We Made a Blog

I know this place has been reviewed to death. You don’t need another person to tell you the burgers are “the best.” Or that the staff is marginally friendlier than the pros at Lugers. It’s just that I never ate at Corner Bistro until today.

I made the rookie mistake of waiting for a menu. The friendly-ish waiter pointed to the wall and grunted “pick one.” I had ordered the namesake burger; replete with BLT, cheese, onion and pickles. I can’t stand bacon that isn’t crispy and I’m pretty sure this bacon was deep fried. Which is pretty much bacon heaven.

I ordered mine medium rare, the choice of doness is very refreshing in the age of the Five Guys Burger. The burger was juicy and had an airy quality to it. Despite its heft it really melted in your mouth and didn’t totally make you hate yourself three bites in.  The burger has the structural integrity of a burrito which leads me to believe this is a mostly meat-filled burger with little filler holding it together.

This is a good place to bring a date too. Maybe not a first date, as that is one sloppy burger, but the joint had a laid back, yet totally New York feeling to it. Which is to say the Corner Bistro wears its authenticity on its proverbial sleeve. But mostly its because the Bistro Burger, the most expensive item on the menu, is just $6.75.

There are three things that worry me at this stage in my adult life:

1. Carpal tunnel syndrome
2. Finding true love
3. A Pies and Thighs opening around the corner from my apartment

That the infamous Pies and Thighs is coming back to Williamsburg has been talked about. A lot. And though work has been going on in the building next to my apartment, until now there was no concrete evidence. But, alas, it is true: My third-worst fear is being realized. Not visible in the photo (I know, I know) but still there, is a small, hand-painted “Pies and Thighs” sign. And so I say this unto my slowly deteriorating physique: “Just give up.” The metabolic war is over; I am giving in to deep-fried chicken.

The wind was cold and fierce on the night we visited Industria Argentina, one of the latest additions to NYC Restaurant Week. We didn’t so much walk in as we were blown in. The interior was thankfully warm in both temperature and atmosphere.

Industria Argentina prides itself on everything in the restaurant – the décor, the wine and even the chef being “made in Argentina.” This is a good thing all-around. Large, fabric-swathed and drumlike, the lighting encircles diners in its glow. Fabric strips painted in jewel tones and organic sculptures and furniture further add to the natural elemental radiance.

Tucked inside Industria Argentina’s usual menu is the Restaurant Week prix fixe. Three choices each for appetizer, entrée and dessert allow diners to sample some house specialties for just marginally more than the cost of an entrée on an average night. Though the room was busy with diners taking advantage of the deal, the server was attentive and friendly, offering menu advice only when solicited and following up on it.

We ordered the mollejas al verdeo (crispy sautéed sweetbreads and scallions in a white wine sauce) and a trio of empanadas (braised lamb and potatoes, sweet corn and shrimp and smoked ham and mozzarella) as appetizers, lomo a la parrilla (grilled filet mignon, Brussels sprouts and bacon stew in a porcini jus) and Milanesa de pescado (skate wing prepared in a Milanese style with brown butter and capers atop a cauliflower purée) for entrees and goat cheese cheesecake (a crepe folded over a goat cheese filling with a quince reduction) and bombón Suizo (an Argentinain-style tartufo made with dulce de leche ice cream and sauce) for dessert.

The empanadas had a perfect texture – a pleasant chewy exterior giving way to the sweet and savory fillings. In both taste and crispness, the sweetbreads were outstanding examples of their kind. The skate had a pleasant meaty taste and a crisp coating that was perfect for sopping up the caper-streaked oil that semi-circled the plate. Its accompanying cauliflower purée blended the look of mashed potatoes with the sweet flavor and stringy texture of sweet potatoes. As for the filet, it was perfectly grilled filet and rested on Brussels sprouts; both benefited from the smokiness they soaked up from the bacon and porcini. After a tasty and filling meal, dessert was a bit of an afterthought for diners and chef alike. The crepe was on the doughy side and proved a bit grainy on the chew. The bombón overdid it on the sweetness, the chocolate and double dose of caramel unrelieved.

On nearly all points, Industria Argentina did an excellent job enticing diners to return to this bit of South America in Tribeca long before the next Restaurant Week.

NYC Restaurant Week continues through Feb. 7.

Industria Argentina
329 Greenwich Street
New York, NY‎ 10013
(212) 965-8560

Balade defines its name (“fresh”) on its menu and in its food. Fresh, that is, in terms of ingredients even when that term doesn’t extend to its take on Lebanese cuisine.
 
Thick and fluffy mini pitas arrived delectably warm and ready to be dipped in the accompanying zaatar and olive oil. Red and white wine was proferred often and freely (literally – Balade is awaiting its liquor license) by the friendly waitstaff.
 
The mezze – appetizers – are plentiful. A good bet is the marmeez, allowing a choice of four vegetarian-friendly options that are the perfect size for two to share. The falafel has a grainy but airy texture, with none of the overbearing oiliness or heaviness that so often fells its brethren. Hummus is a just-this-side-of-eggshell shade, a visual cue that it’s on the light side in taste, missing the familiar garlicky/citrusy tang. Labneh is a real highlight – the smooth texture of the creamy strained yogurt cheese a perfect counterpoint to its piquancy, further enhanced by diced tomatoes, scallions and parsley. As thin and tightly packed as cigarillos, warak einab, stuffed grape leaves, make the toothsome, not overly vinegary leaves themselves the star of the show.
 
Balade’s pita pitzas are plate-sized discs that are sit-down versions of shawarma, falafel and other on-the-go stuffed sandwiches. Pedestrian in appeal, they’re the same in taste, albeit with fresher ingredients than cart fare. A better bet might be to try a manakeesh, a thicker more truly pizza-like dish that’s often served for breakfast in Lebanon.
 
Mujuddara crush, a blend of pureed lentils dotted with rice, arrives spilling toward the edges of an oval platter. While good, it could perhaps be half its size or be topped by twice as many of the caramelized onions that resemble their candy namesake in texture as well as color.
 
Speaking of crush, you might want to bring your latest here to take advantage of the just-above-candlelight level of lighting, plentiful cabernet-colored embellished pillows and warm wood. If you arrive alone, though, you can take a seat at the dining bar facing the brick wall through which Arabesques peek out on rough tiles.

Balade promises to be a reliable neighborhood joint and is a solid candidate to last among the other Middle Eastern contenders in the area.

Balade
208 1st Ave
New York, NY 10009-3705
(212) 529-6868

At the beginning of The Seven-Year Itch, Richard Sherman – attempting to live the life of an ascetic before he’s visited by the girl next door, played by Marilyn Monroe – tries out a vegetarian restaurant. It’s a drab and dusty place inhabited by matching elderly patrons, with a menu that features spinach loaf, yogurt and dandelion salad.

For anyone who still expects these things when visiting a vegetarian – let alone vegan – restaurant, Candle 79 will come as a shock. Visual appeal is the first thing on the menu for both atmosphere and food. Jewel tones predominate in the decor, from the super-saturated colors of the photographs on the wall to the small but seductive curved bar. Whether you’re seated in one of the clubby settings downstairs or upstairs where the floor is bare and the ceiling is covered in swirling carpet, you’re going to get at least a peek through a window into the well-organized kitchen.

Candle 79 is completely vegan, with some gluten-free and “live” selections. Vegetarians and vegans get used to some standard starters, salads and entrees that can be found at non-veg restaurants. Candle 79 has these – steamed dumplings, hummus, Caesar salad, burritos – but goes beyond.

Multi-ingredient sandwich extravaganzas are one of those things that can fall by the wayside if you give up meat. But the chili-seared seitan sandwich is simultaneously crisp and moist and layered with avocado, caramelized onions and mixed lettuce and dressed with chipotle aioli. The accompanying polenta fries sound like they have the potential to be cement-like sticks that might not survive intact the trip from plate to mouth. But they turn out to be even lighter than their potato cousins, with a satisfying ultrathin and crisp exterior.

If the menu seems too free-ranging to narrow down to one choice, at lunch the market plate lets you choose from a variety of entrees and sides and accompany it with two of the seven excellent sauces available. And at dinner, side choices include grilled oyseter mushrooms and maple-roasted squash.

For dessert there are seasonal house-made ice creams and sorbets, cannoli, a tropical-tinged banana- and coconut-topped brownie that luxuriates in a chocolate-ancho sauce and a chocolate and peanut butter mousse that resides in a chocolate shell.

The bar at Candle 79 pours organic wines and turns out juice and tonic blends, smoothies and cocktails. The Green Goddess is a frothy concoction of greens, apple and lemon with a hit of ginger. For something stronger, the French 79 arrives as gorgeous striations of sake, champagne, apricot nectar, lemon and black currant sweetened by a touch of agave.

Espresso-based drinks generally rely on the fattiness of dairy to fill out their flavor profile. But soy half-and-half lends itself well to both foam and taste in cappuccinos, macchiatos and lattes. They’re a warm reminder at the end of the meal that even among vegans, some like it hot.

Candle 79
154 E 79th St,
New York, NY
(212) 537-7179‎

American ingenuity is sometimes faux ingenuousness over ideas taken from the Japanese. (Guess who really invented the Swiffer?) One item that unfortunately hasn’t been appropriated is coffee Jell-O. Often called “coffee jelly,” it’s just what it sounds like: a coffee-flavored gelatin dessert. You would think with coffee and Jell-O being two American staples, its adoption would be a no-brainer. But the Japanese have been enjoying this delight off-the-shelf for decades whereas here you can consider yourself lucky if you get to taste it as a special at Japanese restaurants (the luscious example above is from Sakagura). For whatever reason, it hasn’t generated the cult status that coffee jelly enjoys in Japan, where this past summer Starbucks re-released it as the starring ingredient in a limited-edition Frappuccino. For now we’ll have to settle for making coffee Jell-O from scratch. But maybe one day it will be widely available in supermarkets where grocery-shopping robots can pick it up for us.