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A Sampling of Restaurant Reviews in New York: El Deportivo 701 Ninth Ave. (at 48th St.) Subway: C, E to 50th St. Phone: 212-757-0819/6869 Hours: 11 am-9pm Credit cards: V, MC; Alcohol: all Wheelchair access: yes Average main course: $6.45 El Deportivo is a Puerto Rican place for meat lovers in Hell's Kitchen (Midtown/West Side), with a casual and more formal side, but the food is great in both! The menu is bilingual so it's easy to figure it all out even if your Spanish is elementary. Daily specials here are outstanding and are organized on the printed menu by day. Specials come with rice and beans, fries, or plantains. Forget the fries; get the traditional rice and beans and a side order of tostones, fried plantains, because you don't really want to miss either. The rabo guisado, oxtail stew, (Monday) is a knockout! The other must-try here is the pernil asado, roast pork, and fortunately it is available every day. The churrasco is grilled skirt steak, and it is tasty, tender, and juicy. The bistec de pollo is flavorful thin chicken "steak" served with cooked onions. One of the house specialties is mofongo (green plantains) and they serve them with shrimp, lobster, chicken, fish, and crab. The homemade garlic sauce on the table is pungent and delicious, and it goes well with absolutely everything. What a treat to find this wonderful Puerto Rican restaurant in Midtown. It is a large corner place, popular with locals. There are two entrances and two separate dining areas. The bar side of the restaurant is more formal and there is comfortable seating; the other area is more casual. The menu is the same in both. El Deportivo is a real winner. Madras Mahal 104 Lexington Ave. (bet. 27th & 28th Sts.) Subway: 6 to 28th St. Phone: 212-684-4010 Hours: Mon-Fri 11:30 am-3 pm and 5-10 pm; Sat-Sun noon-10 pm Credit cards: V, MC, Amex; Alcohol: beer only Wheelchair access: entrance and ladies restroom OK Average main course: $9 Madras Mahal offers wonderful dairy and vegetarian Indian food in Midown, and it's kosher too! The menu includes both South Indian and North vegetarian dishes, about half of them dairy. These dishes are part of a long tradition of excellent vegetarian cooking. The dosas are thin crepes that are rolled up to make big long rolls with a choice of fillings such as cream of wheat, potato, onion, or cilantro, and topped with a special coconut chutney and a spicy lentil bean sauce. The uttapas are pancakes with the same fillings and toppings. They are street food in the south of India but they also make a great meal. Curries are rich and tasty Punjabi or Gujarat specialties with chickpeas, potato, lentils, cheese, cauliflower, okra, and eggplant. There is enough of a selection to bring you back again and again. The raita and mango chutney are perfect accompaniments, as is the chai steeped with milk and spices. There is also a selection of Indian deserts. The Indian beers match the food beautifully. Madras Mahal, opened by Nina and Nitin Vyas in 1983, was the first New York kosher vegetarian India restaurant. They serve no fish, no meat, no egg products. But when you eat in this bustling and friendly place, you forget what they don't have! You simply enjoy the wonderfully good, fresh food in the long, clean white room. It's really hard to beat Madras Mahal on so many counts! Moustache 90 Bedford St. (at Barrow St.) Subway: L to First Ave.; 6 to Astor Place; N, R to 8th St.-NYU Phone: 212-228-2022 Hours: noon-11 pm Credit cards: cash only; Alcohol: no Wheelchair access: yes Average main course: $9 Moustache, in both the East and West Village, is a charming and low-key Middle Eastern restaurant. The most wonderful things about Moustache are the made-to-order pita, and the garden dining in the East Village location. Heavenly puffs of fragrant pita leave the oven and are delivered directly to your table. You haven’t really tasted pita unless you taste these! The babagannouj is served with fresh lemon juice and olive oil in the center, and it is pleasantly light on the tehina with a distinctive texture and smoky taste. The hummus is addictive with the fresh pita of course. The "pitzas" are a house specialty: crisp thin dough spread with an aromatic mixture of tomatoes, onion, parsely, roasted bell pepper, chilies, and mozzarella. The lahmajun is the same dough spread lightly with ground lamb, onions, tomato, and parsley, and the zatar is topped with olive oil, sesame seeds, and a tangy herb mixture. They are light, refreshing and delicious. The leg of lamb sandwich is a tender piece of very tasty lamb wrapped in fresh pita with onion, tomato, and lemon-mint mayonnaise--a sublime combination. Moustache is a wonderful place to eat whether you are in the West Village with the stunning copper-topped tables, or in the East Village with its attractive garden. It gets very crowded and the service can be slow at peak times, but it's worth the wait. Pearson's Texas Barbecue at Legends Sports Bar 71-04 35th Ave. (at 71st St.), Jackson Heights, Queens Subway: E, F, G, R to Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Ave.; to 74th St.-Broadway Phone: 718-779-7715 Hours: Tues.-Wed. 5:30 pm-9pm; Thus.-Fri. noon-9pm; Sat. 2 pm-10pm; Sun 2 pm-8 pm; closed Mon.--call ahead Credit cards: cash only; Alcohol: all Wheelchair access: entrance yes, restroom no Average main course: $12 Pearson's Texas Barbecue in Jackson Heights, Queens, makes genuine slow-cooked barbecue, and is it good! Pearson's serves authentic barbecue: moist and succulent pork shoulder, all-out Texas brisket, sausage, wonderful chopped pork, fall-apart pork ribs, juicy beef short ribs, and chicken. The meats have a slow-cooked (18 long hours), hickory-smoked taste, a mahogany exterior but are tender and juicy, never mushy. Make your choice at the counter where meats sit gloriously before being expertly sliced and placed into sandwiches or cardboard boats. Meat is available by the pound or on a Portuguese roll; chickens are in halves or quarters. Add your choice of sauce: mild, medium, mean, madness, and North Carolina vinegar. Apply all the superlatives and you'll have it right. Go for a bit of everything or stick to your favorite. Sides are perfect complements: wonderful pork and beans, creamy potato salad with diced apple, crunchy coleslaw, crusty cornbread. Desserts are delicious home specialties like cobbler or pecan pie. Take-out and catering is very popular. London native Robert Pearson started Pearson's in Connecticut in 1981. It moved to Long Island City in 1983, and in 1999 to its present location in the back of Legends, a friendly neighborhood bar in Queens. Pearson has sold to his partner but is often there helping out. A high counter with stools, tables and chairs are in the back of the small bar. The huge hickory-burning Texas rig in back produces these glorious specimens, using long cooking, low heat from fresh-cut hickory, and a self-basting humid atmosphere. Great barbecue is definitley NOT fast food, and Pearson's is THE place for barbecue in New York. Worth a trip to Queens! |
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