Sonny D.'s Profile

the financial district can be quite frustrating when it comes to lunch food options.  i work at the world financial center, and across the street on vesey you have: chevy's and applebee's.  the applebee's in particular is really, really bad.  in my book their service had achieved a new level of sucking.  oh wait, this isn't for applebee's.  it's a freakin 5-star review for ho yip!

ah yes, ho yip!  so dependable, so tasty, so cheap.  i sort of miss the old pre-9/11 ho yip that was below ground near century 21, literally on top of the subway station.  that place was old and dingy, but the food was really good and dirt cheap.

this new location is cleaner and brighter (and a tad expensive -- they've increased prices, but at ~$7 a meal with soda.. still not bad).  i always order from the "chinatown style" line, and my favorite dish is scrambled egg with shrimp over white rice.  it's simple but tasty.  they have a buffet option now, and i've tried some of the items and i don't remember having been disappointed.

i don't know why, but i get a kick out of watching the workers take orders, talk to the kitchen folks over a loud speaker, and bag takeouts -- each task done with incredible speed, precision and efficiency.  this one lady even remembers me and asks me if i'm getting the same dish.  amazing!

is it possible to have "close proximity to a taco truck" as one of the deciding factors in apartment hunting?

why yes, yes of course.

i waited so long to get into this restaurant, and when i finally did, i was... underwhelmed.  the hostess, while really cute, could have smiled more.  no, wait- she could have at least smiled *once*.  good thing our server was warm and friendly, or else i could have stormed out of there.  ok maybe not.  i had reeeally waited too long to try this place.  i blame the hype.

as for the food... sadly, nothing really stood out for me.  i have trouble remembering now exactly what we ordered.  i do recall that we wanted to give it another shot, so we ordered the grilled baby squid as our last tapa.  this one was good -- really tasty and done just right.  so it wasn't a total nightmare after all.  but as far as tapas go, tia pol still has a soft spot in my heart.

and oh, the sangria was good too, btw.  but the waiter didn't scoop up the sliced fruits from the pitcher and place them in the glasses before pouring, so i ended up with all of the liquid, none of the fruit.  which made it looked like i was drinking kool aid.  i don't know why that's wrong, but it just is.

in my opinion, andrew carmellini can do no wrong.  the food looked deceivingly simple, yet there seemed to be something extra special that was done or added to it.  the bread (warm!) came with a dipping sauce of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and chili that tasted... sweet.  the duck, to quote my non-duck-eating friend, did not taste like duck at all (and yes that's a good thing, to her).  the spaghetti was at once spicy and sweet.  i had the tripe with tuscan beans and fried duck egg, country-style.  excellent.  tripe can be overwhelmingly pungent, but this one wasn't.

if you're used to hearty and large italian meals (or if you're starving and could eat a zebra), this might not be your kind of place.  but where the food lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for it in quality -- freshness of ingredients, skillful preparation, flavorful seasonal fare.

nice wine list.  i noticed a lot of half bottles, and affordable choices.

service was more than adequate.  the restaurant wasn't terribly busy when we ate there, so the maitre d, server, and busboys were attentive to our needs.

my only beef is with the decor and ambience.  a bit too plain, and the lighting changed regularly from dim to bright then back to dim again.  i thought that was weird.  not really a young crowd, but we knew that coming in.

what a blast!  so much debauchery downstairs my head was spinning, lol (ok, maybe it was the alcohol too).  i kept elbowing my buddy to direct his attention to all those fiiine girls (and guys) making out!

very cool to have met a lot of yelpers for the first time too - my memory is kinda hazy, so i won't name names, lol.  but yosh- really cool hanging with you for a good chunk of the night!

let's see how many more cool yelpers i get to meet at the movie screening later today!

(almost forgot the obligatory thank-you-sam-russ shout out -- although i didn't get to meet you two, and i'm probably the only one, thanks for the awesome party!)

so the soho store finally opened today.  i was looking for a housewarming gift for a friend, so i decided to stop by for a look-see.

the store, concept and merchandise were as i expected them to be (i've ordered online a few times in the past).  cb2 is to crate & barrel as west elm is to pottery barn - cheaper and less stuffy than the older sibling.  but while most of the items are perfectly functional and attractive, nothing really stood out for me as cleverly-designed and/or unique -- just a lot of basic stuff that would look good in an apartment.  i was, however, amused at their towels that are made from bamboo.  yes, bamboo!  who knew?

anyway, while cb2 is a great destination for home furnishings, i think that i would stick to west elm (a bit more subdued, design-wise).  the store also has the misfortune of being right next door to muji (opening 11/16), which is definitely more design-driven and a tad cooler than cb2.

my friends took me out for a (surprise) belated birthday dinner here, and i was excited at the prospect of going back to lupa again, as i went here for lunch the first time about a year ago and remember having really good food.

i did warn my friends about having to wait ~20 minutes before we get our table, but to my suprise the host said to wait 10 mins, and after *exactly* 10 mins (yes we're losers like that to keep track of time) we were led to our table.  impressive, considering this was a saturday night and the place was a bit packed.

as for the food.. ahh yes, the food.  we decided to get *all* of the appetizers.  grande everything - seafood, veggies and meat (hmm.. i guess we skipped salad -- we're not really salad ppl).  most everything was spectacular - the ones i didn't like were because of personal preference (e.g., i don't like beets, but my friend who does, swore that they were awesome).  i like the cured meats the best, but the sardines almost stole the show (or, uhh, at this point just the opening act, since the main attraction was yet to come).

we didn't opt for a "proper" roman dinner, so after apps we decided to just get either primi or secondi, what with the feast that we just had with the bread (good, btw) and small plates.  i had the pork shoulder.  which was wonderfully succulent, with the sauce giving it a sweet flavor, almost glaze-like but not too overwhelming.  perfect.

i was charged with ordering the wine at the start, and i so wanted to get the 88 barolo, but i'm not paying for dinner so i had to dial down the wine greed and thought about getting the perfectly capable $24 bottle of sangiovese instead.  figured we might as well stick to the same wine region as the food (lazio).  well, whaddaya know, when i asked the waiter for a wine rec, he said the exact same thing.  i shit you not.  that's gotta be worth at least 3 brownie points (or in tagalog, "pogi" points :-) from my friends for impressing them, lol.

as for the service, i would safely file it under the attentive-unobtrusive category, which is always ok in my book.  i asked the waiter if they had ever served fried zucchini flowers and he said twice this summer, and advised to call beforehand next time to check if it's on the day's special, as he doubted if it will ever be a permanent item on their menu.  hmm.  next summer...

anyway, to sum it up, definitely go here for good, authentic roman food (been to rome a few times myself), wide selection of italian wine, and warm, casual atmosphere at moderate prices.

i pass by this place almost everyday when me and my office buddies troll down chambers st for lunch options.  it took a nice review (4 stars.. actually 4 drumsticks) by new york mag to finally convince us to try the place.  and what a happy surprise!  best.  fried.  chicken.  EVER.  ok, well i guess i should qualify that:  i'm no fried chicken expert (i looove popeye's chicken, so that should give you an idea), but i like it anyway.  the crispy skin, the right amount of spicy-ness, tender meat... it's all good.

they have the gayest paper bag though.  i wonder how much money they'd save by switching to less-fancy packaging...

i went here for dinner during restaurant week, and had one of the best meals i had in a long time.  from the amuse-bouche down to dessert.. everything was delicious.  the cold melon soup was my least favorite (maybe because i like hot soups?), but it was still outstanding.  the salmon was perfection, as was the veal.  top-notch service too.

i'd come back here for lunch, and if i can afford it, a proper dinner as well.

i know that everyone's been raving about the brunch deal here, but for a seafood freak like me, it's all about $16-lobster wednesdays!  yeah!