Sylvia's isn't the only Harlem spot to score great comfort food

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Sylvia's isn't the only Harlem spot to score great comfort food
BYRACHEL WHARTON
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, January 4, 2018, 6:00 AM
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Sylvia's Restaurant, just one of Harlem's great eateries, boasts mouthwatering ribs and fried chicken.
(MARCUS SANTOS/MARCUS SANTOS)
(MARCUS SANTOS/MARCUS SANTOS)

Sylvia’s Restaurantneeds no introduction for most New Yorkers. The late Sylvia Woods’ 56-year-old spot is packed even on Mondays, filled with tourists, business folk in pinstripe suits and locals getting takeout from the original lunch counter the South Carolinian took over in 1962.

Woods passed in 2012, but her family keeps the recipes alive, including those for chicken livers, fried shrimp, turkey wings, and of course the fried chicken and barbecued ribs that are, as the menu says, “world-famous.” Served with two heaping sides, a platter of them together is $22.95.

Harlem's Little Senegal boasts West African home cooking and more

Those sides may be the real stars. They include collard greens, mac and cheese, buttery little biscuits, green beans with peppers and the candied yams that are like “a sneaky dessert,” says server Da Shona Johnson, whose favorite combo is the $21.95 Atlantic salmon with real Southern style potato salad and a dish of those sticky-sweet yams.

Sylvia’s Restaurant: 328Malcolm X Blvd., near W. 127th St., (212) 996-0660

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Try the "international maffe" at Lenox Saphire, a peanut and veggie stew.
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Only in Harlem

All-day cafes are all the rage, butLenox Saphiredoes it in a way that’s distinctly Harlem. Stop in at 7:30 a.m. for a cappuccino and a pain au chocolat, or catch live jazz over dinner at the bar in back on Thursday nights.

Surprisingly good, cheap meals line Upper West Side train stop

The menu is influenced by the French-African flavors of Senegal, where owner and executive chef Fara Fall grew up. Fall, who drove a taxi and made deliveries when he first moved to New York 17 years ago, also runs Chez Lucienne down the block and Harlem Dandy near 115th St.

For lunch, try the $14 “international maffe,” Fall’s riff on the Senegalese peanut stew, made with vegetables instead of meat. (It’s served with white rice and the house-made hot sauce, a thick mixture of softened tomatoes, onions, and Jamaican hot chilies pureed until soft and smooth). Another specialty is fish or chicken with yassa sauce ($16), made from a mountain of slow-cooked sweet onions.

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Lenox Saphire boasts a basement pastry kitchen.
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Still more magic happens in the basement pastry kitchen, where chefs trained in the art of French patisserie back home (Senegal was once colonized by the French) make proper baguette, tarts, croissants and dozens of desserts.

Lenox Saphire: 341 Lenox Ave., at 127th St., (212) 866-9700

Quick food on the Upper West Side, from banh mi to Indian dishes

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At Tropical Grill & Restaurant, steam table options include lots of roasted and fried meats and sides.
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Dominican for days

The steam table atTropical Grill & Restaurantseems to stretch for half a block long, filled with salmon and oxtails, pork chops and ribs, or the crackly skinned roast pork known as lechon. Pile up a plate of those with rice (yellow, white, or yellow with pigeon peas), stewed beans (black or red), sweet plantains, green bananas, vegetables or half a dozen other sides of your choosing. Or order a foot-long griddled sandwich like a $7 Cuban.

Tropical is the labor of love for Jose Monegro, who opened it in in 2003. He’s since added two more, one on W. 116th St. and another on E. 172nd St. Though the chef whose cooking built Tropical’s fan base retired in 2012, she passed on her tricks for things like the spice mix for the rotisserie chickens, which are skewered nose to tail and roasted for hours before being served by the quarter, half or whole. (At lunch, those are $2.50, $5, or $9).

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Rotisserie chickens are just one draw at Tropical Grill & Restaurant.
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There’s nearly always a line of regulars who all know how to order — take a number, then catch the eye of your favorite server — but Monegro keeps that moving dizzyingly fast.

Tropical Grill & Restaurant: 2145 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., near W. 127th St., (212) 531-0233
 
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