Weekend Review 9/10/2010

Coming soon...


Flatiron Lounge (37 W 19th Street)


Karavas (164 W 4th Street)


Brother Jimmy's (Union Square)


Black and White (86 E 10th Street)



Five Guys (Fulton Street)
I was so excited for Five Guys to come to the Financial District as I feel the area lacked a spot for a good, price-worthy burger. Well lets just say the area still leaves me hungry for a good burger at a good value. Yeah, The Open Door Gastropub has a pretty good burger but its the type of place where you have to sit and pay for the service of being waited on (its called tipping to all you cheap asses). Zaitzeff also has a decent burger, but nothing that had me rushing back there. I thought Five Guys would satisfy my desire for a delicious burger at a good price. There has been a lot of debate whether Five Guys or Shake Shack has the better burger, but in my mind there is no comparison. Shake Shack is so much better than Five Guys--debate over. But this is a review on Five Guys so I'll just have to wait to review Shake Shack next time I get the craving.

The bright red building sticks out on Fulton Street and attracts many Wall Streeters, but I don't see the big hype. The menu itself is concise as it only offers burgers, hot dogs, fries, water, and coca-cola beverages. The standard burger is two patties while the "little" burgers are only one patty. The menu offers both burgers and hot dogs with as many free toppings as you want whether it be lettuce and tomato or jalapeno peppers and grilled mushrooms.

I ordered a regular bacon cheeseburger with grilled onions and bbq sauce. The burger itself was dry and not particularly flavorful. I don't know if it was because the burger was overcooked or what, but I didn't care for it too much. The grilled onions also lacked flavor. Onions whether grilled or fried could push a burger into burger bliss, but these onions did nothing--much like the burger itself. The fries were pretty decent as they were thick-cut fries cooked in peanut oil.

Overall, I was pretty disappointed with Five Guys; especially after hearing its the best burger in the city. I will probably not go back to Five Guys unless they want to use Domino's tactics and show up to my door with a free sample in hopes of winning me back.



Harry's Italian (Gold Street) Financial District
My friend Kristen and I decided to head over to Harry's Italian after rain caused us to skip the Hoboken Italian Festival. After anticipating the Italian Festival for a few days, we were craving Italian food, so we couldn't deprive ourselves a nice Italian meal. I was also craving wine, which was weird because I had been drinking beer earlier while watching football. I even had a few cherry-limeade-vodka concoctions--which were delicious while at Kristens. After snacking on some homemade mac n' cheese and fresh italian bread from the new megaplex Eataly, we finally started our walk to Harry's.

If you look back, I did a review on Harry's once before. I had picked up a chicken parmesan for lunch one day and was definitely impressed. I always try to go somewhere new but the financial district doesn't really give you many options on a late, sunday night. I also thought I could count on Harry's for a nice Italian meal and a good glass of wine to both I was craving.

We sat at the bar as the bartender rattled off some specials. Kristen ordered a glass of wine as I was checking the wine list. As her glass of wine arrived, I was really surprised as the wine was served in a smaller glass. I expted Harry's to serve a glass of wine in appropriate stem-ware--not those cheap standard wine glasses that people have in their dorms. Thats when I decided not to get wine and ordered a Sam Adam's Octoberfest.

The menu was standard old-school Italian which is OK, but I think we were hoping for a little something more as nothing really jumped out at us. We decided to head out. Harry's might not be a place for dinner, but I strongly suggest their lunch!


Cucina Bene Pizzeria (Exchange Place)
Just your average pizza place. Nothing special going on here. I got a chicken roll (chicken and mozzerella) that was pretty good. Its more of a take-out kind of place. A good spot if you need a cheap lunch