Les Halles, Anthony Bourdain’s take on a French Brasserie, is situated in midtown and has a very romantic feel when you first step in; dimly lit, cute lamps, and lots of booths for couples or small groups. It’s a very informal restaurant and serves a lot of different types of beef and other Parisian cuisine. Chris and I have been meaning to check this place out for their steak frites (I read that their French fries are really special because of their shape/taste). The menu has a lot of offerings and we knew that we were definitely going to order the steak frites, but we were going back and forth on our second entrée…I finally decided to order the coq au vin (a very typical French dish meaning “rooster with wine”):

The chicken was very tender and they definitely don’t skimp on the portions (I felt like they gave me an entire chicken!) but it was a little salty. Chris said it reminded him of the coq au vin he used to eat when he was studying abroad and said it evoked memories of the Oxford dining hall (apparently, the dining halls abroad serve much better food than the colleges in the US and they have a formal meal once a month).

Chris ordered the steak frites with French fries and salad:

Les Halles has a little butcher shop in the front so you KNOW that you have to order beef; steak frites was the default because it’s a European staple and who doesn’t like steak with French fries? The steak was very tender and well cooked; juicy, slightly pink inside (the good kind of medium rare) and very flavorful. I didn’t see what was special about the French fries (people say the shape is interesting…but they looked like regular pieces of fries) and the salad had too much onion.

The service at Les Halles was quite slow and we were seated in an area that had a lot of bugs flying around (Chris actually killed one with a napkin) but it was a good (not great) meal.

How to get to Les Halles:

Les Halles
411 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10016
212-679-4111

I headed to The Capital Grille for a business lunch and semi-enjoyed the dry-aged steaks. I started off with the lobster bisque:

Huge chunks of lobster in a creamy bisque that tasted like it was whipped. The soup was creamy but not dense - very light and airy, surprisingly.

My co-worker ordered the wedge as an appetizer:

A huge WEDGE of lettuce with bleu cheese, bacon bits, and tomatoes. She said it was tasty - it looked like a huge mess to me.

For my main course, I ordered the Kona Crusted Dry Aged Sirloin with Caramelized Shallot Butter:

A healthy dose of butter, wouldn’t you say? It was a little salty because there was such a huge glob of butter on top of the steak, but the Kona coffee didn’t add to the steak’s taste. I thought it was prepared well, but the seasoning might have been too much - I drank 3 iced teas because it was so salty.

Two of my co-workers ordered sirloins with mashed potatoes:

The mashed potatoes tasted whipped and buttery (and I love it when they keep the skin in the mix) but it was definitely too salty. The entire meal tasted like it was dipped in salt water before it was served to us.

One of the guys we took to lunch is a vegetarian (I had no idea) so he ordered fries:

I felt bad, but I guess he wasn’t that hungry anyway.

For dessert, we ordered the coconut cream pie:

Light and fluffy with a wonderfully buttery pie crust. I’m not a huge fan of coconut, but the taste was light enough that the pie was enjoyable.

I ordered the creme brulee with a side of berries:

They definitely didn’t skimp on the berries, but the creme brulee wasn’t custardy enough for me. It wasn’t watery, but it just didn’t solidify enough for it to be truly enjoyable.

The last dessert was their own chocolate ice cream:

It looked delicious and I didn’t have a chance to sample it, but my coworker ate all of it, so I’m guessing it was good.

The Capital Grille is a great place for a business lunch, but their food is just too salty for me to actually enjoy what I’m eating. If they used less salt overall, I think it would be SO much better.

How to get to The Capital Grille:

The Capital Grille
155 E 42nd Street between Madison and Lexington
New York, NY 10017
212-953-2000

I went to El Parador after hearing great things about their sangria, food, and atmosphere. We arrived around 9:30 on Saturday night to find the restaurant a little empty (the kitchen closes at 11 on Saturday’s). We were given menus and promptly ordered guacamole:

In my opinion, I make the best guacamole by mixing pico de gallo with an avocado or two El Parador makes a great guac by keeping large chunks of the avocado intact and keeping it more avocado based than anything else. At some restaurants, I feel like you don’t even know what you’re eating because of all the crap they mix in with the avocado - at El Parador, they used just enough seasoning and tomatoes to keep the original flavor.

I ordered one of the specialties, the Mole Poblano, (apparently the National dish of Mexico) - complex, multi layered sauce with over 24 ingredients, served with a 1/2 of a chicken, stewed in mole:

They are definitely not stingy with their portions - my mole poblano came in a crock pot with three more large chicken pieces and lots of mole sauce. I thought the mole sauce was terrific because there were lots of different flavors mixed together. My chicken was tender and the sesame seeds sprinkled on top of the dish was a cute touch.

Chris ordered the fajitas:

The meat was well cooked (a nice medium rare) and I liked the bell peppers were soft and a good mix with the beef (although, would it kill them to de-seed all the peppers before cooking them? sheesh).

Ariel ordered the other house special, the Pollo Parador, which is 1/2 a chicken marinated for 24 hrs with their oldest secret recipe:

I thought the chicken was well flavored and tender, but Ariel thought the chicken was a little dry. Maybe the piece he offered me was the BEST PIECE OF THE ENTIRE CHICKEN.

Ariel’s friend, Darius, ordered the Rib Eye with Chipotle - Grilled 24 oz center cut rib eye rubbed in chipotle and garlic adobo and roasted seasonal vegetables:

Darius is a huge fan of chipotle and he loved the steak. He ate it all, too!

El Parador is probably the best Mexican food I’ve had in the city, although, after dinner, I realized that I don’t really like “authentic” Mexican food…I prefer Taco Bell, Chipotle, and sometimes Qdoba. Out of all the places we’ve tried so far, El Parador is at the top of my list, although, there’s a taco place I still have to try in Midtown - it’s in an office building around 49th, I think. After I go there, I’ll let you know if I’m ever going to have Mexican in NY again.

How to get to El Parador:

El Parador
325 E 34th St Frnt
New York, NY 10016
212-679-6812

For New York’s Restaurant Week (July 16 - August 10), I headed to the 21 Club with three girlfriends to enjoy the lively atmosphere and a great meal (well, keep reading). The 21 club was once a speakeasy (which I think is pretty awesome) and now is known for their great food, award winning wine list and interesting decor:

If you look at the table in the picture, you’ll see a small picture of Steve Forbes, who dined at the table next to us. Also, it doesn’t hurt to have some of the most well-known people in New York have permanent tables at the restaurant (Donald Trump, Barbara Walters, Les Moonves, Brian Williams, George Clooney, the list goes on and on). Interestingly enough, *almost* every president since FDR has gone to the 21 club - the only exception? - George W. Bush. So, enough with the history of the club, onto the food!

The prix fix menu isn’t too bad, you can view it here. I started with the Grilled Spicy Shrimp (with apple and potato salad, micro celery, and lemon aioli):

Joyce, Charlene, Leena, and me at the table with our appetizers:

Leena ordered the Smoked Trout with fennel and cucumber salad, crème fraîche, and trout caviar dressing:

Appetizer wise, the shrimp was definitely better. It wasn’t too chewy (always a good thing) and there was a nice grilled flavor. Also, the potato salad was dressed well (not too much mayo). On the other hand, I wasn’t a fan of Leena’s smoked trout - it was way too salty, tough, and the smoky flavor was just lacking. So, if you go to the 21 club for restaurant week, don’t start with the trout :).

For our main courses, we had four options (but no one wanted chicken or fish). Leena and I both ordered the Grilled Flat Iron Steak with broccoli rabe, roasted cipollini onions, potato purée, Cabernet sauce:

The steak was cooked to a nice medium rare, but it didn’t have a fresh taste to it. I looked over at Leena and asked what she thought of it…she nicely said it was “okay,” but that’s just because Leena is too nice to say something mean. I didn’t think the steak was juicy, the cabernet sauce didn’t pair well with the steak taste, and the only two things good about the dish were the broccoli and the “potato puree,” which is a fancy way of saying MASHED POTATOES.

Joyce and Charlene both ordered the Duck Leg Confit frisée salad, wild mushrooms, toasted peanut vinaigrette:

I wish I could say something better about their dish, but it wasn’t good AT ALL. The duck was dry, there wasn’t any taste to it, and the duck SKIN wasn’t even tasty. I mean, how could something so good be ruined like that?! I was NOT a fan of the main courses at all. I’m not a fan of restaurant week in general - I mean, all of the good restaurants only offer their prix fix meal for lunch (and who has time to have a long lunch in Manhattan during the weekdays) and the restaurants that offer a prix fix dinner usually don’t offer great options. I prefer to just spend money and get a good meal out of the place, you know?

For dessert, there were four choices and all of us decided to get something different so we could switch it up:

Joyce ordered the Chocolate Marquise with chocolate shortbread and fresh raspberries:

It was rich, creamy, and delicious. No complaints from anyone at the table

Charlene ordered the Lemon Pucker Cake with summer berries and lemon cream sauce:

Out of all four of the options, this was my least favorite. The cake was sticky but not moist (possible, right?). It wasn’t BAD, just not memorable.

Leena ordered the Blueberry Tart with Passion Fruit Cream and mango coulis:

My favorite dessert of the night. Look at how many blueberries they piled onto that tart! The mango/passion fruit combination was also tart and sweet.

I ordered the Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée with orange-pecan biscotti:

Good, but not great. There was still sugar that wasn’t burnt on top (who wants to know how much sugar they’re actually consuming?!) and the actual crème brûlée wasn’t solid enough for me to fully enjoy the dessert. Shocking, I know.

Overall, the meal wasn’t memorable but the service was great and we had a great time people watching. I would like to go back to the 21 club after restaurant week and try their actual dishes because I don’t think their options did the restaurant justice. Afterwards, we took some pictures outside (since the restaurant is also known for the jockeys outside the townhouse):

If you’re going to partake in Restaurant Week, I definitely recommend going to lunch…or just save your money and splurge at the restaurant ordering off the regular menu!

How to get to The 21 Club:

The 21 Club
21 W 52nd St between 5th and 6th
New York, NY 10019
212-265-1900

Last night as I was getting ready to pack up for the day, I heard people in my office saying that there was an explosion at Grand Central and telling me to evacuate the building immediately. Some of the associates that have offices facing Madison Ave saw lots of smoke and felt the floor rumbling, so they started running for the stairs/elevators and were telling other people to do the same. When I got to the first floor, there was a mad exodus - seriously - everyone in our building was running to the exit and trying to see what all the fuss was about. Apparently, there was a steam pipe explosion near grand central and the smoke people thought they saw was actually steam coming up from the ground. One woman died from the explosion (cardiac arrest) and 44 other people were injured. Here are the pictures I took from the street as I was walking home:

The debris that fell onto all New Yorkers in the area:

Also, there was asbestos in the debris that fell from the explosion, so if you were in the area, you should probably either 1. throw away your clothes that you were wearing or 2. get them cleaned so you won’t be breathing in the asbestos.

Trains are running again, but there’s still a lot of cleanup and there’s no traffic along 42nd street near Grand Central.