Places to be Curious About

[MitchW]

So you get to bring your own bottle from home (might wanna bring your corkscrew too), and it's not marked up 300%? 

And they wash the wine glasses for you!

[Wilfrid]

Cuozzo goes crazy for Borgo.

[backyardchef]

On 11/6/2024 at 11:35 AM, Wilfrid said:

Cuozzo goes crazy for Borgo.

Best new Italian restaurant in NYC in the last 2-3 billion years. 

Edited November 7, 2024 by backyardchef

[Wilfrid]

Well he’s been around that long.

[Wilfrid]

Bridges, on a block of Bowery/Chinatown I had previously viewed as a destination for char siu bau. Schneier and Rosner agree that this is a hot spot. I think Rosner makes the food sound better. Since we can't get in, we cannot judge who is right.

If anyone breaks the code, let us know.

[Simon]

On 12/4/2024 at 6:49 PM, Wilfrid said:

Bridges, on a block of Bowery/Chinatown I had previously viewed as a destination for char siu bau. Schneier and Rosner agree that this is a hot spot. I think Rosner makes the food sound better. Since we can't get in, we cannot judge who is right.

If anyone breaks the code, let us know.

Me!  I've been able to walk into the bar twice, albeit both times before the press coverage.

This is very much bistronomie food.  There were clear hits and misses for me.  The much discussed comte tart is, indeed, great, in my opinion, and I also really enjoyed the uni/shrimp custard, eel dumplings, and the vin jaune ice cream.  But there were some imperfections in execution: the sweetbreads were burnt, and the king crab was too salty (and maybe previously frozen?), as was the the accompanying bearnaise (too salty, not frozen).  Portion size tends to be small, so the bill can really add up.    

The ambience didn't feel particularly sceney to me, but I was at the bar and not in the main dining room.

Edited December 6, 2024 by Simon

[Wilfrid]

3 hours ago, Simon said:

Me!  I've been able to walk into the bar twice, albeit both times before the press coverage.

This is very much bistronomie food.  There were clear hits and misses for me.  The much discussed comte tart is, indeed, great, in my opinion, and I also really enjoyed the uni/shrimp custard, eel dumplings, and the vin jaune ice cream.  But there were some imperfections in execution: the sweetbreads were burnt, and the king crab was too salty (and maybe previously frozen?), as was the the accompanying bearnaise (too salty, not frozen).  Portion size tends to be small, so the bill can really add up.    

The ambience didn't feel particularly sceney to me, but I was at the bar and not in the main dining room.

I believe Rosner and Schneier made it no further than the bar.

And now we have Zimmi’s in the West Village with no availability. 

[SethG]

On 12/4/2024 at 6:49 PM, Wilfrid said:

Bridges, on a block of Bowery/Chinatown I had previously viewed as a destination for char siu bau. Schneier and Rosner agree that this is a hot spot. I think Rosner makes the food sound better. Since we can't get in, we cannot judge who is right.

If anyone breaks the code, let us know.

We enjoyed Bridges overall. We managed to snag a rez early on-ish (it was around Halloween) -  I hadn’t really seen any press yet, it was just this new place that popped up on Resy and seemed to be inexplicably booked solid from day one. The website had no menu at the time, just an address and a link to an Instagram page  

But I found a menu someone had posted online, looked interesting so when a Notify hit I grabbed it.

So the wine list is certainly… (annoyingly?) esoteric. Gringet… Manseng… Valdiguie… Marechal Foch… look at us with our atypical list. Is a “gringet” even a grape? I dunno, it could be an apple? Or a fish? Wasn’t Marechal Foch a Star Wars prequel character? 

My general experience with uncommon varietals is finding there’s a reason they’re not more common. 

Over here there’s a wine from North Carolina. Here’s a Mexican wine. There’s one from Vermont that costs three digits. I’m distrustful.

Anyway… I give the somm a price point and she gets us a decent wine that has an even better story behind it. Vineyard burnt down, yada yada, okay fine we’ll get that one.

 As to the food….

The lime-leaf Béarnaise with the crab, agreed, leaned a bit salty. But the crab itself was fine, if the portion could’ve been a little bigger. Tête de cochon was excellent. Uni custard also very good  

Eel dumplings were fine, but it almost could’ve been anything in there for all the eel one could taste  The advertised horseradish was hard to detect. Not a re-order  

Our sweetbreads weren’t burnt. Well done, if not as creative as some of the other options. Could’ve used a little more acidity somewhere. 

Cocktails we tried were kind of meh. A gimlet was aggressively limey  Some concoction that involved tequila and what  I’m sure was Kadoya toasted sesame oil didn’t quite click for me. 

Would I go through the reservation rigmarole again? I dunno. Would I go as a walk in to the seemingly not-as-busy bar area? Sure.

 

 

Edited December 7, 2024 by SethG

[MitchW]

25 minutes ago, SethG said:

My general experience with uncommon varietals is finding there’s a reason they’re not more common. 

Perfect!

[Wilfrid]

Le Jardin is apparently "back." The veteran of Cleveland Place (okay, Lafayette) has re-opened on Delancey after a "brief hiatus" (no, it's been years).

As the menu description of coq au vin begins "oven roasted chicken," someone else needs to bat for the team here.

[MitchW]

9 hours ago, Wilfrid said:

Le Jardin is apparently "back." The veteran of Cleveland Place (okay, Lafayette) has re-opened on Delancey after a "brief hiatus" (no, it's been years).

As the menu description of coq au vin begins "oven roasted chicken," someone else needs to bat for the team here.

Maybe the menu writer first stopped off at ConBud.

[voyager]

13 hours ago, Wilfrid said:

Le Jardin...

As the menu description of coq au vin begins "oven roasted chicken," someone else needs to bat for the team here.

Didn't Antoine Westermann cook his famous roast chicken by "boiling" it before roasting?     Reportedly incredibly juicy; IMHO, a great way to make chicken broth => toss the bird.

[Steve R.]

17 hours ago, Wilfrid said:

Le Jardin is apparently "back." The veteran of Cleveland Place (okay, Lafayette) has re-opened on Delancey after a "brief hiatus" (no, it's been years).

As the menu description of coq au vin begins "oven roasted chicken," someone else needs to bat for the team here.

I've been meaning to go since it re-opened but we really don't go into Manhattan much to eat dinner so, not yet.  We went to the old place many, many times and sat outdoors in their back garden, eating reasonably well.  Maybe, sooner or later, we'll go but I wouldn't wait for our review.

[Wilfrid]

Okay, that location (where I did eat), closed 14 years ago. It then opened on Avenue C and I have to believe I ate there but have no memory of it.

That one closed nine years ago. So after the "brief hiatus" of almost a decade, I wonder what the latest place has in common with the earlier ones?

[Wilfrid]

I went to 125th Street last night after sunset to enjoy the holiday lights. I have been walking by PB Brasserie since it opened in September, admiring the huge, sweeping bar and meaning to go in. It was never the right time until last night.

It is a gorgeous space, the bar curved and endless, lovely stools; the more formal dining in the back. And it was busy.

There was a DJ (Friday, I don't know if it's nightly), volume tolerable, a lot of vintage funk (kept my Shazam busy; I remembered Yarborough and People after I looked them up).

I drank a PB 125 which was sort of Old Fashioned-adjacent and comes regular or smoked, which is an attention-getting conflagration. Service was nice (okay and good looking).

The food I saw at the bar looked good, but it was too early for me. I plan to go back to eat. Menu is French bistro/steakhouse, only the joloff rice reminding you that PB is an allusion to the veteran West African Ponty Bistro with which it is connected.