Tag Archives: dining out

It’s $20.11 in Harlem

Posted on July 5, 2011 | 2 comments

Apr 15, 2011 @ 7:15
By HarlemGal
Several Harlemites have $20.11 posted on their Facebook or WeHarlem pages and it’s not a reminder of the current year.  It’s locals reminding us through social networks that it is restaurant and retail month right here in Harlem. From April 15 to May 15, select local businesses are offering special deals. If you’re wondering who is participating, see the complete list below.

Last year, I went to Chez Lucienne and enjoyed the meal and deal very much. I wonder where I should dine this year for this occasion?

And a big thanks to Harlem Park to Park, who is once again leading this effort to promote all the wonderful retail businesses we have right here in Harlem.

RESTAURANTS
67 ORANGE STREET   2082 Eighth Avenue
BIER INTERNATIONAL  2099 Eighth Avenue
CHEZ LUCIENNE  308 Lenox Avenue
CHOCOLAT RESTAURANT  2223 Eighth Avenue
GRAN PIATTO D’ORO  1429 Fifth Avenue
LIDO HARLEM  2168 Eighth Avenue
MOCA LOUNGE  2210 Eighth Avenue
NATIVE RESTAURANT  101 W. 118th Street
NECTAR WINE BAR  2235 Eighth Avenue
RED ROOSTER HARLEM  310 Lenox Avenue
RISTORANTE SETTEPANI  196 Lenox Avenue
SOCIETY COFFEE  2104 Eighth Avenue
SYLVIA’S RESTAURANT  328 Lenox Avenue

RETAIL/SERVICES
BIKRAM YOGA EAST HARLEM  4 E. 116th Street
FRANZ JAMES FLORAL BOUTIQUE  2114 Eighth Avenue
HARLEM FLO ATELIER    2292 Eighth Avenue
HARLEM FLO BOUTIQUE  2276 Eighth Avenue
HARLEM VINTAGE  2235 Eighth Avenue
LEVAIN BAKERY  2167 Eighth Avenue
MODSQUAD CYCLES  2119 Eighth Avenue

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Posted in Bars, business, Community, Events, Harlem, New York, New York City, NYC, restaurant row, restaurants

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Happy hour now available at Lido Restaurant Harlem, lunch to be offered starting April 14

Posted on July 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Apr 8, 2011 @ 7:00

By HarlemGal
I stopped by Lido at 2168 Frederick Douglass Blvd last night to grab a bite to eat and see what’s the latest with the Italian eatery. There are a few new things happening and coming up.

20110407-105831.jpgFirst, Lido started a happy hours recently. It runs from Tuesday-Friday, 5:30 pm-7:30 pm. The special is half price beer and wine. My understanding is that you can partake in happy hour at the bar or at a table if you’re having an early dinner.

Next, Lido will be opening for lunch starting April 14th. Stay tune for the lunch menu. Their working on it now and hope to share it soon. A Spring menu for dinner will soon follow

And Lido has become a part of the Harlem Park to Park family. They will be participating in the upcoming retail and restaurant month featuring a $20.11 dinner menu. That starts April 15th – May 15th, Tuesday – Friday from 5:30pm – 7:30pm.

So there you have it. Lots of options to check out Lido Restaurant on the corner of 117th and FDB!
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Five and Diamond Harlem participates in Village Voice Annual Tasting, Spring/Summer menu arriving soon

Posted on July 5, 2011 | 4 comments

Apr 7, 2011 @ 7:30
By HarlemGal
The Village Voice’s Fourth Annual Tasting took place recently and Harlem’s very own 5 and Diamond, located at 2072 Frederick Douglass Blvd., participated. The event allowed some 1,700 guests to sample food from more than 30 nations. We hear it is an honor to be invited to participate in the Village Voice’s Annual Tasting. It’s by invite only. Ooh-la-la. Kudos to Selene Martinez (co-owner, left in photo) Executive Chef David Martinez (no relation to Selene, center), and Lia Sanfilippo (co-owner, right).

We also hear that, 5 and Diamond is getting ready to unveil its Spring/Summer Menu for all. Now that it is April, perfect time to fill the belly with some incredible cuisine by Chef Martinez! See you there!

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Posted in Community, Events, Harlem, New York, New York City, NYC, restaurant row, restaurants

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My Bad Horse Pizza experience in Harlem

Posted on July 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

20110403-120639 Apr 3, 2011 @ 12:23
By HarlemGal
Last night (April 2), I did my usual! I put my money where my blog [mouth] is. My theory is, I can blog a ka-chillion posts as a Harlem blogger and receive a ton of hits. However, in my view it don’t mean a thing, especially to readers, if one doesn’t actually go out in Harlem, spend money on the Harlem places one blogs about and share it . Catch my drift? So last night I met up with a friend, who recently bought an apartment in Harlem, to checked out Harlem’s newest restaurant on Frederick Douglass Blvd, i.e. Bad Horse Pizza.

20110403-120403When we arrived, we had to wait a bit for a table. Bad Horse Pizza was busy for its second night of business. Eventually, we were seated in the back. From there, you can see how the interior is designed to look like a barn. The windows near the bar have old fashion, wooden barn doors next to them. The dining tables are wood and the bar has a rustic metal look to it. The place looks great and you feel comfortable inside. Plus if you’re walking to Bad Horse Pizza from the south, you will see the pizzas being made fresh. The kitchen is completely wide open!
20110403-120549As for the food, we ordered a mixed green salad to share, a ten inch acropolis and secaucus pizzas. What we received was a salad, bad horse pizza and a secaucus. We looked at the two-meat pizzas and said…oh well. Let’s eat these. The place is still figuring out their game, which is ok since they just opened, and we were hungry. We devoured two meat pizzas. They were good and filling. If you like Italian sausage and real big pieces of steak on your pizza, you will like these two pies. Our pizza and salad was coupled with free glasses of red wine. Can’t beat that! Overall, our bill was $49, not including tip.

If you’re looking for freshly made house pies, check out Bad Horse Pizza, located at 2222 Frederick Douglas Blvd, for yourself. Then stop by HarlemCondoLife and tell us about your experience!

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Zagat surveyors grant Lenox Lounge in Harlem high marks

Posted on July 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Mar 1, 2011 @ 23:40
By HarlemGal
According to NY1,  Zagat surveyors, the experts on rating everything, have bestowed our historic and charming Lenox Lounge in Harlem with strong ratings, not necessarily for drinks and music, but for food, i.e. dining out. Sharron Cannon, general manager of Lenox Lounge, said their entire menu has been revamped where they now offer homemade made items.

In the NY1 video, the Lenox Lounge food dishes look divine and they must be because Zagat issued Lenox Lounge high marks. Located at 125th Street and Lenox Avenue, Lenox received a 23 for appeal, nineteen for decor, twenty-one for service and an E for expensive. What can one expect from a place where legends like Billie Holiday, BB King and Miles Davis use to hang.

Lenox Lounge
288 Lenox Avenue
212-427-0253
www.lenoxlounge.com

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Red Rooster in Harlem to open December 17

Posted on July 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Dec 13, 2010 @ 11:52

By HarlemGal
The New York Times Diner’s Journal is reporting today that Red Rooster, located at 310 Lenox Avenue in Harlem, will open this Friday, December 17, for dinner only! The Times even has a copy of the menu. Click here to view the menu!
After many months of planning and boat loads of media coverage, I wonder if the downtown and/or uptown crowds will check out Marcus Samuelsson’s new restaurant the weekend it opens or will patrons wait until after the Christmas holiday? I might skip on over there, but not completely sure.
What about you? Tell us! Will you try to get reservations to Red Rooster this weekend or will you wait?

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5 & Diamond is the new restaurant on Frederick Douglass Blvd in Harlem

Posted on July 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Mar 16, 2010 @ 14:26
By HarlemGal
We now know the name of the restaurant space we have been following for months! It is called 5 & Diamond located at 2072 Frederick Douglass Blvd. The chef will be Ryan Skeen.

From the pics below, workers have been working overtime and told us they are suppose to open tomorrow night, Wednesday. Yikes! Ahh…it appears they have a lot to do from these pics. Stay tune for more info!!!!

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More Red Rooster Harlem details surface

Posted on July 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Feb 26, 2010 @ 11:42
By HarlemGal

NY Magazine caught up with Marcus Samuelsson recently and asked him about Red Rooster, his new upcoming Harlem restaurant. According to the article, the Red Rooster menu will be a giant melting pot of diverse cuisine – a true representation of Harlem.  Yum! Can’t wait!

My question now is, will Samuelsson open up Red Rooster on Frederick Douglass Blvd? If so, I believe the opening of Red Rooster on FDB could potentially validate my prediction that this busy, “gold coast,” boulevard will become Harlem’s restaurant row? Start placing your bets folks!

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UPDATE: Marcus Samuelsson will open up a restaurant in Harlem, Red Rooster is the name

Posted on July 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Feb 10, 2010 @ 23:29
By HarlemGal

I am quickly learning that any move Chef Marcus Samuelsson makes it’s like hot cakes. I saw all the online chatter Wednesday (again) and a post on Twitter about Samuelsson opening up a restaurant in Harlem. As we did with our first post about this topic, we  headed straight to his PR rep directly to ask: is our Harlem neighbor going to be opening up a restaurant where he lives or not? Are Harlemites going to be able to enjoy his culinary expertise uptown, instead of downtown? The answer is ….a big YES! The new restaurant will be named Red Rooster and his goal is to open this place in 2010. The exact location and menu have not been decided yet, per his PR rep.

This is more good news for the restaurant scene in Harlem and a milestone for Samuelsson. Apparently, he has lived in Harlem for six years now and this will be his first restaurant in Harlem.  Thanks to him and several other restaurants in Harlem, we are starting to have more and more options to choose from when it comes to dining out in Harlem. My only hope now is that Samuelsson moves to open his restaurant in a timely manner.  There is that old business recipe “time kills the deal.” You take too much time and …well…a lot of things can happen! Let’s hope for the best and start placing bets on where Samuelsson’s restaurant will land. Any guess?

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Crowds seen at Harlem’s Frizzante, Good food and design attracts

Posted on July 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Jan 19, 2010 @ 10:00

HarlemCondoLife

By HarlemGal and Austin2Harlem
We enjoy dining out in Harlem and this past holiday weekend was no exception. For our Friday night outing, we decided to check out one of the newest food establishments in Harlem, Frizzante Italian Bistro & Bar, located on the corner of 117th Street and Frederick Douglass Blvd. Like most Harlemites, we wondered when this place was going to open up. After our visit, we now feel the wait was worth it.

HarlemCondoLife

Let us start off by saying, Frizzante did not disappoint. We walked in around 9 PM and most tables were taken. Our first thought was “are we in Harlem?” Where did all these people come from? We didn’t recognize anyone in the place. It immediately felt like a downtown Italian bistro in Little Italy. The layout of the place is very well done with hanging lights, big wooden tables and a beautiful corner bar showcasing numerous wine bottles.

When we were seated, paper menus were provided with the words “CASH ONLY” on it. As we quickly scanned the menu, the price point diminished the cash only aspect because most items on the menu were below $10. BONUS! We were quite impressed. Now we were thinking, the next bonus will be if the food matches or surpasses its prices. And it did!

HarlemCondoLife

We started off with Antipasto misto: proscuitto, mortadella, soppressata and capocollo served on a nice round white place; and Cuori de carciofo alla Milanese: pan seared artichoke hearts. Both starters were simple, but very tasty. The artichokes were breaded and served with lemon wedges. We sprinkled a little bit of lemon juice on top and the item tasted like you were biting into a meaty artichoke. The cured meat was wonderful as well. We liked the proscuitto and the salami-like meat. Eating the meat with the garnished type red onion gave it a kick.

HarlemCondoLife

For our dinner plates, we had the Lasagne di carne, the meat lasagna, and the Scaloppine di vitello al limone, veal in a white wine and lemon sauce. Both dishes were absolutely delicious! What we were impressed the most by was the meat lasagna. It had no cheese, but it didn’t need it. It was scrumptous without it. The veal was lean and tender. You could cut it with your fork. This dish was served with roasted potatoes, but not that many. The meat was good, but they could have provided just a tad bit more potatoes. Between the two dishes we preferred the meat lasagna. However, you cannot go wrong with either one if you decide you’re in the mood for some veal.

As for dessert, we would have ordered some. After being open for only one day they were not ready to serve dessert or liquor. Frizzante does not have their liquor license yet. Not too worry, they allowed BYOB. We went to the little bodega on the corner of 116th and FDB for some brewski. However, we saw most patrons going to The Winery, Nectar or Harlem Vintage for a bottle of vino to go along with their dinner. Those establishments had to be happy that night and will be for a while until Frizzante gets their liquor license.

HarlemCondoLife

Overall, we had a wonderful time dining at Frizzante. We saw some discombulation, but it was minor and plus Frizzante has only been open for a few days now. Between the two of us our bill was a total of about $45, not including tip. We were extremely pleased with the food and with the fact that we did not have to venture downtown and pay a ton of money for a nice Italian meal.

Frizzante Italian Bistro & Bar
2168 Frederick Douglass Boulevard
New York, NY 10026-2001
(212) 866-0525

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