New York Restaurants

yeah, they were aggressive, but it's famously a pre-theater place - that's sorta what people expect from it

3 days til ippudo ramen opens to the public...

that's actually where we tried to go monday! the had there "soft opening" this week but closed at 3pm or something.

in the hangover cure dept, i just wolfed down a bunch of fried veggies on skewers, rice, and two chicken wings from tebaya. burp.

ok i am looking for a place to eat near the F line in the park slope/windsor terrace vicinity. me and some friends have a social engagement sat. evening near the fort hamilton station, but we want to stop and get dinner on the way. anyplace w/in a 10-15 minute walk of any of the F stations enroute would be fine. i'm guessing the 7th ave. stop will offer us the most options, but i don't know. ideas?

what kind of food?

Sasha and Malia appointed to Supreme Court

any kind of food really, but there are vegetarians in the party.

Tipsy: There is an indonesian restaurant down 7th ave that is pretty good. There are plenty of mediocre and boring chinese, thai & japanese places. Bonnies on 5th ave at Garfield is great; they have burgers and wings and stuff, so maybe not the best choice for vegetarians though they DO have a (supposedly) great house-made veg burger. There are good taquerias on fifth avenue, heading up into the higher numbers.

a veg burger cooked right there on the same tasty grill as all those tasty burgers and sausages! I go there for the spicy mayo though.

The most options would probably involve getting off at the Bergen or Carroll stops...you can walk to Lucali's which is supposed to be one of the top 5 pizza places in the city...I tried to go for the first time wed night and there was an hour and a half wait though!

Zaytoons isn't mindblowing but it's my comfort food favorite middle eastern, and you may run into the Beastie Boys there, I did once.

Saul, the Grocery, Po, Chestnut are all generally regarded well.

Someone has been raving to me about Frankie's, the mafia-ish place by the funeral parlor? Really. How is it?

I like Song Thai at 5th Av and 2nd (altho Selzer vehemently disagrees), it's not authentic but their pad thai is addictive. pretty cheap.

fish n chips -- Chip Shop at 5th av and 6th. maybe not good for veg.

sushi -- Sakura Cafe at 5th and 9th

Cafe Steinhof at 7th ave and .... 13th? is supposed to be good but I haven't been

there's also a couple places in Kensington I was gonna recommend, Picket Fence (southern comfort food) and especially Farm on Adderley but I think they are farther out than your destination

I recommended this place upthread. It's about a 10 minute walk from the Carroll St. stop.

Best Use of Chickpeas - Ferdinando's
FERDINANDO'S is Brooklyn's oldest focacceria, a Sicilian snack shop that specializes in oil-slicked vegetables, stewed seafood, and tiny sandwiches on round rolls. One of their best products is the panelle special, made with chickpea fritters that show the influence of North Africa on Sicily piled on one of the aforementioned rolls and then heaped with clouds of the freshest ricotta. Two make a meal. -Robert Sietsema

151 Union Street, Brooklyn

song thai is too crowded and louuuuud (bangin club music) to eat at. i have been to cafe steinhof for their monday night $6 goulash special and it was good.

They're supposedly the only place in NYC that has Manhattan Special ON TAP. Which is way better than the bottles.

i park slope i like bonnie's and coco roco, but i am not familiar with the veg friendliness.

I was taken to a Ferdinando's by a good friend whose family had lived in (what is now) Carroll Gardens and who had spent a long time trying to figure out where the place referred to his uncles only as "The Panelle Store" on "Panelle Street" actually was.

yeah coco roco is decent peruvian

song thai is a little loud but the times I've been it was typical brazilian loungey-lounge chillout music

d have you been to the new "secret speakeasy" bar on vanderbilt?

There's a secret speakeasy?

That is not Bare77e?

it's called "weather up" and they have $11 cocktails apparently.

Huh. They have a long way to go to be more impressive and delicious than the aforementioned B-bar, though? I dunno about atmosphere but that guy Darren or Damon or whatever does a great job thinking up drinks, making them, and being a nice dude w/o creeping.

carroll gardens:

lucali's pizza is decent, but yeah you'll wait forever on a weekend -- their entire setup seems pretty half-assed apart from the pizza itself
grocery is v. good but may be difficult to get in
zaytoons is kind of meh and doesn't have alcohol
frankies is v. good but will also have a long wait
union-smith cafe is the worst restaurant in existence

i'm not so into the dancers there, laurel :/

it's not frankies, but we used to like Fragole accross from the city bank, used to be Cafe Mignon then Max Court. It's good homey italian.

rip mignon - that place was great.

bell, I think the go-go is only to-go on Tuesdays and...Fridays? It's only two nights a week. But yr point is fair.

I LOVE FRAGOLE SO SO MUCH I STILL HAVE THEM IN MY PHONE. I want to move within delivery distance of that place some day.

My rigatoni bolognese is a shameless attempt to replicate their salty all-day amazingness.

ah i have only been there on one of the stripper days, and the vibe was half-ok, half-creepy.

mmmm stripper bolognese

the vibe was half-ok, half-creepy

otm. they do play good music in there tho. my final verdict is still out I guess. I went a couple fridays ago after work and had a couple 3-buck Bud tallboys and was happy. around 8:30 it started getting crowded and annoying.

Weather Up -- we went the second night (a Sunday), it wasn't even crowded and it took a loooong time to get a drink because right now all they serve is the complicated cocktails. only one bartender and it takes a couple minutes to make each and every drink. I'm sure I'll go back but it will have to be a Wednesday night or something. the drinks are really good if you're into that Pegu Club / Death & Co / East Side Company Bar retro cocktail thing and altho 11 bucks a drink is pretty steep for the neighborhood it's about 5 bucks cheaper than Pegu. I dunno, I think it's nice to have a place like that if you want something more "adult" ... it's like the anti-Soda, you can listen to Miles Davis instead of like, Weezer at ear-rupturing volume. oh also they are supposed to eventually serve apps and have a back garden.

they are supposed to have oysters, right? $11 is steep but i'm curious to try it.

yeah oysters is what I've heard. we should go some weeknight just for one round.

it's very dark in there and has that white-tile old school look like Schiller's. would be a great place for a date, just not a spot to chill and knock back a few or you'll break the bank

Where to eat near the Brooklyn Museum?

wander down flatbush towards atlantic. there's some shits down there. Also: stroll to park slope.

there's some stuff down vanderbuilt too, but it's sparser and less... refined.

oh god virginia plain, please eat at Gen on Washington Avenue.
So good we ate their twice today.
We eat brunch their every sunday (literally every sunday in 2008 so far aside from one day they were closed for redecorating), and decided to go back for dinner tonight.
They always have amazing specials, like the stuffed & fried lily bulb appetizer we had tonight. Lots of vegetarian options and always great non-sushi entrees. Linds is a fan of the yosenabe and the seafood sukiyaki, and they are v v delicious. if you go, definitely take a gander at the specials--we went for lunch last week and L had a great curry short rib dish with lots of veggies and wild rice.

The brunch, though. I think I talk about it all over this thread.

If yer not feeling Japanese, then eat at The Islands, also on Washington Ave a few blocks closer to the museum--the best jerk chicken and roti.

There is also famous Tom's Diner, though not a good bet on the weekends. Closed Sundays (it's the Lord's day) and incredibly packed/line-out-the-door on Saturdays. They close early, too, I think 4pm. BUT, the good is good to great, depending on what you get (i stick to the eggs, usually, though the burgers are good too), and everything is way affordable. Tom's is ALSO on Washington Ave, at Sterling Place.

I hear 95 South on Franklin has a good burger, but I still haven't tried it.
Chavella's on Classon has delicious tacos.
I don't eat much on Vanderbilt Ave, to be honest. Yet to try the Garden Cafe or Le Gamin, OR, for that matter, the supposedly hip Korean place. So much good eating in the neighborhood now, it makes me very very happy.

Haha, I didn't realize the famous Gen's was in the area. Perhaps I'll try it when the Murakami exhibit opens (they already have a huge scupture up in the vestibule).

for the record I think Sushi Gen is good but I don't quite understand ian and bell_labs' obsession with it, this is like the second time someone posted about eating there twice in one day o_0

Yet to try the Garden Cafe or Le Gamin, OR, for that matter, the supposedly hip Korean place.

Le Gamin is a French place, has good brunch and is less crowded than Beast (also good, also on Vanderbilt). Garden Cafe is $$$, never been. The Korean place is called Noo Na and is good too ...

was there anything good at Brooklyn Museum? we almost went yesterday but decided to wait for the Murakami to open

there's some stuff down vanderbuilt too, but it's sparser and less... refined.

I think nowadays there's better stuff on Vanderbilt than Flatbush. like ian said it's like something new opens every week. oh yeah one other good Vanderbilt place is Amorina Cucina Rustica -- pizza with prosciutto and fig, yum

Hi, guys! Le Gamin is v nice, they have a patio in the back if weather permits. I love the French bistro-style brunch but dunno about weekend crowd situation. Beast ROCKS, I love to brunch there (never had any other meal), especially anything involving the chorizo hash. Anything at all.

Whatever you do, don't go to Muddy Water(s?) on Vanderbilt near Park Pl. The proprietor is incredibly unpleasant, stares at you in a remarkably hostile way every time you see her, and is rude as fuck. Also, they have antique chairs set up that look v comfortable but the signs say "for display only -- do not sit" which in a coffee shop...what the hell?

Had the prix fixe dinner at Garden Cafe many, many years ago (so long that I have no idea what I ate) but the shutter is down so much that I think they only open like six hours a week or something.

For a hangover, nothing beats the Cuban sandwiches at...what's it called, Ian? Los Tres Villejos? I can't remember.

viejo amigo?

i've been wanting to try mitchell's on vanderbilt for fried chicken, etc. Opinions?

haven't been yet. the place looks pretty generic but I've heard some of the food's good

re: Muddy Waters I lolled when the same owner's crazy attempt at a bottle-service club on Flatbush didn't even last a year (Well Lounge next to Geido)

also I think Joyce bakery and coffee shop right there on Vanderbilt has gotta be killing Muddy Waters

Joyce has decent coffee, not great, and the baked goods are fantastic, though things seemed to be priced more towards the park slope yuppie end of the spectrum, if you know what i mean.

re: our Gen obsession. It's a good question. I don't know what to say about it, honestly, but it's convenient for where Linds & I are. There aren't many decent restaurants over on our end, and the walk to Vanderbilt from Franklin can be a little much. Part of it is definitely the brunch, which is by far my favorite brunch in the area. Eating potatoes and pork and eggs is delicious, sure, but it puts me right to sleep 90% of the time. I'd rather eat fish and veggies and delicious soups. Also, the staff there seem to like us and give us extra appetizers and cocktails and stuff.

I've not tried Mitchells, but I want to. Fried chicken is great and I haven't had any since Pies n Thighs closed, though I'm worried that it won't be as good as P&T. The cuban sandwich place is Amigos Viejos, yes. I haven't tried anything else, but the cuban sandwich is huge and cheap and has delicious fresh roasted pork. Also, the people there are very nice. I showed up kinda late last night and the owner(?) sent out the bus boy to get the proper kind of bread for me.

Beast is good for brunch also, I suppose, but eating dinner there was pretty disappointing. The food was good and all but the portions were pretty small and a little $$ for what you get. It's more a place for drinking and nibbling rather than digging into a real meal.

totally agree about Beast, I wouldn't go there for dinner. ditto for Alchemy on 5th Av near O'Connors, great brunch (chorizo eggs w/ jalapeno cheese grits!), dinner kinda overpriced