Thursday, April 08, 2004
Takeouts, restaurants, bars, and Indians - 15th through 18th Streets
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
In the course of my indefatigable restaurant research, I met two members of the storied group that is said to be robbing American computer programmers, including some of T&V people, of their well-paid jobs – Indian programmers on H1B visas, working for low rates, though presumably not substandard. These personable young men were, surprisingly, willing to talk – I‘m told that I have the mien of a retired cop, and foreigners often look at me with suspicion, as though expecting me to check their green cards. (Once, briskly walking on 17th Street with another laddie, aka Doomsday in these paragraphs, we inadvertently broke up and sent on the run a session of crooks doing forged gold stamp punching at the back entrance of Barnes and Noble.)
The current annual available H1B visas are limited to 65,000, down from 128,000, for Indians, Chinese, Russians, Philippines and other foreign techies, for two three-year terms, renewable when employer requests and visa maximum permits. The outsourcing is done through Indian consulting firms, who also run immense offshore programming shops of 5,000-15,000 programmers in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai (Bombay). They are the intermediaries, obtaining the contracts, importing the programmers, providing living quarters and paying the salaries. For tasks outsourced offshore, communication is by phone (6 a.m. call will reach a late-working contact in India), and by e-mail strings, each carrying the history of previous communications on the topic, very effective.
Ajab has been here in the 1990s, before the bubble burst, an d has returned recently. He lives in Jersey City, sharing an apartment with two other singles. He cannot save any real money, nor send it home, NYC is too expensive. Previously, in Milwaukee, he did better. He will go back to India, marry and settle down when he can be sure of continuation of employment offshore. Meanwhile, he’ll stay and learn. Married workers who come here, particularly with children, find it almost impossible to survive. The spouses may not work, under the terms of their H4 visas. It was implied that taking an off-the-books job endangers the visa. Nasim lives in a group apartment in Brooklyn. Both think well of USA and the opportunities. Any hate encountered? “I’d rather not talk” is the comment.
Pay was not discussed, but the workers have health insurance. Vacation of a month, seemingly without pay, is available, but no one can afford a visit to the family. Upon return, the programmer is fairly assured of a middle- or upper-middle-class status, although we did not mention the caste system. Information technology journals imply that the Indian universities, where IT training and discipline is at a very high level, use merit and IQ as admission standards.
As to work discipline, the areas in the office where Indian IT workers are silent, you hear no conversation or phone calls. At lunch they sit together and chitchat, cheerfully. As you enter the elevator, they will often change the conversation to English, to be polite. As to food, I learned little. They like all NYC Indian food, paneer (spinach) dishes, and dosa (flatbread). And pizza - oh yeah!
This review will cover the side streets of T&V Country, east of Union Square/Fifth Ave.
East 15th Street
Do not expect full dinner service at the popular bars, serving the patrons of four theatres and one rock concert hall. – the sports-oriented Revival at 129,the Irving Plaza, favored by punks and rockers, The 119, a dark door below the Polish War Veterans plaque, and the in-crowd’s Belmont Lounge at 117, also offering appetizers, salads and sandwiches. But there are some restaurants.
Shades of Green at 125 East 15th Street (212) 674-1394, once a rock and Irish band paradise, now offers a set menu plus eight daily specials, classic shepherd’s pie, Irish bangers with mash and chicken pot-pie. You pick up.
Link Restaurant and Lounge, 120 East 15 Street (212) 995-1010, “amuse” appetizers, spinach strudel and lobster bisque. For entrées, Kobe beef ($27), salmon tornado, free range chicken. Delivery though the restaurant’s companion diner, 3Square (same address & phone, order also online), a purveyor of breakfasts, lunches and anytime courses, paninis, noodles and sandwiches. Create your own salad.
East 16th and 17th Streets were covered by the reviews of the avenues that cross them.
One omission - Natural Green Market, Wholesome Gourmet Health Food Store at 16th Street and Third Ave (212) 780-0263, has a substantial salad bar, available half-price after 8 p.m. Ask for free delivery.
East 18th Street
Paul & Jimmy’s at 123 East 18th Street (212) 475-9540, the 50-plus year old veteran Italian favorite originally on Irving Place , offers a well-tested menu of antipasti, insalata, zuppa, farinacci (pasta), pollo, pesce and carne, with side orders of legume. Free delivery, min $25.
Los Dos Melinos at 119 East 18th Street, (212) 505-1574, has burros, tacos and tostadas, and relleno and enchiladas dinners, flautas, chimichnga, red or green chili plates. Sip tequila, Dos Eques or Sangre de Toro in the cantina. Delivered.
Crossing Park Ave South ,there’s the Old Town Bar and Restaurant at 45 East 18th Street (2121) 529-6732. A sentimental favorite, I and the Old Curmudgeon misspent a lot of our youth there. Its upstairs restaurant, open ‘till 11:30 p.m., features American tavern food, chicken pot-pie, salads and burgers. No takeout.
Lucy, Mexican bistro, 35 East 18th Street (212) 475-5829. Oaxaca style, Margarita and Veracruzana ceviche, octopus with parsley, antojitos (little bites), picaditas (corn masa boots) filled with shrimp or duck confit, and then we get serious, with barbacoa, wood-roasted lamb wrapped in banana skins, bisteca and chicharrones (ribs). No delivery.
City Crepe, 28 East 18th Street (212) 228-1840. Evokes dreams of sybaritic breakfasts in bed, scrambled eggs with salmon, and twenty varieties of crepes, toppings galore, and frozen sundaes. Free delivery, check hours.
America, at 9-13 East 18th Street (212) 505-2110, a huge space where conversation reverberates, offers a gorgeous mosaic of a multi-faceted menu that crosses the continent, from Vermont to Mexico. Takeout, but you must pick up your order.
In the course of my indefatigable restaurant research, I met two members of the storied group that is said to be robbing American computer programmers, including some of T&V people, of their well-paid jobs – Indian programmers on H1B visas, working for low rates, though presumably not substandard. These personable young men were, surprisingly, willing to talk – I‘m told that I have the mien of a retired cop, and foreigners often look at me with suspicion, as though expecting me to check their green cards. (Once, briskly walking on 17th Street with another laddie, aka Doomsday in these paragraphs, we inadvertently broke up and sent on the run a session of crooks doing forged gold stamp punching at the back entrance of Barnes and Noble.)
The current annual available H1B visas are limited to 65,000, down from 128,000, for Indians, Chinese, Russians, Philippines and other foreign techies, for two three-year terms, renewable when employer requests and visa maximum permits. The outsourcing is done through Indian consulting firms, who also run immense offshore programming shops of 5,000-15,000 programmers in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai (Bombay). They are the intermediaries, obtaining the contracts, importing the programmers, providing living quarters and paying the salaries. For tasks outsourced offshore, communication is by phone (6 a.m. call will reach a late-working contact in India), and by e-mail strings, each carrying the history of previous communications on the topic, very effective.
Ajab has been here in the 1990s, before the bubble burst, an d has returned recently. He lives in Jersey City, sharing an apartment with two other singles. He cannot save any real money, nor send it home, NYC is too expensive. Previously, in Milwaukee, he did better. He will go back to India, marry and settle down when he can be sure of continuation of employment offshore. Meanwhile, he’ll stay and learn. Married workers who come here, particularly with children, find it almost impossible to survive. The spouses may not work, under the terms of their H4 visas. It was implied that taking an off-the-books job endangers the visa. Nasim lives in a group apartment in Brooklyn. Both think well of USA and the opportunities. Any hate encountered? “I’d rather not talk” is the comment.
Pay was not discussed, but the workers have health insurance. Vacation of a month, seemingly without pay, is available, but no one can afford a visit to the family. Upon return, the programmer is fairly assured of a middle- or upper-middle-class status, although we did not mention the caste system. Information technology journals imply that the Indian universities, where IT training and discipline is at a very high level, use merit and IQ as admission standards.
As to work discipline, the areas in the office where Indian IT workers are silent, you hear no conversation or phone calls. At lunch they sit together and chitchat, cheerfully. As you enter the elevator, they will often change the conversation to English, to be polite. As to food, I learned little. They like all NYC Indian food, paneer (spinach) dishes, and dosa (flatbread). And pizza - oh yeah!
This review will cover the side streets of T&V Country, east of Union Square/Fifth Ave.
East 15th Street
Do not expect full dinner service at the popular bars, serving the patrons of four theatres and one rock concert hall. – the sports-oriented Revival at 129,the Irving Plaza, favored by punks and rockers, The 119, a dark door below the Polish War Veterans plaque, and the in-crowd’s Belmont Lounge at 117, also offering appetizers, salads and sandwiches. But there are some restaurants.
Shades of Green at 125 East 15th Street (212) 674-1394, once a rock and Irish band paradise, now offers a set menu plus eight daily specials, classic shepherd’s pie, Irish bangers with mash and chicken pot-pie. You pick up.
Link Restaurant and Lounge, 120 East 15 Street (212) 995-1010, “amuse” appetizers, spinach strudel and lobster bisque. For entrées, Kobe beef ($27), salmon tornado, free range chicken. Delivery though the restaurant’s companion diner, 3Square (same address & phone, order also online), a purveyor of breakfasts, lunches and anytime courses, paninis, noodles and sandwiches. Create your own salad.
East 16th and 17th Streets were covered by the reviews of the avenues that cross them.
One omission - Natural Green Market, Wholesome Gourmet Health Food Store at 16th Street and Third Ave (212) 780-0263, has a substantial salad bar, available half-price after 8 p.m. Ask for free delivery.
East 18th Street
Paul & Jimmy’s at 123 East 18th Street (212) 475-9540, the 50-plus year old veteran Italian favorite originally on Irving Place , offers a well-tested menu of antipasti, insalata, zuppa, farinacci (pasta), pollo, pesce and carne, with side orders of legume. Free delivery, min $25.
Los Dos Melinos at 119 East 18th Street, (212) 505-1574, has burros, tacos and tostadas, and relleno and enchiladas dinners, flautas, chimichnga, red or green chili plates. Sip tequila, Dos Eques or Sangre de Toro in the cantina. Delivered.
Crossing Park Ave South ,there’s the Old Town Bar and Restaurant at 45 East 18th Street (2121) 529-6732. A sentimental favorite, I and the Old Curmudgeon misspent a lot of our youth there. Its upstairs restaurant, open ‘till 11:30 p.m., features American tavern food, chicken pot-pie, salads and burgers. No takeout.
Lucy, Mexican bistro, 35 East 18th Street (212) 475-5829. Oaxaca style, Margarita and Veracruzana ceviche, octopus with parsley, antojitos (little bites), picaditas (corn masa boots) filled with shrimp or duck confit, and then we get serious, with barbacoa, wood-roasted lamb wrapped in banana skins, bisteca and chicharrones (ribs). No delivery.
City Crepe, 28 East 18th Street (212) 228-1840. Evokes dreams of sybaritic breakfasts in bed, scrambled eggs with salmon, and twenty varieties of crepes, toppings galore, and frozen sundaes. Free delivery, check hours.
America, at 9-13 East 18th Street (212) 505-2110, a huge space where conversation reverberates, offers a gorgeous mosaic of a multi-faceted menu that crosses the continent, from Vermont to Mexico. Takeout, but you must pick up your order.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 6:37 AM 
