Entries Categorized as 'EAST VILLAGE'

NYC Best Thai Food: “Som Tum Thai” Papaya Salad at Zabb Elee in East Village

Date November 19, 2013

Shredded papaya, vinegar, fish sauce, peanuts, fermented dry shrimp, Thai chiles, string beans, tomato, and iceberg lettuce.  Simple, fresh, sweet, sour, salty, and oh so spicy.  This salad has it all.  When you’ve eaten all the good stuff, dip pieces of sticky rice in the dressing that collects underneath and you have a second meal. […]

NYC East Village Late Night Pizza: Muzzarella Consistently Gets it Done on Avenue A & 14th Street (And Is a Great Alternative to Waiting on line at Artichoke)

Date November 6, 2013

This is by no means the best pizza in New York City. It’s not even the best pizza in the East Village. What is it, however, is the best late night pizza on the Northern half of the East Village, if not for their variety of slices – they typically have between 5-10 pies with […]

NYC Weekend-Only Eats: Carnitas Tacos at Porchetta in East Village (Ask for Cracklin on the side)

Date October 11, 2013

I like weekends about as much as I thought I could. Then I discovered the weekend-only carnitas tacos at Porchetta and now weekends are the new black.  If you’ve had the namesake porchetta sandwich (Niman Ranch pork loin and pork belly stuffed with spices, rolled and roasted until moist inside and fatty and crispy outside), […]

NYC Filipino Food: Sizzling Sisig is an Adventure for Pork Lovers at Maharlika in the East Village

Date October 10, 2013

Looks pretty good doesn’t it? Tastes pretty damn good too. Want to know why its an adventure? Because that pork fried rice-looking concoction actually contains four pig parts: ear, snout, cheek and belly.  And surprisingly, they’re all delicious in their own way.  They go through a three-tiered cooking process, first being braised to seal in […]

NYC Georgian Food: Life Changing Experience Thanks to Oda House’s Adjaruli Khachapuri

Date September 23, 2013

If there’s two things I know, it’s that first, you probably have no idea what Georgian food is, and secondly, you also don’t know how to say adjaruli khachapuri (I have enough trouble spelling it).  And really, it’s ok.  Because until I ate at Oda House, a Georgian restaurant on the corner of 5th Street […]

NYC Best Croissants & Pastries: Ask For Nutella Inside Your Croissant at Fresco Gelateria in the East Village

Date September 18, 2013

Sometimes all you have to do is ask. I wish I could remember who told me to ask the Fresco Gelateria counter girl to open up my croissant and slather Nutella all over the inside of both halves.  If I could remember, I’d kiss that person. Because this bad boy is as good as it […]

NYC Fried Chicken: Blue Ribbon’s New East Village Fried Chicken Restaurant is Open Until 2am Every Night

Date September 17, 2013

Sure it’s crispy, juicy and a little spicy. And so what if it’s unique breading involves matzoh meal. And really, it’s great and all that their fries are thin and freshly fried, their potato wedges can be loaded with bacon and cheese, their onion strings are some of the best I’ve had, and they have […]

NYC Best Burgers: Six Dream-Worthy Burgers From All Around Manhattan

Date September 13, 2013

Clockwise from top left: Coppelia, Blue Collar, The National, Bayard Ale House, Brindle Room, Full Shilling “I not only think about food all day,” said Henry Miller in “Tropic of Cancer,” “but I dream about it at night.” NYC Food Guy, he dreams about cheeseburgers. Big, dinner plate-sized sandwiches filled with juicy beef patties with […]

Kamayan Night Wednesdays & Thursdays at Jeepney in East Village: A No Utensil, $40 Filipino Feast for the Ages

Date September 12, 2013

It may not be pretty, but no meal has excited me more in recent memory than the one I ate a few months back at Jeepney, the sibling of fellow East Village Filipino restaurant Maharlika.  A huge plank of sticky rice was laid end-to-end over neighboring two-person tables covered in banana leaf.  Our server carefully placed […]

NYC BBQ: Mighty Quinn’s, the first real East Village BBQ restaurant, is a Welcome Addition

Date September 9, 2013

It all started at Smorgasburg, the weekends only Brooklyn-based food festival that was spawned by the popularity of the food vendors at Brooklyn Flea. People lined up for 20-30 minutes at a time to get a taste of Mighty Quinn’s famous brisket and rightly so, it’s fatty, smoky, perfectly pink inside, and has a just-crisp-enough […]

East Village Pizza: First Taste of Michael White’s new “Wisconsin Style” Pizza at Nicoletta

Date July 23, 2012

Michael White is a seriously high class Italian chef.  But now he is diverting his attention from octopus and bone marrow fusili to “Wisconsin style” pizza. And he’s doing it in my neighborhood, the East Village, which means it’s my obligation as a borderline pizza addict to sample some.  The best barometer for a new pizza place […]

East Village Sandwiches: Get to Porchetta TODAY for the limited edition Lebanese Pressed Chicken Sandwich

Date July 2, 2012

White meat chicken breast finally has a raison d’etre and it’s name is the Lebanese Pressed Chicken Sandwich ($10) at Porchetta. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any better at the porcine palace, Chef Sara Jenkins had to go and follow through on all the Lebanese food talk and create what is quite possibly the […]

East Village Thai: NYC’s Best & Spiciest Thai You’ve Never Had at Zabb Elee

Date June 18, 2012

Let’s get this straight right off the bat: There’s no pad thai or drunken noodles or pad see ew at Zabb Elee. In fact, you won’t find any dishes where noodles are the main component.  What you will find are a lot of fried and grilled fish and meat dishes with various dipping sauces and […]

What to Eat This Weekend: $10 Deep Fried “Montanara” Pizza at Forcella on Bowery

Date November 11, 2011

If you’ve ever wondered what the finest funnel cake would taste like topped with cheese and sauce instead of powdered sugar, this is it, only much, much better.  In order to achieve this state fair food gone deliciously wrong, Forcella’s owner and pizzaiola Giulio Adriani deep fries the stretched dough until almost cooked through. Then […]

Brindle Room’s Steakhouse Burger: One of NYC’s Best Values & My Favorite Griddled Burger

Date November 8, 2011

I used to hate hamburgers. Hard to believe, I know. As much as I love my mother, I sadly have to blame her. Growing up, her definition of the perfect burger was “the more burnt, the better.” Mom meant well – she’s a great cook, and amazingly, still getting better – but instilling burger appreciation […]