Five Days Of Excellent Eating in Manhattan - Thanks Chowhounders! (longish)
I was in NYC for 5 days last weekend (Friday - Tuesday) and wanted to thank the Manhattan board for all of the amazing suggestions. All meals were very good to excellent.
Itinerary ended up working out as follows (had to make some changes to my original itinerary last minute, but actually got in more than I expected, including part of RGRs LES tour, but unfortunately never made it to Motorino or Keens which will be at the top of my list for my next trip):
Brunches/Lunches:
Bar Room at The Modern - upside down tuna tarte and lamb/goat cheese terrine were great, as were beignets.
Minetta Tavern - shared black label burger and shirred eggs
Barney Greengrass - nova and everything bagel
Clinton Street Baking Company - blueberry pancakes and biscuit sandwich - about 30 min wait on a Monday at about 10:15. Really good pancakes, but not sure I'd want to wait much longer for them.
Eleven Madison Park (superb - especially the chicken prep; great service, as expected)
Dinners:
Babbo - pastas were great (sweet potato lune and mint love letters), but the skirt steak main we shared was a little tough for my liking. Also, did not love waiting on the phone for the res and found the reservationist a little rude. Am definitely glad I tried it out though, although I think I enjoyed my meals at Maialino and at Scarpetta (last trip) better.
Toloache - (very good tuna ceviche and brisket tacos)
Momofuku Ssam Bar (pork buns deserved the hype, but also really liked the bar buns and the lamb) - waited about 30 minutes at 7 pm on a Sunday
Maialino - artichokes, caprese, sweet corn agnolotti and malfatti al maialino - great service, great food.
Drinks: Pegu Club and Milk and Honey
Snacks/Other: Part of RGRs LES Tour: Tastes of Gaspe Nova and Pastrami Salmon from Russ and Daughters; tastes of olive oil and fig gelatos from Labortorio Del Gelato; tastes of PB & J and tres leches doughnuts from Doughnut Plant and tastes of new dill; horseradish dill and pickled okra from The Pickle Guys. A very fun time! Also had one bite of a bialy from Kossars, which confirmed that I just don't get or like bialys. No Katz this time for me (too full!)
Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie - excellent, but soooo heavy!!
Momofuku Milk Bar - tastes of cereal milk soft serve; compost cookie; birthday cake truffle and crack pie. Glad that I tried it out, but nothing wowed me and thought the compost cookie did not hold a candle to the cookie from Levain Bakery.
Taste of sicilian square slice at McDougall location of Artichoke - saw it right after my brunch at Minetta Tavern and could not resist giving it a try - only had a little, as was already stuffed from brunch, but thought it was very tasty and different than most styles of pizza I've tried. Not sure I'd wait in line for it though.
Thanks again everyone! Your suggestions made for a great (and extremely filling) trip : ) Can't wait until next time. For now, I need to head to a gym, as I think I ate a months worth of food in 5 days..haha!!
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Barney Greengrass
541 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10024
Russ & Daughters
179 E Houston St, New York, NY 10002
Kossar's Bialys
367 Grand St, New York, NY 10002
Pickle Guys
49 Essex St, New York, NY 10002
Eleven Madison Park
11 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10010
Babbo
110 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10011
Momofuku Ssam Bar
207 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003
Toloache
251 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10019
Minetta Tavern
113 MacDougal St, New York, NY 10012
Doughnut Plant
379 Grand St, New York, NY 10002
The Modern
9 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019
Levain Bakery
167 W 74th St, New York, NY 10023
Pegu Club
77 W Houston St, New York, NY 10012
Scarpetta
355 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014
Milk and Honey
134 Eldridge St, New York, NY 10002
Clinton Street Baking Co.
4 Clinton St, New York, NY 10002
Momofuku Milk Bar
251 E 13th St, New York, NY 10003
Maialino
2 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Il Laboratorio del Gelato
188 Ludlow St, New York, NY 10002
Artichoke
111 MacDougal St, New York, NY 10012
