Chinese import
Ancient vegan traditions in Midtown
Kajitsu's glass noodles On this sunny May Day, our critics single out two new restaurants to usher in the season. In Midtown, Tejal Rao bows her head in favor of the vegan Japanese Buddhist temple cuisine at Kajitsu, while Robert Sietsema slurps up soup dumplings at Full House on the Bowery. Read o ... More >>
Chicken, Oreos, and even butter, are all fried standards by now, but what beats classic French fries? Crisp, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and dunked in ketchup (or mayonnaise), fries are irresistible, cheap and perfect for sharing, and can be topped with just about anything. Our 10 best picks hig ... More >>
Miraculously, lunch counter B & H Dairy remains, from the era when its stretch of Second Avenue was known as the Yiddish Broadway. As a tribute to E.V. Grieve, the East Village's chronicler of closure and demolition, we present this collection of foodie landmarks that have remarkably remained open ... More >>
"Are you excited to be here?" I ask. "I'm, like, fucking cumming in my pants," replies Tucker. It is 8:45pm on a Sunday evening, and I am waiting in a fake Tuscan piazza with the members of Total Slacker (Tucker Rountree, Emily Oppenheimer, Dave Tassy and Zoe Brecher) -- a Brooklyn band who specia ... More >>
Is it summer yet? Not quite. But our dining professionals found themselves in the kind of casually inviting spaces that seem to usher in the warm weather (at least, we hope they will). Robert Sietsema checked in on longtime West Village favorite Cafe Cluny, while Tejal Rao ventured to Carroll Garde ... More >>
Free radical
The team behind Seersucker and Smith Canteen open a noodle shop
Keeping your noodles cold and refreshing The night before last I had the pleasure of dining with Matt Robard, one of the critics who participated in the new Korean Restaurant Guide: New York. This publication of the Korean Food Foundation, an arm of the Korean government, is available as a free pa ... More >>
Michael Psilakis opened the latest version of MP Taverna in Astoria on Monday. Other outposts of the Greek restaurant have become popular in Roslyn, Long Island, and Irvington, N.Y. Psilakis told Flo Fab that lamb dumplings, a favorite from his original restaurants, and a Greek paella with seafood a ... More >>
Monday, April 22 Earth Day at Edi and the Wolf Edi and the Wolf, the Austrian spot on Avenue C, will celebrate Earth Day today with a four-course menu featuring "sustainable springtime ingredients" paired with biodynamic wine producers from Austria. The restaurant promises garlic soup, white asparag ... More >>
The picture of the restaurant on its Facebook page. If you've been watching the coverage of the Boston bombing on any of the networks, you know the suspected Chechnyan Tsarnaev brothers apparently lived on Willow Street in Watertown. Right around the corner, and front-and-center in many of the liv ... More >>
A sea worthy clam shack
A young chef plays with flavors from around the world
Spring is ripe with surprises (80 degrees, 40 degrees, you know the drill). This week, our professional eaters explored two curveball restaurants and were pleasantly delighted--though not equally--by each. Tejal Rao appreciated the food at Pearl & Ash more than the dark and noisy space on the Bowery ... More >>
La Vie en Szechuan's exemplary ma po tofu Midtown now boasts the city's largest concentrations of Sichuan restaurants. Most of these are timid compared to the ones in Flushing, offering little in the way of Sichuan peppercorns or offal, but an agreeable - and often spicy - experience nonetheless. ... More >>
Andrew Carmellini's new French restaurant, Lafayette, opened on Monday. He tweeted that the bakery opened at noon and dinner service was available at 5:30. Carmellini joined forces with his partners from Locanda Verde and the Dutch, Josh Pickard and Luke Ostrom, to run the bistro. Chef Damon Wise cr ... More >>
La Villita, a Mexican bakery on the corner of Grand Street and Bedford Avenue, was forced to close at the end of February after the landlord raised the rent from $5,000 to $10,000. The GW News learned the bakery closed on Feb. 28 after 17 years in business. Owner Alfonso Sosa and his family ran the ... More >>
Monday, April 15 French Roast Downtown's 20th Anniversary Celebrate French Roast Downtown's twentieth anniversary with a three-course menu priced at $19.93, the year it opened. Peter Hudson will serve a classic French menu from April 15 to 18 that includes escargots, roasted bone marrow, and moules- ... More >>
Friday, April 12 American Meat Premiere Cinema Village will premiere the Chipotle-sponsored documentary American Meat. The film sheds light on cattle, pig, and poultry production, and explores sustainable alternatives to the usual practices. After the screening a panel of local farmers, chefs, and f ... More >>
A small restaurant shines bright on Church Avenue
Dani Garcia brings a touch of avant garde to Gramercy
Spring is (finally) in the air and the warm weather seems to be lightening our moods as well as our wardrobes. Did the rising temperatures have the same effect on our critics? Tejal Rao has mixed feelings about Manzanilla in Gramercy, while Robert Sietsema writes a rave for Cathedral in Flatbush. R ... More >>
At 8 p.m., the only clue that something big was happening at wd-50 was the methuselah of champagne that was touring the quietly buzzing room, a six-liter megabottle that was poured at every table. It set the tone for the once-in-a-lifetime reunion of family members--and lucky hangers-on--that was ac ... More >>
L'Apicio will greet the warm weather with its 26-seat outdoor patio. Guests can now dine outside and order new spring-inspired dishes like gnocchi with morel mushrooms, polenta with rabbit cacciatore, and vanilla semifreddo with rhubarb compote. 11 East 1st Street; 212-533-7400
Luna Sur Latin Bistro opened last week in Hell's Kitchen. The menu features Latin flavors with a mix of Peruvian, Spanish, Mexican, and Cuban dishes like empanadas, tacos, croquettes, and arroz con pollo. The restaurant will host a DJ on the weekends during "Latin Brunch," and a back patio is open t ... More >>
I love making a quick lunch of hot masala chai and pav bhaji, one of India's finest junk foods. The bread rolls should be generously buttered and deeply browned, ideally served with a super-spicy curried mash that's full of flavor and devoid of nutritional value. Shiva Natarajan's sparse and shiny ... More >>
What comes to mind when you hear sherry, besides the Four Seasons song that maddeningly loops in your head like scratched vinyl? If the answer is a sweet brown drink that grandma likes, allow me to introduce you to New York City's "Queen of Sherry," Carla Rzeszewski. Rzeszewski is a sherry fanatic ... More >>
Harold Dieterle's West Village restaurant, Perilla, has launched a Monday night three-course spring menu. The family-stye meal includes dishes like wild rice with eggplant and cherry tomatoes, lamb-stuffed artichoke, and bay leaf sorbet. Make a reservation for $34 a person. 9 Jones Street; 212-929-6 ... More >>
This week, our critics were equally charmed by a petite French bistro and a bustling Bowery tapas joint. Robert Sietsema dug into a mussels poutine at Three Letters in Clinton Hill, while Tejal Rao scooped up hearty bites of paella at Cata on the Lower East Side. Will the professionals go back for ... More >>
Excellent tapas on Bowery
Wylie Dufresne has caused quite a stir with the opening of Alder, his new restaurant on Second Avenue. The hotspot opened last Thursday and was the newest East Village restaurant to warrant waiting lines around the block. Dufresne told Flo Fab, "It's not meant to be a destination, like wd-50." Inste ... More >>
Topped with bacon, slaw, and fried green tomatoes and sided with cheese grits, the fried chicken biscuit sandwich at Jacob's Pickles A score of years ago the Upper West Side was known as one of the worst dining neighborhoods in the city. Well, what happened? You may trace the transformation back t ... More >>
Can an ingredient be too local? The gelatinous seaweed served at New York's newest pop-up restaurant is scraped each morning from the bottom of the Staten Island Ferry and strewn over sheets of fried kale. It's slippery stuff and it tastes dangerous, like it could kill you. It just might. For the p ... More >>
Friday, March 29 Founders Beer and Field Trip Beef Jerky Tasting Head to Nolita Mart and Espresso Bar to sip Founders Brewing Co.'s All Day IPA and nosh on Field Trip beef jerky from 6 to 8 p.m. And bring friends, because this tasting is free. 156 Mott Street
I've been tasting a lot of desserts lately that are sloppy and off-key, that don't quite make sense, that look and taste lazy or rushed. In each case, the kitchen lacked a pastry chef. Dessert is an essential part of a great restaurant meal, but too many kitchens in New York seem to be operating w ... More >>
Sugar and Plumm is opening its second location today on Bleecker Street. The original location on the Upper West Side is known for its French macarons, and the downtown outpost will also serve the various flavors: salted caramel, pistachio, rosewater, and passionfruit. Other pastries like croissants ... More >>
Morocco has a hand in this Egyptian menu
A new meatball-slinging Italian joint
Sunday gravy only sounds like one of those fast, unfussy one-pot dishes. There's the stuffing of the braciole, the mixing and shaping of the meatballs, the browning of the sausages. There's the layering of the stock, amplified with bones and meat, simmered for hours. It's no wonder that many Italian ... More >>
This week, our professional eaters sought out plates that reminded them of home -- if not theirs, then someone else's. In Astoria, Robert Sietsema enjoyed an Egyptian feast at El Omda, while Tejal Rao sopped up the sauce at Red Gravy in Brooklyn Heights. How did our critics rate their Middle Easte ... More >>
The "chives pancake" (it's really more of an empanada, and yes, there are plural chives in there) at Mei Yu Spring, a new restaurant on Catherine Street. Shown broken open with a dab of Sriracha Fifteen years ago new places like Fried Dumpling on Allen Street and Vanessa's on Forsyth revolutionize ... More >>
A traditional Easter meal might include lamb, spring vegetables, glazed ham, and hard-boiled eggs. Celebrate the holiday by dining out for brunch or dinner with one of these set menus, all of which will satisfy seasonal cravings. DBGB Daniel Boulud's downtown eatery will serve its usual brunch menu ... More >>
Over the next two weeks, the Times Square outpost of hotel chain Yotel will close its three restaurants, Grub Street reported. DohYo, Terrace, and Four were all run by chef Richard Sandoval and served Latin-Asian cuisine. The restaurants employed 102 people, and also provided room service to hotel g ... More >>
A Williamsburg bar opened earlier this month from Alla Lapushchik, the owner of Post Office, Eater reported. OTB takes its name and theme from racetrack-betting parlors. While some cocktails are classic -- Old Fashioneds and Manhattans -- a "Modern" menu also offers fresh concoctions like a Turkey J ... More >>
The duo behind Traif runs a Mexican-ish kitchen
A few of the city's finer establishments are now getting noticed not only for their outstanding food but for the benefits they offer staff members. The Restaurant Opportunities Center United (ROC), an organization that strives to improve working conditions for food service employees, has released an ... More >>
Despite the calendar's promises, New York doesn't seem to know that it's spring. Perhaps our food critics had a feeling that the winter chill would linger in the air, as they both sought out belly-warming comfort food this week. Robert Sietsema slurped up ramen at Suzume and Ganso, while Tejal Rao o ... More >>
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