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ALWAYS BE EATING The best things we ate (and loved) in FebruaryYou might think the shortest month of the year might mean less eating for us. It’s not the case: Our Food team spent the month bopping through New York, Seattle and London, where we made every meal count. Here are the best things we tasted this month, including breakfasts rich in ghee, midmorning pork dumplings, raw fish lunches and desserts worth making room for. Pak mor at E-Jae Pak MorI’m still thinking about the pudgy, elegant pak mor (with extra soup and sausage!) that I had for late breakfast at E-Jae Pak Mor in Seattle, a Thai restaurant named after this dumpling of ground pork folded inside hot, freshly steamed rice wrappers, then almost hidden under fried shallots. TEJAL RAO 504 Fifth Ave South, Unit 118 (South Weller Street), Seattle Halwa Puri at DishoomColombians have the bandeja paisa, the British do a full English, and for Pakistanis, our breakfast of champions is halwa puri. When my flight home from Lyon was rerouted through London because of the blizzard, I turned a travel headache into a prime eating opportunity by popping into Dishoom for breakfast to try their take. The platter of perfectly spiced chana masala, semolina halwa redolent of ghee and green cardamom, and one giant flaky puri was rich in all the right places, subtly sweet, and the spices tasted vibrant and fresh. I’ve never been happier about a canceled flight. I’m now hotly anticipating Dishoom’s arrival in New York, just for another taste of that halwa puri. MAHIRA RIVERS Multiple locations, United Kingdom Chirashi don set at UmekoThe $48 chirashi don set at Umeko appears in a wooden box: a base of sushi rice topped with Rothko stripes of amberjack, bluefin tuna, salmon roe, Hokkaido scallop and Atlantic salmon, its geometry completed by a quail yolk plopped in the center. On the side: nori sheets for scooping, inky housemade soy sauce, marinated lean tuna with ponzu daikon, pickles, two kinds of wasabi, yuzu kosho and a cup of tea. I used a vacation day to sit with this lunch for a long time, and it was exactly what I’d imagined it would be. BECKY HUGHES 63 Downing Street (Varick Street), West Village Caramel chocolates at Hawksmoor NYCHawksmoor is famous for its charcoal-grilled steaks, but it also happens to run one of the city’s top-tier dessert programs. I was keen to order the Grand Rocher with Udzungwa chocolate the other week, but I was too full after taking down a hefty lamb saddle. So I pivoted to Plan B: three small truffles ($15). The menu implies they’re a tribute to Rolo candies, but that moniker does a disservice to these fancier treats. The exterior crackles with shiny dark chocolate while the inside oozes salty caramel. I’m not in the habit of taking dessert leftovers to go but I’ll admit to eating the third truffle while riding home on the Long Island Rail Road. RYAN SUTTON 109 East 22nd Street (Park Avenue South), Gramercy Sesame bread at Chinese Pizza Very DeliciousFour words. Twenty-five letters. Say them and I’m yours: Chinese Pizza Very Delicious. This is the name supplied by Google Maps for the flatbread salesmen parked on the corner of Prince Street and 38th Avenue in Flushing, Queens. Five bucks get you a snack-sized portion of their steaming, sesame-flecked breads, baked into something resembling a pizza and cleaved into neat squares that crunch like a tavern pie. Cash only. LUKE FORTNEY 37-17 Prince Street (38th Avenue), Flushing Cilantro and cucumber salad at Golden HofI’ve been daydreaming about spring a lot lately. About walking on the sunny side of the street with my face turned up to the sky and the arrival of daffodils in the park by my house. This bright, juicy cucumber salad, made punchy with burnt sesame and gochugaru vinaigrette, did nothing to disabuse me of my hope for better and brighter days ahead. NIKITA RICHARDSON 16 West 48th Street (Fifth Avenue), Midtown Lion’s Head meatballs at Mama LeeI keep showing people the photo I took of the lion’s head meatballs at Mama Lee in Bayside, Queens, because they are so enormous — bigger than fists, snow globes, fortunetellers’ crystal balls. Two come to an order, enough to feed a family of four, maybe six, and they’re heartwarmingly tender and cooked perfectly all the way through. LIGAYA MISHAN 213-12 48th Avenue (Bell Boulevard), Bayside
THE BRIEF REVIEW Quique Crudo★ What is a Mexican restaurant in New York without a taco? Well, it might look something like the chef Cosme Aguilar’s latest project, Quique Crudo, where he marries a genre of Mexican seafood called mariscos with the intimate setting of a lively tapas bar in the West Village. In an impressively small open kitchen, cooks huddle over bowls filled with crushed ice. There isn’t a taco in sight. Instead, there are mounds of sweet shellfish on coaster-size tostadas, bowls of raw fin fish shocked with lime juice and icy cold mollusks galore. Dinner is full-bodied fun, a dressed-up invitation to embrace the mouthwatering savor of mariscos culture. The menu is a running list of shareable plates that peaks somewhere around the middle, where the best dishes are concentrated. Here you’ll find succulent Maine lobster ceviche in a coconut sauce topped with toasty salsa macha. And silken scallop in an inky aguachile spiked with Maggi — pure umami. These are invigorating flavors, despite the delicate presentation. That said, the artful dots of avocado crema that bolster a razor clam aguachile grow repetitive elsewhere. And mar on the menu generally fares better than tierra. Mr. Aguilar’s renowned mole from Casa Enrique in Queens loses some of its luster this side of the East River. Luckily, his pastel tres leches is as good as ever. Diners seem to already know where to find the richest rewards. Packed tight like sardines at the sleek black granite bar, couples lean in over platefulls of shells emptied of their catch. Address: 27 Bedford Street (Downing Street); West Village; 646-590-0960; quiqueccrudonyc.com. Recommended Dishes: Ensalada Cesarín; toastada de pulpo y camarón; aguachile de camarón; aguachile de callos de hacha; ceviche de pescado; ceviche de langosta; pastel tres leches. Price: $$ Wheelchair Access: The restaurant can provide a ramp upon request, but the space is narrow and all seating is at bar level.
FROM OUR CHIEF CRITICS Can Corima become New York City’s Pujol?This week I reviewed Corima, an experimental Mexican restaurant in Chinatown that plays with borders and plumbs history in a way that’s thoughtful but also just fun on the plate. I waited to write about this one: The restaurant opened in 2024 but had no gas for the first year and a half, and while the kitchen MacGyvered through it, I wanted to see what it could do when it was firing on all cylinders. Now it is. Read the review → OPENING OF THE WEEK Eddie Huang’s Baohaus 2.0 is finally openingEddie Huang, the most multi-hyphenate chef, has done a tremendous job of letting the world know he’s now back in New York City, specifically in a monthslong Curbed column detailing his search for a space. Just a few weeks after announcing that he’d locked down 97 Saint Marks in the East Village, Huang has resurrected Baohaus alongside Russell Steinberg — “the new Keith McNally,” according to Avenue, and former son-in-law to Diane von Furstenberg — and Roman Grandinetti of Regina’s Grocery fame. (Opens Thursday) More restaurant openings in Midtown, Chelsea and Alphabet City → SUSTAINABILITY The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch is staging a comebackFor more than 25 years, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program set the gold standard for identifying sustainable sources of seafood. After a pandemic-era wobble, the organization is back and has signed on nearly 80 restaurants to a program that would add “best choice” labels to their menus for seafood that “came from a well-managed wild fishery or was farmed in an environmentally responsible manner.” Read the story → 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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