The Nomad

 "The competition would be too great."

When I first heard news last year that Danny Meyer was selling his four-star restaurant, 11 Madison Park, I was a bit shocked.  Restaurateurs and chefs alike strive for that rating given to them by the NY Times.  It takes some restaurants decades to finally mature to that level, honing their skills year after year, until perfection is finally reached.  Once its reached, they strive for an even higher level.

Daniel Humm and Will Guidara, the Chef and General Manager of 11 Madison Park, with a group of investors started the company MadeNice.  Once hearing these two professionals, two people who are truly at the top of their game in their respected fields, were planning on opening a restaurant just a few blocks away from 11 Madison, Danny had no choice but to sell.  The diamond of Danny Meyer's empire was now sold to Daniel and Will, and just a year later, they opened The Nomad Restaurant located inside The Nomad hotel.  Finally having a chance to eat here tonight, I realized Danny Meyer made a very smart decision.

The Nomad has taken casual hotel dining, elevated it with Mr. Meyer's signature hospitality warmth, and mixed it with cuisine cooked with incredibly high standards by a military-style French brigade in the basement kitchen.  Abram Bissell, the former Executive Sous Chef at 11 Madison, has been given the prestigious task of running The Nomad, which includes the now three-star restaurant, rooftop dining, and 24-hour room service.

The Nomad Hotel

The Nomad, which means "North of Madison Square Park", is located on the corner of 28th and Broadway, in a building very similarly designed to the iconic Flatiron Building located just five blocks downtown.  "The Atrium", or main dining room, is situated just off the hotel lobby, and is equipped with a skylight the same size as the dining room.  The skylight allows natural light to shine down on the dark wood furnishings, upholstered chairs, stone floor, and other forms of classic old-world architecture.

Located just off the Atrium is the bar, equipped with a dark mahogany countertop and designed to give the feeling of an old-world library.  Off in the other direction, is an actual two-story library, an area which serves small pastries and coffee.  The last section is The Parlour Room, and is a bit more intimate with red accents on the wall and a marble hearth imported straight from France.  Here, you can meet one of the sous chefs as he overlooks the cooking of small snacks and the now very well-known foie gras and truffle-stuffed chicken-for-2.

Riverpark

I feel a visit to Craft restaurant may be in order soon.  The flagship of Tom Colicchio's empire has always intrigued me, surprised me, and satisfied me.  The simplicity of flavors, the large portions, the striking decor, and the warm service combined leaves every diner yearning for more.  The sub-par meal and horrible experience I had at Craftbar during brunch late last year, along with the overpriced sandwiches offered at 'Wichcraft, popped my Craft balloon.  I was deflated.  I thought here we go again, another chef who is over-expanding and his restaurants are starting to suffer.  When I went to Riverpark for restaurant week, I was hoping for a saving grace.  Sadly, I didn't exactly find it here.  Was it a good meal?  In some aspects yes.  Chef Sisha Ortuzar is offering the entire menu at a discounted price, with no change in portion sizes.  Was it memorable?  Not at all, as I have to look at the pictures I took just to remember what I ate.

When some people mention restaurants can be located "off the beaten path", no restaurant is more deserving of this title than Riverpark.  Riverpark is located on the first floor of The Alexandria Center, a medical building living on the far side of a gated, security guard watched, community in-between Bellevue Medical Center and NYU Medical.  Walking up 29th Street and eventually to 1st Avenue you can't help but seem reluctant to walk through the large iron gates to find your destination.  Confused and bewildered, the security guard looks at you and says "Don't worry, you're in the right place.  Just keep walking".  I guess he has become accustomed to not even asking where people are going.

So up the brick-lined, small-inclined, street you go.  After a few feet your eyes catch the surrounding areas and eventually to the silver sign outside of the Alexandria Center.  You've found it.  A part of you wants to control your enthusiasm.  Another part of you wants to jump up and down and scream to everyone walking behind you "There it is!  Follow me!".

Osteria Morini

Michael White is regarded as one of the best Italian chefs in New York City today.  His flagship restaurant Marea, is arguably the best Italian restaurant in NYC, gaining national attention and two Michelin stars.  On the other side of the Michelin spectrum is his casual downtown hotspot, Osteria Morini, offering affordable, authentic Italian fare at the crossroads of Little Italy and Soho.

Osteria Morini is named after Michael White's mentor in Italy, Gianluigi Morini, chef and owner of Restaurant San Domenico in Italy, where Michael White spent much of his early career in.  Osteria means "host" in Italian.  Here, at Osteria Morini, Micheal White hosts guests with food and techniques he learned while traveling through Italy.  The result is a great Italian meal that will not break your wallet, only surpass your taste buds.

Osteria Morini is designed after a 1700's Italian farmhouse, although you probably would not have known it unless someone told you.  The ceilings are high-beamed and wooden, but the walls are very minimalistic and bare.  The restaurant is tiny, and the tables are pushed so close together you are almost within elbow's reach of the table sitting next to you.  They offer the full menu at the bar, which surprisingly is a bit more spacious, so if given the option, decide against a table.

My friend and I arrived on time for our reservation, but were seating at the bar while our table was still being set.  After ordering a round of drinks we were asked if we would like to move to the table or stay at the bar.  Being our first time here we opted for the table.  We now know better for the future as I felt I was pushed too far into the table to allow ample room for servers to get behind me comfortably.  My chair was kicked a few times as well, a very big pet peeve of mine.

The service is very cold, as I couldn't tell if our server was just having a bad day or really didn't care if we were there or not.  Seeing how packed this restaurant is, and how many tables they turn, makes me believe the latter.  I didn't even get her name through the course of the night, even though we only saw her twice.

Cotogna & Quince

The culinary power couple.

Before I had made my way to San Francisco there was but one recommendation I could not get out of my head.  Chef Floyd Cardoz told me I need to visit Cotogna.  From what I have realized from our own similar tastes in the past, when he recommends a restaurant, I must listen.

Cotogna is a small, rustic Italian restaurant owned and operated by Michael and Lindsay Tusk.  The two chefs first opened their fine-dining flagship Quince in 2003.  A hit right from the start, their passion lead them to move Quince into a more luxurious and grander space taking over Myth in San Francisco's Jackson Square in 2009.  The space included a small corner cafe, and after about a year and a half, and Lindsay Tusk doing much of the design work herself, transformed that cafe into Cotogna, which actually means "quince" in Italian.

Cotogna is centered around the pastas that Michael Tusk became famous for at Quince, having removed all of them from the now four-star establishment, making them more readily available in a more casual atmosphere.  There is not much to the decor of this 50-seat restaurant, with windows looking out to Jackson Square and wooden panels flowing throughout.  But what makes this space stand out is the small open kitchen showcasing a wood-fire pizza oven and a stand-alone grill with rotating spits.  Two cooks man these stations in the front while three more work behind the scenes.  The rest of the kitchen can be seen on a visit to the restrooms.

Getting a reservation here is hard.  Very hard actually.  I was trying for up to one month to see if I could make a reservation here before actually being in the Bay Area.  On a Tuesday night I decided to press my luck and visit the restaurant, and thankfully I got lucky.  I walked in and starting talking to the hostesses about my chances of dining that night.  They told me they accept walk-ins at the dining counters which were full at the moment.  They then took down my number and offered to call me if a space opened up.  Jumping at the chance I was put on the waitlist, and 20 minutes later received a call saying I could dine.  I thanked them profusely for the kindness.

Barbuto

It's hard not to fall in love with Barbuto, which has a rustic sophistication to it.  The restaurant is basically a converted garage located on the ground floor of Industria Superstudios.  In the warm months, the garage doors are opened, creating an incredible airy and open restaurant, and the 24-seat patio seating starts to engulf the sidewalk of Washington Street and 12th Ave.

The decor is very simple.  Patio chairs and cheap tables, a wobbly iron divider partitioning the patio from the sidewalk, not a single piece of artwork, but yet...it all works together.  As cheap as it all is, the restaurant is warm and inviting, and once you taste the food, nothing else matters anyway.

The chef here is Jonathan Waxman, who arguably is one of the best chefs in America today.  He can sometimes be seen sweating over the stoves in Barbuto's open kitchen, or skillfully cooking in the wood-burning oven.

Born in 1950, Chef Waxman was one of the first pioneer's of California cuisine, and is credited with being the first chef to bring its style, fusing French technique with the freshest of ingredients, to New York City.  Heard of the "farm-to-table" craze that has been going on for decades?  Jonathan Waxman was the one who started it all here.

Onieals

I love hanging out in Hoboken.  The square, mile-long city has plenty of perks.  I consider it "the village" of New Jersey.  Plenty of diverse restaurants and bars, great nightlife, people, and just an overall great vibe to the city.

When given the chance my friends and I will travel to Hoboken not so much for the food, but just to hang out in a fun city.  That being said, you can't expect much from the restaurants in this area.

Onieals is nothing too special.  It's your average neighborhood Irish bar.  They do, however, serve a menu that is slightly a step above than the competition.  In fact, residents in the area rave about the food here, and it sure does fill up quick.  Lets see if they're correct, or if this is just the best of what New Jersey has to offer.

Yes, if I sound bitter toward NJ restaurants, please check out my experience at Casual Habana.

At first impression the waitstaff here is very friendly.  Everyone from the hostess to the two cute, young female servers we had residing over our table gave off nothing short of a happy vibe.  Every time they looked and addressed us they smiled.  They were on point with their service.  They were very helpful in navigating us throughout the menu.  They checked on us regularly.  I would love to have service like this everywhere I go.

David Burke Kitchen

Summer restaurant week in New York City.  Over 300 restaurants offering a 3-course prix-fixe menu for $24.07 at lunch, and $35 at dinner.  No matter where you go being able to eat three courses for those prices in NYC is an amazing deal.  However, I have never been able to get excited for restaurant week, as it's all promotion.  I know a lot of restaurants will do throwaway menus, offering nothing they normally would, smaller portions, and cheap offerings.  Every now and then, though, you will find one out of the bunch that surpasses the rest.  I found that here, and my meal at David Burke Kitchen was quite possibly the best restaurant week deal I've ever had.

David Burke is a very acclaimed chef, becoming very well known in the past few decades for his whimsical American-style cooking.  Lollipop tree, anyone?

The sign hanging outside the restaurant

DBK is his newest venture, opening in Soho in early February of this year.  First and foremost, the space is  beautiful.  DBK is located inside the James hotel, and the entire building is bright white, which is a very strong stand-out for its location.  The name of the restaurant is displayed proudly in two bronze signs both in the front and left of the building.  As you enter the building the main dining room sits below street level to the right, and to the left is the entrance to The Treehouse Bar, which is a wide open second-story rooftop bar, with glass enclosures and barriers, overlooking Grand St and Sixth Ave.  The main dining room is reminiscent of a country barn, set inside a wide-open Soho-style loft.  The decor is very chic and a perfect fit for this trendy neighborhood.

ABC Kitchen

First and foremost, I want to congratulate ABC Kitchen for winning the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant on Monday night.  For anyone that has eaten here (and there are many) you already know this award is more than well-deserved. 

ABC is the brainchild of Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Phil Suarez, the same team which brought you the four-star Jean-Georges, Spice Market, Jojo, Mercer Kitchen, and about twenty other restaurants across the world.  To lead the kitchen here, they tapped on the talent of Executive Chef Dan Kluger, formerly of Tabla and The Core Club, and who also was just recently honored as Chef of the Year by Time Out New York.  With years of experience under his belt, Dan uses a very simplistic approach to his food, by masterfully combining flavor profiles of the freshest ingredients possible. 

Tonight was my second time dining at ABC Kitchen, and like so many other diners, can’t stop raving about the experiences.  The restaurant is beautiful.  It has one of the sleekest looking bars in Manhattan, and a dining room which is blanketed in white.  Everything looks so modern, so elegant, so clean.  From the black & white artwork on the walls, recycled white tables and chairs, wooden beams which run through the dining room, and the handmade porcelain dinnerware.  The FOH staff, all dressed in plaid shirts and jeans, are on point, welcoming everyone with warm smiles and attentive service.  Even with a packed dining room your water glass will never remain empty for more than 30 seconds. 

The restaurant commits itself to buying local, seasonal, organic, sustainable products, and every ounce of this passion comes through in the menu.  I love to admit this to anyone, ABC Kitchen has made me fall in love with vegetables again.  Now if I, a self-professed lover of pork and offal can say that, then it’s not hard to see why people love this restaurant so much.  Not to say that the meat and fish dishes are not up to par, but I will happily go vegetarian for this restaurant any day of the week.