whym

889 Ninth Avenue
New York, NY 10019
(212) 315-0088
website

**point of interest: if you click on the website, the table directly in the front of the picture is where we sat (bottom, to the left)

We started off with SexXxy Mushrooms, because they sound… sexxxy!  Unfortunately, as you can see from the picture, they were not that sexy.  And there wasn’t much to it, despite being $8.95!  I was slow to the draw (the way the table was set up was awkward for me to reach over to get some) and managed to eat only one mushroom because there were so few mushrooms.  The dish itself tasted okay- but it just tasted like mushrooms (which I like), and nothing special to it.  Very oily and definitely overpriced. 

Originally the mushrooms were to be our only appetizer, but the waiter informed us that the mushrooms to split simply weren’t enough for all 5 of us, so we opted for the calamari, which was drizzled with a slightly spicy sauce.  The calamari itself had little chopped up bits of jalapeno in its breading, which added a nice kick (it wasn’t too spicy for me, and I’m not a fan of spicy).  I actually enjoyed the calamari dish a lot, but I wouldn’t say it’s the best nor outstanding calamari overall. 

For our main courses… we were a bit annoyed that half of us had one menu, and the other half had another menu.  We all wanted dishes from different menus, which is only annoying because only one menu can be right.  Small differences, but still annoying- for example, the duck dish I wanted came with soba on one menu, and tempura vegetables on the other menu- I wanted the soba, my friend wanted the tempura vegetables.  My other friend’s orrechiette was either with shrimp or chicken, depending on which menu you looked at; she wanted shrimp, but unfortunately, the chicken was the newer menu.  As she already said on her review… a good restaurant shouldn’t have this issue. 

top: orrechiette with chicken & pancetta; chicken pot pie
bottom: duck over soba noodles; close up

I don’t think anyone really liked their dish.  Honestly.  The first dish was only so-so (read the review).  The chicken pot pie wasn’t done right: the inside was very watery and think, whereas we all felt it should be more stew-like; plus the crust had been baked around a tin in order to achieve the unusual shape/look to the pot pie.  The hunk of cheese left on top grossed out even our resident cheese-eater (that’s me). 

As for the duck, I’m used to eating tender, flavorful duck.  This duck was none of those things!  It had the slightest edge of gaminess, which I haven’t experienced in duck in quite a while.  The veggies weren’t bad, and the raspberry-ish sauce on the side went well to mask the gaminess in the duck.  The real downer of the dish was the soba, which my friend said was too salty but for me, just tasted sour and strange, just a touch off.  I hate when a food tastes only a little bit off, because I continue eating it hoping that touch will go away.  It didn’t. 

Despite the disappointing entrees, we opted for dessert, recalling our experience at St. Bart’s, where dessert almost made up for our crappy entrees. 

apple tart

The apples were only okay, though the ice cream was yummy.  I really liked the candied walnuts sprinkled on top, though: crispy, crunchy and lightly sweet.  I used to hate walnuts, too… because they were too soggy and added no value to any dish I’d had. 

Yvo says: I suppose if you’re in the area and can’t get a table at and/or can’t afford Bouchon Bakery, Per Se or Masa,… (those are really the only restaurants I know of in the area, but that’s not to say there’s nothing there- it is Columbus Circle), sure, why not, try this place.  Otherwise, I felt it was out of the way, overpriced, over-done and completely not worth it.  They had some really pretty light fixtures I liked, and the decor is uber trendy (if you want to feel like you’re part of Sex and the City- sure!), but that doesn’t make up for the crappy food in my book, along with the horrible location. 
Not recommended