Wu’s Wonton King
Holy crap I thought this was prettt damn freaking good. Absolutely inhaled this.
Had the wonton soup. I much prefer Maxi’s in Flushing.
Also had the shrimp and scrambled egg and it was textbook good. Super generous with the shrimp.
Thumbs up from me.
La Bicyclette
Had a breakfast sandwich at Court Street down the block and it was pretty damn disappointing. Way too much bread. The pics I saw were big fluffy folded eggs wth. I basically had a BEC with arugula. At least for the breakfast sandwiches I’ll pass. Go to your favorite deli or bodega.
That’s some NSFW food porn right there.
How were the lines?
Every time I pass by the wait is too long and I end up going to Levain down the street and settling for some Italian donut holes and some chocolate chip peanut butter brioche buns.
About 5 people deep. It moves pretty fast.
They were fabulous when we had them at Wu’s some months ago — was my first taste of razor clams, and a delicious introduction.
Any opinion on the soy sauce chicken relative to Deluxe or others? (It was excellent at Noodletown on my last visit too.)
A few weeks ago (before my abrupt departure) — fancy new Indian place in an unlikely location on the UWS: Kebab Aur Sharab, from the Laut and Wau team.
The sharab (alcohol) section was a let-down overall (and we sampled a lot of it). Kebabs were fine but not good enough for the restaurant to be named after.
We didn’t try any of the more expensive dishes (wagyu, etc) because we weren’t sure what the baseline was, and that was probably the right call.
Overall, style over substance (I just noticed the chef used to work at Farzi in Dehi, which specializes in molecular gastronomy and visual effects), but I’ll give them another shot in a couple of months when they’ve settled in.
That said, they picked a good location because the dining room was completely packed on a random weeknight (the only alternative nearby is Saphire - good food, dead atmosphere).
Paneer ”seekh”
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Goat “Doori” (sic - dori for string) Kebab: one of the better plates of the evening
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Kerala Kingfish Curry: good fish and good curry but a piece of fried fish placed over sauce, not fish curry
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Old Delhi Korma: As expected
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Special Muradabadi Daal: as expected yellow dal
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Andhra Green Chili Chicken: Extremely spicy (as expected) but I didn’t think it was very good - batter-fried strips of chicken, lots of curry leaves, lots of fresh chillies
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Morel Pulao: almost flavorless (vs. delicately flavored) and short on morels
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Gulkand Chocolate Mousse: this was a nice bite, but I love gulkand (rose jam) and couldn’t really detect it
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Saffron Pancakes: I thought this would be malpua, but they turned out to be american-style pancakes with an odd sauce, dried out from the overuse of dry ice for “effect” - just awful
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One of the cocktail offerings (we sat at the bar and the drinks took forever, but let’s put that down to early-days service glitches): Suhaag Raat (first wedded night — two drinks, supposed to be complementary but only one was potable):
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No pics of the breads, but they were surprisingly disappointing (esp the Roomali roti, which I was excited to see on a NYC menu but was a terrible let-down of a cracker vs the soft handkerchief-thin flatbread it actually is).
El Fish Marisqueria: new seafood-focused restaurant from the Toloache team.
I went within a day of opening, ready to make lots of allowances. Great food, service will settle in over time.
We loved almost everything we ordered. The Yucatan fish dip was tied for my favorite - the other half of the tie was the truffle-chipotle Fideo. My companion loved the Pescadillas Acapulco (described to us as tostadas but presented as crisped fold-over quesadillas).
Drinks were excellent. I plan to be back often.
That cardamom bun! Wow! Pour over was great and the cinnamon bun was tasty. This is going to make me a heathen but I might prefer a warm Cinnabon LMAO. I just miss the frosting and the warmth I guess. Get that cardamom bun and a pour over. I saw a buncha of people get americanos and bread n butter don’t be like them.
Persons night out at Krupa Grocery near Prospect Park. This lovely drink is called a something Picante and involves tajin, chile-infused tequila, some kind of orange liqueur, and other stuff.
And a hot shrimp burger - very nice! Also kinda small! Could’ve used some fries or another side.
All thanks to you. Great find
I was thinking about the same thing. Either that or just wait for April and do it quarterly.
Had this a few months ago. Concur. So many interesting sweets in the area. Spot Dessert Bar, Chicalicious, Lady Wong, Prince Tea House…
As far as I can tell, it’s pretty hit or miss with roast meat. I’ll bring home a haul from big wong but won’t tell anyone where it’s from until we’re done eating and my family will say “this is the best!” Next time I’ll go to big wong, again won’t tell anyone where its from, and everyone will say “why didn’t you go to big wong?” So I’ll go to ny noodletown next time and everyone will say “this is from big wong, right?” and so on.
I think deluxe is good but the soy sauce chicken from big wong this time was better than usual, just incredibly juicy and flavorful. I’ve been going there for so many years (I want to say 25), that some of the people know me (also one of my ex-clients knew the owner so I arranged a lot of team meals there) and the cashier once claimed he was charging me “chinese people prices” 
The meat does seem better when the cashier recognizes me, either he’s telling the chopping guy to pick out a good bird or it’s some sort of placebo effect, probably the latter.
I’d like to try hay hay, have you been. Actually, many years ago, I was told that most of the bbq meat in chinatown comes out of New Kam Man, not sure if it’s true, we tried it once and weren’t impressed.
best,
ps I didn’t mention in my bbq meat post that I stopped at tai pan for a pastei de nata and a dan tat. They were both hot out of the oven and incredible!
Chez Ma Tante in Greenpoint
The area of Greenpoint around Franlin and Greenpont ave is doing a great Nolita impersonation. Between Oxomoco, Paulie Gee’s, Di An Di, Taqueria Ramirez, Chez Ma Tante you got a heck of a food crawl. A very long and tiring one. We went to potentially try Taqueria Ramirez but ended up at Chez Ma Tante for some of the best pancakes Ive had in a while.
Pancakes - Crispy, thick, fluffy, on the sweeter side, but insanely addictive.
Gigante beans, turmeric, Salva Cremasco cheese, egg - Really grew on me. Lovely zesty broth
Country pâté, pork, foie gras, pistachio - Nicely done. Hard, not spreadable but enjoyed it
Bloody Mary - Bloody awesome.
This is the closest I got to trying Taqueria Ramirez. A good size line, but seemed to be moving fast. I followed someone with a plate full of tacos he was carrying to his family (perfectly normal. For me) and they looked and smelled amazing. Soon!
Can’t blame them, I go back & forth on all the favorites too.
Shopped there often, but never picked up ready food back then. Hong Kong supermarket and New York mart (or whatever it’s called now) also have decent takeaway counters (like Deluxe), but they close much earlier, which is often a challenge for me.
sounds like the right thing to do - but Id also like to see more specialized threads like say pizza or chinatown. wouldnt some of this stuff we are sharing get more attention that way?
A vote here in favor of keeping a single thread. Easier to search one thread vs many.
