New York 2023: Dining in Hell's Kitchen and around Manhattan

There were so many good restaurants in the Hell’s Kitchen area where my husband Rich and I were staying, and they were not as touristy as the eateries located in the Broadway district.  We selected an eclectic group of restaurants that gave us a variety of tastes and dining experiences.  New York is one of the few cities that rival Toronto in terms of the range and variety of ethnic restaurants to choose from.  I wrote in a previous blog post about all the different ways that various restaurants processed credit cards.  It still boggles the mind that a cosmopolitan city like New York cannot create a standardized payment system.

Our first dinner on this Manhattan trip was at 44 and X, a great continental restaurant located at the corner of  West 44th Street and 10th Avenue (thus the name of the restaurant) that offers meats and seafood entrees with interesting sides.  We started off with a cocktail and loved the selections which were all cleverly named after the current slate of shows on Broadway.  These included &Mule-iet, Rum Like it Hot, Tequila Mockingbird (very punny), Bad Ginger-ella and Camel-latte (after Camelot).  We selected a Ginberly Akimbo (gin with rosemary syrup, grapefruit juice and prosecco) in honour of the first Broadway show that we would watch and wondered whether the same drinks get renamed as shows change or if this restaurant comes up with new recipes repeatedly?   There were so many starters to choose from that it was hard to decide, but we eventually picked the pan seared diver sea scallops with roasted celery root purée with grilled sweet Italian sausage and a sherry port wine reduction, as well as the ravioli stuffed with lobster, lump crab, baby spinach, roasted wild mushroom, melted Manchego cheese, and ancho chili and coconut broth.  For my main course, I chose the pan roasted mahi-mahi with wild mushrooms, baby spinach and goat cheese risotto, topped with a bourbon chipotle barbeque glaze while rich had breaded black cod with seasonal vegetables.  The food was excellent, but the most memorable part of this meal was the hilarious drink menu.

Our favourite meal of the trip was at Lumlum (49th St. and 9th Ave.), an authentic Thai restaurant in a small, intimate setting with fun, kitschy décor and fabulous dishes that were unique and bursting with flavour.  The walls were covered with bamboo sticks, the seats were made of wicker and the light fixtures were covered with woven straw that gave the place a tiki-bar feel.  We only allocated 1.5 hours to have our meal and get to our Broadway show so initially we just ordered main courses.  These included Crying Tiger, consisting of Thai-styled spiced ribeye steak cooked medium rare with garlic fried rice, fried shallots and a marinated raw egg, stir-fried morning glory (a Chinese water spinach) covered with fried shallots, and the highlight of the meal, a crispy roasted duck in green curry sauce with Thai eggplant and basil.  We were busy feasting on these dishes when we saw the crispy fried chive dumplings with chili sauce go by en route to another table.  They looked so good that we could not resist ordering some for ourselves.  Luckily the appetizer came quickly and was definitely worth the wait.  The dumplings were crispy on the outside but chewy on the inside and so good!  This restaurant should be “YumYum”.  We want to come back here on our next trip to try some more dishes.   We did not order a cocktail (Rich ordered a lager beer) but we spotted a cool drink at another table.  Reading the menu, we think it was the Siam Smiles, made with vodka, lychee, and yuzu (citrus fruit mix between lemon, bitter grapefruit and sweet orange).  I’m not sure I would want to drink it, but it certainly looked fascinating with the large pieces of lychee around the rim.

The next evening, we had Spanish tapas at Bouqueria West 40 (40th St. and 8th Ave.), a lively, Barcelona-inspired tapas bar serving Spanish classics and seasonal specials. I love tapas (as well as dim sum) since you get to sample a small amount of a lot of different foods. We allocated two hours for this meal so that we could savour the many dishes before heading out to our next show.  We started with seasonal Sangria which was mixed with pineapple juice before settling into our variety of dishes.  We had Escalavida (roasted eggplant, red pepper, onion, yogurt, herbs and olive oil served with Foccacia bread), Ensalada de Alcachofa (crispy artichokes, arugula, Mahón cheese, lemon zest and garlic dressing), Croquetas de Setas (mushroom croquettes with truffle aioli), Esparragos con Romesco (grilled asparagus, grilled hazelnuts, romesco cheese, lemon zest and Manchego cheese),  Gambas al Ajillo (shrimp, garlic, brandy, lobster reduction, Guindilla pepper in olive oil), and Iberico con Salbitxada (premium Iberico pork seared medium-rare, Marcona almond, Salbitxada sauce, sherry, vinegar, fried egg).  This last dish was about four times more expensive than any other dish because of the special pork featured in it. The pork comes from “Spain’s prized pure-bred black Iberian pigs allowed to roam the hills of Andalusia eating grass, roots and acorns resulting in rich nutty flavours and distinct marbling”.   I think these pigs had lifestyles that rivaled the Japanese Kobi beef cows until their time was up!  We finished off our meal with Buñuelos Dulces (anise fritters with lemon curd and sugar) and cafes con leche.

On our fourth night, we went to a high-end Chinese restaurant named Chai (46th St. between 8th and 9th Aves.) and once again we only allocated 1.5 hours before our show since for some reason, Rich decided that Asian restaurants took less time.  Perhaps he was thinking of the Chinese restaurants back in Toronto, but this was not the case for the ones in Manhattan.  The meal started off well enough with our appetizer order of crispy duck spring rolls arriving almost immediately.   But then we waited and waited for the rest of our order, chatting to pass the time.  After 30 minutes while watching others who came in after us get their food, we repeatedly tried to flag down a waiter, but it did not help that there was no specific waiter assigned to our table.  They all seemed to float around interchangeably.  In the meantime we had noticed another table being served a vial of reddish-purple juice that turned out to be homemade plum juice osmanthus, which is a flowering plant.  Finally getting the attention of a waiter, we asked to check on our meal and also ordered a vial of the plum juice.  Another 15 minutes went by without food and by now it was too late for us to eat it and still make our show.  We flagged down yet another waiter, who admitted that the first waiter had forgotten to place our order and now the kitchen was backlogged.  Quite annoyed but now late, we asked to be billed for the food and drink that we did get and to cancel the rest of the order.  This brought out a really apologetic manager who told us to forget about the bill and to please come back another time. This was a wise gesture that tempered our opinion of the restaurant.  Despite the poor service that we received, the one dish that we got to eat was actually really good and the rest of the food on the menu looks great.  So we may try it once more on our next trip, but maybe not when we are rushing to see a show.

Our dinner at Sardi’s (8th Ave. and West 44th St.) in the heart of Broadway was not as memorable for the food as for the over 1000 iconic caricatures which are hung in multiple rows on every wall of the two-storied restaurant.  It was so much fun scanning the restaurant to see whose portraits we could identify.  Many of them were actors and actresses from before our times and unrecognizable by us.  But we did see ones that we knew, although some likenesses were a bit more nebulous than others.  In some cases, it helped when some of the drawings were autographed by the subject.  Right above our heads at the table where we were seated, we spotted Carol Burnett, David Hyde Pierce, Chita Rivera, John Lithgow, John Goodman, and Kathleen Turner.   Wandering around the ground and second floors (enroute to the washroom, but really to see more images), I found Bob Hope, Barbara Streisand, Shirley Jones, Christopher Walken, Samuel L. Jackson, Alan Cummings, Josh Groban and more.

In one of the few caricatures that depict multiple images, the recently deceased comedian and satirist Barry Humphries was drawn along with his famous persona Dame Edna.  This was so entertaining that the meal became almost incidental.

However, in addition to all the second-hand star-gazing, we did actually eat at Sardi’s and surprisingly, for a place that has the term “tourist trap” written all over it, the food was not that bad and was not that expensive relatively speaking.  Rich started off with a Sidecar (cognac, triple sec, lemon juice) which seemed fitting in with old fashioned feel of the restaurant which dates back to 1927.  For appetizers, ordered the Sardi’s sampler plate which consisted of tomato bruschetta, prosciutto and melon, asparagus rolled in smoked salmon, roasted bell peppers, mozzarella and capers; truffled chicken liver pate; grilled shrimp with green olive tapenade.  We both ordered pastas for our main courses. Rich had the Ragu Bolognese Lasagna made with veal, beef, pork and bechamel sauce while I had the Cannelloni au Gratin which was a combination of beef veal and pork flavored with porcini mushrooms rolled in a French crepe with supreme sauce (white sauce with chicken stock and cream).  For dessert, I had the Espresso chocolate mousse with raspberry coulis while Rich got the crème brûlée cheesecake.

Our final dinner was at The Marshal (West 45th St. and 10th Ave.) which describes itself as a “cozy, rustic-chic spot with a wood oven firing farm-to-table New American dishes”.  Rich started with a Manhattan cocktail (whiskey, vermouth, bitters and a cherry) to celebrate our last night in the city.  Our appetizers included deviled with yolks infused with basil pesto and garlic, then garnished with duck prosciutto and drizzled with walnut pesto, along with the local Burrata served with herbed breadsticks, peso, aged balsamic and cherry tomatoes.  For the main course, I had the wood roasted Icelandic Cod (not quite local?) served with local mushroom and cherry tomato ragout with more cherry tomatoes and herbed butter.  Rich went for the “Marshal’s Famous Wood Fired Meatloaf” consisting of beef stuffed with kale, root vegetables and local blue cheese, served with onion gravy”.  Rich always goes for the “specialty” of a new restaurant.  It is interesting the menu items stress how local the products come from by naming the farm or ranch that the vegetables or meats are sourced from (e.g. Veritas Farms, Happy Valley Ranch, Blackhorse Farm, etc.)

We were looking for a hipster breakfast spot that would serve us something more interesting than just the traditional bacon and eggs, and we found one just down the street from our hotel.  The Blue Dog (West 50th St. and 8th Ave.) had so many interesting items on their breakfast menu and was such a fun place to eat at that we went there two mornings in a row, including our last breakfast before heading to the airport.  On our first visit, we were seated immediately in front of a screen that was showing old black and white TV shows and movies.  In this case, we watched an episode of The Addams Family while we ate.  The freshly squeezed orange juice that we each ordered came in mason jars so large that we could easily have shared one (which we did the next day).   I ordered the pumpkin-stuffed French toast which came as a sweet brioche bread which is stuffed with pumpkin cream cheese puree and covered with a fruit compote and a fried orange slice.  This was the most unique version of French toast that I ever saw, and it was delicious.  As a side, I also ordered strips of fried shitake mushroom “bacon”.  Rich had the Croque Madam with honey ham, melted cheese, béchamel sauce and two sunny side eggs on sour dough bread, served with a mixed green salad.

When we returned to the Blue Dog the next morning, Laurel & Hardy were up to shenanigans on the viewing screen. This time Rich went for the Crunchy French toast, made from pullman bread with rum-flambéed bananas while I chose the Crab Cake Benedict consisting of two poached eggs topping home made crab cakes sitting on English muffins, smothered with Hollandaise sauce and served with roasted potatoes and mixed greens.

All in all, we dined very well on this trip to New York City and did not really have a bad meal.  There were some memorable dining experiences and places that we would not only recommend to others but would like to go to again on a future trip.  And we would definitely stay again in the Hell’s Kitchen area which has no shortage of great restaurants to try.