Ethnic food recommendations in NYC

[stefanyb]

Yuppy:a young, ambitious, and well-educated city-dweller who has a professional career and an affluent lifestyle.

Here are other, less neutral, qualities as per moi:

1. Values surface over substance

2. Is relatively unconcerned about other people's feelings

3. Judges others based on their material assets

4. Talks primarily about their career to their therapist

5. Owns a Subzero and an SUV

6. Must be on top of all new trends

7. Is obsessed with their portfolios

8. Considers Zagat their food bible

9. Compulsively follows the real estate market

10.Has a million dollar kitchen but never cooks

How many of these refer to vous?

Edited February 22, 2003 by stefanyb (log)

[201]

... And if we're really talking about great Indian food away from NYC - that strip in NJ right above Jersey City - some of the best Indian food I've ever had (somebody remind me the name of the town and that main strip...)...

I believe you're thinking of Jersey City's "Little India". Huge Indian patronage and quite a few places to eat and shop. It's Newark Street between Kennedy Boulevard and Tonnelle Avenue. Just a $1.50 PATH train to Journal Square and a walk of a couple blocks.

I was only in one restaurant there some time ago which was good, but didn't leave the impression that Diwan did. I understand that Diwan is a completely seperate category though, but I really think that's the category of Indian food that I really appreciate. I'm just now trying to sample a little more and expand my Indian dining horizons.

[Suzanne F]

Careful, there, Steph -- I can think of a number of folks here to whom at least #2 applies, and maybe #3. And #6 applies to many of us, at least as far as food trends. Not young, though.

Egalitarian that I am I have no trouble with "yuppies" eating in restaurants I like; I think they might benefit from the experience. Just so long as they turn their g-d cellphones off.

Anyway, I want to thank La Niña for starting this thread. Even though I grew up in Flushing, it was very different than. I know nothing of the riches out there now. I really look forward to learning and trying places discussed here. (Not just in Flushing). One request: can posters please include directions via public transportation? That would be a big help. Thank.

[Steve Plotnicki]

I never like talking about food in the context of who eats it. Let's presume the nastiest most pretentious people in the world liked a place or a cuisine, does that make it taste any better or not? Of course not. So that is sort of a non-starter.

But I have a question. A controversial one, which is not surprising coming from me but, does anyone else find that a problem with much of the cuisine in the boroughs is that it is greasy? I mean I grew up in the boroughs and did quite a lot of eating there until I moved into Manhattan in 1987. And even now that I live in MH, I still go out to the boroughs all of the time to eat. And maybe it's my advanced age but, I find the quality of much of the food to be below what I would like and I often find that it ends up in greasy food. That is even true at Don Pepe's which is probably my single favorite ethnic restaurant in the city. You leave there and the grease is oozing out of your pores. And of course I am generalizing and this doesn't cover every place. If you eat at Sweet 'n Tart in Flushing this won't happen. Even at the Shabu Shabu place next door it won't happen. But in general, I find this to be the case much more often then not. I wish it wasn't so. I wish many of the places put in just a but more effort to reduce the grease quotient. Does anyone else have this issue? And it also isn't to say that sometimes greasy isn't great. It is. It's just that I notice it more often, and it bothers me much more then it used to.

[La Niña]

What's the wine situation at Don Pepe's? Wine list to speak of? BYO is fine? Corkage?

It's on my short list for an upcoming meal...along with Manducatis, Zum Stammtisch, and Touch of Hungary...

Thoughts? Additions?

Edited February 22, 2003 by La Niña (log)

[Steve Plotnicki]

No BYO. Crappy wine list and crappy house wine.

[stefanyb]

Just so long as they turn their g-d cellphones off.

Gee wilickers, how could I have forgotten cell phone etiquette problems? I guess thats #11, but then again it could go under "not being concerned with other people's feelings".

And..... yes, regarding any of those attributes that I might be guilty of myself, I do not qualify do to old age .

And.....I do care if people described as yuppies frequent a particular restaurant if only because of their boorish manners.

[tommy]

And.....I do care if people described as yuppies frequent a particular restaurant if only because of their boorish manners.

so back to the original point, would you consider diwan one of these establishments? the people that i've seen on my 5 or so visits have come across as very well-behaved.

[stellabella]

i agree with stefany's definition of "yuppie"--but i think the term can be used in other ways, too, and i interpreted nina's use of it to mean that maybe the food at diwan [i've never been] is more"upscale" than in other indian restaurants? IOW, it's not everyday home-cooking indian cuisine, which might be available in other more "authentic" restaurants?

ron, are you in NYC? or planning to go? please take it from me--you can get anywhere. i was honored to have some very nice egullet escorts, but even on my own i've been able to get into the bronx and parts of brooklyn. the subway system is great and it takes less time & trouble to get out to the boroughs than you think. you'll be glad you made the effort!!!!

[yvonne johnson]

If Diwan were a yuppie restaurant they'd be catering to young urban professionals and on the basis of my 2 visits the diners are, on average, middle-aged. Is yuppified being confused with gentrified? Stella, I think you are right--Diwan is "upscale". And I think it's misguided to leave out, or dismiss, the high end ethnic restaurants. As though people don't eat well in expensive places in India! I hear some of the best food in Mumbai and New Delhi can be found in private clubs and five star hotels.

[Suvir Saran]

If Diwan were a yuppie restaurant they'd be catering to young urban professionals and on the basis of my 2 visits the diners are, on average, middle-aged.  Is yuppified being confused with gentrified?  Stella, I think you are right--Diwan is "upscale".  And I think it's misguided to leave out, or dismiss, the high end ethnic restaurants.  As though people don't eat well in expensive places in India!  I hear some of the best food in Mumbai and New Delhi can be found in private clubs and five star hotels.

Yvonne, as usual you show great erudition.

Restaurant food in India can be very expensive.

And many an Indian restaurant is astonishingly far more sophisticated than its logical counterpart in the US.

The same is true for restaurants in Singapore.

It is as if these countries are making up for something they may not really have.

Restaurants in New Delhi, Mumbai and Singapore are amazingly beautiful and stylish. Even those that would be zero or 1 Star types in the US.

It was interesting that a friend who ate at 66 in NYC said to me that they were reminded of eating at a trendy chic restaurant in Singapore. IN terms of looks that is.

[Suvir Saran]

i agree with stefany's definition of "yuppie"--but i think the term can be used in other ways, too, and i interpreted nina's use of it to mean that maybe the food at diwan [i've never been] is more"upscale" than in other indian restaurants?  IOW, it's not everyday home-cooking indian cuisine, which might be available in other more "authentic" restaurants?

Stella your post makes great sense.

But I wish the so called "more authentic" restaurants that may be referred to were actually serving more authentic or home style food.

Sadly, they serve food that has no roots most often in Indian cooking either of the home or restaurants.

They are the creation of a savvy lot of business minded folk for the most part that have found a lucrative way of living.

Some surely are more than that, but very few.

I have not found too many in either borough of NY that are any that I shall go to for a good meal.

[Pan]

See this thread if you'd like to discuss the meaning and usefulness/uselessness of the term "ethnic food":

"Ethnic" food?

[anil]

....  I hear some of the best food in Mumbai and New Delhi can be found in private clubs and five star hotels.

In Mumbai, clubs (or Gymkhanas) still have good cooks, since clubs have not really begun shrinking. In Delhi, there are not that many clubs, but there are many 5-star hotels. While quality of food in many indian restaurants in 5-star may be consistent, the WoW factor restaurants are still in the neighborhood market squares like Khan Market, South Ex, Sunder Nagar etc.. and many more that I have forgotten about

Edited February 25, 2003 by anil (log)

[llwb]

the Brooklyn Museum is a very good museum.

And we will be there. Suggestions for a good place in the neighborhood for lunch will be appreciated.

TIA

llwb

[MatthewT]

Pollo Marios La Brasa: great colombian food, cheap, awesome rotiserie chicken,

rice and beans, tostones the whole nine yards Roosevelt Ave. and 82 Queens

PIO PIO: Peruvian restaurant. small menu, fresh ingredients. great avacado salad and sangria. kind of funky and trendy, but at the same time authentic Northern Blvd. and 84rd. Jackson Hts. Queens

Vera Cruz: Mexican, fun place in the summer. they have an outdoor patio that when siping a corona or magarita makes you feel like your in vera cruz. wide selection of seafood and carne. fish tacos are great choice, they use fresh snapper. i have also had pollo con mole, but thought the mole needed help. more on the chille and less on the coco flavor. all and all i have always had a great experience here Bedford and N. 7(near the L train) williamsburg, Brooklyn

[JesseNYC]

Family Restaurant - on Queens Blvd. in Forest Hills. Great Italian.......is that still considered ethnic ?

[menton1]

Family Restaurant - on Queens Blvd. in Forest Hills. Great Italian.......is that still considered ethnic ?

It's not only not ethnic, but my experience there was that of a combination Pizza Parlor food/Diner experience; I think that for the price there, you have much better choices in the Forest Hills area.

[jillk]

In regards to places near the Brooklyn Museum- there's a Jamaican place called The Islands on Washington Ave right off of Eastern Parkway- right next to Key Food. I live in the area, so have only gotten take out, but they have a small dining room upstairs. If you go on sunday they have seafood specials- try the garlic shrimp. (They have also been known to hand out free rum punch on sundays- watch out- it's lethal!) The very friendly owners/cooks operate right out of the main room of the place behind a small counter so you can watch the food being made.

There's also Tom's diner, farther down Washington at Sterling- typical diner fare, the atmosphere is what I go for. That said- get the banana walnut pancakes, the best thing on the menu IMHO. The place has been around forever.

jillk

[JesseNYC]

Family Restaurant - on Queens Blvd. in Forest Hills. Great Italian.......is that still considered ethnic ?

It's not only not ethnic, but my experience there was that of a combination Pizza Parlor food/Diner experience; I think that for the price there, you have much better choices in the Forest Hills area.

Well, according to Zagat's, Italian is the number 1 ethnic food eaten in America.

Yes, Family Restaurant does serve pizza. However, the food in the restaurant is wonderfull. The Veal Fracaise is OUTSTANDING, the best in Queens.

All those people standing outside waiting up to an hour for a table can't all be wrong.

[tryska]

don't know if the neighborhoods changed, but 10 years ago I loved Liberty Avenue in Queens for the Trini-Guyanese food available there.

[menton1]

All those people standing outside waiting up to an hour for a table can't all be wrong

Popularity is rarely a good indicator of quality...

IMHO, this place is very ordinary-- or as Tommy would put it, a "typical red-sauce Italian". No creativity, and certainly not real Italian food, no more than Chow Mein could pass for real Chinese food.

[Pan]

All those people standing outside waiting up to an hour for a table can't all be wrong

Popularity is rarely a good indicator of quality...

Right. If it were, McDonalds would be the best restaurant in the U.S.