It may only be early spring, but it’s already shaping up to be another busy year for celebrity chef Amanda Freitag. A fixture on food TV (Chopped, Guy Fieri’s Tournament of Champions), at food and music festivals (Bourbon and Beyond, NYC Wine & Food), and in and around New York City, Amanda may not spend that much time on the line in restaurant kitchens these days, but she recently cooked as a guest chef on Valentine’s Day at Marc Murphy’s Tribeca restaurant Marc179. She also teaches small-group cooking classes at Heermance Farm in the West Village, where she’s curating the events.
“Chef Justin Smilie is doing another pop-up there soon,” said Freitag. “Sue Torres recently did a dinner, and soon David Waltuck is doing a dinner. Keep an eye on that space!”
The longtime restaurant chef, who used to work at the now-closed and much-beloved The Harrison in Tribeca, among other esteemed places, has her own special blend of spices, available online at La Boîte. She’s a longtime volunteer with God’s Love We Deliver, and serves as a council member for the organization which helps feed New Yorkers living with life-changing illnesses.
When Freitag isn’t working, traveling, or dining out, she is probably writing. Currently at work on her second cookbook, she promises it will be filled with her signature simple, and yummy #EasyAF recipes.
The New Jersey-born chef loves to try viral foods and lights up talking about what and where she recently ate in NYC. She shares her love of the popular sandwiches L’industrie pizzeria debuts every Wednesday in Brooklyn with the same enthusiasm as multi-course dinners at fine dining hotspots. Here, more of Amanda’s favorite places to dine around her home borough of Manhattan and her adopted home of Rockaway Beach in Queens.
Blue Ribbon
[Back when I cooked], post-shift, we used to go to Blue Ribbon in SoHo. I was a Blue Ribbon girlie! [laughs] I spent a lot of late nights there, and a lot of money on Blue Ribbon’s oysters, bone marrow, and oxtail. And when I worked at The Harrison [in Tribeca], we used to go to Landmarc [now closed] after work. They were open late and had half-priced bottles of wine.
Blue Ribbon Brasserie: 97 Sullivan St., SoHo, blueribbonbrasserie.com
Pig & Khao
I recently took my friend to Pig & Khao on the Upper West Side after the God’s Love We Deliver concert at the Beacon Theater. We had the papaya salad, the Hainanese duck, the Sinigang fried shrimp, pineapple soft serve for dessert, and the Latik pie. It was all so good!
Pig & Khao: 433 Amsterdam Ave., Upper West Side, pigandkhao.com/uws
Essex Pearl at Pier 57
The Essex Pearl guys used to be in Essex Market, [and] they do these amazing [Southeast Asian] lobster rolls. And, because the owner Steven Wong is also a seafood distributor in Chinatown (his company is called Aqua Best), all the seafood at Essex Pearl is incredible. There’s a Vietnamese lobster roll we always get, and they do a red curry seafood bisque, and a pork belly rice bowl that’s awesome. Essex Pearl is always a stop when I’m on the West Side.
Essex Pearl: Pier 57 in Hudson River Park, 25 11th Ave., Chelsea, essexpearl.com
Sake No Hana
I love Sake No Hana. It’s an izakaya beneath the Moxy Hotel on the Lower East Side, right on the Bowery. My friend [chef] John DeLucie told me about it. He used to work with [chef] Jason Hall, who’s over there now, and he told me about this cool pizza pop-up. [Note: This past February, Tokyo pizzeria Seirinkan took over Sake No Hana for a five-night residency.] We had pizza and we also had a crudo and a dessert that was delicious. The sake sommelier was really knowledgeable, too. I’d totally go back there.
Sake No Hana:145 Bowery, Lower East Side, taogroup.com
Dante
I went to Dante in the West Village recently with some friends. They do this thing there where they’ll put a photo on top of a cocktail. Let’s say it’s a Whiskey Sour in a coupe glass, and we had them put a friend’s face on it. Dante has a fun machine that puts any photo on a drink. Anyone can do it when you’re there, just give them a heads-up. [My friends] got such a kick out of it and we had such a good time there, and the food’s really good, too. We had really great food and really fun, personalized cocktails. I have to shout out Dante because they’re so great at what they do.
Dante: Three locations in the West Village, Manhattan, dante-nyc.com
Margie’s at The Rockaway Hotel
[Margies] in Rockaway Park does really fun weeknight dinner specials. On Tuesday nights they do a prime rib with a salad and a half-priced bottle of wine. They do a lot of specials for locals. Sunday night is an all-Parmesan night [and] they’ll do a chicken parm, shrimp parm, or eggplant parm [with a caesar salad, pasta, and cheesecake].
The Rockaway Hotel: 108-10 Rockaway Beach Dr., Rockaway Park, Queens, therockawayhotel.com
Hani’s
I know this is on everybody’s list, but I love Hani’s bakery. I love them and everyone’s so nice there. We waited in line for the Bad Bunny doughnuts recently, and they were fucking delicious. They’re so good and they’re so nice and everything they make is absolutely delicious. They do a lot of limited-run pastries there and the Bad Bunny Benito Bowl doughnuts [made with guava butter and coconut custard] were so good!
Hani’s bakery + café: 67 Cooper Square, East Village, hanisnyc.com
