Our friend Alton is in town to catch a couple of Phish shows. Instead of grabbing dinner Wednesday night at a restaurant, we decided to hit up the E. Village for what turned out to be a gluttonous marathon of an eating and drinking tour. Here’s a look at our culinary journey, or “9 reasons why the E. Village is hands-down the best food and drink ‘hood in the city”:

CommunityWalk Map – East Village Eating & Drinking Tour

(1) Happy Hour drinks at Drop-Off Service (Ave. A at 13th) — We didn’t realize it was happy hour until we ordered a double Maker’s and ginger ale (me) and a Dewar’s rocks (Alton) and it was only $12. Alton felt like he was back in Atlanta with those prices. They also have great beers on tap, like Stone Arrogant Bastard. All drinks are half-price everyday from 3-8pm. Sweet. They don’t have a kitchen but they do have meat pies and sausage rolls from Tuck Shop.

(2) A Couple of Dogs at PDT/Crif Dogs (St. Marks b/t Ave. A and 1st Ave.) — I wanted to show Alton the vintage phonebooth leading into PDT and grab a couple of inventive cocktails (like the old-fashioned made with bacon-infused bourbon), but there was too long of a wait. Instead we mosied over to the Crif Dogs counter and ordered a couple of franks — for me, a philly tubesteak (cheese and sauteed onions; $4) and a chihuahua (bacon-wrapped dog with avocado; $4.50) for Alton. Aside from burning the hell out of the inside of my mouth, these dogs were delicious. A perfect start to the eating portion of our tour. 

(3) 6 pcs of Pork Dumplings at The Dumpling Man (St. Marks b/t Ave. A and 1st Ave) — These fresh, made to order dumplings are not the best the city has to offer, but they’re not the worst either. A tip: while you wait, get your soy sauce, chopsticks, and a fork to take with you if you are planning to eat elsewhere cause they don’t put it in the bag. So far, dumplings and dogs…and we were only getting started… 

(4) Jill joined us at this point and we walked across 1st Ave. to Seoul Station (St. Marks b/t 1st Ave and 2nd Ave) for some Korean tacos and mini buns — We split a spicy pork taco, a beef bulgogi taco and each had a mini bun. The tacos are $2.50 a piece. An order of mini buns is $2.95 for 4 buns. We also got an order of pork dumplings since there is a $10 min for credit cards. Comparing our tasting notes, we were in agreement that the pork tacos are the way to go. They are loaded with pork au jus and it’s the sweet spiciness of the pork mixed with the cilantro, chopped onions and salsa that gives it the edge over the beef taco, which was more sweet than spicy and seemed to be made from fairly low-grade beef. The dumplings were average at best.

Spicy Pork Tacos

(5) Bon chon fried chicken and a pitcher of Kirin beer at Boka (St. Marks b/t 2nd and 3rd) — We were here for one thing, and one thing only — the ridiculously good, crispy, golden fried korean-style bon chon chicken. This was something that Alton definitely couldn’t get back in Atl. We were basically the only non-Korean people in the joint, which tells you it has to be good. And this was one of the best batch of bon chon I’ve had. They arrived in a big bowl and appeared to be two different flavors and two different sizes (big drumsticks and smaller wing-style pieces). The flavor was a perfect blend of spicy and sweet — like a soy garlic flavor with a kick. Oh, and they have an AYCE/AYCD recession special during the week: 4-8pm all you can eat Bon Chon + Coors light for $20. 

Crispy, Delicious Bon Chon Chicken

(6) Falafel and shwarma stop at Mamoun’s (St. Marks b/t 2nd and 3rd) — Now Alton and I did our fair share of late-night shwarma and falafel-feasting while in Amsterdam several years back, so it would only be fitting to take him to try one of NYC’s finest. Jill went with a falafel while Alton and I decided on a shwarma. I’m not sure if it was a culmination of all the spicy foods we had been eating on the tour, but the famous hot sauce seemed to be the hottest it’s ever been to me. Since then I’ve had the Brick Lane Phaal Curry, which makes Mamoun’s sauce seem like ketchup. 

(7) Belgian Fries at Pommes Frites – What would an E. Village culinary tour be without a stop at Pommes Frites? We snagged a large with 3 sauces and headed over to Jimmy’s No. 43 for a much-needed beer.

Belgian Fries @ Pommes Frites

(8) Beers at Jimmy’s No. 43 — In addition to being a great food ‘hood, the E. Village is also Manhattan’s best beer ‘hood. Other than Brooklyn, there are more beer bars per block here than anywhere else in the city. We hit up Jimmy’s for a quick round — Maudite (Alton), Green Flash Special Belgian Style (Jill) and a Sixpoint Bengali IPA (me). 

(9) Lights and Darks at McSorley’s Ale House – By this time we were feeling no pain (other than my mouth burn from not waiting to let my Crif Dog cool off and the Mamoun’s hot sauce). We decided to finish the tour (at least the E. Village portion — we would still end up at Vig 27 for a round of drinks and for some unknown drunken reason Alton and I thought it would be a good idea to hit up a Chelsea night club until 3:30am) with a round of lights and darks at McSorley’s.

The takeaway: instead of taking a friend who’s in town out to a fancy dinner, why not do an all-out eating and drinking tour of the city’s best food and drink neighborhood — the East Village.

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