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New York Magazine recently covered Cascabel Taqueria on the Upper East Side (2nd Ave. between 80th and 81st).  You can view their complete menu here. It looks quite unique and affordable, the tacos, several varieties available, are two for $7.50. The 'pescado' with tuna, hearts of palm and olives sounds great - - I'd pass on the 'lengua' braised veal tongue however!

Here's what they had to say about it:

"The counter is manned by a preternaturally friendly staff, who take orders and ferry food to tables on rectangular tin plates that evoke the army or a camping trip. There are unexpected niceties, like frosted glasses for microbrew beer, $6 glasses of wine, vibrant housemade salsas in chilled caddies, and copies of the daily papers incongruously stacked alongside old issues of Box y Lucha magazine on a room-dividing condiment rack.

On Saturday night I went to Perry St.  My friend and I had a 9:30 reservation because that was all that was available.  We arrived on time and they brought us right to our table. The room is a bit bland, modern and clean looking, but not particularly interesting.  It has a spacious feel which is nice, since so many places try to cram in tables wherever possible.

After we picked out a wine (a delicious Pinot Noir from Burgundy), they brought us an amuse-bouche.  It was a tiny cup of a creamy celery soup, served warm. It was good.

The bread was certainly disappointing.  I love bread and it is always really exciting to have exemplary bread (like at Commerce for example), but this bread was not up to par. It was a served by the slice, a white variety with a well cooked crunchy crust, too dry and not much flavor.  No second slice for me, thanks.

We decided to share the black pepper crab dumplings with sauteed sugar snap peas ($14). They are steamed (yay); I personally hate it when a nice dumpling is ruined by being fried. They were filled with all crab and the black pepper sauce on top was outstanding. It was tempting to order more!

I had the cod with lemon crumbs with sweet garlic broth and broccoli rabe ($24). I was worried about the garlic broth because I'm not a huge garlic fan, the waiter offered to bring it on the side, so that was perfect. Anyway, I needn't have worried - it was a delicious sauce with the right amount of garlic.  Not a garlic festival (as I like to call over-garlicked dishes).  The fish was a beautiful square and thick piece of cod with a nice amount of crispy lemon bread crumbs on top, balanced on top of a small mound of broccoli rabe. It was really quite delicious!  My friend had the slowly cooked salmon with passion fruit olive oil emulsion, spinach, jalapeno and black olive. She gave me a taste and the flavors of the passion fruit, jalapeno and black olive were really amazing, just what you expect from Jean Georges. I think we both picked very well!  Other menu items include a tuna burger, fried chicken, lamb chops...it's a rather eclectic menu.

For dessert, we ordered the twice baked butter cookie with coconut cream and raspberries on the recommendation of our waiter.  I had been leaning towards the fig tart, or the poached pear but they were all out of the poached pear anyway.  They seemed to forget our dessert though, so when they finally brought it out, they also brought a complimentary chocolate pudding with fresh cream and crystallized violets.  Neither of us are "chocolate people" so we never would have ordered the chocolate pudding, but I am so glad they gave it to us!  The crystallized violets were amazing and unique, and the fresh cream was un-sugared. The flavors worked so well together... In comparison I think we were both a bit disappointed by the cookie.  It was good, but not great.

Appetizers: $10 - 29

Entrees: $18 - 36.50

Desserts: $8 - 10

Overall the service was good, not snobby at all. But as mentioned above a bit uneven, we had to ask about our dessert after probably about 30 minutes...  I would go back for sure.  I thought the food (other than the bread) was all delicious and well prepared. And I'll know to get the chocolate pudding next time!

In today's NY Times dining section, Sam Sifton reviews the re-opened Aureole now on 42nd Street in the new Bank of America tower, A Kiss to the United States of Burgers, Fries and Sugar.  He gives it one star, "good".

Since Aureole used to be a classy affair tucked into an Upper East Side townhouse, it is very apt that Sifton calls the move south to 42nd Street "a Las Vegas event restaurant airlifted into Manhattan". 

It has a glizty look and large scale much more in common with the Aureole in Las Vegas than the New York original.

Sifton warns us that the dining room is uneven, "...It is nice in that dining room, quiet, and if your order goes well with the kitchen, you can have a good meal. If it doesn't, you'll be staring down a listless Wiener schnitzel, pale and greasy beneath a thick lemon-caper sauce, with too-tart applesauce."

The bar area is raucous. The bar menu features "an extremely good" hamburger.

Other dishes Sifton recommends are: sea scallop sandwich, sliders, pan-roasted shrimp, lobster and anything pork-bellied.

He sums up the review: "The restaurant is a love letter to an America we see reflected back at us in unflattering light: relatively happy, unthinking, desirous mostly of sugar and fat. That's Vegas for you. It's not New York."

Eek, that's not very flattering...

In today's NY Times Dining Secion, Sam Sifton gives Le Relais de Venise L' Entrecote a one star (good) rating.  (article: Hop Off the Wheel and Taste Paris)

The restaurant has no menu. It's salad and steak frites.

He describes the salad: "It is a pile the size of a softball, mixed green and red lettuces draped in a mustardy vinaigrette that in early days here was nearly as thick as a mayonnaise. Lately it has thinned out into something closer to silk. Walnuts are strewn across the top, rich and oily."

And the steak: "Your steak comes in two stages, on a relatively small plate: you eat your portion of meat, sauce and fries and then are served seconds. The beef is fine, sliced thin across the grain and as tender as cheap meat gets, a perfect midweek dinner with a friend. The fries rate higher on the crazy-good scale: salty and crisp, with tender interiors that aren't mushy even when soaked in the sauce."

The ingredients of the sauce are kept secret. Sifton desribes it as "perhaps a variant on the gravy poured out at Café de Paris in Geneva since the 1940s: butter, basically, infused with herbs and mustard and cream, with a metallic tang of chicken liver running right through its middle. Whatever it is at L'Entrecôte, you could pour the stuff over a boot and still have an excellent dinner."

Cheeses and desserts including profiteroles are available if you have room...

In today's NY Times Restaurant review, 'Culture, Staged on a Plate', Sam Sifton gives Marea 3 stars.  Marea is in the former San Domenico space on Central Park South.  The chef is Michael White, formerly of Fiamma and Vento. He and his partner Chris Cannon also have Alto and Convivio. 

In the review, Sifton recommends: Ricci; lobster and burrata; slow-poached egg; fusilli; spaghetti; Dover sole; steak; langoustines.

You can take a look at the full menu here.

Pictured Below: the Dover Sole and Fusilli with Octopus braised in red wine.

Images: Michael Falco for the New York Times

Parc at Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia has been on my need-to-go list for months now, and I finally made it for brunch yesterday.

It has a great location on S. 18th facing the Park, in the restaurant row that also includes Rouge and Devon. The space is huge (think at least 3x as large as Balthazar) and is nicely done in that vintage bistro style: tile floors, pressed tin ceiling with aged patina, distressed mirrors on walls, trestle tables, mixed up chairs, white marble etc. etc. It looks great, but I think due to the huge size I felt that there was just a little something missing or off, design-wise. Overall though I was impressed with the attention to detail in the decor, our waiter mentioned that they even had faux European style electrical outlets!

Our table was a 4-top near the French doors that were opened up to the sidewalk tables. The service was fast, friendly and competent (same as I've experienced at all Stephen Starr restaurants). The brunch menu has the expected types of French bistro classics: salad nicoise with seared fresh tuna, moules frites, steak frites, croque madame and also some of the more traditonal breakfast-y types of things like pancakes, frech toast and omlettes. The bread basket is a SUBLIME experience with house baked breads: baguette, country wheat and a dark fruit nut bread.  I am a total baguette snob since I studied in Paris during college and I found theirs to be very authentic: crisp outside; tender, moist and chewy inside. We started with mimosas and shared the pissaladiere appetizer (onion tart with goat cheese, anchovies and black olives). It was served on a rustic wood cutting board with some nicely dressed mesclun greens piled up on one end.  I think this was the best pissaladiere I've ever had - perfect combination of flavors! The mimosas were heavy on the sparkling, not the OJ. I had the nicoise salad which included seared tuna and also the Italian style cooked tuna (that comes packed in olive oil), haricot verts, shaved fennel, fingerling potatoes, abundant black olives, hard boiled egg, tomatos and a combination of greens.  The portion was rather huge.  It was very good.  My boyfriend had the "steak and eggs" which includes not mere steak but a petit filet mignon. And he got his eggs scrambled with the fines herbs.  He mentioned that the filet was not as big as it had been on previous visits but it was still a nice quality piece of meat and the herbed eggs were quite good. The dessert list is cruelly compelling (as if anyone needs dessert after how good the bread and everything else are) with French bistro classics like tarte tatin, profiteroles, pot de creme, creme brulee....

On the way out, you can pick up a baguette to go for $3.  They plan to open a small take out bakery soon to sell all of their breads.

I also didn't mention that their bar is huge, which is nice for people who like to dine at the bar.  And the outdoor seating very plentiful.  I can't wait to go back for dinner.  Their dinner menu has two of my favorites: trout amandine and branzino.  (what is missing however is a classic endive salad with walnuts and roquefort, and provencal fish soup)

When I first got to know Philadelphia about two years ago I couldn't believe that they didn't have a great French bistro... I thought it was pretty obvious if anyone could duplicate a Balthazar-like experience in Philly, it couldn't lose.  Well, now it's done!  Yay! 

A couple more images from the Parc website:

My Rating: Very Good

Congratulations to Eleven Madison Park who got elevated to 4 stars today by the New York Times food critic, Frank Bruni.

Four stars is "extraordinary".

Bruni recommends: Prawn roulade; farm egg with Parmesan foam; goat's milk ricotta gnocchi; halibut; lobster; duck for two; chicken for two; suckling pig; vacherin; peanut butter and chocolate palette; chocolate tart with caramel.

Bruni also wrote a Diner's Journal blog post with further thoughts about the elevation.

Frank Bruni reviewed Keith McNally's new place, the Minetta Tavern, on Wed. and gave it three stars (excellent).  Here is a link to the full review: Beef and Decor, Aged to Perfection.

McNally et al must be thrilled with the review, Bruni goes so far as to call it "the best steakhouse in the city".  The review explains that the beef is grain-fed Black Angus from Creekstone Farms that is aged in a special aging room and aged for six to seven weeks. The results... Bruni calls the cote de boeuf a "sublime hunk of glorious meat that you dream about hours later..." etc.  Wow.  I'm not a big meat person, but still Wow.

Of course the interior has that fabulous lived-in, warm patina that McNally is known for. With red nailhead banquettes, pressed tin ceilings and black and white tile floors.

The website for the restaurant is still under construction, but it will be here.

113 Macdougal Street (Minetta Lane), Greenwich Village; (212) 475-3850.

The dining downturn may also be a response to rising prices. The average cost of a meal in Westchester is $38.99 - a 3.5% increase from last year's Survey - making the region among the most expensive in the country, just below New York City ($40.78) and New Jersey ($39.24). On the bright side, many restaurants are rolling out their own stimulus packages to lure local diners.

Zagat's 2009/10 Westchester/Hudson Valley Restaurants Survey covers 955 local eateries with ratings and reviews available as a guidebook, on ZAGAT.com and via ZAGAT TO GO(TM) - Zagat's mobile application for iPhone, BlackBerry and PDAs - providing portable access to 40,000 Zagat-Rated establishments worldwide, top lists, photos, maps, online reservation capabilities and more.

Farm-to-Table for Less: Despite tightening dining budgets, the green movement continues to take hold, with 70% of surveyors saying it's important that the food they eat is locally grown. Although 53% say they're willing to pay more for organic food, and another 55% will pay more for sustainable fare, a new spate of cheaper, eco-friendly options means they don't have to. While not inexpensive, The Barn at Bedford Post lures locavores for seasonal American fare priced steps below the inn's flagship Farmhouse restaurant. Likewise, Blue Hill Cafe in Pocantico Hills offers wallet-friendly bites from the same farm-fresh ingredients used at its parent, Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Now joining the fray is Sweet Grass Grill in Tarrytown, spotlighting grass-fed beef burgers and local produce.

"Westchester and the Hudson Valley have long been popular destinations to find locally grown ingredients," said Tim Zagat, CEO and co-founder of Zagat Survey. "Restaurateurs are capitalizing on their resources and the growing trend toward locally and sustainably raised food to please their patrons and stay competitive in today's market."

Big Ticket, Not-So-Big Tabs: Even the county's swankiest eateries are shifting their focus toward value. X20 Xaviars on the Hudson in Yonkers - voted Most Popular this year - features two levels of dining: formal New American fare upstairs, and more casual small plates and cocktails downstairs in its Dylan Lounge. Special-occasion mainstay Crabtree's Kittle House in Chappaqua now offers a New American bar bites menu, and Rye's legendary French La Panetiere has loosened its prix fixe only format, adding lower-cost a la carte options. Meanwhile, diners seeking an economical celebrity chef experience fill up on pizzas at the Mario Batali backed Italian, Tarry Lodge, in Port Chester.

Winners: Once again, Xaviars at Piermont takes the No. 1 spots for both Food and Service. Peter Kelley's "beguiling" New American cuisine is rated 29 out of 30, and the restaurant gets a 28 for its "top-level" staff. Kelley's newest entry, X20 Xaviars, set on the Historic Yonkers Pier, is rated the area's Most Popular restaurant. Top Decor goes to Equus at the Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown, where patrons appreciate the "magnificent" River views in the "lap of luxury." The Valley's Top Newcomer is New Paltz's hearty New American 36 Main, praised for an "adventurous menu" and "fair prices." Other celebrated arrivals include Tarry Lodge, Spadaro, Chutney Masala and Arielle.

Hudson Valley Values: Simplicity and comfort seem to be watchwords for Hudson Valley restaurateurs brave enough to open in a sour economy - but that doesn't mean quality lost out. Mid-region, Red Hook gained Flatiron, a bistro specializing in updated American fare, and Woodstock welcomed Cucina, dispensing Italian favorites. The bistro quotient got a boost in Rockland County with Nyack's Velo, an American hot spot, and Piermont's Sidewalk Bistro, offering robust French classics. Responding to the times, a few established eateries paused for menu makeovers. Amenia's De La Vergne emerged as a classic steakhouse, while Rhinebeck's Starr Place and Rosendale's Bywater Bistro now offer simpler (read: more affordable) grub on their New American menus.

Best Buys: Westchester and Hudson Valley restaurateurs strive to make fine dining accessible to all. At top-rated restaurants such as La Panetiere, X20 Xaviars or Restaurant X & Bully Boy Bar, diners can enjoy bargain-priced prix fixe lunches for only $25. Dinner deals for $35 or less can be enjoyed at Ristorante Buona Sera, Crabtree's Kittle House, Relish or John Michael's. Locals will always find a good Bang for their Buck at standbys like Walter's, Red Rooster, Bread Alone, Apple Pie Bakery and Bagels & More.

Weighing In: When dining out in Westchester and the Hudson Valley, 73% of surveyors say it is important to have low-carb, low-fat or heart-healthy items available on the menu. In addition, 71% of local diners would support a ban on trans fats from food preparation in restaurant kitchens, and 60% would say they would like to see calorie counts listed on the menu.

The Guide: As with all Zagat Surveys, 2009/2010 Westchester/Hudson Valley Restaurants is made by consumers for consumers. In addition to Top Lists for Popularity, Food, Decor, Service and Best Buys, the guide lists the Key Newcomers and maps the Most Popular restaurants. 2009/2010 Westchester/Hudson Valley Restaurants ($14.95) was edited by John Bruno Turiano, Judith Hausman, Julia Sexton, Lynn Hazlewood, Lorraine Gengo and Michelle Golden. The guide is available at bookstores and other retail outlets, through ZAGAT.com or by calling 888-371-5440. Content is also available online at ZAGAT.com and on mobile devices via ZAGAT.mobi and ZAGAT TO GO(TM) for iPhone(TM), BlackBerry and smartphones.

SOURCE Zagat Survey, LLC