Lucky Bee is Really Cooking With Gas

The Lower East Side’s Lucky Bee is finally cooking with gas; and we mean that literally.  After launching three months ago, and operating solely with induction and butane stoves, the family-style, farm-to-table Southeast Asian spot (from philanthropist and sneaker designer, Rupert Noffs and his husband and former Fat Radish chef, Matty Bennett) finally has access to a gas-powered cooktop, oven and grill.

And considering the extended Con Ed holdup had caused the eatery to literally cut its menu in half (due to the fact it took them up to two hours just to boil water), it means that patrons finally get to experience the restaurant the owners actually intended.  So in addition to remaining favorites such as Green Curry with market vegetables and Papaya Salad with snake beans and shrimp floss, a significantly expanded selection of small and large plates now includes Twice-Cooked Pork Hock Bao Buns, served with cucumber relish and plummy hoisin, Sour Orange Curry, flavored with lemongrass and betel leaves and afloat with fava beans and filets of arctic char, and Whole Fried Fish with extravagantly curled tails, dusted with salt and Szechuan peppercorns and splashed with soy sauce and lime.

But perhaps the greatest benefit of an increased number of dishes, is patron predilection to pair them with even more booze. Which is great news for Lucky Bee’s environmentally conscious cocktail program, which supports area beekeepers by utilizing local, organic nectar (there’s the “Clockwork Orange” with genever, campari, lavender honey and cynar, and the “Call it a Day” with vodka, coconut water, lemongrass honey and mint) and donating $1 to the New York Beekeepers Association for every “Karma” cocktail purchased.

In fact, Bennett and Noffs are so passionate about their restaurant’s namesake insect, they aim to eventually obtain approval from their landlord, in order to maintain rooftop hives themselves.  But that’s an endeavor for another day; for now, it’s a reprieve just to have gas at this already popular new spot on the Lower East Side.

Lucky Bee
252 Broome Street
New York, NY
(917) 262-0329
www.luckybeenyc.com