Rob's Picks > Restaurants

Churrascaria Plataforma- Make sure to bring your appetite to this all you can eat Brazilian Rodizio. The heart of this restaurant is the double-sided coaster each patron gets. Keep it on green and the food keeps flowing. Flip to red and its probably because you can no longer breath.

Waiters constantly come out with all different kinds of meat (chicken, various steaks, sausage) on a gigantic skewer and cut a fresh piece of meat right onto your plate. In addition, there is a fabulous cold bar with sushi and many other mouth-watering treats.

When you go to Plataforma, go hard or go home. This establishment is for the true meat-lover and despite what the website says, vegetarians...run and hide!

 

Mamoun's Falafel - Whether you like falafel or schwarma is irrelevant here. It is cheap enough to be happy with even if you didn't like the taste ($2.50 falafel and $5 schwarma). But it also happens to be maybe the best falafel and schwarma in town. Cheap and delicious! Who doesn't like that?

There is seating for 10 and a line longer than 5 people will be out the door, but don't judge this place by its size. The service is quick and you won't make it very far from the restaurant before your sandwich is devoured. They also have delicious chicken kebob sandwiches for those less adventurous. But I trust this place enough to eat anything on the menu.

 

Peter Luger Steakhouse - My absolute favorite restaurant in the world. You WILL NOT find a better steak. You can start the meal off right with tomato and mozzeralla and shrimp cocktail. And no meal is complete with out the glorious home fries. The creamed spinach adds a nice touch to the meal as well.

Luger's really seperates itself from other steakhouses with its homemade steak sauce. I will put this stuff on anything. The shrimp, the steak, the home fries, in my drink...its that good. As if this place wasn't good enough, the sauce makes everything better.

Luger's has 2 locations (Brooklyn and Great Neck), but none in New York City. Very delicious Peter Luger descendants Wolfgang's and Ben & Jack's (both opened by chef's who came from Luger's) do the trick in NYC. The menus, food, and sauce are all just as delicious. But there is nothing like the original.

 

Pomodoro - Classicly delicious Italian food. I don't think you can find a single bad thing on this menu. Pomodoro, on the UWS, gets your meal started off right with just about the best bread and dipping oil on earth. They offer 3 kinds of bread, but the flatbread is tops. Also mandatory before the meal is the Pomodoro Soup, essentially taking Tomato soup to a new level in a bread bowl. Totally unbeatable.

Any entree you get will be superb as you can taste the fresh ingrediants. I am loyal to the Veal Saltimboca there, and my brother, a huge Puttanesca sauce fan, has a hard time not getting it because it is so good. Clearly, I have nothing bad to say about this place except that it is too far from where I live. Pomodoro may factor into the location of my next apartment though.

Tony's DiNapoli - This place is my favorite Italian spot in the city. It's family style and has 2 locations, one in Times Sq, and one UES. In my opinion, their Chicken Parmagiana is the best in New York City. The Tony's Salad, Clams Oregnato, and Penne Vodka are also top shelf.

I recommend making a reservation for dinner, but both locations are gigantic, and so their is usually never a long delay from when your reservation was supposed to be.