New York thread

[PIERRELEGRAND]

I've got a friend coming to the city in a couple weeks. One of her requests was to have some really good Chinese food. I admit fully, this is not my strong point. Can I get some recommendations? Doesn't need to be high brow, just fucking delicious.

[Arkady]

Nom Wah Tea Parlor at 13 Doyers St is (I believe) the oldest dim sum spot in NYC and a must.

Joe's Shanghai for their soup dumplings, they're down the street pretty much.

[Ahimsa]

I've got a friend coming to the city in a couple weeks. One of her requests was to have some really good Chinese food. I admit fully, this is not my strong point. Can I get some recommendations? Doesn't need to be high brow, just fucking delicious.

Xi'an Famous Foods is a must
Baohaus for late night snacking/ drunken eating
Hou Yi - Hot pot - for spending a few hours of constant eating - ran into the model Ju Xiaowen there once.
If you can make it to Queens, Biang! is fantastic.

[Yuriii]

Nom Wah Tea Parlor at 13 Doyers St is (I believe) the oldest dim sum spot in NYC and a must.

Joe's Shanghai for their soup dumplings, they're down the street pretty much.

Joe's Ginger seems to be a much less crowded spot than Joe's Shanghai but under the same ownership and it's just down the block.

I second Xi'An famous foods and Nom Wah - both are awesome.

My favorite is Mission Chinese - it's sort of an overblown artistic parody of a Chinese restaurant and the food is amazing but by no means "authentic" Chinese.

And my Queens recommendation is Taste Good Malaysian. Last time we were there with 4 people we paid about $15/person and split around 12 dishes. You will hardly recognize anything served and it will all taste amazing.

[MikeN]

There's a Biang in the East Village now where Alder used to be

[eleves]

The good thing is that restaurant wise, the prices between authentic Chinese food don't vary much between Flushing and Chinatown. Mission Chinese is good food for sure, but it's definitely a creative chinese restaurant so you miss out on the experience of authentic Chinese food which is something NYC is really good at doing! Xi'an and Biang! are both also really good at what they do (Biang! being on the spicier end of street inspired food and Xi'an consistently putting out great options) however, they both remove the feeling of being in a traditional Chinese restaurant as we've come to know them in NYC, and I wouldn't take a visiting friend to either of those as a main meal. They both serve their purpose well though as a fast casual stop or a place for lunch as opposed to dinner maybe. Nom Wah and Jing Fong (second oldest dim sum spot in NYC) both put out really good, traditional dim sum but they both get PACKED very quickly, especially on the weekends. Both are definitely worth the wait though. Golden Unicorn is another good option for dim sum and is noticeably cleaner than Nom Wah and Jing Fong, if that matters to you! Besides what was previously mentioned, Big Wong and Wu Liang Ye are two good city based options and Foo Kee in Flushing is another good one. Don't be afraid to walk in to a random restaurant in Flushing or Chinatown though! Quality of the food doesn't drop off in a noticeable way through any of the old restaurants in Flushing or Chinatown so you'd honestly be safe with walking into any of these restaurants with a health grade of A.

[PIERRELEGRAND]

Thanks for the info (solid stuff eleves) Gonna do Mission Chinese 1st, since she's staying right by there and the whole "experience/fantasy" of it is a draw. I'll keep the other ones noted whist exploring. Here's to some good FW parties too.

[eleves]

If anyone is free and looking for something cool to check out, The Wonder 500 campaign has been in NYC and I finally had the chance to stop by. It's an exhibition showcasing a wide array of products from the 47 Japanese Prefectures. There are lots of amazing and unique products to be seen and handled and there are also lots of things that can be tasted such as Japanese sweets and teas! Unfortunately, there is nothing actually for sale at the exhibition but many of the products are carried by various shops around the city! It's running until 7pm at 4 West 43rd Street (a nice little escape from the hellhole that is Midtown) and today is the last day!!!

https://thewonder500.com/products/?lang=en

[Faust]

Looks fun. I wish you'd post this earlier.

[Ahimsa]

There's a Biang in the East Village now where Alder used to be

Just went to this one last night. Wasn't very impressed, nor was my Chongqing friend. Much better for parties than Xi'an because of the tables/appetizers but was almost twice the price for smaller portions of basically the same food. Their desserts weren't done that well and they had undercooked my rice cake : /

[Faust]

Prices for food have become so stupid in NY all of a sudden. $17 pastrami sandwiches, $14 porchetta sandwiches, can hardly get a coffee under $4, $9 chocolate bars, $3 baguettes are the new normal. This premiumization of food is nefarious. Especially in contrast with Italy and France, where I just came from. You can get a fantastic plate of pasta and a glass of house red smack in the middle of Rome. $4 for a great porchetta sandwich. $1.50 for a cappuccino. A bowl of ramen in Tokyo is $7, half of that on NYC. Fucking hipsters ruin everything.

The worst thing is the small, "sharing" plates trend. It's such bullshit. You end up spending so much more and not much to show for it. Perfect for models and other millions of fitness-obsessed NY women that are into going to restaurants but not into eating.

[Chinorlz]

Prices for food have become so stupid in NY all of a sudden. $17 pastrami sandwiches, $14 porchetta sandwiches, can hardly get a coffee under $4, $9 chocolate bars, $3 baguettes are the new normal. This premiumization of food is nefarious. Especially in contrast with Italy and France, where I just came from. You can get a fantastic plate of pasta and a glass of house red smack in the middle of Rome. $4 for a great porchetta sandwich. $1.50 for a cappuccino. A bowl of ramen in Tokyo is $7, half of that on NYC. Fucking hipsters ruin everything.

The worst thing is the small, "sharing" plates trend. It's such bullshit. You end up spending so much more and not much to show for it. Perfect for models and other millions of fitness-obsessed NY women that are into going to restaurants but not into eating.

THIS. Man... when Porchetta opened in the east village a ways back I was very excited to try it... then saw the price and just got the half sandwich which is barely 3 bites. I understand needing to cover rent costs, but man the prices are brutal. $15 ramen is "normal" too like you said which is nuts. A basic day out in NYC can easily set you back $100 and all you did was ride the train a few times, have a couple coffees, a noodle lunch and split dinner with friends. Ah well....


For asian/chinese food I eat at Cafe 69, Xi'an (as others have mentioned), Kenka on St. Marks, and as much as possible over in Flushing. Although not traditional, I hear good things about Fung Tu and need to hit it up next time. Shanghai Tide in Flushing is AYCE dim sum and hot pot PLUS AYCD beers for $25 a person. Killer. Nan Xiang in Flushing is also pretty great for soup dumplings made to order. For Korean, Woorijib in K-town is another favorite and Golden Unicorn for dim sum in Chinatown.

For the money, I have also had great experiences at Contra, Pearl & Ash and more recently at Rebelle. June is another great place with good pricing, food and wine list with low markups and plenty of harder to find bottles. I hear good things about Wildair too.

[Faust]

What's worse, I am talking about many places that are in Brooklyn, where overhead is much lower. Then you've got total scams like Smorgasburg, where you end up spending $30 on food from FOOD TRUCKS (talk about low overhead) and you haven't really eaten all that much or interesting. But hipsters love their overpriced food, I guess.

[MikeN]

Re: pastrami prices: http://www.slate.com/articles/busine..._the_odds.html

[Faust]

Re: pastrami prices: http://www.slate.com/articles/busine..._the_odds.html

I don't believe this for a second.