The Orchard ~ Reviewed

The Orchard is one of those rare spots in Manhattan that everyone knows about but nobody talks about. Thus, it’s also one of those rare spots that you can actually get a reservation at a normal hour and not feel like you’re catching the early bird special or having your second dinner of the evening at 10:30 PM (you know who you are). I walked in not exactly knowing what to expect and left pleasantly surprised. The sexy atmosphere is modern but still very comfortable. Soft yellow lighting, light wood tables, and faint salsa music creates the perfect backdrop for a date or a fun dinner with friends any day of the week.

The waiters bode well with their LES neighborhood: laidback with a smidge of nonchalant humor. My waiter in particular made an orgasmic sound after I ordered the side of mushrooms (which I took as good sign) and proceeded to ask if my dish was “yummerzzz.” Nope, I’m not kidding. But his odd sexual signals were dead-on: the mushrooms and all the sides were amazing. In fact, everyone at my four-person dinner was very happy with their meals.

To start, we split the delicious royal trumpet mushroom flatbread with polenta, mushroom puree, and fresh herbs. Heaven: the thin flatbread was light and crispy and the mushroom mixture was rich, creamy and earthy. I had the Grilled Bronzini filleted with lemon/lime-glazed vegetables for my main course, which was everything I expect Branzini to be: simple, light, lemony and never too fishy. Instead of dessert (this is the diet diva writing) I opted for a specialty cocktail and it was just as indulgent. I really wanted to try a few more, but it was a Monday night and I had to get a good nights sleep/watch Gossip Girls/The Hills. Bottom Line: part-Italian, part-Spanish, this downtown restaurant is an all-around winner and I hope our insanely popular blog doesn’t completely blow up it’s spot and I’ll still be able to grab a table if I call less than a few days in advance.

The Orchard (212-353-3570) - 162 Orchard Street between Stanton & Rivington

My Culinary Wet Dream

Check out the culinary adventure chronicled on egullet. Its my version of a wet dream.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?s=8e3c633eb56b019af058b6de903f50dd&showtopic=115409&st=0&p=1564854&#entry1564854

The Weekend Dish

This is The Weekend Dish, a weekly Friday post that provides you with weekend meal suggestions. Share your weekend picks with us.

Friday Dinner: Insalata "A Voce" (with fennel, apples, watercress, marcona almonds, and pecorino cheese) and the Marinated Chicken alla Griglia (with funghi misticenzi, creamy polenta, arugula and parmesan) at A Voce (41 Madison Ave. at 26th St.).

Saturday Lunch: Ceasar Salad and Wood Oven Pizzette (with Sonoma Teleme Cheese, Thin-Sliced Yukon Gold Potatoes and Truffle Oil) at Five Points (31 Great Jones St. between Lafayette and Bowery).

Saturday Dinner: Spicy Tuna Tartare (with Cucumbers, Ruby Flying Fish Roe and Crispy
Taro Chips in a Thai Vinaigrette) and Grilled Florida Red Snapper (with a Sesame Cucumber Salad, Sautéed Bok Choy, Roasted Scallions and Shiitake Vinaigrette) at Aquagrill (210 Spring St. at 6th Ave).

Sunday Brunch: Tomato soup with Fontina and Gruyere grilled cheese at Bouchon Bakery (Time Warner Center 3rd Floor, Columbus Circle)

Sunday Dinner: Chien Dai (crispy shrimp, crab meat, and pea dumpling with indonesian sweet and sour dipping sauce) and Ikan Panggang (grilled whole sea bass, galang flower and sweet shallot sauce) from Cafe Asean (Delivery West Village)

Al Fresco Dining

One of our favorite summertime pastimes at Bellybusters is eating outdoors. When the sun is shining, it just doesn’t get better than good weather, good friends and great food. In the up-and-coming warm weather weeks, we will be giving you a list of our suggestions for top outdoor spots. This week we’re featuring the West Village:

Bar Pitti (Prosciutto Cotte E Mozzarella Griglato Panini with dry Pinot Grigio)
Fiddlesticks, 55 Greenwich Ave., 212-463-0516 (Fish and Chips with a glass of Bud Draught)
Gusto, 60 Greenwich Ave., 212-924-8000 (Carciofi Alla Giudea (Fried Artichokes) and Cacio E Pepe (pasta with cracked black pepper & pecorino) with a crisp glass of Rose )
Barbuto, 775 Washington St., 212-924-9700 (Crispy gnocchi with squash and parmesan and Cavolini di Bruxelles (shaved brussel sprouts, toasted walnuts, pecorino and lemon) with their refreshing zenzero mojito)
Tortilla Flats, 767 Washington St., 212-243-1053 (Chimichangas with a pitcher of Margaritas)*

*Warning: we would only recommend this spot for the desperately hungover or rowdy/cheesy birthday parties….

Shout Out

It is often difficult to praise other blogs/websites/food personalities due to the fact that Bellybusters is self-proclaimed as “the best fucking blog in the world.” But in those rare (once-in-a-lifetime) situations we concede that someone might do it a little - and I mean the tiniest bit - better than we do it. In this once-in-a-lifetime case we are giving credit to Savory New York. (Keep in mind, the depth of their content far exceeds the ability of a two person team such as ourselves.)

Some of the most amazing/ridiculous features on Savory New York include video tours of the restaurant and interviews with prestigious chefs like Joel Robuchon of L’Atelier, Thomas Keller (the most distinguished American born chef, some say the best in the biz) of Per Se, and one of my personal favorites, Naomichi Yasuda of Sushi Yasuda.* Other cool features include restaurant recommendations from top New York chefs, such as Anne Burell (Centro Vinoteca), Dan Barber (Blue Hill), and Joey Campanaro (Little Owl).

Go check out Savory New York at http://newyork.savorycities.com/. It got us off our high horse and kept our egos in check, so we suspect you’ll enjoy it too.

*If anyone has the opportunity to sit in front of Mr. Yasuda tell him “Papasun cut off his Mohawk.”

The Weekend Dish

This is The Weekend Dish, a weekly Friday post that provides you with weekend meal suggestions. Share your weekend picks with us. This week Nolita.

Friday Dinner: Roasted beet salad with whipped goat cheese, red onion, orange, organic marche and seared driver scallops with white corn pozole, apple smoked bacon, and roasted pablano's at Jane (100 West Houston between Thompson and LaGuardia Place.).

Saturday Lunch: Beef Colombo (stewed beef cooked with ten different spices) and served with rice and string beans at Cafe Colonial (276 Elizabeth St. at Houston St.).

Saturday Dinner: Kimono fried shrimps and chicken pad thai with bean sprout, crushed peanuts, scallion, and lime with sweet fish sauce at Lovely Day (196 Elizabeth between Prince and Spring St.).

Sunday Brunch: Moroccan couscous with red peppers, raisins, toasted pinenuts, humus, eggplant with cappuccino at Cafe Gitane (242 Mott St. between Prince and Houston St.).

Sunday Dinner: Red snapper carpaccio, sukiyaki with beef, tofu, shitake, carrot, spinach, scallion, and cheese cake tempura from Mottsu (Delivery Nolita and Soho).

I Must Admit I Am From the Dirty

“I Must Admit I am From The Dirty” is going to be a semi-regular post here on Bellybusters. We all know the typical Jersey stereotypes: “What exit are you from?”, “everything smells like garbage” or ever popular “Jersey Shore is all Guidos with fake tans, wearing wife beaters, sonic-the-hedgehog spiked hair and gold chains.” Well I am here to make our readers see the other, brighter side of the Dirty! In this series of posts we are going to highlight some culinary adventures the Garden State has to offer. Please email us. your suggestions.

The existing structure that houses White Manna is the same building they used at the 1939 Worlds Fair exhibition in Flushing (now home of the US Open) depicting the future of the typical American restaurant. In 1939 the building was relocated from Flushing to its current home on Hackensack Ave in Hackensack, NJ sitting directly across the street from a McDonald’s.

Besides the nostalgia for antique diner this place is as close to a hole in hall as one is ever going to step foot into. Despite the size and overall appearance of the place this burger joint finds itself on Top 10 lists year after year. According to Grub St. this place is one of the top three burgers in the NY metro area, and GQ magazine rates this spot as the number 6 of all burger spots across the country. It has also been featured on Guy Fieries Diners, Drive-in, and Drives.

The burgers at White Manna consist of four ingredients: meat, cheese, sautéed onions, and a Martin’s potato roll. Don’t even think about 86ing the onions. The griddleman starts with throwing a golf-ball sized chunk of ground meet onto the griddle, followed by thinly sliced raw onions that are smashed onto the burger which flattens them. As more orders come, he creates more room and slowly moves the burgers from right to left on the griddle, flips them onion side down to caramelize the onions, adds a healthy slice of yellow American cheese, and places the potato roll on top of the cheese. The steam from the cooking burgers melts the cheese and make the bun like a pillowy enclave of righteousness. The average order is about 4 burgers per person and with room to cook about 60 burgers simultaneously, so it’s truly amazing to see how the cook keeps track of the burgers in this 16 stool hole-in-the-wall, including who they are for, and where customers are sitting (most likely standing). Bottom Line: The burgers are so good that they would make a man on death row grim.