PRICE:
Frommer's Highly Recommended

Is Buddakan a bus depot disguised as a nightclub with a restaurant inside, or is it a restaurant with a night club persona housed inside a garishly designed -- Buddha icons along with Renaissance Bacchanal paintings -- bus depot? My expectations were of a loud, dance club scene in a large, 16,000-square-feet bi-level space where the food would be showy, but flavorless. I was right about the loud, dance club scene, but I was wrong about the flavorless food. The \"Brasserie\" is the main dining room on the lower level and the steps can seem steep after a few too many cocktails in the upstairs lounge like the signature Heat, a combination of tequila, Cointreau, and chilled cucumbers. Though they were not steep enough to deter a man from being carried down in his wheelchair on the night I dined there. To fortify yourself after those cocktails don't hesitate to order some of Buddakan's superb appetizers like the edamame dumplings, the crab and corn fritters, and most notably, the crispy calamari salad. In fact, you can make your meal out of sharing appetizer -- the extensive menu at Buddakan works best for large parties and has the now obligatory \"communal\" table. But if you order one entrée, make sure it's the sizzling short rib; tender and removed from the bone and sitting on top of a bed of mushroom chow fun.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's New York City 2008, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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