If week 3 was a week on the Great British Back-Off, it would probably be called „Street Food Week“. Stay tuned for next week’s grand finale. (Spoiler: There might be some more fine dining.)
Bagel from Ess-a-Bagel
I love bagels, so naturally I had to have one more. Ess-a-Bagel is a small-ish New York chain that is supposed to have pretty good ones and since it’s just down the road from my flat, I got one for breakfast the other day. I went with a fairly classic choice of scallion cream cheese, lox and capers because I prefer a hearty breakfast. If you’re more of a sweettooth, then there’s also a wide variety of sweet cream cheeses ranging from apple cinnamon to chocolate chip. The trash tv fan in me tried to find Erdbeerkäse, but unfortunately there was none.
The bagel was good but didn’t knock my socks off. I paid about $18 which is pretty much the same that I paid at Russ and Daughters. Really have to find a good budget option.
7/10
Cereal Milk Soft Serve from Milk Bar
Christina Tossi opened the very first Milk Bar in 2008 as an off-shoot of celebrity chef David Chang’s Momofuko. The place is famous for overly nostalgic desserts and cake creations which ultimately won Milk Bar one of the most coveted accolades in the culinary world: an episode on Neflix’s „Chef’s Table“. This is also how I found out about it and I went for the dish that made them famous: the cereal milk soft serve. The ice cream dish mimicks the taste of that last bit of milk left in a bowl of cornflakes. Pure American childhood nostalgia, I’d say.
One portion of the soft serve without any toppings was $7. Guess a „Chef’s Table“ appearance and the Name David Chang explain the price point although the store was fairly deserted (as were all the other Milk Bars I’ve seen in Manhattan tbh). Despite the hefty price tag I really liked it. It did indeed taste like cereal milk and was a perfect balance of sweet and salty.
7/10
Martinis at Dante
The original Café Dante was opened in 1915 in Greenwich Village. At this time, the „South Village“ was a predominantly Italian neighbourhood and Café Dante served as a meeting place for Italian immigrants. By the 1970s, Greenwich Village had changed considerably attracting more and more creatives such as musicians, actors and beatnik writers. Café Dante had changed with it and would continue to do so. Nowadays, Dante is predominantly known for winning the title „World’s Best Bar“ in 2019. In 2022, it still ranks on No. 36. (Side note: It’s the café where Carrie decides to not go through with her date in the „Sex and the City“ sequel „And just like that“.)
Trying to save some money in New York, I went for Martini Hour (everday from 3pm to 5pm). The menu listed 6 different Martini versions, each one being $10. I tried the Dante Martini (fairly classic yet heavy on the citrus), the „Dirty“ (olive oil and olive bitters instead of the traditionally used olive brine) and the „Upside Down Gibson“ (with pickled onion brine). I was a bit surprised when the drinks were not freshly made and instead poured from a bottle of ready made Martini. I asked the waiter about it and he explained that they batch-make the Martini shortly before Martini Hour, simply to speed up service. The drinks were really nice but all a bit on the sweet side and not as crisp as I would have liked my Martinis (yes, I’m a snob). I have the feeling that this is due to the fact that the drink is batch-made and that the glass is only chilled with ice but not properly frozen beforehand. As I’ve learned in a cocktail workshop: the key to a good Martini is temperature. And since they couldn’t really serve it ice cold, they made them a bit sweeter. Fair enough and tasty nonetheless but this left me a little underwhelmed for No. 36 on the „50 Best Bars“ list.
6/10 (for Martini Happy Hour, pretty sure the drinks are higher quality when they’re full price)
Cocktails at Mace
Let’s continue with the „50 Best Bars“ list. On rank No. 93 you find Mace. (Yes, ironically the „50 Best Bars“ list got a 51-100 extension a few years back.) I wouldn’t have gone to Mace if it weren’t for the people at Katana Kitten (see Food and Drink Part 1) who recommended it. Mace has an intriguing concept: every cocktail on their menu is dedicated to a specific spice or herb. For instance, you have a licorice, an opal basil and a chaat masala cocktail. They also do a happy hour offering a choice of two cocktails for $12 each, so for my first drink I went with one of them. It was a Negroni variation with strawberry and horseradish and it was delicious. I loved the heartiness added by the horseradish and the very subtle strawberry flavour balanced that out nicely. I also loved that the cocktail wasn’t too sweet and still had the bitterness that I want in a Negroni. The drink also went really nicely with my oysters and clams, which were also on happy hour for $1.50 a piece. (The only two things that are cheap in New York are public transport and oysters. So I only eat them so often to save money. Poor me…)
As a second drink I wanted to go with one from the normal menu and asked the waiter for his recommendations. He recommended the Oregano, explaining that it was the most unusual and eclectic drink on the menu – sounded good to me. The clarified drink features an olive oil-washed blend of rum, moussaka spice mix, tomato water, eggplant, lemon and whey. According to the menu, the cocktail was inspired by Greece but to me it tasted exactly like a slice of margarita pizza in a glass. And I don’t mean that in a bad way at all! It was creative, it was delicious and it was a hearty cocktail that was not a Bloody Mary.
9/10
Banana Pudding from Magnolia Bakery
If you’ve watched „Sex and the City“, then you’ve probably heard about Magnolia Bakery – one of the women’s go to places. Initially, the bakery chain got famous for their cupcakes but in recent years another dish stole the limelight: the Banana Pudding. It is basically high quality vanilla pudding mixed with super ripe (brown) bananas and pieces of plain loaf cake. I didn’t really expect to like it but I did. It was definitely on the sweet side but in small doses extremely enjoyable. Might try to simply recreate it at home. Can’t be that hard.
8/10
Noodles and Dumplings from Shu Jiao Fu Zhou
Chinatown offers a vast variety of cheap eats. During my extensive pre-trip YouTube research, I noticed that one place was mentioned time and time again: Shu Jiao Fu Zhou. From more than 1,100 Google reviews the place got 4,7 stars. While some reviewers complain that it is not the cleanest and a bit run down, I couldn’t find a single review that said anything bad about the food.
I got there around lunch time and there were already quite a few people waiting. When it was my time to order, I didn’t really have to order at all. The guy behind the counter took one look at me, understood that I came for their famed combination and said: „Fish ball soup, peanut noodles and pork dumplings, right?“ I nodded. I took one look around and really everyone in the small restaurant was happily munching on those three things.
After a 20 minute wait, I got my order and I can only agree with the raving reviews. The fish balls had a nice saltiness to them, the peanut noodles were not too peanutty and simply delicious and the pork dumplings were little steaming pockets of savoury goodness. And the best thing: All three dishes came to $9. Would highly recommend this place! (Pro tipp: If you ever come to New York, have an AirBnB and really, really want to save money, then simply get a bag of their frozen dumplings. It’s $12 for 50 pieces and it will sort you out for a while.)
10/10
Pizza from Alligator Lounge
In my last Food and Drink update, I told you about Rudy’s, the famous dive bar in Hell’s Kitchen where you get a free hot dog with every drink. Alligator Lounge in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg works on the same concept: With every drink you have (beer is around $5), you get a ticket which you can trade in for free pizza. Not a slice of pizza. A full pie, as New Yorkers would say.
I thought that I’d probably be given a cheap store-bought pizza but was suprised to find that the place actually had a proper pizza oven. In front of it a guy was patiently transforming dough balls into little pizzas. The free pizza only has tomato sauce and a bit of cheese but you can add any topping for an additional dollar. Very fair, I think. I went with the standard one and while it could have had a bit more cheese, it was a freshly baked, fluffy pizza with good tomato sauce – and it was free. Who said you can’t do New York on a budget?
9/10
Birria Tacos from Birria-Landia
I am not the biggest taco fan but when I first heard about Birria Tacos, I knew I’d have to have them. Birria originated in the Mexican state Jalisco and is basically a slow-stewed soup consisting of meat (traditionally goat), red chili, garlic, cumin, bay leaves and thyme, often topped with cilantro and lime. A birria taco is simply a taco that you then dip into your birria.
According to an LA friend, birria tacos are a big thing over in California. In New York there’s a few food trucks and restaurants selling them but you’d have to know where to find them. I had heard good things about the food truck Birria-Landia, based in Brooklyn and Queens, so I headed to their Williamsburg one.
I slowly dipped the taco into the steaming birria, took my first bite and I swear I heard Mexican angels sing.
Hands down, one of the best things I’ve eaten in my life. On their own, I find tacos a bit dry sometimes but the birria definitely sorts that out. It was tangy, it was spicy, it was hearty. To be quite honest, I think I wouldn’t even have needed the taco because the birria was so delicious on its own. Now I only need to convince my friend Sturge, best Mexican cook outside of Mexico, that I need birria the next time he puts on a Mexican feast.
12/10
Couch Potato Chronicles 