Manganaro's Grosseria (488 Ninth Avenue, +1 2, ) Le Veau d'Or (129 East 60th St, +1 2) Katz's Delicatessen (205 East Houston St, +1 2, ) Russ & Daughters (179 East Houston Street, +1 2, russanddaughters. My point? Patronise these places and you not only honour Manhattan's rich culinary and cultural tradition – you give yourself permission to relax and have a helluva good time. Russ & Daughters occupies that rare and tiny place on the mountaintop reserved for those who are not just the oldest and the last – but also the best. The herring and smoked and cured fish they sell at Russ & Daughters would be just as desirable if the store were a spanking new gourmet shop – instead of a century-old institution that grew up from a street cart. But there's a reason Marco Pierre White, for instance, loves the place – and why so many people keep going back: not just because they "don't make 'em like that any more" – but because it's damn good pastrami.
#Anthony bourdain the layover nyc tv
Snobs will no doubt carp that Katz's has been covered to death on TV and in films – and they will groan (accurately enough) that every damn lazy-ass food writer from elsewhere looking to cover the "real" New York (in an afternoon) will write about their few bites of pastrami at this downtown institution, make a few oblique and obligatory When Harry Met Sally references and move on. It's the bistro that time forgot – a last link to a golden age of tableside carving, curly parsley as state-of-the-art garnish and desserts last seen in the pages of the Larousse Gastronomique.įamous pastrami sandwiches at Katz's Deli. But if you can't have one of the kooky-great times of your life at this absolutely untouched-by-time frog pond – with its delightfully irony-free, 60-year-old menu, then you really have no true love for French food – and certainly nothing resembling a heart. There is better French food in New York these days than what they're serving at Le Veau d'Or. If you don't like the spaghetti with red sauce and meatballs in the back dining area at Manganaro's? If you don't "get it"? You're just not drinking enough red wine. But it's a vital step back in time, another world, and an essential one to remember and to cherish. Manganaro's is a bit of vintage Italian-America that people raised on a more al dente, post- Batali, northern-inflected, lightly sauced, meatball-free Italian cuisine might not appreciate. They hang on – in a particularly unfriendly economic climate – for the simple reason that they're run by magnificently stubborn people who happen to own their buildings.
Manganaro's Grosseria and that awesome time warp of a French restaurant, Le Veau d'Or, are businesses that would very likely be more profitable selling sneakers, tube socks or designer cupcakes. I contend they deserve love and respect from anyone serious about food or about having a good time. All are still great after all these years. But these remaining eateries, though perhaps no longer "culturally relevant", and certainly not "hip" – and about as far from "trendy" or "hot" as anything could be – are in fact what make New York special. Most – if not all – of these places are dinosaurs, among the last of mostly extinct herds that once, long ago, ruled New York's concrete jungle. Newer, more pragmatic enterprises couldn't or wouldn't do what they're doing. The places I'm thinking of just happen to be institutions. If it did, New Yorkers might have actually eaten at Tavern on the Green – and Luchow's would still be open. Just because it's a "New York institution" doesn't mean you want to eat there. Let me make this clear: "old" does not necessarily mean "good". When it comes to Manhattan, this means places such as Katz's Deli, and Keen's, and Russ & Daughters, uniquely New York institutions that have survived the brutal caprices of style and changing tastes – and are still worth going out of your way to patronise.