Fishtail, UES - He says...

I was pleasantly surprised at how good Fishtail was.  She got an unbelievable deal from Gilt - an exclusive 4 course tasting, wine pairings, and a signed copy of David Burke's cookbook for $200.  But to be honest, I was a bit pessimistic about going.  I hadn't heard such great reviews about the food at Fishtail.  And I was a bit overwhelmed with the whimsical decor and busy dining room at David Burke's flagship restaurant, Townhouse.  The food at Townhouse also had strong flavors, so I wasn't sure if that would be too much for a seafood theme.  But Fishtail is much different.  The dining room wasn't cramped or hectic.  The service was also a bit more comfortable yet still very professional.  As expected, the decoration was vibrant with bold red walls, fun chandeliers, and interesting fish paintings, but had an element of reservation that seemed elegant.  And the food seemed to fit with it all.  I found our experience at Fishtail to be very zen.  Fishtail definitely impressed me. 

The meal opened with champagne - always a good start.  It was paired with our amuse bouche, a spicy tuna tartare with creme fraiche and caviar in a jar.  The spicy tuna wasn't the mayo heavy stuff we're used to having in Japanese-American restaurants, but was simply mixed with finely minced peppers, which added some heat and acidity.  The creme fraiche provided a comforting cooling quality.  The caviar was a perfectly rich way to add some saltiness.  Unfortunately, I failed to portion each bite out - I can't help myself with caviar.  It was a big portion for an amuse bouche but the simple, well-balanced dish with the champagne was a great start to the tasting.

Our next dish was the Angry Lobster Cocktail.  We've had the famous Angry Lobster from Townhouse and it was indeed angry.  The full portioned Townhouse version was in your face with salt and spiciness.  It was also a bit messy to eat with the sauce because we had to use our hands to really get into it.  So when we saw this on the menu, we were kind of bracing ourselves for the rage.  But when it came out, it was more muted in a good way.  It was half a lobster with more accessible meat (even the brains, which she loves).  The powerful sauce was replaced by a more complex lemon basil chili oil.  I thought the basil really made the dish stand out.  The earthy, herbal tone combined with the heat and acidity from the lemon and chili really created a round flavor I've never really had with lobster.

Our entree was a dover sole with pineapple brown butter topped with brunoised vegetables.  Aside from the cut of the vegetables, the dish seemed pretty standard for a fish dish but delicious nonetheless.  The fish was perfectly cooked - light, flaky meat with some faded brown char on the outside.  The highlight was definitely the sweetness from the pineapple and citrus cut in the vegetables.  It was a subtle flavor but it really anchored the buttery richness of the sauce and the bitterness of the vegetables.  I think it also foreshadowed the big finish at the end.

The dessert was quite a production.  We were served a plate of metal mixers with chocolate frosting.  Our waiter explained we were supposed to lick them like when 'you were a kid'.  As we enjoyed our chocolate with our paired port, our waiter rolled over a cart with our dessert: the Fishtail Can O' Cake.  It was a medium-sized chocolate cake still in the tin.  The waiter topped it with caramel, rice crisps, and bits of Heath Bar Crunch.  He scooped it out on our plates along with ice cream and fresh cream from a canister.  He then left the remaining 3/4 of the cake with us along with the cream.  The chocolate cake was amazing with the crisp, salty, and gooey toppings, but the whipped cream was the dangerous one.  It was thick yet airy and you could easily eat a bowl of it with a spoon; that's coming from a person who doesn't even really like whipped cream!  Shocked by the size of our dessert, we offered some of it to the table next to us and were still unable to finish; but luckily, we were able to take it home.

I think I really liked Fishtail because it wasn't your typical fancy seafood restaurant.  These restaurants are exemplified by crudos and light sauces.  But Fishtail isn't afraid to pair bold flavors with delicate meat.  What you get is a flavorful dish that still stays true to the flavors of the fish.  David Burke definitely does seafood right.  Special thanks to Gilt for offering this deal to her and opening our eyes to Fishtail.

Fishtail, UES - She says...

I've been curious about David Burke's restaurants, known for his creative, bold flavors and whimsical restaurant decor, but we haven't really made an effort to try them. When I saw a three-course tasting menu at Fishtail featured by Gilt City, I thought it would be a good way to see what his food was all about. Shortly after I purchased the certificate, we were surprised with an impromptu trip to Townhouse. After experiencing his "mad hatter" style, I was even more curious about how it would translate in seafood. We made a reservation for Sunday night. We'd already done some pretty serious eating on Saturday, so I was looking forward to a good meal to finish off the weekend.

The tasting started with a glass of champagne, followed by the amuse - a spicy tuna tartare topped with horseradish creme fraiche and a dollop of American sturgeon caviar. It came in an egg-shaped glass jar and was served with several pieces of salted toast. Aside from the toast being slightly cold and under-toasted, it was a really tasty bite. The pepper in the tartare (he thinks they were red peppers, I say jalapenos), provided a good amount of heat and crunch to the tuna, which was fresh and well-seasoned. There were also sea salt crystals toasted into the bread, a nice touch that accented the flavors of the tartare, horseradish, and caviar and also added more crunch. I was surprised by how clean and simple this dish was, and appreciated the little note that came with it.


The second dish, technically our first course, was the Angry Lobster Cocktail. I tried the Angry Lobster appetizer at Townhouse and was overwhelmed by the presentation and spices. But the Angry Lobster Cocktail at Fishtail had a balance that I really enjoyed. It was a half lobster served on a bed of mashed potatoes and a lemon basil chili oil. The spices were bold and had caramelized nicely to the lobster shell, yet I could still taste the sweetness of the lobster meat. The lemon and basil in the oil added freshness to the plate, while the mashed potatoes provided a textural and flavor contrast. I managed to clean out the shells using only the small lobster fork provided, although I was definitely tempted to eat with just my hands (the way lobster is meant to be eaten, of course). It was a fun dish, and paired nicely with a Chablis that stood up to its angry flavors.

The next dish was a dover sole meuniere in a pineapple brown butter sauce that smelled amazing. It was a large filet that was cooked perfectly and topped with pineapple, brioche croutons, and occasional wedges of a citrus, possibly grapefruit? Regardless, I didn't quite understand them - the acidity and sourness were overwhelming. Overall, the sole was a nice, mild finish to our savory courses.

Before the dessert course came, we were served these egg beaters dipped in chocolate:

I was expecting them to be a component of our dessert, but our server told us that they were simply there for us to enjoy - as is! Awesome and so fun. The actual dessert course was equally as whimsical - a canister of chocolate cake that was topped, tableside, with caramel, rice krispies, and heath bar. Served with vanilla ice cream and fresh whipped cream, it was a fun, decadent way to end a great meal. And we even got to take home the leftovers in the original canister.

This tasting was such a pleasant surprise. In addition to the delicious meal, the Gilt certificate included a signed cookbook and a box of David Burke's cheesecake lollipops - all in all a great deal! It was the perfect ending to a truly memorable eating weekend. Special thanks to our server for patiently waiting as he took pictures of every step of the chocolate cake plating, and for making our experience at Fishtail a lot of fun. We'll be back!

Sakagura, Midtown East - She says...

We had every intention of eating leftovers last night, but somehow ended up at the bar at Sakagura. The restaurant, in the basement of an office building, feels like a well kept secret.


The menu is basically a continuous list of small plates, which is just how I like to eat. The first two dishes came out together: dried sardine crackers and tamago (sweet egg omelette) wrapped around grilled eel. The sardine cracker was a single, crispy layer of tiny dried sardines, served with a spicy mayo that was sweet and creamy enough to balance the saltiness of the sardine bits. But with five crackers per serving, the dish would have been more appropriate for a larger group. The tamago was sweet and moist, definitely better than the tamago from the average sushi place.


Next came the scallop dish, one of the specials of the night. The scallops were beautiful, barely seared and topped with a mango and egg yolk vinaigrette. The mango/egg yolk sauce was sweet and surprisingly strong. I loved the sweetness of the barely cooked scallops on their own, so I dipped into the vinaigrette sparingly. Still, the combination was flavorful and fresh.


With the scallops came our beef tongue stew with daikon, taro, shitakes, and spinach. This was probably my favorite dish of the night. The miso broth was delicious, and each piece of meat and vegetable had absorbed the perfect amount of liquid. The starchiness of the daikon and taro (a single piece of each placed deliberately at the bottom of the bowl) stood out nicely against the broth. And the chunks of beef tongue were amazing. I wonder if beef tongue would be a more popular protein if it had a more diner-friendly pseudonym, like the sweetbread. The tongue in this stew was tender and so flavorful, especially when I dipped it back into the broth.

The final dish of the dinner was a 2x2x2inch cube of slow cooked pork belly sitting in a pork broth. It is as insanely yummy as it sounds, and I'm sure he has written all about it. From my perspective, it's one of the best pork belly dishes I've had. There was a good proportion of meat to fat, and the fat had absorbed the rich flavor of the broth. It's Sakagura's signature dish, and definitely worth ordering each time. I'm pretty sure we both had big smiles on our faces as we finished our first bites (one order per person, of course).

The one dish to skip next time would be my dessert, I fell victim to not reading/understanding the menu well enough. The sake panna cotta was fine, but it came with two dried apricot sandwiches filled with sake lees. I assumed it would be a custard or cream, or at the very least sweet. I didn't expect a sour, stinky, curdled taste. Sake lees is essentially the pulp leftover after rice has been fermented and pressed to make sake. Not meant to be eaten as part of a dessert.

The overall meal was just what I had hoped for from Sakagura. Nice, slightly formal but very comfortable. The restaurant was full even on a Sunday night, but hopefully they always have at least two seats at the bar.

Sakagura, Midtown East - He says...

Last night, we went to Sakagura.  It was originally recommended to us by my mom.  She has a good eye for Japanese restaurants in the midtown east area so I was looking forward it.  On top of this, we realized when we were waiting for a table that Sakagura is under the TIC restaurant group, the company that also owns Curry-Ya (curry), Rai-Rai-Ken (ramen), and Otafuku (okonomiyaki) – some of our favorite Japanese restaurants.  So we had some pretty high expectations before we even sat down.  Luckily, we weren’t let down.

As usual, we ordered a good deal.  But the plates were moderately portioned so it wasn’t too much food.  Not to mention they were all really good.  One of my favorite dishes of the night was the seared scallop with an egg and mango sauce.  The scallop was lightly seared and nicely rare in the middle.  The sauce, which had a pretty yellow color, was sweet with a rich flavor thanks to the egg.

But the best thing on the menu was definitely Sakagura’s specialty – the ‘buta kakuni’, a braised pork belly.  We ordered one each.  Each portion was served in its own small bowl sitting in what was probably the braising liquid.  Looking at it, it kind of reminded me of an iceberg.  All I really saw was a small piece of fat sticking out from the sauce.  But when I stuck my chopsticks in to pull it out, I realized it was actually a big 2 cubic inch chunk of pork!

The pork was perfectly cooked with bacon-like proportions of meat and fat.  The meat was extremely tender.  I also kind of had to slurp as I bit it because of the natural juices and the sauce it absorbed.  The sauce itself was also very delicate with nothing very overpowering.  It's probably one of the best things from a pig I’ve ever had, which is saying a lot from someone who loves some fatty pig.  For pork belly, it's definitely up there with the pork from the Momofuku buns.  As good as this and the other dishes were, none of them were really that complicated.  But that’s what I love about Japanese food – it’s so simply delicious.

Unfortunately, the dessert was a low-light.  Mine was decent enough.  It was essentially a red bean bun with homemade green tea ice cream – nothing to get excited about.  She had a sake panna cotta, which was essentially just a milk gelatin.  The worst part of the dish was some apricot and cream sandwich on the side.  We laughed because the filling kind of tasted like those baby-bell cheese singles.  I usually feel bad when the dessert is bad because she really loves dessert.

But it’s not something that would keep us away; I think the main parts of dinner are fantastic enough to keep us coming back often.

I also wanted to make one final note on the bathroom.  It's uncommon to see in the US, so it's nice to see the level of cleanliness available here.  I think the image speaks for itself.

Social Eatz, Midtown East - She says...

I picked Angelo Sosa as a front runner to win this season's Top Chef All-Stars. So when he lost a few weeks ago, I lost my bet and the free dinner that came with it. Still, from what I saw of his food on the show, I was eager to try it. I missed out on Xie Xie, but luckily my Daily Candy subscription told me of his new restaurant, Social Eatz. Only a block away from my work, it seemed like a good post-workweek dinner, and so we went.

I may have been a little too excited about trying the chef's food, so we started out with all three appetizers on the menu: the spring rolls, chicken wings, and ribs. The wings and ribs were fine, but I was most pleasantly surprised by the spring rolls. The filling was yummy, a good textural combination of ground pork, shrimp, finely shredded veggies, and what I think was shredded wood ear mushrooms. The wrapper was thin, not too greasy, and nicely crispy. The best part of the spring roll app was the dipping sauce...a delicious puree of what tasted like guava or pineapple. It was sweet and spicy, even suitable as a dipping sauce for the french fries that came later.

For the entrees, I ordered the bulgogi burger while he ordered the chili tilapia tacos. Both were tasty enough. The burger was a juicy medium rare, topped with pickled cucumber slices and kimchi, and smothered with kewpie mayo and hot sauce. The untoasted burger bun couldn't hold together all of the burger's juices and sauces, so it fell apart with each bite. The result was good flavors, definitely on the sweeter side, but a mess on the plate. The tilapia, garnished with cilantro and guacamole, was seasoned well and much fresher than the burger. Unfortunately, the corn tortilla shell made the overall bite a bit dry and bland. I would have liked to try the tilapia as a burger or sandwich.

The best part of the meal was by far the yuzu cream puffs that we had for dessert. Part doughnuthole and part cream puff, they were warm and fluffy with a hint of citrus. Tasty and fun to eat. Would have been delicious with a latte or a cup of tea.


Overall, the food was good but not really what I was expecting. On Top Chef, he was known for beautiful crudos, fresh flavors, and serving the perfect bite on a spoon. I understand that a burger joint named Social Eatz isn't exactly the right venue for that type of food, but I guess I was hopeful. The restaurant's theme was oddly cute...inside was trendy, loud, and very orange. If he ever opens a restaurant that serves dishes as elegant as what he showcased on TV, I'll be there.

Social Eatz, Midtown East - He says...

We decided to try Social Eatz on a whim; it isn't uncommon for us to make spontaneous decisions about our dinner. We're big fans of the TV show Top Chef so we were excited to eat food at Angelo Sosa's new restaurant.

The food at Social Eatz was described to us as 'comfort food with Asian flavors', which isn't surprising for anyone who's watched the show or eaten at his late restaurant Xie Xie. Being the ambitious eaters we are, we decided to start with the menu's 3 appetizers: the ribs, the wings, and the egg rolls. The ribs and wings were perfectly cooked with juicy meat. The one odd thing about them was the sauce. My palate may not have been refined enough to notice, but their sauces tasted relatively the same to me. Not that it's a bad thing. The sauce was really tasty - sweet with a slightly sour and spicy finish. But it would have been nice if the 2 of the 3 appetizers had distinctly different flavors. The egg roll was also good. I really liked the crunch and the salty filling, especially when dipped in the sweet sauce, which we thought was some sort of guava puree.

For my entree, I ordered the tilapia taco. The pieces of fish were so nicely cooked with a perfect even browning and a flaky inside. It also had a sort of finely chopped 'pico de gallo' with a sweet and sour taste like a relish. The taco as a whole would have been perfect except for one element I didn't notice when I ate the first of two tacos...it had guacamole and I'm allergic to avocados! As soon as I noticed, we had to switch (something we probably would have done anyway to share). She ordered the bulgogi burger, which I thought was just as great. The burger was tender and topped with thinly sliced cucumbers, which gave it a nice sour contrast and some crunch. The sauce added a nice richness but also made the burger kind of messy. I think the bread could have been toasted more to add to the texture and hold up the burger with the filling.

Finally, we ordered the yuzu cream puffs. For someone who loves key lime pie, this was the perfect dessert for me. The bread was almost like a freshly fried doughnut but much lighter and fluffier. The filling was perfectly tart and sweet. I loved it and would come back regularly just for that.

There were definitely other dishes I wanted to try, like the bibimbop burger, so we'll definitely be visiting Social Eatz again. Still, I wish Angelo would do a restaurant with more refined food, like he does on Top Chef.