Looking for some things unique to New York
Hello, my girlfriend and I will be in town tomorrow through Sunday morning, and we are looking for some places to eat that would be hard to find outside of NYC. We are from Sacramento and travel to San Francisco quite often, so we do have access to a variety of great restaurants. While in NYC we're looking for some local flavor, things that are either unique to NYC or unique in general. We're staying near the Empire State Building but don't have a problem walking, taking the subway, or even cabbing it if need be. We love places with character, and being young and open to anything we look for things that are adventuresome.
One concern is budget, as we know Manhattan can be an expensive place to dine. We have room for one splurge/dressy dinner and were considering Scarpetta. For most of our other meals we were hoping to keep prices per dish to $20 and under (is this possible?). In addition to wanting to taste food from a variety of ethnic cuisines, the price is another reason we love hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurants.
Some places that had caught our eye based on recommendations: John's of Bleecker for pizza, Traif, Pylos, Roasting Plant for coffee.
We were planning to hit some of the usual spots to do touristy things/take some pictures, such as Times Square, Rockefeller Center, the Met, MOMA, Union Square, explore Greenwich Village, perhaps Chinatown, maybe SoHo and/or Chelsea, Central Park, and of course the WTC. Recommendations for those areas would be especially welcome.
Thank you very much!
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Roasting Plant
81 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002
Pylos
128 E 7th St, New York, NY 10009
Scarpetta
355 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014
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Skip Scarpetta and try Lartusi, less expensive (slightly) and better.
Pylos is awesome. My husband is Greek and he agrees (we've been before and they have good white wines)!
Try Degustation in the East Village. Very inventive and low key.
Try Sakagura on 43rd btw. 2nd and 3rd avenues (it's underground and you have to enter via a random commercial building). Perfect pork belly and awesome sake list.
Hagi is also underground and not very expensive. On 49th btw. 6th and B'way. Izakaya type of Japanese.
Prune is also awesome. Best Bloody Mary in town. Go for brunch (amazing) and go exactly at 10am so you can sit right away, or right at the end of brunch which is around 3:20-3:30pm.-----
Hagi
152 W 49th St, New York, NY 10019Sakagura
211 East 43rd Street, New York, NY 10017Degustation
239 E 5th St, New York, NY 10003Pylos
128 E 7th St, New York, NY 10009Prune
54 E 1st St, New York, NY 10003Scarpetta
355 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014L'Artusi
228 West 10th Street, New York, NY 10014 -
This isn't city related. When I was stationed upstate at Griffiss AFB there was a shop that made "turkey joints" and they are excellent. I have them delivered during the holidays and everyone loves them. http://www.turkeyjoints.com/catalog/
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re: JoCLy52
Wow JoCLy52! I didn't think anyone else knew about Nora's Candy Shop in Rome, NY!! I grew up there for my first 26 years and send them as gifts at the holidays. Always have one from the gift jar that Santa brings Christmas morning! People in the city don't know what to say when I tell them I have turkey joints. They think I'm dealing some kind of new fangled drug!
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I think you could easily keep within your budget with a little trying. I think John's of Bleecker is a great introduction to NYC pizza. You'll probably need to do the New York Deli thing, and while touristy, I think Katz's is your best bet. I'd suggest Taim's falafel in the West Village. Caracas is a great suggestion.
Coming from SF I think you'll generally be disappointed with the food in most Chinatown establishments, and I doubt you'd be blown away by most Japanese or Korean here. Xian Famous Foods has an outlet in Chinatown and would be a tasty, unique, cheap stop off (they've got a well known cumin lamb sandwich) if you're down that way though. Num Pang is a Cambodian inspired sandwich shop near Union Square that I found tasty.
If you want pure ethnic obscurity, you could do worse than Taam Tov, the Bukharan restaurant in the Diamond District. It's fairly cheap as well. Something you'll likely not find in the Bay is the ubiquitous "street meat," or chicken/lamb over rice plates from Halal vendors. Arguably the most famous is at 53rd and 6th ave.
I recently had a enjoyable dinner at Kuma Inn an asiany (chef is Filipino and Thai I think) not-so-small plates restaurant. It's BYOB so the meal ended up being a steal and would fit in your budget, even as a night out on the LES w drinks.
Oh, and maybe some Puerto Rican/Dominican food would be different for you. Margon is much loved, but hectic, lunch counter right of Times Sq. with great Cuban sandwiches. I might prefer a clam meal at Taza de Oro, and old school diner in Chelsea with tasty mofongo and cafe con leche.
It's a little all over the place, but hope that helps!
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Katz's Delicatessen
205 E Houston St, New York, NY 10002Taim
222 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10014Margon
136 W 46th St, New York, NY 10036Taam-Tov
41 W 47th St, New York, NY 10036Kuma Inn
113 Ludlow St, New York, NY 10002La Taza de Oro
96 8th Ave, New York, NY 10011Num Pang Sandwich Shop
21 E 12th St, New York, NY 10003Xi'an Famous Foods
88 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002›1 Reply-
re: Mr Porkchop
scoopG
Apr 7, 2011 09:04 AM
San Francisco's Chinatown pales in comparison to Manhattan's by far - the best Chinese food out there lies in the greater Bay Area. Of interest to the OP might be Henan night-market food, Fuzhou Cuisine or Hand Pulled Noodles run by the Fujianese (as well as Xian Famous Foods as you mentioned.) The Fujianese are spreading across America from the East Coast in a reverse internal migration of Chinese from 160 years ago.
Henan:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/774685Fujian operated Homemade, Hand-Pulled Noodle spots:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/492376
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/504362Best Fuzhou Restaurant. Note the Best Fuzhou one on Forsyth Street has changed hands and is a now He Nan Flavors!
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/483902Double Dragon:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/714304Xian Famous Foods:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/673306
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The Shake Shack is one-of-a-kind. If it's a nice day out, there's no place better for lunch. It's not ethnic, but it sure is good. Cheap, too! Not a bad walk from the Empire State area.
Right across 5th Avenue from the Shake Shack is "Eataly". Don't miss it.
http://www.facebook.com/EatalyNYC?v=a...
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Shake Shack
Madison Ave and E 23rd St, New York, NY 10010Eataly
200 5th Ave, New York, NY 10010›4 Replies-
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re: kathryn
Kathryn,
I suggest you stop in to Eataly in New York and imagine how many calories a "concept" might be worth. Oh, and Miami, Dubai and DC might have Shake Shacks, but only New York has the original Shake Shack in Madison Square Park.
Harry
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Eataly
200 5th Ave, New York, NY 10010
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Here are some threads below on things I think NYC is good at, like brunch, bagels/smoked salmon, pickles, egg creams, pastrami, pizza, mixology, "ethnic" niches, street food etc.
DEFINITELY check out RGR's self guided Lower East Side tour which covers local institutions like Russ & Daughters and Katz's Deli. Make sure you have some pizza before you leave, perhaps hot dogs from Papaya King/Gray's papaya.... I might also throw in Pearl Oyster Bar unless New England style lobster rolls are easy to find in Sacramento. Amy Ruth's for fried chicken and waffles? Hill Country for Texas style BBQ (specialize in sausages and brisket)?
I like John's a lot for pizza and it is definitely indicative of an NYC style that's hard to find elsewhere. Traif isn't worth the trek to Williamsburg unless you're already going to be there for something else. Pylos is good but you're going to face a long wait if you don't already have a reservation. Roasting Plant is good but not the best we have -- try Abraco, 9th St Espresso, Stumptown, Cafe Grumpy, Gimme Coffee...
For your tourist destinations, have you tried doing a search? First, that's a TON of ground for a few days and secondly, most of those areas have tons of threads dedicated to them already. I'd say, though, if you want to stay under $20 it's going to be more difficult in Midtown and the Upper East Side near the Met but you can do it. Check out Midtownlunch.com.
Scarpetta is excellent but if you ever travel to LA note that there's a branch there. I assume you were going to walk in and try to get a table in the front area? Or do you already have a reservation?
Here's a thread from someone visiting from SF that may help:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/737398Best breakfast and brunch:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/707772Please help me eat during a month in new york
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/716238Don't leave NY without eating these foods
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/610739Pizza in NYC
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/692820#5454962BTW, I highly recommend RGR's self guided Lower East Side Gustatory tour but sub in Pickle Guys for Guss' Pickles:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/493333Best foodie shopping:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/585538
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/697174
http://www.chow.com/lists/33
http://www.chow.com/lists/924Union Square Greenmarket advice
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/705073
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/727570Best mixology / bespoke cocktails:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/609073
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/709227Bars for beer geeks
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/733207
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/572919For non-Western European/American
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/729498
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/731732Foreign Street Grub
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/701278totally obscure, odd, and intriguing menu items
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/722130Near the ESB:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/776661
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/757797You can definitely do meals for under $20pp if you choose carefully...
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/776126ScoopG's guide to Chinatown
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/776553Cheap eats itinerary
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/771039Time Out New York's Cheap Eats list:
http://newyork.timeout.com/restaurant...-----
Russ & Daughters
179 E Houston St, New York, NY 10002Roasting Plant
81 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002Pearl Oyster Bar
18 Cornelia St, New York, NY 10014Union Square Greenmarket
Broadway and E 17th St, New York, NY 10003Pickle Guys
49 Essex St, New York, NY 10002Hill Country
30 W 26th St, New York, NY 10010Amy Ruth's
113 W 116th St, New York, NY 10026Pylos
128 E 7th St, New York, NY 10009Cafe Grumpy
224 W 20th St, New York, NY 10011Ninth Street Espresso
700 E 9th St, New York, NY 10009Abraco
86 E 7th St, New York, NY 10003Gray's Papaya
2090 Broadway, New York, NY 10023Gimme! Coffee
228 Mott St, New York, NY 10012Papaya King
179 E 86th St, New York, NY 10028Scarpetta
355 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014Stumptown
18 W 29th Street, New York, NY 10001›6 Replies-
re: kathryn
Wow, that is a LOT of information, thank you!
Regarding Scarpetta, we used Opentable and got a reservation this week. I hope that is adequate?
I will definitely try the RGR tour, that sounds awesome!
I know there is no way to see everything we want to see. We'll just have to come back to NYC sometime. We might even try to fit a Rangers game in at MSG, since the last few games of the season will be held this week and they're my favorite team playing my favorite sport. Tickets are expensive, though.
Thanks for the recommendations, again. We have definitely revised our "must visit" list based on them.
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Scarpetta
355 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014-
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re: E Eto
True, and also in Miami, but given that they're dining this weekend it'll be difficult to book a comparable Italian restaurant like Babbo, Locanda Verde, Maialino.
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Babbo
110 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10011Locanda Verde
377 Greenwich St, New York, NY 10013Maialino
2 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010
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coasts
Apr 5, 2011 08:19 PM
Menchanko-Tei, a Japanese noodle shop, is near MoMA. dishes are about $10 each.
William Greenberg's, widely considered the best place for NY's famous black and white cookie, is within a few blocks from the Met.
Your hotel is near Korea Town, where you can find countless places with dishes in your price range. Ever had KFC, Korean Fried Chicken? This stuff is good!
I would strongly recommend Caracas in the East Village for a cheap lunch. not sure if Venezuelan arepas have reached SF yet, but they're worth the trip.
In Soho, you could hit Torrisi for lunch. That turkey sandwich is incredible in a way I didn't think turkey could be.enjoy your trip.
(Keste > John's)
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Caracas Arepa Bar
93 1/2 E 7th St, New York, NY 10009Menchanko-Tei
131 E 45th St, New York, NY 10017John's Pizzeria
278 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10014William Greenberg Jr. Desserts
1100 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10028Keste Pizza & Vino
271 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10014Torrisi Italian Specialties
250 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10012
