Things have been all a flutter here at Casa PC as I plan for my very first trip to New York City. I’m very excited and making all kinds of plans to sight-see and go to Broadway shows, but one of the things I’m most looking forward to is the food.
I love food. All kinds of food. I’ll try pretty much anything at least once (except bugs. I draw the line at eating bugs.). And when I travel, I always want to try the local cuisine. No, I will not be eating at McDonald’s in NYC.* I can eat that here. I want to eat at out-of-the-way places that only the locals know about. I want to eat at the places I see on TV. If there’s a specialty of the area, I want to try it. I think it’s important to the experience to eat the way the locals do. (When folks come south, I feed them BBQ, biscuits, and sweet tea. It’s part of the experience!)
So, for the last couple of weeks, I’ve been emailing the folks I know in NYC and asking for recommendations. And, boy, do I have a list. Pizza in Brooklyn, dim sum in Chinatown, kosher delis, an Ethiopian place, a Turkish place. This is the kind of stuff I can’t get here, and I’m so hungry just thinking about it.
I also intend to break every rule I have about hygiene and get a hot dog from a street vendor. It just seems like the right thing to do while in NY.
Are you an adventurous eater? When you travel, what do you consider important to the experience?
PC
*Although I did eat at a McDonald’s in Paris. I’d been there a week on a student budget and limited French skills, so I wanted food that I knew what the heck it was. That was the best Big Mac ever.
11 comments:
I love to learn the local history when I travel. I like to talk to people and learn new things. Food is part of the experience so I will, do as you have, ask people from the area where the best restaurants are. Hope you enjoy New York. Being married to a Italian New Yorker and having lived there, I want you to be sure to check out the diners in Little Italy if you want Italian. Most of them on Mulberry Street are pretty good (at least they were twenty years ago - LOL).
If I remember correctly, you loved bangers and mash (is that the correct term?) when you were at Manchester. I do know that I loved the pub food when we were in England and Scotland. I think eating the local food is an important part of the trip!
I definitely like to try something I can't get at home. I might not be that psyched for Ethiopian food in NYC (which I think you eat with your hands, so be prepared) but if I was in Ethiopia, definitely. In NYC, I want a hot dog, some good pizza and a couple good meals from someplace interesting. This is my 4th trip, so I've done a giant club and cheesecake in Carnegie Deli, Thai in Chinatown, Chinese in Brooklyn, and the theater menu at Tavern on the Green (which is closed, sadly). Would be curious to go to the Russian Tea room or the Rainbow Room or something for a little splurge, but this time I get to go to Sardis, which is very cool.
I did break down in Germany. After days of sausage (which I really don't care for) and weird potatoes, I needed something that tasted normal. So I ended up at a Burger King in the train station. Ew. Not at all what it should taste like, I assure you. I think it's grass fed beef or something that changes the taste. Even the diet Coke (with 2 ice cubes) tasted weird. After about 10 bites, I gave it to a homeless guy that was staring at me while I ate.
We'll be right across the street from Juniors, which has the best cheesecake ever. I highly recommend the devils food cheesecake. There are so many interesting places within walking distance of the hotel! I wish more places would do something like Savor Sarasota. They have a two week long event where fine restaurants (and Sarasota has a lot of very fine restaurants) offer a special menu at a lower than usual price. It's such a great opportunity to try new things! We made it down once. I think I gained fifteen pounds, but it was worth it! :-)
I lived in Germany for 4 years and got to travel all over the continent plus Great Britain, Mallorca, Greece, Egypt and Israel. Experiencing the food was part of the fun. Alas, I won't be having a hot dog with y'all in NYC. So enjoy a bite for me.
P.S. I, too, have eaten at McDonald's in Paris. I'd been living in Europe for a year without American fast food and was visiting Paris. Those Golden Arches just beckoned. And yes, European beef is grass fed and nasty. That's why I avoided the burger places but I often visited the KFC near my apartment for a "Kentucky Haenchen zu mitnehmen, bitte." I think the Kentucky Haenchen was the 2-piece dinner. "Zu mitnehmen" means to go. "Bitte" is please. I found that saying please and thank you usually made up for garbling the language except in Paris where nothing makes up for it.
Oh, PC, you speak my language! Please please share that list! I haven't had Turkish food since I left Germany (high immigrant Turkish population there) and I am dying to have some again!!! As my use of exclamation points suggests. *g*
Please share. Please. ;) My preferences and experience are exactly yours, right down to eating at McD's in Paris because I was a poor student and wanted a taste of home. I can't remember the last time I ate at McD's, other than the occasional Egg McMuffin. I am NOT a fast food girl.
I've had Ethiopian food once at a Taste of DC years ago. It was good! I remember the bread most of all. Huge, flat, and holey.
Rosa Mexicana if you're in the mood for Mexican, though I have to admit, I prefer the Tex-Mex of a rockin' place that was just off Lexington . . . but I can't remember the name of it.
Virgil's BBQ.
BLT Steak (this one is very pricey).
Stanton Social, if you can get in. There's an appetizer of French onion soup dumplings. The onion soup is INSIDE the dumpling. This is way down close to the Bowery.
And I loved the real Waldorf salad, which has no relation to lettuce.
Alas, the Rainbow Room is also closed, at least temporarily.
The menu for the Russian Tea Room, for onion soup, says that it comes with "a crouton." As in one. Which makes me wonder if it's a decorative crouton, perched artfully on top -- or if it's a crouton the size of a tomato, in which case, how would you eat it?
I'm looking forward to NY! I have to admit that I'm planning a trip to the Cake Boss bakery - mostly for Sweet Pea. I plan on having a hot dog, come great pizza and probably a huge slice of cheesecake.
Instigator
PM, you forgot the MacDonald's visit with me in in Amsterdam. That was a case of "quick" the next tour boat is leaving in 10 minutes! The only NYC food I've had was a pizza at the 57th street wharf -- no better than what I get in south Georgia.
The best foreign food I have ever had was Weiner Schnitzel at Grimminger's in Heidelburg, Germany.
Anyone who wants to visit St. Simons Island, Georgia can be treated to a slaw dog at Willie's WeeNee Wagon where their slogan is "We relish your bun".
Adding these recs to my list.
I'm so hungry...
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