NOT ranked by awesomeness!
1.) rego park- cheburechnaya doubled its prices! still pretty good tho.
2.) forest hills- knish nosh: totally old-fasioned, muted, and handmade! (“everything with these two hands i made!”)
3.) downtown flushing- yipin mandarin: amazing “mama de kouwei” (mama-style) mandarin (hebei?) place— cold sesame noodles (mala!), pork-thistle dumplings (amazing!), and a sampler plate of all their cold plates (cold shredded potato, peanut-celery salad, fresh kraut).
4.) downtown flushing- amazing hotpot (huoguo?) mandarin stand in food court of flushing mall: great tiny dumplings (15 fo $5!), great meatpie/”chinese burger” (kind of like a handmade englishmuffin stuffed wit ground pork, which came with a plate of very kimchi-esque red kraut).
5.) downtown flushing- earthshatteringly good (and dirt cheap) dimsum at the well-named perfect team corporation. pretty mainlandy, not so much seafood, but amazing stuff all the same: veggie fried rolls with perfect texture (bamboo shoots, lobster mushroom); crispy thinner [pastry?] roll with 1/4 taro paste filling and 3/4 [whipped?] shrimp mousse/putty; chinese donuts and pork fried rolls re-rolled in thick, gummy rice noodle-paper (!!!); amazing coconut pudding with embedded mungbean; lumpy sweetrice dumplings filled with the best custard filling EVER; turnip cakes; taro balls; black sesame filled sesame balls… various people have flickred it, if you’re curious.
6.) lower midtown- shake shack. custard flavor of the week was salted custard! good in a shake. mushroom-burger was the best i’ve ever had! kind of more frittery than pattiey.
7.) west village- taim falafel. great harissa falafel for $5! baba ghanouj was mild and a little below par, the french fries were way below, but all the salad/green/pickle options you can have put in your sandwich are great! loved the format/menu.
8.) west village- rockmeisha izukaya. amazing, cheap food! small menu, smallish portions, but pretty good prices, although they clearly make most of their money from the not-as-cheap sake (oops). salt “tasted” (cured overnight?) porkbelly and daikon in the most minimal broth ever— very good, with three very different textures. photos by tam here.
9.) harlem- uptown juice bar. vegan “soul food” (half southern, half carribean) with great fake meat, greens, “iphioie” (sp?), etc., and juices named after what they cure (constipation, peptic ulcer, anxiety, insomnia, etc). a tad pricey, but quality!
10.) flatbush- el gran castillo del jagua. dominican “diner”— the mofongo had some amazing gravy! very cheap, very dinery, open late… perfect for someone getting off a plane :D
