In recent years, the casual dining trend has lead to the proliferation of “tapas-style” restaurants. The same way French dining lead every culture to adapt the “Appetizer, Entree, Dessert” layout. The small plates concept is now applicable to cuisines of all origins. Japanese (DohYo), Korean (Danji), Mexican (Empellon) are just a few recent examples.
There are however trade offs. The freedom to compose your own assortment of small plates takes away from the flow of a meal. You don’t get to enjoy the carefully choreographed meal where the chef has planned for one dish to lead into another. Perhaps that’s why tapas have never been high on my list of favorite eats.
Or perhaps that’s because most of the tapas places I’ve been to were not Spanish…..
While seeking ideas on an article featuring New York wine bars, friends were constantly recommending Bar Jamon. I was intrigued. Some research later, I figure that one visit would satisfy three objectives. Wine bar research, Michelin Star dinner, and getting a proper Spanish tapas fix.
Casa Mono on Irving Place.
Casa Mono was founded by Chef Andy Nusser and his former boss (and current partner) Mario Batali. Located a few blocks south of Gramercy Park, the dark dining room is illuminated by flickering candle light and lighting from the open kitchen. Within Casa Mono itself, there’re two bars. One facing the open kitchen where you can get a great view of the action. The other bar at the back of the room is a bar of the traditional sort.
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Late at night, the distinction between bar, lounge, and club becomes blurred. Regardless of the designation, you get a bouncer at the door, a lively crowd by the bar, and a potent dose of music. Sometimes I wish there was more of a distinction. I want to find more places in the city where I could sit back and enjoy a drink without excessive noise or a tough door policy.
Which is why when I decided to check out the Bubble Lounge in Tribeca, I was excited by the idea of sitting back, and diving into their vast list of Champagne and sparkling wines. Having just returned from a trip to Wine Country in Napa, I was taught the virtues of sparkling wine as an enjoyable beverage, not just for moments of toast. A flute in a quiet, comfortable sofa sounds like a wonderful way to spend an evening. That was exactly what I found, though with a twist.
The entrance from the Broadway side.
As soon as I walked into the room, I thought the space looked very familiar. Turned out I have been here before over a year ago, though the prior visit was much later in the evening. That night, this place resembled a night club, though with a post-work, well dressed crowd.
How cool are these chairs.
Today though, the ambiance was nice. We strolled straight to the bar seats, and browsed the wide selection of sparkling wines, sparkling wine based cocktails, and other assortment of mixed drinks. The drinks are all very well made, properly mixed, muddled, and shaken by bar tenders. For sparkling wines, flutes of sparkling wine cost between $10 to 20, and bottle prices are actually modest for larger crowds. For big gatherings, they have plenty of larger bottles.
Flute of Pol Roger
Champagne Mojito.
As we finished our drinks, we noticed that people were beginning to flow in and occupy the couches. If what you’re looking for is a place to lounge, Bubble Lounge is true to its name, before 10PM. From that point on, it’s still a fun place, but probably not the best location to carry a conversation.
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I’ve never met a person who doesn’t like a Mille Crêpes cake from Lady M. I’m not a cake person, but I’d have a slice following any meal. 20 paper thin slices of hand made crêpes, stacked with cream and a caramelized sugar top.
Lady M Storefront
The Lady M obsession is global, despite only having a tiny storefront and a handful of cramped seats on the Upper East Side. They call it a boutique rather than a bakery, and rightfully so. Behind the glass display the meticulously decorated cakes rival any of the couture found on nearby Madison Avenue. Continue reading Lady M Review – Let Them Have Cake, and Take Pictures Too
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I believe deep down, we’re all longing and searching for good Thai.
Perhaps that’s why I’m always hearing about how great Sripraphai is in Queens, and how people are delighted by the success of Harold Dieterle at Kin Shop. However none of these restaurants could match the feverish, Tebow-like craze that surrounded the opening of Lotus of Siam in New York late last year.
The original Lotus of Siam, located in a nondescript strip mall in the outskirts of Las Vegas, was billed by Gourmet magazine as the best Thai restaurant in North America. In the kitchen was the husband and wife team of Bill and Saipin Chutima. Therefore when word leaked that the couple was going to open Lotus of Siam at the former Cru space by partnering with Roy Welland (the man behind Cru and its vast wine collection), blogs and twitter accounts were buzzing about the possibilities. How will the food fare on 5th Ave when it’s being scrutinized by New York’s discerning diners?
Lotus of Siam in the former Cru space.
Before we could find out though, the experiment ended. Citing health issues and ideological differences, in January Bill and Saipin Chutima announced that they were terminating the partnership and moving back to Las Vegas. Although the New York restaurant will keep its name and its current menu, to the discerning folks, things are no longer the same. Looking at the blog reviews, they seem to have died down since February. Most of the major critics never bothered to give the restaurant a full review.
Was this fair to the restaurant owners? Should we lose all respect for a restaurant simply because of a partnership dispute? After all, the ideological differences were mostly on the price of the meals, and the clientele. Mr. Welland positions the restaurant like Cru, whereas Chef Chutima was used to cooking for students and families. The only way to find out is to make a reservation and find out for myself, so I did.
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Sophisticated oyster eaters enjoy having choices, and luckily in New York, the seafood wholesale business brings in fine oysters from producers all over the country. While most oyster bars are satisfied with five or six varieties, restaurants targeting the oyster connoisseur have no less than a dozen choices, if not more. The grand daddy of them all is obviously the Grand Central Oyster Bar, serving commuters, New Yorkers, and tourists alike. For a more intimate dining experience, you head to Aquagrill.
Outdoor dining under the heated tents.
To classify Aquagrill as just an oyster bar, though, is not giving the restaurant its due. Aquagrill is a fine dining restaurant serving excellent seafood, and also feature a fantastic wine program as evident by the numerous awards from Wine Spectator. However unlike other fine dining establishments of this caliber, the first thing you see when you enter Aquagrill is the mound of oysters at the bar. It’s not an oyster bar, but rather a bar (for drinks) that has a pile of oysters on it.
Oysters on the bar.
During dining hours on most evenings, the restaurant is usually very busy, and the bar always packed. During the afternoon, before dinner service begins, you’ll also find crowds at the bar enjoying an afternoon snack of oysters.
Interestingly, the restaurant serves its full menu not just at the bar, but also at the “lounge area” where people wait for their tables. The lounge area is literally a small coffee table surrounded on 3 sides by sofa benches. Awkward? Very. Yet bizarre enough to make me want to give it a try.
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