LES

[meilus]

Need ideas for new, cool restaurants in the Lower East Side

[small h]

I haven't had a chance to try these yet, but some recent additions to the LES are The Masala Wala (which looks promising), Sons of Essex (which emphatically does not) and The Orchard House (the decor frightens me, although the menu looks pretty good).

http://www.themasalawala.com/index.html
http://sonsofessexles.com/
http://theorch.com/

Beauty & Essex is newish, but I've been there, and if I've been there, it's probably no longer cool.

http://www.beautyandessex.com/

And I'm not sure how new CultureFix is, but it was new to me when I had a beer there yesterday - and they have an excellent selection. It's very cool, I think. So cool that even my presence couldn't de-coolify it. It's a bar with food (and art, and music) though, not a restaurant.

http://culturefixny.com/

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Culturefix
9 Clinton St, New York, NY 10002

Beauty & Essex
146 Essex St, New York, NY 10002

MasalaWala
179 Essex St, New York, NY 10002

Sons of Essex
133 Essex St, New York, NY 10002

The Orchard House
146 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002

[sgordon]

Have to say, I'm a little wary of The Orchard House - they describe themselves on their website as a "vibrant new dining destination and neighborhood hangout paying homage to the historic LES" - yet they haven't haven't changed the decor one lick from the previous tenant, the crashing failure APL. So unless by "historic" they mean "four months ago" I'm not sure what to make of it.

Also, it seems fairly obvious it's the same owners, just trying to rebrand a failure - same basic concept, it seems (restaurant / clubby / djs) and even a couple of the same menu items... same ugly Shepard Fairey wallpaper (don't they realize there's nothing remotely cool about Shepard Fairey anymore?) etc etc etc.

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APL
146 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002

The Orchard House
146 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002

[small h]

Maybe "historic LES" refers to the 1980s rather than the 1880s. That decor could've been one of the themes at Area. There's a lot of huh? on the LES these days, from Coop to Ludlow Manor and beyond. And I don't think we can call Orchard House a re-branding when so little has been changed. Now, Mason Dixon to Sons of Essex - that's a big switch.

[Hey19]

The Masalawala is great. Very fresh quality Indian food. Eds lobster on clinton is good. Not really sure what new means, but those two are pretty new. There is a weird new wrap shop just on the south corner from inoteca, saw it for the first time today, have no idea what the deal is.

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MasalaWala
179 Essex St, New York, NY 10002

Ed's Lobster Bar Annex
25 Clinton St, New York, NY 10002

[goodhealthgourmet]

There is a weird new wrap shop just on the south corner from inoteca, saw it for the first time today, have no idea what the deal is.
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http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/12/sneak_peek_at_wolfnights_now_s.html
http://www.boweryboogie.com/2011/12/wolfnights-now-open-at-99-rivington-street/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wolfnights-its-a-gourmet-wrap/185566941500926
http://www.yelp.com/biz/wolfnights-ma...

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Wolfnights
99 Rivington St, New York, NY 10002

[foodwhisperer]

Maybe I shouldnt comment, because not sure about new and cool on LES. and does that include East Village. I ate at Noodle Bar because Meatball shop was too packed. I guess Meatball Shop is still new and cool , since it was so packed. Noodle Bar is cheap and very edible. Stanto Social is cool ( I think), Kuma Inn ( on Ludlow)for Filipino, Thai, and i think viet namese, gotta be cool because its hidden with no sign and its upstairs, Georgia BBQ is awesome, cool or not, Spitzers Fries are great but old by now, Taqueria is packed, Il Labortorio Gelato is cool, looks cool and teh gelato is good ( not as good as Amorino). Katz's is so old and uncool that it is very cool.

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Georgia's Eastside BBQ
192 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002

Stanton Social
99 Stanton Street, New York, NY 10002

Kuma Inn
113 Ludlow St, New York, NY 10002

Spitzer's Corner
101 Rivington St, New York, NY 10002

Noodle Bar
172 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002

The Meatball Shop
84 Stanton St, New York, NY 10002

Il Laboratorio del Gelato
188 Ludlow St, New York, NY 10002

Taqueria Lower East Side
198 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002

[thegforceny]

What is tour definition of "new"? Not a single one of these is new.

[FoodDabbler]

I'd rate The Masala Wala as OK, but not great. It's true that things taste fresh, but the flavors are muted. The bhel puri lacked both tang (insufficiently sour) and crunch (there was some, but the crisp ingredients were not quite at peak crunchiness, although they did not taste stale). The Madras fish curry had a nice aroma of curry leaves, but not much complexity. The bhindi masala was 50% onion (large, unappetizing slices). The roti was decent. The rasmalai was not stale -- it didn't have the off-taste that these milk desserts can acquire when they sit around too long -- but was oddly flat in flavor.

If you're in the neighborhood the food here won't kill you, or even depress you too much, but it's not as good as the food at (off the top of my head) Chola, Dhaba, Nirvana, or the underrated Aaheli (in the fifties on 9th). And I don't even like those places all that much.

[Simon]

the wine bar Ten Bells is my new favorite place to eat and drink in the LES...oysters, beet salad, wild boar sausage, and a nice selection of properly chilled wines...

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The Ten Bells
247 Broome St, New York, NY 10002

[small h]

It would be very useful if the OP nailed down what "new" means to him/her. I'm a big fan of The Ten Bells, but I wouldn't call it new; I had my birthday party there in 2008. Both Stanton Social and Kuma Inn have Yelp reviews dating back to 2005.