Chop Suey

Note: Chop Suey closed in October 2008.

The chef Zak Pelaccio has come a long way since he was a cult hit at the Chickenbone Cafe in Williamsburg. His fans followed him to 5 Ninth in the Meatpacking District (from whence he later departed), and then to Fatty Crab a few blocks away.

Since then, he has turned his solid reputation into self-parody, cashing in one “consulting chef” gig after another. Chop Suey is the latest of these. It features one of Pelaccio’s trademark multi-Asian menus, along with one of the best views in the city, assuming you find it charming to look out on the bright lights of Times Square. Frank Bruni did, awarding one star in The Times.

Chop Suey is more than just a great view. The Renaissance Hotel did a lovely job with the renovation. The décor is stylish, comfortable, and understated—as it should be when you’ve got the most famous view in America. With only 78 seats, a majority of which were empty at 8:15 p.m. on a Saturday evening, you can actually have a quiet and unhurried meal here.

If only the food matched the view

That assumes the food is worthwhile, which it isn’t. Pelaccio’s menu seems phoned in. That’s the problem with a “consulting chef” who doesn’t stick around to edit out the clunkers, or even to ensure his vision (if he had one) is faithfully executed. We had three appetizers and three entrées between us, and there was only one item I’d recommend. That’s too low a ratio of successes to failures, especially when dinner for three runs to almost $250 (including tax and tip).

 
Crispy Rock Shrimp (right); Curry Leaf Fried Chicken Wings (right)

Crispy Rock Shrimp($18) would have been unobjectionable, but a bed of stringy, cold, allegedly braised pork belly was just strange. Curry Leaf Fried Chicken Wings ($15) seemed no different to us than the Hooters variety.

Steamed Rice Cakes (left); Atlantic Halibut (right)

If you saw Steamed Rice Cakes ($12) on the menu, would you expect something resembling the photo above? I sure didn’t. I’m a simple guy: “rice cake” implies “rice” and “cake,” and the dish included neither. But it was the evening’s only hit. There were gnocchi in there, along with spicy pickled vegetables and a Korean pork bolognese.

Moving to the entrées, an Atlantic Halibut sous vide ($28) was lovely enough, although boring. I detected none of the promised Prosciutto di Parma, and the clam medley underneath it was pointless.

 
Ginger Chicken (left); Beef Short Ribs (right)

My son wasn’t fond of the Ginger Chicken ($32), also cooked sous vide, nor of the ginger tempura dumplings that came with it. Beef Short Ribs ($30) were a horror show: sliced too thin, overwhelmed with chili sauce, and not tender enough. We thought it was impossible to ruin short ribs. Now we know better.

The other “consultant” at Chop Suey is pastry chef Will Goldfarb. Perhaps he has done a wonderful job with the desserts…but perhaps not. We weren’t willing to roll the dice again.

With this wonderful space and this gorgeous view, the Renaissance Hotel deserves a far better restaurant than this. It’s time to fire the consultants and start over again.

Chop Suey (714 Seventh Avenue at 48th Street, 2nd floor of the Renaissance Hotel, Theater District)

Food: Disappointing
Service: Acceptable
Ambiance: Wonderful
Overall: Not Recommended

Scarlatto

My son and I dropped in on Scarlatto the other night. It was an unplanned visit: we were in the area and were hungry.

The space used to be Pierre au Tunnel. I believe I dined there once. It closed in 2005 after a remarkable 55-year run. I remember it as a somewhat drab and faded space, as those old French bistros tend to be. The Scarlatto team spruced it up nicely, with comfortable chairs, exposed brick, and black-and-white photos of movie stars on the walls.

Alas, those movie-star photos are just one of the many theater-district clichés that Scarlatto fails to avoid. There’s the slightly grimy menu with multiple inserts that look like they’ve passed through too many hands, and the gruff service by staff conditioned to get patrons to their shows by 8:00 p.m. You get that same service, even if you tell them (as we did) that you have no deadline.

But the food is considerably better than it needs to be, in a neighborhood where most of the Italian restaurants follow a standard playbook. Chef Roberto Passon doesn’t take many chances here, though a few items (stewed rabbit, sautéed chicken livers) go beyond the Little Italy classics.

We went for old standards and were pleasantly surprised. Veal Osso Buco ($36) was as good a rendition of that dish as I have ever had. My son, who is not easily pleased, gave Veal Scaloppine ($16) the thumbs-up.

Aside from the Osso Buco, which was a daily special, prices are quite reasonable. Appetizers are $8–14, salads $7–10, soups $8, pastas $10–19, entrees $15–21, side dishes $5–7. The pre-theater three-course prix fixe is $29. I didn’t order wine, but I noticed that the wine list, too, had plenty of inexpensive options.

The critics all ignored Scarlatto, as they do most theater district restaurants. Had the identical restaurant opened in the Meatpacking District, it would have warranted at least a mention. For pre-show Italian that is a cut above most of the neighborhood, Scarlatto is worth a look. If you’re not going to the theater, I’d recommend waiting until 8:00 p.m., after the crowds have departed.

My son, who just turned 13, is already getting the hang of how the stars work. He said, “My guess is one star, because even though it’s good, there are lots of other places doing it.” True enough—though not in the theater district.

Scarlatto (250 W. 47th Street between Broadway & Eighth Avenue, Theater District)

Food: *
Service: *
Ambiance: *
Overall: *

Toloache

[Kalina via Eater]

Note: Click here for a review of Toloache on the Upper East Side.

*

The so-called Mexican food we eat in America is nothing like the real McCoy: that much I learned on a business trip to Mexico City a few years ago. Bulls’ testicles, corn fungus, and fried worms were among the items on order. (I tried the first two, but gave the third a pass.)

At the new midtown restaurant Toloache (pronounced to-lo-AH-chay), you can order Tacos Chapulines, which feature sun-dried grasshoppers. Reviewers Paul Adams and Andrea Strong tried them, and you’ll find a photo here. My girlfriend and I weren’t about to touch them with a ten-foot pole, but ironically, it was this menu item—along with the foie gras tacos, which I did have—that made me think that Toloache was worth a visit.

It’s a striking space on two levels, in a neighborhood that’s normally dead to fine dining. The restaurant has white tablecloths and cloth napkins, but a theater district vibe and hustling waiters who call you a caballero. We arrived without a reservation at around 6:30 on a Friday evening and managed to secure one of the few tables not spoken for. I started with a drink advertised as a pumpkin margarita, but my girlfriend and I agreed there was no perceptible taste of pumpkin.

The menu is in multiple sections: guacamoles ($11), ceviches ($10–17), appetizers from the brick oven ($8–13), tacos ($8–14), small plates ($8–10), entrées ($18–26), and side dishes ($3–7). We weren’t that hungry, and settled on a ceviche and a taco order apiece, with a side of rice & beans. Our server insisted that wasn’t enough, and talked us into ordering a mid-course, which was more than we needed, although his suggestion was the best item we had.

 
Ceviche Atun (left); Mini pumpkin with crabmeat (right)

Chef Julian Medina throws a lot of ingredients together; it doesn’t always work. Ceviche Atun had spicy yellowfin tuna, key lime, vidalia onion, radish, and watermelon. I like spicy food, but the tuna was overwhelmed. In my girlfriend’s shrimp ceviche, the flavor balance worked better.

The next dish was the item our server “upsold” us. Lump crabmeat and pumpkin came served inside a hot miniature pumpkin, with tortilla chips on the side. This inspiration looked like orange guacamole. There were some cool spots inside, suggestive of uneven heating, but it was still the best thing we had at Toloache.

 
Foie Gras tacos (left); Rice & beans (right)

Foie gras tacos seemed, too, to suffer from too many ingredients: foie gras, refried beans, mango, red onion, and chipotle salsa. There was nothing wrong with the dish—how far wrong can you go with foie gras?—but it felt like a gimmick. Our side of rice & beans was fairly standard, and we didn’t finish it.

The restaurant is geared up to serve lots of people in a hurry. We noted tables turning fairly rapidly. There are probably some quality issues in the kitchen: in addition to our crabmeat salad not quite fully heated, we noted that a dish was sent back at the table next to us. There are a lot of clever ideas at Toloache, but you might need a bit of luck to put together a fully satisfying meal.

Toloache (251 W. 50th St. between Eighth Avenue & Broadway, Theater District)

Food: *
Service: *
Ambiance: *
Overall: *

Bistecca Fiorentina

Bistecca Fiorentina is one of those Italian restaurants on Restaurant Row that looks like it’s been around forever. Actually, it has only been around since 2004, which makes it a youngster by the standards of that neighborhood. I selected it for an uncomplicated family meal before an evening at the theater.

Crostini; Tomato and goat cheese salad


Veal; Cheesecake

Italian waiters well schooled in the “Little Italy” style delivered competent service in an attractive “white table cloth” space. Perhaps it was not the best idea to visit a restaurant named for steak, and not order a steak. But that’s what we did. The food was fine all around, but basically indistinguishable from what is available at a hundred other Italian restaurants.

Bistecca Fiorentina (317 W. 46th St., west of Eighth Avenue, Theater District)

Food: Satisfactory
Service: *
Ambiance: *
Overall: Satisfactory

Insieme

Note: Marco Canora and Paul Grieco left Insieme in September 2009. As of December 2010, the new chef is Andrés Julian Grundy. As of January 2011, the restaurant was closed—except for breakfast.

*

When Marco Canora and Paul Grieco opened Hearth in 2003, it was an immediate sensation in foodie community. Canora had been the executive chef at the much-loved Craft, and Hearth was his first solo venture. It won an enthusiastic two stars from Amanda Hesser in the Times, and has been on a roll ever since. I’ve visited Hearth twice, awarding 2½ stars after my most recent visit.

Canora and Grieco are back with an encore: Insieme, which means “together” in Italian. It’s bound to be the most mispronounced restaurant name in Manhattan. (For the record, it’s “in-see-EM-ay.”)

A new restaurant from this team was bound to attract attention. It took Gourmet’s Ruth Reichl only a week to pronounce that Insieme was serving the best lasagne in New York. The bloggers will no doubt come trooping briskly; there’s already a rave on Off the Broiler.

Insieme is located in the Michelangelo Hotel. Frankly, the style of the restaurant clashes with the style of the hotel, but that probably won’t matter: Insieme has its own entrance on Seventh Avenue. It’s actually a bit of a challenge to find the restaurant from inside the hotel. Located at the northern end of the theater district, it should draw on the pre- and post-show crowds. But it’s close enough to the midtown business district to draw on the same clientele that patronizes Le Bernardin, just across the street.

The cuisine has a more upscale feel to it than Hearth. The menu (PDF here) is on two facing pages. On the left are traditional Italian favorites, written in Italian with English translations. On the right are modern versions of the same or similar dishes, with the descriptions only in English. Each side has four antipasti ($12–18), three primi/mid-courses ($14–16) and four secondi/entrées ($29–36). Most of the primi are also available in entrée-sized portions for $26. Side dishes are $9. A five-course tasting menu is $85.

Hors d’oeuvres

After we arrived, the kitchen sent out a wonderful plate of hors-d’oeuvres. Radishes were hollowed out, and stuffed with olives and anchovies. Crostini were topped with goat cheese. Fresh baked rolls came out, with a helping of soft, creamy butter.

Egg-drop soup (left); Black olive fettuccini (right)

The amuse-bouche was an intense egg-drop soup in a beef and chicken broth. To start, I had the Black Olive Fettuccini ($16), with duck ragu and a hint of foie gras. Although wonderful, I thought the portion size was a mite too small, even allowing that it was an appetizer. My girlfriend had the Lasagne Verdi Bolognese ($16), which is surely the dish Ruth Reichl raved about. Made with spinach noodles, it had an astonishingly light texture.

Lamb chop, saddle, breast, sausage with lavender, spring garlic, morels, and mustard greens

Fagioli all’ Uccelletto

We were both drawn to an entrée titled simply “Lamb” ($36), featuring four renditions of lamb: chop, saddle, breast, and sausage. “Breast” is an unusual description for any part of lamb, but I’m assuming it referred to the tender lamb belly (nine o’clock in the photo). The chop and saddle were both impeccably prepared. I was not wowed by the sausage, which seemed to have been stuffed inside of morel mushrooms, and didn’t have enough spicy kick.

A side dish of Fagioli all’ Uccelletto ($8), or Cannellini beans, tomato, garlic, and sage, was terrific. In less accomplished hands, the tomato base would overwhelm the beans, but Marco Canora’s kitchen had the balance just right.

Baba au Rhum
 

Petits-fours
 

Whistler “The Black Piper” G.S.M. 2005For dessert, we shared the Baba au Rhum ($10), an unlikely dish in an Italian restaurant, but still well worth a try. I can’t say that it eclipsed the legendary rendition of this dish at Alain Ducasse, but that would be an unfair comparison.

The evening ended with petits-fours, all excellent, particularly the chocolate truffle in the middle of the photo.

The wine list is a work in progress. At the moment, it’s neither as long nor as interesting as the wine list at Hearth, but with Paul Grieco in charge of both, you can be sure that won’t last. Grieco himself came over to our table, and offered to assist. After a discussion, his advice confirmed the choice I was already leaning to anyway: the Whistler 2005 Black Piper ($47), a fruity Grenache–Shiraz–Mourvedre blend. We loved it so much that I brought the label home.

Service throughout the evening was first-rate. When I arrived, the maitre d’ alertly noticed that our original table was too close to a baby in a high chair. Without prompting, he offered to move us.

The dining room was never more than about half full. It cleared out considerably after 7:30, as the pre-theater crowd headed out. It started to fill up again around 9:00 p.m. I suspect that will be the rhythm of this place. I overheard Chef Canora telling a friend that the restaurant will stay open until 11:00 p.m. on weekdays, 11:30 p.m. on weekends. It’s an experiment to try to attract a post-theater crowd, and Canora didn’t sound positive that it would work. (Hearth closes at 10:00 p.m. on weekdays, 11:00 p.m. on weekends.)

It’s clear that Canora is trying to pitch Insieme at a higher level than Hearth. It’s about $10 per person more expensive, and the décor feels more elegant. Yet, Canora was obviously wary of getting too fancy, given that the city’s major critics tend to hold that against a restaurant. There are no tablecloths, and the tables are crammed rather close together.

It’s a familiar vibe that feels very much like two other recent successes, Perry St. and A Voce. But Insieme seems more sincere, and also more fun, than either of those two restaurants. At Perry St., Jean-Georges Vongerichten, the nominal man-in-charge, is too busy running 10 or 15 other restaurants to give the place more than passing attention. And at A Voce we found the service and ambiance seriously annoying.

And the best part of it is that Insieme is only two weeks old. It can only get better from here.

Insieme (777 Seventh Avenue at 51st Street, West Midtown/Theater District)

Food: **½
Service: ***
Ambiance: **
Overall: **½

Cascina

 

My girlfriend, son, and I had a pre-theater dinner at Cascina last Saturday night. The menu, service, and attitude very much reminded me of Little Italy—and in case it’s not obvious, that’s not a compliment.

The word “Cascina” refers to the farmhouse or lodging on an Italian vinyard. Wine, indeed, is the theme of the restaurant. There are several large images of vinyards and wine-making equipment. Many of the wine bottles are on display. We weren’t in a drinking mood that day, but the wine list appears to be serious, with bottles anywhere from $35 to the thousands.

 
Swordfish risotto (left); Pizza Caprese (right)

The food turned out to be quite respectable, once they got around to serving it. Swordfish risotto ($19) was slightly runny, but in the end I had no serious complaint with it. My son, who is not easily pleased, raved about Pizza Caprese ($15), with buffalo mozarella, cherry tomatoes, and basil. My girlfriend seemed satisfied with Meat-stuffed tortellini in cream sauce with prosciutto ($16).

 
Tiramisu (left); Italian-style cheesecake (right)

Tiramisu ($8) was most impressive, so airy and light that one almost forgot it was dessert. Italian-style cheesecake ($8) was a bit too dry and crumbly.

One might chalk it up to the pre-theater rush, but service was frenetic and impersonal. Perhaps things improve later on in the evening. The food was reasonable, but on this showing, I wouldn’t rush back except as a friendly and inexpensive pre-theater dining option.

Cascina Ristorante (647 Ninth Avenue between 45th & 46th Streets, Hell’s Kitchen)

Food: *
Service: frenetic
Ambiance: *
Overall: *

Hawaiian Tropic Zone

Note: As of December 2010, Hawaiian Tropic Zone is closed.

*

Regular readers will recall that my first visit to Hawaiian Tropic Zone left me with no burning desire to return. However, I managed to win a free dinner-for-two, so I paid one more visit. I invited my friend Kelly, who was eager to give it a try.

We started with the shrimp cocktail ($15) and the oysters ($13). You could fault HTZ for many things, but they know how to do justice to these raw-bar favorites.

Veal Chop with lemon caper butter sauce, green beans and almonds

They also did justice to a 16 Oz. Veal Chop ($39), with lemon caper butter sauce, though green beans were dull. Kelly was not quite as enamored with the bone-in rib steak, proving once again that steaks ordered outside of steakhouses are an invariably risky proposition.

We were plenty full already, but as the whole meal was comped, we went ahead and ordered dessert. Kelly had heard wonderful things about the doughnuts, so she tried that. They came in a paper bag (why?), but they were soft, warm, and delicious. I ordered David Burke’s Cheesecake Lollipops, a justly famous dessert he brought with him from davidburke & donatella.

We didn’t order wine, but we had cocktails. I especially liked the Espresso Martini (Van Gogh espresso vodka, Kaluha, chilled espresso).

When we arrived, they initially had us seated at a noisy table near the bar, where we could barely hear ourselves talk. They had no problem moving us (there’s a whole upstairs area, which was mostly empty), but insisted at first that I would need to close out the tab for the cocktail I had ordered at the original table. They must have realized how classless that was, and a few minutes later the new server said that the tab would transfer after all.

Aside from that, the service was just fine, but I could have done without being addressed as “sweetie” or “honey” by the server. (She called Kelly that, too.)

Hawaiian Tropic Zone isn’t on my list of restaurants to return to. You’re never going to go too far wrong with a David Burke menu, but there are far more pleasant ways to spend an evening. We weren’t paying, but had it been on our dime, dinner would have been $203 including tax, before tip.

Hawaiian Tropic Zone (729 Seventh Avenue at 49th Street, Theater District)

Food: *
Service: *
Ambiance: Unpleasant, aside from the bikinis
Overall: *

Ruby Foo's Times Square

 

Ruby Foo’s Times Square is part of the sprawling B. R. Guest Restaurant Group. The owner, Stephen Hanson, seems to have a Ph.D. in populism. Once called “king of the one-star restaurant world,” his empire now stretches to sixteen restaurants—some of them clones, and most of them in New York. They are usually riffs on popular genres. His lone failure, as far as I know, was the ill-fated Barça 18, which not even the services of Le Bernardin’s Eric Ripert as consulting chef could save.

The first Ruby Foo’s (now called Ruby Foo’s Uptown) sported a $3.5 million David Rockwell interior (an extravagant sum in 1999), but managed to keep dinner under $30 a head. An approving Ruth Reichl awarded two stars in the Times. It was an instant sensation, and the Times Square branch opened just a year later. The Times reported that the outdoor neon sign alone cost $1.5 million.

The rhythm of the neighborhood is tied to Broadway. Most restaurants, whether good or not, are packed until about 7:30, when they abruptly clear out. Many of them do a brisk after-show business, too. We had no trouble getting a same-day 9:30 p.m. reservation, as it was early enough that most shows hadn’t let out yet. We saw a steady stream of late customers coming in after us. The menu is well suited to “grazing,” making Ruby Foo’s especially attractive for a late-night snack.

Like many restaurants in the pan-Asian genre, the menu at Ruby Foo’s is divided into multiple categories, with both creative and traditional takes on Chinese, Thai, and Japanese cuisine. The menu announces that “the fun is in sharing — your server will guide you.” We didn’t get much guidance, and it was hard to tell how much food to order.

Colossal Spicy Tuna Tempura Maki Roll (left); Thai Chicken Wings with Spicy Tamarind Glaze (right)

There are almost 20 kinds of rolls in two categories: Ruby’s Rolls ($7.00–9.50) and Monster Rolls ($9.00–10.50). The server advised that, despite the names, all rolls are the same size, except for the Colossal Spicy Tuna roll ($10.00), which is slightly larger. So I ordered that. The whole roll seemed to have been deep-fried, and while it wasn’t really that spicy, it was enjoyable nonetheless.

There are about 10 kinds of Dim Sum ($7.00–$10.50). We tried the Thai Chicken Wings ($7), which weren’t a bad deal at all, although they were a bit too spicy for my son, who doesn’t care for spicy food. I would have gladly eaten more of them, except that we had a lot more food to go.

Pad Thai Shrimp & Chicken (left); Dim Sum Sampler (right)

My son’s main course was the Pad Thai ($19.50). The photo doesn’t give a proper sense of depth. It was an enormous bowl, and I doubt anyone would finish it if they also ordered an appetizer. It tasted rather generic to me, but certainly acceptable.

The Dim Sum Sampler ($13) came with two apiece of Shrimp Dumplings, Vegetable Dumplings, Szechuan Pork Dumplings, and Chicken Pot Stickers. The pork dumplings were the best of the bunch, while the chicken and vegetable dumplings were so similar in taste that I couldn’t tell them apart.

My main complaint with the service is that all of the food came at once. It also took a long while to arrive. Some of these dishes surely could have been ready sooner, and delivered to the table in stages, so that our meal could have had some pacing to it.

The décor is a feast for the eyes. Even my 12-year-old son appreciated that the atmosphere was a cut above the typical Chinese restaurant. He was particularly taken with the restroom attendant, although he wondered about the purpose of having someone to turn on the faucet and put the soap on your hands, as if it were at all inconvenient to do this yourself.

We had a mixture of hits and near-misses at Ruby Foo’s, but all the food was at least reasonable, as was the bill. For quite a lot of food, it was just $63 before tax and tip (that included one mixed drink). At that price, I wouldn’t mind giving Ruby Foo’s another shot. And there’s still plenty more of the menu to try.

Ruby Foo’s Times Square (1626 Broadway at 49th Street, Theater District)

Food: *
Service: *
Ambiance: **
Overall: *

Hawaiian Tropic Zone

Note: As of December 2010, Hawaiian Tropic Zone is closed. For a review of our second visit to Hawaiian Tropic Zone (yes, we did go twice), click here.

*

It was a Saturday night, and I was on my own. Where to dine? How about a place my girlfriend wouldn’t care for. Like Hawaiian Tropic Zone.

There isn’t much Hawaiian in Hawaiian Tropic Zone, except that the servers are all in bikinis. Twice nightly (6:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m.), they participate in mandatory beauty contests, with the restaurant’s patrons voting on the outcome. There’s a huge platform above the bar (see photo) where the girls strut their stuff. The winning server gets $100. Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day, and most of the girls were in green bikinis.

When HTZ first opened, the local serving staff was supplemented with imports from nationwide beauty contests, who were brought to New York and boarded rent-free in “dorms.” None of those interlopers seemed to be on duty last night. My server, who’s from Buffalo, said she has worked at the restaurant since it opened last September. I thought she was easily the best-looking woman there, but she doesn’t have much enthusiasm for the nightly beauty pageants. “They make us do it,” she said. And then shrugged her shoulders.

When I got home, I suddenly realized that I’d seen her photo before. A little bit of googling, and I found it: she was the one featured in a Grub Street post about four months ago. What’s it like working in a bikini every day? “The most common issue is men asking myself and other waitresses if their boobs are real, which puts you in an uncomfortable situation. Mine are, but a lot of the other girls’ aren’t!”

As far as the food goes, there wouldn’t be much to write about, except that a serious chef, David Burke, is in charge of the cuisine. Like a few other celebrity chefs, Burke has spread himself a little thin lately. His flagship restaurant, davidburke & donatella, is still tough to get into, but my last visit there was disappointing. Since DB&D, Burke has expanded to Bloomingdale’s, a Chicago steakhouse, and now the Times Square Hawaiian Tropic Zone. A clone of the Hawaiian Tropic Zone and another David Burke restaurant are announced for Las Vegas.

 
BBQ Chicken Spring Rolls (left); Coriander Crusted Tuna (right)

The menu seems to be a mongrel, with no obvious theme that I can make out. BBQ Chicken Spring Rolls ($13) were lumpy and dull, but thanks to the accompanying barbecue sauce, were at least passable. Coriander Crusted Tuna ($32) was far more successful. The various accompaniments—vermicelli, peppers, scallions, napa cabbage, wasabi vinaigrette—seemed a lot more than were wanted, or needed.

The server recommended the Bikini Punch ($12), made with Bacardi White Rum, Cruzan Coconut Rum, lime juice, passion fruit juice, pineapple syrup, orange juice. It was a great suggestion, and I had two of those. Cocktails at HTZ are a generous size, so that was all I needed.

The décor at HTZ is glitzy and over-done. The clientele aren’t all men; to my surprise, I saw plenty of women dining there. There were tons of empty tables at 8:30 on a Saturday night, but my server said it is usually busier. It was St. Patrick’s Day. She speculated, “Maybe they’re all at the pub.” She wasn’t just a pretty face: service was excellent.

The mainstream critics have pretty much ignored Hawaiian Tropic Zone, except for Bob Lape of Crain’s New York Business, who awarded a rather generous two stars (PDF) in February. I find that Lape is usually about a star higher than all of the other critics, but I suspect HTZ wouldn’t even get one star from Bruni or Platt.

My visit coincided with one of the nightly beauty contests. The emcee said that the result would be tabulated in a half-hour or so, but when I left 45 minutes later, there was still no announcement. There’s also a nightly drawing, with Dinner for Two as the prize. I was the winner, so it looks like I’ll be coming back at least one more time.

Hawaiian Tropic Zone (729 Seventh Avenue at 49th Street, Theater District)

Food: *
Service: *
Ambiance: Vegas-lite
Overall: *

Viva Pancho

On Friday night, I found myself suddenly hungry after a visit to the Times Square Toys “R” Us. The area is pretty much the death valley of fine dining. The wait at Virgil’s Real Barbecue was at least 45 minutes. Next door, a Mexican guy right out of Blazing Saddles was trying to attract patrons to Viva Pancho. I was hungry enough, so I decided to take the plunge.

This was the peak pre-theater hour, and there were plenty of tables free, so I assume you can get into Viva Pancho anytime you want. The walls are covered with vintage Mexican photographs, which offer a respite from the usual Mexican restaurant décor.

The menu is 100% Mexican standards, but I went for the grilled salmon ($16), an off-menu special. You don’t expect much for an entrée under $20, but the salmon was nicely done, and it came with a serving of peas that were far more sweet and moist than usual. Among people who know me, it’s a running joke that I almost never finish the vegetables, but I really loved those peas. Rice was unremarkable, and black beans were too watery.

Sangria comes by the glass, half pitcher, or full pitcher. A half pitcher ($12.95) was enough for four glasses, and the sangria, studded with brandy, was surprisingly good.

I wouldn’t make a special trip for it, but if you’re in the neighborhood and have a Mexican craving,  Viva Pancho is inexpensive and not bad at all.

Viva Pancho (156 W. 44th Street, east of Seventh Avenue, Theater District)

Food: *
Service: *
Ambiance: *
Overall: *