NY Food: Pizza (Vinnie's Pizzeria and Ray's)

Since nobody can travel right now due to COVID-19, let's go back in time a few months and visit New York to eat. My last visit to the New York was in December for a few days. The next few posts on this blog will focus on that trip. This particular post will discuss the pizza I sampled while there, because what trip to New York is complete without pizza.

Vinnie's Pizzeria in Williamsburg:

This was my first pizza experience on the trip to New York. Vinnie's was located in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.

I had two slices. One was topped with eggplant and ricotta. The other was a sauceless white slice. Both were a good example of NY style pizza. I preferred the eggplant of the two, but both were very respectable slices of pizza.

Famous Original Ray’s Pizza:

I ate at this chain of pizzerias in New York. I ended up getting a slice of white pizza when I saw the crazy prices of some of the more exciting toppings ($8+ for a slice). It was alright, but nothing I'd go back to seek out.

The Tuck Shop in Chelsea, NY

While in NY, I was looking for a late breakfast and ended up at the Chelsea Market. I had been here before and tried The Lobster Place. On this visit, I quickly forgot breakfast foods and decided to try an Australian meat pie from a place called The Tuck Shop.

I guess what I ordered was more Australian fusion. I had the Thai Curry Chicken pie. It was filled with chicken, kafir lime leaves, galangal, coconut milk, thai basil and chilis. The crust was nice and flaky, similar to a typical pot pie. The fillings were creamy and tasty, although the chilis were very intense. I normally have a high tolerance for spicy foods, but I was tearing up every time I bit into a piece of pepper. Interesting how I ordered something denoted as spicy at a Thai restaurant the night before and there was hardly any spice, but this Australian-Thai pie with no warning about the heat was one of the spiciest foods I've eaten in recent memory. I really have no clue if pot pies like this are really a prevalent food in Australia, but I'm assuming this is more Australian than Outback Steakhouse is Australian...

The Lobster Place in Chelsea, NY

A recent visit to New York involved a visit to the Chelsea Market. This was my first visit to the Chelsea Market, regardless of all of the foodie press that it receives. I personally found all of the industrial remnants of the old Nabisco factory that once occupied the space as one of the most interesting aspects of the whole market. While there, we ate dinner at The Lobster Place.

The Lobster Place was a large seafood market with all kinds of sea life for sale. Lobsters were included in this selection, of course. The smallest lobsters that they had available while I was there started at about $25, and lobster honestly isn't my favorite marine crustacean, so I passed. Everyone else seemed to be gobbling them up though.

I went with a sandwich from what they called the Shack in the Back.

I ordered the Smoked Salmon Baguette, consisting of vodka dill smoked salmon, scallion cream cheese, and onion on a baguette. When I went back to pick up the food, I received this sandwich. My first thought was that toasted white bread definitely wasn't what I would call a baguette. Second thought after I saw that the salmon was mushed up into a salad and saw bacon on the sandwich was that I wasn't given the correct sandwich. Turned out I was given the Crab Club instead...

 I took it back and the guy behind the counter started arguing that I told him I wanted a Crab Club even though my receipt listed the proper sandwich. Begrudgingly, I eventually was given my proper sandwich which was much more to my liking. The sandwich had very tasty, thinly sliced, lox-style smoked salmon. The bread was nice and crusty and was much better than the Crab Club's bread. Chips, cole slaw, and a pickle were served on the side.

Someone else at the table ordered the Salmon Rillete Roll. This sandwich had a mix of fresh and smoked salmon in salad form. My sandwich was superior...

The Lobster Place was an experience. The huge selection of seafood for sale was very fun to look at, but the food itself was slightly forgettable. My sandwich was good, but any bagel place could serve something up just as good and out of the sandwiches I saw, mine looked like the best option. Plus, the whole sandwich mix-up and the employee arguing that it was my fault didn't exactly seem right...

Bad Burger in East Village, NY

Another NYC food post! I had lunch at a restaurant called Bad Burger while up there. Bad Burger had a large selection of burgers on the menu, along with breakfast served all day. I actually did not eat breakfast on this particular day, so I knew which menu I'd be ordering from.

I had the Huevos Rancheros, consisting of a large tortilla topped with scrambled eggs, black beans, home fries, salsa, guacamole, and sour cream. It was a huge amount of food and was very tasty. Pretty much everything on the plate was flavored very well, with the possible exception of the sour cream since it tasted like plain sour cream (as it should).

With the nature of travel, chances are that I will never return to Bad Burger. If I did live in New York though, I would consider coming back for another plate of these huevos rancheros...

Surya Sweets & Snacks in Bellrose, NY

While up in New York, I found myself in the Bellerose neighborhood near the border of Queens and Floral Park. This part of town had what could be described as a Little India. For blocks, everything was Indian, Pakistani, or from another country in the surrounding area. Seeing all this, I knew where I would be stopping for dinner.

I chose a restaurant called Surya Sweets & Snacks. This place was fast food and had a large selection of desserts near the entrance. As for the the food selections, everything was vegetarian and also very cheap. The most expensive food on the menu was $8.00, with most everything else around $4 or $5.

The menu was initially confusing for the uniformed. With only names and no descriptions, we had no idea what exactly some of the menu items were beside the typical Indian foods. Someone ordering in front of us saw our confusion and gave some recommendations. That's how the Papdi Chat was ordered. This bowl had interesting flavors, somehow being sweet, sour, and spicy at the same time.

The Samosa Chat had a few somosas buried under potatoes, chickpeas, and many other ingredients all drenched in a spicy sauce.

I always like dosas at Indian restaurants, so I had to try the Masala Dosa. The huge crepe was filled with a potato based filling and was served with various sauces.

We also tried some assorted desserts from Surya. These were very different than a typical American dessert and had some interesting flavors and textures.

I never knew this section of New York existed, but it was well worth a visit for Indian food. When it's exotic, vegetarian Indian food, that's even better!

NYC Icy in New York

Late one night in Manhattan's East Village, I stopped for some Italian ice at a small shop called NYC Icy. Some of the flavors on the menu were really interesting.

I ended up getting lemon and mango basil. The ices had a different consistency compared to other places. They were almost gooey. I'm not sure how exactly this was done, but I liked it. The lemon was good and tart, as it should be.

The mango basil ice was hidden beneath the lemon. Mango basil isn't a dessert combination that I would normally think of, but this was really good.

If you Google NYC Icy, a picture comes up of their purple carrot ice. This sounds interesting, but unfortunately, it wasn't on the menu on the night I visited...

More Ikea Pasta

I ate the same pasta from Ikea in Orlando once again. It seems I've been going there often lately to get their cheap food.

Speaking of Ikea, check out this new store in Brooklyn, NY. It's built on the site of an old shipyard. Instead of getting rid of the shipping stuff, they kept lots of it. They have huge shipping cranes in the store's parking lot!

Very cool!
Ikea in Brooklyn

Il Porto

I ate at a restaurant called Il Porto in Manhattan's South Street Seaport. Since it was a very hot summer day, we were lucky to sit near an open door to the nearby Dead People exhibit, which blasted us with nice air conditioning. Soon enough, the meal started out with a loaf of bread.

I ordered the Pizza alla Pesto which consisted of mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, pesto, and basil leaves, all on a crispy pizza crust. It was very tasty. It wasn't what I would think of as the typical New York Style pizza, but it was still delicious...

After eating, the next stop was to walk over to the Playing the Building exhibit up the road. On the way there, I explored the South Street Seaport for a bit:

And then I finally reached my destination and enjoyed Playing the Building: