Mount Sinai area

[Pan]

Hi, everyone. Next Monday, I have a lunch date with someone who works at Mt. Sinai (specifically, 98th and Madison). She tells me she has eclectic tastes but eats gluten-free and low-carb. I'd prefer to pay $25 or less. Any recommendations?

[pups224]

Hi, everyone. Next Monday, I have a lunch date with someone who works at Mt. Sinai (specifically, 98th and Madison). She tells me she has eclectic tastes but eats gluten-free and low-carb. I'd prefer to pay $25 or less. Any recommendations?

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There are not a lot of options along Madison Avenue.

1.Do not go to 'One Fish Two Fish', you may eat, get food poisoning, and die.

2. Hanrattys...A burger joint with half way decent salads, Mad. between 97th & 98th.

3. Satchi...A reasonably decent sushi bar, not cheap, Mad. between 95th &94th.

4. Mexican joint on 97th between Mad. & Park. Street food, not low carb but good. Maybe she can find something, like fajitas w/o the tortillas.

More choices on Lexington, but is's a hike and tends to be Hispanic (i.e. high carb).

[Fresser]

Hi, everyone. Next Monday, I have a lunch date with someone who works at Mt. Sinai (specifically, 98th and Madison). She tells me she has eclectic tastes but eats gluten-free and low-carb. I'd prefer to pay $25 or less. Any recommendations?

←

There are not a lot of options along Madison Avenue.

1.Do not go to 'One Fish Two Fish', you may eat, get food poisoning, and die.

2. Hanrattys...A burger joint with half way decent salads, Mad. between 97th & 98th.

3. Satchi...A reasonably decent sushi bar, not cheap, Mad. between 95th &94th.

4. Mexican joint on 97th between Mad. & Park. Street food, not low carb but good. Maybe she can find something, like fajitas w/o the tortillas.

More choices on Lexington, but is's a hike and tends to be Hispanic (i.e. high carb).

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Wouldn't a deli fit the bill? You could get a meat plate (turkey, pastrami and whatnot) with veggies on the side and forgo the rye bread.

[Fat Guy]

It's a tricky neighborhood. Number 4 above, called El Paso, is quite good Mexican by New York standards (in other words, good not great). They have two branches, the other being farther up in El Barrio (Lex 103-104) -- it's not related to the El Paso on Houston St. I don't think there would be any problem there -- Ellen has had the filete a la Veracruzana (pan-seared striped bass fillet with salsa Veracruzana -- diced tomatoes, onions, caperr, jalapenos, cilantro and white wine -- served with rice and vegetables, $17.95) and enjoyed it. You can pull up a menu on Menupages. Falafel Express is a pretty good hole in the wall, but is carb heavy. There's a new takeout health food/soup/salad place, Salata, that's good but you need to have a place to sit and eat the food.

The Sinai neighborhood is kind of a world unto itself, so to get away from that scene you have to go either south or east (west is Central Park, and north there isn't much within walking distance.) The cluster of best restaurants in the neighborhood is south, on Madison between 92nd and 93rd. This is the heart of the Carnegie Hill dining scene -- there are about seven restaurants on that block. Pascalou -- French bistro -- probably has the best chef of all of them, and at lunchtime there are some good deals.

Then there's east, on Lexington and Third (there are basically no stores or restaurants on Park because of the way it's designed as a boulevard of grand residences). You're only talking about two half-avenue blocks to get from Madison to Lexington, and another half-avenue block to get to Third (Madison and Lexington are extra streets on the rectilinear grid -- if you went with normal avenue spacing it would just be Fifth, Park aka Fourth, Third) yet to a lot of the Sinai people it's a huge psychological barrier to walk the three minutes.

The must-try newish place on Lexington, at 100th, is called Food, however it's only open for dinner, at least that was the case last time I checked.

Once you get to Third Avenue you have a significant concentration of restaurants -- it's similar to Columbus Avenue in the 70s: the restaurants go on and on and on, with several per block. The block between 93rd and 94th is particularly dense with restaurants. Isohama is the best Japanese in the neighborhood, in my opinion. Kinsale Tavern has a great beer selection -- they have 30 beers on tap -- and far-above-average bar food. Barking Dog Cafe is nice.

All that said, Pan, I can tell you that you'll be happiest if you can prevail upon your friend to walk the 15 minutes to Wu Liang Ye on 86th.

[Pan]

Thanks for all the information, everyone, and especially Fat Guy!

I actually have been kind of underwhelmed by the 39th St. and 48th St. branches of Wu Liang Ye. I'll check Pascalou's menu on menupages (if it's up there). [Edit: Only their dinner menu is up on menupages, but it looks reasonable in terms of price. It seems very eclectic, though. Do they do a good job on Thai salad, teriyaki, and Malaysian curry shrimp, or should we focus on other dishes if we go there?]

Edited January 9, 2007 by Pan (log)

[Fat Guy]

Those things are good, however they're as they'd be served in France not here -- in other words they're mildly flavored versions. I'd go more with French and Mediterranean stuff. One place to focus is on the lunch specials, which sometimes include a very good cassoulet.

[Pan]

Thanks, FG. I'll talk to my friend about the place.

[danger_doug]

While I see the lunch date has passed, two interesting options in th neighborhood are Itzocan Cafe (a combination of mexican and French) at Lex and 101, and Don Pedro's at 96th and 2nd (Caribbean/Cuban)...

[Pan]

The date hasn't passed; it's on Monday.

[Pan]

We went to Pascalou. It was full today, and we waited for a table for about 15 minutes. I had a cup of their pureed asparagus soup, which was very good. I ordered the duck confit salad, which was made with duck that seemed roasted, not confit, but it was a very good salad. My dining partner ordered the Thai beef salad, which was made with good ingredients but which I didn't like as much. Overall, I thought it was a good meal at fair prices ($36.20 plus tip for the two of us, including my date's coffee). My only real criticism is that our waitress was rather brusque, but of course the restaurant was very busy when we showed up, and they did let us linger until right about the end of their lunch service. I might want to try another place next time, though.

Edited January 16, 2007 by Pan (log)

[Pan]

Update: I was part of a party of three at El Paso on Thursday. I concur with your opinion, Fat Guy. It doesn't threaten to supplant memories of delicious taquerias in California, but it is solid, and all three of us liked the place. I plan on going again, probably in the coming week.

[pups224]

Another place to try is a dive named Judy's. It serves Puerto Rican food and is on Lex somewhere between 97th and 99th on the east side of the street. As I remember, they made a great mofongo (mashed plantains with crispy pork bits). I have not been there since I was a resident at Sinai, but it was very good.

[Fat Guy]

Judy occupies the same building as Il Fornaio pizza, which is a well-preserved New York neighborhood slice shop, at 1505 Lexington Avenue. It's between 97th and 98th, on the East side of the street, nearer to 97th.