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• I dunno . . . the menu looks like it’s still sorta stuck in the ’80s–farfalle pasta with pesto? Salmon with broccoli and hollandaise? And two chicken breast entrees which I bet are boneless and skinless . . . not a good sign.

  Well, I guess we’ll find out the deal soon enough.

  Posted by Sarah
  on September 3rd, 2007 at 11:18 am

• Hey Peter33, off topic but I didn’t hear from Steve about the transfer of power. Just letting you know so you didn’t think I backed down.

  Posted by Michael1
  on September 3rd, 2007 at 11:58 am

• Have been an avid fan of My Kitchen since 1980 when opened on Austin St; followed chef thru the yrs. to Metro. Ave. and even to Manhattan (cafe and restaurant). I look forward to being at the new My Kitchen easily on a monthly basis or more….Welcome back! Ron

  Posted by Ron
  on September 4th, 2007 at 7:15 am

• Yeah, not a particularly inventive or mouth-watering menu. There aren’t many things on that menu that I’d be all that interested in ordering. Anyhoo, I guess it all comes down to execution - if they make things well, they’ll be good enough. And the prices are reasonable.

  Now let’s see how that wine list looks…

  Posted by phatcat43
  on September 5th, 2007 at 9:58 pm

• It was fairly crowded in there this evening when I passed by…

  Posted by MaryJane
  on September 8th, 2007 at 10:14 pm

• […] thanks to Peter33 for the My Kitchen update while I was away. You’re welcome to post anything you want […]

  Posted by Queens Central » Late-night trip down QB
  on September 8th, 2007 at 11:08 pm

• My husband and I just ate at My Kitchen on Saturday night. I’m trying REALLY hard not to give it a bad review since my husband thinks we should give them another shot when they are more settled and have worked the kinks out. But all in all, what you see on the menu is what you get… pretty simple food, fairly bland. Oh - and my potatoes were not cooked (meaning they were still raw) - usually a really bad sign for what’s to come in the future. I just hope they change their menu and wisen up a bit. They have big competition with Dee’s and DB’s being within a few blocks.

  Posted by Lisa
  on September 10th, 2007 at 2:11 pm

• After writing this initial article, my wife and I decided to try My Kitchen earlier this week to see what sort of addition it is to the Metropolitan Ave. restaurant scene. The atmosphere was initially promising. The dining room is sleek and stylish and a large garden area in the back nearly doubles the restaurant’s square footage. We chose to take advantage of the nice weather and eat outside. The space is lovely, but the lighting was inadequate even for customers seeking a romantic dining experience – we could barely identify the food on our plates, let alone read the menus. The owner apparently recognized these difficulties and promised us that new patio lights would be added.

  As some have already noted, the menu at My Kitchen is not terribly exciting, but we were enticed by its promise of a tasting menu, consisting of three “tapas” and three accompanying wines for $26. My wife and I are suckers for a good tasting menu – especially one that comes with wine pairings – and this one appeared to be the bargain of the century. We both ordered it enthusiastically, without knowing exactly what we would be served.

  What proceeded was a comedy of errors. The first item delivered to our table (after some tasty garlic bread) was the opening glass of wine. The waitress who presented it to us announced that this was “the red wine” that came with the tasting menu. Surprised that the chef would choose to open with a red wine instead of a white, we asked the waitress to identify the wine. We were told only that it was a merlot before the obviously clueless waitress turned tail and ran.

  As it turned out, no white wines were served with the tasting menu. While I have no particular objection to a red-only tasting, the first dish served, farfalle with a light pesto sauce, was clearly an inappropriate match for the mediocre merlot that was selected to accompany it, and would have been much better suited to a pinot grigio or another crisp, refreshing white.

  When the pasta was served, we immediately realized that that the word “tapas” was a misnomer. We were presented with a single entrée-sized plate of pasta for the two of us to share. It was decent. The sauce was light and not over-powering, and the dish was studded with vegetables such a broccoli and olives. Not a stand-out, but not a bad first course either.

  The next course was chicken puttanesca served over a bed of linguine. The chicken was tender and the sauce tasty, with just the right amount of capers and spice, but after eating a whole plate of farfalle, we were not exactly ready for another pasta dish. The inclusion of two pastas back to back on a three-course tasting menu demonstrates that little, if any thought was put into the tasting menu as a whole. This impression was confirmed by the service of the second wine – a Shiraz, we were told – after we had nearly finished the second course.

  The third course to arrive was pork with apples and plums in balsamic butter sauce. The pork was tasty, but the sauce was greasy and made the dish too heavy. When we asked for the glass of wine intended to accompany this dish, the waitress told us that she had given us extra wine in the first two glasses and that she “thought that would be enough.” When we reminded her that the menu promised a wine to accompany each course, she returned with a cabernet, but by then we had finished the pork dish. I suppose this was just as well since the cab would have been a poor match for the sweet, buttery pork dish anyway.

  My Kitchen seems able to execute basic dishes reasonably well, but it should stay away from tasting menus, which require creativity in the kitchen as well as a competent wait staff. Both appeared to be lacking when we went. We will probably try My Kitchen again at some point, but will definitely avoid the disappointing tasting menu.

  Posted by Peter33
  on September 12th, 2007 at 12:20 pm

• Peter, Lisa, doesn’t sound too promising at My Kitchen. I just don’t think most of the restauranteurs in this nabe have much of a clue about what they are doing. This place doesn’t sound much different.

  Posted by phatcat43
  on September 12th, 2007 at 4:13 pm

• Thank you Lisa and Peter for the reviews. Please post them on other review sites so perhaps the owners will read them. (More popular sites, such as Citysearch, Savory New York, Chowhound, etc.)

  Posted by Mickiet
  on September 16th, 2007 at 12:21 pm

• Food was great! Atmosphere was impecable! It’s just a lovely little place & I can’t wait to go back!

  Posted by Gabby
  on October 26th, 2007 at 1:39 pm

• Nothing like free advertising masquerading as a “comment”

  Posted by phatcat43
  on October 26th, 2007 at 3:00 pm

• In our opinion the food very good compared to restaurant charging twice as much in Manhattan
  We don’t think one can compare this to Dee’s pizza “it can be one noisy place at times” My kitchen is totally different; each one has it’s own place depending on ones mood .

  Posted by Michel & Janna
  on November 18th, 2007 at 3:15 pm

• Not very good at all. Unfortunate because they have prime real estate. Diner food in a fancy place. I tried to like it trust me I tried. Bland Food. The wine is not good at all.

  Posted by Carla
  on November 25th, 2007 at 6:15 pm

• Ate at My Kitchen on Dec. 22 with my husband and two friends who clued us in to the place. It is quite clean, white and bright. The service staff is young, maybe even teen aged friends of the owner and his wife? Well intentioned, but not super attentive. There was no white wine to be had, even though many of the dishes were fish. The food is cooked to order, well-presented and they made a substitution for me when I requested it due to diet issues. They have a liquor license but will not serve it. They intend to use it for a banquet/catering business to open next door. They also do not have beer. It is a strange choice, but the experience of the delicious, reasonably priced family restaurant was a good one. Just understand their limitations, and enjoy. The desserts and main courses were very tasty, well spiced and fresh.

  Posted by fumazilla
  on December 25th, 2007 at 10:26 pm

• Awful. Didn’t get water or bread plates. The vegetables were burnt. The steak was burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. The mozzarella/bread appetizer tasted like it was made in a toaster — which it probably was.

  Posted by SD
  on February 18th, 2008 at 5:28 pm

• Why all of these negative comments? My husband and I ate there a few nights ago. I ordered the Paella and he ordered the Pork in Salsa Verde. The rice in the paella had berries and with the pork came cactus. Now if that’s not variety, then I don’t know what is. Both of us loved our entrees and their italian desserts were even better.

  Posted by Marcia
  on March 27th, 2008 at 10:41 pm

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