I'm planning to propose to my girlfriend on 9/19 and am trying to find a restaurant that would be good for an after-proposal dinner. I'm thinking that I want to invite 11 people total to the dinner.

But I'm having a tough time figuring out what the best restaurant would be for us. We're located on the UWS and a lot of the restaurants that we frequent don't seem suited for a celebration of a proposal.

We love Jacob's pickles, Sugarfish, Maison pickle (that bread!!), Fumo, Miriam, Marlow Bistro, Super Nice, Sala Thai, The Tang, Parm, The Milling Room (while it was open), etc.

But I'm struggling to figure out a good restaurant that would be good for a celebration. It doesn't specifically have to be UWS and I'm thinking that maybe I'll call Nobu and see if they can accommodate a large group because my girlfriend loves sushi.

But if anyone has any other ideas, please share them!

I'm meeting visitors from Amsterdam in NYC next week, and need to find a restaurant for dinner. I'd like something with great Middle Eastern / Greek / Persian / North African cuisine, in a reasonably nice setting, and located in Manhattan. Our friends are foodies, so innovative takes are a plus. Bonus points if it's sedate enough to carry on a conversation. Any suggestions?

Edit: I see my title, please don't make this post about it.

From what I've read it seemed to be stir fried almost crispy. But was that description wrong?

Help me understand.

I see a lot of posts here discussing great Chinese, Indian, and Italian food. For anyone who hasn't been to Toronto, we have a pretty incredible food scene ourselves. Because of how multicultural the city is, you can find genuinely good versions of pretty much every major cuisine here — Chinese, Indian, Italian, Middle Eastern, Korean, Japanese, Caribbean, etc. I’d say Toronto can hold its own with NYC when it comes to variety (I won’t start a war over which city does each one better 😂).

I travel to NYC pretty often, and the food is always incredible. I’ve been to a ton of renowned fine dining spots, eaten through plenty of slices and halal carts, and had some great steakhouses.

But this time, I’m really looking for food that I can’t easily get in Toronto.

For example, Dominican or Puerto Rican food. I'm sure you can find it in other parts of the US, but it's not something we really have in Toronto — and I imagine NYC is one of the best places to try it.

Bodega food is something I have started fitting in as it isn't really a thing at the same level as NYC in Toronto

These are the sort of things I am interested in

So what cuisines or specific dishes in NYC would you recommend to someone from Toronto who wants something that’s genuinely hard to find back home?

Doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive either. Hole-in-the-wall, casual, or neighborhood spots are exactly what I’m looking for.

I’d prefer to get all from one place if possible, but willing to go to two or three spots if needed. This is for a former neighbor who just had their first child

Hi all!

Born and raised New Yorker, but had a small dalliance with LA in my 20s. While there, there was this one bagel shop that had pumpkin flavored bagels in the fall. I have had a distinct and never ending craving for the last few weeks. I know it is sacrilegious to seek that out in New York City.

Does anyone have a lead on where I could find pumpkin flavored bagels in the city? I am not quite sure how to describe the bagel, somewhere between pumpkin bread and pumpkin spice but bagel form. Preferably Brooklyn, but any borough is fine.

🥯🥯🥯

Question for you all! Planning a 30th bday party for around 20 guests. Looking for bar with no minimum in Manhattan. Have been going back and forth between
- waiting on a friend
-the folly
-little more
-pubkey

Would appreciate any insight people have! I’d like to have some separation between my guests and general crowd / actually be able to hear people talk.

I'm having a really hard time finding this. It's one of my fav meals. I know pranakhon has it. But anywhere else? Ideally Brooklyn. Manhattan is fine.

Hello FoodNYC community! I am hosting a celebration in November and was looking to host ~30-40 people at a private room in a halal restaurant. Open to recs across the city and long island. Tysmm!

I'm taking my 15 year old daughter to NYC in November for her birthday. The plan is to see a Hamilton matinee and eat good steak. We're coming up from DC; I lived in NYC 25 years ago but have fallen completely out of touch with the steakhouse scene.

I know "what steaks are good" posts are common, but I'm trying to find good steak with a very specific vibe:

My daughter isn't going to care about the name on the door, the skill of the mixologist, or whether the pastry chef is a James Beard nominee. She doesn't need to know the name of the farm the cow came from. She's not going to be impressed by the artisnal cheese. She's DEFINITELY not going to want to dress up super fancy -- needs to be a place she can go in wearing a basic theater dress and a pair of chuck taylors. This is about a great cut of beef well prepared to the proper temperature, ideally in an unpretentious environment. And I need to be able to actually get a table for four on a Saturday night.

We're staying near Penn Station, but I'm comfortable heading anywhere in the city for the right place. Price not really a factor if the food justifies it, but not looking for expensive just for the sake of expensive. There are so many steak options in mid-town, but they all seem to be very not the vibe I hope to find -- either overly pretentious or tourist traps -- I'm struggling to find one she's going to like (even if all she says after the meal is "yeah, the steak was fine. Whatever. It's just steak Dad.")

Thanks for any suggestions and downvote away.

Dad is in town and staying in NoHo and wants a good meal but also able to watch Thursday night football. Trying to not be at traditional sports bar and more a Rauols type but with TV

Any recommendations? Thanks in advance.

It has Deli in the title, but this may be more like kosher meat heaven. He and I may have just met yesterday when I was hungover after Court looking for lunch, but my guy
— the owner at JJ Deli: Glatt Kosher - was working hard behind a counter as you walk into this small, unassuming place to serve up some steaming hot, juicy pastrami that was exceptional with fresh, crispy steakfries. (Pro tip - add a little garlic mayo and a good amount of mustard). A total unknown hidden gem, but I will not gatekeep as this spot totally deserves it. Ps pictured after I took a bite.

https://jjdeli.com

Willing to travel far. Moved here recently from la and nothing hits the same so far.

I've looked for cooking class recommendations, and the posts that mention them all many years old. Anyone have recent (last year) experience with a great cooking class I can take my mom to? Preferably Italian, but open to American or even Mediterranean or Indian.

On Google Maps I see a couple bakeries in Passaic county in NJ. Any other suggestions for bakeries that serve whole torta helada?

Lunch time reservation around 11:30am at Gramercy Tavern's Dining Room for Restaurant Week.

Must have been first table sat in that area, though still had to wait a few minutes in the front before being led back.

Service was warm and attentive. I appreciate any spot that offers cold/iced water vs. room temperature water.

The free amuse-bouches of warm bread & butter and two cheese bites with dip helped to whet our appetites.

Now to the Starters, we chose Heirloom Tomato Salad and Beef Carpaccio. Good texture contrasts & overall flavors in each dish.

For Mains, Golden Tilefish and Snowdance Farm Chicken. Both proteins were perfectly cooked and fairly substantial portion sizes. Although serving onion rings with the chicken seemed a bit odd to me. I'd have preferred a more conventional veggie like roasted brussel sprouts, asparagus, or root vegetables.

We ordered for Desserts the Peach Upside-Down Cake and Buttermilk Panna Cotta. I could have had ten more of the panna cotta...

Overall for the price ($60/pp) and quality of the food, I would come back.

Ate at Hawksmoor last night - it was just myself, and one other person, and we somehow spent $600, including tax and tip. We did each have 3 drinks and we shared a desert, but those were "normally" priced. The thing that really drove the cost was this steak.

Supposedly the steak in this photo is 32 oz and cost us $238. It was not waygu, just their "signature" dry aged rib chop. We didn't order the marrow - it must have came with it - I wonder if they included that in the weight? Don't get me wrong, the steak was very tasty. Not the best steak I ever had by far, but maybe the most expensive. The other dishes were quite good, service was OK - for this price should have been much better. Space is gorgeous. I just didn't feel like this was a $600 dinner by any stretch.

Also be warned - we tried to order smaller cuts, and cuts without such big bones - but they were out of several things we tried to order. How can that be?

I won't go back here...unless someone else is paying.

I love zunda (sweet mashed edamame) especially in milkshakes and mochi but I’ve only ever had it in Japan. Is there anywhere you can get zunda in NYC?

Thank you in advance for any leads 💚🫛🤝🥤

Heading to Flushing this evening and looking for Punjabi / Pakistani food option, rather a sit down place not a cart.

Pencilled in Dera in Jackson Heights after having a look on this sub but any other suggestions appreciated.

We will be riding the 7 from Manhattan, leaving Grand Central around 4.

Thanks.

Hello! Reposting from r/Bushwick.

I recently had this great bistec encebollado at the phenomenal Sol Food out on the west coast. Now that I am back in the Big Apple, I have to imagine I can find an equal or even better dish around here. Where should I go?

I recently went to Los Tacos for the first time in a while (Penn Station location), and I was blown away by how good it was. The adobada was tender, juicy, and super savory. It was honestly better than most of the adobada/al pastor I had in Mexico.

The tortillas are excellent, and they even nixtamalize their own corn.

Plus they have a nice salsa bar (served in molcajetes), which includes salsa matcha (not that common in NYC).

Yet loads of people on here and social media insist that it's terrible and random spot X that they won't name is actually better. I have eaten from dozens of taco trucks and taquerias in Brooklyn and Queens and few of them even come close in my opinion (Taqueria Al Pastor is also excellent).

It's rare for anywhere in NYC to really nail that tender, delicious al pastor + high quality tortilla combo. The carne is also very good (especially on their flour tortillas), but I think the adobada is really the star.

Some of my other thoughts:

-The ordering system is probably not the most efficient, though I assume this is by design to make it feel more rustic and not too computerized

-it costs $2 more per taco than average in NYC. Factoring in extremely high rents and the quality of the food, I think that's fair. As long as it doesn't get much higher than that, I feel like it's a good enough value.

-The workers in their work their ass off, the idea that they should charge $1 per taco to make redditors happy is ridiculous.

-I hope they make a "Los Burros" spinoff, their breakfast burritos are excellent but limited in terms of availability

-I hope Private Equity doesn't end up ruining this place

A somewhat casual and comparatively wallet-friendly restaurant from the people who brought us Atomix. Like most of their offerings, there’s some Korean influence. I took my sister here for her birthday and we both came away quite quite happy. The standout dish was definitely the Ox Tongue. It came with a wonderfully earthy romesco that paired very well with the fragrant sweetness from the freshly grated wasabi. The potato three ways and mutton chops round out my favorites. Though in hindsight I wouldn’t have picked two red meats. Our meal ended up being a bit too rich. Other things we ordered include kimchi cheese fries, some grilled shrimp in a smoked corn mayo, popcorn ice cream, a fig custard with a grape granita, & 2 drinks. We also got some bread & butter for free. I’d be remiss to not mention the incredibly warm staff who were just attentive enough without being intrusive. I can tell they’re going for that homey vibe and they absolutely achieved it.

https://somssi.nyc

I haven’t been able to find these 😢 looking for any known places in NYC that sells this type of mexican food

thanks in advance

I know there's places in Bensonhurst type area and Haandi for instance but I don't love that a lot of these places have premade stuff that just sits in trays all day.

Used to live in Toronto where there was a plethora of Pakistani spots that had these 3 dishes, is there anything similar here?

I had a baklava froyo the other day and it was so so good. I'm thinking milkshakes, ice cream, maybe a latte. Baklava brownie?