The Basics: You won’t find portabello mousse at Caravan of Dreams. This is a real, hippydippy vegetarian restaurant. The kind that might scare away a carnivorous skeptic. Half the menu is raw or “live”, while everything is organic, vegan and kosher. Anyone with an open mind willl appreciate the worldly possibilities on the menu. I for one, had my head spinning between spelt pancakes, seitan taquitos, peanut noodles and carrot polenta. Seasonal and local, it is not. There’s plenty of coconut where it doesn’t need to be. You can’t be everything to everyone I guess. Our waitress seemed to have her head in some yonder hemp clouds, but when she finally brought our food it was flavorful and satisfying. Not everything is a success, but you’ll leave Caravan with plenty of new information about some rather wild ingredients. Cuisine: Vegan, Kosher Best Dish: Classic nachos with black bean chili, guacamole and salsa. Food: Good Service: Poor Value: Good Average App/Entree Price: $8/$15 Location: 405 E 6th Street You Gonna Finish That? Meh, you can taste the side. Word to the Wise: They serve a $15 prixe-fixe brunch
Though on the edge of K-town, you won’t find communal BBQs at Hangawi, a Zen temple of vegetarian Korean fare. When E suggested we try a Korean vegetarian place he had been to for lunch, I did not expect this level of elegance. After some jerky driver behind me honked incessantly at my cab, I stepped out, walked into Hangawi and felt immediately calm.
Not only is Hangawi beautiful with its soaring ceilings and ornate table settings, but the staff glides around the room with such ease, that your stress lifts away. And boy, does it smell awesome!
A lot of that peace comes from the fact that everybody removes their shoes at the door. You won’t hear any clicking at Hangawi. It was a real joy to take off my heels and tuck my feet into the space below our table. I was amazed at how far the menu could go without any meat. From dumplings to leek pancakes, seaweed salad, vermicelli, and an entire maitake mushroom prixe fixe, the menu piqued my taste buds again and again. Narrowing down our selections was no small feat.
We started with the seamed kimchi buns, two pillows of dough with sweetly-flavored slices of kimchi inside. The texture was just dense enough with the right amount of elasticity. I’m no bun expert but I know what a David Chang bun tastes like and what an over-processed Zen Palate bun tastes like. These were somewhere in the middle. Even better than the buns were our vegetable dumplings with a pool of spicy/sour sauce (chilli sauce? not listed) Don’t let the vague descriptions fool you, the kitchen pays great care to detail and the flavors are there.
I appreciated the serene vibe until a LONG pause between our appetizer and entree. People began to leave the restaurant as we crept closer to closing time, with no entree. Our waiter was missing. Eventually we caught the attention of our hostess and magically, our waiter emerged with our Zen noodles and spicy chili mushrooms, served with generous side plates of spicy and mild kimchi.
The hostess felt terrible about the wait and apologized profusely. She asked if there was anything else they could bring. E mentioned a particular type of kimchi he had on another occasion. While they didn’t have it, they brought another side of some marinated, thinly sliced cucumber. The cucumber wasn’t life-changing, but a good effort at salvaging our meal.
Timing mishaps and mistakes occur all the time in restaurants, but it’s possible to recover with grace, as the staff at Hangawi did. This was a truly memorable meal and I would be happy to return anytime!
Location: 12 East 32nd Street Food: Very Good Drinks: No expansive wine list here but you will find some sake and sochu cocktails and a couple of beers. Service: Good Average App/Entree Price: $11/$21 Value: Very Good You Gonna Finish That? Every last bite.
Walking into Il Bulco, you fall in love instantly. There is something about the warm, artisanal, feel of copper pots hung from the ceiling, ingredients-as-decoration, and the wooden communal table and you’re wooed. Maybe it’s the kooky chandeliers which have a story all their own. Maybe it’s just the handsome waiters. Il Buco was once an antique shop until its owners decided to turn their homemade midday meals into a full-on operation. The restaurant is still laden with relics from the past, creating its cutesy charm. They even preserve a bit of history by listing the olive oils, grains and produce they use in the food on the menu– it’s available for purchase.
Cute as it may be, the Il Buco operation is ambitious. The regular menu changes daily, though Il Buco’s strength is a list of tried and true, seasonal appetizers. The star of the list was a luscious beef carpaccio with crunchy, fried chickpeas, though a chicken liver crostini didn’t fall far behind. Not everything shines though, as fried zucchini blossoms filled with ricotta and anchovies were uneven, with a bland oozy center and a salty tip.
It’s likely that Il Buco’s popularity isn’t in the pasta. Torn pasta with chanterelle mushrooms and lasagne with pork ragout had frail flavors. A hint of salt, a crunch of green, a splash of sauce or a sprinkling of parmesan would have done wonders for these lovely noodles, but none of that was offered. These dishes weren’t bad, but SO CLOSE to being wonderful, it was a tragedy. It made me wonder why celebrity chefs Alain Ducasse and Eric Ripert, are regulars.
It was finally evident in our last course: a juicy swordfish steak with cool yogurt, mint and cucumber and a zesty tomato farro salad on the side. Had we stuck to appetizers and seafood, the meal would have been consistently excellent.
It’s not easy to create a new menu every day. Perhaps what Il Buco lacks is the luxury of practice. They would do better to tame the ambition and change the menu to weekly, giving them time to perfect each dish. Luckily, our Terre del Barolo 2004 consistently delivered for the whole meal.
Il Buco: 47 Bond Street Food: Good Service: Very Good Average App/Entree Price: $15/$26 Value: Poor You Gonna Finish That? Every last bite.
The Basics: Tom Valenti’s upscale Ouest has been a reliable UWS spot for nearly a decade. His latest American Brasserie venture, West Branch, shows he has a knack for laid-back locales too. The brown-and-white toned, masculine decor may be drab, but the salty, caramelized onion focaccia bread is anything but. On a Wednesday evening at 8:30, every table in the huge space was occupied, no small feat in these times. The service was friendly and the food was flavorful and well-priced. A true home run! Best Dish: Heirloom tomato panzanella salad and luscious arctic char with a cool potato salad Food: Very Good Wine: Very fairly priced, diverse list, we had a nice Gruner Veltliner for $32 Service: Very Good Value: Very Good Average App/Entree Price: $12/$21 Location: 2178 Broadway and 77th You Gonna Finish That? Every last bite.
I had my second great dinner at Barrio Chino last night, a breezy little Mexican place where the fiery guacamole tastes well beyond the cheap prices they charge. Though the food is Mexican, the decor (and name) borrows influences from its near-Chinatown neighborhood, with paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and the like. Prepare to get cozy with your neighbor as the restaurant is teensy and space is a luxury.
The complex flavors at Barrio Chino take it leagues above other basic cheesy quesadilla/enchilada/taco donning spots in the city. When I first visited I loved the dense enchiladas de mole with chicken, queso fresco and black beans. This time I had two appetizers: “sincrozinadas” which are flour tortillas with melted oaxacan cheese and huitlacoche (a type of mushroom). Then I had the tacos pescado, three little plump, soft tacos overflowing with charred, spicy citrus-rubbed tilapia with avocado salsa. Wow, I’ve never had fish tacos like these before! The smoky fish and creamy avocado was an awesome combo. Drinks are varied and stiff too, choose from diverse flavored margaritas like grapefruit and jalapeno or caipirinhas and Mexican brews.
Despite its casual vibe, there’s no skimping on service. Everything is well-timed without a rush, though the restaurant was packed with an endless list of people waiting. I’ve read some complaints on the web about the service, but I have nothing bad to say, except that you do need to be on a flexible schedule to eat there. But on a warm, relaxed Summer evening, it’s heaven.
Barrio Chino: 253 Broome Street (between Orchard and Ludlow) Cuisine: Mexican Average App/Entree Price: $8/$14 Food: Very Good Service: Very Good Value: Excellent You Gonna Finish That? Every last bite. Word to the Wise: Barrio Chino doesn’t take reservations for small parties but while you wait, get a drink or a snack at Cevicheria across the street, like their tomato-based, smokey striped bass ceviche.
The Basics: I’ve never felt such an intense hatred towards a waitress as I did during our meal at Belcourt, an open-air, uppity French bistro on a casual strip of 2nd Ave. Everything we requested seemed to be a huge ordeal and took far longer than necessary. It reminded me of the scene in “Wet Hot American Summer” when Paul Rudd crashes the table setting onto the floor and then makes a hilarious scene out of picking it all up.
Basic requests like: “Can we have some more water please?” “Can we have some butter for our bread?” All elicited this reaction. I thought we were asking for her first born child when all we needed was a basic level of service. When you wait an hour for lunch and your waitress behaves like the above, you lose your appetite. The East Village offers a lot in affordable, satisfying food. Head to Mermaid Inn, Counter, Redhead, Esperanto or Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar before considering Belcourt.
Best Dish: Yes, the lamb burger my sister had was juicy and flavorful. And my crisp truffle fries had the perfect amount of funk and salt. Food: Very Good Service: Poor Value: Poor (Their $11 bar sampler consisted of 5 olives, 5 nuts, and 5 crackers) Average App/Entree Price: $11/$23 Location: 84 E 4th Street You Gonna Finish That? Not even worth a doggy bag.
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