Safran French Vietnamese Cuisine – Chelsea, NYC
Safran
88 7th Avenue
Near W. 16th St.
(212) 929-1778
Safran Restaurant
Safran is located in the heart of Chelsea where the restaurants are chic, creative, and very down to earth. I have always loved this neighborhood because it is very diverse with all different types of people of all ages, more so with the younger crowd, and they all dressed so fashionably — yes, creatively fashionably. Besides lots of unique restaurants and people here, there are a lot of clubs and boutique shops that you will love to visit. Only in Chelsea will you find some of the most creative, yet down to earth people and restaurants here.
Which brings me to my visit to Safran.
My friends and co-workers alike have constantly urged me to eat at this fancy establishment. To my amazement, I probably passed by this restaurant maybe hundreds of times when I take my trips to Lohmann’s or to the eye doctor. But never once thought about eating there because I am accustomed to having Vietnamese cuisine in Chinatown. A Vietnamese fusion restaurant sounded interesting to me so one day I decided to gather some of my closest friends to meet up here for dinner.
Let’s get started with the food shall we?
Devi Indian Restaurant, NY
Devi Restaurant
(Btw 5th Ave & Broadway)
New York, NY
212-691-1300
Reservation available on Opentable.com
Hours of Operation:
Dinner (Monday – Saturday): 5:30pm – 11:00pm
(Sunday): 5:00pm – 10:00pm
Lunch (Monday – Friday): 12:00pm – 2:30pm
Devi Restaurant
Please forgive me for the graininess of the photos. I did not have my camera and I had to borrow my cousin’s Sony point and shoot camera. I have no idea what the model is, but I do know that it is an old camera (3-4 yrs old) and it does not take good pictures in in low-lighting scenarios as compared to the Canon ones. It’s not me being bias, it’s just in my personal experience.
My three co-workers and I have planned this unique experience to go dine at Devi for quite sometime now. After reading an article on the New York Times I was suddenly interested to go and suggested to my co-workers to go. To my advantage, two of my co-workers are Indian and one of them had been there before. The one who has dined at this restaurant agreed that this is a great restaurant and that the food is phenomenon even for a person like me who isn’t really a fan of Indian cuisine.
Did I mention that this restaurant received a Michelin Star? For those of you that don’t know, Michelin Guide [Travel Publications], hire a team of professional food critics who goes to restaurants as an undercover and review restaurants based on a set of criteria that they have. Now according to the Michelin Guide:
The star symbols judge only what’s on the plate, meaning the quality of products, the mastering of flavors, mastering of cooking, personality of the cuisine, value for the money and the consistency of what the restaurant offers to its customers both throughout the menu and the year.
- One star indicates a very good restaurant in its category, a good place to stop on your journey.
- Two stars denote excellent cuisine, worth a detour, with specialties and wines of first-class quality.
- Three stars reward exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey, where diners eat extremely well, often superbly. The wine list features generally outstanding vintages and the surroundings and service are part of this unique experience, which is priced accordingly.
In addition to the awarding of stars, the Michelin Guide provides a written description of each locale and a variety of other symbols to give readers further insight into an establishment’s ambiance, type of cuisine and specialties, and wine list, among other factors. In addition, the guide provides a comfort rating represented by the use of one to five forks and spoons for restaurants and one to five pavilions for hotels. These symbols take into consideration the decor, service, cleanliness and upkeep of the surroundings.
Now enough of that, let me show you my dining experience at Devi.
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Chelsea Gallery Diner
Chelsea Gallery Diner
72 7th Ave, New York 10011
(Btw 14th & 15th St)
212-691-5200
When I get a craving and there’s no White Castle around, I’ll settle for burger and fries at a diner. Something happy and magical about a diner that I can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe because it’s loaded with fattening comfort food that sends me into a trans-like ecstasy mode. Yeah that’s it.
This diner is on the outskirts of Chelsea Village, literally blocks from the bf’s work site. When you know the restaurant isn’t trendy, or the waiters aren’t gay, you know you’re no longer in the heart of the rich Chelsea village.
Anyways, after when I pick up the king after work, we walked around to find a place that’s not too pricy and not too dingy, cause you know you get for you pay. So ultimately we settled for this joint.
As I walk in, I can’t help but notice that maybe there’s some kind of early bird special because all the old people in nyc are sitting right in my face. There are a sprinkle of young, my age, gay and lesbian couples here and there, but majority of them are old. They’re eating eating along, or they came with their girlfriends and families to chat. Not that I have a problem with that, it’s just a new experience that’s all. I thought I was at the old folk’s home or something. Let me tell you, this is certainly not a trendy place. The audience here is mainly caucasian, especially when I went there. But the people here are friendly and the staff are super cool.
The waiter, who’s pretty old himself asked us what we wanted to drink to start off first. Nothing goes down better with fries than a nice ice cup of pepsi. After I got my drink, I knew what I wanted to get.
Mushroom Burger!
Price: $6.25
I didn’t want to order something too heavy and I always think putting mushrooms into anything makes it healthy. I know it’s not, but as long as I dam well feel it is, then it is!
I forget that at a diner you have to essentially build your own burger. I kind of wished I didn’t have to because I’m such a lazy ass, and also because I think it’s better built because it can have all sorts of juicy sauces in it. This lacked that sauce. This isn’t your fancy smanchy high-scale diner joint; this place serves it to you the good ol fashion way — you build it and you can add ketchup, mustard, salt and/or pepper.
The french fries are the best. It just hits my sweet spot. That doesn’t mean to say that I’ll settle for any fry — I have to have a french fry that is crispy and golden on the outside, and soft hot on the inside. This fry wasn’t too thin or thick which is just the way I like it. I didn’t need to put any salt on this because it’s perfectly salted, but my bf only because he’s a salt-maniac!
The burger is very bland and dry especially if you don’t add condiments. I wish they made a special sauce with this burger, but at least the beef patty itself isn’t too dry.
Recommended – Only if you love mushrooms on your burgers!
Rating: 3/5
Bacon Cheeseburger w/ onion rings
Price: $6.75
Without repeating myself, all I can say about this burger that my bf ordered is that there’s bacon and lots of it. I love bacon and it makes anything taste great. I wished I ordered a side of bacons with my burger, shoot. I like my burger loaded with ketchup and a little of mustard like on my hot dog. Without it, your mouth is going to be bored sheitless, believe me. The only thing exciting on these burger plates are your side orders — in this case, onion rings which was crispy and somewhat golden on the outside, and sweet on the inside, which was somewhat the way I wanted it to be.
Recommended: Yes
My Rating: 3.5/5
Now I leave you guys with the city’s health inspection report.
CHELSEA GALLERY
72 7 AVENUE, MANHATTAN 10011
212-691-5200
Violation points: 26/28
Inspection Date: 07/13/2007
Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.
Sanitary Violations
1.) Non-food contact surface improperly constructed. Unacceptable material used. Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained.
2.) Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to vermin exist.
3.) Wiping cloths dirty or not stored in sanitizing solution.
4.) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
5.) Evidence of flying insects or live flying insects present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
6.) Eggs found dirty, cracked; liquid, frozen or powdered eggs not pasteurized.
