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Dining Out
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EARLY BIRD SPECIAL Complete Dinner & Dessert 3pm - 5:30pm BREAKFAST SPECIAL Includes Coffee & Juice Monday - Friday LUNCH SPECIAL Includes Soup or Salad & Dessert Monday - Friday 1079 Valley Road, Stirling 908-647-7105 908-647-7111 (fax) Now Order Online www.stirlinghousediner.com Open 7 Days Sun-Thurs: 7am - 12am Fri-Sat: 7am - 1am WE OFFER CATERING PACKAGES OUTDOOR DINING AVAILABLE Gotham West Market By: Linda Seigelman Food halls have been a staple of the New York City restaurant scene for many years, and their number and popularity continue to grow as does the quality of the vendors and the variety of what is offered. They range from old time favorites like the one at Grand Central Terminal to highly stylized concepts like Eataly to ones featuring small-scale arti- sanal vendors of which the Gotham West Market is an excellent and fairly new example. Located on the far west side of Midtown on the outer edge of the area known as Hell’s Kitchen, Gotham West brings together a little Brooklyn, some Manhattan, a little Spain, a bit of Tokyo and a touch of Mexico to a block where good eats have been few and far between. But the address is exactly why this new eating spot came to exist - it was built to attract tenants to the luxury rental apartments located atop the mar- ket…if you feed them, they will come. Gotham West spans the entire block of 11th Avenue between 44th and 45th Streets. There are nine vendors preparing great food in a wonderful setting: floor to ceiling windows, industrial chic décor, seating choices from beautiful stainless steel bars to communal picnic tables, cool lighting, indoor and outdoor options, perfect for singles, couples and small or large groups. Here you can experience the wonders of Ivan Ramen, famous in Tokyo and a New York favorite, without waiting in line for a seat. Yes, the soup and rice bowls are legendary, but the garden salad (Asian style with crispy onions on top) is deli- cious too. The fried green tomato BLT at Genuine Roadside is amazing and rivals the fried chicken sandwich for which they are famous. The tapas at El Colmado are first rate – the stuffed dates wrapped in bacon are a personal favorite, and their dollar oyster happy hour brings joy to bivalve lovers. Choosing an ice cream fla- vor at Ample Hills is an impossible task; each one is so good. Fortunately they encourage sampling. Gotham West Market opens early and stays open late, so you can drop by for a morning coffee and pastry at Blue Bottle, grab a quick specialty hot dog and a beer for lunch at The Cannibal, meet for tapas and a drink pre- or post-theater at El Colmado, and slurp some soup and noo- dles late at night at Ivan Ramen. If you have a group or a family, it is the perfect spot for everyone to order whatever they want and then meet at a table to enjoy the results. Check out Gotham West Market. It is a dining destination well worth a bit of a walk. THE LINE-UP Ample Hills Creamery – the Brooklyn ice cream vendor, #1 in Zagat, hand-crafted flavors change daily, salted crack caramel is a legendary top seller Blue Bottle Coffee – many swear by these beans, plenty of delicious baked goods too Choza Taqueria – Mexican street food for all, tacos, tamales, burritos, tor- tas, ceviche, great breakfast options Court Street Grocers Sandwich Shop – from Brooklyn, amazing sand- wiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner, from grilled cheese to confit of pork shoulder, all bases are covered El Colmado – Seamus Mullen’s tapas bar, Spanish classics like Serrano ham, garlic shrimp and patatas bravas, excel- lent wines, fresh oysters Genuine Roadside – serving the best of America’s roadside eateries with a twist (e.g., the fried green tomato BLT) burgers, shakes, tacos, fried chicken Indie Fresh – soups, salads, broths, juices and smoothies made fresh daily, gluten free, dairy free, no sugar added, served in cool mason jars Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop – Ivan Orkin, the world-famous ramen expert, wowed them in Tokyo, now in NYC, soups, rice bowls and more The Cannibal – homemade charcu- terie, small plates, specialty dogs, a giant glass beer fridge with hundreds of choices from around the world