Every visit it’s the same… not enough meals in the day to eat everything I want to in New York. After briefly considering adding a 4th and 5th meal to my days, I resign myself to the fact that I can’t go to all my old favorites and try lots of new places all in the same trip. Alas, some food must go uneaten. At least we squeezed in most of the essential food groups this trip: the Mexican group, the sushi group, the cannoli group, the martini group. And we also made it out to my aunt’s house for a feast that, as usual, rivaled the fare of the yummiest of Manhattan’s eateries. Speaking of which, these are the ones we visited this time around:
Amber* – tragically hip, colorful sushi bar. Good martinis. I wish Munich had places like this.
L’Annam – basic Vietnamese food. Our re-introduction to American portion sizes.
El Parador* – yummy, elegant Mexican. As I am not particularly elegant when it comes to Mexican food, I found my dish a little lacking in the copious-amounts-of-melted-cheese category, but otherwise everything was delicious. Margaritas!
Cho Dang Gol – a Korean restaurant specializing in homemade tofu. Happy vegetarian.
2nd Ave Deli – Jewish deli food at its most famous. No longer located on 2nd Ave. Fresh pickles. Gigantic portions.
The Smith – brunchy. Decent cocktails.
Obika* – I was thrilled to come across this familiar sign in NYC. Obika is a fresh mozzarella bar started in Rome which opened a branch in Milan while we lived there (best happy hour snacks ever). While the NYC location is much less fancy than its chic Italian counterparts, the mozzarella is just as heavenly.
Noodletown* – Chinatown at its noodliest. Loved the veggie dumplings. And the noodles.
The Porter House (Columbus Circle) – fancy NYC steakhouses offer surprisingly good eats for vegetarians, since they tend to take their vegetable side dishes (and cocktails) very seriously. The Porter House’s dirty martinis were not as fab as I had hoped, but the food was pretty good. The steak house we ate at last year was better, but I can’t remember its name.
And on to dessert…
Chinatown Ice Cream Factory – black sesame ice cream = yummy!
La Bella Ferrara – standard Little Italy bakery for all my cannoli needs.
Grom* – another favorite from Italy which has been recently exported to New York. The prices at the NYC location were kind of ridiculous, but it was worth it for a little taste of their heavenly gelato. I was too busy eating to take pictures, but you can get an idea from the last photo in this post.
Puck Fair – OK, so beer isn’t really a dessert, but I wanted to mention this cozy, fun bar we visited for a couple pints of ale. Mmmmm… ale. (Don’t go getting all upset now, Germany – I like your beer, too.)
What are your favorite places to eat and drink in NYC?
* denotes my favorite eats of this trip.
If you are a fan of fresh tofu, try EN Brasserie next time you are back in New York. They make it six times per night and it is amazingly good. http://www.enjb.com/
As I am not particularly elegant when it comes to Mexican food, I found my dish a little lacking in the copious-amounts-of-melted-cheese category
Not trying to hair-split here; this is genuine curiosity. Are you reporting on a Mexican restaurant or a Tex-Mex restaurant? True Mexican is simply not as cheesy as Tex-Mex, right? I think my father-in-law explained it to me thusly: Tex-Mex cuisine is extra cheesy because that’s gummint cheese used in abundance.
And that may well be a myth, but it’s what I’ve been told.
Molly – thanks for the recommendation!
Cliff – I am no expert on Tex-Mex, having never been to Texas, but I would also guess that authentic Mexican food is less cheesy than the Americanized version (as the Americanized version of pretty much any cuisine seems to involve adding fat and calories). Although I’ve been to Mexico several times, I can’t for the life of me remember the food save one breakfast of huevos rancheros… but damn I could go for an enchilada smothered in queso blanco right about now.
PS – I had to look up “gummint”.
If you cover everything in cheese, it’s hard to tell where one nacho ends, and the next nacho begins. Right, Cliff?
Headbang, you bring to mind my very first meal back in the US this trip… airport nachos, ordered in a moment of hopeful delusion. I had completely forgotten that vile orange goop existed.
I wasn’t hungry until I looked at your web site. My recent trip back to the US included a list of things I wanted to eat too, but if I were in the US I would miss the Swiss food.
Le sigh… New York and New York food…. I am almost jealous… almost… wanna bring me back some mexican food?? ;)hehehe… Glad you had a great trip!! NY is awesome!
DL – Luckily it’s pretty easy to recreate my favorite Swiss food (fondue) in other places… although it’s hard to find sharp gruyere here, which is the best. Enjoy it while you’re there. 🙂
Malskey – wish I could! Boy do I wish Europe could produce some decent Mexican restaurants…
Wow, the pictures look awesome! I hope the food was half as good.
Do tell about the new DSLR!
Many of the restaurants crowded along Restaurant Row (I think it’s 46th between 9th and 10th behind Times Square) are good food and good value. I’m also a big fan of the street food; hot dogs off the cart in particular.
You take some great pictures of food-Oh yes.
You should be doing menu photography.
All the best in NYC. A good place to eat. DK
I just ate lunch and now I am hungry again….hmmmm hungry for sushi too….
Snooker – Thanks! The food was even better than it looks… The camera isn’t anything too fancy, just an SLR for beginners, but it’s exciting when you’ve never had one before! As the photos in the coming posts will illustrate, we’re still trying to figure out how to use it. 🙂
Dave – we saw a cart with a line a block long one night in NYC… apparently that particular one is famous, but I can’t remember what for. So you’re not the only fan of street food out there!
David – Thanks! I agree, NYC is pretty much my favorite food destination in the whole world (well, maybe tied with Milan). I miss it already.
Matt – I didn’t get enough sushi this trip. I’ll be dreaming of it until I make it back…
Your photos make my mouth water! I think I’ll plan a trip up to New York just to try some of these dishes. Great post!
I can tell I have been in Korea too long when even looking at Korean food makes me slightly nauseous.
Melody – an eating trip to NYC is always worthwhile. 🙂
Kelsey – oh no! Not even German food does that to me (surprisingly, sometimes).
Oh man, the Mexican and martini are food groups in my US food pyramid too. I add to that the bagel group.
It has been so long since I’ve been to NYC. We were supposed to go this year, but it didn’t work out.
mmm. i miss the mexican food the most, and generally spend most of my trips to america attempting to turn myself into a burrito.
I’m jealous. Perhaps I really should consider a trip to NYC.
Did you walk a lot, or did you use the public transport?
Lori – oh yeah, bagels were a must for breakfast every day! Mmmmmm.
Click – Me too. Friends and family will say things like “but didn’t you just have Mexican for lunch?” They don’t understand the urgent need to replenish…
Rooi – all of it. Lots of walking, augmented by some subway rides and some taxis.
…'I had completely forgotten that vile orange goop existed.'
i tried to explain this to a friend here once; fail.