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rstarobi

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Everything posted by rstarobi

  1. I'm not the coffee afficionado that some of the above posters are, but I've had some great cappucino at Egidio's in Arthur Ave.; I imagine their espresso would be at least at the "doesn't suck" level.
  2. I wouldn't put Coyote Flaco in New Rochelle's top 5 Mexican, let alone #1 in Westchester. Have you tried Little Mexican Cafe on Main St., La Flor de Michoacan (ice pops, shakes), El Gran Rodeo (North Ave.), or El Tejanito (North Ave)? Coyote Flaco is more of a drinks place - the food I've had has been pretty mediocre compared to some of the other places in town. There's also a new Dominican luncheonette that's opened in the last couple of weeks on North Ave., which I've tried once - I had a couple of excellent sandwiches there.
  3. Eh.. it's ok. Not anything worth a detour from Manhattan. I live right by it, so it's my local deli, but I've had several service issues there recently which have turned me off to it (condiments & toppings left off of sandwiches on 4 or 5 occassions during takeout orders). The knishes & hot dogs are good, and the sandwiches can be good for the nabe, but I don't think it's a destination joint. For anyone who wants to come out though, exit 19 on the Hudson lets off right by it. It's at the intersection of Johnson Ave. & 235th st.
  4. I can't speak for the rest of the state, but the best pizza in lower Westchester can be considered a tossup between Johnny's in Mount Vernon & Sal's in Mamaroneck. Johnny's is a thin crust pie, slightly burnt on the bottom, and Sal's is more suburban style pizza, but done excellently.
  5. La Bonne Soupe, between 5th and 6th on 55th is very affordable, and has been solid every time I've gone.
  6. Do you know if the Kang Suh in Yonkers is the same ownership as the one in midtown? Edited - Yonkers, not White Plains
  7. Try Golden Gate in Riverdale, at Johnson Ave. & 236th.
  8. Most recent word from my folks re: Coromandel is that the buffet has roughly doubled in size, and that the new format is much better than it used to be.
  9. Thank you, Snausages, for saying what I wanted to say, only better. I've had mixed experiences with Coromandel - though I've only tried their buffet, I've found it weak. My parents say that their ala carte menu is vastly better. I also second Sal's - the place looks just like an ordinary pizza joint, but it's a wonderful find. Pat's Hubba Hubba is in Portchester, not Port Jefferson, I believe. The chili doesn't do it for me there so much, but I've only had it the once, and I made the mistake of having it straight, without a starch or meat to cut it.
  10. Well, of course Westchester cannot compete with Manhattan, but few places could; but as a suburban area there are scores of wonderful places to eat, and, as we can see from the New Jersey board, an area with a similar suburban environment to Westchester, there is a lot to talk about food-wise. The problem is, NJ has its own board, and Westchester is swallowed up by the Manhattan discussions. If you are in Westchester, there is no need to go every day to Manhattan to find a place worthy of dining at!! With over a million residents, there has to be something interesting to talk about! Well, just to talk about my own town, New Rochelle has a thriving Latin American community, which includes several good restaurants, and some of the best cheap produce markets I've seen in Westchester. My recommendations for local Mexican are: Las Cazuelas on North Ave., El Michoacano on Main St., and Mexican Corner Restaurant on Main St. As far as groceries, Viva Ranch on Main St. is worth a visit for the Mexican goodies that are excellently priced, and usually very fresh and of good quality. High end dining is not Westchester's strong point, especially in comparison with Manhattan. There are a plethora of mid-range Italian restaurants that all pretty much stink. On the other hand, there are the occasional attempts at the top end- Umami up in Nyack, I think. River City Grille. Macmenamin's Grill here in New Rochelle. Unfortunately, I can't afford to eat at any of these places, so quality reports will have to rest with someone else.
  11. Arthur Avenue (Belmont) in the Bronx is a very Italian neighborhood of course, but with a large Albanian minority. Tony and Tina's pizzeria does Albanian style Bureks. Beyond that, I know there are other Albanian restaurants/coffeeshops in the nabe, but I haven't been to them.
  12. I'm going there in the morning with my family to pick up some goodies for Easter dinner. The nice thing about a multi-faith family is that I've got Passover the one week, and Easter the next.
  13. I've seen Ommegang and Rare Vos (rare fox, one of their other beers) in D'Agostino's all over the city. For a great beer selection in Manhattan that's open 24 hours, there's the Happy Deli on, I believe, 46th and 8th. New York City Beer has a great list of beer stores and brewpubs & such all through the city.
  14. I had Les Halles's Choucrote Garnie the other day - got into the restaurant at about 11:15 on a Thursday night, when they were getting close to closing, but I was treated like royalty. The Choucrote (first time I've had it, so I can't really cross-compare to other examples) consisted of two different sausages (one white, one pink), a thick piece of slab bacon, a piece of what I think was fatback, a potato and a thick, smoked pork chop, all served over a thick bed of saurkraut. There was also a big cup of mustard to slather over everything. While I can't speak to other examples of Choucrote, I really enjoyed the different flavors of pork as they mixed with the saurkraut & mustard - it was like the ultimate expression of carnival/fair food. The sausages reminded me of Usinger's - very well spiced, and a good quality of meat. My favorite piece though was the pork chop - it was wonderfully flavored, and perfectly tender - enough texture that I could move my teeth through it, but not tough at all.
  15. I realize this thread is about NYC, but New Rochelle, just north of New York has several excellent Mexican restaurants (by New York standards, at least). On North Avenue, Las Cazuelas (recently renamed to El Gran Rodeo) is very good. Also worth eating at are "Mexican Corner" and "El Michoacan".
  16. The atmosphere will be the same in either one - non-existant :). Most of the non-king Papaya's are roughly $2 for 2 dogs and a drink. Papaya King is a bit more pricey - McDonald's price, roughly. Either way, you can't really go wrong - the papaya, mango and coconut drinks are all excellent compliments to the dogs.
  17. rstarobi

    Moustache

    Eric, could you tell us more about the place in Yonkers?
  18. Took a quick wander by the AOL/TW center over the weekend. The strongest impression I had was of technical glitches and overcrowding - at least four of the escalators were broken during the course of my hour long meander through the mall, including the up-escalator at Whole Foods, leading to a huge crowd at the elevator to leave. The outsides of Per Se and the rest of the restaurants all look nice. Ina Garten was in Williams-Sonoma, signing her book, which led to a huge crowd - nevertheless, I was able to make my purchase there about 30 seconds after getting on the line. The store looked very well laid out - didn't check out the the second floor, but the selection and pricing seemed about on a par with the midtown east branch. Whole Foods was overwhelmed with people, but except for the dining concourse, I didn't get the feeling of being crushed with people that Fairway gives. The wider aisles made it easier to maneuver. I got served some ice cream by Jerry of Ben & Jerry's as he was doing a promo - part of the store's chocolate week. Free samples were everywhere - I haven't really shopped at any of the other whole foods, so I don't know whether the free-sampling was typical or not, but I was given 4 or 5 different kinds of chocolate, salmon mousse, organic teriyaki chicken, and the aforementioned Ben & Jerry's in the course of about 10 minutes of wandering. All in all, once the glitches are worked out, this could be a very nice local shopping destination, IMHO.
  19. steven, I would agree with most most of that. When my parents visit from Philly, I usually get in a least one great meal. However, most of my other expensive meals are paid for by me generally. But I do wonder, sometimes when I go to the 3 star restaurants and there are considerably young people dining how they got the money or if they are being treated, most people that I know, in the their early mid 20's wouldnt spend $100 and upwards on a meal, but food is something I live for, so I spend it,, I dont even want to think about retirement yet,,,,,,,,,, I know I'm continuing to add to the off-topic-edness of this thread, but as another young (early-mid 20's) poster, I have to agree with FG that careful budgeting, and an unholy obsession with eating can lead to a few pricey meals spread out through the year. Basically, I have a choice between spending my limited discretionary income on a lot of inexpensive meals, or saving for the rare big one. I'm about 50/50 at this point, so I'll have a really big deal meal about once every month and a half or so. Of course, "big deal" to me may be very different from "big deal" to someone in a more healthy financial situation.
  20. Just got an email saying that Otto is now offering wine appreciation classes. There's more info on the website, which has become functional since the last time I looked at it: Otto wine classes
  21. http://newyorkobserver.com/pages/frontpage3.asp New article on Keller's NY restaurant in the Observer:
  22. As a home cook, with a very academic bent, would this be worthwhile? I can get it at Amazon for about $20 off the list price, which makes it seem like a pretty good deal.
  23. I saw signs for Johnsonville Bratwursts in the Milwaukee area being sold at McDonalds last week.
  24. rstarobi

    Diwan

    False alarm - he's on vacation for the next couple of weeks according to the person who answered the phone at Diwan.
  25. rstarobi

    Diwan

    Just saw a post on another food board saying that Hemant had left Diwan for parts unknown. Any truth to this?
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