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Battery Park
City
Bua Thai
50 West St
Manhattan
212-514-8118
The scent of holy basil fills the air as you plunge into this crowd-pleaser
at the mouth of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. Skip the appetizers, since
the entrees are huge--try spicy rice noodle, wok'd with green pepper,
dried red chiles, and plenty of garlic and pork. Also recommended is the
vegetarian Thai salad loaded with tofu, a cornucopia of vegetables, and
fine bean-thread noodles in a chile and lime dressing. Look to the steam
table for daily specials, like an anise-y stew of pork and boiled eggs
in sweet dark sauce. Closed weekends.
Bowery
Emerald Planet
2 Great Jones Street
Manhattan
212-353-WRAP
Just when you were getting terminally bored of burritos, along comes the
wrap-the burrito reborn with an international catalogue of non-Mex ingredients
ensconced in wildly colorful tortillas, at an elevated price. In pleasant
digs, this joint purveys downtown's best, with silly geographic identifications
such as Kathmandu: grilled coconut shrimp in green curry with mango salsa,
green beans, bamboo shoots, and rice. (Hey, where do they get shrimp in
Nepal?) The other half of the menu is devoted to smoothies, which feature
fruit combinations and optional additions like spirulina, bee pollen,
and lecithin.
Hoomoos Asli
100 Kenmare Street
Manhattan
966-0022
This Sephardic Israeli grill is particularly proud of its humus, which
is fluffy and richly flavored with cumin. Have it ringed around tabouleh
and tahini, and roasted pignoli, or, best of all, a "Jerusalem mixed
grill"-a sauté of meat and poultry tidbits that can contain
organ meats, at your request. Yemenite, Middle Eastern, Turkish, and North
African dishes complete the menu, but whatever you order, make sure you
get plenty of the homemade pitas. The sunny L-shaped room is relentlessly
decorated with color photos of flower beds, and the air is faintly scented
with rose water.
Rice
227 Mott Street
Manhattan
212-226-5775
What a concept! This carryout specializes in rice-based dishes, with a
choice of basmati, Japanese short grain, Thai black, Tibetan red, sticky,
brown, or even barley. Available in large and small sizes, the majority
of the dishes are in an Asian vein, like Vietnamese grilled chicken, Thai
beef salad, and Indian curry with yogurt and banana. There's also a selection
of plain sauces priced at a dollar apiece that can be paired with any
rice, including mango and avocado salsas and salsa fresca. A full-service
dining room has recently opened, and the menu has expanded accordingly.
Chelsea
La Taza De Oro
98 8th Avenue
Manhattan
212-243-9946
New York's premier Puerto Rican restaurant also happens to be one of the
best food deals in town--each entrée comes with a giant plate of
rice and beans that could happily make a meal in itself. Recommended main
dishes include a thick fricassee of goat and potatoes (add a shot of vinegar
from the bottle on the table), a cold salad of shredded salt cod with
onions and plenty of garlic, and deep-fried pork chops, two to a plate.
If you want something lighter, try the avocado salad. There's a different
menu for each day of the week. Closed Sundays.
Petite Abeille
107 W 18th Street
Manhattan
212-604-9350
This tiny Belgian café sports an odd logo: a stingerless female
bee with human legs and a bouffant hairdo--just the thing to get you in
the mood for the modestly priced, European-flaired food. Sandwiches include
grilled vegetables; prosciutto, mozzarella, and basil; and spicy tuna
salad, all on stupendous bread. More particularly Belgian are the quiches
and hot dishes like waterzooi--chicken and vegetables in a white gravy,
which tastes like a pot pie sans the crust; or stoemp--a hodgepodge of
potatoes mashed with other vegetables and sided with sausages. New branches
on West 14th and Hudson Streets are also fab--all the food now comes from
the 14th Street branch.
Sammy's
453 6th Avenue
Manhattan
212-924-6688
More than a noodle shop, this newcomer features diverse and exciting excursions
into regional Chinese in huge portions. Take the Taiwanese shrimp roll--wrapped
in Japanese nori and deep-fried--or, from the same island, a delicious
mai fun loaded with woodsy dried mushrooms and bright green pea pods.
The curry of chicken and potatoes is distinctively Malaysian; also represented
is the food of Beijing, Singapore, Canton, Shanghai, and Sichuan. They
even attempt yakitori (which I urge you to avoid). The big dining room
sports a garish color scheme, and the entire restaurant, including bakery,
reception, and visible kitchen, occupies the better part of a city block.
Soul Fixins'
371 W 34th Street
Manhattan
212-736-1345
Chicken is king at this soul food hang, whether you order it baked, barbecued,
or deep-fried (my pick). Or you can make do with just the wings--served
Buffalo-style. Other mainstays include decent barbecued pork ribs and
wonderful whiting, cornmeal coated and fried to order with skin intact
and a few spiny things sticking out here and there. Sides in order of
preference: candied yams with a touch of nutmeg, vinegary collard greens,
corn off the cob, and macaroni and cheese. Only open weekdays till 7 p.m.
Terry's Gourmet
575 6th Avneue
Manhattan
212-206-0170
On the surface this is a typical deli, with orderly displays of shrimp
salad, fruit salad, chicken salad, green salad, and rollmops made of boiled
ham. Forget it all and order a roti, the stuffed Trinidadian flatbread
that's assembled at a counter hidden from public view and usually eaten
by the deli staff (weekdays only). The choices are chicken, beef, shrimp,
and goat, which are mixed with a delicious curry of potatoes and chick
peas. The bread is dhal poori, introduced to the Caribbean by Indian immigrants.
Beware of the bones in the chicken and goat.
Chinatown
213 Grand Street Gourmet
213 Grand Street
Manhattan
212-226-4231
The minute you enter, your eye is drawn to the four-foot framed shark's
fin at the end of the room. You may have been lured in by the perfect
display of Chinese barbecue in the window: pig, cuttlefish, chicken, duck,
mixed gizzards, pork, chicken feet--even duck blood, the potent folk cure
for heart ailments and antidote to the unctuous excess of all the rest.
These ingredients over rice, and assorted noodle soups and dim sum, make
up the teahouse menu, of which the baby pig over rice is the best--crunchy
skinned and seemingly fatless. Or ask for the Hong Kong menu, which is
considerably more expensive, and includes a wonderful soup of dried scallops
fortified with ham and mushrooms.
69 Mott Street Restaurant
69 Mott Street
Manhattan
212-233-5877
If you've been looking on the perimeter of Chinatown for the best cheap
Chinese, you're looking in the wrong place. At this tidy and well-lit
cafe, a party of four can easily dine for $20 or less on Cantonese specialties
like shrimp with egg sauce; congee with pork, squid, and fish cake; or
sliced beef and pickled vegetables. The barbecue selections, which can
be had as appetizers or over rice, are impeccably prepared. And the menu
pulls no punches: in addition to tourist-friendly stuff like duck and
roast pork, you can also pick the arcane: bowel and squid, or pig's skin
with turnips.
Banh Mi So 1
369 Broome Street
Manhattan
212-219-8341
As you enter, a woman peels long stalks of sugarcane by the front door
to make fresh juice, and further inside this new shop a fascinating collection
of snacks is displayed: sticky rice in lurid shades of green, yellow,
and red; thick jackfruit chips; chewy mung bean cakes and crunchy mung
bean cookies; cans of pâté; and nems, garlic-cured pork sausages
usually eaten raw. More substantial are banh mi, Vietnamese heroes made
with French bread, including a delicious chicken version dressed with
chile sauce and mayo and heaped with cucumbers, pickled slaw, and cilantro.
C & F Restaurant
171 Hester Street
Manhattan
212-343-2623
Hong Kong soaked up the regional cuisines of China like a sponge, then
turned to Southeast Asia, North America, and England for further inspiration.
To savor Hong Kong's complexities, start with a salad of julienne jellyfish
dressed with sesame oil and tossed with Vietnamese vegetables, or choose
any of the comforting congees. Next try baked salt-and-pepper shrimp--to
be eaten without removing the crunchy shells--or the Malaysian-influenced
pork with pickled vegetables over rice. Wake up early and check out the
wacky breakfasts, like a Spam and egg sandwich washed down with Horlicks.
Excellent Dumpling
House
111 Layfayette Street
Manhattan
212-219-0212
Many of the cheapest items on the menu are the best offerings here, like
the light and remarkably ungreasy scallion pancakes. Also good is any
dish designated "rice cake": perfect flying saucers of noodlelike
substance stir-fried with garlic, green onions, ginger, and your choice
of shrimp, chicken, or pork. Another outstanding selection is the forbidding-sounding
sliced fish and sour cabbage. It consists of hunks of battered and deep-fried
yellow fish stir-fried with red and green bell peppers and tangy fronds
of sweet-sour pickled cabbage. Also recommended is the salt-baked squid,
which is not really baked at all.
New Taste Good
1 Doyers Street
Manhattan
212-732-3233
A few years back, Malaysian eateries began to appear on the frontiers
of Chinatown, distinguished by prices considerably lower than those of
the Cantonese and Vietnamese joints that preceded them. For a mind-boggling
$2.95, you could get a large plate of rice and choice of three entrees
from among the jumble of dishes displayed in the window. Now more ambitious
Malaysian restaurants have begun to appear in central Chinatown as well
as Soho, the Upper West Side, and the East Village. Recently appearing
on Doyers Street is New Taste Good, a boxy eight-table cafe dominated
by huge mirrors etched with tropical fish and undulating fronds of seaweed.
The food is as fine an example of Sino-Malaysian as Manhattan offers,
and with 150 items on the menu, the range is vastly greater than in the
steam-table joints. For a selection of dishes in a Malay rather than Chinese
vein, stick with the red print. You should begin with ajak ($3), a piquant
salad of pickled carrots, cabbage, and yard beans, so called because they
sometimes attain lengths of a yard or more. Less susceptible to overcooking
than plain green beans, they impart a snap to the salad, rendered nicely
fusty with belacan--a crumbly shrimp paste--and coated with sesame seeds
and crushed peanuts for extra crunch. Rojak is ajak's darker cousin: jicama,
cucumber, and pineapple in a treacly sauce with the consistency of hot
fudge. Skip it. Instead, share an order of kang kong and squid with satay
sauce ($6.95)--big plastic squares of squid in a thicket of water spinach
(kang kong) irrigated with a bold chili sauce, again with the requisite
strew of peanuts and sesame seeds. Though the mainly Buddhist Chinese
constitute 32 per cent of the population in many parts of Malaysia, the
Islamic majority has had all too much success convincing them to get lost,
which probably explains the marked increase of Malaysian restaurants in
town. The food of this group is a grab bag of Chinese, Indian, Portuguese,
aboriginal Malay, Thai, and other Southeast Asian influences, all of which
come together in the cooking of the Straits Chinese, a subgroup resident
in the Malay Peninsula for many generations, as distinguished from more-recent
Chinese arrivals. Curry chicken ($5.50) is a pancultural standard, pairing
poultry and potatoes turned dark brown with pungent spices. This rendition
is full of heat, but too greasy. Instead get dried curry beef ($6.95),
made with a jerky that is frequently eaten alone as a snack. Tasting principally
of belacan and chili, bean curd Malaysia style ($6.95) is a wonderful
dish of chewy cushions of fried curd tossed with shrimp and a julienne
of red and green bell peppers. Spiced with more restraint is aromatic
beef stew on rice, with subtle undertones of star anise and ginger. In
addition to chunks of muscle, skin and tendon vary the terrain. Ginger
fanatics should check out the casserole of duck and taro ($7.95), loaded
with so much of the sliced root that it nearly qualifies as the main ingredient.
The oddest thing on the menu is a drink that sounds like a dance--mo-mo
cha-cha, consisting of carrots, corn, black-eyed peas, and tapioca in
sweetened coconut milk, served in a shallow Styrofoam cup. The globes
of tapioca sink into the murky waters like so many fish eyes, and the
drink is at once bracing and fortifying. So brace yourself--because, if
you're the type who demands dessert, this is as close as you're going
to get at New Taste Good.
Palacinka
28 Grand Street
Manhattan
212-625-0362
Using the Eastern European term for jam-filled dessert crepes, this newcomer
is Soho's first full-blown creperie, riding a citywide resurgence of crepe
popularity. It would be good for a quick bite--except quick is a term
you might hesitate to apply to the balky kitchen. Nevertheless, the savory
main-course crepes are tasty, stuffed with combos of ham, gruyère,
egg, mushrooms, chicken, and spinach, garnished with a small salad. Better
still are the dessert crepes, made with a lighter wrapper and featuring
fillings like honey, baked apple, chestnut paste, and the marvelous Nutella.
The taxi junkyard across the street will make you feel like you're in
Jersey.
Shanghai Gourmet
57 Mott Street
Manhattan
212-732-5533
Maybe the wildfire popularity of Joe's (9 Pell, 233-8888) led to the opening
of this competing establishment, a soup dumpling's throw away. At Shanghai
Gourmet these wonderful dumplings, #19 on the menu, are made of a combo
of pig and crab. Or try Shanghai rice cakes, loaded with shrimp, pork,
and Napa cabbage--though a friend claims he's had better at Excellent
Dumpling (111 Lafayette, 219-0212). If you dare, dip into the collection
of Shanghai specialties, like pork leg muscle: strange gelatinous lozenges
that marry well with the crab-flavored sauce.
Sun Hop Shing Tea
House
21 Mott Street
Manhattan
212-267-2729
This tiny dim sum parlor is already crowded and doesn't need your business,
but go anyway. The dim sum are pristinely fresh, and you don't have to
wait for the trolley--they stockpile them in a steam cabinet. Try the
usual ones, like pork shu mei or shrimp har kow, or go for the unusual:
fried taro cake, chicken feet, or stuffed bean curd skin. The last has
a rubbery wrapper stuffed with ground pork filling, and you've probably
never seen tofu in this guise before.
Thai So'n
89 Baxter Street
Manhattan
212-732-2822
This is the fourth and newest of the Vietnamese restaurants on the Baxter
strip, and it may be the one that's closest to its vernacular roots. There
are plenty of baguette-accompanied dishes on the menu: thick French-inspired
stews made for dipping bread, with a flavor that swerves in Asian directions.
An example is banh mibo kho, made with beef, potatoes, and carrots in
a broth powerfully flavored with cilantro and five-spice powder. Also
exemplary are Viet standards of grilled pork chops, summer rolls of shrimp
and vermicelli wrapped in rice paper, and gooey rice-starch crepes sided
with rubbery rounds of pate.
Tiny's Giant Sandwich
Shop
127 Rivington Street
Manhattan
982-1690
Get the joke? This Loisaida newcomer is called Tiny's, but the sandwiches
are gigantic. In addition to innovative hot and cold heroes based on ham,
turkey, roast beef, and chicken cutlets, each sandwich also exists in
a vegetarian version in the same multilayered presentation. My fave is
the hot turkey hero, plied with sautéed onions, chopped hot pepperoncinis,
and melted mozzarella, which, for an extra dollar, can be made with "unturkey."
Frozen smoothies, salads, and great soups--such as kale and kidney beans
with smoky Portuguese sausage--round out the menu.
Wonton Garden
56 Mott Street
Manhattan
212-966-4886
The gleaming white and green interior might make you feel like you're
eating in a medical clinic, but the wontons, thin-skinned and chunky with
shrimp, are unsurpassed. They're available in myriad combinations, like
"pig feet with macaroni and wonton" or "tender beef stew
and big wonton with Shanghai noodles." Also recommended are chicken
fried rice, which has a slight smoky flavor, and fried bean curd, creamy
and accompanied by a dipping sauce of soy and scallion (add wine vinegar
from the bottle on the table). Open very late
Civic Center
Bangal Curry
111 Church Street
Manhattan
212-267-8342
Open 24 hours, seven days in a neighborhood just north of the Twin Towers
where most eateries close on the weekends, this tiny Indian features noticeably
fresh vegetarian and meat-bearing entrees at bargain-basement prices.
We dined lavishly on chicken makhani, cauliflower curry, and, best of
all, potatoes cut like french fries and sauteed with gira (cumin seed)
and hot pepper pods--a home-style treatment rarely seen in restaurants.
These dishes over rice with papadam, mixed pickle, and soda came to just
over $5. Dig the mural of tea-leaf pickers on a hillside.
East Harlem
El Rincon Boricua
158 East 119th Street
Manhattan
212-534-9400
Located in the neighborhood known as El Barrio--which is rapidly becoming
a Mexican quarter--this microscopic lunch counter is Puerto Rican and
proud of it. Marvel at the roast baby pig in the window, then go in and
have a plate. Carefully preserved and attached, the deep brown skin has
a crackly texture, and the meat is rich and silky. Using a scissors, the
counterguy carefully snips pieces from several parts of the animal and
serves them up with boiled plantain, white rice, and red
Lechonera Sandy
2261 Second Avenue
Manhattan
212-348-8654
The name of this East Harlem standby says it all--pig, pig, and more pig.
Start with cuchifritos, the family of fried snacks that fester in the
window at most places. Here they're incredibly fresh: codfish fritters,
stuffed potatoes, blood sausage, and alcapurrias--torpedoes of mashed
plantain filled with ground meat. But don't miss the signature pork roast,
drenched with garlic and sided with crunchy skin, or mofongo, a fried
mound of mashed plantains with the richest garlic gravy you've ever tasted.
The menu at this excellent Dominican restaurant is rounded out with seafood,
soups, and fruit shakes.
East Village
Café Centosette
107 3rd Avenue
Manhattan
212-420-5933
With a magnificent view of Variety, the aged vaudeville theater, this
informal Italian cafe offers sandwiches, quiches, pastas, and soups, with
fascinating results. I thought I was tired of penne puttanesca till I
tried their version--heavy on the anchovies and capers, with less emphasis
on tomato sauce. Chicken artichoke features strips of breast in a pesto
with tons of fresh artichoke, set off with sweet red peppers. Meal-sized
salads are also recommended, especially insalata exotica. Late hours and
location make this an ideal place for an after-movie supper.
Casa Adela
66 Avenue C
Manhattan
212-473-1882
The $2.25 bowl of chicken soup may be the cheapest complete meal in the
East Village: a drumstick in a clear, tomato-tinted broth jumping with
cumin, green pepper, and oregano, anchored by big hunks of carrot and
potato. The surprise additional component: spaghetti, for a double-carbo
charge. Other meal choices include pernil, beef stew, and bistek encebollacio,
a razor-thin piece of meat quick-cooked with onion and deliciously finished
with a squirt of vinegar that generates an impromptu gravy. Friday is
the best day to chow down, when a special menu offers Puerto Rican standards
of octopus salad, escabeched fish, and cod stew.
Chopstick
259 1st Avenue
Manhattan
212-598-0180
Acres of beige and green marble, glass etched with genies, dark wood paneling,
and an endless hall to the plush dining room make you feel like you're
having a bad acid trip in a mausoleum. The food at this neighborhood Chinese
touches all the bases, from Cantonese to Mandarin to Hong Kong style,
with renditions that are better than average. The wontons, the best test
of a neighborhood joint, are thin-skinned and fresh-tasting. Still, the
real reason to check it out is the extravagant decor. Generous lunch specials
are all under $5.00.
Daphne's Caribbean
Express
233 East 14th Street
Manhattan
Now that Daphne's original venue has moved upmarket as Bambou, taxi drivers
and lovers of Jamaican food will be thrilled to note that she is back
on the block, a few doors down. Decorated in warm, tropical colors with
murals that evoke its owners's native Jamaica, this spot offers a choice
between takeout or table dining. That's the easy choice; the hard one
is deciding whether to have jerk pork or curry goat, stew beef or codfish
and callaloo, or any of the other savory selections. The menu reads like
a culinary index of the island, with everything from hardo bread to patties
to a selection of Caribbean drinks, including sea moss, for the gentleman
who may feel his potency flagging.
Darbar East
239 First Avenue
Manhattan
212-677-0005
Not to be confused with the big and expensive place in midtown called
Darbar, this small and cheap place in the hospital district nevertheless
excels at fresh and carefully prepared Indian food, with a few Nepalese
dishes thrown in for good measure. Particularly good are chicken makhani,
with torn pieces of tandoori chicken immersed in a mellow yogurt sauce,
and lamb pasand, thickly gravied with sweet-spice accents. Unless you're
in a hurry, skip the steam-table offerings in favor of the wider-ranging
carryout menu, which can also be ordered for eat-in.
Elvie's
214 1st Ave
Manhattan
212-473-7785his Philippine eatery belongs to a class known as "turo-turo,"
which means "point-point" in Tagalog. Everything for sale is
displayed at the counter, and you make your selection by pointing. There
are always at least 10 main dishes and a host of snacks, like glutinous
rice cakes and brochettes of chicken, pork, and anisey sausage. Main dishes
include oxtail with exotic vegetables in a creamy peanut sauce and a wonderful
sweet-and-sour pork, made with hunks of crusty, Spanish-style roast pork
in a piquant sauce with black peppercorns and bay leaf. The small dining
room is decorated with colorful photos of the home country.
Kate's Joint
58 Avenue B
Manhattan
212-777-7059
Popcorn shrimp with spicy red sauce, shepherd's pie, Southern-fried chicken--all
were good at this new, strictly vegetarian diner with a novel menu: many
dishes mimic meat and poultry by means of tofu and textured vegetable
protein. Even better were the unabashedly vegetable selections like the
hero of squashes, eggplant, and red peppers perfectly grilled and dressed
with sundried tomato pesto. Service can be slow, so give yourself plenty
of time, and whatever you do, don't miss the garlic fries.
National Cafe
210 1st Avenue
Manhattan
212-473-9354
This matriarchal Cuban cafe is one of the East Village's best kept secrets,
serving fine pernil, chicken fricasse, picadillo, beef tongue, oxtails,
and pig's foot stew. If you're really hungry, order a side of mofongo,
which is made on the spot by mashing plantains with garlic in a wooden
mortar, then turned out onto a plate and smothered with pork gravy. Tropical
fruit shakes come in papaya, tamarind, mango, and guanabana, a warty green
fruit that smells like pear. The lunch specials, amazingly underpriced
at $4, are almost enough for two.
Otafuku
236 East 9th Street
Manhattan
353-8503
This rustic wood-clad stall delivers what other East Village Japanese
eateries have long disdained: okonomiyaki, eggy pancakes that originated
in Osaka and constitute a major form of fast food throughout the country.
The name means "cook what you like," and what you like in this
case is shrimp, unsmoked bacon, or squid embedded in a vegetable matrix
of cabbage, scallions, pickled ginger, and egg. The nicely browned product
is glopped with barbecue sauce, powdered seaweed, smoky bonito shavings,
and, unless you stop them in time, mayonnaise. Also offered: fried octopus
balls called takoyaki.
Pommes Frites
123 Second Avenue
Manhattan
212-674-1234
This narrow eatery with its dim Tudor interior serves only one thing:
french fries made with Yukon Gold potatoes irregularly cut and twice fried
in the Belgian manner to yield perfect pommes frites. To enhance the illusion,
the spuds are dispensed in a paper cone. The smallest size costs $2.50
and weighs in at three-quarters of a pound--a complete meal. There are
15 dipping sauces, including imported Dutch fritessaus, mustard-based
mucky duck, kalamata olive, Maui onion, English malt vinegar, and, of
course, ketchup. The best part: the crunchy bits in the bottom of the
cone.
Sahara East
184 1st Avenue
Manhattan
212-353-9000
The chicken couscous at this Egyptian cafe is as good as it gets, bathed
in broth redolent of root vegetables and cinnamon. It's served in a tajine,
an earthenware platter that keeps the good smells in until the waitress
removes the pointed cover with a flourish. We also went for the moussaka,
a baked preparation of eggplant, tomatoes, onions, and herbs, and the
lamb chops fresh from the halal butcher just down the block and grilled
to perfection. The dining room is comfy, and a row of hookahs is provided
for use by the patrons (tobacco only, please).
San Loco
124 Second Avenue
Manhattan
212-260-7948
About once a week I go by this place and get a taco loco, a conventional
hard-shell bean taco glued inside a floppy flour tortilla. The glue--more
refried beans. It goes crunch, it goes squish. This invention (recently
ripped off by one of the big taco chains) shows a whimsical sensibility,
and it tastes pretty damn good, too. Also available in beef and chicken
versions. Ask for the hottest sauce and you get fresh chopped jalapeños.
If you can't find this place, turn around--they just moved across the
street.
Sherman's Bar-B-Q
2509 Seventh Avenue
Manhattan
212-283-9290
As well as any of the big-ticket places like Sylvia's and Copeland's,
this modest carryout embodies culinary history. It's not Texas-style hardwood
barbecue, but the tangy oven-style that originated in the Carolinas and
became Harlem's signature. Choices are limited to savory and mildly smoky
pork ribs, chicken that's a bit too rubbery, and pigs' trotters that form
a gelatinous mass on the plate-an acquired taste, to be sure. As sides,
the mustardy potato salad and crunchy coleslaw make durable choices, but
more interesting is the spaghetti, served with a creole meat sauce dotted
with onions and green peppers.
Tad's Steaks
104 E 14th Street
Manhattan
212-358-0117
My final steak-out, though, proved to be my fave: crotchety Tad's Steaks,
so old it could have been named after Lincoln's sickly son. Its dingy
walls brocaded bordello red, the Union Square branch has cockily resisted
urban renewal. The irascible cook slings meat onto the grill and flames
shoot hellishly hoodward, as the queue of steak votaries pulls back in
awe. The $8.29 extra-cut sirloin is the way to go, eyeballed by me at
about 16 ounces, full-flavored and tender without surrendering meekly
to your serrated knife. And for once the price includes everything: baked
potato, tossed salad (tomatoes 50 cents extra), and a thick slice of excellent,
greasy, griddle-fried toast. At that price, you could eat here every day.
But I'd still rather have a skewer of adana kebab in a Turkish joint.
Zito's East
211 First Ave
Manhattan
212-473-3400
Spawned by a beloved bakery on Bleecker, this new pizzeria has the requisite
brick oven, from which sail pizzas that are a notch above most in this
genre: the crust a little thicker, not charred quite as much, and furnished
with a more generous quantity of toppings (my faves: artichokes and extra
garlic). The menu also offers a broad array of other Italian dishes, with
the innumerable pasta-sauce combinations an especially good dealùmost
are priced a little over $5. The dining room is more spacious than you'd
expect from the narrow storefront.
Financial District
Pearl Palace
60 Pearl Street
Manhattan
212-482-0771
This Pakistani truck stop way downtown features all the dishes you know
and love: tandoori chicken, biriyanis, flatbreads like alu paratha and
nan, and just plain curries. PP might get lost in the shuffle, except
for the fact that it's conveniently open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,
in a part of town where most everything closes around 6 p.m. Recommended
dishes: a dry-cooked okra masala, onion kulcha, and ginger chicken, redolent
of cinnamon, peppercorns, and bay leaf. An all-you-can-eat buffet is offered
weekdays at lunch for $6.99.
Souperman
77 Pearl Street
Manhattan
212-269-5777
Rusticated from the restaurant that till recently bore his name, celebrity
chef Johannes Sanzin has created a haute soup joint in a colonial strip
mall downtown. There are 12 or so selections each day, and a few are good
enough to justify the absurd prices common to all the overpriced soup
places spawned by Soup Kitchen International (259A W 55th, 757-7730),
still the best. Among Sanzin's creations, I liked the organic winter vegetable,
subtly flavored with basil, while I thought the Thai free-range chicken
was too oily and low on flavor, despite scads of chicken and mushrooms
Garment District
Chez GnaGna Koty's
Senegal Goree Island
530 Ninth Avenue
Manhattan
212-279-1755
This tiny bistro with a big name is the first to serve Senegalese food
in the Port Authority area, offering a broader selection than many similar
establishments. One rarity is dahkine, a wonderful mush of rice, lamb,
and tomato sauce crunchy with roasted peanuts, and boulettes, garlicky
fish balls smothered with lemon-sauteed onions. The colorful dining room
has already attracted an international crowd, with plenty of plain grilled
dishes like chicken, fish, and lamb for African-food neophytes. Since
incendiary aspects have been toned down, request the excellent homemade
chile paste.
Jams
518 Ninth Avenue
Manhattan
212-967-0730
Sporting a jaunty white fedora, Lady Saw the Undisputed DJ Queen presides
over this tiny Jamaican café, where the specialties include ackee--a
weird fruit that cooks up like scrambled eggs--tossed with salt cod and
onions, and callaloo--the stewed green tops of the yuca plant. More mundanely,
they turn out a decent chicken, either jerked or Southern fried, and an
even better brown stew fish, with your choice of snapper or kingfish sauced
with onions, garlic, tomatoes, and okra. Also grab the homemade ginger,
sorrel, and sea-moss drinks.
Kashmiri Kabab
11 West 29th Street
Manhattan
212-684-4444
Traditionally, Manhattan's best inexpensive Indian restaurants have been
concentrated in Murray Hill along lower Lex, in a neighborhood waggishly
known as Curry Hill. The prices are similar to the cheaper joints on East
6th, but the Lexington Avenue places have the paradoxical advantage of
serving from steam tables--meaning that the food is fast, and, more important,
you can see it before you order. My favorite has always been East in the
West (113 Lexington Avenue), where you get a doormat-size nan in addition
to rice, raita, salad, and three steam-table selections for around $5.
Like the pioneers, Indian eateries have inexorably flowed westward, partly
in response to an increased concentration of Indian import-export businesses
around Broadway, and partly to serve the perpetual mob of Pakistani cab
drivers around Penn Station. The recently renamed Kashmiri Kabab (formerly
Tandoori Club) strives to look like a franchise fast-food joint, with
brass fixtures, flimsy paneling, and pornographic color blowups of tandoori
chicken and masala dosa. Navratan curry ($4.25), a vegetarian north-Indian
standard, is particularly appealing in its stainless steel tray: peas,
carrots, green beans, and potatoes suspended in thick, sharply flavored
yogurt sauce strewn with slivered almonds. New to me, a delightful appetizer
of paneer pakora ($2.50) features wafers of homemade cheese in a cumin-seed-flecked
batter deep fried and then dusted with a spice powder. Served four to
an order, these pakora could have been dense and greasy; instead, they
were as light as Styrofoam, and considerably tastier. South Indian masala
dosa are offered, although their ragged appearance doesn't live up to
their publicity stills, suggesting that the proprietors are dosa neophytes.
With the surprising addition of brown dal, these potato-stuffed crepes
are edible, but far from the best in town. The sambar which comes alongside--a
fiery dipping soup laced with coconut, eggplant, zucchini, and dried chiles--is
so tempting, however, you might want to order the dosa just to get it.
Alternatively, I order alu paratha, a stuffed mustard-seed-flavored flatbread,
with mustard greens adding character to the potato filling. All the breads
on the extensive list are finished with a good dose of ghee, which has
a mild nutty savor. To Indians, a free hand with the ghee represents luxury
and opulence.
Kosher Delight
1365 Broadway
Manhattan
212-563-3366
The chicken schwarma turning in the front window is divine. Cumin-dusted
and moist, it's hacked off the cylinder at just the right moment and served
on a pita. A paper basket on the side lets you load up with purple cabbage
slaw, grilled eggplant, two kinds of peppers, pickles, onions, and baby
falafel squeezed out of a scary machine that sits on the rear counter.
Three chicken sauces are available: tahina, a Yemenite cilantro chutney,
and, my favorite, a very tart mango dressing. Also available: Kosher Chinese
that's not half bad.
Los Dos Rancheros
Mexicanos
507 9th Avenue
Manhattan
212-868-7780
The proprietors of this spacious cafe are from the Mexican state of Puebla,
where particular attention is paid to sauces. Fresh tomatillos are used
to make a mole verde that's piquant and translucent. The mole poblano
is dense and smooth, with a hint of raisins; but best of all is the mole
pipian, an olive-drab puree of pumpkin seeds. To go with the moles order
chile relleno, Mexican beefsteak, or the wonderful chicken enchiladas,
dusted with crumbly cheese and dabbed with crema. Very highly recommended--and
dig the Mexican grocery next door (if it's closed, inquire in the café
and they'll open it for you).
Rinconcito
307 W 39th Street
Manhattan
212-268-1704
If you want to taste the real home cooking of Mexico, check out Rinconcito.
The double tortilla on the taco is your guarantee of authenticity, whether
you choose chicken, pork, tongue, or chicharron. The motto is todos los
días algo nuevo (every day something new); you should check out
the steam table and griddle by the front door to see what's shaking. The
other day, I had a delicious bowl of crab soup, with a whole crab poking
out of a broth laced with chile pepper and lime. The mole poblano is as
good as anywhere in the city--New York, not Puebla--flecked with sesame
seeds and unexpectedly smooth.
Sahara Grill
558 7th Avenue
Manhattan
212-391-6554
The gang from the late lamented Ali Baba has made a dramatic return in
this corner-located shoebox in the garment center. Gyros of chicken or
lamb are the preferred flesh, with the poultry so fresh it almost jumps
off the cylinder and into the sandwich. Pick the yogurt sauce over the
tahini, and ask for an additional dab of chile sauce. Among meze, the
babaganoush is best, with enough raw garlic to blow the top of your head
off. Although it's mainly a carryout, there are a handful of tables where
you can sit and ponder why a Turkish place is named Sahara Grill. [Caution--a
sign recently posted suggests that this joint is "Under New Management."
The effect remains to be seen (and tasted).]
Soul Fixins'
371 W 34th Street
Manhattan
212-736-1345
Chicken is king at this soul food hang, whether you order it baked, barbecued,
or deep-fried (my pick). Or you can make do with just the wings--served
Buffalo-style. Other mainstays include decent barbecued pork ribs and
wonderful whiting, cornmeal coated and fried to order with skin intact
and a few spiny things sticking out here and there. Sides in order of
preference: candied yams with a touch of nutmeg, vinegary collard greens,
corn off the cob, and macaroni and cheese. Only open weekdays till 7 p.m.
Taj Mahal
139 West 33rd Street
Manhattan
212-268-1919
In the midst of the Penn Station hubbub, Taj Mahal is a neat shoebox of
a place, decorated with handsome carved screens that compete with a generic
city skyline composed of tiny mirrors, like something out of Saturday
Night Fever. The menu boasts many arcane dishes--tandoori quail, brain
masala, and something made with lamb kidneys called gurday kapooray--although
the steam table offerings are usually limited to lamb, chicken, and fish
curries, and five vegetarian choices. The fish is perfection: firm kingfish
steaks in a thick sauce tasting of onion, curry spices, and mustard seed,
thickened with fresh tomato. Another pleasant surprise is saag alu, a
dense potage of spinach and potato sharpened with cilantro, with a few
pieces of raw bell pepper thrown in for textural contrast. Eventually
I always ask for the strangest thing on the menu, and too often my request
is honored. So on a recent Saturday, I had my first encounter with brain
masala ($5.00). Prepared to order, the gray matter was scrambled with
tomato and a mild dose of cumin, which made the lamb brains seem more
like eggs. The real flavor payoff came from the shards of raw ginger thrown
on the top. I reflected that this is not the first time I'd enjoyed having
my brains scrambled--or the first time I'd been scared by it either.
Greenwich Village
Emerald Planet
2 Great Jones Street
Manhattan
212-353-WRAP
Just when you were getting terminally bored of burritos, along comes the
wrap-the burrito reborn with an international catalogue of non-Mex ingredients
ensconced in wildly colorful tortillas, at an elevated price. In pleasant
digs, this joint purveys downtown's best, with silly geographic identifications
such as Kathmandu: grilled coconut shrimp in green curry with mango salsa,
green beans, bamboo shoots, and rice. (Hey, where do they get shrimp in
Nepal?) The other half of the menu is devoted to smoothies, which feature
fruit combinations and optional additions like spirulina, bee pollen,
and lecithin.
Terry's Gourmet
575 6th Avneue
Manhattan
212-206-0170
On the surface this is a typical deli, with orderly displays of shrimp
salad, fruit salad, chicken salad, green salad, and rollmops made of boiled
ham. Forget it all and order a roti, the stuffed Trinidadian flatbread
that's assembled at a counter hidden from public view and usually eaten
by the deli staff (weekdays only). The choices are chicken, beef, shrimp,
and goat, which are mixed with a delicious curry of potatoes and chick
peas. The bread is dhal poori, introduced to the Caribbean by Indian immigrants.
Beware of the bones in the chicken and goat.
Harlem
Africa Restaurant
247 W 116th Street
Manhattan
212-666-9400
This menuless Senegalese features two or three plates per day, including
some unusual offerings like soupikandia--a dense stew of lamb thickened
with okra and laden with hot peppers. Poured over white rice, the serving
is so large that two can share. The usual cheb, yassa, and mafe are available
in superior renditions, and are best washed down with homemade punches:
purple bissap, made with hibiscus flowers, and a ginger so intense your
mouth will burn. Decor is subdued compared to similar eateries, mainly
consisting of pictures of the Great Mosque at Touba.
Charles' Southern
Style Kitchen
2839 Eighth Avenue
Manhattan
212-926-4313
This double storefront--one side carryout, the other all-you-can eat cafe--is
the successor to Charles' Mobile Soulfood Kitchen, a van that made stops
all over Harlem with the best traditional African American cooking around.
Some say the carryout side is better, but in the cafe there's nothing
like eating your fill of turkey-dotted collards, vinegary barbecue ribs,
moist and crunchy fried chicken, and macaroni and cheese made fluffy with
a bit of egg. The $9.99 tariff ($6.99 at lunch, half price for kids) includes
a slice of melon for dessert.
City Hall
131 Duane Street
Manhattan
212-227-7777
Anything that swims is recommended at this Wall Streeter's hangout that
seeks to re-create the (mainly imaginary) two-fisted eating halls of yesteryear.
The trio of barrel herring--creamed, onioned, and carawayed--is so striking
you can ignore the dull potato salad in the middle. Pan roasts, raw oysters,
shrimp cocktails, and, especially, she-crab soup were all flawless, as
was the touted burger, much too good for its garnish of iceberg and wooden
supermarket tomato. Skip the low-on-flavor lamb saddle and signature Delmonico
steak-unimproved by its mantle of blue cheese-in favor of any of the daily
grilled fish.
Farfina Coffee Shop
219B West 116th Street
Manhattan
212-865-8408
They don't get around to making atieke, the national dish of the Ivory
Coast, at 116th Street's Farfina Coffee Shop until five in the afternoon,
so I was out of luck when I arrived around noon on a recent weekday. In
spite of an awning that rather comically advertises hot and cold sandwiches,
two hot dishes are what's usually available. One is sous, a serviceable
lamb stew with thick brown gravy that the waitress, who is from Burkina
Faso, delivered with a disparaging expression, maybe because its meat-intensive
blandness didn't seem particularly African. Then I asked about la firie,
a dish advertised on a scrap of paper in the window. She nodded approvingly,
lifting the lid to reveal a pot of rice cooked with dried okra, observing,
"Now this is really African."
Le Worodougou
2192 Eighth Avenue
Manhattan
212-864-6339
This new restaurant replaces a previous Senegalese establishment that
tried to go upscale with exposed-brick walls and a public relations firm.
The current Ivory Coast scarf is light-years different: a plate of perfect
rice topped with a choice of okra or spinach sauces, the former dotted
with bits of lean lamb and properly slimy, the latter loaded with fish
and beef and mellowed with palm oil. Either is only $5 for a belt-busting
serving. For only a dollar more, get a fried red snapper napped with African
tomato salsa and strewn with onions.
Lower East Side
Bereket
187 E Houston Street
Manhattan
212-475-7700
The advent of this Turkish fast-food locale, open round-the-clock, must
have come as a complete surprise to denizens of the Mercury Lounge and
other late-night clubs in the vicinity, who at four in the morning can
chow down on adana kebab--cylinders of chopped lamb and sweet red pepper
grilled over a charcoal fire--or etli taze fasulye, a mellow stew of green
beans flavored with bits of lamb. Vegetarian dishes of leek stew and fried
eggplant with peppers make lighter snacks, if you're not in the mood for
heavy scarfing.
Congee Village
100 Allen Street
Manhattan
212-941-1818
Their specialty is the rib-sticking rice gruel called congee, offered
in 29 variations including such diverse choices as "pork heart and
meat ball" and "parsley and sliced fish." Go as a group
and you can order it buffet style, with the add-ons offered in bowls to
be passed around. The balance of the menu is Cantonese, with some Malaysian
elements like wonderful skewers of grilled shrimp (eat them shell and
all) sprinkled with briny spice powder, and steamed rice dishes flavored
with ingredients like eel and salt-preserved duck, presented in cylindrical
bamboo vessels.
Lon Hong Kok
31 Division Street
Manhattan
212-431-9063
With a name that's provocative only to the few non-Chinese that stray
in (it means "precious ruby seafood"), this dim sum specialist
has been around ten years. Marvel at the parade of short dishes: outsized
meat balls loaded with water chestnut and orange peel, crowned with greens
and finished with a squirt of worcestershire; shrimp wrapped in rice noodles
which look like glossy enchiladas; and, best of all, fresh scallops on
the half shell topped with bechamel and broiled to a bubbly brown. If
the waiter comes by with an unsolicited main dish--take it, it's likely
to be delicious.
N.Y. Noodle Town
28½ Bowery
Manhattan
212-349-0923
With admirable economy, the name describes this place's raison d'être:
noodles fried, souped, and steamed every which-way. My favorites are the
Cantonese-style wide noodles, Chinatown's answer to Italian fettucine.
Order the seafood and vegetable version and be amazed by the quantities
of squid, cuttlefish, octopus, scallops, and shrimp, interspersed with
carrots and broccoli rabe. Even the humble lo mein excels, abundantly
sauced and smoky from wok'ing. Non-noodle recommendations include roast
suckling pig over rice, steamed water spinach, and any of the dishes served
in an edible taro basket.
Pho Tu Do
119 Bowery
Manhattan
212-966-2666
Of the four restaurants
along the Bowery's burgeoning Little Vietnam, this is the place to go
for charcoal grilled beef (#27--banh hoi thit bo lui). Thin-sliced meat
is rolled tightly around a sliver of onion, barbecued, then served with
pickled garlic and carrots, fresh mint, bean sprouts, and little swatches
of peanut-dusted rice noodles. Roll everything inside a romaine leaf,
dip in the sweet fish vinegar, and enjoy. Also noteworthy is a soup from
the city of Hue (#50) with an unctious and spicy broth--don't forget to
mix in the fresh basil.
Chinar
204 West 50th Street
Manhattan
212-245-6453
Although not the greatest Indian restaurant in the world, this batik-decorated
shoebox is nevertheless a wonderful dining resource in the Times Square
area--a budget-priced purveyor of all your favorites: palak paneer, alu
paratha, tandoori chicken and fish, even a sprinkling of South Indian
choices like masala dosa, the supremely delicious potato-filled crepe.
Other recommendations on the 118-item menu include mixed-vegetable Navratan
curry and alu chat, a snack of potatoes in a tangy tamarind dressing.
Watch the chalkboard outside for super-cheap daily specials that often
include a free beverage.
Morningside Heights
M & G Diner
383 W 125th Street
Manhattan
212-864-7326
This ancient Harlem eatery will put almost anything between two slices
of white bread. Try the short rib sandwich: four huge hunks of cow in
a rich brown gravy with only a few bones to get in the way. The specialty
of the house is Southern fried chicken, cooked fresh throughout the day
with just a trace of breading on the crunchy skin, and moist throughout.
Like it says on the neon sign out front, "Old Fashion But Good."
Breakfast served till 1, and don't miss the salmon croquettes.
Majester's
378 Malcolm X Boulevard
Manhattan
212-860-9875
It's not much to look at, but this Harlem seafood specialist produces
some of the best fish and chips in the city. The delicate flounder fillets
are lightly battered and crisply fried as you watch, and you get a paper
boat piled high with them. The shrimp are not nearly as good, but even
better are the crabs, steamed with an agreeable spice mixture and outlandishly
cheap at 75 cents each. Bring your own wooden mallet to extract the thin
slivers of flesh--you'll see why lump crabmeat is so expensive.
Murray Hill
Indonesian Mission
to the U.N.
325 E 38th Street
Manhattan
212-972-8333
Apart from Bali Nusah Indah and Java Rijsttafel, the only other places
to enjoy Indonesian food are a handful of Chinese and Indian joints, Soho's
Prince Street Bar & Restaurant, and the Indonesian Mission to the
U.N., where, if you pass the surveillance camera's muster, you proceed
through a maze of construction debris to the tiny subterranean lunchroom.
A set meal ($6) is provided each weekday from one till the food runs out
at about 1:30. Mine began with a soup subtly flavored with fish sauce
and black pepper, freighted with nearly weightless shrimp crackers. The
main course was a sculpted mound of rice mediating a gingery dish of chicken
and broccoli and an angry sambal of shrimp, potatoes, and red chiles,
both delicious. But most amazing was the dessert--a two-shades-of-pink
jello gateau smeared with sweetened condensed milk and fruit cocktail.
Diplomacy dictates that you dive in and eat the whole thing.
Jams
518 Ninth Avenue
Manhattan
212-967-0730
Sporting a jaunty white fedora, Lady Saw the Undisputed DJ Queen presides
over this tiny Jamaican café, where the specialties include ackee--a
weird fruit that cooks up like scrambled eggs--tossed with salt cod and
onions, and callaloo--the stewed green tops of the yuca plant. More mundanely,
they turn out a decent chicken, either jerked or Southern fried, and an
even better brown stew fish, with your choice of snapper or kingfish sauced
with onions, garlic, tomatoes, and okra. Also grab the homemade ginger,
sorrel, and sea-moss drinks.
Kosher Delight
1365 Broadway
Manhattan
212-563-3366
The chicken schwarma turning in the front window is divine. Cumin-dusted
and moist, it's hacked off the cylinder at just the right moment and served
on a pita. A paper basket on the side lets you load up with purple cabbage
slaw, grilled eggplant, two kinds of peppers, pickles, onions, and baby
falafel squeezed out of a scary machine that sits on the rear counter.
Three chicken sauces are available: tahina, a Yemenite cilantro chutney,
and, my favorite, a very tart mango dressing. Also available: Kosher Chinese
that's not half bad.
Mee Noodle Shop and
Grill
922 Second Avenue
Manhattan
212-888-0027 Whether you follow the critics or follow the folk, Mee is
the place to be. This restaurant, which has added several locations in
addition to the original at First Avenue and 13th Street, specializes
in noodles ranging from chow fun (flat soft rice noodles) to linguine-like
spinach noodles--for a nominal fee you can have the noodle of your dreams
served in myriad ways. The house chicken soup is a special treat with
its chunks of chicken, slices of celery, serrated bits of carrot, baby
corn, bamboo shoots, and, naturellement, noodles. But don't let the noodlemania
deter you from the Cantonese-style barbecued spare ribs or the well-seasoned
pork chops. Lunch specials and free delivery are available.
Upper East Side
Halal Indo-Pak Restaurant
1750 First Avenue
Manhattan
212-987-8150
This shoebox of a place offers the chow of Pakistan and Bangladesh, with
a menu neatly divided between vegetarian and nonvegetarian possibilities.
Among meats, goat and lamb are preferable, especially karahi gosht, a
thick stew of goat attributed to the city of Hyderabad. The meatless palak
paneer is one of the best in town, featuring peas and fresh cheese in
a bright, gingery sauce. Only breads and tandoori chicken were disappointing
on a recent visit. Open 24 hours, seven days--finally, the Upper East
Side has its own Indian truck stop.
Upper West Side
Krik Krak
844 Amsterdam Avenue
Manhattan
212-222-3100
This tiny Haitian lunch counter soared to excellence the minute it opened
a couple of months ago. The lambi, a savory conch stew widely reckoned
to be the national dish, was as tender as I've ever tasted it, the gravy
striated with sweet red pepper. So too was the griot exemplary--pork chunks
marinated, boiled, and then fried to produce a concentrated porkiness.
Deploy the blistering hot sauce, which masquerades as a tiny serving of
cabbage slaw. Feeling flush? Get the fried snapper, strewed with onions
and peppers and accompanied by a fine creole sauce.
Washington Heights
El Mambi
558 West 181st Street
Manhattan
212-568-8321
You're lucky if it's Wednesday, 'cause then you can order salcocho ($3),
a rich stew of oxtail and chicken thickened with pureed calabaza that
flecks the brown gravy with tiny dots of orange. Flavors of garlic and
cilantro predominate, and hunks of yuca, carrot, and potato complete the
picture. Save the rounds of toast to mop the bottom of the bowl. As is
the custom in Cuban restaurants, each day of the week has its own menu,
although pressed sandwiches and salads made with octopus and salt cod
are always available.
West Village
Caffé Picasso
359 Bleecker Street
The front room is decorated with Picasso paintings, memorabilia, and photos,
including Robert Doisneau's excellent shot of Pablo with tiny loaves of
bread where his fingers should be. Crusty foccacia, moist and almost cakey
inside, is used to make a variety of sandwiches, the best of which contains
smoked salmon, fresh mozzarella, lettuce, and thick slices of red, ripe
tomato. The pizzas, like the foccacia, are made in a wood-fired oven,
and have a consequent smoky taste that's hard to beat. Order the plain
marguerita, which comes garnished with tomatoes, fresh basil, mozzarella,
and a handful of black olives.
Manhattan
212-929-6232
Chez Brigitte
77 Greenwich Avenue
Manhattan
212-929-6736
Every rule has an exception, and the exception to "There's no such
thing as cheap French food'' is Chez Brigitte. This ancient and minuscule
lunch counter serves up Gallic peasant fare unencumbered by cream or nouvelle
cuisine, such as a luscious Provencale omlet flecked with fresh herbs,
oozing ratatouille. Also recommended are any of the daily roasts--Monday
it's leg of lamb, served with gravy, potatoes, steamed vegetable, and
petit pois (in this case, canned). Avoid the heroes, which are cheap,
but meager in the extreme.
Moustache
90 Bedford Street
Manhattan
212-229-2220
This Middle Eastern wonder is located on a bucolic stretch of Bedford
that might make you think you're out in the country (an ancient brewery
stable is directly across the street). The best part is that they make
their own pitas, and then serve them while still hot. Eat 'em plain with
a salad, the best of which is made with lentils and bulghur and sprinkled
with sweet fried onions; or you can have your pita made into a "pitza,"
topped with any combo of olives, capers, artichokes, spinach and onions,
garlic and parsley (my fave), or heavy and spicy merguez sausage.
from
chowhound:
Menchanko-Tei
(39 West 55th between Fifth and Sixth Avenues; Manhattan, NY; 212-247-1585).
I've been a bit down on this place lately. First, I've had some bad experiences
at their 45th St location (131 East 45th between Third and Lexington Avenues;
212-986-6805). Second, I've been suckered into non-soup orders (from the
expanded dinnertime menus at both locations) and regretted it. Third,
I was eating here a lot a few months ago and sort of burned out. So I
haven't been back in a while.
They've added a gingery ramen soup that's KILLING. Must go, must order.
I'm not sure if this is served for lunch, or if the lunch chefs are as
good as the dinner people. So if you want to be sure, go for dinner. Order
the ramen. It comes with three small slices of roast pork that are beyond
wonderful, the broth is beautifully gingery, and a bit creamy (soy milk?
we didn't think it was miso). It's just great. The regular menchanko soup
was spot-on, as well.
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