City Crab Review: Spend your money elsewhere

Ever since college, I had wanted to try this place, so when Restaurant Week came around we made a reservation.

First bad sign, we had a reservation for 7:45, we waited at least 20 minutes and watched people without reservations get seated before us. Not even a "sorry for the inconvenience" from the staff.

We ended up ordering a la carte, but it would have been nice if our waiter had a least mentioned the prix fixe dinner available. It wasn't till after we ordered that we noticed the tiny printed menu off to the side with the $35 three-course special. At first we were happier with our choices.....till they arrived:

Buffalo wing shrimp: according to Bob they were good, but there were FOUR pieces for $16. These weren't jumbo shrimp either. $4 a piece for shrimp in batter and hot sauce?!

North Atlantic Steamers: This was my appetizer. Why serve a side cup of clam broth when the clams are sitting in an inch of it already? And I know steamers are supposed to be simple, but usually there's an attempt at seasoning, maybe a clove of garlic, some herbs.....Nope. This was like clams in dishwater, with a side of dishwater and melted butter. I was also unprepared for the gross neck-like protrusion that these clams had, which reminded me of mini geoduck. I also think leaving crunchy bits of grit = FAIL at a restaurant.

Maryland Crab Louisiana Style Gumbo: Bob described this to me as "muddy." I had a taste, and it was the perfect description. "Bad" would be another suitable term. It tasted like someone had boiled all their leftover vegetables together and added some cajun spice to try to mask the underlying taste. Possibly one of the worst soups I've ever tasted.

At this point, we had to order a second basket of bread, because we were starving.

Maryland Lump Crab Cake: This was actually pretty good. At least, one out of the two were. The second one had a few too many cartilage bits ground into the meat. It was served with a mediocre side salad of argula, corn, lima beans, red peppers and carrots that I pushed around the plate.

Blackened Louisiana Catfish: Bland and boring. Bob usually doesn't add a lot of salt to his food, but he did tonight. 2 pieces came with a mound of unseasoned rice pilaf. Not bad, not good either.

Service was sloooooow.

Somehow, this place was packed. I guess people really think that if you charge a lot for seafood, and it's on Park Ave, it means it's good. We had a similar experience at The Chart House, where the view is nice, but the food is really overpriced and sub par. Our bill came close to what we pay when we go to Nobu, but came nowhere near the standards.

City Crab, you get a D.

ilili

Went out with the ladies on Thursday to a meditarranean restaurant that was new to all of us, called Ilili (between 27th and 28th on 5th Ave). It's a pretty posh place, where we were all completely under-dressed. All the hostesses looked like they were probably models and there were a lot of rich old ladies with face-lifts around. The main dining area is pictured above. There was also a bar/lounge area to the left and a lower-key dining area to the right, both just as long.

If you're going here, expect to eat family style. We all shared the Mezza Royale (the biggest of the sharing menus) @ $139. You first get the cold appetizers:
Hummus, baba ghannouj, chankleesh (lentils/rice/onions), grape leaves, tabbouleh, fattoush (pita salad), falafel and Kibbeh nayeh - a paste of raw lamb mixed with spices, served with raw onions and mint (probably our least favorite),

Then the hot appetizers:
Moujadara (lentil/rice/onion), lahmajeen (middle eastern style pizza with ground beef on a thin crust), makanek, beef fried kibbeh (think meat and bulgur wheat falafel) and phoenician fries (think seasoned fries, really tasty)

We also ordered 2 main entrees and a side to split: their lamb kebab was was simple and delicious and their Citrus Trout, I'd suggest skipping. The brussel sprouts were recommended to us by our waitress as being one of their signature dishes. I passed on it due to the creamy sauce it was mixed with but I'm pretty certain the others enjoyed it.

For dessert we tried the Awaimat (lebanese beignet w/orange blossom syrup). This wasn't anything special and the syrup had too strong of an orange blossom taste for me.

The serving sizes are quite generous. We were definitely stuffed by the time we left. It's a very busy place, so definitely make a reservation before you go.

Cookshop

My friend's sister, Emily, is a pastry chef, so once a year, we make it point to visit whichever fancy restaurant she happens to be working at. For the past couple of years, she's been the executive pastry chef at Cookshop, located on 20th and 10th Ave.

The first time we visited, we were given samplers of some of their "snacks," which included deviled eggs (where I had my first taste of smoked paprika and was hooked) and fried hominy. The scallops were recommended to me as an entree and I wasn't disappointed. Dessert was of course our main focus. I think we sampled just about everything on the menu, plus more. The Cookshop Candy Bar is a complex, compact little dessert that everyone must try. I attended a workshop where Emily demonstrated how to make these, so I now appreciate all the work that goes into the process. She also makes amazing bread puddings and has had plenty of write-ups on her ice cream and sorbets.

I'm dedicating a paragraph just for the sorbets, because they're one of the main reasons I keep going back. I've never eaten anything that captured the natural flavor of something as well as these sorbets. The apple sorbet is my all-time favorite, because it tastes exactly like fresh frozen apple. Unfortunately, it wasn't on the menu when my husband and I went last night, so I tried a scoop of concord grape, grapefruit-campari and hazelnut. Having grown up with a concord vine in the backyard, I'm perfectly familiar with the way they taste, but this sorbet tasted (and looked) like it was made from slightly younger light-purple grapes and was delicious. The grapefruit campari was fresh and zingy and the hazelnut was so intense in flavor it almost felt like eating a cookie or pie crust. If you want to experiment with less typical flavors, try the the basil sorbet. It wasn't quite my cup of tea, but most of the ladies I was with really enjoyed it.

Their menu is based on seasonal ingredients, so it changes frequently. I've been back 4 times now, 3x for dinner and once for brunch. My husband has tried the sturgeon and eggplant parmesan and loved both. Last night we tried their fried green tomatoes, which had a sweet relish on top, but were too full to finish them. Their dishes can be a little heavy on the salt at times and the variation in quantities depending on the entree can be pretty drastic, but other than that, I have no gripes. Being as popular as it is, it's a pretty noisy, crowded restaurant, so if you're looking for a quiet romantic spot, it might not be the place to go.

Also, if you go during the day, be sure to walk on the Highline (raised subway track turned into garden) The entrance is right across the street.

Newfane Cafe and Creamery

Hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day off! If you're ever visiting Southern VT, look out for the Newfane Cafe and Creamery. It's an old-fashioned looking food store, with wooden counters, chalkboard signs, and a smoker out back. As far as I could tell from the few times I've been there, they cook everything they sell there from scratch, including the bread.

Most people seem to order and take out, but if you plan on eating in, there's a large rustic dining table just as you enter if you don't mind sharing with strangers, as well as a few dining tables in the side room. There's a also a pretty amazing table made of jar lids and a matching stool made of dollar coins.

The menu mostly consists of sandwiches, but they're not the boring bland sandwiches you'll find at most delis. The fresh sliced bread makes all the difference, as does the extra side salad they include. They also do toasted paninis, like the Alamo, which if I remember correctly, had fresh sliced turkey, avocado, pepper jack cheese and baby spinach. Their tuna melt includes capers and peppers and isn't overflowing with mayo. Crabcake Sammy tastes like it uses fresh crab meat, not canned. They also offer veggie burgers (Squirrel Burger) and falafel if you can't eat meat. The glass counter also shows off their quiche and a massive layered tortilla pie.

If you're looking for something sweet, try their giant oatmeal raisin cookies. They're huge, heavy and just the right amount of chewiness. It usually takes me a day to finish one, which is great if you plan on going hiking.

Dafni (Greek restaurant)

Located across from Port Authority on 42nd St, (between 8th and 9th), you wouldn't expect to find an even halfway decent restaurant. Especially one flanked by a Burger King, deli and Army Navy store. The only reason my husband and I discovered it is because it's right by our bus stop.

We've been to Dafni's four or five times now and we've never been disappointed by the food. For dinner, I would recommend waiting till after 7:30, when the crowds start to disperse.

My first step in over-eating is always the freshly baked basket of pita bread. So far we've only tried the fried calamari appetizer, but it's perfectly battered and crunchy, not chewy. One of our dishes always comes with a super simple, but delicious, Maroulosalata (romaine, scallion, dill with lemon vinaigrette). For entrees, I usually get their Lamb Shish Kebab, because it comes with one of the thickest, creamiest Tzatziki spreads I've had, accompanied by rice and roasted peppers and onions. I've also tried the Moussaka (think eggplant lasagna), which was good, but just too heavy. My husband has tried their Solomos, (charcoal grilled salmon steak), which he liked a lot, but his staple dish is the Aegean Seafood with Hilopites (shrimp, scallops and calamari with fresh pasta and tomato sauce).

For the first time today, we tried dessert: Rice pudding and Baklava the size of a piece of pie. Both were good, but passable.

Service can be a little slow, but the waiters are very attentive when you get a hold of them. The restaurant is surprisingly classy, considering the neighborhood, so you can definitely hold a nice dinner party at this place.

Bodhi Tree: $7 lunch special

$7 lunch special: 2 appetizers and an entree. Thai food.
3rd Ave between 10th and 11th

Thanks to Hilda, this place is now on our weekly lunch agenda. So far, no real disappointments. I recommend the Eggplant Graprow (sauteed eggplant and tofu w/spicy basil chili sauce) and the Tod Man appetizer (spicy fish cake) and I believe Hilda liked the Taro Wontons. The Pad Thai is pretty standard. I think we're planning on working our way down the menu. We've covered most of the appetizers already in our 3 visits. This place has nice decor and looks pricier than it is, as you can see from their official site:

http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/bodhi-tree/
http://www.bodhitreerestaurant.com/