Food, glorious food! We’re anxious to try it!

Posted by Mickie T on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

“…three banquets a day, our favorite diet!”

First, DESSERT:

yogomonster

 

A cool, tangy fro-yo seemed like the perfect snack on a classic hot and humid July day in NYC, and there I was with a golden opportunity to sample the goods at Yogomonster and have new blog material.

The fro-yo was good, if a little crunchy with ice crystals (maybe I got a bad swirl?), and it was almost as tangy and creamy as any of the current competitors, Red Mango, Pinkberry or Yolato. If you really want the pucker-face tanginess of acidopholus, go to Red Mango or Pinkberry, but if you prefer a more mellow fro-yo, Yogomonster is for you.

The decor is contemporary, spare and well-lit, and is similar in style to the other fro-yo chains - solid shapes of bright colors like fire engine red and school bus yellow contrasted with clear lucite and bold graphics. Another notable feature of Yogomonster is that they have branched out beyond “Regular” and “Green Tea” - the Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, the Romulus and Remus, the Ashley and Mary-Kate, if you will, of the fro-yo flavor world.

As one teen girl put it so eloquently after she looked at the Yogomonster menu, she squealed a squeezy-toy squeal, and then huskily whispered to her friend, “OMIGOD, Nikki, they have…..FLAVORS!”

That’s right, you can get Green Apple, Strawberry, Blueberry or Mango fro-yo at Yogomonster. Take that, Flurt!

I went with the fro-yo-flow and ordered a small plain with some fruit toppings.

Definitely satisfying on a hot day, quite filling and I felt better about myself afterwards than I did when I used to have those amazing Ralphaccinos. Oh, how I miss them!

 

Next: STEAK!

PJ’s Steakhouse (73-11 Yellowstone Blvd. , at the old “Backdraft’s” location, 718-544-5757)  was a little sleepy on Sunday evening, but no matter, we had a great evening! There were four adults in our party, and we ordered The Porterhouse for 2 and the Rack of Lamb with Moroccan Spices. Yum! While some things were not perfect, the meat was top notch.

 

We are unrepentant carnivores and we have been to our fair share of NYC steakhouses: Peter Luger’s umpteen times, Capital Grille, Craftsteak and, our most recent all-around wonderful steak experience, BLT Steak. A couple of years ago, when schedules were lighter and the economy was better, my spouse and her business colleagues would take turns treating a bunch of us for dinner at local steakhouses. We made the rounds at many of the Peter Luger spinoffs, such as Blair Perrone (excellent, but now closed), Wolfgang’s (mixed experiences) and Ben & Jack’s (feh.)

So, we know the drill about ordering aged porterhouse “for 2, for 3,” served sliced, and presented in the slanted serving dish, propped up on one side on an overturned saucer, with sides of German potatoes and creamed spinach, and apple streudel with schlag for dessert. Hard to beat that formula!

We had lovely service and a great piece o’ meat! The steak definitely held its own against the big leagues. The flavor, cooking and texture was excellent. The lamb was also excellent, with great spcing and a soft, tender texture.

This photo is not very good (I don’t have a flash on my phone camera), but you can see the steak in front and the rack of lamb in the background.

The only drawbacks were the uninspiring side dishes. The creamed spinach and mixed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots) were kinda blah. Not much better than the frozen types from the grocery store. The home fries were browned cubes of potatoes that were, frankly, dried out. I liked the taste of them, but next time I’d ask if they were fresh. Dessert was fine, nothing fabulous, but pleasing. We shared a lemon meringue pie and an espresso creme brulee.

BLT STeak is still at the top of our list in the “all around” (to borrow an Olympic-season phrase), but I would not hesitate to recommend PJ’s as a local option for marvelous meat.