New York City Trip: Restaurants (Part I)

Finally I've allocated some time to post about the trip to New York City that I took back towards the end of January. Regardless to say, it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life ever.

Every time I go to New York City, I book myself a wonderful little room at the Grand Hyatt on 42nd and Lexington. It's located directly next to the Grand Central Station and is about two blocks away from the wonderful shopping that 5th avenue has to offer. Saint Patrick Cathedral is a short walk away and even Times Square is accessible by foot. Most importantly, you can get from Saks Fifth to your hotel room by walking in probably 12-15 minutes.

The greatest part about this trip was the fact that I went during Restaurant Week which was going on in New York and ended up getting some great deals at some of the most exclusive restaurants that New York has to offer.

So for this post, lets start with an overview of some of the restaurants.

David Chang's Momofuku Ssam Bar:

Dining at the Ssam Bar had been one of my most anticipated events of this New York trip. This restaurant nestled on the corner of 13th and 2nd was perhaps one of the most talked about restaurants led by one of America's hottest chefs of 2009.

Unfortunately the restaurant was actually a huge let down in my eyes. My friends Andrew Kwon and Louise Zhao who accompanied me for this late lunch/early dinner ultimately agreed with my assessment.

Overall, the food was lackluster and it's only saving grace was the fact that the pork buns which we ordered as an appetizer was absolutely delicious and well thought out. The seasonal fried brussel sprouts which we ordered as a side to our appetizer were also good as well but tended to be overwhelmingly oily.

The Bev Eggleston's pork shoulder steak was boring and poorly seasoned, the angus hanger steak with cauliflower and almonds was nothing new or innovative, and the spicy rice cakes with pork sausage and Chinese broccoli should have shamed David Chang's Korean mother. This is your take on Korea's dokboki? Come on David.

David Chang's Momofuku Milk Bar:

After having a completely lackluster experience at the Ssam Bar, I decided that David Chang should be given at least one more chance to redeem himself. So off we went to the Momofuku Milk Bar for dessert, which was thankfully attached directly to the Ssam Bar and easily accessible. Andrew, Louise, and I ended up sharing a slice of the massive chocolate chip cake with passion fruit curd, chocolate crumbs, and coffee butter cream. Again, while the cake was pleasant, it wasn't mind blowing good. The cake seemed a bit dry and ended up becoming sickeningly sweet after the fourth bite. I took the slice back with me to the hotel room and consumed it later with bitter black coffee and Marlborough cigarettes.

Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Mercer Kitchen:

Linda Baek, my sister from another mother, surprised me with reservations to Jean-Georges wonderful restaurant in SoHo called Mercer Kitchen. This Neo-American restaurant with heavy Asian/Mediterranean fusion inspired dishes was the surprise hit of my New York Trip.

Linda ended up picking off the Restaurant Week menu and I picked items off the regular menu and pretty much shared everything together. Linda's spicy tuna pizza appetizer was unique but it could have used a bit more flare. My yellowtail sashimi appetizer with baby cress and cilantro was a well balanced dish that adhered to simplistic but wonderful flavors.

The Niman Ranch pork chop entree I had came with surpisingly amazing parmesan grits and ended up being one of the best pork chops I'd ever had. The pork chop was cooked to tender perfection and was glazed with a subtle hint of spice that came from the chili.

The warm Valrhona chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream was a rich and decadent way to end the superb meal, washed down by many Ketel One and Tonics.

Charlie Palmer's Metrazur:

A whole group of us went to Charlie Palmer's Metrazur to have dinner and found the restaurant located inside the historic Grand Central Station to be a mix of good and bad. The service that the staff offered were completely incompetent. The server that started off the dining experience did not understand proper wine service. They served the wine that was supposed to be served with the appetizer after everyone was finished eating and poured the wine that was supposed to be served with the entree in wine glasses still wet and not properly polished.

The server that started off the dinner service left for break or home in the middle of our dinner without introducing us to her replacement or telling us she was leaving and the new server who took over our table service seldom checked on us and took forever to process our check. I ended up handing our payment to the manager directly and even he was rude and unapologetic.

But beside the lack of service, the food was Metrazur's saving grace. Our entire dinner group all had the restaurant week menu which offered three different choices per course. For the appetizer I had a roast butternut squash soup that had a nice spice to it from the added pumpkin seeds and smoked bacon while I ended up selecting the Sichuan spiced pork tenderloin for the entree.

For the dessert I ended up having the bittersweet chocolate torte with candied oranges.

Jason Avery and Sezai Celikbas's Pera Mediterranean Brasserie:

My good friend Yaelim Noh and I ended up having a wonderful dinner at Pera which seemed the most heavily inspired by Turkish and Greek cuisine. The restaurant in Mid-town was filled with warm colors, courteous staff, and food that was sophisticated.

For an appetizer, we shared a plate of hummus with baked lavash chips along with soujouk, beef, lollipops. For the entree I ended up having the mushroom pappardelle while Yaelim had Pera Steak with Greek style frites.

We finished the meal by sharing Baklava and Rice Pudding. The Rice Pudding was quite astonishing and was wonderfully rich and coated your tongue with thick sweetness that couldn't be washed away easily.