Whitney R.'s Profile

Yep, stood in line on this brisk day to get me some 55 cent curry, and quite enjoyed the experience! It's a little weird, since Go Go Curry is splitting the space with the never-successful American Grill Diner; the diner seating portion of the place was nearly empty, but there were many, many hungry bodies filling the seats to eat delicious curry.

The sauce is rich and toe-curlingly tasty. I can see in the future buying some of their to-go sauce to make my own curry rice at home. I already broke a New Years' resolution of 'Don't eat meat for a month' by ordering the pork katsu curry, but it was worth it, because hot damn, it was delicious. The large was enough to stuff me full to a nearly stupid extent, and yummy enough to still make me want to lick the plate.

My only disappointment is the lack of vegetable matter. I like curry rice with some potatoes or carrots or whatnot; Go Go Curry's dishes just consist of sauce, rice, and meat.  And maybe an extra topping, like egg or something. So, not very good for your vegetarian friends, but considering that this is across the street from Burp Castle, I get a feeling I will be eating a lot of curry in my future.

Let's just go with bullet points, shall we?

* Pretty tasty pizza, a step above the usual bog-standard sloppy greasy mess that is the average New York pizza slice, which I hate. Bunches of yummy toppings, sturdy, tasty crust, and a flavorful sauce.

* GREAT deals. Medium pizza, unlimited toppings = $8.  Two medium pizzas, unlimited toppings, $16. Nice.

* They're on delivery.com, and they delivery until 5AM. Ohhhh yeah.

* Nice service after a screw up. The last time I ordered, I waited a loooong time without hearing or getting anything.  Maybe an hour, hour and a half, I didn't really notice or get mad because I was busy enjoying life. Eventually someone from the restaurant called, told me that the delivery guy was new and screwed up and got lost or something, and to make up for it, I'd only have to pay $8 for my order (which was originally $16), he'd throw in a 2L bottle of soda, and send new fresh hot pizzas my way ASAP.  I had my fresh hot pizzas in another ten minutes.  It's great when a place acknowledges a screw-up and offers a make-good without having to get bitched at. There are some other pizza joints I've ordered from that could stand to learn from this.

Ugh, why indeed?

My tom kha gai was lacking in exciting flavor, way too heavy, and had way too much in the way of big chunks of basically inedible lemongrass.  Mmm, like eating plastic packaging! Also, my red curry it... it kind of smelled like.... like POO. It tasted okay, but still, there was something kind of OFF in the bouquet.  Get what you pay for, I guess.  I'll be sticking with TOC from now on.

Let me just start by getting something off my chest.  Ahem.

$6 FOR A FREAKING BOTTLE OF CORONA? ARE YOU SERIOUS? DID I REALLY PAY $6 FOR A BOTTLE. OF. CORONA?!?!

Yes, yes I did, and I think I blame that on the fact that whoever was working the bar when I went to Crocodile Lounge apparently went to Short Bus Bartending Academy. Every beer, from a bottle of Bud Light to a pint of Guinness, got rung up as $6, and you had to tell the guy at least twice what you wanted before he could remember. And I have never seen someone so incompetent at pulling a pint. I watched this dude pull glass after glass after pitcher after pitcher of 90% foam, and then dump it all out. I don't think he got it right the first time for anyone I saw him pour for. PROTIP: Learn how to pour a freaking beer before you tend bar!

...Okay, I feel better now. Other general complaints include that the place was hot as an oven--possibly having something to do with the pizza oven in the back--and the music was so loud I kept having extremely comical mishearings of things my drinking companions were saying. And Happy Hour goes from noon to 6, which means if you want to pay a reasonable $3 for a bottle of Corona, you have to be unemployed.

Still, yeah, there is the free pizza with every drink, which wasn't that bad. It reminded me of frozen pizza, or the kind of pizza a girl scout troop would all get together to make. And the place did have a good amount of space, with a lot of places to sit down, and a little outdoor area in the back. And skeeball, if you're into that sort of thing. If only the skeeball games gave out tickets you could trade in for drinks, to complete the crappy Chuck E. Cheese vibe of this place.

$6 for a bottle of Corona!! I'm calm, I'm calm....

I was expecting this place to be really douchebaggy, due to the celebrity connection, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised! The front room is really spacious, with a great big bar with comfortable seats, big swank leather chairs nearby, and a lot of tables. It kind of had a weird your-granddad's-basement vibe, in a good way. As the night wore on, the back rooms seemed to be where the party was going on, but I can't speak first hand of that, because my ass stayed parked at the bar all night long.

I had a great time with friends chatting with the very cute and very personable bartender Shane, who talked with us about how much he'd have to be paid to make out with another dude (answer: more than you can afford), gave me some free sips of really good scotch after I started ordering whiskey, and gave our group two free rounds of shots.

Good times, with no douchebags, and places to sit! You know there's not much more I want from a bar.

Somehow, a $22 tab magically turned into a $62 tab by the time it got to my bank. The day two gin and tonics and a cider costs me $62 is the day I've lost my mind and gone to a club on WEST 29th street. Anyway, the bottom floor is crowded, the second floor is spacious but hot, with a crappy DJ.

Cool bathroom, at least.

I'd heard a lot of mediocre reviews of S'MAC, so I was really ready to be underwhelmed. But I ordered (because of course I got delivery, because I don't like going places) on a day when I was badly craving mac n' cheese, and found myself quite satisfied!

My friend and I both got medium-sized portions, which range from $7-9 dollars, and give you a pretty hefty amount of food. There was a point about 3/4 of the way through that I thought, "oof, I'm getting pretty full, maybe I should stop now" but then a more reasonable voice, the one that yelled, "CHEEEEEEESE" persuaded me to finish, leaving me comfortably stuffed.

I had the goat cheese mac, which was thick with gooey, strong goat cheese, and also heavy with garlic, kalamata olives, and spinach. The only part that was a little too much was the cheese crust--it was just a bit too strong in that goat cheese flavor. My friend had the mozzarella mac, which was more delicate and light in flavor, with lots and lots of garlic and not quite enough yummy tomatoes. She said the cheesy crust on hers was just fine, which is not surprising, considering the difference in the cheeses.

I will definitely be getting S'MAC again! It's a good meal for the price, and I really want to try all of the other cheeses now. The brie sounds fantastic. I think I'll stick with delivery, though, since I hear the restaurant proper can be a bit of a zoo.

Southern/soul food? Yes please! Birdies is kind of a mixed bag, but the positive points are just so positive that I can forgive the negatives... if I could, I'd like to give this 3.5 stars, that's more honest.

I'm not going to pretend I'm something I'm not here and say I know a lot about fried chicken; I really haven't eaten much of it in my life, due to having an aversion to eating things with bones still in them through my younger years.  Something about having your teeth glance against bone, kinda give me the shivers. But I'm getting over it! And also digressing!

The first time I ordered from Birdies, I was not yet feeling up to food with bones, so I ordered the chicken sandwich, which was more or less a giant disappointment. The bread was soggy soaked, and I ended up just having to take the whole thing apart and eat the chicken--which was admittedly seasoned very well and moist--with a knife and fork.  I ordered grits, which were sad and plain without even a smudge of butter, but I guess I'm always going to be fussy about grits due to them not being my mom's. The mashed potatoes and gravy were delicious, though!

The great thing about my first Birdies experience is that I ordered on Mother's Day afternoon... and got a free piece of pie! And holy crap, the pie was awesome.  I think it was their peach cobbler? They also included a little postcard with a picture of the famed Birdie herself. Charmed the dickens out of me.

My second Birdies experience, tonight, after spending the whole day in a vague state of subhuman misery due to forgetting to eat dinner the night before, and instead supplementing it with about 400 beers, was much more uniformly satisfying. I went for food with bones, and got the chicken sampler platter, which is supposed to be one of each of their chicken types. I say "supposed to", because--perhaps because I ordered sort of near closing time--I definitely got more than one piece of each.  I stuffed myself, and finally felt human again!

A brief summary of chicken types:

Crunchy Fried Chicken: Was, as promised, crunchy! And the meat was moist and yummy. This was probably my least favorite, though, just because I prefer things with a little more pizazz.
Country Baked Chicken: Covered in a thick spice rub, and utterly delicious. So moist that it actually literally fell off the bone and onto my plate.
Smoked Jerk BBQ Chicken: OH BABY YES. Spicy enough to please my high standards for spiciness, and beyond that, had a great flavor beneath the spiciness.  'Twas a little messy, though.
Lemon Pepper Chicken: Good! Nice lemon-herb taste with a crispy, flakey skin, and the standard moist and yummy meat that all of the pieces had.

Also? Damn but do they have fine sweet  tea and really good lemonade. The latter is blessed with ginger and mint, and made me so "oh man is that good" aloud in my empty apartment.

I will definitely be ordering from here again. I think I may have to just splurge on four or five of those great Southern sides they've got going on... and more pie!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I just don't like New York pizza.  I mean, I'll eat it, because I don't really have a choice, but the big thin floppy greasy slice just does not appeal to me. So, when a California Pizza Kitchen opened up close to my office, I was quite excited. California-style pizza with crust of substance and loads of borderline inappropriate toppings? Yes, please!

On my first attempt to come here for lunch, I was taken aback by the fact that the inside is totally a kind of pretty nice sit-down restaurant; I didn't notice that there was a takeout window in the back, and scampered away to return another day. When I did return for dinner, I was very pleased.  Now, I know this place is a fairly decently sized chain, so I was surprised to see how... semi-classy? the dining room seemed. I mean, we're not talking like Per Se or anything, but it sure as hell was no Bennigan's.  Lots of space, and a nice, low-key design scheme. I overheard someone who was possibly a manager talking about how they were aiming to make the New York restaurants more "grown up".

Our waiter was really quite good, so much so that I would not be surprised if he had actually been created in some kind of waiter factory. "Trevor" just seems like a stereotypical waiter name somehow, I don't know. There's a line that's easy to cross in restaurants like these, where your waiter starts spurting the chain bullshit and is over friendly and seems like a corporate training robot, but this guy was friendly without being a pest, answered any questions we had, made some good recommendations for what to order, and from eavesdropping on another table, seemed to know a thing or two about wine! Nice.

The food really hit the spot. For our appetizer we had the tuscan hummus, which came with still-warm soft pita, and was deliciously garlicy.  My dining companion had their portobello ravioli, and I sincerely wanted to steal more than the one bite she let me have. I spent several minutes freaking out and wanting to order one of every single pizza on the menu, and settled on the roasted garlic chicken pizza.  The toppings were in balance, the sauce was yummy, the crust was freaking delicious; it satisfied some primal pizza center in my brain.  And also? Place has awesome lemonade. Damn, I love lemonade.

The only downside to the experience, I'd say, is that it's a little too pricey to be a lunch spot or a regular haunt. But I'll definitely be visiting every few weeks... hell, when we got the bill, we basically got a coupon for a free appetizer the next time we came (it just required filling out one of those customer service surveys online.)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to eat my leftovers.

For so many years, I was lured by the smell of the meat truck, but shied away, due to fear of it... being a meat truck. I finally got the stick out of my ass a while ago and approached its dirt cheap and delicious charms, and left happy and full.

The chicken is pretty darn good, the falafel are kind of mediocre, but I'll tell you where the action is at: the kofta. Oh, how I love you, kofta platter. The hard-working meat truck dudes always seem to grill it up fresh, so it's sizzling hot and full of the perfect mix of spices... of course, the white sauce and spicy sauce make it even more perfect, even if at times the spice has almost been too much for even my sizeable spice dick to handle.  Rice, a bunch of meat, a falafel, fries, and "salad" (in so much as a handfull of shredded lettuce is a salad), all for $5-6.  Sandwiches are even cheaper.

And I've never, ever gotten even a moment's stomach upset from the meat truck. My coworkers who are still scared? WIMPS.