Restaurant Forte Baden Baden
28 West 32nd Street, 2nd floor, between Broadway and 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10001
(212) 744-2266
Subway: B/D/F/N/Q/R/V to 34th Street
Bus: M2/3/4/5/6/7 to 34th Street


I’ve walked down the busiest block of Koreatown many many times, and I’ve never noticed Restaurant Forte Baden Baden, even when I was looking for it! I’d read an article about “Korean fried chicken” in the New York Times a while back, and although I’m not the biggest fan of chicken, I love Korean and I love fried. A friend and I had made plans to check it out, and before we found a free day for both of us, New York magazine recognized it as 2007’s best fried chicken.

We climbed up a slightly dingy set of stairs to a bustling bar filled with tables as close together as possible borderline being a fire hazard. A host catered to all of the different patrons walking in, including us, surveying the room to see where he could squeeze each new party. Waitstaff buzzed quickly around the room serving drinks and food. It was exactly how you’d find it in Seoul.

We were told there would be a 20-minute wait for a group of 6, but we were ushered to a cozy corner table with a great view of the flat screen TVs within minutes. Although the crowd was majority Korean, I’m sure the recent publicity has brought in its fair-share of foreigners, and on that night, there were a few scattered throughout, including our table. We ordered drinks and anju (Korean word for dishes consumed with alcohol) and got settled and excited.

Everything was served incredibly quickly. The touted fried chicken really was quite delicious. Exactly as described, deep-fried rotisserie chicken is imbued with garlic and is incredibly moist yet crisp on the outside and plated with a huge portion of super crispy French fries.

If you’re looking for a more Southern-style fried chicken, go with the hot wings. Super spicy, but dry, these wings are battered to a golden crisp and are spiced HOT and paired with a blue cheese sauce, celery and a yummy salad. These will be my go-to wings from this point forward.

We also included a very typical anju to round out our meal: dubu kimchi (tofu with kimchi and pork). The tofu was very fresh and tasted delicious with the stewed kimchi and pork. This is not for the faint-of-heart; the kimchi stew is very strong, and I advise eating it with the tofu to balance out the flavors.

We didn’t drink as much as we should’ve (since I’d been drinking for 4 hours prior), but these 3 dishes were plenty for the 5 of us. With drinks, tip and tax, the total per person was only $30 – much cheaper than flying to Seoul for this very Korean experience.

Seoul Garden
34 W. 32nd Street, 2nd Floor, between 5th Ave/Broadway (Garment District/Koreatown)
New York, NY 10001
(212) 564-8200
Subway: B/D/F/N/Q/R/V/W to 34th Street
Bus: M2/3/4/5/6/7 to 34th Street; Q32 to 6th Avenue/Broadway


Although I have a favorite restaurant in Koreatown (Kunjip), I am open-minded when it comes to food, so when a good friend recommended that we try Seoul Garden, I was game. Also known as Natural Tofu, this second floor establishment has a great location amongst the Korean restaurant biggies (Kum Gang San and Kang Suh). To be honest, I’m not quite sure how she found Seoul Garden; walking down 32nd Street between Broadway and Fifth Avenue, you’d be surprised to see how many Korean restaurants can be crammed into one small block. To try each of them (and to be disappointed, mostly) is an endeavor.

As I climbed the stairs with a rickety railing to enter the restaurant, there were a number of people climbing up or down, crowding the staircase. The stairway had a damp moldy smell and was dimly lit, but this did not deter me.

A table for two was hard to come by, and similar to Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, we were asked if we would mind sharing a table. The restaurant décor was definitely lacking; tables almost looked as though they had been set up cafeteria-style, which would benefit large groups or families. We were seated at a table for six, directly across from a waiter station, and a bit too close to the bathrooms (guarded and blocked by a screen).

We were asked twice within minutes of sitting down if we knew what we’d like to order. I wasn’t expecting stellar service, but this was ridiculous… we hadn’t even received menus yet! Since this restaurant’s other identity was Natural Tofu, I thought it wise to at least try one tofu dish on the menu. My friend ordered a combination plate of soon dubu (spicy soft tofu soup) and kalbi (beef short ribs). I had a very homestyle dish of kong biji chigae (ground bean stew with pork). The menu was relatively expansive, covering a fair number of Korean dishes. After we ordered, another twosome was seated at the other end of our table.

The kalbi was unfortunate: overcooked and sliced too thin, this was obviously budget kalbi (perhaps because it came with the well-priced combination dish?). The meat also had not been trimmed well, so bites consisted of chewy fat and gristle. It also tasted as if it had been cooked earlier, reheated and then served… perhaps, their method of getting people in and out quickly.

The soon dubu soup was unnoteworthy. My friend commented that the soup tasted like instant soup with MSG. And that was exactly how my kong biji chigae tasted, very MSG-laden. It also had a very murky color, which isn’t the way it’s supposed to look. When I had kong biji in Seoul (the best I’ve ever had… in Seoul they have places dedicated to one specific dish, like kong biji), the color was bright, and the finely ground beans still maintained an even color.

The best perk of Korean food is the banchan, the small plates that are served with your meal. Almost like a meal in and of itself, banchan accompanies all Korean meals, and they’re always free (unless you go to some of these new trendy Korean spots that will charge you for them). Unfortunately, this banchan was no perk. One of ours was a leftover cold chicken cutlet sliced. It tasted old. Nothing was exciting, nothing tasted good.

Overall, this was probably the worst Korean restaurant I’ve been to in America. Although our food was brought out quickly, we didn’t receive menus upon sitting, yet were asked to order. None of our banchan was replenished. And after we finished, we immediately received our check. We let it sit, in order to continue our conversation, but the waiters hovered over us, ready to clear us out and let the next twosome in.

The only compliment I can give Seoul Garden is that their busboys are well-trained. Our dishes were cleared immediately after we finished, and they continually refilled our water throughout our meal, a less common trait amongst Asian restaurants in general. And if that was the best part of the meal, I cannot imagine why anyone would want to try Seoul Garden.

Keens Steakhouse
72 West 36th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues (Garment District)
New York, NY 10018
(212) 947-3636
Subway: B/D/F/Q/W/N/R to 34th Street
Bus: M2/3/4/5/6/7, Q32 to 34th Street


I have a friend who currently resides in Dubai, but formerly lived in Manhattan, and when he comes for a visit, I always organize a “welcome back” dinner with a large group of our friends. The restaurant we choose is almost as important as the people we invite, and for this visit, we chose Keens. Established in 1885, Keens is curiously an oft-overlooked steakhouse on the edge of the Garment District that oozes classic New York. Perhaps because it is less mainstream than a Luger’s or Smith & Wollensky, it was easy to make a reservation on OpenTable (http://www.opentable.com/), and when I called the restaurant directly to change the time and increase the number in our party from eight to 14, the hostess was incredibly accommodating (as an added bonus, I still received my 100 OpenTable points). I recommend arriving before dinner to enjoy an aperitif in their adjoined bar which boasts three trivia questions daily.

The rich history of Keens remains in and on the walls, and while the restaurant’s ceilings are low, this gives you the opportunity to wonder and amaze at the many churchwarden pipes decorating the ceiling. The lore of these pipes is that Keens had previously been the Pipe Club and housed the pipes of historical celebrities the likes of J.P. Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt, General MacArthur, Albert Einstein and Babe Ruth.

A group of 14 can be unruly and unmanageable, especially with 10 bottles of wine plus drinks at the bar beforehand, but there is one perk: many dishes are ordered, and I’m not shy about asking to taste. The lobster cocktail was a perfectly cooked half a lobster tail, claw and knuckle served with a bland Green Goddess-like dressing. My husband’s lobster bisque (a special of the evening) was delicate yet rich with hints of Cognac and sherry. The Maryland lump crabcakes were full of crabmeat with very little filler – exactly how they should be. The New Orleans oysters Rockefeller (I have never tried the original at Antoine’s, http://www.antoines.com/) were different – I was expecting an oyster-version of clams Casino (baked with a golden crusty bacon topping), but these were less golden and crusty and more herby and dense, and the oysters were just barely cooked underneath. They were fine, but when you expect to taste one thing and then taste another… it always tastes strange.

Now if you've heard of Keens, you should know that their signature dish is the mutton chop. On December 14, 2005, Frank Bruni, food critic for the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/), reviewed Keens Steakhouse and discovered that the mutton chop is actually mature lamb rather than more than one-year-old sheep. Despite our knowledge of this truth, nine of 14 of our diners ordered the famed mutton chop. The mutton chop is a daunting cut, 26 ounces, as thick as my fist and wrapped with a "tail" of thoroughly-crisped fat, yet plates were practically licked clean and enjoyed by all nine. The porterhouse for two, which my husband and I shared, was delicious. Atypical of most New York steakhouses, this porterhouse was served on a normal restaurant dish rather than a sizzling metal plate. Yet, the dry-aged steak was perfectly cooked (like every other piece of meat we ordered) and tender, with amazing taste and texture. My favorite entrée from Keens, which I did not order on this occasion, is the prime rib; it is ginormous (a bit reminiscent of a Medieval Times event) and delectable, especially with horseradish.

Our side dishes were the usual: hash browns (crusty and wonderful), mashed potatoes (unmemorable), French fries (the first to go), creamed spinach (typical steakhouse), sautéed wild mushrooms (woodsy but salty) and green beans (my favorite green). In addition we also had a request for the carrots with brown butter, which, I was told, were the best carrots ever had by a carrot-lover at our table. Personally, I felt they were a little sweet, but I’m anti-dishes like sweet potato marshmallow casserole, which many people enjoy and love.

The wine list was typical steakhouse, full of many big reds from all over (primarily France, California, Italy), and we chose two from France: a Pomerol and a Margaux in the $60-75 range. Both were fair choices, although the Margaux was preferred by the serious red wine drinkers. The Pomerol really needed to breathe.

Although there wasn’t much room left for dessert, we still ordered a few for the table (listed from bad to better): a terrible crème brulee, an average Lady M chocolate cake and a pretty good New York cheesecake. Most were not finished. I wish we had ordered the bread pudding, one of my general favorite desserts. My advice: fill up on meat and pass on dessert. I chose to pass on my own dessert and enjoy a very good port which a friend recommended.

As usual, everything was as delicious and reliably prepared as expected; the only unreliable shocker of the night was the higher than usual price tag: $145 per person including tax and tip. But with all that wine and a happy stomach, who’s counting?