Pok Pok Ny
Andy Ricker’s Portland, Oregon import made waves when it first landed on an unassuming block in Brooklyn’s out-of-the-way Columbia Waterfront District last summer. Locals, intrepid Manhattanites, food media and more all reported lines that stretched down the cobblestone streets, where only the most determined lasted the two hours it took to finally cram into a tiny table and feast on Ricker’s faithfully rendered regional Thai specialities. You may not have to wait (quite) as long for your Hoi Thawt (broken crepe with mussels), Laap Meuang (minced pork salad), or Kung Op Wun Sen (prawns baked in a clay pot) nowadays, but that only helps legitimize the uncontrived everyman vibe Pok Pok is going...
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Perla
Chef Michael Toscano exercises his gift for nose-to-tail cooking at Gabe Stulman’s rustic Italian bistro, Perla. You can find seldom-seen cuts running through his selection of antipasti (Crispy Testa and Pigs Ear with grilled onions and cannellini beans, Veal Tongue with crispy capers, Tokyo turnips, and tonnato sauce), as well as primi (Garganelli with tripe and prosciutto, Pappardelle with cockscomb stew), although oddly, not necessarily in his hearty assortment of secondi. No matter, Lamb Breast with radicchio and sunchokes, Quail with cauliflower and brown butter sugo, and Saba Glazed Duck with pickled golden raisins and quince are every bit as interesting (and...
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Acme
The name on most restaurant scene-sters lips this year (or the ones that can ably pronounce it, anyway,) was undeniably Mads Refslund. Formerly of the world-famous Noma in Copenhagen, Refslund wove a world of culinary adventure into plates as inauspicious sounding as Radishes (listed on the menu under the heading Raw, and served with an oyster-parsley dip), Farmers Eggs (Cooked), an assemblage of cauliflower foam-filled shells over chicken wire, Salt-baked Carrots (Soil), with sliced lardo and blood orange, and a deceptively straightforward Roasted Bass (Sea/Land), flavored with wild onions, thyme and...
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Battersby
You can’t throw a locally-sourced egg without hitting a seasonally-minded restaurant in Brooklyn nowadays, but Battersby is hardly just riding the coattails of a passing fad. You’ll want to return time and again for well-conceived dishes like Veal Sweetbreads A La Meunière with Caesar Dressing, Hake with Chickpeas, Chorizo and Preserved Lemon, and Pappardelle with Madeira, Taggiasca Olives and Duck Ragu, but this being Brooklyn, their menu changes as frequently as the culinary...
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Atera
Not since wd-50 has a NYC restaurant so aptly justified the use of molecular gastronomy in modern American cooking. Executive Matthew Lightner walks an intriguing tightrope at this ambitious Tribeca restaurant, taking foraged, decidedly back-to-the-land ingredients (sorrel, parsley root, wildflower honey, hickory nuts), and engineering them into unique exercises of form and flavor (fried “lichen” is presented on a wooden box of hot stones, a charred leek is anointed with “hay ash” and dolloped with sheep’s milk...
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Mission Chinese Food
Does “Americanized Chinese Food” conjure up visions of uninspired, overseasoned beef and broccoli in brown sauce, or gloppy, MSG-laden chicken chow mein? Danny Bowien blew those misconceptions out of the water when he opened the first East Coast outpost of his popular San Francisco restaurant this year. What the team behind Torrisi and Parm did for nostalgic 1970s Italian in NYC , Bowien did for throwback Chinese, delighting patrons with Salt Cod Fried Rice, Kung Pao Pastrami, Tingly Tea Smoked Chicken, and of course, Broccoli Beef Brisket with Smoked Oyster...
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Restaurant Spotting – Mayfield
Brooklyn has been beckoning Manhattan-based food journalists and foodies across the river for awhile now. But there are still plenty of under-explored neighborhoods in the borough. Case in point: Crown Heights, which is perhaps one of the most rapidly changing sections of Brooklyn right now. The latest addition to the neighborhood is a New American restaurant called Mayfield.
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What I’m Loving – Yopparai
It’s not easy to surprise me with a great, new restaurant that’s not really new at all. It makes me feel like I’ve failed as a food writer and restaurant chaser. How did I miss the memo about Yopparai? Seriously. I suggested we go for Japanese to a friend who responded, “I just went to a great spot on the Lower East Side.” When I neared the entrance, I realized I’d been to the same address for sushi just a year before when it was Sushi Uo, an oddball sushi spot that sadly didn’t last long. I buzzed the same mysterious buzzer, then passed through a door into a railroad-style apartment building where the restaurant occupies a long, narrow space on the ground floor. There’s a long wood sushi bar with cozy, cushioned seating, several two-tops along the wall,...
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First Bite: L’Apicio
It ain’t easy to open a restaurant in this city, nevermind a successful one. First, there’s the task of finding a space with reasonable rent, then liquor licenses to wrangle, and building out the space. Not to mention coming up with an original concept and menu, which ain’t easy either. Yet, Joe Campanale and his partners, August Cardona, Gabe and Katherine Thompson, continue to open successes, which manage packed dining rooms and full reservation books around the clock. What started with a West Village trattoria named dell’anima has expanded into a growing empire of hip Italian-bent eateries that includes L’Artusi and Anfora. L’Apicio is their fourth venture and their first East Village eatery, located on the Bowery (just around the corner from DBGB) in a spacious locale that used to house Bowery Wine Co. The interior...
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What I’m Loving – Ootoya
I had nearly given up on eating at the new Japanese izakaya Ootoya in Gramercy. Every time I tried to stop in for dinner I’d stumble into a fleet of hopeful diners surrounding the hostess stand and come up against an hour or two wait for a table. Having become very impatient in my old age, I’d sulk near the bar for ten minutes, then head to nearby 15 East or another Japanese joint. I’d all but given up, but I thought I’d do one last drive-by on the evening of the recent Noreaster. The room was still buzzing and the eating counter packed, but the snowfall had scared off a few diners, so there was one two-top left in the house. The counter seats and main dining room were all taken, but I was happy to be indoors, gifted a cup of...
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What I’m Loving – Center Bar
I never thought of the Time Warner Center as particularly warm and cozy. Some people liken it to a cold, glossy mall in the middle of the city. So it was a strange thing to wander into the Time Warner Center on Wednesday night, post hurricane fallout, and feel surprisingly at home. All the restaurants were thankfully open and buzzing with customers — from Bar Masa to Landmarc, A Voce and Porter House New York. But I never thought I’d stumble upon a new spot, which as many of you may know, is a very exciting thing for a foodie, especially for hungry, displaced hurricane victims seeking refuge from the storm. Who doesn’t take comfort in a stiff cocktail and fancy food? It’s called Center Bar, a little oasis in the center of the atrium as you come off the fourth...
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Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto
What’s with the sudden restaurant migration to the Upper East Side? First, the guys from The Lion made the trek uptown to open The Crown last year, then came Il Mulino’s recent fall, “red sauce” debut and now Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto. Except Salumeria Rosi didn’t exactly move uptown. Instead, partner and chef Cesare Casella made his way across Central Park from the West Side to open a second Salumeria Rosi outpost, a partnership with Parmacotto meat purveyors.
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What I’m Loving: Governor
Cuisine: American Vibe: Swanky supper club Occasion: Stargazing; see and be seen. Impress your date. Don’t Miss: Monkey bread, Nora’s meatloaf, sticky toffee pudding Price: Appetizers, $13; entrees, $25; dessert, $9 Reservations: Highly recommended Phone: (212) 308-2950 Location: 60 E. 54th St., near Park Ave. Monkey Bar isn’t really a restaurant. It’s Graydon Carter’s uptown dinner party. The editor of Vanity Fair began dabbling in restaurants a few years back when he revived the aging Waverly Inn. Some people like buying vintage cars. Carter likes buying vintage restaurants and restoring them. Monkey Bar still looks like the original, 1930s supper club – rich red-leather banquettes, brass trimmings, monkey lamps and a 65-foot mural of New Yorkers along the walls. Most of the servers wear white steward jackets with long tails and striped patches on the shoulders. The dining room...
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Acme
Teaser: Nordic cooking is having its moment in New York right now and perhaps the most exciting spot to sample it right now is Acme, where Noma’s co-founder Mads Refslund fortuitously turned up in the kitchen this winter. Talk about a makeover…
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Wong
What the chef, Simpson Wong, dubs “Asian locavore” cuisine takes cues from all over Asia, from India to Malaysia to China.
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Perla
Perla is Michael Toscano’s coming out party and he manages to make quite an impression at this casual Italian with seriously good and innovative cooking.
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Parm
A marriage of Italian and American, we like to think the menu at Parm is the best of both worlds, especially where comfort food is concerned.
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North End Grill
North End Grill is great for anything from a business dinner to a date or festive group dinner.
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La Promenade de Anglais
La Promenade de Anglais is great for a date night, chic group dinner, or Riviera craving.
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Kutsher’s Tribeca
Kutsher Tribeca is great for a jewish deli craving, group dinner, table for one at the bar, or casual date.
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