It works.
What was that other item? I have been there a few times and I am happy to eat my way through their entire menu, but a hint from you would not be amiss.
Duck parts and noodles. In soup. That’s as close as I remember.
Thanks. I’ll look for those duck parts when I’m there next.
Mr. Duck is proving to be one of those places where you can close your eyes and point and have a respectable chance of getting something good.
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Panzerotti Bites (Cobble Hill) - Panzerotti is a Pugliese snack, like a mini Calzone. I believe its the only Panzerotti in the city after some legal issues with the Manhattan competition. You can have it baked or fried. I got a baked Porcini - mozzarella, porcini, black truffle paste. Really excellent. Light, airy, nice balance, delicious dough. Def quality over quantity in this case. Good selection of Italian sodas and cookies. Owner recommended to ty fried next time. You can buy frozen Panzerotti.
Closer to $10 for one, not enough for a full meal, but a nice snack. A couple of tacos at Tacos El Bronco (Delicious Suadero!) an hour later fixed that.
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SAITONG THAI
Another newish Southern Thai spot in the Theater District. Sleek, dark aesthetic that seems to be popular these days.
The menu has an interesting range, from the expected classics to some traditional dishes not often seen to a few fusion-y modern takes.
Tried some classics for a first visit, which were well-prepared. Noodles were well-flavored, but saucier than at other places. Good portions (compared to Chalong, at a similar price point).
Table next to me had the Spicy Pork Hock Soup, which looked more like a stew, and which they devoured in short order. Also the Black Spaghetti Pad Cha and the Grilled Pork Jowl.
I’ll be back to try some interesting and larger format dishes.
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Actually ate out (!) Friday night before theater. Mari.ne on West 41st Street. It’s a casual hand roll place (eat at counter) and a nice option before theater (you have to reserve). Small menu, but everything I had was tasty. My friend and I shared Big Eye Tuna salad and then we each had the five hand roll combination. We both substituted something for the confit spicy tuna, as my friend said it was cooked and she didn’t like it that much; I substituted the uni, and was happy with the choice.
Went to see “Purpose.” Loved it…best new play I’ve seen in a dog’s age, and the cast also excellent. I did not think I would be able to focus on an almost-three-hour long play on a Friday night, but it was so funny and moving also. I think hard to do.
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so, is this the place @Ziggy liked so much maybe a couple of years ago??
yup I now see that your post was a response to his original thread. Stupid.
Outstanding meal at Frena in Hell’s Kitchen last night. Not sure how many Hos here remember Taboon, one of the modern middle eastern pioneers closed due to a fire a few years back. This is essentially Taboon 1.2. Pretty much the same menu with a few upgrades, and the same chef, Efi Naon, who’s now the owner. The big change is the name, but the meaning is still similar. Like Taboon, Frena means oven, kinda. Frena is the community oven in a Moroccan village, and also the name of the fluffy Moroccan pita. Naon is Moroccan Israeli
Same ambitious menu as before. The Frena bread dusted with salt and za’atar is terrific. First one is free, but not enough if you order 5 dips so we had to order another one. All the dips were good in particular the Cauliflower hummus. The middle course was more Italian. The braised oxtail Tortellini on top of Sabzi Persian herb stew was fantastic. One of the stars of the night. Excellent roasted eggplant with tomato and stracciatella, like a quality eggplant Parm. Old signature Lamb kebabs cooked in Terra Cotta pots covered with bread as satisfying as ever. The butterflied Branzino lightly drizzled with sage chimichurri was even better. Just like in Taboon, gotta finish with the transformative Silan - Tahini ice cream, caramelized rice crispies, almonds, halva, date syrup. Tho the Knaffe not too shabby
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I do. Thanks for the report. Frena does sound very good.
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wow, that bread looks incredible! thanks for the wonderful report.
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Good to know - I loved Taboon.
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Following this on Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria
I had this from them recently:
These were Coppa, Coppa di Testa, Culatello and Lonza. The Coppa di Testa was wonderfully head-cheesy, but it was all great.
I also got a green olive pizza from them that was so studded with green oiives that it moved from very good to very great.
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Second this report about Frena. It’s close to some theaters, and I have eaten there happily several times!
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SAITONG THAI (again)
A well-prepared and well-seasoned meal overall. The spice level was perfect in some dishes, perhaps a bit restrained in others, though nicely supplemented by various sauces.
Goes into my Thai rotation for the neighborhood, in addition to Chalong and LumLum. I’ll be back again to try more of what I saw at other tables, and that looked good on the menu but we couldn’t get to despite a strong effort 
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“Ma Ta Ba” Curry Pancake (aka murtabak) – stuffed with kheema. A different but tasty version, with flavorful filling.
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Grilled Pork Jowl – marinated, grilled, and sliced thin, served with a sauce and lettuce leaves, mint, and onion for wrapping. Excellent, might have been my favorite dish.
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Hor Mok / Steamed Fish Curry (aka amok or fish custard from Cambodia) – steamed in a coconut shell with a leaf lining. Delicious.
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Crispy Duck with Spicy Tamarind Sauce – crisp and juicy duck, a generous bed of bok choy. The tamarind sauce wasn’t really spicy, though it was deeply savory.
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Fried Whole Red Snapper in Pad Ped sauce – we missed the crisp on this because we thought we’d miss the crisp on the duck and ate that first, haha. Well-fried, and good seasoning with lots of green peppercorn. I didn’t think this was spicy either, until I bit into a couple of the plentiful sliced chillies in the sauce! But they were easily avoided for someone who didn’t want chilli heat. The peppercorns were nice and tingly, and plentiful enough for everyone to have a sprig.
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A tale of two meals, back-to-back last week:
Meal 1:
Bar Room at the Modern: PEI oysters with “fermented kumquat mignonette”. The oysters were terrific, but they were heavy-handed with the mignonette, smeared excessively. Then “monkfish roasted on the bone, leeks and english peas”. There was no discernible bone on the monkfish, and it sat, lonely, unadorned, and slightly over-cooked atop a mound of the vegetables:
The veg were impeccable (but why are these peas “english”?). Still, I prefer some overall cohesion to my composed dishes, not just this atop that.
On balance, it was a very good meal. PLUS it was a lovely evening and I sat outside at the edge of the sculpture garden:
Can one do better in NY?
Meal 2:
Yes, if one eats, as I did, the next night at Foxface. You have to initially let their lovely, inherited tin ceiling substitute for the view, but then the food takes over. I started with tuna carpaccio, on a bed of xo sauce, and sprinkled with herbs, negi and pomelo. An altogether harmonious composition – not just one thing atop another.
My second course was the latest iteration of their goat. I come from a goat-eating culture, but the goat of my youth came in small bony chunks. The goat that’s now popping up in NY is often larger in format. I’ve had FF goat before, and would have said then it was the best largish-format I’ve had in NY. Except the present version might be better. Hard to know for sure, of course, without a side-by-side comparison, but that would involve time travel.
This was – no surprise – an overall extraordinary meal.
Meal 1 - There are a lot of dishes offered these days with a serving of protein offered over vegetables and/or carbs and sauce. If I were offered that dish I would compose a bit with a bit of monkish together with a bit of the sauce+veg and ask, are the flavors interesting and does the combo they work? It looks pretty. As for monkfish on the bone, perhaps they removed the bone after roasting? A lot of people dont like to deal with bones; re the peas there are different varieties of peas, perhaps they got them from a specialty grower who sold them fresh that way. Since I dont like English peas that would not be a selling point for me, I prefer the frozen baby peas one can often find to peas from the farmers market. so, did it taste good?
The fish by itself was pretty bland, but the vegetables were tasty. I did mix stuff together as I ate.
ODRE - modern korean.
Very good eats.
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