Tag: chelsea

Categories
asian lunch

Pongsri Thai’s Massaman Curry

Man, I haven’t had Massaman Curry in so long. I used to to Pongsri Thai all the time with my friends from work. We came to visit Thai Todd. We don’t know if that was his name, but we called him that.

This time I took my out of town friends, John and Alan, to Pongsri for lunch. I got my Massaman Curry (Thai spiced curry paste cooked in coconut milk, peanuts, onion and potatoes $7.95). I love coconut milk curry. Creamy and seemingly easy on the stomach. Tasty! My friends loved their meal too.

Pongsri Thai Chelsea – 165 W 23rd St (btwn 7th & 6th Ave) New York, NY 10011

Categories
bar/drinking sandwich

Smithfield’s Chip Butty (French Fry Sandwich)

After our successful UCB improv graduation class show yesterday, we headed over to Smithfield bar for drinks and food. I ordered the Chip Butty ($8) which was french fries over buttery bread. I asked the waitress what that was and she said it was a french fry sandwich. Okay.

It came out and it really was a french fry sandwich. It was actually pretty good though. I think it was the buttery bread that made it. I haven’t had buttered white bread in so long. I was sort of impressed and it wasn’t as dry as I thought it would be. Again, it was probably the butter that kept it from being too dry. Ketchup also helped, but I don’t know if it made it taste any better.

I never heard of this Chip Butty, but there is a wikipedia page.

Smithfield - 215 W 28th St (btwn 7th & 8th Ave) New York, NY 10001

I’m proud of my classmates. We put on an awesome show for a 101 level. One of my classmates found this on Twitter right after our show. It’s Vinny from Jersey Shore. I’m confused. Did he think he was in our class?


…he probably had his show right after ours. That’d be cool if he’s in my 201 class.

Categories
asian chinese

Chop-Shop

We went to check out my friend Pavan’s art show Idea is the Object, that he’s curated with his lady, Tracy. Pretty cool. Open until August 24th. Afterwards we hopped around other Chelsea art openings. It’s cool because they often have free beer or wine (which attracts a lot of underage students). But for some reason on this hot day, no one had any. And we went to so many because Todd needed to find a place to pee. He found a place at the pizzeria around the corner, but had to buy a slice.

Then we decided to eat dinner next door at Chop-Shop. I guess it’s Chinese, Korean, Thai, Japanese. I’m not sure if that’s considered fusion, since all the dishes seem more separate in their ethnic cuisine.

We had the Zha Jiang Mian Noodles ($12), Shanghai Bok Choy ($7), Chicken Curry ($14) and Braised Short Ribs ($20). The food was pretty good. I remember thinking at the time that it was overpriced, but I must’ve still been in the art gallery/free beer & wine mindset. Plus this restaurant is BYOB. So it was actually a good deal. Good quality food.

Chop-Shop - 254 10th Ave (btwn 25th & 24th St) Manhattan, NY 10001

Categories
latino

El Cocotero

We went to this Venezuelan restaurant in Chelsea –El Cocotero. I’ve never been in such a dark restaurant for lunch.

Sam and Chris ordered the Sampler Platter and an Arepas each. Those Arepas were a lot bigger than I expected. But probably makes sense since they were more around $9 each.

I ordered the La Bandeja Doña Barbara (grilled beef, Chicharrón crackling pork rind, fried egg, rice, red beans, sweet plantain, chorizo & avocado) for $23. Kind of expensive for a lunch. The Chorizo sausage was the best thing on there. The Chicharrón was mostly inedible.

Service was interesting. The waitress kept trying to take our order every few seconds, when we weren’t ready. Food came out all different times. Had some of the food and my beer taken away when we weren’t finished. All this rush when the place was pretty empty. By the end of our meal, the restaurant started to fill up and we tried to get our check. We had to ask three times and it took around thirty minutes. It’s funny. We felt like they were trying to rush us from the beginning, but then they didn’t want us to leave after we were done.

The restroom was cool. Had some water pipes in a window frame thing.

El Cocotero – 228 W 18th St (btwn 7th & 8th Ave) New York, NY 10011

Categories
lunch

Banana Leaf’s Sri Lankan Lunch Buffet

Dang. This is a pretty good lunch buffet at Banana Leaf. Close to the Fashion Institute of Technology, serving Sri Lankan and South Asian cuisine.

The lunch buffet is $6.99 takeout and $10 dine in. You can really stack up with the to-go platter. I filled mine up and it felt like I could have packed a quarter more in. Although, it’s probably not a contest …or is it?

The food is really good and interesting. It’s almost like Indian food, but not so spicy …but it is sharp, like onion sharp. Strong flavors.

There’s a salad of collard greens (that taste kinda like kale) and coconut. The Black Curry Pork included slices of pork belly. The mango chutney has a strong balsamic vinegar aroma. I really liked the Shredded Beef with big white beans. The fried Paratha chips were awesome with the Daal. I came back a second time and they had Beets. I’ll be back a third time and surely more.

Banana Leaf – 227 W 28th St (btwn 7th & 8th Ave) New York 10001

Categories
lunch

HIT Deli & Korean Food

This tiny deli is inside a building. I guess most are in New York, but I mean you have to go inside the building and down a hall to get to it. The thing that interests me is that they have Korean food. So I gave it a try.

I got the most expensive meal – Bulgogi Deopbap Beef Box $12. The other Korean boxes are cheaper at around $9. It came in a hefty platter sectioned off neatly –with potatoes, cellophane noodles, salad, rice and the Korean sliced marinated beef.

The food was alright. Looked pretty, but didn’t impress me. It got me stuffed though. The soup was too salty, but I’m not sure if it’s one of those things that you pour over the rice? I don’t know. That makes more sense.

The people were nice in there. They seem to have regulars like this old guy who apparently gets coffee all the time. In my photo, it looks like he doesn’t have a head. No photoshop.

HIT Deli & Korean Food - 150 W 28th St (btwn 6th & 7th Ave) New York, NY 10001

Categories
restauranting

The Half King’s Kobe Beef Burger

It was Shonali’s birthday and we went rock climbing at Chelsea Piers. I got there a little earlier and felt really awkward being a guy alone watching a bunch of little kids doing gymnastics. It’s like the time I went into Chuck E Cheese by myself. You get a lot of dirty looks.

While my hands turned Oompa Loompa red after the rock climbing, we got dinner at The Half King nearby. I ordered my first Kobe Beef Burger. Even though I’ve heard kobe beef burger is such a bad idea, since it’s a waste of good meat and a burger is already tender because it’s ground meat, it sounds like a great deal at $16. Unfortunately it wasn’t as delicious as I imagined. Kinda dry and lean. Shonali’s regular burger tasted much better to me. …dang, Kobe Bryant!

The Half King – 505 W 23rd St (@ 10th Ave) New York 10011

Categories
lunch

Casa Havana’s Cuban Sandwiches

I was craving a Cuban sandwich, but knew I wanted to try some place new and close to the office. So I headed over to Casa Havana in Chelsea, where they have a neon sign that says “Best Cuban Sandwich.” On the way there, there were two cracked out ladies with huge asses walking in front of me. They kept sweet talking all the men they passed, like walking up to them and saying, “You know you want a piece of this” and laughing really hard in their face. I was afraid I was going to be harassed when I passed them and braced myself. But they didn’t say anything to me. I felt a little offended.

Casa Havana’s Cuban sandwich ($5.75) is pretty good. The pork isn’t spilling out like at Margon or Cibao, but it’s the cleanest Cuban I’ve ever ate. Not too greasy, well-pressed. The ingredients were nicely proportioned. I wouldn’t say it’s a better tasting sandwich than Margon or Cibao, but I definitely felt lighter and more clear-headed afterwards.

Casa Havana – 190 8th Ave (btwn 19th & 20th St) New York, NY 10011