The Brooklyn Star

After a long day, we finally go to brunch at The Brooklyn Star, a nice spacious place in North Williamsburg.

Set on the corner of a relatively nice street, its no fuss decor of wooden tables, stools, benches and booths was quite nice to look at.

Everyone's just super friendly and super sweet from the bartenders who make a really awesome drink of alcoholic sweet tea to the wait staff and hostesses.

We opted not to sit at the bench tables in the center because, well, they were backless benches! A few sweet teas and you'll likely tumble over.

So I was perusing their brunch menu and lo and behold, at the bottom of it, we were told about how the lovely meat was gotten by the restaurant...as well as the vegetables. Now, don't get me wrong but I'm an omnivore - there is no such thing as a vegan or vegetarian in my house. But I only want to know that the animals were humanely raised and dispatched humanely - but not by a five point exploding heart punch. REALLY!!

menu - look at the bottom

I got the same sweet tea as Barb - just not as sweet - but it was refreshing and delicious...not as good as perhaps a pisco sour or a Sofrito mojito but very very good.

Sweet Alchy Tea - yum

As there is no substitution or anything of the sort - they appear to buy their meat in quarters so the wing and breast come together, the thigh and leg come together - which means if you eat dark meat (I don't), then you're actually getting a hefty serving of fried half chicken over waffle and a large half of a grapefruit! Totally overstuffing the average eater, of course...and not Adam Richman, I think.

We both do not eat dark meat so we opted to leave off the dark meat. This way they can serve that to other folks and we're not wasting food. But waste we did. For this is just too much food for one. I forgot to take an aftermath photo but my plate was devastated - Barb had leftovers for home. I did my best to demolish it all but woefully did not finish off the waffle or grapefruit.

Giant waffle, Grapefruit and Chicken.

So this picture does not do the food justice. It was just as big as anything - the grapefruit was huge! It had a coat of glazed sugar atop and actually I was only eating just a tiny wedge. It was quite delish but my, what a big fruit.

The waffle was plain batter and tasty. I used my butter all over it and poured at least 2 tablespoons of syrup over the thing. I managed to eat about 3/4 of this thing. I actually liked the citrus-infused syrup - at least I hope it was deliberately citrusy but if not...something was wrong. Barb hated it.

The chicken was crispy, moist, and tender. However it was quite fatty. Pies & Thighs still rules for me - crispy without fat.

This is a great place to gather - I would like to try their dinners sometime, however and more than a few of their beers. ;)



The Brooklyn Star
593 Lorimer Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
tel. 718.599.9899
Hours:

Brunch /
Sat & Sun
12 pm to 4 pm
Dinner /
Mon - Fri
5:00 pm to 2 am
Sat & Sun
6:00 pm to 2 am
Reservations accepted 8 or more

Out for lunch with the boys

Hane is atypical of pseudo Japanese joints that dot the midtown landscape.I believe previously I had reviewed their tough grilled meat.

This time, I went and had lunch with Suanstein and Dave at the restaurant. Suanstein actually was willing to eat outside his cubicle!!! Amazing.

Service was fast and friendly. As usual, the tables were pretty much squashed together so be forewarned. However, they were big enough to have room to eat...which most places do not bother with.

The bento lunch specials come with miso soup and shumai If you got the regular bento special - it comes with soup and salad.

The miso was very very bland - like water...and not clean water at that. I didn't bother with a picture because it was just watery, with bits of seaweed and tofu floating in its murkiness.

The salad was typical green lettuce...with ginger dressing over it. Nothing special.

Now...the shumai. Suanstein was right. It tasted just like some pre-frozen stuff from the supermarket aisle, reheated to a tepid warmness and prettily arranged for your visual pleasure. It came with six, generous serving size, but rather tasteless.

Shumai

Suanstein ordered a teriyaki box so I didn't take photos but Dave ordered this beautiful row of lobster tartar, cooked lobster with wasabi aioli sauce. It tasted decent to me but I do prefer a good lobster - whole or chopped as opposed to this.

Lobster Tartar

I went with fried chicken. Basic, and yet, it was very tasty. And I lied - there is the teriyaki bento special in the back with rice. Salmon teriyaki - a basic dish in these restaurants but I hear that this place makes a decent salmon - not crazy fishy tasting.

Teriyaki in the background! My bad! I did get a shot!

Here is the fried chicken, with shredded seaweed. Pretty presentation, I must say but the chicken was very tasty. There was no rice but you do not need it with all the shumai!

Fried Chicken, Yum!

Hane is decently priced for the area but nothing special. As always, I prefer sushi/sashimi in an authentic Japanese joint and that means going further away from work, which is why we always end up at these type of places!



Hane Sushi
581 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10016
tel: 212.682.8388
Hours: Still I haven't remembered to find it.

Overkill at Sofrito's!!

I heard about this Puerto Rican spot from several sources and fortunately, my bff decided that it was the place to go to last evening!

Hostess was nice and the place feels more like a lounge when you enter. It seemed like a date place but other duos were also women so it is just a nice place to eat. They pull out the table when you arrive at the table for the one sitting in the booth and the chair for you if you are on the other side. They also put the napkin on your lap. The napkins are true linen although they do line the table with paper.

They have a four course special for around $45 per person but it is limited to what is on the menu. We opted for a la carte.

Sofrito Mojito - so pretty with real sugar cane!

At the recommendation of the waitress, we got the Sofrito mojito, made with passion fruit and real sugar cane. Yes folks, some places still use real cane for their mojitos. It was absolutely divine and I drank 3 over the course of the meal. I could not help myself. Not too sweet with underlying flavors of the passion fruit and mint infusing with the rum and sugar cane.

Sofrito Mojito - passionfruit makes this heavenly!! It has also been instagrammed!

They even served bread seared on both sides with garlic and oil. I nibbled a bit to taste and it was good. I just didn't gobble it down like usual!

Complimentary carbs - Jane says no!

We decided on the shrimp and beef empanadas: overstuffed and sliced in half for us.

Two types of filling...one sweet sauce.

The shrimp was very, very good. It was a lot of shrimp filling which was chopped up shrimp with a blend of herbs. In a phrase, it was yummy! Of course, we love the chimichurri sauce and asked for it on the side!

Beef in the background, shrimp in the front...just plain TASTY!

The beef was just as overstuffed - the shredded beef filling was overflowing and even so, the crispy empanada shell was still full!! It was divinely tasty with the same blend of herbs.

Ropa viella fajita

We also had the ropa viella fajita, a skirt steak that has been shredded into a fajita with a guacamole on lettuce and tomato on the side. It was absolutely one of the best fajitas I have ever tasted with a guacamole that was insanely fresh. I can not even begin to dissect the flavors which was probably lemon or lime which I never associated with guacamole. I suppose none of the other places made it this fresh?

Just as we finished our appetizers, leaving virtually no room left for the entree, out comes this ginormous, Flintstone sized pernil...I knew something was up because bff's eyes were popping out of their sockets. However, let's take a moment to look at her order of churrasco with garlic mashed potatoes.

It's been instagrammed so it looks like this. A dinosaur's rib. Lol.

BFF could not eat it all - it was super big but it was delicious and she said it was enough for 2 days of dinners. I wholeheartedly agreed. Super HUGE portions.

Pernil with 3 maduros, and arroz gandules

The picture doesn't do this monster justice. This roast pork portion could feed a family of 6 comfortably! Trust me, it was very a la Flintstone!

Another side of the pernil

So, I did not finish it. I could only eat about a 1/14th of it. They also give you a knife and you do not need it. The pork was so moist, it fell off the bone. Yes, there is bone in that there mountainous hunk of meat. It was perfectly seasoned with a sprig of rosemary for decoration. It is an big portion of pork shoulder with the fatty, crispy skin carmelized. The rather delicate meat was moist, flavorful and a piece of pig heaven. The sweet plantains were absolutely delicious and the arroz gandules was moist, flavorful and absolutely delicious.

And yes, it was doggy bagged home because, like I said before, you can't tell but this was fit for a family of six!!!

And then the moment of truth - can we have dessert? Well well, no dessert menu! It's not because Sofrito's has no dessert menu but because BFF likes to embarrass me so tada!

Tres leches cake with whipped cream and a candle

Yes, the waitress sang, staff sang, it was quite embarrassing. But it was so delicious - this cake. Lovely sponge cake drenched in three types of milk. Soft, moist and sweet!

Thank you BFF for a yummy, 3 drink dinner. :3 I hope you got your paper done - because I was out like a light by 10:30 pm.

Sofrito's is a great lounge and restaurant. It's worth a trip up 1st ave for all types of events. And the staff are all really nice!!



Sofrito's NYC
400 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022
tel. 212.754.5999
Reservations - via Opentable only or by phone for special occasions.
Hours:
Sundays: 4 pm to Midnight
Mon - Thurs: 5 pm to Midnight
Friday & Saturdays: 5 pm to 2 am (Lounge open until 4 am)

Refuge from the rain at Sushi Time

Picture this. A gray sky. No hint of rain. You go next door and wait for Victoria to come downstairs. She does. You're outside. A few drops of water hit you. It's still bright gray, not dark. You both decide to trek onwards - undeterred so you could go to the Fresh Market on 46th.

Quite suddenly, the sky's a dark, threatening gray and you feel the rain start dripping down. You flip your umbrella out and up - still determined to carry forth.

That's when the wind starts whipping about and the drops become plops and you're now completely soaked.

And that's how Victoria and I ended up at Sushi Time - a Japanese restaurant on 2nd Ave - our port in the storm.

Like most "sushi" places in the city, this was also a Chinese owned place. I could tell because the wait staff were speaking Chinese, not Japanese.

The place is typical Asian restaurant decor of wooden tables and chairs. The coolest thing is the tiling at the entry way. They also had bags for your wet brollies there.

It was decently packed - not totally packed but it was still early.

We both asked for hot tea and later ordered the beef negimaki and chicken curry bento boxes.

They came with soup and salad - Victoria had to eat my salad because I hate the dressing - she loves it. Miso soup was typical of fake Japanese restaurants.

Our bentos came just after they remembered that we had ordered tea. Very slow and forgetful service.

Beef Negimaki

So the box is: Top Left to right: California roll, shumai, rice
                      Bottom left to right: beef negimaki, wasabi paste and ginger slices, and mystery mochi packet



Victoria got the beef negimaki bento box which was just delicious she claimed. They were hefty rolls and the serving of six was more than enough.

I got the chicken curry bento box which, you can see is the same as the other bento box - only with chicken curry.

Curry Chicken

I can attest to the tastiness of the chicken curry which was a rich curry flavor, with fresh veggies and chicken, perfectly seasoned and cooked.

The shumai was ok but it was not as good as I've had before. The california roll was typical fare.

The mystery mochi which is rice cake for anyone who doesn't know the term was actually green tea ice cream encased in a mochi casing. However, it was brought out at the same time as the bento box and suffered meltiness by the time we were able to eat it. The casing was a bit tough to eat but the ice cream was delicious.

Overall, the service was inefficient and slow - not really standard for busy Midtown. The curry was delicious but they should hold off and giving you the dessert until you are ready.

Tasty fare but would I make a special trek to this restaurant? Not really.

Sushi Time
821 2nd Ave (between 43rd & 44th streets)
New York, NY 100
Tel. 212.883.8983
Hours:
Same as Delivery hours.
Delivery Hours:

Sun

12:00 PM - 10:45 PM

Mon

11:00 AM - 10:45 PM

Tue

11:00 AM - 10:45 PM

Wed

11:00 AM - 10:45 PM

Thu

11:00 AM - 10:45 PM

Fri

11:00 AM - 10:45 PM

Sat
12:00 PM - 10:45 PM