Manzo (New York, NY)

Manzo Inside

In some ways, it's a strange place to have a restaurant of this caliber. Babbo and Bouchon Bakery alumni Chef Michael Toscano's newest endeavor, Manzo, is tucked deep inside Eataly, NYC's Disneyland of Italian food. The walls that divide it from Eataly's tourist mayhem are thin and one has the sense that the mayhem is never far away: You can hear it. Inside, though, the white tablecloths, pretty red walls (the same, deep red shade as its Mario Batali-owned sibling, Otto Inoteca) and fantastic service create a sense of comfortable, graceful hospitality, while warehouse-height ceilings disperse the worst of the outside noise. Whatever your thoughts on the unusual setting, none of that matters once you sit down to eat. The food is good enough to make everything else irrelevant. 

Manzo means "beef" in Italian. Not surprisingly, the restaurant's stated specialty is meat "sourced by iconic NY purveyor, Pat LaFrida," according to the website. In light of the record-breaking temperatures, we weren't in a very meaty sort of mood. Happily, Manzo's vegetable, pasta and fish preparations were unquestionably stellar -- just as good as the meat dishes we tried.

Yuba (New York, NY)

Chef Jack Wei of Yuba

I wish I'd discovered Yuba sooner. Really, I should have. This stylish, modern Japanese restaurant, a block west of Saint Mark's Place, is right next to a pleasant bar where Justin and I sometimes go for tango milongas. We must've passed by Yuba at least a half dozen times since it opened seven months ago, without it registering. Also, I should have heard something about Yuba, given that the two chefs who opened the restaurant, George Ruan* and Jack Wei, trained under Masa Takayama at the four-Michelin-starred Masa and Bar Masa, respectively. Pretty impressively credentialed, these guys.

* As of July 2011, Chef Ruan is "no longer with the restaurant", according to Yuba's press team.  

Thankfully, R. Lau's excellent Chowhound review finally clued me in and got me to this East Village restaurant on a recent evening. 

Yuba is spare and elegant, with pretty, natural wood tables, leather banquettes lining the walls, a high tray ceiling and industrial chic globe lights. There's something about the space and the vibe that reminds me of Naoe in Miami Beach: Both are classy, but low key and not at all stuffy or uptight. This is the kind of sushi bar where you wouldn't feel ashamed to order a piece of nigiri before your sashimi or worry about insulting the chef by using too much soy sauce on a pristine cut of fish. 

Danji (New York, NY)

Several years back, I remember reading in a publication somewhere the claim that Korean food would never be "in" or "sexy". Boy was that article wrong. In the past several years, there's been a veritable Korean food revolution in NYC and the rest of the U.S. David Chang has become a household name, Korean tacos are trendy on both coasts, and even mainstream Fairway Market in NYC now carries kimchi. Chef Hooni Kim's Danji sure isn't bucking the trend. The food and drink at this six-month-old newcomer are about as sexy as they come in Midtown West.

The restaurant's menu is divvied up into "modern" and "traditional" small plates. On the traditional side, there are offerings like spicy whelk salad with buckwheat noodles; poached sablefish with spicy daikon; and kimchi, tofu and grilled pork belly. The modern half includes spicy pork belly or bulgogi beef sliders); spicy "KFC" Korean fire chicken wings; and fried calamari with wasabi mayonnaise. A number of dishes on both sides of the menu draw on Chef Kim's classical French training at three-Michelin starred Daniel.

Victory Garden (New York, NY)

NYC's Best Frozen Treat: Goat Milk Soft Serve

Ooooh BOY. I just discovered the most delicious frozen treat in all of NYC: goat milk soft serve! In a neighborhood that's as riddled with frozen treats vendors* as Boston is with Dunkin' Donuts, West Villagers now have Victory Garden, a fabulous one-month-old newcomer selling the most delicious soft ice cream imaginable, made out of organic goat milk from Beltane Farm in Lebanon, Connecticut.

* These include Grom, People's Pops, L'Arte del Gelato, Cones, Rocco's, Love Gelato, Imperial Woodpecker and the Van Leeuwen ice cream truck, just to name a few. 

I'm no fan of soft serve, ordinarily. I associate it with IKEA's creepily Crisco-like concoction and it's seldom as delicious to me as "real" ice cream or gelato. But goat milk soft serve is a whole 'nother animal. The goat milk adds a lovely, tangy qualty that's just slightly funky in a good way.

Momofuku Ssäm Bar (New York, NY)

The Pork Buns that Built an Empire

There's a long-running special on the menu at Momofuku Ssam Bar that perfectly embodies the devotion to gluttony and porcine deliciousness that David Chang's name evokes: the bo ssäm (sometimes spelled "bossam"). It's a pork lover's wet dream -- one designed for sharing with five to nine of your nearest and dearest relapsed Jews pork enthusiasts. The set, which must be reserved in advance through the restaurant's irksome online reservation system, comes with a whole, slow roasted pork shoulder (in this case pork butt, the upper front shoulder of a pig), a dozen oysters, rice, condiments (Napa cabbage and daikon kimchi, pureed kimchi, ginger scallion oil and ssämjan), and bibb lettuce for wrapping it all up.

On a recent weekend, generous visiting friends invited us to partake in this feast. There were ten of us in all and we handily polished off that hunk of pork shoulder, along with sides of steamed pork buns, seasonal pickles and market greens, and dessert.