Previously on Adam Riff™:
- Eater's Digest: New York City 3
- Eater's Digest: Summer 2013
- An Adam Riff™ Thanksgiving
- Eater's Digest: 31 Flavours
I have a formidable backlog of food notes on New York City dating back to fall 2013 that I desperately need to clear. Some restaurants I tried have closed. Some dishes I tried are no longer available.
Emptying the clip:
Fall 2013 – December 2016
alder / amy's bread / arepa lady / atoboy / baked / biang! / blue ribbon fried chicken / big smoke burger / bolivian llama party / breads bakery / the cecil / contra / cosme / court street grocers / cranky's cafe / delaney barbecue / delaware and hudson / desi shack / dinnertable / dominique ansel kitchen / dorado tacos / dough loco / the doughnut plant / the doughnut project / ducks eatery / dutch kills centraal / earl's beer and cheese / empellón cocina / empire biscuit / fuku / fuku+ / the gander / glady's / han dynasty / hey hey canteen / hometown bar-b-que / hill country chicken / hometown hotpot and bbq / jeepney / la boulangerie / levain bakery / los mariscos / los tacos no. 1 / martha's country bakery / meat hook sandwich shop / mighty quinn's / mile end / milk bar / mofon go / momofuku nishi / momofuku ssäm bar / morgan's barbecue / mp taverna / mr. bing / the nugget spot / num pang / nutella bar at eataly / oiji / otto's tacos / pacifico's fine foods / pearl's / piora / presstea / queens comfort / red hook lobster pound / rider / root and bone / schmackary's / snowdonia / somtum der / sticky's finger joint / sunday in brooklyn / sweets first bakeshoppe and cafe / takumi taco / the thirsty koala / tompkins square bagels / toro / tortillería nixtamal / tres carnes / union fare / wallflower / west 3rd common / white bear / wilma jean / xi'an famous foods
The "gone but not forgotten" stuff at the end aside, everything featured below is currently open and available.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cream Cheese (Tompkins Square Bagels)
Birthday Cake Cream Cheese (Tompkins Square Bagels)
—Cloying bagel spreads.
The Everything Doughnut (The Doughnut Project)
sweet cream cheese glaze topped with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, pepitas, garlic, and sea salt
^ Bagel donut.
'Those Beetz Are Dope' Doughnut (The Doughnut Project)
beet glaze filled with ricotta whip
'The Bronx' Doughnut (The Doughnut Project)
a simple glaze, with italian olive oil and black pepper
[Mochaccino] Ripple Donut (The Doughnut Plant)
mocha, coffee, milk with cinnamon
^ Three concentric donuts for $24. Flavour combinations vary. The "mochaccino" one I tried was bland and unpleasantly chewy. Not sure why I thought it might be good, because Doughnut Plant sucks.
Fried Sourdough (Sunday in Brooklyn)
beeswax, peach jam
^ A dessert!
Black Cod Pastrami (Sunday in Brooklyn)
rye sour cream, garden pickles
^ Combined with the sour cream, it tastes like a pastrami sandwich.
Cobia al Pastor (Cosme)
pineapple puree, cilantro
^ Fish á la pork.
Duck Carnitas (Cosme)
onions, radishes, cilantro
^ Dry.
Kangaroo Burger (The Thirsty Koala)
akudjura remoullade, caramelized onions, tasmanian pepper berry demi glaze, fresh lettuce, sliced fresh tomato, sliced fresh red onion, ketchup, and sweet chilli sauce
—And drier.
Dry Pepper Fish (Han Dynasty)
triple flash fried with long hot and dry chili peppers
Flying Guillotine (Flattops)
sirloin beef patty, roast duck and shrimp egg roll, a l'orange sauce
^ A burger topped with an egg roll.
Gucci Mane (Flattops)
sirloin beef patty, cap'n crunch crusted bacon, gruyere, french toast brioche, raspberry jam
Pastrami Bombs (Flattops)
yukon gold potato croquettes, homemade pastrami, cornichons, gruyere, chinese mustard
Crispy Uni Paella Ball (Dinnertable)
uni, risotto, smoked tomato creme
^ Crispy? Check. Uni? Check. Paella? Ehh…
(Dinnertable) is a restaurant hidden inside a bar, a bar that [not sure if Con Edison or just Lower East Side] lit its men's washroom with a single anemic candle.
Dinnertable Dog with House Pickles (Dinnertable)
house miso sausage, potato bun, wasabi pea salt, sauces, and market pickles
Matcha Sundae (Dinnertable)
matcha ice cream, miso caramel sauce, fudge, homemade kit kat, more delicious stuff
Husk Meringue (Cosme)
corn mousse
^ I wasn't keen on ordering this dessert, but I'm glad I did. To make the meringue, corn husk leaves are burned and blended into a fine powder that is whipped into egg whites and sugar.
Chicken / Egg (Atoboy)
spicy peanut butter, garlic / sea urchin, watercress, quinoa
^ Chicken on the bottom left, egg on the top right.
Seasonal Rice (Atoboy)
Kamayan (Jeepney)
banana ketchup ribs, kare kare fried chicken, adobong hipon, dinuguan at puto, bicol express, tahong probinsyana, longganisa sausage, bokchoy, garlic rice
^ A large format Filipino feast consumed with your hands – no plates or silverware.
Smoked Whole Goat Neck (Ducks Eatery)
royal curry, bing cherries, rice
Bake and Shark (Pearl's)
fried shark with tamarind, chadon beni, and garlic sauce; pickled slaw, and mango chutney
^ White people gotta gentrify bake and sharks so I can eat them every day.
Calypso Guac and Chips (Pearl's)
caribbean-style guacamole with vegetable chips
—Caribbean-style guac and chips is basically guac and chips.
Fried Chicken Burrito (Wilma Jean)
with hoppin' john fried rice, cheddar cheese, collards
Hong Kong Fried Chicken Sandwich (Hey Hey Canteen)
tamari-palm sugar glazed chicken breast, crispy ramen crust, green mango and radish pickles, umami aioli, bao bun
Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich (Fuku / Fuku+)
—I appreciate that David Chang uses thigh meat.
Ceci e Pepe (Momofuku Nishi)
butter, chickpea hozon, black pepper
—A play on cacio e pepe that substitutes a chickpea paste fermented in-house for nine months for the traditional pecorino Romano.
Greek Paella (MP Taverna)
shellfish, spicy lamb sausage, and orzo
—Three of my favourites in one. Be prepared to work for the shellfish.
Smashed Fries (MP Taverna)
—Every time I visit New York City now, I trek to Astoria for these fries.
Masa Fries (Otto's Tacos)
S'more Fries (Sticky's Finger Joint)
valrhona cocoa powder, roasted marshmallows, crumbled graham crackers
^ Works!
Garlic Bread Croissant (Dominique Ansel Kitchen)
with garlic confit, fontina cheese, and drizzled with rosemary olive oil
Schmaltz Focaccia (Rider)
Chocolo (Arepa Lady)
ground fresh corn
Spicy Rizzak Sandwich (Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop)
sliced turkey, crispy bacon, melted cheddar, tomato, onion, spicy chipotle mayo on a toasted sesame semolina hero
MISSED CONNECTIONS
Birthday Cake Croissant (Union Fare)
Italian Rainbow Donut (Glaze Donuts)
Bone Marrow Doughnut (The Doughnut Project)
stuffed with bone marrow chocolate pastry cream, topped with clementine glaze
Guacamole-Stuffed Onion Rings (Queens Comfort)
sriracha aioli
Kale Crab Rangoon (Olmsted)
sweet and sour sauce
Snap Pea Sushi (Olmsted)
^ Substitutes snap peas for rice.
Carrot Crepe (Olmsted)
little neck clams, sunflower
"Black Bean" Dip and Chips (Lalito)
cannellini beans, squid ink, black garlic, pickled red onion, banana peppers, cotija cheese
Lamb Barbacoa (Lalito)
tamale gnocchi, cumin, oregano
Pork Carnitas (Lalito)
house made flour tortillas, corn nuts, white sauce
Vegan Chicharrones (Lalito)
hot sauce, vinegar, spirulina
^ A play on duros.
Korean Redneck Tacos (Kimchi Smoke)
smoked pork shoulder, fatboy sauce, korean slaw or kimchi, flour tortilla
Kimchi Paella (Thursday Kitchen)
white tiger shrimp, mussels, saffron, caramelized kimchi, parmigiano
(Oca) serves tapioca crepes.
(Ancolie) serves its meals in jars.
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Pub Cheese (Alder)
pistachio/white-fig, martin's "potato chips"
^ Instead of beer to loosen and spike the mix of cheddar and cream cheese, Wylie Dufresne used a red wine reduction seasoned with miso and mustard. To this, he added chips made from Martin's potato bread slices that were rolled flat, buttered, and dried in a low oven.
"Pigs in a Blanket" (Alder)
chinese sausage, japanese mustard, sweet chili sauce
French Onion Soup Rings (Alder)
beef gravy, gruyere
Rye Pasta (Alder)
shaved pastrami jerky, chopped pickled green tomatoes, mustard sauce
^ Pasta-rami sandwich.
Root Beer Pudding (Alder)
whipped cream, smoked cashew nougatine, crushed root beer candies
^ A solidified root beer float.
Quail Eggs on Spicy Pork Sausage and Toasted Mantou Slices (Biang!)
Afro / Asian / American Gumbo (The Cecil)
smoked chicken, chinese chicken sausage, gulf shrimp, crabmeat
Lasagna Bolo (Dinnertable)
Smoked Shortrib Tartare (Dinnertable)
horseradish, marble rye
Ramenrrito (Presstea)
—A burrito that substituted ramen for rice.
Monkey Bread (Piora)
Egg (Piora)
chicken wing, potato, artichoke barigoule
—Italian chef kiss.
Soft Egg (Rider)
foie croutons, sweet sherry yogurt, caviar
Chocolate Tart (Rider)
hazelnut "crunch," cinnamon, and fresno chile ice cream
Texas Billionaire Pie (Hill Country Chicken)
bittersweet chocolate, caramel, marshmallows, pecans
'Seinfeld' Broccoli and Cheese Cupcake (Sweets First Bakeshoppe and Cafe)