Big Apple vs. City of Angels

L.A vs. NY? Which city has better food? I dare you to bring that topic up to a born and bred East Coaster…you two will never hear the end of it! I recently came back from a weeklong “educational” trip in New York. The purpose: check out NYU. The reality: check out the food. It was my third trip to New York, but this time I had an appetite. After all, I’m now a food blogger. (Teenage Glutster)

Each coast has its strengths and weaknesses for sure. Take the vague label of “ethnic” cuisine. It is a term loosely used in the food-writing world to describe comprehensive regional food variations of countries. I mean, I have yet to see a New York native family-operated dive that offers Nayarit or Sinaloa style Pescado Zarandeado with the ultra-traditional bony Snook Fish like at Mariscos Chentes in Mar Vista does. New York does have Mexican cuisine. It is home to a copious amount of Poblano residents that--I’m sure—eat along finely in Mole houses that I have yet to try. But Los Angeles is my place for Mexican cuisine.

But, New York has its charm. I waited 21 years to taste my first Knish, a unique pastry of sorts that encapsulates perhaps a pound of mashed potato, made famous at the Lower Eastside Jewish eatery, Yonah Schimme’s Knish Bakery. I never ate Plantains in their unripe state like in the Spanish delight of fried Tostones. Not sweet and creamy like their ripe Mexican Platano Macho counterparts but instead like a dense potato, and when fried…like the most buttery of hash browns or tasty of Mojo’s.

So, my personal conclusion is…each city is awesome for what they have. I will always daydream about the twice-fried fries known as Pomme Frites with more than 20+ dipping sauces to choose from at the NY-only Pomme Frites shop in the East Village. But, I would just as equally miss the Central Mexican ingredients of Nopalitos (stewed cactus) and Huitlacoche (Corn Fungus Mushroom) in Los Angeles.

Guess I’m going to have to start racking up those frequent flyer miles…

Mariscos Chente
4532 S. Centinela (at Gilmore)
Mar Vista, CA 90066
310-390-9241

Yonah Schimmels Knish Bakery
137 East Houston Street
New York,
NY 10002
Between 1st & 2nd
(212) 477-2858

Molino Rojo Restaurant
101 East 161st St.
Bronx, NY 10451
718-538-9642

Pomme Frites
123 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003-8319
(212) 674-1234