rstarobi
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Posts posted by rstarobi
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I'm here to help! I make it a part-time hobby to try as many restaurants in Westchester as I can. I've tried almost every place worth speaking of in White Plains. I will tell you about my favorite sushi bar, period. I haven't found any place that can top it yet, anywhere. It is on Mamaroneck Ave. in White Plains. Called Seasons Japanese Bistro. Best mexican is Coyote Flaco in New Rochelle. Post again if you want more rec's, I'll happily give you more.
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.
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Thanks for checking the on-line edition more carefully. For reasons that allude me the vital address details are not included in the article itself, but separated and sometimes not obvious.
Now the question turns to issues of substance. How good is the meat?
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.
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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.
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La Bonne Soupe, between 5th and 6th on 55th is very affordable, and has been solid every time I've gone.
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No. You're thinking of Kum Gang San. Kang Suh is on the south side of 32 St., near Broadway. Kum Gang San is on the north side of 32 St.
Do you know if the Kang Suh in Yonkers is the same ownership as the one in midtown?
Edited - Yonkers, not White Plains
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Try Golden Gate in Riverdale, at Johnson Ave. & 236th.
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You're right. Pat's is in Portchester. Not sure why I said Port Jefferson.
Try Coromandel's ala carte dinner and see what you think. I haven't been in several months, so I can't vouch for its current quality, but all previous experiences have been excellent.
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.
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Marcus, I would think there are a fair number of NY egullet members and NY forum readers that live in Westchester, so restaurants discussed here don't necessarily need to be considered long-distance affairs. Also, the notion of a 'destination' restaurant is too vague, especially in the egullet/chowhound context, where we have tons of people willing to travel for good/adventurous/interesting food, regardless of how upscale or widely recognized the place might be. I live in Brooklyn, but have made several places, most of them dives with remarkable kitchens, in Jersey, Westchester and Queens my 'destination' based on reviews posted here.
I agree with the earlier point that the Westchester posts get swallowed in the NYC forum. It's too bad, because there are a lot of places in the county that deserve to be raved about and I'm sure there are tons still waiting to be discovered.
As for some of the highlites in my Westchester experience:
I second the praise for New Rochelle's ethnic food scene.
The Corner Mexican Restaurant is a find.
Also, Coromandel on, I think, Division St. in New Rochelle is the best Indian I've ever had. Never been to a couple of the reputed top places in the city, but I imagine Coromandel holds its own. If I remember correctly, it's bloodlines relate to that place Thali in New Canaan and the Cinnamon Club in London.
There's also a Chinese Buffet in New Rochelle that's worth checking out. I hate the idea of a Chinese Buffet, and was scared to go, but here's what makes it worth it: all you can eat crab legs, clams and oysters. $10. not high-end dining, but a fun way to stuff your self.
In Mamaroneck, Sal's pizza (on Mamaroneck Ave) serves one of the better (Americanized) sicilian slices you'll ever have. Thin crust, crispy, good.
In Port Jefferson, I love Pat's Hubba Hubba. It's just a low-key little greasy spoon, but they slather a spicy ground beef chili on everything and it's addictive. Plus, the menu just consists of items written on paper plates that're glued haphazardly to the wall.
It'd be great to hear about more Westchester finds. Happy to make them a destination.
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.
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Westchester is not a restaurant destination
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.
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Isn't there an Albanian neighborhood in the Bronx? I seem to remember Jason mentioning that they make pizza a lot? And there's a Bosnian restaurant in Astoria, I think?
What about sparsely-represented African cuisines? Any Namibian, Malagasy, or Ugandan restaurants, for example?
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.
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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.
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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.
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I hear Les Halles is serving three or four types throughout Jan and some of Feb. Where else can I find it?Are there any restaurants that focus their food on Alsace?
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.
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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".
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On my long list of things to do, I realized I've never hit one of these. On a trip in March, I'm hoping to correct that mistake. So: Is there any appreciable difference between them? I'm staying on West 44th near 6th, but I roam around a lot.
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.
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Interesting....I, too, went to Moustache in the West Village for the very first time a couple of weeks ago, after it had been highly recommended to me several times from different sources. And my experience was....rather different.
For really cheap food, it's pretty good.
The pitas, I have to say, were outstanding--the best part of the meal, by far. The spinach and chick pea salad was also quite nice. For me, the hummos was mediocre at best, as was everything else I tried--the leg of lamb sandwich, the merguez sandwich, falafel, other salads. The baby lamb lamb ribs looked very good--I wish I had ordered them--but I was not offered a taste. They didn't look good enough to get me to go back, however.
I have to admit...I'm spoiled. I lived near a hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop Lebanese restaurant in Cleveland that was (is) the most amazing Middle Eastern restaurant in which I have eaten to date. Nothing I have tried anywhere else comes close, with the sole exception of a joint in Yonkers (not really feasible for city-dwellers without a car, unfortunately....). And it's probably not even possible for a family-run Middle Eastern place to make it, financially, in a high-rent area like Manhattan (and family-run seems to be the common denominator of all the Middle Eastern restaurants I've tried that serve food I think of as good).
It's a shame about Moustache.....I really wanted to like it.
Eric, could you tell us more about the place in Yonkers?
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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.
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I think the other thing that's relevant on this tangent -- and if we go any farther let's have a new thread and recap all this to get it started -- is that there's a huge amount of redistribution of wealth that can't really be tracked but that benefits young people and women in particular. If you're a downwardly mobile Gen-Xer, chances are your doctor/lawyer/banker Baby Boomer parents take you out to dinner at upscale restaurants on occasion -- especially if you live in a place like New York where that's such a part of the culture. Women get taken out all the time by men, and sometimes vice-versa too, especially when there's a large wealth gap between the two people involved in a dating situation. I mean, I'm sure if you walk into the dining room of -- ugh -- Per Se on any given night you'll find that at most of the tables there's one person paying. Who knows if the other one, three, five, or seven people have any money? The reality is that if you're young and attractive and you run with a certain crowd and being out there is a priority for you, you can eat and drink for free (as in paid for by someone else at the table) at the best places all the time.
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.
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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:
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http://newyorkobserver.com/pages/frontpage3.asp
New article on Keller's NY restaurant in the Observer:
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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.
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I saw signs for Johnsonville Bratwursts in the Milwaukee area being sold at McDonalds last week.
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False alarm - he's on vacation for the next couple of weeks according to the person who answered the phone at Diwan.
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Just saw a post on another food board saying that Hemant had left Diwan for parts unknown. Any truth to this?
THE BEST: NYC Espresso
in New York: Dining
Posted
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.