e a t e r y R O W

THE CROOKED KNIFE

232 West 14th Street

New York, NY 10011

(212) 929-4534

Gastropubs are not as widespread in New York as one might think that they would be. This is understandable. Some people go in and feel like they're getting overpriced bar food, while others go in for the free range organic vegan pulled pork chipwich and feel like the atmosphere is somewhat low class. There is, therefore, a misunderstanding of what a gastropub is. The true gastropub doesn't have a line cook in the kitchen frying up buffalo wings on cue. A true gastropub has a chef who created a menu but isn't the offshoot of some snobby white linen brasserie where financiers can pretend to slum it. I'm talking to you Wollensky's Grill. A gastropub is the kind of place that a person who appreciates a good meal and a good drink can go to without having to change his shirt. The Crooked Knife, sitting on the Meatpacking side of Chelsea, is a gastropub. 

Okay, so long winded definitions aside, how was Crooked Knife? I give it a B+. I arrived with Myna in the mid evening to get dinner before we headed a few blocks over to watch a folk-rock singer friend of hers perform at a nearby bar. He was very good. Anyway. It was still warm out that evening, so we asked to sit outside in the rear patio. The communal table trend has grown exponentially in the last few years and that's how the ones is the rear are set up. I used to loathe it, but it's now so common that I've gotten used to having total strangers hear my conversation. Between the NSA, Google, and communal tables, no one has privacy anymore. Inside, the tables are normal.

Myna and I both ordered cocktails to start with while we debated our dinner. I would skip the cocktail menu as both of ours were poor. Stick with beer, since they have a decent selection. Food-wise, Crooked Knife did a far better job. The Fried Calamari was fried calamari. No one will be sending out any trophies for this dish, but it was good and was promptly eaten inside of five minutes. It was served with a standard marinara sauce as well as a sweet and sour sauce. I probably had more sweet and sour than I should have. The Classic Mac & Cheese with a dusting of breadcrumbs, was much better. Creamy and rich, it was everything mac and cheese should be. It didn't try to be very fancy, which is too bad because I feel like it was made well enough that whoever did it would succeed in experimenting. Still, I recommend it highly.

Myna, who is far more healthy and in far better shape than I, ordered the CK14 Salad: arugula, green apples, pecans, cheddar, dried cherries, and an apple cider vinaigrette. I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit disappointed that she didn't try their salmon or their chickpea stew, but the salad was good. I had the Braised Lamb Shanks, served under a port glaze with mashed sweet potatoes and asparagus. The only downside to this dish is that lamb shanks have notoriously little meat. So, even though Crooked Knife gave a fairly decent portion of them, I found myself needing more. It didn't hurt that they were delicious.

Having to run off to see the show, we skipped dessert, but it was standard American desserts. This was another of Crooked Knife's downsides, along with the mediocre cocktails. An uninspired dessert menu. Ah well. Still, a fun place. In fact, Myna has since returned to take friends.

[ © Copyright eateryROW 2013 ]

SAIGON SHACK

114 MacDougal Street

New York, NY 10012

(212) 228-0588

I am a spendthrift. I try to get a bargain on what I buy (thank you Living Social, Retailmenot, and Savored), but at the end of the day, I'm poorer than when I woke up. Mr. Dogz lives on the other end of that spectrum. He's a miser. So I know that I can always count on him to find a cheap place to eat. Here's the thing though. He's not picking some fleabag diner and nursing a plate of chicken fingers. He can usually find somewhere that's pretty good. It's a rare and valuable skill. This go around, he chose Saigon Shack, a small, bistro sized and crowded spot in the heart of NYU territory on MacDougal Street. 

We went around 1:30 in the afternoon, but the menu at lunch is no different from the menu at dinner. A cheap tasty spot in the smack in the middle of a studenttown is bound to have a line and this afternoon was no different. Many of the people in line were ordering to go though, so it thinned out relatively quickly and we were led to a corner table with a good camera angle. Most of the diners here, whose ages ranged from undergrad to tenure-track professor drank some sort of juice, tea, or aloe water drink. We stuck with tap. 

The food basically all arrived at once, but the Fried Roast Pork Dumplings were technically the appetizer. Learn from my mistake and take your time. That first bite will send a searing hot explosion of juice across your face and across your tongue. Sure, the explosion tasted good, but it hurt. Once you get past that, they were delicious. 

Dogz had been having a pho craving all day and when he was making suggestions earlier, they were all pho joints. Hence, it should have come as little surprise that he ordered the Saigon Shack Pho, a huge (they give you at least a liter) bowl of noodle soup with slices of beef, beef balls, house brisket, scallion, onion, and to top it off, a side plate of jalapeno, lemon, lime, and spouts that you can toss in for extra flavor or in case a six pound bowl of soup isn't enough food for you. I stole some of the beef, which was very tender and still a little pink and a chopstick's worth of noodles and thought it was fantastic. If you're the kind of person who walked into a ramen place and was turned off by the sometimes too salty, sometimes too fishy broth that ramen often uses and worry that pho will be similar, then fear not. Pho is far more mellow and this pho was great. 

My pick was the Spicy Brisket Banh Mi sandwich: super tender (not sinewy) brisket, carrots, sauteed onions, pineapples, jalapenos, and drizzled with a spicy au jus sauce that gave it some moisture without making it soggy and inedible. This was another winner and I inhaled both halves in about fifteen seconds. It's the perfect size for a sandwich, but despite everything inside, it's also incredibly light. I'm not saying that it's healthy because it probably isn't, but I've eaten grilled chicken sandwiches without mayo that made me feel more guilty.

Saigon Shack is cash only, but it's so cheap that you probably have enough cash on you already. With tax and tip, two entrees and an appetizer came to $25.