New York Dining |
About Indian RestaurantsSixth Street (aka Little India)If you haven't yet run the gauntlet, you really must
take a walk along Sixth Street from Second Avenue to First Avenue,
Manhattan's “Little India.” Peer into the restaurants, as you are
“invited” by the many restaurant owners to step inside their wildly
lighted establishments. The food's pretty much the same — better than
average, at least — in all of them. Some folks favour Ghandi, some
prefer the always reliable Mitali East. And those who don't know any
better get sucked into Banjara, perhaps because it's more expensive, and
many people in this country (including, unfortunately, the
Zagat and New York magazine reviewers) don't know Indian food
very well and can't tell good from the average. If you want a thoroughly delightful Sixth Street
experience, turn to the right when you reach First Avenue, and walk a
few steps, where now you will see four - count them, four! - Indian
restaurants, two up, two down, all good, and festooned with the wildest
flashing lights of all, some of them, winking, blinking red chilli
peppers in endless rows. And four men will be standing outside, smiling,
calling, egging you on, egging you in, aggressively waving you into
their doors. You probably haven't felt so sought-after since you took
your shirt off on the balcony on Bourbon Street at Mardi Gras. Well,
you're going to have to break three hearts. And the food's lovely
in all these places. But one place has a hidden surprise: The Royal Bangladesh Indian Restaurant
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New York Vegetarians are celebrating the
arrival of a new hang-out: Veg City Diner.
It looks like a normal diner. It even almost smells like a normal
diner. But there are no disgusting cards pushing Buffalo burgers in the
booths, and the rooms don't stink of old grease. That's because these
diners serve clean food---vegetarian and also vegan only. You can get
Jell-O that isn't gelatin based. They have fries, pot pies, organic eggs
and tofu club sandwiches. In other words, normal food...without the meat.
Be patient here: the service is wildly erratic: the main dish
came first, followed by the salad. Much later, bread arrived. But give
them a little time. It's worth a trip just to get Scorned Beef Hash for
breakfast.
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Best American Vegetarian Food in Town: |
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Organic Harvest Cafe |
Well, it's a hole in the wall. But it's a light, bright, clean, cheerful , airy little space, a few steps up and opposite the bland, desultory salad bar fare at Bunchberries. There are only three tables here Sit down anyway. The food is fresh and bursting with flavour; you can practically taste the vitamins jumping into you.
If you must eat your vegetables,---and there are always good daily dark greens somewhere on the big menu---they will steam them or jazz them with garlic for you. They char-grill your vegeburgers, tofu, seitan, etc. Our fave is the Big Daddy Seitan Steak Dinner ( $10.50), with mashed potatoes and gravy and veg. Excellent salad dressings and juices are a sure sign that the chef takes great care over every detail of the simple but righteous fare. You can choose from a selection of sides, too, if you prefer to keep things simple: soba noodles, cornbread, brown rice, carmelized onions, baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, grilled tempeh, grilled or steamed tofu, garlic bread, etc. Because it's so small, they do a huge business in deliveries to the nearby Citicorp and Lipstick buildings. Time Out and Zagat missed this place...again. Which is a shame on them, because this place has some of the best vegetarian food in town...and none of the stingy portions, cramped conditions or passive-aggressive New Agey 'tude of the uncomfortably metallic and draggy Candle Cafe uptown. You can eat vegan or macrobiotic here too. But we'll take the exquisite, simple Vegetarian Dumplings with ginger shoyu sauce ($5.95) anytime. Organic Harvest Cafe |
New York's Secret Hotels
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New York Tourist Tip: all nighter Madison coffee shop, or a few clicks down at Tal Bagel, where the tofu scallion spread on an Everything Bagel is actually just as delicious as the cream cheese. And so good for you. |
You don't want to stay in a cheap cheap hotel in New York. Ever. But if you can be clean, safe and private, in an excellent neighbourhood, why pay more? Three of the best are here, and they're gems. more
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