Tag Archives: scallops

Kingswood — Big Menu Changes!

I have to admit, parts of today’s post is going to make me sound like a hater. But, please note that I will also say some fairly positive things as well.

When one of your favorite restaurants makes some big changes to the menu, you can’t help but be rather hesitant about finding new dishes to replace the old ones you loved so dearly. That’s exactly what my boyfriend and I faced when we went to Kingswood for the first time in a few months. We used to pick Kingswood for dinner when we wanted a fun, West Village restaurant scene full of chic fashionistas and hipsters; and we always knew what we were going to order — at least, we knew what our main dishes were going to be. We always ordered their burger and their truffle mac & cheese. But, when we got a glimpse of the new dinner menu, we both became distraught and asked each other if we missed these two plates on the menu. Where the hell did they go? When something like this happens I rapidly scan the menu again to make sure I didn’t make a mistake and over look it. There have been times where I didn’t even look at the menu and I told the server, “I know what I want” and then they are the ones that have to break the sad sad sad news to me that my favorite plate is gone. Gone forever. 

With our favorite plates gone, we had to decide on what to order — or we had the option of going next door to get in line for a 3 hour wait (it was already 8 p.m. — that wasn’t going to happen).

For dinner, it was myself, my boyfriend, and my boyfriend’s brother — so naturally we decided to order a bunch of plates to share with one another.

Are you ready? Here we go…

Our first order was of the mussels — a fabulous pick! You know the most important part of ordering mussels is how good the broth is — and the chef at Kingswood hit this one out of the park! Made up of shallots, white wine, parsley and chili, the broth was full of flavor and spice that add the perfect kick to this appetizer.

kingswood mussels

Our next appetizer was mac & cheese. Note: this was NOT the original mac & cheese I was talking about. There was no truffle in this dish, and it was not prepared the same way the original Kingswood mac & cheese dish was.

I am a true believer that adding ketchup to food is out of this world disgusting. Eggs, mac & cheese, french fries… it’s so damn gross. The only time I put ketchup on something is when it tastes like crap. Ketchup is a tool to hide nauseating flavor, specifically for foods you don’t have a choice to eat. So, when I saw that this mac & cheese was served with a spicy tomato marmalade, I knew that it was just a fancier way of saying “this mac & cheese is going to suck, which is why we made a fancy homemade ketchup to go with it.” I know, that was kind of mean, but it’s true — this homemade ketchup was a replacement for the truffle and instead of just making normal mac and cheese it was deep fried and came out looking like a brick!

There are only a few times fried mac and cheese is okay — and this wasn’t one of them.

kingswood mac and cheese

What’s up next? I ordered the Maplebrook Burrata thinking that it would be a winner. My fault (hopefully my boyfriend doesn’t read this, because he’ll see I am admitting it was a major FAIL on my part). I was expecting a nice portion of creamy, savory cheese seasoned up perfectly all the while swimming in a pool of flavorful olive juice. The olive juice was there, not exactly the olives I would have picked as the perfect pair, but they were there. But, I was shocked that the portion size was so small and the consistency and taste was more like an average mozzarella. (I’m frowning behind my computer as I type this.)

burrata kingswood

Time to throw in some positivity…

I absolutely loved the Mushroom Risotto appetizer — made with yellowfoot chanterelle mushrooms, parmesan and chives, this plate was delish! All 3 of us knew that this might be the best appetizer we would come across, so naturally our forks entered a war…

I would order this dish again in a heart beat and it would be silly for them to take it off of the menu!

mushroom risotto

We did notice that their signature fries were still on the menu, so naturally we ordered them. We used to have these fries on the side of their fabulous burger that is now extinct.

They are super salty, perfectly cooked with enough crisp but still very potato-ey, and they are served with the best truffle dipping sauce. My guess is it’s a mayo sauce — and you can’t go wrong with dipping fries in mayo!

Don’t they look fabulous!?

truffle french fries

Next up was the broccoli rabe topped with homemade ricotta cheese and drizzled with honey. Overall the plate wasn’t lacking flavor but it was very difficult to chew. I had one bite of this plate and decided to pass because it was too much work to eat.

broccoli rabe

For our main plates we ordered the pancetta wrapped chicken breast truffle chicken nuggets, cauliflower puree and baby carrots. You all know I don’t eat pork, but I decided to eat it on this specific evening because it was hard not to. This plate was very good but the size almost categorized it as a large appetizer to me. We also ordered the day boat scallops which were also very tasty.

day boat scallops

kingswood nyc

Overall, the new Kingswood wasn’t horrible… But the reasoning to change the menu to the extent that they did didn’t make sense. Why take off your best selling dishes? Keep them on there and change the rest of the menu!

I did ask a manager about the changes and she said that they are now changing the menu at least twice a week now. Their reasoning behind all of this? I was told that they needed to keep up and evolve to keep people coming back. I find it odd that they feel this way because the restaurant used to be packed without a place to stand near the bar — and on this specific Friday evening there was plenty of space to stand, it felt rather empty in the bar area actually. So, I wonder how business is really doing if that’s the case?

The Standard Grill

I’ve been wanting to head to this restaurant for a while now, but unfortunately it’s one of those places that you need to call a month in advance in order to get a convenient reservation time — and obviously, that can get pretty difficult to do when you have a crazy schedule. But with out-of-town friends visiting, we were able to snag an 8 p.m. reservation. Unfortunately, we weren’t seated until 8:45! I was very worried that the long wait we were put through was going to be just the start to an ugly dinner.

Thank goodness… I was wrong!

Located in the heard of Meatpacking, The Standard Grill is a hot-spot and will probably be for a while. They have a beer garden located right next door, and it’s open year-round. Tucked underneath the Highline, the beer garden is open rain or shine and in the winter time walls are put up in order to keep the heat in. When you arrive at the beer garden you will need to purchase beer tickets (if beer is what you want to drink) in order to get your drinks at the bar. It’s a great place to start your night out at.

Inside the restaurant there is a back room/ main dining room that I strongly suggest you request to sit in — the room is filled with stylish New Yorkers that not only came for the scene, but came for the food. While some of the booths are made from plush red leather, others are made from what looks like park benches — and they are perfect for large groups! Even though we had a rough start to our evening, our waiter ended up being unbelievable — he really knew the menu well and he was full of energy and was very attentive.

We started with a few appetizers — the calamari, yellowtail, and shrimp cocktail. The Standard Grill has a great raw bar selection in case anyone is looking for cocktails and raw bar as a start to their night out.

For a long time I had such a hard time with shrimp cocktail, to me biting into shrimp cocktail felt like I was biting through flesh (or something gross like that). Thank goodness I was able to get past that because I now love chowing down on these fabulous hors d’oeuvres.

Yellowtail on the other hand has always been easy for me to eat. This fish is full of flavor and paired with castelvetrano olives, uni and golden raisins tastes unbelievable! I loved scooping up all of these flavors onto my fork — the yellowtail is a must order if you eat out at The Standard Grill!

Everyone at the table really enjoyed the Charred Spanish Octopus that was served with sweet potato and chilies. The octopus was grilled to perfection and that charred taste was perfectly infused into every bite. I also really enjoyed the extra sweetness from the potatoes and they complimented the rich charred flavoring. Next Christmas when my family makes squid I will be sure to bake-up some cubes of sweet potatoes to serve with the fish!

For my main course I ordered the scallops that were cooked with sesame seeds on top. I had to show you all this photo at a larger size because I wanted you to see how beautiful the seeds look on the scallops. They also tasted incredible! They were served with what to me tasted like a pureed avocado dip that really livened up the scallops’ flavoring.

My boyfriend ordered the duck which was also a great pick off of the menu. Thanks to the blood orange on the dish, the duck had a sweet taste to it’s rich flavoring. Lately, I have really been enjoying duck — I don’t know how I went so long without eating it!

I loved our dessert too! We ordered the plate called “The Deal-Closer” which is described on the menu as a bowl of bittersweet chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream. This is actually made for two people or more and it was the perfect way to end our meal. The presentation for this dessert was pretty cool — the dessert chef got very creative. Personally when I bake, my favorite part is licking the batter off of a spatula. Which is why I felt like a little kid when our bowl of mousse was brought to the table in a traditional glass mixing bowl with two rubber spatulas that were used to scoop up the dessert to put on our own individual plates… But the cutest part was licking the spatula. This got me thinking… Why not use this as a way to serve dessert at a dinner party? People might not think that it’s a “pretty” way to serve chocolate mousse, but it sure will have your guests feeling like little kids again.

Even though I was disappointed that we had to wait an extra 45 minutes even though we had a reservation, I overall really enjoyed my dinner. Plus, the service was impeccable. When can I go back next!?

The Central Park Boathouse

It’s such a tourist hot-spot — The Central Park Boathouse. Of course I have wandered up through the park with out-of-town guests, but I have never had the time to sit down for a meal in the Boathouse — that was, until this weekend.

So many movies have shot several scenes outside of the Boat House, like Made of Honor, and of course 27 Dresses starring Katherine Heigl. Actually Katherine Heigl’s character in 27 Dresses, Jane, dreams about having her reception at the Boathouse and instead her little sister rips her dream from her and declares that she will be taking that location for her wedding… Nice sister, right? (Above is a photo of a scene from 27 Dresses, where Katherine Heigl and her co-star Edward Burns are taste-testing food for the upcoming wedding!)

But I wasn’t going to the Boat House for a wedding, rather it was for a simple Saturday afternoon lunch. My boyfriend and I thought we would finally head up to the Boathouse for brunch, but we were in for a big surprise when we ran into a few obstacles along the way to Central Park.

This past Saturday was St. Patrick’s Day and both of us completely forgot how crazy the city was bound to be. So when our cab driver dropped us off at 72nd and Madison, rather than 72nd and 5th ave, we knew we were going to have an issue getting over to the park. 5th Avenue runs along side the east side of Central Park and you have to cross the avenue in order to get into the park. Once you cross 5th ave at 72nd street you can wander down a hill and run into the Conservatory Water aka the place where all the children take their wooden boats to let loose into the man-made pond. On Saturday, a gigantic hose was actually filling the Conservatory Water back up (I guess they drain it in the winter time). Then, in order to get to the Boathouse you need to keep to the left of the boat pond and head up a small hill. Once you’re at the top of that small hill you will find a much large pond where the Boathouse sits at the end of it.

Well, my boyfriend and I walked from Madison to 5th Avenue (only one avenue of a walk) but we quickly saw a swarm of people all crowded around the street. We completely forgot about the St. Patrick’s Day Parade that goes the whole way up 5th avenue. (I found that strange, in my opinion the parade was traveling backwards up 5th avenue instead of down.) We had to wait for at least 20 minutes until the police gave us the O.K to cross the street into Central Park. And once we were in the park we were surrounded by tourists and B&T (bridge and tunnel) folks who were visiting the city for St. Patrick’s Day. The upsetting part about it was there were drunk people every where! From teenagers to parents escorting their kids — you could smell the booze on everyone. I truly felt bad for the NYPD who had to work on Saturday.

My boyfriend and I were shocked when we found out we only had to wait 30 minutes for our table at the Boat House. And my boyfriend who is always read to eat a meal insisted that we head to the Wafels and Dinges food truck that was parked not too far away. My boyfriend is so funny when it comes to food, some times I feel like I have to eat much faster than I typically would in order to get a sampling of food because he eats so fast if I don’t act quickly I could miss out on some great food. (I guess that’s how girls who grew up with brothers feel. Am I right?)

Immediately after he finished his waffle our table buzzer went off and we were seated. It was so difficult to decide what we should order — so many plates sounded delicious! We ultimately settled for lunch rather than brunch since it was already 3 p.m. So, we ordered: Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes with marinated cucumbers and served with a caper remoulade, Boathouse Grilled Chicken Paillard served with heirloom tomatoes, roasted beats, English cucumber, and Bermuda onion lemon dijon vinaigrette, and finally a special consisting of scallops served with truffled mashed potatoes.

boathouse food in central park

The crab cake came out first and in my opinion it was the perfect dish we could have ordered to start our meal. We nearly had a Battle of the Forks when it came to digging into this crab cake — and the caper remoulade added a creamy texture to the moist crab cake and the flavor of the remoulade brought out all of the divine tastes of the crab. It was a perfect portion size too for two people — although it wouldn’t hurt to have ordered one for each of us!

food at the boathouse in central park

Next up were our entrees — even though we always share whatever we end up ordering, my boyfriend’s plate choice was the chicken and mine was the scallops. I was shocked when my dish was placed in front of me because the way the plate was described led me to believe that I would receive only a few small scallops. While the scallops were very small, the plate was filled with them! I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was so much food in my order! Perfectly sauteed and distributed over the truffled mashed potatoes, the scallops were able to soak in some extra truffle flavors and the mashed potatoes were also the perfect compliment.

boathouse food

The chicken my boyfriend ordered was unbelievable. Perfectly cooked, the meat was moist and full of surprising flavors. You could tell that the chef either spent a lot of time putting such fantastic flavors into the meat, or he just has the perfect marinade to wow those who order it. The taste of the chicken was very sophisticated, and the addition to the candied apples on top was the perfect way to sneak in some sweet flavors to the dish.

Overall, we were so happy we were able to finally get up to the Central Park Boathouse for lunch, and on such a beautiful day too. The Boathouse restaurant is the perfect place to compromise for people who want something touristy, while someone else may want to visit classic New York and sample fantastic food. Who knew you could do both at the same time!

Joe’s Crab in Chicago

On the Saturday night after Thanksgiving, my boyfriend and I went to Joe’s with his family in downtown Chicago. This restaurant was packed and apparently it’s always like that and it’s been open for years. We had so many amazing appetizers and side dishes. Sadly, my iPhone crashed on the way back form Chicago and I lost the majority of my pictures from the weekend. But I managed to save a picture of the crab because I tweeted about it while at dinner! I loved the appetizer of spinach and cheese stuffed mushrooms — and everyone loved them too! Perfectly cooked mushroom caps were stuffed with a creamy spinach and topped with a flavorful stringy cheese.

My boyfriend ordered the cold stone crab and of course I ordered my favorite — scallops. The scallops were breaded — I have never had scallops prepared like this before. I didn’t dislike them but I found them to be very different. I squeezed lemon on top which add more flavor and the citrus always goes well with seafood. I had a taste of the steak at Joe’s as well and it was so delicious — very flavorful, perfectly cooked and a big hit at the table.

When we first got to the table though, everyone quickly chowed down on the raisin bread. I had no clue until I took the photo of the bread that the bread actually has a lot of sugar on it. The mix of the sugar with a little bit of butter on top is extraordinary! If I had realized there was sugar I may not have added butter to it. But the tastes combined together are such an experience! (For a picture of the Raisin Bread, click here).

Stay tuned for more on my Thanksgiving!

New Chelsea Restaurant, La Promenade Des Anglais

A new restaurant opened only a few weeks ago in the heart of Chelsea in the building of the famous London Terrace (an apartment building so large it stretches one avenue long and one block wide). I was very pleased because the northern part of Chelsea could use some more restaurants and I love finding out that there’s something new to eat. Really, this part of the neighborhood needs a combination of both fancy-sit-down restaurants as well as casual brunch and dinner venues. La Promenade Des Anglais is definitely categorized under the “fancy-sit-down restaurants.”

Luckily my apartment is only steps away, so naturally I was thrilled to be going here for dinner. Upon arrival I ordered the lavender lemonade at the bar. I haven’t had such a strong cocktail in a very long time. The lavender was so potent in the drink and the lemonade flavoring masked most of the alcohol’s taste. The drink is a unique one that I probably wouldn’t order again just because the size of it was far too much too large.

For our appetizers we had a shrimp tartare that was so delicious, I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed it. When it comes to shrimp I either will love the dish or I will hate it. Shrimp cocktail makes me gag because I can’t stand the texture when you bite into the cold shrimp — it’s like I can feel the shrimp muscles ripping in every bite (I know, I don’t know what I am talking about because my description is ridiculous… but that’s the way I feel when I eat shrimp cocktail). This shrimp tartare was so fresh and light and for each bite you would add the tartare to the top of a homemade salty potato chip for some cripiness and extra texture. Another appetizer we ordered was something I never had before: fried gnocchi. I didn’t enjoy this one bit, it was far too bland and we even asked if the chef could give us some red sauce for dipping but the sauce didn’t help at all. Gnocchi is supposed to be fluffy and if it’s not then it is cooked incorrectly. Frying gnocchi… I don’t think so. The outside of the gnocchi was crispy just like anything that is fried and the gnocchi itself was much more dense, there was no fluff to it. (If you are looking for a restaurant that serves the BEST gnocchi in the entire world, try either of these two sister restaurants: Gnocco or Perbacco both on the Lower East Side/Alphabet City. I have never had a bad meal at either of the restaurants, the chefs are brilliant, I even think these restaurants served me better meals compared to any place I ate at while touring Italy.) Our final appetizer we ordered was the Vitello Tonnato — sweetbreads and blue-fin tuna, with romaine hearts. I actually didn’t try this dish because I was so turned off by the smell. And you all know how much I love tuna, so my boyfriend was shocked when I turned down a tasting.

For my main course I ordered the scallops with zucchini, red pepper, and pine nut gremolata. The scallops were cooked perfectly and I loved that there were extra salty seasonings added to the scallops — this salty flavor was only on the outside yet it tasted as if it was pan seared into the fish. It was probably one of the best scallops I have had in a while.

Overall the restaurant was pretty good — would I go back for a second dinner? Probably not, unless the chef redesigns the menu. I appreciate when a restaurant is consistent from dish to dish and even though I did like a few of the plates that I ordered, I didn’t enjoy everything that we ordered. I also couldn’t figure out if the style of the foods were supposed to be from French inspirations or if there was a fusion of some sort from French food to something else.

Bravo to the chefs that are launching this new restaurant. It’s off to a great start and I’ll be interested to read reviews over the next year and I’ll be very excited to see a revised menu when the seasons change and you offer different dishes.