DLS ordered the Western omelet, which he liked.  (And yes, I teased him for ordering what I thought was the least Mexican dish on the menu.) 

I’ve enjoyed huevos rancheros at many places in the past, so I saw no reason not to get these here.  Well, the rancheros sauce here – the red underneath my eggs – was way spicier than I’ve had in the past, no joke.  It wasn’t unbearable, but I found myself eating as little of the sauce as possible, or mixing it with things to temper the heat.  So really, what I had was a platter of two fried eggs, guacamole, pico de gallo, beans, and rice (I really like those side bits, the way they’re made at 5 Burro is really tasty!)… but for $12~ not bad.  True that just a few doors down, Bonfire Grill offers brunch with two alcoholic beverages for just a few bucks more, but eh.  It all depends what you’re look for in a brunch menu…

Yvo says: If you’re looking for a Mexican slant to your brunch, then 5 Burro does the trick.  For $3 you can add on a margarita, too, so if you’re into that, this is totally your joint.  I’ll still be back for more Mexican food, always, and it’ll go into the brunch rotation, though I don’t think it’ll be the general aim for me when I want brunch in my neighborhood (I really like eggs benedict). 
definitely recommended for lunch/dinner; brunch depends on what you feel like eating

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Post tags: Brunch, DLS

First up: hot edamame, sprinkled with sea salt, fun to squish the beans inside out and into your mouth, a nice light bite to start the meal. 

Next up: gyoza that tasted housemade as the frozen ones tend to be shaped slightly differently.  Though the one on the end was clearly a little burnt, these were crisp and very tasty.  I enjoyed them. 

The inside was a little flat but juicy and flavorful. 

Then our sushi platter arrived! We’d picked out a bunch of rolls off the menu and added some sashimi.  First of course, on the top in the left pic or on the right in the right pic, the Marilyn Mon-roll (basic California roll topped with raw scallop and chef’s sauce, and tobiko) – which they finally renamed, which made me happy (it used to be Marilyn Monroe Roll, which I shortened to Marilyn Monroll because I am HILARIOUS).  Then under that or to the left of that, the Yellowstone Roll, which is lightly fried fish, cucumber and chef’s sauce.  Toro and scallion in the rolls closest, then some sort of root (I want to say burdock, but that’s not what it was on the menu), and a piece of uni and toro each.  Given the choice between $6 or $10 toro, we chose the $10 toro. 

I’ve had the Marilyn Monroll several times now, and always enjoy the way the flavors work together.  This was DLS’s first time, but he seemed to really enjoy it as well.  The Yellowstone Roll, which I hadn’t eaten in the past, was lovely – I really enjoy crunch in my sushi, to contrast the softness of the rice – and I could definitely see ordering that again.  The two smaller rolls didn’t appeal to me much, though the toro and scallion roll was better than I’ve had in the past (I really tend to dislike ordering toro in rolls because it’s usually scraps and not very good at that, but the fattiness – to me, the sign of quality toro – definitely was still evident in each bite).  I just don’t like the seaweed on the outside because it can be tough to bite through, and this was no exception; I found the seaweed a little chewy. 

The uni was very fresh and the perfect bite for me since I love uni.  But the toro?  I mean, was it worth the $10 a piece?

OH HELL YES.  A few things: I love that they HAD the toro, which a lot of places will list on the menu but then tell you they are out if you ask for it.  And not only did they have it, they had TWO DIFFERENT KINDS.  That speaks volumes to me about the business they intend to do and the business they run.  And it was GLORIOUS.  Run through with the best possible kind of fat, it literally melted in my mouth as I fought not to moan too loudly.  My eyes rolled backwards in my head and I almost cried from how delicious it was.  So.freaking.good.  Toro like that is a gift to the world; that tuna did NOT die in vain.  It brought intense pleasure to my mouth and belly, I was so, so happy after eating that.  Joy, pure unbridled joy that not only am I blessed enough to be able to enjoy such lovely things, that I’m able to do so in my own neighborhood.  I know not everyone has that luxury! 

Surprisingly, DLS wanted to order dessert.  Fried green tea ice cream was chosen and it arrived fairly quickly.  He seemed surprised that the ice cream was still cold and hard… I mean it was rock hard.  It tasted OK – this is not one of my favorite desserts, I usually take a bite or two and then give up eating, so I’ve got very little point of comparison, but I thought it was good enough.  A little weird that the exterior wasn’t hot; I sort of expected it to be hot.  Maybe they buy it by the box – commercially made fried ice cream – and just took it out and put it on the plate?  I suppose that wouldn’t surprise me. 

Yvo says: I’d heard that there were service problems in the new expansion, but we encountered no issues – pleasant service and fantastic food as usual.  Honestly, the place was shockingly empty, but this was a Monday night, and I think a lot of people are used to Sushi Yasu being closed on Mondays & Tuesdays.  I’m glad they’re now open every night of the week, though part of me wants them to open during the day for lunch… and I don’t think their sushi bar was open for seating yet (a few days before Thanksgiving).  I will definitely be back, over and over and over again… yum yum yum. 
highly recommended – yes, I would even say you should travel from other boroughs to check it out

A week or so after the above visit, I returned with a friend to eat more sushi.  Since we ordered all the same things I’ve ordered many times, I didn’t take photos, but at the end, we ordered the green tea flan, which our server informed us was made by a pastry chef ‘from one of the top French restaurants’ – I didn’t ask more questions though.  The green tea flan was bitter, balanced with a smooth caramelly sweetness… it was just right, and perfectly sized for sharing a few bites after a sushi dinner that more than filled me up.  Yum!

Also, this visit showed me another reason I love going to Sushi Yasu: we sat at the sushi bar, and everyone who works there is so friendly… and kept coming over to tell me how pretty I am.  How do you not like a place where people tell you you’re really pretty?!  … and has super fresh raw fish.  That’s important too. 

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Post tags: DLS, gyoza, Sushi

When I first moved back to Forest Hills, I did an intense search to find what places I should visit in my neighborhood.  I found a plethora of places that I’ve explored casually over the years, but one such place that eluded me until now was Just Like Mother’s.  I’m not sure why, but the address was hard for me to find at first, and then I just simply forgot about the place.  However, when my godbro recently called me, lost in Forest Hills and unable to find his way to his appointment, I looked up the address on Google Maps, directed him to where he needed to go, and noticed Just Like Mother’s on the map.  So after he was done, I insisted we go here for lunch… and late into the lunch hours on a Monday, the place was pretty empty. 

We went the same day my post about Eisenberg‘s went up, so I’d spent the morning thinking about borscht and how it’s served hot.  On the menu was white borscht and red borscht with meat dumplings.  I chose the red one, being used to that, but I will go back to try the other one… and report back. 

Surprisingly, the broth was completely smooth and liquid, not like blended beets but more like beets had been boiled in the water until all their flavor had leeched out.  The broth itself was slightly tangy, like vinegary, with a mild beet taste to it.  Interesting. 

The meat dumplings were OK, nothing special, and stained bright red by the broth.  I could do without – in fact, I will definitely try the white borscht next time.  (And yes, this one was served hot.)

JZ decided to splurge calorically and get the burger platter.  He said it was really good, and polished it off quickly so I’ll take his word for it. 

Given that this was an Eastern European menu, I thought I should order stuffed cabbage (which I like) or something similar, but once I saw meatloaf on the menu, I got it stuck in my head that I wanted that, and there was no talking me out of it.  My one concession was to pick mushroom gravy over meat gravy. 

For one of my sides, I chose cucumber salad, which was nice and pickly, though a little too much watery mayo for my tastes.  I couldn’t stop picking at this and had to finally throw my fork on the floor to stop me from eating more.  Okay, I didn’t really do that, but it’s one of the ways I stop myself from eating so much – remove the means by which to do so!  Ahem, anyway.  My other side was simple corn, which was clearly canned, and tasted fine once I’d added butter. 

As for the meatloaf – the texture was fairly fall-apart tender, juicy, not overcooked, and actually pretty tasty.  The mushroom gravy was also really tasty, I enjoyed it a lot and I cleaned my plate.  I don’t know about “just like mother’s” – my mom hates meatloaf and my dad used to call it poor people food, so I NEVER had it growing up and still rarely ever eat it – but this was really filling and tasty, very much what I would call comfort food, rib-sticking food.  Not expensive either – $11.50 for my entree, and the soup was $5.25 (and unnecessary, I was so stuffed!). 

Yvo says: I will definitely be back – I really enjoy Polish cuisine and will happily eat my way through most of the menu, there are many dishes that caught my interest but I just can’t eat that much in one sitting!  Yum!  Definitely go here if you’re in the area, looking for some hearty food in the cold winter days…
recommended

A few short weeks after the above visit, I returned with TC to Just Like Mother’s after he mentioned he likes pierogies. 

So of course our first order was pierogies, fried, two meat and two potato.  I only tried a teeny bit of each, but thought they were tasty enough.  I’m not a big pierogi person, though. 

As promised, this time, I ordered the white borscht.  I was surprised when it arrived, thinking it might be red borscht mixed throughout with sour cream, but instead it was a completely creamy soup that smacked of garlic, a slight vinegary tang, and had a large potato sitting in the middle along with thin slices of kielbasa.  I really enjoyed the creaminess of this garlicky, tangy soup… and the salty bites of meat in between slurps of white soup was just perfect.  Yum!!! 

After I said I liked the meatloaf with mushroom gravy last time, TC immediately decided to order that, and liked it as well.  The mashed potatoes were consumed without comment, mostly because I forgot to ask. 

He also got a side of spinach, which was lightly lemony and chopped.  Tasty. 

I opted this time for the stuffed cabbage, which arrived looking like kielbasa links to TC… haha.

I enjoyed this – each piece with the tomato sauce, tasty, moist, and a bit of rice inside as well. 

Still meaty though.  Yum.  I also had the red cabbage side, which was slightly tangy, and the cucumber salad again because I enjoyed it so much last time. 

Once again, great service and delicious food.  I definitely will return to try even more food!  Yum! 

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Post tags: meatloaf

We decided to split a meat & cheese platter – TA’s affinity for stinky cheeses and my less than fondness for them resulted in the stinky blue being closest to him (bleu d’auvergne), the idiazabal (lightly smoked sheep’s milk semi hard) in the middle, and then the cremeux de bourgogne being closest to me.  Good thing, as that could be my new favorite cheese… buttery soft, like the best cream cheese you’ll ever eat… so good.  Along the left were salami, chicken liver pate, and pork rillettes, which of course I inhaled as I love fat, hahaha.  The kitchen timed this well, too – it takes a while to work through an entire meat&cheese board, but we weren’t rushed nor did our subsequent dishes come out while we were still working on this one. 

Next was our salad of roasted brussels sprouts – tender, served with figs, balsamic vinegar, pistachios and taleggio.  Pretty good – okay, I wanted to eat the whole thing myself, but politeness said I share. 

The special that night was a braised lamb shank – which actually had been one of the specials the last time I’d gone, and I’d really wanted to order it but we had too much food already.  I was so excited to hear our server tell us it was one of that night’s specials that I practically ordered it before checking with TA if he even eats lamb (since not everyone does).  Thankfully, he was also excited to share it, and when it came, my my my it smelled delicious.  Unfortunately, it was extremely unwieldy to eat – even if we hadn’t been sharing it – though I valiantly tried to pull pieces off the shank.  It wasn’t the lamb shank of my dreams.  The meat wasn’t quite as tender as I wanted, and it was ever so slightly gamey… So overall, it was OK, but definitely not something I’d order here again.  Boo. 

Yvo says: I love this place, even though I was disappointed with the lamb shank, the rest of the food was great.  I will definitely be back for just a glass (or three) of wine and the meat board… just for me… sooner than later.  Love that this place is in my neighborhood, love love love.  Service was excellent per usual
highly recommended

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Post tags: lamb shank, meats & cheeses

Caesar salad that came with our entrees, which was underdressed and had croutons way too hard for me to comfortably eat.  But I dutifully ate my vegetables… 

It is a source of endless amusement to me that… well, when I ate here over 10 years ago, I used to also eat at Outback and Boulder Creek with some frequency (more than 1x a year).  Outback serves bread like the above except only white, while Boulder Creek serves (or used to serve) the above except pumpernickel, and Santa Fe… has both.  I am easily amused.  The bread arrived warm, but super soft and a bit hard to cut, easier to just rip hunks of it off and spread with butter. 

Our drinks were served in these ridiculous pitchers.  Huge.  Neither of us even finished half of the drink; on the bright side, those who are very thirsty don’t need to constantly request refills at least. 

I ordered the sirloin since I wanted something small and this was the smallest size they offered.  With vegetables that were okay, clearly frozen and then boiled/steamed quickly. 

The steak itself…

Cooked properly to medium rare, needed a touch of salt, but still very juicy and honestly, it was OK.  I wasn’t blown away but I wasn’t expecting to be wowed by the steak here.  I got what I paid for, and that was a decent meal with an OK piece of meat, cooked properly. 

Yvo says: I probably wouldn’t return here – I make fantastic steak at home, and I occasionally find myself at the awesome places around NYC for steak, so no need to go to a chain steakhouse – but I wouldn’t have a problem if someone else really wanted to come here, because I know I’d be eating OK food.  So… it was OK. 
middle of the road

Santa Fe Steakhouse
107-18 70th Road
Forest Hills, NY 11375
Phone: (718) 459-4040

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Post tags: salad, Steak