Restaurants in Manhattan

Q & A with Danji & Hanjan’s Hooni Kim

Cuisine: Korean | Featured in Chef Q&A

Having grown up in Manhattan, trained at the French Culinary Institute, and worked at two of the top, high-end eateries in the city (Daniel and Masa), it wasn’t a given that chef Hooni Kim would open a Korean restaurant. “I’ve always been more of a New Yorker than anything else. But I realized that at the best restaurants, chefs puts themselves onto the plate,” he says. “Once you eat their food, you should have an idea of who this person is, what they’re about and what their experiences are. “

North End Grill

Cuisine: | Featured in Uncategorized

Tacombi’s Cinco de Mayo Chilaquiles

Cuisine: Mexican | Featured in Recipes

Since Cinco de Mayo falls on a Sunday this year, it only makes sense to kick off your celebrations with brunch. And there are plenty of places in the city to indulge in hearty, Mexican breakfast dishes, like Migas, Huevos Rancheros, or Chilaquiles Verdes. We especially love Tacombi’s tasty Chilaquiles; a pile of homemade tortilla chips topped with salsa verde, crèma fresca, pickled onions, and two sunny side up eggs.

Q & A with Arlington Club’s Laurent Tourondel

Cuisine: Steakhouse | Featured in Chef Q&A

Laurent Tourondel may be a native of France, but his brand has become synonymous with American classics. Think burgers, fries and milkshakes at LT Burger in Bryant Park, and juicy sirloins and rib eyes at BLT Steak. Though he parted ways with E Squared Hospitality and the BLT empire a few years ago, he just recently returned with his own brand of steakhouse at Arlington Club and he’s taken his famous Gruyere popovers with him.

Dish Spotting: Pop’s of Brooklyn’s Texas Sr. Burger

Cuisine: American | Featured in Dish Spotting

Normally, wandering around NYC in search of a great meal with no concrete plan doesn’t end well. If you manage to come across a place with a decent menu that will seat you without a reservation, chances are it won’t be long before you realize why the joint wasn’t exactly packed. But, once in a while you might come across a gem that not only accommodates your poor planning, but also becomes one of your new favorites. And that’s exactly what happened when we stumbled into Pop’s of Brooklyn this past weekend in search of a quick burger and beer.

Dish Spotting: Manzanilla’s Croquettes

Cuisine: Spanish | Featured in Dish Spotting

New Yorkers embrace food from all over the world. We can’t get enough Korean, Thai, Japanese, Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese… you get the picture. But (and that’s a big but) we don’t typically take kindly to foreigners, at least not in the food department. Think about how many foreign restaurants have planted flags on our soil only to be sent back to their country defeated. Let’s be honest, many of them had it coming. But from the sea of full tables in the dining room on a recent Saturday night, that’s not the case for Manzanilla, a brand new Spanish spot in Gramercy.

Carbone

Cuisine: Italian | Featured in Hottest Newcomers

Rarely do you come across a buzzy, new restaurant that peddles in Veal Parmesan, Linguine with Clams, and Lobster Fra Diavolo. It sounds almost like a contradiction in terms, but Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi have made an art of Red Sauce Italian, and by doing so, have made Italian-American cooking hot. It all started with Torrisi Italian Specialties, which by day, was nothing more than a sandwich shop, albeit an excellent one, wheeling and dealing in Eggplant Parm, Heroes, Lasagna and the like. Come nighttime, this Soho shop morphed into a restaurant with one of the most exciting (and affordable) tasting menus in the city. Then came the more casual Parm and their newest venture, Carbone, is like something straight out of Little Italy… only with much better food. I used to love going to Little Italy with my parents when I was young. My brother, sister and I would pile into the car and travel into the city from our home in New Jersey all in the name of Veal Parmesan, Shrimp Francese, Gnocchi and Rainbow Cookies. We’d end the evening at Ferraro’s for espresso and scoops of gelati. When I moved into the city post-college, I returned to Little Italy for dinner, but the neighborhood seemed to be shrinking and the restaurants sadly deteriorating.

Le Philosophe

Cuisine: French | Featured in Hottest Newcomers

Le Philosophe doesn’t look like the new “It” restaurant, but it’s as nearly impossible to get a reservation right now. So what’s all the fuss about? It could be their wondrously plump Bouchot Mussels, basking in an addictive broth that’s flavored with aleppo peppers, leeks, potatoes, creme fraiche and god knows what else, but it’s excellent. (And there’s plenty of bread to soak up any leftover broth with!) It’s a dish rivaled only by the Cured Foie Gras Terrine, sided by Quince Jam and thick, Toasted Brioche to smear the wonderfully unctuous, salt-cured paté on. You could easily make a meal of these two dishes alone, but pace yourself there’s more to come.

Carbone – Reviewed

Cuisine: | Featured in Restaurant, Reviews

There’s just something about a “red sauce” joint that feeds the soul more than any kind of restaurant imaginable. I love going out to dinner and trying new restaurants (after all, I am a restaurant girl), but that often involves concepts that are a modern twist on a classic, like Modern Mexican, a fusion of two (or more) cuisines, or a purely Greenmarket play of seasonal, local eats. Rarely do you come across a buzzy, new restaurant that peddles in Veal Parmesan, Linguine with Clams, and Lobster Fra Diavolo. It sounds almost like a contradiction in terms, but Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi have made an art of Red Sauce Italian, and by doing so, have made Italian-American cooking hot.

Q & A with Back Forty’s Peter Hoffman

Cuisine: American | Featured in Chef Q&A

When Peter Hoffman opened his seminal, farm-to-table restaurant Savoy in 1990, terms like “local,” “seasonal,” and “sustainable” had yet to become part of the dining lexicon. Now, you’d be hard pressed to find a Manhattan chef that doesn’t make regular runs to the Union Square Greenmarket, or a Brooklyn eatery that fails to cite the origins of its Heritage pork, free-range eggs, and artisanal wedges of farmstead cheese. And although Hoffman shuttered Savoy in 2011, he remains resolute in his mission to eliminate out of season, overly processed ingredients from his restaurant menus.

Le Philosophe – Reviewed

Cuisine: French | Featured in First Bite, Restaurant, Reviews

Le Philosophe doesn’t look much like a French bistro. Aside from the French food lingo printed on the walls, like “Plat Du Jour” and “Bouillabaisse,” there’s nothing particularly French about this spot, located on a chic stretch of Bond Street in NoHo. Instead of tin ceilings, tiles and red banquettes, there’s black ceilings, a sea of twinkling little votives to light up the dimly lit space, and an open kitchen with a teeny bar in the rear. (It ain’t no Balthazar.) The crowd is interesting and eclectic.

The NoMad’s Killer Fruits De Mer

Cuisine: American | Featured in Dish Spotting, Reviews

Some restaurants just ride the buzz of their openings, becoming the hot restaurant by nature of being brand new. The mediocre and less than mediocre spots quickly peter out and fall off people’s radars while others settle into their groove. But few stay as hot as when they first opened. The NoMad is one of those delicious exceptions that’s managed to be as relevant and hard to get into now as it was when it opened just less than a year ago.

The Nomad Hotel & Restaurant

Cuisine: American | Featured in Hottest Newcomers

Some restaurants just ride the buzz of their openings, becoming the hot restaurant by nature of being brand new.  The mediocre and less than mediocre spots quickly peter out and fall off people’s radars while others settle into their groove.  But few stay as hot as when they first opened.  The NoMad is one of those delicious exceptions that’s managed to be as relevant and hard to get into now as it was when it opened just less than a year ago.   It’s an undeniably sexy space with a series of rooms and scenes, including the bar with its killer cocktails, the library for light bites and several dining rooms to sample a taste of Daniel Humm’s much celebrated  Roast Chicken with Foie Gras Stuffing or the equally as famous Milk & Honey dessert. There’s a fine wine...

Q & A with Salvation Taco’s April Bloomfield

Cuisine: British | Featured in Chef Q&A

The term “Gastropub” gets thrown around pretty freely nowadays. It generally refers to bars that serve food far superior to the expected handful of beer nuts, meat pie, or run-of-the-mill burger. But the concept didn’t get much play outside of England until 2004, when British chef April Bloomfield burst onto the NYC scene with The Spotted Pig.

Q & A with Louro’s Chef David Santos

Cuisine: Global Fusion | Featured in Chef Q&A

There are some chefs that would much prefer to hole up in the kitchen with their sauces than interact with their customers. And that’s cool… it’s just not David Santos. On the contrary, the gregarious, heart on his sleeve chef is the kind of guy who invites patrons (and strangers at that!) into his home for supper club meals. Now, you can get a taste of Santos’s cooking, a unique mix of Portuguese, American and other globally inspired cuisines in one.

2013 Annual C-CAP Benefit

Cuisine: | Featured in Eating Events

Not all food events are alike. Some have great food and then there are some leave you with a bad taste in your mouth so to speak. Of course, they’re all for a good cause, which is what matters. But C-CAP’s annual benefit is one of our all-time favorites and not just because the food is excellent. (It is!) This unique organization provide scholarships to underserved youth who demonstrate talent in the kitchen.

The Marrow – Reviewed

Cuisine: European, Italian | Featured in First Bite, Restaurant, Reviews, What I'm Loving

There is marrow on the menu at Harold Dieterle’s new West Village eatery, of course. It comes roasted and topped with sea urchin, teeny nibbles of fried potatoes, a few wisps of baby celery greens, and a drizzle of meyer lemon aioli. Looking for a light bite? Consider eating elsewhere. But if you’re looking for some heart-warming (or stopping) cooking to cozy up to this winter, The Marrow has quite a few terrific options.

The Marrow

Cuisine: European, Italian | Featured in Hottest Newcomers

There is Marrow on the menu at Harold Dieterle’s new West Village eatery, of course.  It comes roasted and topped with sea urchin, teeny nibbles of fried potatoes, a few wisps of micro celery greens, and a drizzle of meyer lemon aioli.   Looking for a light bite?  Consider eating elsewhere.  But if you’re looking for some heart-warming (or stopping) cooking to cozy up to this winter, The Marrow has quite a few terrific options.  Perhaps you’d be interested in the  hand-cut Fettucini with Pork and Sage Sausage or the Pan-Fried Duck Schnitzel with Quark Spaetzle, Stewed Wolfberries and a Cucumber-Potato Salad?   And just what are Fettucini and Schnitzel doing on the same menu?   Dieterle’s newest venture was uniquely inspired by both his Italian and German roots, so expect the food to follow suit.  That means dishes as dichotomous as...

Le Bernardin

Cuisine: Seafood | Featured in RG's Favorites

There are some great restaurants in New York, and then, there’s Le Bernardin. It’s the kind of place people from all over the world travel just to sample Eric Ripert’s masterful (nearly magical) way with seafood. It’s that good. Ripert manages to tease out every subtle nuance of fish with his preparations and flavor combinations. I’ll never forget the just barely Sauteed Langoustines I had recently at Le Bernardin and I’ve had quite a few.

Mas Farmhouse

Cuisine: American | Featured in Best Of

Sure, going out to dinner might not be the most original idea, but eating is our favorite pastime and you never know what you’ll find at Mas Farmhouse.  That’s because chef Galen Zamarra changes his menu on a daily basis to include only the best ingredients from nearby local farms.  This paves the way for an innovative menu that’s included dishes such as Shrimp crusted with Spaghetti Squash and Brussel Sprouts Roasted with House-Cured Lamb Bacon.  Not that you need another reason, but the intimate space with its wood beamed walls and dim lighting is the ideal setting for February 14th.  It might be just dinner, but it’s a dinner your special someone won’t...