Belcourt, Matt Hamilton on Second Avenue Options

[Wilfrid1]

Belcourt, on the corner of 4th Street and Second Avenue is open. Although the look is French bistro, it's not a steak frites menu at all. In fact, it carries over some of the dishes Matt Hamilton was cooking at Uovo on Avenue B: sweetbreads, the lamb burger, a rabbit confit, braised sunchokes.

[Orik]

And it aims, and hits, halfway between Prune and Flea Market. The lamburger is good, if not very lambish, sweetbread is thankfully not broken into tiny pieces and breaded. Pork belly is just a non-dish (typical of Prune) - a slab of belly, a sausage, spaetzle, cabbage, all sitting on a plate and wondering what the other guys are doing there. Service is hilarious.

[Wilfrid1]

Service needs a lot of work, but it's only been open a couple of nights.

[Orik]

True, but knowing the history I doubt much will change. Either way, not a bad addition to simple weekday dinner options in the neighborhood.

[Wilfrid1]

And:

Pork belly. Sausage. Slaw. Spaetzle.

is more reassuring than:

Anchovy. Toffee. Bubblegum. Foie.

Or whatever.

[Orik]

Indeed.

The spaetzle were the best part of that dish btw, lightly flavored with lavender, but it would take you 2 minutes to figure out a better way to present it and bind everything together.

[Wilfrid1]

And it aims, and hits, halfway between Prune and Flea Market.

Flea Market, by the way, has a terrine de canard cuit en pot on the menu, which is a large, chunky portion of potted duck, served in a jar, with cornichons, mustard, shredded pickled onions, coarse salt, crusty bread. It was served a little too cold, but there are worse things to eat.

[Wilfrid1]

After a couple of dinners, I give you the full monty at the Pink Pig today. Belcourt is already successful; great location, of course, and it's been packed since the first week. No reservations, but wait time is not yet crazy: thirty five minutes on a recent Saturday evening.

However odious comparisons might be, the last Belcourt meal was back to back with my first dinner at Allen & Delancey. The latter has a more refined (although still downtown) ambience and service, and craftier techniques being used in the kitchen, but there was no doubt that for sheer flavor and satisfaction on the plate, Belcourt led by a nose.



Of course, I go weak-kneed at this kind of simple, direct presentation. I don't know how the kitchen put out such a sweet, precisely cooked fish during crazed weekend peak-time service, but it did. Hamilton and Mehenni Zebentout are clearly striving very hard to make this work. There are rough edges, especially service-wise, but so far so good.

[nuxvomica]

sounds good, Wilf, i's been on the list but then so many places are... by the way, the Uovo space is unoccupied - Back Forty is in the old Radio Perfecto digs

[Wilfrid1]

Oops, thanks.

[yvonne johnson]

I wondered what the slugs were doing in the background.

"sunchokes, baked crisp in their skins, and drizzled with hazelnut butter". Ah, ok.

[nuxvomica]

I wondered what the slugs were doing in the background.

"sunchokes, baked crisp in their skins, and drizzled with hazelnut butter". Ah, ok.

my favorite kind of slugs

[djk]

light and enjoyable lunch here today. almost empty being the kind of day and all i guess. had a vege version of a chestnut, sunchoke (aka slug) and celery soup that was enjoyable and then the roasted cod hash with poached eggs and grilled flatbread. nice.

[Sneakeater]

In his review, Paul Adams talks about how he preferred pairing one dish with a cocktail to pairing it with a wine.

I like cocktails more than the next guy, but I find that strange and even -- this is much too strong a word -- troubling.

But I guess cocktail/food pairings are the New Frontier.

[Wilfrid1]

The cocktail list is a bit more interesting than the wine list. The eating here is better than the drinking so far.

Our hero Bruni gave it a nice short notice in Dining Panties. (Although I dispute that the menu is shorter than Uovo.)

ETA: And since the Uovo web-site is still live, I'm right. Belcourt also has a separate lunch menu, which Uovo did not. Of course, Frank won't be checking any of his facts, as he's not Florence Fabricant (if I understand correctly).