street food in a pricey resto

susan feniger's street resto has received a lot of buzz from the critics. i was intrigued because everyone was raving about it so i just had to try it myself. the idea was that the resto served "street food" from around the world.

first off, the valet (which you pretty much had to do because of the permit street parking around that area). it was strange yet fabulous that all the valet parkers were women. they made it a point to say that they do not discriminate. although they later said, if men applied, they send them off to another agency. uh-huh. but my main beef was that it cost $8.50(!!!!) to valet. what a ripoff.

next up was the decor. it was pretty cool. minimal but had character.




lots of drawings on the wall (as in graffiti-like) that would, presumably, reflect what streets looked like.





they also had this nifty fireplace thing (in addition to the heat lamps). and in case it got chilly, they offered blankets/wraps for patrons.



ok, on to the food. we decided to go for the "globe trot" route -- it was basically chef's choice for $35 per person. they started us off with the below bread and butter substitute. it was basically like rice balls with some anise and fennel and cumin. i personally did not like it. i didn't think that the flavors worked well. the rice balls were on the soft side too and not on the crunchy side. the texture was more like rice krispies completely drowned in marshmallows, i.e., no crispness.



next up was the new jerusalem bread salad made of cucumbers, feta, greens, croutons made of olive bread and topped with a hard boiled egg. this was an explosion of flavor that was refreshing. although, if i had a criticism, it would be that it was a bit too overdressed.



next up was this mung bean pancake made of mung beans, kimchi, scallions and pork belly. the mung bean pancake was crunchy, which i enjoyed. the pork belly was so subtle in flavor that it was completely overpowered by the kimchi. maybe a little less kimchi? otherwise, it would have been great.



next was the spicy peanut noodles with vegetables and tofu. this was my favorite. it was like a spicy pad thai with a sauce that was thicker in consistency. i thought the ingredients worked well together.



at this time, we were really full. but, we ate on. the below was the egyptian style baked fish with greens that i thought were too bitter and some macaroni and lentils mixture. i liked the fish, which was juicy and fresh but the sides, not so much.



finally, they served us with corn and pork belly. i did enjoy this dish. too bad, i was really really full to even truly appreciate it.



the food was good but i would not say it was exceptional. there were some hits and misses. one thing i know though, in my travels, no street food has been this expensive.