By New York Onions, for New York Onions (and more):
A single restaurant / casual eats thread for us to keep going through the year.
This is for when you don’t feel like starting a new restaurant thread, but DO want to share what you’re eating.
Linking the 2023 Good Eats thread and the new NYC Bagel thread:
Thanks for starting this @Saregama!
I forgot to mention that I took my two (adult) kids to Claud (one of them had not been with me and her brother the first time) just before Christmas (but who is reading the 2023 thread anymore). I thought she would lose her mind over the chocolate cake and coconut ice cream (made with coconut milk, so it was dairy free) we had for dessert. This after an incredible meal. She said it was her best meal of the year.
It’s unanimous. We all really love this restaurant. We ate many things on the savory menu before dessert. Among our favorites: coppa with honey and walnuts, pear with celery and hazelnuts, kampachi, mushroom mille-feuille, foie gras terrine, chicken liver agnolotti, and that pork chop! Might have been the whole menu. Buy a bottle of wine; glasses are v. expensive (if you are having wine).
As I think @Ziggy said, “Claud is the real deal.”
On my 2024 list!
SPICY LANKA on Hillside Jamaica Queens - picked up stuff on my way back from a birding outing at this improbable and lonely (though very close to Jamaica Station) strip location at the corner of Myrtle and Hillside, very different from their former bustling location. Guys said that people google sri lanka and get there/get delivery via uber. Anyway, I took home a dish of mutton kotthu roti, really tasty with plenty of tender mutton, with a serving of the curry gravy to accompany, a thali-big container lined with banana leaves of good rice surrounded by a set of interesting and deep flavored veg curries, accompanied by yogurt and pickle and one of a puddingy pleasant dessert, and a serving of kingfish curry very good and deeply seasoned. Also I bought one of their Sri Lankan Christmas cakes, which turned out to be an all fruit square fruitcake with traditional almond icing (no nuts, dough or liquor. Very nice spice and well appreciated. Thought the food was much better than my recent brunch in Staten Island but not cheap (no doubt UBER pricing) Will try to get back sooner and see how the food stacks up eaten on premises.
I don’t have pictures, but had a lovely weekend Jan 6-7 on UES and had a wonderful dinner at Maya, 1st Ave between 64th and 65th. Made reservations as a precaution. Had adobo chicken fajitas, salmon special and plantains-so carmelized and yummy. And a delicious dessert of runny caramel, vanilla ice cream and toasted pecans-just delicious and our waiter was great.
I had a hard time controlling myself at B and B African Restaurant on W 26th. Lots (and lots) of meat stews, but I found plenty - maybe too much - in the way of grains, sauces, salads and pasta. $10/lb with a few by-the-piece options. The only clunker was the okra, which was tough.
Interesting find - Do they have tables? What is the item on the left side of your container?
Yes, they have tables. That place has been around for a long time. I’ve walked by it many times. Need to stop in.
See pics: https://sideways.nyc/discover/5PRBzcGLykogsjXE8WM2dG/bb-restaurant
Top left is rice with spinach or some other spinach-like leafy green, with a little bit of sauce that was probably made from the same leafy green. This was my favorite thing. Bottom left is a very fine grain, not sure what, could actually be cous cous, topped with a VERY spicy gravy.
Nothing is labeled. But probably if you ask one of the guys hanging around, they’ll tell you what things are. Everyone’s very nice, except for the cashier, who grunted at me when I came up to pay.
And yes, there are a good number of seats. Also some signs telling you to move on after an hour, which no one paid much mind to. People seem to park there all day.
Most likely that’s fonio, a grain that’s widely grown in Guinea and often served at Guinean restaurants like B&B. You’re also likely to find it at B&D, another Guinean restaurant owned by members of the same extended family, at 263 West 30th.
Thanks! Someone else just mentioned that sister restaurant to me.
NAN XIANG XLB / W 33 St
I went to the original Nan Xiang in flushing many years ago, and remember it being delicious. Delicate wrappers, flavorful filling, ladies making the xlb while you watched.
The “new” Nan Xiang seems like a completely different restaurant with only the name in common.
Our meal was generally fine, parts of it good, just not what I was expecting, I guess.
The soup dumplings were larger than bite size with a thicker wrapper than I recalled, but the wrapper and the filling were both tender. We also ordered vegetable dumplings, which were huge, and filled with bright greens, but not particularly flavorful.
You might have guessed we had a vegetarian eater… so we also ordered pan-fried vegetable noodles, which were very tasty. I also suggested the black fungus starter, which was new to my vegetarian friend, but very well received. The dressing was lighter on vinegar than I’ve had, but it was a good entry point.
We rounded out with an order of lions head meatballs — these were the deep-fried-and-coated-with-a-bit-of-sauce version, not braised. Very tasty, if a bit skewed to sweet.
The space is large and bright, the staff was very nice, and there was plenty of room so they did not mind that we lingered long after we finished eating, which we very much appreciated (we kept looking up to see if they needed the table back or wanted us to go, and they were happy to just leave us be, refilling water and tea both while we sat).
So if I had not been expecting something different, I’d have said this is a pleasant spot for a bite in the Penn station area that isn’t Korean.
Dim Sum Palace has an outpost right across the street, and there were two Korean places on the block that I want to try now — Hutaoli and Rib No 7 — anyone been to either?
MOON KEE UWS
Another solid dim sum provider on the UWS (the other is Jing Fong in case you forgot about it 
— I’m not including Shun Lee bec @12/plate I don’t want to think about it).
Cart-style, which was fun after ages. Nice staff: friendly, efficient, and didn’t rush us at the end. They also have shared large tables like in Chinatown, so you don’t have to wait for a smaller table if you don’t mind that.
Good to excellent renditions of all the favorites: cheung fun, shiu mai, spare ribs, chiu chow, stuffed eggplant and long peppers, turnip cakes, baked pork buns, and egg tarts. Lots more to try next time, including roasted meats.
wow, looks good! do you know if they dim sum every day?
I believe they do, but the carts are rolling only on weekends.
thanks, I’ve passed by several times, the roasted meat in the window looks good, I have to get my better half to give up a flor/szechuan garden visit so we can give it a try. I mentioned I’d like to get to chinatown for dim sum and noted the involuntary shudder, maybe I can sell mk as an alternative.
I’d like to get back for dinner to try the rest of the menu to compare to Chinatown options, maybe we can reconvene the group there sometime.
Roast meats looked good as we saw them going by. And they have the takeout counter for them up front like in ctown — I was too full to even think about bringing something home, but regretted that foolishness as soon as I was thinking more clearly.
Yes, I picked up a menu on the way out, and there are maybe 10 things that are only available on the weekend, but there’s an extensive steamed and fried / baked dim sum selection available all the time.
BAYON
A very pleasant Cambodian meal at the new incarnation of what used to be Angkor Cambodian Bistro.
We ate:
Shrimp and Crabmeat Spring Rolls
Nem Nuong (pork meatballs)
Prahok (lettuce wrap platter of 3 styles of ground pork and fermented fish)
Nyoam (saucy noodles with minced fish)
Baked Amok (seafood and fish mousse in a red curry sauce)
Loc Lac (beef cubes)
Coconut Rice
Sweet coconut milk with tapioca and taro (complimentary dessert)
Tasty food, gorgeous space, lovely staff.
