Colicchio & Sons

Colicchio & Sons
85 10th Ave
New York
212-400-6699

Colicchio & Sons is owned by Tom Colicchio, who is a judge on Top Chef. If you watch Top Chef, he is all about SEASONING!! If a contestant doesn't season his or her dish, he will rip them to shreds at judge's table. He can be tough on contestants but if a contestant earns Tom's respect, he isn't that tough of a judge. For example in the last season, he actually asked Paul-who won Top Chef, if his fish was undercooked!! WTF was that? Though Paul didn't win the challenge, it was clear Paul had earned Tom's respect and Tom was going easy on Paul.

Anyways, I was invited to a private dinner at Colicchio & Sons. The three course dinner gave us two choices for an appetizer, entree, and dessert. I didn't have to pay so I didn't know the price of the dinner. But from looking at the menu, the sirlion was $46 but for some reason the seared tuna wasn't on the menu.


Seared tuna, yukon gold potatoes, and a leek vinaigrette. This was very fresh, but the tuna could have been seared a little longer. There is a difference between seared tuna and sashimi. The menu said seared tuna. I don't expect seared tuna to be like sashimi, I want the tuna to be seared and provide some texture. The potatoes were small potato chips, where were crunchy and pretty good. The vinaigrette added a nice balance to the dish.

30 day, dry-aged sirloin, butterball potatoes, spring onion and roasted mushrooms. I asked for this steak to be medium rare but this steak was rare. I expect a restaurant that is owned by Tom Colicchio to be able to cook a steak to the customer's desired doneness. Now, maybe I got the wrong plate, most people at this dinner ordered the steak. But, that doesn't get the restaurant off the hook. They screwed up, somewhere. The steak was good, but not great and not worth the menu price of $46. If I had paid for this steak, I would have been very unhappy!!

Service was very good. The servers were nice and friendly. But, the fact that my steak was either undercooked or I was given the wrong steak didn't sit well with me.

I'm not big on celebrity chefs and I rarely go to their restaurants, I had no choice for this dinner. I didn't get a good impression of Colicchio & Sons and if I was a judge on Top Chef, this restaurant would have been eliminated.

Churrascaria Riodizio Tribeca

Churrascaria Riodizio Tribeca
221 W Broadway
New York
212-925-6969

So, I'm in New York City and dinner is being taken care of for me. I have no idea how much the meat at this all you can eat Brazilian Churrascaria maybe. But, I've enjoyed my limited experiences at Brazilian Churrascaria in LA. My favorite churrascaria in LA has to be Fogo De Chao, with it's prime cuts of meats. So I'm looking forward to see how this Brazilian Churrascaria in the Tribeca area of New York City stacks up to Fogo De Chao.

A restaurant is huge and can get very busy, very quickly. The set up is the same as other churrascarias, they have a salad bar set up, then they have carvers coming around with all sorts of meats.

I like Brazilian Churrascaria, but after awhile the meats all taste the same and most of the meats can be very salty.

The salad bar was filled with fresh veggies, shrimp and seafood cocktails, and other Brazilian dishes. The salad I made was very good, with huge fresh tomatoes that were great, very juicy and sweet. The salad bar was well stocked, clean and refilled quickly.


Bacon wrapped filet and sirloin steak. The bacon wrapped filet was very good, but the bacon wasn't fully cooked. The filet was well seasoned, not salty, tender and flavorful.

The sirloin was a bit too rare for me, but still tender and flavorful.


Bacon wrapped turkey. The turkey was dry and the bacon was undercooked. This was too salty for me tastes.


Sausage-The outside of the sausage was overcooked, almost charred. The inside had a nice flavor and spice combination. This could have been a good sausage if the outside wasn't overcooked.


Prime rib-a bit too rare for my tastes, but a fantastic cut of meat. Well seasoned, moist, tender and flavorful!!


Egg plant wrapped chicken. An interesting combination, that I've never seen before. But, the chicken was breast meat and a bit dry, not as dry as the turkey but still dry.


Parmesan breaded pork loin. Another meat I've haven't seen before. I didn't care for this, it was a bit too salty and the breading didn't work well with pork. Parmesan shouldn't be used as a breading.


Flank steak- This was a bit overcooked for me, but for a very tough cut of meat, this was tender and flavorful. Maybe my second favorite meat, after the filet.


Spare ribs-the ribs were so dry and very very salty. I didn't like these ribs at all.


Mango mousse: I normally don't get dessert but it was included and I picked the mango mousse, and what a treat. A very light, smooth mousse that was bursting with mango flavor.

Service was good. The carvers came around very quickly and were helpful. We had a large group and it seemed like every time the guy with the flank steak came by, he would be out of flank steak. So I asked one of the carvers I wanted flank steak and within 30 seconds the flank steak arrives. The servers were very good; they were attentive, drinks were refilled, and friendly.

Overall I was impressed with the beef at Churrascaria Riodizio Tribeca. While some of the meats were a bit too rare for my tastes, they were well seasoned, not salty, moist and tender. But, the other meats- spare ribs, turkey, and chicken were too dry. Though not as good as Fogo De Chao, I would go back to Churrascaria Riodizio Tribeca again.

Big Nick's Burger & Pizza Joint

Big Nick's Burger & Pizza Joint
2175 Broadway
New York
212-362-9238

So I'm in New York City walking around on the Upper West Side. I'm hungry and I pass by Big Nick's Burger and Pizza Joint. I have been here before and decided to stop in and get something to eat. The menu at Big Nicks is huge. They have everything from burgers to pizza to pasta, to sandwiches and everything in between. This is a diner in the middle of the concrete jungle.




I decided to just stick to the burgers and ordered a bacon cheeseburger, $9.75. The burger doesn't come with anything, unless you ask for it. No lettuce, tomatoes, or any condiments. Weird. Anyways. The burger arrives and it's lukewarm. I expected the burger to be hotter. The burger is average, nothing special or remarkable about it. You can get this same burger at any Denny's. The bacon was good and added a saltiness to the burger that was missing, because the meat wasn't seasoned that well.

With the burger came one piece of waffle fry. WTF is that all about?

Service sucked!! The other server who seated me was very nice and friendly. The server was served me was a total bitch!! She was rude, didn't say more than five words to me and should not be working in customer service. Such a total bitch!!

I would never go back to this crappy worthless restaurant again.