Kyochon - 32nd St & 5th Ave

Kyochon
$
*
319 5th Ave
212.725.9292
http://kyochon.com/2009usa/index.asp

New York’s dining scene has been buzzing lately about famed Korean fried chicken joint Kyochon, and its recent descent on Midtown Manhattan. This fast-food fried chicken restaurant has just opened a new outpost on the corner of 5th Ave and 32nd St. Sadly, the reality doesn’t quite live up to the hype.

Kyochon’s futuristic, space-age design is interesting enough, full of starkly contrasting reds and whites, shiny chrome and clear plastic. But the walls of televisions upstairs are a huge distraction, and the über-modern aesthetic also applies to employee uniforms, inviting a comparison to flight attendants from a poorly costumed Tarantino movie.

Korean fried chicken is a completely different style from the Southern fried chicken of Popeye’s and KFC - and to give Kyochon their due, they deliver on the distinction. At Kyochon, the chicken (drumsticks or wings only) is fried twice for extra crispness and brushed with either a soy-garlic or hot & sweet sauce. But the glaze is a bit thick, and the hot & sweet sauce is not spicy enough to merit the cashier’s warning. The chicken itself is fairly decent, but ultimately disappointing given the high expectations Kyochon’s set up for itself.

Kyochon is located on a section of 5th Avenue just on the perimeter of Koreatown, an area full of mandoo, bibimbap, gogi gui (Korean barbecue), and – you guessed it – Korean fried chicken. In fact, Kyochon’s main competitor, Bon Chon Chicken, is about to become their neighbor, moving in just half a block away within the next couple of months. And Bon Chon makes the same chicken - only much, much better.

With so much competition nearby, Kyochon needs to start offering more than just hype.

Sigiri Sri Lanka – 6th St & 1st Ave

Sigiri Sri Lanka
$
*
212.614.9333
91 1st Ave.
http://www.sigirinyc.com/

Sigiri Sri Lanka, one of the few Sri Lankan restaurants in Manhattan, is nestled in between two Indian restaurants just off the East Village’s Curry Row. Sri Lankan cCurries and biriyanis bear a resemblance to familiar Indian dishes, but Sri Lanka’s culinary identity is found in dishes like Pork Black Curry, Chicken Lamprais, and String Hopper Kotthu. The menu descriptions of these items (found below the jump) sound promising, but are ultimately disappointingly bland and completely forgettable.

Dim lighting can be effective in certain settings, but being able to see food is an important part of tasting it, particularly so when trying food from a new country. Sigiri Sri Lanka is incredibly dark, and when eating the Chicken Lamprais, it is hard to tell if your fork had found a piece of chicken, fish, or plantain (sadly, a larger slight to the food than to the lighting).

Sri Lankan food is rumored to be spicier than Indian food, which I find hard to believe based on my experiences here and with Indian food, but if this is true, it is not artfully done at Sigiri Sri Lanka. It is difficult to discern individual spice elements within a dish and also across the different dishes - the overall impression is of an amalgamation of spices dumped into the pot with too heavy a hand, and with no attention to balance.

Sigiri Sri Lanka has received popular reviews for their food on websites like FoodieView and Citysearch, but there is a bevy of similarly priced restaurants in the area that serve better food. I don’t know if Sigiri Sri Lanka was having an off night or if I just don’t like Sri Lankan food, but I doubt I’ll give the bland darkness of this restaurant and its food a second chance.

Shake Shack, Madison Square Park

Shake Shack, Madison Square Park
$
*
212.889.6600
http://www.shakeshacknyc.com/
Open 11 am – 11 pm

I love watching the Food Network, but it’s a dangerous late-night activity since their shows always make me hungry. Last night, “Unwrapped” was doing a special on hamburgers - they ran a segment on the original Shake Shack, and all restraint went out the window! Shake Shack is a casual, walk-up shack in Madison Square Park (two blocks from my apartment!) that serves burgers, hot dogs, shakes, fries, and custard. A quick survey of reviews on Yelp.com re-assured my hungry roommates and I of its greatness, and a glance at the online “Shack Cam” promised a short wait - good news, given their reputation for hour-long lines.

We all opted for Single ShackBurgers, but if I’d been hungrier I would have jumped on the Double Stack - a ShackBurger topped with their ‘Shroom Burger. The ‘Shroom Burger is a lightly fried Portobello mushroom filled with both muenster and cheddar cheese - both burgers come topped with lettuce, tomato, and Shack sauce (a “secret” mix of mayonnaise, ketchup, chipotle, and other ingredients). Shake Shack serves wine and five kinds of beer, but we opted for vanilla milkshakes, made with soft serve and ice cream. Two orders of cheese fries and five minutes later, we sat down with our food at one of their park tables.

Despite my strong aversion to processed cheese and the congealed mess that melted cheese becomes as it cools, Shake Shack’s cheese fries kept me eating even after they were no longer hot - a huge compliment in itself. The fries themselves are slightly disappointing, though. They’re missing a crucial dose of salt and are awfully similar to Ore-Ida’s crinkle-cut fries - one fry even had a slightly cool center that reminded me of impatiently making these same fries at home.

Picture courtesy of New York Magazine

The burgers are ... good. As a loyal devotee of Five Guys, I may be a little biased, but Shake Shack’s burger did little to woo me over. A mixture of ground brisket and sirloin, I was expecting more flavor here than from their ground chuck competitors, but I didn’t notice any real difference. The tomato slice had good heft, but a burger bite that was mostly tomato revealed a disappointing lack of flavor, especially compared to the lovely Jersey tomatoes I grew up with. Their use of American cheese was perfect, though, echoing Shake Shack’s laidback, summer vibe and recalling childhood memories of backyard cookouts. A more liberal amount of Shake sauce (or even ketchup) would have been nice, but the burger was still juicy, and didn’t soak through its soft bun.

Shake Shack serves a decent, respectable burger. It’s not worth an hour’s wait, and definitely not on a hot, sunny Saturday! But on a warm, summer night, with the Square’s fountain running, Shake Shack’s Edison bulbs dangling from the trees, and Manhattan’s traffic at a low rumble, it was almost like being transported to your favorite Jersey Shore boardwalk stand. On a night like last night, I’d absolutely walk those two blocks over - especially to try that Double Stack.

(see full menu here)