This basement spot is where you can get rice balls and potato croquettes, fricassees of chicken and pork, strombolis, baked Southern Italian pastas, and a stunning array of pizzas by the slice. Read more.
The congees here are some of the best in town, with add-ins that include scrumptious minced beef, sliced fish, and the pork belly/liver combo. Get a cruller to go alongside. Read more.
Bahn cuon, the noodle rolls, glisten on a bed of pork pate with mint leaves and carrots scattered on top. The com dia also shine, with the one featuring grilled pork chops, crab cake, and pork skin. Read more.
Goa Taco is reconfiguring the very idea of a taco, deploying flaky parathas rather than corn tortillas, and heaping them with all sorts of savory but unexpected ingredients.
Though you can depend on meatballs and just-fried chicken cutlets always being available, on Fridays there are warm seafood heros like the shrimp parm special, and it really was special. Read more.
The namesake dish is its specialty: two fantastically flattened frisbees of tostones stuffed like a sandwich with roasted pork, grilled steak, or simply black beans, cheese, and avocados. Read more.
At this cafe laid out like a tiny Greek village, the off-price wine list alone is worth a visit, and the bread dips are a great deal. Three hefty scoops come with a ton of grilled pita triangles. Read more.
The hot pressed sandwiches are notable, too, including the roast pork pernil; the plain but delectable ham and cheese; and the Cuban sandwich, with cheese and dill pickles oozing out the sides. Read more.
This place takes a fast-food perspective, offering bargain-priced renditions of things like soondubu, bibimbap, pajeon, and already cooked bulgogi.
The 16 stuffed-arepa choices wander pretty far afield. Classics include reina pepiada and pabellon. But you can also get the Frida Khalo, which gives a twist with its avocado and shredded cheese. Read more.
Order one of 10 phos, of which our favorite contains only beef brisket (pho tai); com bo lui — grilled beef rolls over rice; or the wonderful spam and egg banh mi. Read more.
The poke is good of its sort, more fish than salad, and the proprietary hot dogs come in several permutations, of which the Chicago and banh mi dogs are our favorites. Read more.
As the name suggests, there are two grease-dripping shawarma cylinders — chicken and a beef-lamb combo, both halal. Either can be made into rice-pilaf platters or bargain pita sandwiches. Read more.
Japanese cafe Zaiya has matcha and black sesame flavors that are great together or alone. Grab one of their still-crispy onigiris while you're there for the perfect summer lunch. Read more.
The pernil (garlic-rubbed pork roast) is superb, and so are the roast chicken, tripe and pig-feet soup, and oxtail stew, served with white or yellow rice, black or red beans. Read more.
You can’t go wrong with the shawarma or any of the flame-grilled kebabs, but the real forte of this place — located in an obscure corner of Hell’s Kitchen — is its vegetarian fare. Read more.
When you ask for your falafel "all the way," they add pickled vegetables, thereby doubling the volume and tripling the flavor. Shawarma, kefta, chicken, and mixed-meat combos are a bargain, too. Read more.
The kimchee coleslaw is particularly satisfying, leaving a sweet-and-sour burn on the lips, and the chicken parts may be split-ordered, that is you can get half hot and spicy and half soy garlic. Read more.
My crew and I dined sumptuously on mafe, white rice, a grilled fish, attieke, and a loaf of plantain foutou. Altogether a delicious meal which cost about $45 for three. Read more.
The ceviches here are super-sized, and great for warmer weather. Get the ceviche mixto con concha negra, which features black clams, the signature bivalves of Ecuador’s mangrove shoreline. Read more.
Gurra Café is an Albanian café with a clubhouse feel. Highlights include a white-bean-and-jerky stew called fasule and a paprika-laced goulash served with a hearty scoop of mashed potatoes. Read more.
The sandwich featuring veal, along with melted mozzarella, tomato sauce, and slightly cooked spinach is absolutely delicious — and you won’t walk away hungry. The tripe soup is worth ordering as well. Read more.
Get the lechon and the alcapurria, one of several cuchifritos on the menu. Read more.
The place is vegetarian and mainly South Indian and Sri Lankan, and you will find a warm welcome there. From a list of 25 dosas, we ordered a butter dosa and a Hyderabadi dosa. Both were delicious! Read more.
This Cantonese noodle shop with Hong Kong flair in Little Neck (there’s also a branch in Flushing) specializes in dumplings, thin-skinned and delicious. Read more.
Inside, a café specializes in clay-pot congees, Chinese BBQ over rice, and soups, plus house specials such as whelk, frog, blue crab, and pork chops. Open 24 hours. Read more.
A table displays a ton of spice-driven meat dishes featuring mutton and lamb, reminding us that the Spice Road runs through Pakistan. What is more surprising is the number of vegetarian offerings. Read more.
In addition to baked cheese balls, oblong fritters called coxinhas are also available on a rotating basis. But the real raison d’etre for this cozy little place are the burgers, Brazilian style. Read more.
The signature Tamashii ramen with a Tokyo-style broth and add-ins that include an egg, bamboo shoots, scallions, seaweed, and slices of pork will set you back only $10.95, or $8.95 at lunch. Read more.
Meal combinations might include a light take on keema featuring chicken rather than lamb, an excellent palak paneer with abundant cheese, basmati rice, fresh-baked naan, yogurt raita, and salad. Read more.
The buffet clocks in at $5.99 per pound, but you’ll likely be distracted by the new charcoal oven with a dozen spits. The skirt steak, pork sausage, and chicken legs are terrific. Read more.
You can’t beat the cheley khatsa at Spicy Tibet. For the less tongue-obsessed, there are soups with homemade noodles, like Then Thug. Read more.
Highlights include a thali consisting of vegetables curries, pickles, chutneys, and bhutan (goat-organ jerky, not to be confused with the country of the same name). Read more.
Highlight of a recent meal was a wonderful sinigang, a tart fish soup floating a pompano and Napa cabbage in a tamarind-laced broth. Other enjoyable dishes included crispy pata and the chicken adobo. Read more.
Sky Café is a real Indonesian warung, a small family owned restaurant specializing in everyday food. The gado gado is spectacular. Give the lontong sayur a try as well! Read more.
Check out the Pondicherry dosa, named after the former French colony on the south coast of India. It contains a wealth of shredded vegetables and displays some heat. Read more.
The innovation here is simply making knishes much bigger than usual. Also available are several varieties of pastry-wrapped hot dogs, including the dazzling foot-long. Read more.
The soup dumplings are killer. Of the four varieties available, the pork and crabmeat version is great, but for something unusual, try the dessert dumplings. Read more.
Half this bakery specializes in babkas, paczki, loaves of bread, and cakes by the pound. The other half is a steam table and salad bar, where everything is sold by the portion at great prices. Read more.
The city’s foremost Salvadoran pupuseria makes them from scratch— walk in the front door and you’ll hear the “thwap, thwap, thwap” of the pupusas being hand-patted. Read more.
Get the pork pozole, which comes with a pair of tostados. For an inexpensive group dinner with friends, there's no better place in Ridgewood and cut-rate beer is available on the premises. Read more.
Lucy's modest contribution to pho-ology is using smoked brisket as the meat centerpiece of the iconic soup, which makes it a liquid species of Texas barbecue. Read more.
Number one on its lengthy list is suadero, braised veal flank. The other taquitos are worth trying, especially the oreja (ear), buche (pig stomach), and Arabe (spicy pork) Read more.
This long-running Jamaican café and bakery specializes in meat patties, the island equivalent of the empanada, with an annatto-laced dough and minced filling of beef, chicken, fish, or vegetables. Read more.
Chickens are crisp skinned, and the vinegary pulled pork sandwich is topped with cole slaw. Sides include all the usual soul food favorites, with mac and cheese and collard greens well-executed. Read more.
The fried chicken is front and center, with crisp skin and moist flesh. The best sides are the slightly sweet collards and extra-cheddary mac and cheese. Read more.
For $1.25 you can get a doubles: a split baby poori filled with chick-pea curry. For $5, you get a sandwich called a "bake," which is made with a deep-fried roll also called a bake. Read more.
Don Pepe and his minions, who labor behind a small window surrounded by seductive, brightly lit sandwich pictures, turn out 35 types of tortas, many with wacky themes. Most are $7 or $8 and huge. Read more.
Ba Xuyên was one of the first places in town to specialize in the sainted sandwich (Bahn Mi), turned out on crisp baguette with plenty of homemade vegetable pickles and cilantro at rock-bottom prices. Read more.
The real revelation of the menu is the recipe called Crossing the Bridge Noodles, featuring a bowl of plain broth in which you cook things like pork, chicken, quail eggs, noodles, and sprouts. Read more.
Hong Kong Dim Sum specializes in rice noodle rolls which include ham and egg, chicken, and dried shrimp. For vegetarians, there’s one stuffed with parsley and one with oiled scallions. Read more.
The place does wonderful xio long bao, Shanghai soup dumplings distinguished by their thin skins and rich gravy inside. Six largish pork dumplings will set you back $4.75. Read more.
The rolls called kim tien are a "don’t miss" dish. Each consists of a shrimp wrapped along with vermicelli and pork sausage in rice paper and deep fried, served with nuoc cham. The pho is also superb. Read more.
The prize is the lushest sandwich imaginable, with thick wads of roast beef sporting a caramelized edge and fresh mozzarella, further mellowed with brown gravy. Read more.
This Brighton Beach standby specializes in the topsy-turvy cooking of Xinjiang. Don’t miss the charcoal-grilled kebabs that perfume the air inside the delightfully over-decorated space. Read more.
Highlights from the savory side of the menu: an orange-colored manioc curry, a rich pork "black"curry with toasted spices, a coconut-and-kale sambal, pineapple curry, and a boiled egg curry. Read more.
Go no further than the doner cylinders in the window. The guy will cut a great quantity of the moist herbed meat and deposit it in a sandwich or on a platter along with salad and well-oiled pilaf. Read more.
The pizza crust is cracker-like, and a small pie is easily sufficient for 1 or 2. The clam pie is well-furnished, and other favorite toppings include sausage, black olives, mushrooms, and anchovies. Read more.
The pho is better than average; indeed the rice noodles themselves are spectacular, with fish ball and chicken versions available. Com dia are especially lively, including “combo CSNLXA.” Read more.
