Manhattan Restaurant Scene

Manhattan: (see below for Brooklyn)

One warning about eating in New York—although New York has wonderful restaurants, there are also far more mediocre ones. You generally have to pay more, sometimes considerably more, than you would in Los Angeles or San Francisco to get an excellent meal in New York. However, there is no question that at the top-priced end, New York is the best there is.

Nocello: We stumbled onto this Italian restaurant near Carnagie Hall almost by accident. Lucky for us, it turned out that the food was truely excellent. We split 4 appetizers and a salad to start and all of them were great. The portobello mushrooms could have had more flavor but were done perfectly and accompanied by a tasty salad. The procutto and melon and the Carpaccio were excellent examples of the raw-meat appetizer theme. And the best of the lot was the pollenta appetized. Pollenta cooked to the consistency of grits with sundried tomatoes and mushrooms. The pastas were very good though in general the sauces were a bit one-dimensional. Very little complexity in the cooking style, but the ingredients were all very high quality and the flavors good. The lobster ravioli was particularly good. Someone else seemed to very much enjoy one of the veal dishes. 257 West 55th St between Broadway and 8th Ave. (212) 713-0224.

Arioso: This is one of my favorite restaurants in Manhattan. Very relaxed, very friendly and they serve excellent Nouveax food. Sometimes they have pleasant, unobtrusive live music which adds to the atmosphere. Their risotto is generally good, though one time it was a little too salty whereas the time they served risotto with wild mushrooms it bordered on the bland side, calling out for perhaps some prociutto to accompany it. The pumpkin ravioli is very good and tastes kind of like some of the best food served at Zen Palate. The venison was good, in a powerful red wine sauce. They also have good beers and ports, but I haven’t tried their wines. 120 W 23rd St New York, NY (212) 807-6391

Patria: Another of the best in Manhattan at a reasonable price. Tends to be crowded, but well worth a wait. The food is based on Central American and Carribean cuisine but with a very creative flair. Everything I have tried here was excellent as well as unique. The Honduran Fire and Ice appetizer with coconut and tuna cerviche in a ginger/chili-based sauce is wonderful. The various types of empenadas are great, though of a very different and more delicate style that the Argentine empenadas I have tried. The lamb combo entrée was my favorite. The lamb was done perfectly—very rare and tender. It is accompanied by a barley/lamb sausage stew type thing that was subtle but still good. Plantain-breaded mahi mahi was also good, though a bit plain for my tastes. For dessert the ginger flan was delicious while the open-faced pear tart with blue cheese ice cream (believe it or not) was very good, though with a slightly strange flavor. 250 Park Ave S New York, NY (212) 777-6211

Ess-a-bagel: Some of the best bagels I have ever eaten, piled generously with whatever topping you choose. I like the Salmon salad and the whitefish salad. The service is very New York—friendly in a rude sort of way. The "Hey, talk to me!" kind of service. I have been told that H and H bagels are better, but these are certainly the best I have found. 359 1st Ave New York, NY (212) 260-2252

Katz’s Deli: justifiably famous. They serve a huge selection of wonderful food, but there is really only one thing that is exceptional—pastrami. This is the best pastrami I have ever had. Carnagie Deli and Pastrami factory are also very good, but they do not come close to the quality of Katz’s. And NOTHING in Los Angeles can compare at all. Don’t pay the extra to get lean pastrami. Let them serve you the fatty stuff. It may take years off your life, but it is worth it! 205 E Houston St New York, NY (212) 254-2246

Zen Palate: I am not too into vegetarian restaurants, since many of them are terrible. But New York has a couple of exceptional ones. The best known of these is Zen Palate. The food is very creatively prepared, very flavorful and can even satisfy most non-vegetarians. Many of the dishes they serve are elaborate concoctions where the ingredients do not stand out individually, but rather combine into a unique whole. An exception to this is a dish they make with mushrooms which is a true tribute to edible fungi. I highly recommend this place to all but the most avid meat eaters. 663 9th Ave New York, NY (212) 582-1669, and 2170 Broadway New York, NY (212) 501-7768

Hangawi: This is the less well known New York vegetarian restaurant I have been to. Like Zen Palate the food is creatively prepared, but whereas Zen Palate goes for bolder flavors, Han Gawi goes for much more subtlety. Han Gawi is, arguably, the better of the two. It is also, ironically, by far the more "Zen". It calls itself a Korean restaurant, but its decor, atmosphere and the subtlety of the food reminds me very much of many Zen places I went to in Kyoto. 12 E 32nd St New York, NY (212) 213-0077

Food and Drink: This place has an unfortunate name. It is really two places—a downstairs, Korean restaurant which I have never tried, and an upstairs sake bar. Now, I never liked sake until I lived in Japan and had the real stuff. Most of what you find in the US is terrible. But here at Eat and Drink they serve about a half dozen truly excellent, if expensive, sakes. I very highly recommend going and trying 3 or 4 flasks, even though it will break your budget a little. Keep in mind when you go that the really good Japanese sakes are not served warm but rather are chilled. Sake is also meant to be accompanied by food, and here Eat and Drink falls very short. The food served in the sake bar is actually pretty bad. The sushi smells and tastes old. The unagi (eel) is pretty good, but not good enough to accompany the excellent sake. The low quality of the food almost prompts me to recommend avoiding this place. However, the sake is the best I have had in the US, so it is still probably worth trying. 50 Bowery New York, NY (212) 571-2228

Yama: New York doesn’t have the best sushi, at least not at reasonable prices. However, Yama comes very close. They are, however, variable. Sometimes the sushi is truly excellent, sometimes it tastes a bit off. But it is definitely better than the average for New York. Good yellowtail, so-so unagi and maguro. There is almost always a line to get in. 49 Irving Pl New York, NY (212) 475-0969

Cloisters Café: Very pleasant for coffee and dessert. A nice, outdoor garden atmosphere (go in good weather) it is ideal for after-dinner or after-movie chatting. Large cups of coffee (really bowls!) and the pleasant atmosphere are the reasons to come here. 238 E 9th St Fl 1 New York, NY (212) 777-9128

Turkish Kitchen: Very good food and an extensive menu. I find it very hard to decide what to order, but that’s okay since everything I’ve tried is tasty. The service is attentive, if a bit patronizing. The dolmas are made fresh, not canned, and are great. Any of the lamb dishes are probably well worth a try. Lots of good desserts, too, to go with your Turkish coffee. 386 3rd Ave New York, NY (212) 679-1810

Penang: Very good, very intereting Malaysian Food. The appetizers are particularly good. If you like sweet, non-spicy dishes, the chicken in a hollowed out mango is quite nice (the chicken goes much better in this dish than the shrimp though I usually prefer shrimp). The Curry Vegetables in a Clay Pot is great, though a touch spicy. This goes very well over rice since it has lots of great sauce (coconut/curry). But so far I have found nothing on the menu that I didn't like, so explore! For dessert, the best thing is the fried ice cream. Do NOT drink the coffee. Corner of 11th St. and 3rd Ave.


Places to avoid:

These are places that for some reason have good reputations, but have awful and overpriced food.

Sal Anthony’s: Always crowded, but the food is about the worst Italian I have had and is expensive. The service is rude and patronizing the way French restaurants used to be until people figured out who was paying the bill. The steak is so tough it is hard to cut even with a steak knife. The tomato based sauces taste like they came from a jar. Don’t even bother.

Pete’s Tavern: good for some beer and it is famous because O. Henry used to go there, but the food is quite low quality. The Italian sausages taste like they have been cooked for days so that they have no flavor and have a texture similar to sawdust. The pasta is overcooked and bland. If you go, have a Guiness then leave and go across the street to Friend of a Farmer for much better food.

Dragon Gold: Pretty good Chinese food, but the service is nasty, slow in the extreme and I saw a waiter sneeze into a person’s glass of water then serve it to them anyway. There are WAY too many other Chinese restaurants of at least equal quality where you don’t have to put up with this kind of awful service.


Brooklyn:

I moved to Park Slope Brooklyn and was surprised to find that, although you don't find top restaurants here, the average restaurant in Park Slope is better than the average restaurant in Manhattan. Here is a sampling:

La Taqueria: The only good, cheap Mexican food I have found in New York so far. This place reminds me of places in East L.A. or in Santa Cruz California. Great soft tacos, tamales and huge and good, if not top notch, burritos. If you are in New York and miss Mexican food, THIS is the place to go. 72 7th Ave, between Lincoln and Berkeley. (718) 398-4300.

Coco Reef: Very good Malaysian food. The decor is funky with sea shells everywhere and a big fish tank. The service is often kid-friendly and the food is espescially pleasing to seafood lovers. 222 7th Ave (718) 788-5036

Coco Roco: Peruvian food. Wonderful cerviches (some in a fabulous lime-habanero sauce) and excellent tamalito verde for appetizers. Steaks and roast pork are great entrees. Avoid the tacu tacu fish--it isn't bad but is rather plain. There are better things on the menu. The flan is unusually good with a firm texture and a coconut-lime flavor. 392 5th Ave (718) 965-3376

Aunt Suzie's: Not the best pasta in the world, but certainly good and very cheap for the size of the portions. Basic, satisfying Italian food at prices that are unusually good for New York. If you're looking for a good deal, check out this place. 247 5th Ave (718) 788-3377

T Thai (look for the big T on the second floor): Go up the stairs for some very good Thai food. I have found that most Thai restaurants in New York are not up to my standards--too expensive for lousy food. This is an exception. Reasonable prices and excellent food. 125 7th Ave (718) 622-9376


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