A holiday trip to NYC was just what the doctor ordered. It was delightful, hectic, nostalgic, jam-packed with activities, and making us hungry for more… soon!
Our favorite stops in Little Italy:
DiPalo’s (established 1925): 200 Grand St. — An incredibly popular Italian specialty foods shop that offers an assortment of cured meats, cheeses, honey, vinegars, and coffee.
Alleva Dairy (established 1892): 188 Grand St. — A fabulous Italian specialty foods shop that makes fresh ricotta & mozzarella.
Ferrara Bakery & Cafe (established 1892): 195 Grand St. (between Mulberry St & Mott St) — America’s first espresso bar offering the best lobster claw & chocolate covered cannoli in Little Italy. Their gelato is also quite good. The hazelnut and tiramisu are worth mentioning. (Do not confuse this cafe with La Bella Ferrara down the street, which is good, but, not as good)
Lombardi’s (established 1905): 32 Spring St. — Chronic lines of tourists and a need to rush service make pizza quality inconsistent from one visit to the next, but, still worth trying… at least once.
Our favorite stops in Chinatown:
Green Tea Cafe: 45 Mott St. — Incredibly high quality teas and tasty, unique bubble teas — They also offer an interesting assortment of food for late night dining or snacks.
OK 218 Restaurant: 218 Grand St — One of our favorite restaurants from this trip. This incredibly casual Chinatown restaurant offers up surprisingly high quality food. We enjoyed Peking Duck that was perfectly golden brown and crisp, snails in black bean sauce, and deep fried salt & pepper frog with a deep fried cilantro, garlic and green onion garnish. Everything was cooked to perfection and full of flavor.
88 Palace: 88 East Broadway — They offer dim sum specializing in pork and an amazing lunch buffet stocked with freshly made dishes. Our favorite dim sum items included fried pork in a sweet and spicy sauce that was phenomenal, tender sui mai and sticky rice in lotus leaf made with fresh chinese sausage. This was the most tender and delicious chinese sausage that I’ve ever tasted. We ended the meal with deep fried mantou served with a sweet condensed milk glaze for dipping.
Ping’s Seafood: 22 Mott St. — A bit of a hit and miss, the har gao and shrimp & scallop dumplings were overcooked. But, the shrimp sui mai were perfect.
AjiIchiban: 37 Mott St. — An amazing Hong Kong based shop that offers sweet and savory snacks. Candied kumquats, candied sweet plums, sesame brittle and fried sesame prawn rolls were our favorite treats.
