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

Forgot about Prix Fixe, yes. Never quite figured out why it was called Dix et Sept- D'oh!

Riviera Cafe still right across from that, in that triangle, also touching the non-Euclidean intersection of W4th and W10th.

Which also touched the place called Joe's then Formerly Joe's then perhaps some other stuff -did it ever have ducks painted on it?- and at some point Joe's Again. Can't remember ever going in, but walked by hundreds of times:
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/22/nyregion/neighborhood-report-greenwich-village-once-again-a-joe-can-go-to-joe-s-again.html

Restaurants bring back all sorts of memories, because you were (usually) there with other people, for hours, talking about all kinds of interesting stuff, gossiping, blah blah blah, in addition to the good food and drink. (James Salter really good at writing about this. ) If you miss a restaurant, you are also missing your youth and your friends, whereas if you miss a record store, while you can still hear Maggot Brain in your head, or stream it, even if you can't find your copy of the Westbound or don't have a turntable anymore.

Oh yeah, do miss vinyl. But let's move along, nothing to see here.

But you are right about all senses being engaged.

Wish I had a Zagat Guide from say, 1993. And one of those guides, the white ones with other the stuff- shopping, sites, dining,etc_ mixed together geographically based on the map. Can see in the mind's eye, but not the title, not the Insight Guide, not the DK guide but... They only did major cities. London, Paris, NYC...

Also http://techland.time.com/2013/03/25/print-travel-books-are-dead-and-theres-no-good-replacement/

Williamsburg edition:

Oznot's Dish
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/oznots-dish/

This was the first real restaurant I think I ever went to in New York. I went with two 50-year-old hipsters in 1996 who lived in a converted auto parts store on the corner of Bedford and Grand. They told me it was run by "artists". The low, flickering lighting and the strangely curved, mosaic tiled bar were incalculably exotic to me. Here it was, New York was opening like a flower. I have no memory of the food but I do remember seeing more wine bottles than I think I'd ever seen in one place before.

Bean
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/bean/

I would go here probably two or three times a week, sit by myself, smoke and read and order a burrito. It was tiny, with tiny little cheap tables and chairs that didn't quite sit flush with the floor. It was my little refuge.

Planet Thailand
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/planet-thailand/

No, NOT the one on N. 7th. The real O.G., the one that had like 4 tables. It was in the south streets, not far from Domsey's and the Right Bank. Maybe S. 9th? The vibe was strictly sheetrock and fluorescent lights and fast diner-style service. BYOB. One night I got absolutely plowed at this place with some friends and we all decided that the men should go home and change into women's clothes and head to the Right Bank, where I knew the bartender, Del. He had just "invented" a one-stringed violin that he played with a pick and a guitar slide. He called it the "Slide-ell". One of my friends, stubble and lipstick, climbed over the chainlink fence across the street onto the roof of the 18-wheelers parked over there. Like an idiot. A police car drove by but didn't see him.

really enjoying this thread, as a foreigner.

you were (usually) there with other people, for hours, talking about all kinds of interesting stuff, gossiping, blah blah blah

Never got the hang of this. "Just one, please."

Not totally surprised. I may have sensed that when I used to think you were Jack Angstrom long ago. Although come to think of it perhaps he never ate in restaurants at all.

I'll miss Harry's Burritos on Columbus.

My friend came back with nothing on the paparazzi restaurant. Sorry, Josefa. But...
I did find out that googling Texarkana NYC Jagger will get you to some incredible rock paparazzi (or is he?) photos that I have never seen by a guy I have never heard of before. His website seems to be abandoned so look while you can! This guy, David McGough:
http://blues.gr/m/blogpost?id=1982923%3ABlogPost%3A203124

Redd, that guy's a psycho! And you have his name wrong, he's not an Updike character.

(Jack A)

Exact search I used: "texarkana restaurant" nyc jagger

You can only see Google cache, can't click through.

Ah, but you can just click on the image to enlarge and then "search by image" to confirm for example, that it is indeed Dave Edmunds in the photo, or simply look at the Related Images.

Redd, that guy's a psycho! And you have his name wrong, he's not an Updike character.

Some good punk photos from that guy too- Thunders, Damned, Dead Boys- but you have to click around or regoogle.

Oznot's was my favorite local restaurant in Williamsburg, the food was usually pretty good and not expensive

El Charro on Charles St. just closed a couple of months ago after serving Spanish food since 1959 (prompting me to wonder when and why I stopped going there, because it was delicious)

Eh, what's that you say" "Spanish food? El Charro"? I though you said:
El Faro, 823 Greenwich Street, (very close to Rio Mar)
Opened in 1927, closed in 2012
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/el-faro/
https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20121004/meatpacking-district/el-faro-restaurant-stay-closed-indefinitely-owner-says

It's driving me nuts not being able to confirm the existence of that Italian paparazzo place. The name Boccaccio turns up zilch - maybe that wasn't exactly it. I think it may have been where Silver Spurs is now on LaGuardia Place

I feel you. Those kinds of things get to me as well. When was the last time you were there? Maybe you can look at the songlines website, that guy usually has a lot of history for each particular address.

Loved Steak Frites. I remember warm frisee with bacon rocquefort dressing.

This one is NOT GONE. Totally part of 'old weird New York' in my mind. Somehow still open on 47th street. It's inevitable that one day it will close so please go before it does. My recommendation: red beans, yellow rice, pork chop, and octopus salad. You will not need to eat for about 2 days afterwards.

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/margon/

I was sad to read that Pakistan Tea House had closed, but it looks like it's re-opened? I haven't been in NYC for like 2 years so I dunno. Anybody been? It was always so good and so cheap and so solid for that crucial 2am hot meal if you were in the area and needed that. And pretty much exclusively frequented by cabbies at that time of night.

http://tribecacitizen.com/2016/01/04/an-explanation-from-baluchis/

So the location at 225 Varick Street, which was Steak Frites for a while, then became Lucy Browne's for a few years, a faux New Orleans place (named after a Threepenny Opera character, but misspelled?)

http://ny.eater.com/2013/7/3/6411067/can-a-restaurant-location-be-cursed

Before that the location housed Brothers Barbecue-
- after they had moved from smaller, funkier, infinitely more charming spot on Houston-

where you could enter through either the front door at
228 West Houston Street
or the back door on Downing Street.

We used to go see Allysa Torey and her True Blue Bourbon Boys every Thursday in the spring of 1990 - this was when she was trying to be a country singer, before she tried to be a swing singer, before she opened the Magnolia Bakery, of which I know nothing- and then go home to watch our VHSed versions of Season One of Twin Peaks. Those who had already seen it were honor bound to maintain silence in the present of the tapers. Her bass player and boyfriend at the time at one time employed as a sort of factotum and remains quite fond of ilxor ian orion's friend Kevin, he of Rocks In Your Head and What's Your Rupture recordings.

Down the street later appeared

Toukie's at 220 West Houston

owned by Toukie Smith model, an actress and a significant other of the actor Robert De Niro.

New screenname inspired by this thread.

Have run out of restaurants to add to the roster for now. Thanks for the good work everybody in making this an enjoyable thread.

El Faro was a regular haunt of mine too, not "authentic" Spanish but tasty & filling drunk food. El Charro was good too, used to get the Mexican dishes there. Sevilla on West 4th still dispensing the greasy paella last time I stumbled by.

There's a sub-genre of old-time cheap eateries recast as pricey foodie spots. Fedora was an out-of-time slightly worn 1950s Italian-American restaurant on West 4th, run by a charming elderly couple, serving a set menu to a clientele of mostly middle-aged and older gay men. My wife (then girlfriend) and I used to go there for eggplant parm & cheap Valpolicella back in the day. Now it's a trendy boîte or was a couple years ago. No interest in going back.

Really? When did it get repurposed? About five years ago I was with a group that happened to wander in there by accident- no lie- and it was exactly as you describe.

Sevilla on West 4th still dispensing the greasy paella last time I stumbled by.

I think this is the place whose name I was trying to remember because I was sure it was closed by now! Lots of good times there.

xpost

here's the menu, not that I'm opposed to this kind of food, mind http://www.fedoranyc.com/#/menu/coming-soon/

i may have been harsh, looking at yelp sounds like they're going for a speakeasy vibe which is what it always was.

The drinks menu is a classic hipster smattering of offerings that range through most of the liquor a clear to brown. The bartenders clearly know their stuff, as i overheard one giving a pretty solid run down of how to make your own bitters. Their wines by glass are a respectable showing with a good mix between sweet, light, and heavier dry wines.

The food menu is just a hair more exotic than an American gastropub's usual offerings. They have a good selection between meat and seafood. Their appetizers however lean more towards seafood. My pet peeve is that the menu descriptions aren't complete. I ordered the fried chicken (which was expertly fried) but did show up with a giant fried chicken foot in it that was entirely unexpected. It was also swimming in broth. I also ordered the roasted radishes which sounded divine but ended up having an overwhelming odor of fish about them (I think from the flakes on top which weren't mentioned in the description). I'm not a picky eater but I do expect to be able to read a menu and reasonably assume that it lists everything that is a main flavor component or meat offering in that dish. That was a little disappointing to me.

Ah, I see, changed hands in 2010, reopened in 2011.

fried chicken in broth

https://kinkyfriedmansgreenwichvillage.wordpress.com/
http://thevillager.com/villager_352/tryingtokeep.html

was thinking fondly (?) of planet thai on 7th a few days ago and my wasted youth. Miss Florent terribly and knew this thred would be a downer when you led w/ it. The fact that there's nothing in that space still is a crime.

Robin Des Bois on Smith St; Survived by Bar Tabac, which was/is probably better anyway...

http://www.yelp.com/biz/robin-des-bois-brooklyn

Oh, didn't know Robin Des Bois closed. That was a fun place to go. I didn't like the food at Tabac the couple of times I went. I don't remember the food at Robin that well but I want to say it was at least a little better.

I feel like the ethos that created that place slightly predated the current foodie movement where every ingredient is so carefully massaged, and it was more about the atmosphere.

BTW a seriously old (over a century iirc), and slightly weird place not too far from there is Ferdinando's.

what was the coffee shop near Coliseum Books? standard at best, but convenient and seemingly tourist-free.

BTW a seriously old (over a century iirc), and slightly weird place not too far from there is Ferdinando's

In the same category, there's Sam's (Italian) on Court Street, 86 years in business. Once had the same pizza-maker (Mario Migliaccio) for 60 years in a row.

Spent the night of the '03 Blackout seated at Florent (outside) with my boss and pals from work - I worked directly across the street and we were regular customers. Florent and crew made sure everyone had plenty to eat and drink ( and ICE!) since it was all mostly gonna go bad. Ended up almost going home with the daughter of a former Latin American President who was had joined out little table. She was studying in NYC at the time and living next door to my work. My conscience wouldn't let me go there ( her father had been a notorious one). Man, NYC used to be great for this type of thing.

~110 years, in fact xp. Very good, actually, and has a few unusual items like Pannelle's (sort of a Sicilian falafel served with ricotta and tomato sauce) and calf spleen. They also have Manhattan Special on tap, only place I've ever seen that.

Major digression there but my point was that Florent the man and restaurant hold a very special place in a lot of hearts. His crew was awesome as well. I really miss them.

xp oh yeah I've been to Sam's a few times too, I thought the pizza was very good.

(sorry for weird capitalization, spelling and apostrophization of panelle, v tired)

I love that Spain on W. 13th is still kickin'.

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.