Beyond Toronto: New York City

We will be condensing Beyond Toronto trips into one post. Our trips are meticulously planned by Lily so that tourist sites and well-rated restaurants are selected for each day, and the order of locations we visit are adjacent to one another to reduce distance traveled. We included the sites we visited alongside the restaurants in case you want to follow a similar journey.

Night 0

Dinner: Shake Shack, LGA airport

We decided to try out Shake Shack for the first time, and what better time and place to do that then right after getting off a 1 hour plane ride? We got ‘cheesy curly fries’ which were non-crispy fries with a side of melted processed cheese…classic Murica’. The chocolate shake was thick. Burgers were of the smash variety. Think Chez Tousignant in Montreal was much better.

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  @ LGA

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  Smoke shack, Shack burger, fries, chocolate shake

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  Chicken sandwich

Day 2

Breakfast: Sylvia’s

This is the Queen of soul food and the heart of Harlem, famously named after the owner and restaurateur Sylvia Woods. We have read about collard greens (and soul food) in novels, but this was our first time trying it. We ordered a combo with all the house gems. The fried chicken was seasoned and fried to perfection. The collard greens and mac n’ cheese tasted like they were cooked with tender love by an old grandma. The ribs were tender and soaked with a ketchup-y sauce – we weren’t as excited about this one. Finally Sylvia’s surprise: the biscuits were lightly sweet but savoury, buttery and flakey, pairing immaculately with the main course. We were riding on cloud nine here. Lily would fly back for those biscuits.

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~ Checked out Central park, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim. Ate hotdogs at a stand out of desperation. Our original plan was to eat at Russ & Daughters but it was closed due to Shabbat…

Dinner: Xi’an Famous Foods

We came here partly due to its omnipresence on social media and partly to compare with one of our Toronto favorites. Xi’an Famous Foods is an incredible success story of a Chinese immigrant family, whose one basement restaurant in Queens in 2005 grew to 15 locations across New York. We ordered the Spicy Cumin Lamb Ripped Noodles and the Spicy & Tingly Beef Hand-Ripped Soup Noodles. The small seating area was packed, and we managed to snatch two empty seats just when our order was ready. Happy to warm up from the harsh and relentless winter outside, we plowed through the noodles. The Taiwanese apple soda was refreshing to drink and reminded Axel of his childhood. This place is worth checking out.

~ Checked out Rockefeller center, Times Square, and ate…

Dessert: Ample Hills Creamery Gotham West Market

We went there because the interwebs indicated it’s one of the best ice cream in NYC (let us know if you found better). We got a pecan vanilla and strawberry double scoop. It tasted like your typical ice-cream. The only thing worth mentioning was a fellow customer who dropped her whole ice cream cone on the floor. The stall graciously gave her another one free of charge. Come here if you are clumsy; this place is klutz-certified.

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Day 3

~ Walked along the Highline and had a late…

Brunch: Los Tacos No. 1, 9th Ave

We ordered the carne asada (grilled steak), pollo asado (grilled chicken) and nopal tacos (grilled cactus). The chicken taco was unexpectedly juicy and well seasoned. We hate to say this, but Los Tacos No. 1 may be better than Toronto’s Seven Lives. In the heat of the moment, we forgot to take a photo, so we used it as an excuse to order another round (I know you are rolling your eyes to the back of your head, but seriously…).

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  Refreshing citrus soda

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  Dried chile, radish, lime garnish

Snack: Joe’s Pizza

This is the quintessential New York slice. Can’t leave New York without giving this spot a visit. Joe’s Pizza was packed at 5 pm with a line going down the block. Yes, it’s a tourist site. Yes, it’s expensive at $3 a slice. But to us simple Torontonians, this is probably one of the best pizza slices we’ve ever had. It may be the crispy, thin crust that makes it so special. We folded the slice in half and devoured it.

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~ Checked out Flatiron building

Snack: I’milky

Just a good ole’ brown sugar bubble milk.

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~ Checked out Empire state building, New York Public Library, Bryant Park, Grand Central Terminal, and then ate…

Dinner: Luke’s lobster

The hefty chunks of lobster claws in the soft hotdog bun was satisfying. The artisan blueberry soda took the show. It was an unexpected flavour to accompany the carbonation. Luke’s is in no way artisan, but they seem to source their own lobster supplies in a sustainable and eco-friendly fashion. Good on them.

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  Blueberry soda on the left

Day 4

~ Checked out Battery Park (where Statue of Liberty is visible), Oculus Mall, and then ate…

Brunch: Hole in the Wall Cafe and Bar, 15 Cliff St.

Axel: Eggs were nice. Guacamole was nice. Toast was nice. Dollops of chili sauce was nice. You can tell I wasn’t totally impressed.

Lily: It’s brunch, what do you expect?

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~ Checked out Brooklyn Bridge, Chinatown, and then ate…

Lunch: Scar’s Pizza, 22 Orchard St.

Axel: I embarrassed myself asking for a pizza with “pepperoni cups”. The waitress gave me a perplexed glance. I am still not exactly sure what these pepperoni cups are actually called. As for the pizza, this Sicilian slice was better than Joe’s Pizza. Crispy and chewy crust, a good sauce-to-cheese ratio (as Delaney from Bon Appetit would say), charred and greasy pepperoni cups. I regret not getting a few more slices.

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Snack: Popeye’s

Lily: Because the infamous Popeye’s chicken sandwich was still unnavailable in Canada, we impulsively ordered it when we stumbled upon a Popeye’s near Chinatown. It was a satisfying eat. But the McChicken will always be my favourite chicken sandwich.

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Snack: Russ and Daughter’s

We came here to try out the lox bagel. Wowza! The cranberry soda with hints of citrus and black pepper we ordered was surprisingly vibrant and unique. Funnily enough, the original Russ and Daughters is an over-the-counter shop a few steps from Katz’s Deli with make-your-own bagels. It’s cheaper there, albeit without any sit-down areas. Go there instead.

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Dinner: Katz’s Deli, 205 E Houston St.

Axel: This is another NYC favorite. I think the pastrami here is better than Schwartz’s smoked meat from Montreal that we had on a previous trip. To those saying I can’t compare them because they aren’t technically the same thing (check this quick read if you don’t know the difference), I say close enough. The meat was tender, smokey, and melt-in-your-mouth fatty. Don’t judge a book by its cover; this sandwich was a monster to eat.

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  Pickles AND Cucumbers!

Dessert: Eileen’s Special Cheesecake, 17 Cleveland Place

We ordered the strawberry and salted caramel mini cheesecakes that the baker recommended to us. Some New Yorker walked in the shop and exclaimed that this was always the first place he visited after his business trips. While the cheesecakes satisfied our sweet tooth, it seems like Mr. New Yorker’s tastebuds were slightly blinded by nostalgia.

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~ Checked out NYU and the Strand bookstore

Concluding remarks

We finally visited the concrete jungle, luckily, just before COVID-19 hit. Who knows when we can visit the city that never sleeps once again and devour another slice of legitimate, Americanized pizza. What we do know is that it will be hard to find something in Toronto to substitute that craving for the time being.