The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

New York City is such a big place that whether you're visiting or you're a local, you will have some hits and misses wherever you go. This post is about both because it's just as useful to know about good places to go as it is to know about places to avoid sometimes.

Eisenberg's
Their slogan is 'Raising New York's Cholesterol Since 1929'. If that appeals to you then you should check this place out. Admittedly, I'm a self-confessed health food lover but I have a weakness for pastrami and a certain nostalgia for old school, fuss-free delis. On Yelp! customers rave about the tuna salad melt but I don't like mayonnaise, white bread or cheese much so that was out for me. However, I do like good pastrami which is their second most talked about dish.

For $10, you get a pretty large sandwich served with a pickle. The pastrami itself was sliced very thinly and a bit dry so it could have been pre-sliced and rather fatty. It's definitely not as juicy, thick or generous in size as Katz's but then again it's not $16 and ridiculously large. The dryness and fat in the meat put me off though.

Pho Bang
I love Vietnamese food but my usual order is a grilled pork/chicken or beef bun or cold vermicelli rice salad dish rather than the standard pho and that's what I judge a place by. In Chinatown, I'm yet to find a really good bun. Pho Bang also let me down. This place got 3.5 stars on Yelp! The grilled meat was fatty, dry and only made palatable by drowning it in hoisin sauce. It's $6.75 here which is a bit more than other places like Cong Ly, where the same dish is $5. The best bun I've had so far for juicy, smoky, marinated meat was at An Choi in LES for around $12.

Digg Inn
This places motto is 'Seasonal Market Est. 1997'. If you like eating fruit and vegetables that are in season and cooked freshly each day with a changing menu that you can customise then this place is for you. How does it work? You pick a plate (Small or Large), pick 1 protein (or 2 for large), 1 carb or lettuce and 3 sides. I chose the lemon chicken that was tender and fragrant, arugula lettuce and then 2 hot sides: maple roasted sweet potatoes, thinly sliced and sauteed brussel sprouts with nuts and 1 cold side: beets with goat's cheese, lentils and parsley. For $6.95 this was a light and tasty lunch.

So, I'll let you decide which of these was the good, the bad and the ugly, suffice to say that you get all types in NY but never be dissuaded from trying a new place for that reason. Every meal is an opportunity for your tastebuds to have an adventure!