Around the World without Leaving Manhattan

Of course New York has its high end gourmet restaurants with celebrity chefs, but what really makes this city the food capital of the world is that it offers hundreds of ethnic cuisines from around the world. The fact that it is not uncommon enjoy Moroccan, Ukranian and Peruvian dishes - all within a 2-block radius - makes dining in New York unparalleled.

Although not exhaustive and in no particular order, below is my list of some of my favorite ethnic eats:

GERMAN
RESTAURANT: Zum Schneider
ADDRESS: On the corner of 7th Street and Ave. C
NOTES: Tastiest, heartiest German food I've found. Pair with a good beer.

ETHIOPIAN
RESTAURANT: Massawa
ADDRESS: 1239 Amsterdam Ave at 121st Street
NOTES: Though not a vegetarian restaurant, their vegetable-special dishes - such as chick peas simmered in butter and garlic, or pumpkin with rosemary and berbere - are delicious! Be sure to go with clean hands.

ISRAELI
RESTAURANT: The Hummus Place
ADDRESS: St. Marks Place between 1st and Ave. A, and other locations.
NOTES: Simple, healthy, inexpensive and tasty. The hummus is excellent. Try a side of the health salad with your hummus dish and wash it down with a cold glass of their lemonade with fresh mint.

JAPANESE
RESTAURANT: Sharaku
ADDRESS: 14 Stuyvesant St (which is really 9th Street at 3rd Ave)
NOTES: Good value - quality Japanese food at reasonable prices.

JAPANESE (for Sushi)
RESTAURANT: Aji Sushi
ADDRESS: 3rd Ave, between 34th and 35th Street
NOTES: Excellent sushi you can afford. Why pay more at Nobu?

ITALIAN
RESTAURANT: Il Buco
ADDRESS: 47 Bond Street, between Lafayette and Bowery
NOTES: Though not on the cheap end, Il Buco has the best Italian food I've tried in the City. Atmosphere is also excellent. Good place to take your date.

ITALIAN (on the cheaper end)
RESTAURANT: Da Gennaro
ADDRESS: 130 Mulberry Street at Hester, in Little Italy
NOTES: Better than many of the other restaurants in Little Italy, nice outdoor seating and good prices.

MOROCCAN
RESTAURANT: Zerza
ADDRESS: 6th Street between 2nd Ave and 1st Ave
NOTES: Nestled among the Indian restaurants of "Brick Lane," Zerza has delicious Moroccan fare, a cross of something between French and Middle Eastern.

PERUVIAN
RESTAURANT: Pio Pio
ADDRESS: 34th Street between 2nd Ave. and 3rd Ave.
NOTES: Big servings, good prices and tasty (if greasy) food. Great takeout food for a party.

INDIAN
Below are my three picks for Indian. Also for more info on Indian, read post "Curry Hill vs. Brick Lane"

RESTAURANT: Banjura
ADDRESS: 6th Street at 1st Ave.

RESTAURANT: Ghandi
ADDRESS: 6th Street between 2nd Ave and 1st Ave (closer to 1st Ave.)

RESTAURANT: Curry Leaf
ADDRESS: 27th and Lexington

VENEZUELAN
RESTAURANT: Caracas Arepa Bar
ADDRESS: 7th Street between 1st Ave. and Ave. A
NOTES: The place is SMALL, so crowds are always a problem, but it is worth the wait for these delicious arepas. And it is so cheap too!

CHINESE
RESTAURANT: Shanghai Cuisine
ADDRESS: 89 Bayard Street at Mullberry
NOTES: For good Chinese, of course head down to Chinatown. Try their soup dumplings. Yum!

CHINESE (for Dim Sum)
RESTAURANT: The Golden Unicorn
ADDRESS: 18 East Broadway, at Catherine Street
NOTES: If you live in New York and have not tried a weekend brunch at a dim sum joint, I shake my head at you. Go now. Try The Golden Unicorn. If you don't speak Chinese there is a bit of a language barrier, but don't let that stop you. Just point to trays as they roll by and ask to see what's inside before you accept.

MEXICAN
RESTAURANT: Mexicana Mama
ADDRESS: Hudson Street at 10th Street
NOTES: Some of the freshest and most flavorful Mexican dishes I've tried. Try their Tostada de Ave as an appetizer.

MEXICAN
RESTAURANT: Rosa Mexicana
ADDRESS: 18th Street between 5th Ave and Broadway, and other locations
NOTES: Not the cheapest, but certainly delicious!

UKRAINIAN
RESTAURANT: Velselka
ADDRESS: 2nd Ave. at 9th Street
NOTES: Try their pierogis (boiled, not fried!)

VIETNAMESE
RESTAURANT: Pho Pasteur
ADDRESS: 85 Baxter Street, in Chinatown
NOTES: Hard to find, and minimal atmosphere, but very good (and cheap) authentic Vietnamese food.

It's the Economyaki, Stupid

For cheap, very tasty and very unusual Japanese food, try okonomiyaki (pronounced "economy-ah-key") at Otafuku's. This minuscule restaurant on "Japanese Street," (east 9th) in the East Village serves up some of the most satisfying, finger-lickin' good dishes that you've probably never heard of. Their signature dishes are okonomiaki (egg, cabbage, spices and shrimp pancakes topped with mayonnaise, dried seaweed powder and bonito flakes) and takoyaki (fritter balls made of octopus, scallions and ginger).

There is no sitting room - food is served up only for take-out, but their hours are late so this makes Otafuku's a good post-party nosh, (if you happen to end up in the East Village). Otafuku is located at 236 East 9th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Aves. It's small, so you might just miss it.

This One's for You, Jackie

Hey all you sweeteeth out there, listen up: I just discovered Economy Candy, where (as the name might suggest) you can get not only relatively cheap candy but also all sorts of "retro"/"vintage" varieties as well (think Cracker Jacks and Pez galore). Yum! Located among the hipster streets of the Lower East side, and has been in business since 1937, Economy Candy can authentically be labeled as "old school" cool.

Glass jars line the walls with all sorts of per-pound confections. Hundreds of wrapped varieties such as hard candies, gum, mints, pastiches, halveh, gummies, caramels, lollipops, dried fruits, taffy, candy buttons, pixie stix and even some fine European chocolate bars stock the aisle shelves. I even spotted some Lindor chocolates, my longtime flame.

Next time you find yourself down in the LES, stop by this classic candy store for some old time kicks, to satisfy your sweetooth, or perhaps just to stock up on gingerbread house materials. I myself couldn't leave the store without a box of Cracker Jacks and a pack of Beemans Gum. Economy Candy is located at 108 Rivington, between Ludlow and Essex Streets.

Curry Hill vs. Brick Lane

One of my favorite cuisines is Indian, and luckily New York does not disappoint in its quantity of Indian restaurant offerings. From the upscale Indian tasting menus of Devi to the colorful take-out joints like Curry in a Hurry, Indian food is never far. Though Indian restaurants can be found anywhere in Manhattan, the two competing Indian epicenters seem to be Curry Hill in Murray Hill and Brick Lane in the East Village.

While Brick Lane is much more colorful - often with live musicians and restaurant windows bedecked with thousands of twinkling lights - Curry Hill seems to attract a bit more Indian clientele. Both neighborhoods claim some very good options.

Brick Lane, which is 6th street between 2nd Ave. and 1st Ave. has many cheap dinner options and the atmosphere in many of the restaurants is lively. But don't get lured in simply by the lights and music. Not all the restaurants are worthwhile. The three best I've tried are: Ghandi, Banjura and Brick Lane Curry House. Ghandi and Banjura are on the far eastern end of 6th street, and Brick Lane Curry House is on the far western side. Ghandi and Banjura both offer very reasonably priced meals, and are always tasty. Brick Lane Curry House is slightly more expensive ($15 - $20 per entree). Though this post is about Indian food, I can't talk about 6th street without mentioning Zerza - a wonderful Moroccan restaurant (next door to Brick Lane Curry House).

Curry Hill roughly stretches from 30th to 26th on Lexington, and overflows somewhat on the the side streets. My favorite in this neighborhood place for a good chicken mahkni is Curry Leaf, which is on Lex at 27th. The pricing of the Curry Hill restaurants varies much more than on Brick Lane. You can find extremely cheap (and somewhat dingy) takeout joints as well as more upscale chic restaurants. In addition to restaurants, Curry Hill holds a variety of various Indian shops - from sari shops to grocers. The best thing to be found in this neighborhood is Kalustyan's grocery (on Lex between 28th and 27th). Kalustyan's is a grocery offering exotic foods (with a bent more toward Middle Eastern than Indian). Explore the shelves for labne (heavy cream), baklava, teas, incense, spices, dozens of varieties of rice and lentils and all sorts of tasty international treats.

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.

Pick a Card, Any Card

For today's post, I am not merely recommending one NYC restaurant, but 52. That's right, 52 - as in the number of weeks per year, or the number of playing cards in a standard deck (minus the jokers). I would like to introduce The Diner's Deck, by City Shuffle.

The Diner's Deck consists of 52 cards, each card being a NYC restaurant pick and a $10-off coupon at that restaurant. (With 52 cards, theoretically one per week, that is a savings of $520 if you were to try every restaurant. The deck itself costs $29.95). The restaurants range from great burger and fry joints to upscale Argentine, and all seem to be great discoveries. I've explored the City's restaurants for two years using The Diner's Deck as my guide and none of the restaurants have disappointed. If not even for the $10-off coupon, the deck itself is simply a savvy guide for choosing a new restaurant.

Each card gives a short restaurant description (often times suggesting an extra-special dish), the cuisine, the price range, the address and website and the neighborhood. Sort them and methodically try each restaurant, or be wild and pull one randomly from the deck. This is a fun way to break the usual habit of going to that same neighborhood Vietnamese place each weekend.

You can buy decks for Manhattan restaurants, Downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn restaurants, or Manhattan bars & lounges. The deck is valid for the calendar year, so start the new year off right and pick up a 2009 deck today!

(For purchasing info, see: cityshuffle.com)

Who Doesn't Like Chocolate?!?!

For the inaugural post of this blog featuring all things New York City, it is only fitting to feature a very exciting, annual, New York event - The Chocolate Show. Hosted every November, I've been attending faithfully since 2003, and to all other fellow chocolate lovers out there I can attest that it is well worth the $28 ticket price.

For three days in early November every year chocolate makers from around the world gather in Manhattan to preview their sweets at this chocolate tasting event. This year The Chocolate Show runs this upcoming Friday through Sunday, November 7 - 9, 2008. It is held at Pier 94 at 711 12th Ave. at 55th street. A ticket will get you into the event where you can sample hundreds of luxury chocolates. From delicate green tea chocolate truffles from Japan to rich French confections, it is wise to go on an empty stomach so you can try as much as possible, (strategy, strategy).

If you like any of the samples the vendors will also sell you the chocolates. With the holiday season just around the corner, this is a useful way to stock up on Christmas gifts for anyone with a sweet tooth.

A word of caution: This event has become popular over the years and as a result can get extremely crowded. I advise going early in the morning to avoid the heaviest crowds. Still, even with the crowds, for anyone who loves chocolate I would not recommend missing this . . . and for those who don't (crazy!), you might just find a special truffle or two there to change your mind.

See you this weekend!