Looking for the perfect way to warm up the last days of winter at One Manhattan Square? Hold your own international food festival (takeout and delivery, of course) and enjoy the best of the Lower East Side’s world cuisines from the comfort of home. With some of the finest restaurants in the city so close to your doorstep, you can easily plan an international adventure for your taste buds. Flit gastronomically from one continent to another and capture the diversity of the world through the lens of a neighborhood where a mix of cultures is the most exciting culture of all.
If there is one thing that might make you cling to winter, it’s soup dumplings. Order a round of black truffle soup dumplings with pork from Shanghai 21 — these delectable little pockets of heat will warm you from the inside out. They’re also fun to eat while watching a movie or chatting with friends online while sitting on the couch. You’ll see why The Infatuation wrote of Shanghai 21 that it “should be on the shortlist of places to go” for soup dumplings, which they call “delicious.” The Shanghai-style lo mein is another specialty that can turn an intimate night at home into a party.
Next up, order a lavish meal from Il Cortile, a true neighborhood gem about which the Michelin guide writes, “Several decades of sharing family recipes and bringing men to one bent knee continue to earn Il Cortile a longtime following.” This is the place for Little Italy’s finest classic Italian dishes, such as veal parmigiana, fried mozzarella, baked clams oreganate, and mussels fra diavolo — the kind of fare you would find at an Italian family celebration.
For a night that sings the siren song of Mexico with a Lower East Side twist, order an assortment of tacos from Jajaja, where authentic Mexican flavors meet the plant-based revolution. Try the palm carnitas, which feature a blueberry and flaxseed tortilla filled with hearts of palm and jackfruit. Other innovative dishes include the beet and pumpkin empanada, the hijiki-hearts of palm ceviche, and the chimichurri eggplant torta. End the night with the coconut dream cake, a taste of the tropics that’s as white as winter snow.
The plethora of French restaurants on the Lower East Side makes it hard to choose just one, but Le French Diner’s mix of old-school, neighborhood cool, and French classics makes it a not-to-be-missed experience — and one you may want to repeat again and again as you would your favorite song. Classic French dishes like escargots and steak tartare make it easy to see why Zagat rates Le French Diner as one of the best French restaurants in New York, and why Hillary Reinsberg at The Infatuation calls it “in all respects… a hidden gem.”
No food adventure on the Lower East Side would be complete without a meal from Russ & Daughters, whose exquisite take on classic Jewish food has become an essential part of the neighborhood’s food profile. Order the caviar and vodka package that includes a 50-gram tin of Siberian Baerii caviar, blinis, crème fraîche, and a mother of pearl spoon, and you’ll be living (and eating) in style at these Downtown Manhattan apartments for sale at One Manhattan Square.