When I’m in need of a centrally located East Village Chronic Brunch spot, Cafe Orlin is always in my back pocket. The food is consistently good – both satisfying and affordable. While there usually appears to be a crowd, the waits are never terribly long. Unlike most brunch favorites, Orlin has plenty of tables. Having lived in the neighborhood for a eight years, I’ve spent plenty of hungover mornings here scarfing down poached eggs and french toast. It’s Vegetarian friendly menu is fun for the whole clan, and it’s one of the better restaurants this city has to offer that’s open 24 hours for quality Late Night Eats. If you’re slightly deranged like myself, then the food isn’t your favorite part of Orlin. Nope, that award goes to the cross-dressing waiter dude, who seems to be assigned to my table every time. He certainly makes a statement with his belly shirts, bras and braided pig tails. Like any good trainwreck, it’s hard to look away. Homeboy! Hook some orange juice please.
Looking for a unique spot to impress on a First/Early In The Game date? If she likes wine and raw fish, Desnuda is your jam. This dark, South American inspired wine and ceviche bar has just eighteen seats, all at the bar. It’s intimate and low key, and the fish is fresh and priced right. There is no kitchen, which means you’ll have a front row seat as your food is prepared by a man who will also double as your bartender. Hopefully audience participation is something you’re comfortable with, as you may be called on to help your chef/bartender as he practices his “ghetto molecular gastronomy”. Ever seen someone smoke an oyster with a gravity bong made from a Sprite bottle? Didn’t think so. We’ll bet your date hasn’t either. This block of 7th St. is home to a lot of hot spots (see Porchetta, Luke’s Lobster, Caracas, Pylos), so let’s agree to keep Desnuda as it is – slightly under the radar, and your new secret weapon date spot.
Normally, we wouldn’t offer a full review to a dessert bar. With all due respect to sweet spots like Levain Bakery, Jacques Torres, ChikaLicious, Magnolia and Led Zeppole, there’s one thing they lack that Milk Bar doesn’t – pork buns. David Chang deprived Midtown’s new Momofuku establishment, Má Pêche, of his famous pork fat sandwiches, possibly to avoid over-saturating the marketplace 90’s baseball card style. Whatever the reason, my dreams of noshing on them for lunch in Midtown have been crushed, so this drive-by buns situation in the East Village now warrants a full review.
People go Justin Bieber crazy over Milk Bar. They’ve either got the fever, checking back daily for the new soft serve flavors and vying with Nathan A. for foursquare mayorship . Or, they despise the place and every wannabe food blogger/poser that’s obsessed with it. In the beginning, The Infatuation was split. I was incredibly skeptical. On the flip side, Stang had (and still has) a boner the size of Florida for the stupid rotating soft serve flavors and compost cookies – which are trademarked, just in case you needed to know that. The menu thought you did. Personally, I think the ice cream flavors are ridiculous. Jelly Doughnut? Cream Cheese Frosting? Peach Tea? They’re trying a little too hard here and the majority of the fruit flavors taste like soft serve cough medicine. I’m more of a traditionalist. I like my chocolate chip cookies without cornflakes and marshmallows, my soft serve from Mister Softee with rainbow sprinkles and my birthday cake made of ice cream instead of hippie goo-bars and frosting. Over time, I learned to check my aforementioned traditional palate at the door and accept these crazy dessert creations with an open mind. With every passing day I warm up to Milk Bar more and more. The cookies and cakes seem to get better with each visit, but it’s the pies that helped me turn the corner. Both the Crack Pie and Candy Bar Pie are incredible and reason enough to wait on line.
Manhattan’s food scene is far superior to San Francisco’s, with one glaring exception – Mexican. Seeing this gaping hole as an opportunity, two bay area transplants decided to bring NYC a taste of how the 415 gets down. Considering that Chipotle is in the “Best Mexican” conversation around here, Dos Toros has been a welcome addition, catering to the hungry youth that hang out around Union Square.
Having spent a good amount of time in SF frequenting the originals, I’ve gotta say that while Dos is definitely good for NYC, it pales in comparison to its predecessors. The space, along with the burritos, pay homage to the Gordo’s Taqueria mini franchise. From the foil wrap and paper bag packaging to the woven chairs, they hit the aesthetic right on the nose. Stuffed to the gills and served in identical red baskets, the tacos are a play on La Taqueria, a cult favorite in the Mission district. We applaud the effort and appreciate what Dos is trying to do. You can taste that they’re using high quality ingredients, but it’s missing that little extra something to make the food memorable. Even so, we’ll definitely be back for some Quick Eats before an Irving Plaza show.
It should be pretty apparent at this point that the Infatuation meter skews higher any time a decent burger is mentioned on this site. That said, we have our favorites in this town (see Burger Joint, Shake Shack) and will not hesitate to take a verbal dump on those that don’t make the cut. Black Iron Burger is a new player on the scene, and definitely has promise. It’s a simple place, with a handful of high tables and hole in the wall charm. The burger here holds up (adding grilled onions to the burger is recommended), and though it’s not at the top of the heap, it’s a well spent seven dollars. The beer list is solid, and the fries are dead ringers for McDonalds’. The onion rings were not particularly impressive. Black Iron Burger is open late, so it’s a great option for that late night last stop on the way home.
Feature: Infatuation TV: P.O.S.
