Gazala Place - New York, NY

Gazalas is tiny. The only place for me to sit was an outdoor table right on the sidewalk on 9th avenue between 48th and 49th. This turned out to be a good thing.  The weather was really nice this night.

The waitress was a really nice young girl. I had a hard time understanding her accent. She was pronouncing the specials probably the way that they are supposed to be in her language; I was guessing Greek.  I had no idea what she said so, I just rolled with whatever she recommended.

It turned out to be one plate of what can best be described as an eggplant cheese sandwich with eggplant instead of bread. The eggplant was toasted which melted the (I'm guessing) mozzarella cheese and heated the sliced tomato

The other plate was a cheese pastry. The cheese was kind of like ricotta. It was very flakey and good but very filling.

After a little internet search after I was there showed that Gazala's was actually Israeli Druze instead of Greek.  I have no idea what that really means but, it was still very good.

Overall I'd rank gazalas a 9.3.  I liked the quirky location, the great service and great food.


Gazala Place
709 9th Avenue
New York, NY 10019
(212) 245-0709
www.gazalasplace.com

Guy's American Kitchen and Bar - New York City

I wasn't even looking for a triple-d restaurant when I stumbled on this place while walking around Times Square.  I really didn't expect to find Guy's restaurant.  I think of him as a California dude and I had no idea that this place even existed until I stumbled upon it.

I visited the restaurant when it was still pretty new and before the New York Times did their hatchet-job of a review on them.

I've visited one of Guy's other restaurants, Tex Wasabi's Rock and Roll BBQ in Sacramento, California.  So, the benchmark was pretty high to start out with.

I was really excited to find this place but, when I first walked into the I struggled to figure out what the theme was.  It was nice but, I could have been in Houlihans or TGI Fridays if I didn't know better.  I'm guessing that the theme was just what the name says, American food. I'm guessing that it is meant to appeal to foreign visitors to Times Square and not to Americans.  Purely speculation on my part.  Although one big clue was the big American flag they made from cases of Miller light and Rolling Rock beer.

I had the salmon grilled and served on a cedar plank.  It came with garlic mashed potatoes.  It was okay.

The beer menu was kind of interesting.  It said right on the beer menu "All beers are formulated and brewed specially for Guy by Heartland Brewery."  If Guy poured all of his creativity into the beer menu then I'm onboard.

I also really liked Guy's creativity with the dessert menu.  Half of the selection were just traditional desserts but, the other half were drink desserts.  So, another theme seems to be emerging and it is alcohol.

Music selection was also pretty interesting.   They played all kinds of alternative music that I'd never heard of before which I might have enjoyed if they hadn't played it so loud.

Overall, I would unfortunately rate Guy's American Kitchen and Bar an 8.6.  I really wanted this place to blow me away and I looked hard for reasons to let it but, unfortunately it didn't.  If I'm looking for a beer or a meal in Times Square then I'd be willing to give it another shot.  If Guy can make Tex Wasabi's incredible then he can do it here as well and I'm sure he will.


Guy's American Kitchen and Bar
220 W 44th St
New York, NY 10036
(646) 532-4897
www.guysamerican.com