big steaks

Smith and Wollensky's
We had a gift certificate to Smith and Wollensky's so we went with our friends from out of town. This is very much of a business dinner type of place. When we were there, I'd say almot 3/4 of the customers were men wearing business suits. The steaks all costs around $40 each and are extremely large. Large selection of cuts, but preparation is all very simple. I really enjoyed my steak as did everyone else. The biggest problem I had was how noisy it was in the upstairs dining room where we were sitting. There is a smaller downstairs dining room that looks more intimate, where it looks like they seat smaller parties of 2-3. I don't think I would go back to this place on a regular basis on account of price and there not being any item I like a whole lot, but I can imagine myself going back again with friends from out of town or with a bunch of other guys to celebrate a special occasion.

Annie's
We absolutely loved this place on the upper east side! It reminded of us of the breakfast places we liked going to in the Chicago area and the Bay Area. The prices were reasonable, and the menu had a great variety of breakfast and lunch items, with a small number of dinner entrees as well. My sausage, cheese, and asparagus frittata was very good. It was thick and hearty tasting the way I like it, not light, fluffy, and wimpy like I've had at some places. Amy had a croque monsieur and it was delicious. There was a generous amount of black forest ham in the sandwich, which was a little much for Amy, but I helped her out so it was all good. The restaurant is fairly large, at least compared with what we are used to in the village. The atmosphere is homey. It seems like there are generally two kinds of places for breakfast/brunch in our neighborhood. There are the diner types that serve large quantities of lower quality dishes, and there are the weekend brunch places that have a small selection of items that are smaller portioned and more refined. Annie's has a large menu like at the diner's but with great tasting food like you would find at the weekend brunch places. This is a lot like the nice breakfast/brunch places in the suburbs that have long lines on the weekends. We really wish that there was a place like this close to us.

Frank
We went to one of our favorites restaurants in the East Village last night. We enjoyed the food tremendously as always. This was actually only our second time here, but we've ordered delivery a few times since going the first time. The pasta here is so good, and the times that we've ordered pasta for delivery, it was still very good. I ordered the squid ink linguine with calamari that my sister loves, and my wife ordered the papardelle with veal ragu sauce that I love. The pasta always has perfect texture when it is served. The squid ink linguine didn't have too strong of a squid/seafood flavor like I've experienced at other places, and the overall flavor of the dish was well balanced. The papardelle had a straightforward meaty flavor with the nutty sweetness and saltiness of the parmegiano reggiano mixed in. Of course, the texture and flavor of the sheets of papardelle pasta in your mouth is absolutely heavenly. Amy typically can only eat about half of the papardelle due to the strong flavors and the cheese, so I was able to enjoy both of my favorite dishes. There main drawback to Frank is that it is a very small restaurant, typical of the East Village. Throughout the night, you may have bad luck and run into a long wait, so it might be a good idea to call ahead and check. Also very noisy when it gets busy. Also typical of popular and (relatively) inexpensive East village eateries, no reservations and cash-only.