When we were in New York, my sister organised our activities with the food outings my responsibility. We headed to the MOMA’s PS1 out in Long Island City and so I had the task of researching a place to eat for lunch around that area. A few places turned up, including the famous 5 Napkin Burger but I was looking for something a little bit less fast food and something a bit more intriguing. I came across a number of blog posts including this one and this one that told me that M.Wells Diner was going to be a winner.
We arrived at about 1pm, so many people were still eating their lunch. We were offered a table at the counter top, but we weren’t really in a rush and thought it’d be much cooler to have a booth table. They had plenty of reading material to keep us occupied, including a few local magazine and papers showcasing more that Long Island City had to offer. Definitely a nice touch.
The menu was pretty diverse, and definitely not really stock standard for your average diner. Take, for example, Beef tartare on offer, or perhaps the escargots and bone marrow. Impressive and unusual offerings. This latter dish must be pretty popular since we saw a chef preparing marrow for our entire duration.
Still feeling the cold from the icy winds outside, I opted for their green pea soup (USD7). I went for it, figuring it’d be a plain soup and what arrived was something I easily would have expected from a restaurant where you’d probably pay double for it. It had crisped bacon for that extra salty bite, the crunch of perfectly toasted croutons and a drizzle of, what I think was, lemon oil lifting the entire dish. The soup itself was amazingly tasty and it went down very quickly.
Apparently the seafood cobbler (USD16) was impressive as well. Extremely cheesy, chock full of quality seafood and a heartily filling dish.
I almost don’t want to blog about a place like this. I’d hate for it to turn into one of those places you wait in line for hours to get in. It’s really that good. I hear they change their menu quite constantly, and the chefs obviously passionate about what they do with one of them reading a fairly dense cooking book on their break.
Go now. Before it’s too late.
Name: M. Wells Diner
Found at: 1-17 49th Avenue, Long Island City NY 11101
Website: http://mwellsdiner.com/