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Absolute Bagels, 2788 Broadway (between 107th & 108th), New York

New York, NY – I was really dreading New York.  It was going to be cold, the coldest it’s been in eight years one friend said.  It was going to be expensive, exponentially more expensive than Bangkok.  It was going to be depressing, it’s a pretty grim state of affairs out in the job market another friend said.  Up until an hour before landing, I was regretting getting on the plane and then I started thinking – pizza, tacos, bagels, sandwiches, hot dogs, burgers and, oh yes, cocktails!  I knew I should probably have checked out a few of the city’s Thai restaurants for this site, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I only had a week to consume everything I wouldn’t get in Bangkok, which was pretty much anything that wasn’t Thai.

The first thing I had was a bagel.  I skipped yogurt and cereal with my hosts and I subwayed myself all the way from Brooklyn to the upper west side to reach Absolute Bagels.  It’s smaller than most of the city’s bloated bagels, chewy and has a lovely sweet flavor.   Though I haven’t been there since my college days, I still tell everyone it’s my favorite place and this trip proved that it stands up.  Bread isn’t something I like to eat in Thailand.  It’s just not that good.  So, in addition to bagels, I was ready for sandwiches and finally had the chance to try one at Alidoro, which wasn’t open during hours I wasn’t working when I was in NYC.  It was a Puccini, soppresata, fresh mozzarella, sundried tomatoes and baby arugula on foccacia.  Next time I would wait for the regular bread, as the foccacia overtook the sandwich filling.  Still a pretty damn good sandwich.

That night, I headed to Smoke Joint in Brooklyn with their famous hot dogs in mind.  Yet we ended up with baby back ribs, macaroni and cheese, collards and a wedge of iceburg lettuce with blue cheese dressing.  The food was fab.  Even better was that laid-back multicultural Brooklyn vibe and the stellar service.  A slight turn of the head and our server was tableside, attentive, not hovering.  It was a stark contrast to Southeast Asia, where, unless you’re at the Oriental, you practically have to light yourself on fire to get the staff’s attention.

Now, New York isn’t know for its Mexican food.  However, there are definitely a few places to find outstanding tacos and strangely enough this was my biggest craving on getting to the city.  (While there is Mexican in Bangkok, I haven’t had it and don’t plan on it.  You couldn’t get farther from Mexico, than Thailand.)  First up was Zaragoza Mexican Deli in the East Village.  It’s a cramped little deli that also serves what some consider some of the city’s best tacos and tamales.  I got a spicy pork taco, fine enough, but the raw onions were quite overpowering and I could taste them until well into the night.  Not totally satisfied with that taco, I went in the opposite direction a few days later to Sunset Park in Brooklyn, where one of my favorite places, Tacos Matamoros, resides.  This time around, I was trying out a spot across the street that was supposed to be just as good, Xochimilco.  This place hit the spot.  I ordered pequeno barbacoa, spicy pork and lengua tacos.  Each with tender, spiced meat, crisp lettuce, creamy guacamole, a sprinkling of cilantro and a squirt of citrus.  It actually reminds me of Thai food, not in the actual flavor, but in the balance of varying textures, flavors and acid. 

Now when it came to my favorite comfort foods – pizza, hot dogs and hamburgers – I actually didn’t get one single slice of pizza my entire week in New York.  That mostly had to do with the fact that the few places I knew I already like it (DiFara’s and Franny’s) and the places I haven’t yet tried, were not convenient for meeting friends, of which there were many I hadn’t seen in over seven months.  I did get my cheeseburgers though.  First, at the old-timey bar the Knickerbocker, where it was pretty tasty, and second at my old standby, Royale, a bar in the East Village.  I had my only hot dog at a bar too, but not because it’s a hot dog destination for me, I was there for the cocktails.

Delicious, precisely made cocktails served up by charming bartenders, who are essentially cocktail historians, are virtually impossible to find in Thailand.  There it’s just clear alcohol and brown alcohol, something to get you drunk, with none of the dignity of the drink you might find elsewhere.  Back in New York, I threw back my fill, first at the lovely, speakeasy-inspired Death & Company, next at spacey Brooklyn establishment Clover Club, later at the taxidermy-decorated PDT and then again at Death & Company.  I was only sad to miss out on the Pegu Club. 

There were many things that haven’t changed since I left.  The drinks lists are superb.  My favorite bartenders are still at some of the same bars.  And PDT, hidden inside hotdog joint Crif Dogs, still has the most annoying door policy in the city.  I couldn’t think of anything more ridiculous than being made to stand in a telephone booth of a hot dog joint while waiting for the hostess to let you in.  I remember when it first opened a magazine editor and cocktail expert saying to me that the last thing New York needed was another hidden, elitist cocktail bar.  I’m just looking at it as part of New York’s progression towards a larger and more diverse serious cocktail scene.  In any case, I had some great drinks.  I slurped up all sorts of things I wouldn’t want in Bangkok – hot toddies, applejack-based drinks and ones with winter spices.   By far my favorite was a drink made of tequila and housemade horchata at Death & Company.  Lightly sweet, spiced and delicately balanced, it was better than horchata alone and certainly dangerous.  There’s something I can’t escape in Bangkok or New York.  Hangovers.

Hot Chocolate at City Bakery

Tacos at Xochimilco, 45-01 5th Ave (at 45th St) in Sunset Park, Brooklyn

Spicy Pork Taco at Zaragoza, 215 Avenue A, New York

Puccini at Alidoro

Absinthe Drip at PDT, 113 St. Marks Pl. (nr First Ave), New York