patrickamory’s Profile
Recent Comments
Serious Heat: What's Your Secret Chili Ingredient?
The key is suet. Almost impossible to find in New York these days, but the butchers at Ottomanelli will scoop it out of the porterhouse sides by hand if you ask them nicely. Browning the beef (and pork if you use it) in rendered suet gives an incredible depth of flavor.
Beyond this I use freshly ground anchos, pasillas and especially guajillos, with pequins or birdseyes ground in by hand to taste as the chili cooks. My guide is John Thorne, though I add tomato paste and sometimes beer (to deglaze) or pork belly if I have a taste for it. And... onion powder. So not politically correct all the way. But SUET... if you can find it. Some butchers have openly laughed at me when I asked for it. "We used to feed it to the birds!" said one East Village butcher, otherwise a kingly establishment.
Dim Sum at Ocean Jewel in Flushing, Queens
Chinese food in NYC used to be amazing... why is it not still? Statistically there are more Chinese-born inhabitants in New York than any other major metropolitan area... but it seems to be universally agreed that the food is on the decline.
http://www.migrationinformation.org/DataHub/FB_maps/State_Metro_ACS2008_Chinese_FB.pdf
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
@megperks Real Azteca in Hunts Point... 1013 E. 163 St. (Simpson) in the B-r-o-n-x
See more comments by patrickamory ยป
Recent Posts
patrickamory hasn't written a post yet.
Recent Favorites
patrickamory hasn't favorited a post yet.
Recent Polls
patrickamory hasn't answered any polls yet.
Recent Quizzes
patrickamory hasn't taken any quizzes yet.
Recent Comments | Response to Comments
Best Tiki Bars in NYC?
Trader Vic's closed almost 20 years ago, I believe. It was in the Plaza, and Donald Trump closed it when he bought the place - too "tacky" for him.
After visiting Tiki-Ti in the Sunset Junction area of LA, I have to say we are seriously lacking on tiki vibes here.
I have King Yum on my list to try.
Serious Heat: What's Your Secret Chili Ingredient?
The key is suet. Almost impossible to find in New York these days, but the butchers at Ottomanelli will scoop it out of the porterhouse sides by hand if you ask them nicely. Browning the beef (and pork if you use it) in rendered suet gives an incredible depth of flavor.
Beyond this I use freshly ground anchos, pasillas and especially guajillos, with pequins or birdseyes ground in by hand to taste as the chili cooks. My guide is John Thorne, though I add tomato paste and sometimes beer (to deglaze) or pork belly if I have a taste for it. And... onion powder. So not politically correct all the way. But SUET... if you can find it. Some butchers have openly laughed at me when I asked for it. "We used to feed it to the birds!" said one East Village butcher, otherwise a kingly establishment.
Dim Sum at Ocean Jewel in Flushing, Queens
Chinese food in NYC used to be amazing... why is it not still? Statistically there are more Chinese-born inhabitants in New York than any other major metropolitan area... but it seems to be universally agreed that the food is on the decline.
http://www.migrationinformation.org/DataHub/FB_maps/State_Metro_ACS2008_Chinese_FB.pdf
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
@megperks Real Azteca in Hunts Point... 1013 E. 163 St. (Simpson) in the B-r-o-n-x
New Jersey Dispatch: Asian Food Center
That fish looks amazing. Wish we had an option like that in Manhattan.
Would You Eat This Lobster?
Question for Oceana is: where do you source your lobster? The best in the world comes from Penobscot Bay, in Maine... kind of unsettling that a high end NY seafood place obviously gets second-rate lobster from somewhere else. Beyond that, I agree with FierceGeekChick and Chowdahead that large lobsters are tough and untasty.
Here is an instance where ethics and taste happen to coincide. The only reason to display, purchase or eat a creature like this is to conspicuously consume.
Taste Test: Cheap But Good Olive Oils
Isn't the key to quality how recently the olives were harvested? How long have those bottles been sitting on the shelves and when were the olives picked?
My guess is that there's a ton of bottle-to-bottle variation with these oils.
Dinner Tonight: Okra Curry
nithya is correct - the key is to avoid having any water at all left on the okra after washing it. And it's very difficult to dry. Dry it completely!
Once dry, and sauteed Indian style, you will have no problem with glueyness or ooze - it's a totally different thing from the okra many Americans have encountered growing up - texturally delicate, with rich, meaty flavor.
David Sax's Top Five Deli Dishes In New York
Gastro888 - re: fatty rich at Katz's - even when you request juicy? and tip? I've never had a problem with portion size there - I'll split one sandwich for two people, no problem.
re: OP. Of course I'm familiar with Katz's and Second Ave. Deli, but the Queens and Bronx recommendations are totally unfamiliar to me. I've always written off Ben's as modern kosher, but am totally willing to try (and live nearby).
Best Burger in the World at The Little Owl?
1. Julius
2. Shake Shack
3. sure... double double from In N Out
Recommendations in Koreatown and Curry Hill?
Can't believe nobody mentioned Kang Suh in Koreatown - after 20 years still my favorite in the neighborhood.
+1 for Chennai Garden.
Thoughts from Another Di Fara First-Timer
Agreed. The regular pie at DiFara is better than any pizza I've ever had, anywhere.
Market Scene: The Absolute Best of Union Square Greenmarket
Seconded for Cato Farms' Hooligan.
What I Ate This Week (Please Don't Tell My Mother)
The lobster roll doesn't look very good to me, actually. The brioche is all wrong - you want a New England buttered and grilled hot dog roll (no crust on the sides). Tangy mayo? Poached lobster? Pleease!
What's Your Go-To Neighborhood Diner?
Lyric Diner at 22 and 3rd
This Weekend in 'New York Times' Food News
The hot dog link is wrong - it's not just you.
Jane and Michael Stern's Four Must-Eat Foods in NYC
New England clam chowder at Pearl Oyster Bar? In a world where the Maine Diner in Wells still exists?
The Sterns should know better.
'inoteca for Cheese, Charcuterie, Panini, Wine, and a Casual Energy in Murray Hill
24 St. and Third Avenue is not Murray Hill. Gramercy / Kips Bay, maybe.
Serious Lunch Deals: Pan-Asian Edition
Chinatown Brassiere!
Dim Sum at Ocean Jewel in Flushing, Queens
@ gusto I think Gala Manor has the best dim sum in Flushing
@gogo Isn't that dish peppers stuffed with shrimp paste?
Serious Heat: What's Your Secret Chili Ingredient?
My secret ingredient?
Love...
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
I forgot to ask.
Did you really pay $9 for what's basically chips & dip? Even if it was the best "made from scratch" chips & dip I ever had, I would never pay that much for it.
$12 for that tiny looking quesadilla?!
I envy New Yorkers for living in a food mecca, but I don't envy the prices. Most Mexican themed placed where I live, serve warm fresh chips & salsa for free. If you want something else, like the guacamoli mixed with fresh Pico De Gallo in the pic, it might cost you $1.50 at most.
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
"If the waitresses are wearing distractingly skimpy outfits, the food's probably not very good."
In Yorktown, Va., there is a biker bar that fits this criteria. The thing is, their food is really good. To be exact, their seafood and subs are so good, that the place attracts groups from all walks of life. Rock n Roll Biker Bar, or not, the food is so good, that people just don't care if loud bikes and a rough looking crowd also hang out there. Everyone gets along in perfect harmony, because of the tasty offerings and beer. The skimpy outfits only distract you while your waiting for your food. Once your meals get placed on the table, one could care less what the world is wearing.
Best Tiki Bars in NYC?
@zoverman - i think that must have just been on the night you went, unless the place changed - i had a friend whose band used to play there, and they were your typical indie-pop-rock whatever. but they do have decent dancing in that downstairs area sometimes.
Best Tiki Bars in NYC?
@Rockawaybeach: You are now my personal Lord and Savior! I owe you one.
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
If Lucy's had a publicist to send you lots of press releases, i'm sure they've seen this review and it's made the rounds there. My prediction: by tomorrow morning, if not today, you'll have an email in which they'll blame it on a new line cook or chef or short staffed kitchen. I'm a publicist myself (albeit not for food) and i can't even think of another way to explain away such a terrible experience.
They'll then invite you back to try the food again, and it will be somewhat better, perhaps even remarkably so. but i think the former.
In any case, i agree with the other posters who've said that reviews of really terrible places like this are a service to the reader, and to the restaurant itself, just like when a diner sends back food that has been improperly prepared. They can't fix it if they don't know there's a problem.
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
another "we should have known better:" it seems to be attached to a duane reade?
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
Am I the only one for whom this review actually makes me want to go there, if just for knowing what a meal that was so bad that SE had to write about it is like?
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
@orpheum, I can't believe the great wide internet knows about Dirty Franks! Good call, they do have great slushies. But then again, any place willing to put kimchee on a hot dog can't be bad.
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
I might add another indicator of potentially bad food: If you walk in off a busy street at 6pm on Saturday night and the place is dead, the food's probably not very good.
Also, I'll put in my vote for good reviews. As others have said, we have a limited number of meals to eat before we die. SE's opinion of food is one I trust, and if they can help me avoid bad food, so much the better.
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
Your expectations must be high. I echo the comments about the photos making the food look quite appetizing. Based on appearance alone, I have eaten far worse-LOOKING Tex-Mex food. I mean, at least the quesadilla had some browning, etc. At least the guacamole was made with real avocado (not sure about the avocado crema on the tacos). I've been served quesadillas on tortillas that were the same grade as one can buy at the supermarket (like Old El Paso brand) and could very well have been made in a microwave. I've been served green goop that was clearly a bit of mashed avocado extended with a lot of something else. Really, I think you could actually do worse than Lucy's.
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
Sounds like they need a new chef also! Sometimes one element can go wrong in a meal but the whole thing??? You are right SE, I would NEVER go back!
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
Bad reviews are needed; to let certain restaurants know they need to step their game up!
If Taco Bell is better than this, the food MUST'VE been god awful!
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.
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.
Worst Meal This Year: Lucy's Cantina Royale
@Carey Jones: "We wanted our lunch back" I Love it!! You could not have said it any better!! An opportunity wasted...we only get to eat lunch 7 times a week! The photos are gorgeous though. Great writing!
New Jersey Dispatch: Asian Food Center
I'm psyched to visit this place. It's really close to me.
Recent Posts
patrickamory hasn't written a post yet.
Recent Favorites
patrickamory hasn't favorited a post yet.
Polls
patrickamory hasn't answered any polls yet.
Quizzes
patrickamory hasn't taken any quizzes yet.
Trader Vic's closed almost 20 years ago, I believe. It was in the Plaza, and Donald Trump closed it when he bought the place - too "tacky" for him.
After visiting Tiki-Ti in the Sunset Junction area of LA, I have to say we are seriously lacking on tiki vibes here.
I have King Yum on my list to try.