For those of you in NYC who are wondering just what the deal with PJ Clarke's is, well I'm with you! It's pretty famous for their burgers amongst other things but I'm here to tell you to stay away from them. My wife and I have been to PJ Clarke's near Lincoln Square a few times. The initial time was because we've heard so much about their burgers and me being a big burger fan wanted to try it out and make my own opinions. To put it plainly, I was disappointed. But first, keep in mind everything is ala carte so you'll have to spend a few bucks here.

Now back to the burger. When someone says "good burger", I'm thinking two things. One, it tastes good and two, it's size. PJ Clarke's struck out on both counts. I've had better tasting burgers at Johnny Rockets and have had bigger burgers at McDonald's. But that's not it. Because the burgers are small, you'll have to order a side; but do yourself a favor, skip the fries and the onion strings. The fries look like they came from McDonald's (just more expensive) while the onion strings are hard to eat, too thin to stab with a fork and too small and messy to be finger food. I think you'll need a spoon for them.

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Link: http://pinotandpineapple.com/2008/06/08/nam/

My wife and I recently visited a great restaurant in Tribeca called Nam. It's a relatively locals only place that serves great Vietnamese cuisine in a very warm setting. Please check out the review here.

Link: http://pinotandpineapple.com/2008/05/17/magnolia-bakery/

Is anyone else annoyed that Magnolia Bakery (at least the UWS branch) does not have signs detailing what flavors their cupcakes are? I mean, c'mon! Sure they are famous and because of that we can tolerate a bit more but when the cashier asks us what we're buying, that's ridiculous. And because there are no signs, we have ask the cashier what the flavors are just to get a "I'm not sure" response from them. Maybe they don't put the signs up because the employees don't really know. They just swirl, swirl, swirl their frostings like some NYC rats partake of dessert at Pinkberry after closing time (do you remember the news footage of that?).

My wife has a much gentler review here.