After having watched the entire video and having been there, this is what I want to order:
Crab cake
Caesar salad
Delmonico’s ribeye
Dry aged strip or rib eye
Hashbrown
Spinach
Chocolate cake
Baked Alaska
Coconut cake
Things that just didn't do it for me that the video likes:
Wedge salad
Lobster
“French Onion Sandwich: How to improve on the minimalist perfection of a grilled cheese? Extra ingredients would be superfluous to the pure harmony of melty cheese oozing from toasty, oily bread. And yet the French onion sandwich at Houseman, in Hudson Square, is the brilliant exception to prove the rule. One afternoon in 2015, the chef Ned Baldwin, inspired by gooey cheese-topped French onion soup, slid some caramelized onions he had on hand for a burger in between slices of brioche and funky raclette cheese. He griddled it and served it for staff meal, where it was such a hit that he moved it to the lunch menu — with a few canny tweaks. Now the sandwich is seasoned with grainy mustard for tang and maple syrup for sweetness, and the brioche is coated in Parmesan, then crisped, frico-like, in the hot pan. It’s a maximalist grilled cheese that manages to keep its balance. MELISSA CLARK”
“Caviar sandwich: It takes a lot for a white-bread sandwich born in the 20th century to make this list. And it’s not here because the filling is a thick schmear of sustainable, domestic caviar, offset by the mildness of chopped hard-cooked egg. Or that it comes with a cool, crunchy cucumber-onion salad that — who knew? — is just what you want to eat between bites. It’s that the sandwich is a perfect expression of the art of white toast: golden but not brown, crisp but not hard, sturdy but delicate. It’s a perfect appetizer for two with a martini or Champagne, especially as a lead-in to clams and oysters from the peerless raw bar. The only pain point is its price, which has gone from about $14 in 2019, when caviar prices were at a historic low, to $45 amid today’s high demand and inflation. JULIA MOSKIN”
“The pho sandwich: Do most soups translate into sandwiches? Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean they should. Gimmicky but legit, Little Kirin’s pho sandwich is a rare exception. The chef, Brendan Tran, takes the elements of pho (paper-thin slivers of brisket, shaved white onion, chopped scallions and cilantro, fried shallots and hoisin) and nixes rice noodles for a ciabatta sub. Heavily seasoned with star anise, the accompanying broth (sold separately, by customer demand) is as good as that of any pho in the city, and completes the soup-to-sandwich concept for a French dip-meets-pho moment. The meat braises for six hours and the lucent broth is simmered separately; this sandwich takes no shortcuts. ALEXA WEIBEL”
Shawarma east pita: In a city where shawarma often serves as a late-night snack to curb tomorrow’s hangover, Spice Brothers takes the popular Middle Eastern street food very seriously. Every element of the sandwich — the spit it’s roasted on, the single origin of the spices that perfume the meat, the spelling of tahina — has been fussed over. But it’s not so precious that it doesn’t fit in perfectly on the eternally scruffy strip that is St. Marks. NIKITA RICHARDSON
Focaccia sandwich: It’s been only a few months since this Italian cafe and provisions shop opened in SoHo, and already it’s serving one of the city’s best new Italian sandwiches. Made with mortadella, rosemary ham and hot soppressata — all imported from Italy — it also includes sweet roasted red peppers, made in-house, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar for tartness and a Calabrian chile mayo that adds a subtle heat. The only thing that varies daily is the cheese, which could be either provolone, fontina or burrata. “It’s our discretion to see what we’re feeling,” said Salvatore Carlino, the owner and founder, who also operates Lucia Pizza next door. But the real star is the fresh, pillowy focaccia, made crunchy with flakes of salt. CHRISTINA MORALES
“Chorizo egg and cheese: Many people wouldn’t guess that C & B, by the looks of it, serves some of the finest sandwiches in the city. Ali Sahin’s tiny cafe has been located for nearly a decade on the south side of Tompkins Square Park in the East Village, serving breakfast sandwiches that exemplify why New Yorkers love breakfast sandwiches: they’re simple as can be, but every component is on point. Lining up for a weekend breakfast sandwich there feels a little like being at a model casting — one wonders if the name is a play on “see and be seen” — but ordering well is a great equalizer: a fat, rich chorizo patty straight off the griddle and wobbly scrambled eggs, all piled high on an housemade roll to soak up the sausage’s spiced fat. BECKY HUGHES”
“The concept: a former Nakazawa chef, Kevin Ngo, goes the affordable sushi route (curated sets of nigiri, handrolls, and kaisendon for $18-$45 per). The counter tallies ten seats.”
Everything is kind of just really good, somethings are REALLY good?
- mortadella*
- polenta*
- herb salad*
- chili pepper
- pork chop (didn’t get but have heard great things)
- steak
I’m no expert, but to me they were all pretty good and the line moves fast and would eat again! Someone on TikTok was like: “fatty greasy tacos” and I AGREE (non derogatory).
My power rankings:
- ribeye
- chips and guac
- chicken gringo style (kill me for having to say that)
- pork
(Ppl say the veg is good I just didn’t get to try)
Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles were introduced to Chinatown here in 2003, but now the menu partly focuses on dumplings. The shape is odd, rolled like little enchiladas, and the dumplings are deep fried, making them crunchy with a porcine flavor. The three sauces are unusual, too, including a welcome bottle of pure Donghu aged black vinegar: 10 for $6
“The chopped tenderloin is seasoned with by-the-book bistro ingredients — shallots, capers, cornichons, parsley, and chives minced and tossed in a mustardy aioli — but the twist comes from the heavy hand with which that dressing is applied to the steak. It’s nearly dip, which is fitting since it comes heaped on what is essentially a very large corn chip that turns out to be the perfect delivery system for a burger-size puck of cool beef.”
YGF Malatang’s First New York Location Is a Must for Hot Pot Lovers | Eater NY
I found a fast-food version of hot pot at YGF Malatang, a chain founded in 2003 with some 6,000 branches in Asia — the name Yang Guo Fu roughly means “Lucky Northern China” — which recently opened its first NYC location at 92 Third Avenue in the East Village near 12th Street. The narrow storefront’s green-and-orange design and peppy slogans set the tone for an efficient, solo-friendly meal: instructional placards present hot pot in a grab-and-go format, there are no big tables, and it was already jammed with students when I visited. I built my bowl from 60 tubs of raw materials — frozen curls of marbled beef, pork, and lamb; marinated chicken; greens like baby bok choy, Chinese cabbage, celtuce, kelp, iceberg lettuce, and spinach; seafood such as fish balls, fish tofu, surimi, fish filet, and frozen shrimp; dried ramen-style noodles; dried black mushrooms, pickled wood ears, and fresh enoki; squash and root vegetables; fried eggs; tomato wedges; offal including cow aorta and tripe; and several permutations of tofu — at $15 per pound. I then chose one of three finishes at the counter (a bone broth with Sichuan peppercorns offered in three spice levels, a milder sweet-and-sour tomato broth, or a dry pot with a spicy peanut-and-sesame dressing) and had chefs in the back cook it for me in black uniforms with stiff-flapped caps; after taking a number and mixing a dipping sauce at the condiments bar (sesame oil, tahini, and soy sauce with crushed garlic is a classic), my bowl arrived from a runner in about ten minutes. - Robert Sietsema
Yes yes we all love burgers BUT! Have you tried a burger made with Ibérico pork?? As both a Spaniard and American, it combines two things I love and here Chef Nico tells you how he made it a reality with the Ibérico Smash Burger at MercadoLittleSpain. Have you tried it?? Is so good! #burger#jamon#smashburger
Chilaquiles are a perfect food — if I weren’t allowed to eat anything else before noon ever again, I’d still be happy. At least for a while. So while I didn’t go to Superiority Burger in search of this dish, how could I say no? The chilaquiles ($15) here are the work of cook Akbal Ortega, who spends most of his time making bulk batches of soups, stews, and braises. The chips are still firm and crispy, simmered in a tart and just oh-so-spicy salsa verde with a fried egg plopped on top. —Chris Crowley
“Manhattan is swimming in fast omakases, but the $109 procession of courses at Sushi Ouji, a subterranean spot that opened in December on Prince Street, stood out with a lovely chawanmushi starter loaded with snow crab and scallop and a gorgeous slice of ikura-topped futomaki served after nine pieces of nigiri. —T.T.”
“I recently tried the duck club sandwich at Blueprint in Park Slope: rare duck breast sliced thin like roast beef and layered with bacon, lettuce, and tomato on the kitchen’s own raisin-walnut bread. It’s an incredible combination that this neighborhood cocktail bar has had on the menu for years, but it deserves to be more famous. —T.T.”
Most prominent are four “slippery egg” dishes ($14) that feature a mountain of rice blanketed by an omelet laced with milk and cheese, which glows alarmingly yellow. The one I tried had a breaded chicken cutlet on top with a Malaysian-style coconut curry gravy on the side.
Noodle soups are another strong point. Using soft rice noodles, these deploy a mellow chicken broth and fill it with multiple ingredients, focusing on beef or seafood. The most expensive is abalone and seafood rice noodle soup ($20) featuring what seems like an unusual selection for a fast food joint: squid, shrimp, mussels, and fish balls, in addition to actual abalone, once a luxury product but now being farmed along the Fujianese coastline. This soup is briny and fortifying, but I left wishing I’d ordered the spicy beef noodle soup instead.
At Spice Brothers, the beef-and-lamb shawarma (“Shawarma East” on the menu) is seasoned with a Turkish-style spice blend heavy on warm spices like cumin, cinnamon, and a bright flash of rose petals before it’s dressed with herbed labneh sauce. The other option, chicken, is the Shawarma West, spiced with pimentón and turmeric and packing the heat of harissa. The sandwiches are $15 (chicken) and $17 (beef-lamb), made with Sercarz’s spices and Pat LaFrieda meat. Each comes with tahini, a salty rendition of the mango-pickle amba, cilantro, and an unconventional crown of arugula. (It’s peppery and fresh; it works.) The pita, from New Jersey’s Angel Bakeries, is fluffy and holds its own against all the sauce and meat juice.
Extremely recommended by Eugene, his order is:
Bak Kut Teh
Pork chop in sweet bbq sauce
Salt and pepper pork chop
Hainanese chicken
Curry chicken
Chicken rice
Princess tofu
Fried pearl noodles
Choy kway teow
One of the last Cuban and Chinese restaurants left, good for after Lincoln Center…
Get the crackling chicken with green sauce
Egg foo yong
Fried pork chop
General Tso beef
"Still, my personal Manhattan recommendation is Da Long Yi, the Chengdu eatery that opened its first U.S. location on Canal Street. Its spicy base comes with a warning and arrives with a bobbing log of beef tallow spiked with chili peppers. The ingredients are fresh and prepped with care. In addition to the usual spread, I enjoyed the fresh tofu skin, which looks like golden parchment, and the gelatinous, delightful chew of beef tendon, which surprisingly few places have."
"This old-timer opened near the Hackensack River waterfront in Jersey City in 1972, and the menu reflects Italian American food at that juncture of its development. Nothing could be more perfect than the eggplant rollatini ($11), stuffing southern Italy’s favorite vegetable with the cow’s milk cheese so abundant in the New World, called for lack of a better term, mozzarella. The pungent tomato sauce knocks the dish into orbit."
"This was a sterling year for new Thai restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, with regional food flooding many menus. Replacing the respected Pam Real Thai food this year was LumLum, offering several remarkable new dishes. These river prawns (two for $14) native to the Mekong River are like little lobsters, tasting of butter and oozing roe, served with a pungent dipping sauce."
"The name chicken paratha ($8) might suggest a flatbread wrapped around a curry or other stew into a sort of sandwich — but this wonderful recipe is far from it. The paratha here is transformed into delightful little dumplings in this spicy red stew enhanced with herbs and shredded cabbage, with red pepper flakes on the side in case you want to ramp up the heat."
"This daffy new Chinese restaurant looks like a movie theater inside — and no one has taken the concept of Chinese American fusion further. American fried chicken is rendered as its Chinese counterpart, salt and pepper chicken ($25), then spectacularly sided with biscuits that riff on scallion pancakes, with a salty plum jam and sweet pickled jalapenos on the side. It’s one of the city’s best versions of fried chicken, period."
"Proving that the best-tasting dishes aren’t necessarily the best-looking ones, the fish pepper soup blew me away when this essential Nigerian restaurant reopened in new digs. The soup ($15) — also available in a goat version — is known as one of the cuisine’s hottest, and the heat comes from a symphony of indigenous African spices. The flavor is mellow, warm, and pleasantly caustic all at once, and will leave you feeling very satisfied. "
From Robert Sietsma's best dishes of 2022:
"Sea bass with rice peppers at Café China: The revamped Café China in its new location nearer Herald Square is better than ever, especially this entrée ($42) of an entire fish in a lovely yellow broth shot with pickled green peppercorns, yielding a tart and spicy savor characteristic of Sichuan cuisine. The depths of the bowl offer a luxuriant quantity of glass mung bean noodles, too. 5"
Pretty solid offering from Ignacio and Estela team, for better and for worse in the heart of Dimes Sq and just like a busy and fun place to have dinner where you'll run into someone you know.
"I felt the same eating the $68 omakase at Matsunori in the Lower East Side, a BYOB counter where you book a seat for an hour-ish reservation. Our 8:15 seating was completely sold out, which is common, and explains why these small counters are able to afford such high-quality fish, though I had some initial doubts after my first dish, a confusing appetizer of hamachi sprinkled with actual Frosted Flakes. The next hour or so consisted of an evenly paced succession of delicately garnished lumps of nigiri, one with pickled mustard seeds, another simply with flaky salt or sesame seeds to bring out the fish. Wagyu was sliced and warmed by blowtorch, atomizing smoky fat into the air. Fire always leaves a good impression."
New "nice" Indian
From the NYM food newsletter:
A few days earlier, I had been similarly captivated by a different restaurant, Gazab. The food is completely different from Rowdy Rooster’s, but there seemed to be a strong overlap in the crowds that gathered at both restaurants. Under the gaze of Gazab’s floor-to-ceiling dining-room mural — a woman with a Champagne flute staring out over her sunglasses — a guy wearing a Polo teddy-bear sweatshirt and a turban split some biryani with his partner while three women sipping mango lassis asked for an extra side of ghee. I didn’t ask anyone where they were from, of course, but I took it as a good sign that they all seemed to know their way around the food.
I took cues from all of them and ordered the chicken biryani and lamb. When the women asked for an extra side of garlic naan, I ordered that, too. A hungover-looking group of three waited for a table, and I overheard two guys on a date talking about how the food was “just like India.” (I skipped the dish called ’70s Tikka Masala, though I appreciated the way the owners seemed to nod to its undisputed ubiquity while embracing its populist appeal.)
"You might have to take a subway and a bus to get to Mama Lee, but it’s worth it. It’s this little Taiwanese restaurant run by this wonderful lady who only opens when she feels like it, so it’s always good to call ahead. This dish’s simplicity is what makes it great. The preserved turnip is a totally magical ingredient that gives you a taste of salt, but filtered through the earth somehow."
Pete Wells reviewed Chinese place that some say is not that good... but still curious to try, from the review:
Curry beef triangles; ma la jellyfish; tempura lotus root and shrimp sandwich; soy-braised romaine lettuce; grilled banana leaf branzino; black beef pepper tenderloin; Macao curry chicken; Cha Kee fried rice. Appetizers, $8 to $15; main courses, $15 to $26.
Midtown high end Chinese, things to order from Grub Street below:
Dim sum sampler, kou shuichicken, Hutong lobster and/or Red Lantern soft-shell crab, ma la beef tenderloin, Four Seasons beans with pork and shrimp, white-chocolate' «bao.
BLT - get this before tomato season is over.... (also PBJ cookie)
UPDATE: I got both of these and they both DELIVERED. Sad that tomato season is almost over.
Carmellini steakhouse at Southstreet Seaport
UPDATE: pretty solid! Gorgonzola wagyu was a great piece of meat and then everything else was a very very good bite. Lowkey in the cut, but like it kind of feels "event"-y in that way?
Allegedly good Chinatown sushi
UPDATE: went and it was very good, kind of a weird vibe, got the full omakase and they had really good fish prepared in legit interesting ways
After having watched the entire video and having been there, this is what I want to order:
Crab cake
Caesar salad
Delmonico’s ribeye
Dry aged strip or rib eye
Hashbrown
Spinach
Chocolate cake
Baked Alaska
Coconut cake
Things that just didn't do it for me that the video likes:
Wedge salad
Lobster
“French Onion Sandwich: How to improve on the minimalist perfection of a grilled cheese? Extra ingredients would be superfluous to the pure harmony of melty cheese oozing from toasty, oily bread. And yet the French onion sandwich at Houseman, in Hudson Square, is the brilliant exception to prove the rule. One afternoon in 2015, the chef Ned Baldwin, inspired by gooey cheese-topped French onion soup, slid some caramelized onions he had on hand for a burger in between slices of brioche and funky raclette cheese. He griddled it and served it for staff meal, where it was such a hit that he moved it to the lunch menu — with a few canny tweaks. Now the sandwich is seasoned with grainy mustard for tang and maple syrup for sweetness, and the brioche is coated in Parmesan, then crisped, frico-like, in the hot pan. It’s a maximalist grilled cheese that manages to keep its balance. MELISSA CLARK”
“Caviar sandwich: It takes a lot for a white-bread sandwich born in the 20th century to make this list. And it’s not here because the filling is a thick schmear of sustainable, domestic caviar, offset by the mildness of chopped hard-cooked egg. Or that it comes with a cool, crunchy cucumber-onion salad that — who knew? — is just what you want to eat between bites. It’s that the sandwich is a perfect expression of the art of white toast: golden but not brown, crisp but not hard, sturdy but delicate. It’s a perfect appetizer for two with a martini or Champagne, especially as a lead-in to clams and oysters from the peerless raw bar. The only pain point is its price, which has gone from about $14 in 2019, when caviar prices were at a historic low, to $45 amid today’s high demand and inflation. JULIA MOSKIN”
“The pho sandwich: Do most soups translate into sandwiches? Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean they should. Gimmicky but legit, Little Kirin’s pho sandwich is a rare exception. The chef, Brendan Tran, takes the elements of pho (paper-thin slivers of brisket, shaved white onion, chopped scallions and cilantro, fried shallots and hoisin) and nixes rice noodles for a ciabatta sub. Heavily seasoned with star anise, the accompanying broth (sold separately, by customer demand) is as good as that of any pho in the city, and completes the soup-to-sandwich concept for a French dip-meets-pho moment. The meat braises for six hours and the lucent broth is simmered separately; this sandwich takes no shortcuts. ALEXA WEIBEL”
Shawarma east pita: In a city where shawarma often serves as a late-night snack to curb tomorrow’s hangover, Spice Brothers takes the popular Middle Eastern street food very seriously. Every element of the sandwich — the spit it’s roasted on, the single origin of the spices that perfume the meat, the spelling of tahina — has been fussed over. But it’s not so precious that it doesn’t fit in perfectly on the eternally scruffy strip that is St. Marks. NIKITA RICHARDSON
Focaccia sandwich: It’s been only a few months since this Italian cafe and provisions shop opened in SoHo, and already it’s serving one of the city’s best new Italian sandwiches. Made with mortadella, rosemary ham and hot soppressata — all imported from Italy — it also includes sweet roasted red peppers, made in-house, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar for tartness and a Calabrian chile mayo that adds a subtle heat. The only thing that varies daily is the cheese, which could be either provolone, fontina or burrata. “It’s our discretion to see what we’re feeling,” said Salvatore Carlino, the owner and founder, who also operates Lucia Pizza next door. But the real star is the fresh, pillowy focaccia, made crunchy with flakes of salt. CHRISTINA MORALES
“Chorizo egg and cheese: Many people wouldn’t guess that C & B, by the looks of it, serves some of the finest sandwiches in the city. Ali Sahin’s tiny cafe has been located for nearly a decade on the south side of Tompkins Square Park in the East Village, serving breakfast sandwiches that exemplify why New Yorkers love breakfast sandwiches: they’re simple as can be, but every component is on point. Lining up for a weekend breakfast sandwich there feels a little like being at a model casting — one wonders if the name is a play on “see and be seen” — but ordering well is a great equalizer: a fat, rich chorizo patty straight off the griddle and wobbly scrambled eggs, all piled high on an housemade roll to soak up the sausage’s spiced fat. BECKY HUGHES”
“The concept: a former Nakazawa chef, Kevin Ngo, goes the affordable sushi route (curated sets of nigiri, handrolls, and kaisendon for $18-$45 per). The counter tallies ten seats.”
Everything is kind of just really good, somethings are REALLY good?
- mortadella*
- polenta*
- herb salad*
- chili pepper
- pork chop (didn’t get but have heard great things)
- steak
I’m no expert, but to me they were all pretty good and the line moves fast and would eat again! Someone on TikTok was like: “fatty greasy tacos” and I AGREE (non derogatory).
My power rankings:
- ribeye
- chips and guac
- chicken gringo style (kill me for having to say that)
- pork
(Ppl say the veg is good I just didn’t get to try)
Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles were introduced to Chinatown here in 2003, but now the menu partly focuses on dumplings. The shape is odd, rolled like little enchiladas, and the dumplings are deep fried, making them crunchy with a porcine flavor. The three sauces are unusual, too, including a welcome bottle of pure Donghu aged black vinegar: 10 for $6
“The chopped tenderloin is seasoned with by-the-book bistro ingredients — shallots, capers, cornichons, parsley, and chives minced and tossed in a mustardy aioli — but the twist comes from the heavy hand with which that dressing is applied to the steak. It’s nearly dip, which is fitting since it comes heaped on what is essentially a very large corn chip that turns out to be the perfect delivery system for a burger-size puck of cool beef.”
I found a fast-food version of hot pot at YGF Malatang, a chain founded in 2003 with some 6,000 branches in Asia — the name Yang Guo Fu roughly means “Lucky Northern China” — which recently opened its first NYC location at 92 Third Avenue in the East Village near 12th Street. The narrow storefront’s green-and-orange design and peppy slogans set the tone for an efficient, solo-friendly meal: instructional placards present hot pot in a grab-and-go format, there are no big tables, and it was already jammed with students when I visited. I built my bowl from 60 tubs of raw materials — frozen curls of marbled beef, pork, and lamb; marinated chicken; greens like baby bok choy, Chinese cabbage, celtuce, kelp, iceberg lettuce, and spinach; seafood such as fish balls, fish tofu, surimi, fish filet, and frozen shrimp; dried ramen-style noodles; dried black mushrooms, pickled wood ears, and fresh enoki; squash and root vegetables; fried eggs; tomato wedges; offal including cow aorta and tripe; and several permutations of tofu — at $15 per pound. I then chose one of three finishes at the counter (a bone broth with Sichuan peppercorns offered in three spice levels, a milder sweet-and-sour tomato broth, or a dry pot with a spicy peanut-and-sesame dressing) and had chefs in the back cook it for me in black uniforms with stiff-flapped caps; after taking a number and mixing a dipping sauce at the condiments bar (sesame oil, tahini, and soy sauce with crushed garlic is a classic), my bowl arrived from a runner in about ten minutes.
Chilaquiles are a perfect food — if I weren’t allowed to eat anything else before noon ever again, I’d still be happy. At least for a while. So while I didn’t go to Superiority Burger in search of this dish, how could I say no? The chilaquiles ($15) here are the work of cook Akbal Ortega, who spends most of his time making bulk batches of soups, stews, and braises. The chips are still firm and crispy, simmered in a tart and just oh-so-spicy salsa verde with a fried egg plopped on top. —Chris Crowley
“Manhattan is swimming in fast omakases, but the $109 procession of courses at Sushi Ouji, a subterranean spot that opened in December on Prince Street, stood out with a lovely chawanmushi starter loaded with snow crab and scallop and a gorgeous slice of ikura-topped futomaki served after nine pieces of nigiri. —T.T.”
“I recently tried the duck club sandwich at Blueprint in Park Slope: rare duck breast sliced thin like roast beef and layered with bacon, lettuce, and tomato on the kitchen’s own raisin-walnut bread. It’s an incredible combination that this neighborhood cocktail bar has had on the menu for years, but it deserves to be more famous. —T.T.”
Most prominent are four “slippery egg” dishes ($14) that feature a mountain of rice blanketed by an omelet laced with milk and cheese, which glows alarmingly yellow. The one I tried had a breaded chicken cutlet on top with a Malaysian-style coconut curry gravy on the side.
Noodle soups are another strong point. Using soft rice noodles, these deploy a mellow chicken broth and fill it with multiple ingredients, focusing on beef or seafood. The most expensive is abalone and seafood rice noodle soup ($20) featuring what seems like an unusual selection for a fast food joint: squid, shrimp, mussels, and fish balls, in addition to actual abalone, once a luxury product but now being farmed along the Fujianese coastline. This soup is briny and fortifying, but I left wishing I’d ordered the spicy beef noodle soup instead.
At Spice Brothers, the beef-and-lamb shawarma (“Shawarma East” on the menu) is seasoned with a Turkish-style spice blend heavy on warm spices like cumin, cinnamon, and a bright flash of rose petals before it’s dressed with herbed labneh sauce. The other option, chicken, is the Shawarma West, spiced with pimentón and turmeric and packing the heat of harissa. The sandwiches are $15 (chicken) and $17 (beef-lamb), made with Sercarz’s spices and Pat LaFrieda meat. Each comes with tahini, a salty rendition of the mango-pickle amba, cilantro, and an unconventional crown of arugula. (It’s peppery and fresh; it works.) The pita, from New Jersey’s Angel Bakeries, is fluffy and holds its own against all the sauce and meat juice.
Extremely recommended by Eugene, his order is:
Bak Kut Teh
Pork chop in sweet bbq sauce
Salt and pepper pork chop
Hainanese chicken
Curry chicken
Chicken rice
Princess tofu
Fried pearl noodles
Choy kway teow
One of the last Cuban and Chinese restaurants left, good for after Lincoln Center…
Get the crackling chicken with green sauce
Egg foo yong
Fried pork chop
General Tso beef
"Still, my personal Manhattan recommendation is Da Long Yi, the Chengdu eatery that opened its first U.S. location on Canal Street. Its spicy base comes with a warning and arrives with a bobbing log of beef tallow spiked with chili peppers. The ingredients are fresh and prepped with care. In addition to the usual spread, I enjoyed the fresh tofu skin, which looks like golden parchment, and the gelatinous, delightful chew of beef tendon, which surprisingly few places have."
"This old-timer opened near the Hackensack River waterfront in Jersey City in 1972, and the menu reflects Italian American food at that juncture of its development. Nothing could be more perfect than the eggplant rollatini ($11), stuffing southern Italy’s favorite vegetable with the cow’s milk cheese so abundant in the New World, called for lack of a better term, mozzarella. The pungent tomato sauce knocks the dish into orbit."
"This was a sterling year for new Thai restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, with regional food flooding many menus. Replacing the respected Pam Real Thai food this year was LumLum, offering several remarkable new dishes. These river prawns (two for $14) native to the Mekong River are like little lobsters, tasting of butter and oozing roe, served with a pungent dipping sauce."
"The name chicken paratha ($8) might suggest a flatbread wrapped around a curry or other stew into a sort of sandwich — but this wonderful recipe is far from it. The paratha here is transformed into delightful little dumplings in this spicy red stew enhanced with herbs and shredded cabbage, with red pepper flakes on the side in case you want to ramp up the heat."
"This daffy new Chinese restaurant looks like a movie theater inside — and no one has taken the concept of Chinese American fusion further. American fried chicken is rendered as its Chinese counterpart, salt and pepper chicken ($25), then spectacularly sided with biscuits that riff on scallion pancakes, with a salty plum jam and sweet pickled jalapenos on the side. It’s one of the city’s best versions of fried chicken, period."
"Proving that the best-tasting dishes aren’t necessarily the best-looking ones, the fish pepper soup blew me away when this essential Nigerian restaurant reopened in new digs. The soup ($15) — also available in a goat version — is known as one of the cuisine’s hottest, and the heat comes from a symphony of indigenous African spices. The flavor is mellow, warm, and pleasantly caustic all at once, and will leave you feeling very satisfied. "
From Robert Sietsma's best dishes of 2022:
"Sea bass with rice peppers at Café China: The revamped Café China in its new location nearer Herald Square is better than ever, especially this entrée ($42) of an entire fish in a lovely yellow broth shot with pickled green peppercorns, yielding a tart and spicy savor characteristic of Sichuan cuisine. The depths of the bowl offer a luxuriant quantity of glass mung bean noodles, too. 5"
Pretty solid offering from Ignacio and Estela team, for better and for worse in the heart of Dimes Sq and just like a busy and fun place to have dinner where you'll run into someone you know.
"I felt the same eating the $68 omakase at Matsunori in the Lower East Side, a BYOB counter where you book a seat for an hour-ish reservation. Our 8:15 seating was completely sold out, which is common, and explains why these small counters are able to afford such high-quality fish, though I had some initial doubts after my first dish, a confusing appetizer of hamachi sprinkled with actual Frosted Flakes. The next hour or so consisted of an evenly paced succession of delicately garnished lumps of nigiri, one with pickled mustard seeds, another simply with flaky salt or sesame seeds to bring out the fish. Wagyu was sliced and warmed by blowtorch, atomizing smoky fat into the air. Fire always leaves a good impression."
New "nice" Indian
From the NYM food newsletter:
A few days earlier, I had been similarly captivated by a different restaurant, Gazab. The food is completely different from Rowdy Rooster’s, but there seemed to be a strong overlap in the crowds that gathered at both restaurants. Under the gaze of Gazab’s floor-to-ceiling dining-room mural — a woman with a Champagne flute staring out over her sunglasses — a guy wearing a Polo teddy-bear sweatshirt and a turban split some biryani with his partner while three women sipping mango lassis asked for an extra side of ghee. I didn’t ask anyone where they were from, of course, but I took it as a good sign that they all seemed to know their way around the food.
I took cues from all of them and ordered the chicken biryani and lamb. When the women asked for an extra side of garlic naan, I ordered that, too. A hungover-looking group of three waited for a table, and I overheard two guys on a date talking about how the food was “just like India.” (I skipped the dish called ’70s Tikka Masala, though I appreciated the way the owners seemed to nod to its undisputed ubiquity while embracing its populist appeal.)
"You might have to take a subway and a bus to get to Mama Lee, but it’s worth it. It’s this little Taiwanese restaurant run by this wonderful lady who only opens when she feels like it, so it’s always good to call ahead. This dish’s simplicity is what makes it great. The preserved turnip is a totally magical ingredient that gives you a taste of salt, but filtered through the earth somehow."
Pete Wells reviewed Chinese place that some say is not that good... but still curious to try, from the review:
Curry beef triangles; ma la jellyfish; tempura lotus root and shrimp sandwich; soy-braised romaine lettuce; grilled banana leaf branzino; black beef pepper tenderloin; Macao curry chicken; Cha Kee fried rice. Appetizers, $8 to $15; main courses, $15 to $26.
Midtown high end Chinese, things to order from Grub Street below:
Dim sum sampler, kou shuichicken, Hutong lobster and/or Red Lantern soft-shell crab, ma la beef tenderloin, Four Seasons beans with pork and shrimp, white-chocolate' «bao.
BLT - get this before tomato season is over.... (also PBJ cookie)
UPDATE: I got both of these and they both DELIVERED. Sad that tomato season is almost over.
Carmellini steakhouse at Southstreet Seaport
UPDATE: pretty solid! Gorgonzola wagyu was a great piece of meat and then everything else was a very very good bite. Lowkey in the cut, but like it kind of feels "event"-y in that way?
Allegedly good Chinatown sushi
UPDATE: went and it was very good, kind of a weird vibe, got the full omakase and they had really good fish prepared in legit interesting ways
After having watched the entire video and having been there, this is what I want to order:
Crab cake
Caesar salad
Delmonico’s ribeye
Dry aged strip or rib eye
Hashbrown
Spinach
Chocolate cake
Baked Alaska
Coconut cake
Things that just didn't do it for me that the video likes:
Wedge salad
Lobster
“French Onion Sandwich: How to improve on the minimalist perfection of a grilled cheese? Extra ingredients would be superfluous to the pure harmony of melty cheese oozing from toasty, oily bread. And yet the French onion sandwich at Houseman, in Hudson Square, is the brilliant exception to prove the rule. One afternoon in 2015, the chef Ned Baldwin, inspired by gooey cheese-topped French onion soup, slid some caramelized onions he had on hand for a burger in between slices of brioche and funky raclette cheese. He griddled it and served it for staff meal, where it was such a hit that he moved it to the lunch menu — with a few canny tweaks. Now the sandwich is seasoned with grainy mustard for tang and maple syrup for sweetness, and the brioche is coated in Parmesan, then crisped, frico-like, in the hot pan. It’s a maximalist grilled cheese that manages to keep its balance. MELISSA CLARK”
“Caviar sandwich: It takes a lot for a white-bread sandwich born in the 20th century to make this list. And it’s not here because the filling is a thick schmear of sustainable, domestic caviar, offset by the mildness of chopped hard-cooked egg. Or that it comes with a cool, crunchy cucumber-onion salad that — who knew? — is just what you want to eat between bites. It’s that the sandwich is a perfect expression of the art of white toast: golden but not brown, crisp but not hard, sturdy but delicate. It’s a perfect appetizer for two with a martini or Champagne, especially as a lead-in to clams and oysters from the peerless raw bar. The only pain point is its price, which has gone from about $14 in 2019, when caviar prices were at a historic low, to $45 amid today’s high demand and inflation. JULIA MOSKIN”
“The pho sandwich: Do most soups translate into sandwiches? Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean they should. Gimmicky but legit, Little Kirin’s pho sandwich is a rare exception. The chef, Brendan Tran, takes the elements of pho (paper-thin slivers of brisket, shaved white onion, chopped scallions and cilantro, fried shallots and hoisin) and nixes rice noodles for a ciabatta sub. Heavily seasoned with star anise, the accompanying broth (sold separately, by customer demand) is as good as that of any pho in the city, and completes the soup-to-sandwich concept for a French dip-meets-pho moment. The meat braises for six hours and the lucent broth is simmered separately; this sandwich takes no shortcuts. ALEXA WEIBEL”
Shawarma east pita: In a city where shawarma often serves as a late-night snack to curb tomorrow’s hangover, Spice Brothers takes the popular Middle Eastern street food very seriously. Every element of the sandwich — the spit it’s roasted on, the single origin of the spices that perfume the meat, the spelling of tahina — has been fussed over. But it’s not so precious that it doesn’t fit in perfectly on the eternally scruffy strip that is St. Marks. NIKITA RICHARDSON
Focaccia sandwich: It’s been only a few months since this Italian cafe and provisions shop opened in SoHo, and already it’s serving one of the city’s best new Italian sandwiches. Made with mortadella, rosemary ham and hot soppressata — all imported from Italy — it also includes sweet roasted red peppers, made in-house, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar for tartness and a Calabrian chile mayo that adds a subtle heat. The only thing that varies daily is the cheese, which could be either provolone, fontina or burrata. “It’s our discretion to see what we’re feeling,” said Salvatore Carlino, the owner and founder, who also operates Lucia Pizza next door. But the real star is the fresh, pillowy focaccia, made crunchy with flakes of salt. CHRISTINA MORALES
“Chorizo egg and cheese: Many people wouldn’t guess that C & B, by the looks of it, serves some of the finest sandwiches in the city. Ali Sahin’s tiny cafe has been located for nearly a decade on the south side of Tompkins Square Park in the East Village, serving breakfast sandwiches that exemplify why New Yorkers love breakfast sandwiches: they’re simple as can be, but every component is on point. Lining up for a weekend breakfast sandwich there feels a little like being at a model casting — one wonders if the name is a play on “see and be seen” — but ordering well is a great equalizer: a fat, rich chorizo patty straight off the griddle and wobbly scrambled eggs, all piled high on an housemade roll to soak up the sausage’s spiced fat. BECKY HUGHES”
“The concept: a former Nakazawa chef, Kevin Ngo, goes the affordable sushi route (curated sets of nigiri, handrolls, and kaisendon for $18-$45 per). The counter tallies ten seats.”
Everything is kind of just really good, somethings are REALLY good?
- mortadella*
- polenta*
- herb salad*
- chili pepper
- pork chop (didn’t get but have heard great things)
- steak
I’m no expert, but to me they were all pretty good and the line moves fast and would eat again! Someone on TikTok was like: “fatty greasy tacos” and I AGREE (non derogatory).
My power rankings:
- ribeye
- chips and guac
- chicken gringo style (kill me for having to say that)
- pork
(Ppl say the veg is good I just didn’t get to try)
Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles were introduced to Chinatown here in 2003, but now the menu partly focuses on dumplings. The shape is odd, rolled like little enchiladas, and the dumplings are deep fried, making them crunchy with a porcine flavor. The three sauces are unusual, too, including a welcome bottle of pure Donghu aged black vinegar: 10 for $6
“The chopped tenderloin is seasoned with by-the-book bistro ingredients — shallots, capers, cornichons, parsley, and chives minced and tossed in a mustardy aioli — but the twist comes from the heavy hand with which that dressing is applied to the steak. It’s nearly dip, which is fitting since it comes heaped on what is essentially a very large corn chip that turns out to be the perfect delivery system for a burger-size puck of cool beef.”
YGF Malatang’s First New York Location Is a Must for Hot Pot Lovers | Eater NY
I found a fast-food version of hot pot at YGF Malatang, a chain founded in 2003 with some 6,000 branches in Asia — the name Yang Guo Fu roughly means “Lucky Northern China” — which recently opened its first NYC location at 92 Third Avenue in the East Village near 12th Street. The narrow storefront’s green-and-orange design and peppy slogans set the tone for an efficient, solo-friendly meal: instructional placards present hot pot in a grab-and-go format, there are no big tables, and it was already jammed with students when I visited. I built my bowl from 60 tubs of raw materials — frozen curls of marbled beef, pork, and lamb; marinated chicken; greens like baby bok choy, Chinese cabbage, celtuce, kelp, iceberg lettuce, and spinach; seafood such as fish balls, fish tofu, surimi, fish filet, and frozen shrimp; dried ramen-style noodles; dried black mushrooms, pickled wood ears, and fresh enoki; squash and root vegetables; fried eggs; tomato wedges; offal including cow aorta and tripe; and several permutations of tofu — at $15 per pound. I then chose one of three finishes at the counter (a bone broth with Sichuan peppercorns offered in three spice levels, a milder sweet-and-sour tomato broth, or a dry pot with a spicy peanut-and-sesame dressing) and had chefs in the back cook it for me in black uniforms with stiff-flapped caps; after taking a number and mixing a dipping sauce at the condiments bar (sesame oil, tahini, and soy sauce with crushed garlic is a classic), my bowl arrived from a runner in about ten minutes. - Robert Sietsema
Yes yes we all love burgers BUT! Have you tried a burger made with Ibérico pork?? As both a Spaniard and American, it combines two things I love and here Chef Nico tells you how he made it a reality with the Ibérico Smash Burger at MercadoLittleSpain. Have you tried it?? Is so good! #burger#jamon#smashburger
Chilaquiles are a perfect food — if I weren’t allowed to eat anything else before noon ever again, I’d still be happy. At least for a while. So while I didn’t go to Superiority Burger in search of this dish, how could I say no? The chilaquiles ($15) here are the work of cook Akbal Ortega, who spends most of his time making bulk batches of soups, stews, and braises. The chips are still firm and crispy, simmered in a tart and just oh-so-spicy salsa verde with a fried egg plopped on top. —Chris Crowley
“Manhattan is swimming in fast omakases, but the $109 procession of courses at Sushi Ouji, a subterranean spot that opened in December on Prince Street, stood out with a lovely chawanmushi starter loaded with snow crab and scallop and a gorgeous slice of ikura-topped futomaki served after nine pieces of nigiri. —T.T.”
“I recently tried the duck club sandwich at Blueprint in Park Slope: rare duck breast sliced thin like roast beef and layered with bacon, lettuce, and tomato on the kitchen’s own raisin-walnut bread. It’s an incredible combination that this neighborhood cocktail bar has had on the menu for years, but it deserves to be more famous. —T.T.”
Most prominent are four “slippery egg” dishes ($14) that feature a mountain of rice blanketed by an omelet laced with milk and cheese, which glows alarmingly yellow. The one I tried had a breaded chicken cutlet on top with a Malaysian-style coconut curry gravy on the side.
Noodle soups are another strong point. Using soft rice noodles, these deploy a mellow chicken broth and fill it with multiple ingredients, focusing on beef or seafood. The most expensive is abalone and seafood rice noodle soup ($20) featuring what seems like an unusual selection for a fast food joint: squid, shrimp, mussels, and fish balls, in addition to actual abalone, once a luxury product but now being farmed along the Fujianese coastline. This soup is briny and fortifying, but I left wishing I’d ordered the spicy beef noodle soup instead.
At Spice Brothers, the beef-and-lamb shawarma (“Shawarma East” on the menu) is seasoned with a Turkish-style spice blend heavy on warm spices like cumin, cinnamon, and a bright flash of rose petals before it’s dressed with herbed labneh sauce. The other option, chicken, is the Shawarma West, spiced with pimentón and turmeric and packing the heat of harissa. The sandwiches are $15 (chicken) and $17 (beef-lamb), made with Sercarz’s spices and Pat LaFrieda meat. Each comes with tahini, a salty rendition of the mango-pickle amba, cilantro, and an unconventional crown of arugula. (It’s peppery and fresh; it works.) The pita, from New Jersey’s Angel Bakeries, is fluffy and holds its own against all the sauce and meat juice.
Extremely recommended by Eugene, his order is:
Bak Kut Teh
Pork chop in sweet bbq sauce
Salt and pepper pork chop
Hainanese chicken
Curry chicken
Chicken rice
Princess tofu
Fried pearl noodles
Choy kway teow
One of the last Cuban and Chinese restaurants left, good for after Lincoln Center…
Get the crackling chicken with green sauce
Egg foo yong
Fried pork chop
General Tso beef
"Still, my personal Manhattan recommendation is Da Long Yi, the Chengdu eatery that opened its first U.S. location on Canal Street. Its spicy base comes with a warning and arrives with a bobbing log of beef tallow spiked with chili peppers. The ingredients are fresh and prepped with care. In addition to the usual spread, I enjoyed the fresh tofu skin, which looks like golden parchment, and the gelatinous, delightful chew of beef tendon, which surprisingly few places have."
"This old-timer opened near the Hackensack River waterfront in Jersey City in 1972, and the menu reflects Italian American food at that juncture of its development. Nothing could be more perfect than the eggplant rollatini ($11), stuffing southern Italy’s favorite vegetable with the cow’s milk cheese so abundant in the New World, called for lack of a better term, mozzarella. The pungent tomato sauce knocks the dish into orbit."
"This was a sterling year for new Thai restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, with regional food flooding many menus. Replacing the respected Pam Real Thai food this year was LumLum, offering several remarkable new dishes. These river prawns (two for $14) native to the Mekong River are like little lobsters, tasting of butter and oozing roe, served with a pungent dipping sauce."
"The name chicken paratha ($8) might suggest a flatbread wrapped around a curry or other stew into a sort of sandwich — but this wonderful recipe is far from it. The paratha here is transformed into delightful little dumplings in this spicy red stew enhanced with herbs and shredded cabbage, with red pepper flakes on the side in case you want to ramp up the heat."
"This daffy new Chinese restaurant looks like a movie theater inside — and no one has taken the concept of Chinese American fusion further. American fried chicken is rendered as its Chinese counterpart, salt and pepper chicken ($25), then spectacularly sided with biscuits that riff on scallion pancakes, with a salty plum jam and sweet pickled jalapenos on the side. It’s one of the city’s best versions of fried chicken, period."
"Proving that the best-tasting dishes aren’t necessarily the best-looking ones, the fish pepper soup blew me away when this essential Nigerian restaurant reopened in new digs. The soup ($15) — also available in a goat version — is known as one of the cuisine’s hottest, and the heat comes from a symphony of indigenous African spices. The flavor is mellow, warm, and pleasantly caustic all at once, and will leave you feeling very satisfied. "
From Robert Sietsma's best dishes of 2022:
"Sea bass with rice peppers at Café China: The revamped Café China in its new location nearer Herald Square is better than ever, especially this entrée ($42) of an entire fish in a lovely yellow broth shot with pickled green peppercorns, yielding a tart and spicy savor characteristic of Sichuan cuisine. The depths of the bowl offer a luxuriant quantity of glass mung bean noodles, too. 5"
Pretty solid offering from Ignacio and Estela team, for better and for worse in the heart of Dimes Sq and just like a busy and fun place to have dinner where you'll run into someone you know.
"I felt the same eating the $68 omakase at Matsunori in the Lower East Side, a BYOB counter where you book a seat for an hour-ish reservation. Our 8:15 seating was completely sold out, which is common, and explains why these small counters are able to afford such high-quality fish, though I had some initial doubts after my first dish, a confusing appetizer of hamachi sprinkled with actual Frosted Flakes. The next hour or so consisted of an evenly paced succession of delicately garnished lumps of nigiri, one with pickled mustard seeds, another simply with flaky salt or sesame seeds to bring out the fish. Wagyu was sliced and warmed by blowtorch, atomizing smoky fat into the air. Fire always leaves a good impression."
New "nice" Indian
From the NYM food newsletter:
A few days earlier, I had been similarly captivated by a different restaurant, Gazab. The food is completely different from Rowdy Rooster’s, but there seemed to be a strong overlap in the crowds that gathered at both restaurants. Under the gaze of Gazab’s floor-to-ceiling dining-room mural — a woman with a Champagne flute staring out over her sunglasses — a guy wearing a Polo teddy-bear sweatshirt and a turban split some biryani with his partner while three women sipping mango lassis asked for an extra side of ghee. I didn’t ask anyone where they were from, of course, but I took it as a good sign that they all seemed to know their way around the food.
I took cues from all of them and ordered the chicken biryani and lamb. When the women asked for an extra side of garlic naan, I ordered that, too. A hungover-looking group of three waited for a table, and I overheard two guys on a date talking about how the food was “just like India.” (I skipped the dish called ’70s Tikka Masala, though I appreciated the way the owners seemed to nod to its undisputed ubiquity while embracing its populist appeal.)
"You might have to take a subway and a bus to get to Mama Lee, but it’s worth it. It’s this little Taiwanese restaurant run by this wonderful lady who only opens when she feels like it, so it’s always good to call ahead. This dish’s simplicity is what makes it great. The preserved turnip is a totally magical ingredient that gives you a taste of salt, but filtered through the earth somehow."
Pete Wells reviewed Chinese place that some say is not that good... but still curious to try, from the review:
Curry beef triangles; ma la jellyfish; tempura lotus root and shrimp sandwich; soy-braised romaine lettuce; grilled banana leaf branzino; black beef pepper tenderloin; Macao curry chicken; Cha Kee fried rice. Appetizers, $8 to $15; main courses, $15 to $26.
Midtown high end Chinese, things to order from Grub Street below:
Dim sum sampler, kou shuichicken, Hutong lobster and/or Red Lantern soft-shell crab, ma la beef tenderloin, Four Seasons beans with pork and shrimp, white-chocolate' «bao.
BLT - get this before tomato season is over.... (also PBJ cookie)
UPDATE: I got both of these and they both DELIVERED. Sad that tomato season is almost over.
Carmellini steakhouse at Southstreet Seaport
UPDATE: pretty solid! Gorgonzola wagyu was a great piece of meat and then everything else was a very very good bite. Lowkey in the cut, but like it kind of feels "event"-y in that way?
Allegedly good Chinatown sushi
UPDATE: went and it was very good, kind of a weird vibe, got the full omakase and they had really good fish prepared in legit interesting ways
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