Oh, you’re very close to where we stayed. I’ll throw in one more recommendation, just based on proximity. You’re less than a 10-minute walk from Mama Fox (327 Stuyvesant), which is a newish restaurant (opened 2019, after high rents drove the owner out of Williamsburg) that the owner describes as “global comfort food” (mussels, Korean fried chicken, etc., hangar steak, etc.). We had the Tuesdays-only paella and were quite happy with it. It wasn’t the greatest paella ever, but it was very good and the place is really pleasant.
I missed that you ate at Peaches for brunch. Basically, nowhere is good at brunch (only a slight overstatement). We ate there one night right after it opened for the day, so it was uncrowded and pleasant.
We were two minutes from the Utica Avenue subway stop, so we basically did all our travel on the A and C lines. For the entire 30 days, we took only trains and buses, no Uber, Lyft, or taxis. It’s a great location for that.
Do you mean Utica and Eastern Parkway? I am about 25 minutes from that stop, and keep telling myself I’m going to walk there, to catch the 5 or 6.
I didn’t share my exact location, but it’s about three blocks south of where I said, closer to Eastern Parkway. I’ve walked to the closest train station at Thomas Boyland and Fulton for the C train. I hope to take that one again, but thinking toward Manhattan.
ETA You must mean the Utica and Fulton station. Hmmmm…I’ve been so focused on getting to the Botanical Garden I didn’t pay much attention to where the C went!
Google maps is telling me I’m more than a mile from Mama Fox. I appreciate you thinking I could, but I can’t make it in 10 minutes! Map says 35; I could do that.
In any case, I’m hoping to get to the Japanese place you suggested.
BTW; it looks like a sort of sushi menu ( ETA I takethat back! I looked more closely); is izakaya similar? I was thinking of the show “Midnight Diner”. I love that show.
Thanks again.
P.S. I noticed during your '22 visit you went to “Little Guyana/Jamaica,”. I have not been there, but that’s near where I grew up in the 60’s-70’s!
Oops, I used Google Maps, but it defaulted to driving, not walking, and I didn’t notice. Sorry for the confusion. I wouldn’t say Mama Fox (which is very near the Peaches on Lewis) is worth a 35 minute walk.
Yes, the Trad Room has lots of sushi. It calls itself an izakaya, which is a Japanese grill, but it’s heavy on the sushi. It is worth a 35-minute walk.
Little Guyana was very interesting. My wife and I had planned to do a mini-“food crawl” there, but the first place we went to gave us so much food that we had to stop. I’d say the neighborhood is much more heavily Guyanese than Jamaican now. Some Trinidadian too.
I walked more than a mile in the cold (to this currently Californian) rain to Trad Room and it was worth it.
Not only did I enjoy half and half oysters (SHIGOKU WEST COAST and BIG ROCK EAST COAST), and one of the KARAAGE FRIED CHICKEN starters, I also had the OMAKASE SASHIMI (fluke, salmon, yellowtail, tuna, scallop), and took the other NANBAN FRIED CHICKEN starter to go! I am a happy camper. And I took a LYFT back.
I love maduros. olive oil and/or butter are good for cooking them, rather slowly. If they are not soft, forget it, they will be very starchy to eat. I often sprinkle a tiny bit sugar at the end to get good caramelization, And my favorite treatment is one I learned from a caribbean friend - to coat them very lightly with honey and grated ginger for the final bit of cooking. And salt. they need to be salted
My pleasure! I might have to revisit the KARAAGE FRIED CHICKEN before I leave. Can someone compare and contrast it with NANBAN FRIED CHICKEN? My comparison won’t be accurate sine the latter was take out, which left me to my own devices regarding saucing.
Nanban, to my knowledge, comes to Japan via Portuguese traders who introduced escabeche to them. Nanban marinades typically include vinegar. Here’s an article:
If you are asking me, I would head back to Lucy’s, but would be open to anything I could get to or have delivered for reasonable cost and effort. Getting around on foot or by public transportation from where I stayed was a little more cumbersome than I anticipated.
