Re Rezdora, anywhere else you’d recommend? Back in the day, we loved A Voce, Babbo and the bar room at Del Posto. Have no idea what the “equivalent” is these days!
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And to your Chinatown food crawl point, that was my original bang bang bang… 5 for $1 fried dumplings, chased with the Super Taste soup noodle that came in the metal bowl with a few pieces of pork bone, ending with one of those fried triangular breads stuffed with beef slices. Those were the days when my metabolism could handle that and still be ready for dinner a few hours later!
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Ooh i have such a hard time with Italian food. I have yet to find a pasta that really blows me away. L’artusi was pretty good though and a nice ambience.
No personal experience, but I’ve heard very good things about Don Angie.
Dang. Yeah. We’ve gotten spoiled by this place in LA that flies their pasta in from Italy daily. The menu is pastas only but it’s the most simple, delicious pasta I’ve had in the US.
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Bingo! It’s not the right place if you want a full on Italian meal. But for pasta, it’s a wonderful place. We like the one in Marina del Rey where you overlook the harbor and can get some amazing sunset views.
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Do you have a link or a different spelling?
Thanks
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CHILI
(646) 882-0666
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I would also second Hanoi House over Banh, and maybe Di an Di if you wanna trek to Greenpoint, though I haven’t been recently.
Overall, I’d say you need more Italian/Italian American and more deli/New York food. For slices I’d do Cacio y Pepe sicilian at Mama’s Too (though it’s a bit uptown) or regular slices at Scarr’s. If you wanna do the neo neapolitan thing Una Pizza Napoletana is undeniable but a pain. It’s really good though.
Every time I’m in New York I’m gonna go to Russ and Daughters. I tend to get deli at Pastrami Queen, but it might be easier to do Katz’s. Still prefer Langer’s fwiw. B&H is a classic but haven’t been in a few years.
Fancy-ish Italian maybe I Sodi or Via Carota. Haven’t been to Le Rock, hate the name but it’s on my radar. I’d love to go to Dhamaka. Ugly Baby and Thai Diner if you wanna go that route. Raoul’s if you want something sceney.
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Pizza aside, I’m deeply skeptical that there’s any reason for a visitor from LA to eat Italian food in NYC.
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Really? You prefer Mozza or Felix to Rezdora or Via Carota or Lilia?
As an aside, saw on Instagram Missy Robbins was at Trecca in Rome, made me smile.
LA restaurants can get produce NY restaurants can’t and they get the same stuff imported from Italy. What could you eat at an Italian place in NYC that you couldn’t get similar or better in LA?
I haven’t been to NYC in 15 years but even then I didn’t eat Italian except at one place a friend took us to, which was very good but kind of a waste of a meal since we can get the same or usually better at home. Top of my list next time beside pizza are Oda House, Bagel Hole, and wherever I can still get old-school mofongo and squid ink rice.
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I rarely eat Italian Italian anymore when I’m in NYC just because there are so much more things I want to try with limited storage capacity 
I cut my last summer trip super short to fly back to LA for the food I missed, but I did made a visit to Tomoko San at a lesser known spot in Brooklyn. She offer $28 dessert tasting menu, which is definitely the best deal, quality and taste overall in the West coast, if not, in the US, for me. She was the first exec chef started out Cha-An tea house in NYC, 2004.
Patisserie Tomoko
568 Union Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 388-7121 Patisserie Tomoko - Google Search
@fattydumplin if you can make a visit and grab some Togo goodies, it would be super. Her pastry is a perfect blend between Japanese and French, very tasty. I haven’t found a equivalent place similar to this yet. They’re very well known for their cakes as well. I’ll look for photos later and add them in here.
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+1 on the point about Italian in NYC. It’s not that I necessarily have an LA vs NYC snobbery. More that we have so much good Italian in LA that we tend to do that a fair amount and so in NYC, I want to get more of the things LA doesn’t do so well.
Tomoko sounds great. Not sure I can convince my wife to trek to Brooklyn. But we loved Cha-An back in the day and one of our favorite places was Chikalicious so we are always a fan of Asian-owned dessert tasting bars / shops!
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As far as Manhattan goes imo south of 14th is a lot more interesting.
For breakfast/lunches/casual:
-Kopitiam. It’s on the Fujian side of Chinatown. Malaysian coffeeshop. You can get all of the different coffee drinks (I like the white coffee), kaya toast with egg, noodles, Malaysian/Chinese dishes (menu can change).
-Golden Diner. A tribute to NY/NJ diner but instead of Greek touches it’s Asian. Chef is a Momofuku alumni. Never had a bad dish here. One of my favorite places for breakfast.
-Re:Pizza. As far as Manhattan goes John’s of Bleecker for a whole pie. Slices…….Scarrs, Joe’s (Village location only), Bleecker Street, Mama’s Too, NY Pizza Suprema, Village Square. Skip the dollar slices. Lombardi is cool for the historic reasons, but I think by now it’s a tourist destination. Brooklyn is where it’s at though…Lucali’s (don’t forget the calzone), L’industrie, Paulie Gee’s, Luigi’s on 5th/Park Slope.
-Deli/bodegas……this is what I am going to miss when I come back to CA. This is NYC culture. At minimum get yourself a baconeggcheese. In Manhattan I really like delis/bodegas in the East Village. Sunny and Annie’s is a great spot.
-Thai and Vietnamese. I know we have Little Saigon and Thai Town but the past few years there has been some buzz around Thai and Vietnamese. It’s higher price point but the ingredients and cooking is top notch. For Thai: Soothr, Fish Cheeks, and Thai Diner (all nearby). For Viet I haven’t traveled down that road yet but will soon.
-If you are doing the museum/Central Park thing you must visit Zabar’s. Nothing like it in CA. You can get real lox, knishes, Jewish deli items, it’s a wonderland. There is Pastrami Queen on both sides of the park but I think Katz is the standard in NYC. Absolute Bagels and Barney’s Greengrass are also some great spots in the area. Best Bagels is probably your best bet in Midtown.
-Food halls? Chelsea Market is nice. The best spots are the Mexican places, Los Tacos and Los Mariscos. Very Fresh Noodles is on my to-do list. I honestly would skip the food halls. I think the fish tacos at Los Mariscos is pretty good, they have a tia making handmade tortillas for the fish tacos. Something you don’t see in LA (maybe even SD? I am not familiar with fish tacos scene in SD).
-Levain for the chocolate chip walnut cookies. Everyone likes these.
Hudson Yards train station has the Queens bound 7 train a gateway to Tibet, Ecuador, Colombia, Thailand, China, and other countries. If you guys are feeling adventurous and have a metro card.
Enjoy.
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Ugly Baby is fun if you haven’t been. I used to hang out at Uncle Boon, the OG spot, during my run quite often before they closed down permanently. Not looking for extremely authentic Thai food, just good and consistent tasty meals overall to keep my day happy 
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Good ideas! Will need to convince the fam we need to hit Barney’s Greengrass. That and Absolute were a tradition when we lived on the 90s…
The only miss for me is the deli / bodegas, lol! Used to be an investment banker and outside our building, we had the bodega that everyone went to and I couldn’t stand it, lol. I just never got bodegas…
Kopitiam - that is what i’m looking for! Sounds like an amazing way to start the day 
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Definitely hit up Kopitiam and Golden Diner both my favorite breakfast spots.
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Seconding most of your recs, made some similar earlier, but especially Fish Cheeks, Ugly Baby, Thai Diner, Golden Diner, Absolute bagel (owned by a Vietnamese family), Pastrami Queen, Kopitiam, and pizza generally. John’s was my childhood spot!
Is Kosar’s bialys still good? Also I prefer Russ and Daugters to Barney Greengrass but tomato tomatoe.
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