raji

There's lots and lots of great pizza places in Westchester. Most NYers know that the real Italianos have long since escaped the big city to the outer boroughs and suburbs. They probably use the same suppliers that the better places use in the city. The big difference is that a slice is just not a slice after it's been sitting around for even only 10 minutes - certain places in the city succeed simply by an extremely high turnover of customers...

Someone ought to convince Eisenberg's current owner to reverse engineer a Shake Shack burger, taking all that brisket they use and making a hamburger out of it instead. That line is making me hate that place and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

EMW I forget to give you serious stress about Kenka. Before that, Wendy's rocks. That I can construct a meal for $2.97 which is not voluminous but caloric intake is at least within bounds of what normal-sized humans should ingest (rather than a regular-sized combo meal). Jr. bacon cheeseburger, Wendy's fries, frosty, take me away. Although, I think some friends and I figured out that if in a food court setting, the perfect fast food meal would be a Wendy's Frosty, a Whopper, and Mcdonald's Fries - Now, about Kenka, I've been dragged there several times, although all of my Japanese friends refuse to eat there. The wait can be brutal, and for what! Usually most of their customers are Asian in the 18-23 range, similar to Koreatown because they don't card. I have to be pretty drunk to be able to down the food.... I mean, it's cheap, really cheap, but you get what you pay for, essentially. The cheap Japanese draft is the only real reason to go there, but foodwise, I would go there only after being turned away from Yokocho, Umi no ie, Typhoon, Taisho, Go, and any other manner of salty, sweet, fat-tooth youth-oriented Japanese food in the east village... Sorry to lay into you like that, I do think I've had to suffer through most of their menu items that they just do incompetently, so, essentially, tell me what's good there....

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love tonkatsu (also think of it as a winter dish), and didn't know there was any decent tonkatsu to be found in this town. Yeah Katsuhama is great, they have Japanese beer on draft too. On par with some places in Tokyo, probably the only place doing it properly in the NY Metro area, that I know of anyway. It would be great if they could go even higher grade on the pork, which is what you'll get in Tokyo. I've only ever eaten it in Japan. Can't wait for the weather to cool down to check this out! ← Not that you can't eat it over the summer, but you have to be in the mood to chow down on something so dependent on the mixture and quality of the oil...

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love tonkatsu (also think of it as a winter dish), and didn't know there was any decent tonkatsu to be found in this town. ← Yeah Katsuhama is great, they have Japanese beer on draft too. On par with some places in Tokyo, probably the only place doing it properly in the NY Metro area, that I know of anyway. It would be great if they could go even higher grade on the pork, which is what you'll get in Tokyo.

This is a great idea for a thread. Basically, you are soliciting our haunts, neighborhood or not, which makes for a very reliable list of recommendations - Now I don't think there is any helping that our lists will be slanted towards the neighborhoods we live in, but here go with mine - Grand Sichuan International, NY Noodletown - As above... Yakitori Totto - 55th & Bway - Whether for my own personal cravings or the initiation of another to the joys of raw chicken, our friends from the far East built a Temple to the Chicken on 55th and Broadway Eisenberg's - Madison Sq. - After the obligatory bike past the ridiculous Shake Shack line on the off chance another Mad Cow disease scare has hit the airwaves since I got ON my bicycle, it's down 5th to reliable Eisenberg's for a corned beef/pastrami combo Runner's Up - Katz's, Carnegie Madras Mahal - Curry Hill - 10 years later and the same cheerful women remembers my name and face. While the service can be pretty clueless, this is still the best South Indian fix I'm getting without heading out to Jackson Diner Queen of Sheba - HK - I've got my extended family addicted to the Vegetarian Combo, all these years still better all-around than Meskerem Gah Mee Ohk - Koreatown - How many times have I stumbled in drunk for a Pah Jun and Sohluntang and some comp Jalapeno's and Cabbage with Miso? The bright lights keep me up. Runner's Up - Seoul Garden, Kun Jip, Woo Chon. Saburi Hell's Kitchen - HK - Never, ever disappoints, Reliably very good new mexican menu with great great margaritas Budget Runner-up- Tulcingo Del Valle, Tehuitzingo Grimaldi's - Brooklyn Heights - Still has not disappointed me, and my bro has just moved to Hoboken and tells me you can get the same pie without the wait at their location there... something tells me I'm being baited out there - Runner's Up - John's, Lombardi's, Don Giovanni's, and while I'm out there, Noodle Pudding Pepe Giallo - 25th and 10th - It's my second office, you can get a bottle of wine, a great light Italian dinner for 2 and get out of there for $70 Corner Bistro - West Village - I still wind up in there at least 6 times a year, usually stumbling drunk. GREAT burger and fries. Is there a better one open until 4am? Katsuhama - Midtown - Am I the only one craving Tonkatsu more than 6 times a year? Usually over the winter months.... Lederhosen Bier and Wursthouse - The german sausages and soul food are good enough, but I need to drink freshly tapped German beer out of a container larger than my head to truly feel like a man Runner-Up - Hallo Berlin @ 44th and 10th Donburi-ya - Midtown East - All sarariman need izakaya Runner's Up - Ariyoshi, Riki, Hizen Egyptian Al-Halal guy @ 26th and 11th - OK this guy gets the frequency award, and I'm talking twice a week, $3 Chicken on Pita, $4 Chicken on Rice that could feed 2 people ... Isn't living rent-poor a bitch?? OK it's getting late when I think of more I will add to this post, but I officially have nothing more to add to eGullet

I'm going to have to agree that it's a tough location. (I think I was the first in this thread to say that it was "cursed"). 9th Avenue from 43rd up, and you know you are in a stretch of Theatre District restaurants, some great ones mixed with mostly tourist traps and then of course Restaurant Row. That corner, continuing west you have a huge parking lot which faces the exit of the Lincoln Tunnel, and caticorner, you have the ass end of the Port Authority and a very large homeless shelter. I think Chef Josephine is mostly occupied by people going to the theatres next door. I don't think it's imposible but you'd need a lot of signage and neon or SOMETHING to get people over to that corner....

Orgy?? Caught on tape? It would be nice to have a good, dependable restaurant there...

I was cycling by this corner and noticed signs up about pending liquor license review for "Ollie's" (I'm assuming the Chinese food of the same name is opening up there). Inside, stairs were stacked up, looks like they closed up shop there. That corner is cursed I think...

I've eaten at/ordered from GSI with several spice-averse people. As for myself, I'm a masochist, it's the Indian genes, I will eat things that melt plastic. I will sacrifice my bunghole for the spice. But yeah, I've had several dishes from the fresh-killed chicken menu where you can actually taste the chicken, and they're great. Despite what people say here, I love the soup dumplings. The thing about GSI is that everything there is expertly perpared, you can't go wrong unless you order from the "American Chinese Food" menu, and even that is damn good. But the Sichuan spicing is too much for most of my family. We know they're missing out but some people don't have a tolerane for pure pepper and chile.

A good friend of mine I grew up with is a big deal at NYRA. On TV everday and the front page of the form. On everyone's behalf I'm going to ask where the Trainer's go. Not interested where the jockey's go ;-)

Absolutely - anything on the fresh-killed menu is recommended and most are non-spicy. While the Sichuan spicy is sublime, you can have an amazing meal there without anything outrageously spicy.... Pan?

The entire fresh-killed menu is spectacular, and that's the tie tha bonds between GSI and Totto just a few blocks away, and makes them standouts...

Hey! I didn't know anyone noticed I went back to work ... My kids choices: Steak and cheese, on a wedge; American combo with provolone. Spouse likes grilled cheese and tomato. Don't be put off by a long line during rush hours; it moves fast. ← Excuse me but what is a wedge as it relates to this sandwich? Is it merely bread cut in the form of a wedge, I'm confused. Also steak and cheese to a Philly guy sounds like not the real deal. Where I'm from they're cheesesteaks! ← A wedge is a synonym for hero. It just happens to be the operative verbage in Westchester, I guess. The steak and cheese I get at NY delis is usually far superior to the cheez whiz mess I've experienced in Philly. Thats a thread for another day, I'm sure... ← I grew up in Westchester. That a wedge is a hero, and didn't even make it over the border between the 'Chester and the Bronx, is one of few things the 'Chester can call it's own... that, and the Dragon coaster, I guess.

10 miles down in White Plains is a fantastic Italian restaurant - Mulino's http://www.mulinos.us/ Now, full disclosure, my company did their website, but the meals I've had their are fantastic, it's real deal Italian as good as any I've have had in Manhattan, and certainly their consistent clientele speaks volumes -

Was it a Japanese restaurant? I call that neighborhood New York's Ginza. It's piano bars and expense account restaurants.

nihonjin? Seki was from Gari, so go to Seki. It's great! Really? I've never been there, just read that since the expansion it went downhill. I am ever-wary of East Village sushi. Most east village Japanese food appeals to the younger hipster set, the more salty fatty palette, and rarely uses quality ingredients... That all said, my total sleeper is Esashi on Avenue A at about 4th? Totally great sushi as you might expect at a top midtown place. I've never been to SushiDai! I was taken to Tsukiji by an upper Director of Tokyo government, but we didn't go to eat for some reason! I've never been to Sapporo or Fukuoka but I know that Hokkaido in general is a great sashimi destination. All that Northern Atlantic fish, it's just gotta be. I've only traveled for the most part west, although the sashimi that I had in Niigata was GREAT! This year I'll make it out to Osaka again. Asking your Japanese friends to go to eat sushi is like your friend from out of town here asking to go out with you for a porterhouse for 2. It's not something they do often at all. Those Americans who do, eat more sushi than Japanese, it's really strange.

I thought Rochester is all about the Garbage Plate?

Found this on Alibaba http://liansheng.en.alibaba.com/group/5011...aimo_Root_.html I could ask any number of chefs that use them in town but I don't know any that use it in significant quantities....

I'm unfamiliar with Kin Jup but agree with your other two recommendations. I'd also recommend Cho Dang Gol, Kang Suh, and Han Bat. Cho Dang Gol is known for its artisanal tofu, Kang Suh for its barbecue (though only gas is used there nowadays), and Han Bat is just a really good cheap Korean diner. I love Woo Chon, but I've been thinking lately that Seoul Garden may be the best all-round Korean restaurant in Manhattan. There are threads on all of these restaurants, I do believe. Since you can't do a site search for 3-letter words, search for "Hanbat" rather than Han Bat, and search for "Dang" in order to get the Cho Dang Gol thread (if there indeed is one). ← Kun Jip that is which is prettty lame of me as I try to correct any mistaken Japanese I see on here... beware the midday rushed posting!

Sceney Japanese I'd say Megu, Matsuri, Ono in the Hotel Gansevoort... dunno if I'd call any of them mid-priced. If it were me I might say go to Rosa Mexicano, Hell's Kitchen, Sushisamba, or somewhere else trendy that has _really good margaritas_, because gals seem to love crack-a-ritas...

I just re-read - that's the New Yorker! Just recently they "re-lit" their huge neon sign - that hotel has a lot of history! http://www.signweb.com/index.php/channel/12/id/1598 Anyway, just don't eat anywhere in the vicinity of that hotel, and you will be just fine. to the south, southeaast, east, and north, you are very good

Starr is a 4-letter word here <<ducks>>

Glad I could be of service! I'm off to Japan again in July so I'm just saving up for that at this point, perhaps with one stop over at Shimizu to finally see if there is any worthwhile sushi in Hell's Kitchen. So, my sushi meter will yet again be calibrated.

I would definitely hit up a Danny Meyer's restaurant like Tabla. Haters post here!! Koreatown is great, but that list the Megan posted a link to is not.... I'd hit Woo Chon, Kin Jup, or Seoul Garden.... Something else you are definitely not getting in Philly is true South Indian, which is over a bit @ Lex, Madras Mahal still being my favorite despite poor service -