So much for fall. In New York, it feels like we've gone from shorts to winter coats in just a few days. But fortunately, there are plenty of rainy-day eats to warm you up. Ten of our favorite comfort foods, after the jump.
[Photographs: Robyn Lee and Carey Jones]
n. The principle of bagels that holds the following: The act of transporting a bagel to a second location produces fundamental uncertainties in its inherent qualities, such that determining a true "best bagel," in a head-to-head face-off, becomes impossible.
It's a question asked so often that it's astounding that we've never attempted an answer.
Who makes the best bagel in New York?
There are a few clear contenders. In the past, Ed has leaned toward the Upper West Side's Absolute Bagels; his exhaustive 2003 bagel hunt for the New York Times also saluted Bagel Oasis and Hot Bialys in Queens, Terrace Bagels in Windsor Terrace, and Manhattan stalwart Murray's.
And then there are Ess-A-Bagel and H&H, and neighborhood favorites like Bagel Hole and Brooklyn Bagel—all of whom have their fanatical defenders.
So we organized a simple taste-test. Serious eaters would fan out over the three most bagel-happy boroughs and hurry back to World Headquarters with their piping hot loot, as fast as their feet, bikes, buses, trains, subways, or Zipcars could carry them. We'd cut them all up; we'd do a blind tasting; we'd ponder their merits and crown a winner. Simple, right?
But it wasn't that easy.
Ed, hard at work.
The problem became clear as we chomped our way through Round One, pens at the ready, taking bite after bite. None of the bagels were more than two hours old. All of them had been hand-delivered that morning. But chewing through so many mouthfuls of plain bagels, we all felt the same uneasy feeling descending upon us. Ed broke the silence.
"They all taste the same."
Well... not quite the same.
[Photo: Nikki Goldstein]
Countless brunch dishes benefit from the addition of cheese—what omelet or breakfast sandwich is complete without it?—so you'd expect that at Artisanal, Terrace Brennan's dairy mecca, fromage would play a starring role. It's certainly the case at dinner, where fondue and cheese plates make up a hefty chunk of the menu.
At brunch, many featured items like pork belly hash and egg frites barely mention cheese at all. But it would be silly to go to Artisanal for brunch and miss out on their gougeres and croque madame—the two dishes that best showcase the establishment's talents with the art of cheese.
Gourgeres may be offered all day long at Artisanal, but they're so well suited to a late morning meal that it's almost impossible to imagine them elsewhere. I have to wonder why people don't add cheese to their biscuits more often, though calling these puffs "biscuits" wouldn't be quite right. Artisanal's gougeres have a crisp crust that yields an airy, fluffy, and unquestionably cheesy center. The secret, unsurprisingly, lies in their aged French Gruyere, but the casual presentation in a paper cone cuts out any element of pretension from the dish. (Unfortunately, the same can't be said of the service).
As Serious Eaters become increasingly concerned about the provenance and seasonality of the ingredients that we consume, for ecological and gastronomic reasons—and simultaneously become more interested in eating (figuratively and literally) the "whole hog"—I can think of no better place to indulge both impulses than the Large Format Feast at Resto.
The restaurant's website says it succinctly: Pick a whole animal. Come to Resto. Feast. Feast is what you will do, as Chef Bobby Hellen will break down a whole animal (or two or more) sourced from a local farm and compose an elaborate nose-to-tail extravaganza using vegetables from the Union Square Greenmarket. I recently spent some time in the Resto kitchen with my trusty Nikon during just such a feast, and here is what Hellen came up with.
Pigs' heads, meat lockers, and a veritable sausagefest, after the jump.
Stand on the corner of 28th and Lex, take ten steps in any direction, and you're likely to pass at least three or four Indian lunch specials. But few are as sophisticated (or as filling) as you'll find at the recently opened Bhatti Indian Grill. There's no buffet to be seen in the sharp, modern dining room. Bhatti's focus is on kebabs, cooked over an open-fire grill of the same name, and they take center stage in the lunch special: for $9.95, or $7.95 for vegetarians, you get rice, naan, a chicken curry (or three veggie sides), and all the kebabs you can eat—plus dessert. Better yet? It's actually tasty.
So much for fall. In New York, it feels like we've gone from shorts to winter coats in just a few days. But fortunately, there are plenty of rainy-day eats to warm you up. Ten of our favorite comfort foods, after the jump.
[Photographs: Robyn Lee and Carey Jones]
n. The principle of bagels that holds the following: The act of transporting a bagel to a second location produces fundamental uncertainties in its inherent qualities, such that determining a true "best bagel," in a head-to-head face-off, becomes impossible.
It's a question asked so often that it's astounding that we've never attempted an answer.
Who makes the best bagel in New York?
There are a few clear contenders. In the past, Ed has leaned toward the Upper West Side's Absolute Bagels; his exhaustive 2003 bagel hunt for the New York Times also saluted Bagel Oasis and Hot Bialys in Queens, Terrace Bagels in Windsor Terrace, and Manhattan stalwart Murray's.
And then there are Ess-A-Bagel and H&H, and neighborhood favorites like Bagel Hole and Brooklyn Bagel—all of whom have their fanatical defenders.
So we organized a simple taste-test. Serious eaters would fan out over the three most bagel-happy boroughs and hurry back to World Headquarters with their piping hot loot, as fast as their feet, bikes, buses, trains, subways, or Zipcars could carry them. We'd cut them all up; we'd do a blind tasting; we'd ponder their merits and crown a winner. Simple, right?
But it wasn't that easy.
Ed, hard at work.
The problem became clear as we chomped our way through Round One, pens at the ready, taking bite after bite. None of the bagels were more than two hours old. All of them had been hand-delivered that morning. But chewing through so many mouthfuls of plain bagels, we all felt the same uneasy feeling descending upon us. Ed broke the silence.
"They all taste the same."
Well... not quite the same.
[Photo: Nikki Goldstein]
Countless brunch dishes benefit from the addition of cheese—what omelet or breakfast sandwich is complete without it?—so you'd expect that at Artisanal, Terrace Brennan's dairy mecca, fromage would play a starring role. It's certainly the case at dinner, where fondue and cheese plates make up a hefty chunk of the menu.
At brunch, many featured items like pork belly hash and egg frites barely mention cheese at all. But it would be silly to go to Artisanal for brunch and miss out on their gougeres and croque madame—the two dishes that best showcase the establishment's talents with the art of cheese.
Gourgeres may be offered all day long at Artisanal, but they're so well suited to a late morning meal that it's almost impossible to imagine them elsewhere. I have to wonder why people don't add cheese to their biscuits more often, though calling these puffs "biscuits" wouldn't be quite right. Artisanal's gougeres have a crisp crust that yields an airy, fluffy, and unquestionably cheesy center. The secret, unsurprisingly, lies in their aged French Gruyere, but the casual presentation in a paper cone cuts out any element of pretension from the dish. (Unfortunately, the same can't be said of the service).
As Serious Eaters become increasingly concerned about the provenance and seasonality of the ingredients that we consume, for ecological and gastronomic reasons—and simultaneously become more interested in eating (figuratively and literally) the "whole hog"—I can think of no better place to indulge both impulses than the Large Format Feast at Resto.
The restaurant's website says it succinctly: Pick a whole animal. Come to Resto. Feast. Feast is what you will do, as Chef Bobby Hellen will break down a whole animal (or two or more) sourced from a local farm and compose an elaborate nose-to-tail extravaganza using vegetables from the Union Square Greenmarket. I recently spent some time in the Resto kitchen with my trusty Nikon during just such a feast, and here is what Hellen came up with.
Pigs' heads, meat lockers, and a veritable sausagefest, after the jump.
Stand on the corner of 28th and Lex, take ten steps in any direction, and you're likely to pass at least three or four Indian lunch specials. But few are as sophisticated (or as filling) as you'll find at the recently opened Bhatti Indian Grill. There's no buffet to be seen in the sharp, modern dining room. Bhatti's focus is on kebabs, cooked over an open-fire grill of the same name, and they take center stage in the lunch special: for $9.95, or $7.95 for vegetarians, you get rice, naan, a chicken curry (or three veggie sides), and all the kebabs you can eat—plus dessert. Better yet? It's actually tasty.
Editor's note: Whether you love it or hate it, save up your appetite all week or avoid it at all costs, there's no denying that brunch is an essential part of the New York dining world. Here with our new column "The Brunch Dish" is Serious Eats correspondent Nikki Goldstein. Each week, she'll put the spotlight on one great brunch plate around town. Please welcome Nikki!
During my travels to Morocco, I’d start each day with freshly baked semolina bread and homemade citrus jams that were served at our riads—like American Bed & Breakfasts, only decked out with incredible Moorish tiles and fountains. Though Casaville, a Moroccan-inspired restaurant just north of Murray Hill, stays away from the semolina flatbread, it recreates many other staples with impressive authenticity. So I wasn’t surprised to find one of my street food favorites converted into a brunch dish here.
The Merguez Sandwich is just what it sounds like—a crunchy baguette stuffed with mildly spicy Merguez sausage that’s sourced from a specialty provider in Queens. There’s little else on the sandwich, but its secret is a gentle coat of homemade tomato sauce that moistens the bread and infuses it with the flavors of paprika and cilantro, giving each bite mysterious layers of flavor. It’s unfairly simple, yet a perfect representation of what you’d get abroad. (Though, granted, in Morocco you’d get it for a tenth of the price, even though Casaville is by no means a pricey joint).
Editor's note: For the next few weeks, Nick Solares, already known here for his burger reporting, will be filling in for Ed on Tuesday nights with a New York City restaurant review. Take it away, Nick!
Photographs by Nick Solares
323 Third Avenue, New York NY 10010 (at 24th Street; map); 212-683-3035; inotecanyc.com
Service: Mostly attentive but can be slow when busy
Setting: Casual mood and menu selection slightly at odds with sleek decor held over from Bar Milano. Rustic touches do not quite mute the visual austerity of the modern room
Compare to: Bar Stuzzichini, I Trulli Ristorante/Enoteca, Terroir
Must Haves: Imported cheeses and charcuterie, panini, and olive oil pound cake
Cost: Antipasti $7 to $14, panino $11 to $18, pasta $12 to $16
Grade: B
When Bar Milano opened early last year, the writing was not yet on the wall. The impending financial meltdown was nowhere in sight and brothers Jason and Joe Denton, longtime proprietors of 'ino in the West Village and the more ambitious 'inoteca on the Lower East Side made the move uptown—both proverbially and geographically—with their decidedly more upscale Bar Milano.
It was an attempt at a serious restaurant and indeed garnered a respectable two stars from the New York Times. The economic downturn apparently made the high-minded concept unsustainable in an area mostly populated by bar and grills and other more affordable eateries. And so, returning to their roots, the Dentons along with chef Eric Kleinmen transformed Bar Milano into a still more ambitious version of the downtown 'inoteca appending "Vino, cucina e liquori bar" to the restaurants title and expanding the wine list, adding cocktails and pasta to the menu.
61-B Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010 (b/n 25th and 26th; map); 212-213-2522
Service: Like Superman, it's faster than a speeding bullet
Setting: Slightly bigger than the coat closet at a fancy-pants restaurant
Compare It To: There's nothing quite like it, really
Must-Haves: Pernil in any form, especially the sandwich; shrimp ceviche; chicken in any form
Cost: $10 at most, including tax and soda
Grade: B+
Here at Serious Eats World Headquarters we get tons of tips from people recommending their favorite undiscovered restaurant gem. A couple of weeks ago Justin, a passionate serious eater I've known forever in the food biz, e-mailed me about Latin Thing, a tiny steam table joint on Lexington Avenue that was a block from his office. He said that Latin Thing had become his go-to spot for a filling, cheap, delicious lunch at his desk. Now, Justin is no slouch in the serious eats department—we often get into hour-long conversations at food events about arepas, papusas and Chinese steam table joints worth eating at. So when he touts a place, I almost always take his advice.
Last week Robyn and I met Justin at Latin Thing to see if his delicious-spotting batting average would remain at Serious Eats Food Hall of Fame level. Actually, we didn't so much meet at Latin Thing as collide there. Latin Thing consists of three tables for two, a line of customers, and a steam table with three people working that steam table like demons.
But they could be working hard producing eminently forgettable food, or they could be working hard producing seriously delicious food at admittedly rock-bottom prices. That's what Robyn and I were there to find out.
Corned beef is pretty good any way you slice it, but we're defining "killer" as the kind made in-house at restaurants, delis, and butchers. They've pickled and braised the beef themselves, which deserves a little extra respect. Whether in sandwich form or paired with boiled cabbage or cut by the deli slicer, here is the serious beef.
Butcher Tom Mylan with beef
Butcher Tom Mylan calls his approach a "simple, pre-Industrial style." That translates as cured with rock salt and black pepper for 20 days. He actually has the beef, sourced from different farms like Slope Farms, in the back all the time as an outside-the-glass-case secret, but is hyping it up this week.
Price: $10.50 a pound
31 Lexington Avenue, New York NY 10010 (b/n 26th and 25th; map); 212-518-4089
Service: Friendly and a little slow when it's really busy
Setting: Simple storefront with a ten-stool counter
Compare It To: Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches
Must-Haves: Classic banh mi, spicy catfish, and bun bo Hue soup
Cost: $10 to $12 for a sandwich, soft drink, and iced coffee for dessert
Grade: A-
If I were running for office in this town, my slogan would not be "a chicken in every pot" (though that's a laudable goal). Nope, my slogan would be "a banh mi shop on every corner." Think about it. If every substandard sub shop were replaced by a banh mi shop in New York, Gotham would certainly be filled with a lot more serious deliciousness.
First of all, let's define our terms. A banh mi (the word itself means baguette in Vietnamese) is essentially an Asian hero sandwich. The classic is filled with pâté, slices of what can only be described as pork loaf, pickled vegetables, fresh coriander, jalapeño slices. It's dressed with fish sauce, mayo, and hot sauce (usually Sriracha) and served on a warmed baguette.
In New York City, banh mi shops started cropping up in Asian neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan, often sharing space with jewelry shops and stores selling Asian groceries, phone cards, and videos. Then the folks from Nicky's opened an outpost in the East Village, and hipster banh mi joints like Hanco's in Boerum Hill and a new Nicky's in Cobble Hill started coming to a gentrified neighborhood near you.
Now comes Michael "Bao" Hyunh, itinerant Vietnamese chef-restaurateur with a compulsive entrepreneurial streak, who has opened and closed a series of mostly very good Vietnamese eateries. Last year Hyunh opened and left the Tribeca Vietnamese restaurant Mai House (where he was partners with Drew Nieporent) and opened and left Bun in Soho. Now he has recently opened Bar Bao on the Upper West Side, a terrific contemporary restaurant the Upper West Side has been waiting for forever. A month ago he opened Baoguette with his wife, fellow chef and managing partner, Loan Nguyen.
Photograph from ShellyS on Flickr
Despite last year's false rumors, this time it sounds pretty real. Just three years after closing, and a year after reopening (not on 2nd Ave), the 2nd Ave Deli is giving birth to a 2nd (possibly on 2nd Ave, but no hints yet). According to Save the Deli, it'll be somewhere "on the deli starved Upper East Side."
Says Jeremy Lebewohl, heir to the 2nd Ave Deli throne:
My intentions are to basically build another 2nd Ave Deli. The UES is a different neighborhood, with a different client base, and different eating habits. A realistic goal is that I would ideally like to be open before the Jewish holidays at the end of this year. That’s now my target.
You can call me stupid and/or crazy for doing this, but I’ve got a great product, I'm not bashful to say it. Even with a second location, that same flavor that you have at 33rd St, you’ll feel the same haymish relationship, just as you did on 2nd Ave. That feeling’s just as important to bring to the location as the food is. You’ll feel like you’re walking into a family run business up there. I promise”
I have no problem with pastrami mini-empires.
I couldn't resist posting this dosa photo from my Saturday brunch at Tiffin Wallah this past weekend. While vegetarians and fans of southern Indian food may see a tasty treat, I couldn't help but dream about what it would be like to surf through this giant dosa. (Mind you, I've never surfed before, I just like the idea of surfing eating my way out of a giant dosa.) Tiffin Wallah is not a new discovery for any serious eaters who have spent time in Manhattan's affectionately named "Curry Hill", and their $6 weekday all-you-can-eat buffet may be the best pound for pound food deal in all of New York City. But if you are looking for the masala dosa of your fantasies, this one—filled with potatoes— is one of the better versions you'll find in Manhattan.
127 E. 28th Street, New York NY 10016 (nr. Lexington Ave; map)
212-685-7301
This weekend was the first time I decided to trek above 14th Street to visit David's Bagels on 1st Avenue near 19th Street in Manhattan, and my first encounter with a flat bagel, or "flagel." I was a regular at the David's Bagel location on 1st Avenue between 13th and 14th Street (sadly, it closed at the end of August), but had never seen flat bagels offered there.
Curious, I had to learn more about this crunchier species of bagel. Like, how does a flagel get so flat? First it helps to know a little bit about bagel preparation. Bagel dough is mixed and kneaded, then shaped into a bagel. The bagels are then proofed for at least 12 hours before boiling for a few minutes, and finally finished in the oven. It's this process that produces a bagel's (or flagel's) shiny, crispy exterior and tender interior. A phone call to David's Bagels confirmed my hunch—a flagel is a bagel that's flattened after it's been boiled and before it goes into the oven.
Editor's note: Please welcome Serious Eats community member BaHa, aka Barbara Hanson, who will be checking in now and again with dispatches about the various little one-of-a-kind food stores and markets in New York. Here is her recipe for A-Z chicken made with spices from Kalustyan's in Murray Hill. --zach
When Kalustyan's was founded in 1944 (sixty-three years after Chester A. Arthur took the presidential oath of office in the same Lexington Avenue building), the focus was on all things Indian, which might still seem true as you first walk inside, and your senses are met by the toasty, familiar smells of curry, Telicherry pepper, and cumin. Look a little further, though, (don’t miss the bin of dried guava, which looks improbably like sliced bologna) and you’ll find the shelves stocked with food from well over forty countries, ranging from Pakistan, Iran, and Lebanon to England, France, and Germany (food, thank goodness, knows no politics). You’ll also discover such hard-to-find items as coconut scrapers and Puck Cream, which is not a sports emollient but a creamed honey from Dubai.
Frank Bruni's review of the Second Avenue Deli in Wednesday's New York Times captured the emotional resonance of the new deli in an understated but undeniably powerful fashion. It was light on the obvious schmaltz and funny besides. My favorite line:
"On every table sits a free bowl of gribenes, chicken skin fried in chicken fat. In the past you had to ask for it. Now you just have to atone for it."
The new Second Avenue Deli is a special place, for reasons that way beyond the gribenes, pastrami, and french fries (though they're all pretty special in their own right).
It's one of these rare places where you can feel and even taste the underlying emotion, no matter what you order and where you sit. If you live in or near New York hit the Second Avenue Deli soon. Visitors to the city should also plan to have a meal there. Do order the pastrami, the mushroom barley soup, and the french fries. You will have a splendid meal. You'll also be really, really full.
And you'll feel good that you ate there.
If you're not going out, or if you've invited friends over to watch a DVD and raise a glass, here are a few suggestions for high-quality delivered food in various neighbrohoods arround New York:
Peppe's Pizza in Park Slope
House of Pizza and Calzones: Carroll Gardens
Pizza Suprema: Chelsea, Midtown West
Grand Sichuan International: East Village, Chelsea
Blue Smoke: Flatiron
Hill Country: Chelsea
Daisy May's: Midtown West
Totonno's: Murray Hill
Totonno's: Upper East Side
Pig Heaven: Upper East Side
Rack and Soul: Upper West Side
Harriet's Kitchen: Upper West Side
Happy New Year, everyone!
Here's the first photo of the plaque outside the new Second Avenue Deli honoring its founder Abe Lebewohl. They've done you proud, Abe.
I didn't expect to be so moved when I walked into the Second Avenue Deli for a preview "friends and family" meal last night, but I have to admit my eyes welled up with tears when I saw Jack Lebewohl, brother of Second Avenue Deli founder, the late Abe Lebewohl, standing by the door. I guess I didn't realize how much Abe and his deli had meant to me.
When I was a teenager going to the Fillmore East as often as I could, the Second Avenue Deli was my stop for comfort food before the show. When I first came to New York to live after college, the Second Avenue Deli became one of my go-to spots for shelter from the city's storm. Full disclosure: Before I ever wrote about food, when I wrote about music and promoted jazz concerts, I made a little money writing copy for the Second Avenue Deli mail-order catalog (I'm responsible for coining the phrase "give the gift of noshing").
Writing about the late, great Abe Lebewohl, a man's stomach turns its attention to delis—Jewish-style delis of course. Some of my earliest food memories are of eating at Wilshire's Deli on Central Avenue in Lawrence, New York. I remember my typical lunch there being a pastrami sandwich and two hot dogs, but I couldn't have eaten that much, could I?
One of the first dates I went on with my wife was at the dear departed Gitlitz's on Manhattan's Upper West Side. But when it comes to delis in New York, I don't need to wax nostalgic. Though there are far fewer delis here than there once were, there are still enough excellent examples in Gotham that we maintain our status as America's preeminent Jewish-deli city. Some Los Angelenos insist that L.A. is a better deli city, but I believe they have simply spent too much time in the sun.
How do you judge a deli? To me there are clearly established yardsticks, pastrami or corned beef, soup (matzo ball or mushroom barley), and french fries. The quality of the cole slaw and the pickles matter as well.
Using those yardsticks, here is a list of my favorite delis in New York. Are there great Jewish delis outside New York? I love Langer's pastrami in Los Angeles, I've enjoyed many smoked-meat sandwich and french fry lunches at Schwartz's in Montreal, and my Baltimore friends swear by Attman's, but, Serious Eaters, I long to know of others around the country. Do tell.
What's the most eagerly anticipated new restaurant opening of the year in New York? A deli. Who would have thunk it? Perhaps the most beloved New York Jewish-style deli of all time, the Second Avenue Deli, is set to reopen in the coming weeks. But when it does, which Second Avenue Deli will it be: the deli that served the best all-around deli food, which is what it was when the late, beloved Abe Lebewohl was around, or the very good but not great deli it became after Abe was senselessly gunned down while making a bank deposit and his lawyer brother, Jack, took over?
I am rooting for the Second Avenue Deli to come back better than ever, or at least as good as it was when Abe was alive. Alex Witchel in yesterday's New York Times Magazine shows that she is rooting for that as well. In heart-wrenching fashion, she describes how the deli's closing a year and a half ago reopened so many old wounds caused by Abe's death:
The one thing Jack can’t bring himself to talk about is the emotional fallout from Abe’s murder. No matter how many times I asked him, he could not answer. He spoke instead about religion or business or the New York City Police Department, whose efforts he still defends wholeheartedly. And he cried. When I asked Jeremy, who was 13 when his uncle was murdered, about the effect the deli’s closing had on his family, he told me, “It was almost like a person, a close family member, dying.” In the days I spent with both father and son, it became clear that reopening the deli is about much more than business. It’s about Abe.
For me, it's all about the return of a beloved New York food institution that at one point set impossibly high standards for deli food.
