Yakitori Totto is delicious. It’s what I imagine a great yakotori place in Japan would be. Small sparse straight forward delicious skewers. Not cheap. Every skewer was at least $5.
Spicy margherita slice at Upside Pizza on 8th and 40th. Was not as good as the lunch I had at the Midtown East location. The pies looked like they were sitting out for a while on Sunday night.
Adel’s Famous halal cart line at 6:15. They aren’t even open yet. This place is blowing up. 50-60 waiting. I’ve heard the line gets up to 2 hours during prime time.
49th and 6th.
Bad Roman is an interesting joint. Kinda kitschy in a mall setting with some good but not especially Roman eats. Good drinks and wine list. Same ownership group as the Quality restaurants and Don Angie.
The good appetizers.
Garlic babka was buttery garlicky crunchy and yummy.
Bad appetizers
Pepperoni cups and ranch. Why? Who needs this? It was just pepperoni and ranch. It wasn’t bad per se but this is an IG joke. Yes we ordered it so whose the joke on?
2 of the 3 pastas were very good. The short rib papardelle was one of the least flavorful dishes I’ve eaten this decade. No salt and no flavor. It was actually a miracle how this dish has no taste. The chicken scaparella and shrimp capellini pictured below were very nicely cooked and tasty. I can’t understand how these pasta dishes all came out of the same kitchen.
Similar result on the main course. The filet with the Cacio pepe ravioli was outstanding. Great beefy flavor and ooey gooey cheese from the ravioli once it was cut open. The pork chop was well cooked and very soft but not very memorable. It just didn’t have a lot of flavor.
Brutal. My NYC office is on 46th between 5th and 6th so I feel the pain.
Upside Pizza on 40th and 5th is as good as it gets in the area without going downtown or to Brooklyn.
Ramen
Totto, Ippudo and Ichiran are all nearby
PJ Clarkes is a little higher up but that’s a good spot for a burger, fries and a drink.
Pietros is an Italian steakhouse we’ve been going to for decades. Besides good steaks the pastas are very good. Old school Italian place that flies under the radar but has stood the test of time. I haven’t been since pre pandemic but it’s always served us well.
Keen’s Pub (part of the overall restaurant but with a separate menu - not inexpensive, but very good)
Sarge’s Deli or 2nd Ave Deli?
Straight down Lex. Ave to the Indian Row of E.28th St? Lots of choices for lunch and dinner here.
I have not been, but there’s “Joe’s Home of Soup Dumplings”, which looks pretty good. Owned/run by the son of the original Joe’s in Manhattan’s C’town.
portnoy just re?-reviewed Fini - their tomato pie looks very legit, and apparently theyre making italian ices with harry’s berries…
one of the advantages of portnoy reviews over pictures of pizza/yelp is you can see what the pizza eats like - from the initial reviews of DOP and Fini, DOP looked better, but that tomato pie…
Portnoy is douchey cringey but holy hell this lineup is insane. Some of the best from NYC, CT, PA, and NJ……Sally’s Apizza, Angelo’s South Philly, Lucali, Luigi’s, Johns.
Yeah he’s not just cringey, he’s been accused multiple times of sexual assault and nonconsensual filming. Definitely not someone i would like to support.
I also saw a good point made - how good can these pizzas be when theyre being made off premises, without access to their ovens etc?
All-Inclusive Pizza Tickets Begin at $149.99 … some of One Bite’s greatest pizzerias will have the ability to fire up their pizzas on the best wood and coal-fired pizza ovens in the business.
