The East Village food scene is stupendous. Each street is stuffed with restaurants, cafes, and bars serving up unique bites with flavors from across the world. From hunting for the best soup dumplings to pizza crawls, I’ve spent many an hour zigzagging my way around the grungy, storied streets. There’s always something fabulous to eat and fascinating to see.
Rather than paint you a picture of the East Village today, I’ll give you a rapid fire history of the neighborhood and let your mind be the artist instead.
Lenape Native Americans originally inhatbited the area, but they were displaced when the Dutch West India Company entered the scene. The colonizers built farms and lavish estates, which were then sold and redeveloped in the 18th century to accommodate the grid system that we all know and love. No estate?! I’m outta here! Slicing and dicing property rarely goes smoothly, and the wealthy elites migrated north to the Upper West Side and Upper East Side.
German immigrants took their place, followed by Yiddish speaking Ashkenazi Jews, followed by a mix of Eastern Europeans, followed by Latin American immigrants. The Immigration Act of 1924, The Great Depression, and the destruction of old tenements pushed many of these groups out. Beatniks, poets, writers, and other artists who were getting priced out of Greenwich Village swooped in.
The East Village became a hub for counterculture. Art galleries, music venues, dance halls, and bars took over the neighborhood. It was seedy and riddled with drugs, but booming with ideas and expression. I like to imagine Joey Ramone and Alan Ginsberg sitting in a corner of a dive bar discussing the meaning of life.
Click HERE, HERE and HERE for sources and extra reading!
New buildings and higher prices pushed starving artists out, but gentrification hasn’t wiped away the neighborhood’s soul. It’s still grungy and a bit wild, and residents have permission to get creative. A fact that is reflected in the food scene.
A handful of new Asian-fusion spots have popped up over the past couple years. So I grabbed my foodie friend Kate to hit them all on an East Village food crawl: Asian sandwich edition.
Let’s dive in!
Stop 1: Evil Katsu
COVID was a death sentence to over 4,500 New York City restaurants. Some chefs took the set back as an opportunity to pursue the specific types of cuisines they love most. Evil Katsu is one such phoenix that rose from the ashes of COVID.
It’s the brainchild of three katsu-loving chefs who faced unemployment when the Michelin starred tapas restaurant they worked at shut down. Evil Katsu started as a pop-up, but was so successful that they opened an East Village brick and mortar locale soon after. While they serve up bento boxes, salads, and seasonal specials, we were there for the chicken katsu sando.
All the components are made from scratch, and each piece of chicken is breaded and fried to order. And let me say… you can taste the difference. The chicken is outrageously juicy and perfectly crunchy, and the cabbage and carrot don’t overwhelm every bite. The milk bread is sinfully light and fluffy with a soft sweetness, making for one of the best chicken katsu sandos in New York City.
Mind you, it ain’t frugal. One sando will set you back $18. But I will say it’s spectacular.
Stop 2: Little Kirin
Our East Village food crawl continued with a stop at Little Kirin. This spot serves up Vietnamese-fusion food that packs some serious personality. The salmon katsu bowl and loaded tots were tempting, but the stop at Little Kirin was for one specific item: The Pho Sandwich.
This sucker is packed with tender beef and topped with onions, crispy shallots, cilantro, basil, jalapeño, and hosin. WHOA BABY is the flavor journey wild. It has a savory umani with notes of sweet and spicy that are balanced out just enough by the freshness of the basil and cilantro. For the full experience, we paid an extra $3.49 for the side of pho broth to dip the sandwich into. The broth was rich with a slight cinnamon flavor. Tasty. But not necessary.
This sandwich blew me away. (Thank goodness it’s good given the $18.49 price tag!)
Curious about Pho? Learn about the history HERE!
Stop 3: Tokuyamatcha & Onigirazu Bar
Our East Village food crawl finished with an onigirazu from Tokuyamatcha & Onigirazu Bar. Onigirazu is a Japanese style sandwich, but instead of bread, the “buns” are made of rice wrapped in seaweed. They are made with all types of fillings ranging from teriyaki chicken to salmon and avocado.
We got the chicken karaage which was filled with Japanese fried chicken, lettuce, mayo, and spicy garlic chili oil with the extra add in of kimchi. And WOW was it delicious. The warm rice had the perfect amount of salt with a touch of sweet, and the garlic chili oil added an exciting zing. The addition of kimchi gave each bite crunch and exciting notes of sour. To be honest, the chicken karaage didn’t stand out. It simply couldn’t compete in the flavor wars waged by the other components. However, the overall experience was truly stellar. Not to mention, it was only $10.50! Making it the cheapest stop on this East Village food crawl.
This East Village food crawl was a wild success!
Stay tuned for more foodie adventures ahead.
