I heart New York

[JeffSpicoli]

Takes me back to some of the best visits of my life:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CWQQIfsPK8

[kibster]

Currently planning a food trip there early next year.  Too many places I want to eat, not enough time.

[Boog41]

Currently planning a food trip there early next year.  Too many places I want to eat, not enough time.

What all places are on your list? Before Covid, I would go to NYC 2-3 times a year mostly just to eat.

[kibster]

What all places are on your list? Before Covid, I would go to NYC 2-3 times a year mostly just to eat.

Just booked hotels today.
Atomix is top of the list.  A return trip to Meju as well.  Everything right now is just in the beginning stages

[hobhog]

What all places are on your list? Before Covid, I would go to NYC 2-3 times a year mostly just to eat.

My daughter lives there. You have to do Sparks at least once. Take an appetite and $$$ but it's NY mafia at its core. And good.  2nd street deli is a must if like rare roast beef, corned beef, and deli food.

[Boog41]

My daughter lives there. You have to do Sparks at least once. Take an appetite and $$$ but it's NY mafia at its core. And good.  2nd street deli is a must if like rare roast beef, corned beef, and deli food.

Hob, somehow I missed your post. I've been to Sparks a couple of times. It is really good. Here is a link to the story about the mob murder just outside its front door.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/paul-castellano

[hobhog]

Hob, somehow I missed your post. I've been to Sparks a couple of times. It is really good. Here is a link to the story about the mob murder just outside its front door.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/paul-castellano

Our waiter looked and sounded just like the chauffeur in "The Green Book" 😂

[kibster]

Headed there first week in march for a food trip with a neighbor.  The itinerary is coming together nicely.

[Boog41]

Headed there first week in march for a food trip with a neighbor.  The itinerary is coming together nicely.

Share your iten when finished.

[thebignasty]

Will be there in mid-February.  Have only been once, and that was a daytrip, drove the Staten Island ferry, rode the ferry in, spent the day, and ferried back out.  Definitely will be finding a way to Katz's again.  We've been doing our research, there are an absurd number of choices.   

[kibster]

Will be there in mid-February.  Have only been once, and that was a daytrip, drove the Staten Island ferry, rode the ferry in, spent the day, and ferried back out.  Definitely will be finding a way to Katz's again.  We've been doing our research, there are an absurd number of choices.   

you can eat at a different spot daily for 22.7 years before you repeat.  And even then it would be impossible since 80% fail within the first five years.

[majestic]

From my memories in 1999...

*Statue of Liberty, pass. Nose in person's ass in front of you on the spiral staircase going up, 2 minutes in the crown, down you go.

*Chinatown, four thumbs-up! $10 Rolex that works like a $10 Rolex. I still have a couple of Nike sweatshirts from that trip. Much fun!

*Rockefeller Center, okay. We were there in late January so it was cold. Got to watch a bunch of ice-skaters bite it hard.

*World Trade Center. Coolest part of the trip. Elevator would almost buckle your knees going up. Restaurant had a view you wouldn't believe. You could feel the building sway... a tad unnerving. Escalator to the observation deck revealed clouds actually below us. For obvious reasons, I can't recommend this excursion.

*Too darned many people. I'd get back to my hotel room and look around to make sure there weren't 2 or 3 people hanging out it there. People also looked at me weird when I'd say "gooday" walking down 5th avenue.

[thebignasty]

From my memories in 1999...

*Statue of Liberty, pass. Nose in person's ass in front of you on the spiral staircase going up, 2 minutes in the crown, down you go.

*Chinatown, four thumbs-up! $10 Rolex that works like a $10 Rolex. I still have a couple of Nike sweatshirts from that trip. Much fun!

*Rockefeller Center, okay. We were there in late January so it was cold. Got to watch a bunch of ice-skaters bite it hard.

*World Trade Center. Coolest part of the trip. Elevator would almost buckle your knees going up. Restaurant had a view you wouldn't believe. You could feel the building sway... a tad unnerving. Escalator to the observation deck revealed clouds actually below us. For obvious reasons, I can't recommend this excursion.

*Too darned many people. I'd get back to my hotel room and look around to make sure there weren't 2 or 3 people hanging out it there. People also looked at me weird when I'd say "gooday" walking down 5th avenue.

We had a pretty good view of the old girl riding the ferry in last time we went.  I think that's plenty of statue.

[bennyl08]

From my memories in 1999...

*Statue of Liberty, pass. Nose in person's ass in front of you on the spiral staircase going up, 2 minutes in the crown, down you go.

*Chinatown, four thumbs-up! $10 Rolex that works like a $10 Rolex. I still have a couple of Nike sweatshirts from that trip. Much fun!

*Rockefeller Center, okay. We were there in late January so it was cold. Got to watch a bunch of ice-skaters bite it hard.

*World Trade Center. Coolest part of the trip. Elevator would almost buckle your knees going up. Restaurant had a view you wouldn't believe. You could feel the building sway... a tad unnerving. Escalator to the observation deck revealed clouds actually below us. For obvious reasons, I can't recommend this excursion.

*Too darned many people. I'd get back to my hotel room and look around to make sure there weren't 2 or 3 people hanging out it there. People also looked at me weird when I'd say "gooday" walking down 5th avenue.

I think you are short-changing the statue of liberty. The boat to and from is a big chunk, and the museum at ellis island I'd argue is worth the trip even in the statue wasn't there to begin with. To be fair, I wasn't able to go into the statue the one time I visited the city.

[thebignasty]

Been up here since Valentines day, have another day and a half, figured I'd quickly review the places we've eaten so far:

Vinyl Steakhouse- did this for dinner on Valentines day.  I thought this was fine, cool spot, but food wasn't  special. Owner is a sommelier so if you are into wine it might click a little better.  They have an extensive vinyl collection and have a dj playing records- mostly classic rock.

Amys Bread- got a pretty decent croissant here.  Not sure why we suck at bread in Arkansas

Szechuan Mountain House- highlight of the trip for me. Absolutely phenomenal. We had spicy pickled cabbage, dumplings, noodles, twice cooked pork belly and sweet and sour pork tenderloin.

The Donut Pub- I hung out here and had a coffee and a donut while my wife had some kind of massage thing down the street.  It was a nice place to kill some time- they seem to specialize in croissant donuts.

Superiority Burger- this is a vegan restaurant. The vegan burger was good, but just can't measure up to the real thing.  The desserts are special though.

Los Tacos #1-  These tacos were damn good. Had the adobada and the steak taco. Does not dislodge Tacos El Gordo for me, but it's up there. I love tacquerias like this where you can see them making every element fresh in the moment. We visited the location in the Chelsea Market- had a piece of pizza from a slice place there as well that was solid but don't remember what it was called.

Bamonte's- this is an old school Italian joint in Brooklyn- it was used as a set for the Sopranos a few times. It seems to be staffed entirely by 60ish Italian men.  All the Italian American staples are here and reasonably well executed.

Katz's-  had a pastrami sandwich. It was excellent. Pickle was good too. It is a $25 sandwich these days, though.

Bagel Pub-  Seems like an incredible bagel spot is on every corner in NYC. This one is in Brooklyn.  They have an abundance of flavored cream cheese options.


7th St Burger-  had this doordashed to our hotel late after we managed to mess around and not get to dinner prior to going to a show. A late night thin greasy burger hit the spot. Given the lateness of the hour I appreciated that it was relatively petite.

Leo's Bagel- this is close to our hotel, I wandered over while my wife slept in this morning. This was also excellent, I'd kill to have a good bagel spot at home.

Veselka- Had late brunch here, stood in line a long time to get it. It was at the top of my wife's list for places she wanted to eat while here.  It's a really good spot, but keep your eye on the prize. You want pierogie above anything else on the menu, and if tempted to order something else youre probably better off just ordering more pierogie.

Scarr's Pizza- Had a fantastic, impossibly thin, new york slice here. Their thicker Sicilian would have been amazing too, but they warmed it for the same amount of time they warmed the thin slice and that wasn't long enough, which was disappointing.

[Boog41]

Nice list Nasty. I've not heard of most. I will hang on to those for my next couple of trips to the big apple.

[thebignasty]

Nice list Nasty. I've not heard of most. I will hang on to those for my next couple of trips to the big apple.

Thanks Boog.  I know there are dozens of iconic spots we didn't make it to.  We do a fair amount of poking around on the city specific eater.com blogs and reddit. I think NYC is one of the tougher places to research because of the sheer volume of quality choices. 

Sitting in the airport, about to fly out this afternoon, will go ahead and add the last couple places we went. Overall had a great time.


Levain- This is an Instagram famous bakery. They are famous for their chocolate chip cookie. It's a $6  cookie, but it is really good.

Hawksmoor- This is a British steakhouse.  Thought it was significantly better executed than Vinyl. They butcher and dry age the meat in house, and cook over charcoal.

Court Street Grocers- grabbed a pork roll breakfast sandwich here before heading to the airport this morning. There is something magical about soft scrambled egg and american cheese on a bun.

[Boog41]

Thanks Boog.  I know there are dozens of iconic spots we didn't make it to.  We do a fair amount of poking around on the city specific eater.com blogs and reddit. I think NYC is one of the tougher places to research because of the sheer volume of quality choices. 

Sitting in the airport, about to fly out this afternoon, will go ahead and add the last couple places we went. Overall had a great time.


Levain- This is an Instagram famous bakery. They are famous for their chocolate chip cookie. It's a $6  cookie, but it is really good.

Hawksmoor- This is a British steakhouse.  Thought it was significantly better executed than Vinyl. They butcher and dry age the meat in house, and cook over charcoal.

Court Street Grocers- grabbed a pork roll breakfast sandwich here before heading to the airport this morning. There is something magical about soft scrambled egg and american cheese on a bun.

Glad you had a good trip!

I'm very familiar with Lavain, but not the other two. My sister has perfected the various Lavain cookies. So dang good!

[kibster]

SO here is the itinerary coming up in two weeks:

Lunches: zaab zaab; bahn; four horsemen; NoWon

Dinners: Foxface Natural; Meju; Restaurant Yuu; Una Pizzeria.

Breakfasts will just play it by ear to see if we are hungry and what piques our interest.

My friend also arranged a private food tour with a guide he has used a couple times.  He told him to think outside of the box for us, so I think we are doing ethnic food on Staten Island which I am pretty excited about.

[Boog41]

That sounds like a lot of fun Kib.

[husker71]

trying to outlaw wood burning pizza ovens in NYC?

[bennyl08]

trying to outlaw wood burning pizza ovens in NYC?

No.