Welcome to Where to Eat, the restaurant newsletter that recommends ordering a few starters and at least two entrees for a group this size. Here’s what we’ve got for you:
ALWAYS BE EATING The best dishes we ate in JuneIt is well and truly summer time. That means a fair bit of dining is ahead of us: After all, there’s no better time of year to linger over a good meal. This month the team enjoyed pizza overflowing with a bounty of California produce, roasted oysters Mexico-style, gelato worth waiting in line for and more. Here are our favorite bites of June: Whole turbot at Tuba Club You can get to Tuba Club, a lovely restaurant in the tiny French hamlet of Les Goudes, by car, bike or two ferries from Marseille’s Old Port. (I recommend option No. 3.) The specialty is seafood, served on a rocky outcropping just a few feet above the Mediterranean. I don’t remember much of the meal other than the euphoria of watching the sun set, the sound of the waves lapping the rocks and this whole turbot, which is deboned right before your eyes, because even on vacation eating dinner shouldn’t be work. NIKITA RICHARDSON 2 Boulevard Alexandre Delabre (Chemin de la Batterie), Marseille, France Custom layer cake at Red Gate Bakery I’ve mentioned that Red Gate Bakery is the home of my favorite morning bun and a pickled PB&J bar that I can’t walk down East First Street without ordering. Now I’ve learned that the greatest gift you can give a friend is a custom Red Gate cake. My prompt: “I’m interested in a custom later cake inspired by my best friend’s family recipe: white chocolate raspberry cheesecake.” They responded, “We can do fresh raspberry cake layers, a white chocolate pastry cream filling and a cream cheese frosting if that suits?” Seven days later, we cut into the best cake I’ve had in years. BECKY HUGHES 68 East First Street (First Avenue), East Village, Manhattan Smashing, Basil! at Jules There was this over-the-top pizza on the menu at Jules (a recent addition to our list of the best restaurants in San Francisco) with thinly sliced and sharply pickled summer squash, tons of pistachios roasted in brown butter, garlic confit and dollops of honey lemon ricotta and whole leaves of basil. It was really spectacular, from the first cheesy bite all the way to the very crisp, gently tangy puff of the crust. TEJAL RAO 237 Fillmore Street (Laussat Street), San Francisco Oysters at Titán New York’s roasted oyster renaissance continues apace. The New Orleans-themed Strange Delight in Fort Greene is my go-to whenever I have a hankering for warm, slippery bivalves. But I rushed over to Titán, the brand-new restaurant from Alan Delgado of Los Burritos Juárez, when I learned he was doing a Mexican riff. Verdict: He does it well! The chef warms up his oysters with bone marrow butter, morita chiles and garlic confit. The chiles — dried and smoked jalapeños — added a mild, smoldering heat, while the mollusks stayed plump and soft. RYAN SUTTON 5 Front Street (Old Fulton Street), Dumbo, Brooklyn Sea bass usuzukuri at Teruko Teruko’s sultry, subterranean dining room at the Hotel Chelsea is home to some of the most straightforwardly delicious yet still elegant Japanese cooking in the city right now. A recent sea bass usuzukuri starter consisted of thinly sliced chilled raw fish laid flat like a sheet of frosted glass topped with a prickly sour plum vinaigrette and finely diced cucumber, red onion and a touch of herby shiso. It was an unforgettable combination. MAHIRA RIVERS 222 West 23rd Street (Seventh Avenue), Chelsea, Manhattan Seasonal gelato at Common Meadows Creamery You’d never know there was a froyo boom from the crowds at Common Meadows Creamery, a six-month-old gelato shop where the menu changes constantly. One day, the gelato might be churned with sorghum, rooibos tea or sudachi, a small, sour Japanese fruit. The next, the sudachi might be replaced by cantaloupe sorbet, as delicate as a sip of La Croix. For $7, combine as many flavors as you like in a cup that swirls over the rim. LUKE FORTNEY 227 Grand Street (Driggs Avenue), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
THE BRIEF REVIEW Odo East Village★ The scalding hot rice porridge at Odo East Village is a thrilling combination of tender, slow-cooked short-grain rice and plump corn kernels bursting with starchy sunshine. The success of the dish lies in its contrasts: soft then crisp; intentionally mild, followed by a rush of nature’s sugar. Some version of this porridge opens every meal at the small, earth-toned restaurant, which is positioned as a more relaxed version of Odo, the rarefied Flatiron kaiseki counter from the chef Hiroki Odo. Mr. Odo’s protégé Koji Toyoda oversees this offshoot and its à la carte menu of raw, grilled, fried and simmered courses — a more accessible deconstruction of the formal kaiseki meal. There’s a clear through line of culinary skill between the two restaurants: a milky white miso soup with meaty madai at Odo East Village would be at home on any ambitious tasting menu, while the burdock root starter was a crunchy nest of meticulous knife work. The easy deliciousness of rice cracker-crusted fried chicken was amplified by a dreamy miso dill sauce. But dismantling the curated narration that makes up a kaiseki tasting comes with some risk. Even as some dishes dazzled, others flatlined, which left me wondering: Did I make the right choices? Picking at chewy grilled pomfret, I eyed my neighbor’s ruby red zuke akami tuna. Layer in the somewhat stiff service and the uncomfortably tight 14-seat counter, and it all sort of undermines the restaurant’s high-low ambitions. Blending luxe fine dining with casual accessibility can be tricky. There are high points to be found at Odo East Village, but not all contrasts lived up to that stellar first bite. Address: 536 East Fifth Street (Avenue B), East Village, Manhattan; no phone; odoeastvillage.nyc Recommended Dishes: Ohitashi, kinpira, zuke, today’s owan, grilled seasonal vegetables, grilled special fish, rice cracker-crusted fried chicken, simmered tofu, donburi. Price: Starters and soup, $9 to $16; sashimi, $18 to $38; grilled, fried and simmered dishes, $12 to $36; rice, $14 to $20; dessert, $16. Wheelchair Access: There is a ramp into the restaurant, but most seating is at counter height and accessing the bathroom is a tight squeeze.
FROM OUR CHIEF CRITICS Dean’s defies the notion that British food is blandTo describe Dean’s as a British pub is to invite dispute. The Britishness is certain. Jess Shadbolt, the chef, was born in London; raised in Essex and Suffolk; and weaned on Marmite, the extravagantly salty, glossy brown goo invented in England in the early 20th century using yeast left over from brewing beer. The pub part is where things get tricky. The chummy space on the western border of SoHo — next door to the breezily elegant, Mediterranean-leaning King, run by Ms. Shadbolt and her partner at Dean’s, Annie Shi — is neither Victorian in bones nor equipped with a moldering carpet, broken jukebox, dog napping in a corner or drippy tap in the loo. You do not have to place your order at the bar; servers come to your table. Points in favor: a dartboard without darts. Curtains at half-mast, to afford privacy from nosy parkers in the street, while still letting in light. Pewter tankards hanging on the wall. Two-part, two-minute pours of Guinness, in imperial pints. Blood-red bottles of Sarson’s malt vinegar, the essential sloshing for fish and chips. Read the review →
A TIMELINE 250 Years of (Food) HistoryAhead of America’s 250th birthday (semiquincentennial, if you’re nasty), Kim Severson talked with several historians about the defining food innovations of the last 25 decades. Come for the invention of sliced bread, stay for the disconcerting McDonald’s logo from the 1950s. Read the story →
RESTAURANT AT HOME Via Carota’s House DressingThe best salad dressing you’ll ever have is the one you make at home. (Yes, this even goes for ranch.) Salads are rarely the star of the show, but yours certainly will become one with this five-star, borderline drinkable dressing from the West Village darling Via Carota as adapted by the chef and TV personality Samin Nosrat. See the recipe → Need to know where to eat across the United States? Check out our guides to Atlanta, Austin Boston, Chicago, D.C., Dallas, Los Angeles, |
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