All Turkey’d Out

So Thanksgiving is over and you’re sick of turkey. Are you feeling like you want to try something, anything besides traditional holiday food? If so, you’re in the right place. There’s never a shortage of places to eat in this town, but you have to know where to go. Different people have different tastes, but there’s plenty of old standbys that’ll make most people happy. This is our list of places to go for good food in a good atmosphere — feel free to borrow ideas from it.

For starters, we recommend a quick trip to Indian Row. Indian food is about as far removed from the holiday stuff as you can get, so go there to make a clean break. We used to love the Brick Lane Curry House, but we haven’t been there in a while so we can’t swear by it. However, we’ve been to the Banjara just a few doors down and were thrilled with the food and the service. You can read some reviews of Banjara HERE. Now that the taste of turkey & sweet potatoes has been drowned out by mughlai paratha, it’s time to broaden your pallete. How about some old-fashioned New York pub grub? The Pegu Club on W. Houston serves food you don’t see on menus anymore — stuff like deviled eggs, smoked trout and sloppy duck. It’s all great & it goes well with the drinks, which are practically an art form there. Try the Pegu Cocktail, you won’t be disappointed. Then there’s the other old-school New York favorite, pizza. We recommend DeMarco’s, a few doors down the from the Pegu Club, on the corner of MacDougal. It can get pretty packed at night, so try to get there early. (There’s a great review of DeMarco’s HERE.)

For the healthy eaters out there, Casse Croute in Tribeca does the best salads we’ve ever had, and they’re reasonably priced. (Reviews are HERE.) Those of you who aren’t worried about your weight or cholesterol can should visit Blaue Gans on Duane Street (reviewed HERE). It’s all delicious, fattening Austrian/German food — schnitzels and strudels and blutwurstgröstl. We’re not even sure what blutwurstgröstl is, but it was good. For something just as filling but not quite as bad for your heart, try the excellent Perry St. Steakhouse. It’s been a personal favorite for a while but it just won New York Magazine’s prestigious “Best Steakhouse” award.

Finally, there’s gnudi (pronounced “nudie”). It’s the new food of choice among the hip crowds — a kind of ravioli packed with spinach and ricotta, plus anything else they can jam in. THE place to go for gnudi right now is Falai, on 68 Clinton St. They’re so good, New York Magazine gave them a full write-up. They’ve also been recognized by Gothamist, the Village Voice and others. Give them a look before the place stops being trendy.

This entry was posted by A.Rehak on Friday, November 24th, 2006 at 4:58 pm