Lower East Side

NYC – Top 10 dishes of 2013

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Ziggy

Another year, another amazing eating year in the city of New York. Keeping up with all the new and excitement here is like keeping up with the Kardashians. But 2013 proved to be one heck of a year, probably the best ever. And if there’s ever a post on EWZ that could be helpful to visitors or locals seeking great chow in NYC, this is IT!

Ma Peche – Fried Chicken (with a side of the Brussels Sprouts). I’ll start with the last great dish. Haute Fried Chicken doesnt get any better than this. Habanero, coriander, black pepper and other spices used to create this fried pieces of awesomeness. Its a large shareable whole chicken at $48, but for lunch you can get half for $24 which can still feed an Armanian village, or 2 Americans. And the amazing Brussels Sprouts dish are worthy of their own spot here.

Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop– Smoked Whitefish Donburi. With salmon roe, sweet soy dashi, cucumber, scallion over rice. Need I say more? I probably should. Tell me if you heard this story before. A Jewish man from Long Island opens a Ramen shop in Tokyo which becomes critically acclaimed, then comes back to NYC to open a Ramen shop in the New Gotham West Market in Hell’s Kitchen. Sounds familiar? The Donburi is a nice clash of the 2 cultures (Japan meets Jew)

Momofuku Ssam Bar – Spicy Sausages & Rice Cakes. Second Momofuku mention already (Ma Peche is the first) This dish is insane. Plenty of heat and plenty of joy. Its a beautiful medley of ground sausage, Chinese broccoli, Sichuan peppercorn, and the awesome rice cakes which were essentially Korean Gnocchi made from rice flour. Puts the Mssion Chinese rice cakes to shame. Photo courtesy of Never Too Sweet

Betony – Short Ribs. A revelation! Tender, full of flavor goodness. It takes 3 days to make them we were told. We told the waitress that we cant stay that long, but we quickly understood the meaning.

Maialino – Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe. Its so simple, it shouldnt be here. But along with the carbonara perhaps my favorite dish at one of my favorite Italian spots in the city. Perfectly creamy, peppery, and addictive. Having it sit there among the other pastas on the table is like visiting the bunny ranch after trying out all the bunnies, and constantly picking your favorite.

The NoMad – The Chicken. This is a no brainer, and a top dish nominee even before it reached our table. Once you get over the facts that a) is costs $78 (for 2) and b) its freakin chicken, you will enjoy this one no doubt. Perfectly crispy skin, moist juicy white meat, along with some foie gras and black truffles (all cooked) nicely tucked beneath the skin. Each bite of that combination together was a Tour de Force. But that’s not all. Add a glorious plate of the dark meat with garlic espuma (foamy light garlic goodness) in the middle to share.

Ippudo – Akamaru Modern (with egg). “Welcom”, “Goodbye”, “Aim Well”? I have no idea what they are screaming in Japanese at Ippudo every time someone arrives or goes to the bathroom. All I know is that this is my favorite dish here. Rich, complex pork broth, along with hefty pieces of pork belly. Add the egg and spicy miso paste for even richer flavors

Costata – The Costata. Perhaps the dish of the year. A mammoth 44oz $120 very shareable Tomahawk Ribeye cooked to perfection. Basted ever so beautifully with a rosemary brush, this beast was a feast for all senses. Add some Black truffle butter, fries and asparagus, but good luck remembering the sides in between bites of perhaps the best steak in town

Nish Nush – Falafel. I know Falafel. I grew up with falafel. My car runs on falafel (its the trade-in period while waiting for the new car so dont want to use the real thing). This is good falafel. Fresh pita from the oven, and free (great) hummus can only help

Kashkar Cafe – Geiro Lagman. Little Asia in little Odessa (Brighton Beach) and perhaps the only Uyghur spot in town. I’ve had this dish 3 times in the last 8 months. Nice and chewy hand pulled noodles with lamb, veggies, cumin, garlic, other spices and herbs make up this highly palatable dish.

Special mentions:

Malai Marke – Chicken Xacuti (and Bindi Sasuralwali)
Sakagura – Maguro Tartar
Pure Thai – Wok Curry Paste with Pork
Mercato – Trenette
Jungsik – The rice dish that comes for free for b-day boy 😉
Louro – Octopus Bolognese (tie with monkfish)
Mission Chinese – Kung Pao Pastrami

Categories: Brooklyn, Chelsea, Chinatown, East Village, Gramercy, Flatiron, Lower East Side, Midtown East, Midtown West, New York City, SoHo, NoHo, Nolita, TriBeCa, West Village | Tags: Best restaurants in NYC, food, NYC, NYC eats, NYC food, restaurants, Top NYC dishes, Travel | Leave a comment

Battle of the Bridges Part Deux – Grub This!

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Ziggy

With 2 major food events scheduled for the weekend, the big news could not have come at a better time. We apparently not pooping properly! Yes thats right! Leave your iphone in your pockets and invest in baby wipes and a little stool for your feet and squat away. Is our society ready for this? Meaning, can I be seen leaving a meeting at work early for the sole purpose of going to the restroom carrying a little stool, or would that be awkward? But it makes complete sense to me. However, as with all the studies out there, I would wait about month for any disputing “Wrong! We ARE pooping just fine” arguments to emerge.

I already wrote about the first event of the weekend. The next day the Hummus Whisperer and I planned another one of those bike bridge tours where we Citibike from place to place and eat various things. A bike tour that would have been so much more fun if not for a certain someone’s WIFE WHO NEEDED HER PRECIOUS TO BE HOME BY 3:30! ok, needed to get it out of my system. Here’s what we did and what we ate last Sunday…

As before, we parked by the Brooklyn Bridge on the Brooklyn Side and biked Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan. The earlier you do it, the easier it gets on this bridge due to the amount of tourists that flock it.

Stop 1 – Grub Street Food Festival on Hester street. The mother of all NYC food festivals. If you have to choose one food festival to attend a year, this is the one. The who’s who of the top vendor names, great space, plenty of seats, and great music. While we were returning our bikes, we met a dutch couple who were having trouble with their bikes and needed to get to another docking station. They were able to return only one bike. I offered to bike along with the wife to another docking station and walk the wife to the festival but the husband insisted on running along the sidewalk much to the delight of some locals. I cant blame him for not trusting me as I had a very bad hair day. Anyway when they were leaving, they asked me if its a weekly thing and couldn’t believe how lucky they were when I told them its yearly. Here’s what we ate…

Pastrami sandwich from Ducks Eatery – Started with a bang! Very meaty, juicy, thick sliced as pastrami should be. Delicious. Great job by Ducks

Israeli Scotch Eggs from Eastwood. Fan-freakin-tastic. “Taim Meod”. Very unique and very good. Add some Tehina on it and its like the Falafel and Sabich making boogie right in front of your eyes. Eastwood people, I see you now! I dont need a liquor license to visit you. Some Nesher Bira Schora (Israeli black beer) will do, thanks

Khao Man Gai from Khao Man Gai – Essentially Chicken and Rice, ginger based sauce and a light soup. Khao Man Gai is thai street food. Basic compared to everything else but pleasant. To enjoy this one is best with Thai iced tea and a seat

Teriyaki Balls from Mimi and Coco – I dont know why it took me so long to try these. I suppose I was never really in the mood for them, but this time those beautiful Schweddy Balls were like “Come To Ziggy”. These were bursting with flavor on every bite. However, I made the mistake of putting an entire ball in my mouth and for a few seconds suffered greatly from the heat (not spicy, HOT). I would have them again

Canela – Cajeta Ice Cream from La Newyorkina – Perhaps the best thing I ate all day. Very sweet but in a very good way, Mexican caramel, cinnamon and some love. This is artisanal ice cream at its best. No frozen air here.

For the same reason I’m obsessed with travel, walking around Chinatown is one of my favorite things to do in NYC. Live frogs, dragon fruit, massage parlors with “No special favors” signs, 99 cent new favors (see below) and all sorts of prices that cant be beat (except of course if you get for free). Just things I don’t normally see on a daily basis.

I enjoy walking inside buddhist temples (until I see too many swastikas and run the hell out there) and perhaps for the first time heard a “welcome” from a monk. It was in Pu Chao Buddhist Temple on Eldridge street. very nicely decorated, serene temple

Near the temple you will also find one of New York’s hidden treasures, the Museum at Eldridge Street. The museum is housed inside the great Eldridge Street Synagogue, the first synagogue in America built by East European Jews. Built in 1887. A strange location nowadays smack in the middle of Chinatown, but its not stopping from tourists to flock it looks like.

Back to eating, back to the bikes. We alter plans to go to Hells Kitchen and rode back to Brooklyn instead, this time taking the Manhattan Bridge back. Sooo much easier riding the Manhattan Bridge. No people, No ringing, great views (below). BTW, the Hummus Whisperer is the only person I know that rings cars. They cant hear you HW!

We opted to stop by and visit the Brooklyn Navy Yards, a giant shipyard used to build and repair navy and commercial vessels. An informative little museum tells the story of not only the shipyard but the entire city. Tours are offered by either bus or bikes due to the size of the area.

Picked up the bikes again and moved on toward Dumbo, the #1 destination currently for wedding, bat mistvah, get out of prison pictures. People watching and scenery doesn’t get much better than Dumbo these days.

Our destination is the new Smorgasburg which recently moved from Dumbo to Pier 5. Pier 5 is as stunning. Before we parked I get a text from my friend Val saying that he’s at this food festival near the Brooklyn Bridge Park, figuring he’s telling me something new that I ought to know. I surprised him and family minutes later.

We sampled some Short ribs from Takumi Taco yet again. Still good though perhaps a tad drier this time.

Fried Chicken from Buttermilk Channel was just ok. A bit greasy and sweet batter that’s not to my liking. Not a very good line/taste ratio here.

Mighty Quinn’s and its mighty line still rule this show rightfully so, but I didnt have it this time (My friend Val did and loved it)

The best thing that came out of this for me was Vermont Maple Lemonade. This grown man drives every weekend to NYC to open a lemonade stand. Holy smokes it was good. Refreshing and tasty. Perhaps the best lemonade I ever had.

One last bike pick up, a quick randevu with the red hook, a near death with a cabbie, and another one where a leaf landed on my face and blinded me temporarily, and back to the car in one piece. Till next time

Categories: Brooklyn, Lower East Side, New York City | Tags: Ducks Eatery, Ducks Eatery NYC, Eastwood NYC, food, Grub Street Food Festival, Khao Man Gai, La Newyorkina, Mimi and Coco, NYC eats, restaurants, Smorgasburg, Travel, Vermont Maple Lemonade | Leave a comment

Cata – LES is More

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Ziggy

To find my next dining destination, I turned to a little site I like to call Eating With Ziggy. While browsing the site I noticed the following 3 things: I haven’t eaten anything in the Lower East Side for a while; I haven’t eaten tapas in a while; My fonts are terrible; and my tagline “Eating Well Spelling Poorly” makes no sense whatsoever since I use a spell checker. Ok, that was 4 things. It was 3 when I started writing the sentence I promise you that. So I figured its time to eat something in the Lower East Side, and make it tapas. And as to the terrible fonts? Well, that’s your problem! I don’t read the stuff, just write them.

Although I have a list of new restaurants to try that’s almost as big as my Netflix cue (one of those words I hate spelling properly, like “tho”), I tend to sometimes ignore the list and look elsewhere for much added excitement. This time I looked at the newly released Michelin Bib Gourmands. Or “Baby Michelin Stars” if you will, given for quality cheap(er) eats. And I noticed a place that somehow slipped through my radar, Cata. Coupled that with an endorsement from Kathryn off Chowhound and off we went.

While taking a closer look I noticed Cata was Alta’s sister, a place we enjoyed in the past. And like many of my friends and coworkers, Cata owners are big fans of 4 letter words looks like. I suggest Nada for the next one (private joke for my Providenciales friends)

An array of Gin and tonic drinks is one of the specialties here… I liked the Kaffir Lime one. While Mrs Ziggy would not even look at the rest of the menu once she sees her Aperol Spritz. She gets up and does the Macarena from excitement – starting to get embarrassing, for her. The food menu is much better organized than Alta which is one giant list.

So is Cata short for Catalonia or Catastrophe? Lets see..

Baked Cana Cebra – Goat cheese with honey. Quite good. Perhaps not as good as Alta version with lavender infused honey but quite good

Deviled Eggs with fried oysters – Very tasty, if not a tad on the salty side.

Quail Egg Bendecits with chorizo, hash browns (top picture) – Another nice dish. Pretty to look at too. Wife much preferred this over the deviled but the opposite was true for me. So far so delicious

Mushrooms with shallots, red wine – I got to have my mushrooms (especially since she doesn’t eat them) and this did not disappoint.

Tuscan Kale – With Parmigian thin “crisps”. Simply grilled and tasty. Wife liked this one especially

Long Island Razor Clams – Cant pass on fresh razor clams. The one must coming in. Simple, “Meaty”, a tad chewy and absolutely delicious overall

Gambas al Ajillo – One of the best dishes of the night. 4 jumbo perfectly cooked shrimp. I prefer this dish more garlicky but this was tasty nonetheless. I still haven’t found something similar to the Gambas al Ajillo that we had in Ramiro in Lisbon if anyone familiar. Where readers? Where can I have these beauties?

Jamon Iberico Bellota – I asked if they can bring a little sampler instead of the $27 full plate of it and they did for I believe $10. This tasted just fine to me. Not something I would order again. This is some of the finest Jamon Iberico on the planet, made from pigs eating only acorns (Bellota) as their last meals on earth. Coincidentally, this was my wish as well

Skirt Steak – Good, a little uninspiring but good. This is perhaps a good time to complain that it was a little hard to read that menu with dimmed lighting as I initially didn’t see the “Add: Organic farm egg $2”. I would definitely add the egg here.

Charcuteir Board – lard toasts were fine, jamon Serrano we didn’t get due to the Bulotta, Chorizo we didn’t care for – not much flavor. The best part of the board by far were the Almonds. Perhaps this is the only miss of the evening

Torrija – Excellent! Like the crème brule and bread pudding had a baby. A beautiful, delicious baby.

Terrific meal overall

Categories: Lower East Side, New York City | Tags: Cata, Cata NYC, food, Lower East Side Eats, NYC, NYC eats, NYC restaurants, restaurants, Travel | 1 Comment

Citibike Confessions 2 – Battle of the Bridges

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Ziggy

“We are going shopping”, the most beautiful words for a man to hear since “I do”. “We” – as in just us, without You”. Here’s how I took advantage. A Labor Dy trip report if you will…

Picked up Mr Hummus Whisperer and parked the car by the Brooklyn Bridge on the Brooklyn side. Picked up a Citibike and rode the Bridge over to the other side. Unlike the day before where we walked the bridge after (and before) visiting the Smorgasburg in Dumbo (will try to write a separate post) the bridge in the morning was fairly quiet.

“Cruised” Lafayette and dropped the bikes by Houston. Wanted to try La Colombe Coffee after watching the guy on the travel channel exploring the world for coffee beans but it was closed. I was surprised to learn how many places are closed on Mondays in NYC. Like being in Milan in August. Too hot for coffee anyway. We made our way to Russ and Daughters, picked our bagels and went to a nearby park where an elderly Asian couple were doing an exercise I haven’t seen before: Bouncing a basketball. Buttery Lox, cream cheese, tomato, onions, on a fresh crispy bagel never tasted this good. R&D, one of many Lower East Side institutions is touristy for good reason. We were without the wits of our women which means without napkins but we somehow managed with minimum stain action.

We proceeded to pick up the Citibikes nearby again and rode to Delancey and Williamsburg bridge. We crossed over to Brooklyn and just biked around Kent Ave without a plan whatsoever. None of this was planned BTW. Feeling hungry again we decided to park and just walk to Egg for another round of breakfast. But the line was too big so we just went to Verb Café nearby on Bedford and had ice coffee with our takeout Bialys from R&D. Ok, the R&D mention again reminds me that I need to go back to work.. Ok I’m back.. where was I… Oh ye. Verb Café – Ive been there before. If you ever need a reminder that you are in Williamsburg you head to this café and the mini mall attached to it

We picked up the bikes again and rode the Williamsburg bridge back. An unfortunate incident occurred where a bra-less woman riding a bike was accidentally flashing more than the laws allowed. Unfortunate for her. Anyway, we had a good laugh and continued riding by the East River toward midtown. Nice views of the manhattan skyline open up at some point with the river a few feet away. This is a nice section to bike on. We U-turned on 30th and turned on 20th toward the flatiron area. Just rode around aimlessly until it was time for you know..eat.

We dropped the bikes in the East Village. A trip like this is incomplete without eating something in the East Village. Opted to go to Maharlika but we got distracted by a little piggy and shared a Porchetta sandwich in Porchetta. In here they do it differently than in Italy. They get whole loins with the skin and all, season, roll it, and roast it for 7 hours. The result is one fatty, garlicky, porky goodness. Fantastic sandwich. Highly recommend Porchetta.

Time for a cleanser. Liquiteria is thee place in town according to my juice obsessed friend. I’ve been there before and ordered the same thing again, the Grasshopper – a great blend of apple, pear, pineapple, wheatgrass, mint, old cellphones, or god knows what else they put in there. All freshly squeezed, naturally sweet and very refreshing. A little pricey but you pay for quality

Too full for Maharlika we pick up the bikes yet again and head to Tribeca. Dropped the bikes by Whole Foods and spent some quality R&R time (Relieve and Read) in Barnes and Nobles. This branch has my favorite travel section. We are in Tribeca which means we have to go to Nish Nush. Shared a Masabacha which is essentially hummus with Tahini, some other sauce, chickpeas and boiled egg. Added some Falafel balls as well to this party. Since I introduced HW to this place a month ago he’s been here 6 times. He was so excited he stained himself again right next to the R&D stain. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is the best falafel in the city.

Time to pick up the bikes again and cross the Brooklyn Bridge back to the car. Now its raining which means I finally look cool on those bikes. I tried the one hand move before and nope.. need it to rain. The bridge is much busier now even with the rain and those darn pedestrians are all over the bike lanes. Of course I was also all over the bike lanes when I was a pedestrian the day before

We dropped the bikes for the last time and started to head home. But hey, we are already here, next to a place I wanted to visit for a while now, so whats the rush. The only one who has the balls to open a pizza joint next to Grimaldi’s is.. well.. Grimaldi. The place is called Juliana’s and the Margherita pie was absolute perfection. I’m not gonna go into the details of the story and controversy here but the gist of it was that Grimaldi’s sold the Grimaldi name rights years ago and now he’s back.. right next door. So when you come to Brooklyn to stand on the hour long line to Grimaldi’s just keep in mind that the place next door with no lines has probably better pizza – I think it does. And for the sake of the neighborhood locals who finally got their pizza back this is the last time I will mention this.

And that’s how I spent my Labor Day.

Categories: Brooklyn, East Village, Lower East Side, New York City, TriBeCa | Tags: food, Juliana's Brooklyn, Nish Nush NYC, NYC dining, NYC restaurants, Porchetta NYC, restaurants, Russ and Daughters NYC, Travel | 1 Comment

Mission Chinese Food 1 – Ziggy 0

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Ziggy

A short but sweet review on one of the hottest new restaurants in NYC. If you haven’t heard of Mission Chinese food you either live under a rock or in Staten Island. Sorry for the Iphone photos

Getting there at 12:30 pm proved to be a perfect time – No Meshugenah line. While looking at the menu I was eyeing no less than 8 dishes for myself and my companion, The Hummus Whisperer, but settled on 6, still much to the dismay of the bartender who assured us we’ll be leaving with a hefty number of doggy bags. Ha! The joke is on him I’m thinking. He doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.

I asked the bartender as I was giving him our orders if he can somehow arrange it so we could get the dishes in their proper order, from mild to intense as some of the dishes can be so intense they can burst your palates. He said in a very polite way, No! “They will come in a furious pace..Bla bla, bla” whatever. Next time I will simply order the mild ones first and later will order the rest. Here’s what we had in the order of arrival…

Cumin Lamb – Wasn’t too crazy about this one. The lamb was way over spiced to my taste. I understand its called Cumin lamb, but it still needs to taste good and it wasn’t. And way too salty

Mapo Tofu – This is it. Now I get it. A flavor festival. Like a beautiful Tofu with thos melt in your mouth tender Pork Shoulder spice de jour soup. Delicious, but palates are starting to burst

Chongqing Chicken Wings – Palates burst. After one, just one chicken wing, and that Tofu I needed to take a break. Those wings were super spiced and very intense.

Thrice cooked bacon – I don’t know what to think about this one. It came with those “I cant believe its not potatoes Rice cakes” and after having a few of those at this point I started to wonder where the explosiveness is coming from. This was not one of my favorite dishes. Maybe they need to cook the bacon a 4th time.

Kung Pao Pastrami – My favorite dish and the best Kung Pao I ever had. They make their own pastrami, not from Katz’s as the rumor was. Very juicy and flavorful Pastrami cubes and the entire dish really worked

Salt Cod Fried Rice – Very good but why are we getting the mildest dish last. Loved the tiny Chinese sausage bits.

This was a defeat like I never experienced. We couldn’t even finish the 6 chicken wings. My request for milk from the bartender resulted with just a grin. No, I’m serious, I want Milk. Whatever! I’ll be back for a rematch now that I know what to order and how to order it. I’m outta here. With the doggy bags!

Categories: Lower East Side, New York City | Tags: food, Mission Chinese Food, Mission Chinese Food NYC, NYC dining, NYC food, NYC restaurants, restaurants | 1 Comment