New York: Becco

We were all able to secure a flight out of NYC that week on Friday so Thursday night was our last dinner in NYC.  We walked around Hell's Kitchen for a bit, looking for a place to eat.  At first we though sushi, then it turned into BBQ, and then we finally decided on Becco. 

Becco

355 W 46th St 

Between 9th Ave & 8th Ave 

New York, NY 10036 

Hell's Kitchen

becco-nyc.com

Becco, means to peck and nibble.  The bird logo is quite fitting haha.


Complimentary starters.


I forgot what they called it, but I'm just gonna call it white bean hummus :P  It's exactly like a hummus but instead of garbanzo beans, they use white beans.


Olives.


Assortment of bread.  The bread at the front with the rosemary and caramelized onion was very good.  Salty though.


Becco is known for having a $25 wine list, so we picked a Fattoria Paradiso Sangiovese.


Our antipasti.


Prosciutto San Danielle.  You can choose between San Danielle or di Parma.  I'm a fan of San Danielle.


Chunks of Parmigiano Reggiano.


Tonnato di Vitello.  Roasted veal loin sliced paper thin & topped with diced plum tomato, capers, scallions & tuna aioli.  I was not a fan of this... thanks to the tuna aoili.  It was like tasting creamy canned tuna on top of veal.


So we found out that the only pasta option is if you order the Sinfonia di Paste, which is unlimited pasta.  There's three different pastas daily and those are the options.  Instead of ordering individual pastas, the guys just ordered an entree, with the unlimited pastas as an add-on.  Janice just got the Sinfonia di Paste.


Penne Bolognese.  Probably my favorite out of all of them.  Heaty meat sauce.


Gnocchi Gorgonzola.  It was good, but gnocchi was definitely overcooked so it was very soft and mushy.  


Server serving the spaghetti from the pan.  That's probably the reason why the pastas are so overcooked since it just sits in the pan while the servers are serving it.


Spaghetti Marinara.  Overcooked as well.


Comes with Caesar's Salad.


Jimmy's Porterhouse d’Agnello.  Grilled domestic porterhouse lamb chop with scaffata, and finished with extra virgin olive oil.


Edwin got the Osso Buco alla Becco.  Braised veal shank served with farro tossed with butternut squash.  Very heavy and hearty.  They also give you a small spoon for the marrow.


Link and I went for the Costoletta di Vitello alla Joe.  “Joe’s Veal Chop” grilled & served with garlic mashed potatoes, caramelized shallots & escarole with prosciutto, then finished with extra virgin olive oil.  Very thick piece of veal.  Cooked perfectly.


The super garlicky mashed potato.

In the end, Becco was more like an Italian steakhouse than a pasta place.  Nothing to complain about, but we had crazy food coma once we were done.  I think Edwin, Link, and I were tired both mentally and physically from everything that happened that week when Sandy hit.  It was fun since it was with good friends (bromantic trip) and everything is more fun with alcohol but we were definitely ready to go home.

New York: Brunch at Calle Ocho

On Sunday (Oct 28th) right before Sandy hit the East Coast, Jimmy made a reservation for us to have brunch at Calle Ocho, a popular Latin fusion restaurant located inside the Excelsior Hotel in Upper West Side.  Even though it was brunch, our reservation was at 2pm.  Why so late?  We knew we were gonna be hammered from the night before with the Halloween celebration, and none of us woke up before noon haha.  Good planning ahead :P

Calle Ocho is popular for brunch because of their unlimited sangria offerings!  As long as you are eating, you get to order any sangria off their menu, and damn they are strong.  Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of the ones I tried, but really, I was not in the mood for any more alcohol in my system.  The sangrias were strong too since they add shots on top of it.  I can see this place being really fun, but after a heavy night of drinking, alcohol was the last thing I wanted..


Calle Ocho
Inside the Excelsior Hotel
45 W 81st St
Upper West Side
New York, NY 10024
calleochonyc.com

Calle Ocho's menu.  Calle Ocho is essentially Cuban infused with other Latin cuisine.

Sangria offerings.  I want something lighter so I went for Blanca and that turned out to be one of the strongest... The Havana Banana was really good though.  Strong still, but refreshing at the same time.

All sorts of baked goods to start your meal.

This was definitely our favorite.  In fact, it reminds me of the cheese bread you get at Brazilian restaurants.

Strawberry butter.  Awesome.  

Smear that shiz on everything.

Link and I each got the Vaca Frita.

Cuban skirt steak, Latin fried rice, tomato escabeche, avocado, and fried eggs.  Sounds amazing right?  It was pretty bland though.  The colors were so vibrant so I was expecting flavors to pop.  My favorite was probably the eggs and the tomato escabeche, which is essentially seasoned and marinated tomatoes.

I asked for hot sauce and the waiter brought out 3 types!  The orange looking one is probably made with habanero, cause it was surprisingly spicy.  Even the chipotle hot sauce in the back had a nice kick to it.  The pickled jalapeno was very good and I killed that little cup in a few bites with the steak.

Jimmy & Janice decided to share and went for the Gallitos.  Make your own tacos!

Guacamole and other toppings.

Scrambled eggs.  Fitting for brunch.

Cuban homefries.  

Chorizo!  Not as greasy and heavy as Mexican chorizo.

Edwin ordered the Cuban Sandwich.

Roasted pork, panela basted ham, Swiss cheese, and pickles.  This was actually my favorite.  Juicy pork, and the panela (unrefined cane sugar) basted ham had a nice sweetness.  Nice crunch on the bread too from the press.

Chimichurri fries.  A little different from the Argentinian chimichurri that I love but still good.

In fact, Janice & I liked it so much, we decided to order more to share haha.

In the end, I thought Calle Ocho was whatevers.  The food didn't stand out too much.  I'm sure I would've liked it A LOT MORE if I was actually in the mood to take advantage of the unlimited sangria.  Damn vodka!

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Afterwards, we decided to walk through Central Park since Edwin needed to get macarons from Laduree as gifts.  By 4pm, half of NY was empty already as people were getting ready for Hurricane Sandy, and Central Park was pretty empty.  Definitely a first.

Outside.  Macarons here are expensive...

I ended up getting a dozen as well, and I originally planned to go home and take pictures of it in a nicer setting, but they told us the macarons will only hold for 4 days in the fridge, and I got stuck there for more than that... so we devoured Edwin's dozen one night after we drank, and I gave a few out right before I left.  For a dozen it was around $36.  Pricey drinking snack haha. Next time!

After Laduree, we headed to a few markets to try to buy some food since Sandy was pretty much shutting everything down.  Businesses were closing already even though the storm was hitting late at night.  Markets were crazy.  Long lines, shelves empty... definitely a new experience.  Afterwards, we got back to Jimmy's, rested for a bit, and got ready for our reservation at Momofuku Noodle Bar.

New York: Niku Uni and Takashi

Immediately after, we had to make our way to Takashi for our dinner reservation.  Now this is our actual dinner while Fish and Bleecker Street Pizza were more like pit stops.  Now that I think about it, we ate a ton that Saturday haha.

Takashi is this yakiniku restaurant in West Village, focusing on raw and grilled beef.  The chef is actually Korean and grew up in Japan, then he decided to open up a restaurant combining best of both.  Infamous for appearing in one of Anthony Bourdain's Layover episode!  While already popular, I'm sure the exposure on Layover generated crazy hype and it was definitely the most looked forward to meal for our NY trip this time around.  If you like Gyu-Kaku, then this place will blow your mind.  

Takashi

456 Hudson St

Between Morton St & Barrow St

West Village

New York, NY 10014

takashinyc.com

Takashi!  Thanks Jimmy ahah.

Logo.

The complimentary dishes they start everyone with: miso cabbage, kimchi, and beansprouts.  The miso dressing over the cabbage is very vinegar-y.  Kimchi wasn't too crazy, but the beansprouts can rival any Korean restaurants.  Too bad no continuous servings like Korean banchan.

 

Parts of the menu.

Had to get a bottle of sake!

Jimmy went with the Hakkaisan Tokubetsu Junmai.  "Premium Japanese Sake," cause it was a pricey bottle, but damn, it was good haha. 

They bring out this tray and you get to choose your own sake cups!  

This is what we came here for, the infamous Niku Uni, which is Kobe chuck flap topped with sea urchin and fresh wasabi, wrapped by seaweed & shiso leaf.  Jeebus this was good!  Fatty marbled chuck and the creamy smooth uni is straight up addicting.  The shiso leaf is pretty damn strong, but I love that herbaceous flavor.  One bite and you're done, but what a heavenly bite.

Yooke, our tartare dish of the night.  Thinly-sliced chuck eye tartare in their special sauce.


Our server mixing the quail egg in.  Beef tartare + quail egg is a classic combo.


This dish definitely has a bit of the Korean influence with the sauce.  One of the best Asian tartare I've had anywhere.  Love that red hue from the beef too.  Sometimes when you eat tartare, you get a few pieces that's already browning, and it just throws your appetite off, but none of that here.


The chimney hood.  Edwin's bored.


With yakinuki, there's always a soy sauce-based dipping sauce.


First up, US Kobe marbled chuck flat steak!


They don't use charcoal like many yakiniku places, so it doesn't have that smoky flavor.  The one good thing about electric grill is that you can have a greater control of heat, which is a good thing here since you don't want to overcook Kobe beef.


Chuck steak on the rare side.  Fatty, juicy, smooth... just insert all good adjectives you can think about meat here.


Edwin, Jimmy, and Link are big fan of beef tongue, so we got the Shio Tan.


I am not that big of a fan, but not gonna lie, tongue here is good haha.  That dipping sauce makes everything taste good.


Our marinated cuts, Tsurami and Beef Belly.  Bourdain ordered these too :P


Beef Belly.  I've actually had beef belly at KBBQ in LA, but none as good as this.  It looks like uncured bacon, just red.


Tsurami, which is beef cheek.  Cheek of an animal always have a very interesting texture since the muscle is used so often.


Once the edges start to curl, time to flip!


Both have the same marinade, but very different texture.  Tsurami, the smaller piece, is more "interactive" (in Bourdain's words) because it's much chewier piece of meat, but tender at the same time.  Beef belly is as soft as it could be.


A piece of fat I've been grilling on the side from the US Kobe Chuck until it crisped up.  GDI it was good!


We decided to get one more to finish out the night, and went with the special, Asian-Cajun Andoillete.


100% Kobe sausage with Cajun spices, stuffed in beef large intestine.  Way too interesting not to try!


Crispy intestine on the outside and super juicy Kobe on the inside.  All the juices from the fat is trapped in so it was like a beef-flavor overload with a bit of Cajun.

It really was one of the best meal I've had in NY, and that includes the Michelin rated restaurants to the street carts.  There's just something about BBQ that speaks to me, especially really high quality BBQ!  I tried to embed a short video Travel Channel had on their website with Anthony Bourdain's Layover New York episode but Travel Channel is not cooperating... so here's the link to a summary and the full episode: travelchannel.com/video/tonys-24-hour-nyc-trip-tips!

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The sausage was really fatty, so after Takashi, I really wanted something sweet.  While we were walking around, we found Grom, a gelato shop!  Grom is actually a Torino, Italy transplant, with several locations in the US.  They are known for using exotic and seasonal ingredients to craft their gelato.  Somehow we found a popular gelato shop by luck haha.

Grom Gelato

233 Bleecker St Carmine St

West Village 

New York, NY 10022

grom.it/eng

Outside.  Very packed.


Everything in NY is Zagat rated.  Crazy.  Found out there's a Malibu location in LA too.  A bit far, but one day, I check it out.  


Order first, then pick the flavors!


October's flavors and specials.


Decided to get a small, which comes with two flavors.


Limone, sorbet made with lemons from Sicily.  Perfect after a heavy meal.

Bacio, which is Venezuelan "Ocumare" chocolate and Tonda Gentile hazelnut chips.  Not gonna try and pretend I know what they are or what they are suppose to taste like, but damn, it was a good chocolate gelato with the hazelnut chips.  Awesome texture.  Actually, it was like a cool Nutella!

After eating around West Village (Bleecker Street Pizza, Fish, Takashi, and Grom), we went back to Jimmy's and got ready for the Halloween celebration happening on that Saturday.  It was a good thing we ate a lot too, to help hold in the alcohol haha.