17th
pork buns, coffee, arepas, and fries, oh my!
Part 2 of 3 of my belated NYC adventure takes place after my epic evening at Marea. Rachel and I, later joined by others, headed down to the Lower East Side for an afternoon walking food tour. In hindsight we were overly ambitious and should have probably much earlier to cover the ground that we were hoping to. Regardless, it was a wonderful time.
Our first stop was Momofuku Milk Bar where we ordered the legendary pork buns and crack pie. The pork bun was elegant and delicious:
I attest that this is the best pork bun I’ve ever had by landslide, and probably ever will have. The pork-belly was perfectly cooked with seemingly pedestrian accouterments that made this dish spectacular.
Next stop was a little coffee shop on 7th that I have since forgotten the name of:
This gregarious barista outdid himself with the iced coffee, that was, again, near the top of the heap. He even talked us out of the iced lattes - go figure. An excellent second stop.
Our third stop was at Caracas Arepa Bar. My favorite part of the menu was the part at the bottom informing patrons that this was NOT a fast food place. Silly New Yorkers always in a hurry? Everything in the restaurant was handmade in the little 8’ x 8’ kitchen under the sign while you wait:
The now 4 of us ordered and assortment of arepas that were each unique and extraordinarily tasty. My friend Nicole who’s family is from Colombia attests that these are just as good as the ones you can find on the streets of Caracas, Venezuela. Never having been, and enjoying the food so much I wouldn’t dream of arguing:
The three kinds that I did try were a perfect balance of spice, and texture. The bread especially proved quite chewy on the outside and soft on the inside which was a wonderful combination. At this point, only 3 places in we were already showing signs of lethargy and bulging stomachs, but we couldn’t stop now. There was room for at least one more place.
After a 25 minute line outside of Pommes Frites, we got a large order of fries with three different dipping sauces. As you’ll see we forgot to snap a photo before we had completely gorged ourselves:
I’ll admit I was a bit surprised to see such a long line for a place that just served fries, but after trying them, I’ll agree it was definitely worth the wait. This concluded our afternoon adventure and I was yet again left amazed with NYC offerings in only a few blocks. Hopefully I’ll be back in the city soon to finish off the remaining 4 places on our list that we didn’t make it to.
Stay tuned for part 3 of 3 which details our Sunday morning adventure.
