What Goes On The Non-Perishables Shelf?

Korean BBQ, London's crystal ball, karaoke, Valentine's Day, a dry cleaning store in Flatiron, UES's revival, OpenTable.

Lately, I’ve been feeling the existential pressure to develop some real hobbies. I’ve made good attempts: last year’s driving lessons (a tad too utilitarian), my newly minted 7-iron golf swing (which is getting there, although I suspect some things are just not meant to take this long).

In another day’s episode of Is my phone listening to me? I received an ad about dream vacations for MBTI types¹. An ENFJ’s dream vacation is listed as follows:

A group trip where you book the Airbnb, plan the itinerary, coordinate everyone’s food allergies, and somehow never get thanked.

While satirical… who am I kidding? I love organized chaos… When I’m not brooding about the state of the American economy, I also enjoy the great challenge of keeping up with the New York restaurant scene incl. waking up at 6:58am on a Saturday to book my 7am Four Horsemen reservation.

Like we (transplant) New Yorkers tend to be, New York’s restaurant scene is fickle, some might say extreme. Fortunately, I have a knack for finding delicious spaces and places and am eager to share them with you in an effort to develop a personal canon of things that last (and make me think and make me laugh). Expect deep fixation and light critique. I’m a sucker for soft data — so much of what I explore will likely come as a result of patterns I see in the market.

What’s on the shelf?

• Korean BBQ: Why Howoo is great and others not so much, and why Samwon Garden won’t be either.

  • The commoditization of KBBQ is astounding. For as long as I’ve known, 32nd street has been riddled with mediocre yet memoried barbecue spots, but in the last 6 months we’ve seen more barbecue openings than ever before. Most have an angle (pub food at GoldenHOF, AYCE at Jongro Market, JeongYukJeom’s LA royalty) but frankly when it comes to barbecue there’s only one winning formula: good old high quality meats. Think about it. Which steakhouses have stood the test of time in the city? The old guard of the 1800s: Delmonico's, Keens, Peter Luger. I know this is their very point, but I tend to think Gui and NY Kimchi are trying too hard to fit the mold of a Western steakhouse. Americans know KBBQ!

  • Howoo is not all too different from its sibling Nubiani but follows a tried and true model: high quality meats, beautiful and dramatic space, easy ordering (meat packages that come with various banchan side dishes, steamed egg, a choice of stew, soft serve dessert). While there’s something about the 32nd street lofted Nubiani space that feels more alive, Howoo is close in effect. Their paper thin beef jeon is great. Banchan is a WIP.

  • If you’re running up 6th ave. to check in for the Cho Dang Gol waitlist, chances are you’ve run past the Samwon Garden banner on top of its currently vacant space. I can’t comment on the food (Samwon Garden clearly has a cult following in Korea), I just think it’s a terrible location.

• Moving from London to New York. And no, I don’t mean young professionals relocating. In my last post, I mentioned New York’s growing member’s club mecca, which largely has London to thank. Dishoom, an insanely successful Indian chain in London (they have an astounding 13 locations!), is planning to open in New York in 2026.

  • There’s something about London’s higher quality restaurant chains that New York hasn’t seemed to master, or perhaps hasn’t tried to master. Think Dishoom (13), Bao (8), Hawksmoor (7, and an 8th in NYC). The closest to me is La Pecora Bianca (6 so far). I’d chalk it up to London’s more spread out geography. London sprawls, probably most comparably to Los Angeles, with distinct neighborhoods that feel like their own self-contained communities. Where, then, are the Los Angeles chains?

• Karaoke: Perhaps London is today’s crystal ball to New York’s ever evolving restaurant scene. Bao’s 8th location (which opened late last year) is their first restaurant with 2 private karaoke rooms (ever since I visited Bao Soho I’ve admired their website from afar — it’s a designer’s dream). A week ago, Coqodaq, Simon Kim of COTE’s ever popular Korean fried chicken spot, quietly unveiled their new karaoke section of the restaurant (it’s communal). I have a very dear friend who believes the key to a good night out with friends is one that ends with karaoke, and while I tend to find a way out of it, I must admit the few times I’m in the karaoke room (no matter the size) I feel content. Experiences like these, or shall I say hobbies, are hard to come by!

• Valentine’s Day treats: No one does Valentine’s Day better than America. And while I know Europeans see this as capitalism at its finest, I am always amazed at the creativity that comes out of this holiday. Pictured below, true genius of several New York City bakers:

  

  “Sweet Potato Pretzel Partners” at Elbow Bread. Oh so soft and pillowy, though didn’t taste much like sweet potato.

  

  “Be My Teddy” at Lysee. Decadence in a pastry: chocolate mousse, vanilla crémeux, dark chocolate caramel, a crunchy surprise, topped with a tiny passion fruit cream heart.

• The magic show behind the dry cleaning store in Flatiron. I promise it’s almost worth the hefty ticket price.

• Restaurants in the Upper East: Shocker. After the mystery of the missing UES HMart (kidding, the grocery store has finally started construction… 2 years post-announcement), I grew worried the neighborhood wasn’t getting it’s wave of great ethnic food anytime soon. I was wrong! 2024 marked an impressive year: Ly Ly (Vietnamese), Al Badawi (Middle Eastern), Tha Phraya (Thai), Bayon (Cambodian), Lungi (Sri Lankan) — the last 3 added to the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list less than a year after opening.

  • I would also be remiss not to mention several more upscale restaurants that have also caused a buzz: Le Veau d’Or (French), Chez Fifi (French), Cafe Commerce (American), and coming soon: American Bar (American).

  • Of the UES restaurants just mentioned, a visual depiction of real estate 101:

    

    Rent price is determined by location, and location is everything. Ethnic UES eateries are rarely west of 2nd ave. Then again, good food is always worth traveling for…

  • It’s intriguing that Ly Ly was added to Michelin’s 2025 watch list. Their food is undoubtedly good — and the first time I went, like The Inspectors, I loved the restaurant’s “plain charming” vibe. By the third time, I started to wonder if the simplicity of the same vat of pickled carrots and radish served with every dish was just beginner’s luck, a cramped converted kitchen and lean staff.

• High quality bread: People are willing to pay for bread if it’s good. Actually good. People also remember when a sardine toast with smoked butter and kosho was paired with a beautifully airy, chewy, ever so crispy sourdough bread (Place des Fêtes you have my heart). Some of my favorite breads in the past few months:

  

  From L to R: Frena's "Frena Bread" (paid), Place des Fêtes's "Sardine Toast" (paid), Sofreh's "Babari Bread" (unpaid).

• OpenTable? In the past few months, more and more restaurants have churned off of Resy and exclusively (re)joined OpenTable. It wasn’t until Don Angie & San Sabino’s email about the switch last Tuesday that I seriously took note. JeJu Noodle Bar sent a note out a day later (and has sent 3 more emails about it since):

  

  Poor Resy.

  • Someone please fill me in on what’s going on here. If I were to guess… OpenTable, as one of the incumbents in the space, saw their market share slip to newer players and doubled down on their backend tooling and data capture for restaurants. OpenTable (NASDAQ: OPEN) is a public company, while Resy is now just one of many subsidiaries of AmEx (along with Tock). Is there truly something that makes OpenTable worth switching for?

• Gin, rum, whiskey: According to this article on alcohols least impacted by tariffs.

• Tomatoes for breakfast. My mom mentioned this to me and I did a little digging, and it’s true.² When in doubt, ask-a-mother.

1. The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator is a self-report questionnaire that makes pseudoscientific claims to categorize individuals into 16 distinct "psychological types" or "personality types”.

2. Tomatoes in the AM improve digestion and increase metabolism but also produce pectin and oxalic acid which can cause stomach swelling if eaten for dinner.