Hello! I was in NYC over the holidays and managed to try some of the “hyped up” places and thought a brief write-up might be of an interest for people on this forum, maybe particularly for people that are planning to visit NYC rather than people that live there (I now live in Portland OR and used to to live in the Bay Area).
Noticed that all restaurants I visited are included on this article: https://www.theinfatuation.com/new-york/guides/toughest-restaurant-reservations-nyc so you should be able to refer to that page for the reservation tips. All comments below are for dinner, and the time were around 5:30ish except for Torrisi where the only spot available was at 10:30.
1. Lilia (Williamsburg)A modern Italian, budget was little over $100 per person. The overall atmosphere (including overall interior design, furniture, noise level, lighting, etc.) was very neat and modern and yet tasteful and not bland.We ordered Focaccia with leak butter, a Squash+pesto dish, and two pasta dishes (sheep’s milk cheese agnolotti, mafaldini acio e Pepe). I quickly realized that our menu selection was not ideal, probably needed some dishes that had more acidity in it.. we got quite fatigued towards the end of the meal. I think Pasta dishes were quite memorable, but after a few bites it felt a little tiring. Execution of the dishes were excellent though. Service was OK.Overall I thought it’s a fine place to visit for a date night if I lived in Brooklyn, but I don’t know if there’s much uniqueness to the restaurant that warrants special visit or trying hard to get a reservation especially if you are from out of town. I feel like you could find places that offer similar experience in other large cities.
2. Cote (Flatiron)A Michelin-starred Korean BBQ place, budget was a little over $100 per person. I think you need at least 4 people in the party to reserve a table. We ordered the “butcher’s feast” ($75 per person) and a bottle of Pinot Noir to share, and I feel confident that you would be really hard-pressed to find a KBBQ place with a better value item in the US (even in Korea), considering the quality of the meat, the side dishes that comes with it (i.e. banchan), and the service. You could fine some places that offer similar quality food at similar or little lower price point in NJ/Flushing or cities with large Koreatown (LA, Atlanta) but I don’t think those places would offer similar level of comfort for people that are not already familiar with KBBQ restaurants.Atmosphere was pretty modern but not too modern that it becomes uncomfortable, it felt quite cozy. Overall I would highly recommend this place, especially if the party size is relatively big. It was a gathering of old Korean friends and we were all satisfied.
3. Torrisi (NOLITA)Upscale Italian place with some fusion elements, $150~200 per person. Me and my girlfriend both picked this one as the best among the places we tried this time around, despite that we were fully prepared to be completely let down considering this is the one w/ most hype around it. Food we ordered were cucumber salad, tortellini pomodoro, linguini w/ clam sauce, chicken alla griglia, scalloped potatoes, and affogato as dessert. Every single item was fantastic, highlight being cucumber salad and tortellini pomodoro, it had been a while that I tried something at the restaurant which made me stop and appreciate how delicious it is… And actually the portion was quite decent, I was prepared to see comically small portion size for a $30 dish but actually we were already pretty full before even getting the chicken dish. And perhaps what was even more fun for us visiting from a smaller city was that we could really feel that this is current “it” place in NYC. It was pretty casual place (saw several people in jeans and T-shirt) but it was quite entertaining to be surrounded by the people who are all seemed to be pretty well-off or doing something interesting for living and kind of know each other directly or indirectly, with constant flow of Cadillac and Mercedes at the front door.. Maybe some part is this glamour was just facade, and I’ve never been to other Major food group restaurants like Carbone so no idea how contrived all this is, but still it was very entertaining theater especially as a visitor.
4. The four horsemen (Williamsburg)A Michelin-starred wine bar specialized in natural wine and rotating bar food. Budget ~$150 per person. I’ve been interested in this place for a while being a big fan of James Murphy but finally managed to visit this time, and I was glad that I could. Big part was the atmosphere, it is a tiny place and it was really packed around the time we left (~7:30 or so), but I don’t know, the music, the floor layout, the view of kitchen, everything felt like it’s on point — didn’t feel too loud or crowded so that it is hard to make conversations but it was very lively. Similar to what I said in the Torrisi section, it made me feel like I am really in the middle of something, at some point in time, although certainly different kind than what Torrisi offers. It was almost a bit bittersweet after spending time walking around Williamsburg earlier that day, compared to the first time I visited the neighborhood >10 years ago now it really felt like it’s just like any other fancy retail district in US with stores like Warby Parker/Aesop/Lululemon etc. Foodwise, we ordered Monkfish liver, Grilled squid, Leek toast, Trout, and Olive oil cake, and all of them were very good although the portion size is really small, really the size of European tapas places.. I think bigger emphasis was on wine — since we know almost nothing about the natural wine we just asked the waiter to give us some glasses that would go well with the food, and all glasses were absolutely fantastic. Overall it is definitely pricy, but we had such a great time, felt like maybe it would be even better to visit with slightly bigger party (so that we get to sample more menu items). But probably even harder to reserve a table..
5. Sailor (Fort Greene)New modern American place from a famous chef (April Bloomfield), <$100 per person. Kind of heard about all the mess around her former restaurant but also rave reviews on this new place, made me think that it would be an interesting place to visit.I actually did not know beforehand that the Chef spent time with Alice waters, but if you ever visited “California cuisine” places in the Bay Area (Chez panisse, Zuni cafe), this place felt like a more refined version of that. We tried Green toast, Mussel toast, poached radishes with Lambic, half roast chicken, and profiteroles. Toast dishes were OK, Radish dish was quite unique and delicious, and Chicken dish really reminded me of Zuni cafe so there were some personal nostalgic value to it. Also their house wine glasses were great value, which is big plus.I wished I could’ve tried more menu items, but overall, although the food/service was excellent, I thought you would be able to find places in major west coast cities that serve similar genre of food at the similar level of execution, so I would not necessarily try very hard to visit again. But I think if you live in Brooklyn and are looking for a place for special date night at sub-$100 per person price point, I can definitely see this being a go-to place. Again I didn’t get to try many items on the menu so maybe I missed out some special dishes.
This is it! Hopefully this is helpful to some. I also tried non-fancy places during visit and maybe I’ll make a separate post for that.
by bestsandwichever
2 Comments
Thanks for posting, this is one of the most useful tourist posts we’ve had in a very long while.
MFG restaurants are “it” places if you’re in the Soho House demographic, basically flashy new money.
My observation is that truly well-off people normally just eat at their neighborhood restaurants, like Cafe Boulud, Sant Ambroeus WV, Sushi Azabu, etc.
You have great taste (your assessments jive with mine lol) and your takes are so well written! Come back to NYC soon and tell us more 😅