SKAL Brings A Little Bit Of Iceland To NYC

Super happy and excited for my friends and the debut of SKAL and also to bring a little bit of Iceland to NY. Before it was SKAL, the space used to be Les Enfants Terribles, which a lot of us had been to during our time in grad school.

If any of you had been to Les Enfants Terribles, you would remember that giant U shaped bar, which I thought was unnecessarily big for that tight space, and how dim the place was. So I was surprised, when I got a sneak peek of the place, at how airy and light the space is now. I totally love what my friend did to the space and it was great to see his vision of SKAL come to life. While there, we were also given a sneak peek of the drink and food menus. True to his Icelandic roots, there are a lot of seafood…raw and cooked.

Knife Cut Noodles

Sure, the place is called Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles, but on a recent visit I had the knife cut noodles. If you’re not familiar with the technique, they take a big hunk of dough and use a knife to slice off thin, ragged noodles of various lengths and thickness. Since each noodle is unique, you never know what you’re going to get. I got them fried, instead of in a broth, which this type of noodle I think is the right way to go. Less interesting were the cucumbers in vinegar, which were surprisingly bland — they can’t hold a candle to the ones we had at Biang!

Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles — 1 Doyers St., NYC

May Wah Vegetarian Market: A Taiwanese Family Business

Lily Ng, the manager of May Wah Vegetarian Market (and daughter of its owners), is not a vegetarian. Or, as she put it, “not yet.”

May Wah was created by Lily’s mother, who came to New York from Taiwan. Raised as a Taoist vegetarian, Lily’s mom was disappointed with the options for vegetarians in New York. In Taiwan she had hundreds of different vegetarian foods available to her, but the most she could find here was vegetables and a little tofu. Determined to bring some of vegetarian Taiwan to NYC, she created the shop in 1995 and began importing vegetarian products from Taiwan.

Cheeky Sandwiches

On a quiet street in the sort of empty area in Chinatown sits a tiny restaurant, Cheeky Sandwiches. Definitely one of those places you’ll miss if you blink. The space is small and the door to get in is smaller but the owner is all heart. He’s super friendly and makes one of the best fried chicken sandwiches in town. This is one of those places I regret not going sooner.

Delicious fried chicken on a bed of slaw topped with gravy and between a biscuit. What better combo?

– Cheeky Sandwiches 35 Orchard St, NYC