So it’s restaurant week in NYC, which means I can go to fancy restaurants for less! I chose to take the old curmudgeon to dinner at the Palm Restaurant to celebrate his 7” coming out…that sounds dirty. The Palm, in case you don’t know, is a NY institution. It has been around since 1926 and has amazing cartoons on all the walls and delicious steaks. Here is an example:

So the deal with restaurant week, is restaurants have a three course prix fixe menu to choose from, $24.07 for lunch, $35 for dinner. Even fancier places like Le Cirque and Morimoto and Cafe Boulud participate. It’s a way poor people, like myself, can get a nice fancy meal at a fancy restaurant for a fraction of the price. Yay, NY!

I chose the Palm because it is so old and established. I want to visit as many of these as possible. The kind of places Frank Sinatra dined at and Jacqueline Susann wrote about. As soon as we saw the outside, I knew I was gonna love it. (BTW- go to Palm ONE not Palm too, which is across the street). There are amazing illustrations everywhere, dark wainscotting, white tablecloths and all the servers are men, most of which were hispanic. It’s a career restaurant. We stowed our coats and had a drink at the bar while we waited for our table, that is where I took the photo above.

When our table was ready we were ushered upstairs to a small booth situated below a cartoon of Lil’ Iodine. I ordered a winter salad, which had arugula, poached pears, nuts and blue cheese, the filet mignon with a crab and boursin sauce and goat cheese whipped potatoes and cheesecake for dessert.

Let me tell you, the food was great. The salad was exactly what I was looking for, light, refreshing with a little sweetness. The steak was perfectly cooked with a delicious crust on the outside. The crab was scarce, but still a nice touch. The cheesecake was fluffy and light with a sweet graham cracker crust, exactly how I like cheesecake. Also, the service was delightful. Everyone was very nice to us. It was totally worth the trip uptown in the cold. Todd wants to go back one day (he had lamb chops and fried calamari), which would be nice, but there are so many more restaurants to try!

Happy New Year followers! Sorry I have been so lame recently. See, the thing is, I haven’t been going out…at least to any new places. However, one of my resolutions is to explore the ethnic neighborhoods of NYC more and try more freaky foods, so stay tuned for that. This week I can’t do it though because I am temping in an office. I can however get delivery!

The place I am reviewing today is Saha Thai, located between Little Italy, SOHO and Chinatown on Centre Street at Grand. Now I have been getting delivery from this place for 2 years now. Almost every Monday that I work at the Bowery, I order from them. Oddly enough, I have never actually eaten at the restaurant. What can I say, I am on the go? I have been in the restaurant though. It is small and cute and the waitstaff/take out guy are very nice. I am sure it would be a fine experience.

I always get the same thing so this may be a boring review. I get the chicken red curry. You get a giant container of the stuff (enough for dinner and lunch the following day if you are not starving) and white rice. It is delicious! It’s got the perfect amount of spice and sweetness and saltiness. The curry includes the protein of your choice, red peppers, bamboo shoots, Thai basil and what I think is Kaffir lime leaves, but I could be wrong. Every time I eat it, someone comments on how good it smells. I have had other things there (fried rice, satay, sticky rice, spring rolls, etc) but this dish is by far my favorite…actual favorite thai curry in the city. If you are in the mood for curry, I recommend you go to Saha Thai.

 So I have been to the Meatball Shop like 5 times in the last two months alone. Obviously, it rules. Let me elaborate. So the fellas over at the Meatball Shop in the LES recently decided to open up a branch in Williamsburg (KUDOS!- now all we need is a Whitmans, Tiny’s, Shake Shack and Saha Thai annex and we will be set to never go to Manhattan again!).

Todd and I had gone to the original once. It was extremely crowded and small. The food was great and inexpensive, but since we rarely go into the city together, we never went back. The one in Williamsburg has the same dank food but it is twice the size of the original. There is a good size bar, another bar overlooking the kitchen and plenty of tables.

The system is the same here too. This is the easiest service job in the city. They hand you a laminated menu and a dry erase marker. You check the boxes of what you want and the waiter just reads it back to you. They don’t have to do anything other than bring you your food, drinks and check. I’m not saying its bad, the service is very good actually. Brilliant idea.

So on this menu, you got some decisions to make. Do you want just balls? Do you want them to rest on anything? Or would you prefer a sandwich? They have five different balls, toppings and sauces that you can combine anyway you want. Then they also have a special ball, side and sauce which usually pair up nicely (one time I got a reuben ball with matching sauce). They have 3 different sandwich sizes too; sliders=one ball, smashes=2 balls and heroes=3 balls. The picture above is what I like to get a smash with beef balls, marinara and mozz. It comes with a side salad but I also like to get a side of mashers. All that is $12 ($8 for the sammy/salad, $4 for the mash)!

Vegetarians, don’t despair, because they have veggie balls too! They also have delicious looking roasted veggies that change daily and salads and risotto. Todd likes to get the kitchen sink. It’s basically a few balls and sauce atop a salad a bunch of veggies. That’s only $8.

Last but not least, they have design it yourself ice cream sandwiches. You choose from several cookies and ice creams to make your fave. Might I suggest the brownie cookie with mint ice cream? I highly recommend you eat at this establishment. It’s well prepared, delicious food at a reasonable price.

It can be purchased at Char-grill. Google it. You won’t be disappointed. The 1/4 mile radius around a Char-grill smells like delicious charred beef and french fries. You can also get milkshakes, hot dogs and chicken, but i don’t really know why you would. You place your order on a slip and slide it through a chute that leads directly to the main chef. It is then cooked to order. The slip looks like this, only longer:

As you can see, I just like mayo on mine. I like to taste the beef. I also like to get the largest of all the burgers they offer. Don’t be a wimp. Go for it. Ten minutes later, you have a totally dank meal for a mere $7. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that. I only wish they would open a franchise in Brooklyn…but they haven’t even opened one in Durham, so I doubt that will ever happen. If you are in Raleigh, go there!