Best of New York 2012 • Eating

• Talde

  369 Seventh Ave., at 11th St., Park Slope; 347-916-0031

  Two food groups New Yorkers love indisputably are pretzels and pot stickers, so Dale Talde was on to something when he thought of combining the two. To create this genius hybrid, he first forms ordinary Chinese dumplings with pork-and-chive filling inside Shanghai-style wheat wrappers. The chef then “pretzels” the exteriors, blanching them in a baking-soda solution, then hitting them with egg wash and butter before pan-searing them and then popping them in the oven to brown. The finished products have the tender interior of Eldridge Street’s finest, with a chewy, salty casing reminiscent of a Central Park pretzel. Served with a sesame-laced Chinese mustard, the end product is wholly delicious and very New York.

  See Also
  First Look at Talde

From the 2012 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine