new york city, thanksgiving break
This is my third trip to the large malus pumila since creating this blog. New York City consistently yields the best crop of dining experiences which I could cover. This makes sense, as it’s the most population-dense place that I visit consistently. It would kind of be weird if it wasn’t also the best dining location out of my repeatedly-visited sites. Still, there’s something special about New York City’s food beyond the sheer density of quality restaurants. Going out to eat in NYC will always feel like an exciting occasion in a way that other cities just can’t replicate.
This time around, I was only in the Big Apple for a few days. Here were the three best things I ate.
Sandwich from House of Saturn
This one was such a shocker for me. This deli/cafe is by no means famous; we only visited because it was incedentally convenient for our travel plans. The atmosphere inside is astrology-oriented (pretty cool, if you’re into that sort of thing). They have a long list of sandwiches inspired by different planets. I went with the Jupiter Sandwich, which had prosciutto, bacon, mozzarella, pineapple, and balsamic glaze on an Onion Brioche roll.
The sandwich was very good. The bread and dressing were far and away the best part. The onion brioche tasted fantastic, and was very fluffy. The dressing paired nicely with both the pineapples (a great call by the sandwich designer) and the bread. The prosciutto was pretty good. The bacon was pretty middling. The mozzarella wasn’t special, but it did compliment the sandwich well.
Bread: 9.5/10
Dressing: 8/10
Pineapple: 8/10
Prosciutto: 7/10
Bacon: 5/10
Mozz: 7/10
Overall: 8/10
Chicken Parm from Il Cortile
Hey, this is totally unrelated, but a bunch of people like to equate Chicken Parm with Eggplant Parm (my friend just told me she likes the sogginess of vegan eggplant parm, which is something I don’t even want to get into). I want to assert here and now that Eggplant Parm isn’t even in the same realm of quality as Chicken Parm.
Anyways, Il Cortile is a warmly-lit restaurant in Little Italy. The wait time for my pre-reserved table was brutal, but such is life in a busy city. The bread was very solid. Of course, I way overdid it on the bread, and by the time our main course arrived, I was pretty full. But I persevered.
The chicken came with a spicy spaghetti in red sauce that was, once again, solid. The chicken itself was the third-best chicken parm I’ve ever had. The breading wasn’t too crispy, and the chicken was nice and thin, which meant every bite was well-proportioned. There was a lot of cheese and not quite enough sauce, but that was a minor scruple. The sauce was quite sweet.
Bread: 7/10
Spaghetti: 7/10
Cheese: 8/10
Breading: 8/10
Chicken: 9/10
Sauce: 7.5/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Thai Food from Mitr Thai
Mitr Thai’s strength is it’s depth. It has a ton of options for Thai cuisine, organized by area. For an appetizer, we had Roti with Peanut Sauce from Southern Thailand. I ate Kao Soy Kua Neur, a braised beef dish.
The roti was yummy. I appreciated how flaky it was— it was different from the Indian Roti that I’m used to. The peanut sauce had chicken sitting at the bottom, and was the perfect pairing for the roti.
My dish was pretty solid. The beef wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, but I think that’s more of a taste preference than an actual determinant of quality. The veggies were pretty good. The noodles were the best part of the dish, as they were clearly carefully-seasoned and well-prepared. I would come back to this restaurant, but I’d likely get a different dish.
Roti: 9/10
Sauce: 8/10
Beef: 7.5/10
Veggies: 7.5/10
Noodles: 8.5/10
Overall: 8/10