I love Alex Raij’s food - finally went to La Vara last year, and loved it so much it made me sad it’s not closer to me! I think it’s a different level than her Manhattan spots (even though those are so good).
2020 NYC Restaurant thread - where are you eating out these days?
Ha, I like that description.
On a less spendy front, I’ve had Kazunori on my list for ages - SugarFish’s handroll place - bec I quite enjoy SugarFish for a non-splurge sushi fix that’s slightly different than the usual.
Sorry about that. You mean, sorta like the way CH used to be or the discussions that still occur at times on Mouthfulsfood? Is there actually a separate local cohort here on HO to pull that off? I guess we’ll see - I certainly applaud you for trying & will put in my 2cents.
I am planning to hit Douzo in the near future - same concept. I wasn’t crazy about Sugarfish. It was fine, but nothing special. (I realize it’s not supposed to be special, but still.)
No apology necessary, and I hope you’ll participate!
Yeah, a real food lovers discussion of food. My friends indulge me by letting me choose restaurants (and often what we order), but their eyes would glaze over at some of the chats that we enjoy here, haha.
If you look through the nyc tag, you’ll see plenty of participation when someone pops up to ask for trip assistance.
There just doesn’t seem to a space to discuss normally. I think FTC has that for the west coast, but NYC fell into the cracks post CH drama, the surge in listicle sites, and so on.
Anyway, we’ll find out. We all eat out several times a week, it’s just a question of whether it’s interesting enough for us to discuss it - before or after.
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I think SugarFish stuck for me because I ate there in LA a few years before it opened in nyc. It’s not special, right - but it’s a different style, good quality and flavor, and the price point is great for what it is. Also, GT is right across the street for cocktails and dessert, lol.
Noodle Pudding is terrific. Also, Henry’s End and Kogane Ramen
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I eat out 400+ times a year but I’m down to 9-10 weeks in NYC.
Except for some PF lunches at upper end manhattan restaurants, most of my meals are at ethnic places in the Outer Boroughs. CH was great for that. There don’t seem to be enough readers here who care.
My favorites include:
Singh’s for Guyanese
Coatzingo for Mex
Little Pepper and Legends of Taste for Sichuan
Xian Famous Eats
Renee’s for Filipino
Awang for Indonesian
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If/when you go back to Noodle Pudding, ask if Steve & Ginny are there &, if we are, say hello. We eat dinner at the bar 1-2x/week. If we’re not there, dropping our names (especially mine) will get you their special “friends of Steve R.” surcharge.
Lol, we sold our apt in the Hghts last year after living there 25 years. All the building and gentrification was getting far too crazy.
El Jefe: If I remember correctly, you’re the other person on this board who really likes Park Side in Corona? At any rate, Saregama seems hopeful that an Outer Boroughs (maybe even Manhattan) discussion board can be created here & I’ve always encouraged optimism. In that vein, I guess that there are at least 3 of us going to ethnic places &, if “eattheworld” cross posts a little here, maybe we do have something. I plan to hit Xata (Bellarussian place in Sheephead Bay, Bklyn) again soon & already have plans for lunch tomorrow at Taste Good (Malaysian in Elmhurst), so I’ll try to write them up and see. I’d also like to hear about Angel (Indian vegetarian in Jackson Heights), since the owner/chef was previously at Adda and was part of making them popular. For that matter, maybe I’ll belatedly post on Adda. Have you been to Little Pepper or Legends of Taste lately?
No, that wasn’t me.
Yeah, but we still let previous residents come back with the appropriate paperwork. We probably saw each other at NP or H.End, since we’ve been around for over 30 years ourselves. Where’d you go? By the way, Henry’s End moved a couple of blocks down this year - the landlord wanted to gut renovate the building.
The Park Side comment was a response to El Jefe – I’ve edited that post to make it clear. Sorry.
Lol, very possible. Can’t believe Henry’s End moved!! Is the new place just as teeny? Love their wild mushroom salad (and the duck, of course).
I’ve been exploring the great Thai food in Elmhurst, even though it’s an hour away by subway from where I live in Bed-Stuy. Hug Esan is probably the best of a good bunch, for its nam khao tod, larb, papaya salad, and fried chicken. At Khao Kang, you choose from a steam table; nice homey feel. Lamoon is a bit more polished, but none of these places are particularly upscale, and just about everyone else on my visits was speaking Thai to each other and to the servers.
There’s a new outpost of Los Tacos No. 1 on Church St near the Chambers A station (Tribeca?) which has the best al pastor (they call it adobada) I’ve found in the city. It’s a lot less crowded than the one in Chelsea Market.
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Yes, I’m definitely a fan of Park Side and usually go once on every trip back to NYC. Excellent food, huge quantities, reasonable price. if it was in Manhattan or easily accessible by subway, we wouldn’t be discussing it on this thread because every tourist would be on line to get in.
I used to go to Penang, around the corner from Taste Good, but it just goes further and further downhill every time I’ve been there for the last few years. My friends that drive down from Rye and insist we go there have finally given up too. I like Taste Good but the dumpiness factor and lack of cleanliness (not sure how they even earned their “B”) means I have to go alone.
I was at both Little Pepper and Legends of Taste several times when I was last in NY in September. Little Pepper is often my last dinner on my way to JFK for a 1:30am flight.
And I forgot to add Zoilita’s (Parsons Blvd just off Union Tpke) to my list. it’s got fabulous Dominican steam table food but probably isn’t worth a trip from anywhere. I pass by 2-3 times a week, always at lunch time, and can’t resist. it’s the best Pernil I know of.
I’m happy to add more, especially in Queens, if there’s a demand for more Outer Boroughs ethnic cuisine.
I’m a 33% New Yorker, so let me add my 0.67 cents here.
Where I’m eating out “these days” is too broad, since I eat out widely (but infrequently given my time constraints), but the dishes/places I particularly like are these:
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The shrimp pancake at Danji. (Really terrific: crisp in all the right places, studded with large, tender shrimp.)
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The two chicken kebabs at Saar. (Hemant Mathur, the chef/owner of Saar, and I go back a long way, from Amma through Devi through … He catered 50% of our 25th wedding anniversary when he was at Tulsi, and there, too, we focused on his kebabs.) There’s the saffron one and the garlic, and I can offer no higher praise than to say that they’re as good as anything I’ve had in India. The other food at Saar is NYC-good, but not India-great.
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Any pizza at Don Antonio, but I have the diavolo most often.
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My wife and I eat at the bar room at the Modern at MoMa again and again. The menu changes, so this is a recommendation for a space not a dish. It’s not cheap (but consider the prices at the full restaurant – and the time involved), but for us it hits the spot between hours of art-studying, and a light movie to follow (we saw American Factory on our visit last year, with a discussion with the movie-makers at the end, where a guy in a baseball cap asked a question to be addressed with “Oh, hi Michael…”, and we saw Clemency more recently with Alfre Woodard to talk to us after). Oh, food: I had a terrific steak at the Bar Room before Factory, and cooked dinner before Clemency.
More, as I think of stuff,
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Lol, what is a 33% NYer?
Somebody who has an apartment here, but is in Manhattan only 33% of the time. (67% in Cambridge, MA – rough life, I know)
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