It is my purpose to examine the forces that have shaped man's diet and to show something of the way in which the pursuit of more and better food has helped to direct the movement of history itself…
Or, better yet I'll try to guide our readers—particuarly those unfamiliar with New York—to a few places where, often without great expense, they can partake of excellent food served in pleasant surroundings and not be treated like tourists.
What follows is a briefly annotated list of some of the restaurants I like to visit, some for special occasions, some just for a good meal, but each a place where the chef turns out meals with care. This obviously is not an exhaustive list and the omissions are many—at none of these establishments will you find Split Fliess Soup, Banana O Pie, Bernays Sauce, or any other receipes from Freud's Own Cookbook. The emphasis is ethnic, but not the more usual Mexican, Japanese, Italian, or even American. Also missing are many of the temples of haute cuisine whose names are known throughout the country. By all means, dine at Lutece, Chanterelle, Le Bernadin, Le Cote Basque—most times you will have a memorable meal. For more modest dining, try one of the following restaurants.
New York has a thriving Indian population centered in the Elmhurst and Flushing areas of Queens and in the east 20s in Manhattan. There are quite a few good restaurants in those neighborhoods. Closer to the Waldorf-Astoria are two elegant places serving fine Indian food at moderate prices. DARBAR, at 44 West 56th Street serves a varied menu of well-prepared food; DAWAT, at 210 East 58th Street has the well-known cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey as its consultant and many of the dishes bear her name. The full dinners are a good way to sample a number of their specialities. Order their breads to round out your choices.
A more modest less attractive, but quite interesting place is the strictly vegetarian MADRAS WOODLANDS, at 308 East 49th Street By all means, order some dishes under the headings of Dosai and Uthappam. These are very large crepes and Indian-style pancakes that come with various fillings. You may notice as you enter or leave the restaurant that there is a letter in English and Hebrew written by an Orthodox rabbi from Brooklyn certifying that the restaurant is strictly Kosher.
There are many Thai restaurants all over town. Like the Indian restaurants, several are in the Elmhurst section of Queens. Two that are more convenient to the Waldorf are SIAM INN, 916 Eighth Avenue (between 54th and 55th Streets) and SALA THAI, 1718 Second Avenue (between 89th and 90th Streets). Both are under the same management and have basically the same menu of consistently tasty dishes. The menus use the star system for degree of spiciness—so you can be reasonably sure that a dish ordered medium-spicy won't burn your palate. Try the Pad Thai, an excellent noodle dish, as one of your choices. In addition to the regular menu, there are usually delicious daily specialties.
Chinese food is, of course, to be found all over the five boroughs of New York. Restaurant chains with such names as Empire Szechuan and Hunam Balcony dot many areas of Manhattan. I suggest that you take a trip to Chinatown instead, where you will see in many restaurants entire Chinese families seated around large tables filled with a multitude of delicacies. Of particular interest is THE NICE RESTAURANT, 35 East Broadway, where—if a wedding has not taken over the restaurant—you may sample great varieties of well-prepared dishes in this very large, albeit somewhat noisy place. A little smaller, but still very popular, is the ORIENTAL PEARL, at 103 Mott Street (north of Canal Street), where the weddings tend to be smaller and so leave some more room for uninvited guests. A very small restaurant that has been around for years with excellent dishes is PHOENIX GARDEN. The address is listed as 46 Bowery, but the entrance is actually from an alley that passes from Bowery to Elizabeth Street just south of Canal. You will have to wait and will be pushed as you wait. You may be asked to share a table with strangers and thus get a table sooner, but you can decline and wait a bit longer. The wait in any event is never very long, and the food is worth the wait—but this is not leisurely dining.
Back uptown is the AFGHANISTAN KEBAB HOUSE at two locations. One is at 1345 Second Avenue. The one I know is at 764 Ninth Avenue. (Be careful when looking for this restaurant though, because there is a restaurant with a similar name one block away, with food of lesser quality and decorations of lesser interest) This is a very inexpensive place with the atmosphere of a student hangout. You may bring your own wine or beer. In addition to the skewered dishes, you might try the vegetable entrees, which they will prepare as side dishes. These changes from day to day.
For special occasions, I would recommend two restaurants. The first is the GOTHAM GRILL, 12 East 12th Street. It is a bustling, cheerful place, where I had the best restaurant meal to date in 1990. Because it's very popular, you'd best make reservations far in advance. The menu is imaginative, featuring beautifully prepared sea food and game dishes with interesting garnishes. Rabbit, quail, and venison were wonderful the night I dined there, as were the less adventurous choices. Because the restaurant was crowded and our table was needed after we had dined for several hours we were tactfully and graciously invited to adjourn to the bar for a complimentary cognac.
The best two meals of 19891 had in my favorite special-occasion restaurant in New York, BOULEY, at 165 Duane Street, way downtown in TriBeCa among the warehouses. The building, a town-house with a brass nameplate on its wooden door, seems to be an oasis of a special kind. The dining room is lovely, with many fresh flowers. The entrance-way is lined with crates of seasonal fruits, and the passageway to the rest-rooms is marked by a glass-enclosed wine cellar. By all means, order the tasting menu, which features a large number of small courses, all beautifully presented. The chef has a way with fresh herbs, which are an essential part of just about every dish. The food is rich, tasting of strong, but not sharp, flavors but is not rich in butter or cream. This is an expensive meal, with most of the expense
attributable to the wine rather than the food. Reservations a month or more in advance are a good idea Some people have expressed disappointment with this restaurant not because of the food but mostly because of the service—lamps kept going out a wine bottle was knocked over, people were treated brusquely while waiting for their table. I have had only gracious treatment and I look forward to my first 1990 visit.
My final recommendation is not a restaurant all, but a huge emporium for food and kitchenware. I refer to the legendary ZABAR'S at Broadway and 80th Street on the Upper West Side. This store embodies the best and the worst of New York. On weekends, and sometimes during the week, it is crowded and the patrons are impolite and impatient. In a recent scam, some people were scalping the take-a-number tickets for a place on the appetizing counter line for about $20 each. On the bright side, the selection of very high-quality foods at very competitive prices is enormous. If nothing else, it is worth a brief walkthrough to sample quintessential New York.
These few personal recommendations are but a brief guide to the varied and almost uncountable dining places that are available to you in New York. Explore on your own and enjoy many adventurous and memorable dining experiences.