NYC: Top 5

Start spreading the news... New York has delicious food... and we want to eat ALL OF IT! If any of you are planning to visit this wonderful city sometime soon, or just enjoy reading about restaurants from around the world, then this is the post for you. After that, we promise to get back to reviewing restaurants in Halifax.

1. Omai Food of Vietnam
158 9th Avenue, New York, NY
http://omainyc.com/

Rebecca: Omai is one of the New York gems that we wouldn’t have known about otherwise if it wasn’t for our Lonely Planet guidebook. This restaurant is in the Chelsea neighborhood, somewhat off the beaten path from the hustle and bustle of midtown and generally less-frequented by tourists. This small restaurant is modern and sleek with a relaxing vibe. It fills up quite fast, and they do take reservations. We weren’t very hungry the night we went to Omai, so we each decided on a salad. I got the calamari salad (in Vietnamese, Goi muc), which was priced at only nine dollars! This led me to believe that the portions would be artfully-presented, tiny bites - but I was wrong. The salad was heaped onto my plate. Great portions of calamari rings and tentacles sat atop cucumber, tomato, mixed greens and fresh herbs, which were all drizzled in a tangy peanut dressing. The calamari was flash-fried with mint leaves, making for a fresh and delicious flavour combination.

Ben: We checked out Omai after feeling we had eaten far too much greasy, unhealthy food over the past few days. Everything on the menu looked delicious and was quite affordable; I only wish we had been hungrier when we got there. I only ordered the Lobster Roll Salad: lobster and avocado on a bed of mixed greens, doused in house dressing, with a rice paper roll on the side containing the same ingredients. It only cost about $10 and was all I needed that evening.

2. The Carnegie Deli
854 7th Avenue at 55th Street, New York, NY
http://www.carnegiedeli.com/home.php

Ben: The Carnegie Deli loves to show off its well-earned fame. The walls are plastered with pictures of famous diners, including President Obama, and television sets play a looping video of the restaurant’s appearances in popular culture. When you sit down, you immediately receive a bowl of pickles, much to my girlfriend’s delight – I’ll let her tell you more about those. I ordered a pastrami burger, which, like everything at Carnegie, was comically huge. It wasn’t topped with any vegetables or sauces, just a burger and a pile of pastrami in a bun with about an 8-inch diameter. I piled on the ketchup and mustard myself, but it almost didn’t need it – the pastrami provided the seasoning and the burger provided the juiciness. As we looked around we noticed many customers couldn’t even come close to finishing. This only inspired us to plough ahead with our meals.

Rebecca: After sizing up the gigantic ham, pastrami and pulled pork sandwiches of the customers seated around us, I decided that there was absolutely no way that I could eat all of that meat. I decided to change it up a little and order the Western sandwich, $12.95, an omelette-style sandwich with green pepper, onion, and ham sprinkled throughout. According to the menu, the sandwich only contained 3 eggs. This must be a fallacy. Imagine three decks of cards stacked on top of each other. That’s how thick the eggy portion of the sandwich was - not counting the bread. And I ate all of it. Eeek! I had also snacked on those pickles - so crunchy! So salty! So dill-y!

Ben: When we were nearing the finish line of our giant supper, we noticed that many customers were receiving huge pieces of what looked like the best strawberry cheesecake ever. We decided that, nausea be damned, we couldn’t pass up an opportunity like this. We split a piece, which probably weighed about a pound and a half, and enjoyed every last bite. It was dense but creamy, sitting on a pastry crust and topped with fresh strawberries. I have never had cheesecake this good before and I doubt I will again for a very long time. I miss it.

3. Big Gay Ice Cream
125 East 7th Street, New York, NY
http://biggayicecream.com/

Ben: If you watch the Food Network at all, you’re probably already familiar with this now-famous establishment. The truck is what’s really well known, but unfortunately it doesn’t exit the garage until May so we had to visit the shop instead. Rebecca was still stuffed after our cheesecake experience at the Carnegie, so I went solo on this one. I ordered the Salty Pimp ($5), the shop’s most popular dessert. It’s a hefty amount of vanilla soft-serve pumped full of dulce de leche, dipped in chocolate and sprinkled quite liberally with sea salt. They gave it to me quite enthusiastically, yelling “There’s a Salty Pimp coming up…IT’S FOR BEN! Yay Ben!” This type of thing is what Big Gay Ice Cream is known for – in my opinion, ice cream should always be served with exuberance. If you like sweet and salty combinations, you shouldn’t pass up an opportunity to indulge in a Salty Pimp. I adored this thing, even after eating way too much cheesecake. Even with a regular vanilla soft serve base, there’s a lot going on here; each bite delivers a different amount of sea salt and dulce de leche, creating a different balance of sweet and salty every time. Of course, if you’re like me, you’ll probably finish the whole thing in three chomps anyway.

4. Grimaldi’s Pizza
1 Front Street, Brooklyn, NY
http://www.grimaldis.com/

Rebecca: Just off the Brooklyn bridge, Grimaldi’s has been named the best pizza in New York by food critics, travel writers, and locals alike. Grimaldi’s is not flashy despite these intimidating claims. Upon seeing the long line of hungry customers trailing down the sidewalk alongside this average-looking pizzeria, you may wonder, is it really worth it? It is. Some info: Grimaldi’s doesn’t serve by the slice, and for take-out they throw your pizza in a brown bag, not a box. For this reason we decided to wait in the long line to be seated inside. Upon seeing the pizzas, as well as the chefs expertly tossing dough and adding toppings, we became very anxious to order. We went with the small (FYI: it was by no means “small”) original pizza ($12), topped with fresh mozzarella, tomato, and basil. We added Italian sausage for an extra two dollars. I also got a black cherry soda that was brewed in Brooklyn. After eating this pizza, no other pizza compares. The tomato sauce was spread above and below the mozzarella. The freshness was unbeatable. We each ate three large slices. So good!

Ye olde Brooklyn soda.

Cheesy melty goodness.

Ben: This pizza was phenomenal. I cannot emphasize enough how much you need to go to this place. $14 buys you more than enough, and it’s well worth the long wait in line. Walk across the bridge afterwards if you feel like working off your meal – the Brooklyn side is far less packed with tourists than the Manhattan side, and you get a view you won’t soon forget.

And the best for last:
5. The Highliner
210 10th Avenue, New York, NY
http://www.thehighlinernyc.com/

Rebecca: What a little gem this restaurant was! We can’t take the credit for finding it though; this was another great recommendation from our Lonely Planet book. The Highliner is housed in an old steelcar, with a stylish retro vibe, shiny metal interior and romantic atmosphere. We ate here twice during our 5-day stay. For our first visit, I ordered the black bean vegetarian burger ($13) and added avocado for an extra dollar. Most veggie burgers I’ve had in the past were either disappointingly flavourless or dry - this one was no such thing. The patty was flavourful and tender, the beans were left almost intact, and there was a certain spicy, Asian-inspired flavour to it. The bun was fresh and delicious, and the regular toppings (a quarter of a pickle, tomato, and lettuce) were great. There was half an avocado on my burger, and it was sliced and arranged beautifully. The fries were served in a cone of wax paper placed in a tin. They were thin-cut, seasoned with sea-salt and herbs. This American fare had serious gourmet status - with a budget-friendly price!

Ben: The first time we went here I ordered the Seared Rare Tuna Steak Sandwich, served with wasabi mayo and a tin of fries on the side. This was simply amazing tuna, good enough to make you swear off the canned stuff for the rest of your life. It fell apart in my mouth so easily I barely had to chew, that’s how tender it was. The wasabi mayo was not too spicy, and was the perfect topping for this sandwich. And it cost just $11!

Rebecca: For our second visit, I decided on The Highliner ($11), a wrap containing scrambled eggs, bacon, Monterey Jack cheese, avocado and tomato. It was served with a tin of those delicious fries. The contents of the wrap were fresh and high-quality, causing me to wonder if the Highliner actually makes any money. It was a huge wrap, and afterward I was so stuffed I was only able to pick away at my fries. As a french fry lover, this took a great deal of self-restraint. No one likes to be in a food coma while they’re in New York City.

Ben: The second time we went I ordered clams served on a bed of linguini in white wine sauce with grape tomatoes ($14!). This plate was so beautifully presented and so delicious it could have been served at three times the price in a fine dining restaurant. Unfortunately the restaurant was rather dimly lit, so you don’t get a picture. There was a lot of food too – seven large clams and a good amount of pasta. My only complaint was that I didn’t get a side plate for my shells, which made eating it awkward and caused me to make a huge mess.

Some general words of advice from both of us when dining in New York: you are expected to tip more. 18% is usually the minimum. Secondly, most restaurants in the city are quite small, so you will be seated DIRECTLY next to other diners. Finally, for some reason, America only has those annoying glass ketchup bottles. Can’t we get a plastic squeeze bottle up in here?