257065 Tue Jul 21 14:42:27 -0700 1998 28 21 The Best 0 1359921 I'm looking for a really good FOOD resturant in the East Village/St. Marks Place area for this Friday evening. Checking Zagats doesn't give me many suggestions for top quality food. Any suggestions? Thanks, claire Tue Jul 21 14:42:27 -0700 1998 0 Claire 1 1359922 My favorite spot in the East Village is 85 Down, at 85 Ave. A, between 5th and 6th. Great fish, great pork chops, terrific meatloaf. The chef is very innovative and keeps a top-rate wine and beer list. Tue Jul 21 15:21:32 -0700 1998 1359921 0 Josh 2 1359923 Ditto on 85 Down--the chef is super-attentive and imaginative. Also new and quite fantastic is Astor, on the Bowery at Bleecker Street. It's a true new-American bistro with some fantastic dishes, especially the calamari appetizer, coriander-crusted ruby tuna steaks, and mango mousse to die for. A beautiful, restful setting, great drinks, and super-nice staff. AND the prices couldn't be friendlier. It's only a matter of time before this place catches on big-time. Enjoy it NOW, before the autumn crowd-crush. Tue Jul 21 15:29:50 -0700 1998 1359922 0 Gourmet Guy 3 1359925 Well, my favorite restaurant in the former Lower East Side is Roetelle A.G. on 7th street between 1st and A, right next to Stooz Records. They're Swiss, and since the only really Swiss cuisine is fondue (which they serve), their really stellar dishes are of the countries bordering Switzerland - Italy, France, and Germany. They do sauerbraten and risotto equally well, and their garden this time of year is one of the best in the neighborhood, with a trellis of green overhead. Summer desserts are a little disappointing, because the only fruit dessert you might find is a pear tart, but everything is extremely good and well-prepared. Wed Jul 22 00:26:05 -0700 1998 1359923 0 Frank Language 4 1359926 It depends on what exactly you are looking for, but there are a lot of great places in the East Village. Le Tableau is a great little french/meditteranean bistro on 5th between A and B. It is BYOB, which helps to keep the cost down, if that is a concern. Dok Suni - Very cool, dark Korean restaurant. Some people say it isn't real Korean, but so what, the food is excellent and the price is right. Great spareribs, spicy octopus, Bibimbop, and stick rice cake appetizer. They also have a delicious chilled rice wine with cucumbers. 1st Ave off 7th Street Il Bagatto - great italian, but it may not be worth putting up with the rude staff. O.G. - pan-asian, very good food and service. 6th between A and B. Miracle Grill - Southwestern. Pretty good food, but go there primarily for one of the best garden dining spots in the city. Col Legno - very tasty and affordable Italian, although the room is a bit sparse. 9th Street off 3rd. First - very loungy. Serious food. Pricey for the area. 1st Ave and 5th Street. Frank's - new hole-in-the wall. Good, basic Italian. Second Ave and 5th. Holy Basil - great thai. Very quite place, good for a date, but if you are in the mood for a more lively setting. 3rd Ave between 8th and 9th The Oven - Very tasty individual sized pizzas with a meditteranean influence. Also good salads and spreads (i.e., hummus). Hasaki - excellent sushi, and a few other Japanese items. But if your party doesn't all eat sushi, I wouldn't bother. Wed Jul 22 13:18:35 -0700 1998 1359925 0 Alex 5 1359927 Hi Alex -- did you really like the food at OG ? I went last winter, and I thought the menu read and sounded better than the food that came out. Everyone in my group thought that it's just fusion done very poorly. Guess I'm out-voted 'cos the place is always packed. The owner of OG also owns Raga on East 6th. You know how I feel about that place when we bumped into each other there. Eric Asimov is quite right on the money when he panned most of the food there in his review. Catch ya later. Thu Jul 23 01:45:57 -0700 1998 1359926 0 Gary Cheong 6 1359928 I have only been to O.G. once, and I did think the food was quite good - not great, but good. I agree with you about Raga - don't believe the hype. And I do see some commonalities between the two places: both try a bit to hard, and both seem to place equal emphasis on being cool as in dishing out good food. I just think that O.G. scores higher in the latter category. Thu Jul 23 09:27:19 -0700 1998 1359927 0 Alex 7 1359929 I always think of eating in the East Village when it's the day before payday and I'm tapped for funds. I like the little Polish counter-only place next to STOMP for pirogi's. Kiev (open 24 hours) for their fluffy challah bread and a bowl of homemade soup and Matzo Brei. A place called La Casalinga which is a simple pasta place that has really innovative stuff -- like a pasta dish with sliced cooked carrots and shrimps, haven't been there in awhile but that dish was something I'd always enjoyed. They also did a red potato, string bean, red onion salad which is a great summer treat. There's also a modern glass-enclosed sushi place on Styvesant Oval (where 9th St. meets the triangle island by 3rd Avenue). I went there when Tomoe was closed for vacation and I was really surprised at the freshness and quality of their sushi. The place gets busy, though, Oh, and I like anyplace that Gary Cheong reccomends, his taste buds are right on the money, honey! Thu Jul 23 10:17:23 -0700 1998 1359928 0 amy tarshis 8 1359930 Amy, Do you have an approximate address for the pierogi place for an out-of-towner? My sister loves them and I could treat her to an out-of-hand lunch when I visit in the fall. I second your motion about Gary Cheong's recommendations. He knows where of he speaks! pat Thu Jul 23 10:38:44 -0700 1998 1359929 0 pat hammond 9 1359931 It's on Second Avenue between 7th and 8th Sts (st. Mark's). East side of the street. Be forewared, they're not open 'til late. They close early evening. Hey, and if you order the pirogi, ask for the sauteed onions on top! Thu Jul 23 10:42:40 -0700 1998 1359930 0 amy tarshis 10 1359932 Amy, thanks. My daughter, (another Amy!) used to live opposite Tompkins Park. I love prowling around down there. pat Thu Jul 23 11:03:39 -0700 1998 1359931 0 pat hammond 11 1359941 elephant walk, thai food 1st btwn 1 and 2 ave. garys pix are very good, We love Il bagatto, it really is in full swing @midnights!! Sun Jul 26 09:42:02 -0700 1998 1359932 0 stephen kaye 9 1360436 Man, I just noticed the dates on these posts! If anyone still cares, the pierogi place next to Stomp is called the Stage Deli. I used to go there for soups and such regularly while Teresa's was closed; now I go to Teresa's instead. Michael Tue Dec 28 05:02:51 -0800 1999 1359930 0 Michael 10 1360437 Michael, don't sweat the dates...most of us are still around! Any of these threads are fair game for response (in fact, people are missing lots of great stuff by not scrolling down through the older messages). ciao Tue Dec 28 10:47:08 -0800 1999 1360436 0 Jim Leff 11 1360441 Thanks for caring enough to post a friendly reply, Jim. I'll take it to heart. Regards, Michael Thu Dec 30 06:56:48 -0800 1999 1360437 0 Michael 11 1361177 Any updates to these recommendations??? The most recent seems to be from a least a year ago. Thanks!! Sat Feb 03 21:33:26 -0800 2001 1360437 0 azureone 12 1361180 "Any updates to these recommendations??? " The message you've replied to contains no recommendations at all, so it's hard to figure out what specific updates you're looking for. Rather than have everyone fish through this old (and somewhat lengthy) thread to figure out what the heck we were recommending, it'd be more practical if you'd simply start a new thread (ideally on the Manhattan message board) saying exactly what you're looking for info about. Perhaps do a quick search (on that board index and with the search engine on the home page) first to see if maybe we've recently addressed what you're looking for. Of course, if anyone else wants to pore over this thread and reply here, that's certainly fine by me! ciao Sun Feb 04 23:20:51 -0800 2001 1361177 0 Jim Leff 8 1359934 Amy Tarshis writes: "I like the little Polish counter- only place next to STOMP for pirogi's." Also for killer challah-bread french toast. Thu Jul 23 19:01:26 -0700 1998 1359929 0 Frank Language 8 1359936 Hey, thanks for the vote of confidence , Amy. Funny you mentioned La Casalinga. I liked it too when I tried it almost 4 years ago. Very simple and delicious. Fri Jul 24 10:00:37 -0700 1998 1359929 0 Gary Cheong 7 1359937 Alex - check out The Elephant, on East 1st Street (bet. 1st & 2nd Ave.) a few doors away from Chez Es Saada. The chef is a French guy cooking sort of Thai influenced dishes. I liked the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf (reminds me of stuff in Chinatown), and a squid and ground pork dish. There are also a few forgettable dishes too. The chef also likes to paint his plates with chili sauces (too cutesy). I'm curious to hear what you think of the food now. It's a small place, and it's packed most of the time with people from the nabe and others who read Gael Greene's review of it recently. Fri Jul 24 10:38:22 -0700 1998 1359928 0 Gary Cheong 6 1360042 I totally agree that OG is overrated--I've eaten there twicw and was disappointed both times--it's good for smokers who want to eat out--which adds to the unpleasantness--for me. Mon Jan 25 18:06:07 -0800 1999 1359927 0 rebecca 5 1359933 "Hasaki - excellent sushi, and a few other Japanese items. But if your party doesn't all eat sushi, I wouldn't bother." Hasaki, incidentally, is (or was) owned by the "Shoe", or Shugi Yagi, who was the owner of 103 2nd Avenue when it was an all-night coffee shop (prior to 1990). Anyone remember that place? He also has a Japanese place on University. Thu Jul 23 18:57:57 -0700 1998 1359926 0 Frank Language 3 1359942 Thanks for all of the great restaurant ideas! We ended up going to Astor, corner of Bowery and Bleeker. Very nice atmosphere, nice staff (but a little unorganized). We told 2 different waiters 6 times that we had to leave by 7:15 or &:20 to catch a show, but the food service was very very slow (even though it was empty when we got there), so we had to rush our dinner, and ate the dessert in 3 to 4 minutes. Had a nice diver sea scallop appetizer, a good sliced duck breast with a soggy duck confit streudel (skippable), and a wonderful bitter (not too sweet)chocolate cake with a molten center, topped with shortbread cookie and ice cream, well worth returning for again. Sad to say, we didn't particularly care for the (above recommended) cumin crusted tuna steak. Otherwise, Astor is worth a repeat visit. Sun Jul 26 23:55:18 -0700 1998 1359923 0 Claire 2 1360097 Alas, 85 Down closed a few months ago. Sun Feb 28 23:02:23 -0800 1999 1359922 0 Carrie Schadle 1 1359924 I really like Savoy, though it's a bit of a walk from St. Marks Place. (It's at Prince and Crosby.) I haven't been there for 2 years -- does anyone know how it has held up? Tue Jul 21 16:24:28 -0700 1998 1359921 0 Jeremy Osner 1 1360036 Frank on 2nd Ave. at 5th St. is the best, purest, tastiest italian food iv'e had in a while. tiny place, great service, byob or also has great wine list. Mon Jan 18 19:16:56 -0800 1999 1359921 0 Susie modiano 2 1360435 Re: Franks: I went there twice. The first time I liked it. Nice home-style cooking. I got the zucchini puree soup and I think the pasta I got was amatriciana. The 2nd time I didn't like it. I got the zucchini puree soup again, and this time it tasted sour like too-old zucchini.I sent it back and I was not given another bowl of it; take that for what it's worth (it suggested to me that they didn't think the next bowl would be any better). The rest of that meal was just OK, nothing special (I got some kind of meat, maybe chicken roasted with mushrooms). People are always lined up waiting to get in, but I'm not in a rush to go back. Frutti di Mare is cheaper and has seemed more dependable to me. OK, string me up for heresy. :-) Tue Dec 28 04:54:42 -0800 1999 1360036 0 Michael 1 1360687 The suggesstion is to go to O.G. - a delicious "fusion" style restaurant on E 6th off Ave B. Small, dim lighting and terrific food. If you are not there relatively early there is usuallya long wait for a table. Enjoy Sun Jul 16 09:47:30 -0700 2000 1359921 0 Stew 2 1360689 Sorry, Stew. Have to disagree with you on this one. I can't understand why OG is so popular. I think the menu reads well, but the food is a fusion nightmare. I would never try it again unless I hear from a chowhound I trust that it's safe to go back. Mon Jul 17 01:14:27 -0700 2000 1360687 0 Gary Cheong