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We went to One if by land, Two if by Sea during New York restaurant week (they are actually offering this until Labor Day), so it was a three course pre-fixe dinner for $35. It was an elegant setting and the staff was very nice. The appetizers were good, not great, but the entrée and desserts were superb…cooked to perfection. It was well worth the money.
Here’s what we ordered (from the restaurant week menu):
Appetizers
Tomato Gazpacho (Soup)
Crab, avocado, lemon basil oil
Although, in many Tomato Gazpacho recipes paprika is added, we did not expect this soup to be as spicy as it was. The spiciness really took away from the other flavors of the soup. We liked the small chunks of crab meat in soup though. Overall, it was decent, not great.
Mushroom Tart
Wild mushroom, baby zucchini, amaranth, salsa verde
We would not order this again. It was extremely salty. The mushroom was minced very finely and placed on top of a small piece of pastry. The zucchini was on the side. We tasted nothing but loads of salt on this! Stay away from it.
Entrée
Grilled Bavette Steak
Pearl onions, confit tomato, roasted radish
Three of us were at dinner; we each ordered our steaks to be cooked differently. However, when it came, the redness was the same all around. We were going to send it back until we took a bit to try it first. It was tender and flavorful! Maybe I do like my steak medium-rare…I never knew that! The steak was already nicely sliced and ready to eat. Would come back just for this!
Desserts
We ordered one of each from the restaurant week menu. We loved all three, but the cheesecake was the favorite among the group.
Nutella Cake
Olive oil semifreddo, popcorn ice cream, chocolate coated popcorn
Blueberry Composition
Rosemary gel, yuzu curd, blueberry tapioca, blueberry sorbet and rosemary chip
This was our least favorite because the smell and taste of rosemary was very strong (may not be a bad thing if you love rosemary!).
Mascarpone Cheesecake
Black currant foam, black currant streusel, pineapple
Very soft cheesecake, unlike regular cheesecake where there’s a stiffer consistency. Overall, yummy!
This restaurant is gorgeous, the waiters were nice (they even gave us a complimentary soup), but if it wasn’t for restaurant week, we might not come back again. The regular menu is extremely expensive (you can spend upwards of $250+ for 2 people). The other downside was that the portions are relatively small. We’ll go back again for next year’s restaurant week!
Address: 17 Barrow St, New York, NY 10014 (Btwn 7th Ave S & W 4th St)
www.oneifbyland.com
Total Yummy Points: 8
(Lost some points with the appetizers!)
We have mixed feelings about this place. We’ll just lay out the good, bad, and ugly for you. Let’s start with something nice to say:
THE GOOD:
You cannot beat the price. All you can eat sushi for just $25 and with an additional $5 you get unlimited beer and sake. We highly recommend the Ashiya and Dragon rolls. The food was some of the best we’ve had at any sushi buffet. If you are looking for decent sushi at a reasonable price and don’t mind the crowd, this would be a safe bet.
THE BAD:
We had made reservations for a large birthday dinner here. We called a week in advance, gave them all the information they needed including our credit card number to hold the reservation. The morning of the dinner, we called again to ask if it was okay to bring a birthday cake to eat there. Turns out it was okay to bring a cake, but they have NO RECORDS of our reservation! They also said they didn’t have a table to accommodate for a large group that night either! After much negotiating and talking to several people, magically, a table became available.
THE UGLY:
You are given a two-hour limit on your sushi buffet, but after you put in your first order, expect to wait at least 40 minutes to get your first sushi rolls to your table. We had some late comers to dinner, but their two-hour limit started when ours started. So in actuality, some people had about 1 hour. You may be tempted to order A LOT of food in your first order since its take so long to come, but be WARNED, if you don’t finish it all, they charge you extra (depending on how much is left). They tried to sneak some rolls to our table that we did not order and after we sent it back, all those same rolls still came back at our table. They sneaked a roll here and there to the plates of sushi that we did order.
Don’t expect a nice, quiet dinner here with friends either. It’s an extremely rowdy crowd. There were people playing “sake bombs” all night. This game involves loud banging on the tables (and yes, you’ll hear plates and chopsticks come crashing down once in a while).
Double check your bill when it comes. Some of us did not order the sake, but was charged. They did take it off after we complained.
To sum it up -- food is decent, price is great, and service is so-so (if not poor)!
Address:
167 1st AveNew York, NY 10003-0309(212) 505-3348
http://www.ashiya2.com/
Total Yummy Points: 6.5
We recently attended Chef Nikki Cascone’s, former Top Chef Cheftestant, backyard cooking class. It was an amazing experience! The class was at her restaurant, 24 Prince. We’ve learned some cool tricks and tips, plus enjoyed a 3 course meal while learning her secrets.
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