Il Cantinori

Kim had come to visit me and since we are both obsessed with Sex and the City, she naturally wanted to go to a place the show had featured. We decided on Il Cantinori from when Carrie was turning 35 and nobody showed up at her birthday dinner. The place was lovely, with fresh roses set for the table and elegant stem-wear for the water.

Complimentary Bread and Olive Oil

Taste: The bread came warm and was most definitely sour dough. The olive oil was perfect and only needed a little pepper to spice up the bread. I love when free bread is oh so yummy!

Texture: The sourdough was very airy and perfectly chewy, the olive oil was smooth and buttery. I couldn't help but eat at least 3 to 4 pieces!

Smell: Fresh baked bread

Price: Free

Insalata Caprese

Taste: It was buffalo mozzarella, basil and tomatos sprinkled with pepper on top. The whole dish was very fresh, the tomatoes were super juicy, the basil tasted just picked, and just a drizzle of olive oil... my mouth was super happy

Texture: The mozzarella melted in my mouth and the tomato just ripe enough without being squishy.

Smell: Like basil

Price: $18.00

Grilled Scallop Spinach Salad

Taste: This was a huge disappointment, though the scallops were grilled, they had no flavor. The only other component in the dish was spinach. My palette was sad.

Texture: The scallops were nicely charred and the spinach was welted from the heat of the cooked scallops.

Smell: egh, to sad to remember

Price: $35.00

Creme Brulee and Blueberry Sorbet

Taste: To be honest it was pretty standard creme brulee, nice hard sugary shell, and a custard center. Not amazing, not bad either. The blueberry sorbet was not as tart as I liked, light sugary after taste. Definitely not reaching it's flavor potential.

Texture: The custard was very creamy and the sorbet had flecks of blueberry's in them made it feel kind of gritty.

Price: $10.00 for both

Verdict: With cocktails priced at $10 each and ordering 3 to 4 each, the total bill came to almost $200-$250. Granted the drinks were strong but it was a very very pricey meal for food that didn't blow my mind. Not worth going back to when there are so many other wonderful italian restaurants in the city.

Il Cantinori

32 East 10th Street

New York, NY 10003-6238

(212) 673-6044

www.ilcantinori.com

Beacon Restaurant: Midtown Dining

After visiting the MOMA, Buddy and I were pretty hungry. I remembered I had purchased a restaurant coupon for $2 for $25 dollars worth of food off of www.restaurant.com. Since we don't usually hang around midtown during the weekend (too many tourists!) I decided we should use the coupon while we can. The rules are we must spend at least $35 dollars in order for the coupon to be valid. I had heard that their burgers were good off of NY Mag's food blog Grubstreet and was curious to see what they were like.

Watermelon White Wine Sangria

Taste: Watered down, I felt like there was barely any alcohol in it, or even fresh fruit flavor for that matter

Texture: The watermelon seemed pretty mushy and was missing the crispyness of apples like a traditional sangria would have. The floating watermelon pieces were a turn off in the mouth as well

Smell: Watermelons

Price: $20.00

Complimentary Bread and Butter

Taste: The server brought out 3 types for us to choose, I got a multigrain and sourdough piece. They tasted kind of stale, like they have been sitting out too long, and were a waste of calories. The butter was not memorable either.

Texture: Stale, and overly chewy

Price: Free

The Beacon Burger

Taste: 8 oz. Natural black angus,grilled red onion, lettuce, tomato, soft onion roll and garlic fries. The burger was seasoned nicely. The fries were okay, not garlicky enough for me. The roll was great however, but hard to fit in your mouth!

Texture: The roll was soft and nicely toasted, the burger was hardy, though Buddy did want it cooked rare, it was missing the juicyness a great rare burger would have.

Smell: Misleading garlic smells :( I hate when food smells better than it actually tastes

Price: $16.95

Charred Yellowfin Tuna Burger

Taste: It was hand chopped with herb oil and citrus salt on grilled sour dough, with a side tomato ginger chutney. The sour dough tasted like burnt toast, with caused the entire burger to taste the same way. There was also I hidden toothpick in the sandwich to hold it together and I ended up biting down on it and cutting the roof of my mouth. The tuna was tasteless and the tomato chutney tasted like pureed sun dried tomatoes.

Texture: The texture of the sour dough was great, thick and crunchy, the tuna burger was very very tough and dry

Smell: Lemons

Price: $17.95

Carmelized Apple Pancake with Cognac Ice Cream

Taste: It was overly sweet, the pancake was topped with sauteed apples and COVERED in caramel sauce. The ice ceam was delicious however, not too sweet, very creamy; though I never really got a cognac flavor from it. the play with the heat of the pancake vs. the coolness of the ice cream was nice.

Texture: The pancake itself was very glutinous and chewy (which I personally like in Chinese rice balls but not so much in a pancake) and the apples melted in my mouth nicely.

Smell: Apple Pie

Price: $9.00

Verdict: Would I have ever come to this restaurant if not for the coupon deal? Probably not. Would I ever go back again? Nope. In my opinion there are far better burger places in Midtown than this overpriced restaurant. Sure the ambiance is very lovely and spacious (art deco meets modern american) but the overall meal was a disappointment

Beacon

25 W 56th St

Btwn 5th & 6th Ave

(212) 332-0500

Ninja NYC

Near financial district, there is a secert underground Japanese ninja village serving fine sushi, quick witted servers and magic shows. This village is called Ninja. I went there twice, once with my friend Kim, and a second with my boyfriend. The lobby to this place is painted all black and there is only a host stand. Behind the host stand is a black elevator. After going down the elevator you are surprised by a ninja, popping out of nowhere. He will ask you if you want to take the "safe" route or the "dangerous" route. Of course the adventurer in me takes the "dangerous" route. It ends up being a long walk of up and down stairwells within an small confined space in the dark. Once you reach the opening, you are graced with the presence of little replica village huts with people seated in them. You cant really see their faces but you can hear them. Our mini hut was tiny and only seated two. After being seated our ninja server whips out a menu scroll.

Mystery Sake Tasting

Taste: Since this was a mystery tasting I had know clue what the server gave me, I could only guess. The first one was a sweet rose like sake, the the one to the left was more dry and had a bolder, grainer taste

Texture: Both were smooth and had a light syrupy feel on the palette

Smell: Sweet and fresh

Price: $12.00

Ninja Star Caesar Salad

Taste: It came with a large flat parmesan wafer that you needed to " ninja chop" into the salad. Pictured on the side is a wrapped rice wafer "mortel" After chopping the cheese wafer into bite sized bites, the overall taste of the salad was standard, kind of boring and nothing to write home about. The lettuce was actually kind of soggy.

Texture: Super crunchy cheese wafer + soggy lettuce= not worth the price

Smell: anchovies

Price: $12.00

Floating Sashimi

Taste: It was composed of three different types of sashimi picked by the chef. Essentially I got 12 pieces of sashimi on top of a large bamboo with dry ice making a "floating" effect. The presentation was very beautiful and the sushi was extremely fresh. I got salmon, tuna, and squid sashimi.

Texture: Very velvety, light and the fish melted in my mouth

Smell: fresh, didn't smell fishy at all

Price: $25.00

Teriyaki Chicken

Taste: It was a combination of grilled chicken thigh, wing and breast. These were prepared three different ways, grilled, fried and breaded. The fried chicken was very dry, but the grilled was juicy and the breaded was very flavorful. The teriyaki sauce itself was overly salty.

Texture: Three different ways of chicken, each had the appropriate textures expected of them

Smell: Teriyaki sauce

Price: $28.00

Rose Chocolate

Taste: It was a creamy chocolate topped with whipped white chocolate sitting next to a rose infused dry ice vase. The chocolate was a decadent rich intense dreamy pudding. My taste buds were setting off fireworks! It came with a side of a little wafer truffle, but it was nothing compared to the actual star of the dish. This is definitely one of my favorite desserts in the city

Texture: Creamy, airy, smooth like velvet on my tongue

Smell: Sweet sweet chocolate

Price: $10.00

Ninja Star

Taste: It was a soft chocolate mousse cake. The presentation was so much fun! They brought out an empty dish and set it on fire, then some crazy explosion happened and BOOM, it appeared out of nowhere! Anyway, back to the taste, it was very tasty, very chocolatey and the mousse was light and fluffy. I enjoyed the solid chocolate sheet topped with edible gold as well

Texture: Perfectly whipped mousse that was creamy and the chocolate was at a perfect temperature

Smell: Sweet sweet chocolate

Price: $10.00

Verdict: Overall, I wouldn't go back for the food, maybe for some cocktails,definitely for dessert and the magic show at the end. The ambiance is was makes this place so expensive. Even with dessert, I left hungry and undoubtedly ended up at my neighborhood beer hall for bratwurst later on. On the other hand the waiters were very friendly, attentive, and interactive with tricks, magic and quick witted chit chat. The magic show at the end was so much fun and lasted at least 15-20 minutes. This is a great place for a first date, or kids.

Ninja NYC

25 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10013

www.ninjanewyork.com

Sorry for the hiatus, but I'm back!

So a couple of months ago, my friend Kim came to visit me in my new apartment in Williamsburg. My boyfriend, her, and I decided to visit Dante's, on Williamsburgs southside. A cute BYOB serving southern fare.

Hibiscus punch with lavender

Taste: Like watered down fruit punch, ek. NOT worth getting, especially for 4 dollars!

Texture: Had some sort of "pulp" but not much

Smell: Nothing

Price: $4.00

Complimentary Cornbread

Taste: It had some hot pepper flakes and corn bits throughout, over all it was not flavorful and I was desperately missing the salty buttery flavor cornbread is known for. The side of butter could not even fix this.

Texture: Dry and very very crumbly, a sad excuse for cornbread

Smell: like disappointment

Price: Free

Crabcake Eggs Benedict and Sweet Potato Fries

Taste: The crabcake was not memorable, just a standard crabcake, not very flavorful, the eggs were poaches perfectly however and the hollandaise sauce was a bit too "yolky". The sweet potato fries were a huge disappointment. They seemed to be overly fried. I got the crunch, but the delicate soft innards were missing, like somebody sucked them out before serving them to me, the kosher salt added on top didn't seem to fit right on top of the overly fried fries either

Texture: Over all the texture of the eggs benedict mended together nicely, but the sweet potato fries were just too over done

Smell:

Price: $14.00

Verdict: Not coming back anytime soon, even though this is a BYOB. Maybe their dinner is a little better, who knows, but hopefully others will have a better experience then I did with the food. The service was slow, but nice however and the charming display for random graffiti and artwork is nice to look at when waiting for your food to arrive and a good conversation starter.

Dantes

153 Roebling St (Metropolitan & Hope)

Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 599-1945