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East Village/Noho/Union Square: Il Buco and Il Buco Alimentaria

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:40:48 +0000

Photo by Thibault Jeanson

Catch Il Buco on the right night, and it’s as close to a bull’s eye as you’ll get in NYC dining. Of course, saying that any restaurant hits the bull’s-eye is asking for trouble. No, Bond Street’s stalwart Italian restaurant Il Buco isn’t perfect—meaning you’re not going to have flawless food every single time you go, and your server won’t always win your undying love, and on busy nights you might even have to wait a tad bit past the point where you’re ready to walk. But very few other restaurants (in the neighborhood, in America, in existence) nail so brilliantly that combination of boldly flavorful, soulful food (regional Italian dishes like slow-roasted pig with white polenta and Tuscan black kale; or a soup of Umbrian wild chickpeas and chestnuts in a Parmesan broth with lardo-topped bruschetta), along with a buzzing dinner-party vibe, and a sexy but comfortable dining room that makes you want to linger for hours. Three crucial things—and usually damn-near impossible to find in one restaurant. Il Buco has been pulling off the trio pretty much ever since it opened in 1994. In 2012, the owners opened the spinoff Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria, a wine bar/restaurant/salumeria around the corner on Great Jones Street—creating more options for Il Buco devotees (albeit those who have the patience to try getting into the predictably jammed space…).

Il Buco. 47 Bond St. between Lafayette St. and Bowery; (212) 533-1932. Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria. 53 Great Jones St. between Lafayette St. and Bowery; (212-837-2622).

Prices/Features: Elegant/Drink Destination

East Village/Noho/Union Square: Forcella

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:15:51 +0000

The NYC pizza wars continue. I have to say, there was a time—namely during a week in Naples some years back—when I became convinced that New York does pizza better than the Italian city’s lauded piemakers. But funny thing is, lately the more a pizza reminds me of those bubbly-soft, tomato-sopping, basily Naples pies, the more I love it. Hence Forcella’s inclusion on Salmaland. I’ve only been to the East Village branch but there’s one in Williamsburg too. Even before I’d registered the fact that owner Giulio Adriani is head teacher at Italy’s Verace Pizza Napoletana association and a pizzamaker there for nearly three decades, I was having flashbacks to various small and crowded Naples pizzerias. You’ll find spot-on, beautifully charred and bubble-crusted pies here, including what I crave nearly all the time: an excellent Margherita. Lively salads here too, like the Amalfi, with radicchio, arugula, pears, and nuts. An open kitchen, exposed oven, and chic chandeliers make the room feel weirdly both spacious and cozy.

Forcella. 334 Bowery; (212-466-3300) and 485 Lorimer St.; (718) 338-8820

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced/Good for Groups/Vegetarian-Friendly

East Village/Noho/Union Square: Momofuku

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:35:51 +0000

Photo courtesy of Noodle Bar

Momofuku empire owner David Chang’s deceptively simple reworking of the pork bun, a Chinatown staple (which he makes with oozingly juicy slabs of pork belly topped with cucumber strips on a doughy bun, to be drizzled with Sriracha) helped speed his rise to glory, and it still hits the spot. The place to address a Changian-pork-bun craving most directly is at the East Village’s Momofuku Milk Bar (mostly a cookies, cakes, and ice cream shop, with a couple of savory items), or at Momofuku Noodle Bar (mostly ramen and other noodle concoctions), or at Ssam Bar (eclectic Korean/American/French mashup in a raucous space with communal tables). Chang also runs the exquisite, prix-fixe-only, nearly impossible to get into Ko (also in the East Village), and the midtown Momofuku branch, Ma Peche at the Chambers Hotel (which also has a Milk Bar branch)—but you won’t find pork buns at those two spots.

Every Momofuku menu is different, but the hallmarks of the empire are Changian specialties involving wickedly conceived pork, lamb, beef, and seafood dishes with unexpected flavor jolts: say, sweet and spicy pig ears with wild sorrel and poppy (Sssam), or pork-belly ramen with a poached egg (Noodle Bar), or striped bass with sweet potato and coconut galangal (Ma Peche).

Noodle Bar: 171 First Ave. between 10th and 11th Sts. (212) 777-7773

Ssam Bar: 207 Second Ave. at 13th St. (212) 254-3500

Milk Bar: 207 Second Ave. at 13th St. (212) 254-3500; 15 W. 56th St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves. 212-757-5878

Ko: 163 First Ave. between 10th and 11th Sts. Reservations required: Online reservations only.

Ma Peche: 15 W. 56th St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves. (212) 974-5656

Prices/Features:

Ssam Bar and Ma Peche: Moderately priced, Drink Destination, Good for Groups.

Noodle Bar and Milk Bar: Cheap, Good for Groups

Ko: upscale

East Village/Noho/Union Square: DBGB

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:40:11 +0000

It took me a while to warm up to DBGB‘s room: It can feel a bit cavernous and cold. But once you start in on chef Daniel Boulud’s reengineered burgers and sausages and assorted versions of bistro/American greatest hits—and get absorbed in all the celeb-chef-donated copper cookware lining the walls—suddenly all is warm and luscious and A-ok in this world. (If $40-$50 a head buys a legal, relatively safe pleasure injection for a couple of hours, I’m in.) Favorites here: the Piggy burger (beef topped with Daisy May‘s pulled pork and slathered in jalapeno mayo) and the Vermont dog (a smoked-pork and cheddar sausage with red-onion crème fraiche and hash browns). The fries rock too; sit at the bar and have them with one of the gazillion international beers on tap, and you’re in excellent shape. Brunch here is a nice surprise, departing as it does from most NYC-brunch clichés without the punishing waits of nearby tiny brunch-champ (and all-around champ) Prune.

DBGB Kitchen & Bar. 299 Bowery between Houston and First St.; 212-933-5300.

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced/Drink Destination/Good for Groups

East Village/Noho/Union Square: The Smile

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:20:15 +0000

Pic courtesy of Papermag.com

Is it because it’s tough these days to pick a name that isn’t already taken? Or because The Smile is just a spot-on name for a caffeine fill-up station? Who knows. Swing by for a couple of exquisite espresso shots in one of the most beautifully furnished little rooms in downtown Manhattan. This isn’t the kind of café where you can spend all afternoon nursing a cup of coffee (like, say, at Think around the corner on Bleecker and Bowery). If you did that, The Smile would go out of business. Wouldn’t want that to happen, so consider ordering a lunch or dinner dish from the small-ish menu (maybe a Black Forest ham and gruyere sandwich mid-day; spaghetti in heirloom cherry-tomato sauce later).

The Smile. 26 Bond St. between Lafayette St. and Bowery; no phone.

Prices/Features: Cheap, Vegetarian-Friendly

East Village/Noho/Union Square: Caracas Arepa Bar

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:30:34 +0000

Sometimes the only thing that will do is a griddled Venezuelan corn cake smeared with salty white cheese, or with sweet plantains and avocado, or with grilled chorizo and jalapenos. These aren’t those flabby street-fest arepas. At Caracas Arepa Bar, they’re expertly handmade (or, to use that insipid word, “handcrafted”) by Venezuelan owners Maribel Araujo, Aristides Barrios, and chef Ilse Parra. Two words: magically delicious. Stop at the take-out shop for instant gratification, or wait in line for a table in the boisterous, narrow dining room at prime meal times.

Caracas. 93 1/2 E 7th St. between First Ave. and Ave. A; (212) 529-2314. Also in Williamsburg: 291 Grand St. between Havemeyer and Roebling Sts., 718-218-6050.

Prices/Features: Cheap/Vegetarian-Friendly