Suba’s Mariscos y Verduras Channel Spain, via Long Island and the
Seamus Mullen’s health troubles have gotten a lot of press lately, but his cooking at Suba, his newly opened “modern Spanish” restaurant on Ludlow Street, hasn’t gotten nearly enough. Tonight, for example, Mullen is serving mariscos y verduras (shellfish and green vegetables), an updated Basque summer standard. “With the weather in the nineties, I wanted to do something that was fresh and light, but that also had a very, very deep flavor,” Mullen says. “I like this, too, because basically everything in it is in season and locally sourced, but it’s totally true to Spanish cooking – except for the Meyer-lemon vinaigrette. But that goes so well with it.” A diver scallop, some littleneck clams, rock shrimp, and cockles are steamed in Txakoli wine, and the resulting liquid is mixed with a broth of fish stock and fresh herbs, and used to quickly cook sugar snap peas, snow peas, and cranberry beans. The dish is topped with some borage flowers and served as a first course for $15. Mullen suggests drinking the Txakoli, an effervescent spirit, with it.
Related: Suba’s Seamus Mullen Goes Through Something Even Worse Than an Opening
What to Eat Tonight
Prune Provides an East Village Kind of Clambake
You can’t get much of a clambake going at Brighton Beach, which is about as close as we at Grub Street get to the ocean these days. But we still pine for the crude pleasures of a summer ritual that has almost no presence in the daily life of New York. Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune felt more or less the same way, and so came up with tonight’s special, a dish of steamed Manila clams, merguez sausage, and corn (for $23) meant to summon the experience, if not the setting. “I think it’s like a clambake,” she says, “just not in a pit of sand in the ground. But it has all the other elements, plus ones you wouldn’t normally find, like smoked paprika, cilantro, piquillo peppers.” But why Manila clams? That doesn’t seem especially traditional. “It isn’t,” Hamilton says. “But we love their saltiness, and they are the perfect size to open at just the right time it takes for the merguez to cook.”
What to Eat Tonight
Picholine Has Frogs’ Legs, and Knows How to Use ThemFrogs’ legs tend to be associated with the French and Vietnamese, but according to Craig Hopson, the chef de cuisine at Picholine, the frogs in Florida have the imported ones beaten on all counts. “They’re a lot bigger and cleaner,” he says, and tonight, he’ll be serving them (for $19) as a special at the restaurant. “Frogs’ legs don’t have much flavor on their own,” Hopson tells us, so he ups the ante by filling them with a mixture of ground frogs’ legs, bacon, and foie gras, leaving a small bone protruding to hold them with, and frying them up in tempura batter as crispy frog lollipops. The dish is served with celery kimchee, considerably cooled down from the fiery Korean kind, and a spiced aïoli. But it’s the legs themselves that really jump off the plate.
What to Eat Tonight
Copper River Salmon and Spring Vegetables Come Together, Briefly, at Lure
Alaska’s Copper River is home to some of the most prized wild salmon, but they only come our way for a few brief weeks. The one being served (for $32) tonight at Lure Fishbar couldn’t be more basic. Chef Josh Capon grills the fish very simply, and then plates it with plump, earthy morels, crispy peas, and asparagus. “Copper River salmon is truly the king of all salmon,” says Capon. “They are the oldest wild-salmon species caught today. And due to their long swim upriver, they have a very high fat content, because they store a lot of fat to make the trip. It has a much sweeter flesh that almost melts when it cooked.” Which is one reason Capon barely cooks it, getting out of the way as much as possible so as to let its extraordinary flavor come through.
What to Eat Tonight
A Three-Way Standoff Between Olives, Duck, and Smoky Cheese, Tonight at InsiemeChef Marco Canora’s menu at Insieme is divided between modern dishes like uni risotto and traditional ones like spinach lasagne. But tonight’s special, black-olive fettuccine with duck ragù, falls somewhere between the two sides. “I love this as a take on a really rustic dish, but reworked,” Canora says. “The acidity of red wine goes with the richness of the duck, and both are complemented by the brininess of the olives.” The dish is topped with fiore de Sardo cheese, which Canora says he likes for its smokiness. If we were ordering it, we would start off with a cold, clean crudi appetizer, before taking on its deep, salty flavors. ($16 for an appetizer portion, $26 for entrée.)
What to Eat Tonight
A Not-So-European Union of Soft-Shell Crabs and Pickled RampsWe’re coming into prime-time soft-shell-crab season, and we’re about to leave ramps behind us. So tonight’s special at European Union, sautéed soft-shell crabs with pickled ramps ($16), is something not to miss. The crabs coming up from Maryland are bigger and fatter than the ones seen earlier in the season, one reason chef Akhtar Nawab put the dish on the menu. Says Nawab, “The soft-shells are so nice right now, meaty, sweet, and really soft. They’re alive when we get them. The pickled ramps really cut the richness and tenderness of the crab with a nice garlicky and crunchy bite.” Nawab freely offers that he didn’t invent the idea of pairing ramps with crabs, but EU makes the dish their own by also adding pickled red onions, baby leeks, and (for a trace of sweetness) cipollini onions braised in red wine and honey. Be warned, though — even the meatiest soft-shell crab isn’t going to sate you. Be prepared to order a couple, and think twice about sharing them. In another couple of weeks the dish will be a memory.
What to Eat Tonight
Tocqueville’s Foie Gras Special Really Isn’t About Seasonal
The evils of foie gras production are old news, but somehow, the stuff keeps finding its way to our tables. Possibly because it’s so freaking good. David Coleman, chef de cuisine at Tocqueville, is featuring the controversial delicacy on his menu tonight, simply seared and served with apricots glazed with sherry caramel, alongside ramps and chocolate-mint purée. “The dish is inspired by the first spring ingredients finally available — ramps from the Greenmarket and also the first apricots from California, which have a short season from May to July.” Sure, David. The dish is inspired by spring produce, not the voluptuously buttery, sweet taste of what gastronomes like Charles Gerard have called “the supreme fruit of gastronomy.” We don’t believe you, but we will happily eat it anyway.
What to Eat Tonight
Spring Vegetables Get the DeChellis Treatment at Sumile SushiJosh DeChellis’s Japanese-inspired cooking at Sumile Sushi is especially attuned to seasonality. Just look at tonight’s special, spring-vegetable sushi. Says DeChellis, “Spring’s first vegetables are so precious — just like the most prized fish of the sea — and deserve an equally simple preparation to highlight their annual arrival and delicate flavors.” Tonight’s vegetables include fresh wasabi peas, glazed spring onions, young Japanese peppers, steamed ramps, wild asparagus, enoki, water spinach and sesame, and daikon sprout “kimchee.” The special will change as it reappears from time to time throughout the spring, with different vegetables making guest appearances.
What to Eat Tonight
Spring’s First Veal Short Ribs at Bär-Bo-Ne
The East Village’s Bär-Bo-Ne is known mostly for its regional wines, but the food has been getting consistently more interesting since former chef John Baron departed and was replaced by the owner, Alberto Ibrahimi. The latter incorporates pointed, strong flavors into light, understated dishes such as tonight’s special of veal short ribs braised in white wine, served over parsnip purée with celery leaves ($20). “You see beef short ribs all the time,” Ibrahimi says. “But spring is here and veal is softer and lighter.” The celery leaves give some needed texture and bitterness to the soft sweetness of the meat and parsnips; Ibrahimi suggests pairing the dish with a $12 quartino of Benuara, a blend of red Nero d’Avola and Syrah grapes that he says is “rustic but elegant, like the ribs.”
What to Eat Tonight
A Seasonal Summit of Tilefish, Fava Purée, and Rhubarb Salad at Amalia
At Amalia tonight, chef Ivy Stark has reeled in a fish seldom seen in New York dining circles – which is too bad, because golden tilefish is one of our favorites. Meaty, dense, and full of oily goodness, it’s similar to mackerel in taste, but much, much bigger, typically weighing about twenty pounds. Since it can’t be done whole, Stark serves a pan-seared, skin-on filet of the fleshy creature, with a very springlike purée of fava beans and pineapple-mint leaves (the latter being one of the latest designer hybrid herbs on the market). “It’s really very Egyptian,” Stark says. “I was looking through my cookbooks, and I came across it and decided it would be perfect.” The dish is also served with an Iranian-style salad of raw salted rhubarb with whole mint leaves, spring chives, lime, and garlic. “I saw people eating raw rhubarb on the street in Iran,” Stark says, “and the salt completely takes away the sourness and bitterness … I love not having to cook it. It’s so much more refreshing this way.”
What to Eat Tonight
Appearing Tonight: Soft-shell Crabs at Anthos and Lamb Trio at Café Boulud
Every Thursday we’ll tell you what specials some of the city’s best restaurants have planned for that night. This week: Spring vegetables, the first fish of the warm seasons, and a few delicious holdovers from the cold winter months.
Anthos: Pan-fried soft-shell crabs, breaded in water chestnut flour, served over a smoked egg vinaigrette with lovage, white asparagus, spring green almonds, and pickled pearl red onions. 36 W. 52nd St., nr. Fifth Ave.; 212-582-6900.
Café Boulud: Lamb trio: braised lamb neck, roasted and confited lamb loin, and lamb kefta (spiced ground-lamb turnover), garnished with red lentils, carrots, and almond-stuffed prunes. 20 E. 76th St., nr. Madison Ave..; 212-772-2600.
Gramercy Tavern: Suckling-pig porchetta, stuffed with house-made fennel sausage and Swiss chard, and served on a bed of rutabaga purée with grilled Swiss-chard leaves and braised Swiss-chard stems. 42 E. 20th St., nr. Park Ave. S.; 212-477-0777.
JoJo: Grilled organic pork chop, marinated with Chinese cumin and honey, and served with wild ramps and fava beans. 160 E. 64th St., nr. Lexington Ave..; 212-223-5656.
Blue Smoke: Barbecued organic turkey with apple sausage stuffing and bacon-braised collard greens. 116 E. 27th St., nr. Park Ave.; 212-447-7733.
What to Eat Tonight
It’s Cherry-Blossom Time at Sumile
For the remainder of this month, Sumile Sushi chef Josh De Chellis will be preparing a Japanese spring tasting menu incorporating preserved cherry blossoms and leaves. “The whole cherry-blossom experience is an excuse to cook delicately,” says De Chellis. “That’s what spring is: the first grasses and first vegetables. It’s a delicate time of year.” De Chellis works the cherry blossoms and leaves into four courses, all accompanied by a Sparkling Sakura Sake Elixir infused with them. Unagi (eel) is smoked with cherry blossom, touched up with a blossom glaze, and served with a rich foie gras mousse. Boned squab is rolled up with blossom-infused rice, then roasted, sliced, and served over a bitter, smoky burnt eggplant purée. A chocolate-and-cherry-blossom tart rounds out the meal, which costs $70 including sake. On a cold and rainy day like today, you could do a lot worse for a shift in mood.
What to Eat Tonight
Snow Crab, Sure. Ritz Crackers — Definitely!The icy waters off the Canadian Maritimes bring special bounty at this time of year, and right now, that takes the form of one of the biggest and best of all crab species: Chionoecetes opilio, or snow crab. These monsters, which can easily weigh between five and seven pounds each, are just beginning to show up on menus, David Pasternack of Esca tells us.
What to Eat Tonight
Artichokes, Straight Outta CaliAgata & Valentina Ristorante draws on its sister market’s first-class produce, and right now, that means Castroville artichokes from California, the very first of the season. “They’re meatier and more tender than the ones we’ve been seeing, which all come from South America,” executive project manager Sarah Taylor tells us. “They’re bigger, and they have more flavor, too.” Tonight, in honor of these new arrivals, chef Salvatore Fraterrigo is offering a stuffed-artichokes special ($9). The veggies are crammed full of bread crumbs and garlic, per the traditional recipe, then supplemented with tangy anchovies, rich but mild caciocavallo cow’s-milk cheese, and Parmesano Reggiano, standing in for the more usual Pecorino Romano to give the dish an extra dose of class.
What to Eat Tonight
We’ve Got Oceana’s New Menu — and Word of a Special ServedThe man Ben Pollinger succeeded as executive chef at Oceana in October, Cornelius Gallagher, was one of the city’s top toques, and much of the kitchen left with him. Finally, though, Pollinger has settled in and after much tweaking of the original, finally introduced his own menu (which we’ve filed into our flourishing playground of a database). Says the chef: “Oceana’s menu reflects my vision for what I wanted to do here: a kind of global seafood, with a simultaneous awareness of classic American cooking.”
What to Eat Tonight
Haute Brazilian at Café Boulud — Limited Time Only!We’ve got nothing against your typical feijoada, the black-bean stew that’s Brazil’s national dish and often as dark and heavy as a neutron star. But though there are fine meals to be had in “Little Brazil” (which you can find on 45th and 46th Streets near Fifth Avenue), New Yorkers rarely get to taste the best of what the country has to offer. This week, as Rob and Robin point out in the magazine, top Brazilian chefs João Leme and Fred Frank have been cooking more nuanced, tropical-tinged dishes at Café Boulud. Their repetoire includes a high-end feijoada, which will be served, once the chefs leave at the end of the weekend, every Saturday this month. But we’d try some of their other dishes while there’s still time.
What to Eat Tonight
A Very Special All-Pork ProgramWelcome to a Very Special Episode of Grub Street. In honor of National Pork Day, we’re going to turn back the clock and look at some of the most memorable pork moments from our first six and a half months. We remember them as if they were yesterday …
What to Eat Tonight
The Skinny on Fat Tuesday: The DrinksAfter you’ve loosened the Fat Tuesday feed bag, it’s time for bands, beads, and of course, booze. Though New Orleans’ favorite fruity rum concoction, the Hurricane, won’t be served in go-cups in these parts, plenty of local establishments are providing incentives to drink on-site.
What to Eat Tonight
The Skinny on Fat Tuesday: The EatsAsh Wednesday, if you don’t know, marks the start of Lent, Christianity’s season of self-denial and austerity. Some mark Ash Wednesday Eve consuming loads of meat and drinking. Here’s our short list of places to celebrate Fat Tuesday.
What to Eat Tonight
Oyster Bar Now Swimming in Shad RoeCole Porter immortalized the eggs of the Atlantic Shad in “Let’s Do It” — “Waiter, bring me shad roe” — and New Yorkers have treasured them for generations. Yesterday, the fish arrived at Grand Central Oyster Bar bearing their precious cargo of firm, nutty-tasting eggs. As for the herringlike fish itself, it’s bony and hard to prepare, and for those reasons not prized. It does have devotees, though, and they take it without any sauce or seasoning. The Oyster Bar serves boned shad with bacon and tomato.
In Season: Shad Roe [NYM]
What to Eat Tonight
Eat Bar Masa’s Fried Fugu — We Double-Dog Dare YouFugu, or the flesh of the blowfish, can be deadly if prepared the wrong way, as anyone who has seen the Simpsons episode where Homer is given 24 hours to live after having it served to him by an inexperienced chef can attest. (Actually, he’s given 22 — says Dr. Hibbert: “I’m sorry I kept you waiting so long.”)
What to Eat Tonight
Spin the Shawarma Wheel
Edible Brooklyn has a piece on a subject very dear to our hearts: Those mysterious wheels of meat called shawarma that you find in falafel and gyro joints around town. The article covers the best of Brooklyn; our picks for outside of Brooklyn follow.
What to Eat Tonight
Yes, Soup for You!
Last week we lamented the freakishly warm weather’s impact on the availability (and desirability) of cassoulet. Now that New York has finally hit a cold pocket, we’re taking the opportunity to recommend three soups that are the culinary equivalent of kicking back by a roaring fire. fire.
What to Eat Tonight
It Was a Very Good Beer …This morning we reported that Gramercy Tavern has a new menu; this afternoon we’re recommending that you check out another new thing at the restaurant: their program of vintage (that is, aged) beers and ciders, one of the few of its kind in town. Kevin Barry — the restaurant’s assistant beverage director and the list’s co-creator, along with Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver — shared his enthusiasm for some of the highlights with us.
What to Eat Tonight
Wacky Desserts by the Pastry All-StarsPastry chefs like Sam Mason (the man who’s sharing the experience of opening a new restaurant with us) are often on the cutting edge of New York cooking these days. The three chefs whose desserts we’re highlighting today all have major reputations. So if you go to wd-50 or Chanterelle tonight, make sure you leave some room. (Presumably that won’t be a problem at Room 4 Dessert.)
What to Eat Tonight
Eat Truffles, Ease Your Shut-In Grammy’s Misery
If news that P. Diddy can’t get enough white truffles at Daniel hasn’t got you hankering after them — and if his habit of demanding that his server “shave this bitch,” as Eater noted, doesn’t inspire you — maybe altruism will. Daniel Boulud bought two baseball-size mushrooms at a Citymeals charity auction this past weekend for $6,000 and is donating the proceeds from the dishes he serves them with to the same charity. And what are those dishes? Simple, neutral landing pads for the magic mushroom: creamy risotto with Parmesan emulsion; spaghetti alla chitarra with fontina cream; and gnochetti with porcini confit and arugula. They go for a whopping $250 each, but since it costs Citymeals just $5 to feed one homebound, elderly New Yorker, you know the money will go a long way. And you won’t have to feel quite so bad about not visiting Grammy in the Bronx.
What to Eat Tonight
Ultraluxe Cattle Stampede Into Maremma
Few chefs in New York are more in tune with animals than Cesare Casella; he’s even developing a new breed of pigs, as we recently pointed out. But tonight at Maremma, he’ll be serving something even more special: purebred Italian Chianina beef, from his Tutto Bene ranch upstate. Chianina are the classic Italian cows; no bistecca fiorentina made from Black Angus or other British breeds can truly be considered authentic. Supplies are limited, so you’re not guaranteed a steak, but the restaurant will also be offering Chianina carpaccio and a ragù made from the aged beef. We sampled each preparation last night; the meat is extraordinarily lean, with a light, delicate texture reminiscent of veal. Call 212-645-0200 now for dinner reservations.
What to Eat Tonight
Nantucket Bay Scallops, Ripe for the Shucking
Rob and Robin recently described, in mouthwatering detail, the nuances of Peconic Bay scallops. Our thoughts quickly turned to their Nantucket Bay cousins, which are currently appearing on some of the best tables in the city.
What to Eat Tonight
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
With Halloween around the corner, pumpkins are everywhere — on stoops, in soups, and, of course, at the Greenmarket. (Zoe Singer tells us which ones to buy this week in At the Greenmarket.) Some of the better restaurants around town are getting into the spirit and serving up pumpkin in its many forms. Here are a few we can get behind.
What to Eat Tonight
From Venison to Grouse: Game On!
With Tim Love and Ted Turner having recently opened game restaurants here — Lonesome Dove Western Bistro and Ted’s Montana Grill, respectively — it’s a good time for us to consider wild animals: how free and beautiful they are and where you can currently eat them. There are some excellent New York restaurants that feature out-of-the-mainstream meats, especially in the fall.
What to Eat Tonight
How to Make Women More Tender, for Only $2,400 Per Pound
Alexandre Dumas reckoned that white truffles can, “on certain occasions, make women more tender and men more lovable.” We would hope so — the ‘shrooms, imported from Piemonte, Italy, were selling last week for as much as $2,400 per pound. If you’re going to throw down for some, you best leave their preparation to the city’s top Italian chefs. (Or, better yet, go straight to the source — here’s our five-point Piemonte Weekend Escape Plan.)
Wait until you hear what these cooks are doing with truffles (hint: it doesn’t involve pizza).
What to Eat Tonight
Best of Times, Wurst of Times to End This WeekendConfusingly, Oktoberfest happens mostly in September; it ends this coming Sunday. Rob and Robin recommended five top places to kick the month off with; since you’ve surely celebrated at each of those, here are five more to visit before the festival’s all over.
What to Eat Tonight
Obscure Italian Grapes Debut at Bar-bo-ne Tonight
When Alberto Ibrahimi, the owner of Bar-bo-ne, talks to us about wine, he never says anything about bottles, vineyards, or even regions. Everything is about “the grape.” He’s bent on introducing his customers to regional wines made from indigenous Italian grapes. Two more debut tonight: Massaretta, a Tuscan variety which grows only around the city of Massa and which he describes, lovingly, as having “a deep red, ruby color, with ripe plums and prunes” (order the Cima Massaretta); and asprinio, a white Campagna grape (Villa Carafa Asprinio di Aversa). He says the latter is “very rare, almost unknown here.” The unknown is becoming Ibrahimi’s trademark: “Regulars don’t even look at the list anymore.”
What to Eat Tonight
Gulf Shrimp Make a Comeback
You can’t keep good shrimp down. Hurricane Katrina nearly wiped out the tasty specimens inhabiting the gulf, but replenished stocks mean that in the past week white shrimps have begun to reappear in New York. Big and sweet, with a hint of iodine, the fall shrimp are the best of the year. (Their brown brethren, which were brought in over the summer, also have a certain charm.) Here’s a short list of restaurants that buy them fresh from Louisiana.
