Snaps

Stars: ****

Price: $$$$ (Eight course tasting- $50 pp)

Genre: New American

Try: Gnocchi, Tilapia, Hanger Steak, Ice Cream Sundae

Location: Wantagh Ave, Wantagh

I recently had the pleasure of having the eight course tasting menu at Snaps. The menu is the chef's choice... so you don't know what you will be getting. I really liked the surprise and spontaneity of this. What's the next course going to be?? Don't know, but I bet it will be delicious. The meal started with a creamy lobster bisque infused with truffle oil. It had rich lobster flavor, and I thought the portion was decent. Next was the tuna tartare with truffle potato chips. The raw tuna had some wasabi caviar on top. It tasted creamy, but not too fishy, which I really liked. The truffle chips were perfectly crisp and savory.

The third course, butter poached potato gnocchi with creamy parmesan truffle sauce was a real standout. The gnocchi were dense and delicious smothered in the creamy, cheesy sauce. I thought it would feel a bit heavy for a third course, but it was perfect. Next came the pumpkinseed crusted tilapia with fettucinne and a butternut squash puree. I really enjoyed this dish. The pumpkinseed crust was light and crisp, and the tilapia was flaky and buttery in texture. I loved the al dente fettucinne pasta and the sweet butternut squash sauce provided a nice balance of flavor. I expected a chicken dish next, and I was right. It was a lovely chicken milanese with arugula, parmesan, goat cheese, and balsamic reduction. The chicken was moist and perfectly cooked. The goat cheese added a richness which was balanced out by the tartness of the balsamic reduction. I could have eaten a large order of this chicken milanese.

After the chicken came a beautifully presented lamb with olive, cucumber, feta, onion, and tomato relish and seasoned yogurt. This dish was clearly Mediterranean inspired. The flavors are not among my favorites... namely cucumbers, yogurt, and feta. However, everything worked together quite nicely. The lamb was juicy and had a well-seasoned crust. The only thing remaining on the plate was a few cucumbers. I couldn't bring myself to eat them. They're really just not my thing. I'm just sayin.' The last savory course was a grilled hanger steak with creamed spinach and horseradish sauce. This course had a fantastic richness and buttery quality. I loved the creamed spinach and the spicy horseradish with the tender steak. This course came with a generous portion of herb garlic fries which arrived very hot and nicely crisp. I love steak and fries in general, and this was definitely pleasing as a last course.

For the dessert course, the waitress brought us dessert menus. I was absolutely thrilled!

We got to choose the dessert! My mom chose the creme brulee, which was tasty, though nothing to write home about. I chose the ice cream sundae (which I have had before) made with the ice cream flavor of the night- Venezuelan Dark Chocolate. The sundae comes with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, toasted walnuts, and banana pudding. It was so rich and decadent. It's one of my favorite desserts around. It's fun and whimsical yet sophisticated with the rich dark chocolate ice cream.

Overall, the dining experience at Snaps was excellent. The pacing of the meal was perfect. I thought I might not be full, considering the small portions, but eight courses and a large dessert really adds up! I was stuffed at the end. The waitstaff was incredibly nice. We had four different people serving us throughout the courses. I plan on going back again in the spring once the menu changes. I look forward to having eight different, tasty dishes!

Guest Reviewer: Stacey- Il Corallo Trattoria

Il Corallo Trattoria
Price: $
Stars: **1/2 

Il Corallo Trattoria is an Italian restaurant on Prince St. in Soho. The menu is quite extensive. It took our party nearly twenty minutes to browse through the selections of pasta. I had difficulty deciding on an item even with the vast array of dishes offered. My main complaint about Il Corallo is that it does not offer a simple pasta dish. I would have liked something hearty like a bolognese sauce or baked ziti. I mean, what kind of restaurant doesn't have meat sauce?

I settled on the Fettuccine Buttera. The dish consisted of fresh fettuccine with spinach and italian sausage in a garlic olive oil sauce. The fettuccine was delicious. I could easily tell that the pasta is fresh and made daily. Unfortunately, I did not taste any garlic in the dish whatsoever. I have a feeling that the chef added butter to the olive oil, making all other components of the dish rather bland. The fettuccine really saved this from being a disaster. I gave Il Corallo Trattoria **1/2 stars because of their low prices for a restaurant in Soho. It wasn't terrible, but I've personally had much better Italian food on Long Island.

Restaurant Review: Onzon Thai House

Stars: ****

Price: $$

Genre: Thai

Try: Pad Se-Ew, Fried Rice, Pad Thai, Thai Salad

Location: 2618 Merrick Road, Bellmore

Onzon Thai House is a great find on Long Island.  It reminds me of the Thai places I go to in the city.  They have a great lunch special... $8 for a Thai Salad and an entree from a list of choices.  The Thai Salad is delicious.  It includes greens with lots of thinly sliced carrots and a tasty peanut dressing.  The dressing is sweet and has a slight kick.  The Pad Se-Ew is an excellent main course here.  The dish has stir-fried flat, wide noodles, egg, bean sprouts and broccoli in a sweet brown soy sauce.  You can have it with your choice of meat as well.  I had it with beef, which was excellent.   The noodles are quite delish.  I love that they are wide rather than thin.  It makes for a great texture.  My one complaint was that there was very little broccoli involved... maybe 3 pieces.  The sweet brown sauce was very good, not too sweet, and not too thick.  Also, each time I have eaten here the food has come out piping hot and cleanly presented.   Everything tasted fresh and the meat was quality.  I've also had the Pad Thai with chicken.  It has rice noodles, egg, scallions, bean sprouts, tofu, and ground peanuts.  This was one of the nicest versions of Pad Thai that I've tried.  I don't love Pad Thai... but this one was really good.  The peanut wasn't overwhelming.  The bean sprouts were crispy and the noodles were just right, not chewy or limp.  I've also had the Thai Fried Rice, with jasmine rice, veggies, and red chili.  I liked it a lot.  The jasmine rice was flavorful.  It's a great light main course.  Still filling though.  I will definitely return to Onzon... maybe try one of the curries, one of the specials, and the Thai iced tea.  I like a good Thai iced tea.     

Candy Review: Reese's Dark

I tried my first Reese's Dark recently.  I thought it was okay overall.  I felt it was lacking a certain creaminess that the regular milk Reese's possesses.  I also experienced a weird aftertaste.  I think regular Reese's has this aftertaste as well.  This just didn't taste right to me, the dark chocolate flavor was quite off... tasted like processed chocolate (which is what it is, of course).  As a fan of dark chocolate, this did not live up to my expectations.  I would not repurchase this candy.  I'm still waiting for the day they will bring back my favorite Hershey's product (it's discontinued), the Reese's Crunchy Cookie Cup.  It was a regular Reese's with a dark chocolate crispy cookie in the middle.  You are dearly missed.

Quick Review: Krisch's

Krisch's is an old-fashioned ice cream parlor on Long Island.  They sell chocolates and candy in the front.  Those looked okay.  I don't think I would buy them though.  Krisch's serves diner-style food but is best known for homemade ice cream.  I thought the sundae was pretty good overall.  I had a warm brownie with chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream and peanut butter topping.  I liked the ice cream texture, nice and creamy.  The chips were decent, and not crack-your-tooth hard like the ones at Coldstone (my Dad chipped a tooth on one of those bad boys- true story).  The chocolate flavor could have been stronger.  I find myself unsatisfied with the chocolatey-ness of most ice creams.  Oh well.  I'd say Krisch's is on par or perhaps better than a place like Friendly's.  The hard ice cream is what I would order rather than the soft-serve.  Also, the whipped cream is homemade and very thick.  I liked it.  I tasted the hot fudge as well, but I think I prefer Carvel's hot fudge.  My favorite hot fudge of all time though is the one from the Cheesecake Factory.  Theirs is bittersweet and extremely thick.  The best!  

Quick Review: Dairy Queen- Blizzard

Since there are no Dairy Queen locations close to where I live, I have always been curious about the ice cream.  Particularly, the Blizzard.  It's basically soft serve ice cream blended up with various toppings.  I decided to try chocolate ice cream with cookie dough and fudge.  The chocolate soft serve itself was not terribly dense, it was more airy.  I prefer it more creamy and dense, like Carvel.   Also, the chocolate flavor was not very strong, which I didn't like.  It was too mild in terms of chocolatey-ness.  The cookie dough bits were soft and they tasted just like the store-bought cookie dough.  The fudge was nowhere to be found... I think it got blended away or there wasn't enough of it.  All in all, I'm glad I got to try Dairy Queen but I don't think I would return back.  The ice cream is just average... and it's too far away anyways.

Restaurant Review: Petite Abeille

Stars: ***1/2

Price: $$$

Genre: Belgian

Try: Moules Grand-Mere, French Fries, Waffles

Location: 466 Hudson St., (b/t Grove and Barrow) New York, NY

Petite Abeille (the Little Bee) is a small Belgian place located in the West Village.  They have 3 other locations around the city, though I've heard this one is the most consistent.  They have outdoor seating available, which seemed popular.  I decided to eat inside, and it was nice and quiet.  Petite Abeille serves brunch, lunch, and dinner.  For dinner, I decided to have what they are most known for, mussels.  The order comes with 2 pounds of steamed mussels.  I had the Moules Grand-Mere, served in a cream beer sauce with bacon.  These were honestly some of the best mussels I have ever had.  The creamy sauce and the salty bacon worked wonders with the mussels.  I loved it.  I also tried the Moules Jamaicaines, served with a Jamaican curry sauce and fresh green apples.  This sauce was a little too sweet for my taste.  But if you like curry, this was certainly an interesting taste combination.  The fries were absolutely perfect.  They were crispy, but not too crispy, and nice and meaty on the inside.  They went perfectly with the mussels.  They were great for dipping in the cream beer-bacon sauce!  I would return to this restaurant in a heartbeat.  There are many other dishes on the menu I would like to try, including the steak frites, beef stew, and the waffles.  For dessert, I had the Belgian chocolate mousse, which was very good, but not anything amazing.  Next time, I would like to try the waffle with chocolate sauce, ice cream, and bananas, as I have heard the waffles are excellent.  I give the Little Bee 3 and a half stars!