Last week, my friend Raina emailed me, looking for restaurants in the West Village, since she was going to a play at a theatre on Barrow Street. I forgot to ask her where she ended up going, but this is what I recommended:
>>>
My favorite reliable spot in that area is a Greek place called Snack Taverna, right off Seventh Ave on Bedford. Nice but not too expensive, excellent food, intimate and comfortable atmosphere, I have had a number of great meals there. Definitely ask for extra pita bread -- they make their own and it is fluffy and warm and so very good. Decent vegetarian options, too.
For some serious amazing spicy fishiness, do not miss Fatty Crab, on Hudson at Horatio. So damn good -- between the fried duck and the pickles and the crab and the curries, I am developing a serious crush on the place. I saw one of the waiters at a show at the Bowery Ballroom recently, and I accosted him as if he was a rockstar, just so I could gush about the duck and pickles.
If you go early and feel like making the scene, Spotted Pig really is good, though not good enough to wait two hours on the sidewalk in the rain. Go for lunch some other time when the place is chill and the food is the same. The famous dish there is the gnudi, oversized ricotta gnocchi-esque dumplings, soaking in a brown butter sage sauce which is akin to drinking a butter soup. When I was there last week the bartender said he limits himself to one serving a week. Oh yeah, and the bartender's a total babe.
For more snack/cocktail mode try Employees Only, on Hudson. I haven't eaten there but the cocktails are dreamy. Lat time I was there I had a fig/honey vodka something-or-other, which was like an alcoholic mediterranean smoothie.
August, on Bleeker at Charles, is very good. But maybe too expensive for your purposes? Also can be hard to score a table at a prime time. Great backyard though, and I always mean to go back there more often.
Both Mary's Fish Camp and Pearl Oyster Bar are delicious, if you are feeling the seafood. At Pearl, I really dig the shrimp appetizer; I actually eat the shells. I haven't been there is a long time though, I wonder if that dish is even still on the menu...?
For cheap and easy, there's a new casual asian place on Carmine called Noodle Shop or something (Noodle Bar? it's right across the street from Grey Dog coffee), which is kind of dinery with a pan-asian menu. Quick and decent.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Monday, March 06, 2006
Big tables
In January, my pal Josh celebrated a birthday, and I volunteered some recommendations of places to go with a large group. We were focussing mainly on the East Village for some reason. Oh yeah... we had plans to go to Von for drinks afterwards, so we wanted to be convenient to the bar.
>>>
Check these out:
Banjara - excellent Indian spot, nicer than the usual joints on the block and especially good. 1st ave and 6th street
Pylos - greek food in a cool room with clay pots all over the ceiling, 7th st and 1st ave
Cafecito - casual, cuban food, cheap and good. ave c and 11th st
Mancora - surprisingly yummy peruvian food, I get delivery all the time from their BK outpost, inexpensive. 1st ave at 6th st
Euzkadi - spanish, tapas, very european vibe, I had a fun birthday here once, 4th and 1st
Mo Pitkins - new place on Ave. A with a kooky updated jewish/latin retro fusion comfort food menu. Or something.
Hasaki is the good Japanese place that everyone likes a lot, downstairs location, nice but not fancy. On 9th st at 4th ave.
>>>
We ended up at Mancora, one of my reliable Smith Street stand-bys now transplanted into the East Village. Two issues though -- the heating was all messed up, blasting burning gusts of recycled air right at our table. Unpleasant. Another strange misstep was that one of the ceviches was served in a bowl that was so unbalanced and precarious that Josh spilled the ceviche in his lap, twice! Why use dishware that literally topples over and dispenses its food in your customers' laps? The food was great, though, and we had a lovely evening, fish juice be damned...
>>>
Check these out:
Banjara - excellent Indian spot, nicer than the usual joints on the block and especially good. 1st ave and 6th street
Pylos - greek food in a cool room with clay pots all over the ceiling, 7th st and 1st ave
Cafecito - casual, cuban food, cheap and good. ave c and 11th st
Mancora - surprisingly yummy peruvian food, I get delivery all the time from their BK outpost, inexpensive. 1st ave at 6th st
Euzkadi - spanish, tapas, very european vibe, I had a fun birthday here once, 4th and 1st
Mo Pitkins - new place on Ave. A with a kooky updated jewish/latin retro fusion comfort food menu. Or something.
Hasaki is the good Japanese place that everyone likes a lot, downstairs location, nice but not fancy. On 9th st at 4th ave.
>>>
We ended up at Mancora, one of my reliable Smith Street stand-bys now transplanted into the East Village. Two issues though -- the heating was all messed up, blasting burning gusts of recycled air right at our table. Unpleasant. Another strange misstep was that one of the ceviches was served in a bowl that was so unbalanced and precarious that Josh spilled the ceviche in his lap, twice! Why use dishware that literally topples over and dispenses its food in your customers' laps? The food was great, though, and we had a lovely evening, fish juice be damned...
Dinner with someone's mother in Union Square
I love it that people ask me for dinner ideas. My friend Sara's mom was visitng recently, and Sara needed somewhere to go with her mom and her mom's friend. The parameters were: Union Square area, not too crazy expensive, parent-friendly so not too annoyingly hip and sceney, but New Yorkish enough to give the midwestern ladies a thrill. My ideas were the following...
Basta Pasta - really cool spot, an Italian place run by Japanese. It's got this interesting cross-cultural approach, always lots of expat Japanese there, Italian food through an Asian lens. Not too expensive, on 17th at 5th ave.
BLT Fish is great, on 17th street, a casual (no res) fish shack downstairs, a more upscale and expensive dining room upstairs.
Mesa Grill might be good too - very parent-friendly, southwestern/mexican food, upscaled. The celebrity chef factor might have some appeal if she watches the food network. On 5th Ave. at 16th or so.
There's a newish tapas place, big and glam spot called Barca 18, on Park Ave. South at 18th St.
Beppe - I've heard great things about this place, mid-range Italian, 22nd street at Bway. [This is where they ended up going, and they LOVED it. They had to wait for their table for a while, and were comped free champagne and fries while they sat at the bar. I love it when a restaurant realizes they need to placate the paying customers. I mean, my friends won't remember the fact that they had to wait 40 miniutes for their table, but they will remember the free goodies and the fine treatment by way of apology.]
Also on the same block as Beppe is a prix fixe spot called Kitchen 22 - $25/3 courses, supposed to be really good. But I did hear that they recently had a change in chef, so no telling what it has become of late.
In the ABC Carpet & Home store are a couple good restaurants - Pipa, which is tapas (never been), and Lucy which is upscale Mexican (where I had a very good lunch once, though it may have been distorted by the fact that I had just come from the dentist and my entire mouth was numb.)
Basta Pasta - really cool spot, an Italian place run by Japanese. It's got this interesting cross-cultural approach, always lots of expat Japanese there, Italian food through an Asian lens. Not too expensive, on 17th at 5th ave.
BLT Fish is great, on 17th street, a casual (no res) fish shack downstairs, a more upscale and expensive dining room upstairs.
Mesa Grill might be good too - very parent-friendly, southwestern/mexican food, upscaled. The celebrity chef factor might have some appeal if she watches the food network. On 5th Ave. at 16th or so.
There's a newish tapas place, big and glam spot called Barca 18, on Park Ave. South at 18th St.
Beppe - I've heard great things about this place, mid-range Italian, 22nd street at Bway. [This is where they ended up going, and they LOVED it. They had to wait for their table for a while, and were comped free champagne and fries while they sat at the bar. I love it when a restaurant realizes they need to placate the paying customers. I mean, my friends won't remember the fact that they had to wait 40 miniutes for their table, but they will remember the free goodies and the fine treatment by way of apology.]
Also on the same block as Beppe is a prix fixe spot called Kitchen 22 - $25/3 courses, supposed to be really good. But I did hear that they recently had a change in chef, so no telling what it has become of late.
In the ABC Carpet & Home store are a couple good restaurants - Pipa, which is tapas (never been), and Lucy which is upscale Mexican (where I had a very good lunch once, though it may have been distorted by the fact that I had just come from the dentist and my entire mouth was numb.)
Some food ideas for my sister
My sister hosted a dinner party the other night, with a green curry as the centerpiece main dish. She was looking for appetizer and dessert ideas that might go well with the coconut curry, so here is what I recommended:
appetizers
- a kind of salsa/dip with: smoked salmon, chopped, with green onions, crushed garlic, grated ginger, avocado, toasted sesame seeds, in a dressing of soy sauce and lime juice. with rice crackers for dipping.
- store bought peanut sauce in bowl, warmed (or not, maybe doctored with cilantro and whatever you want), with crudites like baby carrots, endive leaves, red pepper strips and green beans lightly steamed.
- really, those bags of frozen dumplings/potstickers are awesome, buy a couple packages and make a homemade dipping sauce.
sweet
- green tea ice cream and/or that yummy haagen dazs mango sorbet, with almond cookies crushed on top.
- bananas fried in butter and brown sugar (and cardamom/clove too), on top of vanilla ice cream.
- plate of pineapple and oranges (like in chinese restaurants!) with warm mochi.
In the end she went with the very easy peanut sauce served with lightly steamed green beans. The guests went wild! Well, maybe not wild, but she said it was a hit, and for that I am very pleased.
appetizers
- a kind of salsa/dip with: smoked salmon, chopped, with green onions, crushed garlic, grated ginger, avocado, toasted sesame seeds, in a dressing of soy sauce and lime juice. with rice crackers for dipping.
- store bought peanut sauce in bowl, warmed (or not, maybe doctored with cilantro and whatever you want), with crudites like baby carrots, endive leaves, red pepper strips and green beans lightly steamed.
- really, those bags of frozen dumplings/potstickers are awesome, buy a couple packages and make a homemade dipping sauce.
sweet
- green tea ice cream and/or that yummy haagen dazs mango sorbet, with almond cookies crushed on top.
- bananas fried in butter and brown sugar (and cardamom/clove too), on top of vanilla ice cream.
- plate of pineapple and oranges (like in chinese restaurants!) with warm mochi.
In the end she went with the very easy peanut sauce served with lightly steamed green beans. The guests went wild! Well, maybe not wild, but she said it was a hit, and for that I am very pleased.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Score
A friend emailed me yesterday, and posed this question:
"can you recommend some really cool places in Soho/Tribeca etc for
dinner on Friday night? Not too flashy but really good food and a bit
of an insider place?"
Here was my reply:
- I have always wanted to go to 5 Ninth, address is, yes, 5 Ninth Ave, in the Meatpacking. Same guy who runs that amazing Malaysian restaurant (Fatty Crab), where I had the most extraordinary brined and fried duck, but 5 Ninth is more upscale and sceney, SE-Asian-influenced cuisine, really creative, cool chef.
- In Tribeca, the Harrison is a good standby, though not too super hip really.
- I love Barbuto, on Washington and 12th St in the West Village. Italian/mediterranean food in a great industrial space, very buzzing and fun. Every time I go there I seem to drink more wine than I possibly should.
- Blaue Gans is a brand new Austrian place in tribeca, owned by the famous Austrian chef from Wallse and Danube [wait, must fact-check this], but this spot is more casual, in the old le zinc space on Duane. supposed to be good. you can find some new reviews online.
- Bellavitae, on Minetta Lane, tiny little street off 6th ave in the Village. Great food, feels like a secret space, the menu is kind of an Italian small plates concept, it's owned by a guy who is an Italian specialty food importer, so the ingredients are ultra fine. (When i got a dish of nothing but fresh radishes and salt it came with a small bowl of olive oil that they described as "the Rolls Royce of olive oils" and it was fucking divine.)
Upon receipt of this list, my friend emailed me back and said:
"i sent my brother your list of places and he was really psyched.
thanks a lot! he just started to date some girl and, in a
flurry, is taking her to NYC for the weekend. crazy! so your
recommendation just may be helping him score this lady."
Least I can do.
"can you recommend some really cool places in Soho/Tribeca etc for
dinner on Friday night? Not too flashy but really good food and a bit
of an insider place?"
Here was my reply:
- I have always wanted to go to 5 Ninth, address is, yes, 5 Ninth Ave, in the Meatpacking. Same guy who runs that amazing Malaysian restaurant (Fatty Crab), where I had the most extraordinary brined and fried duck, but 5 Ninth is more upscale and sceney, SE-Asian-influenced cuisine, really creative, cool chef.
- In Tribeca, the Harrison is a good standby, though not too super hip really.
- I love Barbuto, on Washington and 12th St in the West Village. Italian/mediterranean food in a great industrial space, very buzzing and fun. Every time I go there I seem to drink more wine than I possibly should.
- Blaue Gans is a brand new Austrian place in tribeca, owned by the famous Austrian chef from Wallse and Danube [wait, must fact-check this], but this spot is more casual, in the old le zinc space on Duane. supposed to be good. you can find some new reviews online.
- Bellavitae, on Minetta Lane, tiny little street off 6th ave in the Village. Great food, feels like a secret space, the menu is kind of an Italian small plates concept, it's owned by a guy who is an Italian specialty food importer, so the ingredients are ultra fine. (When i got a dish of nothing but fresh radishes and salt it came with a small bowl of olive oil that they described as "the Rolls Royce of olive oils" and it was fucking divine.)
Upon receipt of this list, my friend emailed me back and said:
"i sent my brother your list of places and he was really psyched.
thanks a lot! he just started to date some girl and, in a
flurry, is taking her to NYC for the weekend. crazy! so your
recommendation just may be helping him score this lady."
Least I can do.
Tips & Tricks
I want to compile my own list of tips and tricks, a guide to eating well and having fun in New York City. I made a funny, doodly, hand-drawn list for my friends Marisa and Ian when they were visiting last December; they were so happy with my recommendations that I think I should make a full-fledged NYC guide for prospective visitors! I will compile this bit by bit, we shall see how it goes...
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
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