Whether you love it or hate it, New York’s Penn Station is . . . okay, nobody loves New York’s Penn Station. This utterly utilitarian rail hub hosts more than a half-million passengers a day, almost five times more than its charming cross-town cousin, Grand Central Station.
Besides being overcrowded and lacking any kind of ambience, Penn Station is a nightmare for the foodie on the go. If you crave more than heat-lamp pizza, overpriced underwhelming deli, and dishwater coffee, you’re going to have to work for it. Here are some of my favorite food and drink spots in the vicinity.
Noodle Heaven
Yook Gae Jang hot and spicy beef stew, photo courtesy of Kunjip
Immediately east of Penn Station’s 7th Avenue exit on 32nd Street is an unexpected enclave of Korean restaurants. K-Town is roughly a block of neon eateries spliced with massage parlors, but there is some great Korean food to discover.
At Kunjip, a narrow room bustles with locals chowing down on authentic Korean dishes, and hungry diners willing to line up and wait. Once you score a table, start with the soups and casseroles on the large menu.
Ox knee soup offers a hot and spicy kick, and the crispy pancakes spiked with seafood are another favorite. The restaurant also does Korean-style barbecue. It’s easy for a two to have a tasty meal for about $50.
If the line at Kunjip is too long to take, try Mandoo Bar for dumplings or Kang Suh for “BBQ.”
New York Steak of Mind
Aged prime porterhouse, photo courtesy of Keens
A few blocks away awaits a much different, quintessentially New York experience. Keens Steak House, as the oath out front attests, has been dishing up great beef and “Mutton that jolly-well satisfies” for 125 years.
Keens oozes old New York from the Rubenesque beauty in oils behind the bar to the clay pipes hung all over the restaurant. Teddy Roosevelt, Babe Ruth and other members of New York’s elite were regulars and so should you be.
Understand that most steaks are served a la carte at $40-plus, athough Keens does offer a more reasonable pub menu, with most items priced between $15 and $25.
Tiki Tacky Fun
For another only-in-New York experience, exit Penn Station on the west side near the Amtrak ticket window and head north on 8th Avenue to The Distinguished Wakamba Cocktail Lounge at 8th Avenue, between 37th and 38th streets. You’ve been to faux dives before, but this is the real thing.
The faded Waikiki look includes nautical netting, fake palms and tacky tiki torches that were in fashion never. The powerful cocktails will make you forgot that overcrowded train ride and any other troubles.
Joe, Where Are You?
Finally, for anyone looking for a fix of the caffeinated variety, Penn Station makes you work for a decent cup.
There’s not even a Starbucks on the station’s main level; the best you can do is go to the New Jersey Transit area for a Seattle’s Best, Starbucks’ red-headed stepchild. To get your favorite Starbucks tall, half-cafe, skinny latte, follow the Long Island Railroad signs to the lower level.
Starbucks in hand, you can at least take comfort in knowing the coffee at Penn Station — if nothing else — is the real deal.
To read more: Mike Colameco’s Food Lover’s Guide to New York City
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