From a long-running series, by Mitchell Schorr, that seems always to include an ice cream truck
www.MitchellSchorr.info
Left (painted c. 2014, photographed 2021): West 38th St. near the northwest corner with Seventh Ave., Manhattan
Below (detail of a three-panel mural, painted and photographed 2020): Broadway near the northwest corner with 84th St., Manhattan
A young couple were settling up as I arrived. Between them they'd ordered three dishes, including polo (that is, pilaf) and one of the many other lamb dishes I'd been considering. But their cleanest shared plate prompted me to order one of the same: stir-fried egg and chive. Also shown: spicy oil-splashed noodles, generously dosed with garlic.
H/T @Garsleat
Tengri Tagh Uyghur Cuisine
144 West 37th St. (Seventh Ave.-Broadway), Manhattan
646-964-5418
www.Instagram.com/Tengri_Tagh_Uyghur_Cuisine_NYC
Closed Friday
From an earlier era of socially distant service: surviving signage for the Horn & Hardart Automat Cafeteria. No longer completely readable from street level, this sign (photographed in 2008, still extant in 2020) probably pointed hungry New Yorkers to the Times Square location, at 1557 Broadway. The city's first Horn & Hardart, it opened in 1912 and survived longer than most, giving way to a Burger King in the mid-1970s.
Horn & Hardart
Surviving signage, West 38th St. looking eastward from Seventh Ave., Manhattan
(This venue is closed.) Noodles and sides (clockwise from front right): pea shoots, mala chicken mixian, pork wontons, and "Lijiang old town grandma-inspired" chicken mixian. This last dish (also shown below, from my first encounter) is a soup fortified by soft rice noodles, chicken confit, and a tea egg, and accented with various greens and pickles. Its most visually striking feature is the color of the chicken broth — black sesame garlic oil takes credit or, for the eventual ring around my soup bowl, blame.
As for the Old Town of Lijiang: The historic center of a Chinese city in Yunnan province, it was honored as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. In the "tourist scramble" that followed, however, "the indigenous Naxi people were the first to get shoved aside." The Old Town's touristification, to be sure, is no fault of Little Tong — the noodle shop seeks only to offer chicken soup for the Yunnan soul.
Little Tong Noodle Shop
235 East 53rd St. (Second-Third Aves.), Manhattan
929-383-0465
231 West 39th St. (Seventh-Eighth Aves., inside The Deco Food + Drink)
www.LittleTong.com
Next door to the Honduran consulate, tiny Hari Deli serves tamales and baleadas, delivered each morning by an outside provider. My chicken-and-potato tamal was good once rewarmed on the flattop (I imagine that baleadas get the same treatment), but it would have been better with some of the bacon that had sizzled beside it.
H/T Burlap & Barrel
Hari Deli
255 West 36th St. (Seventh-Eighth Aves.), Manhattan
Honduran food probably available weekdays only, in sync with the consulate's schedule
The building, a block or so from the Javits Center, is an anonymous glass-and steel tower like many others on the far West Side of Manhattan. From a distance Jenny's is unremarkable, too. It seems to be just another sandwich and salad shop, except for the placard hanging beside the door. Jenny's employs a Trini counterman, and nearby construction projects employ many West Indian workers; bring them together, and lunchtime becomes roti time.
Given the line of customers that forms even before noon, however, the dhalpuri roti skins must be made long in advance, just like all the other fixings at the counter. At least the fillings are hot, though on the day of my visit, goat, lamb, and conch were not on offer. In lieu of chicken, I carried off a comparatively uncommon pork roti ($7.95).
Jenny's Marketplace
455 West 37th St. (at Tenth Ave.), Manhattan
212-784-0690
In truth, most of the caddies were better kitted out, but the condiments at my table were perfectly suited to a combo of cauliflower and lamb splashed with black-peppery sauce (Wednesday special, $9): No seasoning was needed. I'd only wish for more cauliflower, less potato.
Kashmir 9 (also known as Cuisine of Pakistan)
478 Ninth Ave. (36th-37th Sts.), Manhattan
212-736-7745
This roasted red pepper frittata ($10.45), also incorporates sausage and feta; it's topped with one of the most traditional American-diner accompaniments, a heavy wad of home-fried potatoes.
Tick Tock Diner
481 Eighth Ave. (at 34th St.), Manhattan
212-268-8444
www.TickTockDinerNY.com
Also at 281 Allwood Rd., Clifton, New Jersey
973-777-0511
www.TheTickTockDiner.com
(This venue is closed.) Ratchanee Sumpatboon, previously of Poodam's and Zabb Elee, is now serving her fiery and pungent Isan Thai cuisine in Hell's Kitchen. Less-daring dishes are also available, especially on the lunch special menu, such as this bowl of ba mee ($9), thin egg noodles with roasted pork, lump crab meat, and yu choy. Mine was a "dry" order, that is, with the soup (not shown) served separately, beside a small, tart papaya salad.
Also: i tim bo ran ($5), coconut ice cream topped with palm seeds, corn, peanuts, and torn bits of bread. The dessert menu identified this presentation as "Thai-style," but according to my server a more literal translation would be "old-school."
Larb Ubol
480 Ninth Ave. (36th-37th Sts.), Manhattan
212-564-1822
Thank you!
