ShinjukuAce's Profile
great breakfast places??? $$ or $$$$$ (gotta try them all!!)
Sarabeth's (moderate price)
Community Food & Juice (moderate price) - their food is all organic and free range, and a lot of it is locally grown.
Bouchon Bakery (moderate price)
Good Enough to Eat is pretty good, but not quite as good as the other places I listed.
Japanese, inexpensive to moderate, not sushi
Sakagura is very good, authentic, non-sushi Japanese.
Asia de Cuba--go or avoid?
Expensive and overrated. I'd go there for drinks but not dinner.
Looking for places between 125 and 170th street, west side to eat tonight
A lot of the best places in the area are just south of 125th - all of these are within 5 blocks south of 125:
Pisticci is excellent Italian.
Massawa for Eritrean.
Stop 125 for New American cuisine.
Visiting in Dec. Help with recs?
"Pearl Oyster Bar (better than Mary's?) Oyster Bar at Grand Central?"
I'd recommend Ocean Grill for raw shellfish.
"Also, might have to sample Gray's Papaya?"
It's really nothing special and I wouldn't go out of your way to eat there. If you want real sausages try Heidelberg.
Zoma - new Ethiopian in Harlem- 113th St
"I'm gonna try out this new spot on 125th st. btw Convent and Amsterdam that I forget the name of....had it once and it was decent, but it was before a full opening of the place, so I guess it deserves another try. "
Cafe Addis. I wouldn't put it in the same league as Queen of Sheba or the UES' "The Ethiopian Restaurant", but it's not bad.
Where to eat in Upper East Side
Yuva and Chola are two excellent Indian restaurants in that area. L'ybane is French-Middle Eastern and is very good. Felice is good for wine and Italian food.
best steak restaraunt in manhattan
Porter House in the Time Warner Center.
I've been disappointed by all of the Argentinian places I've tried, but the Zebu Grill is a very good, meat-focused Brazilian place.
5 days in Manhattan during Thanksgiving week...need recs please :)
"And also, would love to do a JAPANESE MEAL but nothing super great since I'm slowly easing the BF into being a foodie and I dont think Masa or anything over 150 per person for Japanese is a good idea this time around....am open to lunch or dinner if available, heard good things about: (looking for combination of cooked dishes and sushi/sashimi but we didnt love Sushi of Gari last trip in May)"
Few Japanese restaurants do both sushi/sashimi and cooked dishes well. If you wouldn't mind separating having two separate Japanese meals, Sushi Yasuda has a very reasonable weekday lunch special, and Sakagura is excellent, authentic, and reasonably priced for non-sushi Japanese food.
"BF also wants Filipino food again since that was a hit last trip"
Bayan Cafe is passable. That's the only one I've been to.
Just moved to W. 103 and Riverside - need recs!
LeMonde - French bistro, good crepes.
Community Food & Juice - Despite the name, it's a regular restaurant, not a store - excellent contemporary cuisine with local and organic ingredients.
Lime Leaf - Decent neighborhood Thai
Help! Family is coming to visit tomorrow, and I need a restaurant that fits this description...
Artisanal is a French bistro attached to a cheese store, and a lot of the menu incorporates cheese. The fondues might be a interesting option that your mother and the kids would enjoy.
Cafe Sabarsky is a Viennese-style cafe with very good German/Austrian desserts.
Dim sum in Chinatown, or Sakagura for real traditional Japanese food (they don't have sushi and the food isn't spicy at all) would be two other options that would be interesting, if they aren't too exotic for her.
Churrascaria Plataforma for all you can eat Brazilian food. They bring around huge skewers of meat.
Sakae is a conveyor belt Japanese restaurant where the food comes around on conveyor belts and you can take what you want off the conveyor belt or order it from a computer at your table - they have many other options other than sushi. It's not great Japanese food but would be different and fun for the kids.
Classic "New York" Restaurants
At "Ellen's Stardust Diner", the food is mediocre diner food, but the singers are actually quite good - they hire aspiring Broadway performers.
I'd recommend the Algonquin for drinks.
Birthday Help, With Specifics
Blue Hill or Kanoyama.
If you don't mind a little above 34th Street, Sakagura is an excellent non-sushi, authentic Japanese.
Korean vs. Japanese BBQ
The biggest difference between Korean barbecue and Japanese barbecue (teppanyaki) is that in Korean barbecue the meats are marinated in sauces before grilling, while in Japanese barbecue they are not.
Also, Korean barbecue is usually beef or pork, but seafood and chicken are sometimes used. In Japan, teppanyaki is almost always beef. (Teppanyaki restaurants in the US usually offer chicken and seafood teppanyaki as well.)
In teppanyaki, vegetables are grilled along with the meats. In Korean barbecue, vegetables are usually offered as separate side dishes instead of being grilled with the meats.
The Japanese also have a barbecue style of grilled chicken on skewers called yakitori.
Visiting NYC need your top restaurants
Indian - Yuva, Mint, Chola, or Banjara.
Theater District - Queen of Sheba for Ethiopian.
My favorite upscale place is Blue Hill, which focuses on local ingredients, many of which come from their own farm.
NYC Restaurant Advice...
Good coffee and desserts - Cafe Sabarsky
Tea House - Tea and Sympathy
Steaks - the good steakhouses are all very expensive, like Peter Luger, Del Frisco, and the Porter House. Your best bet for a good inexpensive steak is to get a steak frites for brunch at a good French bistro like Les Halles, Le Monde, or Quatorze.
Seafood - Ocean Grill or Atlantic Grill.
Shwarma/Felafel - Steinway Street in Queens near 25th Avenue is a strip of Egyptian restaurants and hookah bars. Along with Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn (Lebanese), it is the best place for authentic, inexpensive Middle Eastern food. Or just buy them off a street cart.
Italian - just avoid Little Italy.
ethiopian on a sunday?
"The Ethiopian Restaurant" (that's the actual name) on the UES is decent.
Worst ethnic place you've been to
Primorski in Brighton Beach - was like $45 a person for black bread, bad vodka, and some unidentifiable inedible spreads, and there was a guy in a silver tracksuit with a synthesizer singing disco songs.
Spice Market in the Meatpacking District serves up completely bland faux Asian food at ridiculous prices for tourists that don't know any better.
NYC Recommendations for January
Steakhouse - Porter House in the Time Warner Center.
Desserts - Cafe Sabarsky on the Upper East Side or Financier in the Financial District.
Barbecue - Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem (make sure you make reservations). I like Brother Jimmy's a lot but it gets a bad rap from some here - their dry rub ribs are great.
French - some good, casual, reasonably priced options are Les Halles, Quatorze, Artisanal if you like cheese, and L'ybane for French with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influence.
Help with restaurants & bars
On your list, I definitely recommend brunch at Sarabeth's, the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, and Balthazar. Molyvos is good, but keep in mind that it is very seafood-focused - if that's not what you want, go elsewhere.
I wouldn't bother with Wichcraft or P.J. Clarke's. Tao is only worth going to if you are a huge SATC fan.
Brazilian food? (not churrascaria)
Zebu Grill is the best Brazilian restaurant in the city, and it does have a pretty good moqueca (a Brazilian seafood stew). Their moqueca has coconut milk, but not palm oil. You can get grilled meats there, but they have a lot of other choices also.
Help two LA chowhounds plan their eating extravaganza!
Try Sarabeth's for brunch and Nomad for Middle Eastern.
Brother Jimmy's All You Can Eat BBQ
I go to the Upper East and Upper West Brother Jimmy's frequently, and only eat in. I've always had huge rib portions. Dinosaur's ribs I've also had many times. I can't speak to Brother Jimmy's takeout or delivery portions, or the portions of the other Brother Jimmy's branches.
Best Japanese in NYC
Sushi Yasuda or Kanoyama for sushi. Sushi Yasuda has a very reasonable weekday lunch special.
Sakagura for non-sushi Japanese.
Torys has very good yakitori.
