Burger & Barrel and Venieros Pastry

Manhattan is really a miserable place to live, so when I really hate it, I go to a really chic restaurant so I feel like I'm living in a romantic comedy.

At Burger & Barrel, I got beef tartare, which is raw ground beef mixed with various condiments. This was really good; the seasoning was very simple and didn't overwhelm the meat. The beef itself was very rich, so the escarole, capers, and pickled radish balanced it very well.

Is it weird to get so excited about toasted bread? I feel like most restaurants can't get toasted bread right; it's usually too thin and flimsy, or not charred enough. However, the toasted bread that came with this was so perfect. It's the perfect dense texture, charred, and buttered.

I also got duck lasagna. The edges of the noodles were really crispy, which was pretty interesting. Although the duck was very tender, the dish was just very bland. Although there's tomato sauce underneath, the lasagna itself is filled with very basic bechamel sauce (basically white cream sauce), which really masks the flavor of the duck. The only time I actually tasted the duck was when I burped 20 minutes later.

I'm really starting to wonder if I can get good truffle fries anywhere in New York. I've had some pretty incredible truffle fries (like at Umami Burger), but this one was just plain fries with three drops of truffle oil sprinkled on top. Once you eat through the top layer, the truffle essence is gone.

I was getting pretty sad towards the middle of the meal (yes, food can make me sad) so I decided not to stay for dessert. Instead, I went to my favorite pastry shop, Venieros in East Village.

Venieros has the most fantastic pastries and cakes. I got tiramisu cake, which is a big wedge of chocolate cream with small chunks of cake in it. It's just a delicious, fatty dessert that's not too heavy and always makes me happy.

The best part of being 21 is being able to drink alcohol mixed with coffee in a public place. I ordered Bailey's Irish Cream coffee, which is exactly what it sounds like. Bailey's itself tastes like chocolate milk, so this just tastes like an alcoholic mocha, which is never a bad thing.

Burger & Barrel
25 W Houston St
http://www.burgerandbarrel.com/

Venieros Pasticceria
342 E 11th St
http://www.venierospastry.com/

Cafeteria

Cafeteria is one of those trendy restaurants that aims to make comfort food fancy. They serve some classic things like meatloaf and fried Oreos; they retain the great homey taste and feel of comfort food, but they're just prettier because they're in an all-white restaurant.

My appetizer was the meatballs; beef meatballs in marinara sauce with toasted bread. These are so good--really moist and flavorful, and the sauce is really nice too. Although you don't have a lot of options in meatball dishes (they also have a pork meatball slider) these are definitely better than the ones at The Meatball Shop. My only criticism is that the bread was mostly crust, and was way too crunchy and charred to be good with meatballs--you need a soft, chewy bread to dip into the sauce.

My entree was the chicken and waffles--cheddar tabasco waffles with chili butter and maple jus on the side. The waffles were so good; they're incredibly fluffy, and they have a mild cheesy flavor. The fried chicken itself was great too--the skin was incredibly crispy and well-seasoned. You get practically a whole chicken; I got two legs and what appeared to be a wing still attached to the breast. The meat was really juicy--and as moist as chicken breast can be, this was it. Though, the highlights of this dish were really the skin and the waffles, and I would be really happy just eating them with the chili butter.

They're fancy and they grill the lemon, although I can't taste
any difference once you squeeze it on your food.

So fluffy!

For a side, I got the parmesan truffle fries. I've had a lot of truffle fries where the potato is actually fried in truffle oil--this was not one of them. These were just drizzled with truffle oil, and they really skimped on the oil, too. The result is less than a third of the fries having that amazing truffle aroma. I don't think it was worth the $6; you could just buy some McDonald's fries and a bottle of truffle oil and it would be better than this.

Cafeteria makes some really nice, classic American dishes. If you can only get one thing here, it would definitely have to be the chicken and waffles. I also recommend the meatloaf! Save your money on the side dishes though; they're not really unique or something you'll be particularly thrilled with.

Cafeteria
119 7th Ave., at W 17th St.
http://www.cafeteriagroup.com/

The Smith

My food friend and I love this restaurant, so we'll come here together once every month or so--so I have pictures and a review of my latest meal here. But it just so happened that one morning a few days later, I woke up very, very early and desperately needed breakfast that was not instant oatmeal. Hence, I have pictures and reviews for both breakfast and dinner for The Smith.

Let's start with breakfast. Apparently they give you a complimentary cheese scone, which was so good. It's flaky, moist, and not overly cheesy (which is nice first thing in the morning). Absolutely worth the calories.

I got the smoked salmon eggs Benedict, hot chocolate, and chicken sausage. The hot chocolate was pretty mediocre. It's a little too watery and thin for my liking, and that goes for the flavor and the foam on top as well. Plus, it was like $5, so I would rather have just made some instant hot chocolate instead for 50 cents.

I really don't think the smoked salmon eggs Benedict was anything special; although all the components were well-cooked, it wasn't particularly appetizing or good. I also found the smoked salmon to be way too salty, which in turn made the whole dish seem way too heavy for first thing in the morning.

For a side, I got the chicken sausage, which are in a medallion shape. These were my favorite part of breakfast; so juicy, and slightly sweet. My only complaint is that, for a side dish, the portion size was really big; each medallion was the size of my palm, and quite thick, and then you're getting three of them. I feel like, in this case, a "side dish" is a main course without garnish.

Now let's talk about dinner. I've been consistently impressed with The Smith's entrees. They used to have spaghetti and meatballs, which was the best thing on the menu; I'm not sure why they took it off the menu, but I'm just praying it'll come back. The Smith changes up their menu pretty often--about once a season--but there are basic items that will stay, and just the garnishes will change, like salmon and chicken. For this dinner, I got the pork chop (also a staple), with tomato chutney (aka. fancy tomato sauce), and a warm salad of grilled cauliflower, red onion, and mushroom. The pork itself was delicious; incredibly moist and tender, and it had so much flavor. I loved the garnish as well; the tomato chutney was so smooth and tart, and the vegetables were nicely cooked.

The Smith had just recently (quite dramatically) changed up their dessert menu--they used to just have sundaes--and I was so excited to try the sticky toffee pudding. However, I was just really disappointed at both the flavor and texture. It's so intensely sweet--they add dates in the pudding to enhance the toffee flavor, but it's just way too much. You can see in the picture (towards the right) that there's a small pool of toffee sauce as well, which was so heavy, sweet, and syrupy. It's baked in a small skillet, and the edges are quite nice and crisp, but the center was incredibly mushy and too moist--soggy, even. So you just end up getting warm, mushy, sugary batter in a skillet. I just don't get it; the entrees at The Smith are so nicely balanced, what happened to its desserts?

The Smith is a great restaurant, but certain items can be a bit hit-or-miss. Come here for dinner; they have some great entrees. In addition to the pork chop, I also recommend the chicken pot pie, salmon, and the potato waffle and chicken special on Wednesdays. The Smith also happens to be Jane's "sister restaurant," and you'll notice that the style of food and prices are pretty similar. However, I prefer The Smith just because there's a lot more variety on the menu.

The Smith
http://www.thesmithnyc.com/
Various locations

Minetta Tavern

I've been waiting for the longest time to try one of Minetta Tavern's famous burgers. It was incredibly hard to get a reservation here; I called two weeks ahead, and all they had left was 5:30pm and 10:30pm. If you want to eat here, be determined and plan early.

My first course was the scallop risotto--it's a daily special, so ask if they have it. It's a lemon risotto with pea puree and a giant scallop on top. The scallop was just amazing. Really nice sear, semi-translucent center, and so juicy. It was just incredible. The risotto itself was so nice; it was rich, but with the lemon, it wasn't cloying. I find that a lot of risottos are so heavily laden with cheese and cream, that you get full really fast--I tend to feel a little sick, too. However, this risotto was exactly what it should be--an appetizer; it made you want to eat more. My problem with this dish was the tangle of raw leaves and vines; I had to dig through them to find my food.

My main course was the famous Black Label Burger: dry-aged beef with caramelized onions. The effect of dry aging is that the meat becomes very tender, but at the same time it develops a gamey flavor. It's hard to describe gaminess, but it's a kind of deepness; it's in game meats like venison. Anyway, the burger is really good; it's simple, but the point of it is to enjoy the quality beef. It also comes with fries. I'm never particularly thrilled with any restaurant's fries, but these were really good. So crispy, and so non-greasy.

For dessert, we got chocolate souffle to share. I've found that hardly any restaurants make proper souffles anymore; usually they'll call it a "fallen souffle" just to sound chic and like they know what they're doing, and end up giving you a flourless chocolate cake, because they don't know how to make a souffle. I feel like Minetta Tavern's version falls somewhere in the middle. The top of it, and the crusty edges, are so nice and light and not overly sweet. But once you get inside the ramekin, the souffle is way too dense and moist, and the chocolate flavor is so overwhelming. I choked a little on the powdered sugar, too.

Minetta Tavern has some great food; the burger is definitely great, as is the scallop risotto. I'm iffy about the dessert, though. I'm not sure if it's quite worth the money, because it is quite a lot ($70 for the risotto, burger, half the souffle, tax, and 20% tip). I would recommend coming here for a special occasion with someone who is excessively generous and loves you very much.

Minetta Tavern
113 MacDougal St., at Minetta Lane
http://www.minettatavernny.com/

Jane

Jane is kind of an unassuming, plain-looking restaurant from the outside, but the interior is surprisingly sophisticated and fancy. I came here on an unseasonably cold day, because the green and white awning outside looked it would serve some good, comforting food. I never judge a restaurant like this, but hey, I have to eat.

My first course was the wild mushroom soup. I order things with truffle indiscriminately, and this soup had a generous--but not excessive--drizzle of white truffle oil. The soup itself was so incredibly flavorful, as it was mostly mushroom (a lot of mushrooms soups are cream with a few shreds of mushroom in it--this isn't one of those), and had this homey, lumpy-but-smooth texture. It's a really comforting thing to eat when it's cold outside.

I got the spaghetti, which was really, really simple--an olive oil-based sauce, tomatoes, garlic, chilis, and a handful of arugula on top. It was good, but really overpriced for how simple and small it is--$16. For the price, I could've gotten two more bowls of the mushroom soup, which I wish I did.

For a side I got the Brussels sprouts. They're fried, which is ironic, since people usually eat Brussels sprouts for its nutritional value. Culinary lesson: Brussels sprouts must be a bit charred, or else they stay bitter and disgusting. These fried ones are an unusual alternative to the sauteed-with-bacon variation that seems to be so popular now, although I have mixed feelings about these. The insides retain that Brussels sprouty sweetness, and aren't bitter; however, because it takes a relatively long time to get the insides cooked through, the leaves were burnt and bitter--kind of like charcoal.

I would classify Jane's food as overpriced comfort. My lunch, with tax and 20% tip, was just over $40, which is ridiculous. The spaghetti, which I could've made myself, was good but absolutely not worth $16. The Brussels sprouts were way overpriced as well, considering a) Brussels sprouts are cheap, and b) they were burnt. But I will definitely come back, when I'm not too hungry, to get the mushroom soup and a lot of complimentary bread for lunch.

Jane Restaurant

100 W Houston St.

http://janerestaurant.com/