I can only vouch for Joe (Art of Coffee)'s regular coffee, which is the best I've ever had in the city.

I realize the food comes first and every other detail is secondary, but Gyro II, as decent as it is, is just waaaay too depressingly ghetto-depressing. Most of the crowd are sad office worker- or shopper-types, most getting the horrible looking pizza crammed in there, too.

Piece of Chicken (take-out only), 45th just east of 9th.

There's Vatan, which is Indian - 3rd & 29th.

great fried chicken (take-out only) - Piece of Chicken (45th just east of 9th)
v. good bar burger - Lansdowne Road (10th & 43rd)
supermarket - Food Emporium, 42nd & 10th
cheap-ish butcher - 9th btwn 41st & 42nd
great tacos - Tehuitzingo, 10th & 47th
great mexican sandwich ("cemita") - Tulcingo, 10th & 46th
german food & beer - Hallo Berlin, 10th & 44th

I noticed recently that they offer their own house brand in different bottles according to which of three different places - Italy, Spain or Greece - they came from, all at the same price which is just slightly higher than their other no-country-named 'generic' house brand. Anyone do a taste test and form an opinion on which of those three is the best?

Hear hear to Kanoyama, maybe the best in its reasonable-though-not-cheap-though-certainly-not-crazy-midtown-expense-account-expensive tier. Thank God we have them down here in the Gramercy-East Village general area. The master is a really nice guy, too - just like his former boss who sold out to him and moved home after that lunatic shot him in the hand at the wine bar almost next door (sorry, I sort of digress, but that's a true story!)

And does anyone else here go nuts when people reflexively mention Nobu on this subject? They have some amazing cooked foods but their sushi sucks. Tiny, not particularly fresh-tasting....and they go waaaaaay overboard with that annoying shiso & cucumber roll wrapping schtick.

Amy's IS great, and you can get simple cheap sourdough mini-boules (not so mini, mind you), only $1.25.

Honorable mention goes to the small baguettes at, yes that's right, Trader Joe's. Just heat them in a hot oven for about 7 minutes, really really good. Most of their other breads have been disappointing, particularly the sliced ones.

place called Piece of Chicken, 45th St just off of 9th Ave - take out only, but it's awesome (and cheap, most items $1 or $2)

It verges on being too big, but once you've had the almost White Castle-ishly tiny ones at Shake Shack, PJ Clarke's and Hamburgers & Cupcakes, come on now, you have to come running back to Molly's. AND it tastes better than those three, none of which are slouches themselves. p.s. Molly's Fish & Chips is equally amazing...

The impression you got is very understandable, it doesn't look like any great shakes when you first (or second, or fifth) walk in. But I can assure you, you can't go wrong by heading straight to the far left of the counter, picking up some sausage (or their famous pig jowel, though probably only by the block) and bringing it home. It's awesome. Just avoid the chicken sausage, that's a contradiction in terms, never makes good sausage. And the service has always been friendly in my visits.