Results tagged “streetnewyork”

Chinatown wakes up in the morning much the same as any other New York neighborhood—with a jolt of caffeine. Every block seems to have its own bakery where throngs perch at tiny tables to slurp hot tea or coffee before starting the day. But these are no Dunkin Donuts. The pastries everyone nibbles alongside their steaming cups are anything but ordinary—though some look familiar on the surface. What appears to be a custard doughnut is actually filled with sticky red bean paste. Don’t mistake that one for a cheese danish; what’s inside is chicken minced with scallions and spiked with hot Sichuan pepper. And is that a hot dog sticking out of that sweet bun? Why, yes, it is. (This may in fact represent your only chance to eat a wiener for breakfast respectably.)

As any serious drinker knows, a long night of boozing is best ended with a heaping helping of carbohydrates. One good place to get your fill is the East Village deli called Punjab, which stays open into the wee hours to serve its clientele of Pakistani cabbies. But late-night Lower East Side revelers have also discovered the cheap vegetarian chow. There are potatoes over rice, potatoes wrapped in bread (roti, $2.50), potato patties (aloo tikki, $.75), or potatoes encased in fried dough (samosa, $.75). The samosas make for an ideal snack (chaat) anytime. A crisp, delectably greasy, well-browned crust wraps chunks of potatoes and green peas. Like everything at Punjab, it’s suffused with just the right amount of heat. Right after you’ve wolfed down the last bite, a slow burn creeps up, just this side of painful.

Nestled on the corner of Prince and Crosby Streets in SoHo, Peter Hoffman's Savoy has been wowing its guests for years now with an ever-changing menu. Hoffman consistently serves food purchased from local greenmarkets, keeping his focus on what's in season. The menu also reflects his obsession--shared by many chefs, such as Mario Batali and Thomas Keller--with charcuterie. Gothamist got a chance to sample some of the house-cured meat in a recent special appetizer featuring guanciale aside cubes of roasted winter squash, frisee, and hazelnuts. Guanciale is a fatty cut of pork traditionally prepared in Italy. The meat is cut from the hog's jowls and dried for three weeks. Eww, you say? Taste first, then judge: it was fantastic. Is it worth all the chef's work? Well, to be honest, it tastes like bacon, but very good bacon.

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The beet and goat cheese appetizer has become something of a new standard. And for good reason: it's a great combination of sweet and tart. This week Gothamist experienced one of the best new variations on this classic theme at Tocqueville, the elegant French-American restaurant off Union Square. This dish, called cannelloni on the menu, inspires wonder when it arrives. By some miracle of modern culinary engineering that probably involves a thousand-dollar gadget or two, slices of beets have been dried and pressed into crisp, tight little tubes. Then, extra-creamy Montrachet goat cheese is piped inside. The curious will conjecture on the playful construction, while the wise will gobble up the cannelloni before the beet cylinders turn soggy. At last, here are pre-dinner cigarettes that aren’t bad for you.

Veritas is well known as an oenophiles delight. The wine list has the heft of a Tolstoy novel, with more than 1,300 offerings, and up to four sommeliers work the intimate space at one time. You might think the food would be an afterthought, but the surprise is that it is every bit as impressive as the wine. The menu at Veritas is full of quiet pleasures. Chef Scott Bryan presents dishes that each remain true to their main ingredient, highlighted with thoughtful companions that don't overshadow, but complement.

We never thought we'd see a velvet rope at One & One. But there it was, at the top of the stairs, in the place known for its fish and chips (the temptation of which often keeps us away from the bar). Downstairs, is, if not entirely swanky, not the pub upstairs. The cocktails offered are changing-and will continue to do so- but it is definitely cocktails all the way. It's smallish, darkish and loungish. And that is a good thing if you want to cut down on your beer (if you are like us you'd like to look better and someday have a Valentine) but your friends are set on drinking a keg or three dry.

The Modern is the latest star in the constellation of Danny Meyer's restaurant empire. Gothamist recently stopped by its more casual half, the Bar Room, after a visit to The Museum of Modern Art, which houses the restaurant. Chef Gabriel Kreuther's small-plate menu dazzles. It's divided into three sections: cold appetizers, hot appetizers, and half-sized entrees. Portions are generous and many dishes are laced with an unusual ingredient.

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In a city where prix fixe meals can run into the hundreds of dollars, even before wine, Le Tableau's $26 nightly prix fixe 3-course option sounds too good to be true. Fortunately, it's not.