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New York City offers ample opportunities for those looking to blow tons of money on dinner...and information on these swanky restaurants is easy to come by. The following are some lesser-known places serving great food on the west side of midtown (thus easy destinations from the Javits Center). The first, Soul Fixin's, is only a short walk from the center:
Soul Fixins'
371 West 34 St (@9th Ave)
(212) 736-1345
Reservations: Not accepted
Entree Range: $5-$8
Payment: Cash only
Bar: No
Dress: Casual
Disabled access: Good
Hours: Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Atmosphere/Setting: This was once a no-frills take-out lunch joint with a couple of tables. While there's still no waiter service, the place has been spruced up considerably. Lunches can still be crowded, utilitarian feeds, but hours have been extended and dinnertimes now offer a bit of mood. With the tracklit tables, new snazzy red-and-black color scheme, and a friendly, diverse clientele, this is now a happening enough scene to bring a date and the food is seductive enough to more than compensate for the bus-your-tray policy.
House Specialties: Barbecued spareribs or chicken (not smoked, but they've found an awfully smart way to do them in the oven), well-seasoned candied yams, smokey, slightly chewy collard greens, and crusty macaroni and cheese. To drink, there's exemplary--and not oversweet--lemonade and smooth southern-style iced tea. There are fine desserts like excellent sweet potato pie (a great crust must have lard). Everything comes with good corn bread.
Other Recommendations: Surprisingly, fried chicken is merely adequate.
Summary & Comments: This underrated place rivals the better soul food kitchens in Harlem, and its low prices are more uptown than midtown. While this can by no means be labeled health food, the chef does hold back on grease, salt, and pork byproducts as much as he can and still have stuff taste good...which it reliably does. And the friendly staff, accustomed to serving impatient, harried Midtown workers, can be counted on to get you out in a flash.
Cuisine of Pakistan (a.k.a. Kashmir 9)
478 Ninth Avenue (between 36 and 37 Streets)
(212) 736-7745
Reservations: Not accepted
Entree range: $4-6
Payment: Cash only
Bar: No
Dress: Casual
Disabled access: Good; restroom n.a.
Hours: Every day, Noon-5:00 a.m.
Atmosphere/Setting: Flourescently lit, sparklingly clean self-service cafeteria. As a separate concession, a clerk sells Pakistani music cassettes in his glassed-in corner booth.
House Specialties: While aloo bhujia (potato stew) and haleem (meat and lentils stewed for eternity) are the two standouts, neither is available every day. But there are myriad other delicious stewy things, including an ever-changing assortment of sturdy concoctions like chicken and spinach (with tender chicken retaining a surprising amount of its flavor), and at least two bean dishes (definitely choose the yellow dal, made from tiny yellow lentils; it's blazingly hot, ferociously garlicky, and swooningly scumptious). Also try the spicy (beef) sausage or roast chicken.
Summary & Comments: Check out this underappreciated Midtown spot for the tastiest, heartiest Pakistani cooking in the borough. It makes for a nice change of pace for those bored with the standard Indo-Pak food; this pure-bred Pakistani cooking is accessible (for those who can stand the heat) yet noticeably different from the Bangladeshi fare served elsewhere. Don't sweat the lack of menus; a well-mannered waiter presides over point-out-your-order steam tables, and preparations are simple, ingredient-wise. Bear in mind, though: this ain't lean cuisine; plenty of oil is used in the cooking.
Rinconcito Peruano
803 Ninth Avenue (between 53 and 54 Streets)
(212) 333-5685
Reservations: For large parties only
Entree Range: $6-15
Payment: VISA, MC
Bar: None
Dress: Casual
Disabled access: Good; restrooms n.a.
Hours: Monday-Friday, 11:00 a.m.-11 p.m; Saturday and Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-11:00 p.m.Atmosphere/Setting: A little touch of Jackson Heights, Queens in Manhattan. The interior is spruced up to the extent that income from $6 entrees allows. But although they seem to have learned restaurant management from a correspondence course, the Mom and Pop owners are lovely people (food this good doesn't come from cold-hearted cooks), and the good vibes that enliven the food permeate this humble parlor. Peruvians flock here, as do intrepid Anglos.
House Specialties: Tamales are the very epitome of corn; papas a la huancaina (the Peruvian classic of cold boiled potatoes drenched in spicy cheese sauce) luxuriate in a rich, slightly chunky yellow sauce, not chalky or bland as elsewhere; papa rellena is an ungreasy fried ball of subtly spiced mashed potatoes stuffed with tender ground meat; aji de gallina is a casserole with chunks of tender chicken and good potato (along with ground walnuts, parmesan cheese and mirasol peppers) afloat in a sweetish sauce that's beautifully unified of flavor. Splendid fish ceviche (raw fish cooked through acidic limey marination) is quite spicy, the flesh so rich it's almost buttery; tacu tacu is smooth, irresistible soupy rice with white beans (also available with meat). For dessert, helado de lucuma is very smooth and deep-flavored ice cream made from a popular (but untranslatable) South American fruit. Another dessert, choclo peruano, confronts you with a small ear of huge kernaled corn and a small brick of extremely mild cheese. At first you're not quite sure what to do, but nature quickly takes its course.
Other recommendations: The dynamite hot sauce contains some avocado; it's great for dunking bread in.
Summary & Comments: Manhattan's been sadly lacking good South American food for years, but Rinconcito Peruano has upped the ante, serving Peruvian dishes worlds tastier than you'll find in even the best places in Queens and New Jersey (the food can't possibly be much better even in Peru!). The well-meaning staff is decidedly not ready for prime time, and the kitchen gets overwhelmed when crowds peak (so go at off hours). But GAWD, is it ever worth it. To find most of the menu actually available, go for lunch on a Saturday or Sunday.
Mr. Broadway Kosher Deli
1372 Broadway (near 37th Street)
(212) 921-2152
Reservations: Accepted
Entree range: $4.25-$21.75
Payment: (VISA, MC, AMEX, D, DC)
Bar: Beer and wine
Dress: Casual
Disabled access: Fair
Monday-Thursday 9 a.m.-9 p.m; Friday 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m.-9
p.m.; closed Saturday
Atmosphere/Setting: From the front, this looks like just another of the area's many kosher fast food spots; but the rear is classic Jewish deli, a tumultuous hall with darting waiters, tables crammed with pickles and cole slaw, and regulars who look like they eat a LOT of pastrami trying to squeeze their way through the tight floor plan.
House specialties: Outstanding garlicky baba gounoush (eggplant salad), potato knishes, couscous, kasha varnichkes (oniony buckwheat with bowtie noodles), potato pancakes (deep fried, but good), homemade french fries, chicken soup with matzoh balls, falafal, derma (rich spicy stuffing in sausage casing), fried "Moroccan cigars" (pastry flutes stuffed with finely minced meat), homemade gefilte fish
Other recommendations: There's a topnotch self-service Middle Eastern salad bar up front (for take-out at $3.99/pound or to accompany falafal and shwarma sandwiches--falafal's better).
Summary & comments: Mr. Broadway Kosher Deli & Restaurant is known by many names: it's also Me Tsu Yan Kosher Chinese Restaurant and Chez Lanu (a Hebrew pun), serving North African dishes. The confluence of cuisines makes for some strange culinary juxtapositions, from customers smearing hummous on their hotdogs to the Moroccan couscous served with a homely piece of Eastern European roast chicken riding indecorously atop. For both Mideastern and deli specialties, Mr. Broadway is a winner. The kitchen somehow manages to turn out perfectly balanced baba ganoush and flaky potato knishes without watering down the soulfulness of chicken soup or tender gefilte fish. Corned beef is of paramount importance in a Jewish deli; their's is good and well-cut though a bit too lean (everything's a tad lighter than usual here...perhaps it's the Sephardic influence). Chinese dishes--glatt kosher, like everything else--are handily available for those for whom Chinatown isn't an option. This place is relatively new, and thus unpedigreed in NYC deli history, but the more venerable delis seem grimily past their primes while Mr. Broadway thrives.
El Papasito
370 West 52nd (near 9th avenue)
(212) 265-2225, (212) 265-2227
Reservations: Not required
Entree Range: $6.50-$19
Payment: All major credit cards
Bar: Beer and wine only
Dress: Casual
Disabled access: Fair; small step up, bathroom doors narrow
Hours: Every day, 7:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m.
Atmosphere/Setting: A colorful, inviting L-shaped space with mustard yellow walls, neatly arranged tables with glass-covered green tablecloths, autographed photos of Dominican baseball players, and one bizarre black velvet flock painting with blinking electric lights. There's a bar tucked into a corner that's been built to resemble a thatched Caribbean hut.
House Specialties: New York's shockingly bean deprived, quality-wise, but El Papasito is legume heaven; several (possibilities include white/pink/red/blackbeans, chick/pigeon peas, etc) are made daily, each according to a separate recipe (silky intense black beans have a hit of vinegar, pink beans are more starkly elemental). Mofungo--a fried mash of starchy plantains, garlic, and pork that's one of the heaviest dishes on Earth (and easy to miss under the "Side Orders" heading) somehow manages to taste light and greaseless, served with a cup of delicious intense gravy that's instantly absorbed. Chicharrones are crunchy pieces of on-bone pork or chicken, not just fried skin (as the dish is often mistranslated)...squirt lime over them. Asopado is a thick, intensely garlicy rice soup, one order easily enough for three. Don't miss stewed goat when it's a special or the off-menu silky yucca (a yam-ish vegetable elsewhere cooked to death), served with great marinated onions that enhance the sweetness of the tuber. Chicken in any form (ubiquitous on the daily specials menu) is dependably good, and flan (caramel custard) is downright fantastic--just the right balance of eggy richness and lightness, with a non-cloying intense caramel sauce.
Other Recommendations: Surprisingly, the cafe con leche is mediocre.
Summary & Comments: This is the class act for Dominican cooking in lower Manhattan. El Papasito serves--in a jazzy, comparatively "upscale" ambiance-- great fresh plates with all the soulful authenticity of a Spanish Harlem hole-in-the-wall. Servers are very friendly but utterly unprofessional; they speak decent English but you'll ask twice for silverware and the check's a major production (also beware of the dreaded pre-dessert Windex tabletop spray-down). Perhaps the waiters figure that with food so good at such low prices, they don't need to do much more than carry plates...and they may be right.
A few quick Chinatown mentions for those willing to travel further afield:
Dimsum at The Nice Restaurant (35 East Broadway, 212-406-9510) skip fried stuff. Also good for pricey banquet-ish Cantonese at dinnertime.
Hong Kong style grandma food at Tindo (1 Eldridge Street, 212-966-5684), order from small green specials menu only; don't miss the various hotpots or fried shrimp with golden walnuts and mayonnaise).
More standard Cantonese Chinatown fare at Kam Chueh, 40 Bowery (South of Canal Street, 212-791-6868), best for any seafood in black bean sauce, snow pea leaves, salt and pepper squid. Also a very intriguing hot and sour soup.
Jim Leff is the "Big Dog" at Chowhound, "the website for those who live to eat," and the author of The Eclectic Gourmet Guide to Greater New York City, where these reviews originally appeared (in slightly different form).
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