New York Restaurants

You know what we have a lot of in New York City? Spanish restaurants. However, most of them cater to the Sex And The City, sangria sipping, happy hour crowd looking for small plates with a side of Hepatitis A (we warned you about Alta, by the way). When was the time you went to a Spanish restaurant for a serious meal? It’s probably been a minute. That’s because big time Spanish restaurants don’t tend to do so well around these parts. People seem very content chowing down on paella and mediocre salt cod fritters. A well known chef from Spain has come to New York with the intention of changing this. Will he succeed? Probably not. Manzanilla is the Big Apple debut of acclaimed Spanish chef, Dani García. García is famous for being one of the first to bring liquid nitrogen into the kitchen and runs a number of stellar restaurants en España including Calima, his multi Michelin starred signature establishment of modern techniques in Andalucía. Being that we’re not massive molecular gastronomy fans, we were skeptical going into this meal. But the menu doesn’t get too adventurous, it adds bells and whistles to Spanish brasserie classics instead of doing weird sh*t just for the sake of showing off, so that’s good for those of us who actually want to eat food and not science experiments. We enjoyed a couple of dishes at Manzanilla, others not so much. It’s definitely possible to have a solid meal here if you order correctly, focusing on the starters and appetizers rather than the entrees. That’s where we found most of the good stuff. García’s flair for the unexpected impressed, yet his failure to execute the simple stuff flopped. Manzanilla is big on space and low in character. Despite the chef’s background, nothing about this restaurant made you feel like you were dining anywhere near the Mediterranean Sea. With its big open kitchen and fancy dishware, Manzanilla feels just like any other typical restaurant that probably hired a “creative agency” to design and caters to those with crisp blazers and deep pockets. Only this time, many have Spanish accents. We wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to dine here, but you can certainly do a lot worse. That being said, if you’re planning a huge dinner, this is your spot. Tables in the main dining room can seat 12-20 if necessary and there’s a massive private lair downstairs for private parties. It’s also worth checking out when in need of a last minute reservation at a “hot new restaurant”; given the amount of space and the lukewarm response this place has gotten from critics, there will be plenty to be had. Photo Credit: Daniel Krieger Food Rundown Tomato TartareA fancy way of saying Pan Con Tomate, which is always a nice way to start off a Spanish meal. Oxtail BriocheWe loved these bad ass steamed brioche buns, filled with pulled oxtail, mushroom, kale and topped with some kind of spicy sauce. We could have eaten these all night long. While the listing seems a bit par for the course, there was something different about them. Definitely order these guys. CroquettesOne of the most impressive dishes on the menu and one that’s a must order. Squid ink and cuttlefish croquettes, which contain a frozen mixture of cuttlefish stew made with milk and mussel juice underneath the fried exterior. Once bitten, an explosion of delicious, wide ranging flavor enters your mouth. It’s quite the party. Pulpo A La GallegaIf you don’t like the taste of smoke, move on. If you do, indulge. While this octopus listing sounds run of the mill, it’s anything but. García’s version of Galician octopus is fun and exciting. Small pieces of blackened octopus sit atop plump potato gnocchi which he uses a blowtourch on. The kicker though, is the dish rolls to the table covered by a dome, and once removed, a cloud of cherrywood smoke escapes, leaving its smokey mark all over this dish.

This post originally took place on August 18 of last year, which was when I started writing it. But I didn't finish it until now. For no good reason. This does not end well, but that's ok! Photos of submerged kite taken by Melissa. Me: Melissa...MELISSA [points out to the Hudson River], THE KITE THE KITE1 Melissa: [turns to kite] AHHHH NO Me: OH MY GOD NO GET IT UP CANYOUGETITUP2 Melissa: AHGGHFJKDSJF OH NO Me and Melissa: AHHHARRGGHHH NOOOOOO3 Diana: [on the phone with me] ...Are you alright? Me: OH MY GOD OH NO NO NO Diana: [still on the phone with me] So...I'll head over soon... Melissa: I'M SO SORRY I JUST LOOKED AWAY FOR A SECOND Me: AHHH UHH UUGH BLUUUHHGGHRHR Some annotations to clear things up: 1) Response to seeing my kite flying dangerously low to the Hudson River. 2) Response to seeing my kite flying dangerously lower to the Hudson River. 3) Response to seeing my kite gracefully touching the water's surface, then getting swallowed by the water. You think flying a kite is all whimsical and fun, until your kite lands into a massive, swiftly moving body of water, and then it makes you realize, "So this is the pure horror a mother feels when she turns away from her only toddler for just a second, then turns back to see her toddler has disappeared. ...Maybe not into a river. That would be much worse. But yeah. It's just like that." The site of the kite drowning: Pier I off of West 70th Street. I had made Melissa in charge of keeping my kite aloft while I called Diana to coordinate meeting up on the pier. Elsewhere on the pier, Diana had already given her brand new kite a go, but after something like 30 seconds of exhilarating kite flying action it too experienced death-by-river. "Come over and join us; we've got a kite you can fly!" I assured Diana, turning right to give a nod of acknowledgement to Melissa—at which point I noticed the kite not majestically flying as much as lifelessly falling toward the river's surface, over a hundred feet away. And then the frantic yelling commenced. Refer to the dialogue above. But the kite wasn't dead yet. The string was taut; the kite was still attached to it. "We can reel it in!" Melissa suggested ever so optimistically. I like that about her—her beaming optimism in the face of probable doom. "It'll probably break," I deadpanned. Melissa helped me reel in the kite, gently pulling as I wrapped the string around the spool. The string held on despite the immense force of the water. Impressive. Maybe Melissa was on to something with that optimism of hers. We managed to pull the kite all the way back to the pier. Looking over the pier's barrier, we could see the kite "flying" just under the surface of the water, intact and full of potential to ride the skies once more. "I bet this is where it's going to break," I said. I'll admit that I felt a smidge of a smidge of hope, but I didn't want to show it. "No, no, this will work! We just have to pull it up slowly." "I don't know..." Pulled slowly, we did. We pulled and pulled; the kite felt heavier with each tug. In my mind, the kite willingly accepted the grasp of death. The cold, wet grasp. [snap] Oh f— The frantic yelling of watching the kite fall was replaced by dejected quietness. I couldn't remember the last time I felt less thrilled by something not related to a close brush with death (which is evidence of how extremely conflict-free my life is—I know). Melissa's kite was uncooperative. :( It took me a while to realize I overreacted in every way (aside from the initial bout of semi-intelligible yelling; that's just human instinct). Melissa surely felt worse than I did. Not only did her homemade kite not fly—the kite she had been excited to fly for weeks—but she also unintentionally sunk my kite, which I merely bought online and didn't have much of an attachment to. I'm ashamed that I almost let a kite—a fairly inexpensive one I owned for about four days,

SOHO — The Dutch is celebrating Memorial Day with a luau, featuring Tiki cocktails and special dishes like tuna poke, Teriyaki fried chicken wings, pork ribs, suckling pig, steamed black bass, and macaroni salad. The tropical feast will be available as a $40 prix fixe lunch and a $65 family-style supper. [EaterWire] WILLIAMSBURG — Here's a look inside Sam Mason's coming OddFellows Ice Cream Co., which looks like its "proper soda fountain feel" is coming together. OddFellows's IngieGoGo campaign ends tomorrow, with a projected opening this weekend. [IndieGoGo] LOWER EAST SIDE — EMM Group's The General is now donating a portion of the profits from its cereal-encrusted doughnuts to affordable housing developer Common Ground. [EaterWire] KICKSTARTER — Here's a Kickstarter for a start-up cookbook company called Short Stack Editions, which hopes to start printing up small-format books this summer. Of the three volumes in the hopper is a book on tomatoes by former Le Bernardin director of operations Soa Davies. [EaterWire] NOHO — On May 30, Wylie Dufresne, Dave Arnold, several other food people, and a bunch of scientists are getting together for an event called "The Taste of Science," part of the World Science Festival. It's going down at Astor Center, and tickets are $200 a person. [EaterWire] [Photo]

[Photo: Amy McKeever/Eater.com] At the Mésamerica Festival in Mexico City today, Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli of Frankies and Prime Meats made an official announcement about their new Red Hook project, RES. The Franks hope to create an "artist residency for chefs," where visiting chefs can cook for the locals and collaborate. Falcinelli explained: At the space, we can host collaborative dinners, one-off events, and installations, and the chefs can stay at the facility while they present their work, free of charge. It's a place where a chef can present their work exactly how they want it to be, while exploring the city, meeting colleagues, and working on their repertoire.Castronovo said that this should open "in a few short weeks." Head over to Eater National for an excerpt from today's announcement, and check out the RES site here. · Res [Official Site] · The Franks Unveil RES, a Chef Artist Residency in NYC [~EN~] · Previously: Location of The Franks' Red Hook Restaurant Revealed [~EN~]

• The Dutch is setting up an all-day luau to celebrate Memorial Day, with a menu for lunch ($40) or family-style supper ($65) that includes suckling pig and teriyaki-fried chicken wings. [Grub Street] • Maison Premiere is reopening its picturesque back garden tonight. The outdoor area includes its own raw and regular bar, housing the restaurant's massive amount of absinthe. [Grub Street] • The newly opened fast-casual spot Roti Mediterranean Grill (on 100 Maiden Lane in FiDi) is partnering with City Harvest. On Wednesday, May 22, Roti will provide a free meal to all customers who come in and make a donation to the charity from 6 to 9 p.m. [Grub Street] Filed Under: leftovers, maison premiere, outdoor dining, roti mediterranean grill, the dutch

Ready for his close-up. Mission Chinese Food's Danny Bowien, who also just picked up a nice medal from the James Beard Foundation for Rising Star Chef of the Year, will make his first appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon later this week. With any luck, this will not only involve some pastrami, Sichuan peppercorns, and a wok at 90,000 BTUs, but also Julianne Moore and Modern Family's Jesse Tyler Ferguson, the chef's fellow guests. [Danny Bowien/Twitter, Earlier] Read more posts by Hugh MerwinFiled Under: wok out, danny bowien, jimmy fallon, mission chinese

Eater scanned through all 1,343 NYC restaurants on OpenTable with reservations for two still available for tonight. Here's the best of the bunch. Get 'em while they're hot: · Bouley (8:15) · Jungsik (7:30, 7:45, 8:00, 8:30) · Del Posto (8:30, 9:15) · Toqueville (7:45, 8:00, 8:15) · Aquavit (7:30, 8:45) · Gotham Bar and Grill (8:00, 8:30) · Union Square Café (7:15, 8:30) · Raoul's (8:00) · Mas (Farmhouse) (8:30) · I Sodi (8:00) · Brushstroke (7:30, 8:15) · Ai Fiori (7:30, 7:45, 8:15, 8:30) · Perry St. (7:00, 7:30, 8:30) · Mas (La Grillade) (7:30, 7:45, 8:00, 8:15, 8:30) · Kajitsu (8:15, 8:45) · Telepan (8:30) · La Mirabelle (7:30, 7:45, 8:00, 8:15, 8:30) · Tiella (7:00, 8:00, 8:30) · Aldea (7:30, 8:30) · Pig and Khao (8:45) · Burger and Barrel (7:30, 8:00, 8:30) · North End Grill (7:30, 8:15, 8:30) · db Bistro Moderne (8:45, 9:00) · Tribeca Grill (7:45, 8:15) · A Voce Madison (7:45, 8:00, 8:15, 8:30) · Brindle Room (7:30, 7:45, 8:00, 8:15, 8:30) · Exchange Alley (7:30, 7:45, 8:00, 8:15, 8:30) · Kin Shop (7:15, 7:45, 8:15, 8:45) · Cesca (8:30) · OpenTable [Official Site] [Kin Shop by Krieger]

Fascinating. A trio of intrepid Canadian Star Trek fans became friends over some cold brews and intergalactic scuttlebutt during last year's festive Spock Days celebration in the Canadian Prairie. One thing led to another, and soon they'd decided it was high time for a Vulcan-themed beer. After some negotiations with copyright holder CBS/Paramount and a deal with DeLancey Direct, the first batches of Vulcan Ale are now reaching fans in British Columbia and Alberta for the first time, with wider distribution set for next year. It's an Irish red ale, if that doesn't seem too illogical: “We chose one we thought held the spirit of the show,” says Dr. Richard Weger, a Vulcan Ale co-founder (and a veterinarian). “We were all happy with it.” And if malt really isn't your thing, the Star hears there's a Star Trek wine in the works as well. [The Star, Vulcan Ale/Facebook via Eataku] Read more posts by Hugh MerwinFiled Under: the final frontier, beer me, star trek, vulcan ale

It's time for another edition of Adventures in Shilling, in which Eater fights shilling the best way possible, by shaming tasteless, unscrupulous shills into submission. Well, that's the plan, at least. Fight shills yourself by dropping offensive links to tips@eater.com. In this round of shill detection, we take a look at reviews for Charlemagne, Grape & Vine, Cherrywood Kitchen, and Manon. Here are some of the gems from the latest foray into the dirty world of online reviewing: First up, it's a little concerning that hot food is the major selling point in this Yelp review for Cherrywood Kitchen? The reviewer opens: There's nothing worse than getting some lukewarm food, and everything we got that was supposed to be served hot was piping hot, very fresh, and extremely delicious....But that's just the beginning. This reviewer just can't get enough of those hot, hot dishes: ...the real way to go is to order the side of Bone Marrow Clay Pot Rice ($8). As I mentioned above, everything here is served nice and hot, but I actually managed to burn myself on this dish (but that's a good thing). This was a very generous portion of piping hot sticky rice with some bits of bone marrow scattered on top. This was the perfect complement to the deliciously rich chicken and eel... And the heat continues on into dessert: We opted for the interesting sounding Crunch and Munch Crumble Pie ($10). This was a hot, gooey, very satisfying pie, with a buttery crispy crust. My only complaint is that there wasn't enough of it. Also, it could have used a nice side of ice cream to offset the heat and extreme sweetness of the pie. But still, this was an awesome dessert and I would happily get it again. If these all seem like weird selling points, the review finally does conclude with a more run-of-the-mill set of shills: The atmosphere in here is very nice too, and the service is impeccable. This place is great, and I hope they take off and get the success they deserve with such good food. I will definitely be back soon to try the ribs, which everybody else here seemed to be getting and which looked just as delicious and satisfying as everything else we ate here.Shill Probability: 78 percent. One Eater commenter seems suspiciously sure of what to get at Charlemagne, the newly opened "American brasserie" in the West Village: The menu looks good to me! Wednesday is Spaghetti Carbonara night. Perfect with a glass of Trimbach. Start off with $5 basket of gougeres, some Bone Marrow Home Frites, you are all set.Shill Probability: 88 percent. Somehow, the "oh, I just happened to be passing by" story from this Yelp review of Grape & Vine doesn't seem entirely convincing: The hotel's exterior caught my eye as I was passing by (it's inside the Jade Hotel) so I stopped to take a look. After a glance at the menu and a quick peek inside the venue, I changed my dinner reservation to Grape and Vine and checked it out with a few girlfriends. They opened just a few weeks ago and given the speed at which word gets around in NYC, I was surprised that such a beautiful and honestly, quite solid restaurant was so empty at the time (I went on a Sunday evening). Hopefully that will change soon... ...We had the cheese plate, chestnut fennel soup, foie gras torchon, wild mushroom risotto, lamb ragout papardelle, and braised lamb shank with polenta. To my surprise, everyone really enjoyed the food with no complaints whatsoever! We were especially pleased that the vegetarian among us was able to have everything she wanted without compromising, which is especially tough to do with New American cuisine.Shill Probability: 88 percent. There are a few red flag phrases in this review of The Clarkson from one Eater commenter, but it was the plea at the end that really tipped us off:Went last night and Loved Loved Loved everything, the cocktails are amazing, the service is perfection and everything on the menu is to die for. The decor is fabulous, its authentically vintage while st

It's date night, you're paying, and your significant other gives you two choices: Aldea or Marc Forgione. Which do you choose? For the sake of this conversation, assume that the Aldea chef's counter is not an option. Place your vote below, and argue your case in the comments. Our polls require javascript -- if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your javascript-enabled web browser.