A Forest Hills Life

Terroir

2008-03-27T12:37:00.005-04:00

Recently visited Terroir, the brand new wine bar from the fine folks behind Hearth and Insieme. Went on the second or third night it was open, so they still didn't have a full wine list available. Even with that limitation, it was a terrific evening. It was full most of the night, but the heavy rain probably kept it from being overcrowded. I sat with some friends at the long communal table that runs the length of the bar. Its a bright and lively space, and the communal table and the hospitality of Paul Grieco and Marco Canora definitely contributed to a social atmosphere. We spent a lot of time talking to our neighbors.

We arrived in time for happy hour, which includes a few well selected wines for 5 dollars a glass. While we were debating what food to order, Chef Canora dropped a small plate of the fried risotto balls in front of us. These were made from beat risotto with some gorgonzola and were delicious. We ended up ordering the plate of cured meats which was amazing. I don't recall exactly what was on the plate, but it was all high quality. The fried sage leaves with lamb sausage was great as well. And I have been craving the duck ham, taleggio and hen-of-the-woods mushroom panini ever since I had it.

Paul Grieco, the man behind the wine program at Hearth, Insieme and Terroir is a super enthusiastic presence in the bar. He was ready to give you a full rundown on any wine you had a question about, and you could tell he was excited about each one. I was thrilled when he said that come summer, the white wines by the glass may be one long list of Rieslings. That's music to my ears.

For me, this is an ideal place. Ambitious wine and delicious food at a reasonable price, served with enthusiasm by obviously passionate hosts. I wish I could live next door.

Bonfire Grill

2008-03-24T14:38:00.003-04:00

While it may be a little early to give this place a real review, I have a few quick impressions from a visit there last night with my wife.

The space is decent looking by Forest Hills standards, but not exactly that attractive. The bar area is a little more appealing than the bland, oddly colored, dining room. The cheap tables and chairs don't do much for the space either.

Service wasn't great, but that's typical this early. Our waitress took quite some time to take our order (it appeared she was also cleaning and setting tables). She never brought the water I asked for, never asked if I wanted a second glass of wine and she brought out our main course before we were finished with our appetizers. That last one is a big one for me, but certainly not fatal for a just opened and obviously not ambitious restaurant.

From the limited menu I tried the calamari appetizer. This was lightly fried and came with a cocktail like sauce which I didn't care for. The calamari themselves were alright, slightly rubbery and no added crunch from the light batter and frying. I also had the burger. This was nothing special. Typical burger like you would get at any number of places. The fries were tragic for me. Soggy and greasy.

My wife had the ceasar salad which she said was decent and a some goat cheese tapas. This was some toasted bread with a little bit of goat cheese (too little my wife said) and some artichoke and tomato mixture.

We'll see what happens as they get up to speed and have their full menu available, but I'm not that optimistic. Honestly, we typically cook every night and only go out on the weekends, which means usually a trip into Manhattan or maybe Jackson Heights. While some good options in the hood would be great, I'm not so desperate that I'll be excited about something that doesn't really warrant it. There seems to be a lot of excitement on the blogs about this place, and that's OK. I just don't think it fills any real need for me.

Bottega del Vino

2007-12-11T09:08:00.000-05:00

WTF?

I assume its expense accounts (we were seated next to a table of attorneys, later joined by their client, celebrating some BIG deal) that keeps this place open, with its convenient midtown location and trophy filled wine list. It certainly isn't the food.

Went here last night with some family and thankfully I wasn't paying. The best part of the meal was the wine. A 1998 Barbaresco, a "steal" at $200. There wasn't much for less than that on the list. I had a half portion of one of their signature appetizers to start, Tortellini della Bottega tortellini filled with beef and prosciutto dusted with porcini mushroom powder. Under-sauced and under-seasoned. For a main course, I had a "rack" of lamb with chestnuts. This came overdone (I should have sent it back but didn't), in a classic catering hall presentation. It was a small piece of lamb, sitting atop passable but useless mashed potatoes with a carrot and 3 chestnuts sitting in a tasteless sauce. For almost 40 dollars. Really?

Dessert was ok. A pretty good Tiramisu and a tasty but pathetic looking souffle. It barely rose up the full height of its diminutive ramekin.

The service was good.

You have to take an elevator to get to the bathroom.

You don't need to go here.

Danny Brown minus the DB

2007-12-03T14:15:00.001-05:00

From Frank Bruni's Diner's Journal blog we learn that Danny Brown has lost the battle with Daniel Boulud and will now be danny brown Wine Bar & Kitchen.

From the blog:

I’m trying to reach him to find out whether the dispute between him and Mr. Boulud actually ended up in court, or whether it was just hashed out in meetings, phone calls and letters between lawyers. His e-mail was brief and ambiguous.

But on one point it was clear: he lost.

“I have changed all my logos,” he wrote me, providing photo documentation of the old awnings coming down and new ones going up.

“We are now danny brown Wine Bar & Kitchen,” he announced. And so the story, apparently, ends.

Quick Hits - some other recent restaurants

2007-10-24T22:53:00.000-04:00

Some places where you will get your money's worth:

Picholine. My wife and I went here for our anniversary and it was terrific. There service was pitch perfect and truly accommodating and the food was excellent. Craig Hopson, who was running the kitchen during Picholine's resurgence has recently left, but hopefully that won't effect this wonderful restaurant.

Caffe Falai. I've enjoyed a few meals at Falai on Clinton street and happened past its more down-market sibling Caffe Falai on Lafayette the other night when looking for a place to grab a bite with some friends. We shared a whole bunch of stuff and it was mostly terrific. Especially the pastas. All priced in the low teens, they were interesting and really delicious.

Boqueria. Terrific tapas place on 19th. Better at the less traditional stuff (go to Las Ramblas or Tia Pol for the traditional stuff).

Non FH Restaurant Blogging - L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

2007-10-24T22:24:00.000-04:00

Well, since I seem to spend most of my time not in Forest Hills, I might as well blog about non-FH stuff as well.

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon

Went there for my wife's birthday. First thing, the decor. A bit deco, a bit 80's. Neither inviting nor of the moment, so I'm not sure what they were thinking with that.

The service was quite good. I had informed them of my wife's dietary restrictions when making a reservation and the waitress was well informed. However, the chef didn't seem very flexible. Given the price point, leaving off the sauce on one of the fish dishes (as they all had meat which my wife doesn't eat) doesn't strike me as the mark of a top restaurant or chef.

I will say, they did alter the amuse which she enjoyed. Sort of a deconstructed ratatouille. Mine was a shot glass with gorgonzola, port wine reduction and quince. Not something I would ever think I would like, but it all worked together amazingly.

We each selected two tasting portions (the menu is divided into tasting portions, traditional appetizers and entrees). I started with the crispy frogs legs with garlic purée and parsley coulis. These were perfectly fried and the frog meat was tender, but as was to be the theme with the rest of the dishes, it seemed to be lacking something. Lets call it salt. Or any depth of flavor and seasoning. The technique was great, the ingredients good. But the dish lacked something. The same can be said of my next dish, quail stuffed with foie gras, truffled potato purée. Although here, the truffle slices on the potato weren't really up to snuff. Again, the quail was perfectly cooked, but the dish didn't do it for me.

My main dish was the best of the bunch. Its not on any of the online menus, but I believe it was loin of venison with poached pear and candied ginger. They also brought a dish of the "famous Robuchon" potato puree, as the server put it. The venison was cooked just right and was delicious. Though still underseasoned. In one bite, the venison and the pear and the ginger worked well, but there wasn't much of the ginger or the pear. And that potato puree doesn't really deserve to be famous. Not as good as Craft's or a number of other places.

For Dessert I had the tart tasting. 5 slices of various tarts. Cinnamon, chocolate, peanut butter, passion fruit-banana and something else. This was quite good.

My wife was underwhelmed with her first tasting plate. A dish of eggplant around tuna tartar, she said she couldn't taste the tuna. Then a gazpacho, which I though wasn't really seasonally appropriate, but she said it was really good, but very cold. Finally she had the Turbot, without the sauce. Fishy, is what she said.

All in all, some beautifully prepared and presented food, that just lacked depth and in my opinion was under-seasoned. At this price point, and lower, I have had much better and more enjoyable meals and more accommodating service.

Forest Hills CSA

2007-10-24T22:21:00.000-04:00

Hadn't seen this before, but here's a website for Forest Hills Community Supported Agriculture.

Seems like a great resource for anyone interested in signing up for a CSA.

#1 Coffee Shop = Hidden Korean Gem?

2007-08-21T16:09:00.000-04:00

According to the folks at Gothamist, I'm missing out on some decent Korean food hiding behind an unassuming bodega on the border of Forest Hills and Rego park:

A Korean restaurant is not something one would expect to find on the border of Forest Hills and Rego Park. If anything the neighborhood is better known for the plethora of Central Asian kebab joints. Nor is Korean chow something you'd expect to find at an old-school spot like the #1 Coffee Shop. Years ago local legend Robbie Richter, pitmaster of Hill Country, worked the flat top one day when the grill man was out sick. Despite it's improbability, there they were, handwritten signs advertising bulgogi and bibimbap. We hastened inside out of the rain to see what #1's bibimbap was all about.

And how was it?

All in all, it was the best bibimbap Gothamist has ever eaten in a diner.

Gothamist at DB

2007-07-25T16:40:00.000-04:00

Gothamist goest to Danny Brown and they like what they find.

When we asked Chef Brown what he thought of Chef Boulud's suing him over this typographical tempest in a teapot, he shrugged off our question with a "No comment," saying he had to get back to work in the kitchen. And we're glad he did, everything we lunched on that day was topflight.

Legal squabbles aside, one thing is certain. Danny Brown's is one of the only places on this stretch of Metropolitan Avenue where you'll hear wine geeks talking tannins with the well-informed bartenders.

The Wednesday Chef

2007-07-11T09:19:00.000-04:00

Prolific food blooger Luisa Weiss of The Wednesday Chef is really excited. Why? Because she's moving to Forest Hills:

It's official: on August 1st, we'll be living in Forest Hills, with more square feet than I can currently fathom, a balcony and trees out front, a kitchen with four whole walls and dear friends right upstairs (thank God). I'll only be 15 minutes away, but when I go to sleep at night, I won't need earplugs anymore.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

db goes after db

2007-06-01T10:15:00.000-04:00

So Daniel Boulud is not too happy with the use of 'db' in db Wine Bar and Kitchen.

From Frank Bruni's blog:

Mr. Montagu gave me a fuller sense than his letter to Danny Brown did of why the Boulud restaurant group objects so strongly to Mr. Brown calling his Forest Hills, Queens, restaurant db Wine Bar & Kitchen and to presenting the db as two lower-case letters with little space between them, a format similar to the one for Mr. Boulud’s db bistro moderne in Manhattan.

...

The letter that Mr. Montagu sent Mr. Brown implies that if Mr. Brown doesn’t abandon the initials db, he’ll be sued. When I asked Mr. Montagu flat out if a suit was imminent, he said that it was certainly an option.

When I asked him if it would be enough for Mr. Brown to make a typographical change, calling his restaurant, say, D.B. Wine Bar & Kitchen, the lawyer said he couldn’t give definitive answers to those sorts of scenarios without having additional, non-hypothetical information, such as exactly what a new logo for the restaurant might look like.

But he suggested that capital letters and punctuation marks wouldn’t go far enough, because the sound of D.B. spelled that way is the same as the sound of db, so the initials, when uttered, could give a person the impression that they were discussing a restaurant affiliated with db bistro moderne and with Daniel Boulud.

The confusion between db Wine Bar & Kitchen and db bistro moderne certainly occurred to me, especially since initially googling for db always brought up db bistro moderne and not db Wine Bar & Kitchen.

Do Boulud and his attorney have a point here or are they picking on a little guy, our very own Danny Brown, the saving grace of the Forest Hills dining scene?

Update: I missed the earlier post over at Bruni's Blog here.

Early Word on Latin Cabana Express

2007-05-16T11:42:00.000-04:00

I still haven't been, but seems to be pleasing a lot of people over at Chowhound.

It was also featured in a Chowhound digest: OUTER BOROUGHS: A Cuban Hit Parade in Forest Hills.

Anyone else been?

The Cuisine of Queens and Beyond 2007

2007-05-16T10:23:00.000-04:00

Grub Street brings our attention to The Cuisine of Queens and Beyond 2007.

The event features Aquavit chef Marcus Samuelsson, pushing his book on African cooking, but the real reason to go is to experience representative dishes from 47 different Queens restaurants which you might normally never get to.

Requisite central Queens dig:

Schlepping out to Rego Park and trying to find 63rd Drive and 108th Street could drive anyone crazy.

The event is on the 22nd at Astoria World Manor, 25-33 Astoria Blvd. Tickets are $50 if bought before Friday, and $60 at the door.

Note: tickets can be purchased in adavance in our hood at La Vigna Restaurant 100-01 Metropolitan Ave.

Novo 64

2007-05-15T09:35:00.000-04:00

I noticed some posters on windows of the old Vincci store on Austin. They were advertising something called Novo 64. The website referenced has some flash intro and a tag line of "Forest Hills Your Way Coming Soon". Anyone know anything more about this?

http://novo64.com/

Come Back Lidia

2007-05-01T17:11:00.000-04:00

So apparently at some point in the past, Lidia Bastianich was running a restaurant in Forest Hills. What I wouldn't give for that restaurant to still be there.

Update:
Apparently it was called Buonavia and was opened in 1971.

db

2007-04-17T12:22:00.000-04:00

Looks like Time Out just gave a very nice review (4 out of 6 stars) to db Wine Bar & Kitchen.

Here's a choice quote:

The kid from the block is banking on Forest Hillbillies being as sophisticated as his restaurant.

Damn straight we are.

Side note, can anybody come up with something better than 'Forest Hillbillies'.

Tags: DB Wine Bar Forest Hills Queens Restaurant

Getting Some Love For Forest Hills

2007-04-16T10:31:00.000-04:00

I brought the plight of Forest Hills to the attention of the fine folks over at Eater and they've seen fit to post my little plea for help.

Smashed

2007-04-14T10:49:00.000-04:00

Here's a photo of the damage done to our car the other night. Its been fixed since.

For anyone who's new to the area or moving to NYC and has Geico, take note: in some places, the no deductible for glass is part of the standard package, in NYC its not. So you may want to correct that upon arrival. No one told my wife that when she moved and just told Geico she'd like to keep the same coverage she had previously in DC.

Advanced Awning

2007-04-14T10:35:00.000-04:00

Here's the awning of the new cuban place orinigally spotted by Forest Hills 72:

Looks promising. We'll see if this one succeeds where La Mancha Empanada fails.

Eating out is easier with no scruples

2007-04-11T09:54:00.000-04:00

I just made post-Opera (I'm giving it another try) dinner reservations for my wife and I and her parents. Pending sign-off from the in-laws, were going to Telepan. My wife and I went once for brunch and I've been wanting to go back for dinner ever since.

So I'm watching NY1 this morning, and catch a story , a NY1 exclusive in fact, in which they interview former and current waiters who claim their tips are being illegaly shared with management among other problems. Now, these are currently just allegations and I've seen no response from Chef Telepan or anyone else. But, I feel like I shouldn't patronize Telepan until this is resolved. But damn I want to eat there.

Thoughts?

A similar situation came up with the Saigon Grill recently. A friend booked a birthday dinner there, but when I sent her a gothamist post about the labor problems there, she changed venues. It was a worse situation, with much more publicity and picket lines, but still, I don't like when people fuck with the working man.

Tags: Telepan Labor Manhattan Restaurant

Queens Real Estate

2007-04-11T09:40:00.000-04:00

So, as mortgage deliquencies hit a record high in the first quarter of the year, we also learn that foreclosures are up sharply in cities. Specifically, they're up 56% in NYC and a staggering 91% in Queens, which accounted for the bulk of NYC foreclosures.

I don't think the foreclosures will hit FH as hard as other areas, bu I'm curious what people are seeing in our neighborhood. I know prices in our building have come down and apartments are sitting on the market for a lot longer than they used to.

Whats happening in your building?

Tags: Forest Hills Real Estate Foreclosures Queens

Our first FH crime

2007-04-08T10:31:00.000-04:00

So for the first time since we moved in, we were the victims of crime in FH. Nothing too bad. We got a call this morning at 9:00am that the cops were here, turns out someone smashed our windshield last night, as well as the driver side windows of two other cars. Not the worst thing in the world, but never something you want happening to you in your own neighborhood and especially not right on your own block.

Forest Hills Gardens

2007-04-06T11:35:00.000-04:00

Just found a nice Flickr pool for Forest Hills Gardens.

Tags: Forest Hills Forest Hills Gardens Photographs

Thumbs Down to Hotel

2007-04-06T09:35:00.000-04:00

Queens Crap points us to a letter to the editor of the Queens Chronicle with a big thumbs down from the Lane Towers' board president for the proposed FH hotel.

FH Chowhound Roundup

2007-04-06T09:20:00.000-04:00

Here are some valuable recent Chowhound threads on Forest Hills:

Ran Japanese Restaurant
DB Wine Bar
More DB
Best Restuarants in Forest Hills?
Jade Eatery and Lounge

Tags: Forest Hills Chowhound Restaurants

5 Stars?

2007-04-05T16:08:00.000-04:00

So, my question of the day. If someone builds a 5 star hotel in Forest Hills, will people come?

I just can't picture anything in Forest Hills being 5 stars.

CQ... CQ...

2007-04-05T15:53:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to join the chorus of growing Forest Hills bloggers who are hoping to bring some life into our quiet little hood. We'll see how much I have to say. But one more voice can't hurt.

Tags: Forest Hills