2009 Year in Review

A little late, but 2009 was a pretty damn good food year so here's a fun look back at all things food for me and the dudes in 2009.

1) Best Restaurant 2009 - La Cuchara de San Telmo
Big time delicious flavors in a relaxed bar environment. This was definitely my happy place and it was so good that we went twice in one day. Next time I'm in Spain, this will be the first place on my list.
Honorable Mention: Moo, Bar Boqueria, Cru

2) Best Restaurant Dish 2009 - Dublin Bay Prawns with Curry, Roses, and Liquorice (Moo)
I've had prawns, lobster, and shrimp from many a restaurant. None has ever come close to this dish at Moo. Perfectly tender shrimp that was exquisitely sweet and the light curry sauce just made the prawns pop! Eff...I want one right now!
Honorable Mention: Ensalada de tomate con cebolla tierna y ventresca de bonito (Bar Inopia), Gambas (Bar Boqueria), Roast Pork Shank with Quince and Chili's (Crispo), Scallops Chanterelle (Cru), Carrillera de ternera al vino tinto - La Cuchara de San Telmo, Smoked Salmon, Truffle Honey, Creme Fraiche (Quimet & Quimet), Tagliatelle alla Bolognese (dell'anima)

3) Best Cheaper Restaurant 2009 - La Cuchara de San Telmo
This may be my fondest restaurant experience of all time. It's cheap as eff, relaxed bar environment, and everyone there is having a blast. What's not to love?
Honorable Mention: Bar Boqueria, Quimet & Quimet, Taqueria y Carniceria Sanchez

3) Worst Restaurant 2009 - Mccormick & Schmick's Seafood
Luckily I haven't had many terrible restaurant experiences in 2009, but the worst of the worst was the chain restaurant McCormick & Schmick's. Overcooked fish, undercooked rice...what more can you ask for?
Honorable Mention: Cabrito (sub par flavor and comparatively higher prices)

4) Favorite Dude's Night Moment 2008 - Sushi Yasuda and L'Atelier Joel Robuchon
After a full omakase meal at Sushi Yasuda which was bite for bite the best meal I've ever had, we decided to stop over to L'Atelier Joel Robuchon for some heavy hitting dishes. I really can't believe we survived, but it was pretty f'n fun.

5) Best Cookbook: On the Line (Eric Ripert)
I know this was released in 2008, but I received it in 2009 and I still love it. Beautiful pictures and really fun getting the inside look of Le Bernardin. The recipes are spectacular as well.

Had some great food experiences in 2009, but none rocked me as much as my visit to Spain. I never thought any food trip would live up to my previous trip to Italy, but Spain definitely takes the cake. Any who, great food and great times in 2009, but looking forward to our Asia trip in 2010. Chili crab...here I come!

Fatty Crab (UWS) - Review

Intro
Fatty Crab - Not recommended
2170 Broadway, New York 10024
At 77th St
Phone: (212) 496-2722

Some friends came into town, so we decided it was a good excuse to checkout the Fatty Crab on the upper west side - made sense since one of our friends was Malaysian. We loved the original Fatty Crab in the west village, but for some reason this one just had a lotta little things wrong with it. Still a good time though. Overall I give the restaurant a 68/100.

Our Menu
1) Veggie Steamed Buns *
2) Nasi Lemak *
3) Steamed Branzino (special) **
4) Short Rib Rendang *
5) Chili Crab *
6) Kang Kong Belacan *
7) Watermelon Juice
8) Coconut Panna Cotta and Gelatinous Cake **

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) Basically steamed buns with shitake mushrooms and cilantro and topped with hoison / srichacha sauce. Solid dish and quite fun.
2) Fun dish. Basically coconut rice, a very tender chicken curry, poached egg, and some pickled veg. Not great by any means, but it hit the spot.
3) The best dish of the night. Never had branzino prepared asian style before, but it really worked. Fish was fresh and very flavorful and went great with the dipping sauces - chili and a soy/ginger.
4) The short ribs was pretty inconsistent. Some parts were insanely tender and flavorful (slightly sweet with a little spice) and some parts were a little dry. Overall, it was a fun dish to eat though.
5) This was the reason I wanted to go. The chili crab at Fatty Crab downtown is usually quite good, but this one not so much. It was definitely not that fresh and on top of that the crab was room temperature. If you let the crab sit in the sauce, it warms up and gets better though. Still a good dish, but very disappointed compared to the one downtown.
6) Watercress sauteed with a fermented shrimp paste and some chilis. The strong taste of shrimp paste maybe hard for most people to enjoy, but I dug it. Went well with the still crunchy veg.
7) Watermelon juice mixed with loads of lime. An OK drink, but a tad too acidic for me on that day.
8) A very tasty coconut panna cotta topped with raisins and nuts. The gelatinous tea cake made for a perfect combo.

Overall Restaurant Experience (68/100)

• Food 7.5/10 – Nothing spectacular here, but the dishes were overall good and pretty fun. For some reason, my memories of the one downtown were much better though.
  
• Service 8/10 – Hostess and servers were extremely nice and they let us sit down before all our guests arrived. Server was very accommodating and the food came out very quick. Our server was pushing a lot of dishes though, but the ones he picked were pretty good.
  
• Atmosphere 6/10 – There's enough tables indoors and outdoors to maybe seat 50-60 people comfortably...way larger than the one downtown which you get squeezed next to other people like sardines. The only problem with the UWS location is the friggin music - so loud you really couldn't have a conversation at all unless you got in close and screamed. Massive minus points. The crowd was a strange mix of young groups or families with their kids...loads of kids at the place. Got there Friday at 8pm and had no wait for seating even though it was relatively full. Around 9pm there was a long wait though.
  
• Price 5.0/10 – You think it's relatively cheap as no dish is over $25, but all the dishes are relatively small and when you add it all together it's hella expensive. The friggin veggie buns ($9 for two buns which are about 4 bites) are a good example. Our total bill was $180 with no alcohol...WTF!!!
  

Closing Comments
I would maybe think about checking out the Fatty Crab downtown again (haven't been in about 3-4 years), but I would never visit this location for a full meal - maybe a quick snack only. I guess I could expect this place to be overpriced as these are the same guys that opened the way too expensive and pretty subpar Cabrito.

Cabrito - Review

Intro
Cabrito - Highly Unrecommended
50 Carmine St, New York 10012
Btwn Bedford & Bleecker St
Phone: (212) 929-5050

50 Carmine Street has been the home of many locations the past couple of years. My first encounter with the location was the Italian Restaurant 50 Carmine which was pretty solid. The next restaurant that took over the location was BarFry, a fun tempura joint that lasted maybe a year. Now, we have Cabrito a wannabe hip taco joint - a project by the dudes from Fatty Crab. I love Fatty Crab, but Cabrito not so much. Hip place serving overpriced tacos is not my idea of a good time. Overall I give the restaurant an 50/100.

Our Menu
1) Huitlacoche mexican "corn truffle"*
2) Cabrito sour orange, garlic and chili rubbed goat, slow roasted and served chopped with salsa borracha & warm flour tortilla
3) Ensenada-style Fish beer battered and fried

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) Huitlacoche is a fungus grown on corn that has a flavor that is earthy and sweet and tastes like mushrooms. Unfortunately, this was covered in crema, cabbage, and cheese (an immediate uh oh this is going to suck when I saw it), so you can't really get too much of the huitlacoche flavor.
2) Their signature dish is also the namesake. Cabrito is a slow roasted goat, which sounded phenomenal. Problem was the goat meat here was slightly colder than room temperature. In addition, the meat was pretty dry and didn't have great goat flavor. Also, the sour orange did not pair at all with the rest of the flavors. The best part of the dish was the mexican crema (aka sour cream).
3) The fish was definitely colder than room temperature. The flavor was Ok, but cold fish tacos is not really appealing. Plus, this had the same tired accompaniments from the previous dishes - loads of radishes and red cabbage.

Overall Restaurant Experience (50/100)

• Food 6/10 – Eating this food did not remind me of Mexico at all. Plus, most of the dishes had average flavor or were really dry. Corn tortillas did not have great flavor and added to the dryness of most dishes.
• Service 6/10 – Service was slightly below average. The waiter was rushing things and it took him a while to come over to take our order. The food took a while to come out also.
  
• Atmosphere 6/10 – The place was packed on Friday night filled with a younger crowd all dressed up to go out. Music was pumping with I think techno music and it was hard to hear. Couldn't see that well since it was a tad dark so couldn't make much of the atmosphere. Got there at 7:45 and had a 45 minute wait.
  
• Price 2.0/10 – WTF in a bad way. $6 for 1, yes...1 cold fish taco that's hella small. Completely ridiculous. Even the goat entree was hella expensive. $25 for about 3-4 small tacos.
  

Closing Comments
This place looks like it maybe around longer than BarFry judging on the crowd. It shouldn't be though based on the food and service...