Bar Celona: Wait- Am I in the West Village?

Friday night, and it was getting cold out. The lazy and warm thing  to do? Go right next door to get something to eat! Buddy and I headed over to Bar Celona right in South Williamsburg and grabbed a seat next to their fire pit....only to move away from the fire pit. The flames ended up melting my face off!

Away after we settled down, we decided to  get drunk eat....

Beet Gineration

This was made with ginger liquor, plymouth vermouth, lemon juice, beet jalapeño juice mix.  All the flavors were pretty subtle, but the only standout was the beet juice. If you like beets, get this. If you are like Buddy, you will jag at the taste.

Price: $10.00

 Esterno's Prime

This was made with rum, aperol, grapefruit, manzanilla syrup,and BC house tonic. To be honest I don't remember how this tasted. So I guess I would pass on this again. Buddy didn't like it either.

Price: $9.00

 Mussels

This was made with curry sauce, potatoes and peas. Underneath? Freaking ramen noodles! A nice way to use up the broth. The broth was good, but nothing special. I was still hungry after this since the portions are tapas sized.

Price: $11.00

 Piquillo Peppers

Goat Cheese, herbs, and spicy tomato sauce.  Nice slow cooked peppers stuffed with goat cheese. The cheese was kind of gritty (with all the herbs in it) but still tasty. The slow roasted peppers melted in my mouth and its acidic nature was toned down by the cheese.

Price: $9.00

Verdict: To be honest, we would have stayed a lot longer if the seating was more comfortable and the music wasn't so damn loud.The tables were too low so we were eating crouched down the whole time and it was just awkward to position yourself that way. The drinks were creative and the food was good, but something about this place just doesn't make me want to go back. Even if it is right next door to my apartment.

Bar Celona

104 South Street

Brooklyn NY 11211

http://barcelonaloungenyc.com/

Crawdaddy's: I Ate a Reptile!

I will be honest, I have never, ever had cajun cuisine in my life. I know. I suck. Thankfully, the people of West Chester PA seem to be fond of this type of cuisine, and I had a pick between High Street Cafe or Crawdaddy's. Alas, High Street Cafe was all booked, so off to Crawdaddy's it was!

The interior seemed more like a log cabin, rather then being in the streets of New Orleans. Almost depressing? 

 Mint Julep

Extra long straw. It was awkward.

Price: $9.00

 Complimentary Bread

Mini wheat bread topped with cajun spices. Nothing special, but something to nibble on if your stomach wants to eat itself.

Blackened Alligator

Thinly sliced alligator topped with honey mustard. This tasted like cheese steak. Minus the roll. It was a little on the greasy side, and a bit overcooked, but over all pretty satisfying. Would I get it again? Meh, probably not.

Price: $10.00

 Crawfish Etouffee

Etouffee means to be smothered in liquid. This was made of a roux of onion, peppers, and scallions. Pretty tasty, and came in a gigantic portion. Definitely large enough to split between two people. Just a tad bit spicy, but still a complete comfort food. The flavors really popped in this and the rice soaked up all the sauce perfectly.

Price: $19.00

Voodoo Crawfish

XXX Spicy BBQ sauce served over rice and a side of sour cream. Hot, hot, hot! Now I know why they give you the side of sour cream! Other then the heat, the sauce was almost gelatinous, slightly sweet, and pretty tasty. My only gripe is that crawfish are just shrimp with smaller bodies, why such hype??

Price: $10.00

Verdict: Egh, Louisiana, you were just okay. Maybe another restaurant will do you better justice.

John's of Bleeker Street: Meh....at Least You Can Profess Your Love

  

John's of Bleeker, the last stop at Scott's Pizza Tour that I attended last year. Being so stuffed from eating all the pizza before I got a chance to eat this one, I forgot what this pizza tasted like. So what is a girl to do? Go back to get some more of course!

 Kind of stuffy inside, not enough windows and random flies attacking everywhere!

 I went with Buddy,  when I went to the bathroom, I came back to find this new "art" on the table...(insert "AWWWW" here)

 We decided to get a 16 inch half a plain and half a white.. are you drooling now? Well you should!

 Plain

This was a sturdy slice, not too thin, not too thick, the bottom had a great crispy crunch to it. The sauce was slightly sweet and a little too much on the light side. It was "the standard" slice. It actually tasted better once it got cool and after a nice drizzle of garlic powder, and red pepper flakes.

White Pizza

Again, the standard white pizza, it would have been nice to see a couple of dollops of ricotta cheese and basil, but after the shower of garlic and more pepper flakes, it was a-okay. 

The upskirt

Price: $15.00

Verdict: Would I go traveling over half an hour for this pizza? Hell no. Did it satisfy the craving for pizza? Yep. The service was a bit rocky however, I had to stalk a waiter down in order to get service, though it wasn't even busy. Joe's or John's, the West Village is full of good places to eat!

John's of Bleeker Street

278 Bleeker St

New York, NY 10014

http://www.johnsbrickovenpizza.com/

Product Review: Bissli Falafel Wheat Snacks

It is not that often that I venture into a Jack 99 Cent Store. If I do happen to find myself in one of the stores, I usually go for the gum, cold drinks, or nature valley bars. Hell will freeze over before I buy eggs or packaged meat from that place! Anyway I was breezing past the snacks isle when this caught my eye.... falafel flavored party snacks?!? What were they thinking?? Naturally I had to buy them

Bissli Falafel Flavored Wheat Snack

Apparently they are for people who looked like George Costanza in Junior High, and skinny hipster red heads. How could I not give these snacks a try??

Fiber Twigs...?

At first glance, these looked like a bunch of awful fiber one twigs....I hesitantly popped one a few in my mouth.... yep, they had the same exact consistency as well. Hard brittle, and texturally revoting. The taste however.... was amazingly like a falafel! It was bursting with chickpea, garlic and herby flavor. Needless to say I didn't finish the bag.

Price: $0.50

Verdict: They also had taco, honey and bbq flavors in more (kind of) appetizing cylinder shapes. It was only 50 cents to why the hell not try a bag? I would have been a huge fan of these falafel ones is only they were in a more appetizing shape and texture. Say like a dorito chip texture?

Jacks 99 Cent Store

Multiple Locations

Mays Place: Yeah, I Eat Here and I'm Proud of It!

Half price sushi. Some people think its bad. Half price sushi sounds almost as horrid as getting sushi from Duane Reade. Some people think less of me for eating it. Well guess what? I dont poop out dollar bills so to me it's fucking half price sushi, fuck yeah! Taking a seat at the sushi bar area, I decided to watch them as they made the sushi to order...

I Love N.Y Sushi and Spicy Salmon

Well, I never said half price sushi was the prettiest sushi ever. The I Love N.Y sushi is supposed to look like hearts...oh well... they tried? Anyway, it was made with tuna, avocado, and topped with tobiko and mango sauce. Messy looking, but fresh and tasty! Same with the spicy salmon. I mean, it is half price sushi, so don't get me wrong... it's not a beautiful culinary explosion of flavor in my mouth, but for what it is its very satisfying. 

Price: I Love N.Y: $11.95

         Spicy Salmon: $5.00

Half off Discount: $ 8.50

Verdict: In order to get the discount you need to "spend" $15.00 or more, but thats not hard at all. If you have a hankering for some sushi, but don't want to spend a million dollars, or leave hungry, I would suggest coming here, well until I win the lottery of course...

May's Place

121 2nd Avenue

New York, NY 10003

Radegast Biergarten: I'm the Loser That Goes for The Food

It was about 2 am in the morning when my friends and I decided to go to the beer hall. More hungry and drunk then desiring a beer, I immediately  headed to the grill section to get a delicious bratwurst.

Bratwurst

Mmmmm.... hot an fresh from the grill, the casing had a nice snap with every bite. Juicy, fatty and the perfect drunk food. The french fries however, took the horrid fate of being fried in very very old oil. They were like trying to eat a brittle finger nail. I longed for the moister of the sauerkraut to soften the fries a bit, but it didn't happen. Now granted, this was very late at night, right before the grill closed, but I should have opted for the bread option instead of the fries.

Price: $7.00

Verdict: It would have been a 5 yummy, but the nasty fries knocked it down 2 yummies. Sigh... next time I will go earlier I suppose. When everyone else is drinking, I will be that loser in the corner shoving a sausage down my throat (that's what she said). Anyway, then you aren't stuffing your face, the beers are great and you can even get a nice giant stein. Last time however, the stein shattered as we were toasting, but thats another story...

 Radegast Biergarten

113 N 3rd Street

Brooklyn, NY 11211

http://www.radegasthall.com

Cones: Drunk From Ice Cream?

After my scrumptious tuna melt from Murrays Cheese Shop, I wanted to top it off with a sweet treat. I had a groupon to Cones, and Argentinian gelato place only a couple of store down from Murray's and thought it was a perfect opportunity to use my coupon.

There was a bit of a line, but that was okay, it just gave me more time to pick a flavor!

Hmmm....all these underlined words make this ice cream seem hardcore...I'll take it!

Kumquat with Johnnie Walker Black label Ice Cream

Well... this tastes like....

Preserved Prunes with an intense after taste of alcohol. The ice cream was smooth, creamy and by the last bite of wafer I felt slightly tipsy. Yes, drunk by ice cream, possibly the best way to be. 

Price: $11.00

Verdict: Tasty, but 2 scoops of ice cream that cost more than my lunch? Not worth it. I will however, go back to try their other more standard flavors.

Cones

272 Bleeker Street

New York NY 10014

Saint Alp Teahouse: How Much for That Painting?

Melissa and I met up last week for an early dinner and we decided to stop by Saint Alps Tea House for dinner. This is usually a "bubble tea" joint, but their food menu had pictures of all their food and crazy cheap prices, we couldn't resist trying it out.

Before 7pm.... by 7:30pm, every single seat was taken with people waiting at the door!

Not going to lie, totally scoping out a girls drink... they come in 2 sizes... I'm guessing this is the large?

Crispy Squid with Spices

This was nicely coated with panko crumbs and perfectly crunchy and spicy. I wasn't a fan of the the cheap tasting duck sauce, but for 4 dollars who could complain for such a good portion?

Price: $4.00

Curried Chicken with Green Tea Noodles

Bits of fried chicken, soft potatoes and green tea noodles drowning in curry sauce. Absolutely DROWNING. By the middle of my meal , the noodles got rather soggy and mushy and at the same tim edry ( is that even possible?) The curry flavor was pretty forgettable and the bits of chicken were dry. Egh, again for the price, I guess you can't really complain for the amount you get. Would I get this again? Nope.

Price: $6.00

Supreme Matcha Green Tea Toast

This is possibly the only thing I would come back for (and to try their drinks). The toast was the size of  a nice texas style. The matcha butter was sweet, sticky and addicting to eat ( I totally want to try and replicate the recipe sometime soon!) Soft, fluffy airy center; it would have been perfect with bubble tea.

Price: $2.00

Painting Over My Head

Um.. so this is the most Asian thing ever. What the hell is going on with the girls fingers on the left?? Is she skipping, about to attack the guy with the red dot nose or pretending to be a monster? I have no idea. And why does that dude have a red dot as a nose? Wat happened to his friends nose? How much is this painting, because I want it! 

Verdict: Well.. by the time I left there was actually a wait for tables at this place (??) Maybe there wouldn't be if their service was a little more organized and speedy, I had to literally flail my arms around   like a person on a stranded island trying to find a rescue  boat just to get my check. I guess I should try their drinks next time because people certainly can't be waiting out the door for their dinner.

Saint Alp Teahouse

30 3rd Ave

New York, NY 10003

http://www.saintsalp.com.hk/