Caribbean South America

Sybil's Bakery
128-12 Liberty Avenue, South Richmond Hill

Presidents' Day was a brisk one in New York in 2013. However, this did not stop Jon and I from heading to South Richmond Hill in Queens in search of food from one of the only non-Spanish speaking countries in South America. After dropping our friend off at Grand Central, we circled around, and headed into the Midtown Tunnel and then the L.I.E. to the Van Wyck to the exit for Liberty Avenue. At number 128-12, I was hoping to find Warung Kario, a halal Surinamese restaurant run by sisters of Javanese Indonesian descent ("warung" translates literally from Indonesian as "shop" or "cafe"). After driving by the block a couple times, I realized it was a shuttered storefront with a security gate down and no awning. Having studied abroad in the Netherlands in 2010, I've since been interested in anything I can find in the USA related to Dutch culture. While New York was originally New Amsterdam, the Dutch influences live on basically only in name at this point (towns in the Hudson Valley, the 8th President Van Buren, Brooklyn/Breukelen etc.) Trader Joe's sells mini stroopwafels, but I wanted the regular-sized ones, for which Holland American Bakery in Sussex County, NJ filled that void as well with their delicious speculaas cookies. Danku was a Dutch-style "fast food" place in Midtown for a few years that closed before I learned about it, and Vandaag was an artsy East Village spot, that aside from its obvious name, served a couple Dutch snacks like croquettes and pancakes, which also closed too soon. Anyway, we pulled up in front of 128-12 Liberty Avenue to read a sign in the window that said "Coming Soon Caribbean Suriname Restaurant" which I can only hope is true. Thankfully, not all was to be lost as there are other good things in the neighborhood, and I'd done my homework. I told Jon we could go for Portuguese, but I thought it wasn't unique enough for the destination we had set out for this day, so I then proposed Liberian, but after eating Cote D'Ivoirean the night before, we decided otherwise. That left the food of one of the more visible populations of South Richmond Hill: Guyanese. Located in northeastern South America bordering Brazil, Venezuela, and Suriname, Guyana is a true melting pot, with significant presence of Indo-Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese. (In my lunch/dinner, the East Indian flavor could definitely be found.) After rounding the block a few down from 128-12, we pulled in front of Sybil's Bakery, a small chain with other locations in Jamaica and East Flatbush. After debating about whether they check parking meters on a holiday (the sign said the only exception was Sunday), we threw in some quarters and walked into the flamboyantly-designed eatery. From the outside, it appears to be very large as the logo and colors consume almost the entirety of the block and full 2-story building. However, when we walk in, the steam table behind glass is right in front of us despite 3 separate entrances to the place. The only seats inside are stool chairs for a window counter. We have no idea what to order right away because of course the time I spent looking at the menu of Warung Kario proved to be a waste and didn't bother looking at this one. It was a busy scene with people going in and out with orders and the kitchen seemingly cooking up a storm. When were up to order, I told the girl behind the counter we had never had Guyanese food and asked her to recommend some things. We ended up first with a boneless fish filet over spinach rice (called banga or banga mary, apparently a very popular fish in Guyanese cuisine, which I later researched to find is commonly known as a king weakfish), and I had a chicken curry also over the spinach rice. Feeling as though something was missing, I asked about the roti, which the girl showed me and then I asked for an order so we could try it. It turned out to be a heavy kind of pita. Roti is also common in South Asian cuisine, which is where it originated, evidential among the East Indians who came to the Caribbean, but the styles vary greatly from one side of the world to the other. While Indian roti is usually flat and unleavened, Caribbean-style roti is soft, moist, and flaky, almost like a doughy blanket. Since they seem to run mostly a to-go operation, we got our meals in disposable containers: aluminum pans in plastic and paper bags with plastic fork and paper plate. The tray was packed with the curry and rice and was not stable so I thought it would spill all over the bag. Finally, I was able to take some out and put it onto the plate, but the chicken in the curry must have had extra bones in it because every bite I took had bones in it. After a short while, since it was heavy with spicy sauce, the place was getting busy, we were sitting directly under the heating ducts, and the sun was shining right through the window, I'd had enough so we packed everything up to go and left. I figured I'd eat the rest (pretty much all of it) for dinner anyway. Since we were already in southern Queens, I decided to show Jon a strange area out in the Rockaways that is undeveloped waterfront property with direct public transit access (the A train goes the length of the street). It is truly the final frontier within New York City confines: Edgemere and Arverne. A completely desolate beach (boardwalk damaged by Hurricane Sandy) with just the sounds of waves and birds, with Long Beach and the 5 Towns out in the distance one direction and public housing projects in the other. It's what Asbury Park was like before gentrification, a pristine and undisturbed white sand beach with a boardwalk in an area that had seen better days. Of course, just like Asbury Park today, in the Rockaways, there is Arverne-by-the-Sea, a brand new real estate development attempting to pitch the area as a beach town; there is even huge a new Stop N Shop and a surfing store down the block. I'm curious to know if this beach is popular in the summer  at all. We did not see any parking restriction signs on the pothole-pocked streets. Later, after being home for a while, I took the food from Sybil's out of the refrigerator and warmed it up in a bowl, using the roti as a cover to retain the heat. After sitting in the fridge for some time, the curry and rice and formed to the shape of the aluminum container and was somewhat more enjoyable than the saucy sop it was when we were at Sybil's. The spinach rice was very good, with the chickpeas being one of the best parts.

Warung Kario (RIP), 128-12 Liberty Avenue, South Richmond Hill, Queens (Closed)

Sybil's Bakery, 132-17 Liberty Avenue, South Richmond Hill, Queens

Banga Mary with spinach rice and salad

Chicken curry with spinach rice and salad

Roti

Edgemere Beach, Queens

Persian Sides

Ravagh Persian Grill
11 East 30th Street (btwn 5th and Madison Ave), NoMad

This one will be a short one because I'm reflecting on a forgotten meal had several weeks ago. My sister was home in New Jersey during the winter vacation, so I arranged with my mom and her to meet in Manhattan for dinner one night. Looking for somewhere close to Penn Station, I chose Ravagh Persian Grill on 30th Street, one of a small chain throughout the city, New Jersey, and Long Island. Situated in rather nondescript NoMad (NOrth of MADison Square Park) neighborhood in Midtown on an even more nondescript side street with multiple rug stores, Ravagh is identified by a swinging yellow sign announcing the presence of "Persian Grill." The day we went their front door was broken so that if you did not hold it while closing, it would slam shut behind you. That startling noise occurred more than a few times while dining. Whenever I go to Mediterranean or Middle Eastern restaurants, I get stuffed grape leaves, so here we ordered the dolmeh, which were a good enough appetizer. The signature specialties at Ravagh are definitely the stews and kabobs. Other dishes ordered included a salad, chicken strip kabob, vegetarian kabob, and chicken stew. Pretty much everything here comes with some kind of rice. There is one particular dish, however, that stands out from among the rest at this Persian post. That is the base of the khoresh fesenjan, a stew consisting of crushed walnuts with boneless chicken. What the walnuts and chicken become immersed in is a pomegranate paste that lends to the palate one of the most unique tastes of sweet and tangy. Resembling a Mexican mole sauce, we ordered this in combination with tadiq, a Persian specialty of cooked crunch rice that turns into something like a hard pancake. Just this pomegranate fesenjan sauce alone made this meal worthwhile.

 Yellow sign on street with rug stores.

Amazing pomegranate-based fesenjan sauce.

Milchig, Fleishig

Town & Village Synagogue
334 East 14th Street, East Village

Fernandes Steakhouse
158 Fleming Avenue, Ironbound, Newark

While out at Balade a couple weeks prior after going to the service at T&V in their basement social hall, we got to talking about ideas for the coming weeks. As we had learned of the Chocolate Heaven 20s and 30s Shabbat dinner to happen in another 2 weeks, we resolved to go as we had been searching for some sort of young social Jewish event to go to for some time. We'd buy the tickets in the coming week, though of course I waited until the absolute last minute to buy mine and just by strokes of luck of weather and cancellations I was able to get it in time. So we were all set for Friday night, and then on the topic of ethnic cuisines, either Julia or Neal had mentioned Newark's Spanish, Portuguese, and Brazilian population and their assorted eateries. One particular came up in discussion, and that is Fernandes Steakhouse in the most northern reaches of the Ironbound, not far from the Passaic River and the NJ Turnpike. This restaurant is at least locally known due to its satisfying rodizio experience. For those who don't know (and I didn't prior to this conversation), rodizio is a style of service in Brazilian restaurants involving an unlimited variety of meats, mostly beef, coming around straight from the kitchen and cut right at the table in front of you. Upon hearing of its sampling nature, I likened it to a Brazilian form of dim sum, which strangely enough of hearing about it often enough I have never had in a complete setting (just once downtown in a pretty rushed experience). It sounded good so we pieced together a group of 8 and made a reservation at Fernandes for Saturday night. As for the dinner after Shabbat, if it was going to revolve around Chocolate, it would thus have to be dairy in order to comply with kashruth in the synagogue. So our 2nd time at the T&V Synagogue. This time Meryl would be able to join us but because of the impending snow, Julia decided to stay put in NJ. Once again the subways let me down and I rushed this time from Union Square to get to the service on time. It is a personal peeve of mine to miss the first prayer of the service, Yedid Nefesh, thankfully I got there with 2 verses left to go. It sets the scene like none other, the pace at which it moves and the opportunities for harmony are unequaled. This time because the dinner was set up in the social hall the service was actually in the real sanctuary. Funny enough when I walked in there were a few people in the lobby and asked if I was there for the dinner, and I said yes and the service, mostly I was just trying to get to the coatroom and throw my stuff in and head upstairs. Well one of the greeters was none other than my Resident Advisor from senior year of college. So a lightning quick reunion and I got upstairs and searched the room for Neal and Meryl and fortunately they looked back so I saw them. The room was not very crowded but much of the congregation was on the younger side, undoubtedly due to the dinner afterwards. Upon sitting down and opening the siddur to page 252, I noticed around that the sanctuary was quite cavernous but strangely plain. I could very well imagine some 13 year old named Elliott Goldberg getting bar mitzvah in this room in like 1985. It had that stuck in time look to it, the way I would imagine the background of a photo from that time to look, except this was the present in 2013, nearly 30 years later. Most of the walls were just a simple white and aside from some designs on the wooden ark wall, it was a very modest worship area. So once again the service was nice, and there was no sermon except some words towards the end. Probably after 7 or so we all shuffled downstairs to the "cocktail hour" which was separate from the seating for the meal. There was a long table set up with plastic cups of what looked like nice rich chocolate milk with a straw peaking out. However, I, though I should say we, found out unfortunately this was not quite the case. The organizers had mentioned the presence of adult beverages, and this is exactly what these were. And then my suspicions were confirmed upon seeing the empty (plastic) vodka bottle on the table. And it was not just regular chocolate milk but DOUBLE chocolate milk, whatever that means. Case in point these drinks were quite awful. Chocolate milk and vodka? That's probably worse than the concoction I grew up drinking of milk and soda. I still to this day hold that part of the contribution of that not so pleasant taste was that my mom always put in a reusable plastic cup. Everyone knows nothing tastes as good in plastic as in glasses. There were also assortments of some other chocolatey things on the table. Then the dividers were open and everyone was asked to sit at the tables, the Rabbi talked about the week's parashah a few minutes while acknowledging everyone's desire to get food and then all tables were told to up to the buffet one by one. In keeping with the edict, the dinner was dairy, and Italian was chosen for cuisine. So we had our pick of salads, slices of cheese with oil, garlic, and tomato slices, lasagna, and raviolis. The dressing provided for the salad was a balsamic vinegarette but was brown and thick-looking so we thought perhaps they had supplied chocolate to put on the salads. A quick sniff proved it was indeed non-chocolate salad dressing.  This food overall was nothing to write home about, and deemed overly salty by most people at the table. The dessert, however, was another story, with several different types of chocolate cake, including cheesecake, mousse cake, and layer cake. If only they had brought out the chocolate milk then. This was the night of the blizzard so after done eating, we all made a quick exit in order to get home. However, the next day would be even better, with our reservation at Fernandes in the Ironbound section of Newark. Of our group of 8, four were already in NJ and four were in the city so Neal proposed that the 4 of us in the city meet up to take the PATH train. Unfortunately, since Hurricane Sandy the WTC PATH line has not operated on the weekends so we were stuck taking the 33rd St line which stops in Hoboken before it winds its way to Journal Square where you then have to switch across the platform for the train bound for Newark, a trip which takes about 45 minutes. Of course, right on schedule, subways were fickle and Alisa and I did not get to 33rd Street in time to make the departing PATH train we had discussed earlier in the day with Neal. So half the group went to show up for the reservation at 7, while Jon and Dana waited in the car at Harrison to pick us up. Supposed to arrive at 6:57, I think we got in the car about 7:05, and with the steakhouse just over a mile away, we were parked, walked through their one, two, three, and four entrance doors, up the stairs, around the half-wall, and seated before 7:15 so no loss to be had. They had already ordered a pitcher of sangria, which had a rather calm and behaved taste. Having seen the menu online before leaving, I was overwhelmed but not for long as there is essentially one reason why people go to Fernandes and that is for their rodizio, as mentioned previously like a Brazilian dim sum with all kinds of meat straight out the kitchen seared and then cut at the table. Most of the table opted for rodizio, and for $30, it was no wrong way to go. Also with a salad bar included, which I consciously limited myself with, in order to have room for the meat. Some peppers, a little bit of lettuce, and tomatoes, and onions. It kind of reminded me of the pickle bar at Harold's, the home of the world's best OVERsized sandwiches. Don't overload, because you know you want the pastrami and corned beef and rye. Same concept here, except no bread, well the kind in the basket only. Probably one of the only disappointments I had was that they gave butter that comes in little packets like at a diner. They could have just solved that problem by giving oil to dip the bread into. So another pitcher of sangria and finally the meat servers started rolling in. For some of the cuts, like the roast beef, it was a joint effort with the server who would be cutting a slice and there were tongs on the table you were supposed to grab part of the slice so that when the cut was finished, it wouldn't fall on the table or the floor. This practice took a few separate trials before I caught on as to what you were supposed to do. The first 2 or 3 times I would forget and just continue eating my food while the guy was trying to cut the meat. Some of the meats were so incredibly delicious, and some were just way too rare, and some had too much fat. Roast beef, flanken, prime rib, bottom sirloin, tenderloin, and filet mignon, not to mention kebabs. As is customary in rodizio, they also had chicken hearts which we mischievously loaded onto Jon's plate when he was in the bathroom. And without asking questions, he ate them, but then when we told him what they were he swore he wouldn't eat them again, citing them as being tart. Those and the pork are essentially the only things I did not consume on this feastly night. When I was finally satisfied with the amount of meat I had ingested, the servers brought around the rodizio dessert: grilled pineapples, a fine topping to the meal. But some of us dared to go further, especially tempted when a tray of luscious-looking desserts was brought around, so a couple cakes were ordered to finish everything off, though I opted out at this point. One of the great things about eating so much meat alone is that it is pure protein, as opposed to sushi which has a good amount of carbs, so you eat a lot and feel pleasantly full as opposed to feeling too full. And also we circulated the discussion of Spanish Tavern since we were in the neighborhood. I think a long time ago I've been to the one on Route 22 across the road from Arirang Steakhouse but never to the more authentic one in Newark itself. That appears to be our next destination in the Ironbound. So we got a ride back to the Harrison PATH station, Meryl, Alisa, and I and the ride back was quite more smooth than the ride going into Newark.

Yes, we went here--again.

No, it was not this full.

Chocolate syrup or balsamic vinegarette?

 Downtown Newark skyline

 Five Corners in Ironbound, about a mile away

Fernandes Steakhouse, corner of Fleming and Chapel

Inside Fernandes, deceptively fancy-looking

Sangria

Disappointing butter packets

Rodizio grill, mmmm

 Chicken hearts!

Rodizio sides spread: beans, rice, fried bananas, and more

Grilled pineapple!

North Of The Border

Town & Village Synagogue
334 East 14th Street, East Village

Balade
208 1st Avenue, East Village

After a few weeks off, I was asked when we would be venturing out again. Since some of my picks of synagogues and restaurants have been perceived as questionable, I wanted to phase it out a bit and see if it might come back with renewed interest, and indeed it worked. So in the last Friday of January, we would go to a service at a shul that I picked from a list of recommendations from the Summit JCC rabbi, in order to assuage our group's expectations of  a familiar setting. Reform, Conservative, Unaffiliated/Traditional/Conservative,  another Unaffiliated/Traditional/Conservative, Reform, repeat of second Unaffiliated/Traditional/Conservative, and now back to Conservative. It's quite safe to say that we prefer a middle-of-the-road style of worship, not too heavy on the English for prayers, yet not separating men and women with mechitza. The Town & Village Synagogue in the East Village is definitely one of the better experiences of Jewish worship in New York City. Slightly more than a half-mile, 10-minute walk from the Brotherhood Synagogue at Gramercy Park, the T&V as it is known, evoked more of that feeling for us. On the time we arrived, Neal and Julia were already there and I was coming from Queens so the 7 to the G to the L which is a PITA.  I got out of the subway at 1st Avenue at 5:57, and because it was raining and misty I was disoriented first upon coming up to the street. Finally I saw where to go and briskly crossed the streets and went through the door into the lobby. Fortunately, the service had not yet begun and it was right on the 1st floor anyway. In what looked to be some sort of reception or social hall, a bunch of chairs were set up on 3 sides and a small ark placed against the Eastern-facing wall. After sitting down, we waited for a bit while longer as more and more people showed up after me and more chairs were brought out and added. The rabbi was very friendly, personally greeting and shaking almost everyone's hand to wish Shabbat Shalom; we realized that this gesture was unique among all the places we had gone to, though given it is New York City and most congregations are very large, but like Brotherhood, this one is more intimate. Finally the service began, and with a very regular rendition of Yedid Nefesh, we knew once again we had hit it right. There was not one break throughout the entire service, not even between Kabbalat and Maariv for a sermon from the rabbi, who was very spirited and paced the length of the floor from start to end. The cantor had a nice voice that lent the congregation the opportunity to accompany rather than simply be led. At the end of the service, we discovered that the synagogue has an active 20s and 30s social group that had just had a happy hour nearby the same week. Granted we are at the younger end of this spectrum, we were asked if we wanted to stay for a dinner they were hosting, which conveniently we were told, had 3 spots just open up. While it seemed intriguing, especially to possibly get to know other young Jews in the city. However, we had made a reservation at a Lebanese restaurant around the corner and would be meeting Alisa there. Meryl had been sick during the week and opted not to come out with us this Friday, which disappointed us because we had high hopes for this shul's service and she is usually one of the first to express interest about these excursions. So we told the girl who was quite spunky and reminded us of the board and activity leaders in USY that we were sorry we could not stay. But then she told us that in 2 weeks time there would be another Shabbat dinner themed around chocolate, fittingly called Chocolate Heaven. As it happens only once a year and was said to often sell out, we decided that we were seriously interested in it, so we took the flyer with us. A very quick walk around the corner from 14th Street and a couple blocks down on 1st Avenue, we arrived at Balade, a small Lebanese place in the same vicinity as the infamous Kumo Sushi where we eat all too often and all too much (so it is when you order ALL YOU CAN EAT, I will not forget the night, well Jen usually never lets me forget either, that I downed 6 rolls of raw fish, and a few sake bombs followed by frozen yogurt at 16 Handles, and as Neal put it, the sushi place probably lost money on me that night). So Balade was pretty busy near 8pm when we arrived, Alisa waited for the 3 of us at the bar which has all of maybe 6 or 7 seats (that may be being generous) when you walk in. Thankfully I had made the reservation because they had a nice table in the front waiting for us near the door. I squeezed my way in around some other table and down the bench and was delighted to find pillows on the bench so it would not be entirely uncomfortable. The place has a nice ambiance if a little loud and it smelled good as well. It has a decent 3.5 / 5 stars on Yelp! out of 100 or so reviews. The reason we ended up here is because everyone decided they didn't want anything too "adventurous." So instead of picking a place first myself as I usually do, I looked to see what national cuisines were in the neighborhood and gave choices of style so I knew which restaurant to pick. From Japan (haha no not again), Serbia, Iraq, Australia, Sri Lanka, Indian, and Lebanon, the Australian place was discounted by Alisa because it is "fast" only, and Serbia was determined to be "too heavy" irregardless of its pork-centric menu, and no one was really in the mood for the spices of South Asia, so with Middle Eastern tastes still fresh with us from a few weeks prior, Lebanese, north of the border of Israel, seemed like the logical choice. As expected, we got the usual hummus and pita. Neal decided to go for the shawarma with lentil soup and wine. There was a lot to choose from on the menu, your usual mezzes (small dishes, appetizers), salads, platters, mannakeesh, pitza, and "sandweechet" which is somewhat of Balade's own creation. I had read good things about their Shish Tawook so that is what I went for (a sandweechet featuring "Pieces of Marinated Chargrilled Chicken with Toum*, French Fries, Pickles and Mixed Greens" toum being what they call a Lebanese garlic aioli). I also went for Baba Ghanouj and an Almaza beer. While Lebanon's number 1 beer is nothing special, the Baba Ghanouj was good and  it went well with the pita. The Shish Tawook sandwich was pretty good too, though not very filling. The girls stayed on the lighter side and went with falafel. All in all, everyone was satisfied with the food. However, the one major downside to this place was the service. While they refilled water glasses like it was their job, the food took absolutely forever to come out to us after we ordered. Even after a few refills of the pita, we were getting hungry and couldn't figure out what was taking so long as we had not ordered complex dishes (falafels and shawarma). And then when it was time to get the check, it was an ordeal as well. So aside from the service, Balade was just ok, wouldn't go back anytime soon, but the experience has not dampened my opinion of Lebanese food, which like I said, is not entirely different, North Of The Border.

Town & Village Synagogue (former Ukrainian Orthodox Church)

Kumo Sushi on 1st Ave! Keep walking south to get to Balade!

Balade!

Almaza beer, eh

Lebanon: North of the border

Druze: Israeli, But Not Jewish And Not Muslim

Congregation B'nai Jeshurun
257 West 88th Street, Upper West Side

Gazala's Place
380 Columbus Avenue, Upper West Side


For the first Shuls followed by Shpayz excursion in the new year, I thought to revisit the Upper West Side. Having enjoyed the service there last time, I wanted to try a new shul, so I had picked the Rodeph Sholom synagogue, which is Reform. As in our pursuit of non-theatrical prayer services in this city, Neal had made some discovery that it tends to be more of a production in Rodeph than a communal event. With these doubts voiced just a couple hours before the service, we finally settled on going back to Bnai Jeshurun, a service we knew from previously and of which we had liked the atmosphere. However, this was counter to my original plan to always go to a different service every week without repeating. So 2nd time in BJ and it was just as charged with its cantor on the keyboard and a packed house all around in the planetarium-looking sanctuary. This time we were able to get seats a little further up on the left. Again, they danced and clogged the aisles during L'kha Dodi, and again the lady in the front flailed her arms around in rejoice. Another reason I figured it made sense to go again was because our friend Tara who had expressed interest in joining our excursions. It wouldn't make too much sense to go to a shul with rumors of being rigid and stuffy that we didn't know in advance. The service ended and as was like the last time everyone duly shuffles out the door onto 88th Street. We had reservations for Gazala's Place on Columbus Avenue, an Israeli Druze place that is a fairly recent expansion of its sister location in Hell's Kitchen. Having been to Israel and experiencing the Druze meal either in Tsfat or Tiberias, I was interested to see what awaited here. A lot of the food in the Middle East overlaps from country to country. And a couple major differences between this place and a Jewish Israeli restaurant would be that it is not kosher and the menu is pretty much exclusively Levantine specialties like hummus, shawarma, baba ghanouj, tahini, pitas, and falafel, though you might find a schnitzel for instance on a Jewish Israeli menu. We met a couple other members of our group there who didn't want to pray beforehand so we had  7 altogether. While some went for the falafel platters or meat pies, I decided to try a tapas style by ordering the appetizers, going for a tabbouleh salad (which could have easily fed 3 people) and kibbeh, which is also a Sephardic dish, basically meat-filled croquettes, and one of my favorites, stuffed grape leaves, which I know are very common in other Mediterranean diets as well. Unfortunately, this is not the best approach to Gazala's menu as the dishes are not priced well corresponding to the quantities provided: for example, $8 for a small bowl of 3 or 4 pieces. While I enjoy kibbeh, ("meat stuffed with onions, pine nuts, herbs, spices with tahini"), it was worth it. Perhaps the mezze sampling platter is a better deal to split with someone: 9 hot or cold plates for $33. Well, such is a la carte I suppose. Probably should have ordered the kafta or gone for something with lamb. Although my experience at Gazala's was not particularly favorable this time around, most everyone else seemed satisfied and enjoyed their meals, so I would try it out again and just make sure to order a real entree rather than mezzes only. They must have 2 locations for a reason!

Gazala's Place, Upper West Side

Pita!

Falafel!

Chicken and kafta entree

Stuffed grape leaves!

 Tabouleh!

 Kibbeh

Gazala's Mezze Platter: 9 hot and cold samplers

Not Your Average Chinese

Vanessa's Dumpling House
220 East 14th Street, East Village

As there happen to be many more restaurants in this city than synagogues, from time to time, you will see only an eatery here. Here is one of them. Al Gore had just come out with his 4th book, called The Future, and was doing a book signing and speaking at the Barnes and Noble in Union Square. Since my friend Ian wanted to go, we went. Al Gore is now worth 50 times more than when he was Vice President in the 1990s, and funny since he sold Current TV to Al-Jazeera which is owned by Qatar. They better keep on one of my favorite progressive news shows, The Young Turks. Anyway, enough of that. We had heard about Vanessa's Dumpling House and their very affordable prices, Ian knew of one location on 14th Street, I was only familiar with the one further downtown in Chinatown/Lower East Side on Eldridge Street. Apparently as of last year there is now also one in Williamsburg. Very small loud and busy place. You order at the counter get the receipt and wait for your number to be called. The cheapest menu items are each $1.50 which is 4 individual dumplings. Unfortunately for me, both of these involved pork so I would have to fork out a bit more from my pocket. After obsessing over the menu for a bit too long and not ordering at the same time as Ian, I finally got in the line and had still not ordered when his number was called, so per my usual events, I'm waiting to order while others are eating, excellent use of time on my part. Looking for something hopefully a bit healthier than fried, I settled on the boiled chicken dumplings and steamed vegetable bun. I did not see the bun on the menu initially so I asked the cashier about it, and she confirmed they had them, so I guess it's somewhat of a secret menu item perhaps. In any case, the chicken dumplings could only be ordered as a group of 8. With a soda, it still came out to less than $10. For a fast and quick bite fix, Vanessa's Dumplings is definitely one of the better ways to go in this city. Cooked well and added with some soy sauce, the dumplings were very tasty and just the right amount. It probably would have been a bit more interesting if the non-fried dumplings could be ordered in smaller portions to allow for some variety. The stuffed veggie bun was basically like a large and puffy dumpling with shredded vegetables inside that had a bit of tang. Not as common around the city as halal food carts and pan-Asian restaurants, I wouldn't mind seeing more of these dumpling houses pop up in the future.

 Union Square B&N

Al Gore at B&N

Vanessa's Dumpling House

 Steamed Veggie Bun

Boiled Chicken Basil Dumplings