foxface natural

[Diancecht]

my husband was skeptical and i’ll admit that i shared in that sentiment. we needn’t have worried though. we were blown away.

sea scallops - buttermilk, cucumber, coral on toast - super-fresh seafood, and the coral tasted like a dream.

kangaroo tartare - warm spices, charred eggplant, sardinian flatbread - hubby thought it was pretty good. we loved that it was chunky and had texture and that it was not a smooth paste. the flatbread overpowered the tartare though, and we concluded that eating the meat by itself was the way to go.

cucumber and melon salad - this was just ok; it didn’t really grab us. but i did appreciate the combination. 

boer goat - the other superstar was the goat which was cooked low and slow and served with a tomato saffron sauce, new potatoes and cilantro. we thought this was awesome; that the smoking process lent a nice char on the exterior and moisture on the inside, and that it was not stringy as goat can oftentimes be.

there are lots of seriously interesting potables on their list, especially the sherries and orange wines.

[Wilfrid]

My second visit coming next week.

[Orik]

12 hours ago, Diancecht said:

cucumber and melon salad - this was just ok; it didn’t really grab us. but i did appreciate the combination. 

 

Who orders salad at a restaurant? 

Seriously though, good to see you again after many years. Only the presence of a very anonymous critic limited how much attention we could offer.

[Diancecht]

it’s ok 🙂

thank you, it was great seeing you and sivan too.

we loved everything. we’ll be back soon, for sure.

[Simon]

My favorites from the current menu: the sea scallop, surf clam, black bass, and the latest iteration of girella pasta -- this time, a delightful take on quenelles de brochet.

When will you start opening on Sundays?  :-)

[Wilfrid]

Serious feast at Foxface tonight. May not eat for a week.

[Wilfrid]

Somewhat recovered from the excess. It's worth saying that, if I knew none of the people involved in this place, the fact that it features menu items like kangaroo, antelope, (recently) percebes, and so on, completely separates it from the pack of New York fine dining.

We just missed the last of the uni, so started with delicately sliced scallops served over house-made buttermilk topped with tiny pickled yellow tomatoes and chives (I will not be remembering every ingredient of every dish here). The second part of this dish was visually beautiful as well as delicious: the scallops' roe draped over cubes of brioche.

Scallops turned up again, small pieces of skirt used to garnish rectangles of pig's ear, by turn gooey and gelatinous and crispy-crunchy. Not chewy. This must be the only good pig's ear dish I've eaten in New York other than the one served by George Mendes at Aldea.

Alongside that, a mound of kangaroo tartare with a dark and concentrated eggplant paste and crispbreads. My daughter, who is hardly an unadventurous eater, had never been an enthusiast for steak tartare. She gobbled this up. "Warm spices" in the tartare as well as countless tiny, crunchy things. Great texture.

We were warned we were over-ordering when we chose the fluke and goat to follow. The fluke turned out to be a fish that could have been shared by two or even four people (half went home with my daughter). Impeccable, with a sheen of lemon and capers and a mound of crisp potatoes.

Fortunately, the goat turned out to be one person-sized and we wiped the plate. My daughter then somehow managed to eat a complimentary gelato without my help.

As before, the sommelier adds much to the dining experience. I now just tell her what I'm eating next and she tells me what to drink. At one point, my daughter had three or four white wines in front of her that she was trying. I sent a photo to her mother.

[sweatshorts]

I'm late, because we went last weekend, but I can reiterate that Foxface is serving food like no one else in NYC at a very, very high level. By far the most enjoyable restaurant experiences we've had in NYC in recent memory.

[Wilfrid]

Uh huh.

[Orik]

On 9/8/2023 at 10:49 AM, Wilfrid said:

Scallops turned up again, small pieces of skirt used to garnish rectangles of pig's ear, by turn gooey and gelatinous and crispy-crunchy. Not chewy. This must be the only good pig's ear dish I've eaten in New York other than the one served by George Mendes at Aldea.

I feel threatened whenever Santos looks at my huge ears. 

The scallop shows up yet again in XO sauce we make with that little smooth muscle. Whole mollusk eating. 

The crunchy bits in the tartare are (I hope) fermented rhubarb. 

It wasn't stressful at all when the photographer for major publication 1 told me that major publication 2 called her just two hours after she'd committed...  

[Sneakeater]

You have NOTHING to worry about.

[Sneakeater]

I was very happy to see the large number of clicks Foxface Natural got the last time I mentioned it in my newsletter -- until I noticed that at least one of them was by Sivan.

[Orik]

That's Sivan's secret business model - add one like to every positive mention.

[Wilfrid]

I would not have guessed the fermented rhubarb.

[Steve R.]

Just received an e-mail copy of the New Yorker's "Food Scene" report, a lengthy review of Foxface Natural.  I think Ori & Sivan are going to be stopped on the street for autographs pretty soon (if not already).  Nice. 🦘

[small h]

Crap. I was gonna try walking in this coming weekend. OH, WELL.

And obviously I'm thrilled, also, too.

Edited September 17, 2023 by small h

[relbbaddoof]

1 hour ago, Steve R. said:

Just received an e-mail copy of the New Yorker's "Food Scene" report, a lengthy review of Foxface Natural.  I think Ori & Sivan are going to be stopped on the street for autographs pretty soon (if not already).  Nice. 🦘

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-food-scene/something-unusual-is-happening-at-foxface-natural

but don't know if you have to be a subscriber to get to it.

[small h]

34 minutes ago, relbbaddoof said:

but don't know if you have to be a subscriber to get to it.

Nope, the page loads for me.

[Wilfrid]

Cool, Helen is a good writer. Will settle down and read it later.

[Orik]

19 hours ago, Steve R. said:

Just received an e-mail copy of the New Yorker's "Food Scene" report, a lengthy review of Foxface Natural.  I think Ori & Sivan are going to be stopped on the street for autographs pretty soon (if not already).  Nice. 🦘

New Yorker readers would never ask for an autograph, they would send the help to do it!

But yes, a very nice piece. 

[MitchW]

2 minutes ago, Orik said:

New Yorker readers would never ask for an autograph, they would send the help to do it!

But yes, a very nice piece. 

I AM the help!

[Anthony Bonner]

I assume you'll be responding to the too much fish and middle eatern spice demerits with pecan crusted airline chicken and a nice usda choice strip as permanent menu items?

[Wilfrid]

I do like "menu as menagerie."

[Orik]

2 hours ago, Anthony Bonner said:

I assume you'll be responding to the too much fish and middle eatern spice demerits with pecan crusted airline chicken and a nice usda choice strip as permanent menu items?

Of course. I really like how, by chance, whenever a critic is in there is exactly one song playing that they might recognize. It's a test of my hypothesis on the music stopped thread and works like a charm. 

[MitchW]

While I was perfectly happy (and excited) with the quail, I'd love to see Dave work his juju on a high-quality chicken in that oven.