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This article is part of the FT Globetrotter’s New York Guide.
The right meal at the right time almost always trumps the “perfect” meal. If I book in advance, it’s usually 6pm, so I want to do something completely different (I usually take a bath and stay home). Therefore, my New York City restaurant recommendations reflect the rules of my appetite, not the scene. They tend to eat spontaneously when they want and where they can eat without having to wait too long. With one exception.
The exception to that is Sailor from Fort Greene. It’s a quiet, subtle miracle. Chef April Bloomfield creates classic dishes like Caesar salad and Béarnaise steak better than anyone. She also throws familiar dishes into otherworldly territory. The stuffed chard is stuffed with sticky risotto. Half-roasted chicken sprinkled with yogurt, cilantro and jalapeños has the texture of a rotisserie bird and the taste of tandoori. The profiteroles filled with ice cream are covered in salted caramel sauce, and when you eat it, the sauce becomes chewy, just like Twix. Set your alarm for 11 a.m. to be first in line for a table two weeks in advance, or try to get in right when they open. Failing that, you’ll be heading down the road to Roman, your neighborhood Italian that starts with Fava e Cicoria and ends with chocolate sorbet. It will make you forget you were planning on eating anywhere else.
Taking the train to Flushing, Queens may seem like a no-brainer, but New World Mall’s food court offers instant gratification with hot pot, dumplings, and noodles. Chong Qing Noodle 19 serves one of my favorite dishes. Chongqing Noodle Soup has the perfect proportions of broth, noodles, Sichuan chili oil, mince, peanuts, and pickles. Every bite is impressive. At the dry pot kiosk on the left, Laoma Malatan (its name changes frequently), meat, seafood and vegetables are placed in giant pots, depending on their weight, before being stir-fried with mild, medium or heavy spicy spices. It can be packed into a bowl. I choose the medium, which has all the vegetables: lotus roots, enoki mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, and broccoli.
This East Village soba shop specializes in homemade noodles, but everything on the menu is delicate and satisfying, from fried tofu to marinated spinach. It’s a great place for a quiet solo lunch and just happens to be near Kettl Tea on the Bowery. After eating soba, enjoy shaken matcha and a matcha chocolate bar with roasted soba crunch.
If you’re near the Flatiron and wondering why, S&P Ranch is a typical old-school New York lunch counter filled with New Yorkers doing typical New York things like eating pastrami and tuna melts. A great place to stop for off-peak matzo ball soup. Contains vegetables and dill. Superiority Burger has a reputation for being hard to get into, but for those who wake up early or want a drink at the bar in the back, it promises something quite different from what its name suggests. Completely vegetarian, we offer perfect vegetables in winter, such as chicory from the Campo Rosso estate, creamy little bowls of beans and grilled rape, and unparalleled gelatos with Sicilian almonds and Evercrisp apples. . Food this good isn’t usually served so casually.
In Midtown, you might go to Cho Dang Gol, a Korean tofu shop in Herald Square. It’s a nutritious restaurant that doesn’t feel like a restaurant. From the cafeteria-like dining room, you can see tofu being steamed in wooden barrels in the kitchen. You’ll feel like you’re in someone’s home when the nutritious dishes keep coming to you even though you haven’t ordered them. Each meal starts with a bowl of warm tofu and banchan (Korean side dish). No matter what you order, it comes with a wooden bucket filled with sticky rice. This tub can also be used as a kettle to brew delicious rice tea. Drinking this after eating stew will make you feel better than a spa day. Reservations are not accepted, so please arrive 15 minutes before opening.
Back in Brooklyn, Chez Ma Tante in Greenpoint offers walk-in bar seating, so knobby chips with aioli are within easy reach. The sparseness of the room and menu may remind you of St. John’s. Its meat-filled specials are as delicious as any British restaurant. If homemade sausage is on the menu, it will be served with a spoonful of beans, so give it a try. Kohlrabi salad, pork shoulder, and kedgeree are the mainstays, so be sure to get those as well.
Finally, my brother-in-law, who is from Beirut, says that the food at Nabilaz in Brooklyn is as close to his mother’s cooking as it is here. Of course, my bar isn’t as high as his, but the fatayer, kousa, and yakunet sabane are some of the best I’ve ever eaten. This is a simple yet delicious Lebanese home-cooked dish made with stock and allspice.
Claire de Boer is a four-time James Beard Award-nominated chef and author. She is the chef and owner of Stishing House in Pine Plains and co-founder and owner of King in New York.
What is your favorite restaurant in New York? Let us know in the comments below. Follow FT Globetrotter (@FTGlobetrotter) on Instagram.
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