Nov 04

Halal Guys – New York, NY

W 53rd St & 6th Ave

New York, NY 10019

Rating: ★★★★★ 

You must come eat here! Located not too far from Times Square and near Central Park, the original Halal Guys food cart serves up delicious chicken, gyro, and rice. Don’t be fooled by other Halal food carts across New York, as you must visit the official Halal Guys. They have expanded to cover additional street corners as well as restaurant locations all serving up the good stuff. Since we missed the lunch rush, the line was much more bearable.

Today, we ordered the chicken and rice plate. The plate came with some pita bread, loads of chicken, and seasoned rice. The meal also included two packets of white sauce and one packet of extremely spicy red sauce. Mixing the white sauce with the rice and chicken added a creamy savory flavor across the entire plate. The fresh pita bread adds some additional texture to the delicious rice and chicken. The red sauce was surprisingly spicy, but the white sauce adds a balance to the heat. I liked eating the rice and chicken with just the white sauce as well as with both red and white sauces. There is a hearty portion of rice and just enough chicken to complete the meal. The chicken was tender and chopped into easy bite-sizes. The rice was fresh, seasoned, and cooked properly. At just $7, this delicious meal is well worth it.

Overall, Halal Guys serves up delicious fresh food at affordable prices. Service is quick and easy since the food is quickly prepared after you pay for your meal. The food comes hot, fresh, and satisfies all of your cravings. If you are visiting New York, you must eat Halal Guys at least once if not more often. With locations opening in California, I hope that the delicious flavors mirror those in New York.

Nov 01

Joe’s Shanghai – New York, NY

9 Pell St

New York, NY 10013

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Located in the heart of Chinatown on a fairly quiet street, Joe’s Shanghai serves up popular Chinese cuisine including their famous soup dumplings. After entering the restaurant on a very rainy day, we noticed most tables were taken. The server actually brought us to a large table in the back, and our group was denoted with a letter placard on the table. After ordering our food, servers actually sat more people at the table, and eventually the large table was shared by 3 groups. This was a bit understandable since many smaller groups may come in, and their restaurant is quite small.

Having just ate pizza not too long ago, we decided to just try out their pork soup dumplings and scallion pancake. The pork soup dumplings, otherwise known as Xiao Long Bao, exemplifies how famous their restaurant is. Each order comes in a steaming tray with a pair of tongs. After you bite into the soft dumpling, soup pours from the inside. The pork inside is well marinated and goes well with the provided ginger soy sauce. Having not eaten this famous dish before, I was quite surprised at how tasty the dumplings are. The scallion pancakes were very crispy, but were extremely greasy. I felt like I was drinking oil when eating the pancakes.

Overall, Joe’s Shanghai does very well for their pork soup dumplings, but not so well for the scallion pancakes. Service was quite horrible as expected, but there was enough staff around to get stuff done. I did not really like sharing the table with others, but it made sense for the small restaurant. Prices were very reasonable and the pork dumplings were a great value. If you are someone interested in Chinese food, you must give Joe’s Shanghai a try just for their soup dumplings, but not so much for the scallion pancake.

Oct 28

Grimaldi’s Pizzeria – Brooklyn, NY

1 Front St

Brooklyn, NY 11201

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

In search of New York style pizza, we ended up at Grimaldi’s Pizzeria right over the Brooklyn bridge in Brooklyn, NY. With a sports bar-like vibe, the restaurant serves up a variety of pizza including calzones. After being seated, a server provided us with the menus and took our drink orders. Free Wi-Fi was provided to all customers.

After reviewing the menu, we decided to order a large pizza with pepperoni, Italian sausage, and meatballs. Although the crust was not thick, the crust itself was quite dense and hard. There was enough dough there to keep the pizza together, but was hard to eat once you got to the ends. Underneath the cheese, there was not enough sauce and the pizza felt a bit dry. The cheese and sauce themselves did taste very fresh. The sauce was bold, and the additional basil on the pizza added a refreshing flavor. The pepperoni and Italian Sausage were also very well seasoned and added additional layers of flavor to the pizza. The meatballs did not have a lot of flavor, but were soft and hearty.

Overall, Grimaldi’s serves up some pretty decent pizza, but the crust and amount of sauce could be improved. The rest of the pizza did taste delicious and service was on point for a pizza restaurant. Prices are a bit high considering it costs $3 per topping regardless if it was placed on half of the pizza or the whole pizza, but coming in at $23 for a large restaurant pizza is a decent price. If you wanted to try out a popular pizza joint in Brooklyn, then Grimaldi’s will be a great choice, but I do hear that there are some even better options once you head into downtown Brooklyn.

Oct 25

Junior’s Restaurant – New York, NY

1515 Broadway

New York, NY 10019

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Right outside Times Square on Broadway, Junior’s serves up American fare and their prized cheesecake. As we entered the restaurant, a hostess greeted us, brought us to a table, and provided us with the menus. Soon, our server came over ans took our drink orders and answered any questions we had. The restaurant was fairly busy on the rainy day and barely any tables were available. After ordering, the server also brought over a dish of dill pickles and pickled vegetables. The pickles were extremely sour and so were the vegetables. I did not like the complimentary dish at all.

After reviewing the menu, we decided to order the chicken parmigiana and the original cheesecake. The chicken parmigiana was extremely cheesy with a large layer of cheese on top of the breading. Unfortunately, the breading was quite soggy and was not crispy at all. The chicken was fresh and steaming hot once you cut into it. Unfortunately, the tender chicken did not have much of any seasoning in it and just tasted bland. The marinara sauce that was spread over the chicken and the pasta was not bold enough and just tasted like light tomato sauce. The crusted chicken Romano at the Cheesecake Factory tastes a whole lot better than this dish. By the time we split up the entree and ate it, we became quite full. The slice of cheesecake then arrived. The slice was fairly generous in size. The cheesecake itself tasted mostly of thick cream cheese and was extremely creamy. The texture was quite hard to get used to especially after eating a large meal. The crust bottom is actually made of cake instead of graham cracker, which was different, but tasted good. After eating the cheesecake for a while, it was quite hard to finish.

Overall, Junior’s serves up various traditional American dishes along with some famous cheesecake. Unfortunately, the food was quite mediocre in terms of the entree and the cheesecake. We did receive amazing service from the server who constantly monitored his tables for drink refills and assistance. Prices seemed a bit high for the quality of food received, but that is about right for New York, especially on Broadway. If you just got out of a show or are waiting for one to start, you can have a meal here at Junior’s, but just don’t expect it to be amazing.

Oct 21

Billy’s Bakery – New York, NY

184 Ninth Ave

New York, NY 10011

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Since we were in the Chelsea area, we decided to walk a few blocks down from the market to try out Billy’s Bakery. Plenty of friendly staff were behind the counter to help out the multitude of people coming in to visit on this rainy day. With so many items to choose from, we decided to try out their popular and fresh carrot cake. The cake was very moist and was not too sweet. The butter cream frosting was quite sweet though. Inside the cake, you will also find some shredded carrot and chopped pecans. Each bite tasted consistent and fresh, but the buttercream was quite overpowering. If you wanted a simple yet decadent dessert, Billy’s Bakery will take care of your request. Prices are a bit high, but reasonable considering it is New York. If you are in the area and was tired of going around looking for a bakery, head over to Billy’s Bakery.

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