GOURMET GUIDE STARS AND
GOURMET GUIDE STARS AND BARS From left: Daniel Boulud at Le Gratin; Grits, a caviar dish at Nōksu Facing page: Metropolis of hugely popular Thai restaurant Fish Cheeks, Thai street food has been taken off the streets, gussied up and transported to sleek, designer surroundings in the Meatpacking District. Fish cheeks, pork jowl, and Bangkok “gai yang” – grilled chicken marinated in oyster sauce served with charred sticky rice – are the three top sellers here, while the fish sauce cocktail (gin, cabbage broth, clarified milk and, of course, fish sauce) is far more delicious than you’d ever believe, given the ingredients. Find time for Jazba (jazbanyc.com), another younger sibling (to well-regarded Junoon) that also takes its inspiration from food hawkers – in this case, basic Indian roadside eateries. This colourful East Village newbie is said to have its sights set on Michelin stars, and you’d better believe it will get them. Baby goat “Press Club” korma and pork belly pandi curry are two standouts, and there are great cocktails, too, such as the memorable Stinging Vesper – made with Hapusa Indian gin, Old Duff genever, vodka, Lillet and génépi herbal liqueur. In the West Village, meanwhile, Angie Mar’s Beatrice Inn, which always pulled a fast crowd plucked straight from ex-owner Graydon Carter’s little black book, has morphed into the more accessible, “jackets-off” Le B (lebnyc.com). Less formal it may be, but Mar’s luxurious, textured dishes – crab Wellington and sturgeon “Charlemagne”, for instance; the kind of dishes Mar has always liked to impress with – find a natural home here, and the crowd is still pretty A-list, what with its power-players, groovers and fakers. That knock-your-socks-off chandelier? It comes from Brooklyn’s Grand Prospect Hall. The forced closure of The Spotted Pig put a temporary lid on the activities of another great female chef, namely the British restaurateur April Bloomfield, but for fans of her idiosyncratic, gastropub-style food, the good news is she’s back in business, this time with restaurant veteran Gabriel Stulman, he of Happy Cooking Hospitality. Located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, their new restaurant, Sailor (sailor.nyc), sports self-consciously pareddown menu descriptions (toast with green sauce + parmesan; smoked pork shoulder with fennel + olives) that belie thoughtful, actually quite sophisticated dishes. The interior is by Alfredo Paredes, who designed Ralph Lauren’s Paris restaurants, and he has given Sailor an instant patina of age with great appeal. Along with Andrew Carmellini and, of course, Monsieur Boulud, Bloomfield is a signed-up member of the “bring-back-white-tablecloths” movement, which has been gathering momentum of late. It only goes to prove that in the melting pot that’s the NYC dining scene, there’s always room for one more. © NOKSU ADRIAN GAUT BILL MILNE 70 NetJets
NetJets 71
