Top 5 North American cities that are your PERSONAL favorite places to eat? (largest, statistics)
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Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
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Although not Turkish cuisine, per se, I happen to be a fan of Turkish born Salt Bae’s Nusr-et Steakhouse with certain caveats....you need to go in advance knowing what you will order as they try to upsell you from the moment you are seated. Nonetheless, and in spite of complaints from Cuban and Venezuelan ex pats (overreaction and not bright PR moves by Salt Bae) his meats are excellent—I recommend the Ottoman (bone in ribeye)...Turkish beer on the menu (cannot recall the name of the brand) and very good baklava for dessert. US locations in Miami and NYC (other locations throughout Turkey, UAE, and Dubai).
Lucky. I was trying to find jobs in Istanbul around 2011 or 2012, but all the political stuff messed that up.
Their menu looks pretty good. Some very standard things but others not as much for the US. Next time I'm in the area I'll have to try them.
In NYC, Turkish Kitchen in Manhattan is pretty legit with the flavors. In Chicago, the Kurdish restaurant The Gundis has the most legit breakfast I've had outside of Turkey. Unfortunately they didn't have any pine honey but still awesome. Cafe Orchid in Chicago is decent but the interior is the only place I've been in the US that makes me feel like I'm physically in a small town in Turkey.
Do you know anywhere in the US that sells Kokorec in restaurant? When I lived in Chicago, when I'd travel to and from the airport, all the drivers I used were from Turkey. One told me there was a few places in Chicago who did it, but he never told me stuff places...
I like Turkish kitchen in Manhattan a lot as well, I think they don’t dumb down the flavours as much as other places.
Re: Kokorec I’ve never had it outside of Turkey and Berlin (my sister lives in Berlin so I visit often) so cant comment on that. I still dream about the stand that sells Kokorec in the bazaar in Istanbul in the spice market. That and those soggy burgers (Islak burger) are the two street foods I miss most. For both nostalgic reasons and also taste.
The reason I was able to pull off that move was because I worked for Partners Healthcare international at the time and we were teaming up to build a hospital there. Definitely jumped at the opportunity and chose to live in a non expat area so it forced me to learn the language. The political issues truly screwed it up for everyone.
Definitely try Istanbul’lu though, it feels like you are in a Turkish grandmothers living room. The staff and kitchen give you the real deal. Illl have to check that place out in Chicago also.
Although not Turkish cuisine, per se, I happen to be a fan of Turkish born Salt Bae’s Nusr-et Steakhouse with certain caveats....you need to go in advance knowing what you will order as they try to upsell you from the moment you are seated. Nonetheless, and in spite of complaints from Cuban and Venezuelan ex pats (overreaction and not bright PR moves by Salt Bae) his meats are excellent—I recommend the Ottoman (bone in ribeye)...Turkish beer on the menu (cannot recall the name of the brand) and very good baklava for dessert. US locations in Miami and NYC (other locations throughout Turkey, UAE, and Dubai).
1.Mexico City.......Delicious food from throughout Mexico and Latin America
2.Los Angeles.......You can find deliciously healthy, fresh cuisine every where and so reasonably priced
3.San Francisco......Similar to LA, fresh & healthy cuisine everywhere and possibly the best Thai food scene around.
4.Portland............Like LA & SF, fresh and healthy food fair with an abundance of great food choices, all fresh
5.New York........Best pizza I've ever had, delicious Italian, and just love the Coffee
6.Miami..........Delicious Puerto Rican and Cuban Food, and some great seafood.
7.Boston.......Hands down the best Chowder in the country and great sea food overall.
8.Montreal......fantastic crepe's, baggetts, and so much more
9.Washington......great variety of tasty food choices and so reasonably priced
10.San Diego......Like most west coast cities, fresh and tasty cuisine and incredible Mexican food
Last edited by Angelino19; 01-27-2019 at 05:33 PM..
In regards to Philly>NYC for Mexican. I refuse to pay more than $3.50 for a taco. Sorry. Call me a snob for tacos, but that's fine haha. Philly's Mexican food is often far cheaper and it's often more common to stumble into a taqueria or Mexican restaurant and have it be good and affordable. I'll admit I haven't tried them in Queens yet. I've had some amazing ones from trucks in the LES. And the sit down places are generally just okay. I live in Jersey City actually, and I think the Mexican food here is better than any I've had in the city anywhere. I can recommend at least 4 just in JC that I like, and haven't tried another that's supposed to be really good as well.
Basically, I'm sure there are places just as good and just as affordable in NYC, but I feel they're harder to hunt down than Philly. But also, I think you basically have to hunt down a bad restaurant in Philly. It's like Chicago in that sense. I can't honestly say I've had a single meal that's underwhelmed me in Philly or Chicago. OTOH, I have been VERY disappointed at some dishes in NYC...but it was only two Mexican restaurants lol. One was Tortilla Flats in Meatpacking which is closed thank god. Every other meal I've had in NYC is amazing.
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Originally Posted by Foamposite
I don't go for expensive stuff either. But when I have had Mexican food in Manhattan (lower Manhattan), it was priced pretty much the same as the outer boroughs. Maybe 25 cents more or so, but never 5 dollars per taco. I think you'd only find that at either a haute Mexican place or just some general overpriced Americanized kind of place which I think you were hinting at.
My favorite Mexican place in all of NYC is called Los Mariscos 1 in the Chelsea Market, the fish tacos are very high quality and are 3 dollars each, which is actually less than what you might pay in the outer boroughs.
I also want to reiterate (not accusing you of this) that Mexican food doesn't have to be cheap. Their food isn't worth less just because they come from a poor country. Anthony Bourdain has spoke on this before and I agree with him.
I agree $3 is a standard price for tacos. I don’t think you’re a snob for saying that. I’ll admit I’ve paid more in the past, but I don’t do that anymore. I will have to try Los Mariscos. Haven’t been to Chelsea Market in a minute... surprises they are so cheap there since Chelsea market usually tends to be on the pricier side. I really can’t recommend Jackson Heights + neighboring areas enough though. It’s taco heaven, especially late night. Sure it’s not the only area of NYC but it’s my personal favorite by far in terms of quality, options, and abundance. Beats South Philly IMO too, which is also great. But of course there’s no right/wrong answers in this thread since it’s all about personal opinions. And you’ll never pay more than $3 per taco in those parts of Queens either. I’ve been wanting to check out Jersey City for a while now too.
Re: Middle Eastern food, I actually like Halal guys! The street carts, not the storefront locations. That was my savior when I worked in Midtown East and went out after work. I’ll admit I’m not too well-versed in Middle Eastern food outside of the basics, but now I want to explore those options.
Re: Middle Eastern food, I actually like Halal guys! The street carts, not the storefront locations. That was my savior when I worked in Midtown East and went out after work. I’ll admit I’m not too well-versed in Middle Eastern food outside of the basics, but now I want to explore those options.
Hopefully when you explore, you'll realize how bad those food carts are compared to the actual thing. They're not good, and usually I find the only people who like them are only eating them drunk or don't know middle eastern food at all.
I like Turkish kitchen in Manhattan a lot as well, I think they don’t dumb down the flavours as much as other places.
Yeah. Flavor wise I think it might be one of the closest restaurants in the US I've had to what something things actually taste like in Turkey.
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Re: Kokorec I’ve never had it outside of Turkey and Berlin (my sister lives in Berlin so I visit often) so cant comment on that. I still dream about the stand that sells Kokorec in the bazaar in Istanbul in the spice market. That and those soggy burgers (Islak burger) are the two street foods I miss most. For both nostalgic reasons and also taste.
Are you talking about the guy down a random narrow alleyway and his stuff is in what looks like a little storage locker?
That stuff was good. Had no idea what Kokorec was until after eating it LOL Not a fan of offal usually but that stuff was delicious.
Also yeah those soggy burgers are amazing. I remember having about 10 of them at Kizilkayalar on Istiklal after a night of drinking. Someone needs to bring them to the US. They'd be a hit. (MMMMMMMMM https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...1d&oe=5CBEA623)
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The reason I was able to pull off that move was because I worked for Partners Healthcare international at the time and we were teaming up to build a hospital there. Definitely jumped at the opportunity and chose to live in a non expat area so it forced me to learn the language. The political issues truly screwed it up for everyone.
Definitely try Istanbul’lu though, it feels like you are in a Turkish grandmothers living room. The staff and kitchen give you the real deal. Illl have to check that place out in Chicago also.
Lucky that you got to live there when you did. Easily one of my favorite cities in the world. Truly a gem and amazing in a lot of aspects. I was not happy with the political stuff. At the time I was working for IBM, and they had positions open there but wanted fluency in Turkish. My Turkish is just beginner.
I'll check it out when I'm in the Boston area next for sure. There's oddly a large handful of Turkish places in Chicago around Lakeview. Some of them are pretty obvious what they are by the names, some aren't. There is actually kind of a Turkish bar in Andersonville called Konak. I mean it's kind of American-ish from the looks of it, but everyone in there working is Turkish, they serve pide, and have all the Efes, Raki, etc.
I agree $3 is a standard price for tacos. I don’t think you’re a snob for saying that. I’ll admit I’ve paid more in the past, but I don’t do that anymore. I will have to try Los Mariscos. Haven’t been to Chelsea Market in a minute... surprises they are so cheap there since Chelsea market usually tends to be on the pricier side. I really can’t recommend Jackson Heights + neighboring areas enough though. It’s taco heaven, especially late night. Sure it’s not the only area of NYC but it’s my personal favorite by far in terms of quality, options, and abundance. Beats South Philly IMO too, which is also great. But of course there’s no right/wrong answers in this thread since it’s all about personal opinions. And you’ll never pay more than $3 per taco in those parts of Queens either. I’ve been wanting to check out Jersey City for a while now too.
Re: Middle Eastern food, I actually like Halal guys! The street carts, not the storefront locations. That was my savior when I worked in Midtown East and went out after work. I’ll admit I’m not too well-versed in Middle Eastern food outside of the basics, but now I want to explore those options.
I always do research on restaurants before I go out to eat, so I guess I can kinda just tell what places will be overpriced for they are. But I can think of several taco places in Lower Manhattan that are comparable to the ones in Queens you describe. One even has a sister location in Jackson Heights.
The only real difference is that the Manhattan ones tend to be decorated more nicely. If you're doing business in Manhattan, it probably helps to have a nice awning and not a tattered one that looks like it was designed with MS Paint.
Jackson Heights/Corona might be number 1 (in terms of concentration) but Sunset Park and Bushwick are not too far behind. Also plenty of late night tacos in both. What I want to see more of is menus that go beyond antojitos, which is probably NYC's weak spot in Mexican food.
Yeah, my friends and I all agree that the storefront food is considerably worse than the cart. I wonder why that is.
An interesting thing happening is that a lot of authentic Chinese restaurants serving different regional cuisines are opening up in the East Village. That's part of why I think the idea that Manhattan=inauthentic and Queens=authentic is overblown. I think the idea that Americans need watered down versions of ethnic food is very outdated (especially with the foodie culture that's growing), hence more and more people opening up authentic restaurants in "non-ethnic" places.
Last edited by Foamposite; 01-27-2019 at 08:07 PM..
An interesting thing happening is that a lot of authentic Chinese restaurants serving different regional cuisines are opening up in the East Village. That's part of why I think the idea that Manhattan=inauthentic and Queens=authentic is overblown. I think the idea that Americans need watered down versions of ethnic food is very outdated (especially with the foodie culture that's growing), hence more and more people opening up authentic restaurants in "non-ethnic" places.
I don't think it's necessarily overblown. Nobody ever said you can't get authentic Chinese food in Manhattan, but your options are a lot more limited once you don't want Cantonese or Fujian food. You're right that there's more legit places for non Cantonese food in Manhattan that have opened in the last few years. Szechuan Mountain House on St. Marks is decently legit. Little Tong in East Village does decent Yunnan mixian. Zhen Wei Feng on Bowery does good stuff including individual Hot Pot. Congee Village nearby (been around for awhile) does good congee. My fiancee's favorite place in NYC to get food from her home region in China is on 14th near 6th. Le Sia in East Village does decent skewers. And there are other places that have opened that are not authentic at all or just not good at all (such as Funny BBQ). We ate at a new place in East Village last summer that was pretty nice inside, and my fiancee was kind of annoyed because they were serving a type of very common, cheap comfort food for $25 a plate. She was annoyed on the fact that it's basically something you'd get from the street without thinking about paying more than a few bucks for and they did nothing to this version in NYC to set it way apart. The flavor was good, but basically the entire restaurant was serving a bunch of street food more or less and getting ignorant people who don't know Chinese food to shell out the money. I think she said she knew of places in Chinatown in Manhattan doing the same food at same quality for like $4/plate.
With that being said though, Chinese right now will almost always choose to go to Flushing (or Sunset Park in Brooklyn) over Manhattan for authentic mainland Chinese food. My fiancee and her friends *always* go to Flushing when they want something authentic and good. The only time they meet in Manhattan is if it's after work and something semi convenient. Otherwise, it's almost never meeting up in Manhattan. We moved last month from Manhattan to Long Island City, and one of the biggest factors was the fact that we're near the 7 train and my fiancee can get to Flushing easier. She missed Flushing so much being in Manhattan that it was one of the biggest factors of relocation to LIC. She is part of a Chinese network on WeChat in NYC that always talks about new, awesome places opening in NYC. Sometimes they highlight new places in Manhattan, but usually they're highlighting Queens and Brooklyn when talking about new, authentic places.
Also, there is a delivery service through WeChat for Chinese people working in Manhattan that they can get food delivered from places in Flushing to their offices in Manhattan. My fiancee uses this as do a lot of the coworkers in her office, and some of the Chinese people in my office do too. That should tell you something - that people working in Manhattan are opting to have things delivered all the way from Flushing into Manhattan during work hours.
Now, things are opening and getting better for non Cantonese food in Manhattan, but Flushing is still expanding and stuff opening there all the time. Brooklyn Chinatown is large too and doesn't get talked about a lot because it's not as "easy" to get to. I will gladly welcome more authentic places in Manhattan opening and you're right, some more have opened there.
Also interestingly there is an site/app called Chowbus which is a startup based in Chicago that does only Asian food delivery. For a restaurant to get on their site/app, it needs to pass a blind taste test from someone who works for the company. They look for authenticity so if they don't think your food is authentic, you won't get on there. It's mostly Chinese food and in NYC the only place they are in is Manhattan (also in Chicago since that's where their HQ is, as well as Boston, Champaign Illinois, East Lansing Michigan, and Philadelphia). They just got $4M in funding and their revenue is up 300% YOY, and they're looking to expand to 15-20 new markets this year. Hopefully that means Queens and Brooklyn.
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