Remedy Diner

LES has a new 24 hour diner on East Houston and Norfolk Street. This shiny corner restaurant makes up for the much anticipated and quickly closed Loside a few blocks away. Remedy has a retro feel with shiny metal doors with retro glass portals, faux wood, and banquets that are rust and beige. Nice cushiony seats at the counter make the restaurant very appealling to single diners. Waiters wear tshirts with a drawn in bowtie- how cute. Now for the food. I had a dinner special and most were between $12-$16 bucks and that comes with a voluminus amount of food. Nice warm potato rolls and breadsticks first and then a very good tomatoey lentil soup. Next was a a salad that was somewhat browned which was a sign that their salad stock was not too fresh. The main course of tilapia in a provencal sauce with a baked potato and spinanch was cooked to order and the fish was very tasty. Their takeout menu supplies were depleted so more on their menu another time, but I am encouraged that the food will continue to improve with time and increased number of customers. On a second visit with my dad for lunch there is a long list of lunch specials starting at $6.95- $9.00 which include soup and dessert. Good deal. My lunch special of chicken salad with bacon and fries arrived sans bacon. The waiter quickly retrieved some bacon from the kitchen. Dad's paella which was not on the lunch special menu was pretty flavorless. The dessert of bread pudding was warmed and tasty though the waiter forgot to leave off the whipped cream on top. Stick to diner classics here!

Gusto Organics

A new organic food spot opened at the corner of 6th Ave and 14th street called gusto. All menu items are certified organic which for me is code for healthy but bland and tasteless. I won't say the food was the most interesting, or the menu very varied, but it did taste healthful in a pleasant environment. The restaurant is quite large and at lunch was filling up fast. The chairs and tables were a piney wood- very natural looking and a wall of plants added to the zen feeling. From my window view, I watched cartons of boxes that said organic being wheeled into the restaurant so it certified organic no doubt. The bathroom was also spotless and candle scented with a wooden communal sink and glass doored toilet rooms. Oh and the food, well I had the potato and onion soup which had a nice potatoey flavor with no cream, and the margarita pizza also tasted very fresh though the crust amd cheese were not of my dreams. My drink of fresh squeezed orange juice which I was told was squeezed this morning was not as pulpy as I like. There are only a few salad choices- spinich, mixed greans and arugala and alot of pizzas. I would prefer lots more salad choices personally. Well my wish has been answered. On my lunch visit on Monday a salad bar was added with all organic selections and dressings. Start with arugula or spinich greens and add-ons were plentiful including beautiful strawberries, cheeses, peppers, peanuts, and eggs. The dressings were very good including a balsamic vinagrette as well as lemony and strawberry vinagrette. All for $10 served in a large porcelan bowl with real utensils. There are some organic portuguese inspired desseres like alfajores and pasteleras with organic pastry. If you are looking for organic and a pleasant setting you can give this spot a shout out.

Saigon 48

This spot is a real surprise inside. Located in the heart of the theatre district where some Asian restaurants are a bit run down this place is pretty, sleek and serene inside. With a lunch special menu of $6.95, can you really go wrong. Saigon 48 is definitely a cut above the other neighborhood Asian joints. I enjoyed the pork chops which were a generous helping of thinly sliced pork chops, bone in meat, flavored with honey and nicely charred over a bed of Vietnamese fried rice with a spring roll. Very tasty! Other lunch special offerings include sauteed shrimp, sauteed chicken Vietnamese style with ginger and honey as well as the famous Pho(a hearty traditional soup with thinly sliced beef, noodles, basil and hoisin dipping sauce) as well as several others. Lots of newspaper postings hanging in the restaurant indicate that others are keen on this place as well.

Franny's

Back to Brooklyn. At my namessake, they are turning out remarkable pizzas in a modern, though bland restuarant setting. On Flatbush Avenue on the Prospect Heights side this pizza plus joint does many things well. From the house cured meats to lovely appetizers like beets with walnuts, hot peppers and pecorino rossellino. Large, circular fresh beets paired with the crunchy walnuts and spicy peppers and yummy perorino makes for a great start. I have been there several times and have had different pizzas, and all are thin, well charred and flavorful cooked in their brick ovens. The tomato, buffalo mozzarella, basil and garlic is so juicy with the perfect crust. The unusual clams, chilies and parsley could have had a slight bit more kick to it. The pizza with sausage is super tasty. There is an extensive wine list here and service is neighborhoody and friendly. A lovely garden is a nice summer retreat from the bland interior. Nice bathroom with stenciling.
GO!

Cafe Katja

This little and I mean teeny spot is bangin and charming with Euro architectural touches. Who would have thought an Austrian restaurant on Orchard Street would be this popular, but one taste of the authentic fare explains it all. Now I love Austrian food, being half- Austrian notwithstanding. This spot is owned by an Austrian expat(ya!) the food here is fresh and flavorful. A salad of roasted beets and goat cheese with caraway seeds and pumpkin oil was vinegary and boldly flavored. The red cabbage salad with toasted walnuts, apple and ligonberry dressing also stood out as tart and fresh. Order a warm pretzel served with spicy horseradishy mustard to chow down with the salads. For the main course, the cheese spaetzle with emmantaler and chives was like Austrian mac and cheese. Warm and comforting the mini, mini dumplings called spaetzle were oh so good and even better the next day as leftovers. For dessert the homemade linzer torte with (mit) schlag(homemade whipped cream) was rustic and good. The homemade chocalate cake mit schlag was good as well. The food is very reasonably priced with no entree priced at over $16 and made to order so you can understand the crowd on a cold rainy night. Zer gut meine lieber!

Essex Street Market (Mercado)

No description of Shopsins would be complete without a piece of information about this market. Moved a few times to it's present incarnation, Essex street has served the Loisaida for many, many years. There are several fruit and veggie vendors offering the run of the mill to the specialized- small baby carrots, thin French beans, and lots of tropical fruits- mangoes, pineapples, papaya all at very cheap for Manhattan prices. A whole pineapple can be found for a mere $2.00. There is Jeffery's meat market a mainstay here offering lots of cuts of cow, and pork. New to the market are Saxelby cheese which features farmfresh American made cheeses and Sullivan street breads. Also, Formaggio Essex dabbles in the more exotic imported cheeses as well as olives, fresh olive oil and serrano and specialty hams. One of my fav shops is Roni Sue Chocalates whose wares are made fresh in her small cute as a button shop. Butternut crunch is buttery sweet and some dark and milk chocalates some with fruits like figs and raspberries are delish. Only downside to this market reminicicent of many I have visited in Latin America is that it is open only till 7PM and closed Sunday. One makes due at these prices and to enjoy the lively market atmosphere. This aint whole paycheck folks.

Shopsins General Store

WOW- what is this place you will ask as you wander through the mercado at Essex Street Market. It looks like a play grocery store with a few tables and open shelves stocked with kitchen food supplies like canned goods and industrial size vanilla containers etc. They do anything but play here. This former West Village restaurant has one of the most unique food offerings in all of NYC. With a menu so extensive, listing hundreds of items sort of like a diner, but food tasting so fresh and flavored Shopsins rocks the house. The shop is open very limited hours and serves mostly breakfast and lunch items. Many of the foods used in dishes have foods supplied by vendors in the market which adds a fresh flavor to the food. I have eaten here twice for breakfast and lunch. For breakfast we had the Adobe which is an egg burrito with beans and spinach covered by cranberry salsa and homemade coconut pancakes served with a mini bottle of pure maple syrup for $14 and also shared a Saxelby egg sandwhich with cheese from the next store cheese purveyor. The adobe tasted like a combo of dishes you would find on the left coast-the savory egg burrito with beans and sweet coconut pancakes as well as the tart cranberry salsa on top of this combo of flavors was killer! The cheese sandwich was just delish as well. At lunch I enjoyed and I do mean enjoyed a chicken and cheese enchilada. The waitress asked how spicy on a scale of 1-10 and I said an 8. This was a great explosion of flavors. Sitting at the counter of Shopsins and watching the family Shopsin, cook, serve and schmooze with customers they are an eccentric though comedic lot. Shopsins is just on of the most unique, quirky and delicious dining experiences around town! I do admit on a subsequent visit, not having any service. Bringing my dad to the Shopsin spot, I was very dissapointed at the nasty attitude that was displayed by the Shopsin son while we waited over 5 minutes for him to clean a table, as he said just give me a few minutes several times snottily. We left as the blatant annoyance displayed with customers is sometimes sort of comedic in a NY sort of way and other times just plain annyoying. I wll no doubt eat there again when service is mildy friendlier.

Il Fornaretto Bakery

The smell of freshly baked brick oven bread permeates the air at this Bensonhurst institution. Il Fornatto bakes bread the old fashioned way with natural ingredients in a brick oven. Different types of bread, baguettes, white, semolina and wheat as well as cookies and biscotti are available at this busy bakery. The semolina round loaf has a billowy inside and a well baked exterior. The day after Hurricane Irene, the smell of freshly baked bread wafting through the air was familiar and welcome. Old school loaves of Italian love. Perfetto!

Morimoto

Iron Chef's restaurant Morimoto is a light colored ultra modern space on the edge of the meatpacking distict. Here a team of sushi chefs and iron chefs in training served by an army of waiters and busboys in black dish out the sophisticated Japanese fare. The signature salad with dried shallots is tasty. Miso soup with chunky tofu is warming. Oh and the fish here is top of the line, melt in your mouth sushi with losts of hmms abounding from happy mouthed diners. Desserts of mini pastries including green tea cremebrulee tart and a mini brownie are a yummy ending to a fine meal. After lunch or dinner the tranquil restrooms equipped with TOTO(imported Japanese) toilets which are heated and programable. One more point is that the wait staff here especially the busboys are some of the best looking men in black around town.

Primehouse New York

Taking advantage of midwinter restaurant week, we lunched at the Primehouse on Park Ave South. For $20.08 for lunch at participating restaurants, you can have a 3 course extravaganza. Now primehouse is pricey in general although average for a steakhouse. It is an exciting place to eat, new digs and great service and lots of youngish business people dining out hopefully still on expense accounts after the markets last tumbles. Well, lunch was very very good. The restaurant serves bialy like bread on sort of skewer. These bialyish breads are warm and better than most bagel stores even in the boroughs. Next course was onion soup with imported Gruyere, dense and rich served with a toast point with bacon- very good. The next course was braised short ribs with root veggies and mashed. The mashed and veggies were perfect, the (short rib) was a tad try and not moist to my taste. Dessert was terrific with a chocolate cake- very well done considering they are so overdone. This molten laced rich, gooey filling was served with wonderful pistachio ice-cream and dried cherries. You know how I love ice-cream. So if someone is treating or you want to treat yourself to a meaty meal Primehouse does satisfy.

Seymour Burton

The new and new looking Seymour Burton restaurant is just too cute to ignore. Set in a space that looks not quite finished, this spot is like eating at a friends house while watching them cook for you. The open kitchen cooks to order and during my recent brunch foray, I was the only customer at noon, adding to that being in a friend's kitchen as well as chatting with the owner and waitress. Two flaky, sugary, salty little biscuits arrived- delish and original. I could'nt resist the potato pancake with creme fraiche, salmon, and arugula and this was the ultimate latke- big, dense, flavored with all the other flavors adding the perfect balance. The coffee arrives in it's own press. For dessert housemade ice-cream for the kid in you although chocalate/whiskey is definitely an adult flavor. This friendly little spot has an interesting menu and cooks everything in their very open kitchen with a friend's touch. Should you go? Go!

Alchemy

If you're down on 5th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn that is check out the brunch offerings at this wood and exposed brick North Slope restaurant and bar. At brunch Alchemy is a little quieter than some of the hotter 5th Avenue joints like Miriam's restaurant across the street. Alchemy offers comfort style options at booths or communal tables. Great burgers and typical brunch offerings as well as specials like yummy huevos rancheros make make Alchemy a fun alternative to the busier spots. Of course, beer on tap and the other brunch drinks made barside don't hurt.