Take-out Guide

Gramercy Park
14th-29th Street // Fifth Avenue-FDR Drive

Curry in a Hurry
119 Lexington Avenue, at 28th Street; 212-683-0900; fax 212-685-6385
Cuisine: Indian
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: 18th to 38th Street, FDR Drive to Ninth Avenue

About the food: “We’re like the Indian McDonald’s,” offers manager Masud Ahmed. In fact, the prices are comparable – $1.70 for an order of samosas, $2.99 for mulligatawny soup, $6.99 for chicken tikka masala – but the analogy undersells the place some. What Ahmed means is that Curry in a Hurry sells standards for cheap, and gets them to you quickly. Tandoori chicken is an obvious choice but still great; ditto the chicken tikka masala. Samosas, both veg and non-veg, come supersized and not too greasy.

Curry Leaf
99 Lexington Avenue, at 27th Street; 212-725-5558 or 212-725-1259
Cuisine: Indian
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: 20th to 44th Street, East River Drive to Tenth Avenue

About the food: Excellent vegetarian dishes like malai kofta (vegetable balls in a creamy tomato sauce) and navaratan curry (vegetables and fruits – heavy on the cauliflower – in a nutty gravy). For meat eaters, we recommend the chicken shashlik, with onions and gravy, and extra-spicy lamb vindaloo cooked, as the menu warns, in a fiery vinegar-flavored sauce. The side sauces that come with an order are generously proportioned. This restaurant’s proficiency with spices is no surprise: Curry Leaf is owned by the folks who own Kalustyan’s, the renowned spice market at 123 Lexington Avenue.

Galaxy Global Eatery
15 Irving Place; 212-777-3631; fax 212-777-3224; www.galaxyglobaleatery.com
Cuisine: Eclectic health food
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: 34th to Houston Street, Avenue A to Seventh Avenue

About the food: It’s hard to put a label on what kind of fare Galaxy serves – menu headings like “Comets,” “Eospheres,” and “Moons” don’t give much of a clue. But once you go ahead and try something – the Native American Hempanadas with Austrian black pumpkin-oil dipping sauce, for example – chances are you’ll order it again. At least the yucca fries with spicy banana ketchup and cornmeal-crusted tamarind tofu steak make for interesting alternatives to the standard takeout categories.

Irving on Irving
52 Irving Place; 212-358-1300
Cuisine: Contemporary American brasserie
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Delivery area: 10th to 26th Street, First to Fifth Avenue

About the food: Expertly executed “comfort food with an education,” as chef Stuart Alpert, a five-year veteran of Campagna, describes it. The fare runs the gamut from Irving’s mini-burgers – simply because Alpert likes White Castle – to Artesian salads, a make-your-own mix of ingredients like Oriental-style coleslaw and curried peas with prosciutto. The menu includes panini, Damascus pizza, soups, and signature sandwiches like the Salmonator, Alpert’s own smoked salmon on pumpernickel. The nightly specials are worth an extra look.

Pete’s Tavern
129 East 18th Street; 212-473-7676; www.petestavern.com
Cuisine: Italian and American
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: 14th to 25th Street, First to Fifth Avenue

About the food: There are at least ten specials every day, from grilled chicken to rainbow trout to spaghetti puttanesca. But we recommend that you stick instead to the bar food, and in particular to the justly famed ten-ounce burgers with fries. How good is that burger? The folks at nearby Crédit Suisse First Boston once called to order 80 of them with cheese, 40 without. Pete’s casual attitude toward presentation and accuracy bugs us, however. A pile of bread and crackers is thrown into the bottom of the paper delivery bag. Order minestrone and tiramisu, and you might get cream of mushroom and lemon pie. Bad lemon pie.

Pintaile’s Pizza
124 Fourth Avenue; 212-475-4977
Cuisine: Pizza
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner Delivery area: Houston to 30th Street, First to Seventh Avenue

About the food: Crisp, thin crust is what separates these pies from the Ray’s variety, that and the unconventional toppings. The BLT comes with bacon, lettuce, plum tomatoes, and mozzarella; the Billy the Kid with goat cheese, eggplant, and pine nuts; and the Smoky Special with smoked salmon, red onion, and capers. Even the fromage-forbidden can dine here: Pintaile’s offers the Nu-Tofu, a mozzarella-cheese alternative made from soybeans and canola oil. For dessert, throw in a pint of Ciao Bella gelato or sorbet.

Republic
37 Union Square West; 212-627-7172
Cuisine: Pan-Asian
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Lunch and dinner Delivery area: Houston to 30th Street, Avenue B to the West Side Highway

About the food: Not the usual Thai menu (witness the beautiful salmon-sashimi salad) and not the usual middling preparation. The food at Republic is exceptionally fresh and lively, especially at these prices (only one thing on the menu is over $8). We like the pad Thai, the spicy coconut chicken, and the fried wontons with pimiento-plum sauce. Lots of vegetarian choices, of course, as well as fresh-squeezed juices. Have your money ready when you call, because it’s no exaggeration to say your food is on a bicycle ten minutes after you hang up the phone.

Sam’s Noodle Shop
Bar & Grill
411 Third Avenue, at 29th Street; 212-213-2288 or 212-213-2279; fax 212-213-9762
Cuisine: Chinese
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: 14th to 44th Street, First to Eighth Avenue

About the food: You can eat two ways at Sam’s: Either load up on the orange beef, spare ribs, and sweet-and-sour pork, or craft a Zone meal by requesting the steamed vegetable dumplings and chicken with broccoli with sauce on the side. Either way, it’s classic New York Chinese food that doesn’t disappoint.

Tatany
380 Third Avenue, near 28th Street; 212-686-1871
Cuisine: Japanese
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: 18th to 38th Street, Avenue D to Fifth Avenue

About the food: The mix of sushi, tempura dishes, broiled dishes, and udon or soba noodles is familiar. But the quality of the fish is surprisingly good. Our favorite is the spicy tuna roll. And you can customize the rolls, adding extras like avocado or cucumber for 50 cents.

Tossed
295 Park Avenue South, near 23rd Street; 212-674-6700; fax 212-674-4950; www.tossed.com
Cuisine: Three-star salads
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner Delivery area: 14th to 32nd Street, Third to Sixth Avenue

About the food: Fresh ingredients that change seasonally: sugar snap peas and blueberries in summer, cauliflower and sweet potatoes in winter. You can create your own salad combinations or choose from Tossed concoctions like the Winter Rocket (arugula, roasted beets, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potato, frizzled leeks, and crumbled blue cheese with maple-cider vinaigrette) and the Good Will (greens with flank steak and sushi rice rolls). Tossed also has soups, sandwiches (we recommend the tuna on pita with sun-dried cherries, jícama, and arugula), and, for dessert, an amazing brownie pie. And we love that Tossed’s delivery guys will go the extra mile. If you don’t live in the delivery area, your salad will meet you halfway.

East Village
Houston Street-14th Street // FDR Drive-Broadway

Cafe Mogador
101 St. Marks Place; 212-677-2226
Cuisine: Moroccan and Middle Eastern
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Lunch and dinner Monday through Friday; Saturday and Sunday dinner only
Delivery area: Stanton to 20th Street, Avenue C to Broadway

About the food: You might just order a bunch of appetizers, all of which are delicious. (Beware: The spicy carrots are indeed spicy.) The tagines, or stews, are served with couscous or rice. The bastilla always makes us happy, with its flaky layers of pastry, chicken, and egg, plus a hint of cinnamon. Vegetarians should love the falafel, hummus, and fava beans.

Casa Adela
66 Avenue C; 212-473-1882
Cuisine: Puerto Rican
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: 1st to 14th Street, FDR Drive to Avenue A

About the food: The specialty at Casa Adela is rotisserie chicken, and the aroma of garlic and roasted chicken at this small restaurant is so powerful that it takes all your might not to just sit down on Avenue C’s sidewalk and eat right there. You can choose from three types of beans with your rice. Owner Adela Fargas makes fresh-fruit milkshakes and juices behind the counter. Finish with a café con leche.

Cyclo
203 First Avenue; 212-673-3957 or 212-673-3975
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Dinner
Delivery area: Houston to 23rd Street, the FDR Drive to Fifth Avenue

About the food: Each dish here has a distinct, clean flavor. The pho is a visual treat as well as a dieter’s delight: bean sprouts, onions, thinly sliced beef, rice noodles, two varieties of chili paste, and fresh herbs (Thai basil, mint, and cilantro), all of which (packed separately) are added to hot broth. Other Vietnamese classics are pulled off with equal aplomb. An order – always beautifully packed – comes with pickled radishes and shredded carrots.

El Coyote Cojo
169 Avenue C, near 10th Street; 212-375-0001
Cuisine: Mexican and Tex-Mex
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Houston to 30th Street, Avenue D to Broadway

About the food: All in all, this is a great find. The menu is large and diverse, with offerings we’ve noticed only in cafés in Los Angeles and Mexico: tortas, cemitas (Mexican submarine sandwiches) with chipotle peppers, huaraches (open-faced sandwiches built on tortillas about as large as a man’s size-10 shoe). The menu even includes quesadillas with flor de calabaza (pumpkin flour) and huitlacoche (the corn fungus known as Mexican truffles). The avocado salad is fresh and generous. The soft corn tortilla tacos are filled with chorizo, chicken, or tongue and topped with fresh salsa. We could drink the tomatillo sauce, it’s so delicious.

Gnocco Caffe
337 East 10th Street; 212-677-1913; fax 212-477-7610 www.gnocco.com
Cuisine: Italian
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner; Monday dinner only
Delivery area: 1st to 14th Street, Avenue D to Second Avenue

About the food: It’s as good delivered as it is when you take a table at this excellent little restaurant. We order the salad of crunchy pancetta, arugula, and tiny, sweet tomatoes sparkling with flavor; fluffy potato gnocchi sauced with fresh tomatoes and basil; and the polpo (octopus) appetizer, which arrives warm and tender, as promised. The apple tart is delicious.

Il Bagatto To-Go
192 East 2nd Street; 212-228-3703, 212-228-3710, or 212-228-3946
Cuisine: Italian
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday
Delivery area: Delancey to 14th Street, Avenue D to University Place

About the food: Il Bagatto is neck and neck with Gnocco: The service is friendly and efficient; everything looks beautiful when it arrives; the food is fabulous. Rich tomato-basil sauce on perfectly cooked spaghetti; chicken marinated in garlic, lemon, rosemary, and thyme and then grilled under a brick (it works – the dish rivals anything we’ve had in any restaurant); crisp tricolore salad; great panna cotta.

Le Gamin Cafe
536 East Fifth Street; 212-254-8409; www.legamin.com
Cuisine: French
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Delivery area: Grand to 14th Street, the FDR Drive to Lafayette Street

About the food: That this restaurant delivers was a total and delightful surprise to us. The food shows up artfully arranged, trimmed with rosemary and other herbs. Salads are fresh and dressed with high-quality olive oil. Crêpes, the specialty of the house, come sweet and savory and travel well – they turn out to be the perfect delivery food. We also like the quiches. Le Gamin doesn’t stand on ceremony over when it’s time to eat what – we ordered onion soup for breakfast, and the kitchen was happy to oblige.

Mama’s Food Shop
200 East 3rd Street; 212-777-4425
Cuisine: Homestyle American
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday
Delivery area: Delancey to 14th Street, Avenue D to Third Avenue

About the food: Pretty darn close to your mother’s cooking, especially if your mother happened to be Esther Rolle. Though the meat loaf, fried chicken, and grilled salmon are consistently satisfying, it’s the sides – macaroni and cheese, corn salad, and honey-glazed sweet potatoes – that win. You can order the cobblers and bread pudding by the pint!

Otafuku
236 East 9th Street; 212-353-8503
Cuisine: Japanese
Price: Cheap
Open for: Lunch and dinner
Takeout only

About the food: You’ve got two choices at Otafuku, and both transport you to Tokyo. The first: okonomiyaki, which is often called Japanese pizza but is more like a savory thick pancake filled with cabbage, squid, shrimp, pork, or beef and topped with a special sauce, mayonnaise, dried bonito flakes, and seaweed powder. The second: takoyaki, little fritters filled with chopped octopus, ginger, and scallions. Think doughnut holes, only savory. It’s very rare to find this stuff in New York. We’re lucky.

2nd Avenue Deli
156 Second Avenue, at 10th Street; 212-677-0606; fax 212-477-5327
Cuisine: Jewish deli
Price: Cheap to moderate
Delivering: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Delivery area: Canal to 30th Street, FDR Drive to Seventh Avenue

About the food: Second Avenue is on the top rung of Jewish delis – lean pastrami, light matzo balls, thick soups, and advice to match. One of us had a cold one night when we dropped in to order. The guy behind the counter gave us an extra pint of chicken soup with two lemons. Be aware that if you’re at all hesitant when you call to order, the man who answers will bite your head off.

Village Bar B. Q.
163 First Avenue; 212-477-3333; fax 212-477-8017
Cuisine: Barbecue ribs and chicken
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Canal to 30th Street, East River Drive to Sixth Avenue

About the food: Cheap, fast, and tasty. Our 5-year-old, who is a rib connoisseur, is always happy when we order from Village Bar B.Q. In addition to the pork ribs, there are a lot of choices among the vegetable side orders: potato salad, creamed spinach, tomato-and-cucumber salad, new potatoes with garlic and parsley, and more. Village Bar B. Q. does other stuff – burgers and, oddly, some Middle Eastern fare – but the barbecue and chicken are the point.

Lower East Side
Canal-Houston Street // Lafayette Street-FDR Drive

Bereket
187 East Houston Street; 212-475-7700
Cuisine: Turkish
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: 10th to Grand Street, West Broadway to Avenue C

About the food: Bereket is always crowded with people from Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries; this seems like a good sign. Also, the restaurant is open late every day. Try the barbunya (red-kidney-bean stew), the patlican kizartma (fried eggplant in pepper-and-tomato sauce), the lean and well-spiced doner kabob, and the daily specials. The men taking your order are friendly and informative. And we like the red, glowing infant on the menu, wearing the Turkish chef’s hat.

Cafe Habana To Go
17 Prince Street; 212-625-2002
Cuisine: Mexican and Cuban
Price: Cheap to moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Bleecker to Broome Street, Bowery to West Broadway

About the food: Order from here and you can avoid the crush in the tiny but oh-so-popular Café Habana proper, next door, while still enjoying its good food – in the comfort of your own apartment. The Cuban sandwich is fantastic, and big – for us, it makes two lunches. But our favorite meal from here is the grilled corn, topped with cheese, chili powder, and lime. Sounds weird, tastes delicious. We also like the goat-cheese-and-cactus salad, though sometimes it doesn’t come with enough dressing, so you have to remember to ask for extra when you order. Overall, tasty and straightforward if sometimes greasy meals.

East Side Cafe
189 East Broadway; 212-387-0366
Cuisine: Eastern European-diner food
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Delivery area: South Street to Houston Street, FDR Drive to Bowery

About the food: Cheap, hearty diner fare. The breakfast can’t be beat: East Side offers excellent pancakes, which you can get all day on the weekends, and wonderful waffles and eggs, which can be yours all day all week. The pierogis are great, too, and the challah is homemade. The delicious ice-cream sodas are not of our food-processed, artificial-ingredient world.

Festival Mexicano Restaurant
120 Rivington Street; 212-995-0154
Cuisine: Mexican
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Grand to 3rd Street, Ridge to Chrystie Street

About the food: The closest thing to real Mexican, certainly in this neighborhood – if not in all of New York. The chicken soup, we can say with authority, is the best anywhere: bits of avocado, huge tender pieces of chicken, and a spicy broth (if you want it spicy). The tacos come three to an order – for $6.50 total! – with your choice of chicken, steak, lamb, chorizo, spiced pork meat, cecina (delicious dried, salt-cured steak slices), or the vegetarian, which comes with guacamole and sour cream. The chimichangas are supertasty, and the mamey, papaya, guanabana, banana, or strawberry shakes are incomparable. This is absolutely the best quality for the price in the neighborhood. We’re never disappointed here.

Le Père Pinard
175 Ludlow Street; 212-777-4917
Cuisine: French
Price: Moderate
Serving: Lunch and dinner (dinner Monday through Friday only)
Delivery area: The restaurant told us, “Yes, we deliver,” and it told us, “We do no delivery.” If you’re between Canal and 14th Street, and East River Drive and Broadway, there’s about a 50-50 chance that it will deliver to you.

About the food: Restaurant Daniel it ain’t, but you’re living on the Lower East Side, bucko, not Park Avenue, and you should be grateful that you can even get good steak tartare in a plastic container down here. Try the bavette à l’echalotte, a hanger steak drenched in a shallot-Burgundy sauce and served with a cute little potato gratin. Le Père Pinard will put together gourmet picnics for a night indoors with the honey (we recommend putting some Serge Gainsbourg on the hi-fi). Too bad it can’t deliver a nice red wine and a bottle of Pernod to go with it. Choose from an Oriental picnic, a charcuterie assortment, or the fromagère, available for one, two, or four people.

Lombardi’s
32 Spring Street; 212-941-7994; fax 212-941-4159
Cuisine: Coal-oven pizza
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Wall to Houston Street, West Side Highway to East River Drive, and Houston to 14th Street between Avenue B and Sixth Avenue

About the food: Lombardi’s makes the best pizza in Manhattan, and let’s not argue about it. The crust is as good as the sauce, which is as good as the superior mozzarella. You can get other kinds of food here. But why would you? Now a caveat. While we like the populist notion behind the massive delivery area – everyone deserves excellent pizza – the truth is that a coal-oven pie doesn’t travel beautifully. And if you don’t live a short bike ride from the restaurant (or aren’t willing to reheat the pizza in your oven), you probably won’t get the full experience.

Rice
227 Mott Street 212-226-5775
Cuisine: Global eclectic
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Canal to 8th Street, First to Sixth Avenue

About the food: Creative, inexpensive lunches and dinners; a selection of ten different kinds of rice to go with your entrée is a nice twist. Our favorites: Thai beef salad with sticky rice; shrimp or chicken satay with basmati rice. The Thai iced coffee hits the spot in any season, as do the fresh-pressed juices. And the Rice Krispie Treat desserts are an inspired paring with the Asian cuisine.

Tiny’s Giant
Sandwich Shop
127 Rivington Street; 212-982-1690
Cuisine: Soup, salads, sandwiches
Price: Cheap to moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: East Broadway to 6th Street, FDR Drive to Elizabeth Street

About the food: The sandwiches here are big and stuffed with fresh vegetables. There are many creative combinations, including the Silly Willy Philly Cheese Steak, a vegetarian version of the classic – this one is made with grilled portobellos, sautéed onions, and Swiss cheese. The Hammer is a fine interpretation of the ham-and-Swiss, adding onions, sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh tomatoes. You can also create your own sandwich with a dizzying array of fixings, breads, and spreads. Equally oddball is the selection of beverages, from iced chai to V8 to Orangina. Our favorite lunch is the crab-cake sandwich with chicken-dumpling soup and a V8. And there’s nothing tiny about that.

TriBeCa
Canal Street-Battery Park City // Broadway-West Side Highway

Bar Odeon
136 West Broadway
212-233-6436; fax 212-406-1962
Cuisine: American brasserie
Price: Moderate to expensive
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Chambers to Leonard Street, Greenwich Street to Broadway

About the food: The simple appetizers outshine the entrées; try starters like the country salad of frisée, Roquefort, and chunks of thick, smoky French bacon. The fried calamari is also good, but only if it gets to you quickly – it steams during delivery. On the entrée side, the grilled-steak sandwich comes with a properly strong horseradish dressing, tomato, and arugula, all on slabs of rustic bread. The steak itself is smoky from the grill. (Yo! Bring back the excellent chicken burrito from the days when Bar Odeon was a more downscale spot called Bodega.)

Bubby’s
120 Hudson Street; 212-219-0666; www.bubbys.com
Cuisine: American homestyle
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Delivery area: Chambers to Canal Street, West Side Highway to Broadway

About the food: The kitchen at Bubby’s has become more sophisticated the past few years, but what this place still does best is simple food. Each order is accompanied by the restaurant’s signature buttermilk biscuits – they’re fluffy and completely satisfying all by themselves. You can’t beat the salads, from salmon niçoise to roasted beet. The potato pancakes – which come with apple compote, caramelized onions, and sour cream – are light and not greasy. The carrot-ginger soup is velvety, with sweet, fresh carrot sharpened by sautéed ginger. The home-baked pies and cakes are always great, and no wonder – Bubby’s started in 1990 as a pie company.

Dylan Prime
62 Laight Street; 212-334-2274
Cuisine: American steakhouse
Price: Expensive
Open for: Lunch and dinner Monday through Friday, dinner only on Saturday and Sunday
Takeout only
About the food: Dylan serves innovative versions of steakhouse classics, stuff like a giant porterhouse with a “chapeau” – six different kinds of crust, including one made from wild mushrooms and truffles. (Did we mention that Wall Streeters frequent this place?) Or have a steak with herb béarnaise sauce. All the helpings are very big.

Franklin Station Café
222 West Broadway; 212-274-8525; fax 212-274-8214
Cuisine: French and Malaysian
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner, plus brunch on the weekends
Delivery area: Battery Place to Houston Street, Greenwich to Lafayette Street

About the food: This place is pleasantly schizoid. You can order a delicious Malaysian curry dish like rendang chicken, turmeric salmon, or mango curry shrimp – or you can have a classic tuna-salad or roast-turkey sandwich. The food looks and tastes like it came from an artist’s kitchen. Two artists, in fact – one French, the other Malaysian. It’s homey and creative, and handled, delivered, and packaged with care.

Gigino
323 Greenwich Street
212-431-1112; fax 212-431-1294 www.giginony.com
Cuisine: Southern Italian
Price: Expensive
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Canal Street to Broadway, South End Avenue to Wall Street

About the food: Great pizzas, risotto dishes, straight-ahead pastas, and more inventive ones, too, such as capellini sirenetta, or “little sirens”: angel hair with shrimp, arugula, and tomato sauce.

Kitchenette
80 West Broadway; 212-267-6740; fax 212-732-1334
Cuisine: Comfort food
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner; brunch on the weekends
Delivery area: Battery Park City to Canal Street, West Side Highway to Broadway

About the food: We’ll begin at the end: You cannot beat the baked goods from Kitchenette, particularly the mixed-berry pie. As for dinner itself, simple is better, usually. The Caesar salad has a hint of anchovy as tradition warrants, and the string-bean-and-beet salad is properly acidic, with a soft, warm, cornmeal-crusted goat cheese. Try the cornmeal-crusted fish with avocado tartar sauce; the sauce is essential, waking up the delicate fish. Aromatic oven-roasted garlic fries are a nice complement to the sandwiches. However, the oven-roasted chicken with cornbread stuffing steams itself as it travels to your door and arrives bland and mushy.

Mangez Avec Moi
71-73 West Broadway; 212-385-0008 or 212-385-0047
Cuisine: Southeast Asian
Price: Cheap to moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Battery Place to Houston Street, West Side Highway to Center and Lafayette Streets

About the food: Stick with the Southeast Asian choices (Mangez Avec Moi also serves Japanese and Chinese dishes). The curries are slightly sweet (from coconut milk) and complexly spiced. The massaman-curry chicken, with its peanuty sauce over chicken and potatoes, is very nice. The Indonesian fish – whiting served over rice and garnished with red-curry sauce, red pepper, bamboo, basil, and green beans – is even better; the crunchy fish and crisp vegetables contrast well with the steamed rice.

Nam Phuong
19 Sixth Avenue
212-431-7715
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Chambers Street to Spring Street, West Side Highway to Broadway

About the food: A neighborhood fan says, “Make sure the manager’s mother is cooking” (she’s there every day except Sunday), and indeed, Mom’s got skills. The spring rolls are crunchy and not too greasy; the pepper-salted fried squid is perfectly piquant and much lighter than it sounds. In hot weather, try the guanabana fruit shake and anything Nam Phuong wraps in lettuce and mint leaves.

Salaam Bombay
317 Greenwich Street; 212-226-9400; fax 212-226-0117
Cuisine: Indian
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner; dinner only on Saturday
Delivery area: Staten Island Ferry terminal to Canal Street, West Side Highway to FDR Drive

About the food: The menu is familiar, but the execution is a cut above average (as are the prices). The cook knows his way around a tandoori oven: The vegetables are a nice, fairly light way to start; the lamb chops are sublime; ditto the swordfish chunks. Our favorite vegetable dish is palak paneer (spinach with cheese) – as light and creamy as a soufflé, without a dash of cream.

Sosa Borella
460 Greenwich Street
212-431-5093; fax 212-925-7302
Cuisine: Italian-Argentinian
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner; brunch Saturday and Sunday
Delivery area: Christopher Street to Battery Park City, West Side Highway to Broadway

About the food: Hidden in the quiet northwestern corner of TriBeCa, this hybrid Italian-Argentinian bistro remains something of a secret. Begin with bruschetta di mare, piled with gulf shrimp, fresh tomatoes, and flavored with the restaurant’s signature chimichurri sauce (parsley, vinegar, onion, and olive oil). Sosa Borella’s salads are wonderful. Try the roasted beets with grilled endive, goat cheese, and mesclun. The kitchen clearly has a flair for grilled meats. Try the Gauchita, a hamburger that may be the best meat disk in the Triangle Below Canal. Or have their very worthy pan-seared filet mignon with a garlic cream sauce. Then undo your belt a notch or two and treat yourself to their homemade bread pudding with dulce de leche.

SoHo
Houston-Canal Street // Lafayette Street-West Side Highway

Balthazar Bakery
80 Spring Street
212-965-1785; fax 212-965-9590
Cuisine: French brasserie
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Breakfast and lunch every day, dinner is takeout only
Delivery area: White to 8th Street, Bowery to Hudson Street

About the food: Simple, easy, inexpensive. No, really. The Bakery – located next door to the restaurant that the preceding adjectives don’t describe at all – delivers a nice petit déjeuner and a great lunch. Dinner (which you have to pick up) has the same excellent sandwich-and-salad fare offered at lunch – grilled portobello and eggplant on olive bread; the classic jambon beurre; and an awesome cold noodle salad with ginger dressing on the side. After 6 p.m., amazingly enough, sandwiches and salads are just $3.75. More amazing still is that from the time we walked into the Bakery on a busy Friday night, choosing dinner for three, receiving it, and paying the tab took 3.5 minutes and cost $25. Balthazar: your stop for cheap, cheerful food and service.

Baluchi’s
193 Spring Street; 212-226-2828; www.baluchis.com
Cuisine: Indian
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Canal to West 4th Street, Greenwich Street to Bowery

About the food: The prix fixe delivery special is a great value for aggressively seasoned Indian food: appetizer, entrée, rice, and one naan bread, all for $12.95. It’s really enough for two. But you’ll have to go to the à la carte menu to get our favorite dish here, the chicken saagwala – curried chicken cubes in a creamy spinach sauce. It’s comfort food with a kick. We’re glad that we can get the mango lassi – a cool fruit-yogurt drink – delivered, even though it isn’t on the takeout menu. It’s so lush and addictive, you’ll have a hard time not finishing before you begin the main course. The only thing we aren’t enthusiastic about at Baluchi’s is the fish, which is generally undistinguished.

Kelley and Ping
127 Greene Street; 212-228-1212; kandp@eatrice.com
Cuisine: Pan-Asian
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner on weekdays, dinner only on weekends
Delivery area: Canal to West 4th Street, Mulberry to Hudson Street

About the food: The Bangkok curried noodles with chicken, eggplant, somen noodles, coconut milk, and green curry packs a punch but never fails to soothe. Sadly, the restaurant won’t deliver its tasting menu (“the small plate”), but you can re-create the highlights by ordering Vietnamese ravioli (slithery rice-noodle crêpes wrapped around a chicken-and-shiitake-mushroom concoction), dumplings, and edamame. (The edamame isn’t on the menu, but if you ask, the restaurant will deliver it.) Our favorite chicken-lover loves the lemongrass chicken. All in all, a reliable favorite.

Penang
109 Spring Street
212-941-8868 or 212-274-8883; www.penangnyc.com
Cuisine: Malaysian
Price: Moderate to expensive
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: World Trade Center to 14th Street, West Side Highway to FDR Drive

About the food: Fragrant and slightly spicy Malaysian cuisine, as rendered in shrimp buah mango, which comes complete with the mango shell. Another favorite: crispy peanut pancakes. They’re listed on the menu as dessert, but the first time we had them we mistook them for an appetizer and were left wishing we had an extra portion to complete the meal. We also like the asparagus udang with chicken. Try the shaved-ice dessert for something different – it arrives in surprisingly good shape and holds up in the fridge while you eat. The people who answer the phone at Penang are patient and happy to guide you through the menu. On occasion we’ve simply put ourselves in their hands, and their recommendations were excellent.

Pepe Rosso To Go
149 Sullivan Street; 212-677-4555; fax 212-647-0301
Cuisine: Italian
Price: Cheap to moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Canal Street to Waverly Place, Greenwich Avenue to Mott Street

About the food: Order the homemade pasta, order the specials, and order them again and again. The fresh ravioli are like pillows from heaven, and the homemade ribbons of pappardelle that emerge from this hole-in-the-wall kitchen are truly divine. For dessert, the owners say you cannot find better tiramisu in Manhattan, and we believe they are correct.

Shanghai Tide
77 West Houston Street; 212-614-9550; fax 212-477-2588
Cuisine: Chinese and Japanese
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner Delivery area: Battery Park to 34th Street, Twelfth Avenue to Avenue C

About the food: The menu is enormous – almost 400 items – and a heck of a read: If you sometimes feel like being more adventurous with your take-out, here’s a chance. We can’t vouch for the pig-belly soup or the dry fish stomach with pork sinus, but we like the Chinese squash with golden mushrooms (a sublimely tender and fragrant stalklike vegetable) and the healthy hot-pot tofu with either the mixed vegetables or the very spicy tofu. Stay away from the blue crab with cellophane noodles, unless you like picking through shards of shells in search of noodles.

Snack
105 Thompson Street; 212-925-1040; fax 212-925-0696
Cuisine: Greek
Price: Cheap to moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner Delivery area: Canal to Bleecker Street, Bowery to Hudson Street

About the food: Tasty snacks and more from the Greek cousins you always wished you had. The two thirtysomething male co-owners serve up the sampler’s delight, Pikilia: Choose three small dishes – we like taramasalata (carp-roe dip), melitzanosalata (creamy eggplant dip), and tzatziki (cucumber-yogurt dip) with pita bread, olives, and stuffed grape leaves. Or order sandwiches made of Mediterranean delights like olive tapenade, goat cheese, and roasted eggplant. The fresh mint lemonade is the perfect antidote to hot Manhattan days. Top it off with ravani – a semolina cake with almonds, soaked with a citrus syrup – and you have the makings of a perfect Hellenic picnic. The owners’ mothers must be proud. Fun fact: Certain ladies in our neighborhood like to request that their food be delivered by the owners, who are easy on the eyes.

Spring Street Natural Restaurant
62 Spring Street; 212-966-0290
Cuisine: Healthy but not strictly vegetarian
Price: Moderate to expensive
Delivering: Lunch and dinner Sunday to Thursday (Friday till 6 p.m. only)
Delivery area: Canal to 4th Street, First to Sixth Avenue

About the food: Good-for-you food without the grunge or attitude. The menu has something to satisfy both the ascetic and the (slightly apologetic) carnivore, from steamed organic vegetables to an organic-chicken sandwich smothered with Vermont cheddar. The fries might reach you soggy and cold, but the breads (three come with every delivery: whole-wheat baguette, flatbread, and either cornbread or tomato rosemary) are wonderful. The restaurant will fax daily specials and will modify dishes per your request.

Tomotachi Sushi
204 Spring Street; 212-226-4760
Cuisine: Japanese
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Thomas to 9th Street, West Side Highway to Mott Street

About the food: This is your basic New York sushi: reliable, fast, and inexpensive, complete with fake ornamental grass. (Although Tomotachi goes the extra mile when asked. Once, we requested that a menu be faxed to our home; the restaurant didn’t have a fax machine but offered to send someone over to deliver the menu). Stick with tuna, salmon, and yellowtail sushi, and miso soup, and you’ll be fine.

Williamsburg and Greenpoint

Amarin
617 Manhattan Avenue, near Nassau Avenue, Greenpoint; 718-349-2788
Cuisine: Thai
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Greenpoint, Williamsburg

About the food: Amarin’s Bangkok-born husband-and-wife team, Marin and Sirichai Khemcharoen, serve up dishes that rival the best Thai in Manhattan – and beat the hip-huggers off the much-ballyhooed Planet Thai on North Seventh (which, by the way, is too cool to deliver). Our favorites are the green-papaya salad, the vegetable pad thai, and the succulent shrimp curry. There aren’t enough sheep on the planet to get us to sleep after one of Amarin’s Thai iced coffees. The downside: Amarin seems to have only one phone line (during peak dinner hours, be prepared to keep hitting redial).

Anytime
93 North Sixth Street, near Berry Street, Williamsburg; 718-218-7272
Cuisine: Pan-European
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Delivery area: Williamsburg

About the food: Walking by Anytime when it opened six months ago, we were put off by its décor – too many kitschy clocks – and figured the food would be overpriced and fussy. Were we wrong! The smoked-salmon fettuccine (at $6.95 the highest-priced item on the takeout menu) is subtle; ditto for the vegetarian penne with shallots, red bell peppers, and black olives. The ample pressed sandwiches (ham and Swiss, cheddar tuna melt, grilled vegetables and goat cheese) are a classy option (make that the only option around here) for middle-of-the-night munchies.

Bean
167 Bedford Street, at North 8th Street, Williamsburg; 718-387-8222
Delivering: Dinner
Cuisine: Mexican
Price: Cheap
Delivery area: Williamsburg, and parts of Greenpoint

About the food: After an eight-hour day at the Verb Café contemplating writing a poem, there’s nothing to reward and calm you like the starchy food from Bean. The nachos with pinto beans and mole sauce are supreme, the burritos are never too dry, and the Prince Edward Island mussels are a neighborhood favorite. The delectable plum cobbler comes with a note scribbled on the container: heat me up for 10 minutes at 350. Unfortunately, the specials aren’t up to the standard of the basic grub.

Bliss
191 Bedford Avenue, at North 7th Street, Williamsburg; 718-599-BLISS
Cuisine: Earnest vegetarian
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Dinner
Delivery area: Williamsburg, Greenpoint

About the food: Bliss brings us back to our college-co-op days, when we hoped that eating enough tofu might turn us into a pale, waifish hippie chick. The dairy-free cuisine is prepared with “positive energy and care,” but unlike our undergraduate cooking, this tastes good. We like the Citrus Sensation (breaded organic seitan with mixed vegetables and a fresh-squeezed orange citrus sauce). We like the Valley Vixen from Bliss’s juice bar: lemon, apple, and ginger. The nicely seasoned portobello-mushroom sandwich has the heft of a slab of beef. The apple crisp with maple whip would be amazing even if it weren’t prepared without a single granule of refined sugar. But some items can arrive cold. You don’t want to encounter a quesadilla with casein-free soy cheese after it’s cooled and coagulated.

Wasabi
205 Bedford Avenue, near North 6th Street, Williamsburg; 718-302-2035 or 718-243-2028; fax 718-302-2036
Cuisine: Japanese
Price: Moderate to expensive
Delivering: Dinner
Delivery area: Williamsburg and Greenpoint

About the food: Wasabi serves up solid Japanese food. The sushi won’t melt in your mouth the way it does at Nobu, but the fish is fresh, if unadventurously prepared. We recommend the dragon rolls (cucumber and eel), the beef negimaki (lean strips of meat rolled in scallions), and the fried ice cream. Anything, really, except the tempura, which never seems to get to us before it goes soggy. Prices are a little steep for the Burg, but then again, Wasabi is one of the only places in the neighborhood that delivers Japanese. We’re a captive market.

Park Slope and Fort Greene

Cambodian Cuisine
87 South Elliot Place, near Fulton Street, Fort Greene; 718-858-3262
Cuisine: Cambodian and Southeast Asian
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Fort Greene (free), Park Slope ($2), Cobble Hill ($3), Grand Army Plaza ($3), Cadman Plaza ($3)

About the food: The only Cambodian restaurant in New York that we know of, this place draws plenty of foodie adventurers in search of gustatory thrills. But the menu is big enough to accommodate you whether you’re seeking something spicy and exotic or plain old chicken and broccoli. We like the spring rolls, the fried kingfish in a creamy lemongrass sauce, and any dish that comes with sautéed bok choy. The hot-and-spicy ground-beef appetizer tastes a lot more interesting than it sounds.

Chez Oskar
211 Dekalb Avenue, at Adelphi Street, Fort Greene; 718-852-6250
Cuisine: French
Price: Expensive
Delivering: Dinner
Delivery area: Fort Greene

About the food: Is Fort Greene ready to eat an entrée like braised lamb shank (served with polenta and a wild-mushroom ragout) out of an aluminum container? Apparently so, because Chez Oskar, the first of the neighborhood’s new wave of Francophile bistros, now delivers. We also like the grilled-quail appetizer, the garlic mashed potatoes, and the crispy roasted chicken. We wouldn’t be able to dine this elegantly at home by ourselves!

Coco Roco
392 Fifth Avenue, near 6th Street, Park Slope; 718-965-3376
Cuisine: Peruvian
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, and Park Slope to 22nd Street

About the food: Serious stuff. The specialties of the house are the ceviches (we recommend that first-timers try the ceviche mixto, with mussels, shrimp, squid, octopus, and red snapper) and rotisserie chicken. Also on the menu are Argentine steaks and Chilean sea bass.

Cucina
256 Fifth Avenue near Carroll Street, Park Slope; 718-230-0711; www.cucinarestaurant.com
Cuisine: Italian
Price: Expensive
Delivering: Dinner Tuesday through Sunday
Delivery area: Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Prospect Heights, and Carroll Gardens

About the food: Why order takeout from Park Slope’s premier destination restaurant? Because the chef’s got some gnocchi you can’t say no to. And it tastes just as good when eaten on your couch in front of the tube. We also like the fried-calamari-and-zucchini appetizer, the osso buco, and the pappardelle with duck, wild mushrooms, and crumbled goat cheese.

Fuji San
161 Seventh Avenue, at Garfield Place, Park Slope; 718-768-3976
Cuisine: Japanese
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Park Slope

About the food: Finding a reliable sushi restaurant outside of Manhattan is cause for celebration. Fuji San’s fish is fresh, and the service is quick and efficient. Most sushi joints call the cream-cheese-and-smoked-salmon roll a Brooklyn Roll; here in Brooklyn, shifting the blame perhaps, it’s a “Philadelphia Roll.”

Hush Puppies Soul Food
412 Myrtle Avenue, near Vanderbilt Avenue, Fort Greene; 718-625-6700
Cuisine: Soul food
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Dinner (closed on Monday)
Delivery area: Fort Greene, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights

About the food: The food is inexpensive and seriously tasty. We like the crispy-yet-juicy southern fried chicken, the oxtail stew, and the stuffed salmon. The potato salad has enough personality to qualify as an entrée, and the portions of everything are suitable for an NFL player.

Laila
440 Seventh Avenue, at 15th Street, Park Slope; 718-788-0268
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Dinner
Delivery area: Park Slope, from Second Avenue to Prospect Park southwest and from 30th Street to Third Avenue

About the food: Makes you feel virtuous: Lots of vegetarian fare here, and even hearty meat entrées like veal moussaka are smothered with a slew of vegetables: onions, tomatoes, eggplant, mushrooms, and green peppers. The salads are so good as to qualify for hall-of-fame status. Pita bread and homemade chakal (Turkish bread) are included.

Mezcal’s
223 Fifth Avenue, at President Street, Park Slope; 718-783-3276
Cuisine: Mexican
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Park Slope

About the food: For south-of-the-border basics, you can’t go wrong with Mezcal’s tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and fajitas. While the menu may sound ordinary, the cooking here is anything but. Order a combo platter if you can’t make up your mind.

2nd Street Café
189 Seventh Avenue, at 2nd Street, Park Slope; 718-369-6928
Cuisine: Upscale comfort food
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Dinner
Delivery area: Park Slope

About the food: Who doesn’t love a place that makes masterpieces out of diner fare? A burger and fries arrives with the bun mysteriously crisp and the French fries still snappy. We also like the goat-cheese salad with mesclun greens, walnuts, and potatoes.

Thai Cuisine
125 Seventh Avenue, at Carroll Street, Park Slope; 718-622-9376
Cuisine: Thai
Price: Cheap to moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Park Slope

About the food: Spicy Southeast Asian flavors are brought into sharp focus by a judicious use of ginger. We like the pad Thai, the honey duck, and the pork loin with sautéed green beans.

Tutta Pasta
160 Seventh Avenue, near Garfield Place, Park Slope; 718-788-9500; fax 718-788-9009
Cuisine: Italian
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Park Slope

About the food: Tutta Pasta lives up to its name with two dozen pasta dishes. We especially like the pasta primavera and the ravioli di aragosta, which has just the right proportion of tomatoes to cream.

Two Boots Brooklyn
514 Second Street, near Seventh Avenue, Park Slope; 718-499-3253
Cuisine: Pizza, Cajun
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Park Slope, 10th Street to Flatbush Avenue

About the food: This Cajun-flavored pizza parlor – where it’s always some kid’s birthday – runs a reasonably efficient takeout operation, considering how busy the place is. Try the voodoo seafood samosas, the grilled-chicken po’ boy, or any of the pizzas. The special kids’ menu includes mac ‘n’ cheese, chicken nuggets, and grilled-cheese sandwiches.Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, and Boerum Hill

Andy’s
128 Montague Street, at Henry Street, Brooklyn Heights; 718-237-8899; fax 718-935-9304
Cuisine: Chinese
Price: Cheap
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO

About the food: Andy’s boasts food that’s “for the best of your health.” The motto is accurate, to an extent, and the restaurant does certain age-old Chinese takeout dishes well, mostly by using fresh ingredients. The sesame chicken is delightfully ungreasy (sauce comes on the side) and includes a portion of steamed broccoli with just the right crunch. The Mongolian beef is fairly lean, served over rice in a medley of vegetables with slivers of ginger contrasting delicately with the spicy sauce. And we dig the “steamed little juicy dumplings.”

Boerum Hill Food Company
134 Smith Street, near Dean Street, Boerum Hill; 718-222-0140
Cuisine: Nouvelle American
Price: Moderate
Delivering: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Delivery area: Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights (to Montague Street), Carroll Gardens (to Second Place), Cobble Hill, downtown Brooklyn

About the food: Almost as soon as it opened, this place was embraced by the neighborhood. We like the turkey meat loaf with tomato-garlic sauce; we also like the mixed-green salad with blue cheese, pecans, and sun-dried cranberries. Saul Bolton, one of the best chefs working on trendy Smith Street (he owns Restaurant Saul, a few storefronts to the south), recently bought Boerum Hill, and he plans to add duck confit and a bacon-onion tart to the menu. Can’t wait.

Caravan
193 Atlantic Avenue, near Court Street, Brooklyn Heights; 718-488-7111 or 718-624-9257
Cuisine: Moroccan, Middle Eastern, and French
Price: Cheap to moderate
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, downtown Brooklyn

About the food: We’re declaring that Caravan is the best delivery option in our part of Brooklyn. Try the kamaran glaba, lamb sautéed with onion, garlic, tomatoes, and Yemeni spices, or the chicken Magador. The kebabs arrive tender, and the gambari curry (shrimp-based, over rice) is nice. The mixed salad – fresh, chopped vegetables in a piquant vinaigrette – is, hands-down, the best salad ever delivered to us.

Grimaldi’s
19 Old Fulton Street, one block east of the East River; 718-858-4300
Cuisine: Pizza
Price: Cheap
Open for: Lunch and dinner
Takeout only

About the food: Pizza is all you can get here, and it’s all you want. Crispy, thin coal-oven pies are topped with fresh mozzarella, deliciously seasoned tomato sauce, and all the traditional toppings. The only better pie in the borough is at Totonno Pizzeria Napolitano, but to enjoy it regularly, you’ll have to move to a Brighton Beach high-rise; Totonno is in Coney Island.

Osaka
272 Court Street, near DeGraw Street, Cobble Hill; 718-643-0044
Cuisine: Japanese
Price: Moderate to expensive
Delivering: Lunch and dinner
Delivery area: Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, downtown Brooklyn

About the food: In our house, the combination box reigns. For only $15.95, you get to choose two entrées – among them sushi (the best we’ve found in Brooklyn), vegetable tempura, and chicken teriyaki – plus a California roll, white rice, and soup or a rather pedestrian salad. Add a negihamachi maki (yellowtail-and-scallion roll), and an order of edamame, and you’ve got a great, if pricey, dinner for two.

Take-out Guide