Six years ago, hungry staff members at the United Nations’ New York headquarters thought big changes were afoot in the cafeteria, and not a moment too soon. Toward the end, the provider, Aramark, a publicly traded firm best known for its catering at prisons and baseball stadiums, replaced silverware with plastic and got rid of all trays, … Read more
Sure, you could check out The Pho 5 for its oversized bowls of beefy pho, its slurpable vermicelli and its tempting summer and spring rolls. But don’t snub the tacos. As slick nouvelle-Vietnamese cooking is trending, The Pho 5 offers simpler, more straightforward fare, in a sliver storefront on Third Avenue near 39th Street. The … Read more
Little Tong wants you to fall in love with its rice noodles, known as mixian in Yunnan province, their place of origin. But don’t ignore the big draw at this diminutive Turtle Bay restaurant — as if you could: incendiary spice blends that make your mouth sting and eyes tear up the moment you plant … Read more
Per conventional wisdom, it’s a big mistake to go out for Chinese food in Midtown Manhattan. For great Chinese dishes in New York, make your way to Chinatown; if not the one in Manhattan, then in Brooklyn or Queens. But that may no longer be the case, thanks to an increasingly impressive collection of Midtown … Read more
Peak Thai is hidden on a side street — East 49th — and easy to miss. It may never win a Michelin star. But there’s a reason lines form around noon: you can count on this quiet, efficiently run restaurant for solid cooking and pocket-friendly prices. These days, that’s no small thing. It is minutes … Read more
During New York’s bad old days, Vanderbilt Hall, the waiting room at Grand Central Terminal, was a vast public space populated by homeless people napping on heavy wooden benches alongside some hardy souls actually waiting for trains. The benches were banished in the 1970s and the space has been at loose ends ever since, used … Read more
Diplomacy is hard work, and you can easily work up a fierce appetite at United Nations headquarters, whether you’re an actual diplomat or just there to watch. Here are five spots — in no particular order — where you can take a break and get a good meal within easy walking distance of the General … Read more
It started out as fast and filling food for impoverished students. Now ramen is a huge commodity and restaurants are ladling it out all over New York City, often with haute cuisine pretensions and prices to match. So what’s the big deal about a bowl of broth with noodles? Well, how about if the guy … Read more
Entering Sons of Thunder, past pictures of surfboards and surfing, you might think this Murray Hill restaurant is dedicated to the thundering of waves. In a sense it is. The top dish here is poké, derived from a Hawaiian snack based on marinated raw tuna. The name, however, derives from the Bible: among the 12 … Read more
Foxy John’s calls itself an Irish bar, and it’s true that Guinness and Jameson flow there freely. But the place looks like a sports bar, feels like a neighborhood watering hole and dishes out food that is more Cajun, Mexican or Italian than Irish. So don’t bother stopping by for lunch or a midafternoon break … Read more
In the beginning, chefs created amazing food in Manhattan, and the critics said their restaurants were good. Then the darkness lifted over the waters of the East River, and chefs began creating amazing food in Brooklyn, and New Yorkers flocked to Brooklyn, by bridge and tunnel and yeah, even by subway, and some critics soon … Read more
It’s a balmy summer evening, but the United Nations neighborhood has few places where you can grab a beer and a burger or a salad under the glow of office towers. So it was a pleasant surprise to be invited by old friends for drinks at Tuttles Bar & Grill, where two well-concealed outdoor terraces … Read more
It started out as a health food store. Maybe you never went inside, but it was easy to spot for its eye-catching sidewalk signs touting Bladder Control Tea. Then a tiny lunch counter appeared, displacing a few of the shop’s bright-green racks piled high with vitamins. The menu: sushi, smoothies and noodle soup. UN staffers, … Read more
Tres Carnes, a New York mini-chain with a new branch in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan, touts its food as a marriage of Tex-Mex and Texas-style barbecue. The wedding may spice up your lunch hour, but the pairing does not dazzle. While some of the dishes stand out, it’s mostly just Mexican fast … Read more
Alidoro is the sandwich shop of my dreams, and that’s a problem. Other people seem to feel the same way. Drop by between 11:30 and 2:30 and you may get so hungry waiting in line to order your lunch you’ll be tempted to put in a call to Domino’s. Situated on a nondescript stretch of East … Read more
Fusion is the fashion these days, but the concept is fairly fuzzy. It can just mean that an Italian and an Argentine got married and decided to share a stove. But if you’re lucky, it will really mean that some great minds with good cooking skills have pooled ingredients and techniques from different parts of … Read more
If you didn’t know it was there, you could easily walk right by the new Luke’s Lobster, just east of Third Avenue on East 43rd. Scaffolding next door has left the double glass doors at the front of the restaurant in the dark, and there’s only a small blackboard sign to let you know you’re … Read more
Should you go to a health-food restaurant just because the food is good for you? No, you should go there because the cooking is healthy and tastes great. Now, a related question: If you call your place “Kale” and add chopped bits of it to nearly every dish on the menu, will they come? To … Read more
At the Blue Olive Market, a new casual restaurant and carryout service in the United Nations neighborhood, you can be out the door in minutes with a lunch of rack of lamb — four lovely rare-cooked chops — along with two vegetable side dishes, all for the princely sum of $13.95. The market, on East … Read more
At Paname, a new restaurant that bears the French slang name for Paris, it’s not just about what’s cooking but making it good looking too. A bit of a hike from the UN, just north of 56th Street on Second Avenue, Paname offers a $20 prix-fixe lunch. If you can spare the time for a … Read more
