There’s a certain breed of New Yorker who regularly frequents The Red Cat. They’re generally older, (in their 40′s and 50′s) and aren’t concerned with being uber-hip and mixing it up with the 20 and 30 somethings at the Momofukus and Freemans of the world. They’re not sleazy old timers trying to make up for lost time, taking European models who wouldn’t talk to them before they got rich out to Keith McNally joints. And although they can most likely afford it, they’re not regularly pissing away money at pricey five star restaurants. These are every day New Yorkers who certainly care about where they eat, they just don’t necessarily need to be Scoping Hot Girls/Guys anymore and can do without all the crazy action that usually coincides with trendy Manhattan dining. They go to Red Cat because it’s quality local spot with just enough flavor that they can rely on for a consistently good meal and a glass or two of wine. While it is indeed an older crowd, it’s not a stuffy one. We happily keep this place in rotation after any Madison Square Garden event, and is always a hit on a Dinner With The Parents excursion. If you’re folks are anything like mine, they’ll dig.
As you can imagine, Hell’s Kitchen can be a confusing answer to the question, “where should we have dinner?” Both the restaurant and the neighborhood from which it takes its name are a culinary unknown to most that don‘t live in the area. If you live there, chances are you constantly tell your friends about all the great restaurants you know about and yet you still can‘t get anyone to come eat with you. We are admittedly a little in the dark when it comes to Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood favorites, but working and seeing shows in the area demands that you have a go-to spot. Our go-to in Hell’s Kitchen is, well, Hell’s Kitchen.
The casual but hip restaurant is not an attempt at authentic Mexican, but rather an inspired interpretation using Latin flavors and fresh ingredients. Think Rosa Mexicano but far less annoying, and much better entrées. The dinner hours are always crowded and noisy, as a Mexican restaurant should be. Lunch is usually less busy and equally delicious, but Hell’s Kitchen is best enjoyed when the eating is accompanied with heavy tequila and beer drinking.
Midtown wine bars are pretty high up there on the list of places you won’t find us hanging out. Why? Well, first of all, the majority of them are slightly less exciting than having a glass or two inside your local Pottery Barn. Second, we’re not so down with the menus rife with shitty pizzas and cubed cheese served on cutting boards. Oh and that fig thrown in next to the pile of Wheat Thins? Yeah, that’s not fooling anybody.
On the surface, Bocca di Bacco doesn’t look much different than any of those places. What is interesting, though, is that the food is actually very good. On the menu is an extensive offering of Italian small plates, pastas, and tasty full sized entrees to accompany all the wines that pour from a giant wine keggerator behind the bar. The crowd is a nice mix of Hell’s Kitchen’s hottest residents and some downtowners that know where to get good eats when they’re in the area. We went in on a Twitter recommendation and have now had two solid meals at Bocca di Bacco, along with some nice wines by the glass that didn’t put too bad of a hurting on the wallet. I’m glad we gave it a chance. The ridiculous house music on the website almost doomed it from the start.
On a recent trip to the West Village we were stopped dead in our tracks. Whoa. What on God’s green earth do we have here? The bar standing in front of us was truly immaculate. We couldn’t look away. There was some kind of Daniel Faraday/Lost island style frequency sucking us inside even though our lives were supposed to go down a different path that night. We couldn’t resist it. We bailed on our plans and hit the Highlands.
As we suspected, Highlands is an Infatuation kind of joint. Rows of whiskey and bourbon line the exposed brick walls behind the bar. A packed house of put together, good looking locals sip on dark drinks, specialty cocktails and international beers with high alcohol content. Everyone is feelin’ it and having a grand ol’ time. Although we haven’t been on the weekend, we hear it’s slammed shoulder to shoulder, Spotted Pig style.
A few things to note before we get into it. First, this is a review of the Boqueria on 19th St., not of the newer SoHo location, and not of both. Boqueria Soho has a different dynamic and clientele. Second, let us preface this by saying that we’ve been coming to Boqueria for a while now, and we generally enjoy the place. The only problem we have is that it’s slowly becoming to Spanish food what Sushi Samba is to Japanese. What does that mean exactly? It means that it’s on the short list of venues for Girls Night Out, and that the food is hit or miss. Don’t get us wrong, we’re absolutely fine with going to a restaurant loaded with girls, but consistency is what we crave and Boqueria seems to be all over the map these days. The best bets on the menu tend to be the more simple items like Brussels sprouts, pan con tomate, and anything with chorizo. The wine list is good and reasonably priced (plenty of bottles priced under forty dollars), and the churros are pretty excellent. Maybe even better than the ones that dude sells on the L train platform. At the end of the day, the good at Boqueria is definitely good, and if you stick to the right things, you’ll probably walk away happy. Then again, when we’re craving some Spanish food we’re probably headed to Bar Carerra, Mercat, or Casa Mono instead. For the purposes of this food rundown, we’re going to stick (mostly) to the stuff we liked.
