said it's good to see the mediocre reviews too.
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
I work in this area and so sad that we have hardly any good lunch options. Mooncake is the only place I can bring a friend to so far
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
@finewinendine: Me too.
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
I'd love to see Lucy's Cantina Royale's response to this.
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
It is also good to put up mediocre and bad reviews to give contrast to the glowing ones. Maybe Ed would lose the "Easy Ed" nickname he has gotten for consistently positive reviews (unless there is some additional reason earning him the name...)
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
"If a restaurant is at 34th and 8th, the food's probably not very good."
This made me LOL. 34th street is the worst street in all Manhattan.
Serious Eats Finds New York's Best Bagel
I like Area Bagels in North Park Slope on 5th Avenue, which makes a very respectable bagel - not too big, some crunch to the crust and soft inside. The owner learned bagel making from a place out in Little Neck on Horace Harding Parkway that dates back to the late 1940's when the bagel baking union controlled the business and its quality. I will have to re-try Bagel Hole although I remember not being too impressed years ago.
Maybe my preference of getting a plain buttered (not toasted bagel) let me enjoy a fresher bagel in the store, rather than taking it home, missing out on the short freshness life.
Serious Eats Finds New York's Best Bagel
Agree with one of the above posters that Jumbo on 2nd Ave. (Manhattan) extremely underrated, and that both H&H & Ess-a-Bagel horribly overrated. Tal (a chain) is pretty decent. David on 1st Ave. had a great pumpernickel. And there's actually a good bagel now in North Brooklyn: Baker's Dozen, on Manhattan Ave. in Greenpoint. But for me, the number-one bagel is "Hot Bagels" on 79th st. & Metropolitan in Middle Village.
Serious Eats Finds New York's Best Bagel
Personal Favorites:
Brooklyn: Montague Street Bagels
Manhattan: Ess-a-Bagel
Favorite used to be Bagel Zone (Ave A between 3rd St & 4th St), until they changed their name and stopped baking their own. Was the perfect bagel -- crisp on the outside, soft and bready on the inside...I'd pay a ridiculous premium just to taste one again.
Serious Eats Finds New York's Best Bagel
I agree that Daniels in Murray Hill is pretty good. My all time Manhattan fav though, is Jumbo Hot Bagels on 56th and 2nd Ave. They are boiled, baked and delicious just like a bagel should be.
Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC
The Taco Truck on 30th Ave and 33rd St in Astoria
Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC
I really enjoy mamoun's falafel by Washington Square Park. It is so flavorful and the perfect amount of food.
Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC
i think piadina in the west village (10th street and 6th ave) is one of the best italian resturants in nyc- afforable, delectiable, amazing
Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC
I've lived in Macedonia, Sierra Leone and now the Netherlands. None of them do good mexican food ! I would love to visit New York City to eat proper mexican, but also bagels and bahn mi.
Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC
I second the Malaysian place on Doyers St.
Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC
chennai garden in murray hill
Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC
Never been to NYC but subscribe to Time Out New York and New York magazine mainly to learn about living there ESPECIALLY the food! It seems to me the vendors at the park in Red Hook would be the first place I'd hit.
Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC
I love Laut downtown. Great food and great prices. Plus everyone there is very nice, even when our one friend had a few too many Sake bombs they couldn't have been more welcoming.
Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC
I don't know any off the radar places as I only visit NYC 2-3 times per year, but I love Penelope Cafe for breakfast. Great food, and I really enjoyed eating breakfast at the bar.
Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC
Definitely not off the radar but I love:
* Banh mi at Baoguette, Murray Hill
* Chinese sausage at Kuma Inn, LES
* Bacon wrapped prunes (devils on horseback) at Freeman's, LES
* Red chicken curry at Rice, Murray Hill
* Soft pretzels at Zum Schneider, EV
* Brussels sprouts at Side Car (PJ Clarkes), Midtown
Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC
Royal Tangra Masala in Queens
Book Giveaway: Mike Colameco's Food Lover's Guide to NYC
Taco Mix in East Harlem. Best squash blossom and huitlacoche quesadills!
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Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: Southside Market Sausage
Posted by The Serious Eats Team, December 19, 2008 at 3:00 PM
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I am personally glad you did this review. Given the restaurant's pedigree and knowing Sam Hazen's eye for detail and good taste, I was heading to Lucy's the first chance I got. I remember Sam's cooking at Cascabel & how he turned Tavern on the Green around. I am a little shocked at the miserable review, but this was definately a public service. I will wait to see if Lucy's straightens its self out before making the trek. Thanks Carey for the 411.