Park Italian Gourmet

I couldn't decide what to get for lunch on Friday, so I continued to the next spot on the block by block challenge: Park Italian Gourmet. There are a few places between Karam and Park Italian, but they are definitely out of my price range for lunch.

Park Italian Gourmet is an old-style Italian deli. I loved that the guy up front was having a conversation completely in Italian with someone else. It gave the place a character that a lot of places are missing these days.


I went with the intention of getting a sandwich. I knew they had liverwurst, so I was planning to get that, turkey and provolone. Sadly they were out of liverwurst for the day so I went with pastrami.


I got the sandwich on rye bread and they gave a generous portion of meat. I topped it off with mustard, lettuce, tomato, oil and vinegar.


The sandwich was pretty good. Definitely not your regular thin Subway sandwich. I might look into the hot food options next time since those looked good too. Or maybe I'd just go back to try the liverwurst.

More Goodbyes

Looks like Carrabba's started a pattern. Since learning about their closing, I also found out about many other places we've been that have closed or are closing. Places close all the time but it's not often that so many of them (in a row) are places I've been to! There's a place in Brooklyn where A got coffee and we got cake for a birthday party that is closing at the end of the year because their lease is going up, my mom mentioned an Italian place (not Carrabba's) in Staten Island closed but it's unclear if it was a management change or actually closed down, and then there were these 2.

I went to Nooi for the first (and only) time during the summer of 2010. They had recently opened and were a make your own pasta combination place. I liked the idea, it could be as healthy as you wanted to make it and it was affordable and tasty. However, it was a bit far from the office so I never made it back. I was hoping they would survive, but read on one of the food blogs (don't remember which one) yesterday that they were closed. They had really cute packaging:


And I liked their "bolo" (bolognese) pasta:


Maybe they'll reopen elsewhere. Until then, goodbye Nooi.

And then there's the place we went to with my parents for Mothers Day/Fathers Day dinner, Matsuri. The restaurant space at the Maritime Hotel apparently got sold and they're closing in March.


We got a bunch of appetizers there and also a large sushi combination. The place was pretty good. Very expensive, but good.


We probably won't go there again before they close, so, goodbye Matsuri.

Let's hope I don't have to do more of these goodbye posts before the end of the year. I still remember saying goodbye to Barros Luco earlier this year and that was really sad.

Parisian Salad Pizza

Crisp is running another coupon special this week and this time it's $5 for a pizza. The pizzas are 9 inch personal pizzas that usually cost $7.95 (for the non-basic pizzas), so this is a good deal!

I haven't tried the pizzas before so I definitely wanted to take advantage of this deal. Crisp has 4 types of pizzas - basil, cheese and tomato; Mexican salad; Greek salad; and Parisian salad. Before I got to Crisp, I planned on getting the Greek salad pizza, but after reading the descriptions again, I decided I was more in the mood for the Parisian, so I went with that.


The Parisian salad pizza, according to the menu description, has greens, roasted peppers, grape tomatoes, goat cheese and red onions. Even though the description didn't mention falafel, I thought, for some reason, that there would be falafel on the pizza, since it's in the other items like the burgers. I'm not really sure how that would work or taste.


I liked the pizza. I didn't have much of an appetite at lunchtime (rare for me), and this pizza felt really light (even if it had a lot of goat cheese on it). The crust wasn't thin or crispy, and it was more like a whole wheat pita. I liked the chewy texture. It looked like the pizza crust was baked with basic pizza ingredients and then topped with the salad ingredients. I really liked how the light, crisp salad worked with the pizza. Those who dislike garlic and onion should beware the Parisian pizza though. There were some sharp red onions and the garlic was still a little raw, so it was very strong. I like that, but I know not everyone does.

A salad piled on top of a pizza isn't the easiest thing to eat with your hands. Often the salad tumbled off the pizza, but I didn't mind since it was like having a side salad at the end. I got the Parisian falafel sandwich once during last year's coupon specials and I remember liking it, but not liking it that much in my ranking of sandwiches (which I never wrote down). I think I actually like the Parisian ingredients better on the pizza. I wonder what a African (my favorite sandwich) salad pizza would taste like.

Goodbye Carrabba's

A sent me some crazy news this afternoon. The Carrabba's restaurant on Staten Island, which isn't that far from my parents' place and which we frequent on about 90% of our visits there, closed suddenly on Sunday morning. According to news sources, the staff was called in Sunday morning and told the restaurant was closing and they were out of a job. That really sucks for the staff, especially at the holidays. The chain itself isn't gone, but since the closest restaurant is now somewhere in Jersey, it's highly unlikely we'll be going there anytime soon. So... goodbye Carrabba's. I still can't believe, after all these years of going there pretty regularly, that it's just gone. We had no idea our visit over Thanksgiving would be our last.

We will miss... the delicious bread and the special blend of herbs that came with it.


Sometimes they gave full loaves and sometimes halves, but however it arrived, we usually ate a few servings of it. Multiple plates of bread and herbs. The herbs in the olive oil are the perfect accompaniment for bread, and we will miss that.

We will miss... the lentil and sausage soup (which, luckily, was the soup of the day when we went last time), the refreshing salads, and the free order of calamari that came from the foursquare loyalty special (that marinara sauce was really, really good).


We will miss... our favorite entrees.


Looking at this collage, I realize that the last dinner we had there with my parents was a perfect representation of our meals there. My dad almost always gets the linguine pescatore, my mom almost always gets the chicken gratella/grilled chicken with two vegetable sides, A got the tagliarini picchi pacchiu (which was the very first thing I tried there), and I got the classics plate, which had chicken parmesan (another favorite) and lasagna (the first thing A ate there).

I'm still in disbelief that the restaurant is closed. I figured we would be back there the next time we went back, but apparently it's already boarded up for its transition to Bonefish Grill. I feel really bad for the staff. Not the holiday gift anyone wants. Goodbye Carrabba's.

Popi's Grill

For our first meal in Naxos, we went to a place that our guidebook and all the signs said was the oldest family tavern in Naxos. It has been around since 1948 and they served products from their own farm. With that type of "advertising," Popi's Grill sounded like the perfect place for us.


We started out with a small bottle of white wine which was made in Naxos. (As was the case at many of our Naxos meals, we focused on anything on the menu that was a product or specialty of Naxos, since we figured it would be difficult to get those items elsewhere.) We don't remember much about this wine right now but it was good.


We got our usual order of saganaki. This saganaki was fine (crusty edges, chewy insides) but it wasn't the best we had in Greece. It was like the saganaki we would get at home (but again, without the flames).


We also got a Greek salad consisting of tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, onions, peppers and feta cheese. This was nice and refreshing. In our opinion, it's difficult to go wrong with a Greek salad in Greece. Everything is fresh, flavorful and healthy.


They gave us a platter of grilled bread. The bread was grilled with olive oil and herbs, and it was really, really good. It was nice as an accompaniment to the other dishes and also on its own.


The fried calamari was nicely fried and crisp. It didn't come with any sauces - only lemon - and was a good mix of the rings and the legs.


Our last selection was the "sausage of Naxos" (again, I think we picked everything that said Naxos in its name). It was a little dry, probably a little overgrilled, but the sausage itself was nicely spiced. It came with a side of fried potato slices.


At the end of the meal, they brought over small shot glasses. I think these were complimentary and are supposed to aid in digestion. It was a little spiced, if we remember correctly.


We had a pretty good meal at Popi's Grill. It wasn't our favorite meal in Naxos or even our favorite meal in the Chora (main town) area of Naxos, but it was solid. Sadly the restaurant was empty the entire time we were there and every time we passed by on other nights. We usually gravitate toward places that are busy (better food turnover, follow the locals, etc) but this time we had trusted things we read which said this place was good. We weren't disappointed with the experience but were puzzled as to how they could stay in business. It looked like they also had a part of the business that consisted of selling items from their farm in large quantities to other restaurants and that part looked relatively busy. We hope that's the case. The people at Popi's were really nice and, as the oldest family tavern in Naxos, we would like them to stay in business.

Almond Biscuits

On our way from Mykonos to Naxos, we snacked on some almond biscuits that we purchased in Mykonos.


The place we got them from in Mykonos was a family owned establishment, and the interior was filled with pictures of each master baker throughout the years as well as their families.


Their shop had lots of almond products including their special almond bisctuits, Amigthalota.



Amigthalota

Cross section of Amigthalota
Amigthalota is a dessert made with almond meal in place of flour. They are baked and then covered in powdered sugar. The baking process crisps the exterior to offer a nice bite to the dessert while leaving the middle soft and chewy. The powdered sugar exterior adds a bit of extra sweetness that complements the crushed almonds and almond essence.

A recalls having eaten these or something similar earlier in life, but he can't remember where or when this might have been. It could also have been some sort of wild food dream/hallucination, but he's so certain of having had them before. Regardless, it was a treat that he certainly loved having (for the first time?) again while on the boat. M also liked the amigthalota. She particularly liked the soft, chewy interior and found that the biscuits had a hint of lemon flavor. Great snack.

Wondee Siam II

Wondee Siam is one of the most talked-about Thai restaurants in Hell's Kitchen. There's often a crowd outside (not a Totto Ramen sized crowd but a crowd nonetheless) so we still haven't been there yet. But in the area you can order from Wondee Siam II (a little further north on 9th Avenue) or Wondee Siam III (on 10th Avenue). We order from Wondee III semi-regularly at home, but I haven't ordered from Wondee II at work in some time. Ever since that time a few years ago when they took over 2 hours to deliver a dinner that was supposed to take 30 minutes, I have been hesitant. I tried again today and I'm happy to say that they came right within the delivery estimate so I was quite satisfied. On to the food...

I started with the basil roll ($5.50 for 6 pieces).


The basil roll is basically a skinny summer roll, cut up into 6 pieces and filled with fresh Thai basil, mint, lettuce, steamed shrimp, and rice noodles, served with a tamarind sauce. I was surprised by the size since it cost $5.50. I was expecting something larger/wider like the summer rolls other places offer, which have a diameter the size of the dipping sauce cup. I did appreciate that the skinnier size meant that less of the fillings fell out into the sauce or onto my hand, but it seemed to be a bit of a small portion for the price. The roll was fresh and clean, and the sauce that it came with, the tamarind sauce, was delicious. The menu also said there would be ground peanuts but I didn't see any. I didn't miss them.

Next was the tofu salad ($4.50).

This looked better when it arrived but I forgot to take the photo and ate some of the tofu
This was a salad of lettuce with 3 tomato half-slices, 2 cucumber slices and some skinny carrot pieces, topped with 3 fluffy pieces of soft tofu. Similar to the basil roll, this was fresh and clean. I poured the dressing, their special house dressing, over the salad but it didn't add much flavor. This was odd to me as I had tried the dressing before pouring it and thought it was really good. The salad ingredients must have been so watery that the dressing (which wasn't that thick) got diluted once it hit the tin. Dipping the ingredients turned out to be a much better idea. I didn't finish the salad when it was just lettuce left as it was boring, but the tofu was perfect.

Last, the larb gai salad ($9.95).


The larb gai was described on the menu as "chopped chicken tossed with ground toasted rice, scallions, red onions and hot chili in Thai-style lime vinaigrette." It came with a small container of white rice on the side, just like how it's served in delivery orders from Wondee III. I liked the larb from Wondee III but didn't connect in my head that it would probably be a similar recipe. This was labeled as mildly spicy on the menu, but I think my taste buds are out of practice with spicy food (sadly), so it hit me harder than it should have. The dish was really tasty and I liked it.

I think I generally liked the food at Wondee II but had been shy about ordering after the last wait time debacle. Happy that I took the chance tonight. Very full after dinner, but very satisfied.

Madoupas

Our last meal in Mykonos was at a place called Madoupas, located along the waterfront. We thought the waterfront would be the perfect pit spot to find a place to eat before continuing on to the old port for our ferry to Naxos.


Madoupas had both indoor and outdoor seating. It was a gorgeous day (unlike the day before), so we decided to sit outside under the screens. We had a table in the "first row" and a truly spectacular view.

View from my seat
Like most other meals, the first thing to arrive was the bread. I don't remember if, at this point, we knew you could decline bread, but we didn't. The bread ended up being the perfect pairing for one of our dishes.


We got the cold appetizer sampler plate, consisting of tzatziki, spicy cheese salad (a spread), fish roe salad (aka taramosalata), stuffed vine leaves and black eyed beans. The bread was great with the different salads/spreads. This was a really good sampler and we liked it better than the other dish we ordered. The vine leaves and black eyed beans salad were good. Of the spreads, we think we liked the spicy cheese one the best but we don't really recall that clearly.


The table next to us had a plate of meatballs covered in tomato sauce that looked and smelled delicious. (They also told us that they were delicious!) We thought we had ordered the same thing but apparently we had gotten plain meatballs with fries. This wasn't bad but we were really looking forward to and expecting the meatballs in tomato sauce. The meatballs had a nice spice and flavoring, but they were fried and a little dry. The other dish was much better.


We weren't expecting a lot from Madoupas, since restaurants in popular locations with amazing views don't always have great food. This wasn't a bad meal but it wasn't the best we had in Mykonos (that award probably goes to Kounelas). After a leisurely meal, it was time to head to the port to go to Naxos!

Christmas Cupcake

Last week brought another opportunity for free sweets from the Sweetery truck, thanks again to Lord & Taylor. Similar to the last Lord & Taylor promotion for the holiday windows, they were offering free cupcakes, smores or whoopie pies (this time to promote the friends & family event).


I went for a cupcake like last time, except I got a vanilla cupcake with chocolate icing (instead of a chocolate cupcake):


The cupcake was really good, just like the last one. Moist cake, sweet but not too-sweet icing, crunchy sprinkles. I was so hungry on my way to lunch and this was the perfect snack. Thanks L&T and Sweetery!

Last Rochari Breakfast

The next morning we had our last breakfast at the Rochari. Most of the breakfast was the same as the other breakfasts we had there.

A got some coffee.


A got the same hot food as the previous days (they didn't really have a lot of variety) - ham, scrambled eggs and eggs over easy - and this time, a slice of chocolate bread.


Also the usual bowl of yogurt with honey.


Like the other days, I didn't find that much to eat for breakfast again. I got a piece of wheat toast and a few bites of scrambled eggs, and picked up a heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie, which was OK.


Either A or I got a bowl of chocolate cereal. We can't remember whether it was one of us or both of us.


I was looking forward to yogurt with fruit, usually my favorite part of breakfast, but we were eating late and they were out of fruit salad. So I got my yogurt with the chocolate cereal. It was OK but better with fruit.


In general, breakfast at the Rochari wasn't bad. There wasn't a lot of variety in the hot, savory options, but it is a free breakfast (well, included in the room rate) so I can't complain too much about it. It did its job. After our last breakfast at the Rochari, we got ready to check out and leave for our next destination, Naxos. We couldn't wait to see what breakfast at our Naxos hotel would be!

Kounelas

On our first night in Mykonos, we had passed by a fish tavern called Kounelas which had an amusing sign with a rabbit fishing. We really wanted to get some fish before leaving Mykonos so we decided on Kounelas for our last dinner. As we mentioned before, fish seemed really expensive at a lot of places in Mykonos, but Kounelas didn't seem as overpriced and they were busy (always a good sign).


Our meal started out with a bread basket which came with an olive dip. We don't remember much about it right now, but think we liked it.


We also got a bottle of retsina to split. This was like a good white wine and we enjoyed it. It had a bit more bite than most whites we've had before, and that was most likely due to the resin. Neither of us are really wine experts sadly.


We also got a few appetizers. One was the grilled feta cheese stuffed with tomatoes and peppers.


I was expecting blocks of grilled cheese (like saganaki) with tomatoes and peppers inside it (not sure how that would work). What arrived instead was warm grilled cheese with a layer of tomatoes and peppers over it like a salsa. It was delicious. The cheese was nice and gooey, and the tomatoes and peppers added a nice spice and complemented it well.

We also got a salad of rocket, tomato and ksinotyro (a local Mykonian cheese) which was light, healthy and refreshing. I loved salads in Greece because all the ingredients were so fresh and the salads kept us from feeling too weighed down by our meals.


The last appetizer we got was the taramosalata. While this was pretty good, the taramosalata at our hotel snack bar was less fishy and better.


The starring dish of our meal was the fish (not shocking since it is a fish tavern). Most of the fish and seafood at Kounelas was not listed on the menu by price and what you could get depended on the catch of the day. In order to get our main course, A went downstairs to the kitchen where they had him choose an estimated weight/size and then look at the fish in various drawers to choose the one we wanted. We ended up getting a sea bass (about 1/2 kilo), which turned out to be much less expensive than we thought it would be. We really liked how our choice was dictated by the fresh catch. The whole fish was simply grilled in their coal oven and then brought to our table.


Putting into practice the techniques we've learned from watching the waiters at NYC Chinese restaurants, A prepared the fish for our consumption:


The fish was meaty and proved to be more than enough food for dinner along with our 3 appetizers. It was delicious, very clean, flaky and full of flavor even though it was prepared simply with just olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper. We were really happy with our choice.


To close the meal, they dropped off a complimentary bottle of alcohol in an "interesting" shape. We declined since we had just had a whole bottle of retsina. We were, however, amused to watch another couple drinking theirs to the point where they were completely drunk since they felt obligated to drink it. If we had taken part, I'm not sure we would have been awake enough to pack that night.


I think if we had gone to Kounelas earlier in our trip we might have returned there for another dinner. The fish was that good, the prices were reasonable, the atmosphere was casual and relaxed, and the people were nice. This was the type of dinner we had been looking forward to before going to Greece - whole grilled fish and tasty appetizers. We would recommend a visit to Kounelas without hesitation. Excellent fish!