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| Global Reach: Diners at Chickenbone
Cafe (Photo by Patrik Rytikangas) |
Chickenbone
Café
177 South 4th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718-302-2663
Zak Pelaccio buys local and cooks global, a practice that sets him
apart from the hipsterville competition. Organic salad greens come
from the North Fork, kielbasa from Greenpoint. The sometime special
of smoked fish is courtesy of a Hasidic neighbor. But Chickenbone
has a lot more to offer than a p.c. philosophy: It’s got a
hopping bar scene, a classic cocktail list, a sleek cabin-in-the-woods
design, and low prices ($3 to $9.50). Not to mention ambitious daily
specials like broiled eel over rice ($14) and roasted partridge
($16). Sandwiches are a particular strength, and come stuffed with
everything from pork confit to bittersweet chocolate.
Dish
165 Allen Street
212-253-8840
This funky downtown quasi-diner divides its menu into
“small dishes” ($7) and “big
dishes” ($14.50 or $17.50)—a welcome
gimmick, since the latter come with any two sides,
making it easy (and thrifty) to skip the former. The
kitchen dips into the comfort-food canon for revved-up
versions of meat loaf, fried catfish, and pork chops,
but the menu turns out to be as eclectic as the
crowd—part Lower East Side hipsters, part
middle-aged curiosity seekers from points north, all
harmoniously tucking into crisp codfish tacos and
house-smoked trout with shaved fennel. Unexpected
grace notes abound, like a pickle-plate amuse bouche,
candied pignolis on the chocolate pudding, and
exceptional spiced sangria and vanilla-bean lemonade.
Kitchen 22
36 East 22nd Street
212-228-4399
Kitchen 82
461 Columbus Avenue, at 82nd Street
212-875-1619
Some people—not us—call it Dining for
Dummies. But Charlie Palmer is smart enough to realize
that a foolproof, hassle-free evening out is just what
a lot of people want right now: No lengthy list of
specials to ponder. Just point to what you want on the
tiny menu of five appetizers, five entrées, and
five desserts, then grunt and rub your belly. The two
wine suggestions—one white, one red—lined
up next to each entrée make ordering simple
enough for a small child, should he or she be carrying
the proper I.D., and the staff takes care of
everything else except cutting up your steak into tiny
chokeproof pieces and calculating the tip. Sure, on
most nights, three out of five entrées on the $25
prix fixe menu are going to be chicken, salmon, and
hanger steak, but they’re done with enough
élan—are those purple Peruvian potatoes
with my fillet?—to make you glad you
didn’t attempt it at home for more than
you’ll pay here.
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| All Hands on Deck: The garden at
Mermaid Inn. (Photo by Kenneth Chen) |
Mermaid
Inn
96 Second Avenue
212-674-5870
This “clam shack built by a beatnik,” in co-owner Jimmy
Bradley’s words, has a lot more going for it than littlenecks,
however delectable ($7 a half-dozen). A New Englandy front room,
a cozier rear, and an adorable garden fill nightly with East Villagers
stuck in the city but hungering for the shore. Chef Mike Price dishes
it up in the quasi-retro form of blue-crab-and-baby-spinach dip
($12), fried oysters ($10), and spaghetti with shrimp, scallops,
and calamari ($15). Every bottle of wine is priced a miraculous
$15 over cost, and dessert (chef’s choice) is on the house.
P. J. Clarke's
915 Third Avenue, at 55th Street
212-317-1616
After a meticulous yearlong restoration, the old gin
mill is back in business. Some things, we suspect,
aren’t what they used to be: When asked about
the chili one afternoon,
the perky young waitress responded, “I
wouldn’t really know. I’m a vegan.”
Well, no one ever came here for the food, but
that’s no longer the kitchen’s fault.
Shared ownership with Docks accounts for the chipper
shucker at the new raw bar and the unfailingly fresh
fish and chips ($15.80). Oysters, with their Old New
York connotation, don’t seem out of place in a
joint like this, but sprightly salads, like the one
with spinach, beets, and feta ($6.80), do. And sides
like sautéed broccoli rabe ($4.15) suffused with
garlic cloves just might lure regulars away from the
house half-and-half (creamed spinach and mashed
potatoes,$4.75). There’s a fancy new dining room
upstairs, but the classic New York experience is still
found downstairs with a Boddingtons and a $9.30 bacon
cheeseburger.
Schnäck
122 Union Street, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
718-855-2879
Screw Mickey D’s. we ought to sue the pants off
Alan Harding before we burst another seam. At his
kitschy new burger joint, he’s created a kind of
fantasy-junk-food camp for middle-aged Augustus
Gloops. Just look at the evidence: the Schnäckie,
Harding’s take on the slider. Cute name. Only
1.5 ounces of freshly ground beef on a house-baked
minibun. Seems harmless enough, right? Wrong.
You’ll want twelve, minimum. Need more proof?
How about spicy fries, big fat onion rings, eight
kinds of hot dogs and kielbasa, and a homemade Orange
Julius for chrissakes, and nothing over eight bucks?
And Schnäck’s Asian-inspired idea of diet
food? Crazy-sounding specials like knockwurst and
bacon in a Japanese coconut-curry sauce with rice.
C’mon. If that’s not a class-action
lawsuit waiting to happen, we don’t know what
is.
The Soul Spot
302 Atlantic Avenue, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
718-596-9933
Bare-bones and fluorescent-lit, this place looks like
a hundred other storefront steam-table soul-food
joints. But something extraordinary must be going on
back in the kitchen. Supersavory chicken and dumplings
($7.50) tread a delicious murky brown gravy. Moist
meat loaf ($7.95) is slicked with an eerie but tasty
candy-apple-red glaze. Nicely seasoned collards
actually show signs of life—a refreshing
departure from the norm—while sweet, juicy yams
pack a cinnamon-sugar punch. And habit-forming coconut
cake is worth remaining fully clothed at the beach
this summer. No wonder that even late at night,
there’s a steady stream of customers filing in
to ponder their two generous sides.
Westville
210 West 10th Street
212-741-7971
With the soul of a diner cook and the marketing acumen
of a gourmet M.B.A., Jay Strauss has carved out a nice
niche for himself—an open-air, whitewashed niche
that seats eighteen people elbow-to-elbow. Big salads,
appealing sandwiches, and several gratifying
variations on the burger and frank theme (turkey,
vegan, chili-smothered, Hebrew National) satisfy
appetites both virtuous and decadent, with enough
ingenuity (and a $14 price ceiling) to turn neighbors
into regulars. “Westville Market”
blackboard specials like tender grilled asparagus and
minted feta-and-tomato salad make it easy to eat your
vegetables. Which you’ll want to do before
succumbing to the berry galette, layer cake, or
chocolate-chip meringues displayed fetchingly (and
strategically) on the counter.
'wichcraft
49 East 19th Street
212-780-0577
From Craft to Craftbar to ’Wichcraft: If Tom
Colicchio continues his downward price spiral,
he’ll soon be operating a souvlaki cart. We
won’t complain if it’s anywhere near as
enticing as this stylishly minimalist sandwich shop,
with its gleaming lablike kitchen and tantalizing
melted-cheese aroma. Breakfast is available all day,
or at least breakfast sandwiches are— frittata
on ciabatta ($5), for instance, or fried egg and bacon
with Gorgonzola ($6). And even though
we love the refreshing, fastidiously assembled
Sicilian tuna with shaved fennel and lemon ($8), and
the tangy grilled Gruyère with caramelized onions
on rye ($5.50), not to mention panini-pressed pork
loin, coppa, and fontina on crusty country bread ($9),
we try to leave room for deftly seasoned soups and
side salads. Buttery blueberry scones, irresistible
lemon bars and ganache-filled cream’wiches
($1.50 to $2.50), and comfortable mezzanine seating
set this sandwich shrine apart from the proliferating
panini pack.
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