Playoff Eats for New York HungryFans

Not to alienate great fans of the NBA and NHL across America, but I’ve been living in New York — let me rephrase — I’ve been stuffing my face at various restaurants in New York for over three years now. And I have my favorites. Seeing as how both the Rangers and the Nets have both advanced in their respective leagues’ playoffs rounds (though the Rangers play at Pittsburgh tonight and are down 3–1), I thought I’d give you some of my recommendations for great spots in Manhattan and Brooklyn to eat out either before or after the game.

BBQ offerings at Brooklyn’s BrisketTown.

Let’s start with Manhattan:

1. Awesome Chinese food: One of my favorites in the city is Red Farm, which now was two locations in the West Village and on the Upper West Side. Red Farm is basically farm-to-table Chinese-American cuisine that heavily features dim sum and stir fry. It’s a bit on the pricey side but always incredibly tasty and buzzing.

*Honorable Mention*: As of this week, Red Farm has a new baby sister in the form of a downstairs spot (on Hudson in the West Village) called Decoy. Decoy is an ode to Peking Duck. If Peking Duck is your thing, you MUST go here. They recommend 1 duck for 3–4 people and it’s crazy delicious. Servings are huge, so bring your A-Game appetite. And don’t forget to order (with the duck) the rib steak main dish. It’s from upstairs and it’s award-winning “Best in NY.”

2. Japanese Amazingness: If you like sushi, another spot to try is Sushi of Gari. They have 4 locations, including on in the theater district on 46th between 8th and 9th Avenues (about 13 blocks north of Madison Square Garden — and the walk will help you digest on the way to the game). The omakase (which is where the chef makes up your menu for you and brings little nigiri gems one after the next) is probably my favorite in the city. This is also not the cheapest of spots but the fish is insanely fresh and you can’t go wrong with anything you order.

3. NYC Classic Steakhouse: The Old Homestead Steak House prides itself of being NY’s oldest steakhouse, having been around for over 100 years. This place is a classic New York meat joint. Located about 20 blocks south and one block west of MSG, you can easily grab a bite there and then grab a cab or the A/C/E to MSG. Easy peasy lemon squeezy… I prefer to hit the steakhouse before the game just because it takes so much to digest it. Eating meat after the game means difficulty sleeping. But that’s just me.

4. Late Night Ramen: Hide-Chan is one of my newest discoveries. Located in Midtown East not far from the UN, this place has the porkiest, yummiest ramen and it’s great for late night. And they even let you choose how fatty your broth is and how firm you want your noodles. It’s definitely a cab ride form MSG but it’s well worth it once the game lets out. Order a cold beer and a bowl of soup (I can’t recommend just one because they’re all so good…but I do like the Tonkatsu and the Deluxe ones most) and you’re so closing out your night just right.

5. When the Moon Hits Your Eye Like a Big Pizza Pie…(and when you add in New York water)…you’ve got more than amoré. New York has several super well-known pizza spots and people will argue ’til they literally pass out over which one is best. I’m working on trying them all. I’ve made a pretty decent dent into the list. So I’m going to suggest two. One is in Manhattan and one is in Brooklyn, which offers a lovely segue into my Brooklyn favs. For Manhattan pizza amazingness, head down to Lombardi’s in Soho. I recommend you head there after the game because dinner time always equates to a long wait. For Brooklyn pizza, you gotta head to an area called DUMBO, where you can find Grimaldi’s. It’s super famous and super tasty. It’s probably also a better idea to try it after the game…

Moving onto Brooklyn:

Brooklyn is thriving like crazy, particularly as it relates to food. It’s so hard to pick only a few places but I shall try.

1. Dessert Spot: I know you typically start with savory and then work your way to dessert, but when I think of Brooklyn the first thing that comes to mind is Junior’s. It’s is a Brooklyn Institution within walking distance of Barclays and it serves the most insane New York cheesecakes (and other desserts like red velvet and carrot cakes). Truth be told, you could feasibly skip going to Junior’s because they have a concession inside Barclay’s. But it’s really cute — old timey, if you will — inside, sort of taking you back to days of yore, decades before Barclays was even an idea.

2. BBQ Scrumptiousness: Before it had a proper location, I tried the pop-up BBQ joint known as BrisketTown. You literally ordered a certain poundage of meat online and could attend any number of pop-ups until you ran out of meat. We’re talking sausages, brisket, pork ribs, and pulled pork here. Yeah…yum. It was really, really good and was only a matter of time before it got a proper brick-and-mortar home. So if you find yourself hungry for good ol’ American style BBQ, head there. It’s not a super late-night spot — it closes at 11 — so it may be worth pigging out (pun intended) before the game and hitting up a cool bar afterwards.

3. Best Mediterranean Taverna: I stumbled in Olea in Fort Greene one night and was transported into a new world. This tiny restaurant truly does not feel like you’re dining out in Brooklyn, but easily rather somewhere on the Adriatic. Enjoy an array of small pan-Mediterranean dishes (i.e. tapas) if you’re in a group but you really can’t go wrong with an appetizer + entrée either. If you’re a fan of Spanish, Greek, or Italian food, you’ll like basically everything on this menu. Mmm! It certainly helps that this place is, like Junior’s, within walking distance of Barclays and is open til midnight so you can definitely head there after the game.

4. More Pizza: Ok, I know I already covered pizza and I mentioned Grimaldi’s in DUMBO, but a discussion about Brooklyn pizza cannot be had without mention of Roberta’s. This wood-burning pizza place is small and features communal tables but it’s famous for a reason…awesome pizza. Also worth noting: it has a tiki bar in the adjoining garden. It’s not the closest to Barclays but you can easily get to the game by subway as Roberta’s is located off the L — just a quick change from the G line which gets you to Barclays.

5. Solid Bar Food: Close to Barclays is a spot called Pork Slope. It makes the list. Let me preface this selection by saying that I consider myself a buffalo wing connoisseur. If I’m at a bar or watching a sporting event, buffalo wings are my classic, go-to food. So given my particularity, you know you can trust the wings are good when I recommend them. Head to Pork Slope and order the wings and a beer, and you are so set. Add a side of tater tots and you have the perfect bar food meal! This place is open til 4am so you can kick it for a while post-game.

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For further information and updates on the Nets’ and Rangers’ Playoff Series, stay tuned to my Twitter feed @TheHungryFan!