Last fall we had great soft shell crabs at NY Noodletown, and then even better ones at Cha Kee in the evening. Cha Kee wasn’t serving them for lunch,
King of Fish (Sunset Park)
This was mentioned in another thread. So far so good, mostly. Menu is just about all seafood, mostly fish and shrimp. If you want meat, might as well go to his new King of Meat nearby. He said no to King of vegetables, my suggestion. It’s Williamsburg-like, and quite modern when compared to other places in the area. You’ll find a bigger local Mexican clientele at La Cabaña next door, and Tacos Matamoros across the street.
The fish tacos are better than they look. Often these Baja style tacos I find too loaded, but here the fish is quite prevalent and flaky, with just enough cabbage, tangy sauce, inside a nice homemade tortilla.
Good Crab Empanada.
Ok, I dont get Aguachile. I dont think I ever had one, but familiar from my trip to Mexico City. Its essentially raw shrimp in a thick (in this case) intense green chili sauce. It’s flavorful, but just seems like its missing something and doesnt work as a standalone dish.
Catch of the day, red snapper with a mild pleasing red chili paste, and squid ink rice was more like it.
Mostly uneven drinks. One out of three were good. Nagaura worked better than the margarita and Kurda.
friends from out of town chose Barbounia, park and 20th, we started with a meze platter with their fresh, hot bread. I guess just about anything is going to taste good on fresh, hot bread but I didn’t love the flavors and in fact, we didn’t come close to finishing.
I had the “Slow-Cooked Short Rib Tagine with green chana, swiss chard, harissa, cilantro, preserved lemon & homemade couscous”. The short ribs were beautifully cooked but for all the world, it tasted like a tex-mex prep which I found completely bizarre. My wife had the Taboon Roasted Branzino which she thought very good. For dessert we shared “LEBANESE “OSMALIEH” Semolina custard, crispy kadaifi, orange blossom syrup and pistachio ice cream”, as evidenced by daily weigh-in, definitely my fav dish of the night.
Great service, prices were right in my danger zone (high-ish prices/mediocre food) but there was no denying the quality of the ingredients, generous portions, we might try it again, the duck breast shwarma looked interesting.
sorry, no photos.
our office was 38th and 6th, would have been tough to stay away from that!
Had some good slices at Upside Pizza on 40th and 5th. Definitely the best pizza in the midtown area which isn’t saying much. Do not go to Joe’s in Times Square. Duh. I knew better but fell for the trap since it was 1 block from my hotel. NY Pizza Suprema is ok but not my speed.
195 St? Yeah, they are very variable. At their best good but not up to spicy & tasty quality. At their worst, yuck
we had taken it out of the rotation based on some poor meals but the food has been wonderful on our last two visits. For mains. we don’t venture too far from mapo tofu, szechuan style kung po shrimp/chicken, cumin lamb, eggplant in garlic sauce, dry sauteed string beans, cumin fish fillet. I like the pork belly dishes, my wife not so much.
I’ve been wanting to try their braised pork shank, looks incredible. What are your favorites?
I like the tofu and celery salad. Very few places have that, yet their version if nowhere need as good as spicy & tasty. The cumin lamb is a fave, though last time is was like heavily breaded cutlets.
Cross-posting the next NYC HO dinner will be this Friday if anyone wants to join — location still tbd.
ETA: we have a rez at Noodletown, speak up soon if you’d like to join.
Grilled pork with sticky rice lollypops at Somtum Der Red Hook (same menu as East Village). Along with the excellent fried chicken, one of my favorite dishes here. The way they marinade and season, any boring stale dry meat can taste amazing. Which is sort the point of Isan cooking.
Hummus with Lamb at Foxface Natural preopening event. Not sure when they’ll open but this was very promising. The lamb especially was on point, and so was the goat as part of another dish. Which means Ori and Sivan most likely found the manual to the old Harry and Ida’s smoker (previous tenant). They also added a pizza oven
Sunchoke Caramelle at Foul Witch. While the Veal Tortelini get much of the attention for good reason, we gave the nod to these explosive candies with Sunchoke, butter of course, lemon, and poppyseed
NIce mellow dinner at
Kitchen Cô Út,
a newish Vietnamese on Chrystie Street. We had their tapioca dumplings (with bits if meat and seafood inside), a very good version of papaya salad with basil and beef jerky (little hard to eat) and one of their special soups Banh Canh Cua, tapioca noodle soup in a deeply flavored pork base with thick tapioca noodles, pork, cubes of pork blook (tasted like liver, sort of a texture thing) tiny shrimps, big shrimps herbs , very deliciousl finished with the three color ice dessert, with pandan noodles, kidney beans, lumps of cooked mung bean, coconut milk and ice, very refreshing on a hot night. Nice simple decor with drawings of old Hue on the wall. Will return.
Mariscos Submarino which is a tiny and loud spot on Roosevelt in Jackson Heights. Superb Aguachile negro that started good and just got better as it sat and the raw fish cured in the lime. By the end of the huge serving, it was sublime. We should have started on the ceviche tostada Sinolese which was brilliant from bite one.
Unexpected was a pretty decent bar with good spirits. They only had one guy working the counter and he was swamped so we dropped a good tip. We might go back Monday
looking forward to eating here!
Mothers day brunch at La Hueca. Great ceviche. Austere in its simplicity served by some of the nicest folks. The homemade salsa was delish! The gentleman next to us had killer looking chivo so a return is in order.
Worth all the subway hubub. Thectrain was express to jackson Heights so we hopped on a 7 main st but then Junction Blvd station was closed for “a police investigation”.
Now waiting to see Oliver.
Food! Glorious food!
Hey everyone,
Looking for some good eats near the Javits centre. Only in town for a couple of days. Open to any cuisine. Also, looking for an NY pizza experience…do I have to go to Brooklyn for that?
TIA