I did see reserved signs at the vacant bar stools last Saturday.
Thanks for the ongoing info folks.
So, hereâs my next questionâŚwe strike out at Marta, whats an easy walk-to in same area thatâs good right now.
Moderate price, adults and a couple of teens who have good taste but arenât super adventurous.
Thanks!
The Breslin, John Dory Oyster BAr. A bit further south you could try the lounge/bar at Cosme, the Gramercy Tavern bar room, or Via Emilia.
Weâve always gone to Blue Smoke with the family at this time of year, and everyone is happy.
Cool. Another good idea. Thanks!
The lamb burger at The Breslin is a destination burger⌠(and the fries too)
Have you byoâd at The Breslin? We are going there tomorrow.
Iâm interested about the BYO policy at The Breslin. Weâve eaten brunch/lunch there more than a few times, but never BYOâd.
According to the website, $30/bottle, 2 bottle max per table.
That is what we are doing. Iâll report back.
The Breslin is $30 per bottle. Nice stems - we just asked our server to open the bottles and we took care of the pouring. The saltiest food I have ever had, but the lamb burger is delicious.
Although I like the Breslinâs traditional English brunches, that âsaltyâ comment doesnât quite hit the spot for me to hurry up and try their dinner. Thanks Diane.
We had dinner last night at the newly reopened Eliâs Table with friends who live nearby, inspired by an article I read somewhere on the interwebs about the quality of its wine list and its relatively reasonable pricing. My impression of Eli Zabar to date has not included the wording ârelatively reasonable pricingâ, but we were very pleased both with the wine (we shared a bottle of the 2009 Eric Morgat Savennières LâEnclos) and the food, and would definitely go again. Definitely an older UES crowd, but that had the bonus of volume levels low enough that you could actually hold a conversation. Thereâs quite a large selection by the glass, and Iâd be tempted to drop by the bar relatively frequently if I lived closer.
http://www.elizabar.com/Elis-Table-C22.aspx
Ah, hereâs the article about their wine list:
Rachel, I had dinner at Eliâs a few weeks ago as well and agree with your comments. The room was quiet, the wine list very well priced, and the food very good. I will say service was a tad distracted, but that was fine with us as we wanted to just relax and chat.
Racines has announced on their FB page that theyâre doing BYO Mondays now.
Wow. Though thatâs one of the very few restaurants in the city where I have absolutely no problem ordering off the list.
had an absolutely amazing meal at the new Momofuku Ko last week. Still counter seating, but everything else is a full high-end experience. Seems they are doing everything possible to get 4 stars from NYT.
i canât recommend it enough.
really looking forward to the new space
thanks yaacov
cosme last night. 3 dishes in the bar area. all were exceptional. (scallop aguachile. cobia al pastor, and ayacote bean salad)
itâs a very busy place, even at 6pm, and i wasnât in love with the room, but thereâs no arguing the food.
if it ever dies down, i would be a regular.
Made it to Shuko last night and, while we enjoyed the meal well enough, we came away overall disappointed.
The cooked/composed dishes were mostly very good, especially the homemade mochi amuse bouche and the chrysanthemum and crab salad (crab was too cold, though - this was always a problem at Neta as well), but the sushi was something of a letdown. The fish was good to very good compared to what most places get, but it was only good in the realm of what they are going for and where the bar is set, if that makes sense. The bar is higher - they should have access to great fish, and this wasnât truly great fish. The tuna in particular was inferior, both the otoro sushi and the scrapped appetizer, though that was partly that the caviar was not a good example. The uni was excellent, however, and there was also some good mackerel.
An important point, which I forgot to mention at first and am editing to add, is that the rice was very inconsistent. At best, it was unremarkable, and sometimes it was off in texture and taste. There were three working rice bowls on the counter, sometimes covered, sometimes not, going at different ratesâŚitâs very difficult to keep rice consistently excellent under these conditions. Itâs understandable, but the result in this case was variation in quality, not just variation. Maybe most people donât notice, but Iâve had fantastic rice, even at places in the US, especially some favorites in LA, and it makes a huge difference for how I taste the overall sushi.
The bar itself and the room are beautiful, but the service had some issues, and we never felt comfortable or particularly welcome. And we didnât get any sense that the chefs behind the counter cared one way or another what we thought of the food.
Iâm not going to compare it to sushi in Japan, because thatâs not useful or even reasonable. Thereâs also lots that comes along with being at a high-end place in Japan that, though we love it, wouldnât necessarily be a plus for the NY diner. And to be fair, itâs not trying to be a traditional Japanese restaurant, more âtraditional Japanese themedâ in my opinion - I mean, the kaiseki ends with apple pie a la mode, which, though tasty, is hardly traditional,. Anyway - I didnât go expecting high-end traditional Japanese. What disappointed me is that I had high expectations for excellent food and I thought it fell short of what it IS, in fact, trying to deliver.
Not sorry we went, and we enjoyed the meal for sure. But hoped for more.