Chef’s Recommendations, Authentic Cuisine, Ethnic Cuisine, Home Cuisine, Where Chefs’ Eat Their Home Cuisine, New York, Manhattan, NY, Long Island City, Queens, Brooklyn, Newark, New Jersey, NJ, Middle Eastern, Israeli, Portuguese, Spanish, Ethiopian, Filipino, Japanese, Chinese, Dim Sum, Italian, Korean
Chinese / Dim Sum
Japanese
Manducatis
Chef Cesare Casella was born in Lucca, Italy and moved to New York in the early 1990‘s. When he’s in the mood for a taste of the homeland, he eats at Manducatis in Long Island City.
Long Island City
13-27 Jackson Avenue, Queens, NY 11101
T: 718.729.4602
Mon - Fri: 12pm - 3pm; 5pm - 10pm
Sat: 5pm - 11pm
Sun: 2:30pm - 8pm
World Tong Seafood Restaurant
Chinese dim sum master chef Joe Ng picks World Tong when he wants the real deal. It also happens to be the restaurant where he learned much of what he now knows about dim sum.
Bensonhurst
6202 18th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11204
T: 718.236.8118
Daily, 8am - 11pm
SEABRA’S MARISQUEIRA
First-generation American chef George Mendes’ was born to Portuguese parents and
cooks modern Portuguese cuisine at Aldea. But for authentic cuisine, he goes to Seabra’s Marisqueira for the shellfish dishes, particularly a shrimp and mussel rice dish, called a Mariscada.
Newark
87 Madison Street, Newark, NJ 07105
T: 973.465.1250
Mon - Fri: 11:30am - 4pm
Sun - Mon: 5:30pm - 11pm
Tue - Sat: 5:30pm - 12am
Sat - Sun: 11am - 4pm
Chefs’ Authentic Eats
April 25, 2011
For many chefs, their first source of inspiration comes from their own heritage, be it their mothers, their grandmothers... those that came before them. With New York City’s melting pot of restaurants, no matter where a chef’s family hails from, there’s a wide selection of international choices to get a a taste of their homeland.
Find out where 10 chefs like to eat the authentic version of their homeland cooking in the New York area.
Where Chefs Eat Around New York, When They Can’t Go Home
Queen Of Sheba
Swedish chef Marcus Samuelsson was born in Ethiopia and is married to Ethiopian model Maya Haile. His choice for a taste of home is Queen of Sheba. He orders the kitfo, because it reminds him of visiting his wife's home village.
Midtown West
650 10th Avenue, New York, NY 10036
T: 212.397.0610
Mon - Thu: 11am - 11:30pm
Fri - Sat: 11:30am - 12am
Purple Yam
Native New Yorker chef King Phojanakong attributes his early culinary influences to his Filipino mother and Thai father. For authentic Filipino classics, like chicken adobo and pancit bihon, he likes Purple Yam. He also recommends their house spring rolls, beef tapa salad with watermelon and the brazino sinigang. Singagang is a soup made sour by using guava or tamarind. King says “the flavors are bright and well balanced.”
Ditmas Park
1314 Cortelyou Road, Brooklyn, NY 11226
T: 718.940.8188
Mon - Fr: 5:30pm - 10:30 pm
Sat - Sun: 11am - 3:30pm
Sat: 5:30pm - 11pm
Sun: 5:30pm - 10pm
Tiffin Wallah
Indian chef Jehangir Mehta prefers South Indian food over North Indian for a quick meal. He heads to Tiffin Wallah for a rava dosa.
Murray Hill
127 East 28th Street, New York, NY 10016
T: 212.685.7301
Donguri
Kyo Ya’s chef Chikara Sono moved to New York from Hokkaido in Sapporo, which is know for simple cooking with great ingredients. For traditional Japanese cooking, he picks Donguri because he “respects the skill and technique of chef Hitoshi Kagawa.”
Upper East Side
309 East 83rd Street, New York, NY 10028
T: 212.737.5656
Tue - Sun: 5:30pm - 9:30pm
Jang Tuh Sutbulgui
Born in Seoul, The Good Fork’s Sohui Kim moved to the United States when she was ten years old. She loves Korean street food and heads to Flushing, Queens for her Korean BBQ fix.
Flushing / Queens
13693 37th Avenue, Flushing, NY 11354
T: 718.359.1227
Txikito
Chef Jesus Nunez brought his version of modern Spanish cuisine from Madrid to the Upper West Side. He thinks the Txipiron Encebollado (squid ribbons) are very good at Txikito.
Chelsea
240 Ninth Avenue, New York, NY 10001
T: 212.242.4730
Tue - Fri: 12pm - 3pm
Tue - Thu: 5pm - 12am
Fri - Sat: 5pm - 1am
Sun: 5pm - 11pm
Photograph courtesy of Purple Yam
Ethiopian
Filipino
Indian
Italian
Korean
Middle Eastern
Barbounia
Israeli-born chef/turned master spice blender Lior Lev Sercarz (La Boîte À Epice) loves the food that chef Effi Naon makes at Barbounia. “He is a true master of authentic Israeli cuisine.”
Park Avenue South
250 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003
T: 212.995.0242 (make a reservation)
Portuguese
Spanish