Ballaro- A Cozy Neighborhood Place

A cozy neighborhood find. Ballaro (www.ballaronyc.com/) is great for a bite out with your friends, with its warm, comfortable atmosphere you will be happy you chose this place. Though the wine list was reasonably priced, and the bar tender (who was also our server and very helpful) let us try a number to wines until we found one we could all agree on. There was a complementary cheese, meats and bruchetta spread set up across the far end of the bar which was not only presented beautifully but tasted delicious! It included a nice variety of cheeses and we especially enjoyed the selection since we were starving. The salads were light yet very flavorful which quenched our need for greens after the cheese spread. We enjoyed the spinach and artichoke salad and the mesclun. The Tuna crostini was good, but the pasta stole the show. a beef ragu with veggies tucked inside was incredible and i would highly recommend trying it. All of the dishes were prepared perfectly and we will definitely go back! Great for a quick bite out, date, night with your friends

Grape and Grain-

Grape and Grain (http://www.grapeandgrain.net/) is cozy laid back wine and tapas bar tucked into the east village on 6th street between Avenue B and C. This dark dimly lit restaurant gives off very relaxing vibe, with brick walls and dim lighting provided by old fashion chandeliers, you can’t help but pop in, at least for a drink. Inside of our table was a drawer filled with secret notes and poems from past diners. Have a great time reading this hilarious hidden messages, especially the one about the Jewish transvestite going to McDonalds (really funny and includes a picture). Don’t forget to add your own message to the drawer before you leave.

Grape and Grain offers a nice and reasonably priced wine selection, so pop open a bottle or have a glass before deciding which delicious item on the menu to try. The presentation of the dishes was beautiful. We started with the tuna Carpaccio which was sliced into very thick pieces of tuna, and accompanied by a jalapeño infused citrus vinaigrette and pickled avocados, a very bold dish. The meatballs did not disappoint, they were cooked perfectly and the roasted chicken salad was filled with flavor. Known for the pizza’s, we tried the margarita and Portobello. They were both wonderful , and made on a delicious foccacia bread. We capped off our meal with the apple dessert. It consisted of a warm apple tart with apple sauce covering the top (that was a little weird, could have left off the apple sauce- was never a fan of adding it to things), but the cinnamon ice cream truly made up for the extra sauce. A wonderful way to kick off the week, would recommend this place for a group of friends or for a cute date night.

Cozy up at Perbacco

Perbacco(www.perbacconyc.com ) Is an adorable, cozy romantic Italian restaurant tucked away in the East Village. The brick walls are lit by soft candles and there is light music playing in the background making this restaurant great for any occasion. There are a few long tables in the middle of the restaurant, so it would be great for groups too. Our waiter was very helpful with selecting a wine from the impressive wine list. We went with a Gavi (always works for us).

We toasted to the New Year and then our cheese plate arrived. It was beautiful (see picture below), an 18 month aged parmigiano reggiano, sweet gorgonzola, d.o.p, birro valtellina and castelmagno. Each cheese was paired to perfection with a honey, mustard, pepper spread and celery spread. The salad was very refreshing, the touch of honey really completed it. Then the meatballs arrived… they were delectable, absolutely cooked to perfection they melted in your mouth. Definitely one of the best meatballs we have had yet.



For our main course we had the Risotto al Tartufo and the seared tuna. There were so many truffles on top of and mixed in to the risotto it was a wonderful delicious surprise. The tuna was sliced into thin curls resting on top of a bed of chopped endive. It was cooked to perfection and paired beautifully with the endive.

Since it was early we fired we would have another bottle of wine with our dessert (good move!), the Hamburger Di Cioccolata (homemade chocolate slider) was not only the most adorable delicious dessert, and it was perfectly disguised! It literally looked like a burger and fries! The “bun” was angel food cake; the “lettuce/onions/tomato” was made up of caramelized apples with a light caramel sauce and the “meat” was a thick chocolate mousse. Next to this mini sweet slider were “fries and ketchup”. The “fries” were thinly sliced pears and the “ketchup” was a warm raspberry sauce, truly a beautiful presentation.



Whether you are looking for a quite cozy date night, dinner with your friends or just authentic excellent Italian food, head to Perbacco, you won’t be disappointed.

Jadis, just relax

Jadis- (www.jadisnyc.com ) What a fantastic hidden gem on the LES. When you walk into this dim lit, cozy wine bar, you know you have found the perfect spot for a relaxing night out. The dark wood, exposed brick and wine bottles (scattered everywhere) it’s surprising how large the space really it. The back area is full of couches and is the perfect spot for a large group; smoking patio in the back completes the scene.

There is a wonderful and reasonably priced selection of wines French wines to choose from. Our waitress was very helpful in selecting a nice wine for us to try. The cheese plate was delicious, a great variety to choose from (and I must admit, all my favorites were on the list!) Brie Goat, Pierre Robert, Manchego, Camembert and Gruyere. The pininis were toasted to perfection and the light salad on the side completed the dish. But what really stood out were the mouth watering quiches. The Quiche Au Poulet , the Popeye and the Lorrain were by far the best quiches I have ever had in my life, by far the best in the city. End the night at this perfect date spot by cuddling up and sharing the Chocolat Fondant . Jadis is great place for a night out with your friends or sharing a romantic evening. Definitely worth going back!

Wine30, Let me warn you, this is a bit aggressive…..

Wine30 (www.wine30nyc.com/)When you walk into Wine30, you want to like it. It is a cute (tiny) wine bar in Murray Hill with nice dim lighting and exposed brick walls. Unfortunately that is the most positive thing I am able to say about Wine30… When we arrived all tables were reserved, so we sat at the bar… this wasn’t terrible because the owner was the person behind the bar (one would assume good service would follow) (FYI MAN IN THE PIC= HORRIBLE OWNER!). Wine came right away, and then the wait began. We ordered appetizers and our main meal right away, as well as a cheese to start since we were starving……

We waited 30 minutes until the waitress came over and asked if we had received our order, obviously we hadn’t (either she would have served it to us or seen us eating it)… When the bar tender heard us, he grabbed the first plate he saw and gave it to us… it wasn’t what we ordered- it was someone else’s (it was a selection of dips, which we tried out of pure starvation, and it wasn’t great), we explained that they weren’t ours and they were quickly/ angrily taken away. We finally received 6 pieces of "bruschetta", which were really just small burnt pieces of toast with little toppings. It was not very good, and there were 3 of us so it was a bit annoying to split. The cheese came on a tiny plate with a jam that didn’t pair well with it and we had to ask for bread since we weren’t planning on eating the brie with our fingers (very disappointing!) Then waiting another 20 mins for our main course to arrive. The plates were too small; the chicken was not warm- and considering it took so long you would think it would be hot! Mediocre service is an understatement.. No one asked how our food was, the bar tender was so focused on the regulars; if he wasn’t staring at us awkwardly, he was yelling over us to talk to the people behind us! A waiter dropped a bunch of plates (which had some splatter) and didn’t say a word, didn’t even check.

Finally when the bar tender/owner asked how our meal was we explained that it wasn’t great, that we waited forever and the food was mediocre, he then proceeded to YELL at us for 10 minutes! Have you ever heard of a restaurateur yelling at 3 small girls? He then got angry, yelling got louder, went over to the computer to print out our order to show us the “time issue” (which he was wrong about and wouldn’t admit to), proceeded to ask us what amount of time we expected brachetta to take.. The whole experience was unreal. The arguing continued, and then the bill arrived. We placed our credit cards in to split the bill and he then threw the credit cards back at us saying “here, I hope you’re happy, THANK YOU LADIES!” The behavior was absolutely shocking! DO NOT GO TO WINE30- it is a horrible small place with bad food and terrible service!

Very disappointing experience

Stay away from SD26

SD26 (www.sd26ny.com ) was a very unpleasant experience. The ceilings were very high, a large very open feel to the restaurant, you can see the open kitchen wherever you are sitting. The waiter brought over water, and it tasted like there was something wrong with it or the glass had not been washed properly and there was still detergent. When we asked for new water he tried to sell us “extra filtered water”- um what? We had a few waiters; it was hard to keep track of who was actually helping us. They came around with bread- that was probably the best part of the experience. The wine list is on a screen- which at first we thought was cool, and sort of game like, but quickly realized that the wines were all super expensive and there were no descriptions… a man came over to “help us with the wines” the first thing he said was “well if you ask me ladies, anything over $500 goes great with everything!”, I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually spend $500 on a bottle of wine on a week night. He then tried to up charge us, we asked about one of the bottles, and he told us about a different one saying it was “just $4 more” when really it was about $30 more! Ok onto the food situation…the cheese were ok (nothing interesting like we are used to), but they came with 5 walnuts, we basically had to beg for bread to go with it. The peppers were good, but the portion was tiny. Then came our lobster pasta… let’s just say calling it “andante” is being nice! It wasn’t even close to being fully cooked, so obviously that was that, and you couldn’t tell it was lobster- the few pieces (not even a full bight) were so small, it was unrecognizable as lobster. This experience was a disaster, and when we got the bill it was $94, they expect people to pay that much for not eating?! So when the manager came over, we decided to tell him the truth about what we thought of our dinner…he apologized, asked if he could get us dessert- we said no, there was nothing on the menu even worth the calories, so he said he would adjust the bill…..and that he did $11 for each of us--- yes we were impressed by that. We ended up having to go to another restaurant nearby to actually eat…. Terrible restaurant, rude pushy waiters, awful food, I bet it will close soon- don’t go!

Tapeo 29

Tapeo 29 (www.tapeo29.com) When you round the corner of Stanton onto Clinton you are faced with a giant wooden door. When you step inside wooden room, white candles scatter a soft glow across the restaurant, and the two side windows are open to let in a gentle breeze. The space is small, and intimate with fun music blaring in the background. There is a nice selection of Spanish wines, which our waitress was happy to help us with and let us sample a few before we selected a bottle (sometimes we can be picky). We started with our usual cheese plate, not a huge selection but the cheeses they had we loved! The tapas dishes are simple, light but very flavorful- classic pairings of the shrimp with garlic and olive oil (phenomenal), Pan con Tomate (was delicious with the cheese!), and albondigas con salsa de tomate (yes that’s right, we love meatballs). We polished off our meal with the Tarta de chocolate… a very rich chocolate cake with warm chocolate sauce topping… absolutely heavenly. Overall Tapeo 29 was great, a perfect date place or fun night out with the girls, from the cool dark atmosphere to the wines, cheeses, tapas and the dessert. Also--- Monday nights are themed- each Monday there is a drink special—this Monday margaritas!!!

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Bar Artisanal.. the disapointment

Bar Artisanal (http://www.artisanalbistro.com/) When walking in, you are immediately impressed by the large, well lit space with extremely high ceilings. There is a bar, a cheese bar and then various tables throughout. Now I must warn you now... we didn't not have the most "pleasant" experience with the host staff... When we arrived there were a number of open tables, however since we didn't have a reservation we were told the only place for us to sit was at the cheese bar.. host was rude and not accommodating whatsoever. So off to the cheese bar we went for a glass of wine and to scope out the cheeses before getting seated at a real table. We were given a cheese menu to look at (it's great cause you can check off the cheeses you like/want), however be careful asking to borrow a pen- if you don't return it immediately the person behind the cheese counter will stalk you 3 hours later to get it back!

Off to our table... LOTS of menus- they provide a small menu for you to "check off" which small plates you would like to try, a cheese menu (with suggested pairings), a wine/beer menu and finally a main menu. We enjoyed the wine we had started with (Albariño), but when we asked for a bottle to accompany dinner we were told that they had run out which was slightly disappointing. The cheese selection is fabulous as it is a collection of some of the great cheeses by Artisanal (www.artisanalbistro.com), so we started with a cheese plate- the cheeses were delicious! All of our favorites- Epoisse, Camembert, Taleggio, Gruyere, Humbolt Fog. It was a little difficult getting our waitresses attention, so we were unable to "pair" all of the cheese with wine since we ran out of wine and didn't get a refill until it was too late:(

For our main course we ordered a pizza, chicken, green beans and mac & cheese..... The pizza was good, but nothing to write home about. Now, here is where the meal took a serious turn for the worse... the chicken was SO salty, one bite was the equivalent of pouring a jar of salt into your mouth, and part of the chicken was raw....the green beans were good (only thing we were truly able to eat and enjoy), and to our disappointment our waitress forgot our mac & cheese! So overall, this was very disappointing.... Dessert managed to "save the night". The cherry creme brule was fabulous and the hazelnut mouse melted in your mouth. So overall, we could only suggest popping into Bar Artisanal for a nice cheese selection or dessert, but I don't see us running back anytime soon...

Enjoy the video.....

Bocca

Bocca(http://www.boccanyc.com/) Cute restaurant, deceivingly large space, but empty...When you walk in you walk past the long bar and then the room opens up: There are pillow lined benches around the room and lots of tables scattered through the middle, very nicely decorated, sexy atmosphere. However, the restaurant was completely empty- yes that’s right we were the only 3 people in the entire restaurant besides the waiters! And surprisingly we still had a difficult time getting our waiters attention! We started with our usual bottle of wine and ordered the cheese plate, which was pretty good, nice selection of cheeses with a few different spreads. We also enjoyed a salad and one of the many pasta dishes. However, We did have a little incident with our waiter regarding our pasta… the waiter would not allow us to have parmesan cheese on our pasta. We asked for cheese and were immediately denied- the shock, the horror- how could people want cheese on their pasta?! The nerve of us to even ask!
Overall the food was pretty good, but it was a little uncomfortable being the only people there… would probably be a fun place for a group if you could ever get the waiters attention...but whatever you do- don't ask to have cheese on your pasta!

Solex

Solex... despite the fact that we did the "early bird" (got there around 6pm), service was NOT included..... yes that's right, we were the patrons, the servers and the bus boys (oh wait we were the only people in the restaurant)... dont worry we tipped ourselves well! We had to get up from our seats, walk to the bar to ask questions, to order, AND to pick up our own food! Despite the service (or lack thereof), the food overall was pretty good. We began with a cheese plate which was good, not fabulous(ie no accoutrements). The pizza was tasty, and the salad was decent, but after reviewing the desserts (again lack thereof) we ended up trucking to 16 handles (fyi YOU MUST TRY THIS PLACE!!!! -hey this counts it's still in the "dairy family").

As for Solex- it's a shame it's now closed... waitressing really could have been our second calling.