Posted by J. Kenji López-Alt, October 24, 2011 at 9:00 AM
Editor's note: We write about restaurants all over the city. But sometimes, you don't want to travel for food; you want the best eats right in your neighborhood. So we're having the Serious Eats staff share where they eat around their own 'hoods. Today? Serious Eats Managing Editor J. Kenji Lopez-Alt!
View Kenji's Morningside Heights and Lower Harlem in a larger map
I grew up on 125th and Riverside Drive and spent most of my eating-out-time in the Morningside Heights neighborhood around Columbia University. Back in the day, food options were pretty limited. There was the old Mama Joys' Deli, which made great pastrami sandwiches and Pizza Town II which had a decent slice for lunch. For a couple years in the mid to late 90's, there was a fast food Japanese restaurant that had piss-poor but tasty-nonetheless udon and robot-made sushi.
For dinner, we had Ollie's Chinese noodle shop (it's still there, and still just as mediocre), or my birthday restaurant of choice, Fiesta Mexicana, a decent Americanized Mexican restaurant that had great tacos al carbon, enchiladas suizas, and best of all, neon blue fizzy sweet tequila shots that they'd bring to my parents at the end of the meal (I was allowed to taste my dad's). It burned down sometime in the mid 90's.
At one point the best bagels in the city could be found on the corner of 110th and Broadway at Columbia Hot Bagels, right across the street from the Morningside Heights branch of Gray's Papaya (back then, a recession special of two dogs and a drink was a measly $1.45). Both have been swallowed up by Columbia University's expansion.
While I'm nostalgic for those old hangouts, I must admit that the average quality of food in the neighborhood has improved in spades in the last decade or so. Here's where you should be eating.
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Posted by J. Kenji López-Alt, September 6, 2011 at 10:00 PM
[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]
Thai Market
960 Amsterdam Avenue, New York NY 10025 (at 107th; map); 212-280-4575; thaimarketny.com
Service: Functional, smooth
Setting: Like a clean Bangkok night market
Must-Haves: Thai dumplings, Yum Neua, Tiger Cry, Som Tum
Grade: B+
In my opinion, New York could always do with a few more good Thai restaurants, particularly ones that lean towards to the hotter, more impassioned, down-and-dirty end of the scale. I mean, they exist already, but most are a trek for me. The closest we've got in the northern reaches of Manhattan is Thai Market, a street-food themed restaurant near Columbia campus that is one of the better options north of the Village.
If anything, the food at Thai Market is Bangkok in style: relatively clean flavors with a heavy hand with the sugar. Almost all dishes have a sweet element to them, sometimes cloyingly so. Fortunately, just like in every restaurant in Bangkok, your table comes with a caddy representing the four basic Thai flavors. Fiery dried chilis add heat, chili-spiked fish sauce adds pungency and saltiness, and a pot of vinegar or a side dish of limes adds acid. The only traditional condiment missing here is the sugar (it gets replaced with American-style chili garlic sauce), but the dishes here are sweet enough that you won't really want for it.
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Posted by J. Kenji López-Alt, August 26, 2011 at 12:00 PM
Classic Cubano ($12) [Photograph: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]
Cubanos (or mixtos as they're called in Cuba and Miami), with their meaty/tangy blend of roast pork, ham, cheese, and pickles, have a pretty secure spot in the list of top 10 sandwiches of all time. It can be pretty tough to find a great one in Manhattan, but Havana Central does it up right. Thinly sliced but thickly stacked ham, well-melted Swiss cheese, a smear of mustard, plenty of sharp pickles, and really great juicy roast pork come together inside a grilled Cuban roll, pressed down firmly until everything is compacted and easily bite-able.
I often find sweet potato fries to be either too dark or too limp. At Havana Central, they're neither. Nice and crisp with plenty of sweet potato flavor. At $12 it's a tad pricey for a sandwich, but it's a big one (I couldn't finish mine in one sitting).
Havana Central
2911 Broadway, New York NY 10025 (map)
212-662-8830
havanacentral.com
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Posted by J. Kenji López-Alt, April 1, 2011 at 11:00 AM
[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]
Havana Central took over the old West End space in Morningside Heights right by Columbia University a few years ago, and it was a nice change. No longer a dark, dingy space with a sticky-floored music venue in the darkest corner in the back, it's now an open (if dimly lit), friendly joint with nice energy, great street-side seating, and a decent lunch and dinner menu to boot. They've got three locations around the city, but only the Upper West Side and Union Square locations offer a special, egg-heavy brunch menu on Sundays.
It's all pretty decent fare.The Huevos Santigero ($14), an eggs Florentine-esque stack of spinach, poached eggs and hollandaise replaces the English muffin with a nicely charred, cheese-stuffed, sweet-corn arepa (a Cuban-style corn patty). Huevos Rancheros Criolla ($8) are a well-cooked, tender omelet with a red onion and pepper-laced salsa that borders on too sweet. Their signature Huevos de Havana Central ($12), two poached eggs over a hash of potatoes and chorizo is actually their weakest. The potato "hash" is really just rather bland roasted potato chunks tossed large dry hunks of chorizo.
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Posted by Carrie Vasios, March 24, 2011 at 11:15 AM
In this great country of ours, one could eat a different sandwich every day of the year—so that's what we'll do. Here's A Sandwich a Day, our daily look at sandwiches around the country. Got a sandwich we should check out? Let us know. —The Mgmt.
[Photographs: Robyn Lee]
Sometimes you just want a sandwich that's fast, cheap, and available into the wee hours. If you're a college student, you probably want this kind of sandwich all the time. Luckily for the Columbia crowd and anyone up in Morningside Heights, Amir's is there to serve your needs. But while Amir's does cater to its audience, its flavorful Lebanese food goes beyond typical falafel sandwiches.
You can't get a better deal than the Veggie Sandwich ($3.50). Creamy pieces of grilled eggplant are topped with bright pink pickled beats and chunks of fried cauliflower. The tang of the beets plays against the smokiness of the eggplant, and the cauliflower is toothsome and not overly fried. Somehow they also manage to squeeze lettuce, tomato, pickled turnip, and tahini sauce into the sandwich's whole wheat pita shell. For a dollar extra you can get hummus or babaganoush inside, but I like simply adding a bit of the peppery spicy sauce. (Plus it's free.)
Amir's
2911 Broadway, New York NY 10025 (map)
212-749-7500
amirsnyc.com
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Posted by Liz Clayton, March 11, 2011 at 11:30 AM
In this great city of ours, one could eat a different sandwich every day of the year—so that's what we'll do. Here's A Sandwich a Day, our daily look at sandwiches around the city. Got a sandwich we should check out? Let us know. —The Mgmt.
[Photographs: Liz Clayton]
If there's one thing Iris Cafe's Rachel Graville knows her way around, it's a boiled egg on bread. So when it was announced she'd be curating the upscale student lunch program for the new Joe Cafe at Columbia University, this was good news to all uptown stomachs. The Ham, Egg & Cheddar Baguette ($6.50) is a good choice even for those who don't academically analyze their food, though: curls of sweet-smoky ham sit by politely while aged cheddar crumbles with intimacy into the yolk of a flavorful hard-boiled egg up top. The sandwich could have been too fat-rich to handle but for a sweet, apple-peach chutney that changes the story completely. A subtle dijon coats the inside of the Pain D'Avignon baguette. You just might need to save half for later.
Joe
Second floor; 550 West 120 Street, New York NY (map)
212-851-1901
www.joetheartofcoffee.com
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Posted by Jessica Allen and Garrett Ziegler, February 7, 2011 at 3:00 PM
[Photos: Garrett Ziegler]
The spectacle begins at the entrance. Come in off Broadway, through a small vestibule and into a bar with a few tables, some large enough for groups. Carpets with elaborate geometric patterns cover the floor. Kick the slush off your shoes and pretend it's sand. Several paces in, a host emerges from the shadows to hold back heavy drapes the color of camels and texture of brushed suede. At first you won't see much, because, as one of us noted, "it's dark as hell in here." But soon you'll realize that Morningside Heights, with its long avenues of apartment buildings, has been utterly replaced by a pleasure dome fit for a pasha. Welcome to Turkuaz.
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Posted by Aya Tanaka, February 1, 2011 at 10:00 AM
"Saturdays are decidedly kid-friendly; Sundays are not."
[Photos: Aya Tanaka]
Smoke Jazz & Supper Club
2751 Broadway, New York, NY 10025 (at 105th Street; map); 212-864-6662; smokejazz.com
Kids' Amenities: High chairs (1), stroller storage, kid's menu on Saturdays
Best Dishes for Kids: PB&J Sandwich, Sliders
Cost: $15 for children, $19 for adults on Saturdays; entrées $6.95 to $13.95 on Sundays
Jazz clubs are essentially adult places, where people go for the music and food is a second thought. Smoke Jazz & Supper Club uptown on Broadway and West 105th, as noted in Ed's review last year, proves that "great jazz and great food are not incompatible". Smoke also offers jazz brunches on weekends where children are not only welcome but the target audience. In addition to the regular Jazz brunch on Sundays, Smoke has recently launched a Jazz for Kids brunch on Saturdays. The result? Saturdays that are decidedly kid-friendly—and Sundays that are not.
The "every inch and ounce a star" of both brunches is vocalist and actor Lea Delaria, who along with her band delivers age-appropriate sets of jazz, swing, and blues numbers on each day. Ms. Delaria's warm and often hilarious stage presence is testament to her early career a stand-up comic. According to her, the Saturday show is "not educative", but it seemed (even if incidentally) structured with a pedagogical narrative in mind. Throughout the set Ms. Delaria encourages and engages the children to look for Boom Boom's (the bass player's) misplaced bow—reminding them of the perils of not putting away important items. The band also introduced the concepts of "singing the blues" to children—"singing about something bad that happened to you"—and sang "Old Macdonald" to jazz, bebop, reggae and swing beats.
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Posted by Liz Clayton, January 26, 2011 at 9:00 AM
[Photos: Liz Clayton]
It's not quite like getting a macchiato at the North Pole, but to many, the freshly opened Joe coffee bar at Columbia University heralds a new day in the Manhattan coffee scene, offering a selection of espresso and manually brewed coffees at unforeseen latitudes.
The sixth Joe is the mini-chain's most lovely: a super-simple cafe bar set quietly in the Portuguese marble lobby of the university's absurdly named Northwest Corner Building, which rises well above the banality of its moniker via the intense design of architect Rafael Moneo.
And unlike each cute, cramped Joe that came before it, there's room here: room to spread out, room to line up and wait patiently for the perfect cup. And in fact this will be emphasized.
"We're really pushing the drip bar here," says Joe owner Jonathan Rubinstein. "It's the only way to get our single origin coffees, and we're going to have a designated brew bar barista to prepare them."
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Posted by Leah Douglas, September 22, 2010 at 12:15 PM
Milano Market has one of the best sandwich counters I've ever seen. Behind it are four or five sandwich guys (I refer to them as such because I can practically hear them saying, "I'm the sandwich guy"). They yell, "Next! Next!" continuously until you catch their attention, and you'd better have an order ready. They have such an air of authority that when my guy asked if I wanted olive oil and vinegar on my imported salami sandwich ($9.25), I thought I'd better say yes.
And boy, was that a good decision. This sandwich has a generous portion of surprisingly thinly-sliced salami, and it's topped with a funky and savory provolone cheese. The oil and vinegar accentuate the cheese and don't overwhelm the meat. The olive bread roll is simply delicious—more chewy than crusty, with an airy, fluffy interior that sops up the fillings' tasty flavors. As long as you pay attention to your sandwich guy, you'll walk away from Milano Market with one tasty sandwich.
Milano Market
2892 Broadway, New York NY, 10025 (map)
212-665-9500
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Posted by Leah Douglas, September 7, 2010 at 12:30 PM
In this great city of ours, one could eat a different sandwich every day of the year—so that's what we'll do. Here's A Sandwich a Day, our daily look at sandwiches around New York. Got a sandwich we should check out? Let us know. —The Mgmt.
[Photo: Robyn Lee]
I could smell the aroma of the chicken cutlet parmigiana sandwich ($9.50) wafting from my bag as I rode the train back to Serious Eats, and my mouth watered. When I unwrapped this still-hot hero, I could tell it would live up to its smell. The sandwich is stuffed with two chicken cutlets, and topped with homemade marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. The chicken is tender and flavorful, and the marinara sauce is both sweet and acidic, cutting through the richness of a large bite of pan-fried chicken. The mozzarella is very thinly sliced but packs a punch, and oozes onto the delicious, tender hero roll. In case that wasn't enough, a thin slice of cheese ends up melted over the top of the sandwich—just to let you know what you're in for. While not cheap, this sandwich is enormously filling and as satisfying as you could imagine.
Milano Market
2892 Broadway, New York NY 10025 (
map)
(212) 665-9500
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Posted by Ed Levine, August 24, 2010 at 11:00 PM
[Photographs: Robyn Lee]
Smoke Jazz Club
2751 Broadway, New York NY 10025 (b/n 105 and 106th; map); 212-864-6662; smokejazz.com
Service: Efficient, friendly, utterly respectful of the music
Setting: Small jewel of a jazz club with an in-tune Steinway piano
Compare It To: Jazz Standard
Must-Haves: Caesar salad, seafood meatballs, coq au vin, brownie sundae
Cost: Two courses, $29.95
Grade: Food, B+; Music: A
As someone who was in the jazz business for fifteen years, back in the '70s and '80s, I can unequivocally state that the food served in jazz clubs almost always sucks. It's almost as if they intentionally make the food bad to make you appreciate the music more. There have been notable exceptions over the years. In the '60s and '70s, the great jazz musicians who played the Village Vanguard knew that its founder, the late, great Max Gordon, had somebody working for him who made a mean cheeseburger. (Of course, only musicians and their friends could avail themselves of this unique jazz catering service.)
And to his credit, Danny Meyer and his Union Square Hospitality Group have brought some much-needed culinary expertise to the food served downstairs at The Jazz, beneath Blue Smoke. The barbecue is solid down there, the fried chicken even better, and Jennifer Giblin's desserts are an appropriate coda to the great music.
But it's still ribs and chicken and burgers (albeit good ones) at Blue Smoke—so when I heard that Patricia Williams, a former ballerina turned serious chef, was cooking a more refined menu at Smoke Jazz Club uptown, I was intrigued. We got our thumbs and middle digits into prime finger-snapping shape and we hightailed it on up to Smoke, which turned out to be a nifty-looking jazz club in the shadow of Columbia University.
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Posted by Nikki Goldstein, May 10, 2010 at 4:00 PM
[Photos: Kathy YL Chan]
There were plenty of delicious things that drew Sugar Rush columnist Kathy and I to Morningside Heights on a recent weekend, but the real reason we went was the one that also, incidentally, ended up taking the cake: Mimi Truffles. It may be the most unconventionally run chocolatier business I've seen to date—all the truffles are made out of a Columbia dorm kitchen by a pair of engineering students—but after making the trip to see what they were all about, there's no question in my mind that the student entrepreneurs behind the endeavor, Melissa Pallay and Megan Schultz, are onto something special.
The truffles, carried at local Morningside Heights branches of Garden of Eden and West Side Market (3 for $4), aren't your average confections. Rather than filling their chocolate shells with ganache and brittle and marzipan, Mimi takes the route of the cake truffle. The flavors are nostalgia-inducing and comforting—think blueberry muffin, red velvet cake, devil's food cake, and banana bread. And unlike other cake truffles I've had, they keep their cake unbelievably moist and fresh, almost capturing that soft texture of cake that's just come out of the oven. Only this isn't burn-your-mouth hot and it's wrapped in chocolate.
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Posted by Nikki Goldstein, May 6, 2010 at 10:00 AM
[Photos: Kathy YL Chan]
Mondel's has been around since 1943, in the same easy-to-walk-right-by spot in Morningside Heights. Four years in the neighborhood gave me the wrong impression each time—something about it came across as pricey and high-end—but a recent visit to my old stomping grounds gave me the push I needed to get the real story. After all, the letter by the register gave an old endorsement from the Katharine Hepburn, who called Mondel's chocolates "the best in the world."
The shop practically maintains 1946 prices, but the chocolates are equally dated. Service is strange—the store almost feels abandoned—but you can walk out with a handful of truffles for under $5, easily. The display case bears a strange resemblance to the one at Li-lac downtown, and the style of the chocolates is similar. It's not equal to the highly-esteemed lookalike, but for a neighborhood severely lacking in chocolate options outside of grocery aisles, it's not a bad option.
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Posted by Nikki Goldstein, October 30, 2009 at 1:00 PM
[Photo: Nikki Goldstein]
If you've ever trekked all the way downtown to the Clinton St. Baking Co. only to find a near-eternal wait for pancakes, you might try heading in the opposite direction next time. Community Food and Juice, the newly-reopened Morningside Heights brunch staple, is owned by the same folks, and their expanded dining quarters have tremendously reduced the wait to get in.
Like its big sister, Community boasts some pretty tasty pancakes, but the ones I'd recommend most strongly are on the savory side: they're made from potato and celery root. I tend to associate celery root with pickling (my mom's favorite preparation), but this is far different. It brings out the vegetable's subtler side, adding just a hint of complexity to a classic dish. Perhaps more importantly, the celery root lends a wonderfully smooth texture to the batter which doesn't compromise the outer crisp, making for a truly intriguing combo.
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