Posts for February 10, 2013 -- Grub Street: New York Magazine's Food and Restaurant Blog

Posts for February 10, 2013

2/10/13 at 8:00 PM
the underground gourmet
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The Underground Gourmet: Salvation Taco Takes Delicious Liberties

By Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite

Screw authenticity,” said the man in the Borsalino hat perched on the stool next to the Underground Gourmet at Salvation Taco, a new bar and taquería off the lobby of a Murray Hill budget hotel. “This is delicious.” Señor Borsalino, like the U.G. and practically everyone else, was eating something called “Moroccan lamb on naan,” even though it was listed under the menu heading “Tacos.” The so-called taco in question was about the size and shape of a bar of Dove soap and more like a cross between a miniature gyro and a bruschetta. Eating it was tricky: When you tried to pick the thing up or fold it in half taco style (which, by the way, doesn’t work), cubes of juicy meat and diced cucumber spilled out onto your lap and hot lamb grease shot down your sleeve. And yet, like the man in the hat said: delicious.

2/10/13 at 7:30 PM
Pig Heads
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Trendlet: Animal Heads Make Their Way to the Plate

By Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite

Marc Forgione’s crispy pig’s face.

These days, the typical trendy-restaurant-going New Yorker isn’t squeamish about eating variety meats. What foodie, in this enlightened nose-to-tail era, hasn’t tried marrow bones and liked it? Or, for that matter, pig’s feet, pork knuckles, and lamb kidneys? All delicious. And let’s not forget the upper regions: the ears, tongues, and cheeks eaten à la carte or sometimes in an exotic jumble, like Xi’an Famous Foods’ spicy lamb-face salad. Still, it’s one thing to tuck into a nice braised beef tongue or pork-jowl-bacon BLT, and quite another to have a pig’s head plopped down in front of you. Greeks have always had their lamb’s heads and Chinese their fish heads, but for more mainstream offal enthusiasts, a head served whole is where they draw the line. A few chefs, though, would like to change that.

2/10/13 at 7:00 PM
Openings
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What to Eat at Nightingale 9, Bringing Vietnamese Sandwiches and Hanoi-Style Turnovers to Carroll Gardens

By Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite

Arkansas-bred Seersucker chef and co-owner Robert Newton, it turns out, is something of a Vietnamese-food fanatic, and spent a month in that country last summer, eating his way from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. The trip laid the groundwork for Nightingale 9, opening next week across the street from Smith Canteen, Seersucker’s café-bakery offshoot. At the new spot, which is named for the old Brooklyn telephone exchange NI 9, the chef will employ New York State beef in a rice-noodle soup, layer fried Hudson Valley chicken in a Vietnamese sandwich, and encase crab and wood-ear mushrooms in a Hanoi-style turnover (pictured). Some ingredients could have been pilfered from Seersucker’s kitchen, including the collards in the grilled pork roll, the country ham in the fried rice, and the benne seeds in the sweetened-condensed-milk ice-cream dessert—not to mention the catfish, which is featured in Newton’s rendition of Hanoi’s iconic cha ca la Vong.

Nightingale 9
345 Smith St., at Carroll St., Carroll Gardens; 347-689-4699

2/10/13 at 6:45 PM
In Season
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In Season: Jonathan Benno’s Pasta e Fagioli

By Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite

Photo: Victor Prado/New York Magazine; Illustrations by John Burgoyne

Summer wouldn’t be summer without fresh favas and romanos, but now is when legumes in their dried form come into their own. Some of the best cold-weather eating, after all, involves beans: cassoulet, minestrone, ribollita, chili, and pasta e fagioli (or pasta fazool, depending on where you’re from). Bean snobs—yes, they exist—swear by the heirloom varieties from California’s boutique beanery Rancho Gordo. (Lincoln Ristorante’s Jonathan Benno, for one, is a fan.) Not only are these superbeans in their countless permutations beautiful to look at, they’re “fresher”: i.e., they’re harvested, dried, and sold within a year, so they’re likely to be firmer and more flavorful than the average bean.

2/10/13 at 6:30 PM
Openings
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Suba and Boqueria Vet Yann de Rochefort Opening Manzanilla in Flatiron

By Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite

Over the past decade, restaurateur Yann de Rochefort orchestrated Dinners in the Dark at Suba, launched Boqueria with Seamus Mullen, and expanded that burgeoning tapas brand to Washington, D.C. His latest chef-collaborator, Dani García, is best known for the two-Michelin-starred Calima in Marbella, Spain. Their new venture, Manzanilla, shares its name with another García restaurant in Málaga, but takes a more New York-centric approach. The menu, to be executed by García emissary Santiago Guerrero, features pâté buñuelos, cod tartare with molecular-gastronomical “nitro-tomato,” and bacalao with citrus-gazpachuelo sauce, plus simply grilled steaks and a liberal sprinkling of Ibérico pork throughout. Spanish wines loom large, as do sherries by the glass, and cocktails incorporate everything from Spanish sloe-flavored liqueur to Brooklyn gin. What was once a Staples has been outfitted with herringbone-patterned concrete tile, a wood-clad ceiling, and a 40-seat private dining room.

Manzanilla
345 Park Ave. S., entrance on 26th St.; 212-255-4086

2/10/13 at 6:15 PM
Beer Me
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Eben Freeman Brews a Beer for Boozehounds

By Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite

You might know Eben Freeman, the drinks whiz at Michael White’s Altamarea Group and, prior to that, wd-50 and Tailor, as a dedicated cocktail guy. As it turns out, he’s also a big ole beer geek. To wit, he’s been working hard with Milwaukee’s Lakefront Brewery on a stout recipe, and now it’s flowing through tap lines at Nicoletta Pizzeria (160 Second Ave., at 10th St.; 212-432-1600) and Osteria Morini (218 Lafayette St., nr. Kenmare St.; 212-965-8777). The pitch-black elixir Freeman has named Fernet Stout after the cult amaro is brewed with star anise, dried orange peel, clove, fennel, saffron, and lemon verbena. It’s deliciously bitter, with good balance, a refreshing finish, and a hint of sarsaparilla. Maybe it’s the fennel talking, but according to Freeman, it goes nicely with Nicoletta’s sausage pie, or a slab of porchetta over at Morini.

2/10/13 at 6:00 PM
Restaurant Agenda
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Murray's Cheese Bar Launching Brunch at the End of the Month

By Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite

Until now, the Murray’s Breakfast Melt (pictured), a first-rate McMuffin if there ever was one, has been available only to-go at the landmark Village fromagerie. Soon, this superior sandwich can be had via leisurely table service at the shop’s restaurant offshoot, Murray’s Cheese Bar, which launches brunch service February 23. Also on offer during daylight hours: breakfast cheese boards, a cream-cheese-and-bacon-stuffed French toast called “Illegal Doughnut,” and a mini breakfast burger crowned with a fried egg, bacon, and cheese (264 Bleecker St., nr. Morton St.; 646-476-8882).

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