NYC Restaurants Selling Bulk Frozen Foods

More and more, New York City restaurants are beginning to pivot from food delivery to grocery delivery, especially as the city’s big box grocers are seeing long lines as stores struggle to keep up with customer delivery demand online. Some of the city’s top restaurants are now selling items like frozen sausages, pork dumplings, pao de quiejo, and more.

Under normal circumstances, Eater might advise against freezing pasta sauce from Rezdôra, but these staff favorite restaurants have turned menu items into worthy meals that can withstand a week — or four — in the freezer. This list will be regularly updated. If there’s something in your fridge that we’re missing, let us know at tips@eater.com.

3 Times: Shanghai-style dumpling spot 3 Times has expanded its make-at-home offerings to include packages of frozen buns, siu mai, wontons, and dumplings, with multiple options for fillings. Frozen dumplings can be ordered through the restaurant’s website for delivery to Manhattan, Long Island City, Flushing, Brooklyn, and Jersey City on Wednesdays and Sundays, with a $60 minimum per order.

Ammazzacafe: This Williamsburg Italian restaurant delivers meal kits that it promises can be prepared in 15 minutes, as well as fresh pastas, sauces, olives, and beverages. Cocktails and wines also available. Delivery within a three-mile radius provided; call or email before midnight the preceding day: 929-250-2875 or eat@ammazzacaffe.nyc

Balkan Bites: Pop-up bakery Balkan Bites is back with frozen burek, the savory phyllo dough pies sold at local farmer’s markets across the city. The pastries — which come in spinach, cheese, and ground beef varieties — are currently available for nationwide shipping (four for $18).

Barano: Williamsburg’s southern Italian restaurant Barano is open for delivery, but it recently added pints of sauce and pasta by the pound to its online menu. Tomato and vodka sauces are available, as is a garlicky pork ragu, which can be paired with the fusilli, spaghetti, macaroni, and paccheri fresh pasta options.

Brodo: Manhattan’s popular bone-broth counter has frozen soups available for bulk delivery, including single-serving packages of its ginger-turmeric and chile-garlic chicken broths. There’s also 30-ounce containers of chicken, beef, seaweed, and mushroom broths, which can be kept in the fridge for seven to 10 days or frozen for up to a year. For nationwide shipping, visit Brodo’s website.

Bund on Broadway: Shanghainese dumpling house Bund on Broadway is selling frozen dumplings, soup dumplings, wontons, spring rolls, and buns ranging from $1 to $1.50 a piece. Next-day delivery orders can be placed between 12 p.m. and 9 p.m. with a $25 minimum. Closed on Tuesdays.

Bourke Street Bakery: The NYC outpost of one of Sydney’s most beloved bakeries is selling frozen sausages and meat pies in bulk. Freezable chicken and wagyu beef meat pies are available for same-day delivery, as are lamb, almond, and harissa sausages, which usually appear in the restaurant’s sausage rolls.

Colonia Verde: Fort Greene Latin American restaurant Colonia Verde is delivering frozen arepas and pao de quiejo, a type of Brazilian cheese roll, which can be reheated in the oven. Flour and blue corn tortillas are also available in packages of 20.

Gino’s Pastry Shop: This classic Italian pastry shop — one of the city’s best — sells frozen cheesecakes and baked goods, available Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call Gino’s at 718-584-3558 to place an order for pick-up or delivery.

The Good Batch: Clinton Hill bakery the Good Batch is offering its popular cookies in dough form for baking fresh at home, by the dozen. Flavors include a classic chocolate chip, ginger molasses, and confetti, as well as a vegan and gluten-free tahini chocolate chunk. Ice cream sandwiches are also for sale.

I Trulli: Frozen gnocchi, cavatelli, and lasagna meal kits are all on the menu at Kips Bay Italian restaurant I Trulli. The frozen pasta and sauce meal kits are prepared by “Nonna” Dora Marzovilla, 84, who prepares the restaurant’s bolognese and eggplant parmigiana recipes in isolation.

Insa: Korean restaurant and karaoke bar Insa is selling frozen meat and vegetable dumplings in 10-packs ($15). Half pints of banchan like potato salad or seaweed and pickles are also available for purchase, as are pints of cabbage, radish, and okra kimchi.

Jajaja Plantas Mexicana: The Lower East Side location of this vegetarian taqueria has pivoted to grocery delivery for the duration of the quarantine. There are 32-ounce containers of jackfruit, vegan chorizo, and portobello mushrooms available for delivery, and if these plant-based proteins are headed for the freezer, throw in a few frozen paletas from Fany Gerson’s La Newyorkina.

King David Tacos: Austin-style breakfast tacos are now available for home eating from King David Tacos. The Financial District taco stand is offering what it calls “taco drops,” a combination of 10 flour tortilla tacos served alongside salsa verde and salsa roja. Tacos can be kept for five days in the refrigerator and for a few more after that in the freezer.

Katz’s Deli: Famed NYC deli Katz’s is slinging meat by the pound, which can be kept for up to three months in the freezer. Pastrami and brisket are both available by the pound or whole.

The Meat Hook: Frozen quarts of chicken and beef stock and chicken bone broth are available for delivery out of Williamsburg’s ever-popular butcher shop the Meat Hook. The shop’s housemade Italian sausages and pork bacon can also be stored in the freezer.

Mimi Cheng’s: Popular dumpling destination Mimi Cheng’s is now selling make-at-home meal kits. The $55 frozen packages include 30 frozen chicken and zucchini dumplings, two scallion pancakes, and a bottle of the restaurant’s housemade dumpling sauce. Deliveries are available on Thursday and Friday.

Nom Wah Tea Parlor: Nom Wah’s fast-casual sister restaurant in Nolita is delivering 1.5-pound bags of frozen shrimp dumplings and frozen pork soup dumplings. Many of the iconic restaurant’s dim sum dishes are available for delivery, as well, including sloppy joe noodles, greens with oyster sauce, and red bean buns.

Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao: This famed Flushing-based soup dumpling purveyor is offering delivery and pickup for its regular menu, as well as bulk frozen soup dumplings in packs of 30 and more. Go classic with a crab and pork soup dumpling, or get other varietals like a truffle pork soup dumpling and a pork, shrimp, and chive regular dumpling.

Rezdôra: Flatiron Italian restaurant Rezdôra is now selling its well-liked ragus to take home. These freezer-ready meat sauces include pork and prosciutto, duck, and wild boar varieties, in addition to a traditional tomato sauce. Spaghetti, tagliatelle, radiatore, and papardelle pastas are also available for purchase, with 10 percent of each sale going to ROAR x Robin Hood, a charity effort offering restaurant worker relief.

Taste of Persia: Saeed Pourkay, the owner and chef of cult-favorite Flatiron hit Taste of Persia has reopened his business for delivery-only, and travels all over the city to drop off orders. He announces a new set of soups and stews on his Instagram account each week and makes drops over the weekend. The food comes in 32 ounce containers and stays good frozen but Pourkay recommends freezing it in smaller containers so it is easier to thaw. Orders can be placed by emailing Saeed.pourkay@gmail.com and leaving a name, phone number, and drop off address.

Yaso Tang Bao: Dumpling mini-chain Yaso Tang Bao is dishing out a menu of family-style meals befitting of two, four, or six people — not to mention a 10-person option priced at one million dollars and described as “10 people? Seriously? Do NOT gather in groups.” Frozen pork, curry chicken, and vegetable bao are available in packages of 20 or 40 pieces here, as are the restaurant’s spicy soup dumplings. Pre-order in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Long Island City, Jersey City, and Hoboken.