Life is funny. It goes up, it comes down. Butter moved up to mid-town; and Asia de Cuba moved to occupy Butter’s old space. Re-located/ reopened recently, Asia de Cuba’s new place is sleek, modern. During restaurant week, we went there for lunch.
When Asia meets latin, does it gel or does it crash?
We like the calamari salad. The orange sesame vinaigrette balanced the oiliness very well. And it is a very generous portion. The spring rolls were not much of a looker, but don’t let it deceive you. The slow braised short ribs inside has great flavor, tender and moist. A great surprise! The snapper ceviche, light and bright! A great summer dish, and the fried plantains slaws on top adds a crunchy contrast to the dish.
For entrees, we chose the flat iron steak and scallops. I felt the steak could use a couple drop of lime juice. I could taste any trace of chili on the scallops, but it was a hearty dish with the beans and rice. The flavor is great, however, It could go easier without the mayo on top. The dish is heavy to begin with, and the “Japanese aioli”, aka mayo, makes the dish even heavier. I would opt for some lime or yuzu juice and may be some paprika pepper.
Desserts were great, and we love all three of them. The peppercorn ice cream was very interesting; the coconut cake is fluffy as it can be. And I love the sorbet! Fruits dices at the bottom with yuzu sorbet, sprinkled with meringue chips, coconut water poured over. Every bit of refreshing. A great note to end a delightful lunch. (August 2015)
Category: <span>NY restaurant week</span>
Just shy of 2 weeks left in NY restaurant weeks, where have you been to??
We didn’t plan ahead for restaurant week this time around, by the time we really start looking at our options, places we want to go were all booked. We were surprised that Tavern on the Green was still available for a 7pm reservation.
The place was built in 1870, became a restaurant in 1934. After closing it’s kitchen on New Year’s day 2010, it reopened as a more casual restaurant last year. However, it has not been warm-received by critics.
I have never been to Tavern on the Green before; I always think of it as a higher class place, more sophisticated, more expensive. So Restaurant week is a great opportunity to take a look at this “newly” re-opened place. We walked in from 66th street to west side of Central Park; there are areas still being blocked off for renovation. Turn the corner, there is a beer garden off the side, but no sign that it is open yet. We were greeted by the iconic red awning, open the door to a grand foyer. Flowers on a round table in the middle, almost feel like I walked into someone’s grand mansion. There’s gift shop on the left, and step to the right is the bar/ lounge/ sitting area. This used to be the original Crystal Room, now it feels like a very nice rustic country club. Fireplace, chandeliers , nice oversize comfy couches, and of course a bar in the middle of it all. With a carousel chandelier!!! I’m a little taken by all the nice lighting fixtures. 
Dining room is deeper inside, modern and sleek, entirely different atmosphere. Floor to ceiling windows let in plenty of sunlight. On the other side is the semi-open kitchen. There are booth seats for more cozy companies; we were seated by the window overlooking the patio.
There was a thunderstorm earlier in the afternoon, everything is soaking wet and no one is out in the patio. But by the look of it, it would be a very nice place for an afternoon tea or a sunny Sunday brunch. The room is a little loud, no tablecloth or curtains to absorb the sound, we found ourselves getting louder and louder as the night goes on.
On the restaurant week menu, there are 3 appetizers and 3 entrees and 2 desserts to choose from. The wine pairing option is at very affordable $20 for 3 glasses of red, white and/or dessert. Regular menu is not super expensive, we decided to do half and half.
White Gazpacho– Red Grapes, Toasted Hazelnuts, Basil
Part of the summer menu, this one is not much of a looker, but a great summer soup. Super light and yet creamy. A mix of cauliflower, celery and cucumber with a little red grapes as decoration. A hint of nutty favor from hazelnuts. NICELY done!!!
Avocado Toast– Red Onion, Cilantro, Lime, Radish, Grilled Sourdough
So Tavern on the Green has an “Afternoon” menu. And this is a twist from it. The one on the afternoon menu listed at $22. There is plenty of avocado on it, but the disappointment is on the toast. It doesn’t taste like it had been toasted. The grape tomato is great, but it totally over crowded the “toast”. Just some sloppy avocado slapped on an “not-so-fresh sourdough”. Not even sure it is Sourdough.
Shrimp Scampi– frascati, Garlic, Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe
2 big prawns over a bed of spaghetti. Shrimps are cooked just right. For a cacao e pepe, there is enough pepper but not nearly enough cheese. The house-made spaghetti was great! Right texture and just al dente. It’s a little salty for my taste, but could also be just too much pepper.
Hickory Smoked Beef Short ribs– East Texas Baked Beans, Pickled Vegetables
Short ribs was a disappointment. Just as it looks in the picture. It is dry. Desperately need sauce. The tiny little drops underneath it wasn’t much help. The dish became blend and plain. However, I do love the little mushrooms that were mixed in the beans.
Long Island Striped Bass– Tomato-Onion Confit, Citrus Olives, Pomme Paille, Petite Cress 34.00
(From the regular dinner menu) Good size of bass filet, perfectly seared, the skin was very crunchy, but not oily at all. Seasoning was light but it didn’t matter. The tomato confit makes it a great summer dish.
Cioppino– Mussels, Clams, Scallops, Chorizo, Shrimp, Grilled Sourdough 32.00
Also, at average $30+ per entrée on regular menu, the portions here are very generous. The cioppino has plenty of seafood in the mixture. I was looking around, our next-table neighbor had the $56 rack of lamb, and it was gigantic! Huge, huge, huge rack. When they listed whole rack, they were not kidding. And I also saw they were shaving the black truffle on top of the lamb table-side. The server literally took out a good size of whole truffle and it started raining truffle slices. And he even handing out (shaving) truffle slices to diner’s hand at that table. WHAT!?! There was also a mountain of fries came along with that rack of lamb. The amount of food on that plate was unbelievable.
Back to the restaurant week menu. Chicken Pomodoro, the one entrée we didn’t ordered looked decent size too. It was a whole chicken leg, thigh included. Don’t know how the lamb nor the chicken taste, but sure looks good.
As the night falls, the outdoor patio lights up. How wonderful it would be to have a mid-summer night party here.
Tavern on the Green- a well known place with an expensive zip code; a historic landmark; a symbol of upper class Manhattaners. Through numerous renovations, scandals, and troubles, if these walls could talk… and I couldn’t understand how it could go from making $38million in 2007 to bankruptcy in 2009… I guess it is all just a part of New York history. Glory, downfall, rebirth…
Owners, chefs came and went, Tavern on the Green still stands its ground in Central Park overlooking sheep’s meadow. Will it reclaim its glamours days? It is still early to tell.
(July 2015)
The BOOK of menu is a good read. Almost 10 pages long. Like most Asian restaurants, it is numberize and filled with pictures. And their method of numbering system does not go in order (A-B-C-D), it is A- appetizers; N- noodles; S- soup; O- over rice, and so on, they even have a section just for soft shell crab (SC); awkwardly a-la-carte is C and drinks is SD. It is all over the place, and will definitely take some time to navigate this book, even more difficult to decide what to orde. There are just too many choices and everything look good.
There are a few must have dishes every time I am there.
Thai Iced Tea– it is a little sweet for my taste, but it is so smooth that I can’t not have. But on a recent visit with a friend whom have spent some time in thailand, I was introduced to black Thai ice tea. No milk or sugar, but with lime. Utterly refreshing, the tangy balanced the density of the black tea, make a declious healthy summer drink.
Everyone loves Tom Yum soup, but I prefer chicken coconut milk soup. It also has ginger and lemongrass in it. Creamy with a hint of sourness. If chicken-noodle soup cures cold and flu; this coconut chicken soup smooth my soul.
Crispy Ground Catfish Topped with green mango salad & cashew nuts
The catfish was finely ground then deef fried. While it has all the crunch, fish was lost. It was grounded so finely that it does not ressembled to be fish anymore. Other than crunchiness, it was airly. But when pair with the green mango salad that come with it, it almost become a crumbs topping, very interesting dish.
Papaya Salad with dry shrimp and crushed peanuts
a traditional stable in Thai food. And what’s not to love. It is sweet, sour and spicy.
B.B.Q. Pork Tender with garlic, chili and lime juice
This is a MUST have at Sripraphai Thai. So simple and yet so good. I have never had a piece of pork that have such tenderness. So succlent, and mouth-watering. This BBQ pork tender use the meat from pork’s neck, simply grilled it and serve with the house made special garlic chili lime sauce. This special sauce is sour at first, in the sourness hid a scent of sweetness, then packs a strong kick at the end. It is spicy, but it is the kind of pain that is enjoyable and keep me coming back for more.
Panang Curry chicken w. coconut milk
Sautéed Chinese Broccoli with crispy pork
While everything was delicious, we felt a sense of unsatisfactory, because we were told the mango with sticky rice was all sold out. No Thai meal is completed without this traditional dessert, at least for me. Sticky rice usually cooked with coconut milk, with fresh sliced mango. It is sweet but absolutly delicious. We were sadden that our meal couldn’t be fully fulfilled.
This family own authentic Thai restaurant is located in a residential area in Woodside, just steps away from the 7 train 69 street station. The place closes on Wednesday, and does not take reservation, so get there early as crowds outside the door usually gather around 630p on a Friday night. (March, 2015)
The 3 weeks NYRW event is coming to an end. While I am hating myself for packing on pounds, it is time to evaluate if I have a successful restaurant week. Here is how I evaluate:
1. Was it worth the price?
2. Would I go back if not for special price?
3. Would I go back even for special price?
I went to 5 places during restaurant week. Other than Park Ave Winter I posted earlier, the others were Costata in Soho, Brasserie Cognac in theater district, Brasserie 8 ½ near Central Park and the Water Club by the river. Out of those 4, I would only may be go back to Costata.
went there for an early lunch, and have the whole dinning room all to myself. Décor and style reassemble that of Ai fori. Beef carpaccio was good, the crema di funghi was not necessary, and it is all hiding down at the bottom, but it was good. Sirloin flap has been sitting for a while and had lost it’s juice. The fries were not crispy anymore, and both have a bit too much salt, but at least, the flavor was there.
First, I have to apologies to my dinning partner since I was almost an hour late to our lunch. And I also want to applaud the staff of Brasserie Cognac for their patience and understanding. However, great service does not make up for sub-par food. We had Escargots for appetizer, and it was blend and rubbery, and tasteless. It was as if they were boiled first, then plated on the dish and throw back in the oven. All those garlic and bread crumbs did nothing for the escargots. Although that did made for good bread dip. We had duck and codfish for main courses. Duck was salty, and just salty. The skin of Codfish was crispy, but needed seasoning, and the sauce did little to help. Desserts was either a floating island of cookie plate, so we had both. The Floating Island was very petty, and airy although I know it was only sugar and egg white. And I couldn’t tell if the sweet sweet broth it is swimming in was melted ice-cream or some sugar syrup. And the cookie plate… I think the word I am looking for was … … pathetic.
Water Club is a romantic place with a fantastic view. It is an old school yacht- club. Oak wood bar with a piano and a fire place. While it is nice to see that it was not totally destroyed by Irene, all those flags hanging from the roof ruin the mood a bit. If I recalled correctly, there wasn’t any flag a few years back. We started with Maple Glazed Shrimp. It was good Big shrimps and rather sweet. But I have no idea what is the polenta in the middle. It was not corn bread but it was harder than potato. I had the braised lamb for entrees, while the rest of the table have scallops. I know, I know, what was I thinking having lamb at a seafood restaurant. I just didn’t want the stir fried brown rice that came with the scallops. And oh my, I knew I made the wrong choice the moment the lamb sat down. It looked dry. It is braised lamb, how could it be dry? But it was! The problem was they had plated it, sauce included, and put it back in the warm drawer before serving it. How do I know? Well, I don’t know for sure. But from the indication of the sauce already dried up on the plate, and the plate is hot, I’d say it is a petty good guess. I might be right, but i’m sad about being right. It is braised lamb! It is already cooked, just have to plate it before sending it out, and for whatever reason, they plated it before hand and put it in the warm drawer?? WOW. Seriously?! The scallops look dry, but my fellow dinners didn’t complained. But they did said that the stir fried brown rice was hard. May be the water club should just stick with lobster. Last time I had lobster there, it was good, but that was long time ago.
where should I begin with Brasserie 8 ½… Well, staffs are attentive, and perhaps a little too attentive. Tried to take away our plate before we finished, twice. And I guess the staffs are the one thing that is holding this place together. Everything we had were… pitiful. The duck confit on the kale salad was blend, and almost can be call duck jerky. And the croutons were soggy. Grilled Spanish octopus? I couldn’t tell if they were grilled. They could have been boiled, frozen, or from a can. Just rubbery. Call me ignorant. But I thought Sauce Verte is supposed to be green?! And yet I have this orange, tomatoy sauce. And that tasted like from a can. I was utterly disappointed. I had duck breast for main course. And I asked for medium rare. And medium rare it was not. Dried, tasteless, it is. And the chestnut flan… was it some joke or plank? It looks like a upside-down mini cupcake, but tasted like 3 days old hard mushy thing. I do not dare to have a second bite. The braised beef short ribs that my friends had were swimming in this weird polenta and tasteless red sauce. And desserts did not get any better. The Meyer lemon tart with crème fraiche was an embarrassment. Crème fraiche did not hold up. One of them just totally collapsed and became a pile of mud. What kind of presentation is it? And how could it be presented to the dining room? And the macaron did not impress either. The only thing I couldn’t tell was how long it has been in the fridge.
I don’t meant to be mean. And I didn’t want to rip them apart, but restaurant week or not, some of the quality of food that was served really does not worth the already discounted price. The way I see it, the whole purpose of restaurant weeks, is for to get people in the restaurants, to take a sample of what they can do, and hopefully these people would come back for more. Unfortunately, if 1 out of 5 restaurant is really buying into this concept and the others were just serving up sloppy pre-cooked food, then this restaurant week is a failure, at least for me. (March, 2015)