Posted by Jenn Sit, July 31, 2008 at 1:30 PM
"Cheap" is relative. With cheap eats lists coming at you from every other magazine and website, I find myself scouring them and wondering how these writing staffs determine what exactly "cheap" means to them. Nothing got me thinking about this more than my recent trip to Province Chinese Canteen in Tribeca. Just meters from Chinatown, this eatery serves up sandwiches stuffed into small fluffy mantou. With fillings like short rib & kimchee, it was hard to resist a trip. Yet, with its close proximity to Chinatown, the mecca of truly cheap eats, I couldn't help but wonder why I was paying $4.25 for a sandwich as small as my palm.
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Posted by Ed Levine, July 1, 2008 at 11:00 PM
Photographs by Robyn Lee
Matsugen
241 Church Street New York, NY 10013 (at Leonard Street; map); 212-925-0202
Service: Knowledgeable (which isn't easy given the intricacies of the menu) and attentive, with a refreshing lack of downtown attitude and cool
Setting: They have warmed up the all-white, Sleeper-like design of Richard Maier considerably
Compare It To: Nobu, Soto, Bar Masa
Must-Haves: Inaku soba with goma-dare (sesame sauce), sea urchin with yuzu jelly, Kurobuta pork loin shabu shabu, grilled Kurobuta pork belly, grapefruit jelly
Cost: This will vary wildly depending on what you order. It could be anywhere from $60 to $125 for three courses, including a glass of wine, tax, and tip
Grade: B+ overall. (Meals can range from an A to a B, depending on what you order)
There are so many misconceptions floating around about Matsugen that I feel compelled to debunk all of them before proceeding any further.
Misconception No. 1: Jean-Georges Vongerichten is the chef at Matsugen.
Fact: He didn't even consult on the menu, although because he was asked, he contributed his now-legendary molten chocolate cake recipe (albeit this time accompanied by green tea ice cream). Matsugen is the first mainland U.S. restaurant opened by the Matsushita brothers, high-end Japanese restaurateurs (three of whom are currently working here) who own restaurants in Japan and Hawaii. Vongerichten absolutely adores Japanese food, thinks very highly of the brothers and their restaurants, needed a concept to install at the old 66 space, and made a deal as a restaurateur to bring in Matsugen. If Matsugen were a movie, Vongerichten would be an executive producer or maybe the producer, not the director. The first title card of the Matsugen movie might read Jean-Georges Vongerichten Presents.
Misconception No. 2: Matsugen is a noodle bar.
Fact: Wrong, wrong, wrong, as my son used to say when he was seven. There are some truly amazing rough-grained soba noodles made in-house served at Matsugen, but most of the menu is not noodle-based. In fact, most of the menu at the restaurant looks surprisingly like your neighborhood Japanese restaurant. There's sushi, sashimi, tempura, and shabu-shabu. No ice cream tempura, thank God.
Misconception No. 3: Matsugen is ridiculously expensive and overpriced.
Fact: There are a few very expensive items at Matusgen (Japanese Wagyu beef, seared fatty bluefin tuna), but that's because the ingredients themselves are very expensive. If you order carefully, you can eat very well here for less than $60 a head. It may not be the most exciting meal of your life, but it may be the most authentic contemporary Japanese meal you can get in this country.
Now that we've gotten all of this out of the way, let's get to the food.
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 25, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Editor's note: Every afternoon we post a short Sugar Rush to end your day. Think of it as the dessert to your daily blog reading. Today, the Godfather of Serious Eats New York, Ed Levine, hits up two new ice cream places in Tribeca. —Zach
Strawberries and clotted cream ice cream from Duane Park. Photograph by Gordon Mark
A couple of weeks ago I hit up two new spots for ice cream in Tribeca.
The folks at Duane Park Cafe opened up a tiny ice cream scooperie in the window. The bourbon butter pecan ice cream was outstanding, creamy, smooth, and full flavored. The strawberries and clotted cream is simply the creamiest strawberry ice cream imaginable, though as is often the case, the frozen strawberries were a deliciousness hindrance. The apple pie made great use of what we assume must have been last night's dessert at the restaurant. Peanut butter is a flavor that doesn't often work in ice cream, but Duane Park's peanut butter ice cream tasted like ultra-creamy smooth peanut butter of the highest quality.
The flavors vary from day to day because they're made entirely from organic ingredients and will vary depending on what is available to the chef; you may want to call first unless you're willing to play ice cream bingo. Skip the sorbet and the frozen yogurt. Both were icy and kind of nasty. 157 Duane Street, New York NY 10013 (near West Broadway; map); 212-732-5555
Right around the corner from Duane Park, The Odeon has set up a little ice cream cart in its outdoor cafe. All three house-made flavors were icy and pale-flavored. Did anybody taste these before they were put into the cart? I doubt it. 145 West Broadway, New York NY 10013 (near West Broadway; map); 212-233-0507
The winner of this taste-off? Duane Park Cafe by at least a gallon.
Posted by Ed Levine, May 16, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Taste of Tribeca is one of the more fun, reasonably priced food events in New York.
For $40 ($45 at the door), you get to try six tasting plates from an impressive line-up of Tribeca restaurants, including Bouley, Chanterelle, Blaue Gans, Centrico, Pepolino (one of city's best under-the-radar Tuscan restaurants), and The Harrison. Plus, it's for a great cause: two terrific Tribeca public schools, PS 150 and PS 234.
If you click through to Taste of Tribeca's fairly well-organized website, you can actually try to plot which booths you want to visit. Alas, it must be pointed out that many restaurants, including all of David Bouley's (Bouley, Bouley Bakery, Danube) and The Harrison, did not submit their dishes to the organizers, so when you click on their names, it just says "chef's surprise." No help!
Anyway, here's where I'll be headed tomorrow. Don't worry, I've left some room on my dance card to partake of the chef's surprises.
Carnitas tacos from Centrico
Schnitzel and potato salad from Blaue Gans
Pappe al pomodoro, the incomparable Tuscan tomato bread soup, from Pepolino
Posted by Ed Levine, May 10, 2007 at 11:59 AM
I had lunch at Pepolino the other day, and after a very good, very Italian meal I immediately asked myself why I don't eat there more often. Pepolino is the brain child of Patrizio Siddu and Enzo Perrone, two alumni of the famed Florence trattoria Cibreo. The main dining room is a sun-washed, simply decorated room, painted that golden yellow ubiquitous in Italian restaurants in America. Upstairs there is a 50 seat dining room that is good to know about for relatively inexpensive private parties.
Even though it was a gorgeous May day I had the hearty tomato and bread soup and a spinach sformato (savory flan) as starters. The feather-light veal and ricotta meatballs (polpettine) were served with slices of roast potato. Friends had the spaghettini with braised leeks and parmesan cheese and the pappardelle with fresh thyme and tomato. Both were sauced appropriately lightly.
For dessert, the city's best ricotta cheesecake: airy, lemony and just creamy enough. I called it out in my best cheesecake in the city story in the Times a few years ago, and it remains one of Gotham's great taste treats.
When you eat at Pepolino you get fresh, authentically Italian food, made with good ingredients and cooked with care. In short, Pepolino is just what you want in a casual but serious neighborhood Italian restaurant. I wish it was in my neighborhood.
Pepolino
Address: 281 West Broadway, New York, NY 10013 (b/n Lispenard and Canal; map)
Phone: 212-966-9983
Website: pepolino.com
