New York and food go together like peanut butter and jelly. Definitely one of the most exciting food scenes in the world, there isn’t a type of cuisine or an ingredient that you can’t try there. I used my two weeks properly and went on a food hunt, tried everything including markets, street food and fine dining. Here’s a list of all the places I went to and managed to document, alongside recommendations on what to try (there’s over 26 000 restaurant in NY, this isn’t even a drop in the ocean).
To navigate this post more easily I divided it into categories so you can choose which one you’d like to read and click on it.
Categories:
MARKETS
GRAND CENTRAL MARKET
My first transcript in the journal reading ”wooow the market on GC”. Beautiful fresh produce, fruit and vegetables as much as you’d like, part with the pasta, part with the spices and teas, sweets, dried fruits and nuts and meat. All sorts of steaks and different cuts of meats, freshly stuffed sausages. Lucky for us, we didn’t cook at home, otherwise I would go bankrupt right there and then with a smile on my face.
41st STREET
After leaving the GC we immediately got lost and ended on this cool street food market where I witnessed people eating fried Orios. Why? But we did like the mozzarepas, a mixture of of arepas stuffed with mozzarella. We ”tried” that couple of times.
CHELSEA MARKET
Another market filled with everything. Chelsea market is a building with different shops, from clothes and jewelry to food. I really loved the concept in some stores where you have a huge table full of fresh fruit, granola, nuts and yogurt which you can put in a box, weigh and take. There are also cheese shops, hot sauce shops and vine shops. I went into one and bought Grgich’s vine. But my favorite spot was the fishmongers : you can find any type of fish there, clams, 5 types of oysters, shrimps and lobsters.
While we were in the Chelsea market, we warmed up with some soups from Hale&hearty soup shop: corn chowder and jambalaya. After that we went for a Korean, A. had some vegan dumplings and I opted for the bulgogi bowl: rice, kimchi and riby eye steak. Warm recommendation.
BISTROS
COFFEE TOSSE @QUEENS
Cofee place in our part of Queens (Sunnyside) with a very nice offer of brunches. We went for the huevos rancheros in a tortilla and omlette with avocado. 26$.
PETE’S DINER @QUEENS
We noticed this dinner n the first day and said we must go there and have a slice of pie, to experience everything we saw on Beverly Hills and other classics. A. had the blueberry one and I had the cherry pie with a nice dollop of whipped cream on the side. The crust is nice and flaky, with jelly-like feel.
RAMEN BAR DUMBO
In the same neighborhood where’s the flee market we found this cool Ramen bar Dumbo and decided to snack. We chose Shoyu and Mayo ramen. Shoyu is based on soy sauce with chicken broth, roast pork, bamboo shots, spring onions and toasted seaweed, while Mayo has a black garlic-salt base with pork broth, roast pork, thin noodles, spring onions, jelly mushrooms, red ginger and egg. 30$
BLACK SEED BAGEL @LITTLE ITALY
We decided to go to Black seed bagel while we were still in Zagreb. We decided to go there for a breakfast, after a day of procrastinating at home, so A. was quite hangry when we got there. You can choose the type of bagel you’d like, and then have it stuffed and toasted to your liking. We chose the Tobiko (smoked salmon, cheese spread and butter lettuce) and Grilled cheese (cheddar, swiss, meunster, tomato). Both really tasty, but Tobiko wins this one. 20$.
SHAKE SHACK
Shake Shack is a fast food chain dedicated to burger making. We stopped there, by chance, and went for the shackburger (cheeseburger with salad, tomatoes and shack sauce) and fries which are nicely crispy and salt. Burger is juicy, with a nice piece of meat and the sauce compliments the rest of the burger nicely. Warm recommendation.
One of the most famous bakeries, mostly for their cupcakes. We found ourselves there one day and decided to see what it’s all about. I had the banana pudding and A. took the red velvet cheesecake. Cheesecake was fantastic. It’s a yes from me.
VISTA HERMOSA
Vista Hermosa was our final meal: Mexican cuisine with an emphasis on tacos. The shrimp one is the best one. It’s a great place to grab a snack, have a cocktail or a cerveza before continuing with more of NY adventures.
ON THE WAY
NY HOT DOG AND FROSE (FROZEN ROSE)
After moving on the streets for hours we decided there’s nothing more NY than to have a hot dog, so we did that and it really is good. I could devour three without questions asked, but we were snacking all day so we were satisfied with only one. 3$ for 2 hot dogs.
Frose is something new and tasty. Rose blended with ice, great for a warm day to chillax and refresh.
PAUL’S DAUGHTER @CONEY ISLAND
Ah, first and biggest disappointment, not because of the flavor, but the price-amount/quality ration. When we were on Coney island we decided to taste lobster roll (sandwich in a hot dog bun, stuffed with lobster, mayo and root veg salad). We took one lobster roll and some fried shrimps and paid that 9$, and 20$ of that went for the sandwich. What?! This shame of an overpriced sandwich became a benchmark for everything price-wise: ”A. how many lobster rolls is this shirt? 3 for sure!”. Worst part was that after I took the photos of the food, the wind came from nowhere and knocked a shrimp of the table.
BROOKLYN FARE @DUMBO
I mentioned the flee market in a previous post, but I didn’t acknowledge these fabulous donuts, best ones by far. We had the classic chocolate glazes one and the one stuffed with caramel with with glaze and almond slices. Beautiful <3
CORNDOG @LITTLE ITALY
When we got to the Little Italy to eat the bagels, we strolled through the streets of Saint Gennaro festival and I decided to try a corn dog. I know, next to all this beautiful food I chose acorn dog. It was a mistake. Horrible, move on.
THE DOGHNUT PROJECT
Another doghnut tasting in the The Doghnut Project. We had the strawberry and cinnamon/pumpkin seed glazed one. A bit on the sweeter side, but cool nevertheless.
WHOLEFOODS
Wholefoods is a chain of stores focused on local, fresh and organic products. Best part is the prepared food, where you take a box and put inside salads, meat, fruit, whatever you can find, weigh and pay. Best snack for the Central park days.
RESTAURANTS
THE VINE
We ended our first day on Time Square, and then took a light stroll towards The Vine because I wanted to taste their famous chicken. Unfortunately, the pics are blurry due to bad lighting (food blogger’s curse). Roast chicken comes with roast potatoes and cherry peppers. We also had the octopus with ‘nduja sausage and potatoes. The taste was amazing.
AUX EPICES @CHINATOWN
After the lobster roll disappointment we made our day better by entering in this charming place Aux Epices. It’s a Malaysian-French fusion, and since we don’t know much about Malaysian cuisine, we chose laksa: Seafood Laksa and Malacca Laksa. We also tried the Thai ice tea, which was much too sweet for me, definitely not something to drink with your food. 35$ all together.
BALTHAZAR
Balthazar was my choice because of all the rave comments for their french fries. Since we’re both obsessed with fench fries we said, yes take us the best french fries place. Meh. For the price of 13$ it really sin’t that good. Greasy and not properly salty. They are crispy and tasty but not he best. Pass.
VIA CARROTA
Another restaurant of my choice. I was kind of obsessed with Via Carrota and their insalata verde. Not to say that I crossed the Atlantic for a salad, but it’s not far from the truth. Since it was a nice, warm day (and we didn’t have a reservation) we sat outside and ordered the salad, spaghetti vongole and papardelle with boar ragu. We also had the sourdough bread for the vongole sauce. The salad really is the best salad I ever had. Leafy greens in a beautiful sherry vinaigrette dressing. After that we had vongole which were finger licking good and a robust boar ragu. All together 70$. The whole experience was incredible, so if you like the Italian style food, do yourself a favor and go there.C
MOMOFUKU SSAM BAR
Ah, piece de resistance of my NY food research. The story begins with people from my company deciding to pay for one of my meals to surprise me. It ends with my delirium in Momofuku ssam bar. Momofuku is one of the restaurants from the famous chef David Chang which changed the American food scene and popularized Asian cuisine. I chose this one because it’s in the middle, not too streety, not too fancy. We started with some cocktails, and the only one I remember is glitter punk with hibiscus tequila, elder flower, lime and agave. When it comes to food, we started with corn on the cob with parmigiano and lime mayo. It was followed with tuna in spicy tomato sauce and shrimp toast with avocado and pickled chilies. We took a break with a salad made of greens and radishes with herby dressing and then had the beautiful whole roasted fish with scallion-ginger dressing, bean sprouts and herbs. There’s not much more to say except, yes go there and enjoy.
PETER LUGER
Peter Luger is a famous steak house located in Brooklyn. We went there once before, on a Saturday, 7 pm, without reservations and got a smile and a stare from the door man. So next time we came with a reservation. We were there at 4 wanting to try a burger and a steak. They serve the burger by 3:45 pm. So we tried the steak. We had a steak, roast potatoes and a salad, and it was all incredible. The steak was the best steak I ever had. But the interior and the personnel is nothing special. Also they only accept cash and some American cards, so that blows. All in all, if you want to eat a good steak, definitely go there. Everything else is less than great.
I hope you enjoyed this food visual of my New York trip.
Until next adventure,
T 🙂
