New York Restaurants by Area – Page 9 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Sik Gaek Restaurant

161-29 Crocheron Avenue, Flushing, Queens
718/321.7770
$40 per person for a group of 11, with drinks, with tip
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For one of the Dr.’s birthday celebrations this year, I gathered his favorite people together to share a table at Sik Gaek Restaurant in Flushing, Queens. Everyone had just seen the Anthony Bourdain NYC Outer Borough episode and the cut with Momofuku’s David Chang was the talk of the food world. Because of the hype, I didn’t need to convince our friends to make the trek and even rent a couple of Zip Cars to get there.

I had called a few weeks earlier to save us one of the tables in the corner nook. The restaurant had its loyal following even before the No Reservations episode aired, but seats are even more in demand now. The guy on the phone warned me that if my party was late, they will give up our table–we all came 10 minutes early and they immediately seated us and got us fried eggs for appetizers with cold beers.

If you’ve seen the episode, you know that the main attraction is the live octopus. As much as I liked the cephalopod’s texture in my mouth and the sticky tentacles on my tongue, the hit for me was the seafood pot that was filled with mussels and clams. The broth in the end after every shellfish was consumed and discarded was superb. I just wanted a bowl of it while curled under my warm down comforter.

We also ordered the usual fare of Korean barbecue and kimchi chigae and shared several kinds of panjans, or side dishes. The beer and soju did not stop coming, and soon enough, the Dr. was wearing the restaurant’s house ‘fro while they played the Happy Birthday song in both Korean and English. It was a good family meal with good company.

Ganesh Hindu Temple Canteen

The Hindu Temple Society of North America
45-57 Bowne Street, Flushing, Queens
718/460.8493
$8 to $10 per dish
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I’ll second Anthony Bourdain for this review: vegetarian food doesn’t have to suck. When Scott was visiting from Dubai, I thought of the Ganesh Hindu Temple canteen as our lunch spot because of his new dietary needs. He’s not vegetarian per se because he likes his sushi and won’t turn down a juicy hamburger if it was offered to him–in other words, he’s my kind of vegetarian.

From the Main Street stop off the 7 train, we walked and walked in the rain until we reached Bowne Street. Worshippers were taking off their shoes before entering the basement, so we did the same thing until we realized that people who were only there for the food kept their shoes on. We joined the long queue and waited for our turn to order several dishes that we ended up sharing for lunch. We staked out other groups who were finishing up to get a table and seats.

The rava dosa, a crepe-like Indian pancake from South India, was delicious and light. The hyderabadi green chili curry seasoned with sweet tamarind and yogurt was my favorite because of its tanginess and acidity. The red chili masala is a little spicier but nothing freshly baked nan could not control. The paneer butter masala is my usual order at Indian restaurants so I was glad to try it here. We all loved the condiments that came in different shades of browns, reds and oranges spiked with the whiteness of thin yogurt on the side. The combination of cardamom, ginger, garlic and lemon was a nice sensation in our mouths and gave us strength to walk the long way back to the train.

Harlem Wing & Waffle

2394 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard on 140th Street
212/281.1477
$10 for one, without drinks, with tip
♥

It was counter-productive to bike eight miles in Central Park and only end up eating the calories I lost, but I was famished and Harlem Wing & Waffle called my name.

I have no idea who thought of fried chicken and waffles together, but he or she was a genius. It’s not the best friend chicken in the neighborhood, but when you’re feeling snackish, it’s the perfect combination.

Diner

85 Broadway between Wythe and Berry Streets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718/486.3077
about $140 for three people, with cocktails, with tip
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We waited for our Marlow & Sons seats at the Diner’s bar next door. After comparing the menu between the two sister restaurants, we knew we had to go back to the Diner to try theirs out. The Diner had the more exciting and elaborate menu for less of the wait. Weeknights are definitely less busy, but this block which used to be dominated by Peter Luger’s, is no longer quiet. Hipsters in plaid shirts congregate outside to meet friends, smoke a cigarette and finish a cocktail.

The menu is longer than next door’s and for some reason, management expects the servers to memorize the entire thing including the details of each dish. We cringed as our waitress struggled to remember what was in the pork rilette. I wanted to pat her hand and comfort her when she juggled her words between the frisée and the market salad.

The only struggle involved when the food came was who would get a bigger bite of which. The butternut squash apple soup was delicious and hearty made even better by chanterelles. The flatbreads’ caramelized onions came through so strongly, I wished I could serve them as appetizers at home. The specks of apples on them just showed how much the restaurant was taking advantage of the seasonal produce. Someone in the kitchen was definitely making them with love.

The beef burger was to die for: meat juice escaped from our mouths without the bread breaking up and getting soggy. The mussels were a good match to our basil cocktails and cold lagers and the market salad was a wonderful break that cut through all the lardon.

We were aching by the time the waitress came back for the dessert options. We saved her from having to recite and write them on our paper tablecloths by skipping them entirely.

Marlow & Sons

81 Broadway between Wythe and Berry Streets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718/384.1441
about $96 for two people, without drinks, with tip
♥

No paying customer should have to wait an hour and a half to be seated at any restaurant. No one deserves to wait an extra forty-five minutes to eat after that. Alas, we suffered both while sitting on a sliver of wood under some canned goods on a shelf. Twice someone had to excuse herself to reach for a few items while we ate. But at least there weren’t five of us squeezed in the corner of a shared table by the door like those next to us–they looked more uncomfortable on their small Goldilocks chairs than we were on our bench. Welcome to much-hyped Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

When our oysters came, the waiter couldn’t tell us which ones were briny. We had to share our beer and onion soup using one spoon because he never returned with our request for another. I had to get up and get our own forks and knives from the counter when he abruptly put down our plate of brick chicken on our table without a pause. It took another twenty minutes to get our tab; we could have probably just skipped and no one would have noticed our absence.

I liked the dimly-lit and wooden look of Marlow & Sons because I’ve always liked the idea of eating in a market setting, but the staff struggle during the week and can barely eke it out for weekend service. Luckily for them, a lot of New Yorkers will carry the burden of waiting for seats and food just to be surrounded by what’s new and hip.