Where do you recommend for dinner?

People have been asking me what I recommend for a nice dinner. Hear are a few of my recommendations.

Super Fancy:

La Bernadin - I have been here and it was awesome. Jacket Required!

Daniel - I have been here too. If you sit in the lounge you get the quality and service with a slightly more laid back atmosphere, a big plus. Jacket Required!

Per Sey - Next on my list, but if you are swinging for the fences I would definitely go for it.

Really Nice, Jacket not required:

ABC Kitchen - I went here for my birthday and has been my go to recommendation ever since. Its a Jean Gorges restaurant built into the ABC Carpet and home location (immediately behind Pipa y Mas)

Sushi Yasuda - Best sushi in the city for the price. Each bite perfectly formed for your mouth

This is why you fat

no really this is why your are fat. This blog is beyond description.

Think of corndogs and more corndogs

and hamburgers

and things that should not be related to hamburgers

in a deep fryer.

Oh the humanity.

And yet some honorable mentions:

the bacone...

the royal flush...

the McGangBang

no these aren't wacky sex positions you thought up when you were fourteen years old. Its food.

This is why you are fat. com

71 Irving

If you know me, and if your reading this you probably know me.

You probably know that I love a good cup of coffee. While a big cup of Starbucks will suffice when I am at work and only looking to suck down whatever caffeine comes my way through a straw, but when I want to kick back for some conversation and a big cup of Joe I need a place where I can stretch out and get my java served to me in a ceramic mug.

71 Irving Place

Any loyal spoonreader will know that the feeder is fond of feeding at at Friend of a Farmer. Every time I have finished my dinner full beyond belief I have walked by 71 Irving Place located next door and thought i want to be in there,

drinking that coffee

sitting in those chairs

its been several months.

and not a foot has been stepped inside.

Sometimes a good experience is waiting for just the right amount of inclement weather.

Walking back from Union Square up Irving when a monsoon struck and I sought protection in the safety of my local brewer

of micro roasted

estate grown

coffee.

Its just what i wanted and even more what I needed after getting poured on.

I have been back since, with better weather, and enjoyed a 'cup of Joe' outside at a table enjoying conversation and kicking back.

I have not had a chance to try the food that is offered with the brew but their quiche looks great and they serve Guinness by bottle. So if hot caffeinated beverages don't do it for you -

you can still get your fill.

71 Irving Place Coffee & Tea Bar

(Irving Farm)

71 Irving Place

212-995-5252

Bouley Upstairs?

What started as a cute outpost of David Bouley's awesome talent has grown from the confines of its upstairs moniker. When I first went to Bouley Upstairs, its was literally upstairs of Bouley's Bakery. Ascend a flight of stairs and enter the most jam packed resturant you've ever seen. Tables so close together you could easily participate in your neighbor's conversation or mistake their delicious looking plate for your own. As small as the main dining room is, they manage to squeeze not only the kitchen and a bar, but also an expert sushi chef with his own island.

***Warning: the Sushi chef is amazing, do not go to this restaurant without trying one of the Japanese offerings***

I've been to Bouley upstairs several times and at my last visit I was a little disappointed. Used to sitting in the upstairs aromatic paradise, I was surpised to find that they had converted the bakery into additional seating area; and when I went downstairs to use the bathroom, the tiny pescaria was converted into the manager's office. (Ok I wasn't that suprised, I am pretty sure I read about this transition somewhere). The food was good as ever, but somehow not eating in the cramped upstairs dining room really took a lot out of the experience.

Don't let my bashing of the modified interior keep you away from upstairs, downstairs, or any other part of this foodographic enclave. When I come here I love to do my meal half and half; half Japanese dishes and half American Nouveau. I have no doubt that any piece of sushi that comes out from their star sushi chef will blow your mind. I like to keep it simple with the fatty tuna roll, not fancy enough you say... just try a piece. Not a fan of sushi, ok, no big deal, then try the nanzenji - its a soup, its a pudding, its delicious 'signature home made tofu with truffle dashi'

Clear the plates, round two: American, fresh, brand new - simple and yet over the top. Line caught Halibut as good as it could be and yes even better. Silky and stunningly overpowering. For freshnesses a warm goat cheese salad. Its so good you may want to hold on to someone of their delicious bread to sop up every last bit of balsamic reduction and goat cheese.

When I take the time (and a cab) to make it all the way down to tribeca for a meal, I make sure to always to leave room for desert. Now you can take the bakery out of the building but you can't take the bakery out of Bouley Upstairs. Their dessert platters are everything you hoped for and more, at least everything I hoped for. Make sure you ask to see the selection of daily pastry offerings, as they are not brought out with the rest of the desserts. A wonderful meal topped off by a rose macaroon with rasberries and one thing I couldn't quite place, but I did: lychee. Damn if they didn't slip me that last bit of Japanese flare.

Bouley Upstairs

130 West Broadway

(212) 608 5829

TGI Sunday

I don't know why this place hasn't already been written up. I have been to Chat n' Chew a handful of times and have always enjoyed it. In fact, I've recommended it to friends more than any place else. While not a bad place to have a laid back dinner, this retro themed snack shack really shines at brunch.

Rusty license plates, old jukeboxes, a tin pig, and a glass display case of 3 layered cakes welcomes you in alongside a chalkboard of daily specials. Fares ranging from challah french toast to roadside chili warm everything from your stomach to your craving for nostalgia.

A few notes on personal favorites:

Now, I love huevos rancheros; Eggs, beans, salsa laying on a bed of cripsy tortilla chips. Maybe I'm just a sucker for Mexican in the morning, (that or I've fallen victim to the average breakfast joint's excuse for vegetarian brunch fare) but when its done right...damn tasty. To top it off, I stole a bite from my friend's blueberry pancakes smothered in blueberry sauce and laced with blueberry syrup; oh man fluffy, buttery, and...well...blueberry; you don't need to order them for yourself but you need to make sure someone at your sitting with does.

All in all, Chat-n-Chew is a downhome, easy to love place. If your in the mood for a low key night but your appetite has you hungry for more- you will surely be able to please both; without taking a hit to your wallet.

Turn up the Decibel

I've been to a few speakeasies before. Out of the way places you just need to know about. A small sign outside is all the notice you are going to get. While many of these places provide the kitsch of 1920's Americana, at steep prices most of them are unattainable on a regular basis.

When walking in little Poland last night my friend brought up Decibel sake bar. I'm not sure what I was expecting. Maybe the ultra commercialized dribble you get all too often, or perhaps the ever popular over sanitized Japanese restaurant. But one step in the door and I knew this place was a keeper.

A twenty minute wait to get a table and there is no option to put your name down as the hip materd in the kimono says, “I just remember your face."

For a visual reference, Imagine wall to wall Japanese graffiti, random bits of kitsch, a hello kitty shrine (an antique wood engraving, not the new shit) and some drops of anime for good measure. I've never been to Japan but what I've seen of it visa ve The Fast and the Furious and reruns of Anthony Bourdain I think it was a close approximation.

Reading the menu was a crash course in Japanese boozing (minus the obligatory karaoke): tons of sake, shochu drinks (distilled alcohol from sweet potatoes, supposedly with medicinal benefits), and a sampling of bar food…

Bar food... I'm not talking salted nuts, burgers, or fries...edamame, fried seaweed, and some pretty decent sashimi. I've never tried kohada (a mix between mackerel and herring) but served marinated with a little soy sauce and wasabi I can't even describe how good it was. Fishy but not overpowering, tender not gamey at all definitely something I would recommend.

Decibel was reasonably priced, offering the ability to enjoy the place on a budget (or in a recession) as well as the opportunity to drop a bill on a bottle or box of fine sake. Oh and unlike the American version of the speakeasy, name dropping is definitely allowed- it is in fact encouraged to be splattered all over the walls beneath the Saki lined cornice of this joint.

DECIBEL

240 E 9th Street

New York, NY 10003

(Between 2nd & 3rd AV)

New Spoon?

Dip your spoon anywhere good recently? Yeah you know what I am saying. The SpoonFeeder is looking for some feeding of its own.

Take this opportunity to share your favorite spots....