Quick Bytes: Food In the City I

Whole books have been written on this subject. It’s a known fact that New York City is the restaurant capital of the world. Why, therefore, does the Urban Anthropologist feel the need to comment?

Because variety is the spice of life, the endless diversity of New York breeds more and more varieties of cuisine and venues types to buy or consume it in. If by magic all the chain establishments would vanish there would not only be higher quality places to eat in, there would be enough different ones to satisfy anyone. This entry does not purport to provide reviews so much as a bird’s eye view of the food scene and the purpose of each element. There is likely to be a later installment.


The Street I

Few people outside of New York are aware of this but we have The Vendy Awards. These are issued annually to street food vendors for the quality and uniqueness of their hot food products. Finalists in the most recent competition include masters of schwarma, jerk chicken, tacos, and falafel. Halal vendors have become very popular in recent times, providing schwarma, spicy chicken, or beef with rice and salad for as little as $4. The Food Network covers this scene and food critics have written up the fare from these interesting mobile establishments. Past winners and finalists have included vendors of Italian sausages, souvlaki, gyros, and baked potatoes with fillings. There are sellers of soup, Indian food, arepas, and German wursts. In Chinatown vendors sell egg rolls, pork dumplings, and scallion pancakes. Virtually all hotdog vendors stock kosher ones with all the trimmings.

Of course, the greatest variety of these vendors is to be found in midtown near the office towers such as Time-Life and the Empire State Building. Most of their foods can be consumed on the hoof, the preferred mode of travel in New York. Most vendors will wrap their foods more securely if you’re brave enough to take it back to your office and endure the disapproval at the aromatic atmosphere that happens as soon as you uncover your beef kofta. Lucky patrons in the Radio City area can find street benches and steps on which to sit and dine al fresco. This food scene has come a long way from mere hotdogs, knishes, and pretzels.

It’s also, curiously, still almost unique to New York. The Urban Anthropologist remembers an incident from years past in midtown. While queued up for a street vendor for an Italian sausage-and-peppers hero sandwich it was impossible not to overhear the following conversation between the two well-dressed gentlemen who were vendor’s next patrons:

“You’re really lucky to be able to get such food so cheap; we don’t have this in Chicago.”
“Really? I thought all cities had them.”
“Nope. I wish we did; lunch is awfully expensive.”

New York has the greatest variety of street food, including coffee and croissants in the morning and fresh fruit all day. Finally, what’s more New York than a knish?


The (Mostly Kosher) Deli Scene

These are not completely unique to New York, but are certainly not as numerous elsewhere. The Urban Anthropologist and colleagues once dined at the old location of the Second Avenue Deli with an advertising vendor who arrived with his counterpart from the Boston office. The New Englander had never had chopped liver or corned beef on rye as it was meant to be experienced. Our host ordered the Chicken in the Pot, which was a chicken soup with half a chicken on the bone, easily enough for three or four people. Using the extra rye bread from the appetizer, I made a second sandwich with the profligate excess pastrami in the one I ordered and took that back to the office later, along with the sour pickles left in the bowl. Two months later we got a call from this same vendor with a repeat invitation: His colleague was in town again and plotzing about how eager he was for another kosher nosh. It did not surprise the Urban Anthropologist that our host was hungry for this hearty food of his New York childhood. In his words, “That’s soul food, Mamma!”

Law & Order fans will recall Lennie Briscoe’s favorite “Pastrami on rye and don’t trim the fat” from the Carnegie Deli on Seventh Avenue. In the summer or during the holiday shopping season there is typically a forty-minute wait for a table at lunchtime. This can also be observed across the street at Benash’s and at the Stage Deli a block south. Most of these places have similar crowded interiors with autographed celebrity photos on the walls above eye level (as in about half of midtown eateries), but the attraction is the food. Pricey by daily standards, whether your pleasure is matzoh ball soup, chopped liver, potato latkes, or anything else, the food is delicious. The motto must be “Nothing succeeds like excess” because the amount of meat in a sandwich is astounding to all but a native New Yorker. At Benash’s a corned beef sandwich costs $13 and weighs more than a pound. As it is unwise to clean one’s plate, all waitstaff are prepared to box leftovers. Don’t forget the pickles; you don’t get ones like this anywhere else.


The Street II

“New York is a summer festival” in the words of a tourist campaign of years past. There are so many street fairs in New York during the summer and most are well-attended and noisy. There are ones that are specifically food-oriented and staffed by restauranteurs in the area, but in those that are mostly outdoor malls, virtually every fourth or fifth vendor will be selling street food.

The greatest variety of street food is likely to be found in Queens, the most diverse county in the state, where everything from halal to South American can be found. Italian vendors, probably the same ones to be found at Little Italy’s San Gennaro Feast in September, share the scene with Hispanic vendors, competing for share of stomach through a typical 7- or 8-hour event. In between shopping for cut-rate store items, silver jewelry, sunglasses, cosmetics, and even ethnic art, one can indulge the taste buds with hearty ethnic foods every few steps.

Sausage and pepper hero sandwiches ($8 average price) and fried calamari battle with empanadas, pernil, ropa vieja, arepas, and roasted corn with a variety of condiments not found in Anglo kitchens. Where else will you be able to sample corn with chipotle sauce, lime mayonnaise, or jalapeño-flavored butter? Other vendors provide Argentinean and Brazilian-style barbecue whose main item is skirt steak prepared over an open flame. Don’t forget the rice and veggies with that. This latter item doesn’t come cheaply; at $10 one could almost make the argument that another dollar can get you air conditioning and a waitress in the nearby Irish pub. Smart vendors of this fare provide folding chairs for their patrons, as this food requires a plate and a fork and a pause in the midst of shopping.

In Astoria, street fairs always include items from local Greek establishments including – but not limited to – gyros, souvlaki, spanakopita, and baklava. All served with pride and a smile to customers of all ethnicities. It is virtually impossible to not go off one’s diet at these events; you want to sample everything, so it’s best to do this with a friend. Many of these fairs also have vendors of pantry items like restaurant-size containers of dry spices, nuts and candy, and kosher pickles by the quart or half gallon like the ones in the deli restaurant bowls. If you're in New York from out of state, you need to try these.

It is always heartening to see how gastronomically adventurous New Yorkers are and while the Urban Anthropologist usually welcomes the end of the brutal summer heat, the end of street fair season sadly accompanies that.


Pizza

The Urban Anthropologist is not prepared to hunt down the ultimate New York pizzeria. Expert opinions on the subject differ on whether it’s Two Boots in the East Village, Patsy’s at the south end of Harlem, Grimaldi’s in Brooklyn, or any of the “Famous Ray’s” in Manhattan that were once the subject of a PBS filler documentary. All that anyone is prepared to agree on is that no New Yorker worthy of the name eats chain pizza.

A curious thing is happening in New York, however, with regard to pizzerias. While most of them still seem to have Italian names and use traditional Italian ingredients (pepperoni is still the most popular), the majority of their workers are now Hispanic. While this has not substantially affected the quality of pizza it has led to the phenomenon of hybrid establishments that offer Hispanic foods in addition to pizza and calzones. One such place on Astoria’s Steinway Street provides traditional Peruvian foods as a lunch special in addition to the now-common $4 two-slices-and-a-soda deal. With 93.1 Amor playing in the background. This would not have happened thirty years ago.


Bagels

No kosher or general deli in the city is complete without these incredible bread donuts, but you are still better off getting them in a specialty place, of which there are many. The flavors of bagels are as numerous as the fillings that can be put into them. The Urban Anthropologist favors salt bagels, well done. These are better than the pretzels sold on the street and in the ballpark.

These are breakfast staples with butter or cream cheese, but can also be found at lunch with cream cheese and lox. Most delis will have this on their menus, but will not offer the broadest variety of bagel flavors. If you want something other than plain, sesame, or poppy-seeded bagels, you need to find a bagel specialist. This can be more of a weekend treat, as most of these establishments are to be found in residential neighborhoods rather than near the office.


Fusion and Confusion I

Another modern venue type is the Asian-Hispanic combination. At the low end one finds takeout establishments heavy on the deep fry where one can order chips and burritos and chow mein that will be delivered by the same guy. So why do these places still have separate menus and separate names on them? The notion of two separate establishments is destroyed at the first transaction. Purists tend to avoid these places in the belief that the integrity of both cuisines is compromised.

New York also provides adaptations unlikely to be found elsewhere. Kosher and halal Chinese are available in various neighborhoods in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Just pick up some Soy Vey soy sauce in the supermarket to match.


Fusion and Confusion II

Fusion cuisines may happen all over but the best ones in New York are in midtown. The China Grill on 6th Avenue is pan-Asian with influences from China, Thailand, and other countries. One of its signature items, however, is the Crispy Spinach: deep-fried spinach leaves that come out tasting similar to potato chips, therefore quintessentially American. The Peking Duck Salad is a must-have; the fried pieces of duck in a romaine-lettuce based salad with orange-ginger dressing is plentiful, delicious, and not as calorie-laden as so many other NY foods. The atmosphere is large, loud, and filled with the energy of midtown. Patrons are usually people who work in the area’s offices or ticket holders to the matinee at Radio City Music Hall.

Asia de Cuba, popular with the Urban Anthropologist’s colleagues, is another great destination for fusion cuisine… and atmosphere. The geometric Asian décor is offset by the musica tropicale played on the speakers. The calamari salad is similar in concept to the one on the menu at the China Grill except that it contains bananas and is served warm. Like most restaurants with fine food, it is difficult to eat quickly and leave, especially when the atmosphere is conducive to conversation and the desserts are delicious works of modern art.


There is something to suit every New York gastronome and time forbids mention of every possibility in one entry. Keep one thing in mind, however: If it’s not from New York it’s not a pizza, a knish, or a bagel. And probably not even a pickle.