The Greek Pie Factory

GREECE 🇬🇷

[COVID-19 UPDATE: Without much space to sit inside to begin with, not much has changed here and most business is takeout. They do have a couple tables with an umbrella set up on nice days as seen above.]

If you are cruising east down the Sunrise Highway just outside of New York City, it is not hard to find simple Greek fare. Plug that into Google Maps and an array of options are presented. But there is one small gem that stands out from the diners and gyro spots, located on a corner just one block south of the thoroughfare.

What also stands out is the story of its owners, more recent arrivals than many Greeks in New York. The husband and wife who own the shop left Greece during the economic crisis that began ten years ago, leaving behind their restaurant in the north of the country that they had run for 25 years.

After a few years in their new country, the couple decided to use their skills again and The Greek Pie Factory was born in June 2015. Although everything here is fresh and made daily, thankfully they put the reference at what they are best at right in the name.

Depending on ingredients, these come in many names in Greece but are simply "hand made Greek pies" here, priced at an unbelievably economical $3/each and made round and bulging. A most classic version of spanakopita can be seen in front with hints of green from the spinach it is filled with. Also in there is feta, onion, and egg, combining to create one of the best you can find in the area.

The other pies were filled with leeks and cheese and another spinach and feta which also added chicken. All of them were insanely good.

Another section of the menu is filled with "Chef's Daily Traditional Meals," and should not be missed for more great deals. The lamb gyro platter ($9.50, below) comes with thinly sliced strips of gyro, buttery rice, lemon potatoes, salad, some of there freshly made bread and pita, and tzatziki sauce.

Other options are favorites like souvlaki and comfort foods like mousaka. It seems they cover just about all the bases, and if these first tastes are reproduced across the menu there is a lot here to be excited about.

Valley Stream residents sure do have a gem.

🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷
VALLEY STREAM Long Island
83a Roosevelt Avenue

I COULD USE YOUR HELP

Eat the World NYC is and always has been free. No advertisements block the content or pop over what you read. If this website has helped you explore your city and its wonderful cultures a little better and you have the means to contribute, please consider doing so. Eat the World NYC is a labor of love, but also takes a lot of money and time everyday to keep running.

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COVID-19 Takeout and Delivery Ideas

SITE UPDATE/COVID-19

I obviously do not need to tell you what is happening in the world. I just wanted to mention that if you read this website but are not following us on social media, the @EattheWorldNYC Twitter feed has been going through each and every restaurant ever written on these pages and figuring out if they are offering takeout and/or delivery options right now.

Please follow us on Twitter for more:
https://twitter.com/EattheWorldNYC

If you are having reservations about ordering food right now, that is understandable. I found this article recently published on Serious Eats to be very informative concerning the safety of prepared foods right now and what you can do to keep yourself safe:
https://www.seriouseats.com/2020/03/food-safety-and-coronavirus-a-comprehensive-guide.html

I hope you all are very well, and thank you for reading these pages over the years. I can't wait to get back to it.

I COULD USE YOUR HELP

Eat the World NYC is and always has been free. No advertisements block the content or pop over what you read. If this website has helped you explore your city and its wonderful cultures a little better and you have the means to contribute, please consider doing so. Eat the World NYC is a labor of love, but also takes a lot of money and time everyday to keep running.

You can Venmo me @JAREDCOHEE or click here to send PayPal donation, no account is necessary. Thank you!

Puente Guanaco

EL SALVADOR 🇸🇻

If you have ever driven around Long Island, you know there are no shortages of pizza joints and small town seafood restaurants near the water to satisfy your hunger. The interior of the middle third of the island is also blessed with many people from Central America, El Salvador in particular, and because of that many restaurants serving the foods these recent transplants miss from back home.

While Hempstead is probably the western end of this axis, with a large amount of people surrounding the city, Central Islip and Brentwood form the major population center of the east. A bureaucratic visit to some government offices nearby recently afforded the opportunity for a hearty Central American breakfast at Puente Guanaco.

It was hard to resist a pupusa before breakfast though, this pupusa de queso y frijol ($2, above) was priced well for a working class clientele. In reality, there may be no food more undervalued as a pupusa around the world, but that is a larger argument. It pulled apart nicely with melted cheese and a thick layer of beans, beautiful in every way. A tupperware container of curtido, the pickled cabbage topping, was brought to the table with the plate, a mark of the real deal.

Puente Guanaco has plenty of good breakfast options, including the desayuno salvadoreño ($11.50, below), which serves eggs scrambled with bell peppers and chorizo, fried beans, a block of queso fresco, avocado, and sweet plantains swimming in a luxurious sweet cream. Two thick freshly made tortillas come alongside to do with as you see fit.

If you have ever traveled in El Salvador, like its neighbors, you know that the foods involved are never flashy. Most everything is what is locally available and cooked with plenty of tradition. In addition to the items found on a plate like this, you would also eat tropical fruits like mango and sweet bananas alongside everything.

These tastes might seem simple to an outsider, but they are deeply familiar and desired by the people who have relocated elsewhere in the world. A plate like this will fill you up for the rest of the day, and that is part of the idea as well.

There are enough Hondurans in the area that the restaurant has added a few typical items you would find in this neighboring country as well. The flour tortilla made fresh for the baleadas con carne ($7.95, above) are thinner than most you will find, but still very tasty.

Each folded baleada contains an enormous amount of meat, beans, cheese and cream that tries to find its way out each end on every bite. Honestly, it should not be any other way.

🇸🇻🇸🇻🇸🇻
CENTRAL ISLIP Long Island

189 Calebs Path

I COULD USE YOUR HELP

Eat the World NYC is and always has been free. No advertisements block the content or pop over what you read. If this website has helped you explore your city and its wonderful cultures a little better and you have the means to contribute, please consider doing so. Eat the World NYC is a labor of love, but also takes a lot of money and time everyday to keep running.

You can Venmo me @JAREDCOHEE or click here to send PayPal donation, no account is necessary. Thank you!

Las Tunas Restaurant

EL SALVADOR 🇸🇻

For the international holidaymaker, Playa Las Tunas in the far southeastern region known as Playas Negras, the sands and sea are probably too mundane to create any interest. As the name of the larger region suggests, these are not white sand beaches and have thus not attracted large investment. The Pacific Coast of El Salvador has a beach for any attitude and budget, and Las Tunas remains a haven for Salvadorans wanting to spend time at the sea, eat some terrific seafood, and do it all with limited resources.

For this reason, it was one of the most memorable spots from a slow-paced trip to the country over ten years ago. Souvenir shops and seafood shacks were focused on middle class Salvadorans bringing their families, prices were great, and there was always an extra warm welcome for the tourist from New York City that seemingly stumbled accidentally into town.

Pre-meal snack of fried tortillas with beans and cheese.

Las Tunas is the type of place that is kept in the front of memories of a country that nowadays is spoken about through the prism of outside news and horrific stories. It was these recollections of smiling faces and friendly folks that made Las Tunas Restaurant so appealing and worth a visit to Hempstead, a city about an hour away on the Long Island Rail Road.

Hempstead is known for a large Central American population, which might be most obvious at their annual Central American parade on September 15th that celebrates the independence of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Over 10,000 people attend this event, many coming from further out on Long Island and Suffolk County.

There is a suggestion of these other nations on the awning of Las Tunas, with a map and flags of the region, but besides some baleadas the menu focuses on the food of El Salvador.

Surrounded by big and bright windows with blue and white curtains and tables that replicate the colors of the flag, an order of pupusas (above) was the highlight of the meal. Always economical, these were even more so than places back in New York City, the corn versions (right) sold for just $2. Pupusas cannot be premade, so you always know it will be fresh. This makes the low prices even more of a head-scratcher, and I wonder when the day will come that Salvadoran chefs will be able to charge what they truly deserve.

Pupusas made from rice flour (left) come with a 50 cent surcharge but are not as good. Any future visits will stick to the corn flour versions, which they do very well.

Despite being 90 minutes into the afternoon, this meal was the first of the day and so a plate of fried plantains with cream (above), usually a breakfast item, was also ordered.

The menu is generous with plates of meat, rice, and beans, served Central American style with avocado and cheese, but on this day there were 25 kilometers to go by foot so the meal was kept "light."

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HEMPSTEAD Long Island
287 Fulton Avenue

Map of Eat the World NYC:

BBQ Nite

PAKISTAN 🇵🇰

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PAKISTAN 🇵🇰 Dispatch from Elmont, Long Island: While all the rage of summer will be on the coasts of Long Island, the interior is where the good food is located, with expat communities from the edge of Queens to the middle of the fork. BBQ Nite serves three locations in this corridor, with the closest being this spot in Elmont, just past the county line. ° BBQ Nite, 663 Elmont Rd, Elmont, NY. (Locations in East Meadow and Hicksville). Instagram exclusive post, added to full map on website. ° ° ° #EattheWorldNYC #eattheworld #worldfood #worldfoods #instayum #instafood #instaeat #foodlovers #foodlover #forkyeah #nyc #nyceats #nycfood #nycdining #newforkcity #eatingnyc #eatingnewyork #longisland #longislandeats #longislandfood #longislandrestaurants #pakistan #pakistani #pakistanifood #pakifood #elmont #elmontny #bbqnite #kebab #kebabs

A post shared by Eat the World NYC (@eattheworldnyc) on Apr 24, 2018 at 6:17pm PDT

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ELMONT Long Island

663 Elmont Road

Map of Eat the World NYC:

Waterzooi Belgian Bistro & Oyster Bar

BELGIUM 🇧🇪

Right on the main commercial strip of Garden City, Long Island, Waterzooi exists firmly in between two worlds. It ticks off all the right boxes to confirm itself as a Belgian establishment: mussels, frites, beer, and waffles. At the same time, the clientele is distinctly Nassau County, and all of those boxes are ticked as well.

Its absolute greatest strength might be the beer list, for those people that enjoy strong Belgian brews. Plenty of bros with their baseball caps backwards were trying to order Heineken and Bud Light, while their dates stuck to the standard wines, but a few people in the bar area were intrigued by the extensive list if not the majority.

Moules-frites are now very popular in France and around the world, but their origin is from the Flemish coast of Belgium where the molluscs are common. Waterzooi claims to have sold over 2.5 million pounds of mussels since opening, and a look around does not nothing to suggest otherwise. Pots of mussels are on most tables and even ordered at the bar.

There are 12 different styles of pots to order from, with different levels of tradition or craziness involved, all the way to a Thai version. The pot shown above is the Provençal moules pot ($29), a white wine base with fresh herbs and tomatoes. All the pots come standard with a portion of fries (frites) and "mayo" (frite sauce).

Back home, it was later noticed that the menu had a namesake dish on it, and this oversight made it necessary to return for it. The waterzooi ($39, below) is a dish that originated in Ghent and traditionally is a stewed fish cooked in a soup base of egg yolk, cream, and thickened vegetable broth.

The version here is all about seafood using plenty more mussels as well as littleneck clams, a couple pieces of jumbo shrimp, and a good portion of lobster. The creamy soup broth is full of sweet corn, potatoes, tarragon, and fennel. It is an experience.

The menu is full of other not-so-Belgian items and some pan-European plates. They seem to have an affinity for mac n' cheese and offer it alone or on top of burgers. During brunch service on weekends, enjoy a Brussels-style waffle with your choice of toppings.

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GARDEN CITY New York

850 Franklin Avenue

Five Star Indian Cuisine

INDIA 🇮🇳  (KERALA)

Depending on what you look at, 5 Star offers either Indian or South Indian cuisine. While some northern items do pepper their menu, they specialize in southern with an angle towards the backwater state of Kerala, definitely the reason to seek out the place.

At 4pm on a weekend, the remnants of the lunch buffet are still showing, but the all you can eat weekend event is over. For the better though, as far as I know the Keralan food does not feature here. Grab a table, ask about any specials, and get prepared for a feast.

Our first offering was something we spied in great quantity on catering trays being prepared for an event in the evening that the restaurant was providing food for, which they called simply "cutlet." These deep fried pieces ($1 each, below) beat any appetizer we may have ordered otherwise, especially with the nice onion sauce that accompanied them.

Naan is a northern thing, so make sure your table has plenty of porotha ($1 each, below) for gathering up your meats and vegetables. In the background below is the kappa ($6.95), a dish of boiled yuca that we might pass on during our next meal.

The beef ularth ($11.95, below) sounds delectable but is held back by its dryness. The dish of beef cubes are pan friend in red onions and coconut, but would do better in a sauce.

A staple of coastal Kerala is of course fish, and we were recommended the mathi fry ($10 for 8 pieces, below), a plate of sardines that had an oily goodness in each bite.

Our other fish dish was the fish curry ($12.95, below), which tasted heavily of coconut milk and was very smooth. We all liked it a lot but could only handle so much since it was very rich. It requires a good helping of rice.

My experience with thoran ($6.95, below) has always been positive in Keralan restaurants and I was eager to order one here. Thoran can be prepared with a variety of vegetables and is mixed with an assortment of mustard seeds, curry leaves and turmeric.

After all our entrees arrived, we were presented with a small dish of mango chutney (below) that tasted slightly bitter and sour but was absolutely delightful to scoop up with the porotha. Our server called it pachadi, and upon further investigation, this is a Keralan-style chutney that was completely new to me. As far as I can tell, this is not on the menu, but I recommend asking for it if you can.

Compliments of the house, we were also served another thoran (below) of green beans, which was even more delicious than the first. Both of these go superbly with the white rice that comes out for the table.

With time to spare on our lazy weekend, we were not quite anxious to leave and enjoyed at least the first half of Chennai Express, one of the highest grossing films from India and apparently known line for line by everyone working here.

🇮🇳 🇮🇳 🇮🇳
NEW HYDE PARK Long Island

247 Jericho Turnpike

Colosseo

PIZZA 🍕

Pizza debates rage on Long Island more furiously than any other place, and we all know pizza debates bring out some pretty passionate people. A look through review websites and blogs only presents you with a bunch of people who will tell you it is the best pizza in the world, and another group that says how terrible it is. You get the sense that many of the negatives come from shills trying to prop up their favorite place, so to have any real picture, you just need to go to every place that has a good pie.

Luckily I like variety, and have enjoyed all my slices at Little Vincent's, Steverino's, and beyond. Colosseo is another great place, with a perfect atmosphere. There is a full-fledged Italian restaurant in the back that seems to have a sleepy yet enthusiastic base of regulars, and a fast-paced counter in the front to grab a quick slice or two.

The whole front is "decorated" with stacks of pizza boxes wherever they fit. If you are lucky, you will get to see some pizza box circus tricks as they stack them high to the ceiling, defying gravity to make sure they all do not come crumbling to the floor.

The place has a very high turnover, so you can expect your slices to be very fresh. I added pepperoni to my slice ($2.25 + $0.75, above) and enjoyed how some of the delicious pork was traditional round pieces, but some were squares. They are obviously more interested in cheese here than sauce, as there is plenty of melting going on. That is all for the best though, as their mozzarella is very good. The plate is necessary to keep the slice from completing folding over under its own weight as the crust is very thin.

Seated at the barstools in the front area, you will find a general camaraderie of smiles between yourself and other pizza eaters. Those might be the same people that are writing nasty reviews for other pizza joints, but for now you have much in common.

🍕🍕🍕
PORT JEFFERSON STATION New York
1049 Route 112

Sripraphai

THAILAND

I have not been happy with Sripraphai in Woodside for years now. The food is not the problem, it is still very good, and lives up to any hype put on it. But since they expanded from a small sweets counter that also served food to a medium-sized restaurant and then again to a multi-roomed Thai food factory, the problem is with the experience. Far from Thailand, it is nothing like the "land of smiles." They hurry you in and out, friendliness is not part of the process.

Since I first heard about their second location opening up in Williston Park, Long Island, I have wanted to give it a try to see if a better experience was waiting. Unfortunately, it isn't, but for different reasons. The staff is definitely more friendly, but still busy enough to not let a smile linger. The food is the biggest problem though, as the clientele is quite different out here. As with most of the city and western world, this translates to Thai food altered to western tastes. Certainly it is only a small degree of what you might find in the East Village or Columbus, Ohio, but they have to do what they have to do.

I did like their inclusion on the menu of half (small) size soups, so that you could enjoy a bowl before the meal without filling up too much. The tom kha gai ($4.25, above left) was the first indicator of the slightly watered-down food that was to come. It contained a couple hot red peppers, but these seemed more for decoration as their spicy interiors were already removed. The vegetable soup w/ ground pork, squid, and shrimp ($5, above right) was a little bland, but as its name suggests, full of good items.

Before our main course, we also ordered the fried bean curd with chili and peanut sauce ($5, below) which as expected was chili sauce with small pieces of peanut on top.

The pad kee mao ($8.50, below) was the best dish of the night, well-spiced and getting some beads of sweat to gather on our foreheads. The dish is popular in all westernized Thai restaurants, but here holds more sway than normal. The flat noodles were nice and thick, and a bit chewy, perfect texture for the dish that is often found on the streets for late-night snacks.

With a little time between courses to digest, I take a second look at the modern decor that could have been a warning. I would never go into a Thai restaurant designed with such minimalist tendencies in the city, but the Sripraphai name made it worth giving a chance, not to mention the long journey to get there.

Since the sticky rice with mango was seasonal, we enjoyed the black sticky rice w/ taro and coconut milk ($3, below). This might have been my favorite thing of the night, so at least we left on a very high note, satisfied by our sweets.

WILLISTON PARK Long Island

280 Hillside Avenue

All American Hamburger Drive-In

UNITED STATES 🇺🇸

It's certainly no drive-in despite what the name says. Let's call it a "drive-up." The parking lot is of generous size and was pretty full when I visited early in the afternoon on a Sunday. What was funny was that most people were in their cars scarfing down hamburgers and fries, treating the place as if it was a drive-in, only going in to make their order and then taking the booty back to the car to eat.

The hamburger and cheeseburger were ridiculously cheap, so I thought it might be more wise to order the "pricier" quarter pounder with cheese ($2.55, below), which turned out to be a decent burger. It is certainly no work of art aesthetically, but the meat seems of very good grade for a fast food joint, while the bun is nothing special but won't detract you.

The fries ($1.75 large, above) here are definite winners, very crispy with a perfect crunch. I suspect that you won't ever be disappointed to receive a burnt or undercooked batch of them, as getting fries in a chain fast food place can be somewhat of a craps shoot. The beauty of washing burgers down with thick milkshakes is somehow lost on most fast food chains as well, but All-American makes a shake that could be in a class with the best, and at $1.65 is most certainly the cheapest around. You have to wait a couple minutes if you plan to use the straw, just as I like it.

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
MASSAPEQUA Long Island

4286 Merrick Road

I COULD USE YOUR HELP

Eat the World NYC is and always has been free. No advertisements block the content or pop over what you read. If this website has helped you explore your city and its wonderful cultures a little better and you have the means to contribute, please consider doing so. Eat the World NYC is a labor of love, but also takes a lot of money and time everyday to keep running.

You can Venmo me @JAREDCOHEE or click here to send PayPal donation, no account is necessary. Thank you!

[CLOSED] Steverino's Pizzeria

PIZZA 🍕

[UPDATE: CLOSED]

The pizza here reminds me a great deal of any typical slice you might find in Brooklyn, thin and easy to fold over itself for convenient eating. The place is much friendlier though, and the sauces and cheese are above average. A slice will set you back $2.

The most unique part of this slice is the sprinkle of sesame seeds on the crust, which add a little bit of interest to an otherwise standard pizza perimeter.

Steverino's also has a good deal of pasta and other edibles in the place, and probably makes a good delivery place if you live nearby.

🍕🍕🍕
EAST MEADOW Long Island

344 Newbridge Road

Little Vincent's

UNITED STATES

Make no bones about it, Little Vincent's can be a bit intimidating to the uninitiated. A grumpy man awaits your order, and even during light periods has no time for you to make up your mind.

The good news is that it is not so hard to order a slice, and you can't go wrong with that here. A plain slice ($2.25, below) is good enough on its own, but for an extra 75 cents you can ask for it to be heaped with cold cheese on top. It's not listed somewhere, you just have to ask for it.

2 slices with cold cheese adornment

The cheese starts to melt on the hot slice, and is definitely a unique experience. I think whether or not you select it is probably just based on mood and hunger.

HUNTINGTON Long Island
329 New York Avenue