Sunday, November 20, 2011

Stove


































Decent food and service, nothing above average but nothing bad either.  On a recent Saturday night it was busy and very loud.  The place is simple, painted white walls, not much going on.  They do have Guinness and Blue Moon on tap which is good.  Although specials are often the freshest and recommended items on a menu, i'd pass from this place.  Both specials we had were tasty, but they were very expensive, especially for the informal style of the restaurant and when compared to the other items on the menu.  Its a few blocks north of the busy Steinway area, and it has a feel of a real local place, with a few large tables of friends and family. 

The french onion soup was decent, not memorable at all.  They did not serve us bread although I noticed on the way out every other table had a bread basket.  For main courses the Shepherds pie was again decent, but not nearly as good as you can get at Cronin and Phelan.  Great value at $11, it a typical huge portion, however it came out a few minutes after the other entrees and was not quite broiled enough on the top.  One of the specials, Chicken in Whiskey Cream, was under-seasoned and a terrible value at $19, served with boiled vegetables and good mashed potatoes.  I had the fish special, sea bass with olive and sun dried tomatoes and a cream sauce.  The best dish of the night for sure.  The sea bass may have been a touch overcooked, but the sauce and veg topping were very tasty, good dish.  I would not have ordered it if I knew it was $24, more than double most of the items on the regular dinner entree menu. 

Service was ok, she was a touch cold, we waited a bit long for the good and it did not come out at the same time.  Value was mixed, some items well priced (soup, Shepherds Pie) but the specials being way over priced.  I'll give this place one more shot.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

MexiQ

Some things about this place I like (beer selection, service, ribs) some things I don't (the pork skillet), but overall a decent place.  As noted by others they have 48 beers on tap (actually 46 plus 2 ciders I believe), which is a huge and awesome variety.  Our waitress, Cat, was super friendly, and very helpful with choosing our drinks, even gave us little samples of a few we had not heard of.  Her beer recommendations were great, I really liked the Chocolate Stout.  The place is nice, big, clean, a bit random, and the music is a bit too loud.  The host, runner and busboy were also very friendly, great attentive service.

The food was hit or miss.  The guacamole is inexpensive ($5 or $6 with a topping) and was decent, a bit too much onion for my taste, but well seasoned and nicely citrusy served with not stale chips.  The Ribs were really good in a decent sauce.  They were extremely soft (in a good way) and "fell of the bone" as the saying goes.  I actually ate them with a fork and knife.  Very meaty and quite delicious, I'd recommend this dish for sure.  They are served with a large portion of French fries and a moist, light jalapeño goat cheese cornbread.

If that were all we ordered I would likely give this place 4 stars but the pork skillet was a big disappointment.  The sauce itself (mustard like) was excellent, bright, tasty, not too overpowering.  The meat lean, but very overcooked, to the point that it was dry and chewy, not appealing at all.  I was also confused at how they served it.  I asked for no coleslaw (as I don't personally enjoy it), so they served me a skillet with HALF of it filled with food (the pork) and the other half empty.  They did not substitute any vegetable, or starch.  Even my corn bread side was another sent out another 2 minutes latter, so my plate stayed half-full.  It irked me that a kitchen would send out an "entrée" with no side at all, kind of lazy and confusing actually.  Also from a presentation standpoint it was a disaster, dark charred meat with dark sauce on a black skillet (again only  1/2 full).

Despite the pork dish I would recommend this place and I would like to return to try a few more items, the beers are well priced and the service is excellent.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

William Hallet

Super impressed with this food.  It is not perfect (the double cut pork chop was undercooked so was the brownie, completely soupy in the middle), but the food is very very tasty in huge portions and modestly priced.  Its also a bit funky and neuvo (Foie sliders, wild boar chili, turducken, bacon caramel, etc).  I've been here twice and both times have been impressed with everything we ordered.  I enjoy the music they play, mainly consisting of Indie rock (Built to Spill), nu-folk (Fleet Foxes) and the like.  The waiter/bartenders are all young, hip, fun, and friendly, the service both time I went was excellent, very knowledgeable about the food.  Our server even gave me a few samples of the various dark beers on tap before I made my selection, nice service for sure.

 The best item I've ordered here is likely the Suckling Pig, (which was much more like pulled pork), with cheddar grits.  This was awesome. I did not leave 1 bite of food on the plate, and it's a big portion!  Appropriately salty and a bit sweet (which I like), this was a great memorable dish and a good value at $17 (although the menu says $16).

 
The double cut pork chop aside from being slightly undercooked was excellent!  Massive piece of meat, enough for dinner and lunch the next day... Another sweet sauce in a delicious demi-glaze and well cooked potatoes.  Excellent dish, very tasty pork chop.



 
The turducken sandwich is decent, I'm not sure I could distinguish between the three types of meat, but it was tasty.  The bread was delicious.

 
The lobster roll is another winner, big pieces of lobster, good value.  Served in a nice open top bun, as I think it always should be.


 
The wild boar chili cheese fries are out of this world.  HUGE portion (as it should be for $15) of well seasoned chili over thick-cut, crispy potato wedges.  This is an item that must be shared, and I recommend you do just that, really nice appetizer.


 My brownie dessert I was informed is cooked to order and needed 15 minutes, which I did not mind waiting, but it arrived soupy and very undercooked.  Still very tasty and they took it off the bill so I'm not really complaining, mistakes happen.  I did like the bacon caramel.

The only thing I don't love about this place is that it can get quite loud at times, so even if you are trying to have a private meal it feels a bit like you are sitting at the bar at all times.  To their credit the music is not that loud, which often forces people to speak louder to be heard, its just loud enough to be heard but not intrusive.  The value is quite good, this food in Manhattan would cost much more, and for the most part its prepared well.  I'd highly recommend this place for dinner, drinks or lunch, I look forward to returning soon!