Artichoke (Manhattan)

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

——————————————————-

Positive:  Artichoke slices are great as are the Margarita slices.  The Sicilian pizza is the best!

Negative:  Make sure to tell the waiter to have your pizza cut with a clean cutter and don’t cross contaminate with their pork meatball sauce.

Overall: One of the best pizza I have ever eaten.

Revisit:  OF COURSE!

——————————————————-

want to try delicious pizza and don’t want to wait long?

I was in the mood for Difara’s Pizza but it was closed. That is a rare occurrence but the main problem of Difara’s is the amount of time you have to wait. I agree that his slice topped with fresh mozzarella and basil is the best I have eaten, but sometimes you just dont have the time to wait. I looked up a few review websites and lists online, and decided to try out Artichoke Basille’s Pizza. I saw that they were known for their Artichoke slices but I didn’t think I would like them given that I usually like simple toppings or plain slices. Nonetheless, because of the raving reviews on sites and the customers I met at the location, I decided to take the plunge.

I would definitely say that if I liked toppings or was in the mood for something unique I would love the large, artichoke slice. It reminded me of spinach and artichoke dip on pizza. However, I am a simple person and plain slices just do it better for me. Also, if it had tomato sauce, then I may have liked it better. I did however, really like their margarita slice which closely resembled Difara’s but did not get as far. However, when I tried their Sicilian slice my mouth was doing the tango and I thought it was better than Difara’s by far. They had lightly burnt the bottom, something they were supposed to do, in order to give it a burnt/bbq style taste along with the already delicious sauce, buttery crust, and mozarella cheese. Given the time it took to get the pizza and the taste I experienced I would go to this place over Difara’s any day. However, if Difara’s just sped up the process I would definitely go there for their regular slices.

The sicilian winner in my book, though, is definitely Artichoke. The other great thing is that they have a few pies already out and constantly being made so that you can grab a slice on the go (unlike DiFara’s) and not wait around for pies to be made. They also have three locations in Manhattan (East Village, Chelsea, and Greenwich Village). Overall this is a great restaurant to hit up when in the mood for excellent New York style pizza by the slice or as a pie. I have yet to review other well known establishments but so far this place takes precedence over Difara’s based on taste and the waiting time.

——————————————————-

artichoke’s Website

View Larger Map

Related articles

• Artichoke pizza?! (diyhealthydishes.wordpress.com)
• Spinach Artichoke Pizza/Casserole (sleepeatgymrepeat.com)

Luke’s Lobster Roll (Manhattan)

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

——————————————————-

Positive: Warm, moist bun complementing a well-seasoned lobster.

Negative: Expensive with long lines.

Overall: If you are a lobster fan then Luke’s lobster roll is a great way to treat your taste buds. 

Revisit:  Definitely yes, but it won’t be before I get another few paychecks so I can rationalize paying for such a meal.

——————————————————-

Do you like good lobster?

If you’ve been to New York, you’re familiar with the hundreds of food carts and trucks littering the city. It often becomes difficult to differentiate a hidden gem from a sneak assault?  With that said, Luke’s Lobster roll is (or was) a hidden gem. I may be late to this fad, but I guess better late then never. Luke’s Lobster Roll delivers a perfectly seasoned lobster on a warm and delicious bun. With multiple locations in the city, and a free standing moving truck, don’t think you won’t have to wait. As I was greeted by a long line of hungry customers, and unfortunately each sandwich seemed to take awhile to make too.

The sandwich is moist and delicious because it is lightly buttered and contains an ample amount of mayo which complements the rest of the sandwich well.  The biggest fault isn’t because of the sandwich but rather the price. As with any place serving lobster, $8 for half a roll and $16 for a full roll sounds about right. Regardless, these tiny treats unfortunately will NOT satisfy your appetite. After completing my whole sandwich, I felt like I just had a little appetizer.The sandwich is about the size of a hot dog, and although it is filled to capacity with lobster, it just doesn’t do a normal person justice to eat one. Luke’s also carries other rolls such as crab, shrimp or the grand daddy of them all, the “Taste of Maine”. For the low price of $22, the “Taste of Maine” gives you a combination of lobster, crab, and shrimp.

——————————————————-

Website

View Larger Map

Sweet Revenge (West Village)

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

——————————————————-

Positive: Uniquely delicious cupcake flavors and a wide variety of non-alcoholic drinks.

Negative: Bar type atmosphere with expensive dishes.

Overall: Great place to go with friends for dessert and non-alcoholic drink if you want to try a new type of setting.

——————————————————-

You want to try a high-end cupcake place with a delicious non-alcoholic drink with your friends at a bar?

Sweet revenge is a very unique and small cafe in the Village. It has many different kinds of signature ‘Artisan’ flavors.  This place is actually a bar/cupcake place so that people who drink can have wine with their cupcakes and pies.

However, for those who don’t drink alcohol they have a bunch of non-alcoholic drinks as well. Some of these nonalcoholic drinks include their South African rock shandy and American rock shandy. You can also have frozen hot chocolate which is pretty bitter and probably made from dark chocolate. They also have a bunch of coffees, teas, lattes, milk, lemonades, and sodas. They are known for the cupcakes and pies.

The signature flavor which I enjoyed was something called Sweet Revenge which included peanut butter cake, a ganache center, and peanut butter fudge frosting. We also had a chance to try there very rich and delicious Bird of Paradise cupcake which consisted of lime chiffon cake with mango butter cream and fresh lime zest. They have a variety of other unique signature flavors including ‘Pure” which consists of Mexican vanilla cake and Mexican vanilla buttercream as well as ‘Dirty’  which consists of Valrohna Cake with dark chocolate truffle.  I also tried their ‘Crimson and Cream’ which has raspberry red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. It was very unique compared to other red velvet cakes I have eaten. However, it did have somewhat of a raspberry flavor to it. They also have some pies which I did not have a chance to try.

I think overall that this place is a very interesting and unique place to go to especially if you want to have a quick delicious cupcake with a nice non-alcoholic drink. You can always check their website to see what kind of nonalcoholic drinks they have. When comparing this to other cupcake places like Magnolia, Crumbs, and Georgetown cupcakes I think this is more of a exotic cupcake place. However at the other places the cupcakes have the usual delicious flavors.  Therefore, this place definitely has more of a unique experience than other places.  By the way, the owner is very nice and the service is excellent, which makes your experience there soo much better!

——————————————————-

Sweet Revenge Website

View Larger Map

Mariachi (Midtown East)

Rating: 

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price, & Staff

——————————————————-

Positive: Wide selection of Halal Mexican food.

Negative: Non-tasty food with slow service in a small place.

Overall: I wouldn’t come back to this place even though it is probably one of the only halal mexican restaurants in the northeast. 

——————————————————-

Looking for halal mexican?  well keep looking and in the mean time stick with Taco bell and Chipotle for your needs.

Mariachi is located in a great location, close to the Lexington Ave.  It is a very small restaurant and I would only recommend going there in a group of up to 4 people.  It will not be sustainable for larger groups. Also, it is so small that when you talk to the people you’re eating with, you feel that the whole restaurant can hear you.

In terms of the food, I had the nachos for the appetizers. They were average and I expected them to have some meat on them because after all it is a halal restaurant and we are used to eating nachos with beans every where else. Therefore, if you’re looking for nachos with chilli, do not get these and try another appetizer. The enchiladas were average as well. They were a bit soggy and had way too much parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

As for the service, I was not impressed either because there was only one waiter. He did not attend to us when he had finished eating and had to wait five to ten minutes for him to come to our table so we could ask him for the bill. All in all, I recommend this restaurant if you’re in the area with a couple of friends, are craving some meat, and are not looking for something fancy. I’d also like to add that in addition to Mexican food, they also have a menu for Middle Eastern and Italian dishes.

——————————————————-

Mariachi’s Website on Seamless

View Larger Map