Top 9 Innovative Dishes You Must Try At NYC’s #1 Restaurant For Foodies

Embark on a culinary journey to explore the impressive menu at Kingsley, a modern American restaurant in Alphabet City of NYC that was voted as OpenTable’s #1 restaurant “Fit for Foodies.” Opened in December 2015, this hidden gem by the talented young Chef Roxanne Spruance seamlessly fuses seasonal, market-driven ingredients to all of its mouthwatering offerings.

Charred Octopus ($14)

Pieces of perfectly charred octopus that is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside sit atop a bed of dandelion greens with pine nut butter. The foamy garlic milk adds a dimension of fun.

Roasted Bone Marrow ($14)

Rich bone marrow topped with shallot, tarragon, braised beef tongue, and tempura bites has all the flavors and texture you will ever desire. Wash down the richness of the dish with a shot of date-sherry.

Morel Mushrooms ($17)

Well-seasoned, chewy morel mushrooms is garnished with wood sorrel and dashi. You will want a spoon to eat this vegetarian dish to soak in all the poached egg yolk underneath the mushroom.

Chawanmushi ($15)

A classic dish found at a Japanese restaurant, Chef Roxanne’s chawanmushi (egg and dashi custard) has elevated to a new level. The fruity and savory flavors from king crab, green strawberries, buddah’s hand, rhubarb, and lovage are addicting to your palate.

Celeriac Agnolotti ($17)

Experience the ultimate flavor-and-texture firework in your mouth with this dish, which fuses rich seared foie gras, savory mesquite cake, and celeriac agnolotti with crunchy sunflower and sweet black pepper gastrique.

Mushroom Noodles ($15)

This glazed wide rice noodle dish is reminiscent of pad see ew, but with much more complex and sophisticated taste. Enjoy the variety of wild mushrooms sauteed in sweet soy sauce with Asian broccoli and silky rice noodle.

Scallops ($32)

Three beautifully seared, plump scallops maintain tyeir perfectly juicy and tender textures on the inside. The colorful beets are pleasing both to the eyes and the mouth. The flavor of the dish is further enhanced by the likes of horseradish, white soy ponzu, and wasabi

Monkfish ($29)

The monkfish, while slightly on the dry side, is drizzled with citrus-y, yuzu glaze and mint yogurt. The fish sits on a bed of crunchy green almonds and English peas.

Yuzu Curd ($13)

The combination of thick, rich yuzu cream with pate sucree, or pastry dough enriched with egg yolks and suga, is absolutely irresistible. The garnish on top is even more elaborate - rhubarb, crunchy pistachio, thin, crispy sugar “wall,” and a whisk of cotton candy that just melts in your mouth. You got yourself the perfect dessert to wrap up this amazing culinary journey.

Seo Restaurant in Midtown East: Cold Soba to Keep the Heat Away

When you live in the greatest [culinary] city in the world, you are inclined to try as many different restaurants as possible. However, there are some restaurants that are worthy of second, third, or even fourth visits.

One such restaurant is SEO Restaurant in Midtown East. I came here during Spring Break due to its proximity to my friend's NYC apartment and fell in love with its chewy Inaniwa Hiyamori Udon. For my second visit, I came with a big group of 8 people. We started off with a bunch of appetizers. The first to arrive on the table was Steamed crab dumpling ($10). The mustard sauce was really spicy...probably had a bit of wasabi in it. The shumai isn't as heavy as most shumai at Chinese restaurants, yet still maintains rich crab flavors.

The Calamari Salad ($10.50) came in a plate with iceberg lettuce (sort of disappointed by the choice of greens), lightly sauteed calamaris, and lame slices of tomato surrounding the whole thing. I really liked the vinaigrette that resembled a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar.

Jidori Karaage ($8.50), or fried marinated free range chicken, was quite greasy and fatty. I opted for the bitter greens on the side. The chicken didn't look crispy enough for my liking anyways.

We also had some kind of seafood broth/soup with clams, seaweed, scallions, and calamari. The broth had very deep, ocean flavors from all the clams in the bowl.

For my main course, I opted for Tenzaru Soba cold soba ($17) with cod dipping sauce and shrimp and vegetable tempura. Admittedly we had a big party, but it took forever for our noodles to arrive! Also, one person in our group didn't get his entree until I was half way done with my meal. I was disappointed that the soba only had scallions on the side to put in the dipping sauce and no grated radish.

The soba lacked any interesting, unique flavors. Instead, it just tasted like any other soba you would have. I suppose I should have stuck with the inaniwa udon. Oh well.

There were kabocha (my favorite!), shrimp, and portebello mushroom tempura. The mushroom tempura was the oddest thing ever...it was way too juicy! My second experience at Seo Restaurant was definitely not up to par with the first visit.

  

Traditional Taiwanese Cuisine at Sugar & Spice

My dorm is located in between Harvard Square and Porter Square. Even though I have visited several restaurants in the Square due to its proximity to my classes and social happenings, I rarely spend time near the Porter Square. Really, there is no reason for me to be there! Now that school is out for good and that I have so much free time, I decided to venture out to Porter Square to check out a Thai restaurant there called Sugar & Spice.

My friend and I ordered the Steamed Shrimp Shumai ($4.95) appetizer to start. We got 7 pieces of really dry shumai that tasted like one of those frozen shumai you get from Costco. The fillings were pretty much absent and it was mostly the outer skin. The shumai was also bland and tasteless, even when it was literally dunked in the soy sauce.

Our first entree was Gra Prao Chicken, ($9.95) spicy minced chicken in chili sauce. There was a bed of greasy, chili oil underneath which freaked me out a little. The white rice tasted a bit undercooked, and I couldn't really taste the chicken because it was minced so small. I would have liked more spices.

The Pad Thai ($8.95), or stir-fried rice noodles with shrimp, chicken, egg, peanuts, bean sprouts and scallions, is a must-dish at a Thai restaurant. The pad thai was sweeter than other pad thai I have had (indeed it reflects the name of the restaurant well!). There were only three medium-sized shrimps and bits of chicken. Usually the ground peanuts are served on the side, but this restaurant had it all mixed in the noodle already.