10 must-visit NYC restaurants - advice sought

[NatashaH]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum, but I've heard that you're the go-to guys for the inside scoop on New York's restaurants, so I'm hoping you can provide me with a list of top 10 suggestions for must-eat places.

I'm about to visit New York (in September) for the first time in 15 years and want to get advice on the best places to eat - not necessarily the fanciest, although I'm definitely up for one or two top-dollar restaurants (preferably reasonably innovative rather than classic French cuisine). Is Per Se as good as the hype? I've also read some good things about WD50.

In an ideal world, I'd also like to eat at a Japanese place (or two) I've heard good things about Soto and Megu, but I've also read raves about Momofuku (if I can score a table).

I write about wine and food (and restaurants and wine and food matching) here in the UK, so I'd also like to ensure I get to eat someplace where the wine list is interesting and the sommelier is really on the ball.

I'm also fascinated by the idea of good Mexican food (we're only beginning to get the idea here in London that there's more to the country's cuisine than tacos and enchiladas).

But really I'm open to suggestions, so any advice you can offer would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Natasha

[sickchangeup]

The top flight restaurants should kill 2 birds with one stone Re: wine. I would absolutely recommend Per Se for both, they will design the wine around your stated preferences and budget for the meal. Le Bernardin and Jean Georges also have outstanding wine programs by the glass, although they don't carry the same flexibility as Per Se - they pair based only on the dish, and the cost is fixed (although Jean Georges does explicitly offer half pours as an option, which is very nice, especially at lunch)

Momofuku Ssam Bar (this boards apparent favorite) does not take reservations, so you are guaranteed to get in, and I think the vast majority of folks on here would place it in a top 10. It wouldn't count in the Japanese category though, new American would likely be most accurate, certainly Japanese and Korean influence is present.

I personally would never allow guests to leave town without taking them to Ippudo for Ramen. It does not take reservations, it's relatively inexpensive and the ramen is simply sensational. This place is definitely Japanese, but is not sushi or even cooked Japanese, just ramen. Some expertise with chopsticks and slurping noodles won't hurt here.

I think you might also check into a NY style steakhouse and a NY pizza place.

Having entertained a great deal of British Nationals for dinner around town (job related) over the past few years, here would be my top 5, none of these places have failed to impress:

1) Per Se (dinner, perhaps salon if on a tighter budget)

2) Jean Georges (lunch)

3) BLT Prime (steak)

4) Rosa Mexicana (mexican)

5) Co. Pizza (pizza)

[raji]

In an ideal world, I'd also like to eat at a Japanese place (or two) I've heard good things about Soto and Megu, but I've also read raves about Momofuku (if I can score a table).

I write about wine and food (and restaurants and wine and food matching) here in the UK, so I'd also like to ensure I get to eat someplace where the wine list is interesting and the sommelier is really on the ball.

I'm also fascinated by the idea of good Mexican food (we're only beginning to get the idea here in London that there's more to the country's cuisine than tacos and enchiladas).

So I guess "10 must-visit nyc restaurants" is the title of your article? See, that said, BLT Prime is fine but a lot of people might tell you to go out to Peter Luger's for steak.

Rosa's great (and pricey!) but there's new places on the map like Toloache

If money is no object, I would forego Soto for a Masa or Yasuda. And for someone coming from the UK, I might take them to Tsukushi or Aburiya Kinnosuke for places that are unique to find outside of Japan and therefore must-visit. I would definitely recommend a ramen lunch at Ippudo - you will not find such a bowl of ramen in all of Europe

Don't go to Megu despite them having a sake sommelier. If that's what you're interested in, places like En and Lan do that. I mean if you're REALLY into that, go to Sakagura for sake and small plates, go upstairs to Soba Totto for dinner, and then go across the street for a sushi dessert at Yasuda.

If you're coming from the UK to NY and nowhere else, you might throw a Hill Country or Daisy Mae's in there, as BBQ places that well represent a large swath of the southern United States right here in NY

I would definitely do a Kitchen Counter @ Beacon and/or Momofuku Ko (if you can get a reservation to either) as it's tough to find that kind of quality time with that kind of a chef outside of the city, and is definitely a must-visit.

[sickchangeup]

If you're coming from the UK to NY and nowhere else, you might throw a Hill Country or Daisy Mae's in there, as BBQ places that well represent a large swath of the southern United States right here in NY

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Great call! RUB is also a tremendous success with the visiting international set. Hill Country is great too.

Reminds me: Katz Pastrami on rye (no cheese!!). If you can stand the fat, which a lot of foreign folks I've treated have trouble with (many others don't), then it's the best thing in NY.

[NatashaH]

Reminds me:  Katz Pastrami on rye (no cheese!!).  If you can stand the fat, which a lot of foreign folks I've treated have trouble with (many others don't), then it's the best thing in NY.

←

I have no problem with fatty food (other than eating too much of it

Great advice so far. Love the idea of the barbecue places...

Re the top-end restaurants, I guess what I'm aiming for is creative/eclectic/innovative - without being (great British word this) poncey.

[raji]

Great call! RUB is also a tremendous success with the visiting international set.  Hill Country is great too.

Reminds me:  Katz Pastrami on rye (no cheese!!).  If you can stand the fat, which a lot of foreign folks I've treated have trouble with (many others don't), then it's the best thing in NY.

Yeah you know I have yet to have a great or even good meal at RUB and I've visited it once every couple years when someone convinces me to do so

Hill Country, on the other hand... holy shit

[sickchangeup]

Yeah you know I have yet to have a great or even good meal at RUB and I've visited it once every couple years when someone convinces me to do so

Hill Country, on the other hand... holy shit

←

I can only suggest that you go at or just after 6pm and hope they haven't yet run out of burnt ends. If they have, then I would turn around. But if they haven't.... holy ***** shit.

[Sneakeater]

Momofuku Ssam Bar

Katz's

per se

WD-50

Jean Georges for lunch

Babbo (I hate to say it)

Kyo Ya

Yakitori Totto

Peter Luger's (or Wolfgang's [uptown location] if you don't feel like crossing an estuary)

DBGB (because it's now, and because their beer and wine program is SO good)

[Sneakeater]

I love Hill Country, but somehow the idea of travelling to New York and going to a restaurant imitating Texas seems odd to me.

(As opposed to a restaurant imitating Tokyo, which I obviously have no problem recommending.)

[WK2]

I love Hill Country, but somehow the idea of travelling to New York and going to a restaurant imitating Texas seems odd to me.

(As opposed to a restaurant imitating Tokyo, which I obviously have no problem recommending.)

←

I'd also add, given the OP, that the idea of going to New York and getting mexican food is probably not likely to be the most successful thing on the planet.

As a general thought on an angle, I'd probably go to some of the new pizza and burger places. To my mind, they're sort of the analogue to the gastropub movement in England (someone will tell me, I'm sure, that american gastropubs are the analogues to English gastropubs), but I think they're interesting and new and cheap, so you can do them in quantity.

Maybe there's too much press exposure to these things already, but that may just be in crazy new york.

Also, it's probably worth hitting the speakeasies in the evenings if you're interested in drink as it is evolving here. The 5 top cocktail destination thread is the place to go for that.

Edited July 10, 2009 by WK2 (log)

[Sneakeater]

Totally, agree -- she MUST hit one or more of the cocktail places.

Also, maybe Minetta Tavern would be a good idea, if she could get in.

I really wanted to recommend Franny's -- but I hate to advise people to schlepp to Brooklyn.

(Also strongly agree about not bothering with Mexican in New York.)

Edited July 10, 2009 by Sneakeater (log)

[NatashaH]

Point taken about the Mexican restaurants - it's just I have an American friend based here in the UK who's constantly telling anyone who'll listen that the Mexican food scene in the US is way ahead of anything we have over here, so I thought it might be worth asking.

Burgers and pizzas sound good - any specific recommendations?

And I'll check out the bars.

[Sneakeater]

DBGB has excellent burgers, and Minetta Tavern's are even better.

City Burger on 38th (I think) and 6th (I think) -- but it's only open for lunch.

Edited July 10, 2009 by Sneakeater (log)

[Sneakeater]

it's just I have an American friend based here in the UK who's constantly telling anyone who'll listen that the Mexican food scene in the US is way ahead of anything we have over here, so I thought it might be worth asking.

←

Mexican food in the U.S. is almost certainly way beyond anything you have in the U.K. Just not in New York, unfortunately.

[gastrodamus]

momofuku ko is currently my favorite restaurant but keep ssam as a backup. babbo, corton and blue hill should be on the list as well. the sommeliers at the aforementioned are sharp. i thoroughly enjoyed wd~50 but it tends to get polar reviews.

for kaiseki and sake, kyo ya is a must. for sushi, yasuda. skip megu.

the bbq joints here are not what i consider unique to new york. the quality and taste simply don't measure up to the midwest. for something you can't get elsewhere, natashaH's reco for katz's is spot on.

[Sneakeater]

Oh fuck I forgot Corton.

Yeah, MUST GO.

PS -- The person asking the question where to eat IS NatashaH. (But in any event, Katz's IS a MUST.)

Edited July 10, 2009 by Sneakeater (log)

[tupac17616]

Burgers? Spotted Pig or Minetta Tavern

Pizza? You'll get 2 billion different answers but my favorites right now are Keste (softer, pliable crust... not unlike Franco Manca in Brixton, if you've been) and Motorino (a little more charred/crisp). And agree that Co. is good.

[WK2]

The mexican food over here is much better. It's just that if you want to eat what that person is likely talking about, New York's version of it is not ideal in comparison to, say, Californian or Texan mexican food. Having said that, any mexican food in America is so much better than what was available in London when I lived there that it might be worth trying anyway.

I think Sneakeater's suggestion of Minetta tavern is perfect. I haven't been there, but there really is no better distillation of recessionary New york. And they have (reputedly) one of the best burgers anywhere.

Point taken about the Mexican restaurants - it's just I have an American friend based here in the UK who's constantly telling anyone who'll listen that the Mexican food scene in the US is way ahead of anything we have over here, so I thought it might be worth asking.

Burgers and pizzas sound good - any specific recommendations?

And I'll check out the bars.

←

[tupac17616]

momofuku ko is currently my favorite restaurant but keep ssam as a backup.

ditto

[Sneakeater]

As another alternative to Peter Luger's, Keen's.

I really think you MUST visit a steakhouse or a chophouse while you're in New York.

[Steve R.]

I think raji is on the money with his approach to answering the OP's question. If someone is coming from the UK only to NYC, the question is more what can be had here that's better than the UK. So bbq and Mexican food become viable answers, even though we know that NYC isnt the best place within the US to get either. That being said, I'd definitely not recommend an Indian restaurant, since we compare so poorly. So... Rub, Hill Country or, if Bklyn is a possibility, Fette Sau for bbq (although I had a very good meal at Blue Smoke this week... unexpected). A place like Centrico may not be a bad recommendation either. I also think that a nice small place like Redhead is good for a mid-week meal of Southern-ish US creative cooking and decent cocktails. Then I'd recommend E. Harlem for some inexpensive Mexican and Latin cooking (unless trekking to Roosevelt Ave in Queens is doable). I wont start a new pizza war here but ya gotta go to some really good pizza place dont you? If not Franny's then someplace else... but one cannot come to NYC and not eat good pizza. Same with pastrami at Katz' Deli. And I agree with Sneakeater on Ssam Bar and Babbo. Maybe WD-50 as well (although I havent been). I'd also recommend getting a group together to hit some Chinese place... I'm not sure what's least available in the UK but we have some very good Szech. (Wu Liang Ye, Spicy and Tasty), Cantonese (Cantoon, Noodletown) and other regional places readily available. Anyone want to advise her to wait on line at Shake Shack or to go to Gray's Papaya?

[Sneakeater]

I think Natasha has to tell us whether she's willing to travel to Outer Boroughs.

If she is, a whole world of possibilities opens up to her.

[tupac17616]

Do they eat fried chicken & waffles in the UK? I'm partial to Amy Ruth's.

[WK2]

Maybe we can make this thread a little more systematic. Ok, so this is selfish - I'm putting together a list for my wedding guests, and this thread strikes me as presenting an amazing ready-pack for visitors to our city.

EDIT: This has been edited as per suggestions.

High End/French base:

per se

Le Bernardin

Jean-Georges

Corton

New York

Katz's

high End/Other

Momofuku Ko (Chang/American) --> Ssam as backup.

Babbo (Italian/American)

Kitchen Counter @ Beacon (American)

Blue Hill (American)

Degustation (Spanish/American)

WD-50 - (Martian/American!)

Steak

Luger's

Wolfgang's

Keen's

BLT Prime

Mexican

Rosa Mexicana

BBQ

RUB

Hill Country

Fette Sau

The South

Redhead

Amy Ruth's

Pizza/Burgers

Keste

Motorino

Co.

DBGB

City Burger

Pubby

The Spotted Pig

Minetta Tavern

DBGB

Sushi/other Japanese

Yasuda

Totto

Kyo Ya

Ippudo

Szechuan

Wu Liang Ye

Spicy and Tasty

Cantonese

Cantoon

Noodletown

Edited July 10, 2009 by WK2 (log)

[Sneakeater]

I don't think "high end" is an accurate representation of Ssam Bar. Anybody who goes there expecting "high end" is probably going to be pissed off (and it's my favorite restaurant, so this isn't meant as a criticism of it).

Also, although I know what you mean, I don't know that I'd use "French-based" to describe Degustation (Spanish), Blue Hill (American), and WD-50 (Martian/American).

Edited July 10, 2009 by Sneakeater (log)