Places To Eat

Favorite Restaurants in New York City

Customers often ask me where I like to eat.  They know that I used to go out to dinner almost every night after work to unwind but I’ve hadbeen cooking now almost every day before I go to the restaurant and am dining out less frequently. Because I’m usually at the restaurant until about 10, I seldom eat late at night.  But weekends I tend to go to ethnic places with exciting flavors and honest food. I do not only “eat to live,” I “live to eat” and the food has to be good!. I simply will not waste time or, more importantly, calories on mediocre food.

I often wake up with a food craving of some sort that I have to satisfy. I will travel all around the city to find just what I feel like eating that night. Fortunately, I live in New York where I can find the best of every conceivable kind of food.

Here is a list of my favorite restaurants and what I eat when I go there. Some are expensive, others quite reasonable.

New favorite restaurant

We have been eating a lot in Queens, well, Flushing,  really.  Our two favorite restaurants are:

Hunan House
137-40 Northern Blvd,
Flushing, NY
718-353-0808

The Village Voice has wonderful review of it though I do not agree on two of their recommendations: The braised fish with its head on the side with the pickled chile sauce is boring and, though they didn’t like it, one of my favorite dishes is the white chile with preserved beef. The chiles are sun-bleached chiles not dried bean curd skins as they assumed in the article. We’ve been there many times and recommend the following: the sauteed smoked duck, Mao’s pork belly, sauteed lamb with hot pepper sauce or cumin (the latter is better at Little Pepper (see below), Other than the pickled cabbage, the vegetables are unremarkable and don’t you dare order brown rice!

Little Pepper
www.little-pepper.com

133-43 Roosevelt Ave
Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 939-7788

There are no two ways about it, Little Pepper is a dump though they keep saying they are going to move to a nicer location. We still go there often because the food is sublime with my special favorite being the lamb with cumin, a mild cauliflower with minced pork has an interesting texture and cools the palate because it’s specialties are very spicy braised dishes.
Make sure you know where you are going before you set out because if you try to telephone, they’ll hang up on you. The waiters speak English but that’s about it but everyone is very nice once you get there.

Zabb

71-28 Roosevelt Avenue

Jackson Heights, NY 11372

718-426-7992

BYO and cash only

www.zabb-zabb.com

A customer very much in the know recommended this marvelous little jewel that specializes in the cooking of the Esan region of Thailand and that means hot!  Very satisfyingly, thrillingly hot!  Our adorable server, Penny, guided us through the menu and we had a spectacular meal.

Someone in our party ordered curry puff and they were good but no indication of what was to come:

Crispy fried catfish larb, green papaya salad with peanuts,  the dish listed under E14 that we had with barely cooked shrimp, good but not fabulous drunken noodles, Y16 sliced pork skin (chicharrones) and crispy rice salad and fried tofu in a peanut sauce very much like an encacahuetado.

Amma
246 E. 51st Street.
between 2nd and 3rd Avenues
212-644-8330
www.ammany.com
I’m a great fan of Indian food and since I first dined  at Amma I fell in love with the setting and the flavors. I’ve had two mildly  disappointing experiences in at the beginning of the year but have been back several times since and the food has been wonderful.  Not only is it right in our neighborhood but it is a jewel of a place. The service is attentive and the seating is comfortable. We ordered both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian tasting menus ( a relative bargain at $50.00) and thoroughly enjoyed every bite.** I was there recently 1-2010 and  it wasn’t quite as delicious.)

The food at Amma was developed by Suvir Suran who owns my other favorite Indian restaurant, Devi.
It’s no wonder I like the food at Amma so much –it was designed by Suvir Suran who owned the luxurious Devi that featured much of the same dishes.  I was devastated to read that it had closed recently but a few days later I learned that Suvir had bought out his partners and has now reopened.

Devi
8 E 18th St
New York, NY 10003
212-6911300
Cross Street: Between 5th Avenue and Broadway
All of Savir Suran’s food is delicious but I particularly love the tandoori lamb chops, the mung bean chaat, the ground turkey samosa, and the okra.

Lupa
170 Thompson (between Bleecker and Thompson)
212-982-5089
Lupa is one of those places. I just love Mario Batali’s restaurants! His food is flavor-packed and very original. Lupa is known for its fabulous charcuterie and I always order the testa, (head cheese). Last time we ordered the endive and parsley salad with pancetta and a surprising black pepper hot vinaigrette. Though I’m not usually a fan of tripe – I was won over by their tripe frittata. A special of sautéed porcini mushrooms with anchovy butter was memorable. The pig knuckle with blood orange and laurel was delicious.
It’s not easy to get in as they only reserve half of the room and the remaining tables are filled by a long list of walk-ins.
Peasant
194 Elizabeth St
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 965-9511
Price: appetizers, $6-$12; entrees, $18-$24

Since I haven’t been going out much, I hadn’t been to Peasant in along time but was there last week and it is better than ever!

In Mexico, restaurants with a very individualistic approach to food are sometimes referred to as cocinas de autor. It’s the same term applied to film as in cinema d’auteur. Peasant is such a restaurant. Owned by Chef Frank De Carlo and his wife Dulcinea (is that a great name or what?), this cozy candlelit restaurant is filled with the aroma of meats cooking in the brick, wood-fired oven that is Frankie’s trademark.
Though he’s doing Italian food, his touch is original and assertive and all dishes burst with flavor. When you sit down they’ll bring you a little pot of creamy ricotta to spread on the wonderfully chewy bread. The salads are crisp and fresh with delicious little tidbits like fried pancetta or marinated fresh anchovies. Another has crunchy apples and velvety cheese.
The pastas are also excellent and the roasted rabbit with white beans and pancetta, goat, and whole fish on a bed of rosemary are fantastic. The desserts are great.

Wu Liang Ye
They have two locations but I’ve only been to the one at:
36 West 48th Street
(Between 5th & 6th)
Tel: 212-398-2308
Fax: 212-366-1505
For someone who claims not to like Chinese food, I certainly have been eating in a lot of Chinese restaurants lately and I’ve discovered a jewel. Well, actually I’d been there several years ago and somehow forgot about it. Oh, the many wonderful meals I’ve missed during that time!
This is Sichuan food at the most authentic (I hate that word!) so I must warn you that some of the dishes might scare an unadventurous diner -like spicy, beef tendon sliced paper-thin tendon (one of my favorite items) and duck tongues (one of my least favorites because of the cartilage in the tongues.) But here you will find sesame noodles as they should be made and you’ll never believe the difference! Pork cooked any way is delicious here but I especially like the Double-Cooked Fresh Bacon with Spicy Capsicum and the more mild steamed spare ribs with sticky rice coating that’s on the menu some times. Don’t order the steamed whole fish – it’s boring-try the Baby Shrimps with Scallion Pesto instead. Don’t miss the delicate Herbed Spring Bamboo Shoots. The menu is large an quite exciting, so have fun!

Dim Sum Go Go
5 East Broadway
New York, NY 10002
Telephone 212-732-0797
Fax: 212-964-3149
I’ve found a restaurant that I like even more than Sweet-N- Tart for dim sum. They feature a good variety of vegetarian in addition to the more traditional dim sum. My favorites are the spinach and the mushroom dumplings but the snow pea leaf and parsley dumplings are unusual and just as good. I also like the steamed bean curd skin and the chicken & sticky rice in a lotus leaf. If I go by myself I like to order the dim sum platter (10 pieces one of each) or the vegetarian dim sum.
The place is stylishly designed (unusual for Chinatown) and well lit.

Paladar
161 Ludlow
(between Houston and Stanton)
212-473-3535
“What kind of a mother are you?” asked one of my customers recently. He had taken issue with the fact th

Taksim
Turkish Cuisine
1030 Second Ave
New York, NY 10022
212-421-3004
I’ve given up trying to keep up with Orhan Yegen’s peripatetic style of restaurant management. He opens restaurants, gets them going, gets into a fight with his partners, and moves on to another place, meanwhile spawning some very good places that serve delicious and authentic Turkish food. Taksim is a quick-service restaurant and I don’t go there to dine. We pick up smoky pureed eggplant salad, excellent tarama (carp roe spread), sauteed spinach, lentil patties, doner kebabs and other daily special mezze (small plates).

Café Mingala
Burmese Cuisine
1383-B Second Avenue
(between 72nd and 73rd Streets)
212-744-8008
I judge Asian food by whether it’s worth it to me to get swollen from the soy sauce and Café Mingala is definitely worth it to me! I first discovered Burmese food at a restaurant called Rangoon in Philadelphia and immediately fell in love. The flavors are fresh and very different from those of other Asian cuisines.
I always order the Spring Ginger Salad, the Pickled Green Tea Leaf Salad, but the mango and green papaya salads are also refreshing and delicious. (They’re both sprinkled liberally with roasted peanuts and fried soybeans so, if you’re allergic to them, order something else.) Then I move on the sensational handmade dumpling soups called Phet-Htoke. I usually get either the Northern Burma or the Classic Myanmar Phet-Htoke. For entres I like the Mango, the Lemon Grass, or Ginger Chicken and the Keema described as “a thousand layer pancake stuffes with minced meat and potatoes. A very nice turn on a picadillo!
They deliver and the food arrives in good condition.

Persepolis
1423 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10021
212-535-1100
Next to Mexican, Middle Eastern is definitely my favorite. food. I’m always trying to find new places where I can experience the foods of different regions. I recently came upon Persepolis , a modest restaurant that specializes in Persian food and discovered some very interesting and delicious new flavors.
For appetizers we had an eggplant and kasha purée seasoned with pomegranate molasses (baba) and thick luscious yogurt with min to be eaten with some fresh pita bread. Next, we got a platter with slices of mild feta cheese, scallion greens, tomato, cucumber and fresh herbs like mint and parsley and made a sandwich with some more hot bread.. It was refreshing and light.
Next we decided to try to different kinds of kabobs for entrees – Sultani kebab, spicy chopped steak meatballs and Lamb Barg Kebab, sliced lamb on a skewer that rally tasted like lamb not some indefinite kind of meat as it usually does. But what I liked best was a fabulous sour cherry rice.
Dessert was a rich Persian vanilla ice cream.

Sweet-n-Tart
(I don’t understand the name, by the way)
20 Mott Street
New York, NY 10013
Tel: 212-964-0380
Fax: 212-571-7697
I love dim sum but I don’t like to eat them at the traditional hour breakfast or brunch,  This is the time when you can get the greatest variety in banquet hall-like restaurants like The Golden Unicorn with its large round communal tables and an endless parade of carts offering everything from ducks’ tongues, pork buns, sweet and sour pork ribs to all manner of dumplings.  I prefer to go for a late lunch in a more intimate place where I can order a la carte and where everything will be made to order.
The food at one of the parties celebrating the publication of graphic artist Milton Glaser’s masterpiece, Art is Work was  orchestrated by legendary restaurateur George Lang.  He chose to have it catered by Sweet-n-Tart.
It was sensational!  — The restaurant has now become my favorite dim sum place in Chinatown.  I like to order: Steamed Chicken Soong Dumplings, Pan-fried Turnip Cake, fabulous Butterflied Shrimp with Almonds, Shanghai-Style Pan-Fried Pork Dumplings, but everything is delicious.

Do Hwa
Modern Korean
Price Range: moderate
55 Carmine Street (between Bedford St. and 7th Avenue).
Greenwich Village
212-414-1224
It’s sad to lose a good customer to a new baby but I was very happy to see Terrance, now the manager, and to sample his wife Jennie’s modern Korean food at this Greenwich village eatery.. I particularly like their homemade kimchi and tofu dumplings, the kimchi,scallion pancake, rice cakes and fish cakes sauteed with vegetables. Koreans might frown on this place but I always leave with a big smile.

Les Halles
411 Park Avenue South (between 28th and 29th)
212- 679-4111
Whenever I feel like being in Paris, I run to:
Though it can be unbearably noisy at night, it’s a great Saturday or Sunday brunch place. It’s also an exceptional meat market in the style of the old meat market in Paris, hence the name.  They have wonderful Steak au Poivre (I always order it with filet mignon), fabulous French fries, Pie de Cochon (pigs feet), mussels, celery remoulade and other bistro specialties.

Nobu
105 Hudson
(Franklin Street)
212- 219-0500
My absolute favorite restaurant is Nobu downtown. Unfortunately, We had one very bad experience uptown and my beau refuses to go back. Still the food is unique and wonderful, the service is very attentive and the place is pretty and comfortable. Best of all, the menu is designed so that one can share food which is exactly the way I like to eat.
* Yellow Tail Tartar – topped with caviar and served in a wasabi sauce
* Tiradito, thin slices of fluke in yuzu juice with a dot of spicy salsa
* Kumamoto Oysters with two sauces
* New Style Sashimi – fish quickly seared on one side in a say sauce/sesame oil sauce
* Anticucho – Peruvian-style chicken skewers
* Mushroom Salad Rock Shrimp
* Tempura Toro Rosa in Lettuce
* Creamy-Spicy Crab Black Cod in Miso
It may seem like a lot but the dishes are small. I usually drink a cold sake instead of wine.

Shaffer City
201 5 West 21st Street,
New York, NY 10010
212- 255-9827
Whenever I feel like having wonderfully having plump juicy Pacific Coast oysters like nootkas, hama hamas, eikhorns and skookums I run to Shaffer City.  We had a disappointing experience recently. They had been busy the night before and only had one kind oyster so call ahead.

Teodora
141 East 57th Street (between Lex. & 3rd)
212-826-7101
To me the food here is the most Italian of all. The have the best Vitello Tonnato in the city! I also order Insalata di Carciofini (raw artichoke salad), Sautéd di Cozze e Vongole (wonderful clams and mussels), the roasted orata (a Mediterranean fish often featured as a special)and their chewy pasta Tagliatelle alla bolognese.  Moderate

Dawat
210 East 68th Street (between 2nd and 3rd)
212-355-7555
This was my absolute favorite Indian restaurant in New York City for many years and I still go there when I want more traditional Indian food. My good friend, Madhur Jaffrey, the noted Indian actress/cookbook writer was a consultant when the restaurant opened and many of her specialties are still on the menu.
Be sure and try: Appetizers: Aloo Tykkyas (delicious potato cakes), Khagari Jhinga (succulent shrimp) and Bheo Poori ( aconcoction of crispy rice kernels and shredded wheat). Entrees: Raan (baby lamb leg )Chicken Tikka marinated in yogurt and spices or Tandoori Chicken