Social Eatz

Occasion: Lunch with Meredith and Mike, with lots of ex-Death Star crew
Location: Social Eatz on 53rd between 2nd and 3rd (socialeatz.com)
Edibles: I had the bulgogi burger and fries, and a bite of Meredith's spring rolls and chop salad

Musings: Social Eatz is the new eatery of Top Chef Season 7 finalist Angelo Sosa. It's Asian fusion - not exactly a shocker for anyone who's seen Angelo cook on TV. But I actually like the concept here - Asian-inspired burgers, tacos, etc. Casual streetfood, in a yuppie diner setting. The menu's got some cheeky, fun items like the Imperialist Hot Dog, and some cringingly pretentious ones like the Chili-Kissed Tilapia Tacos.

The shrimp and chicken spring rolls were flavorful, but surprisingly heavy considering the ingredients. The chop salad not a hit with the table - it's a tiny little portion, and the so-called six minute egg was barely cooked long enough to hold together. Meredith rightly avoided the egg; the runny yolk would have completely drowned the small amount of lettuce.

I got the bulgogi burger with a side of fries. First of all, potatoes are dirt cheap, Angelo - your burgers should come with fries. Second, my burger was way underdone. I mean, it was literally half raw. Not rare. Raw. I practically like my steaks still mooing, but that burger was on the borderline of what I'd eat (v. what I'd send back and ask them to cook longer). Another person in our group left her burger patty half uneaten for the same reason. So please ask your diners how they like their burgers.

That said, I think the concepts of the bulgogi burger, bibimbap burger and Korean taco are genius. I love the salt-sweet flavor of the beef, accented by the tart bite of the pickles. I'd come back to try those latter two.

Burger Joint

Occasion: Dinner with Josh before the Phil (harmonic, that is)
Location: Burger Joint, behind a velvet curtain in the lobby of the Parker Meridien. No joke. Hotel's on 57th between 6th and 7th. (parkermeridien.com/eat4.php)
Edibles: burger and fries, chocolate milkshake

Musings: For its bizarre location and retro ambiance, A+ for sure. For the burgers, B. They don't season their patties, and the bun is generic grocery store stuff. Not as good as my beloved Shake Shack.

Colicchio and Sons

Occasion: Brunch with Karen, Josie and Jana
Location: Colicchio & Sons on 10th Ave at 15th (colicchioandsons.com)
Edibles: I had the eggs with crispy prosciutto and mushroom ragout; Josie had the burger; Karen had the ricotta and veggie fritata; Jana had the poached eggs with red-eye gravy (I think)

Musings: I wasn't crazy about my dish. It was very soupy, very salty, and the chef inexplicably decided to use whole peppercorns in the mushroom ragout. I encountered quite a few and was forced to be very uncouth and spit them out. Everything else looked fine and tasted fine (I cadged a bite from Karen and Josie) but nothing was mind-blowing.

The dining room is very sleek and spacious, with fantastically high ceilings. I appreciated that they weren't stingy with the AC on a day when it was hot as balls. It's also worth noting that they let us sit around and chat undisturbed for a good long while after we finished eating. (No one was waiting for a table - we're not jerks.)

Still, I suspect it will be quite a while before I come back - partly because of the ho-hum food, but mostly because 10th Ave is SO far west and is a huge pain to get to from where I live. You forgot the cardinal rule of real estate, Tom! Location is everything!

Crooked Knife

Occasion: Welcoming Winnie back to NYC, and to the east side!
Location: Crooked Knife on 30th between Park and Madison (thecrookedknife.com)
Edibles: a burger for me; fish and chips for Winnie

Musings: A lackluster and expensive pub. The burger had plenty of meat, but was totally unseasoned. Just a hop and a skip away, Shake Shack is vastly superior.

Back Forty

Occasion: Dinner with my girls, Abby and Elizabeth
Location: Back Forty on Avenue B at 12th (backfortynyc.com)
Edibles: for me, the chicken and pumpkin dumpling soup, followed by the pork jowl nuggets and a side of roasted brussels sprouts; Elizabeth started with the house cheese, then she and Abby shared the fregola "risotto" with pumpkin; we all shared the pecan pie for dessert

Musings: I was really excited to try dinner here. I'd been to Back Forty twice for drinks and I LOVE the atmosphere. [Note: On Monday, happy hour lasts all night. Beers are $3 and wines, $4.]

Back Forty doesn't take reservations, so we were directed to wait at the bar for a table. Thing is, when all the bar stools are taken, you're standing in a narrow corridor that leads to the kitchen. Where servers are coming and going non-stop with plates. After getting knocked around for 15 minutes (one of the waitresses, approaching from the back, mistook me for a hanging coat and actually shoved me out of the way), we retreated to the row of chairs in the first room. A much better place to wait if the bar is full.

The food had its ups and downs. The soup was awesome. The broth was very flavorful and loaded with tender vegetables and shreds of chicken; the pumpkin dumplings were light and silky. Also wonderful: the brussels sprouts, roasted with apples, maple syrup and cider vinegar.

The only weakness in my meal was the pork dish. The plate looked stingy, containing only three sugar-cube-sized breaded "nuggets," each topped with a parsley leaf. I bit into one and got a mouthful of liquid grease and a tiny sliver of meat I barely tasted. I dissected a second one to verify; I didn't eat it.

I had a nibble of Elizabeth's cheese which was a bit on the runny side, but I liked the fresh milkiness. A taste of the "risotto" revealed it to be tasty and well-seasoned, but not at all rich and creamy like you'd expect a real risotto to be. Bad naming aside, I think it was a good dish. The pecan pie really delivered - sweet and gooey, great flaky crust, rich vanilla ice-cream on the side.

A little exposition about my restaurant-reviewing criteria. First, last and most of all, it's about The Food. The food has to be great - fresh, tasty, made with care and consistently so. Nothing should come ready-made out of a bag, a can or the freezer; if there's some extenuating circumstance why something does, it sure as hell shouldn't taste like it. And a restaurant has to provide good value. The more expensive it is, the higher my expectations. To make the Hall of Fame, almost everything on the menu has to be good; it's not enough to have just one or two great meals that can be assembled if a guest knows to find the hidden gems.

On the food, I think Back Forty falls a little short. All of their mains hover around the $20 mark and there are an awful lot of restaurants out there that really shine at that price point. Ones that take reservations and are on subway lines.

Ambiance and service usually rate pretty low on my list of priorities. If the food is outstanding and easy on the wallet, I will put up with rude waiters who barely speak English, sit on a wobbly stool at a card table and bus my own dishes. On the flip side, no amount of trendy furniture or hot waiters can make up for mediocre food. Food and price being equal, I will go to the place with nicer décor (e.g., this is why I prefer BLT Steak to Sparks).

I give the ambiance at Back Forty full marks. It's dim and rustic, and the way the space is divided keeps the noise level conversation-friendly. Our server was very cheerful and chatty, and was nice enough to take the pork nuggets off the bill without being asked. I will certainly be back.... for drinks. On balance, I don't think the dinner experience is worth going out of your way, standing around for a table, and paying a good chunk of change.

Studio Square

Occasion: Beer garden revelry with Yining's friends
Location: Studio Square on 36th St near 36th Ave in Astoria (studiosquarenyc.com)
Edibles: a few pilfered fries [and two donuts (glazed and old-fashioned) from Dunkin' Donuts, conveniently across the street]

Musings: Sept. 19 - not done yet! This day just might be one for the history books. A meander-and-graze through Flushing, followed by an al fresco lobster feast at sunset, followed by donuts and beer? Doesn't get much better than that.

The beer garden area of Studio Square is huge, and bar is pretty slick and modern compared to the others I've been to. The crowd looked pretty innocuous when we got there but seemed to get a lot younger on average as the night wore on - the number of meathead guys and hoochie women increased exponentially after about 11:00.

Pitchers are $18 and there's a selection of about 20, foreigns and domestics. We drank a lot of the seasonal Oktoberfest offerings (by Sam Adams, Spaten, Hofbräu) and some Blue Moon. They appeared to serve a decent sausage but I was too full to try to bum a taste. For some strange reason, sushi was also on the menu. One of Yining's more reckless friends ordered some and deemed it so-so but edible.

Oh, and one more thing. The bathrooms are all self-contained stalls. While there's nominally one side for ladies and one for men, the attendant will call ladies over to the men's side when their line gets long. Equality in waiting for bathrooms - I like it!

Xi'an Famous Foods

Occasion: Stop #2 on our Flushing food march

Location: just across the aisle from Lanzhou, in the basement food court in the Golden Mall, 41-28 Main St at 41st Rd in Flushing [Note: there's another one - they've gone corporate! - in the Flushing Mall, which is distinctly newer and cleaner]

Edibles: cumin lamb burgers

Musings: This is the burger made famous by Tony Bourdain in his recent "Outer Boroughs" episode of No Reservations. (The shop has proudly laminated a blurry photocopy of a picture of the historic event.) Of course, we had to try it.

This burger didn't taste Chinese at all to me. All the ingredients - the lamb, cumin, peppers and onions - seemed more Middle-Eastern. Still, it was yummy and a steal at $2.50. It's a good reason to share the Lanzhou noodles and save some room. Speaking of noodles, the ones on the Xi'an menu looked pretty stellar too. Maybe next month. Stay tuned.

Hop Devil Grill

Occasion: Joining Kathy and Ron for the last leg of their NY Craft Beer Week bar-a-thon
Location: Hop Devil Grill on St Marks at Ave A (hopdevil.com)
Edibles: Beer and burgers all around

Musings: Cheap! With my friends' beer passports (I know, what a concept), beers were $2 a pint. Burgers are half off on Sundays, so my bacon cheeseburger was $4.50 - and not half bad, either. Total for the table came out to a very sweet $22.

The other bar we went to, Back Forty on B at 12th, had a great vibe and was also pretty cheap - my pint was $5. I'd love to go back for dinner sometime.

Who knew Alphabet City had such a great bar scene?

PJ Clarke's Lincoln Square

Occasion: Pre-movie (Psycho) dinner with Kathy and Atticus

Location: PJ Clarke's Lincoln Square on 63rd at B'way (pjclarkes.com)

Edibles: lobster BLT for me; burger for Atticus; salad for Kathy (I won't bust Kathy's chops for ordering salad because she has to fit into a wedding gown in a month.)

Musings: Like Luna Piena, this place has some heavy-duty Death Star associations. (Not this particular location, but still.) It's convenient to Lincoln Square, though, so I sucked it up and tried to ignore the reflexive twitch of my hand to check the BB.

Their burgers are solid. (I didn't taste Atticus', but I know this from the Death Star days.) I thought my lobster BLT was a bit overpriced at $19, considering the stingy amount of lobster inside. You can get a full-on lobster roll for about $5 more. On the bright side, the cilantro mayonnaise was wonderful and they were more than generous with the bacon. Mmmmm..... bacon.

OK for some pre- or post-activity nibbles, but I definitely wouldn't go out of my way.

Shake Shack

Occasion: Combined review - brunch with Catherine the Sunday before last (8/2) and frozen custard with Sylvia last Saturday (8/8)
Location: Shake Shack in Madison Square Park, at Madison and 23rd (shakeshack.com)
Edibles: double cheeseburger with Catherine; bellini-flavored frozen custard with Sylvia

Musings: Shake Shack (and I mean the original location, not that newfangled UWS one) is a true NYC institution. Yes, the burgers are amazing. But the real experience is waiting in the long-ass line in the shade of the park's trees, catching up with a friend, enjoying the urban outdoors.

Or so you hope. It started to pour just as Catherine and I got to the park that Sunday. The silver lining was that the line was only 5-people long. Unheard of! We got our burgers to go and dashed across the street to the Subway, where we got some sodas for the privilege of using their tables - and their roof! Despite the rain, it was still good.

(If the line is your dealbreaker, you may be interested to know that they have a webcam on the website that shows you the line in real time. As it instructs, plan accordingly.)

I don't get the frozen custard often. Not because it's not good, but because I'm usually torpid from all the fries, cheese and beef. So it's nice once in a while to go for the express purpose of the frozen custard. I had the pineapple-passionfruit years ago and I still remember it fondly. Saturday's bellini was also lovely.

The moral of the story: GO!

The House

Occasion: Post-movie (500 Days of Summer) drinks and nibbles with Mamie
Location: The House on E 17th at Irving (thehousenyc.com)
Edibles: Moroccan lamb mini burgers with harissa mint yogurt sauce and a salad of cucumber and heirloom tomatoes

Musings: Great décor and ambiance! I want to say it's like something out of Gatsby, except I don't know that that's the right decade. But hopefully you get the idea.

The sliders were exotic and spicy, and the salad was the perfect summer side, vinegary and refreshing. My only quibble is that this place is a bit pricey. Their smallest unit of wine is the quartino (8 0z) and most of those offerings are just shy of $20. Food ranged from $15-20 for apps and $20-30 for mains. Still, it's a lovely place to visit and I hope I will be back.

Yale Club

Occasion: Dinner with Abby and Amy
Location: Yale Club on Vanderbilt at E 44th
Edibles: turkey burger with Swiss; fries and coleslaw

Musings: I love hanging out at the Yale Club with Amy, soaking in the hoity-toityness of it all. The main room is decorated with things like wingback chairs and oil paintings of Clinton and George W. Both there and in the dining room, no money changes hands - Amy writes her membership number on a slip of paper and it's billed to her monthly.

Amy has been a member since she graduated from college. The wait staff in the dining room know her by name and one very nice guy even knows her regular drink and dinner order, down to the sides and the extra mustard. Sadly, that server - who gave us free dessert the last time we were there - was not working tonight.

As for the things I usually comment on, the service was a little slow but the burger was pretty good. They're not really the reasons you would go to the Yale Club.

Wilfie & Nell

Occasion: Drinks and some nibbles with Sylvia
Location: Wilfie & Nell on W 4th between 7 Ave South and W 10th St - it's a weird intersection (wilfieandnell.com)
Edibles: pulled pork sliders; grilled cheese sandwich; fries with malt vinegar

Musings: If only I could find a man as satisfying as these pulled pork sliders... Love at first bite and I'm still head over heels! They are SERIOUSLY delicious. The grilled cheese and the fries are also great, but the sliders are the real superstars.

With its selection of superb bar food and fancy beers, Wilfie & Nell is a real guy-friendly place. Good for a date, too - dim, charming but low-key, and with lots of nooks and crannies in the main room. And if you don't have a man... well, there's always those sliders.

Kyotofu

Occasion: Pre-theatre (West Side Story matinee) lunch with Nellie
Location: Kyotofu on 9th Ave between 48th and 49th (kyotofu-nyc.com)
Edibles: carrot and miso soup; chicken and tofu burger


Musings: This place is probably most famous for its tofu desserts, but we thought we'd try it for lunch. I liked the soup, but for a slightly heavy hand with the miso. The burger was big and hearty, on a brioche bun with a great Asian bbq sauce. I couldn't taste the tofu at all, but it kept the burger wonderfully moist. Good value, at $13 for both courses.

(We skipped dessert and went up the block to Cold Stone Creamery for ice-cream. It was just that kind of wonderful, sunny day. My usual at Cold Stone - sweet cream ice-cream with graham cracker crust and pecans - was excellent as always.)