Return to New York+

Hello, patient readers, you few, you special.  We just returned from two weeks in New York and several people have asked for suggestions for their upcoming trips and so I oblige:

OLD FAVORITES: Our trips do not seem complete with a visit to the bar at Keen's Steakhouse. On our last visit, we went to the main restaurant which was fabulous and had leftover mutton chop for another meal.  The bar has a smaller cut, but the meat is perfect, juicy, pink, and loaded with flavor. Simply served with braised escarole, but all meals are accompanied by terrific small rolls and most splendid sweet butter (I asked about the brand--Grand President). The buvette steak salad had a perfectly cooked 5-6 oz. steak with a romaine salad. The added treat at the bar this time were plump chicken wings.  Good wines by the glass.
The BBQ brisket sandwich at Mighty Quinn is mighty delicious and the baked beans with burnt ends is one the world's great dishes. The pulled pork is pretty good too.  They now have several locations, including Battery Park City's Hudson Eats with a spectacular view of the Hudson.  We love the croissants, pain au chocolat and small quiches at Patisserie Claude on W. 4th Street.  Prices are amazingly low for such high quality-- each would be at least $1 more uptown. And the word is definitely out about the cookies at Levain on W. 74th St.  They're still $4 per, which seemed a lot last year. Nice to see they're holding steady. The rustic baguette was also good.
Motorino on E. 10th is one of my favorite pizzas.  We went for brunch and had the brunch pizza with pancetta and eggs on top and the always delicious sopresseta.  Salads are great and a nice surprise was the octopus appetizer--tender and flavorful. If you can get there for lunch, they have  a salad/pizza combo for $12.  Always dependable is a slice from Joe's on Carmine, busy so right out of the oven.  I also tried a slice from Bleecker Street Pizza down the block and it was quite good too. Crust was fair but toppings and sauce very good.
A wondrous 5-course lunch for $55 at Bouley was to me a very good deal.  We got the wine pairings which were also a good deal but the total tab was quite wondrous too. The restaurant moved since our last visit and it is a beautiful French country room, but pretty formal. Reminded me of Taillevant in Paris, if I may drop a name. The coolest part was a bread cart with 10 different breads.  Each of had a pile of brioche, levain, and savory loaves. Highlights: the porcini flan with crab and the forager's mushroom treasure, and the hot carmelized Anjou pear (one of the best desserts I have ever had and that's saying a lot).  The highlight of the wines was a 1999 dry Vouvray, unctuous and rich almost like a sauterne.
Our deli choice this time was Carnegie Deli.  Our trick is to get the food to go-- no wait and no split charges.  One corned beef sandwich and one matza ball soup to go.  Enough for dinner for 2 and lunch the next day. Both were incredible. It may be a tourist trap but easy to see why. 

NEW FAVORITES: Russ and Daughters Cafe is a brilliant idea. A hip LES comfortable cafe featuring the great smoked meats from the mother ship. Our brunch consisted of a classic Gaspe lox on bagel with cream cheese and capers and a platter with the best potato latkes, Gaspe lox, and sunnyside up eggs.
A truly special dinner was happily consumed at NoMad, in-chef Daniel Humm's new and packed restaurant. Prices were reasonable for such great food.  The chicken for 2 was the best chicken dish we've ever had. Stuffed with foie gras, truffle and brioche, every bite was heaven.  The suckling pig was pretty wonderful too.  The pear salad and beets first courses were perfect and the rooms are beautiful.  Service was very helpful and good wines by the glass. Quite a schlep to the restrooms.
The Dutch is a fairly new Soho restaurant famous for the fried chicken which it turns out is not served at dinner.  I settled for the skate wings which was perfectly cooked and adorned with crab. The foie gras terrine was scrumptious and the apple pie served 4 nicely (at $18 it should). Nice room and good service on a cold, snowy evening. All wines are American! I did get my fried chicken fix at Hill Country Chicken's branch in Brooklyn.  Nicely fried but the crust is a little crackery.
Our new pizza experience was at Franny's in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I've read about it for years and the pizza is truly wonderful.  A classic margherita is the test for me and it more than passed.  Appetizers are very good and an interesting all-Italian wine list helps.
We chanced into 44&X for an after-theater meal. Food and wine were quite good, especially the scallops appetizer which made a good meal with a lovely arugula salad. Salmon tartare was delicious and a very fine wines by the glass selection made it a place worth a return visit.  Another good find fairly close to the theater district is Taboon, a Mediterranean-Mid-eastern delight of a restaurant. Good cocktails, great bread, and an assortment of outstanding mezes made a really good meal.  A standout was the teramasaleta.
I think that's it.  So many more to try and so many to return to. Always hard to decide but all around  a stomachful of delight. And, of course, I had to get my dozens of Ess-a-bagel pumpernickel bagels to bring home.

New York Spring

Ah, Spring in New York, 40 degrees, no wait 80 degrees, sunny, no wait, rainy and cold.  But you can always find safe harbor in some great restaurants.  So here are my 2013 munchings:

Pizza: Always have to get a major pizza fix in NY. Best pizza had this trip was at Luzzo’s (211-13 1^st Ave.).  I had never heard of it atho it uses a 100 year old coal oven so I think it's been around awhile.  2 of us shared a beautiful salad and a large margherita, Highly rated in Zagat and for good reason.  I returned to Motorino but this time at East Village site (349 E.12^th). Their amazing lunch deal of a choice of 4 pizzas and a fresh salad for $12 cannot be beat.  The margherita was totally satisfying, with a nicely crisp crust  and the right proportions of sauce to cheese.  Only disappointment was their recommended pizza wine, which was lightly fruity but bland.  Another new delight was at Don Antonio (309 W. 50^th) which has a mother restaurant in Neopolitan ??and known for their Montorano Starita, an individual-sized pie, lightly fried crust with sauce, smoked mozzarella cooked in  a wood-fired oven. A Pontina ?? salad with spring greens, fresh mozzarella and grape tomatoes made another perfect lunch.

Since it’s always important to try new Italian restaurants, we did our duty at Locanda Verde, very famous and hard to get in.  We went early and besides middling service, had some very good food.  The asparagus appetizer was superb with a poached duck? egg blessing the thick and luscious spears. The Locanda salad with dried cherries and speck was delightful. We went with pastas.  I had to order “My Grandmother’s ravioli” , which ended up being nothing that special besides the nostalgic naming. The daily pasta was a spinach noodle with a light pork ragu. A side of roasted carrots with olive, citrus, and yogurt was perfect.

The best dish of the trip was the crispy watercress salad with shrimp, squid, and chicken at SriPraPhai in Woodside, Queens (6413 39^th Ave). I’ve never tasted anything like this spicy, flavorful, texturally magnificent dish.  I’ve been trying to find it on Thai menus in the Bay Area without success.  The other outstanding dish was fried soft shell crab topped with chili, garlic and basil. Noodle dishes and curries were fine too, but the first 2 are big winners and worth the long ride to Woodside.  Our other borough dining treat was at Walter’s in Fort Greene, Brooklyn (166 DeKalb), where we feasted on ceviche, fresh fish, excellent fried chicken, superb Brussels sprouts, and key lime pie.  A cool, neighborhood gathering spot.

A day spent at Grounds for Sculpture in southern New Jersey included a great lunch at Rat’s, which offers a 3 course lunch prix fixe for about $25 with good choices for each course.  I had a yummy onion soup and a barley risotto, a nice variation on grains. The hamburger is beautiful and they follow a farm-to-table philosophy. House made gelati were all excellent.  The sculpture park is a delight and worth the hour train trip from NYC.

More Manhattan dinner highlights were: A return trip to the bar at Keen’s (72W.36^th) where we shared oysters and their unique and fantastic mutton chop. The Manhattans are nice and strong, the rolls and butter perfect, and it’s a fun scene, reasonably priced.  Modern Korean fare with especially good kimchi was enjoyed at Danji (346 W. 52), an in-spot where we got seated at the bar after a ½ hour wait among young marketing mavens. The excellent bartender with good wine and food advice made it all OK. Spicy yellowtail sashimi, cool and lovely fresh pea soup, chorizo paella were highlights, altho the well-known pork belly sliders have been eclipsed by other restaurants.  Everyone there seems to order them tho.  The best Greek meal I’ve ever had was our dinner at Pylos (128 E 7^th)  where everything was prepared perfectly, service was excellent, wines were good, portions large, prices reasonable, and the pita was unbelievable.  The gigante beans  the grilled octopus, and the whole bronzino were of special note.  I wanted to try everything on the menu.

Lunches provided many memorable moments.  The 3-course lunch at Nougatine by Jean-Georges is a fantastic deal at $32.  I paid an $8 supplement for the best foie gras terrine I’ve ever had with a slightly spicy passionfruit meringue on top as my first course.  Sheila had a lovely tuna tartare. Our entrees of roasted black bass and crispy baked chicken showed off the cooking expertise with the main ingredient complemented by perfect preparation and side dishes. Each bite is a pleasure. The famous warm chocolate cake and the vanilla ice cream with rhubarb puree ended almost perfect meals.  We loved our wines by the glass featuring real treasures, especially a pinot gris from Alsace, even though at $17-18, they don’t come cheap.  And we saw Jean-Georges himself.

 A great pastrami sandwich at the classic Katz’s was the expected treat and our visit to the new location of 2^nd Avenue Deli (162 E. 33^rd) brought us  terrific pastrami and corned beef, as well as matza ball soup. The pickles were better than at Katz’s although I like Katz’s pastrami better. A gift of a small chocolate phosphate made this meal at one of the last full Kosher restaurants special. One of the oldest dim sum parlors in NYC is Nom Wah (13 Doyers St—a fascinating little street) was fun but Bay Area dim sum is better. This is  a no-cart  place where the shrimp dumplings shine.  I finally made it to Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem (700 W125^th) but was mildly disappointed by the pulled pork and brisket lunch plate.  Less than I had hoped for. The cole slaw and beans were both very good.

I had a perfect and simple breakfast at Clinton Street Baking Co (4 Clinton) in the Lower East Side.  The buttermilk biscuit sandwich filled with light and fluffy eggs and cheddar with tomato jam accompanied by perfectly crisp hash browns left me so satisfied I gave my thanks to the chef.  Their muffins and cookies are good too. Great cookies were bought at Levain  (167 W. 74). $4 each but huge and even I think worth the price.  Sublime smoked sable and Gaspe nova lox on bagels came from the legendary Russ and Daughters,  and some great bagels from Bergen Bagels in Brooklyn.  We were disappointed in the “legendary” bagels from H&H Midtown Bagels East (1551 2nd Ave),.  Everything cannot be perfect but our 11 days in New York were all in all very fulfilling, enriching, and a little nutritious.

Return to New York and some great eating

It had been too long, almost 2 years, since my last trip to New York. As soon as I finished my interim director gig in Palo Alto, Sheila and I did the redeye, arriving in NYC at 7 AM. First stop on way to our friends' apartment in Brooklyn was La Bagel Delight, a mini-chain, with good plump, nicely chewy bagels, albeit an awful name. We had arrived! Trying to discover the best Brooklyn bagels became a quest. Our favorite bagels and the ones we brought home were from Bergen Bagels, on Bergen at Flatbush, just a few degrees better than La Bagel Delight. Great scallion cream cheese too. A smaller, crispier crust bagel can be found at Bagel Hole, which many think is the best, but they don't last as well. I also had a decent pumpernickel bagel from a new place on De Kalb, Brooklyn Bagel Works. I missed all my favorite Manhattan bagels, except for a stop at Kossar's Bialy, where I was horrified by a stale and bready plain bagel (no pumpernickels available of which I have fond memories), and a lousy bialy, both ending up in a trash can. Quel horreur and shame on them.
I did have an admirable pastrami sandwich from the great Katz's after disposing of the Kossar's travesties, which put me in a better Lower East Side frame of mind. But I was disappointed in the pickles, either too well-done or not done enough.
My other ever-vigilant NYC search besides bagels is pizza and we had some great ones. A dependable slice from Joe's in Greenwich Village paled compared to the Regina Margherita from Keste's Pizza and Vino on Bleecker Street. A truly incredible Neopolitan masterpiece crust with buffalo mozzarella, simple tomato sauce, peeled tomatoes, and basil. Heavenly. A pizza insalata, a pizza dough roll filled with arugula with proscuitto and artichoke heart slices, was an excellent companion. They have an interesting wine list and are open for lunch.
A very, very fine pizza lunch was also had at Motorino in Williamsburg. A $12 prix fixe lunch inlcudes a lovely mixed salad and a pizza of your choice. We had the Margherita (regular but excellent mozzarella), and the soppressata, both good-sized, crispy, but chewy crust, and defintley worth a visit. There's a branch in the East Village. We also had a great slice of pizza bianco from Grandaisy Bakery on Sullivan Street, a simple focaccia with salt and rosemary. The bakery makes incredible lemon-ginger cookies. We had to visit Eataly, the new Italian food emporium, where we had the excellent daily pizza special, 2 slices of speck and mozz. calzone, 2 slices of buffalo mozz, and 2 of arugula, and a beautiful mixed salad.
A favorite NYC avocation is eating at fine restaurants at lunch, when prices are much lower. We always eat at Gotham Bar and Grill and are always satisfied. 3 courses are $31 includng their sublime and wonderful chocolate cake. Their salads are always freshly beautiful, on this day a mesclun for me and beet for Sheila. I had the hangar steak with fingerling potatoes and Sheila had the Finnian haddock with a citrus foam. What a delighful hunk of meat mine was! Besides the cake, we had a very nice yuzu meringue tart. Both desserts had a piece of basil which added a nice flavor to both. For $29, we had amazing 3 course lunches at Del Posto. I paid a $10 supplement for Lydia's lobster salad as a first course and there was like a whole tail of lobster meat with tomato and celery in a light oil that emphasized the lobster. Sheila had tuna and raw veal "cubito", a tartare, with a caper mustard sauce. For entrees, I had beautiful orcchiette with lamb sausage, minted soybeans, and crispy morels, a really fine dish. Sheila had a nice skate with squashes in a broth. She was the adventurous one for dessert, ordering a sfera with celery and figs and celery sorbetto. I had the chocolate tortino with olive oil gelato and pistachios. The meal started with 3 amuse bouches, continued with 3 kinds of bread with butter or wonder of wonders, whipped lardo (like a sublime schmaltz), and ended with mini cookies and chocolates. The restaurant is very beautiful with tables far enough away from each other so it's pretty quiet, a nice jazz pianist, stools for ladies' purses, excellent service, and truffles when you leave. I'd go back.
The soft shell crabs at Oriental Garden in Chinatown came highly recommended so we had to try them. We always end up being disappointed in NY Chinese restaurants and it happened once again. The crabs were good, not great, in a "country" sauce that our neighboring table was raving about with their lobster. We then each had a giant oyster that was very good and the tofu with shrimp, good but not up to some we get here in the Bay Area at dim sum places. I also felt they were fried in not the freshest of oil.
I also usually avoid Mexican places here, but friends highly recommended Rosa Mexicano near Lincoln Center and we were not disappointed. Their guacamole is freshly made tableside and is delicious with fresh, crispy chips. At $14 it better be good. We had a daily special appetizer of smoked cauliflower with goat cheese and 3 types of mini corn tortillas and the tuna and shrimp ceviche. Their roasted poblano salsa is terrific. A very nice lunch.
I have always wanted to eat at an Alain Ducasse restaurant, but being so cheap, I was not sure I would, until I found Benoit, which has a $38 prix fixe dinner. This midtown restaurant was not very crowded and the reviews weren't overly positive, but we had a very good meal. I started with a twice-baked Comte souffle with a parmesan sauce. Yummers. And then followed with the skate in a caper sauce, which was excellent, and finished with a nice raspberry tart. Sheila opted away from the 3 courses and had a delicious lardon salad followed by a classic French onion soup. Everything was classically good in a beautful brasserie setting.
Another place I had always wanted to eat at was Keen's Steakhouse on W. 36th. St. and try the mutton chop. By myself, I ate in the bar and had a classic Manhattan while waiting for my bistro chop served with braised escarole and fresh rolls with perfect sweet butter. The chop was magnificent, toothy lamb with great texture and cooked perfectly. For dessert, I stopped at a Junior's and had their classic cheesecake to round a out a cholesterol-filled but tasty meal.
Lastly, a real Brooklyn treat was had at Abistro, a Senegalese restaurant in Fort Greene. It's BYOB so the check was an amazing $44 for a great meal for 2. We had the fried chicken, a breast beautifully cooked served over a sweet potato cake and collard greens with a deep, spicy, balanced sauce and the spicy salad with trout, a great balance to the chicken. Both were preceded by cod fritters with black-eyed peas served with salad. Nice to have new and wonderful food. Back at the apartment, we shared a piece of red velvet cake I bought at Cake Man Raven's on Fulton Street, a good balance of moist cake and fluffy frosting.
My love affair with New York remains strong.