In the Magazine

Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite at the Queens Kickshaw; a Weekly Market at Brooklyn Grange

Photo: Danny Kim

In the magazine this week, Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite check out Astoria newcomer the Queens Kickshaw, a specialist in “serious joe and fanciful grilled cheese.” Coffeewise, “The Westchester-roasted pour-over coffee is terrific, the cortado and Americano equally delicious.” Grilled-cheese sandwiches, meanwhile, are “assembled on Balthazar Bakery bread by chefs so intently focused on their mise en place you’d think they were auditioning for Thomas Keller.” Variations like “the Gouda sandwich,” which “mingles guava jam and pickled jalapeños with a dollop of black-bean hummus” taste “pretty great.” In all, the three-star spot is “as pleasant and exacting a coffee bar as any you’d find in Manhattan or Brooklyn, if not more so.”

Meanwhile, Adam Platt finds himself a bit farther afield: In Spain for “the mother of all boondoggles,” a 47-course last supper at soon-to-close El Bulli. That he’s put up in five-star lodging, rides a helicopter to the restaurant, and dines with the likes of Heather Graham is just the icing. Our critic falls hard for dishes like “Adrià’s gazpacho … a dish, along with ten or fifteen others on the menu, that was quite possibly one of the most delicious things I’d ever tasted.” Read the full account here.

If you can’t make it to the rocky coast of Catalonia, at least check out these new options for alfresco dining and drinking. Speaking of the great outdoors, urban farm Brooklyn Grange is now hosting a weekly market where you can purchase its rooftop-grown goods. And if you want to indulge in something deliciously non-local, Indian Kesar mangoes are in season, and they happen to be “sweet, juicy, and intensely aromatic.”

Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite at the Queens Kickshaw; a Weekly Market at