Eating in and around New York City

I recently revisited one of my favourite cities in the world where each neighborhood offers up unique dining choices and experiences. Lawrence and I had a chance to walk the city as well as take the subway visiting many neighborhoods and eateries.

Breads Bakery

Chocolate babka

One of my first stops after arriving into New York was to Breads Bakery in the Lower East Side for their famous Chocolate babka insanely delicious and addictive, shared one and wanted to go back for more.

Razzani

Meatballs

Lucca

Bianca Pizza

One of my food writer friends who lives in New York told me about his favourite New York pizzeria that is located outside of New York City, specifically located in Jersey City in New Jersey. The notable eatery is Razza and we took the Path Subway from NYC which only took about 10 minutes to visit for dinner. Here we enjoyed their outstanding Meatballs followed by a couple of pizzas; the Lucca with fresh mozzarella, summer squash, Jersey Ricotta, and lemon; and the Bianca Pizza with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, guanciale, shaved onion and pecorino, delicious wood-fired crust both pizzas were outstanding.

Miznon

Broken rotisserie chicken with tahini in pita

Even though I had been to New York previously, one spot I had not visited was the Chelsea Market, this time around was different as I visited the market specifically to visit Miznon. I loved the Broken rotisserie chicken with tahini in pita so much that it’s something I would order the next time I visit New York.

Seed and Mill

Another spot in the market is Seed and Mill where we enjoyed tasting many of the different flavours of Halva including my favourite Mix Chocolate while exploring. They make artisanal halva by roasting high quality Ethiopian sesame seeds before milling.

12 Chairs Cafe

Humous with mushrooms and onions

Falafel

Pita

Israeli Salad

Baladi Eggplant topped with tahini sauce and pinenuts

Chicken Schnitzel

Visited yet another Middle Eastern restaurant for lunch, to see a friend that I hadn’t seen in over 10 years. Located in Soho, 12 Chairs Cafe was a great place to share some delicious dishes. Here we had the Humous with mushrooms and onions, we also had a plate of their Falafel with Pita, an Israeli Salad, Baladi Eggplant topped with tahini sauce and pinenuts along with the house specialty Chicken Schnitzel with sweet potato fries.

Le Colombe

Le Colombe

Nitro Milk Coffee

While visiting Soho we had coffee at one of the popular spots Le Colombe where I had a Nitro Milk Coffee.

19 Cleveland

Smoked Eggplant Carpaccio

Fatush Salad

Had the most incredible dinner at 19 Cleveland where they specialize in Telavivian cuisine. As Tel Aviv is a city in Israel, this restaurant specializes in the micro-cuisine of this vibrant city. We had the Smoked Eggplant Carpaccio with feta, pistachio, raw tahini and pomegranate; this was followed by the Fatush Salad with market veggies, feta, sumac, za’atar, croutons.

Hummus with rotisserie chicken

Fish Shawarma

Next was this Hummus with rotisserie chicken served with warm pita and it was delicious. Lastly, the Fish Shawarma, a very unique dish marinated cod in spices, with tahini, sumac onions, grilled veggies served in toasted Lafa bread.

Little Spain

Empanada with tuna

Four cheese bikini sandwich

Tarte de Santiago

Hudson Yards is one of the cities newest destinations for shopping as well as eating, and we visited one of the hot spots there, Little Spain, a gastronomic market hall featuring all types of food and drink from Spain, it was truly impressive. Here there were a selection of restaurants as well as market stalls featuring various foods. We enjoyed the Empanada with tuna along with a Four cheese bikini sandwich from one plus the Tarte de Santiago from another.

Levain Bakery

Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie

As I am in a constant search for the best chocolate chip cookies anywhere I go, we headed over to notable Levain Bakery to indulge in what is known to be one of the best around in the city. Here we had the delicious Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie and it was as good as everyone said it was.

Magnolia Bakery

Banana Pudding

Another popular bakery is Magnolia Bakery with multiple locations throughout the city, we visited their location on the Upper West Side after our work along Central Park. Here we had the house specialty Banana Pudding.

Los Tacos 1

Pollo Asada taco

For one of my Pre-theatre snacks I visited Los Tacos #1 which was a very busy taqueria in the heart of the theatre district where I had a tasty Pollo Asada taco.

Oddfellows

To cool off on one of the afternoons we visited Odd Fellows ice cream shop, this was another spot my food writer friend Lawrence Ferber had suggested. Here they rotate from a few hundred flavours, and I had the Vanilla and the Coffee.

The Coffee Project

Nitro Cold Brew Coffees

The Coffee Project was a terrific place to visit for an afternoon java pick me up where we both had Nitro Cold Brew Coffees.

Momofuku Noodle Bar

Momofuku Noodle Bar

Duck Bun

Roasted Carrots

Shitake Mushroom Bao’s

One restaurant we had both been wanting to visit for quite sometime is Chef David Chang’s Momofuku Noodle Bar a late night stop after the theatre, we walked over to the Colombus Circle location to try some dishes. We had the Duck Buns along with the Roasted Carrots, and Shitake Mushroom Bao’s.

Russ and Daughter’s

Matzah Ball Soup, Potato Knishes and White Fish Croquettes

Hot Smoke Cold Smoke

Noodle Kugel

Our last meal in New York was for brunch at one of the most popular deli’s in the city, Russ and Daughter’s iconic Jewish deli café in New York’s Lower East Side neighbourhood. Here we enjoyed several tasty dishes including the Matzah Ball Soup, Potato Knishes and White Fish Croquettes. We also had the Hot Smoke Cold Smoke dish of smoked salmon schmear along with bagel crisps. We finished off with one of their Noodle Kugels to share.

By: Richard Wolak

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