Donahue's--Manhattan

212.650.0748

So the overwhelming response and questions--from currently all five of you-- have been quite difficult to keep up with. I will list the top five in order of frequency:

1) What does Iconman mean?
2) Could you include pictures with your blog?
3) Could those pictures be of your testicles? (Seriously. That is number three.)
4) Why do you always write about Williamsburg?
5) Where do I find your rating system?

Those are all very good questions. And for the purpose of this blog I am going to answer number four, followed up not coincidentally with my thoughts of Donahue's Steak House. The reason I write about Williamsburg is that I live here and have lived here for many years. I saw the slow transformation from Puerto Ricans on the south side and Polish on the north side to hipsters everywhere, to now hipsters on the fringes and yuppies everywhere. And for the most part, this slow transformation has manifested in the restaurants in the neighborhood. No longer am I subjected to Vera-Cruz, Pita Power, Williamsburg Diner, or Anytime, as there are a plethora of new places to check out. And for the record all of those places save Vera-Cruz are closed (also for the record I lived in a building owned by the owner of Vera Cruz and if you eat in that restaurant I hope you enjoy cockroach shells and mouse feces; but that's a tale for another time). I don't mean to say that I don't eat in other parts of the city, but rather I haven't gotten around to writing about them because they're not necessarily going to include the incisive social commentary that all five of you have grown to appreciate. Jesus, that was a mouthful.

With that said, I feel that Donahue's is due because they serve indisputably the BEST CORN BEEF SANDWICH in NYC. That's right, I said THE BEST CORN BEEF SANDWICH in NYC. The owner, Maureen, is the daughter of the original owner of Donahue's and hasn't changed a thing in this small steakhouse sitting smack dab across from Bernie Madoff's ex-deluxe apartment on Lexington and 64th. This place is no nonsense, and though it provides prompt and attentive service, often by Maureen herself, bull shitting is not an option. The mean age is approximately fifty, and I since I lunch here just about every Thursday, the only day that the corn beef is offered, I witness many a retiree slurping down five ounce martini's or straight scotch with their meal. People are here to eat and drink, so shut up and get on the trolley.

This no nonsense attitude permeates the food as well. And now that we watch chefs compete on cable to out do each other by vacuum sealing halibut or infusing bacon fat with nitrogen, it's nice to know that there are places like Donahue's that haven't fucked with a recipe for 50 years. What is especially refreshing about Donahue's is that you're also not getting that PJ Clark's, JG Mellons, Peter Luger vibe, the attitude created from the instituition syndrome: we can shit on you because we've been around for a hundred years and there's a line at the door because everyone who doesn't live here thinks this is the best place in town. Nope, Donahue's is like momma bears porridge, so if you're in the neighborhood of the lower-upper-east side and it's a Thursday you'd be a fool not to try this sandwich.

Enid's--Brooklyn

718.349.3859

For those of you familiar with anything above N 7th in Williamsburg, you'll most likely agree that it gets pretty thin for delectable eats once you start walking in the direction of McCarren Park. If you continue through the park you'll see the most dramatic change in demographics since the Harlem/Upper East Side border, as the park loungers go from pale, white, supple, tattooed hotties to red, fat, surly Polish drunks splayed about with abandon. This isn't necessarily a bad thing if you're into the grittier side of New York or plumber's crack, but if you're hungry and don't feel like Polish National food your pretty much fucked. I'm weary of both Lokal and Five Leaves for my own personal reasons, which means that for about a ten block radius you've basically got Enid's in terms of cuisine not spelled with a bunch of hard consonants--Golabki anyone?

Okay, that was quite an opening, but with that in mind, Enid's has some good stuff to offer, especially since the not-so-recent purchase of a larger deep fryer. Their chicken sandwich is hearty, as is their chicken fried steak and for brunch they have a hang-over killer called the potato hash. But let's face it, Enid's cuisine, much like Lodge, Rye, Dumont, Dumont Burger, Five Leaves, Moto and the sixteen million other comfort food joints in greater Williamsburg is nothing more than a conglomeration of crowd pleasing American food. What sets Enid's apart is that it is an oasis in an otherwise dead zone of decent eating establishments. If you're coming here for dinner, it's just as likely you're coming out of necessity as out of a desire for a culinary epiphany.

Now with that said there is an upside to Enid's that may or not be attributed to its geography: there is definitely a scene going on. A difficult to determine scene, perhaps not as sophisticated as Walter's or understated as Diner's, but a bonafide collection of cute girls, mustached men, and a legitimate je-ne-sais quoi that makes you want to sit on the sidewalk and knock back pint after pint of Pilsner Urquells while the freaks and drunk plumbers walk by. I suppose that's not enough for the foodies out there in the blog world, but it is certainly enough for me.