I was lucky enough to snag a seat at the hallowed (and reservation
demented) Momofuku Ko in New York in early October because someone had
(oh my god!) cancelled and I was quick enough to grab the reservation.
For those of you not yet in the know, Ko is the premier flagship in
wunderkind David Chang’s gastronomic empire. In keeping with its
cutting edge food and service (the chefs, like sushi chefs, do the
serving but not the busing), Ko only allows you to make on-line
reservations. Just like Amazon.com, you need to open an on-line account
(something I had done about six months earlier) which allows you the
opportunity, and some would argue esteemed privilege, to make a
reservation. This system guarantees a degree of egalitarianism which,
as an attorney with a career dedicated to civil liberties, I really
should respect and appreciate. So even if your last name is DeNiro or
Gates, you (or your assistant) still have to compete with the masses in
making a mad digital dash to score a reservation. As a supreme
testament to Ko’s popularity and scrumptiousness, over the last year,
even as the echo of high-end restaurants slamming their doors shut
reverberated throughout Manhattan, Ko rarely had a night when it wasn’t
booked to capacity for at least a week in advance.
New York
New York
A Trip to New York and a Culinary Discovery
Going to New York is always a treat. Like everyone else, I love
walking around the city. A leisurely stroll through Central Park when
the flowering trees are in bloom is one of life's great pleasures.
A visit to a museum is also a must. This trip we went to MOMA, where
special exhibits by Marina Abramovic and William Kentridge were
causing a stir, especially Abramovic's use of nudes as an element of
her performance pieces. For myself, I never tire of the permanent
collection with its iconic works by Van Gogh and Matisse, among other
masters.
Since I'm not in the city as often as I'd like, I look forward to visiting my favorite places to eat: Gray's Papaya (Broadway at 72nd) for the $4.45 Recession Special (2 hot dogs with everything and a medium Pina Colada), Piada (3 Clinton Street below Houston) for a panini and espresso, and the salt and pepper shrimp at Nha Trang One (87 Baxter Street below Canal).
A friend who is an expert on the food scene, highly recommended several dishes, especially a salad, at a new restaurant in the East Village called Northern Spy (511 East 12th Street between Ave. A & B, 212/228-5100). The unassuming space has a country feel that immediately makes you feel at home. Locally sourced produce and meats are put to good use in refreshingly simple and inventive ways.
New York City Through a Foodie's Eyes
If you are a foodie visiting New York, you're probably planning on visiting Mario Batali's Eataly where
you'll wander the crowded aisles a bit dazed. Glass fronted counters
and small eating areas display the best that Italy has to offer,
including pizza, pasta, cheese, salumi, fish, local produce, prepared
food, pastries and candies.
You'll wish you'd brought a spare suitcase to cart all these great
products home. That's the temptation of New York. So many great
celebrity chefs and so much great, albeit expensive food, and so little
time.
But wait! Don't spend all your money on high-end restaurants and eateries.
Stick to the neighborhoods. Eat the way locals do. Find the small
restaurants and take out holes-in-the wall that feed New Yorkers as they
speed through their insanely busy days.
Everyone has their favorite places to eat in New York. On a recent trip,
I revisited my favorites and enjoyed myself all over again. Here's a
quick trip through half a dozen I think you'll enjoy.
Momofuko in the Wasteland
The Upper West Side just joined the world. Move over East Village; now us UWS Jews can sneak out of synagogue on the High Holy Days and chow down on steamed pork buns without leaving our own neighborhood.
A branch of Momofuko Milk Bar opened last week on Columbus Avenue and Eighty-Seventh Street and yes, your energetic reporter was ever ready on the spot to check it out. The menu features milk shakes, floats, cereals with milk, pies, cookies, candy, stuff like that. But then there’s a little section called Buns and that’s what I was after.
Eight bucks buys you a steamed pork bun; add a dollar and you get a fried egg on top, which I did. I carried it over to their little wooden bar and pulled up a box to sit on. They had napkins and plastic forks on the bar and big squeeze bottles of hot chili sauce everywhere you looked. The egg made it a little hard to approach. I didn’t quite know how to lift this ample-sized bun and bite into it while still keeping the egg – which had been fried over-medium, I’d say –from running down my chin.
Cafe Orlin
There are many foods I will not miss about New York City: street cart hot dogs dressed in a syrupy mess called “onions,” over-priced dry pasta from ancient red sauce joints in Little Italy, the thousand dairy-free sugar-free fat-free ice cream substitute Tasti-Delite variants, which taste like glue after the first lick. But I long for Café Orlin, the Middle Eastern-inflected diner on Saint Mark’s Place where I think I spent a quarter of my income the past two years.
My standby meal in college was Diana’s Breakfast, hummus drizzled with olive oil, chopped tomato, and onion; tabouli; and two eggs any style (I had mine sunny-side up). I ordered extra pita and a side of homemade harissa and I constructed two little Middle Eastern tacos of the various ingredients and nibble at them slowly. My then-boyfriend and I ate this meal almost every day, with coffee (Americano with milk in undergrad, skim cappuccino during the pursuit of my Master’s degree). Once, when I was home in Chicago, he called me during breakfast. My mother told him I was eating “hummus with eggs and tabouli,” then passed the phone to me.
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