i’ve always wanted to go on the berry bbq trail but my wife doesnt care for most lamb preps so I have a slight concern we drive 13.5, she takes one bite, spits it out and we find ourselves in…kentucky 
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Just days ago, Helen Rosner gave Foxface Natural a very good review in The New Yorker. And, this week in the NYT, Pete Wells reviews Foxface Natural and gives it 3 stars & a hearty endorsement. Couldn’t happen to nicer people (think that’ll get me in again?).
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Yep, interesting review — Especially the point about the owners not having to kowtow to typical demands (burger on the menu!). But of course even if you have the means to ignore those demands, not everyone has the taste and good grace that the Foxface duo so clearly have in plenty.
Coincidentally, the wife and I were there late on Saturday evening, and they were talking about how nervous they are over the impending reviews. Obviously there wasn’t any need to be!
It was our third time at the place, and nevertheless we didn’t repeat a single dish we’d eaten before. Tried the pascaline (which the New Yorker review waxes eloquently about), the grilled red snapper, the purple clams, and the stuffed pasta with broth. All hits, no misses. Even the timur pepper gelato at the end was amazing.
Truly special place.
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Separately, I also tried Lula Mae for the first time this weekend. Sadly, it didn’t hit the spot for me.
The service felt hectic, rushed and impersonal; the vibe was what I call ‘generic Brooklyn’, and I didn’t think the price-to-quality ratio was up to par.
We started with a couple of cocktails — one was a take on a mezcal sour, which was too sweet, and the other was the day’s special: an unbalanced take on a whiskey sour.
We then had the beef carpaccio, which was good, but not outstanding. The fried chicken two ways was fine; we liked the tamarind sauce version better than the dry rubbed one. But again, didn’t blow us away (I wished for Peking House or Rowdy Rooster at that moment). The Grilled Bok Choy was just a regular stir fried dish that we make a better version of at home. The crab fried rice was also fine, but we make better fried rice at home.
We weren’t in the mood for dessert, and didn’t try the wine. To be clear, nothing was big B bad. It was all middling and uninteresting. Won’t return.
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I followed – for the most part – your worthy footsteps today. My first experience here was actively bad, possibly because of my focus on offal then.
Guided by you, I swung the other way this time and can confirm that the cauliflower is very good, as is the “Jambalaya”. I found the eggplant a little too aggressively garlicky for the thin layer of eggplant, but it worked when folded into the rice. I had the lamb version of the beef dish you mention, and I agree that the thick onion content is high. One further thing I had turned out to be a star: it’s called grilled croaker, but it was a crisply deep fried whole fish – startled, gaping mouth and all. You have to crunch through the smaller bones and work around the bigger ones, but the flesh was surprisingly moist and well worth it.
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my son’s gf is vegetarian and he chose a vegan chinese restaurant, spicy moon, for his birthday dinner. Cute place, crowded, one of three spicy moons in manhattan, nice vibe, great service but i was just bewildered by the food.
dan dan noodles - bland, why not take a page from good dan dan noodles, amp up the spice level and add some bok choy?
general tso’s mushrooms - nicely breaded and fried mushrooms in a thick, cloying sauce.
cumin tofu - good well-spiced dish
fried eggplant - dunno, nothing chinese about this dish, was more like fish stick coating eggplant.
kung pao - theres an authentic szechuan prep served at places like szechuan garden, there’s a horrible chinese american version, this was neither.
here’s what i don’t understand, why not serve vegan versions of classic chinese vegetable dishes? instead of breaded, fried eggplant, how about eggplant with garlic sauce? or go ahead, serve chinese american food but get the flavor profile correct. or make up new names for dishes and don’t name them after dishes we’ve all had.
they are obviously successful, who’s eating this food? perhaps vegans from places without good chinese restaurants? as i said, i’m bewildered.
From my observations, people don’t become vegan in search of good food. They make that choice for other reasons. And so once you’ve decided that, taste becomes secondary consideration in food. Its not that you can’t have good vegan food since as you’ve noted, there are plenty of Asian cuisines that have vegan dishes. But some of my vegan acquaintances wear their status as a badge of honor and taste of food is almost beside the point.
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My kosher friend, and me, when I can’t get him to Ja Ja Ja. They have a hotpot special which is pretty good.
why not bring your kosher friend to a good chinese restaurant and order vegetarian dishes?
Because he’s the kind of kosher that won’t eat in a restaurant that serves traf. And I won’t go to a kosher steakhouse like Wolf and Lamb because they’re stupid expensive.
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a long time ago, in a galaxy far away, i ate at Buddha bodai and thought it was pretty good. i had an orthodox jewish wall st client, dinner for 12 with wine at a kosher steakhouse was frighteningly expensive.
I’ve done dinners at Le Marais when we needed a kosher steakhouse. I didn’t think the prices were that different than any other steakhouse. A bit more for the steak. But the wine list was pretty tame compared to what I usually see so that offset the higher steak prices. Not a cheap night but not very different than any other client dinner. Where did you go?
This is the actual definition of a shonde.
our client liked talia, it was both expensive and nowhere as good as the top non-kosher steakhouses:
Had a fun meal at KJUN yesterday. As the name suggests its Korean-Cajun. Chef/owner born in Seoul but started cooking professionally in NOLA, namely at August, Herbsaint, Dooky Chase and other notables. Her NYC resume is even more impressive, and so is her cooking. The only thing not impressive is the space being the size of a small coffee shop. Possibly the smallest restaurant in Manhattan. The three of us somehow managed with a tiny round tabled for 1-2 but I can’t say it was super comfortable.
From the starters the Boudin Balls and Pate were particularly strong. Soy marinated deviled eggs were nice but not as memorable. Same for the Okra Kimchi that got boring even as a side.
All the larger dishes were solid especially the Jambalaya featuring a nice cabbage Kimchi action and juicy meat. The fried chicken was good though I wouldn’t go as far as calling it one of the best in town as Pete Wells did. It was nicely marinated but a bit on the greasy side and too large to work with on such small tables.
Also liked the cheesy grits with Andouille. Quite sweet for Andouille but it worked for us. For dessert we preferred the Dalgona Banana Foster over their version of pecan pie. It’s more like a Banana Foster and Tiramisu love child. You also get a free delicious probiotic drink at the end.
No alcohol as far as I know. Probably lost your attention but I’m done anyway. Would love to come back for the ribs, Gumbo and seafood options.
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Kjun is small; I had one of those round tables to myself at lunchtime, and that seemed just about right. It is also fun, and the cooking sure is good. I ordered the gumbo-and-half-po’boy lunch set …
… which was accompanied by a mini potato salad and — a wonderful palate-cleanser — cubes of soy-pickled mirliton, like the cupful that was sitting atop your chicken. Thanks for the reminder; I’ve got to get back to try more of the menu.
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Not this Korean Bostonian’s attention. Thanks for the report.
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Took a group of 6 to Chama Mama Chelsea last week - none of the others had had georgian food before, one was lactose intolerant (so no cheese bread) and a couple had small appetites but all enjoyed the shared meal - we had khinkhali (beef and pork), 2 breads - lobiani, filled with beans and khubdari - filled with pork beef onions and spices (really good) the texture of the bread was very pleasing; ajapsandali, a cold plate similar to ratatouille, but with plenty of garlic, chile and herbs (good but too small for our group of 6 and served much too cold), a delicious and ample hot appetizer of smashed potatoes in tkemali (plum) sauce, grilled grits (very plain unsalted white corn, very bland, needed a stew we did not have to partner it. Like similar polenta in Venice we didnt like much; lobio, mellow stewed pink beans in a pot served with pickles and a couple of pieces of too-sweet cornbread; a stellar platter of roasted cauliflower in bahze (walnut sauce, and finally (or first, actually) the georgian sample platter with a group of very small scoops of pkhali and other vegetable, a couple of small bread slices, and shards of a very delicious, smoky salty stringy cheese, The last platter we were told served 4 but it was impossible to divide the very small mounds of vegetables or even distinguish then visually once they were passed around the table.
Everybody enjoyed the experience and I thought many of the dishes were delicious, only a couple of outright fails, so that a return visit may happen with this group, Fortunately the back room where we was quiet so we could talk - the front room was all 2-tops and loud music.
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Sigh!! No luck with Foxface Natural…since they have only one table for six, which was booked all the way out to 26th October!!
No idea 'what’s next '! Any recommendations for another venue with comparable and ’ different ’ great tasting food?! Place will be for dinner after our lunch at The Modern.
Thx!
