Plugs — Phoebe Ng
New York food, drink, and leisure recs from an it restaurant publicist + LINKS
Plugs is The Angel’s recs column. On most Saturdays, you’ll get six picks—a restaurant, a bar, a shop, an ingredient, a person, and a treat—from someone in New York who knows what they’re talking about, plus a selection of Angel-curated links. Plugs are for paid subscribers of The Angel only; upgrade your subscription to receive all six!
But first, I have the answers to Wednesday’s game of Name the Restaurants. Only two readers (Sam Freeman and Alexis Coutu-Marion) got 11 out of 12. Congrats to them, I’m impressed! The one that tripped everyone up was #4, the brand-new Baohaus on St. Marks Place.
Blue Ribbon Brasserie, SoHo
Le Zie, Chelsea
Sushi Yasuda, Midtown East
Baohaus, East Village
NY Pizza Suprema, Midtown East
River Deli, Brooklyn Heights
Randazzo’s Clam Bar, Sheepshead Bay
Union Square Cafe, Union Square
Sa Rit Gol, Fort Lee, NJ
Babbo, Greenwich Village
Pastis, Meatpacking District
B&H Dairy, East Village
This is a perfect segue into #8: Phoebe Ng, a bicoastal hospitality marketing and communications strategist who looks after Stars, Penny, Claud, Lei, Smithereens, Baby Bistro, and Santo Taco. Her roster speaks for itself; Phoebe is the downtown restaurant publicist to know right now, and she also happens to have taken my B&H virginity (embarrassing that I’d never been before last fall, but we all have gaps in our resumes). She’s worked on many notable openings, with previous clients including Maru’s first New York shop, Rory’s Place in Ojai, and the Parcelle group (including Mitsuru and Sunn’s). Before going out on her own, Phoebe spent 6 years at Becca and rose through the ranks to VP. She was born and raised in Los Angeles and she knows where’s delicious and who’s worth knowing on both coasts. Here she is with her Plugs.
Restaurant — Maxi’s Noodles 3
I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Every couple of months, my parents would load my siblings and me into the minivan for the 45-minute drive down the 101 to the closest 99 Ranch Market. We’d stockpile ingredients we couldn’t get locally: greens like morning glory and yuk choy, fresh fish (tilapia from the tanks), condiments, Yakult, sweet rice, dried egg noodles. But the first task upon arrival was always to eat lunch at Sam Woo BBQ, the Cantonese eatery next door, complete with gruff waiters and drippy roast meats displayed in a window. This is where I was introduced to Hong Kong-style wonton noodle soup—with her delicate broth, springy noodles, and wontons with wispy thin wrappers. When I moved to New York, the access to specialists of this dish was intoxicating. I swore by Great New York Noodletown before locking in with Noodle Village. Then, Maxi’s Noodle opened its Manhattan location. It’s now my reigning champ. I love the chaotic signs posted throughout the narrow space that warn of severe dining time limits and the potential of needing to share a table with strangers. I get the beef tendon add-on. It adds a glistening slickness to the already rich soup. The wontons are exquisite; plump, bouncy, and freakishly full of shrimp.
