Pop Burger (Burger Lounge, Meatpacking District)

NY Sidewalk Review
Menu Pages Review

Location:
60 9th Ave.
east side of the street, between 14th and 15th Sts.

Cuisine:
Bar/Lounge burger joint

Fave Dishes:
Pop Burgers (Entree, $5.75 for two)
French Fries (Side, $3.25)

Ambiance:
Um, it's a burger joint fronting as a bar/lounge. Or vice versa. Who knows. Anyway, pretty good for a late-night snack, and music is on the hip hop side. The food comes fast, and apparently the cooks are HOT. Didn't notice. Burgers are reminiscent of those for which Harold and Kumar made their epic journey.

Detractors:
Um, the crowd was scantily clad skanks. Both male and female. No offense to New Yorkers, but when we went it was FREEZING out and these idiots would come in to the place, sans coat, sans sweater, sans closed toes shoes, sans any warm clothing. Unfortunately, the crowd (males) made me feel like I was one of the burgers -- aka just meat to scan and appraise.

Shaburi (Japanese, Murray Hill)

NY Sidewalk Review
Menu Pages Review

Location:
129 E 39th St
north side of the street, between Lexington and Park Aves.

Cuisine:
Japanese Fusion

Fave Dishes:
Sukiyaki (Entree, $38.00)
Sesame Ice Cream (Dessert, $6.00)

Ambiance:
Turns out this is a chain restaurant that originated in Taiwan. The owners fuse three Japanese styles (they sometimes grill the sushi), including sushi, shabu shabu, and crap I don't remember the third version. Basically, a chichi shabu shabu place in a fairly desolate part of town. Across from the W Hotel, it fits well with the decor of the neighborhood, which is just south of Grand Central Station. Practically a re-furbished brownstone done up all Asian style, and each table has at least one stovetop for cooking your sukiyaki or your shabu shabu. The first time I went was because my roommate Silver wanted to try out this new restaurant she had read about in DailyCandy, so we all went. It was fun, but the best part was the sukiyaki (made with butter, modified sake broth, and onions) and the sesame ice cream. SOOO good, we asked for where we could find it again. They said the ingredients were shipped from Taiwan. The ice cream is soft serve, with tinges of that black sesame paste dessert that you don't know about unless you're Asian, or maybe a sinophile.

Detractors:
Horribly overpriced restaurant. But par for the course, since it's in the same neighborhood as all other expensive restaurants. I don't like eating in the midtown area, it's full of tourists, and Broadway play attendees, so the restaurants overcharge you in that area. There are many other great shabu shabu places in town, and for cheaper. At that rate, I'd rather do the Chinese hotpot or the Korean barbecue versions over the shabu shabu. But, if you're with your cousins from out of town, and they insist on taking you out to dinner around the area where they're staying, it's an ok standby. Especially if you can't make a reservation in all the other restaurants in the area.

Seoul Garden (Korean, Koreatown)

Location:
34 W. 32nd St., between 5th and 6th Aves. south side of street, second floor.
across the street from Kum Gang San

Cuisine:
Korean.

Fave Dishes:
Korean Barbecue ($12-30 per plate, generally serves at least 2-3 peeps)
-I highly recommend the standards: kalbi, bulgogi, pork, chicken. If I'm lazy (and I usually am), I ask them to cook it in the kitchen. Unless you want to interact and cook your food.
Pajun (Appetizer, Pancake). I recommend either the kimchee pajun or the seafood one.
Sun doo bu chige (Soup, with tofu). I recommend the spicy one, and with seafood.
I could go on, but I'll stop there.

Ambiance:
It's a Korean barbecue place, and I can't find any "normal" reviews of this restaurant. There are other great restaurants in K-Town (Kum Gang San and Woorijip (the latter I love more than the former) which come to mind, but Seoul Garden (aka the Tofu Place) is really really really good. There are lots of Asians, particularly Koreans, there, which bodes well. They overload you with pan chan, which is also great. But the tofu is particularly excellent, and you can always judge a Korean restaurant by their kimchee. It's good. I go there all the time (as well as to Woorijip) with my two Korean roomates. Service is excellent.

Detractors:
You may have to wait a while for a table sometimes....and I wasn't too happy with the standard chap chae (noodle dish) that they prepared.

Yat Tung Heen Restaurant (Jordan, Hong Kong)

380 Nathan Road, Jordan, Kowloon, Hong Kong

I know I've mentioned this place before, but I need to talk about it again.

By far, the best damn dim sum I've ever had before. Period. My entire family will agree. I know there are other fantab places in Hong Kong for dim sum, but this is the one I tried. And that restaurant performs to its best, time and time again.

I'm not really sure how much I can emphasize this. I had dim sum every damn day in Hong Kong, sometimes twice a day. This still ranks up there. Granted, it's three times as expensive as other normal dim, but I highly highly highly recommend the trip.

You can't go wrong with any of the dishes you try. But the best ones for me were:

har gau
siu mai
mango pudding
red bean soup

Can I emphasize how good this dim sum is?????

(Diner, Wan Chai District, Hong Kong)

I don't know the name of the restaurant, but it's a tiny hole in the wall. Space is very limited. But I have to post about this fantastic cha chan tang (translation: tea restaurant).

The best damn daan tart (egg custard tart) in the city. Period.
The best chicken tart (mini-chicken pot pie) I've ever tasted. Period.

Cheap.

Both are served warm and delicious. I can't wax poetic about them more. The French Toast and the pineapple bun (bo lo bao...not really made with pineapple, but that's what they're called) are ok...it's more about those pastries. The restaurant is on a random side street in Wan Chai, right off the beaten path. If I can figure out the name of the street at the very least, or maybe the name of the restaurant, I'm sure it would help.

But I had to put in my two cents about it.