In the Magazine

Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld on St. Anselm; Aziz Ansari’s East Village Picks

St. Anselm.
St. Anselm. Photo: Danny Kim

In this week’s New York, the Underground Gourmet visits St. Anselm, recently revived with a beer-and-wine license and a new steakhouse identity — even if it doesn’t know it. “You don’t put a bunch of meat (not to mention iceberg wedges, spinach gratins, and thick slices of grilled bacon à la Peter Luger) on a menu and expect people not to notice,” our critics write. While the duo enjoys “a zingy pea-green salad with those salty, chewy slabs of grilled haloumi,” and “a trio of eggplants … oiled and charred and paired with a button of deep-fried goat cheese,” “you go to a steakhouse (even an incidental one) for the meat and potatoes, and in this regard, St. Anselm does not disappoint”; the wine list is great, too, bumping the restaurant up to four stars.

If you follow Aziz Ansari’s Twitter, you’ll know the Parks and Recreation actor is a big foodie. Scott Brown tags along as Ansari veers through an East Village food and cocktails crawl, stopping for the cecina at the Tacos Morelos cart and the Irish Maid cocktail at PDT.

Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite weigh in on the foods scarf in before summer ends, including Littlenecks from Randazzo’s, Greenmarket corn, and a seasonal BLT at ’wichcraft. Speaking of seasonal, it’s the time of year for Turkish orange eggplants, whose pumpkinlike appearance shouldn’t stop you from dredging them in cornmeal and frying them. And the Underground Gourmet also drops in to Williamsburg’s Nitehawk Cinema, where Saul Bolton’s new brunch menu makes for a fun way to spend a weekend afternoon.

Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld on St. Anselm; Aziz Ansari’s East Village