Sausage rolls, a not-too-quiet restaurant on the Upper East Side and a family-friendly dive
These hyper-specific New York restaurant requests are getting funnier. While I’m often asked about quiet restaurants, and I promise I’ll keep those recommendations coming, this time a reader is looking for the exact opposite because, she writes, “I’m not a cranky old granny.” The last month also took me on a buttery expedition in search of sausage rolls, a British staple. Finally, I found my absolute favorite dive bar in the city, a massive personal win that I owe to your questions. Meet you back here, same time next month? If you’ve got a question, get it to me over email at wheretoeat@nytimes.com or as a submission through this form.
Don’t call it a pig in a blanketA pastry that I wish were ubiquitous is a sausage roll, but I don’t often find them in the city’s bakeries. Any tips on where to look for a regular supply? — Molly V. Not knowing much about the state of the sausage roll, I consulted a handful of real, live British people. The consensus: Nothing we have in New York holds a candle to the British chain Greggs, but there are a small handful of rolls in the city that can play ball. The strongest endorsements from the Brits were for Myers of Keswick, an English grocery store in the West Village with a whole wall of teas and a big case of savory pastries and pies. The couple ahead of me in the checkout line lugged a shopping basket piled high with Cadbury Creme Eggs, Wisps and Galaxy milk chocolate bars. Incredibly pregnant, the woman told me she’d blown through the last delivery of British treats her family sent and was having intense cravings. As for the sausage rolls, the ones at Myers looked pretty close to the Greggs gold standard, at least to my untrained American eye. That is to say: slightly paler than you might think you want (both the sausage and the pastry), astonishingly flaky, heavy on the sage and hard not to love. 634 Hudson Street (Horatio Street), West Village
When the party isn't overI have lived in Carnegie Hill for more than 40 years. I adore my neighborhood but haven’t found a lively restaurant that caters to all ages with great food. Most are filled with diners in their 50s to 80s (yes, that’s my age in there) and actually too quiet! I’m thinking Balthazar-type bistro — good solid fare and a fun crowd, but not a go-to for families with young children. I adore kids but not at my dream eatery. I’m not a cranky, old granny! — Robin K. Your neighborhood is one of my favorites, too, and I’ve passed a few recent Friday nights around there doing some restaurant hopping. Evenings on Lexington Avenue, especially this time of year, are quiet — the bar at Orsay sometimes picks up, Chez Fifi is always full but maybe not lively to your standards — but one restaurant is the dependable exception. Seeing Cafe Commerce from across the street on a winter night borders on electric: a steady hum of chatter and warm light in stark contrast with the sleepy, frigid streets. Every table is full until the place closes, bumper-to-bumper with plates of overfilled deviled eggs sprinkled with fat cubes of bacon, rigatoni carbonara with a tangerine-orange egg yolk nested in the center, and the $99 roast chicken that made Frank Bruni reconsider his deathbed meal. My last meal, however, might just be the coconut cake that, despite being advertised as a slice, is about the size of an entire layer cake. 964 Lexington Avenue (East 70th Street), Upper East Side
A dive bar for the whole familyMy husband and I love dive bars! We’ll be visiting New York City in April with our 16-year-old daughter. Do you know of any cool dives with great food where our daughter can come, too? — Katie B. A family after my own heart. We’ve covered quite a few of my favorites in the past: I Like Food at Aunt Ginny’s in Ridgewood never misses. The steak frites from Lori Jayne are at the clubby bar Danger Danger now, and longtime readers know by now how I feel about the Cadillac nachos and chicken sandwiches at The Commodore. This is all to say, I challenged myself to come up with a new recommendation and found enlightenment at Brooklyn Icehouse in Red Hook, the best dive bar neighborhood in the city and maybe the world. This one’s a perfect case-in-point: beer paraphernalia as art, a thoroughly-graffiti’d bathroom and a menu that has no business being this good. The burger, a famous dive bar menu bellwether, is best in class, with a patty that has got to be three inches tall — I was charmed that they asked me how I wanted it cooked — and a massif of McDonald’s-blonde fries. A “dirty” hot dog stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon is, well, exactly as opulent as it sounds, and I’ll leave you with a question to mull over: Shouldn’t every place that serves alcohol also serve Frito pie? 318 Van Brunt Street (Pioneer Street), Red Hook Read past editions of the newsletter here. If you’re enjoying what you’re reading, please consider recommending it to others. They can sign up here. Have New York City restaurant questions? Send us a note here. Follow NYT Food on TikTok and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest.
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