Food Adventuring Around NYC
It’s hard not to order dan dan noodles or mapo tofu when visiting a Szechuan restaurant. Those are two familiar dishes that almost always hit home, but I have had them so many times and menus at restaurants like this are often pages long. I came to Shan, a welcome addition to Cobble Hill, during …
It takes a lot for me to write about two dishes from the same restaurant two weeks in a row. It hasn’t happened since 2022 when I gushed over Gage & Tollner. And now Tatiana absolutely deserves at least two of their dishes being highlighted on these pages. In truth, I could probably keep going …
How did we possibly end up with reservations at Tatiana on the one date night we’ve had in months? It was just meant to be, I guess. I had placed a notification on Resy for Tatiana never thinking we would actually get a reservation. I just thought if we had an evening free, I should …
Eating food with your hands is one of the great pleasures in life. We have so many great hand (or finger) food in NYC. Tacos, pizza, bagels. Something I would not have put on that list (until now) is a whole chicken. Cauldron Chicken opened at the end of last year on a part of …
I’m not used to ordering my food by color, but that is really what it came down to for me when choosing which aguachile to order. Of course, each color represents a different flavor, but we’ll get to that in a minute. Mariscos el Submarino opened in Jackson Heights during the pandemic and has been …
You may disagree with me, but I think a destination bakery is pretty rare nowadays in New York. Expert bakers with great pastries and sourdough loaves are seemingly everywhere. You don’t have to go far to find well-made croissants and cinnamon buns. Radio Bakery, however, which has been getting a ridiculous amount of hype in …
In their old space, I think I may have worked my way through Superiority Burger’s menu of inventive vegetarian fast food. I’m a bit ashamed that I hadn’t been able to visit them in their new location until now. This spring, they came back in a much larger space (with wait staff) in an old …
On the food cart tour I lead, I often talk about how many street vendors hope to one day transition into a brick-and-mortar location. Well, a few months ago that came true for Lai Sheng Zhang, who with his wife, operated a cart in Chinatown, and now has a small little takeout restaurant on one …
During a morning trip to Queens, I found Neapli Bhanchha Ghar open early and so I snuck in for some Himalayan pites. This place has been well-known in the borough for a number of years and in fact, I realized I too had been here but didn’t take good note of the name. That’s ok …
A Greek diner is all too common around the tri-state area. But a modern hipster Greek diner? That is something different. Baby Blues Luncheonette is a very cool local Williamsburg hang-out that opened in 2022 and has been a super fun hangout, especially for breakfast. I found the prices a bit high, but the food …
My yearly resolution for some time now has been to eat less meat. I’m not ready to go full vegan (but wouldn’t be surprised if I find myself there in the future), yet I am eager and more than willing to try as many of the plant-based New York food businesses as possible. I recently …
Even though they spell out how special they are in their name, I was late to the game when it came to Winner. Their original Park Slope location had been on my radar since they opened days before the pandemic became a pandemic. Since then the lines to get loaves of bread, sandwiches, and cookies …
I keep saying that the quality of Thai food all over the city has drastically improved in the last few years. And now we get one of the best restaurants yet. It’s not surprising that Untable has popped up on a few food critics’ best of the year lists (it may just be on mine …
There are certain dishes that get credit for being invented in New York. Baked Alaska, Waldorf salad, the Cronut, among many others. But on that often gets overlooked are those ubiquitous Cold Sesame Noodles. Found in most Chinese takeout restaurants, the story goes these were invented by Taiwanese chef Shorty Tang at his restaurant Hwa …
I’m not sure I really understand the difference between a finger and a nugget when it comes to chicken. The birds, of course, don’t have either. I’m sure the difference comes from the shape of the fritter. It wasn’t until I was ordering the house made versions at the local favorite Krupa Grocery that I …
Before I discovered the wonders of Elmhurst, for me, Hell’s Kitchen was the center of Thai food in New York. In fairness, it was the center of a lot for me since I had spent most of my time in the Theater District and I would wander west to discover as much interesting international food …
In the past, I would always try to match the Dish of the Week to the upcoming holiday. For Thanksgiving, it was always turkey, pumpkin something or other, mashed potatoes, or the like. I often forgot about the second half of the holiday – the giving part. Sea & Soil is an incredible new neighborhood …
Unlike Martin Short’s character on Only Murders in the Building, I have never been someone who could make a meal out of dips. It does make sense though – how are dips and bread much different than pizza or a deconstructed sandwich? I get it, but it’s just never seem to be my thing. That …
I have finally gotten over my PTSD with the restaurant formerly known as Eisenberg’s. Back when I started this blog, I wrote a less-than-stellar review of their corned beef/pastrami and chided the owner’s collection of “celebrity” photos. Well, the owner fired back contributing to my first expletive-filled comment section. Since then, Eisenberg’s was sold to …
I have been sorely out of tocuh with the craft cocktail scene as of late. Before COVID, I was on top of it, even leading cocktail tours. Boy, I miss those days! Well, when we had a night out for my birthday without our well-under 21 year old son, a cocktail bar was in order. …