Parisian Tartines

After seeing a terrible movie at the Angelika, we strolled in the light evening rain to Tartinery on Mulberry St. to for a late night snack.

In the city of widespread reviews, there aren't enough re-reviews.
Once a place has been opened a year or two, no critic ever revisits to offer another review on maintenance of the restaurant and to reaffirm what was originally reviewed. Has the quality of the food improved since it first opened? Has it kept the decor in tip-top condition? Or has it lost the aura it originally had us all raving about due to a number of things such as lack of upkeep, change in ingredients and downgraded service?
When Tartinery first opened, it had a pretty positive four star rating via New York Magazine (Just a quick FYI, I do have respect for published ratings, unlike Yelp ratings written by anyone who has fingers to type and knows, sometimes, absolutely nothing about food and restaurant). A few years later, it would be difficult to agree with that opening four star review...

Ambiance

Today, I was in the mood to mix up the categories and start off with the ambiance and decor primarily because, in all honesty, I was more taken by the decor than the food. There was something unique and versatile about the small upstairs seating with blackboard menu's linning the walls and a downstairs that looks to the upper part of the restaurant. 

View from above onto the downstairs seating

Skateboard wall art and tree with Christmas lights at the downstairs seating

The basement walls are made of dark brick that hide cabinets of wine inside. 

Mini wine cellar inside the brick wall situated on the staircase

The decor was quite unlike many of New York's typical restaurant decor. The lighting is dim and there is a large tree bark wrapped with white Christmas lights in the center of the basement seating area. 

Another view of the downstairs seating area

The crowd is young, international and trendy. One table was seated with two young French guys adorning beards, flannel T's and lots of rings. Another was a large group of Norwegians and Americans. All young, all trendy, all the women in oversized tops, long straight white-blonde hair, lots of chunky jewelry and combat boots. The eye candy at this joint was more the reason to return. Although, many other spots in NoLita would afford you the same types of people to watch.

Tartinery feels a bit washed up. As if it's just going through the motions and isn't interested in up keeping it's vibe. It's been around less than five years, but it lacks the energy that keeps a place vibrant and young. 

This isn't the kind of establishment that would be going for the beat-up look.
The table legitimately needed some retouching.

I read on FourSquare that they ship fresh bread from St. Germain which had me so unbelievably excited and bringing me back to my time in Paris. That lasted until ten seconds later when the menu revealed the furthest Tartinery's bread would be coming from was Eli's Bakery on the other end of Manhattan. 

Food

Ratatouille, Smoked Salmon & Tuna Sashimi Tartines

Tartinery offers its diners with a number of tartines, flat breads topped with just about anything, along with a choice of three types of breads to act as the tartine base.

The smoked salmon tartine was, of course, my favorite after I picked off all the fresh dill pieces. The salmon quality wasn't the best but was not fishy, old or bland either. The tuna sashimi lacked any flavor whatsoever other than the heaping amounts of wasabi sauce. and the roasted veggies in the ratatouille tartine were rich in flavor and were paired quite nicely with the multi-grain Eli's bakery bread.

Ratatouille Tartine with Multi-Grain Bread

The food wasn't exceptional but was appropriate for a light meal or snack. I wouldn't bring a bunch of people back here for a rowdy and drunken night but would recommend it for a low-key and casual, but still looking to impress, third date. Or, if you're looking for a chilled night with friends.
It isn't really four star worthy, more like three and a half. But for people who aren't too picky and just want a good atmosphere, this works perfectly.
Because, like Paris, the vibe was just charming.

Wait Time & Resos

On a Sunday night in Soho the restaurant was half full and we were seated immediately. 

For the most part, I've swung by a couple of times and it never seemed like it would be too difficult to be seated. 

Good For: Light Meal, Light Dinner, Lunch, Friends, Low-Key Date. 

Location:

Tartinery 

209 Mulberry St.

(between Spring & Kenmare)

http://www.tartinery.com/

Obnoxious People & Good Food, Balaboosta

Image via NY Mag

Great food and obnoxious staff yields quite the irritating combination. Does one boycott the establishment because the staff are so rude? Or ignore and get over it because the food, the vibe and the location are great?

You can be the judge. I've already tried it a couple of times and have formulated my own conclusions. 

Balaboosta is the sister restaurant of Taim and Taim mobile. The second Taim has now opened  its second location two storefronts down from Balaboosta. I've been to Balaboosta twice for lunch, once for breakfast and once for dinner. Meaning all three meals of a day have been experienced at this eatery. In all of my experiences, the hosts were obnoxious as hell in person as well as on the phone and if you can get past this, as I was quite put off at first, then take the plunge and make the reservation. 

The Food

Mediterranean

Well, this very category is what had me coming back for more, (along with the fact that I lived around the corner), although I did not need to drag my family here for graduation brunch or my grandmother for Mother's Day lunch if the food and atmosphere weren't appropriate and impressive.
Balaboosta's food is super tasty, light and fresh. Yes, as are most quality places in this city. At this point, if a restaurant's food cannot be described by those three latter adjectives then it is NOT worth the bother(ahem ilili). And, more than anything, it is doubtful whether anyone is interested in leaving  a restaurant feeling too full or heavy either. At Balaboosta the latter is something one does not need to worry about. 

They say, the lamb burger at Balaboosta is the best dish and its been raved about by the reviewers left and right. Sadly enough for you carnivores (although not for myself of course), it isn't something I'll ever be ordering but I do recommend it as everything else is great, and would only expect the most sought after dish to be just as fabulous.
One thing to skip is the zaatar potatoes. Each time I expected them to be crunchy and zesty and each time I remembered that they never really live up to either. The cauliflower salad, fried olives and mortar and pestle chummus (don't make fun, I love saying chummus with the chhhhh), are all FAB and I definitely recommend the carrot puree pizza as an entree as well. Most importantly if you're there for brunch go for the shakshuka. Yes, I said it a thousand times, I hate brunch food, but kids, I LOVE SHAKSHUKA and this is some good shakshuka! 

Fried Cauliflower

Mortar & Pestle Chummus 

Image via Google Images
Carrot Puree Pizza

Image via Google Images
Shakshuka

The grilled whole Branzino and the Red Snapper are filling and tasteful entree options.
Finally, you MUST MUST MUST, order the chocolate mousse dessert. Its served with crunchy pieces of milk chocolate at the bottom and the perfect combination of thick and thin chocolate mousse on top. It's a unique type of chocolate mousse that isn't as fluffy as the usual mousses one may have tried. Regardless, the taste and the consistency are too difficult to pass up tasting so make sure to save room for dessert. I embarrassingly wipe the cylinder clean every single time!

Wait Time & Resos

THEY ARE SO OBNOXIOUS, as has been mentioned multiple times in this post already. I've been here a number of times and their obnoxiousness is continuous  If you don't make reservations then don't bother. They wont even attempt to seat you at the bar. Actually, they might. They've lightened up a bit recently. Oh! and once you arrive with a reservation the hosts still make your party wait. Honestly, if the food, vibe and location weren't all that great then I wouldn't have come back so many times. Oh, I will admit that I did show up with my mother, sister and grandmother at 4pm on Mother's Day and it was pretty empty and so they were obviously "forced" to seat us immediately. Because, quite obviously, who would EVER want to ever have an empty restaurant in Soho on a Sunday, or at any hour for that matter?
It's terribly bad for business.
Otherwise, it's hopeless without a reservation. 

Ambiance

Downtown, casual and chilled is how I would describe the atmosphere. 

The scene is young to middle aged. I'd say there is a mix of bobos, carnivores who are there to sample the lamb burger and neighborhood locals. It's in Soho, what else would you expect?
Overall, it's not too scenie and you don't need to be all too dressed up to eat here without feeling out of place.

Image via Google Images

If you're looking for something downtown and quality Mediterranean food, I'd try it out. 

Good For: Groups, vegetarians, brunch, lunch, dinner. I wouldn't recommend coming here on a date, unless you've been dating for a while. The lighting is weird and the vibe is a tad too casual, unless its a day-date. 

Location:

Balaboosta

Mulberry St

(between Prince & Spring)

http://balaboostanyc.com/