The Best Dishes Eater Editors Ate This Week, September 2021

The quantity of wonderful meals obtainable in New York Metropolis is dizzying — even throughout a pandemic — but mediocre meals one way or the other hold worming their method into our lives. With Eater editors eating out typically a number of instances a day, we do come throughout lots of standout dishes, and we don’t wish to hold any secrets and techniques. Examine again weekly for one of the best issues we ate this week — so you’ll be able to, too.

September 7

Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Mansaf at Ayat

One of many nice pleasures of consuming at Ayat — a Palestinian restaurant that appeared in Bay Ridge a few yr in the past — is that the dishes are served communally, whether or not you eat them outdoors or in. Mansaf is simply such a dish, a long-braised lamb shank of stupendous girth with a paleness on its floor from marinating for hours. It’s plunked on a mattress of rice, with a flatbread that peeks out on the edges beneath. Toasted almonds are sprinkled atop the dish, which additional mellow the meaty flavors, and on the facet is a bowl of fermented yogurt sauce. Each chunk is moist and richly flavored, and the shank, which has been subdivided into elements, is value selecting up and chewing. The worth of $30 is an amazing discount for those who cut up the dish with one or two others. 8504 Third Avenue, between eighty fifth and 86th streets, Bay Ridge — Robert Sietsema, senior critic

Bao Ong/Eater NY

Squid adobo at Tradisyon

Certainly one of my go-to recipes throughout the previous yr was an awesome Instances recipe for hen adobo, however after just a few bites, I used to be satisfied it ought to have been this squid adobo ($13). It was an ideal end-of-summer dish: The tentacles of the cephalopod gave the impression to be evenly sauteed with out being overly chewy. A wave of tartness from the vinegar that hit you, however it wasn’t overpowering, and the mattress of rice balanced out the saltiness of the soy sauce and aromatic garlic with a little bit of crunch from the sliced chilis. Whereas I crave the richness of the poultry model of this well-liked Filipino dish within the colder months, this seafood rendition tasted lighter and jogged my memory of easy home-cooked recipes I grew up in a Vietnamese-Chinese language family. If the kitchen at Tradisyon will share the recipe, I’ll be the primary to make it. 790 Ninth Avenue, between West 52nd and 53rd streets, Hell’s Kitchen— Bao Ong, editor

Luke Fortney/Eater NY

Neptune salad at Tashkent Grocery store

It’s a disgrace it took till the top of summer time for me to lastly stroll the aisles of Tashkent Grocery store, one of many metropolis’s most elaborate hot buffets and simply probably the greatest methods to kick off a summer time afternoon. In our case, we loaded up a half-dozen takeout containers with pierogies, samsa pastries, and different Uzbek dishes earlier than making the brief stroll to Brighton Seaside for a towel picnic. My favourite of the haul was this container of headless shrimp and head-on octopus, which in all honesty was extra photogenic than flavorful, however nonetheless packed sufficient of a lemony wallop that I’d gladly order it once more ($10 per pound). 713 Brighton Seaside Avenue, at Coney Island Avenue, Brighton Seaside — Luke Fortney, reporter

Erika Adams/Eater NY

Blackened Spanish mackerel at Kjun

Like a number of of my colleagues, I additionally had an awesome chunk of seafood this previous week. For me, it was a well-seasoned dish of blackened Spanish mackerel at a uncommon in-person dinner for chef Jae Jung’s Korean-Cajun takeout-and-delivery enterprise, Kjun. Jung has been painstakingly experimenting and honing the menu for Kjun ever since she first launched six months in the past, and I knew to count on extra surprises at her end-of-summer, in-person pop-up at Yondu Culinary Studio within the Seaport District. The second that caught with me most from the five-course meal ($100, with drinks) was the mackerel. The fatty, sturdy fish was crusted with a mix of Creole spices, together with paprika and onion powder, that punched up the in any other case delicate seafood with delightfully loud savory, salty notes. The fish was paired with a refreshing Korean melon salad that tempered any lingering saltiness and made for an interesting, well-rounded dish. 254 Entrance Road, on the nook of Dover Road, Seaport District — Erika Adams, reporter