NYC lower east side question
 

We (two women) want to walk from the Tenement Museum to a restaurant on E. Houston, then on to 11th avenue to check out a bakery. This will be in the afternoon on a weekday. Neither one of us has visited this neighborhood, so just want to make sure it's safe enough during the day to be walking around. We're street smart, and slightly sketchy neighborhoods don't scare us, but just want to know what to expect.

Neighborhoods can change drastically by crossing a street in my city, so just thought I'd ask about the lower east side before we get there.

Thanks!

You have no worries. Its a safe place to walk around especially during the day. I would suggest trying Katz if you've never eaten there although there are a few places as you walk around that are good. Have fun!

Thanks, writealiving. I love to check out neighborhoods, and just needed a thumbs up from someone in the know about this one.

I've done the NY deli thing once before (not Katz's), and I (and husband) just didn't like it. I guess that puts us in the minority.

Anyhow, we were going to try Yonah Schimmel's kinishes. I never knew what a kinish was, but I looked it up and it sounds like something I'd like to try! Best friend is up for it, too. Then we want to go to Veniero's bakery.

Venieros is on 11th Street off of First Avenue. Check your map.

Veneiro's is on 11th STREET not 11th ave. a VERY different place. Go to maps.google.com and walk yourself on the street view and also get directions and a map.

OUCH! That's what I meant. I said avenue instead of street. Sorry for the confusion! Honestly, I did check a map. I know where it is on the map. It's on 11th STREET! Got it! :-)

I was wondering what bakery was on 11th AVe.

Veniero's is about 15 minute walk from the Tenement Museum. The neighborhood is just fine and the area around the Tenement Museum probably has more people on the street at night than during the day.

At Veniero's try the ricotta cheese cake and take pignolli cookies with you.

The tastes at Katz's are much stronger and richer than pastrami I have tasted outside of NY.

I live in the neighborhood and although it looks gritty it is now a very safe area.

Thank you, Aduchamp1. That's what I needed to know. We will walk the streets of the lower east side with street wise confidence!

Note to self: Never confuse street and avenue in NYC.

The ricotta cheese cake is THE reason I want to check out Veniero's on 11th STREET. I can taste it already. Well, and the cannoli, and cookies, and........

Thanks, again!

I agree w/ Aduchamp about the pignolli coookies at Veniero's but suggest you walk across the AVENUE to De Roberti's for their cheesecake and/or cannolis. Just my opinion.

http://www.derobertiscaffe.com/

Buffalo Girl-I hope you have a nice time. Its a little cold, but still nice to walk around. Don't worry about the avenue/street thing. Once you're walking around a bit you will get the hang of it. It sounds harder than it is, but its really an easy city to navigate. Enjoy!

MP

The canollis are better at DeRobertis but try the orange and lemon thing. I do not know the proper name but they scoop out the fruit and make a smooth filling and then put it back into the original rind and freeze it.

My poker guys are addicted to the ricotta cheesecake at Veniero's, one guiy, a cop, says it more addictive than crack.

Also Veniero's closes the cafe on the day before Thankssgving and Thanksgiving and they just sell from behind the counter. It is totally insane there.

Basically, numbered avenues go north - south and numbered streets go east - west. If you're still confused, look to see where the sun is - unless it's a cloudy day or night!!

I have walked around other neighborhoods in NYC and didn't get lost, so hopefully I'll have the same luck this time.

I think we will have to try both DeRobertis AND Veneiro's! My mouth is watering just thinking about it :-)

Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

The numbered cross streets basically start above Houston but there are many exceptions on the westside until 14th Street.

USUALLY NY'ers will say the avenue first but always ask for clarification. If any number is above 12 that you can assume that that number is a cross street and the other is an Avneue. On course there is first and first and second and second so that should simplify some things.

Got that.

Got it! (Well, not really....I'm being polite).

If all else fails, my nose will lead me straigh to the ricotta cheesecake!

I have not been to Yonah Schimmel's in a few years, but the last time I was there it looked dirty to me. NYC Board of Health does monitor food places so it just may be me and might be different now, but I would not eat there. And their knishes are very heavy. The Italian places you mentioned are much better.

I do not think the Health Department considers the windows and signs of an establishment. Zabar's makes a far better knish, but there are few places that make the baked varoety at all. Fairways does as well.

I never heard of or had a kinish, so I wouldn't know a good one from a bad one. They look good in the pix on Yonah Schimmel's website, I'd like to try something new, and I'll be in the neighborhood. And it just seemed like a true NYC experience.

Not far away on Grand Street is Kossar's Bialy's. They are extremely good. On the same block is Donut Plant which makes arguably the best donuts in town and across the street is the Pickle Guys who cure their own.

Thank you Aduchamp1. I am considering all of your suggestions! Do I dare ask about pizza?

I am glad you are goig this route. There is a great selection of ethnic cuisines that are ignored by at least most of the visitors who post here.

In all honesty, I'm a fussy eater and not into extremely ethnic foods. But I'm trying to change. No promises, but I will take all suggestions into consideration. After all, it's New York City. I'm in the mood for something new. !-)

The only problem you might have in walking around the lower east side re safety is to your bank account. In days gone by you could have had a knish at Yonah Shimmel, a pastrami sandwich at Katz's, or a pickle at Gus', or a nice meal at the Garden Cafeteria with some true local characters at modest prices. But now - change has set in - the yuppies and trendies have discovered the area, moved in and so have the trendy boutiques, bars, cafes with the prices that go with them.

I dunno, Joe (jroth), yuppies and trendies = Warren (Adu)? <vbg>

Jroth is correct. Its become one of the trendy areas which has raised some prices, but also made the neighborhood safer than it used to be.

Joe is right in part. Besides some of the places already mentioned, there are new places with excellent quality food for reasonable prices-Falai, Il Laboratorio de Gelato, Ino, and Sunshine Balery.

Above Houston there are many places that I do not list as outstanding but where you can still get a decent cheap meal.

There is one other point that Joe is missing. In September there was a mnurder in the 9th precinct, it was the first of the year. Twenty five years ago the Mayor had to send tanks into Tompkins Square Park to clear out the crack dealers and squatters, this area was extremely dangeropus. In fact those who are old enough will remember when there was a murder in the East Village in the late 1960's when the mainstream press declared that the homicide also killed the hippie movement.

The park is now filled with neighborhood families and many young women come here directly from college. And while there are new Gaudiesque buildings being constructed there is also a new SVA dorm on Ludlow.

The neighborhood still has its gritty appearance and feel for authencity and there are all types of ethnic groups in the area especially Latinos and Eastern Europeans.

Many of the boutiques are owned and operated by such subversives as graduates from FIT. We have a friend who is a clothese designer who consigns to these stores and even when the economy was good it was a tough business.

Joe and Bert-You both know me and hippie, yippie, or tragically hip really doesn't seem apt. I think I defy categorization and that carries both good and bad connotations, all of which apply.

The Lower East Side is fine as far as safety most hours. It can be wise to walk with purpose very late at night in the area, especially on side streets, but otherwise you should be fine.

Will heartily second Katz's, and am of the opinion that their pastrami sandwich (juicy, on rye) is one of the best sandwiches one can get anywhere, NYC or no. Will also second Kossar's Bialys and Il Laboratorio del Gelato, and also suggest Russ and Daughters. This last does to-go smoked fish on bagels with most toppings one might want. Yonah Schimmel's was a place where I found the knishes mediocre and the digs grungy -- not so keen to recommend them.

Thanks for your thoughts bachslunch. I don't mind a bit grungy - sometimes places like that have the best food. Lots of places are like that where I live that I frequent. And I've never had a kinish! They look so good on the website.

I will give Katz's some thought. I don't like pastrami, and I did eat a NY deli (Stage I think) and just didn't like the sandwich, the pickel, the cheescake......maybe we didn't pick a good deli.

Audchamp, I remember the riots in Tompkins Square and I remember not being able to walk down East 3rd at all. The neighborhood was very dangerouse especially Alphabet City. Somehow it has managed to retain its grit and charm and lose the high crime it once had.
As far as Katz, the pastrami sandwhiches are the best part so if that's not your thing, BuffaloGirl, then skip it and go eat something that you are looking forward to! I think you'll do fine. I've live in NY my whole life and there's still so much that I miss and so much I discover. Have a great time.

Thanks writealiving. How exciting to have lived your entire life in NYC. I've lived mine in Buffalo. :-) amd :-(.

Stage Deli is in my experience okay but there are better places. And Katz's is arguably the best of the bunch (some may argue in favor of Second Avenue Deli, especially if you go kosher).

If you want to give Yonah Schimmel's a try, feel free -- but am thinking you'll likely get a better knish at other places in NYC. There are grungy restaurants out there that dish up excellent food (most notably in my experience BBQ joints), but am thinking that's likely the exception rather than the rule.

bachslunch....thank you for your wonderful input.

I wouldn't know a knish from a knish and just want to try one. And Schimmel's just sounded like a wonderful, vintage, TRUE NYC experience.

I (or my stomach) might regret it. We're open to anything, so maybe we'll eat there and maybe we won't. I'll try to remember to post back here about my experiences.

Thanks, again!

BG

Another life time NY'er.

One thing about living in Manhattan, you do not visit the boroughs as much as you want. (Even though we spend some time in Brooklyn for a variety of reasons.)

There is another thread about visting the boroughs and for me it is not about the sights but the people and where they came from.

No offense Buffalogirl, but when people talk about a true NY experience, I am not sure what a true NY experience may be. But if involves NY'ers than it is closer to be genuine.

Of course, the people! And the old ethnic restaurants in older neighborhoods and such. That's an experience to me.

I would love to visit Brooklyn on my next visit. No time on this trip.

Actually BuffaloGirl, I don't live in NYC, I live on Long Island so I go in and visit quite often. I wish I could live in the city, but settle for visiting. There is so much to do and see and I hope that you don't pressure yourself to get it all in because as someone who has been going into the city my whole life, there's still so much more! I'm sure you'll have a great time! As far as Buffalo, I am heading that way this summer. I've never been to Niagara Falls and want to take the kids!

And apologies, because I read my older post and realize that when I wrote I've lived in NY my whole life that I didn't clarify outside of the city! I'm close enough to visit often which I do!