Tapas at Casa Mono

Casa Mono
(17th Street and Irving Place)

If you're ever in the mood for Chinese/family-style eating but minus the Chinese food, look no further than Spanish tapas!  I know of 2 places in the city that serve great tapas - Alta (on 10th and 5th) and Casa Mono.  Today's review will cover Casa Mono, where my fiance and I enjoyed the pleasure of dining last night.  To summarize our meal in one phrase, all of the tapas are served with contrasting but extremely complementary flavors which make for a delicious, unique and memorable dining experience!


There was a little bit of drama that ensued before our arrival at our final destination.  Our dinner reservation was at 5:30pm (hey, early birds catch the worm!) which meant that we'd have to leave work at 5 on the dot.  On an average Friday, that is no problem, but I almost had to work late because of missing data for a client report... through no fault of mine, of course.  I called Casa Mono and they said their standard policy is to give a 15 minute grace period, but after that, they would have to let my reservation go.  Fortunately, I ended up only having to work until 5:15, which gave us exactly a half hour to get from Midtown West to Union Square!  I had decided to dress up a bit yesterday and so I was wearing boots with 3-inch heels... as you can imagine, that did not make for easy walking/trotting/running down the streets of Manhattan and tunnels of Grand Central!  Fortunately, the 7 and 4 trains came within seconds, and we actually made it to Casa Mono no more than 5 minutes past 5:30.  PHEW.  I had already missed a prior reservation at Casa Mono (which I was originally going to with my sister but then I fell ill) and I was not going to let that happen again!  Not after I booked this reservation more than two weeks in advance!  So phew... all was well in the end.  Now back to my review.


I adore Irving Place (quiet, quaint, near to Gramercy Park...) and Casa Mono lies in the heart of it.  It is a tiny, darkly-lit and intimate restaurant of no more than 10 tables.  There are also two bar tops - one in front of the open-air kitchen and one by the drinks.  My first time at Casa Mono, my friend and I sat at the bar top in front of the kitchen and it was a delight to watch all the food being prepared! 

 

(I stole the above picture off a Google search... I'm not sure how my fellow patrons would've felt about me taking flash photos in the darkly lit restaurant!)

I didn't know this until recently, but Casa Mono is owned by Mario Batali and was awarded one Michelin star in 2010!  Prices are fairly high (expect to pay around $15 per dish) but the flavor combinations are amazingly complementary and synergistic.  Also, due to its size and popularity, Casa Mono gets booked up VERY fast... I don't even know if it's possible to make a reservation on Monday for a dinner that upcoming Friday.  Your best bet is to plan ahead... way ahead, like I did (and I still got stuck with a 5:30 table).

After some good ol' fiance-to-fiancee decision making (where he chose the skirt steak and then knowingly deferred to his better half!), we ordered:

• Duck egg with mojama - this is one of Casa Mono's specialties and for good reason!  The duck egg is served sunny side up on top of cured ham and the most delicious potatoes.  A MUST-TRY!
• Chopitos with white beans and salsa de tinta - chopitos = fried baby calamari.  I never thought white beans would go so well with calamari but hey, it was a burst full of flavor!
• Skirt steak with onion mermelada - this was my least favorite, as I thought the steak tasted a bit gamey... however, hubby-to-be enjoyed it very much.  I did like the salsa that came along with it, as the flavors complemented very well.
• Quail with gingered cranberries - they gave us a whole quail with wings and legs outstretched atop a pile of cranberries and stuffing.  Again, the salty and sweet flavors went together very well. 
• Crispy pork belly with greenmarket apples and guindillas - this was another one of our favorites!!  This was our first time trying pork belly and it was sumptuous.  Crispy... fatty... soft... it had the perfect texture.  It's not something you would eat a lot of, but this plate came with 4 small pieces, which was enough to get a good taste for it but not enough to get sick of.  The apples were a great contrast.  Mmm... I would recommend this dish as well!  

5 dishes ended up being the perfect amount for the both of us.  I don't think we could have handled anymore!  We also had 2 glasses of Merlot and for dessert, we shared the torte de chocolate with apricots... a great way to clear the palate!  :) 


M-Stars:
Decor/ambience: 3 out of 5 (it's dark and intimate... but I can't say the decor is especially unique.  Tables are somewhat crammed so my elbows actually brushed the patrons to my left and right, who were technically at separate tables.  I would also recommend dining at the bar - it's entertaining!)
Food: 4.5 out of 5 (again, the flavors were extremely complementary even in areas that you would never deem possible... calamari and white beans?!  We loved the originality of each dish on the menu - it's not everyday we find pork belly or duck egg at a restaurant.  We tried many new foods and combinations last night!)
Service: 2.5 out of 5 (nothing spectacular, but nothing horrendous)
Value: 4 out of 5 (we spent $135 total, so it wasn't cheap.  However, the food is a delight and we were mmm-ing the whole night!)
"It" factor: 4.5 out of 5 (the food says it all, my friend)
M&M's overall satisfaction: 4.5 out of 5

Bottom-line: We loved it and mark our words, we will be back!  Maybe next time we will have the courage to order the cock's combs and bone marrow!

Fondue at Artisanal

Artisanal
(32nd Street b/w Park and Madison)

When it comes to eating at restaurants, I'm a hands-on kind of gal.  I love yakiniku... sukiyaki... Mongolian BBQ... all of which involve some sort of effort put forth by the eater before the food is cooked, whether it be assembling raw meat and vegetables into a bowl or even cooking one's own food on a grill.  It doesn't bother me one bit that I have to essentially pay to prepare part or all of my own meal - as long as the food tastes good, of course!  Naturally, I also enjoy a nice night out of fondue, every now and then.  My parents brought me to a Swiss restaurant on the night of my high school graduation, where we feasted on cheese, oil, and chocolate fondue all in one sitting, and I've been a fan ever since!

Last night was my first time experiencing the fondue at Artisanal.  I'd been craving fondue for awhile now and my fiance and I finally made it down there to give it a try.  It's a large, crowded establishment and is decorated like your prototype French bistro.  Very cute, but everyone is packed like sardines!  Before last night, I'd been to Artisanal two times prior, and both were for brunch.  The brunch is really scrumptious, by the way!  I've had the almond croissant French toast (the portion is rather small for NYC standards) and the soft scrambled eggs with smoked bacon and crisp potato (amazing!!). 

Similar to brunch, dinner portions are small and almost laughably so.  My fiance is a big guy (practically 6'5) and nothing irks him more when I select a dining venue with small yet pricey portions!  Oops.  To start, we had marinated olives (which I avoided due to my distaste for them) and "grilled cheese bites."  The grilled cheese bites were $7.50 and the plate came with four 1 inch by 1 inch squares consisting of grilled cheese and bacon in between two slices of bread.  No offense, but for a somewhat casual restaurant like Artisanal, I thought they'd at least throw in a full sandwich for that price... not the equivalent of 20% of a sandwich!  Either way, the grilled cheese bites were yummy.

One of the things I liked most about Artisanal was that they offer wine by the taste, not just by the glass or bottle.  A taste is a smaller version of a glass (maybe around half the amount of a regular glass of wine) and is also half the price.  I ordered a taste of Malbec and it was like the portion was made just for me!!  I like having wine every now and then but a full glass tends to be a bit too much for me in terms of taste and yes, I suppose some might say that I am a bit of a lightweight!  Usually I am struggling even after my fiance has signed the bill to finish the last half of my regular glass.  This time, though, I managed to finish my entire taste before the bill even came.  :)  Voila!

Now onto the fondue... we ordered the Artisanal blend cheese fondue.  It comes with little bite-sized cubes of bread.  We also ordered beef tips, apples, and fingerling potatoes to eat with the fondue.  It was YUMMY.  The blend was excellent - the melted consistency was just perfect (gooey but still solid enough to cling onto whatever was dipped into it) and the taste was flavorful but also not too overpowering or stinky.  Ideal for fondue beginners or those who simply prefer a milder cheese.  I highly recommend it!  The beef tips are a MUST.  They were so tender and cooked medium, and they just easily faded into the depths of my mouth as I popped them in.  Again, portions of the beef tips, apples, and potatoes appeared to be pretty small initially... but they were enough to fill us up.  I think this was due to the additional cheese we ate and to the fact that our stomachs had time to get full as we dipped our food into the cheese bite by bite.  The cheese fondue was an A!  Now if only Artisanal offered oil fondue...

For dessert, I really wanted to try the chocolate fondue since I figured this must be their staple dessert.  It wasn't cheap ($24.50), but it was still delicious.  Hey, chocolate is chocolate!  Was it better tasting than other chocolate fondues out there (such as at Max Brenner)?  Not exactly.  Again, the portion was pretty small for the price, but we probably couldn't have eaten anymore at that point!  The chocolate fondue came with fruits to dip (bananas, strawberries, and apricots) and a sampling of cookies, marshmallows and madeleines.  Also, it was a dark chocolate fondue... they don't offer any choices of milk or white chocolate on the menu, unfortunately.

Overall, we enjoyed ourselves very much at Artisanal.  It's a fun place to go with friends (the noise level was pretty high, and not helped much by the fact that everyone was squished so close to each other) and also a great quality place to satisfy your fondue or cheese craving!


M-Stars:
Decor/ambience: 3.5 out of 5 (they've got the French bistro look down pat)
Food: 4 out of 5 (again, the Artisanal cheese fondue was lovely... while the chocolate fondue was like any other)
Service: 3 out of 5
Value: 2.5 out of 5 (small portions but good quality... and besides, how many other fondue restaurants are there in Manhattan to choose from?)
"It" factor: 4 out of 5 (Artisanal has the fondue market share in this city!)
M&M's overall satisfaction: 3.5 out of 5

Bottom-line: We will definitely head back to Artisanal for our next fondue outing, although it probably won't be for another several months (it's not often I crave cheese).  I know they also offer cheese and wine flights, which may be a fun activity down the line! 

Live To Eat

This is my very first post on my very new blog!  I am thrilled that I finally got the chance to sit down, sign up for a blog, and write.  I used to have a couple of blogs back in high school (seven years ago... eek!), but ever since college and kicking off the beginning of my working years, finding the time to sit down and write has taken a backburner.  Until now, that is.  :)  Since it's been all of seven years, I am experiencing a bit of writer's block typing this introduction... so let's cut right to the chase.

As mentioned in my profile, I am currently 24, a Manhattanite (although I originally hail from the eastern hemisphere), and engaged to the man of my dreams.  Unlike many young women my age, I LIVE for life experiences... not so much cute things or luxury goods.  Give me $200 and I would much rather spend it feasting on frogs' legs sauteed provençale at La Grenouille than on a new Coach bag or jacket from Bluefly.  Even now that my darling fiance and I are planning our wedding, we have happily maintained a small guestlist (comprised solely of our nearest-and-dearest) so that we could allocate a significant chunk of our wedding budget to our upcoming honeymoon (hello Maldives!).  Why spend money on a larger wedding when we could instead be pampering ourselves alone as a couple in paradise?  In short, I love to eat, travel, and experience new things.  Most of what I enjoy doing in life is evidenced entirely in my memory... hey, it makes for more closet space!

Secretly, I've wanted to write my own blog for awhile now.  I love to write.  Ever since I was a kid, I've always been better at expressing myself through writing than speaking.  Then a couple of days ago, I was having brunch at Boqueria with my sister and she asked for my recommendation on where she and her friends should go for Restaurant Week.  A sister is one thing, but apparently even her roommate (who I do not know personally) always asks my sister to ask me what I think about specific restaurants in NYC!  Even among my friends, I've earned the reputation of being somewhat of an informal restaurant guru and fine dining vanguard.  I think that's pretty cool and I thought it would be fun to record my dining experiences somewhere, both for my own reflection and enjoyment as well as for others' reading pleasure.


So without further ado... here is my first review!


Brasserie
(53rd Street b/w Lex and Park)


My fiance and I went to Brasserie for Restaurant Week last night.  We live in Midtown East, and as such we've walked by Brasserie a million times, always mentioning that we should try it out someday.  It was our first time there, and I don't mean to start my blog on a negative note, but it was pretty awful.  In absolute terms, it was average.  But I thought this was a French restaurant... and from the outside of the building, I assumed the restaurant would be nice and relatively classy.  Upon walking into the establishment though, everything was stark white.  Seats were made of plastic and my first impression was that it looked like a cafeteria.  This is probably a restaurant you'd see on Sex And The City and one that is self-professed as being modern and trendy... to me, it was just plain white.


We ordered off the R-Week menu: I had the split pea soup, ocean striped bass, and chocolate brown butter torte.  The mister had salmon carpaccio, a seafood soup medley, and toasted almond cake.  I drank a glass of Pinot Noir and he a glass of the darkest beer I've ever seen.  (I don't even know the name of it!)


The only noticeable pro for me was that the food came out fast.  We were seated right by the kitchen (not in a bad way, there was a wall separating us) and it never took more than 5 minutes for the waiters to switch our courses.  


Cons: The food came out really fast... almost too fast (it was pretty obvious they had a million desserts lined up and ready to be served in the kitchen... I suppose it is Restaurant Week, though!), our server was pretty lame (he handed me my plate when he could have very easily walked over and put it down in front of me), and the food was average AT BEST.  It was all very underwhelming, to say the least.  Average food is admissible in average venues, but not in restaurants that try to be higher-end.


M-Stars (my ratings) are as follows:
Decor/ambience: 2 out of 5
Food: 2.5 out of 5
Service: 2.5 out of 5
Value: 2.5 out of 5 (we were, after all, paying R-Week prices)
"It" factor: 0 out of 5
M&M's (my fiance's and my) overall satisfaction: 2 out of 5


Bottom-line: We won't be going back!  It wasn't terrible, but nothing set it apart from its peers.