Halal Guys is a nice street food lunch but it's not really worth a special trip. I will never understand why people rate it so highly.

I ate at Lukes Lobster down in the Financial District for lunch yesterday. No wait, good food.

Yesterday's winner was the spicy chicken sandwich from Fuku in the East Village. Just perfect in every way.

Also hit up Mighty Quinn for dinner; the brisket was great, ribs were just ok.

Coffee at Stumptown on 29th and Broadway was excellent. I'll be returning.

We should get a running list of all the under-the-radar spots.

We all know high end places like Daniel, Le Bernardin, Eleven Madison, etc and the iconic quick bites like Katz, L&B, Halal Guys.

One place I really like a lot but never see people talking about is Asiate at mandarin oriental. definitely on the pricey end of the spectrum but food and service on par with the usual suspects. the view (Central Park) here in my opinion is virtually unmatched. Would def recommend for a date spot.

Should warn that the plates are on the small side (think le Bernardin) so you may not stuffed unless you opt for the 7 course tasting.

The food-wine tasting at Asiate is one of my favorite all-time meals in NYC, the view/ambiance certainly contributed. One of my memories is every course came with a nearly full glass of wine (some courses had sake), rather than a tasting size - I have a picture of my wife & I sitting at the table with like 12 full glasses of wine in front of us.

After a week in New York and many a meal, the final highlights:

- Russ & Daughters: Pastrami Russ, matzo ball soup
- Fuku: Spicy chicken fried sandwich
- Ivan Ramen: Tokyo shio ramen w/ roasted tomato
- Shake Shack: Double Shack burger
- Momofuku Milk Bar: Pumpkin pie birthday cake shake, corn cookie
- Supermoon bakery: Apple cinnamon cruffin
- Stumptown Coffee: Everything. All the coffee. It was all good.

heh i was in new york a couple of weeks ago and have a similar list. will do a mini TR this weekend.

Went to Buddakan on my last trip in September. Definitely on the trendy side, but food was all really good and reasonably priced IMO for that type of place.

Stumptown's coffee seems slightly overrated to me. Joe's or Blue Stone are where it's at (and miscellaneous cool spots like High Line Hotel).

Just moved to Chelsea.

Any cool hidden gems that I need to check out?

Everything I drank while there was great, but I brought some bottles/cans of cold brew back with me and I'm not enjoying them as much.

Spending Thanksgiving week in NYC

Any recommendations for a quick, casual, light meal in Greenwich village?

For a nice Italian meal, our plan is to check out Il Milano. For pizza we want to head into Brooklyn to go to Lucali's and go barhopping afterwards. Any specific areas to checkout? No clubs, a quieter, more chill scene.

Any sushi recs? I have done Gari 2x and Yasuda. My plan was to repeat Yasuda but if there is another highly recommend spot would consider mixing it up. Not willing to pay for Masa.

Skimming this thread it looks like some other good options are Shuko https://www.shukonyc.com/ and Ichimuro https://www.69leonardstreet.com/ with Shuko at a little bit of a friendlier price point.

Adding Cosme to the list. Head Chef from Pujol in Mexico city opened it. http://www.theworlds50best.com/discovery/Cosme.html

Hey Dan,

I loved Cosme, even if I felt it was a bit overpriced. Must gets are cobia al pastor, duck carnitas, and the corn husk dessert. Probably the best dessert I’ve had in my life.

Shuko was very good, but I felt Yasuda was better (though it’s been close to 2 years since I’ve been to Yasuda)

Il Mulino is a great old school Italian place. Also very good imo, and more “modern”, are Rubirosa and Lilia, but you may have trouble getting reservations at both on this short notice.

For a quick/very casual meal in the Village, Taim has some of the best falafel in the city.

Lucali is awesome but I’m never in that area of Brooklyn so cant really help with recs in that area.

Dan,

I’ve been to shuko twice and liked it a lot both times.

They do follow the annoying trend of pushing so many damn supplements, but that feels like pretty much every place these days.

No hidden gems?

Ok - favorite places in Chelsea then? Hidden gems or not, want to hear what you guys like.

Haven’t lived around there in a long time but always liked Rocking Horse for Mexican on 8th ave around 20th Street. Most of my favorite gems are no more.

Not a hidden gem, but the taco place in Chelsea Market was great. #tourist

I thought Bathtub Gin was a great place to take girls on dates.

Peter McManus is a nice old school place to have a few beers.

Went to Boqueria Flatiron yesterday and thought it was great!

Tomi jazz was outstanding

Never even heard of this place looks great. Will check it out soon.

Also, just found out GG’s on 5th and A is closing on the 23rd. Sad to see them go, it’s a great place.

Any thoughts on coordinating a thread meet up/outing? Seems like there's a fair number of locals that contribute to this thread. Has one ever been done in the past?

I'd be down for something, though the next few months are pretty crazy for me.

Going to Le Bernardin tonight - first time. Really excited as I'm a big fan of Ripert - only 3 star I've been to is EMP so far, should be a great time.