the meatball shop

By Brittany Ho, September 20, 2011 6:35 pm
Proprietor/Chef: Daniel Holzman and Mike Chernow

Category: Italian

Neighborhood: Lower East Side
84 Stanton St, New York, NY 10002
(212) 982-9985

meatball shop

meatballs - sliders

meatballs - ice cream cookie sand

Mood: meatballs. ice cream sandwiches.  cheap eats affair. absolutely nothing fancy.

Tastes Like: good meatballs, however you want them.  ever wondered what the crazed obsession with meatballs was/is?  i reckon that it is due to the fact that it’s red meat.  low maintenance, and it tastes good.  golf sized balls with your choice of meat, sauce and cheese … you want them naked? on a salad?  hero?  sliders?  mashed?  over greens? you got it.  my personal favorite is the pork with spicy meat sauce. i’ve tried almost all variations except on a hero (sorry not a fan of hero bread).  and when i want to be healthy, i get the little suckers over greens.  truly tasty, tender meat and sauce that’s got a bit of sass.  i am usually full after three meatballs, thankyouverymuch.  they have a daily chalk board, so i would recommend checking it out for some side dishes…notably the creamy polenta that is so basic yet tasty and a vegetable dish to your liking, so you can feel good about yourself.  lastly, if you like ice cream sandwiches, this place is your go to.  you can pick and choose your ice cream and cookie flavors.  i don’t like hard cookies, hence, the meatball shop’s ice cream cookie sandwich and i can’t be friends.

Must Haves: pork meatballs with spicy meat sauce.

Stay Away: n/a

Ambiance: you snooze you lose.  barrish setting, brings you back to those college dining days.  Manhattan shoebox…small but always jam packed.

Service: Instantaneous and wonderful.  The menu is pretty much self served… check off your options with a marker…and the server picks up your order when you’re ready.  Pretty automated genius.  Wipe off marker and repeat.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Caveat: Cash only. not the best meatballs I’ve had, but i think this place soars in popularity due to the very reasonable price points.
Comparables: if you are ever in Boston, you must try Kevin Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette’s Coppa restaurant.  Their meatballs are out of this world.  Slightly larger than golf sized meatballs, served two as an appetizer, topped with lardo.  Yes, I said it, lardo.  Also due to their skyrocketing popularity, it is no longer served as an appetizer but full on entree over orechiette.  Not my ideal, but I’ll take what I can get.

abe & arthur’s

By Brittany Ho, September 13, 2011 6:02 pm

www.abeandarthurs.com/

Proprietors/Chef: Mark Birnbaum/ Eugene Remm/ Michael Hirtenstein / Executive Chef Franklin Becker

Category: Steak


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Neighborhood: Meatpacking District
409 West 14 St, New York, NY 10014
(646) 289-3930

abe - porter

abe-scallops

abe - dorado

Mood: high energy, loud atmosphere… corporate feel setting…great for large parties

Tastes Like: good, but not spectacular.  a lot of the food on the plate was way too salty for my taste, starting from the bread basket.  the scallops with foie gras seemed to be a daring, tasteful choice,  but I went with the special fish of the day, dorado over crab cous cous.  I’ve never had this type of fish, so it was a must try.  My friend’s scallops turned into four small measly portions… with the ultra small toppers of foie gras.  It’s a hefty price tag, that still leaves you desperately hungry.  My advice, if you want the scallops, order side dishes to compensate.  I’m so lucky I chose wisely.  The whole fish, was a generous portion cooked quite nicely, with tender, flaky white fish pieces.  Another ordered the porterhouse.  The strip was cooked about medium rare, but the filet piece of it was RARE.  At this point, it should have been sent back, but J being the trooper didn’t want to complain….but it was uneatable…so we perked up and finally said something.  The manager said he would get it fixed and ended up bringing out a strip steak.  Since they couldn’t re-cook the entire thing … they cut a smaller portion of the strip steak instead.  We appreciated the efforts of the manager,  but they should have just redone another filet, not a strip.  Their only saving grace was the bread pudding.. very rich and tasty.  If this place is supposed to be known as a “steak house” then there should be no excuses to mess up the steak in the first place.  Absolute disappointment.

Must Haves: dorado (special of the day) and bread pudding

Stay Away: scallops

Ambiance: Very sleek, modern, chic, corporate feel .. not worth the money otherwise.

Service: Wonderful and accommodating of large parties.

Rating: 3 stars

Caveat: a bit over-hyped. you’re paying for the atmosphere rather than good food.