Openings
Pinkberry
7 W. 32nd St., nr. Fifth Ave.; 212-695-9631
As is evident at any Tasti D-Lite, New Yorkers will happily line up for “ice cream” and its purportedly healthier simulacra. But if the chatter on Los Angeles food blogs is any indication, our frozen-dessert lines are about to get even longer. This week, Manhattan gets its first Pinkberry, a burgeoning frozen-yogurt chainlet that opened in West Hollywood less than two years ago and, according to the L.A. Times, has been clogging traffic and inspiring copycats ever since. Offering plain and green-tea flavors topped with everything from blackberries to Cap’n Crunch, Pinkberry is famous for its yogurty tang and its slick, modern décor, Philippe Starck chairs and all. Future branches coming soon to Nolita, Chelsea, and the Upper East Side.
Goblin Market
199 Prince St., nr. Macdougal St.; 212-375-8275
In Christina Rossetti’s evocatively creepy nineteenth-century poem “Goblin Market,” hideous little men hawk their addictive forbidden fruits to the eventual ruin of fair young maidens—not to read too much into the name Richard Snyder and chef Richard Pelz chose for their new Soho restaurant. Here, in the former Soho Cantina space, Pelz (who’s cooked at Tintol and AZ) tempts all comers with (presumably innocuous) braised pork belly with Madeira reduction, miso-marinated beef salad, and crab salad with avocado mousse and grapefruit (pictured). The snug space has been redesigned by restaurateur Alex Freij to look as if it’s been there forever, an increasing rarity in the New York restaurant world.
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Lonesome Dove Western Bistro
29 W. 21st St., nr. Fifth Ave.; 212-414-3139
When Tim Love, the cowboy chef from Fort Worth, Texas, unleashes a branch of his Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in the Flatiron district this week, even New York’s most astute menu-readers may need help deciphering the bill of fare. Herewith, a glossary of terms straight from chef Love himself:
PRAIRIE BUTTER: Take the whole femur bones of a buffalo and split ’em lengthwise. Roast with a chile rub and then some chiles and onions. Scoop the marrow out and paint it on the “camp bread.” [See below.] It’s gorgeous!
CAMP BREAD: Similar to grilled pizza but thicker, it’s a real simple yeast-risen bread that I’ve used on the trail. [Serve with prairie butter.]
FOIE GRAS SHOOTER: Liquefied foie gras, something I created a couple of years ago. I roast the foie gras with some chiles and some salt and then we take all that fat and emulsify it with orange juice, Grand Marnier, and fresh coffee grounds. Put it into a shot, top with whipped cream, and make a little tuile cookie with foie gras instead of butter. In the cowboy spirit, do it in a shot and eat the cookie. Gorgeous!
TOMAHAWK CHOP: Something the city’s never seen before, for sure. It’s a gargantuan cut that I invented. It’s the entire rib of the steer. The bone’s eighteen to twenty inches long, the meat’s about 32 ounces of rib eye, Texas prime. We age it 28 days wet, and then 21 days dry, sear it, and then roast it, and the marrow of that rib bone just drains into the rib eye. I carve it tableside for two with a split lobster tail and two day-boat scallops.
STATE FAIR SAUCE: Goes with the buffalo corn dogs: It’s like a Dijonaisse with a garlic aïoli with a chipotle mustard. We take the buffalo tenderloin and we cut it into three small cubes and skewer them, so when you bite into the corn dog, the whole thing doesn’t come off. We serve the corn dogs in a paper tray. They’re awesome. Kids love ’em.
FRIED LOBSTER BACON: Goes with the monkfish braised in a posole stew. We poach the lobster in veal stock first about halfway, then we cut it up into chunks and soak it in bacon fat, then pull it out and deep-fry it in peanut oil. It’s real crispy on the outside, so it gets that kind of bacon chew. It’s gorgeous!
—ROBIN RAISFELD AND ROB PATRONITE