Spencer Costanzo

NYC Guide (in progress)

Updated Jan 3, 2020
Key
★ = Worth a stop
★★ = Worth a detour
★★★ = My top picks

Chinese & Taiwanese

  • Hao Noodle & Tea
  • Little Tong Noodle Shop (JB melt sandwich)
  • Mei Lai Wah (steamed pork bun)
  • Szechuan Mountain House 
  • Three Times (lu rou fan)
  • Vanessa’s Dumpling House (sesame sandwich)
  • Joe's Steam Rice Roll
  • Xi’an Famous Foods
  • ★ Bang Chengdu Street Kitchen (permanently closed. their sweet water noodles were one of my favorites)
  • ★ Café China
  • ★ Ho Foods
  • ★ Mala Project 
  • ★ Very Fresh Noodles (dan dan noodles)

Japanese

  • ★ Juku (omakase)
  • ★ Raku (udon)
  • ★★ Suki (their dry curry is so good)
  • ★★ Tempura Matsui (tempura omakase. shrimp heads, whole lobster, shiso leaf, and pumpkin)
  • ★★ Sushi Nakazawa (omakase + extensive drink list)

Korean

  • BCD Tofu House (specializing in tofu soup)
  • Her Name Is Han (corn croquette, etc)
  • Soogil (short ribs, fish, foie, etc)
  • ★ Oiji (honey butter chips with ice cream, mushroom salad, mackerel, butter rice, raw scallop with jellyfish and golden berry)
  • ★ Jungsik (go for the dessert tasting menu or the actual tasting menu)
  • ​★ ★ Haenyeo (get the kimchi jigae, crab in passionfruit sauce, fundido, wings. amazing stuff here)
  • ★★ Atoboy (I recommend the corn tea, the tuna, special rice, kimchi, fried chicken, pork belly, lotus root, corn, octopus, mackerel, panna cotta, pumpkin cheesecake, sujeonggwa granita. can't go wrong here)
  • ★★★ Atomix (unreal tasting menu & fantastic drinks)

Vietnamese, Malaysian, Thai, Fusion​

  • Aux Epices (Malaysian laksa curry soups)
  • Nyonya (Malaysian. asam laksa)
  • Malaysia Beef Jerky 
  • Let’s Makan (Malaysian. try apam balik with peanut, sugar, butter, and corn)
  • Madame Vo (Vietnames. wings, pho, etc)
  • Tuome 
  • Ugly Baby (spicy Thai)
  • Uncle Boons (Thai)
  • Momofuku Ssam Bar
  • Momofuku Ko Bar (4x fried chicken, sourdough crepe, pickle sandwich, cheesecake, etc)
  • ★★ Kopitiam (try the kaya toast, nasi lemak, and pulut panggang)
  • ★★★ Momofuku Ko (incredible tasting menu)

Ramen & Ramyun

  • Hide-Chan Ramen (spicy tonkatsu)
  • Kuu Ramen (kuu chili ramen)
  • Mew Men (tori tan tan)
  • Totto Ramen (extra spicy miso paitan)
  • ★ Ivan Ramen (tori paitan)
  • ★ Minca (tsukemen spicy miso)
  • ★★ Jeju Noodle Bar (gochu ramyun)

Non-Asian Restaurants

  • Casa Mono
  • Contra 
  • Pasquale Jones 
  • Los Tacos No.1
  • ​Sauce PIzzeria
  • Union Square Burger (permanently closed, very sad)
  • ★ Leo (sourdough pizza)
  • ★ Cosme (husk meringue)
  • ★ Prince Street Pizza 
  • ★ Minetta Tavern (black label burger)
  • ★★ Wildair (essential)
  • ★★★ Una Pizza Napoletana (top-notch pies)

Bread, Donuts, Desserts

  • Dough
  • Fong On (savory tofu plus douhua with taro, mung bean, red bean)
  • Morgenstern's (raw milk ice cream)
  • Kam Hing Coffee Shop ($1 sponge cakes)
  • Mah-Ze-Dahr Bakery 
  • The Little One (Japanese dessert)
  • ★ Arcade Bakery (permanently closed, extremely sad)
  • ★★ Daily Provisions (cruller)
  • ★★ L’Imprimerie (bakery)

Highlights

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Mmm 2nd bite @atomixnyc, NYC

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Oct 24, 2018 at 2:58pm PDT

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Fried chicken stuffed with fried rice. Again, if you have any restraint you can get only this for like $15. But you’ll definitely want drinks and then the incredible tasting menu downstairs. @atomixnyc, NYC □ #atomix

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Oct 24, 2018 at 8:49am PDT

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Nasi lemak...yum. And ghee coffee. Kopitiam, NYC. □ #nasilemak

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Sep 14, 2018 at 1:14pm PDT

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Finally tried this fried chicken—fried four times and served cold—at the @ko_ep bar □□ #momofukuko

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Oct 12, 2018 at 9:40am PDT

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Maple cruller. Still one of the best. Daily Provisions/@dailyprov, NYC □ #cruller #eaterny

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Oct 8, 2018 at 6:56am PDT

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One of the many highlights at Atoboy. Even the soap in the bathroom is well-balanced with mandarin/rosemary/cedar □ @atoboynyc, NYC #atoboy

A post shared by Spencer Costanzo (@spencercostanzo) on Oct 19, 2018 at 9:34am PDT

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