Is there a summary of all the $25 and under reviews in the nytimes? I’m off to new york again in a couple weeks and will have a lot of daytime hours and meals to kill. Also, I need London suggestions for an August trip, but I’ll bug you about those later.
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Fat is flavor 
a summary of the nytimes reviews, no. a much, much more reliable source is robert sietsema, who never, ever steers me wrong. since you have time to kill, i urge you to get out to the farther reaches of queens and brooklyn. but here’s a typical list i give to those who end up in the old ‘hood.
asian:
momofuku – 1st ave between 10th & 11th street, east village (japanese); get the pickles, pork buns, shrimp & grits, momofuku ramen ($20/30)
dumpling man – 100 st. mark’s place, east village (chinese)
cho dang gol – 55 w 35th st., koreatown (korean, duh); they make their own tofu — get the doo boo doo roo chi gi (or something like that) ($20)
kuma inn – 113 ludlow st (near delancey), lower east side (filipino-chinese); definitely get the chinese pork sausage and pork tonkatsu ($30)
angon on 6th – 320 e. 6th, east village (indian); liver jhal fry, dal fry, aam dal, begun achar
european/american:
Blaue Gans – 139 Duane Street, Tribeca, 212-571-8880; definitely go for brunch if you’re there on a Saturday or Sunday, get apple pancakes, pork belly sandwich and pastry basket ($20)
prune – 1st st, between 1st and 2nd ave; brunch and/or dinner ($30 brunch, $70 dinner)
shake shack – the little white building in the middle of madison square park; burger, shake, concrete ($5-10)
sullivan st bakery – sullivan st between spring and prince (i think); amazing, amazing focaccia (may be as good if not better than anything you can find in italy)
latin american:
caracas arepa bar – 1st ave and 7th st, east village; definitely get at least 2 different kinds of arepas
other:
katz’s delicatessen – 205 east houston (and orchard st, i think), lower east side; my favorite classic ny deli for handcarved pastrami sandwiches
a couple doors down, you’ll find russ & daughters, an old-school jewish food place with the best smoked salmon and pickled herring. get a bagel or two and get some cream cheese (my favorite combination is poppyseed bagel (toasted) with scallion cream cheese) and definitely get some herrings in dill mustard or cream sauce. delish.
the last time i blew into town, these are what sietsema recommended:
Minangasli (86-10 Whitney Avenue, Queens, 718-429-8207)
This new off-price Sumatran café has helped to rewrite the book on Indonesian food, beginning with the signature island dish of beef rendang. Though not made with water buffalo, the meat is still unspeakably rich and coconut-sodden. Satays, too, are a revelation The helter-skelter pile of diminutive brochettes of lamb, beef, or chicken are flung on top of longton – cubes of rice starch that are laved with a thin briny peanut sauce. The menu also makes much of jackfruit, a vegetable that cooks up something like canned tuna.
Los Dos Molinos (119 East 18th Street, 212-505-1574)
The only branch east of the Mississippi of a respected Phoenix chain, Los Dos Molinos (“The Two Chile Grinders”) showcases the cuisine of the northern Sonoran dessert, which encompasses parts of New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. A boon to chile lovers, the food is often hot as hell. Sure, there are normal Mexican and Mexican-American recipes on the menu, and potent margaritas, too, but diehard foodies will go right to the ribs adovada, deep-fried burros (the predecessor of burritos), and Victoria’s red or green chile plate, the latter utilizing the legendary green peppers of Hatch, NM.
Chopstick (85-22 Grand Avenue, Queens, 718-505-8889, 11373)
Way off the beaten path, this new Indo-Chinese restaurant on the road to Maspeth offers sauces of amazing sophistication, including a “chilli goat” not red and not thickened with cornstarch – what a relief! The flavors are simultaneously sharp and subtle, and the proprietor – who is Chinese and lived for a long time in various Indian cities – will make it just as hot as you want, or you may refer to any of the four fiery condiments on the table, three homemade. The beef pakora was another revelation, an appetizer reminded me of wadded-up Texas chicken fried steak. All meat is halal.
Shalom (64-47 108th Street, Queens, 718-275-2220, 11375)
Sadly, Beautiful Bukhara tanked last year. Happily, in its place has arisen Shalom, a kosher Uzbek establishment along the lines of the wonderful Salut (sometimes, Salute), just down the block. Heaped with crushed garlic and parsley, the well-browned and glistening fries are killer, a perfect match for the bargain kebabs, of which lulya and lamb rib were our favorites. If you’re afraid of shard objects, substitute the flattened and fried chicken tabaka. The humus, too, is distinguished, scooped with the round, crusty, seeded loaf called lepeshka, but the bulging dumplings called manti were disspointingly thin-skinned.
Ruthie’s Restaurant (96 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-246-5189, 11201)
The fried chicken is spectacular. Made to order, and still scalding hot when it’s brought to the table, the well-browned skin has been only lightly dusted with flour. The expected sides, too, are way better than average, including a mac and cheese tasting exclusively of good cheddar, and French fries with little bits of skin adhering here and there. The food is mainly made to order, so service can be slow, and your clothes will smell like fried food when you leave, but Ruthie’s is one of the few remaining soul food emporia in Brooklyn, and the food is the best of its type.
Thai Food House (College Point Boulevard, Flushing)
Serves a combination of Burmese, Yunan, and Thai, and if you think that’s a very weird combination, look at the map! Wonderful, wonderful, and exceedingly strange
Upscale:
Cookshop (10th avenue & 20th Street), project from the folks who brought you 5 Ninth, electic food sourced from organic farmers, relatively wholesome but greasy, comfort food for artists
Dani (new upscale Sicilian restaurant on Hudson Street)
Bistro du Vent (Laurent Tourandel’s latest project, a bistro across from the Port Authority)
(see my post about TFH. unfuckingbelievably good.)
(give me a head’s up when you’re heading to london, and i’ll hook you up with some more suggestions. definitely, definitely go to st. john. and if you can rustle up enough dining companions, reserve in advance for the roast suckling pig.)
winnie, i think i forgot to tell you that i was thoroughly thwarted in my attempt to follow your momofuku recommendation last time around — they were under renovation and were reopening the day I was leaving new york!
thanks so much for the list!
winnie – you’ve got to put this in a separate post! it’s worth sharing w/ the world.
i like making people hunt a little. not everyone deserves to know about all the good shit. heheh.
oh, i guess the most important thing i neglected to mention is that sietsema pens the ‘counter culture’ column for the village voice. so, to read his other reviews, go there, obviously.