This week’s warm weather inspired me to seek out some quick, tasty food that was healthy, and not too heavy. Literally walking around town, I stumbled upon these three restaurants.
Diamond Hill Café
This new restaurant recently opened in Chinatown—and while you might say, “Meh, another Chinese restaurant in Chinatown,” you will probably be pleasantly surprised.
Diamond Hill is unique in that it is a fusion mix of Asian and Mexican cuisines, leading to an interesting take on the taco and burrito.
The place looks basically like a burrito and taco stand. The layout is simple and inviting and the colors are more rustic than those of other places that are visually designed to “make” you hungry. There is dark wood trim throughout, and the entire place is extremely clean.
There are four choices on the menu: a Bowl, which is a burrito without a tortilla; the Taco, a set of three soft shell tacos; a Burrito, filling wrapped in a flour tortilla; and the Kid’s Meal, a burrito (any kind) with a juice box.
The Bowl is more of a taco salad-type thing, where ingredients are piled up in a box to make the meal. There are four kinds of meat to choose from: grilled teriyaki chicken, braised barbeque pork, grilled Korean spicy beef, or braised duck, which are all cooked in a traditional Asian style. There is also a tofu option for those who like it. It is organic tofu, seasoned in Asian spices, lightly fried.
For the fillings, along with your choice of meat, you can choose either white or toasted rice, much like they have in sushi places. Then you have options like black beans, tomatillo salsa, sour cream, kimchee salsa, Monterrey Jack cheese, fresh baby corn salsa, and romaine lettuce to top it with.
They have only one side, and it’s tasty sweet potato fries. They also have some outrageously good hand-spun milkshakes. Aside from the usual chocolate and vanilla, they have green tea and red bean shakes too. The green tea shake is very satisfying. It wasn’t too sweet like many places have—where they try to mask the bitterness of their low-quality green tea powder—but a good balance of green tea and sugar.
The Bowl was quite filling, reasonably priced, and all ingredients tasted fresh. Diamond Hill is a good go-to place for lunch as the service is fast. It’s also the place to go to when you’re in Chinatown, but craving something within the realm of Asian flavors, yet not your typical fare.
Diamond Hill Café is located in Chinatown at 147 Canal St., near Bowery.
Continued on next page: Brgr and Rickshaw Dumpling Bar
Brgr
This burger joint has been around since 2006, but given their know-how, it seems they’ve been doing this for much longer. Not your typical-looking burger place, the place has a thoughtful design, just like their menu. With high ceilings and exposed bricks and beams, the place has an airy feel to it—and seating less private than most eateries in NYC—it’s a friendly atmosphere.
The open-style kitchen has stools surrounding its counter, so you can watch your burger being made as you wait.
After a short conversation with the manager, I'd learned just how much thought was put into the menu. Here I thought I was just getting a great burger and fries and delicious shake; turns out I was getting non-GMO grass-fed beef from the Midwest, and my Black and White milkshake contained milk that is from Ronnybrook Farms from upstate N.Y.
I ordered the Fresh Morning Brgr ($8.70), which is a tender beef patty, American cheese, brgr sauce, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, and a fried egg on top. Loved it.
The beef doesn’t have any kind of aftertaste expected with the usual burger. It has a “lighter,” clean beef taste to it, and with all the toppings, it’s a good balance of flavors, making the burger a great one.
Their Russet Potato fries ($2.75) are crisp and tasty, without being over-salted. The milkshake ($5.50)—made with all natural ingredients—has about 10 percent butter fat in the milk, which makes it tasty, and so creamy and pleasant to the palate.
They also serve grass-fed beef hot dogs, all natural veggie burgers, and turkey burgers made mostly from dark meat for a more intense flavor. With additional toppings to choose from like Gruyere and Roquefort cheeses, avocado, grilled mushrooms, apple-smoked bacon, and so on, you can customize to your liking.
A short visit to Brgr’s website and you'll find their blog pontificates a great deal on the virtues of grass-fed beef. Aside from the awesome taste, grass-fed beef’s healthfulness (more vitamins, less calories, higher Omega-3’s, way less risk of E. Coli) and environmentally safe practices (no polluting fertilizers creating toxic runoff), it certainly makes sense.
Brgr in Chelsea is located at 287 Seventh Ave., between 26th and 27th streets.
Continued on next page: Rickshaw Dumpling Bar
Rickshaw Dumpling Bar
Judging by the place’s exterior, you aren’t sure what kind of statement they’re trying to make, with a whitewash front, red sign letters, and a rickshaw bike sitting outside. They sell Chinese dumplings; is this decor supposed to be Chinese?
Walking past a long sparse hallway, and passing a large Rickshaw logo mural reminiscent of Chinese propaganda from the 50s, you get it. They’re trying to play up on the 1950s horror that was the Cultural Revolution in China—with a dash of postmodernism.
Not what I call an inviting and warm environment, much less appetizing. I was already here, so I decided to try the food anyway.
Not surprisingly, the menu was very simple. There are two main combinations to choose from: a Box lunch ($8.96), which is a medium order of dumplings with a choice of noodle, salad or side; and the Bento box ($6.89), which is four dumplings of one kind with rice and edamame. They also have pork, chicken, and shiitake mushroom steamed buns. You can get two of one kind for $5.97, or one for $3.21. No mixing of the buns or dumplings here!
However, they have a nice selection of dumplings (a large order is $8.50) to choose from. They have classic pork, chicken and Thai basil, Szechuan chicken, Peking duck, vegetarian edamame, shrimp, and kimchee beef dumplings.
They also have three kinds of salad, four styles of noodle dishes, and some interesting sides like Miso soup, and wakame cucumber with jicama, and crushed sesame and soy rice vinegar dressing.
I ordered the medium box lunch with six pork dumplings and the peanut sate noodle soup with green coconut, cucumber, julienned carrots, shallots, and lime. The service was very quick.
The dumplings were soft, tasted fresh, and very hot. The accompanying soy sesame sauce had a tangy flavor, creating a good finish to the pork dumplings. They were quite good.
As for the soup, I'd had grilled chicken sate, but not soup, so didn’t know quite what to expect. The noodles were tender and springy, and the broth was spicy yet not overpowering. The shallots and carrot were still crunchy, and paired well with the taste of peanut butter, and the distinct taste of lime juice, giving a fresh, clean finish to each spoonful.
The service was not revolutionary at all; it was traditional American—thoughtful, prompt, and very courteous. Even during the lunch rush, the place was kept clean.
Rickshaw Dumpling Bar in the Flat Iron District is located at 61 W. 23rd St., between 5th Avenue and Avenue of the Americas.
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