sign in sign up
<<
Home , Caul fat, Cuban pastry, Dilly beans, Guanciale, Jellied veal, Masaharu Morimoto

CHEAP EATS PLUS EVERYTHING UNDER $25 Untouched. Untainted. Unspoiled. ©2008 Finlandia Vodka Worldwide Ltd., Helsinki, Finland. Finlandia Vodka 40% Alc./Vol. Imported by Brown-Forman, Louisville, KY USA 40% Alc./Vol. Ltd., Helsinki, Finland. Finlandia Vodka Worldwide ©2008 Finlandia Vodka

where to eat 2008

From big-splurge blowouts to locavore temples to Naked Vodka down-and-dirty barbecue joints, Adam Platt selects the best places to eat right now.

fi nlandia.com Keep your judgement pure. Drink responsibly. Illustration by Craig Ward where to eat | new york 3 where to eat 2008 “ thank God,” declared my friend the , Foodo Aristocrat whenh I gave her the news. The great tidal wave of giant Vegas-style dining establishments that has flooded the city’s dining scene the last few years appears to have crested and washed out to sea. Down in the meatpacking district, you can still feast in great ocean- liner-size spaces if you wish, or drop thousands of dollars on delicacies jetted in from around the globe. But New York turns out more prize-winning barbecue- pit masters these days than Anthos grandiose superstar chefs. In this hypercasual, eco-minded era, the really hot restaurants don’t require jackets or ties, and many don’t take farm-grown dinners and spiking into categories reflecting the most road map to take with you on your reservations. Japanese cooks have their $15 cocktails with carrot juice. notable culinary happenings of the culinary ramblings. Oh, and if you’re ditched the big-box model and are We analyze these curious dining moment. We will tell you where to looking for the finest Chinese grub once again opening elegant little trends, plus many more, in this, procure the most lethal absinthe in Brooklyn, we’ve got that, too, along restaurants in elegant little rooms. our annual compendium of all cocktails in town, instruct you with our yearly summation of New Dainty finger foods are the rage in that’s stylish, fabulous, and new on where to find a good duck egg York’s best new restaurants, the best Italian food, and the swells at the in the fickle galaxy of New York for brunch, and provide a list of up-and-coming chefs, and, last but posh new spots along Park Avenue restaurants. In the following pages, the most lavishly expensive haute not least, the best venues, in this age and at the Ritz aren’t clamoring for you’ll find our recommendations cuisine establishments in which to of rampant culinary correctness, soufflés. They’re ordering platters of for an entire year’s worth of serious blow the remnants of your year- for a sinfully delicious, hormone- organic Swiss chard to go with their eating, broken down, as usual, end bonus. Consider it a kind of saturated, nonorganic feast.

4 new york | where to eat Photographs by Jeff Mermelstein where to eat | new york 5 served with avocado and sticks of jícama; your meal the way the rest of the barnyard in wintertime, stick to the , particularly snobs do, with a weirdly bracing - the milky grilled chop, which is ­cucumber Mojito or a Tom Collins–style we’re all caked in a luxurious blanket of and drink called the Jackrabbit, which is spritzed, bread crumbs and surrounded by drifts of not unpleasantly, with carrot juice. locavores now … sautéed chanterelles. Marco Canora learned all about the art Similar earthy specialties are on display at of high-minded Greenmarket cooking at The great Greenmarket tsunami, which BLT Market, in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, where ­Craft, where he ran the kitchen for one of began on the downtown fringes of the that canny franchiser Laurent Tourondel the original high priests of the movement, restaurant world three decades ago, has is busy indoctrinating hordes of business Tom Colicchio. And if you wish to taste best new now spread to the grand, upmarket joints in lunchers and eager out-of-town millionaires the purest kind of Slow Food cooking, midtown, engulfing everything in its path. into the cult of the artisanal, the farm- done in high Italian style, you’ll find it restaurants

Park Avenue matrons don’t have to travel raised, and the locally grown. You can these days at his new midtown restaurant, of the year•• down to Blue Hill anymore for their fix of purchase pickled dilly and pots of ­Insieme. From the typeface used on the seasonally correct veggies. They’re gathering locally raised at the front desk, studied menu to the stripped-down, at Michael Stillman’s antic new restaurant, and instead of carefully wrought foie gras workmanlike white-oak tabletops, the Insieme Marco Canora’s newest venture Park ­Avenue ­Winter, a place where the menu, canapés before dinner, every table receives boxy little theater-district establishment offers the latest in haute Italian dining, but with a fashionable Greenmarket twist. the décor, even the name change according a bowl of pickled vegetables and a baguette echoes Craft in all sorts of derivative, to the rhythm of the seasons. In summer- of fresh garlic bread in a paper bag. Tourondel mildly annoying ways. But you won’t Anthos The décor could be more inspired, time, the daisy-yellow walls were affixed with began his career as a seafood maestro, so find a rich, multilayered like this but the cooking establishes Michael Psilakis tortoise shells; now, they’re colored a silvery the real specialties on the menu are dishes anywhere in the vicinity of Times Square, as the of nouvelle Aegean cuisine. igloo white. This loopy exercise in seasonal like halibut, which is painted with layers of nor the pink, pasture-fed “baby beef dining sometimes tips toward the bizarre, basil and pesto, and the delicious tartare,” which Canora folds with lemon Soto The new temple of refined small- but it’s held together, in the end, by the steady Chatham cod, which the sinks, along and porcini mushrooms. Pheasant eggs plates dining. Order any dish on the menu high quality of Craig Koketsu’s cooking. If with wheels of fresh , in a faintly make the occasional appearance on the containing the word uni. it’s July, try the soft-shell-crab tempura, spicy, curried broth. After that, wash down “contemporary” side of the restaurant’s menu, but the real delicacies here are Park Avenue Winter Michael Stillman’s Park Avenue Winter the traditional ones, like the great loopy, extravagant production is the ultimate fried-veal specialty fritto misto alla proof of that aged maxim: In the big city, fine Lucchese, and the medley of softly boiled dining is a form of performance art. called lesso misto, which the chef leavens with horseradish cream and BLT Market Haute Barnyard comes to the spoonfuls of freshly made salsa verde. Ritz. The hackneyed concept is rescued by the high quality of the cooking.

Hill Country If you can’t get yourself to the great capital of Lockhart, Texas, this honky-tonk in the Flatiron district is the the iTALIAN next best thing.

SMALL-PLATES invasion Resto The latest venue for chic gastropub dining. Lamb ribs are the hot dish in beef- eater circles, and these are the best in town. Forget about overstuffed gnudi, raw-fish crudi, and those giant, formally fashion- 15 East This intimate Union Square joint able portions of rustically charred bistecca represents a return to old-fashioned, no-frills Fiorentina for two. Among cutting-edge sushi dining. Italian gastronomes, the rage right now

A GÖ T Z are stuzzichini, or spuntini, or any kind Allen & Delancey Classical uptown dining comes to the Lower East Side. SIL J of miniature, reasonably priced delicacy compact enough to fit on a tiny plate. I’m Considering Neil Ferguson’s talents, the thinking of Keith ­McNally’s clamorous, cooking should only get better. market table Market madness done well. Go at lunchtime, and order

illustrations: illustrations: the cheeseburger. slightly confused new Italian brasserie, melting gnocchi all’amatriciana, Morandi ­Morandi, where the most accomplished composed of handmade gnocchi and dishes tend to be the little ones, like smothered in a deeply flavored ragù of plates of golden, crisp fritto misto, and tomatoes, , and guanciale. modest helpings of frizzled artichokes served with the stalks still intact, just like they do in Rome. Whenever I’m ambling down Eighth Avenue in the West Village, I like to duck into the raffish new bar- restaurant dell’anima­ for a stack of the sORRY, crunchy house bruschette before pro- NO RESERVATIONS ceeding to ­Centro ­Vinoteca, where my wife enjoys picking her way methodically through the seventeen “piccolini” items (she Once upon a time, the poshest sort of recommends the truffled eggs, the eggplant people agitated for reservations at fancy fritters, and the arancine rice balls) while uptown restaurants manned by haughty I bolt down Anne Burrell’s crispy-edged maître d’s dressed in shiny black dinner gnocchi and bowls of the butter-soaked coats. But in this, the no-jacket-required raviolo al’uovo, each of which contains a era, the hottest tables tend to be located single gently poached egg. in out-of-the-way neighborhoods in tiny- Lunchtime is still the best time to roomed establishments, many of which dine at the great Bastianich outpost Lupa­ don’t take reservations at all. If you on strips of eighteen-month-old gran don’t believe me, go mingle on a frigid riserva prosciutto di Parma, followed by Saturday evening with the rest of the a dainty forkful or two of the classic doomed hoi polloi outside Graydon­ coda alla vaccinara. But whenever I Carter’s semi-private­ dining club, The find myself trapped farther uptown, in ­Waverly Inn. To gain access to the pleasingly that restaurant wasteland above raffish dining-room sanctum occupied Bloomingdale’s, I do what my stately by Carter and his chums, you’ll need a Upper East Side mother does and drop special phone number or e-mail address, in to Accademia di ­Vino on Third Avenue, or you’ll have to show up personally, then where the tables are filled with famished get on your hands and knees and beg. Is it shoppers gorging on bowls of freshly worth it? Maybe. The sefood items made spaghetti , slices of grilled (classically prepared Dover sole, fresh lamb, and plum-size Parmesan frit- “plank-grilled” trout with spindly ters specked with nuggets of prosciutto. organic carrots) are surprisingly good, and From there, the small-plate parade returns so is the fat, $13 Waverly burger, which downtown to Bar ­Stuzzichini on Broadway, was curiously enlivened, on the evening where you’ll find not one but two I enjoyed it, by a partially obscured view commodious bars filled with a motley of what might or might not have been collection of business lunchers, small- the back of Gwyneth Paltrow’s head. plates fanatics, and dazed-looking They don’t take reservations at G­emma, tourists on their way to Union Square. either, so if you can’t get a table at the new, Begin your tidy little meal with that high-decibel Italian joint in the Bowery weirdly delicious Neapolitan specialty Hotel, elbow your way through the mob scamorza alla brace (toasted smoked of banker boys and fashion assistants mozzarella drizzled with chile-infused to the bar for helpings of the excellent oil), proceed to the candy-size rolls of fried flowers (when they’re in eggplant stuffed with creamy ricotta season), fresh sea-bass crudo splashed , then reach a final, grand crescendo with grapefruit, and little wedges of with a helping of chewy, -filled crostini piled with chicken- tagliolini al limone, perhaps, or the purée. Farther uptown, in the Flatiron

8 new york | where to eat where to eat | new york 9 white bowl, like Texas chili, but with a porcelain Chinese spoon.

international brooklyn

To the borough’s honor roll of perpetually booked, yuppie-approved neighborhood dining destinations like Franny’s­ , A­ pplewood, ­Dressler, and The Good Fork, let’s add the un- best likely new Korean restaurant in Park Slope up-and-coming called ­Moim. The narrow room opens out to a pretty, even Zenlike, garden view in

the back, and on winter evenings the little chefs•• townhouse space feels warm and toasty, just like a good Korean barbecue should. But instead of animated Korean families, the christopher Lee tables are filled with members of the local gilt gentry, sipping glasses of Rioja and madly The new young master of opulent midtown twiddling on their iPhones between bites dining. This kind of highbrow cooking is on of thick fried pa jun and plump the wane, so get a taste while you still can. Momofuku Ssäm Bar mandu dumplings messily stuffed with mushrooms. Not surprisingly, I liked the Craig Koketsu district, the crowd of burger hounds and if you wish to keep current with the fash- beefy dishes the best, like darkly caramelized park avenue winter assorted Belgian-beer aficionados begins ionable downtown dining scene, travel to soaked in sugar and soy sauce, stacks Some of his seasonal menus are better than massing on the sidewalk outside Resto 13th Street in the East Village and battle of soft, ­garlic-flavored ribs, and strips others, but you have to admire the young chef’s stamina, and his range. before 6 p.m. The at this el- for a seat with the rest of the scruffy pork of the deliciously sizzling , which

Momofuku ­Ssäm Bar egant Belgian gastropub is considered loons at David Chang’s . the local gastronomes supplement with Jonathan Benno by some members of the city’s fractious Despite his James Beard award and fawn- that ubiquitous Korean specialty bibimbap, per se burger community to be better than the ing write-ups in countless glossy food served in a hot stone bowl with a barely Benno has been running the kitchen at Per Se fabled monster at that other great no- magazines, Chang doesn’t take reservations, cooked egg on top. for four years now. It’s only a matter of time ­reservations gastropub, The ­Spotted Pig. either. It’s possible to circumvent this policy In a region famous for its meccas, before he runs his own show. I thought it was underwhelming by the by preordering the sumptuously massive, the latest one is ­Lucali, on a leafy stretch of grandiose burger standards of today, $180 bo ssäm, which, as every downtown Henry Street in Carroll Gardens. The brick- Sotohiro Kosugi although the peppery, honey-soaked meathead knows, is an entire Berkshire walled room was suffused, on the evening soto lamb ribs were worth the hour-long wait. pork butt slow-cooked in gallons of sugar- I visited, with the sounds of opera arias The winner of Food & Wine’s Best New Chef Ditto the deviled eggs, served on little drenched soy sauce and wine. Otherwise, and the smells of fresh . After award when he cooked in Atlanta is now postage stamps of crisp-fried pork, and you’ll have to wait patiently in line with you’ve devoured one of the hot, matzo-thin cooking in New York. “the great vat of beef-cheek carbonnade, the rest of the -obsessed sophisticates pies, top off your meal, like I did, with one which my garrulous waiter suggested for a taste of the thin-sliced, delicately of Mark Iacono’s signature hubcap-size Seamus Mullen I wash down with a tall glass of an amber jellied veal-head terrine, followed by a A GÖ T Z calzones stocked with real Italian suba, boqueria Belgian ale called Kwak. bite or two of lamb’s belly. Or slip over SIL J from the old neighborhood. From there, He may not be Spanish, but he’s the city’s The most popular Italian restaurant to the newly relocated Momofuku ­Noodle our multi­ethnic culinary ramble proceeds acknowledged master of cutting-edge on the Upper East Side continues to be Bar and queue up there for a taste of to ­Silent H in Williamsburg, for a plate or Iberian cuisine, and all things to do with Ron Suhanosky and Colleen Marnell- the chef’s special honeycomb , two of shrimp toast, deep-fried on slices suckling pig. Suhanosky’s accomplished, perpetually which is slow-braised with , chile of French baguette, just like they do in the crowded mom-and-pop shop, ­Sfoglia, and peppers, and carrots and served in a illustrations: finer private kitchens of Hanoi. There’s an

10 new york | where to eat where to eat | new york 11 impressive selection of bánh mì by the or the slab but measured available at lunchtime, but this popular Texas style, by the pound, then flopped little restaurant’s real specialty is the thick on great sheets of butcher paper. I like to grilled pork chop, which is bathed, like get there in the early evening, before the some elaborate Vietnamese version of crowds arrive, for my weekly ration of au poivre, in peppercorns and a salty-sweet smoked “moist” brisket (the “lean” is good, fish sauce. but the fatty “moist” deckle cut is better), The latest dining hot spot in restaurant- followed by several slabs of the densely challenged Dumbo is Danny Mena’s flavorful beef shoulder, and a rack or evenings-only Front Street establishment,­ two of the steamy pork ribs chopped Hecho en ­Dumbo, where crowds of starving from great smoky slabs by portly gentle- artists and local taco addicts converge men in white butcher bibs. But if these each night for a taste of the thick corn calorie bombs send you clutching for your sopes piled with chorizo, and the chef’s Lipitor, it’s possible to survive very nicely street-style mini corn tortillas, rolled on the house chicken, which is brushed with deposits of organic Berkshire pork with a sweet barbecue sauce and falls or strips of steak squirted with cooling gently from the bone when you tweak it wedges of lime. But no international tour with your fork. through the culinary wilds of Brooklyn The burned brisket ends and the slow- would be complete without a visit to cooked pork shoulder are still my two Lucky Eight, on the fast-growing Chinatown favorite items on the bountiful, rigorously strip in Sunset Park. My friend the China unhealthy menu at RUB, in Chelsea, and Expert likes to retreat to this tidy, well-run whenever I’m in need of a barbecue fix establishment after his afternoon shop- farther uptown, I like to speed up the ping, to feast on platters of crispy chicken West Side Highway to the frenzied and scattered with crunchy bits of garlic, hectic ­Dinosaur ­Bar-B-Que complex on Fette Sau stacks of small Zhenjiang subtly 131st Street, not for the ribs but for a flavored with vinegar and , and bushel or two of the jumbo, pit-smoked, the bizarrely fresh “Hong Kong Bay style” -rubbed, finger-licking chicken marinating his sea eel in vats of . If lobster, which tastes like it’s just been hauled wings. For a true neighborly barbecue you’re feeling flush, order the $75 out of the chilly waters off Long ­Island and experience, however, I’ll pile the family flight, which consists of five different costs roughly $10 less than it would in the in the car and find my way to ­Fette Sau, refined japanese cuts and grades of fatty tuna, Chinatown of or even Queens. next to Tony & Sons Auto Repair on which the gregarious Shimizu likes to Metropolitan Avenue in the rambling, explain, for the young hedge-fund barely gentrified wilds of Williamsburg. Roughly a decade after it began, the era clientele who roost along the bar, with They sell their slow-cooked beef and of the Godzilla-size, ­Japan-themed dining the help of a special laminated tuna chart. pork products market style here, too, palaces seems mercifully to have ceased. Similar unexpected pleasures are avail- and serve them to the rabble of festive Whenever I want to reminisce about that able at S­ oto, which opened this spring barbecue town, usa local barbecue fiends at picnic tables grandiose, bygone era, I drop in to ­Matsuri, among the smoke shops and tattoo parlors set with rolls of paper towels and giant in the basement of the Maritime Hotel, on lower Sixth Avenue. The polished little Not so long ago, was squirt bottles of home-brewed sauces. The to gape at the Viking-size dining hall, restaurant has no sign on the door, considered a barbecue wasteland, on a thing to order on the ad hoc blackboard before slipping into a seat at the always and night after night you will find its par with other legendary barbecue waste- menu is the good old-fashioned pastra- colorful, always frenetic sushi bar at proprietor, Sotohiro Kosugi, in his lands like Paris, London, and L.A. But not mi, gnarled and peppery on its crunchy Morimoto for a taste of Masaharu Morimoto’s spectacles and white sushi cap, bent anymore. Thanks to newfangled smok- exterior and pink and slightly fatty intricate omakase creations. But in au behind the bar with his two loyal er technology and a new generation of within. I find this ancient regional delicacy courant Japanese-diing circles, the real assistants, crafting a whole range of inspired local pit masters, the city is in goes best with tubs of sauerkraut and action is at smaller, more nimble establish- inventive small-plate delicacies. But the midst of an unlikely meat-smoking ­molasses-thick camp beans, which you ments like 15 East, off Union Square, where among the city’s community of sushi snobs, renaissance. If you don’t believe me, can wash down with a fine selection of Masato Shimizu produces classic high-end this third-generation sushi chef is take a seat with the rest of the yuppie locally brewed artisanal beers, dispensed sushi done in a minimalist, no-frills style. best known for his almost unnerving brisket freaks at Hill ­Country, in the Flatiron in giant gallon-size jugs or a decorous The talented young chef is a purist of the fondness for sea urchin, which he balances district, where dinner is apportioned not selection of ­mason jars. old school, curing his own and on little spools of yuba tofu, tosses with raw

12 new york | where to eat where to eat | new york 13 quail eggs and shreds of squid (“uni ika sugomori ­zukuri”), or whips into mousse form and shapes, with fresh lobster and a sprinkling of caviar, into an exotic savory layer cake. The original ­Sushi of ­Gari, on 78th Street, is still the place I like to take my sushi- trends we’ve starved friends on the Upper East Side for a first-class fish feast. But when that poky space is filled up, we head to the new seen Manhattan outlet of the famous L.A. su- shi temple S­ asabune, on East 73rd Street,

where everyone receives the same purist enough•• of omakase dinner of hot butterfish dabbed with soy, say, or orange snapper dusted with yuzu and served, according to the Really old Why pay $75 for that specifications established at the West “specially aged” two-month-old hunk of beef Coast original, on chaste white tea plates. when a good will do? For a more august Japanese meal, the place is R­ osanjin, in , where the Pit masters Three cheers for the barbecue gregarious proprietor, Jungjin Park, has revolution, but it’s time for a new name. made it his mission to educate the local Nobody ever dug barbecue pits in the big-money hipsters in kaiseki, the sidewalks of New York. Allen & Delancey rarefied cuisine of the Kyoto emperors.

Stuffed birds and animal heads as a At his discreet, nine-table establishment, decorative motif Freemans started this $150 buys a nine-course banquet, of respect at A­ llen & ­Delancey, on the Lower baked skate smothered in tomatoes absurdity. We challenge them to end it. including soft pieces of scallop flecked East Side. The raffish, deceptively styl- and bacon, and the braised short ribs, with gold leaf, little twigs of uni ish restaurant has a candlelit bar area which Shorty pairs with giant prison- Rusting farm implements as a delicately sizzled in tempura batter, up front, where you can buy all sorts yard-style helpings of his sinfully rich decorative motif No more old wagon and wafer-size segments of rich, fatty of advanced mixological creations. But macaroni and cheese. You’ll also find wheels on the walls, please, or farm plows tuna belly served in bowls of handmade the real reason for trekking down to Allen good short ribs on the menu at ­Irving that look like they were dug up in China. porcelain, with chopsticks carved from Street is Ferguson’s cooking, which includes Mill, just off Union Square, where the cedarwood, as Park will tell you, by the delicate iterations of stodgy European kitchen is run by John Schaefer, who Egg-white cocktail drinks And while finest chopstick-makers in Kyoto. classics like bone marrow dressed with toiled for many years at Gramercy we’re on the subject, the term mixologist is caviar and a purée of shallots, crunchy- Tavern. The rabbit ragout is the great getting tired, too. skinned slices of Moulard duck, and a delicacy at this Danny ­Meyer–inspired­ combination of lamb (braised neck and establishment, although if it’s lunchtime, Pickle juice AS A cocktail MIXER parsley-covered chop, over a buttery order the excellent house hamburger, The Haute Barnyard movement jumps the shark. second acts purée) that’s as good as any lamb dish which Schaefer sets on a dainty Eng- at Ramsay’s star-crossed venture uptown. lish muffin and adorns, in classic Haute -chef restaurants The During the twelve long years he spent Barnyard style, with a hint of sherried experiment is over, and the results are in. He (or she) who bakes a fine rarely ever cooks What do the city’s gifted young cooks as a kitchen slave in the Jean-Georges em- onions. a good pork chop. do when they grow weary of being pire, Josh Eden earned the prison-yard Harold Dieterle endured tours in various screamed at all day by their excitable nickname “Shorty.” Now he’s finally on pressure-cooker kitchens around town, Market restaurants Do you really want superstar bosses? They take jobs running the outside, working a hot little no- then survived the withering critiques of A GÖ T Z to purchase a $20 jar of artisanal honey after small kitchens in far-flung, soon-to- reservations joint of his own called Tom Colicchio and his super-chef side- paying $150 for your meal? be-gentrified neighborhoods, where SIL J Shorty’s.32. Arrive early to secure a table kicks to win the ludicrously popular, they can do some screaming of their own. in the crowded, speakeasy-style space, maddeningly addictive reality-TV show White truffles Ounce for ounce, the Take Neil Ferguson, who, after years and be sure to order Shorty’s gourmet Top Chef. After all this ­chaos, it’s not most overrated (and overpriced) delicacy in of abuse at the hands of that famous riffs on classic comfort-food dishes, like surprising that his own West Village the restaurant galaxy. culinary lunatic Gordon Ramsay, has golden roasted country chicken served restaurant, Perilla, is a peaceful, neighborly

found peace, tranquillity, and a measure illustrations: with fried garlic and mashed potatoes, space, with a scuffed bar up front and $40 entrées Last year, we said we’d seen enough of entrées over $30. We remain eternally hopeful. where to eat | new york 15 a row of comfortable, dimly lit banquettes stretching into the back of the room. Like all accomplished chefs of his gen- eration, Dieterle serves up a respectable rendition of seared Berkshire-, as well as platoons of spicy duck meatballs served with a single quail egg decorously broken over the top. But if you’re wise, you’ll order one of his inventive, upscale dishes, like steamed red snapper with chanterelles, and the skillet- braised cuttlefish, which Dieterle sinks in a seafood reduction buttery and smooth enough to induce in even the most volatile kitchen screamer a stunned, admiring silence.

the new-chef parade

In the fraught, high-stakes world of big-time restaurants, tempers are short, strife is common, and armies of bedraggled chefs are always on the move. Lately, the chefs’ carousel has been spinning at warp speed, and several of the city’s grand establishments have benefited from an infusion of new talent in the kitchen. After perfecting his Haute Barnyard techniques with Dan Barber at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, the great Slow Food impresario Michael Anthony arrived a year or so ago to restore Danny Meyer’s Gramercy ­Tavern to its former greatness. Anthony is a master in the gentle art of poaching and braising, and he’s imbued the formerly tired, predictable The E.U. menu with servings of smoked lobster, pork belly with baby turnips, and tight little ballotines of braised lamb shoulder vanilla ice cream spiked with . a grilled sirloin heaped over fried potatoes cheese and little sticks of smoked Tyrolean soft enough to eat with a spoon. My Midtown’s newest kingpin of haute and roasted mushrooms. But the prolific prosciutto, and the superior house risotto, friend the Barbecue Loon recommends is Michael White, who has Rabelaisian cook reserves his most inspired which, the last time I checked in, was the pulled-pork sandwich (dressed succeeded the talented Scott Conant as new creations for Alto, on 53rd Street, laced with Parmesan, acorn squash, and with apples and Savoy cabbage) on the the executive chef at L’Impero­ and Alto. At where members of the starchy expense- spoonfuls of duck fat. revamped Tavern menu up front, and the Tudor City branch of L’Impero, White account set are arriving in droves to gorge Oceana’s new chef, Ben Pollinger, re- if you have a taste for country desserts, serves up elevated trencherman specialties themselves silly on opulent pasta dishes cently won that posh midtown seafood you won’t find anything better than like twirling housemade fusilli poured with like cream-soaked agnolotti stuffed with palace its third-­consecutive Michelin star, the chocolate bread pudding, served a creamy, cheese-laced pork-shoulder ragù, ground Piedmontese beef, fresh-made and at Fiamma, in Soho, the flamboyant with candied cherries and a scoop of and the grandiose controfiletto di manzo, quills of garganelli covered with Piave out-of-towner Fabio Trabocchi has stocked

16 new york | where to eat where to eat | new york 17 the fancy new menu with ornate creations like Kobe-beef carpaccio and an inventive, aristocratic interpretation of that tricky peasant dish baby goat. But perhaps the most impressive kitchen overhaul of all has taken place at Le ­Cirque, where Sirio Maccioni’s latest chef, Christophe Bellanca, has expanded the pricey, formerly stolid menu to include a whole variety of sophisticated, radically pricey new treats. The grandly impersonal room under- neath the Bloomberg tower remains

filled with the usual collection of grimly smiling contessas and aging plutocrats tottering to and fro in their pin-striped best suits. But when I dropped in not very long ago, there were an impressive nine spe-

cocktails cials of the day on the menu, along with all •• sorts of newfangled entrées: dim-sum-size ravioli swollen with foie gras, carefully deboned portions of squab crusted with crushed , and ribbons of Crumble -flavored pappardelle decked tailor with braised pheasant, which the plutocrats This butter-heavy rum concoction merrily supplemented one night (for a $185 is the perfect antidote for a bitter Death & Co. fee) with shavings of white truffle shipped January evening. ­direct, via Maccioni’s fabled connection,

from the hills of Alba. Corpse Reviver No. 2 my righteous locavore friends, however, I brunch menu at The E.U., on East Fourth pdt take them down to ­The ­Tasting Room on Street. And if you want a really good A New Orleans–inspired elixir Elizabeth Street for a groaning country stack of pancakes in the West Village, containing Cointreau, Lillet, lemon feast of duck and free-range-pheasant­ you’ll find them at The ­Little Owl, on juice, and absinthe. After two sips, you won’t be able to feel your feet. barnyard brunch eggs artfully ­arranged over piles of Bedford Street, where Joey Campanaro kasha, buttermilk-dipped fried chicken serves up his patented meatball sliders Oaxaca Old-Fashioned legs served with cool potato just soaked in breakfast gravy, and, if you death & co. The imposing, profoundly nourishing like at a church picnic, and the still have the energy and the will, one Aged amber tequila, mescal, agave country ham biscuit (stuffed with salty properly fatty, even gnarly slabs of Red of the great gourmet cheeseburgers in nectar, bitters, and a flaming orange Kentucky ham, Grafton Cheddar, and Wattle pork shoulder, smothered in town, made with melted Cheddar, curls twist—the gold standard in a golden homemade jam) served to the bohemian fried eggs. of applewood-smoked bacon, and a age of tequila drinks. breakfast hordes at Egg is still my favorite ­ From there the barnyard bandwagon freshly toasted brioche bun. mid-morning snack in Williamsburg, proceeds to ­Telepan, on 69th Street, where If you find yourself staggering Ginger peg or anywhere else, for that matter. My we’ll line up with the rest of the stolid woozily around the fringes of the freemans daughters can’t decide which of the Upper West Side burghers waiting to meatpacking district on some lost weekend The mix of homemade ginger ale tasty brunch items they would like me gobble down brunch-time helpings of morning, may I recommend the gourmet to recommend at the popular new Bill Telepan’s signature Pennsylvania- version of that great hangover buster,

with and orange bitters makes A GÖ T Z it impossible to drink just one. restaurant in the East Village called style scrapple, which the chef plates bacon and eggs: a wok-fried farm The Smith, although without a doubt the SIL J with a sweet, porky, country-style sauce egg and ­Malaysian-spiced pork belly coming up Roses dish with the best name is an impressive between a bed of stewed collard greens over Pullman bread, offered on the rayuela assemblage of smoked ham, scrambled and two wobbly coddled eggs. If you’re new brunch menu at Zak Pelaccio’s­ At long last, a Champagne cocktail eggs, Gruyère, and home fries called looking for a good duck egg on the Fatty Crab. My wife finds that the compact worthy of the name. the “Croaker.” When I wish to impress Lower East Side, you’ll find it on the breakfast (two fried illustrations: illustrations:

18 new york | where to eat where to eat | new york 19 eggs, smoked bacon, avocado, spicy $20 fusion burger, which the chef mixes with whipped chicken liver and foie mayonnaise) available around the corner, with secret deposits of pork and crushed gras, a bowl of gently stewed Tuscan at Cafe ­Cluny, achieves a similar purpose, garlic, grills in caul fat, and stacks on a tripe with a fried duck egg, and for albeit in a slightly more civilized, ladylike toasted brioche bun. dessert, a frosty silver bowl of vanilla way. When we want to show my starchy If you can’t find a seat amid the jab- ice cream dripped with truffle oil, with midwestern in-laws a more sedate bering hordes of editors, tourists, and art a crumbling of on top. family-brunch experience, we head to professionals who gather daily in the grill ­Provence, on Macdougal Street, where room of The ­Modern, then sneak behind the brunch experts Vicki Freeman and Marc museum to Gray Kunz’s new venture, Grayz­ , the least Meyer have given the venerable restaurant which occupies the old Aquavit space in a much-needed face-lift. The atmosphere Nelson Rockefeller’s former townhouse is slightly more dignified than at their on 54th Street. The little café tables are mixology madness other great brunch mecca, Cookshop­ , scattered here and there in the warren- politically and if you’re smart, you’ll ask to be like rooms, so belly up to the cozy little That noted mixologist Jim ­Meehan, who

cordoned off with your unruly children bar for a cool gimlet poured straight up plumbed the glories of the ­Victorian-era correct in the sun-splashed, semi-childproof with cucumber juice, and a couple of gin cocktail at ­Pegu ­Club, in Soho, has garden room, where you can dine in opulent Grayz oysters Rockefeller, which moved on to an even more obscure, dishes•• relative peace on toasty baguettes spread are presented at supper time on a row reservations-only speakeasy joint with crème fraîche and honey, thick of silver spoons. If you’re in the mood in the East Village called PDT. The croque-madames topped with sunnyside for a slightly more hearty feed, order name stands for “Please Don’t Tell,” Omakase dinner eggs, and the little dumpling-shaped house Kunz’s famous braised short ribs, which and to obtain a seat among the rows masa stuffed with currants, sugared come wreathed, in the evenings, with of quietly murmuring hipsters at the Sure it’s delicious. But those fancy little fish apples, and ricotta cheese. creamed spinach and a crown of retro Stygian, candlelit bar, you must call for have a carbon footprint the size of a large suburban house. horseradish foam, or sandwiched, at a same-day reservation after 3 p.m. I lunchtime, between pieces of toasty recommend the mind-bending, off- Chilean sea bass cia­batta in the regally named “short-rib the-menu absinthe cocktail called the le cirque croque-monsieur.” “Corpse Reviver No. 2” (absinthe, Lillet, The fish is endangered. The Champagne for lunchtime gourmet When I’m in the mood for a more Cointreau, lemon), and, to go with it, a the sauce is flown in from France. And we casual, down-home midday snack, I’ll pay generous helping of fluffy gold tater haven’t even gotten to the caviar yet. $9.50 for a bowl of the classic, organically tots from Crif Dogs next door. If I can With fine-dining restaurant prices go- pure “shiso” ramen at the new East still walk after that, I’ll stagger a Lobster dumplings, ing through the roof, lunch is my favorite Village noodle mecca ­Ramen ­Setagaya. My couple of blocks south, to the raffish new whole Peking duck time to sample elevated gourmet snacks, two favorite afternoon sandwiches are cocktail hangout Death­ & Co., to dine on buddakan like the golden-fried $20 fritto misto the little “bocata” dressed sophisticated bar snacks like lamb Okay, the meal’s not so egregious. But can you Amalfitano, available at the Bastianich with tangy cured tomatoes and deposits sliders, and quesadillas stuffed with imagine what it costs to heat that room? empire’s perpetually outstanding of melted Mahón cheese at Seamus braised duck, before delving into the theater-district outpost, Esca. That’s only Mullen’s Boqueria, and the deliciously legendary house punches, which have Porterhouse for three a couple of dollars less than the legendary messy hot-pressed Sikorski kielbasa properly lethal names like “Spread Eagle” peter luger $28 prix fixe luncheon at ­Jean ­Georges, Reuben at Borough Food & Drink, constructed, and “Jersey Lightning” and are mixed This fat-drizzled monster is rigorously which was enlivened on one of my recent in case you didn’t know, with great the old-fashioned way, by burly, bearded unorganic and corn-fed. And if you eat too visits by lumps of fresh uni served with greasy kielbasa links trucked in from mixologists, in big communal bowls. many of them, you might die. jalapeño on little squares of brown, Greenpoint. For a more leisurely, “Crumble” is the name of my wife’s buttered toast. But you’ll get the most highbrow afternoon feast, the choice is favorite libation at ­Tailor, on the lower Sea urchin and caviar, profound bang for your lunchtime buck Daniel Humm’s aptly named “Gourmand fringes of Soho, and the best place to seared A GÖ T Z at ­Anthos on 52nd Street, where I like to Tasting Lunch” at the newly revived sip this uncannily smooth potion made le bernardin go with my skinny ­fashion-editor friends ­Eleven ­Madison Park, followed by a SIL J with buttered rum and is not The Kobe’s flown in from Japan, and for the to watch them stare in wonder at Michael stealthy visit around the corner to in the dim, sparsely populated dining price of the meal ($352), you could purchase Psilakis’s­ epic lamb burger. There are fat Andrew Carmellini’s inspired, constantly room upstairs but down at the bar, with a few carbon credits. hilopita egg noodles available, too, and improving Flatiron-district establishment a perfectly matched ­portion of sweet, smoked octopus flavored with lemon con- A Voce. My last wintry late-afternoon fatty pork belly garnished with miso- Iranian golden ossetra caviar, wild Scottish grouse with foie gras fit, but nothing packs the wallop of the lunch there included crostini spread illustrations: flavored butterscotch. The caboose-size “cromesquis” daniel Another jet-age, gas-guzzling feast. And you’ll have to answer to the foie police. 20 new york | where to eat cheese), before proceeding to that other noted non-beef joint, ­Kefi, where a mere $19.95 buys a platter of superb lamb steaks and chops chops, which the wunderkind chef Michael Psilakis serves just like in the In this fastidious, eco-mad era, my fatso, old country, with ­spinach-laced country beef-obsessed friends tend to be focused rice, plenty of frizzled garlic, and a less on the restaurants in which their scattering of fresh parsley. favorite sirloin is served than on the idyl- The grilled, bone-in Black Angus strip lic boutique farms on which the best beef at ­Ouest gets my other vote for top steak cattle are raised. Hence my colleague the and chop dish on the Upper West Side, Steak Loon’s fondness for the elaborate but downtown, in my own neighborhood, new steak palace on lower Park Avenue, the blue ribbon goes to Joey Campanaro’s ­Primehouse New York. Stephen Hanson’s new spin­off on Carmine Street called latest restaurant boasts a bar the size of ­Market ­Table. This frenzied joint has all a small barn, a “Himalayan-rock- room” sorts of accomplished non-steak items on for aging his pricey slabs of beef, and even the menu, like short ribs sunk in ­gnocchi, its own prodigious bull, named Prime, and an already semi-legendary lunchtime who works tirelessly down at the Creek cheeseburger, served with a tangle of fries Stone Farms in Kentucky to sire prime tossed with Old Bay spice. But when I finally Black Angus on the restaurant’s managed to secure a table in the crowded behalf. If you don’t have $49 to spend on little room not long ago, the dish every- the delicious Kansas City bone-in sirloin, one fought over was the New York strip, Primehouse New York the Steak Loon recommends the $24 courtesy of New York’s great beef whole- hanger steak, which is topped with fresh saler Pat ­LaFrieda. You can get the mar- chimichurri sauce. Then supplement it bled ­LaFrieda sirloin expertly grilled, over bar is also the favorite gathering spot at bars of every imaginable stripe, the with a sizzling platter or two of “old school” a mess of arugula salad and crispy fried Danny Abrams’s posh new bistro venture fashionable new choice is ­Solex, on lower hash browns dripped in bacon fat, a artichokes, at the restaurant itself. Or on Macdougal Street called S­ mith’s. The First Avenue, where the menu includes tower of Frisbee-size rings, and, purchase the same beef cut to order at stylish little space features nine bar seats, a blizzard of French-style puff , for dessert, the imposing bananas-Foster the restaurant’s market counter up front, plush green-velvet walls, and a worn and the ceiling of the beautifully sundae, made with bananas, caramel, tan- then take it home and grill it yourself. Afghan rug on the floor. On weekends appointed room looks like the interior kards of vanilla ice cream, and a shot of the crowded little room is packed with of a long, glowing seashell. For the ul- rum, all mingled in a big glass fishbowl, elegant booze hounds, so go on a timate in a rowdy, stick-to-your-ribs with a giant pecan on top. weeknight, when things are quieter. Call feast, however, I like to join the mob of The best boutique in for your classic martini straight up, Australian expats and fashionista midtown remains the $46 chile-rubbed the big splurge then commence working your way assistants at the boisterous double- Brandt Farms prime rib eye available through the accomplished roster of sided bar at ­Kingswood. This perpetually at Michael Lomonaco’s Porter­ ­House New bar snacks like lobster deviled eggs, hopping establishment in the Village York on the fourth floor of the Time Effete gastronomes may have raised farmer’s pickled shiitake mushrooms, and bowls feels, at first, like any other downtown Warner Center food mall. And the city’s grub to the level of haute cuisine, but of foam-­covered country eggs served, gin joint. But the riotous atmosphere is dwindling band of Kobe-beef addicts are restaurant prices have never been higher in accordance with current fashion, over offset by the surprisingly accomplished presently haunting the cavernous room in New York, and there are still all sorts a mess of Anson Mills grits. menu, which includes improbably deli- at Craftsteak­ in the meatpacking district, of extravagant old-world establishments Junior Merino is the resident cocktail cious bowls of Goan fish curry, giant lamb where a cool $102 will get you a fix of in which to fritter away your hard-earned genius at ­Rayuela, down on Allen Street, chops crusted with herbs, and the the legendary twelve-ounce Wagyu strip, cash. My current favorite venue for a and his most inspired creation is called imposing “Ruby’s Bronte Burger,” which shipped direct from the ­Strube Ranch discreet midtown feed is Gilt in the Villard “Coming Up ­Roses” (Bacardi, Champagne, is dressed with a carefully arranged fan in Texas. When I grow weary of all this Mansions, where early last year Daniel lime, rose water, plus rose petals), of avocado and served with a twirl of exaggerated steakhouse grandeur, I like alumnus Christopher Lee replaced the which I like to sip in the lounge under frites scented with truffle oil. to drop in to Perry­ Street for a taste of the temperamental Englishman Paul Liebrandt the shade of the restaurant’s real live grilled tenderloin (dripped, in a most in the kitchen. Lee has a special fondness olive tree. In a town overrun with wine unhealthful way, with liquid Gruyère for white truffles (his restaurant paid

22 new york | where to eat where to eat | new york 23 $8,000 for one last fall), but his most inspired creations tend to be subtle reworkings of opulent old-school favorites. The ultrafresh yellowfin-tuna tartare comes with a little stack of crispy, piping-hot scallion pancakes on the side, and if you order the chef’s New Age version of to go with your $10,500 bottle of ’85 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru, you’ll find that it’s stuffed not with beef but with yellowfin tuna and is cut in little wheels like a decorative sushi roll from Japan. Daniel Boulud’s long-awaited Upper West Side wine bar, Bar ­Boulud, finally opened this week, and Alain Ducasse’s endlessly delayed, tortuously named Adour ­Alain ­Ducasse at the St. ­Regis New York is soon to follow. But until those august wine-centric establishments find their footing, Cru, on lower Fifth Avenue, is still the place to drop $15,000 on a good magnum of Château Lafite. According to my deep-pocketed culinary spies, the latest seasonal taste thrill on Masa Takayama’s $400 omakase menu at ­Masa is the drained and deep-fried sperm sac of the deadly Japanese fish. Across the hall, a whole variety of less perilous delicacies is available, for a mere $250, on Thomas Keller’s ever-evolving nine-course tasting menu at Per Se, and if you wish to spend a sizable amount of capital on the latest in haute Italian dining, I recommend you join the rest of the fat-cat wiseguys gorging on the little Kobe-beef-stuffed “tagliata” featured on the $150 “Grand Tasting Menu” at that cavernous meatpacking-­district institution Del ­Posto. The price of the prix fixe luncheon at Le ­Bernardin has been bumped up to a hefty $64, which is still a relative bargain compared with the $55 they’re charging the swells at the Grill Room of The Four ­­Seasons for a modest lunchtime helping of fillet of bison adorned with foie gras and truffle sauce. Dollar for dollar, the bar menu at Terrance Brennan’s Upper West Side establishment, ­Picholine, remains my favorite way to experience the sophisticated pleasures of the new Gilt Spanish cuisine. The elite “chef’s table”

24 new york | where to eat at Gordon ­Ramsay at the ­London is where many of my morose banker friends seem to be going lately to toast the good old days, but if you wish to show your millionaire friends what real cutting-edge Continental cuisine looks like, then take them to the bar at L’Atelier de ­Joël ­Robuchon, in the Four Seasons Hotel. The room still feels out-of- the step with the food, but Robuchon’s pointy little baguettes are the best in the city, and if you want proof that fancy French cooking best isn’t quite dead yet, order the eight-course, $190 “menu découverte,” which begins with spoonfuls of silky fresh sea urchin

places for … seized in lobster gelée and concludes, in •• a most dignified manner, with a simple cup of espresso and a selection of festively colored macaroons. a Business lunch anthos Michael Psilakis’s lamb burger is just the sort of red-meat monster that fuels P*Ong deals. Of course, you may fall asleep in your cubicle afterward. and desserts

an outer-borough ramble In the popular, ever-expanding category My dessert-addled daughters consider the waiter arrives, begin madly scribbling lucky eight of preciously overwrought ­dessert-bar the plain frozen (with raspberries notes on a random piece of paper. With Dine on the crispy chicken, and then confections, this year’s gold medal goes to and Fruity Pebbles) at the new Red ­Mango luck, you’ll be mistaken for a disreputable, amble down this new Chinatown strip. the kaffir-lime meringue available at Pichet store on Bleecker Street to be slightly overweight restaurant critic, and the chef

Dinner with your visiting parents Ong’s tiny twenty-seat establishment ­P*ong, superior to the exact same dish avail- will send out his famous off-the-menu ice- on West 10th Street. This festive creation able across the street at Pinkberry­ , even cream confection, composed of toasted gramercy tavern With Michael Anthony in the kitchen, contains all sorts of unlikely, esoteric though their father points out that Pink- and three scoops of vanilla, piled this perennial mom-and-dad favorite ingredients, like basil seeds and shaved berry is a little cheaper, and that the with shavings of black truffle, and drizzled has its mojo back. rhubarb ice, but the key element is the red-and-white Red Mango store looks with warm, salty butterscotch sauce. But lightly crunchy meringue itself, which unsettlingly like a seedy airport out- there’s no more fitting way to end a restau- Dinner with your visiting is finished with a decorative twirl, like let for Avis. ­Paradis to Go is where the rant binge in this green, no-frills gourmet father-in-law some culinary version of Imelda ­Marcos’s girls like to go for their after-school fix era than with a furtive late-night visit to The hill country summer hat. My haughty Chinese-food- of the giant, chip-rich chocolate-chip ­Dessert ­Truck, on University Place and 8th Sure, it’s a faux honky-tonk yuppie joint. scholar friends were unanimous in their , and for a more classic pastry Street. The dangerously addictive choco- But he’ll like the soft brisket a good deal. condemnation of the tepid savory items treat their choice is Caffe ­Falai, on late bread pudding ($5) is prepared by at Ian Schrager’s disappointing Asian Lafayette Street, where we sit under a former at Le Cirque, and a pasta bender dining palace, Wakiya, in the Gramercy the glittering little chandeliers over the comes drowned in a luxurious crème an- a voce Park Hotel. But these grizzled veterans had bar and eat little spoonfuls of Iacopo glaise. But my favorite nightcap is the Let’s just admit it. Andrew Carmellini’s only complimentary things to say about the Falai’s sweet tiramisu and the gleam- simple $3 cup of Valrhona hot chocolate. inspired preparations are better than ingenious fusion desserts, in particular the ing, deeply satisfying flourless chocolate Have a few sips of this rich potion out A GÖ T Z your grandma’s. lemony génoise cake adorned with milky cake, which is almost chewy in its rich- on the sidewalk with the rest of the chunks of tofu, and the Pan-Asian SIL J ness and touched on top with a little dot itinerant foodies, then take it home, put A hot booze-addled date affogato, which consists of high-octane of gold leaf. it in the refrigerator, and recycle it for death & co. espresso dripped, in the Vietnamese style, If you’re looking for similar decadent your eco-conscious children the next Secure two seats at the bar, then let into a cup of crushed cocoa and condensed- pleasures in midtown, book a table at ­Alto, day as gourmet chocolate pudding. ■ those dashing, hairy-faced mixologists milk ice cream. put on your best coat and tie, and when

work their magic. illustrations:

26 new york | where to eat where to eat | new york 27 the Kefi Moim Picholine Shorty’s.32 222 W. 79th St. 206 Garfield Pl., 35 W. 64th St. 199 Prince St.

212-873-0200 Park Slope 212-724-8585 212-375-8275 director•• y Kingswood 718-499-8092 Pinkberry Silent H 121 W. 10th St. Momofuku 177 Bleecker St. 79 Berry St., 212-645-0018 Noodle Bar 212-477-1810 Williamsburg Accademia di Vino Boqueria Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Franny’s L’Atelier de 171 First Ave. P*ONG 718-218-7063 1081 Third Ave. 53 W. 19th St. 646 W. 131st St. 295 Flatbush Joël Robuchon 212-777-7773 150 W. 10th St. The Smith 212-888-6333 212-255-4160 212-694-1777 Ave., Park Slope 57 E. 57th St. Momofuku 212-929-0898 55 Third Ave. Adour Alain Borough Food Dressler 718-230-0221 212-350-6658 Ssäm Bar Porter House 212-420-9800 Ducasse & Drink 149 Broadway, Gemma Le Bernardin 207 Second Ave. New York Smith’s St. Regis Hotel 12 E. 22nd St. S. Williamsburg 335 Bowery 155 W. 51st St. 212-254-3500 10 Columbus Cir., 79 Macdougal St. 2 E. 55th St. 212-260-0103 718-384-6343 212-505-9100 212-554-1515 Morandi 212-823-9500 212-260-0100 212-753-4500 Cafe Cluny Egg Gilt Le Cirque 211 Waverly Pl. Primehouse Solex Allen & Delancey 284 W. 12th St. 135 N. 5th St., 455 Madison Ave. 151 E. 58th St. 212-627-7575 New York 103 First Ave. 115 Allen St. 212-255-6900 Williamsburg 212-891-8100 212-644-0202 Morimoto 381 Park Ave. S. 212-777-6677 212-253-5400 Caffe Falai 718-302-5151 The Good Fork L’Impero 88 Tenth Ave. 212-824-2600 Soto Alto 265 Lafayette St. Eleven 391 Van Brunt St., 45 Tudor City Pl. 212-989-8883 Provence 357 Sixth Ave. 11 E. 53rd St. 917-338-6207 Madison Park Red Hook 212-599-5045 Oceana 38 Macdougal St. 212-414-3088 212-308-1099 Centro Vinoteca 11 Madison Ave. 718-643-6636 The Little Owl 55 E. 54th St. 212-475-7500 The Spotted Pig Anthos 74 Seventh Ave. S. 212-889-0905 Gordon Ramsay at 90 Bedford St. 212-759-5941 Ramen Setagaya 314 W. 11th St. 36 W. 52nd St. 212-367-7470 Esca the London 212-741-4695 Ouest 141 First Ave. 212-620-0393 212-582-6900 Cookshop 402 W. 43rd St. 151 W. 54th St. Lucali 2315 Broadway 212-529-2740 Sushi of Gari Applewood 156 Tenth Ave. 212-564-7272 212-468-8888 575 Henry St., 212-580-8700 Rayuela 402 E. 78th St. 501 11th St., 212-924-4440 The E.U. Gramercy Tavern Carroll Gardens Paradis To Go 165 Allen St. 212-517-5340 Park Slope Craft 235 E. 4th St. 42 E. 20th St. 718-858-4086 114 Fourth Ave. 212-253-8840 Tailor 718-768-2044 43 E. 19th St. 212-254-2900 212-477-0777 Lucky Eight 646-416-6709 Red Mango 525 Broome St. A Voce 212-780-0880 Fatty Crab Grayz 5204 Eighth Ave., Park Avenue 182 Bleecker St. 212-334-5182 41 Madison Ave. Craftsteak 643 Hudson St. 13–15 W. 54th St. Sunset Park Winter No phone The Tasting Room 212-545-8555 85 Tenth Ave. 212-352-3590 212-262-4600 718-851-8862 100 E. 63rd St. Resto 264 Elizabeth St. Bar Boulud 212-400-6699 Fette Sau Hecho en Dumbo Lupa 212-644-1900 111 E. 29th St. 212-358-7831 1900 Broadway Cru 354 Metro- 111 Front St., 170 Thompson St. PDT 212-685-5585 Telepan 212-595-0303 24 Fifth Ave. politan Ave., Dumbo 212-982-5089 113 St. Marks Pl. Rosanjin 72 W. 69th St. Bar Stuzzichini 212-529-1700 Williamsburg 718-855-5288 Market Table 212-614-0386 141 Duane St. 212-580-4300 928 Broadway Death & Co. 718-963-3404 Hill Country 54 Carmine St. Pegu Club 212-346-0664 Wakiya 212-780-5100 433 E. 6th St. Fiamma 30 W. 26th St. 212-255-2100 77 W. Houston St., RUB 2 Lexington Ave. BLT Market 212-388-0882 206 Spring St. 212-255-4544 Masa second fl. 208 W. 23rd St. 212-995-1330 1430 Sixth Ave. Dell’Anima 212-653-0100 Insieme 10 Columbus Cir. 212-473-7348 212-524-4300 The Waverly Inn 212-521-6125 38 Eighth Ave. 15 East 777 Seventh Ave. 212-823-9800 Perilla Sasabune 16 Bank St. Blue Hill 212-366-6633 15 E. 15th St. 212-582-1310 Matsuri 9 Jones St. 401 E. 73rd St. No phone 75 Washington Pl. Del Posto 212-647-0015 Irving Mill 369 W. 16th St. 212-929-6868 212-249-8583 212-539-1776 85 Tenth Ave. The Four Seasons 116 E. 16th St. 212-243-6400 Perry Street Sfoglia Blue Hill at 212-497-8090 Restaurant 212-254-1600 The Modern 176 Perry St. 1402 Lexington Stone Barns Dessert Truck 99 E. 52nd St. Jean Georges 9 W. 53rd St. 212-352-1900 Ave. 630 Bedford Rd., University Pl. nr. 212-754-9494 1 Central Park W. 212-333-1220 Per Se 212-831-1402 Pocantico Hills 8th St. No phone 212-299-3900 10 Columbus Cir. 914-366-9600 212-823-9335

28 new york | where to eat where to eat | new york 29 live live trim trim bleed bleed bleed bleed trim trim live live

cheap

everything under $25 JustJuJJusuststt dessedessdesdessertsddeesseressessersererterrttsts jujjusjustuststt gotgogotot swsswesweeter.weet

The Best, Ridiculously Good, pretty Cheap Food, 2007 By rob patronite and eatsrobin raisfeld CLOSE TO HOME. FAR FROM EXPECTED.

LITTLE CAYMAN • CAYMAN BRAC • GRAND CAYMAN live livev trim ttrim bleed bleedb d ed eed i bleed trim live live liv l trim tr bleed blee 56962_DessertsNYMag_V1 1 1/7/08 6:41:50 PM

client: Cayman printed at: 100% job #: 8CIGEN1218 done by: AO job name: DESSERTS art director: AO  le name: date: 08/30/07 trim: 5 x 7.5 time: 12:00pm bld: .25 from trim proof #: 1 live area: .25 from trim mech built at: 100%

15 West 18th Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10011 / V: 212.352.0202

Proof generated by Earth Thebault. Any questions, please contact Production Department at 973-884-1300.

E# 56962_DessertsNYMag_V1_ME 249 POMEROY ROAD PARSIPPANY, NJ 07054 CSF: 8CIGEN1218”Desserts”NYMag.indd 973 . 884 . 1300 Client: CHOWDER Date: 01/07/08 he thing about eating out in new york is that it’s so tempting, once you find your very favorite places, to stick with them. Not that there’s anything wrong with that—we could hap- pily subsist on a diet of Sripraphai’s jungle curry and Franny’s pizza, with an occasional Shackburg- er chaser. But even better than being a well-fed regular is making a great new discovery, stumbling upon an unheralded sliceT or a breathtaking, sweat-inducing Sichuan feast. Nowhere is that easier or more rewarding than here, where the realm of cheap (and moderately priced) eats is ever expanding, thrillingly eclectic, and, we’d argue, much more satisfying than what you’d find at the upper end of the price spectrum. In this issue, we provide a handy guide to the best inexpensive spots to have opened over the past year (page 34). By and We analyze the barbecue boom (page 44) and the advent of Korean fried rob patronite robin raisfeld chicken (page 52), both welcome additions to the culinary landscape, and christen our favorite new burgers (page 38). Finally, Adam Platt weighs in with his strategies for eating “cheap” in an haute cuisine world (page 58)—proof that even elite chefs and sommeliers harbor 32 Illustration by Nazario Graziano their own secret downscale desires. the cheap list Bar Stuzzichini 928 Broadway, nr. 22nd St. 212-780-5100

Design snobs will tsk-tsk the generic trat- toria décor, but get past this and you have in Bar Stuzzichini one of the best new—if not the best—moderately priced Italian restaurants in town. Chef Paul DiBari honed his craft slinging schnitzel at Wallsé, but trapped within this cook’s stout frame there must have always lurked the soul and spirit of a Southern Italian grandma—albeit a Southern Italian grandma who speaks in a low voice and wears a short goatee. His stuzzichini (counter snacks like grilled scamorza, arancini, and polpette) are unsurpassed, and he has a refined Wallséan way with pastas, on display in an ethereal gnocchi all’amatriciana. His pièce Borough Food & Drink de résistance, though, is his ragù, served Sunday-supper-style with toothsome hunks of meat over mezze rigatoni—just the way they do it in Naples and in the accented snacks and work their way parlor rests on the strength and with its rough-hewn surfaces, someone’s finest kitchens of Bensonhurst. through a moderately priced, not-entire- the structure of its sandwiches, and here, the framed Havana-vacation photos hung on ly-familiar wine list. Cobble Hill has ex- quality of ingredients, flavor combinations, the walls, and windows flung open to East actly that in the form of Bocca Lupo, a and beautifully articulated balance do the 10th Street, this tiny café has pulled it off. quasi-industrial, glass-fronted corner ever-burgeoning genre proud. The ambience feels as effortless as the Bocca Lupo spot that supplements its tasty panini, $10-and-under menu, which keeps things 391 Henry St., at Warren St., Cobble Hill, tramezzini, and bruschette with small simple by sticking to sprightly Brooklyn; 718-243-2522 plates and daily specials. Tender meat- (like a tasty toss of black-eyed peas, red balls come not on top of spaghetti but Bodeguita Cubana onion, and cilantro), pressed sandwiches In the perfect universe, every neighborhood on a sauce-slathered slice of bread, and 271 E. 10th St., nr. Ave. A 212-533-5600 (including respectable Cubanos and would have its designated panini parlor, “Italian tapas” like pork tonnato and oil- medianoches), and traditional plates (like a modern-day public house where the packed-tuna salad are executed with It’s not easy to capture a breezy tropical the simmered called picadillo

villagers could convene to nibble Italian- aplomb. Still, the reputation of every redux vibe in Manhattan’s asphalt jungle, but and the roast pork adorned with aïoli and

34 new york | cheap eats Photographs by Ben Stechschulte cheap eats | new york 35 congri). A liquor license is forthcoming, roasted corn and , or dense, starchy ricotta or the Calabria Pork Store’s sweet but its momentary absence is amelio- potato scallops, and the “Salt n Pepper” Italian sausage. And some, like the three rated somewhat by the very refreshing squid hotpot harbors a reservoir of murky, herring plate with toasted black bread, mint lemonade, and brunch presents the subtly spiced sauce. Australia’s wines and come straight from the source—in this case, chef’s opportunity to discover how one puts a beers are well represented, as are its citizens the Lower East Side’s Russ & Daughters. choice Cuban spin on pancakes (with drunken whenever in need of a fish-and-chips fix. With its salvaged woods, exotic Pelaccio- bananas, apparently). curated pantry shelves, backroom pool table, and cheesy paperback-reading nook, the Top Cooks’ Favorite place feels like the rec room at some sort cheap eats Borough Food & Drink of culinary summer camp in the Boi to Go 12 E. 22nd St., nr. Broadway 212-260-0103 Adirondacks. In short, it’s pretty themey, 800 Second Ave., nr. 43rd St. 212-681-1122 a little hokey, and kind of fun. Okay, this Jeffrey Chodorow–Zak Pelaccio The increasingly ubiquitous bánh mì production is only cheap relative to the has found its way to the once-bereft serial restaurateur’s other pricey holdings. Turtle Bay neighborhood, where the And our waiter one night was as goofy Burmese Café owners of Boi restaurant have expanded as anyone who’s ever pulled up a chair to 71-34 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights, Queens; with this bright and shiny takeout shop. chat about the daily specials. But we like 718-803-1820 “Of course, there are much cheaper the gimmick, which is celebrating the bánh mì. Chinatown and Sunset Park city’s greatest gastronomic achievements— Kind of Thai, kind of Indian, with some are full of them. But Boi’s distinguishes from an uncredited Shopsin’s-inspired singular Chinese fusion dispersed through- itself in a couple of ways: Their ver- mac-and-cheese to whatever it is out, Burmese food is still distinctive enough sion of the classic bánh mì is smeared Staten Islanders eat when they’re not gob- to taste only vaguely familiar. This homey with a fancy port-enhanced duck-liver bling down pizza at Denino’s. Some dishes, kitchen provides a crash course in intriguing michael white, pâté and, perhaps to attract the health- like oysters Rockefeller, evoke the city’s new flavors, like the fermented tea leaves obsessed, substitutes avocado for the culinary past. Some give a shout-out to that compose one of the country’s best- executive chef, Alto. traditional mayonnaise. There’s a grilled- a particular ingredient like DiPalo’s known salads. Another, the Baya Gyaw chicken rendition, too, with arugula, (cont’d on page 40) and both are much bigger than what you’d find elsewhere, served on large sec- crispy g a z ine tions of baguette instead of individual Carciofi at Bar Stuzzichini. watercress rolls—more than enough for two bánh mì salad lovers to share. at sripraphai Bondi Road 153 Rivington St., nr. Suffolk St. 212-253-5311 I’m a regular and You can’t really get any further from Australia’s sun-splashed Bondi Beach, go at least geographically or spiritually, than Riving- once a week. This is ton and Suffolk, but that’s where you’ll find this cramped, lively bar masquer- R edux for ma new york S techschulte/ what I crave all ading as an Aussie fish-and-chips shop, B en the time. It’s one of where paper menus are filled out like SAT forms and alcoholic concoctions in the greatest frightful neon hues recirculate in plas- dishes I’ve ever tic tanks behind the bar. The antipodean had in NYC. seafood comes grilled, breaded, or fried, accompanied with unfussy sides like g ra p h by Photo

36 new york | cheap eats Illustrations by Riccardo Vecchio cheap eats | new york 37 the year in burgers the city’s best new beef.

five guys g er) burger king brgr 287 Seventh Ave. 138 Montague St., B ur burger 212-488-7500 Brooklyn Heights; 470 Sixth Ave. 718-797-9380; 212-243-8226 cost: $6.50 to $9 and 132-01 Fourteenth resto cost: $12 Give it the Most Improved Ave., College Point; 111 E. 29th St.; 212-685-5585 718-767-6500 A panko crust and a dip Burger Award: What cost: $13 in the Frialator really started off as an cost: $3.59 to $5.09 unforgiving hockey puck Perfectly proportioned, g a z ine g h ( B orou seals in the juices. It’s like This D.C. interloper flips smartly accessorized, and biting into a meat-flavored has evolved into a fairly a pretty good burger; the devilishly concocted from piece of Freshen-up gum. juicy flavor bomb. College Point branch is a a mix of beef cheek, hanger Offered as a special only. lot more mellow. steak, and , this is the burger of the year. R edux for ma new york S techschulte/ B en ine; g a z ine;

M a the stoned crow borough food & stand 85 Washington Pl. ork drink 24 E. 12th St. Y 212-677-4022 12 E. 22nd St. 212-488-5900 cost: $6 to $8 N ew 212-260-0103 cost: $8 to $12 prune This old dive isn’t new, but cost: $15 A fine burger, but a case of fatty crab Fatty sliders the burger meister who 54 E. 1st St.; 212-677-6221 the sum not being quite as 643 Hudson St.; 212-352-3590 did time at the Corner A toothsome ten-ouncer, cost: $12 which your waiter will great as the parts. Getting cost: $9 I sbell for Bistro is, and he has a the too-sturdy bun and Prune flung open its doors for knack for broiling burgers. gleefully announce, is Like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, fashioned from a 70-30 patty to play is like they come in pairs and they’re lunch last fall and started a minor shoving the positive poles ruckus—as well as a post-lunch lean-to-fat ratio, and listed

almost too cute to eat. S tewart of two magnets together. napping trend—with its drippy under the daily specials, lamb-and-beef burger served on a there’s a “ for your Thomas’ English muffin. burger” section.

38 new york | cheap eats g ra p hs: Photo Thoke, scatters crispy crushed yellow- would a Nutty Buddy. Fillings go way be- come so popular among the formerly Ken- split-pea-and-onion fritters over a tangy yond bananas and Nutella and reflect time tucky-ham-and-scrapple-deprived locals that assemblage of strips, julienned spent in the kitchens of Sushi of Gari and Egg mastermind George Weld has teamed cabbage, hot peppers, and cilantro in a Payard Patisserie and include everything up with ex-Pies-N-Thighs partner Steve -and-fish-sauce dressing, for a from the tofu, Parmesan, and yuzu dressing Tanner and bought out Sparky’s, adding a texture and flavor effect that falls some- combo to the sweet Double Mango—fresh short-but-sweet lunch menu. Continuing in where between chat and a Bur- mango, mango sauce, and bits of sponge the Sparky’s artisanal-ingredients tradition, mese panzanella, if there were such a cake (our favorite). Another notable inno- Weld fashions his from pasture- thing. Noodles and curries abound, like vation: He fills most of his sweet crêpes, raised beef from a Catskills farm, but the the Wet Thar Thayet Thee Thanut, in including the Double Mango, with a dol- meat is too lean and dwarfed by its oversize which various cuts of pork (dark and moist, lop of pastry cream as if they were Beard bun. Much better is a roast-chicken-salad white and dry, cubes of pure fat) are Papa’s cream puffs. sandwich, and a grilled-cheese number made dwarfed by chunks of delectably sour with sharp Grafton Cheddar—its expertly mango pickle in a thick sauce that exudes griddled bread almost pure golden-brown hot red oil. Watch out for pits. crunch. As delightful as lunching at Egg Choice Market can be, the really exciting news for late- 318 Lafayette Ave., at Grand Ave., Clinton Hill, rising Williamsburgers is that breakfast is Brooklyn; 718-230-5234 now served along with lunch until 3 p.m. Casellula Cheese & sotohiro kosugi, Wine Café With its emphasis on organic, nominally healthy fare and its scuffed, paper-strewn 401 W. 52nd St., nr. Ninth Ave. 212-247-8137 chef and owner, Soto. communal table, this Clinton Hill café Chula Unwilling to leave cheese fetishism to the and takeout shop has the boho vibe of a 436 Union Ave., nr. Metropolitan Ave., Picholines and Artisanals of the world, hippie hangout in a college town—which, Williamsburg, Brooklyn 718-387-0303 calamari this plucky Hell’s Kitchen canteen offers with Pratt just a block away, it sort of nearly three dozen carefully curated, perfectly is. But the food tastes much more cosmo- The biggest difference between this skinny aged, elegantly garnished selections at $5 a politan: A prosciutto panino is embellished Williamsburg hut and the one that pad woon sen pop—and just as many wide-ranging (if a tad with raclette, steamed potatoes, and cor- preceded it (the late Uncle Mina’s) is that at pricey) wines by the glass. If you’d rather not nichons. An estimable pan bagnat utilizes now there’s air conditioning. There’s also chelsea take your butterfat straight, there is a menu high-quality imported tuna and a ciabatta the same peaceful, grapevine-trellised thai of small plates, many of them incorporating crusty enough not to disintegrate. Off- garden, the same Egyptian influence, and wholesale cheese in original, whimsical ways, like the beat seasonings and insinuate their the same care in the construction of crisp, goose-breast Reuben with Fontina and horse- way into everything from an aji amarillo- very well-seasoned falafel sandwiches, and radish aïoli, and the gratinéed Comté with sauced tilapia sandwich with radish sprouts all manner of Middle Eastern salads and It’s a family-owned oxtail rillettes, a cold-weather dish slated to and cilantro to a rosemary-aïoli-dressed spreads. The tender, lemon-kissed stuffed reappear this fall. A boon for theatergoers BLT. And it takes an iron will to resist grape leaves are standouts, and the fuul restaurant; and denizens of this increasingly young and the lure of the display case, stocked by a medames (mashed fava ) packs a po- they maintain quality trendy neighborhood, the bar stays open late, Mexican pastry chef equally conversant in tent garlic-and-chile-pepper punch. The and ingredients, with wheels carved into the wee hours. -brownie-speak and the lyrical new owners are the same folks who run language of moist-crumbed, meringue- nearby Taco Chulo. and they don’t fluffed tres leche cake. charge too much. The consistency is Cecel Café Crepe 135 First Ave., nr. 9th St. 212-460-5102 Egg The Farm on Adderley wonderful. 1108 Cortelyou Rd., nr. Stratford Rd., Ditmas 135 N. 5th St., nr. Bedford Ave., Williamsburg, Park, Brooklyn; 718-287-3101 Credit Kaz Yokoi for creating the neatest Brooklyn 718-302-5151 street food in town: At his tiny East Village Some restaurants are instantly embraced shop, he wraps his sweet and savory crêpes This southern-style breakfast spot that used by their famished neighborhoods, and so it in little brown-butcher-paper cones that to only operate mornings out of Sparky’s was when this casually rustic spot opened you peel back and nibble at the way you hot-dog emporium is not new. But it’s be- last summer in Ditmas Park, a corner of

40 new york | cheap eats cheap eats | new york 41 Brooklyn where the Victorian fixer-uppers attract the sort of Manhattan expats who expect to find Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam on the cheese plate and crispy tofu with sweet corn on the kids’ menu. And so they do at the Farm, where seasonal ingredients are duly worshipped in preparations like house- made fettucini with peas and pea shoots, and bluefish with corn and okra. To the place’s credit, there is also a serene little garden, a nice long bar where the “local and organic” motto extends to some of the beer and wine, and a respectable English-muffin burger that’s overshadowed by its world-class fries.

Fishers of Men 121 W. 125th St., nr. Lenox Ave. 212-678-4268

This is the only place in town—and probably the planet—where you can get a Papaya King hot dog, a gaggle of fried whiting, and a piece of homemade coconut cake all under one roof and read some Scripture on the wall while you’re at it. It’s the brain- child of the churchgoing family behind the original Fishers of Men on 130th Street in Harlem (and also the tiny Famous Fish kiosk up on 145th), who, with what must Garden have been divine inspiration, snapped up the franchise license of a failing hot-

dog stand and, corporate-fast-food-style, g a z ine combined the two concepts (a fried-fish hackneyed as it’s gotten to be, is “seasonal, market. Its first foothold lures the without the exclamation point, means shack and a hot-dog stand) into one sustainable, and local,” and that extends Jackson Heights populace with crunchy, “five” in Japanese.) But they take every synergistic success. Unlike those Taco to the New York–centric beer list. The salty fried chicken—thickly battered opportunity to play it up: The telephone Bell–KFC dens of terror, though, the food food is comforting and hearty—some- and moist-fleshed, $2.95 for a two-piece number’s last four digits are 5555, the (especially the whiting sandwich and the times unseasonably so—and often adopts serving, with packets of Kraft honey to business day starts at 10:55 and ends at whiting with grits) is not only edible but a southern accent, as in the eggs and drizzle on top—plus sides like boiled 9:55, and there’s a smattering of sports absolutely delicious. And no rats. grits at brunch. We can’t imagine a time potatoes, sweet corn, fried plantains and memorabilia, like the jersey donated of year, though, when the yucca, and tough little hockey pucks they by some hockey player who is also a 55, wouldn’t hit the spot. call arepas. Cowboy-style beans are a on display. The specialty of the house, better choice. of course, is the thick, gloppy, slightly Flatbush Farm sweet brown sludge that fortunately 76–78 St. Marks Ave., nr. Sixth Ave., Park tastes a lot better than it looks, served Slope, Brooklyn; 718-622-3276 Frisby R edux for ma new york S techschulte/ with sticky white rice and a choice of

83-17 Northern Blvd., Jackson Heights; no phone B en Go!Go! Curry deep-fried toppings of which the pork If the interior seems too stark and somber, 273 W. 38th St., nr. Eighth Ave. 212-730-5555 katsu, or panko-battered pork cutlet, is head straight back to the spacious garden, Following in the multinational footsteps the best. It’s doubtful that the slugging shared jointly by the separate-entranced of the Guatemalan chicken chain Pollo Why they named this Japanese curry colossus himself comes here to celebrate bar and dining-room components of this Campero, Frisby is a Colombian fast-food shack for the number on Hideki Mat- after he hits a home run, but if you do, you

latter-day Brooklyn gastropub. The concept, franchise with its eye on the American g ra p h by Photo sui’s back, we don’t know. (Go, with or are entitled to a free topping coupon.

42 new york | cheap eats cheap eats | new york 43 fette sau hill country the smoke joint 354 Metropolitan Ave., 30 W. 26th St., 87 South Elliott Pl., nr. Havemeyer St., nr. Broadway nr. Lafayette Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn 212-255-4544 Ft. Greene, Brooklyn barbecue, the new deli? 718-963-3404 718-797-1011

who knew? bbq style None. Owner Joe Central Texas Hill “Brooklyn,” according Carroll uses his own Country, as executed to freewheeling three new bbq joints that cut the mustard. proprietary dry rub by Queens-bred owners Craig Samuel and eschews regional pitmaster Robbie and Ben Grossman. he delicatessen, with its ev- fact, that vegetable matter is at most categorizations. Richter. eryman origins, rib-­sticking fare, an afterthought; the conventional and divisible-by-eight portions, wisdom is that the better the barbe- deli dna The sauerkraut and Burly countermen There’s something has always been a mainstay of cue, the worse the sides. The greenest pickles come from mark up your meal subversive about a cheap eater’s diet—not cheap thing to be found in most traditional Guss’; the ticket and you settle washing down your Tcheap, as anyone who’s ever picked delis is the kosher pickle, an icon that is brined for three your bill at the door, saucy hacked-pork up the tab at the Carnegie knows, but has transcended culture and creed to days and rubbed just like at Katz’s. And sandwich or a plate bang-for-your-buck-may-I-have-a- appear at Williamsburg’s Fette Sau with coriander and that stack of sliced of spare ribs with a doggie-bag cheap. But the shuttering (“fat pig” in German), which proudly peppercorn before bread that comes with Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray. it’s pit-smoked. your meat might of 2nd Avenue Deli’s landmark loca- serves Guss’ half-sours, an essential remind you of all the tion and the unstaunched rumors garnish to its house-cured and pit- extra rye delis throw about Katz’s impending demise have smoked pastrami. Other than a pre- in with your leftover given the corned-beef crowd some dilection for smoked things, be they sandwich. major heartburn, or at least a twinge salmon or spare ribs, what unifies the of dyspepsia. If it’s true, as the deli storied realms of cows’ tongues and doomsayers insist, that New York’s pigs’ tails? Well, there’s the pattern of best dishes Brisket, pastrami, Brisket (“moist” or Plump and spicy burnt-end baked “lean,” but even the Brooklyn wings, beef

archetypical cuisine is on the wane, Central European emigration, which g a z ine beans, and the MIA lean is plenty moist), short ribs, and the

what will fill the high-fat, high-cho- landed Germans, Czechs, and Poles M a pulled leg of lamb, beef shoulder, and Black Angus hot dog, lesterol void? in pockets of Texas and the Lower which we hope is jalapeño cheese hot which might be as ork If you’ve been out to eat lately, East Side, where they opened butch- Y only on summer links trucked up from good as Katz’s. the answer is obvious. New York is er shops and commenced grinding hiatus, like 30 Rock. Hill Country proto- N ew butcher Kreuz Market. in the midst of an unprecedented sausage posthaste. Those first Texan Of the many sides, the and seemingly unstoppable barbe- Germans might not have been pre- and the cue boom, with three terrific new dominantly Jewish, but plenty of cucumber salad best joints opening over the past year New York’s newest barbecue entre- I sbell for complement the meat. alone. And there are enough striking preneurs are—“Bar-B-Jews,” as our similarities between the two food- Grub Street colleague Josh Ozersky It’s a bit of a tight tewart S tewart ’cue tips Fette’s well-stocked It’s loud and a bit ways for us to christen Barbecue the calls them. Their restaurants, and bar pays tribute to themey, but no more squeeze, but there’ll New Deli. Consider the brisket—just their gentile brethren’s, are compel- small-production so than Katz’s, which be overflow seating one of the many toothsome bridges be- ling proof that the distance between North American also sells T-shirts at (and better air- tween the two cuisines, and a food that Hebrew National and hot links isn’t booze and local beers. the register. And this conditioning) when Finicky connoisseurs might be your only Little Piggy (Market)

evokes nostalgia in transplanted Tex- all that great, and that New Yorkers g ra p hs: Photo have vilified the opportunity to try opens next door. ans and high-holiday Jews alike. Meat are ­never more secular than at sauces, but we find Texas wine and ice is so prominent in both traditions, in the dinner table. the dark three-chile cream, for better or one delicious. worse. Pickles and pastrami 44 new york | cheap eats at Fette Sau. cheap eats | new york 45 Hibino Kampuchea Restaurant 333 Henry St., nr. Pacific St., Cobble Hill, 78 Rivington St., at Allen St. 212-529-3901 Brooklyn; 718-260-8052 Whenever a newfangled Asian restaurant Hibino means “daily” in Japanese, and one opens in this town, the dismissive foodie of the ways this personable restaurant temptation is to compare it first with the aspires to become a quotidian habit for its inevitably cheaper and arguably more Cobble Hill neighborhood is by posting the authentic competition in Chinatown, day’s obanzai, or home-style small plates, and then with the beloved and original on its blog. Another is by offering fare that Momofuku. Neither comparison is truly can’t be found at neighboring sushi bars: apt for this handsome communal-tabled so-called Japanese like fresh noodle bar, where chef-owner Ratha Chau tofu, served in small glass jars; beef kakuni, offers his fresh, flavorful, and well-spiced chunks of tender short rib braised in sweet soy interpretations of Cambodian street food. sauce and set afloat on rounds of daikon in He swaddles grilled corn in coconut- a rich vegetable purée; and soft, succulent chile mayo, garnishes cold egg noodles eggplant caramelized to an almost meaty with a chicken-and-egg and an richness. The various oshi, or pressed sushi, incendiary red-pepper sauce, and even has are another highlight, especially the one lay- the audacity to concoct such vegetarian- ered with shiso leaves, microgreens, and egg, friendly fare as a Cambodian-style crêpe

topped with soy-marinated fish. with shiitakes, soybeans, and butternut g a z ine squash. Does a plantain num pang (the Cambodian version of bánh mì) even exist on the streets of Phnom Penh? Well, it does Il Bambino here, and with its pickled red cabbage and 34-08 31st Ave., Astoria 718-626-0087 pungent ground peppercorns, it makes a delicious case for inauthenticity. You might flit by this frumpy storefront, dismissing it as just another cupcake parlor. That would be a grave mistake. Inside, past the muffins, baby bundt cakes, and “Insane Homemade Brownies,” the Kebab Garden delicate art of panini pressing is prac- 128 First Ave., nr. St. Marks Pl. 212-228-4805 ticed almost clandestinely and with a high degree of finesse by Darren Lawless, When we asked Turgut, our Turkish-born R edux for ma new york S techschulte/

who worked at Oceana and Lavagna in the cabdriver, whether he knew of any good B en East Village. In addition to panini, which restaurants, he unhesitatingly advised us to runs the porcine gamut from coppa to head to Kebab Garden in the East Village prosciutto, there’s a wide range of snacky ASAP. Our policy being always to follow items, like a juicy tomato stuffed with blindly the advice of Turkish cabbies named tuna confit and preserved lemon, and an Turgut, that is precisely what we did. And egg-salad crostino judiciously drizzled what we found was an all-night cafeteria,

with truffle oil. At night, they dim the lights outfitted with prefab suburban diner-style g ra p h by g e, Photo and place candles on the tabletops like furnishings, kitschy plastic fruits hanging a BYO Astoria version of ’ino. from the ceiling, and a glum, mostly male, potentially taxi-driving clientele shoveling various foodstuffs into their maws like coal osite Opp osite Pa

46 new york | cheap eats cheap eats | newKefi’s york branzino. 47 into a steam-locomotive firebox. We also Kyotofu Lucali found some surprisingly tasty, inexpen- 705 Ninth Ave., nr. 48th St. 212-974-6012 575 Henry St., nr. Carroll St., Carroll Gardens, sive grub, like eggplant moussaka, hot and Brooklyn; 718-858-4086 cold , stew, and countless With its serene cocoon of a dining room, other spreads and salads, all priced to move its meticulously plated confections, and Like Dom DeMarco and Anthony Mangieri at $5.99 a pound and self-served from its Japanese flavor palette, Kyotofu puts before him, Mark Iacono is a pizzaman a buffet table that nearly runs the length its own distinctive spin on the dessert-bar obsessed. You’d have to be, if all you did, of the dining room. A paltry $7 buys a trend. Silky housemade tofu is a particular day in, day out, was stoke the flames, knead hefty kebab or plate, grilled specialty, but many of the sweet and savory the dough, and sprinkle the Grana Padano to order or sliced off the spit and served plates are stealthily infiltrated with soy in atop each homespun pie. The room is cozy with rice and salad. As good as everything many unexpectedly delicious guises, from and lived-in, the menu unapologetically is, Turgut reserved his highest praise for the teriyaki-grilled chicken meatballs to a confined to whole pies and puffy oven- the pastries, which come directly from the sake-infused, sesame-crusted cheesecake. baked calzones, and the amenities few (no famed Gaziantep-based Güllüo- The cocktail and wine lists are well worth plastic, no liquor license). But that doesn’t glu and can be found near the checkout exploring, and if you find it impossible to stop the crowds from toting their bottles counter. “Make sure they are fresh,” our choose among the refined sweets, do the and jamming the place, all happy to bask cabbie friend advised. “And tell them Tur- only practical thing and order the $15 in the wood-smoked atmosphere and gut sent you.” kaiseki prix fixe, dessert in three leisurely, watch an artisan ply his craft. joël robuchon, demure courses. chef and owner, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon. Kefi Maoz Vegetarian 222 W. 79th St., nr. Broadway 212-873-0200 Little Pepper 38 Union Square E., nr. 16th St. 212-260-1988 133-43 Roosevelt Ave., Flushing 718-939-7788 pastrami Onera’s conversion into Kefi late last The first New York outpost of this winter was one of the best things to Haunted by the brow-mopping ghost of European chain has made its mark on sandwich happen to cheap eaters in ages. Not that Spicy & Tasty, the Sichuan bastion whose the New York fried-chickpea-fritter at we had anything against Michael Psila- original location it now occupies, Little market in two pronounced ways: First, kis’s elegant, inventive approach to Greek Pepper has still managed to make a name unlike most of the joints around town, carnegie deli dining, his daring -tasting menu, or for itself in Queens’s bustling Chinatown this Union Square storefront is slick and his Greek take on crudo. It’s just that (two, actually—its proper name is Xiao stylish, a sort of anti-Mamoun’s (which with Kefi, he’s given the Upper West Side— La Jiao). Despite the restaurant’s relative is either good or bad, depending on your Le sandwich all of New York, in fact—a wonderful youth, a few dishes have already become tolerance for aggressive branding). au pastrami de chez source for homey, delicious, rustic yet signatures, and the eagle-eyed manager Second, its main attraction, other than its refined Greek cooking, at wallet-friend- will helpfully attempt to foist them upon crisp falafel, is its salad bar, which shifts Carnegie Deli. ly prices (even so, not accepting credit you: the -rubbed spicy lamb, for the sandwich-accessorizing duties to the Le pastrami est cards is just a nuisance). It’s impossible to one, and the magnificent shriveled green customer. It’s a task that shouldn’t be taken “choose among the , and sometimes peppers in a sauce the menu calls “salt lightly, especially considering the tragic très bon, les we don’t, preferring to make an entire and sour.” Resistance is not necessarily consequences of overloading tender fried sandwichs sont meal of the pungent spreads, the rusk- advised, but Little Pepper is the type cauliflower, tangy pickled eggplant, and énormes. enriched meatballs, the garlicky crispy of place that rewards experimentation. multiple salsa and sauces. cod, and the anchovy-topped, caperstrewn Where else will you get the chance to warm with its brash smack of saline. light your mouth on fire with diced The pastas are lush, the pork rabbit in red-chile sauce and bullfrog succulent. The plain, windowless room with Sichuan pickled hot pepper, and Momofuku Ssäm Bar never matched Psilakis’s grand inten- then douse the flames with crunchy cubes 207 Second Ave., at 13th St. 212-254-3500 tions, but for the comforting Kefi, it’s a of garlic-slicked cucumber? perfect fit. Since its opening last summer, this wildly eclectic East Village restaurant has rejiggered just about everything except its name and address. Initially designed to

48 new york | cheap eats cheap eats | new york 49 showcase the assembly-line burritos called ssäms, it now offers them only until 5 p.m., Olympic Pita Petite Crevette Piece of Chicken at which time the sleek wood-paneled 58 W. 38th St., nr. Sixth Ave.; 212-869- 144 Union St., entrance on Hicks St., Carroll 630 Ninth Ave., window on W. 45th St.; space morphs into an unclassifiable 7482; and 21 E. 12th St., nr. University Pl.; Gardens, Brooklyn 718-855-2632 212-582-5973 American restaurant with table service 212-924-4333 and prices that sadly break the Cheap Eats Neil Ganic has been opening and closing What can you get for a buck these days? bank. But cafeteria-style daytime is still a Our favorite Brooklyn transplant since versions of this restaurant around Brooklyn At the still-operational kitchen window good deal, with a nimble crew assembling Frankies Spuntino, this Israeli shawarma for over a decade now, and the latest in- of the recently shuttered theater-district massive, stuffed flour pancakes, or rice joint has materialized in the vicinity of carnation, straddling the BQE in western landmark Jezebel, where owner Alberta bowls served with a stack of Bibb-lettuce the garment district, where its relatively Carroll Gardens, provides delicious proof Wright launched back-of-the-house take- leaves for wrapping braised pork, chicken, posh surroundings and full bar make it a that the bargain-seafood concept works. out service this past winter, you get plenty. brisket, or tofu, accessorized with exotica popular, even hip hangout for homesick Ganic employs a fish-market conceit, with One dollar buys you a scoop of black-eyed like pickled shiitakes and Kewpie slaw. The Sabras. The glatt kosher menu is excessively the daily catch on full display and the menu peas, or a pile of vinegary collards, or a famous Momofuku steamed buns are also meaty, specializing in highly seasoned beef posted in a window pane overhead, and piece of fried whiting, or a fat-streaked rib on offer, should the unlikely occasion arise and chicken , various fried savory combines the simplest of preparations (whole bit, or a small pile of crispy chicken livers. that one’s appetite isn’t sated by a single pastries, and mammoth falafel sandwiches grilled porgy, for instance) with the most And yes, it buys you a piece of chicken, fried ssäm. If there were any justice in the fast- one may order stuffed into the two-fisted comforting of presentations (most plates to a golden-crusted, tender-fleshed turn. food world, this place would expand like flatbread called laffa. As at all Israeli come with buttered vegetables and buttery The food comes from the same kitchen Starbucks—or at least Chipotle. shawarmeries of its ilk, there is a bountiful mashed potatoes). The BYO policy keeps that once dispensed $32.75 entrées, and all salad bar, decent French fries, and two prices low, and despite an expansion into the that is required for the steep discount is the condiments that deserve a place in every adjacent flower shop, the space feels as cozy patience to wait on a somewhat sluggish food-lover’s fridge: the treacherously hot and unpretentious as its predecessors. line and the willingness to eat your bargain 99¢ Fresh Pizza green zhug, and the more complex sweet- supper out of a Styrofoam container with 151 E. 43rd St., nr. Third Ave. 212-922-0257 and-sour mango-based amba. Olympic hot sauce that comes in packets. Pita Express is an even newer Greenwich We are not Harvard-trained behavioral Village outpost with a streamlined menu economists, but we do know enough to and a three-table aerie, perfect for private tell you that when a dining establishment shawarma rendezvous. makes a good slice of pizza for 99 cents, 99¢ Fresh Pizza the chances are excellent that there’s going to be a rabble of slavering slice g a z ine hounds beating down its door. Such has Peri Ela proved to be the case at 99¢ Fresh Pizza, 1361 Lexington Ave., nr. 90th St. the second hole-in-the wall branch of 212-410-4300 a slice-joint concept so foolproof, so compelling, that the elusive owner—who Turkish food has infiltrated Carnegie Hill goes only by Abdul—has decided to spell in the guise of this wood-paneled room it out in the name. Don’t get the wrong with its small bar, cramped tables, and idea. Di Fara’s—or even the old Joe’s—this traditional menu. The vegetarian platter ain’t. The cheese is standard-issue Polly-O is listed as an entrée but actually makes an or its equivalent, the sauce is not made effective and delicious introduction to the from D.O.P. San Marzano tomatoes pungent, potent world of Turkish meze, picked and canned by Italian peasants, including a respectable , a smoky

and the crust is a little pale and lacking in patlican salatasi (mashed eggplant), and R edux for ma new york S techschulte/ character. But the pizza is fresh as adver- the thick, -flecked yogurt called cacik. tised owing to the high rate of , There are whole grilled fish and various B en and it has a decent, ungloppy balance. kebabs to be had afterward, but our rec- And even though Abdul may have cannily ommendation is the irresistibly rich adana neglected to mention anywhere that, with kebab yogurtlu, morsels of charred lamb tax, a 99-cent slice actually works out to over buttery pita croutons, drenched with $1.07, who’s complaining? yogurt and tomato sauce. g ra p h by Photo

50 new york | cheap eats 3 4 Bonbon Chicken Kyedong 98 Chambers St.; 212-227-2375 150-54 Northern Blvd., Flushing; The least obviously “ethnic” of its ilk, Bonbon 718-358-8300 refers vaguely to “Asian-inspired flavors” and At the New York flagship of a venerable birds of a feather serves chicken strips, a sweet, vinegary Korean chain, in-house orders of tasty, korean fried chicken takes wing coleslaw, and a soft white roll. All similarity to well-seasoned wings and legs are served in the original KFC stops there, though; skillets on slatted-wood trivets. The soy ark our words: 2007 will go or combos, with a complimentary (and Bonbon’s bird, in both sweet (good) and spicy sauce is salty-sweet, the hot sauce is blazing, down as the year KFC took on outlandishly healthy) side of pickled (better) incarnations, is absolutely delicious— and takeout comes in a nifty flat box with another, much more delicious and available weekends at the Star Room in a built-in compartment for the free soda. white-radish cubes for piquant crunch. the Hamptons. meaning (to fried-chicken When done right, the skin of these birds fanatics at least). Korean is paper-thin, crunchy, and greaseless, Mfried chicken, an inspired, delectable adhering harmoniously to the flavorful variation of our homegrown kind, has meat beneath. The distinctive made gradual inroads Stateside, but preparation, though, is not the only mark 5 not until recently has it reached critical of a Korean fried-chicken joint. There’s Bon Chon chicken mass in the region’s various Koreatowns. the slick, often-orange-hued décor, the 157-18 Northern Blvd., a pointed departure from the Why is this great news for finger-licking lost-in-translation corporate slogan, and Flushing; 718-321-3818; Manhattan branch’s nightclubby fans? The Korean bird, denuded of the the refrigerator magnets. And to facilitate 314 Fifth Ave. 212-221-2222 vibe. But the chicken is identical: a crisp shell-like skin that doesn’t southern-style classic’s heavy batter, is the massive amount of takeout business The countertop at the casual quite adhere to the mildly greasy Queens location is covered with a thing of relative grace and minimalist they hope to do, there’s the high-gloss, meat, and a semi-hot glaze that’s better takeout bags awaiting orders, and the beauty. Typically fried twice and painted extra-fancy shopping bag—the symbolic than the soy-garlic. shelves are lined with teddy bears— with either a sweetish soy-garlic sauce or bucket of the Korean fried-chicken world, a pepper-flecked hot one, it’s most often if you will. Here’s how the new breed of sold in servings of wings, drumsticks, poultry palaces stack up. g a z ine (chicken)

7 6 Cheogajip chicken 1 2 Very Well Unidentified Flying Chickens 160-24A Northern Blvd., Flushing; Kyochon 41-22 162nd St., Flushing; 718-886-1262 718-445-0806 71-22 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights; 156-50 Northern Blvd., Located off the main strip, this fried-chicken For some reason, this company has decided to 718-205-6662 Flushing; 718-939-9292 R edux for ma new york S techschulte/ contender distinguishes itself with a relatively brand its American operations as “Pizza &

Plain brown paper bag notwithstanding, this The granddaddy of the Korean fried-chicken B en posh décor and a recipe that somehow Chicken Love Letter,” even though there’s no stark spot serves some of the finest—dare we scene has outdoor tables, friendly service, and incorporates red and white wines into the pizza in sight. This was the only chicken we say delicate?—fried chicken we sampled; wicker baskets of dark, glistening wings and fried-chicken formula. “Wine Maturing sampled that needed to be packed in a foil- minimally sauced, audibly crunchy, and “sticks” incised with notches for enhanced Original Chicken” has an odd, off-tasting lined box, so that the excess of thick, gloppy notably fresh. Decent fries too, but skip well- sauce absorption (beware: The hot is hot). flavor, though, and a saucy marinade that barbecue-like sauce wouldn’t soak through intentioned Americanisms like the chicken Plus, oddly, mozzarella sticks and a cabbage renders the bird less than crisp, despite the the bottom. Even the radish cubes were softer ranch BLT panini. salad done in by its Thousand Island dressing. g ra p h by Photo unusually thick batter. and sweeter than usual. Pio Pio Salon 702 Amsterdam Ave., at 94th St. 212-665-3000

The latest addition to a Peruvian chainlet that began in Queens more than a decade ago and spread to Yorkville and the Bronx, Pio Pio Salon stays true to the crowd-pleasing formula: luscious spice-marinated rotisserie chicken served at bargain prices. The $28 Matador Combo (a whole bird, , tostones, and avocado salad) is gina depalma, dinner for three or four normal-size adults, though they might try to pawn off the pastry chef, Babbo. accompanying salchipapas, a plate of French fries topped with sliced hot dogs, on an unsuspecting toddler. Start things off dosa cart with a Pisco Sour and don’t miss the creamy at green hot sauce. washington square park Pistahan It’s around 229 First Ave., nr. 14th St. 212-228-9000 5 or 6 bucks for Two weeks after its April opening, this Filipino storefront morphed from an a great meal. You unassuming steam-table setup into a can smell the dosas just slightly more assuming full-service restaurant with a crackerjack kitchen. The g a z ine being made if menu reads like a culinary primer to one you happen to of the world’s great melting-pot cuisines, a walk by—that’s how crazy quilt of Chinese, Spanish, Mexican, Malay, and Indian influences, and with I discovered them. most main dishes hovering around the $8 The smell of mark, you can afford to do a little globe- trotting. Go for the adobo (on-the-bone the Indian spices pork and chicken stewed in vinegar and is enticing. It’s a very soy sauce), the giant stuffed-eggplant frittata of sorts called relyenong talong, generous portion, and anything topped with the super-crispy and they’re filling. skinned lechon, like the Bicol Express—a yin-yangy simmer of incendiary chiles R edux for ma new york S techschulte/ It takes a while to and creamy coconut milk. For dessert, eat—you’re occupied do what the chalkboard sign propped up B en for half an outside the restaurant says and order the halo-halo, the cooling crushed-ice-fruit- hour trying to get and- concoction that’s like an Orange it all down. Julius on acid. g ra p h by Photo Pistahan’s .

54 new york | cheap eats cheap eats | new york 55 Province Chinese Canteen 305 Church St., at Walker St. 212-925-1205

Province isn’t your typical sandwich shop. For starters, it swaps the ubiquitous ciabatta and Pullman loaves for the steamed Chinese buns called mantou, a soft, sesame-flecked cushion for such Asian-fusion fillings as tender braised short rib and kimchee, chile-spiced mackerel, and braised pork shoulder with hoisin aldo sohm, sauce and pickled cucumbers. There is a wine director, Le Bernardin. burger, made from Angus beef, but the des- ignated condiment, rather than ketchup or mustard, is spicy sambal sauce. And even though you do get (shrimp) chips on gnocchi the side, the wise move would be to splurge on a serving of sesame noodles, topped All’ with chicken, roast pork, or wrinkled little amatriciana nuggets of chile-sauced fried tofu. at bar stuzzichini Ramen Setagaya 141 First Ave., nr. 9th St. 212-529-2740 I like the One of the biggest events this year among Japanese expats, noodle slurpers, and gnocchi at Bar culinary screwballs of every persuasion Stuzzichini. was the opening last month of this ramen g a z ine bar, a first U.S. branch of a Japanese Normally, mini-chain. And for good reason: The I hate to eat shio (or salt-based) broth is a revelation— gnocchi, because smooth with a mellow roundness, subtly flavored with various things like dried 90 percent of scallops and dried anchovies. The noodles the time they’re range in thickness from spaghettini-size to linguine-size, and, served hot in broth or hard or cold (tsukemen style) on a separate plate chewy; you can for dipping, are firm and springy and pretty much irresistible. A non-ramen must-have use them as dish is the oyako-don, crumbly pieces of

a weapon. These minced chicken like the kind you’d find in R edux for ma new york S techschulte/ a Thai larb, topped with a soft-cooked egg gnocchi are and served over rice. The best place to eat B en so soft. They is at the low counter opposite the kitch- are really, really en where three ramen wranglers, their heads wrapped in what appear to be gym good. towels, buzz about like members of a radical

modern-dance troupe. g ra p h by Photo

56 new york | cheap eats Thai Market’s daikon cake and goong nam pla. cheap eats | new york 57 relative bargains adam platt’s picks for the best cheap expensive food in town.

(“paella spring rolls”); sherry-flavored sorbet crowned with strips of crackly, baked serrano ham; and assorted innards (duck liver, chopped calves liver) designed to be spread, luxuriously, over slabs of truffled toast.

THE ANTHOS LAMB BURGER 36 W. 52nd St., nr. Fifth Ave.; 212-582-6900 Pay a flat $20 at lunchtime for Michael Psilakis’s epic lamb burger and you won’t be disappointed. It’s mixed with crushed garlic, sweet pepper, and herbs, wrapped in caul fat, char-grilled to juicy perfection, and smothered with a creamy feta-cheese sauce on a toasted brioche bun.

AQUAVIT CAFE 65 E. 55th St., nr. Madison Ave.; 212-307-7311 You can drop lots of cash at Marcus Samuelsson’s main dining room, or you can do what I do: sneak into the Aquavit Cafe, a nirvana for gourmet penny-pinchers, especially at lunchtime. A mere $19 buys the exemplary smorgasbord plate, a hobbit-size sampling of tasty “Swedish bites.” Or, for the same price, you can get “home-cooked” blue-plate specials. On Thursdays, the Artsoppa (pork and ) comes with Swedish Perry St. pancakes and raspberries. Even the full-on, three-course prix fixe lunch JEAN GEORGES’S PRIX FIXE LUNCH costs a modest $24. 1 Central Park W., nr. 60th St.; 212-299-3900 LUNCH AT PERRY ST This legendary meal once cost just $24. It’s $28 now, but that’s still a small 176 Perry St., nr. West St.; 212-352-1900 price to pay for, say, dabs of fresh Santa Barbara uni on postage stamps My normal lunchtime choice in this West Village neighborhood is the of buttered black bread, followed by a single, deliciously soft short rib profoundly delicious Cubano sandwich at the Spotted Pig ($15). But for a flavored with jalapeño and mint. The price doesn’t include dessert, but if more elevated and only slightly more expensive experience, I like to visit you’re patient, the petits fours will arrive: glittery chocolates, passion-fruit Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s personal canteen. The $24 lunch prix fixe lets meringues, and handmade marshmallows snipped tableside, just the way the you choose three courses from the standard menu served in small “tasting” rich folks get them at dinnertime, with silver scissors. sizes. My recommendation? Anything to do with eggs, and any dish on the

M ark R edux Peterson/ menu with the word crunchy in its title. And when they’re on the menu, the THE PICHOLINE BAR MENU beef dishes are the best in town. 35 W. 64th St., nr. Central Park W.; 212-724-8585 Belly up with the rest of the opera loons to the new tapas-themed bar at Terrance Brennan’s Upper West Side restaurant, and you’ll find $18 buys all

sorts of wonders. Like deposits of paella wrapped in crispy spring-roll skins g ra p h by Photo

58 new york | cheap eats cheap eats | new york 59 taro and mung-bean spread, are the best, and in a neighborhood-sensitive touch, most Resto Shopsin’s entrées are offered in vegetarian versions. 111 E. 29th St., nr. Park Ave. S. 212-685-5585 General Store The delicate summer rolls may be the most Born of the owner’s love of Belgian beers, Essex Street Market, 120 Essex St., nr. Delancey authentic thing on the menu, which is no Resto is a gastropub in form, a pork fiend’s St.; no phone surprise; one day we saw Nguyen’s mom ultimate fantasy in spirit, and a casual, rolling them up herself. comfortable neighborhood restaurant in Plump, grouchy, and with his gray bouffant sum. While it is possible to partake of such bursting out from beneath his Mets cap, salubrious fare as fluffy egg-white frittatas looking a bit like a dyspeptic Shelley Winters, at brunch or wild striped bass with artichoke the inimitable Kenny Shopsin is back in S’MAC barigoule at dinner, the tendency is business. “Fuck!” he says one afternoon 345 E. 12th St., nr. First Ave. toward the magnificently meaty: Think as the orders roll in. “I was getting used to 212-358-7912 double-cooked pork with Belgian-en- not working—give me the ticket, asshole.” dive vinaigrette, or deviled eggs on rafts Masochistic fans are thrilled to rediscover In the grand tradition of Peanut Butter of fried pork jowls, or fatty lamb ribs Kenny’s “pork slyders” and pumpkin “slutty & Co., Rice to Riches, and Pommes Frites, seasoned with yogurt and pickled tomato. cakes” in their new home at the Essex Street S’MAC turns one high-fat, high-calorie But think especially of the sumptuous Market, and we can personally vouch for the food into a plausible business plan (and david carmichael, burger, fortified with fatback and deposited aggressive maltiness of his chocolate malted, merchandise bonanza). In this case, pastry chef, Gilt on a soft, squishy bun with mayo, pickles, the garlic assault of his Rooster sandwich skillet-broiled elbow mac comes in a dozen and melted cheese. (, spicy Cheddar, avocado on varieties, three sizes, and with or without garlic bread), and the mad genius of his deep- toasted bread crumbs on top. And though fried pickles. Although the new space adjacent there will always be a market for novelties buffalo chicken to the Saxelby Cheesemongers kiosk is about like Buffalo chicken mac and ginger wasabi Ronnybrook Milk Bar as big as a janitor’s closet and the menu has mac, we confess to a preference for the fingers 75 Ninth Ave., nr. 16th St. 212-741-6455 yet to be restored to its 1,000-or-so-item glory, Cheddar-enriched all-American version, at there’s still room for an arsenal of ingredients as gooey and cheesy as anything that didn’t It’s no surprise that the milkshakes and the arranged on towering shelves. And should come out of a box. annie moore’s yogurt smoothies at this Kenny ever run out of mango for his mango outpost of the Columbia County dairy farm chicken lime, or blue cheese for his Svetlana are so good. But now that the place has kielbasa breakfast plate, he has the entire I like the buffalo counter seating and a bona fide kitchen, market at his disposal. Thai Market chicken fingers they’re joined by a contemporary take on 960 Amsterdam Ave., nr. 107th St. with a side a coffee-shop menu that incorporates the 212-280-4575 farm’s products with some of the region’s of blue-cheese dip best artisanal ingredients. Hudson Valley Silent h The décor may come off a bit theme-parky, and hot sauce farm eggs are cooked with asparagus, 79 Berry St., at N. 9th St., Williamsburg, with its Bangkok street signs and street- herbs, and Ronnybrook farmer’s cheese; Brooklyn 718-218-7063 market photo murals, but the kitchen at an Irish pub local peaches combine with toasted seems to prize authenticity over artifice. called Annie Moore’s and Sprout Creek Ouray cheese When Los Angeleno Vinh Nguyen couldn’t The menu is voluminous and modeled in a watercress salad. Best of all might be find a local Vietnamese restaurant that after a broadsheet, and the first-time diner outside of expertly constructed sandwiches like the pleased him, he did what all food-obsessed would do well to heed the hyperefficient Grand Central. one with roasted D’Artagnan chicken, transplants do—he opened his own. The server’s advice. That’s how we happily Grafton Cheddar, avocado, and bacon spare North Williamsburg corner spot that ended up with dishes he claimed couldn’t It costs about $8.75. on a Sullivan St. Bakery flauto, anointed used to house Oznot’s Dish has been recon- be found at -cutter pad Thai parlors: They’re awesome. with spicy aïoli and accompanied by an figured with a (still BYO) bar built for giants, the daikon cake, for starters, sautéed with herb-smattered toss of mixed greens. sliding-back chairs straight out of shop class, soy sauce, bean sprouts, and egg, and the There’s no messing and a small menu of Vietnamese classics tart minced salmon, flavored with chili, around—it’s reinterpreted through Nguyen’s personal mint, lemongrass, and galanga, and served all spice and meat. taste and inspired by local ingredients, like at room temperature with lettuce leaves the Polish kielbasa that’s sandwiched inside for wrapping. Don’t get us wrong—this of his tasty lunchtime bánh mì. Of all the still isn’t the unabashedly sour, tart, “Viet tapas,” the street toasts, slicked with

60 new york | cheap eats cheap eats | new york 61 electrifyingly spicy stuff Thai-food fiends’ hot-dog spices. The best of the bunch is dreams are made of. For that, you’ll need to the homegrown “Mutt,” a Karl Ehmer THE CALYPSO COLLECTION trek out to Queens. But for upper Manhattan, all-beef number that comes swaddled in BY TOURNEAU TIMEPIECES it’s a great option, made even greater by the a house-baked challah bun. Excellent breezy open-air façade. onion rings, too.

Tiffin Wallah take your 127 E. 28th St., nr. Lexington Ave. Yun Nan Flavour 212-685-7301 Snack Shop 775A 49th St., nr. Eighth Ave., Sunset Park, Pradeep Shinde has a dream, and it is to Brooklyn; 718-633-3090 introduce the New York version of the tiffin wallah, an Indian delivery boy who The friendly husband-and-wife owners hail TIME totes stacks of compartmentalized silver from Yunnan, the southwestern Chinese lunch boxes to desk-bound office workers. province bordering Myanmar and Vietnam, Until that day arrives—not to mention the and they specialize in nicely chewy, silky proper equipment—he’s serving intricately white rice noodles served in bountiful spiced, Indian vegetarian fare in-house. bowls of soup adorned with cilantro and The menu at his spiffy new establishment hot sauce and slurped at the low coun- is virtually identical to the one at Chen- ter that runs around the periphery of the nai Garden, its sister restaurant around tiny room. Broths are dark and murky, the corner, with foot-long dosas, regional populated by your choice of stewed beef thalis or combination-plate dinners, and or pork, and might contain the odd a variety of Gujarati and Punjabi curries snout or two. Heat waves call for off-the- that rotate themselves in and out of the $6 menu cold noodles, doused with sweet- lunch buffet. and-spicy sauces and way more sugar than you might expect. There are plump pork dumplings, too, elegantly crimped and immersed in a hot-and-sour broth. Willie’s Dawgs 351 Fifth Ave., nr. Fifth St., Park Slope, Brooklyn; 718-832-2941

You would expect to find pedigreed hot dogs made from grass-fed cattle in a place like San Francisco, where the sustainable-agriculture movement is practically organized religion. In Nathan Handwerker’s backyard, it’s a little less likely. But as it happens, Park Slope’s bright, cheerful Willie’s Dawgs is the sole local purveyor of Let’s Be Frank, the brand started by Chez Panisse’s own “meat forager.” It’s top dog on a menu of alterna- franks like the skinless “Pedigree,” the poultry dog, the tofu dog, and the carrot dog, a whole root marinated in

Tourneau TimeMachine 57th at Madison • The Shops at Columbus Circle Madison at 52nd • Seventh and 34th • Roosevelt Field, LI • Walt Whitman Mall, Huntington, LI The Westchester, White Plains • Garden State Plaza, Paramus, NJ • Pier Shops at Caesars, Atlantic City, NJ 2008 TOURNEAU LLC NYMRG2/08 62 new york | cheap eats © For Locations Nationwide or to SHOP-AT-HOME: 800.348.3332 tourneau.com NY 100 FR 2008 4/12/07 18:48 P�gina 1

C M Y CM MY CY CMY K