Grand Street Pizza is a relatively new spot on Grand between Clinton and Essex. This joint is serving up crispy, thin crust, classic Brooklyn/NYC style pies that are as gorgeous as they are delicious.
I put this is the same realm as Scarr’s, Patsy’s, NY Pizza Suprema and Joe’s. Very good, and you can get it by the slice. I can’t wait to try more.
GRAND STREET PIZZA
384 Grand St
New York, NY 10002
I popped into this joint with some friends mainly to try a domestic wagyu strip they recently put on the menu, but everything we had here was great. This place serves up smaller bites and tapas style dishes. Some of the highlights were the prawns, the potato cake with uni on top, the beef tartare and the stuffed chicken wings.
The star of the show was 24oz of 9/10 deliciousness. The “thrice cooked chips” that came with it were absolutely perfect.
The au poivre sauce really wasn’t needed, but both that and the roasted garlic really made the flavors pop.
For dessert, the mille feuille with cinnamon brown sugar cream was the big winner, but the mousse with granita and meringue was a nice way to cleanse the palate at the end of the meal.
WILDAIR
142 Orchard St
New York, NY 10002
I popped into this little French joint for Brunch last weekend. I tried the steak burger and really enjoyed it. it was topped with melted brie, thin sliced tomato and cucumbers, and tartar sauce, of all things. It really worked nicely. And the fries were BONKERS. I’d definitely eat this burger again.
LES ENFANTS DE BOHEME
177 Henry St
New York, NY 10002
Mighties is a new burger joint that just opened in the Market Line food hall at Essex and Delancey. Their regular burger is two 5oz patties with American cheese, LTOP and special sauce. Notice how thin the toppings are sliced… Expert level.
This thing is pretty damn great, and with Ends Meat beef in the mix, you know you’re getting meat from a small farm operation with fresh hanging beef that went directly from the farm to the butchers in Brooklyn after being split in half.
They also have some amazing hot dogs on the menu:
And on Fridays they offer a dry aged burger that will blow you away.
This is a 7oz beast that really brings the funk.
I think this might be my new favorite burger in town for this fast-casual style.
Want something secret/special that’s off the menu? Ask Nash or Fabian for the chopped cheese fries. Killer!
I’m psyched that this is in my hood now. I’ll be here pretty often!
MIGHTIES
115 Delancey St
New York, NY 10002
This little Vietnamese sandwich joint in Chinatown serves up some of the best I’ve had. The bread really sets this place apart from the rest.
At this point, I’ve tried about six different kinds, and my favorite is the #4, the traditional sandwich but with SMOKED Viet ham rather than regular. I also like to order with hot peppers and extra cilantro. They don’t charge!
BANH MI CO UT
83 Elizabeth St
New York, NY 10013
I’m officially hooked on this place. A while back, my wife and I stopped in for a drink and an app – the fritto misto. We were already sort of full, but that plate of mixed fried items like calamari, olives, lemon rinds, shrimp, and artichoke really made us want to go back.
Last night we finally did! We tried two more apps, meatballs and fried zucchini blossoms. All were incredible. In fact, the meatballs are some of the best I’ve had outside of family.
The fried zucchini blossoms are stuffed with velvery smooth ricotta and served with an anchovy pesto oil. I liked swiping them in the meatball sauce though.
The pasta entrees are pretty large servings! Check out this massive bowl of gnocchi with peas and mushrooms.
The cavatelli with duck meat ragu was a massive serving too.
They had to be half a pound each. We couldn’t finish! I’ll definitely be back here to try more pastas, and perhaps one or two of the fish items from their entree menu.
On another trip, we tried more shit. The radicchio salad and bresaola were both excellent, as were the negronis.
This cuttlefish ink pasta reminded me of Venice.
Finished every damn bite of it.
Great light red sauce with clams too, which reminded me of home.
This pork shank is incredible, on a huge bed of cheese polenta!
This marinated rib eye is decent. I’d get the pork over this, but I still enjoyed because I knew exactly what to expect given the description and the price point.
I give this a 6/10 since I’m comparing it to the big boys in dedicated steak joints, but I would definitely get it again.
For dessert, we tried the hazelnut crumble gelato, the panna cotta and the tiramisu. All really nice.
BACARO
136 Division St
New York, NY 10002
My wife and I finally tried this spot. It’s been getting very popular lately in the food scene, mainly because of the crispy shrimp heads seen here:
They paired nicely with the house hot sauce.
They’re delicious! But so are the other items they offer, like the mussels escabeche:
The fried skate wing:
And the piri piri chicken with french fries:
Fries were perfect, chicken was juicy! Great cocktails as well.
We’ll definitely be back to try the Manila clams and a few other items that looked tasty.
UPDATE! Clams were pretty good, but I probably wouldn’t order them again in terms of portion size.
These Louisiana white prawns were excellent. I would definitely order them again. There were five on the plate.
CERVOS
43 Canal St
New York, NY 10002
This nice wine bar in the Lower East Side has an awesome happy hour deal that includes $18 carafes of red, white or rose along with dollar oysters in three varieties, every day from open until 7pm. On weekends they open at 3pm so my wife and I popped in to try a bunch of stuff. We were the first ones at the bar. This is what one side of it looks like:
The wine was delicious.
And so was this tomato flavored brandy:
For bites, we did two dozen oysters (eight of each variety, all nicely cleaned and fresh);
Steak tartare (this was really nicely prepared – one of the better tartares I’ve had);
And boquerones/anchovies.
Everything was great, and I can’t wait to go back for more.
THE TEN BELLS
247 Broome St
New York, NY 10002
Bar Belly has a pretty great happy hour that features dollar oysters, among other deals. We went with two dozen of these delicious, crisp, clean oysters, some fries for $6, and, of course, drinks. I highly recommend this oyster happy hour. It goes until 7pm every night.
BAR BELLY
14 Orchard St
New York, NY 10002
My wife and I popped in here for a quick lunch and to take advantage of the all day dollar oyster special.
The oysters were great. Mild, creamy, fresh and crisp. I only wish they also served them with horseradish and a cocktail sauce. The grilled calamari appetizer was great, served atop a salad of arugula with balsamic and orange supremes.
My wife had fish tacos, which were very nice (no pics), and I had the burger. This was great, though I wish I had gone with cheddar instead of Swiss (they were out of American). That little thing on top, under the pickles, is crispy cheese! That was a nice bonus.
We will definitely be going back here.
MILA’S FISH & HOOK
81 Ludlow St
New York, NY 10002
