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!