Greetings on this balmy Tuesday. (And by balmy, we mean just above freezing in New York.) Here’s what you’ll find in today’s newsletter:
ALWAYS BE EATING The best things we ate (and loved) in JanuaryYou know you have a passion for food when you’ll brave the cold to enjoy it. And brave the cold we did, though at least two of our comrades — Tejal Rao and Luke Fortney — enjoyed something like a respite with meals in Honolulu and Austin, Texas. Here are our favorite dishes from January. Hokkaido scallop ceviche at Bangkok Supper ClubI needed a last-minute reservation for a party of five last week and I heard Denée Benton’s voice in the back of my head, whispering “Bangkok Supper Club.” (I’m officially adding it to my list of back-pocket restaurants that are also quiet.) I loved this ice-cold yet spicy scallop dish with garlic, fish sauce and chile watermelon granita. More spicy food, please! NIKITA RICHARDSON 641 Hudson Street (Horatio Street), West Village Castelfranco salad at ChambersStill dreaming of this salad: those buttery pale, burgundy-freckled leaves, their natural bitterness coaxed out during cultivation through blanching, the process of covering the heads to reduce exposure to light and the development of chlorophyll. It makes them beautifully tender. What kale was to salads 15 years ago, Castelfranco is now. LIGAYA MISHAN 94 Chambers Street (Church Street), TriBeCa Campechano at Paprika ATXI had so many good tacos in Austin, but the campechano at Paprika was a standout with an absurd amount of flavor and texture packed into just a few lush bites: crisp suadero confited in its own rendered fat, warmly spiced chorizo and a delicately crunchy crumble of chicharrón all piled on a limber corn tortilla. TEJAL RAO 6539 North Lamar Boulevard (Brentwood Street), Austin Wagyu fried rice at UngloThe bad news is that Unglo stopped offering moo krata, a Thai style of dining where patrons swoosh vegetables through aromatic broth and seared meats over tabletop grills. The good news is that the chef Nate Limwong carried over one of the best dishes to the new menu: Wagyu fried rice. The kitchen tosses together hunks of fatty beef, soft jasmine rice, garlic chips, chiles and, best of all, cured egg yolk with fish sauce. That last condiment renders the grains so deeply unctuous that the lush platter could almost qualify as pudding. RYAN SUTTON 35 West 64th Street (Broadway), Upper West Side Shave ice at Chillest Shave IceIn the weeks leading up to a trip to Oahu last month, all my friends could talk about was Chillest Shave Ice, a nearly year-old sweets shop in Honolulu. There are fun, flavored syrups, like strawberry milk and P.O.G. (passionfruit, orange, guava), and warm discs of homemade mochi that alway sell out. Even before I dug in and found a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle, as is customary in Hawaii, it was all I could talk about, too. LUKE FORTNEY 3408 Waialae Avenue (Eighth Avenue), Honolulu All the fish dishes at HwaroI recently celebrated my 12th wedding anniversary at this chef’s counter tucked inside the Korean steakhouse Gui. It was a 10-course procession of typical fine dining fodder (foie gras, caviar) but my favorites of the night were the fishes: dry-aged amberjack with crisp apples and buttermilk, perfectly flaky Chilean sea bass with smoky brown butter consommé. For dessert, the simple black sesame ice cream bar was pretty excellent, too. MAHIRA RIVERS 776 Eighth Avenue (West 47th Street), inside Gui, Midtown Chicken sausage, egg and cheese at Black Seed BagelsThe dizzingly salty and richly spiced chicken sausage at Black Seed is relatively new, made for them by Fabrique Délices in the Bay Area. The bagels aren’t consistent enough to make my list of the best bagels, but at 10 a.m. on New Year’s Day? Can’t imagine anything better. BECKY HUGHES
THE BRIEF REVIEW Le Chêne★★ At the chef Alexia Duchêne’s chic French dining room in the West Village, the pithiviers on nearly every table have domes of lacquered puff pastry as ornate as Marie Antoinette’s wedding dress. Let them eat butter, is what she should have said. Duchêne’s pithivier, essentially a meat pie, is her kitchen’s marquee accomplishment. Its flaky crust holds a skillfully tight mosaic of pork sausage, smoky eel and potato. It is both beauty and beast, an elaborate dish that tastes, simply, of pastry-wrapped sausage. Born in Paris, the chef has said she mined old French cookbooks for her menu, but there is a modern streak running through her food — say, a touch of maple or a splash of dashi. This doesn’t always work cohesively, as in a recent dish of seared scallops marred by too much bitter confit lemon. Still, Duchêne is a talented chef and an erroneous ingredient or two doesn’t detract from the finesse of a meal, especially if it involves French toast topped with uni and bone marrow, or juicy sweet leeks set against a tangy sauce gribiche with baby croutons that have a panko-like crunch. Larger mains on the spare, seasonal menu feel more within Duchêne’s comfort zone, like the perfectly seasoned halibut in a sprightly green parsley clam broth. The wine list, overseen by her husband, Ronan Duchêne Le May, echoes the loud luxury of the Basquiats on the crisp white walls. On one evening, a suited sommelier floats around the dining room cradling a six-liter bottle of 2011 Château d’Yquem, a sea of angling iPhones raised in its wake. To finish, the whispery île flottante is a must for those who prefer their sweets in a solid state — even if just barely. Address: 76 Carmine Street (Varick Street), West Village; no phone; lechenenyc.com. Recommended Dishes: Sweet shrimp tartelette; uni French toast; leeks sauce gribiche; halibut; lamb chop; pithiviers terre & mer; île flottante; clafoutis. Price: Small bites, $12 to $33; appetizers, $22 to $46; mains, $51 to $125; sides, $10 to $16; desserts, $14 to $28. Wheelchair Access: The dining room and bathrooms are wheelchair accessible.
FROM OUR CHIEF CRITICS The new Babbo is ‘not trying to replicate the past, just make peace with it’After a rocky start, Mark Ladner’s Babbo seems to have righted itself, landing somewhere between the old — Led Zeppelin, orange Crocs, orange peel — and the new — Velvet Underground, shoes without “sport mode,” yuzu peel. (There are also shades of Ladner’s Del Posto throughout.) “I do not envy Mr. Ladner the multiple masters he has to please, past and present,” Ligaya writes. “I hope he’s able to resist the pressure to keep looking over his shoulder.” Read the review → OPENING OF THE WEEK A 300-plus seat ristorante near Grand CentralThe area around Grand Central is both a desert for nice sit-down restaurants that aren’t the Oyster Bar and an oasis of fast-casual options. So, for those of us often faced with making recommendations for dining around there, it’s good news that the team behind La Pecora Bianca is opening the 375-seat Giulietta at the intersection of Vanderbilt Avenue and East 45th Street on Monday. The restaurant will add another 150 outdoor seats once the weather warms up. More restaurant openings in Midtown, Flatiron and Brooklyn Heights →
RESTAURANT RECIPES We got you the chocolate mousse recipe from PennyWould you believe that one of the city’s best desserts can be found at a seafood bar in the East Village? Well, believe it. For his latest “Bake Time” video and newsletter, Vaughn Vreeland adapted the chocolate mousse with candied hazelnuts from Penny, so you can enjoy it wherever you call home. Watch the video | Get the recipe → Have New York City restaurant questions? Send us a note here. Follow NYT Food on TikTok and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest.
|
