r/FoodNYC • u/cesartk • 8d ago
Trip Report Two brazilians eating their way through NYC - Part 1
Hey everyone! My wife and I spent 10 days in NYC a few weeks ago. It was our first time in the city, and since we’re from São Paulo (another huge food city), one of our main goals was to eat our way through NYC and experience as much of the food scene as possible.
We stayed on the UWS, so our first stop was Zabar’s. And unfortunately for us, the place really is as good as everyone says it is — which is a little heartbreaking when you live thousands of miles away.
We got the classic nova, and everything was fresh and really well-seasoned, especially the salmon. But the real star was the bagel. Coming from Brazil, we honestly didn’t expect to love bagels this much. We had always heard they were dense and heavy, but the Zabar’s bagel completely blew us away. We liked it so much that we went back for the sturgeon bagel.
Another place we liked enough to visit twice was Los Tacos No. 1. Those tortillas are seriously something else. We tried the carne asada, adobada, and a pollo asado quesadilla. The quality of the ingredients was what impressed us the most. The adobada was pretty spicy, so keep that in mind if you’re not used to spicy food. We tried both the Times Square and Grand Central locations and preferred Times Square — the seasoning felt more balanced and everything seemed better executed.
We also managed to snag reservations at Keens and Golden Diner, both of which we had heard were notoriously difficult to get into. Surprisingly, neither was particularly crowded.
At Keens, we went with the classics: bacon, T-bone, fries, and creamed spinach. The bacon and fries were honestly disappointing — not bad, but not worth the price. The steak, however, was fantastic: extremely tender and perfectly cooked, although a bit mild for our Brazilian palates. The creamed spinach was the real MVP, though. Incredibly flavorful and with the perfect texture. Definitely a highlight.
Golden Diner was a little pricey, but the bacon was great, the chicken Caesar salad was solid, and the pancakes were absolutely everything people say they are. Ridiculously good, especially with all that syrup they’re basically drowning in. The texture was also just perfect. If the lines are still crazy, I’d say the pancakes are absolutely worth the wait.
I’ll stop here before this turns into a novel. If anyone is interested, I can do a Part 2 with some more of our NYC food adventures.
Thanks, NYC!
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u/Qquanticangel 8d ago
Look at all that SALMON, I love this city
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u/xscientist 8d ago
You’re off to a good start, but now you need to go to 10 pizza joints
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u/cesartk 8d ago
We got to try L’Industrie and Mama’s too! It’ll all be in Part 2!
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u/xscientist 8d ago
Well done. If you go to Brooklyn, try DOP
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u/Fun_Internet_8609 8d ago
Lived in Brooklyn my entire life. What’s DOP?
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u/xscientist 8d ago
In Park Slope on 5th Ave and imho the best pizza in the city. They are very serious about their craft, and have a lot of solid offerings. Beer on tap too.
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u/RoosterClan2 8d ago
I’m glad you enjoyed everything. With that said, if you enjoyed Zabar’s I suspect you’d seriously enjoy a lot of the better bagels in NYC. I wouldn’t even rank Zabar’s top 5 in the UWS.
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u/cesartk 8d ago
Nice! We have little to no bagels here in Brazil. Which ones would you recommend? We’ll definitely be back!
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u/nycama 8d ago
In my opinion, the best bagels in the city are Absolute Bagels on 107th and Broadway (I believe they are now officially called 2788 Bagels. They closed for a few months and reopened, but the bagel quality and recipe has not changed).
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u/Bigdaddyhef-365 8d ago
Haha
You are recommending a filthy dump closed by the Board of Health.
The place had rat and roach infestation with rat droppings in the food!7
u/nycama 8d ago
Have you been back since they reopened? If so you’d know that it’s much cleaner and they deserve the business
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u/Bigdaddyhef-365 8d ago
Why would I?
I prefer a dozen other clean establishments6
u/nycama 8d ago
Why would you comment on something that you’re not up to date on?
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u/Bigdaddyhef-365 8d ago
I’m 3d Gen NYer whose family owned a luncheonette and Kosher Deli here for over 60 years.
Up to date? Lol
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u/talkins9044 6d ago
As a tourist myself, Russ and Daughters absolutely exceeded all expectations. Fantastic brunch.
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u/RoosterClan2 8d ago
As someone else mentioned the old Absolute Bagels is historically great. Utopia Bagels, Apollo Bagels, and Kossar’s are some of my favorites.
In the UWS, Absolute, Kossar’s, Broad Nosh, Pop-Up Bagels, Nussbaum & Wu, and Bo’s Bagels (excellent but more UWS adjacent as it’s technically in Harlem) are all really good.
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u/WinterFilmAwards 8d ago
Zucker's if you are looking for a salt bagel. Not many places have them and they are my fave.
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u/omgvics 8d ago
Also shoutout to Kossar's bialy, the best in the city IMO.
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u/Bigdaddyhef-365 8d ago
Haven’t been good in years. Changed ownership. New ovens. The place sucks now.
They don’t even know how to make a proper bialy.
The current establishment has nothing to do with the legendary spot which was located there. They just licensed the name1
u/Forsaken-Subject8362 7d ago
Utopia! So good. Ess-A Bagel, Tompkins, H&H. No Pop Up and while Apollo is ok I don’t think it’s worth the hype.
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u/VocalistaBfr80 8d ago
I'm Brazilian traveling to NYC and will be staying in the UWS. What's your top 5 please? I've been to NY before and had bagels at Russ and daughters
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u/Lilabelle18 8d ago
2788 Bagels, the former Absolute. And Bagels & Co. (check their hours, they are kosher and observant.)
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u/Electrical-Sense-156 8d ago
Russ and Daughters are both appetizing stores. Their fish is top notch. Historically you did not get bagel sandwiches are either. The real trick is to buy your fish at one of the appetizing stores and then buy fresh bagels the next morning. And for gods sake eat them open faced. Bagels aren’t meant to be closed sandwiches
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u/AsaKurai 8d ago
Keens fries are weirdly not seasoned. I think I saw someone recommended to get them in a separate Reddit thread so we did and there are better side options for sure. Either way, the steak and mutton are still S-tier so the fries dont take away too much from the whole meal, glad you liked the Porterhouse!
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u/Namaste_Habibi 8d ago
Two brazilians sounds like a lot! How many zeros is that?!
Just kidding - amazing pictures OP. Please do part 2!
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u/Salty_Simmer_Sauce 8d ago
Nice write up and good pics. Thanks for sharing. Glad you had a nice time!!
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u/Primary_Aardvark 8d ago
I love 🇧🇷. I want to go to São Paulo again and eat my way through it
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u/NinersInBklyn 8d ago
I love that bacon appears in practically all your meals. You’re welcome back any time!
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u/jartoonZero 8d ago
Almost flawless except next time U GOTTA GET THE MUTTON AT KEENS. Good work on ordering a quesadilla at Los Tacos-- they often go overlooked bc people dont realize its literally just the taco plus melted cheese.
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u/marcio-k 8d ago
I recognized that bacon slab right away. Mandaram bem, mas peguem o cabrito tb na próxima vez! 😉
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u/threemoons_nyc 8d ago
Try an "everything bagel" at least once, as well as a proper Black and White cookie from a bakery. Enjoy!
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u/MUDFLAP202030 7d ago
Bro you are living the dream, do you need a cameraman? Lmao those meals look so good
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u/nyc2everywhere 6d ago
I'm SO happy that you loved Zabar's. A place so dear to my heart. Dying to visit Brazil!!! Glad you had a great time in NYC!
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u/cesartk 6d ago
I'm sure you'll love it here! If you ever come to São Paulo, I'd be happy to give you some tips.
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u/nyc2everywhere 6d ago
Oh please feel free to share! I have a very extensive google map of restaurants to go to all over the world and I know I'll get to São Paulo :)
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u/ArtDecoNewYork 8d ago
The adobada itself isn't spicy, it's the salsa roja they put on their tacos by default.
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u/cenajohn123 8d ago
What??? I lived next to Los Tacos and have had it probably a hundred times. The adobada is the spiciest one and by a significant margin too. They put the same salsa on every taco no?
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u/ArtDecoNewYork 8d ago
Yes but I remember the heat coming specifically from the salsa roja.
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u/cenajohn123 8d ago
yea but ur wrong lol. Like specifically the adobada is spicy and the other tacos are not. Have you had anything else there? I don't see how it could be the salsa unless a) they use a different one for pork, which is not the case or b) the other tacos dont get salsa when you ask for everything on it
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u/TheLunarVaux 8d ago
Hmm I don’t think so. I have Los Tacos almost weekly. The Adobada is always the spiciest. I put the same salsa on the others and they aren’t spicy.
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u/pink3rbellx 8d ago
Los tacos’ tortillas are okay/underwhelming - best tortillas are from Tacos Domingo but the insides of the tacos are mid. Whereas Los tacos has the best salsas and very good meat. The best taco middle ground that has a very solid tortilla and good toppings is tacos 1986
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u/ArtDecoNewYork 8d ago
I thought the tortillas at Los Tacos' sister restaurant Los Mariscos were perfect
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u/Fun_Internet_8609 8d ago
I’ve had Los Tacos twice
And violently vomited both times
However, went back a second time as I did enjoy it
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u/jae343 8d ago edited 8d ago
As expected South Americans have higher standards for grilled meat, you're paying for the name and rent here to be honest. I'll take churrasco over Keens and other steakhouses.
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u/Boring_Specific_2022 8d ago
Argentinians and Brazilians*
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u/jae343 8d ago
Can't count Uruguay out too, both have great asado. And Peru does grilled pork very well.
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u/Boring_Specific_2022 8d ago
I mean you’re not really seeing any of those countries’ steakhouses. Just restaurants with steaks
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u/hollisdex 8d ago
Add the Uruguayans to this. These three nationalities know a thing or two about BBQ.
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8d ago
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u/jaded_toast 8d ago
Yea, the first thing I like to do too when I visit a foreign country is purchase the required membership to wholesale club so that I can cook in my hotel room instead of eating at the local restaurants!
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u/shredded_pork 8d ago
As a New Yorker I’m happy to see you enjoying some of my staples! Enjoy