salmaland.com » NYC: Where to Eat

West Village: Spotted Pig and Dell’Anima

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 17:20:36 +0000

Dell'Anima

If you haven’t figured out where to eat tonight but are circling around the idea of a cozy/Italian/inexpensive/crowd-pleaser/West Village sort of place, head to the triangle formed roughly by Greenwich Ave., Eighth Ave., and West 11th. Where exactly? You could start with Dell’Anima, where you’ll find all of the above elements plus a hit-the-spot Italian menu of pastas (tagliatelle bolognese, a great carbonara) and meaty dishes like their semi-famous chicken diavolo with broccoli rabe, chilies, and garlic. Haven’t booked ahead? You might strike out on a weekend, since the space is tiny and usually packed—but it’s worth a shot. And you can always leave your name at the door then try your luck at the Spotted Pig a little further west, for a guaranteed wait but not-bad odds of getting seated before long, thanks to the multi-level brownstone dining room.

Rewards await at the Pig, including chef April Bloomfield’s heavenly burger with Roquefort cheese and shoestring fries, or grilled skirt steak with chilies and mint, or Italian-inspired specialties like sheep’s milk ricotta gnudi with brown butter and sage; that one’s been on the menu forever and probably will be forever, and for good reason.

Dell’Anima. 50 Carmine St. between Bedford and Bleecker Sts.; (212) 929-5050. Spotted Pig. 314 W. 11th St. at Greenwich St.; (212) 620-0393.

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

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

BK/Fort Greene: Walter’s

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:29:11 +0000

Is there a mysterious underground tunnel between Fort Greene and Williamsburg? (Besides the regrettable G, aka Ghost Train)? How else to explain the influx of Williamsburg restaurants into the neighborhood? No one is complaining so far though, especially as long as Fort Greene doesn’t actually turn into Williamsburg; one is enough, non? Cutting to the chase: Walter’s is the latest Wburg outpost to open along DeKalb Avenue, and yes, it’s helping to ratchet up the food scene here, at long last. Finally, a place to get a dozen great oysters and a Bloody Mary, or one of the heartier offerings from the fairly straight-ahead, intuitive Americana menu: a short-rib burger, fried chicken, a grilled bar steak, a seaf00d-loaded fisherman’s stew. Of course those all come with very-now flourishes: That burger sits on a brioche bun, with the inevitable bacon slab; the fried chicken is laced with spicy honey; the bar steak has a chimichurri sauce. But retro garlic mashed potatoes are rife all over the menu too, as is horseradish sauce (on the flashback French Dip sandwich). Just in for a snack? The bar menu pretty much nails it: deviled eggs, duck buns, spicy wings, and a luscious Dark and Stormy.

Walter’s. 166 DeKalb Ave. at Cumberland St.; (718-488-7800).

Prices/Features. Moderately Priced/Drink Destination

BK/Fort Greene: Roman’s

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:08:21 +0000

The once restaurant-starved Fort Greene got a little piece of the action when Roman’s opened—serving not just scenesters loyal to the owners’ Williamsburg holdings (Diner, Marlow & Sons, et al) but mainly neighborhood locals who just want excellent food in a fun room, full stop. The short, constantly changing menu of beautifully rendered rustic Italian dishes makes it hard to choose (linguini with sardines; fusilli with pork sausage; a salad of oranges with chiles and mint; Tuscan kale with anchovy dressing and parmigiano) and the bar is an appealing, comfortable place to eat or drink. All this conspires to turn first-timers into regulars. Yeah, the place gets slammed, and you’ll wait for your table most of the time. Wish that weren’t so, but that’s the world we live in, in New York, in 2012.

Roman’s. 243 DeKalb Ave. between Claremont and Vanderbilt Aves.; (718-622-5300).

Prices/Features. Moderately Priced/Drink Destination

Soho/Nolita: Parm

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 18:36:47 +0000

Not that they need more attention, but the guys behind Torrisi have opened this second modest (modest-ish) little Italian-American joint—which is predictably packed nearly all the time. Parm is excellent though—the kind of casual, hearty, filling, cheap-ish food you crave nearly all the time—and so deserves the crowds. But dammit can’t we just one place to ourselves in this freaking city? Anyway, here’s the basic lowdown on Parm: various versions of dear old breaded, cheese-and-marinara-slathered parmigiano dishes: eggplant part, chicken parm, meatball parm, and more, available as sandwiches or platters. Terrific sides too, like roasted brussels sprouts, spicy broccoli rabe, a pork-laden “holiday salad,” and fried calamari. From 11am to noon and from 4pm to 6pm things tend to be mellower here, so you can just show up, sit at the bar, eat and drink, and merrily avoid the crushing crowds at the door for a bit.

Parm: 248 Mulberry St. between Prince and Spring Sts.; (212-993-7189)

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced, Vegetarian Friendly

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

West VillagepI Sodi

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:45:19 +0000

Flying mostly under the radar—except among West Villagers and in-the-know Italian-restaurant obsessives—I Sodi is endlessly pleasing: from the compact, tunnel-like room, to the warm and on-the-ball staff, to the reliably fantastic Tuscan cooking. The menu changes constantly, but you might happen on a night when there’s homemade pappardelle with duck ragu, or fried rabbit, or a rich and unusual leek risotto. Very hard to eat here without planning a return visit immediately. So reserve, because even though most people won’t have heard of I Sodi, the ones who know it keep the tables full nightly.

I Sodi: 105 Christopher St. at Bleecker St.; (212) 414-5774.

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced/Elegant

West Village: Joseph Leonard and Jeffrey’s Grocery

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:40:15 +0000

Photo via Eater.com

Platonic ideal of the West Village restaurant, right around now: Small and cluttered with vintage-looking furniture; well-executed but willfully un-fancy food; maybe some charcuterie and oysters; strong drinks; non-bludgeoning prices. This is more or less what you’ll find at Joseph Leonard, via owner Gabriel Stulman (of Market Table and The Little Owl). All-around pleasant place to hang out in, eat in, linger in. If you tend to make restaurant decisions last-minute like I do, show up before 7pm for your best shot at bar stools or a table. On the menu (sometimes): braised pork hock, shrimp and grits with andouille. If the restaurant has a line by the time you get there and you’re disinclined to stand around waiting, head to sister restaurant Jeffrey’s Grocery, down the block at 172 Waverly: Gorgeous oysters, raw-bar platters, and bistro-ish dishes like lobster spaghetti and brisket sandwich

Joseph Leonard. 107 Waverly Pl. at Grove St.; 626-429-8383

Jeffrey’s Grocery. 172 Waverly Pl. at Christopher St.; 626-398-7630

Prices/Features. Moderately Priced/Vegetarian-Friendly/Drink Destination

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