Asian Eats to Enjoy
By Keenan Steiner
With Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month upon us, why not take a visit to understand—through your stomach— just a little bit about the Asian heritage that’s so influential in the United States and all over the world.
In Westchester, there’s an Asian restaurant for every taste. The diversity of fine Asian cuisine in every sense of the word is right here: there is everything on offer from Korean to Filipino to Thai and back, from street food to izakaya to the finest dining, from Westchester staples operating for decades to brand new concepts.
We want to highlight at least a few of the myriad options in Westchester for bold Asian flavors: Thai Cookery Street Food NY, a new Thai street food option, Enbu Asian Fusion, a Japanese restaurant with a touch of Chinese influence, and Goosefeather, elevated Cantonese in a mansion.
Whether you’re chasing dumplings, hibachi, or mango sticky rice,, read on for a brief taste of three restaurants worth a visit in Westchester, and see where you’ll be settling in with friends, family, or solo, for your next taste of authentic Asian cooking.
Thai Cookery Street Food NY
1995 Palmer Avenue, Larchmont
914.315.1409
For those who know Bangkok, you know street food is huge, especially the night markets. When I was in Bangkok, I remember the street pad thai, skewers, and the mango sticky rice at night markets. Street food is something so particular to Thai culture.
“We all grew up with home cooking, and if we don’t eat the food that Mom cooked, we will go to the local night market to get dinners,” co-owner Thanya Phanpinyo said.
The main chef is Phanpinyo’s uncle, Wisit Panpinyo, known as Chef Nok, who ironically created something the opposite of street food at a now-closed burger restaurant in New York: a $250 burger made with Kobe beef, foie gras, white truffles, pancetta, and caviar.
The team behind Thai Cookery has been in the restaurant business for more than 20 years, the co-owner said. This is their second location, opened in 2024, following up on a New Jersey spot.
The team has a mission. What is it?
“We would like everyone to get the taste of the Thai food that is served at the night market in Thailand,” Phanpinyo said.
One major item to order to start is the Thai Street Bite Size Box, street food appetizers for the table, where you’ll get chicken satay, chicken pot stickers, spring rolls, and crispy shrimp in a blanket. Enjoy the bites with the Singha, Thailand’s refreshing pale lager.
Another appetizer of note is the deep-fried Bangkok Wings (with cilantro, lime, Thai whisky), or a kari puff (potato and chicken seasoned with curry powder in flaky pastry with cucumber ajaad sauce).
For an entree, Phanpinyo recommends the drunken noodles – stir-fried broad rice noodles, egg, chili, onion, bell pepper with basil (along with the protein of your choice). She also has praise for the Nuer Kapraw Kai Dao – a beef with basil over white rice with an egg on top.
Tuesday through Friday, you can take advantage of a lunch special, where for between $14 and $16, you can choose from Pad Thai, drunken noodles, Pad See-Ew, various fried rice, curries, and other dishes.
And for dessert, you can’t miss the Sweet Mango with Sticky Rice (seasonally available).
On Instagram, find them at @thaicookeryny.
Goosefeather
49 E Sunnyside Lane, Tarrytown
914.829.5454
Cuisine: Modern Cantonese
Started by James Beard nominee and three-time “Top Chef” contestant Dale Talde, among other accolades, Talde has been a celebrity chef for quite some time. But it was not until 2019 that he went off to his first solo restaurant – and he did it at grand scale.
He and his wife opened Goosefeather in the 19th-century King Mansion at the Tarrytown House Estate on a hill in Tarrytown, with four dining rooms, a nine-seat bar, both indoor and outdoor lounge areas, and not only modern and inventive Cantonese cuisine, but a focus on what the community wants, when it comes to the menu and even special events.
Talde, the author of the cookbook “Asian American,” actually had the opportunity to open a restaurant out of the Tarrytown House Estate years earlier but the timing wasn’t right. It was by 2019.
“When I saw the property, I fell in love with it,” he said.
“Goosefeather actually holds a very special place in my heart because it marks the first time I truly went out on my own,” in a concept he started with his wife Agnes.
With the menu at Goosefeather, Talde sees an opportunity to buck the trends around him.
“There are a million Italian restaurants, a steakhouse around every corner,” he wrote. “But nobody was doing Chinese food in a way that felt fresh and thoughtful.”
When it comes to crafting the menu, it’s not only full of Cantonese classics, but “it’s about what the community is asking for,” he wrote.
So, in the King Mansion, what food is King?
“When you sit down, don’t even think twice,” Talde wrote. What does he mean? Order the aged crown duck. It’s “interactive, delicious, a showstopper,” he wrote.
He also recommends the Char Siu Berkshire pork belly and “you just can’t go wrong with the crab fried rice.”
Brunch is another option here, especially if you want to be in the outdoor lounge. Talde is unveiling a new dish, croissant shrimp toast topped with Chinese sausage gravy, which he feels is going to be a hit.
Drinks-wise, Talde himself is a tequila guy and recommends “The World is Yours” cocktail made with green tea-infused tequila, mango, and lime. Talde called the wine list fresh and fun, “not your typical suburban wine list.” Alongside Old World wines from strong vintages you’ll find lesser-known grapes like Verdejo and Syrah from Morocco, and many of the selections also come from sustainable or minimal-intervention producers.
To cap off the meal, Goosefeather sports a shaved ice machine that he’s dialing with fun seasonal toppings – very unexpected (see the show ice, pictured).
As the spring unfolds, they’re reopening the lawn bar and bringing back our outdoor parties and BBQs. Talde also looks forward to themed wine dinners, special omakase nights, and one of the newest hits, our drag brunch with “Dining with Divas,” which he said brought such great energy to the space.
“There’s nothing better than seeing the community come together right here on our front lawn,” Talde wrote.
They’re on instagram @goosefeatherny.
Enbu Asian Fusion
1086 N Broadway #115, Yonkers
914.881.9688
Cuisine: Principally Japanese
In a freshly-designed space meshing eastern and western elements opened in 2023, Enbu Asian Fusion is led by Chinese entrepreneur and chef Yuki Lee, who has been in the restaurant business for 20 years.
The creative menu is, as Lee describes, 80 percent Japanese, featuring dishes such as Hibachi, Udon, Ramen, but also has fusion elements with Thai Curry, Salmon Salda, and Chinese cuisines.
It’s all in the family for Lee. Previously the family business was Kicho in Bedford Hills, and when the lease ended they moved to a new location in Yonkers, taking advantage of the change to create a new look and feel.
There is a close and easy link between Chinese and Japanese culture for Lee.
“Chinese Culture is very close to Japanese Culture. Personally, I am very passionate about Japanese culture and Japanese food” she said.
Her family had also owned Matsu Sushi in Westport, Connecticut for 20 years and “that inspired me to open my own restaurant and became a businesswoman.”
The most popular appetizer, according to Lee, is the spicy tuna crispy rice topped with tobiko (flying fish roe), scallion & jalapeno. Other popular starters are the Enbu Appetizer, which is crab meat salad, mango, avocado, cucumber, wrap with pepper tuna, tobiko, scallion, served with yuzu wasabi sauce. The live scallop with Kumamoto oyster is another top starter.
Proud of the creative sushi rolls, Lee’s favorite rolls are the sweetheart roll (spicy tuna, avocado, crunch wrapped with tuna, served with spicy mayo) and the lobster lover roll (lobster tempura topped with lobster salad, lobster, avocado and mango).
One standout on the menu is the colorful Love Boat for Two. At $68, it will set you back a pretty penny but fill you up. It includes 8 pieces of sushi, 15 pieces of sashimi, a California roll and a mango Hawaii roll, which is salmon and avocado on the inside, mango on the outside, and served with a mango sauce
For something more robust, she recommends the hibachi filet mignon ($34), which comes with Japanese onion soup or salad, and hibachi fried rice or noodles.
At the bar, don’t miss the lychee or mango martinis, she said.
Meanwhile, there are various deals at lunch, including a Maki combo (any three rolls with miso soup and a salad for $16), along with Lunch Bento Boxes: negimaki, teriyaki or tempura served with rice, an appetizer, and a California Roll.
For a finishing touch, or to try with a cocktail, spoon the creme brulee with berries, coppa pistachio (custard gelato swirled with chocolate and pistachio gelato, topped with pistachio), mochi ice cream, or “dream bomba” ice cream (which is a heart of caramel surrounded by peanut butter gelato coated in milk chocolate and peanut butter drizzle).
On Instagram, find them @enbuasianfusion.
