New York Field notes. Manhattan December 2011.

New York Field notes. Manhattan December 2011.

1. Sarge's Deli. 38th & 3rd Ave. Vg pastrami, exc melt in your mouth corned beef. Both house cured, sliced thin (NY deli style rather than thicker brisket competition style). Just barely fair rye bread. Good pickles and ny style cole slaw. Fair deli fryer reheated latkes. 24/7 operating hours.

2. Hunan Manor. 38th & Lex. Good fish & preserved vegetable soup. VG cucumber salad. Fair Chairman Mao's pork...aka sweet & sour made with pork belly.

3. Azuri Cafe. 51st just east of 10th Ave. Near to maybe my favorite place in NYC. Superb in every sense. Falafel, hummes, babba ghanoush, pickles, salads, turkey schwarma and without an equal (excepting that prepared at home) matzoh ball soup with lots of shredded real chicken; no soup base was used in preparing this soup.

4. Poseidon Bakery. 43rd & 9th Ave. Exc Greek family owned specialty bakery. Follow your nose here.

5. International Deli 41st and 9th Ave. Greek cheeses, spices and the absolute best Macedonian halvah. With Poseidon, both legacy places still afire on all cylinders.

6. South China Garden. Elizabeth St just south of Canal. Superb and vg and ok. Chow-ish chatting with the ESL server unvealed a secret menu item special of $1 oysters. "Two each" she said. "They are big." "Huh?" "Big" she repeated. Two filled an 11" oval plate. Steamed with minced pork/shrimp paste, black beans and scallions. Exc. seafood stuffed long hot peppers. Just ok squid salt and pepper. Exc stir fried string beans with pork/shrimp paste and preserved vegetable. A second visit went like this: "Do you have oysters tonight?" "Yes. One each." "Huh...?" "Very big." "????" Skeptical, I went with the flow. Several minutes passed. Two plates came. Each oyster entirely filled a 9" oval. They had to be cut to be eaten. Where did these monsters come from? In truth, this place is my hit of 2011.

7. Le Bernadin. It's rare that I can say this, but worth every penny at the two course $45 Harvest Special lunch. Four star food complemented by professional yet friendly service. Food that was pristine and carefully prepared. An amusee of smoked salmon spread. Terrific bread service. Two courses of simply prepared incredibly fresh hamachi and cod. Assorted sweets for dessert. And at every step execution that was unobtrusive. Sole and very minor nit to pick: a heavily marked up wine list. Dinner is two bills + per person prix fixe. Next visit, I'm in.

8. La Mangeoire. 2nd and 53rd. A long time Provencal style bistro with the former executive chef of Lespinasse now heading the kitchen. Exc roast chicken and fries accompanied by hot house whole leaved over dressed butter lettuce. Neither the mussels (Parisienne with creme fraiche and shallots, cultivated and small) nor the fried goat cheese/frisee salad (not my choices) were memorable. All in all, very romantic place with wait staff formerly of Cafe Boeuf.

9. Barney Greengrass. Amsterdam and 86th. Get the whitefish, sturgeon and nova. The same as ever when you stick to the standards. Great staff out of Bullets Over Broadway and The Front.

10. Del Posto. 10th and 16th street. A $29 four star two course lunch. The mains and desserts were mind boggling. Perfectly cooked translucent wild striped bass atop wilted greens. Hudson valley grass fed lamb cooked two ways. For both--pictures and words fail me. Preceded by a $10 supplement pasta course split. Large al dente shells in a conch flavored sweet marsala/citrus brightened sauce that didn't work for either of us. Exc bitter lettuce salad perfectly dressed. The cotechino/lentil vinairgrette appetizer was well executed, but I think the problem was a disconnect between it and me. I ordered the dish out or respect for their skill with charceuterie unaware that cotechino was a big old hunk of the love child of head cheese and bologna--my bad. All in all, an interesting contrast to Le Bernardin, as at Del Posto the service was executed by intensivily trained staff many still not intuitively comfortable in their roles while at Le Bernardin everything happened as if the product of a silent well oiled machine.

11. Tulsi. 46th east of 3rd. Very high end Indian and very well done. Exc. special of Manchurian cauliflower, hot, sweet, slightly crisped under the sauce, the best version of this dish to date that the table by acclaim insisted on reordering on the spot. Exc. yogurt marinated Hudson Valley lamb chops. VG goat Rogan Josh. Exc. trio of flavored rice. Exc. lamb kabob. Exc. naan and kulcha. Good lamb spinach mini-samosas. Huge martini's.

12. Eggstravaganza. Street cart at the NE corner of Park and 53rd. Midtownlunch.com turned me on to this breakfast cart primarily servicing cube dwelling office clientele that was also near our hotel. VG coffee and exc breakfast sandwich of chorizo, egg (and cheese, if you want) on a roll. I got mine on a sesame bagel, no cheese and in addition--strongly recommend their hot sauce. You can call in advance and not to have to wait. VG home made pancakes with a little cornmeal. Goodness, but street carts have certainly come a long way.

13. Supreme Pizza. 30th and 8th. Acclaimed as the best slice in NY by voices I respect. Fair IMHO, although I have no idea if there is better to be had, or even as good. Homemade cheese, herbed tomato sauce, thin but somewhat tasteless crust.

14. Belliesme. 29th and 8th. Exc Napolitana and Tuscana charceuterie prepared at this place which supplies high end restaurants such as Daniel and Per Se. A steam table serving red sauce lunch that we didn't try. The two pounds of sausage went into our suitcase for New Year's presents.

15. Andre's Hungarian Cafe. 2nd and 85th. The best babka, aka here round and called a 'Kugelhof', in NY. Also almond horns, lindser tortes and rugelach. The mother ship is on Queens Blvd in Rego Parkistan, the cafe carries a limited selection.

Missed: Five days is not enough to eat all of NY, let alone Arthur Ave, Bay Ridge, Astoria, Jackson Heights and Flushing. Sigh.