It's a bit gamey
May 27, 2009 5:11 PM   Subscribe

I am an unapologetic and adventurous carnivore, and I would like to broaden my meat-eating horizons. Can you recommend restaurants that serve wild game and other more unusual meats in New York City?

I went to Henry's End last year for their wild game festival, and last week I was at Northeast Kingdom where they have rabbit and squab (admittedly not that unusual, but still) on the menu. There's also the Jamaican Dutchy cart on 51st and Broadway for curry goat, and Chinatown for ... well all sorts of things. All delicious.

So, what other places are there in NYC that serve well-prepared, lesser-eaten meats? (I already checked chowhound and didn't find much that I hadn't already heard of. Also "The Lesser Eaten Meats" is a good name for a band.)
posted by thebergfather to Food & Drink (12 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Can you be more specific on what you've already had in Chinatown vs. what you're looking for? I was going to recommend shredded cold jellyfish at Shanghai Cafe, or the fried whole baby eels at Jing Fong.
posted by saladin at 5:25 PM on May 27, 2009


Ted's Montana Grill has bison that he grows on his ranch(es).
posted by torquemaniac at 5:32 PM on May 27, 2009 [2 favorites]


Braai is a South African restaurant that serves ostrich and venison. It has some decent reviews.

In general, traditional French restaurants will have some more unusual meats, particularly organ meats and less common fowl.

It's a little old (2003), but Meat Me in Manhattan: A Carnivore's Guide to New York may be of some use.
posted by jedicus at 5:33 PM on May 27, 2009


Response by poster: In Chinatown, mostly just various kinds of offal. Fried whole baby eel sounds equal parts terrifying and amazing.
posted by thebergfather at 5:33 PM on May 27, 2009


8 Mile Creek serves Australian cuisine, including emu. According to one review they have had kangaroo on the menu in the past. You can definitely get kangaroo sausage at The Sunburnt Cow.

Lots of French restaurants offer frog legs.

Horse meat is basically impossible to come by legally in the US, but if you felt the urge you could go to Montréal.

A couple of restaurants have been reported to have guinea pig, or cuy. El Pequeño Coffee Shop will do it, but it's off menu. Chim Pum Callao in Yonkers is another possibility, but I can't verify that it's still around.

Africa Kine has stewed cow's feet on Fridays.
posted by jedicus at 6:08 PM on May 27, 2009


AFAIK Café des Bruxelles (118 Greenwich Ave) serves horsemeat, which I personally found unremarkable, but it is at least unusual.
posted by glider at 6:28 PM on May 27, 2009


AFAIK Café des Bruxelles (118 Greenwich Ave) serves horsemeat

The menus on the Café des Bruxelles website suggests that it does not, but maybe it's off menu. For what it's worth your link also suggests that they do not serve it.
posted by jedicus at 6:50 PM on May 27, 2009


Les Halles will reliably have some trotters and offal for you.

Applewood, which I think is definitively the best restaurant in Park Slope, currently has a goat entree.
posted by mkultra at 6:56 PM on May 27, 2009


If you want to eat some pig's feet, Hakata Tonton is a tasty bet.
posted by ch1x0r at 7:09 PM on May 27, 2009


I was at public and 8 mile creek about 6 months ago, and they had both stopped serving kangaroo due to import restrictions. Don't know if those have changed. If they have, I highly recommend you try it.
posted by slateyness at 9:12 PM on May 27, 2009


I second Les Halles. (Excellent coffee, too.) I can confirm that El Pequeño Coffee Shop does cuy, but you have to call ahead and it's expensive (around $40).

Rabbit, Lamb Heart and Guinea Fowl at the Spotted Pig.

Del Posto often has veal cheeks and lamb sweetbreads.

Felida does a decent Waygu flat iron (might be too tame for your purposes,) but typically has unusual meat dishes on special.
posted by zarq at 7:46 AM on May 28, 2009


I'm going to assume you've eaten uni, oysters, monkfish liver, caviar, and foie gras? I think you're a perfect candidate for Picholine's game tasting menu, but I think it's only offered once a year (in the fall, I believe). If you're interested in this kind of stuff, look up the posts of Joey Deckle, or look up the Gastronauts.

BTW, Chowhound recently changed the way their search engine works and it sucks, in my opinion. It's much, much harder to find relevant topics from past discussions. That being said, if you are an adventurous eater, I would go to (not all exclusively game but most of these are various "weird" parts or animals):

Esca - geoduck, blowfish tails, monkfish liver, goose prosciutto, tuna prosciutto, botarga (dried mullet roe), shad roe (lots of this is very seasonal though, could be gone already)

Momofuku Ssam - currently has snails, beef tendon, duck hearts, a foie/pork terrine, crispy pig's head on the menu

Craft - quail, sweetbreads, pork trotter, snails, guinea hen (they have more dependent upon the season)

Daniel - frog's legs, rabbit, duck, squab, milk fed veal

Bar Bouloud (and the soon to open DBGB) both have an amazing in-house charcuterie program! Chicken liver pate, foie gras pate, rabbit terrine, head cheese terrine, pheasant and wild boar terrine, beef cheek, lamb terrine, guinea hen terrine, venison terrine, snails, boudin noir, and boudin blanc. Everything I've tried has been fantastic.

Irving Mill - "pork toast," lamb ribs, lamb sausage, chicken liver mousse, boudin blanc, boudin noir, pig's foot, headcheese, pig ear

Resto - boudin noir, pork toast, boudin blanc, boudin noir, headcheese, pig's head, you can also get them to do a large format feast for you with a whole poularde, goat, pig, etc. The Irving Mill chef used to cook here.

Casa Mono - pig's feet croquetas, deep fried lamb's tongue, hearts, cock's combs, sweetbreads, foie gras, duck egg with mojama, bone marrow, duck, quail, tripe, confit goat

Babbo - lamb's tongue, tripe, goose liver ravioli, lamb's brains ravioli, beef cheek ravioli, sweetbreads, duck, rabbit

Fatty Crab UWS - goat brains, goat tongue, goat head

Picholine - see aforementioned game tasting menu that happens every fall/winter

Yakitori Totto - chicken liver, chicken gizzard, chicken heart, chicken knee, chicken neck, chicken tail, chicken oyster ("rare part of chicken thigh")

Blue Ribbon Brasserie - sweetbreads, pigeon, bone marrow

Prune - bone marrow, sweetbreads, I think they used to have monkfish liver, maybe not

Jean Georges - sweetbreads, squab, duck, rabbit

Kabab Cafe (one of my favorite places ever) - testicles (on occasion), beef cheek, lamb's brains, duck liver, etc.

Xian Famous Foods - "lamb's face" cold salad

Eleven Madison Park - currently has a milk fed veal on the menu

Veritas - frog legs, langoustine, sweetbreads, squab

Chez Napoleon (old school French restaurant) - kidney, calf's brains, rabbit, quail, frogs legs, sweetbreads

Despana (a spanish grocery store) - carries a lot of great products like jamon iberico, blood sausage, preserved fish roe, various forms of seafood in tins preserved in oil/sauce, and they often give out free samples.
posted by kathryn at 4:14 PM on May 28, 2009 [2 favorites]


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