PrintTop UWS Neighborhood Bites
For years we Upper West Siders 
have lamented that there's no place to eat around in their neighborhood. So when I sat down to list my favorite places on the UWS to grab a reasonably priced meal (main courses less than $20) without a reservation and advance planning, I was surprised at how many good places there are. Before I embark on this series of neighborhood guides I need to spell out our rating system:
1 star: Pretty Awful
2 stars: Doesn't really suck
3 stars: Pretty Good Eats
4 stars: Good Eats
5 stars: Serious Eats
La Dinastia: Solid Cuban Chinese hole in the wall steps from the 72nd St. station on the 1, 2, and 3 trains.
Rating: 3 stars
Sushi A Go Go: Awful name for a surprisingly good Japanese restaurant convenient to the Lincoln Sq. cinemas.
Rating: 3 stars
Le Pain Quotidien: Very good (if a little over-priced) sandwiches, breads, soups, and pastries from this Belgian mini-chain.
Rating: 3 stars
Bin 71: A wine bar with shockingly good small plates. No tables, just a crowded and convivial bar.
Rating: 4 stars
Patsy's: The best pizza on the Upper West Side hands down: Fresh mozzarella, fresh mushrooms, and a lovely charred crust courtesy of the coal-fired brick oven that bakes pizzas at 800 degrees.
Rating: 4 stars
Jacque-Imo's New York: Noisy, New Orleans frat-like atmosphere shouldn't obscure the killer fried chicken and credible gumbo and jambalaya served here.
Rating: 4 stars
Raku 2: A true hole-in-the-wall sushi joint manned by sushi chefs who know what they're doing.
Rating: 3 stars
Pasha: Solid if uninspired Greek Food in a very red setting.
Rating: 3 stars
Burger Joint: Stick to the burgers or the lemony grilled chicken sandwich and you'll eat well at this UWS institution with the largest menu this side of Shopsin's. French fries are awful, though.
Rating: 3 stars
French Roast: Surprisingly solid burgers, quiches, fries, and croque monsieurs at this always open eatery. Don't order anything too ambitious.
Rating: 3 stars
Celeste: Fine Neapolitan-inspired pizzas, excellent pastas, a killer Italian cheese course, and ridiculously affordable main courses at this no-frills Italian with improved acoustics. Cash only.
Rating: 4 stars
Saigon Grill: Perpetually jammed Vietnamese with very good soups, dumplings, bo luc lac (seared rare steak cubes served with fried taro chips), and ribs that are better than any other Asian restaurant in the neighborhood.
Rating: 4 stars
Hummous: There is killer warm hummous swirled with olive oil and dotted with beans to be had here. It's like tasting hummous for the first time unless you've been to Israel.
Rating: 5 stars
Fairway Cafe: Fine eggs, amazing pancakes, excellent sandwiches, burgers, and fried make the Fairway Cafe a prime gathering place for entrepreneurs and creative folks in the neighborhood. Ridiculously umcomfortable chairs and lousy if well-meaning service.
Rating: 5 stars (food) 0 stars (chairs and service)
Cafe con Leche: Good Latino pressed sandwiches and unspectacular rice and beans in two prime UWS locations:
Rating: 3 stars
Flor de Mayo: Fabulous rotisseried chicken and generally solid Dominican restaurant with an intensely loyal following (2 locations).
Rating: 3 stars
Monsoon: The only other UWS Vietnamese restaurant worth eating in besides Saigon Grill, and it's a lot easier to get into. Great duck salad.
Rating: 4 stars
Land: Only UWS Thai restaurant worth eating in, and everybody knows it. In fact, Land is remarkably good; carefully prepared Thai food by a young chef who spent some time working with Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Cool bathroom and fantastic lunch special.
Artie's Deli: Excellent pastrami (ask for it well-steamed), french fries, and hot dogs in the best deli in the nabe. Shockingly it's the only deli in the nabe north of Fine and Shapiro (which is markedly inferior).
Rating: 4 stars
Barney Greengrass: World-class smoked fish platters and egg preparations served up with properly surly panache.
Rating: 5 stars
Gennaro: Fine neighborhood Northern Italian where they hurry you out the door when you're mid-bite and at one with your osso bucco.
Rating: 4 stars
Carne: It's not a great steak house, but it's good enough, and you don't have to leave the nabe for your red meat fix.
Rating: 3 stars
Absolute Bagels: The best bagels in the city baked by a Thai family with so much bagel-baking know-how you'd swear they are Jewish. There's even a few tables for your eating pleasure
Rating: 5 stars
Sezz' Medi: Unheralded Morningside Heights Italian with more than decent pizzas and baked pastas.
Rating: 3 stars
Miss Mamie's: A little soul food oasis in the distinctly non-soulful UWS.
Rating: 3 stars
Rack & Soul: The barbecue is the real thing (albeit with too much sweet sauce), but it's the fried chicken that will have you moaning with pleasure here. Now if they would stop pre-frying the chicken at lunch, all would be right with the world.
Rating: 5 stars
Dinosaur Barbecue: One of the only truly integrated restaurants anywhere in New York. All kinds of folks appreciate John Stage's very fine barbecue and equally good side dishes.
Rating: 4 1/2 stars
Toast: There's some fine sandwiches to be had at this Morningside Heights pioneer.
Rating: 3 stars
Did I miss any? A taqueria on Amsterdam Avenue, perhaps? Let me know.
Comments are closed: 10 Comments:
Ed I like your list and would like to add a few...Tenzan very good sushi and hand rolls. Bello Squardo execellant tapas....88 Noodle great soups in a hole in the wall on Columbus Ave......Hampton Chutney great sandwich's very different....Ivy's for Chinese(cooked for the chinese delegation while in town) and surprisingly good sushi. By the way Ed, Monsoon closed months ago.
Nycatfan at 8:54AM on 10/04/06
although i don't go to Louie's (81st & Amst.) for a variety of reasons, thought u might like to include.
as for your listings, excellent run-through; however, duly noted, most, if not all, have some negative add-on comment which is the very reason why they pretty much suck, & make an initial visit the ONLY visit. no wonder the UWS is such a wasteland that forces one to leave the area to find something decent, unfortunately below 23rd.
btw, these comments are NOT critical of the author, who has provided not only a terrific list, but also a very fair job of pointing out the good & the bad!
"Did I miss any? A taqueria on Amsterdam Avenue, perhaps? Let me know."
others(?):
Henry's on 105th & Bwy - fairly awful
Brother Jimmy's on Amst. bet 80/81st - terrible, but as one once said "bad bbq is better than no bbq"
Bistro Cassis & Citron - although the faux pas french theme by those who couldn't be further from, is way too cute
Big Nick's - only the burgers, & look past the filth
Niko's - "sensible food for sensible prices" give me a break, the place is as screwed up as the corny saying
Vinnie's - what's up with the unfinished outside - forgot to pay?
bar/restaurant(?) - sw corner of Amst. & 76th - decent, but loud
btw, & dating my uws yrs, the best bar/restaurant was in this space a # of yrs ago - JG Melon's - branch from the hated ues. food & service in the early days was excellent, but either lease expired & too expensive, or ???? anyway, this WAS a great go-to place, much better than any that exist on the uws today :( anybody else remember??????
WineandRoses - new wine bar on Col nr 74th - pretentious, & same ridiculous prices for-mediocre wines-that they know pretentious UWS'r's will pay, just as they do at Bin71!!!
obviously could list many more, but of the many others, one could close eyes, & they would ALL be the same!!
added comments, unfortunately critical:
Le Pain Quotidien: Very good (if a "LITTLE" over-priced - u think?) sandwiches, breads, soups, and pastries from this Belgian mini-chain.Rating: 3 stars
service is unbelievably bad - is it the lack of competent workers or the fault of the place??????????
Bin 71: A wine bar with shockingly good small plates. No tables, just a crowded and convivial bar.Rating: 4 stars????????
shockingly HIGH prices for shockingly average wines!!!!! when will "WE" learn all wine doesn't have to be a minimum $9+/glass!!????
baruch at 10:33AM on 10/04/06
Good news - La Caridad is opening again on 78th and Broadway. They cut the restaurant in half - back to it's original size before they expanded it to 2 storefronts.
They have the best Special Fried Rice I've ever had. Chunks (yes, chunks) of ham, roast pork and lots of shrimp - I mean lots. I always have them add even more - ask for $1-2 more extra shrimp or shrimp and roast pork - you won't believe what they send. Fantastic.
red at 10:45AM on 10/04/06
Where is Hummous? Location please?
BernieClyn at 4:44PM on 10/04/06
What about Gray's Papaya?
Also, Boat Basin Cafe in Riverside Park has a great view, for when the weather's nice. Probably not worth going to for the food alone. It'll probably be closed for the season soon, if it isn't already, though.
BigAl72 at 12:09AM on 10/05/06
Interesting what you say about Absolute Bagels. It just so happens that my favorite bialy place in Queens, Hot Bialys on the edge of Kew Gardens, is also run by a Thai family.
Coincidence...?
Polecat at 2:51PM on 10/05/06
Ed - you missed one of THE best places to eat and hang on the entire Upper West Side. And the answer is...All State Cafe. For some reason it never seems to make Zagat's either - which is also great so you never have tourists popping in after reading up about it...
filodo at 8:30PM on 10/05/06
I'd add Gray's Papaya for hot dog and papaya drink, Sal & Carmine's for an excellent slice, and Turquoz for very competent Turkish. Glad you included Dinosaur; they seem to get undeserved bum rap among many foodies.
kqrbob at 12:14PM on 10/11/06
I haven't lived up there for a while, but I used to enjoy Taqueria y Fonda la Mexicana at Amsterdam and 107th (where they have decent enchiladas and sometimes make a spot-on mole). And what about Pampa, the Argentine steak house? Cheap and delicious. There's also a couple of Mexican grocers on Amsterdam that have tamales on the weekends. But I miss Absolute Bagels the most. I live near Murray's, but it's not the same thing.
HomsckTex at 11:11AM on 10/14/06
you've gotta check out Noche Mexicana at 101st and Amsterdam, some of the best mexican I've had in NYC, and beats the hell out of Taqueria y Fonda at 108th and Amsterdam.
Pisticci on Lasalle & Broadway is also not to be missed, along with Max Soha right around the corner.
seriouseat at 4:08PM on 10/17/06