My 2006 impressions of New York Restaurants

I jotted down quick impressions of restaurants from my stay in New York for a few months last year. I don't still agree with all of these, but I'm putting them down here for record-keeping purposes. I note below where I've changed my mind:


-Grimaldi’s (excellent pizza)
-Brooklyn Ice Cream factory (very nice ice cream)
-Banjara (decent Indian food… a little Americanized… definitely not great) [update: I now think this is one of the best N. Indian restaurants in the city]
-Kati rolls on Macdougal and Bleecker (excellent Indian sandwiches on naan-type bread)
-Indian Bread Co. (ok indian-type sandwiches…Kati is better)
-Utsav (excellent standard Indian food)
-Jewel of India (excellent standard Indian food)
-Good (had this for brunch) – decent, even nice ,brunch, but corn tortilla chips were a little soggy under sauce and pancakes were dry
-Mama Mexico – liked it, pretty good, pretty good portions; great guacamole; otherwise, not exceptional
-Le Petit Abeille – ok waffles, ok omelette. just ok for brunch.
-Tamarind – decent, elegant, artistic Indian food. But lotus root dumplings were too sweet for my taste. also quite expensive.
-Two Little Red Hens: Brooklyn blackout cake is quite tasty, but nothing all that mindblowing
-Jacques Torres chocolate: frozen hot chocolate was quite chocolatey and flavorful but not sweet enough. Chocolate chip cookie was good but chocolate stung a little too much for my taste
-Murray’s bagels: really good
-H&H bagels: quite good, but I think Murray’s are better [update: H&H is definitely too soft and fluffy for my taste.]
-Sukhadia’s: nice chaat, not great though
-Dimple food: also good chaat, but not as good as Sukhadia’s [update: The owners of Vatan now own Dimple, and they're using it to host Vatan's menu while V is renovated. D-as-V is a fantastic Indian restaurant, possibly my favorite in the city.]
-Il Mulino: good food, but they screwed up my eggplant parmesan, intentionally requested vegetarian, and stuffed it with crabmeat and shrimp and didn’t seem to apologize for it
-Mexicana Mama: fabulous mexican food; particularly delicious salsa
-L’Impero: good italian, but just not all that memorable
-Del Posto: excellent italian, but a little iffy for the vegetarians (they got me a wonderful split-pea ravioli, but the mushroom risotto was in chicken broth, and there just weren’t enough veg. entrees
-Diwan: decent Indian food
-Devi: too creative upscale; kind of bland. Eh.
-Felidia’s: very nice Italian (delicious slightly-sweet pear ravioli); somewhat limited veg. options
-Ray Bari’s pizza: nice pizza. nothing super-special, but quite tasty
-Holy Basil – decent kind-of-gourmet thai, small portions
-El Maguey y La Tuna – nice “mexican” mexican, little limited on the veg. options i believe.
-Cones: superb gelato on Bleecker [Update: am a little less enamoured of Cones now, though it's still very good]
-Mr. Softee: fun frozen custard from the truck. fun and wonderful texture. not SUPER-flavorful. makes you feel like a kid.
-Zum Schneider: decent German food
-Spice: decent thai food, not great
-Deborah: quite tasty brunch; I had mexican nacho/omelette thingy… not spectacular but quite tasty
-Sarabeth’s: excellent brunch… scones and muffins are superb
-The Modern: decent upscale food for vegetarians. beautiful setting and service
-Sunburst Espresso Cafe: excellent ambience, nice omelettes, decent waffles, overall nice coffee shop
-Zen Palate: very mediocre vegetarian chinese food. Avoid.
-Pure Food and Wine: excellent raw food, but… it’s raw food. special, but not too often
-Di Fara’s: superb pizza, drizzled with olive oil and cheese and fresh from the oven… worth the trip to Brooklyn
-Je Bon Noodle house: decent chinese/pan asian food; a bit bland
-Australian Homemade Ice Cream: very good ice cream. dense, though not that sweet
-Clinton St. bakery – brilliant breakfast—lovely buttermilk biscuit egg sandwich, tasty potatoes, and a wonderful brioche french toast. light and airy but delicious
-Otto: beautiful ambiance and nice service, GREAT gelato and desserts, interesting and reasonably good, but not great, pizza (I had one with fried egg on it)
-Aquavit: interesting goat cheese dessert, nice vegetarian tasting menu generally
-Divine Bar: excellent late night crostini with Elliott Davis!
-Solo: kosher american food; decent but not great
-Le Carne: kosher american food; bad for vegetarians
-Per Se: awesome, of course
-Thalassa: very nice greek food; though short on vegetarian options
-Gramercy Tavern – tasty, and vegetarian was good but a little cliche (truffle emulsions, anyone? I know that sounds extraordinarily haughty ;-).)
-Levain Bakery: tried the chocolate chip cookie. not so impressed. decent but not extraordinary. -River Cafe: nice views and ambience, but simply non-existent food for vegetarians
-Avra: a wonderful, memorable brunch. I had the scrambled eggs and the beautiful "greek toast" with vanilla and honey
-Una pizza napoletana: a beautiful authentic naples pizza. A bit expensive.
-Pommes Frittes: good french fries, especially for late night snacking after a night on the town. wide choice of sauces.