I made a parody of the Google Search ad that was on the superbowl.

They say write what you know!

Midway down Avenue A ‘tween 9th and 8th is the Flea Market Cafe, a French-bistro style eatery and bar.

FINALLY. After a depressing review of I Coppi and nothing really standing out, my first good selection!

I arrived at about 6:50. The place is smallish, maybe a dozen tables, and had a few patrons. The menu has everything French bistro-y: mussels, frites, steaks ,and dinners. I started to peruse the menu but the host explained that the ‘twilight’ special was about to expire, if I wanted to try that, so I elected to. It was Twenty bucks for three courses – not bad!

You get a wine/soda/beer (I got seltzer – carbs again) with the meal. Then I got a basket of warm, fresh, rustic bread – here that, I Coppi? This was good bread. Then followed by an onion soup, which was one of the better I’ve had – a healthy serving of sweet onions in a nice broth – not salty at all, usually a problem with onion soups – crouton and cheese. Very nice.

My entree was salmon over a vegetable stir fry in a balsamic sauce (of sorts), which was recommended. I asked for the salmon medium and got it, for a change – 99% of the time salmon is dry and overcooked, but this place did a bang-up job. It had a sort of nut crust on top. My only criticism was it was smallish – probably 3 oz or less. But it was adequate in size.  I just felt, presentation-wise, for a giant plate and a mound of veggies it could have had another inch’s worth. Of course it was Delicious, so having more was on my mind.

Lastly I got the Crème brûlée – very well done. Not too much crunchy caramel, and the custard was cool but not too cold.

All of this for twenty bucks! Of course, it was early dining, and if purchased regularly would have been double that all told, probably, which makes the place a touch pricier, but still.

The decor screamed ‘French bistro’ – French knickknacks, racing posters, art, etc. Music was some nice mellow house tracks plus a tasty jazz selection.

value: very good for early dining, sort of average for otherwise; service was excellent and fast; decor fun. Taste very good. Will definitely come back soon.

Well, finished one loop! Now on to the next block.

On the corner of Ave A and 9th is Yoshi sushi (well – more down Avenue A, but Doc Hollidays has no food). I went in or an early dinner. One other diner, and very quiet.

The service was quick and professional, the chefs behind the fish smiling. The decor was dark woods and they have a sunken Japanese-style table in the back.

Price wise, it was in the normal tier – not the 50% off tier you see so many places doing, but not super expensive either.

I got a spicy tuna roll (standard for me and a good bellwether) and a sashimi dinner with salad. Damn my carb control! The spicy tuna roll was ok, but nothing special.

Now: let’s talk about the sashimi. It was good – quite fresh and a  decent portion for the price, and had the nicer fishes versus trying to load you up on calamari. But here’s a wierd thing – the serve the sashimi in a giant bowl – and I mean giant, like a salad serving bowl for a whole family. It certainly looked nice, and artsy, and I can appreciate the Japanese style and importance of presentation, but how the hell do you get the fish out and into the soy sauce and to your mouth? Remember that when most folks dip, you want to tap off any excess back in your sashimi plate. I wanted to put the soy sauce container into the bowl with the fish but the bowl was angled so deeply it wasn’t possible. Instead I dripped shoyu everywhere.

Value, better than average. Service great, atmosphere nice. I would have pegged it as a ‘meh plus’ but the crazy bowl thing was annoying. Nothing outstanding. If it were my only sushi choice in the neighborhood, I’d use them, but there plenty and I suspect better ones. We shall see.

Edited to add: Oh yeah, two more things I forgot. First: the salad was blisteringly cold. I assume it was pre-prepared and in a fridge, but crap – it was nearly frozen. Not good.

And the music was hard core rock and roll when I was there. It didn’t really fit the atmosphere. Play some fake Asian music, play some j-pop, but not stadium rock.

On Ave A and 9th we have a local coffee shop and hangout, Cafe Pick Me Up.

It’s a decent establishment. The coffee is good, but nothing outstanding (like MUD). The baked goods are of good quality and generally fresh. For a non-chain coffee place, prices are affordable. They offer breakfast and brunch fare, which I’ve had, and again – nothing memorable.

The service is good. The atmosphere is what you would expect for an east village coffee shop – plenty of hipsters, people discussing their documentary, glasses-wearing artists working on screenplays and good looking couples. The tables/chairs are all mismatched and the decor is warm and homey.

They are open later. I’d bring a date here.

so: value is good, service good, quality/taste is average. If you leave nearby and don’t want to deal with the crowds at the superior MUD, make it your coffee place.

Heading back west on e.9th st, we come full circle since I began to an Italian bistro, I Coppi.

I went on a Tuesday at 7pm and it was pretty quiet – just me and one other table. The wait staff was friendly. The atmosphere was nice – typical better-class Italian restaurant: browns, wood, candles. A full bar was evident and a pizza oven, which was sadly broken.

They apparently have  a garden, closed for the inclement weather.

So this place was kind of hit and miss. First I got the bread basket and some olive oil. The bread was on the tasteless side – they advertised that they don’t bake with salt, the ‘Tuscan Way’ – but the bread was pretty dry and uninspiring in terms of crust and texture. Also, it was cold. Not hot from the oven, already bad, not room temp, but cold. Go figure.

Then I had an appetizer of eggplant with goat cheese in tomato sauce. This was good. I got it to taste the red sauce, which was really good,  I thought – fruity and spicy, far spicier than most Italian places.

My dinner was gnocchi in a Gorgonzola sauce with walnuts and a separate side of garlic and oil spinach. The spinach was nice, but that’s not hard. Now – here comes two recurring complaints I have:

1. Gnocchi that’s squishy is overcooked. Sorry, but it is. If it squishes like a marshmallow, overdone. Considering that it sat in a hot bowl for 20 minutes while I ate it meant it got squishier as it continued to cook. I’ve been to one restaurant so far in NY which prepared the Gnocchi the way I like it. I always order it if it’s on the menu, to see how they do it. Not the most overdone I’ve had, but certainly not good.
2. Don’t label a sauce as ‘Gorgonzola sauce’ if you can barely detect a hint of the delightfully strong and smelly stuff. Please. Anybody who asks for it knows what it is and wants to TASTE it. The cream sauce was bland and only had the barest hint of the cheese. Letdown.

Price-wise I was expecting to pay quite a bit, but I think they gave me the dinner special rates and instead the whole dinner only cost me $24 which was quite reasonable.

Nothing offensive, but nothing stands out. I feel like I’ll come back for brunch or their pizza just to give them another shot, but I’ll have to be in a good mood. And when does that happen?

Heading back onto east ninth st (I had started halfway up it) we come to Itzocan, a Mexican/Aztec-themed  restaurant. The online reviews say it is hybrid French/Mexican, I didn’t really notice. Shows what I know!

When I went it was full (given that there are only 5-6 tables) but I got seated and served pretty quickly, so service is fine. I got a queso fundido – a traditional cheese dip – with a huge hunk of not-melted brie swimming in a watery butter sauce, not so great. I guess the brie is the ‘french’ influence. How do I eat this? The chips couldn’t cut the brie and couldn’t pick up the sauce. If it was truly french/mex then some bread would have been a better compliment.  For an entree, I got a flank steak in a chili sauce over semolina dumplings.

For $18, the serving was pretty small – maybe 6 thumb sized dumplings and a soap-bar sized piece of meat. It was spiced nicely, hotter than I would have expected, and the meat had been roasted until soft, which was good. The atmosphere was cozy but interesting with Aztec decorations and brickwork inside.

So service, taste, and atmosphere all good – value a bit questionable. I say good for taste but not great – the hybrid never really felt like one or the other. I think the chef should stick to the Mexican stuff, because he obviously has ability.

This place strikes me as a cozy date night if its not crowded, but I couldn’t see going back for any compelling reason, or making it a go-to, which is a shame, given that it’s 100 feet from my apartment.

Oh, and cash only? What is this, the dark ages? Get a credit card terminal. Cash only is for a taco truck.

I bought a KLUBBO coffee table and converted my cube desk into a standing desk.

La Lucha is next on Ave A between 10th and 9th. La Lucha is a Luchador-themed mexican restaurant specializing in tacos and similar fare. The main attraction is the kitschy decor – its fun, a nice cozy space, and Mexican Luchadores movies play on the wall. The  place has long hours (not bar hours) and offers brunch on the weekends.

This is one of those “I didn’t grow up in NYC” moments which I am going to try and get over, but occasionally will complain about: When I order the trio of tacos, on the one hand, they were delicious – a blend of salted beef, chuletas (pork chop) and bacon on little crisp tostado rounds. but seriously, twelve bucks for three essentially large chips? We’re not talking 5″ tortillas – these were like 3″ tostado rounds. So, yeah, very good but holy shit, twelve bucks? Ay yi yi.

My meal continued with an appetizer of beans and cheese on similar tostados (two of them) for three bucks. The service was quick and friendly and other patrons were having a good time. the menu is pretty large and varied – I asume I’ll come back a few more times to round out the menu.

My verdict: if you need cheaper tex-mex eats, San Loco next door does the job. This place is more fun and classier especially if you like the Mexican movies. I’d say a date would appreciate it more. A nice place to hit before Avenue A bar crawling.

Continuing down avenue A we get to 151 Ave A and San Loco.

San Loco is a tex-mex place. Given that its right around the corner from where I live, and open until 4am, that means late snacks end up there (or Crif Dogs…or Veselka). They’ve got a lot of standard stuff – burritos, tacos (soft and hard), chip plates, chili, etc. I had eaten here a few times before this review but ate it anyway in order so that I honored the Spiral Project.

This time I got two soft tacos – one pork, one catfish – and a large chili which I had never tried before. The chili was so-so, watery even. The tacos are what I’ve come to expect – pretty decent. Interestingly, when eating there, the tacos are easily the best value. The burritos cost as much as two tacos but are barely any larger than one taco! In fact everything other than the tacos are on the small side for the price.

The place is crewed by a number of fun women who try to keep chipper in the face of all night drunken kids and hipsters, there’s a full bar, and the atmosphere is warm and cozy enough.

Now I’ve had some veteran New Yorkers tell me to stay away amid worries about food quality and safety. I usually ignore that sort of thing due to my ox-like constitution, and I haven’t seen any sign of it here, so I take it with a grain of salt.

So to wrap up: while you might find better deals or classier eats elsewhere, if you want tacos at 3am and you are in the area, this place is perfect.

Heading clockwise around the corner onto Avenue A, between 10th and 9th. Mamani pizza is a small ghetto halal pizza joint. Mostly used for after-bar drunk noshing, they have pizza, hot dogs, and a bevy of fried crap. I got a slice, just to include it on the reviews.

A $.99 slice was my choice, and it wasn’t bad for .99 pizza. I also got some mozzarella sticks, just to try a fried option. Your basic Kennedy chicken fried junk, but usable if you have no other options.

So – if you are leaving Planet Rose heading south on A, and have ninety-nine cents – not a bad option.