No membership is required, although a reservation is highly recommended for the newest club on Park Avenue South. The Hurricane Club, a Polynesian inspired theme restaurant in the heart of Gramercy recently opened to mix reviews. I decided to check it out with some old friends last week and wasn't impressed. Although we got seated right away, our waiter was aloof and distant and the food was just OK.
I give it credit for trying to be the next Tao, but it's just not cutting it. There is no fortune cookie dessert and the prices are high for the quality of food. I really enjoyed my cocktail though and if you're into the fruity Caribbean style drinks, this is right up your alley. I started with a #21, a cucumber and vodka martini and saw some other interesting drinks on various tables. There were these huge watermelons probably filled with a mix of alcohols with foot long straws for everyone at the table. It reminded me of freshman year of college and the fishbowls that made everyone feel sick the next day.
The menu is extensive and most things are meant to be shared so we started with a pu pu platter. This was the best thing we had all night. It came with coconut shrimp, Peking duck sandwiches, deviled eggs, snapper civeche and bbq chicken cones. The shrimp and Peking duck were the best. Both pretty simple in concept but the shrimp were really interesting looking - like little circular haystacks with a shrimp inside.
We moved on to order a crispy calamari salad that was pretty good and had a good kick to it and the crispy chicken spring rolls. It was recommended to spread your sauce of choice on a piece of lettuce and then wrap your spring roll around it. It made it a lot less messy to eat and according to Polynesian tradition it's considered the polite way to eat.
Next we ordered the golden chicken that was a little dry and smelled like chocolate for some reason. It was supposed to be in a spicy peanut sauce but we all tasted peanut butter instead. We also got the Hawaiian fried rice and the lobster noodles fra diavlo. The rice came in a hot stone bowl resembling a guacamole mortar and it was made at your table. A semi cooked egg was placed on top and was mixed in at your table. The bowl is so hot that the egg becomes fully cooked by the time the mixing is complete. Quite a cool concept and the final product was tasty as well. The lobster dish was missing some chunks of lobster and I didn't really understand how an Italian dish ended up on the menu, but it was tasty nonetheless.
We decided to skip dessert even though the menu options looked good and instead ended the night down the block at the new Gansevoort Hotel. All in all the company was great but the service and quality of food could have been a lot better! Go for the scene and creative cocktail menu but maybe wait a little so their servers can get their act together.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Piggin Out
What else is there to do during Thanksgiving break besides eat? Not only did I gorge myself Thanksgiving day with my homemade butternut squash risotto, corn souffle, brussels sprouts, stuffing and a little bit of Turkey, but I ate non stop throughout the whole 6 day vacation. Friday night we left our comfortable suburban hideaway in Alpharetta and travelled down to my new favorite Atlanta neighborhood, Decatur. A little city inside a city, Decatur is slowly becoming the new hip area for up and coming restaurants. There's Leons, Cakes & Ale and many others all surrounding a cute little square and a courthouse.
We decided to try the fairly new restaurant owned by a fellow 25 year old, Iberian Pig. Spanish inspired tapas, entrees and desserts - you can't get much better than that after a day full of eating meat and potatoes.
We decided to do a lot of sharing so we started off with a meat and cheese platter of course and round 1 of their amazing bacon wrapped dates stuffed with manchego cheese. You've never had a salty and sweet combination like this. We were so in love with them, we ordered another batch. The meat and cheese was also delicious. We had to try the jamon iberico - from the Iberian black footed pigs from Spain and known to be one of the most prized cured meats in the world. We added some semi sweet sheep's milk cheese similar to a brie but a little harder. The jamon was thinly cut and fabulous, I was even eating it without a bite of bread and cheese.
The tapas kept on coming after that. We got:
Slow braised pork belly with granny smith apples, candied walnuts in a yogurt sauce
Pork cheek tacos
Eggplant fries
BBQ octopus
Wild boar sausage meatballs
Jonah crab croquettes
Handmade tortoloni with drunken goat cheese, manchego in a pistachio creme freshe
and a main entree of Spanish lamb ribs and sausage
The only thing I wouldn't suggest getting again were the crab croquettes. They just didn't have much flavor. The bbq octopus was a little too fishy for me so I stayed away from that but the rest of it was great. The sauce that came with the eggplant fries was spicy, just the way I like it and the meatballs and tacos were probably the favorites. All of the tapas allowed the five of us to get a substantial bite or two and by the end of the meal I couldn't have eaten another thing.
Of course we got dessert though and opted for the churros with chili infused chocolate sauce and the bomba which was a white chocolate ball with four different sorbet flavors inside. Neither desserts were super heavy minus the fried part, and the servings were pretty big and great for sharing.
Obviously, if you keep Kosher or don't eat meat (especially pork) Iberian Pig might not be the best option for you. However, they do have a great cocktail list and a very reasonable wine list with some easy options of wine starting at pretty darn good to quite good and then damn good.
Decatur is a must visit if you live in Atlanta or are just visiting and you can even make a night of it and visit Eddie's Attic for some live music and dance off all the food you just ate.
We decided to try the fairly new restaurant owned by a fellow 25 year old, Iberian Pig. Spanish inspired tapas, entrees and desserts - you can't get much better than that after a day full of eating meat and potatoes.
We decided to do a lot of sharing so we started off with a meat and cheese platter of course and round 1 of their amazing bacon wrapped dates stuffed with manchego cheese. You've never had a salty and sweet combination like this. We were so in love with them, we ordered another batch. The meat and cheese was also delicious. We had to try the jamon iberico - from the Iberian black footed pigs from Spain and known to be one of the most prized cured meats in the world. We added some semi sweet sheep's milk cheese similar to a brie but a little harder. The jamon was thinly cut and fabulous, I was even eating it without a bite of bread and cheese.
The tapas kept on coming after that. We got:
Slow braised pork belly with granny smith apples, candied walnuts in a yogurt sauce
Pork cheek tacos
Eggplant fries
BBQ octopus
Wild boar sausage meatballs
Jonah crab croquettes
Handmade tortoloni with drunken goat cheese, manchego in a pistachio creme freshe
and a main entree of Spanish lamb ribs and sausage
The only thing I wouldn't suggest getting again were the crab croquettes. They just didn't have much flavor. The bbq octopus was a little too fishy for me so I stayed away from that but the rest of it was great. The sauce that came with the eggplant fries was spicy, just the way I like it and the meatballs and tacos were probably the favorites. All of the tapas allowed the five of us to get a substantial bite or two and by the end of the meal I couldn't have eaten another thing.
Of course we got dessert though and opted for the churros with chili infused chocolate sauce and the bomba which was a white chocolate ball with four different sorbet flavors inside. Neither desserts were super heavy minus the fried part, and the servings were pretty big and great for sharing.
Obviously, if you keep Kosher or don't eat meat (especially pork) Iberian Pig might not be the best option for you. However, they do have a great cocktail list and a very reasonable wine list with some easy options of wine starting at pretty darn good to quite good and then damn good.
Decatur is a must visit if you live in Atlanta or are just visiting and you can even make a night of it and visit Eddie's Attic for some live music and dance off all the food you just ate.
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