La Bellaza Pizzeria - 4/5

July 30, 2009

La Bellazza Pizzeria

149 E 49^th St (between Lex and 3^rd)

212.871.3223

4/5

$7.25 – Eggplant parm on a hero with vodka sauce, 4 garlic knots and an extra order of sauce

Another hole in the wall in the sea of places in Midtown East. Meager seating arrangements – a couple of tables on the sidewalk and a small counter inside. The place seems authentic, old school Italian and the pizza looked fresh. The portions were sumptuous (I still don’t understand how people can eat an entire eggplant parm for lunch – these things are HUGE!) to say the least. Not the biggest fan of eggplant parms, but get an urge to eat it once every couple of months. This was as good as an eggplant parm will get for me. Generous portions of breaded eggplant with enough sauce to not let it dry, and a toasted, fresh hero – ‘nuff said.

Pampano Taqueria

July 29th 2009

Pampano Taqueria
209 E 49th St (between 2nd and 3rd)
212-751-4545

4 / 5

$11.25 – Veggie quesadilla combo – included a side of rice and beans, chips and a drink


Pampano is an upscale Mexican restaurant on the east side. The taqueria (taco restaurant, usually fast food) is a lunch joint, by the same restaurant, in the unnamed Crystal Court Pavilion on 3rd avenue between 49th n 50th. I ate at the taqueria after reading rave reviews online. The menu looked a bit uninspiring. It had, Tacos, Burritos, Quesadillas & Tortas all served with either Chicken, Shrimp, Grilled Steak, Hanger Steak, Fish, Pork or Veggie (onion, zucchini, mushrooms, chile poblano and cheese). I ordered the veggie Quesadilla combo. They were very busy and it took a while to get it. When it finally came through it looked like it was made in a hurry and stuffed into the aluminum foil packaging, disgorging its appearance. The first bite confirmed my initial suspicion – edible, but nothing to look forward to. The key to this place (at least for the veggie options, the meats might taste better) is the range of condiments. There are three different salsa’s (mild, medium and hot – all delicious!), cilantro, lime, pico de gallo and white onions. I would ideally like my food to be tasty the way its cooked and enjoy it without having to douse sauces/spices to add flavor, but these sauces are sooo freakin good, I don’t mind the extra effort. The rice and beans were also a bit disappointing – the portion contained a small box of white rice and black beans – quite bland for my taste. Had to recreate the dish a bit to be able to eat it – I added some pico, squeezed lime, generous portion of the medium and hot salsa, and topped it off with cilantro – and that was delicious! I had half the mind of taking my creation back to them and asking them to make it a regular menu item instead of the sorry portion of rice and beans they serve!

Bottom line – the food itself is a bit mediocre, but the additions make it worth it!

July 28^th 2009

Europa Café

317 Madison Avenue (between 42^nd and 43^rd)

212-661-2029

4.5/5

$7.25 – a bowl of tossed salad with beets, oranges, mixed beans, tofu, roasted red peppers, romano, croutons with Thousand Island dressing

The ingredients were fresh and the place looked healthy and clean. My biggest draw was a salad chopper machine! And there were separate machines for vegetarian, poultry (eggs) and meats to boot – was impressed! Had all the standard ingredients you’d expect from a salad bar, and were pretty generous with the servings.

Saravana Bhavan

July 22, 2009

Saravana Bhavan

81 Lexington Avenue (at 26^th St)

212.684.7755

5/5

$21 (for two people) – Kaima Idli & Bisibelabath


This place is all about managing expectations. It is NOT an upscale Indian restaurant. It’s a place where Indians come to dine (that was just to make a point – on my visits here I’ve seen lots of different kinda people). There might be people who eat with their hands and betray all etiquette you've learned about dining. The waiters are not trained in any kind of hospitality management and the concept of customer service is non-existent. There are a bunch of servers around – they aren’t assigned to any particular tables and just try to help out as they see appropriate. With that said, I didn’t find them particularly rude – I’d give them the benefit of ignorance. We got there, picked our own seats, and just as we were looking through the first page of the menu, within a span of five minutes, three different waiters asked us if we were ready to order. By the time the third guy came around, we knew we wanted the Kaima Idli, so we ordered that and a fourth guy eventually helped us with our main course, the Bisebelabath. About five minutes later, the Bisibelabath was sitting in front of us. Thought of complaining because we hadn’t yet gotten our appetizer, but decided against it reflecting on the many Indian restaurants that I’ve been to where the concept of three course meal is mythical. On to the food – the Bisibelabath was awesome! A perfect medley of rice, spices, vegetables and what seemed like sambhar. ‘Twas marginally spicy, but the flavors meshed together very well. Even though it felt like it wasn't cooked after we ordered, it tasted really fresh and was delicious! At least that’s what I thought until the Kaima Idli finally arrived; little pieces of fried Idli (steamed South Indian dumplings made with rice and lentils) with onions and spices served with raita(yogurt). Definitely spicy, even by Indian standards, but was delizioso..! Can’t wait to go back!

Service could use a total makeover, but with the food so delicious I’d tolerate having to wait a bit for my water to be refilled!

Addendum: July 23^rd 2009

Couldn’t resist and went back the next day for some more Kaima Idli. Was awesome as it was the day before!! Also ordered a Kara Dosa – a crispy dosa with a thin layer of mashed potatoes and spices. Was decent, but the sambhar was quite bad. This time around we decided to try some dessert and order the badam halva. Was served hot but tasted like it was doused with twice the amount of sugar. Couldn’t eat more than a spoon and left it untouched. To my surprise the server asked us if we didn’t like it and proceeded to take it off the check! Did not expect this level of service! He mentioned that a bunch of people had complained about the halva – which begs the question, why serve it again to begin with? – but either way, my ultra low expectations were catered to. I’ll definitely be coming back for more Idli!

Just Salad

July 21, 2009

Just Salad

320 Park Avenue (at 51^st St)

212.244.1111

4/5

$9.16 – a bowl of tossed salad - beets, mandarin oranges, blacks beans & corn, chick peas, shaved parmesan, croutons with French dressing.

The standard salad bowl is $6.95 and includes 4 toppings. The place isn’t a novelty in New York City anymore, the usual clean, crisp, fresh feel of one of the many salad bars around the city (Chopt, Tossed etc). As is similar to all salad bars, a noob in this place will get flustered, anxious and daunted by the vast amount salad choices and dressings. Best to read the menu before hand and know what you want before going in. The key to all the salad bars is to find a place where you like the atmosphere, a couple of dressings you like and make sure they chop the salad before putting it back in the bowl. Just Salad does all three and I’d definitely return. The salad was definitely above average, but two minor things struck out for me – the guy put way too much salt in my salad and the accompanying bread was completely inedible. Fine salad – need to fine tune a bit to my liking.