Results tagged: Greenwich Village

Getting the low down on Il Mulino on the Foods of NY Greenwich Village / SoHo tour.

Very few people, only 35 in fact, are lucky enough to get to tag along with Calvin Trillin each year for his fabled food tour through Greenwich Village, SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown. Fortunately, there's an alternative for the rest of us that hits on some of the same high notes and has plenty of charms of its own. 

The tour in question is the Foods of New York's walking tour, which I was recently invited to join. Of the four lower Manhattan tours they offer I chose the Greenwich Village / SoHo one even though I'd lived in the Village for a few years and had done a fair amount of food exploring there in the past. Mostly I was just curious to see how many neighborhood gems I'd left undiscovered.

After a quick introduction by our tour guide, Raheem, we were off to Indian Bread Co on Bleecker where we snacked on Kathi rolls and got to know each other a little bit. It turned out that I was somewhat of an anomaly being the only male as well as the only city dweller. The group was made up of a few tourists, a group on a corporate outing and a few ladies from Long Island who were in the city for the day. Over the course of the following three hours we stopped into a number of restaurants that were new to me (Monte's, La Lanterna di Vittorio) and a bunch retail shops, all of which I was familiar with, but happy to be revisiting. Surprisingly, to me at least, the tour didn't just consist of walking from food shop to food shop snacking on tidbits, though there was plenty of that. Raheem turned out to be a fountain of knowledge about local history and shared much local lore with us along the way.

Just a few of the 3,000 lbs of fresh, hand made mozzarella made at Joe's Dairy each day!

Overall he did an admirable job of entertaining us for the three hours he had us and all of the quick bites we tried were tasty, including the delicious "pizza" at Grandaisy Bakery, also on Mr. Trillin's tour. A quick survey of my tour companions near the end of the tour indicated that everyone had a great time. So if you're coming into the city and are looking for something fun to do for a few hours around lunchtime or even if you live in the city and want to find out more about the food and history of the Village and its environs, Foods of NY offers a great way to learn about both. Best of all you don't have to compete with a few thousand rapid food loving New Yorker readers to score a spot.

Tour info: Tickets are $42 to $65 and there's enough snacking along the route to more than satisfy the average mid-day hunger. My tour was at its 16 person limit so I'd recommend booking on the early side if you can. Visit the Foods of NY web site for full details.

Late in the day on Monday we decided to check out Anita Lo's brand new restaurant, Bar Q. What follows is a quick summary of our impressions on opening night.

First, Bar Q was not at all what we expected. Judging from the name we had in mind a smallish, cozy spot with casual food to match. Instead the restaurant is rather large with a design that evokes Annisa. Think subdued colors and soft lighting. The space is divided into four distinct areas. As you walk in past the bar there are four round tables to your right, a more elegant main dining room off to the left, a large glassed in atrium in the back, and an open air section behind that, which will be nice in warmer weather. The menu leans toward comfort with modern Asian touches.

We were led to the section near the bar, which we presume is where walk-ins and various riff raff are directed. We felt a little left out of the action, especially given that there were a number of open tables in the main dining room.

We wanted to taste as many different things as we could so we ordered three appetizers (a mixed green salad, unagi scallion fritters and the pork "wing"), the two entrees offered in a smaller size (baby back ribs and miso eggplant) and one side dish (garlic fried milk). For dessert we had the warm sesame mochi with dipping sauce. We limited ourselves to a single cocktail, an ungarnished (the horror!) little number made from sake, Poire William and elderflower. On a regular evening we more than likely would have opted for a bottle of wine from the well selected and generally affordable wine list.

The salad was perfectly dressed with a lemony vinaigrette. The oil used in the dressing was light and let the other seasonings come through. The addition of cilantro provided a nice accent to the greens. Also enjoyable was the miso eggplant. When we go out for Japanese, we can never resist ordering the miso eggplant (nasu shigi). Lo's version mirrors the Japanese dish but her presentation is more elegant than most. The eggplant had a smooth and delicate texture and her use of miso was perfect - not too much to be cloying, nor too little to leave you wanting more.

The unagi scallion fritters had an interesting soft, spongy texture and were accompanied with a sweet dipping sauce. The meat on the baby back ribs was moist and tender however the sauce was a little one dimensional and might have benefited from a little zing to counter the sweetness. The ribs were adorned with fried Japanese pickles, which had a solid crunch.

The pork "wing" turned out to be a generously cut single rib with one end French trimmed. It was dressed with what tasted like a kimchee-flavored BBQ sauce. This wasn't a dish we'd rush to order again.

The side of garlic fried milk was too tempting not to order. Our server explained that milk was infused with garlic and then mixed with cornstarch until it was thick enough to be deep fried. The garlic flavor was mild and the Lo's fry was perfect. Not at all oily and comparable to some of the better tempura we enjoyed on a recent trip to Japan.

Overall the experience was enjoyable and we plan to return soon to explore more of the menu. While we can't recommend sitting in the front, the main dining room looked comfortable and the atrium and outdoor areas will no doubt be popular when warm weather arrives. Lo isn't doing anything revolutionary here, but she does seem to be filling a niche for creative comfort and Asian-inspired cuisine in the West Village. It will be interesting to see if the standard of quality holds up as Lo splits her time between the kitchens of two serious restaurants.