raji

Some initial reactions... 1. Horribly overpriced - all vegetable skewers are $7 and up. Goma-dressing salad $11. The only people broker than NYers are Japanese! 2. There's already a robatayaki in NYC, Aburiya Kinnosuke, so stop saying you're the only one 3. It's a place for tourists in Japan - ROPPONGI is the only district you'll find abundant foreigners, so not a surprise that it winds up near Times Square here, but I give it a few months before it retools as an izakaya.... That said I'm down to check it out if someone else is paying, otherwise I can do much better at Aburiya

EMW speaks the truth. If you can WALK into Virgil's, you can certainly pile in a cab or M42 to Daisy Mae's. The 3 block detour is more than worth it. There are a couple of soul/cajun places on 9th avenue, but nothing to write home about Also, my favorite korean BBQ in Manhattan is at koreatown's northern extremity and therefore actually in the "Times Square" vicinity - http://www.madangsui.com/

I have to thank you for the M5 recommendation! We went there Friday night with a reservation for 6 placed only a couple hours and it was simply wonderful. So looks like I'm here through Saturday, any other recommendations given my original criteria?

Wow I appreciate the lengthy response! I'm gonna put this to the group and report back! The high-end places are appreciated, but I think I might be met with a $50 pp expense limit as all companies are cutting back. Are there more midrange pricerange places worth mentioning? Let's see how a bunch of city slickers do in north cakcalacky!

I've often wondered with all the Hmong that were re-settled in the area, why none of them has ever, to my knowledge, opened a restaurant. ← Wow so I was just giving you an example, but I guess that WAS a bunch of Hmongs taking care of the Starbucks I was at earlier! haha If you're local, please help!

Need to bump this thread up. In Charlotte on business through Friday, probably next week too - NY egulleteer, looking for the best to be had in Charlotte, nothing break your bank, sometimes I'm dealing with a stipend, sometimes entertaining or being entertained. Staying near the airport but looks like you have to drive everywhere for everything. Not interested in anything Asian unless there is some niche asian community, like a bunch of Hmongs or cambodias who make kickass food, already had Mac's for barbeque - need reccs!

Jing Fong

My mother had a bad experience at Congee Village at lunch today, but my mother is not me. She ordered Scallop and Winter Melon soup. It took 30 minutes, strange for Chinese given the usual expediency, anything over 20 minutes involves rearing and plucking... they kept telling her that they were "steaming the melons" which takes a while... Her friend had ordered Chicken Corn Soup, and BBQ ribs over rice, and asked them to bring things when done. Well they were brought it all out at once, the Corn soup and BBQ ribs were cold and they had to ask them to nuke them... and what's worse, the scallop and melon soup had no trace of scallop, and chicken instead. Cost-cutting or slid off the map?

Blue Ribbon, Momofuku Ssam A lot of chef do Japanese/faux Japanese late night, cuz those are open late, and koreatown cuz it's 24hour The question is, are you trying to go after last order at your peer's restaurants, or you want to see their work while they're on?

Which Gari did you go to? If you're a fan of saucing/salting you'll love Seki and Ushiwakamaru too but it seems to be something all the more fasionable sushiya are doing lately, which is a good thing - more personal responsibility and craftsmanship from the sushi chef

Agreed.....

Well, even then they might bargain down with free months etc. which gets you a lower <i>effective</i> rent, but that doesn't mean the number that goes on the lease is any different. Lowering that is truly a last resort and unprecedented in recent history

Katz's is a one-of-a-kind old NY experience like no other, and the food can't be beat. But unless the OP is going to Japan, then authentic sushi the likes to be had in NYC will be like NO other. The VAST majority of sushi and japanese food worldwide is not made by Japanese and therefore the whole experience is rarely as good as those offered by properly trained Japanese chefs, proprietors and servers. That level of training is rarely handed down stateside, a rare exception is the Totto group that holds it's chefs AND servers to the same standard that they would back in Japan. I don't think it's stretch to say that there's a good chance that the gulf between Katz's and a corned beef in another town might be as great as sushi in NYC and sushi in another town, even judging by the entire experience... Shame about Esashi. I'd still take your friend to Kamui Den, it's a killer Japanese restaurant with a full page of sushi, and the chef is formerly of Hasaki so knows how to make sushi properly. Kanoyama, I haven't been personally but I'm sure it's fine. Sushi Azabu is also downtown albeit on the westside and is open Sundays. If you're willing to travel above 14th street, then that's another topic entirely.

That's actually what I really wanted to do, but the person I'm with is quite adamant that they want sushi. Fortunately though I'll be coming to NY 3 times a year from now on, and maybe moving here in a year or so, so I will have another chance ← I have to disagree with you, Ms. Poutine.... I mean, you can get NY-style kosher deli up in Montreal, but it's not as good as Katz's. Similarly, you can get imitation sushi all the world round nowadays, but nowhere does sushi outside of Japan better than NYC. Montreal has a huge jewish population, and NYC has the largest Japanese ex-pat population outside of Japan (Sao Paolo has more "officiallly" but they are nissei) Go to Esashi, 3rd and A, or if you want to blow your wad, Le Mius. LES sucks for Japanese food, it's a sorry extension of St. Marks. Also, @ 11th and A is Kamui Den, which has very good basic sushi but also a great all-around japanese menu. That place is fantastic.

It pains me to do so - because I love Devi, but my lunches at Devi last year, after the reopening, where nowhere as good as the dinners - I think it might have to do with which chef is in when - I might opt for Tabla or Tamarind instead at lunch time...

Sam you beat me to the punch - I was about to say, rents have NEVER gone down in NYC, greedy landlords would rather their units stay unrented and take the huge tax breaks on them then actually try to improve the community... and/or they'll offer free months or other incentives but they NEVER want to offer lower rents....... then again, this DEpression will be looked back upon as unprecedented Some food costs that had been ridiculously hiked alongside the price of oil/gasoline might return to previous levels; it would be nice to have the $20 entree back

Right, I think we're basically saying the same thing, I said "While the type of tourism that is thriving now will benefit the institutions, and places that rank high in Zagats and other lists, and get a lot of press." Well, I'm aware of Keen's the way I'm aware of the Old Homestead or Smith and Wollensky, or the old Howard Johnson's in Times Square, for that matter, but maybe that's cuz I'm a NYer. There is seemingly always a time and a place for them at one point or another, and they're NY institutions and don't follow any trends.... That said, by both our criteria, we'll probably lose some places we hold dear - with the economic outlook the way it is, some places simply don't have an upswing to look forward to, do they....

Great topic. I'm no economist but in my opinion we've been in a recession longer than that hidden by manufactured jobs numbers, overextension of credit, etc... and that as soon as true unemployment numbers are released and it hits double digits, it will be considered a DE-pression marked by the stock market crash and mortgage crisis, and we're already seeing reduced availability of goods, services and credit.... Again, I'm no economist, but i write this because it feels like a lot of restaurants are on their last legs. Hardly any are hiring, trepidatious ones are shuttering left and right, expensive restaurants are offering new specials and prix-fixes to get people in the doors. However, without a service industry "bailout", in the long view I don't know how many of them can sustain. The Wall St. bailout will keep those popular with bankers in business longer, but that is only effective as trickle-down economics is, i.e. not that much. Any devaluation of the dollar and increased international tourists traffic helps the places that cater to tourists, but as best I can tell, the types of places that get a lot of writeups on here benefit from domestic tourism rather than international. How many posts on here have we read from people in other cities, who found this board and educated themselves on what the locals find exciting, and then made a trip just to go to those places? While the type of tourism that is thriving now will benefit the institutions, and places that rank high in Zagats and other lists, and get a lot of press. That said, the economic downturn is global. You'd think I'd be ecstatic that the Yen-to-dollar is at 88, whereas it had hovered around 110 for years now. Japanese tourists almost invariably seek out Japanese food in NYC, just so they can gloat to their friends in NYC and back home that they can get something much better for 1/4 the price in Japan. However, the Japanese began using the "R" word the same time we did, and there is a lot of doom and gloom over there. So even though a shopping trip to NYC is an absolute steal for a lot more Japanese tourists, many are stuffing their mattresses. As for the euros, midtown was teeming with more than usual around the holidays, but let's see if that sustains. I'm not as familiar with their economic status as I am Japan. I do know that they made it hard to get a table at safe Theatre-district restaurants. Lots more Chinese tourists too - but they're usually middle-class by China standards so come on a very restrictive budget. I've noticed neighobrhood Chinese takeout places now putting blackboards outside, in chinese, advertising that they have a real chinese chef and what dishes he makes. I'd like to order those... Recently was in Times Square, and overheard "Should we go to the M&M store now, or directly to the Olive Garden". I think that's an unfortunately large quotient of our domestic tourism. All-in-all, I think in short order NYC is going to look a lot like it did in '92 again - a lot less selection, survival of the thriftiest, some of our icons shuttered and a distant memory. I do hope I'm wrong...

At 16, I had similar emotions about a restaurant with a similarly short 5 letter, 2 word name: Wo Hop. ← Sorry OT but - I know a lot of people who have gone there totally smashed in the middle of the night, I'm pretty sure I did too, but you used to hit the Tsingtao there too?

Welcome to egullet and thanks for a great first post. I can't believe you're only 16. (I'm jealous - I didn't realize my love for food until considerably later.) ← Hell, when I was 16, I would have gone just for the champagne. Another reason I focused on Japanese and Korean food, at that time in the city, they never carded....

Jacket? Do you mean Sardi's or maybe even Carmine's? (doubtful) You definitely don't mean Patsy's

I don't know what happened to my post, but I recall posting, about 6 months ago, that I went to Luzzo's for lunch, that it was a mediocre pie with a about 3 or 4 of those little buffalo mozzarellla balls sliced on it, not spiced, no basil or anything, and an OK crust. Definitely not worth going back for. The antipasto platter also was underwhelming. Then I remember getting reprimended by slkinsky, lps or weinoo, one of these guys, about how it was the best pie in NY right now. I can't find the post, but that's what happened....

Yeah but the waiters are still French, right?

Daniel, frankly I'm surprised that you had quite such a bad experience, but more surprised that you were surprised that you did. Menchanko-tei, Onigashima, and Katsuhama are all owned by the same group. Katsuhama is unique in that they have a dedicated katsu chef who mixes his oils and runs a proper katsu restaurant. However, if you try the rest of the menu, it's pretty average. Menchanko-tei and onigashima run pretty run-of-the-mill noodle/mini-izakaya menus with the cheapest possible ingredients with the same ingredients because they all use the same supplier. There are a skant few Japanese suppliers who supply the entire Japanese restaurant arena - your experience won't be that be that different between, say, village yokocho, and onigashima. Which is why I'm such a big proponent of those who ue different suppliers, like Aburiya

I think Xavier's H20 / on the hudson is the new, best option in Yonkers, but I haven't been. It's peter Kelly, supposedly he's a very good chef. He probably should have won the Iron Chef episode he was on