One Food Wonders

One Food Wonders (OFWs): I'm talking about those trendy food joints that have popped up just in the last few years all around Manhattan that offer only one type of food (usually simple, perhaps even retro foods, but with new marked up prices). OFW joints must also have a long line of people out the door, excited to pay those high prices for a bowl of say, rice pudding.

So here's a short run down of a few of Manhattan's singular pleasures:

S'mac
Yes, good old mac n' cheese, but now in 12 haute flavors - from Swiss Alpine to Masala. (My favorite is the buffalo chicken). Very tasty. Where: 345 East 12th Street (btwn 1st and 2nd).

Pommes Frites
Not to be out done, Pommes Frites serves up Belgian fries with 25 different dipping sauces. I've tried several, but I think I might have to go with the Dill Lemon Mayo as my top choice. I have yet to try some of the more exotic sauces like the Vietnamese Pineapple Mayo or the Sambal Olek Hot Chili Paste. This is another East Village find (yes, do you notice a trend here? The East Village seems to attract OFW joints like skinny jeans and fedoras). Where: 123 2nd Ave (btwn 7th and St. Marks).

Rice to Riches
Probably the most well known place on the list, (as well as one the tastiest, if you are of the sweet-tooth variety), this place offers a daily rotating menu of about 20 different flavors of rice pudding. French toast, cappuccino, cream-cicle, honey graham, chocolate rocky road . . . you'd think we were at Baskin Robbins with this variety! They'll offer one or two samples before you pick your poison, so be sure to take them up on this and try some of the wilder flavors. Where: 37 Spring Street (btwn Mott and Mulberry streets).

There are of course the many creperies, gelato bars, cupcake bakeries and arepas, hot dog, empanadas, and dumpling joints that come close to making this list by focusing on one food type, but technically they do offer other foods as well. Crif Dogs, Caracas Arepa Bar, The Dumpling Man, Empanada Mama and Grom (gelato) are a few of these pseudo-OFWs.

I will be sure to update you with more true OFWs as soon as I find them.