Restaurants

Concentrating on the cuisine of Cyprus, Aliada complements the regular Greek menu with Middle Eastern flourishes. The horitaki salad adds the stealth herb cilantro to the tossed combination of cucumbers, caper leaves, arugula, scallions, lettuce, black olives, feta, and tomatoes, and even the... More >>

There's no better Trinidadian restaurant in Gotham, and maybe in Trinidad, either. The stuffed flatbreads called rotis are offered with a broad choice of fillings, including goat, chicken, conch, duck, and a potato-chickpea mixture. What's more, you can have further veggies added, such as... More >>

The city's second Uyghur restaurant—referring to a Turkic people in the Chinese province of Xinjiang—has opened just off Queens Boulevard. The menu features the usual Silk Road stuff: homemade noodles in beef soup (lagman), plump dumplings bulging with orange squash (manti), triangular... More >>

Our fair city has a dearth of Afghani restaurants compared to, say, Indian and Pakistani. Balkh excels at grilled meats, cooked right in the gas-fired hearth by the front door, of which the ground-meat keema is the best at soaking up the smoke. But Balkh’s hidden agenda lies in braised meats... More >>

This bare bones Korean joint specializes in soft tofu stews. Of the many options to add to your bean curd—clam, oyster, oxtail, mushroom—classic kimchi and pork is the best. Ask for it extra spicy and you’ll be rewarded with a brick red broth burbling with soft cooked onions,... More >>

What may be the world’s greatest hamburger flips on the gas grill at Bosna Express, a closet of a space under the elevated Forest Avenue M stop, in a quiet neighborhood with an almost rural quality. The burger in question is called a pljeskavica, a patty the size of a hubcap made with a... More >>

Conceived along the same lines as the sainted Alsalam Restaurant and Meat Market in Bay Ridge, Cedars is a Lebanese grocery with a grill planted right in the window. As the flames shoot up, the place turns out splendid oniony beef kufta (pick the chile-lace Aleppo), tender lamb kebabs, and... More >>

Challenging the culinary hegemony of Sripraphai, Chao Thai offers dishes from several regions. From the north comes the fiery salad yum nam sod, featuring ground pork, purple onions, the basil called horapha, and fiery fresh chiles; from Isaan a catfish salad and a sour pork sausage served with... More >>

It was one of those evenings when everything went wrong. Our destination––a new Peruvian in Sunnyside––proved elusive, and we were left combing the streets for a place all four of us could agree on. Up loomed Korean barbecue Chong Sol. Right off, the portions of meat, all around $20, appe... More >>

If you're tired of the usual steak house, here's a welcome alternative. Located in an obscure corner of Astoria and comfortably furnished with antiques, this Greek taverna concentrates on beefsteaks, serving charbroiled T-bones, fillets, shells, and chops, all displayed in their raw state by the... More >>

Reviving a moribund restaurant scene in Jackson Heights, Delhi Heights adds a bit of glitz to a menu that features northern Indian, southern Indian, and Indian-Chinese. While the southern Indian standards of dosa and uttapam are not recommended, the northern Indian fare features plenty of dash,... More >>

In our recent extreme pupusa run, El Comal handily won the competition, preparing to order the best pupusas in Queens. But don’t neglect of check out the steam table as you enter (there’s also a free-form dining room in a second storefront on the right). In addition to the luscio... More >>

Stick-to-your-ribs platters of Ecuadoran food are the forte of this former diner on busy Northern Boulevard, which reminds us of Los Angeles. Goat stew (seco de chivo) is a good bet, and so is the intensely yellow tripe stew (guatita). You can get both with a serving of oniony shrimp ceviche on... More >>

Sure, this northern Chinese restaurant is an organ eater's paradise, offering such weird arcana as steamed goat tongue, lamb tripe soup, and goat eyes in brown gravy, but it's also one of the best places to eat lamb and mutton in the city. Witness the wonderful grilled goat leg rubbed with cumin... More >>

Try the specialty, kalbi (short ribs) grilled at your table’s charcoal barbecue. Most other meats are grilled over gas, but are equally good, especially the duck steak and ox tongue. Order the sam kyup sal bossam and get a gigantic platter holding slabs of braised pork, and a deep - red, crunch... More >>

This south Flushing Chinese restaurant doesn’t look like much from the outside, but the proprietors are from Liaoning province in the extreme northeast of the country, and the food is likely to blow your mind. Humpy corn-flour bao are the bread of choice, and you can plow your way through a... More >>

Go through the cluttered door on Main Street, and descend into a wonderland of regional Chinese fare. From Xi’an (stall 36) comes a richly flavored and textured lamb sandwich on a homemade pita garnished with pickled peppers, and a plate of broad homemade wheat noodles with a lamb sauce... More >>

The Yak underwent a sea change a couple of months ago, altering its name from Tibetan Yak to Himalayan Yak. It betokens the addition of Nepalese and Indian fare to the already bulging menu. The old Tibetan specialties like la phing (a wobbly cube of mung bean jelly) and shamdey (a lamb curry)... More >>

Following the neon cauldron glowing in the second story window (the entrance is up a side street next to an Irish bar) to the largest and most complete Chinese hot pot place in town. A fixed price under $30 buys unlimited dim sum, beer, and––most important of all ––substances... More >>

What may be the first real Hunan restaurant in the city features hot, sour, and salty tastes, with as much spiciness as Sichuan, but lacking the peppercorns. “Braised fish with pickled chili sauce”—the first dish on the House Special menu––features an entire striped bass smothered in pickle... More >>

You might as well be in Constantinople at this Turkish restaurant, whose only drawback is bright lighting throughout. The homemade bread goes great with any of the eggplant appetizers, which include two purees and two concoctions featuring fried slices. Among the hot appetizers, choose the cubed... More >>

Just around the corner from the Queens Center shopping mall, Java Village is a steam table joint that could provide a convenient pit stop after shopping. There are about 15 choices immediately evident; over a big mound of rice a selection of three will set you back around $7. These choices... More >>

Though no English sign graces this brightly lit walk-down spot on a dark side street, a picture of a rustic hut on the awning beckons. Top among countrified culinary delights is roast pork –– really, thick slabs of semi-lean pork belly that the waitress cooks on a brazier (rather than,... More >>

This ancient cheese maker specializing in ricotta and mozzarella also vends cheeses made elsewhere, but the real glory of the store are the Italian-American heroes. You’ve never seen a lusher eggplant parm, stacked high with the crumbed and fried vegetable and oozing amazing mozzarella. Mama... More >>

Also known as Xiao La Jiao, this walk-down space is currently the city's foremost Sichuan restaurant. From a simple bowl of soft bean curd strewn with toasted peanuts and doused with chile oil and Sichuan peppercorns, to three forms of dan dan noodles, to ambitious stir-fries of bullfrog, eel,... More >>