Redd's Roster of Restaurants of the Old Weird New York

Spain opened in the late '60s but somehow seems much older. Maybe it was some other restaurant before

El Quijote at the Chelsea Hotel opened in 1930, but I don't think it was a full-on Spanish-themed restaurant till the late '50s or so. That's one of the time-warpiest places in town that is still good.

Veau d'Or on E. 60th St. is another like that; opened 1937 and serves French food exactly as you would get it 50 years ago - creamed spinach as a side, always

i still consider myself somewhat of an NYC n00b -- despite having spend 13 years here, now.
one ye olde williamsburg institution was Matamoros deli on Bedford avenue with a small lunch counter and seating area in the back. Had my first ever cabeza tacos there, and the chorizo was outta sight. it's long gone now. i also miss Spikehill on bedford, though that was not as significant a place for me when i first moved here. their burger was one of my fave in the city, reasonably priced, and came with perfectly crispy fries and always-fresh tomato & a thick slab of red onion.

the day paul's on second avenue closes will be a very sad day for me.

Ian i think those were after my time!

I will add to the Florent love! It was always where I went for dinner before a big night out at DA CLUB. Flo himself was everything everyone has already said he was. And yes there was something serendipitous about the place, you'd end up running into people. And for a long time it was literally open 24 hours wasn't it?

i did like the mashed potatoes at Mama's Food Shop near Ave B.

Where have the quality mashed potatoes gone?

RIP :(
http://www.yelp.com/biz/matamoros-puebla-grocery-brooklyn

Oh my fuck, no.

https://www.facebook.com/lospollitos2/

Pollitos Dos. CLOSED. The place just down from Key Food on 5th Ave. When I lived on 4th Ave this place was so crucial. You could get a half rotisserie chicken for like $4. It was so good. The service was great. They had tablecloths, it felt legit, the food was terrific and it was all so cheap.

Apparently Taza de Oro is closed now (a year ago). I hadn't checked until just now, but it seemed as likely as not. Great Puerto Rican lunch counter.

Speaking of Chelsea, a place I have never set foot in and is probably bad but seems to be kind of an institution is The Half King.

xx-post I remember what was there before Pollitos Dos. It was a Dominican place called El Diamante. Waitress there had a great singing voice & would sing along to the jukebox or just a cappella. That area used to be full of Domincian joints.

Oh, pft, nevermind

The Half King is a bar and restaurant in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, directly below the High Line on 23rd Street. It was started in 2000 by journalists Sebastian Junger and Scott Anderson, and filmmaker Nanette Burstein, as a neighborhood place that could also serve as a meeting spot for people in the publishing and film industries.

damnit. Fooled.

Josefa yes. There was a great Dominican place up caddycorner to Flatbush, near Royal Video. Can't remember what it was called now but they had amazing mofongo.

There was a great Dominican place up caddycorner to Flatbush, near Royal Video

El Rey de los Castillos de Jagua, in the space that's a Duane Reade now.

Sister restaurant El Gran Castillo de Jagua is still in business across Flatbush. And there was another Dominican place called La Terrazza about a block away on 6th Ave. (where Purbird is now)

…or probably "Terraza" with one z, Spanish-style

lol the half king is terrible. terrible crowd, bad food, overpriced, kind of ugly xxpost

I'm really enjoying this thread btw, just wish I could have enjoyed some of these places

Hopefully I will have time later this evening. In the meantime, keep up the good work, everybody!

Terraza - that's the one I was thinking of. And they actually did have a little terrace you could sit on.

I wonder what Fanelli's on the corner of Prince is like these days. The same as always I guess?

I was in Fanelli's about a year ago and yeah still the same

Fanelli's is great. A good standby whenever I'm in the area. I guess I can play at this.

I used to get soup from a little shack tacked onto the side of it. Inside it always struck me as a little pricey for what it was but the downtown art buzz of the place is what I came for I guess.

La Taza De Oro's food got bland bland bland in the last few years. No hint of garlic or cilantro. But it was always packed. Used to run in for a cafe con leche if I was in the 'hood on my way to a long night.

Loved the tile walled place called Focacceria that used to be on 1st ave in the East Village. Served great cheap pasta and Sicilian rice balls.

ILX Hot Tub Time Machine 1998

This thread brings me back to my days of living in the East Village. Yaffa Cafe is a good one. Life Cafe is another one that was sort of iconic (not so much for the food). Also, the various Mary Ann's locations (somewhat dubious looking Mexican food - I can't remember if I ever actually ate there). Apparently Sidewalk Cafe is still there.

Famous Cozy Soup 'n Burger on Broadway near Astor Place is also amazingly still there. This thread makes me strangely want to go eat there.

I don't know how old Regional Thai Taste in Chelsea was but it was my go-to place going back to a time when Thai was a pretty unusual dining option. Gone now.

To clarify: "Old" and "Weird" are subjective here. I myself have not adhered to the 1990 rule. Given how fast things change 2005 may even be a good cutoff. The general idea of "Old" is something like Josefa was describing above- you used to go to the place quite frequently, say a decade ago, stopped at some point, the calendar pages flip book went by until at some point it crosses your mind to check whether it was still there or not and you end up surprised at the result, be it positive or negative. The general idea of "Weird" is that somehow you feel it was some facet of your identity at the time- even if it was a generic 80s fern bar.

Unless "old and weird" means somebody was actually in there plucking an earth-bow or frailing a banjo whilst droning Appalachian/Elizabethan tragic songs of life through a retro sound system.

How about Dojo. I looked and that's still there. I spent a summer in the city going to Dojo a decent amount because it was the only sit-down restaurant that wasn't a luncheonette type place but was affordable on a student budget.

Is it really still there? And when you went there did you go somewhere else for a drink afterward? If so, where? Holiday, the Blue and Gold, the Tile Bar? Downtown Beirut? No, this last must have been long gone.

Still pondering why we possess such strong fond memories of restaurants. Feel like that in addition to the cuisine, in addition to the social aspect, there is simply the physical experience of light and space and sound. The way the light comes in through large windows, or is slightly warped by the heat shimmer of a candle flame, the way it is reflected or refracted by the bottles behind the bar or the mirrors on the wall or the silverware on the table or the way it is either absorbed by the dark wood or not absorbed at all by the white Formica. The size and shape of the room, the way it takes the chatter of the crowd and turns it into a pleasing white noise in which to, um, bathe, and upon the background of which to comfortably converse.

There is also an organizational aspect, that you can plan your leisure time around your dinner, something to look forward to after work, or before or after the movie and show. A place to tell about the funny thing you saw on the subway on the way to the Film Forum.

Dojo is a perfect example of a place I assumed had closed 15 years ago. In the same category as Life Cafe and Angelika Kitchen, spots I liked when I had more vegetarian tendencies than now

To push it even further maybe there is some implicit view of the restaurant itself as some kind of benevolent recording angel panopticon, that if only it was still there and you knew the right incantation you could access the backup tapes and relive or at least listen in on those magic times.

Angelica Kitchen rather

But enough of my dime store poetics, I should probably post the names of a few more gone and almost forgotten or surprisingly still there places I remember.

Dojo is almost the perfect example, so old I'm not even sure I've been there myself, but when you say it, yeah, it creates a powerful memory.

You do wonder with a lot of these places whether they were actually good or if it was just the circumstances or point in time. For example, Veselka's food seems really bland and useless whenever I happen to eat there now, whereas at one time it seemed amazingly perfect

This is a good point to raise. I don't know the full answer but I think above average bland plus some kind of ambience is a big step up from just bland across the board. Maybe an example might be a red sauce place that ponies up for the premium sausage rather than cuts corners there, although maybe that has already lifted it out of bland land. Or the difference between Music for Airports and Muzak.

Must...go to sleep ... before I kill thread.

Dojo!! my god. That place was like service industry boot camp for many friends of mine

do you guys remember Decibel? tiny, Japanese, dark, LES.

Yes, of course. Went there many times, the small menu had what, edamame and some sort of flaky pancake thingy. I was thinking of mentioning that place, along with Candy B1 (was it in the same spot?) -a karaoke bar, but with a live Japanese backup band instead of recordings- and Angel's Share, which last still seems to be there, although perhaps whatever was below it- Sunrise Mart? - had gone. Just don't bring too large a party! (i.e., no fapping)

Two different NYT articles, from the same day!
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/31/arts/sing-along-clubs-with-a-difference.html
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/31/arts/the-east-village-becomes-japan-west.html?pagewanted=all

The first is more zoomed in on karaoke and Candy B1 though. Which was at 240 E 9th, (between 2nd and 3rd) which is indeed where Decibel ( or "deshibearu" as we liked to say) was and still is apparently.

I steered clear of Dojo, perhaps even held my nose a little high, because it was for people who were still college kids, but I'm glad to know someone who actually was a college kid was there and can report on the doings within. Although come to think of it, I did go to a place around the corner, Jack the Ribber, which later became Continental Divide and then just Continental.

Of course, there are blog posts by Alex in NYC (two!) and The Hound as well

http://vassifer.blogs.com/alexinnyc/2014/02/the-dinosaur-on-third-avenue.html

http://vassifer.blogs.com/alexinnyc/2015/04/back-to-old-st-marks-the-revenge-of-the-third-avenue-dinosaur.html

http://thehoundblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/readin-rockin-literate-books-for.html?m=1

I believe I may have seen one ilxor with a screenname that is NSFW to Google play there with his band once.

Sunrise Mart, still there too.

What has brexited the area though is The Telephone Bar, 149 E 2nd.