Okay, as a new city resident I am in need of some help in locating a few goods/services.
Where might one find a decent eyebrow waxer? By decent, I mean an eyebrow waxer that is not going to strip my face naked, forcing me to draw on my own and look forever suprised or angry. Also, I want them to not charge me an arm and a leg to spend 10 minutes ripping the hair out of my face. If you go to someone you think is fantastic or your friend has a waxer they rave about please let me know…I am starting to look like Eugene Levy if he were a chick, which is not the image I am going for!
Where might one find chicken fried steak in the city? Being from Texas where we like our meats pounded flat and breaded, I am sorely dissapointed at the lack of fried steak in Manhattan. If said place also serves mashed potatoes and/or fried okra all the better!
And there seems to be a lack of Frito-Lay products here as well. Everywhere I go has Wise chips, which is fine I suppose, except they do not make baked chips and that is what I want more than anything. I have only found them in one place so far. Are you able to find the Baked Ruffles Sour Cream and Cheddar anywhere?
I’m sure there are other things I am forgetting about at the moment, but this is a good start.
Check out MenuPages for a good source of info on restaurants in NYC that includes cuisine categories like “Southern and Soul”, user comments/reviews and menu pages.
By reputation Sylvia’s in Harlem is well regarded; tourist buses even stop there. I’ve never been there, but I have been to Live Bait near Madison Square (23rd St. and Madison Ave.) and thought it was pretty decent (based on the fried catfish and fried chicken entrees). I suppose the standards of a “native” could well differ though.
There was a place on the upper west side called Yippi-ki-yay that had really good Chicken Fried Steak. (I’m from Oklahoma)
Live Bait is gone but The Trailer Park on 23rd near 8th is similar. At Live Bait, the CFS was good. (gravy not thick enough)
I live in Washington Heights and work in White Plains, just for location clarification. And hooray for chicken fried steak places!
As to the eyebrow threading thing, I have heard that the process takes a looong time and is not pleasant. Waxing isn’t pleasant either, but at least it is super fast. Anyone ever actually had that done? How does it compare in your experience to waxing?
I got to a salon called Eve on Bleeker Street in the West Village for my erm, personal waxing needs. For less-personal waxing needs, such as eyebrows, I’ve had good luck with my local Korean neighborhood manicure joint, they charge $7 and no butcher jobs yet.
I’m suprised that your local grocery stores do not carry Frito-Lay products. My neighborhood Associated and Key Food do, although corners stores usually prefer Wise (I assume it has to do with some distribution or sales volume deal).
I literally just read in a local mag about a new Texas-style BBQ place that just opened. For the life of me I cannot recall the name.
You are on your own for eyebrow waxers, pluckers, threaders or whatever. I wouldn’t know a good one if she tackled me, tied me up, and waxed me (although, if she did that, I’d probably recommend her to my guy friends ;))
Oh dear, all the places I go to tend to be downtown and/or in Brooklyn, because that’s where I work and live.
Just in case you are down here, we like Old Devil Moon, which I like a lot in terms of the food, but I personally will not go there for brunch because it is just too crazy and the quality of the service goes way down in the face of the large crowd.
Another place we sometimes end up is Acme. This one is very uneven, we have had good food there and also nights where things just seemed “off.” The one thing that keeps us going back is the fact that the hushpuppies are always good.
On the waxing v. threading issue, I’ve had both done and don’t feel any huge preference toward one or the other if they are done well. I tend to go for waxing just because it is more popular and easier to find places that offer it. I wouldn’t feel the need to make a special trip just to have threading. I should add that I must not have very sensitive skin because neither waxing or threading is painful to me. Most of the people I know who swear by threading like it because they think it is less painful.
The only person I know who has had threading done is a guy, and he says he chooses threading over waxing because apparently as you age all the years of waxing effect your brow line and make your face look strange. :rolleyes: I don’t know that he has any idea what he is talking about, but whatever works for him. He didn’t say anything about if it hurt more or less than waxing though.
Oh that place was Yippi-Yi-Yo.
I agree that Acme is sometimes great and sometimes so-so but it is one of the few places you can get a big order of fried okra.
Chowhound.com will generate an answer to any food question really quickly.
We ate at Dinosaur BBQ last night - 132 Street and 12 Avenue. Loved it, but I wasn’t looking for chicken fried steak on the menu. Also didn’t think to ask if they do good eyebrow waxing.
