Gyu-kaku (NYC)

For lunch, we went to Gyu-kaku in East Village for some Japanese BBQ. Their lunch prices are much more reasonable than dinner prices. We ordered two lunch sets, one is the U.S. Kobe Beef set and the other is the Meat Lover set.




The U.S. Kobe Beef set consists of U.S. Kobe Harami Skirt Steak marinated in miso sauce and also U.S. Kobe Chuck Rib marinated in tare sauce.



The Meat Lover set includes Chuck Kalbi marinated in tare sauce and Yakishabu beef.



The U.S. Kobe Beef is pretty tender. The best slices are the ones with more fat in it. The beef served during lunch is not as good as the ones served during dinner. The last time when we went to Gyu-kaku in Midtown for dinner, the beef was more tender and soft with more fat in it.



HOKAT Rating:
88/100

Address:
34 Cooper Square, New York NY 10003
212-475-2989
http://www.gyu-kaku.com/

Adour Alain Ducasse (NYC)

To conclude our Memorial Weekend NYC road trip, we went to Adour Alain Ducasse for dinner before driving back home. After a superb dinner at a Joel Robuchon restaurant, we wanted to give Alain Ducasse a try to see which is better.

The dining room is pretty formal and high class, with wine shelves everywhere. We were given some small puffs to start off our dinner. It kinda tastes like a soft version of Goldfish crackers. The most expensive item on the menu is caviar, which costs $600.

My husband ordered the Chef’s Tasting Menu while I just ordered a main dish and a dessert. The tasting menu starts off with a sake sorbet with sea urchin cream and caviar. The sake sorbet is very refreshing. The creaminess of the sea urchin matches very well with the caviar. However, this starter is way too tiny, one bite and it’s gone.

The second dish is king crab served with a curry sauce. The king crab is very bouncy and fresh. The texture is similar to lobster meat. The curry sauce adds an oriental feel to this dish.

The third dish is a olive oil poached chatham bay cod in a creamy fish chowder. The appearance of the dish doesn’t look that good, however, after the first bite, we were so pleasantly surprised. The fish is extremely soft and tender. The creamy fish soup provides a nice balance to the mild flavor of the fish.

The fourth dish is seared foie gras with escalor. The escalor is a kind of fish that tastes like white tuna. It has a very strong fishy taste to it. The foie gras is very soft and tender, however, the outside is not crispy enough.

The main dish of the tasting menu is a beef soup. The beef soup has such a strong flavor that it is very overpowering. After eating one or two bites, it’s enough and you do not want more of it. This is the worst dish of the night.

My main dish is the Roasted Rack of Elysian Fields Lamb. This dish was served without the rack. The lamb is extremely tender and moist. It is cooked medium and most of the juices are kept inside.

There are two desserts in the tasting menu. One is a lemon tart with light cream and meringue. It is slightly sour and is very refreshing. The other dessert is chocolate raspberry tart with cream and golden leaves. The slight sour taste of raspberry matches very well with the sweet taste of chocolate.

The dessert that I ordered is the Pistaccio Soufflé. I am not sure whether Pistaccio is a suitable flavor for soufflé because it is too strong and too nutty flavored. After each bite, it was like I ate a few pistaccios. The soufflé is baked nicely, with the inside very soft and moist.

Besides the above desserts, the waiter also brought us a complimentary plate of French macaroons. The macaroons are soft and rich, some are chocolate flavored and some are coconut flavored.

Having tried both Joel Robuchon and Alain Ducasse, we can answer the question of which one is better. Alain Ducasse serves better fish dishes. However, foie gras and soufflé goes to Joel Robuchon and hence the higher overall rating.

HOKAT Rating:
93/100

Address:
2 East 55th Street, New York NY
212-710-2277
http://www.adour-stregis.com/

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon (NYC)

With a long Memorial weekend, we decided to take a drive to NYC for a short road trip. We booked a hotel in Jersey City for one night, and stayed in NYC for two days. On our first night, we went to L’Atelier for dinner. This is one of the famous restaurants by the famous chef Joel Robuchon. The place is pretty small with only a few tables and a u-shaped counter around an open kitchen. We got seated at the counter which has about 12 seats. We find this setting quite similar to a sushi bar because the waiter serves us from the other side of the counter.

L’Atelier is known for their small dishes. My husband and I both ordered three small dishes for dinner. Here is our selection:

1) Pressed Duck Foie Gras, Toasted Bread. My husband and I both love foie gras, so we ordered two foie gras appetizers. One is the foie gras pâté which is spread over toasted bread. The foie gras pâté is smooth and not too rich in taste.

2) Seared foie gras, Grapefruit Gratin. The seared foie gras is the much richer of the two. The foie gras is crispy on the outside and extremely soft on the inside. This cooking style really brings out the strong taste of foie gras.

3) White Asparagus and Crisp Poached Egg. The white asparagus is in season in the spring time. We prefer the white asparagus that we had in Germany which is softer. The sauce on the white asparagus is too strong which covered up the original sweet taste of the asparagus. The crisp poached egg is deep fried quickly and still running from the inside.

4) Lightly Seared Kampachi, Fine Aromatics, Crispy Onion Rings. The Kampachi is a kind of Japanese fish similar to Hamachi. It is very soft with a light taste. It is lightly seared and served with some soy sauce. This is quite an oriental dish.

5) Organic Loche Duarte Farm Salmon Tartar, Caviar. This is the highlight of the night. The salmon tartar is very fatty and soft. It is served with an extremely generous portion of caviar. The caviar is slightly salty. The way that the caviar pops, it reminds me of salmon roe. It is like a salty and condensed version of the salmon roe. What makes this dish spectacular is that it is served on dry ice. The dish comes out with lots of smoke from the dry ice which is pleasing to the eye.

6) Beef and Foie Gras Burgers, Caramelised Bell Peppers. This is one of the signature dishes of Joel Robuchon. The burgers are very tiny. Foie Gras matches very well with beef. However, the strong taste of foie gras overpowers the beef. This is served with a side dish of french fries. Our waiter also brought us some complimentary mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes were extremely rich, soft, and buttery.

The service is excellent, and our server gave us a complimentary dish of the Braised Veal Cheek with Thai Jus and Crunchy Vegetables. The Braised Veal Cheek was slowly cooked for 5 hours. It was so tender that you do not need a knife to eat it. This is another oriental style dish.

For dessert, we shared an order of the Le Souffle. This is Yuzu Soufflé served with Okinawa Sugar Ice Cream. This is one of the best soufflés that we have ever had! It is definitely one of the top two. The soufflé is risen perfectly, and baked to perfection. The taste of the yuzu is citrus but not sour. The soufflé is so incredibly soft that it is like eating foam. The sugar ice cream adds creaminess to the soufflé.

Overall, we were extremely satisfied with the meal. Both the food and the service were excellent. However, we can’t come here often because of the dent in our wallets.

HOKAT Rating:
96/100

Address:
57 East 57th Street, New York, NY
212-758-5700
http://www.fourseasons.com/newyorkfs/dining/l_atelier_de_joel_robuchon.html

Abe & Louie’s

Last Saturday, I went to the first game of the 2010 Celtics Playoffs with my husband and brother-in-law. Prior to watching the game, we went to Boston for an early dinner. We went to a famous steakhouse called Abe & Louie’s. Abe & Louie’s is known for its steaks and prime ribs. The atmosphere of this steakhouse is rather formal. It is located on a busy street in the city, and many tables were filled by 6pm.



For appetizers, the three of us shared half a dozen oysters. The oysters are big and fresh, with a slight salty taste.



My husband and brother-in-law both ordered the bone-in ribeye steak which is cooked medium rare. The ribeye steak is extremely tender inside with a strong aroma on the outside. The grill marks are beautifully done which gives it a charcoal taste. It has a very strong meat taste because it is dry aged. Due to the high quality of the meat, it only had to be marinated with salt and pepper. The ribeye steak is extremely juicy. While they were eating the steak, the juice kept rushing out.




I ordered their famous boneless prime rib which is cooked medium rare. It is the best prime rib in Boston. It contains just the right amount of fat. Just like the ribeye steak, the prime rib is also dry aged which gives it a very strong meat taste. The prime rib is very tender and juicy. While I was eating the prime rib, the au jus kept flowing out. One slight compliant is that the prime rib is a little on the rare side. For side dish, we ordered the sweet potato with brown sugar. The sweet potato was so soft and sweet that it was the perfect side dish.




For dessert, the three of us shared a chocolate soufflé with raspberry sauce. The soufflé was soft and nicely baked.




After a very nice meal, we went to watch the first game of the Celtics Playoffs. The best part of it is that Celtics won the game.

Abe & Louie’s is one of the top steakhouses in the Boston area. However, we would prefer its sister restaurant Coach Grill in Wayland because of the location and fresh bread bowl.

HOKAT Rating:
92/100

Address:
793 Boylston Street, Boston MA 02116
(617) 536-6300
http://www.abeandlouies.com/

Yoki Japanese Restaurant

Last year we bought a $20 Groupon that is worth a $50 meal at Yoki Japanese Restaurant in Medford. After a fun day of board games at my brother-in-law’s house, we went to Yoki for some sushi. The restaurant is opened by Vietnamese owners and has a high-end Chinese décor. The prices are relatively high in this restaurant, with the most expensive maki at around $14. Some of the makis are named after Boston’s sports teams, such as the Red Sox Maki, Bruins Maki, and Celtics Maki.

We placed an order of Uni Sushi. The Uni is pretty creamy but it does not have a sweet taste like the best ones we have had.

My husband and I shared the following makis:

1) Crazy Maki: Shrimp tempura inside with salmon and avocado on top. The tempura is lightly fried and very crunchy. The fresh slices of salmon and creamy avocado matches pretty nicely with the crunchy shrimp tempura.

2) Spider Maki: Soft shelled crab tempura with tobiko, avocado, spicy mayonnaise, and sweet soy sauce. There is nothing special about this maki, it actually does not have much taste at all.



3) Red Sox Maki: Spicy tuna and avocado roll topped with fresh sliced tuna and a mixture of tempura flakes and baked chopped eel. It is finished with tobiko, scallion, glazed sweet sauce, and spicy mayo. This is one of the most expensive makis, but is well worth the price. There is a double effect of tuna in this maki, with tuna inside and outside. The avocado adds a touch of softness and creaminess. The baked chopped eel on top has a sweet taste which matches very well with the taste of spicy mayonnaise and makes it truly magical. It is then topped with tobiko which adds an extra crunchiness kick to the maki.



4) Bruins Maki: Spicy cooked salmon and cream cheese roll topped with fresh sliced salmon and a mixture of crispy tempura flakes and spicy white tuna. It is finished with tobiko, scallion, sweet sauce, and spicy mayonnaise. This is another wonderful maki. Salmon and cream cheese matches together extremely well. I could not really taste the spicy white tuna. However, I feel that the variety of citrus and black tobiko really did the trick in this maki. The citrus tobiki is slightly sour while the black tobiko is slightly salty. The tobiko is mixed with spicy mayonnaise which adds a spicy touch to the maki.

My brother-in-law ordered assorted sushi, including tuna, salmon, uni, and scallop sashimi. The fish is pretty fresh, but the portion is not generous enough.



Overall I enjoyed most of the makis. However, the prices are a little too expensive. For this price range, we would rather go to our favorite sushi restaurant in Boston, Oishii.

HOKAT Rating:
88/100

Address:
62 Station Landing, Medford MA 02155
617-381-6688
www.yokirestaurant.com

Paani Pure Indian Cuisine

There is an Indian restaurant in our neighborhood that has received pretty good online reviews. My husband and I have been together for 14 years but we have never eaten Indian food together. We have both had Indian food before, but with other people. So, we decided to give this neighborhood restaurant a try. The restaurant is very tiny, and it is painted in a bright orange color on the inside. As décor, it has a huge abstract painting on its wall and a few drop ceiling lamps.

The waitress is also the owner of the restaurant. She told us that she used to host a local TV show, while her husband is a retired scientist. She is very friendly and nice to talk to. She brought us a complimentary plate of chips and two mini samosa. It provides a nice start to the dinner. We ordered the mango lassi as our drinks. The lassi is made from liquid yogurt.



For appetizers, we ordered the vegetable samosa. Everything in the restaurant is homemade. The samosa is fried nicely and not too greasy. It is filled with potatoes, mashed peas, and ground spices. There is a bit of curry taste in this dish.



Our main dishes are the chicken tikka masala with mangos and the lamb boti kabab. The chicken tikka masala with mangos is rather sweet. Although the mangos add a nice touch to the dish, I would prefer chicken curry instead. The lamb boti kabab was definitely not worth $20. The lamb meat was quite rough and too dry. The Indian rice was also quite dry.




To go along with the main dishes, we ordered the garlic naan. The naan was fresh and baked just right. I like the aroma of garlic in the flat bread.



Overall I feel like the dinner went downhill after the appetizers. Although the owner is very nice and we like the décor, the food is not good enough for us to go back.

HOKAT Rating:
81/100

Address:
621a Boston Post Road, Sudbury MA 01776
978-443-8100