Are there actually good places to eat near and around Wall St? I just imagine the area mostly occupied by boring delis, pizza joints, generic Chinese take-out places and few high-end spots. So when my friend and his gf suggested we go to Crepe du Nord for dinner in Wall St I was like hm…….Wall St eh? Sure why not.

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Me, Howard, Phae and Justin came here because we couldn’t really think of where to eat on a Saturday night around 9pm. I think Phae shook her iPhone for the recommendation. We were in the neighborhood after taping NewsBubble, hosted by Justin check the videos out here funny stuff! I have never been to Farm and have been wanting to go. Howard has been but only for lunch. We walked in and the hostess told us it would be a 20-30min wait. We told her sure we’ll wait and headed for the Bar(n) part which was a separate area next to the restaurant. At the bar it was as dim lid as the restaurant and 100 times more loud with drunk people. There they served bar food.

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So this week I cheated a bit. The recipe called for pancetta and thyme or rosemary. I didn’t use pancetta, I know its in the title but pancetta is pricey, so instead I used bacon. Also I had 5 strips of bacon in the fridge already. As for the herbs I wanted to use something different, something I have never used before…..like…..tarragon! I think sage would’ve worked good in this dish also. Well I guess I might as well just say that I didn’t use tagliatelle pasta either! Geez… This wasn’t my fault I couldn’t find any so I got linguine.

Parsnips have sort of a licorice taste to it, I think, and so does tarragon. What I made tasted okay but probably tarragon wasn’t the right herb to use because it taste like parsnips, I don’t know. Will try again with sage! Love sage.

I heard that the year 2010, still sound so futuristic, is the year of fried chicken. Is it true? Is it true? My friend Steph and I even started a list of restaurants that serve fried chicken and hopefully we’ll go to all of them this year. One of the most anticipated reopening was definitely Pies ‘n’ Thighs. I have never heard of this place until people started buzzing about their reopening. *Buzz

So I went with my friend Derek couple Thursdays ago to check it out. We walked in around 7:30pm and were lucky to get the last table. There was a tiny voice in the back of my head that kept saying “Get the catfish box. Get the catfish box.” I politely replied “Next time” because today was all about the fried chicken. Well I did listen to the tiny voice about getting grits and glad I got grits. The menu said nothing about grits topped with cheddar and tobasco sauce! It was GOOD. Anyways we put in our order and waited…and waited. Hm…at least we had our drinks. Then I realized they were out of biscuits and was waiting for a new batch. Damn and we were starving too. But once our food came I quickly had forgotten the long wait. Nothing beats a fresh hot biscuits and burning hot fried chicken. I burned my thumb that night.

What can I say. They make fried chicken and make them real good. For $11 you get 3 pieces of perfectly fried chicken, biscuit and a side. I was full afterwards and was still full when I got home. I say thats a damn good deal.

Beware, it gets crazy packed later in the night with super skinny people with weird hair dos.

- Pies ‘n’ Thighs 166 S 4th St Williamsburg Brooklyn

My cousin Wendy is a vegan, so when we eat out together it can sometimes be a problem. For her birthday she invited some of us out to the Natural Gourmet Institute‘s Friday night dinner. For $40 the students at the Institute cook and serve a three course dinner to you. The meal was quite good, though not perfect; these are, after all students. I will say I had a good time and some of the food was excellent. Click on the link above to find out how to make reservations.

Appetizer:
Curried roasted cauliflower in saffron “ailoi”
Roasted Brussels Sprouts in smoky tomato “cream”
Kale chips with horseradish cream

Entree:
Lentils and bulgur with olives, raisins, and caramelized onions, braised radishes, microgreen salad, and celeriac sauce

Dessert:
Chocolate tart in pistachio crust with salty caramel and candied kumquats

This was a great meal. Like I said in many previous posts what makes up a great meal is going to be different for you. Zuzu Ramen is one of those places where they’re going to make you spend $14 on a bowl of ramen. $14!! On ramen!!! And it wasn’t even amazing ramen, it was only okay. But I am glad that it is there. We need more ramen shops in Brooklyn!

So if the ramen was only okay, why did I think it was a great meal? That whole day I was craving for some Japanese curry but I rarely go into the city during weekends and heck I’m not going to go into the city just for curry. Then after a drink fest at Draft Barn with Mr.Matt, I had my mind set on grabbing dinner at Zuzu. It was a chilly night and at that moment I wanted ramen. I walked into a near empty place and grabbed a seat along the wall. I looked through the menu and saw a curry ramen, hello! I was able to satisfy 2 cravings in 1 night with 1 meal. I think that was pretty great.

Also the place was kinda quiet and cozy which was what I needed after few hours at the Draft Barn.

- Zuzu Ramen 173 4th Avenue Brooklyn