Review: Pacifico, Brooklyn

I feel like I need to explain to you guys why we haven't been eating out as much lately. We got a puppy around the same time this blog started, and that dog SUCKS THE ENERGY OUT OF US. Everything pretty much revolves around the schedule of the dog, at least until she's slightly better trained. That said, I told Evan that we NEEDED to go out and have a Date Night. No worrying about the dog. No eating in the apt. So I scoured my usual review website (www.yelp.com) and found a Mexican place not too far from our apartment that had decent to good reviews, and most importantly, had outdoor seating. Evan approved, and last night we hopped on over to Pacifico.

Just like with BBQ, I am a snob about Mexican food. Specifically Tex-Mex. Cali-Mex, ehhh, it's ok, but some good Tex-Mex makes Spring a happy camper every time. So we get there and it's a fairly big place with lots of indoor seating a nice-sized patio. The hostess tells us it'll be an hour wait, so we're like, ok that's fine. We settle down on a bench for a bit with the intention to wind down out there for a half hour, and then move into the bar for the second half hour. About 20 minutes into our wait, the hostess says there's a table open in the front room by the big open windows that we could have right then. Even though the goal was to eat outside, this was close enough, so we took it. By the way, the hostess was great. Tons of people were waiting, and she was totally efficient. A+ for the hostess.

Right off the bat, there were a few small problems with the drinks. I wanted a frozen margarita with salt and Evan wanted some Belgian beer. No frozens, and they stopped carrying that beer. Ok, that's fine, so I got one on the rocks with salt, and Evan settled for another beer. His beer was fine, and my margarita was decent to good, but they were VERY stingy with the salt. Worst salting job on the rim ever, like a handful of the little grains. Oh well.

The menu was interesting. It was like they were trying too hard to be creative. We ordered a small guacamole with chips to start, and it was actually very good. For dinner, I ordered beef-olive (what? I'd never heard of this before either...) enchiladas with a side of rice and beans, and Evan stuck with the tried and true beef fajitas. I asked our flighty hipster waiter what sort of sauce was on the enchiladas and he said red sauce. Ok, fine by me. So the food comes out and here's the first things I noticed.

1) The rice and beans were white rice and black beans. It was like being at Chipotle. Not Tex-Mex, and quite honestly, they weren't even very good.

2) The enchilada sauce must have been on the same strike that the salt was, because there was BARELY any sauce. Those suckers were pretty dried out.

3) Evan didn't get a "junk plate" with his fajitas. You know, that plate that comes with the sour cream, cheese, and all the veggie fixins. Instead, it looked like they'd just dumped a bunch pico de gallo on top of the meat, and Evan had to flag down a busser for some sour cream. No clue where our waiter was.

The only thing I semi-liked about the food was that it was greasy. I hate when you go to a Mexican place and the food is all pristine and healthy looking. I'm in the the camp that Mexican food should be greasy and wonderful and total comfort food. This food wasn't wonderful or comfortable, but it definitely had the grease.

When we finally got our bill, we noticed that the waiter had taken some liberties with billing us on stuff. We'd asked for the small guac and chips, and had been charged for the large one. He'd also overcharged us for the drinks. All in all it came to about $47. We didn't argue it because that would have meant flagging down our smug waiter, and that would have been difficult to impossible. Evan and I both agreed that while we left full and everything was decent, it probably wasn't worth a return trip. Unless we were just sitting on the patio eating guac and drinking.

Here's what I think is the difference between Cali-Mex and Tex-Mex. Cali-Mex is heavy on the fresh veggies, not so greasy. Tex-Mex is heavy on the cheese and sauce, grease galore. This place was such a mess because there were no fresh veggies to be seen, no sauce, yet tons of grease. What would you call this genre of Mexican food, then? I'm going to go with NY-Mex, because this seems to be how ALL NYC Mexican food is: Sub-Standard. Please feel free to recommend a place to me and proves me wrong.

Evan and I decided that this place was going to be a 2.5 out of 4. However, the more I think about my dried out enchiladas and the overcharging and the lack of salt, I'm going with a 2 out of 4 stars. Sorry Pacifico.

Pacifico
269 Pacific Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718.935.9090

Review: The Shake Shack, Manhattan

Evan and I are sitting around the Union Square dog run, watching our Chihuahua, Hazel, try to covertly sniff some butts, when Evan announces that he really wants a hamburger. We brainstorm a bit as to where we can get a burger in the city that will allow Hazel inside, when it hits me! We are a mere nine blocks from the mecca of burgers and outdoor seating, the Shake Shack! So the three of head north up to Madison Square Park.

The Shake Shack is notorious for the long lines of people waiting to buy up cheap delicious food. We get there and I estimate that it's only a 20-minute wait or so, and that was pretty accurate. We managed to snag a table under one of the giant wonderful outdoor heaters, and the Hazel-beast licked up crumbs off the ground for a bit until finally settling down for a nap in her carrier. I LOVE eating outside. The place gives you one of those awesome little buzzer thingies that vibrates when your food is ready, so that you can go and amass your collection of ketchup packets and napkins while your food is cooking. So after about 15 minutes of waiting with our buzzer, the thing finally went off and FINALLY we could eat.

We both got hamburgers (mine with cheese) and they were DELICIOUS. I think it's the best burger I've ever had. Evan says it's up there for him. It's the perfect size, not too big, not too small. Evan, who is in possession of a black hole for a stomach, says it could have been a bit bigger. The burgers come with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onions, and it's all very fresh and crisp. No sad looking wilted lettuce in sight. We also ordered a side of fries, which were perfectly crisp and only slightly greasy.

But the main thing....if you're going to come to the Shake Shack, you've got to get a shake. We decided to split a chocolate shake, and it was divine! Neither of us really cares for milk chocolate, and we were in luck because the cocoa in this shake had a distinctly dark chocolate taste to it. Not disgustingly sweet, and the consistency of the thing was thick, but not too thick that you couldn't use a straw. A perfect milkshake.

With all of that food, plus a beer and a large soda, it all came to about $22 (super cheap for Manhattan-land). Dear readers, I have to admit.....it's going to be hard to not go to this place again for the experiment. As it's all outdoor seating, the place is only open when the temperature is bearable....and here we are, just hitting Spring. This place could be the true test! What do you think, should we make an allowance for the Shake Shack?

4 out of 4 stars. I love the Shake Shack.

The Shake Shack
Madison Square Park, 5th and 23rd
Manhattan
212.889.660

www.shakeshacknyc.com

Review: The Farm on Adderley, Brooklyn

Last night the boyfriend's parents and brother came over to celebrate some stuff and it was decided that instead of me laboring in the kitchen to produce something that probably wouldn't be very good, we'd head out and let someone else do the cooking. I'd found this place online called The Farm on Adderley that, despite the semi-pretentious name, had gotten some pretty great reviews. So we made a reservation, and then later we piled in the car (we're bad New Yorkers, always driving around) and headed over.

This place was really cute looking. It looks like it got lost somewhere between Park Slope and Manhattan and ended up in central Brooklyn. There's a couple of tables at the front with a very nice bar, and then it looked like the restaurant extended quite a ways back. They put the five of us at one of the round tables at the front next to a floor to ceiling window. Like climate controlled sidewalk seating! I started getting a feeling once I saw the menu.... Lots of stuff that I had no clue about what it was (all the funny sounding stuff was fish). A few basic things gussied up with some fresh herbs and rice and stuff, like chicken and steak. We ordered a couple of appetizers and settled back.

When the appetizers came out, that's when I knew it....this was FANCY PEOPLE FOOD! The type of food where the appetizer is barely ANYTHING and you're like, wait a minute! We ordered some artichokes and mozzarella and each arrived with sort of a piddly little amount of food on the plate. It was good, but still. When the entrees came, they were very pretty. The type of presentation where all of the food is piled on top of itself on a plate and some green stuff sprinkled on top. It was good too, but I always feel like a slob when I eat at places like that.

So about the food itself. It was good, but it wasn't fantastic. My chicken was extraordinarily chewy, yet well seasoned. Evan's brother got some sort of fettucini dish that looked like it had already started to congeal by the time it got to the table. Everything that we ordered was perfectly fine....but it wasn't super special. I will say that it all tasted very very fresh. I don't know where all the ingredients come from but I'd be willing to bet it's all locally grown.

The waitress was nice and pleasant enough, although I saw a quick glimmer of GET OUT PEASANTS! flash across her face when we asked her what char was (it's some sort of glacier fish or something, who knows). She and the bussers were very good about bringing stuff out quickly and keeping our table clear of dirty dishes. Good service goes a loooong way with me, so that was good. The boyfriend's folks picked up the bill so I don't know how much it was (thanks guys!). The entrees ranged from about $14 to $24.

I think that this place would be a good place to go to if you're in Brooklyn and you want to demonstrate what an in-the-know and hip, yet sensitive, Brooklyn dweller you are. I don't think I would come from another borough to eat here, unless I was just following the lead of someone else. It wouldn't be on the front of my brain or anything. The place was packed, so I guess it's fairly popular. Anyhow, check it out if you're in the area, I guess.

This place gets 3 out of 4 stars. They did everything right....but it was still just ok. Kind of like vanilla...it's good and all and always tastes nice and will do in a pinch but it's VANILLA, you know?

The Farm on Adderley
1108 Cortelyou Road
Brooklyn, NY 11218
718.287.3101

www.thefarmonadderley.com

Review: L&B Spumoni Gardens, Brooklyn

Tonight we drove out to God Knows Where in Brooklyn (near Brighton Beach? Coney Island? Bensonhurst? Somewhere out there!) to eat at the L&B Spumoni Gardens. I have to admit....in Texas, Italian food is not a big deal. Want some pasta? You go to the Olive Garden. I have no clue how to cook my own pasta sauce and always feel unique and cook-ish when I mix in some Italian seasoning into my Newman's Own tomato sauce. Evan had been to this place before and wanted to go back, so the two of us, plus Whitney, headed out.

GUYS, the food at this place, OH MY GOD. We knew it was a good sign when we showed up and there was a ton of people out front, and all of them seemed like locals. The place has what appeared to be three different attached buildings. One was the restaurant, one a sort of take-out place, and the other was just a window for pizza and ice cream. The sassy older hostess with the huge hair told us that it would be at least an hour, so we settled down outside to wait. An hour and a half later, we got in.

We were starving, so we attacked the bread basket, and then got a big bowl of the most perfect fried calamari ever and devoured that. I got the Chicken Cacciatore, Evan got the Eggplant Parmigiana, Whitney got the Chicken Marsala, and we were all pretty pleased with our meals. We also got a square of Sicilian pizza to try, and it was super tasty as well. The portions were so big that we easily have lunch for tomorrow, and all of our entrees were reasonably priced at about $13 each. Because we'd already stuffed ourselves like fat pigs we figured, why not go for broke!, and ordered the main dish, spumoni. A spumoni? A dish of spumoni? Whatever it's called, it's this tri-colored ice cream (maybe gelato? Clueless here!) and it was divine as well. So all in all, with all that food plus two beers and a soda, the bill came to about $75, which is NOT BAD considering the amazing food that we devoured. I've eaten food in Little Italy that cost more and wasn't anywhere near as fantastic as this place. And it was definitely better than the ole Olive Garden! Afterwards we came home and I immediately went into a food coma of joy on the floor.

So yes, I'd recommend this place to anyone wanting some real Italian food without all the snotty Manhattan attitude. I have no idea how long it would take to get there by train (I'm guessing a while) but it would be worth it!

This place ranks 3.75 stars out of 4. The reason I docked .25 is because Whitney asked repeatedly for a glass of water that never came, and some of the wording on the menu was a bit ambiguous.

L&B Spumoni Gardens
2725 86th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11223
718.449.6921

http://www.spumonigardens.com/

This is how we felt after eating there:

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The Safe Restaurant

Our safe restaurant will be.....drum roll please....HILL COUNTRY.

This place on 26th street in Manhattan serves bbq shipped in from my (Spring again, hi!!!!) home state, Texas. I've eaten many, many times at the original place, Kreuz, in Lockhart, TX. Hill Country has all the fixins I love, including some Bluebell ice cream and Big Red soda products. They also serve all the meat on butcher paper, the way it's meant to be served! If they could just get some Shiner beer, then it would be 100% authentic. As it is, I'd say it's about 98%. It loses another percentage point for me because at the real Kreuz, no bbq sauce is available. According to them, bbq done right doesn't need any sauce to fix it up. Hill Country has bbq sauce, which is actually quite good, but still.

So yes, visit Hill Country, and know that this former Texan gives it a whole hearted thumbs up.

http://www.hillcountryny.com/

But please don't order a salad only, like I saw some girl do today. COME ON.

How it Came About, and THE RULES

Hello, this is Spring. Not too long ago, I reallized that whenever my boyfriend, Evan, and I go out to eat, we always end up at the same ten or so places. Most of the time it's just out of laziness and convenience. However, we live in New York City, one of the most food-friendly cities in all the world. That's when the plan began....

For six months, we're going to attempt to eat at a different restaurant each time. This runs from April 1st to October 1st, unless we later decide to extend. We've set a few rules to help out:

1) We can have one "safe restaurant". We haven't picked it yet, but this will be the place we go to if we're feeling REALLY brain dead or need a place in a hurry.

2) Lunch places don't count. We both work in very tourist-heavy areas, so affordable lunch places are few and far between. If we try out a new place at lunch, that's fine! But the place is still considered "new" for dinner.

3) Overly specialty places (coffee shops, dessert places, Pommes Frites) don't count. Those places are like the accessories of the food world, and we're trying to keep this limited to the whole outfit!

4) All of our old stand-bys are temporarily considered "new" again. They go into the rotation as possibilities. However, unless we designate one as the "safe restaurant", and after we've gone to it once, it's outta there.

The main point of this blog is to document where we've been, as we both have pretty terrible memories. Neither of us is a foodie at all, and all reviews will be written from our basic non-culinary point of view. If we like the place, we'll tell you. If not, that too. If anyone out there ends of reading this little blog, I don't want it to be so frilly with the descriptions of the food that you still have no clue at the end if it's a good place or not.

Lastly, dear readers, suggestions are always welcome. Any restaurant, no matter how big small expensive cheap fancy hole-in-the-wall it is, is welcome for consideration. We're open to any place in all of New York City, and possibly Long Island and New Jersey (it had better be good, though, if you're going to send us out there!!!!).

Thanks for reading!