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“La Vara Opens in Cobble Hill”
Alexandra Raij and Eder Montero, who co-own two Spanish restaurants in Manhattan, the tapas bar El Quinto Pino and the Basque-inspired Txikito, have opened La Vara in Cobble Hill. This Spanish restaurant is an ode to her Sephardic Jewish heritage and to the medieval Jewish and Islamic cuisines that shaped the food of southern Spain—a legacy that virtually vanished for centuries. Raij isn’t Spanish; she was raised in Minnesota by Argentine-Jewish immigrant parents and the Sephardic legacies woven through La Vara’s dishes serve as a point of connection between her husband’s Basque roots and her Jewish background. Given that my own background is Sephardic—my grandmother was born in the Mashed village in Persia—I am always interested in cuisine that explores Sephardic roots, and their menu sounds divine: Berenjena con Miel (Fried Eggplant With Honey), Alcachofa fried artichokes, anchovy alioli; Huevos De Codorniz (quail eggs with green tahini); Moje (layered salad of imported tuna, olives, endive, marcona almond, mojama); Gurullos (handmade murcian pasta, goat butter, ground goat (optional) and sumac); Albondigas (lamb meatballs, mint yogurt); Fideúa Garbanzo Rinconcillo (chickpea and spinach stew valencian style noodle paella, shrimp, squid, clams, topped with alioli). La Vara is located at 268 Clinton Street, (between Congress St & Veranda Pl), (718) 422-0065. ...
Posted May 14, 2012 - 4:12 pm

“Ready for Summer? Beekman Beer Garden Beach Club Now Open”
As the temperatures creep up, New Yorkers get pulled toward the water. We escape for a weekend in the Hamptons, Fire Island, the Jersey Shore or even Maine. What about a much closer destination? Sure, there’s no sandy beaches or tall waves crashing to the shores of the South Street Seaport, but the Beekman Beer Garden Beach recently reopened and is an enticing reason to head downtown. Open noon to 3 a.m. every day, it’s an 18,000-square-foot space with two 25 and 60-foot bars made from reclaimed driftwood. There are fire pits, flat screen televisions, foosball and ping pong tables insce. On the beach part, there’s the 10,000-square-foot swath of white sand for lounge chairs and couches. Starting on Memorial Day weekend on May 27, there’s also a bikini brunch beach party every Sunday. That’s not all. Chef Jason Mayor menu includes Kansas City-style barbecue he rolls out from a $10,000 custom-made smoker. His menu also includes a raw bar with clams and oysters. The food pairs well with the vast beer collection, from hoppy local beers to dark pale ales. As your enjoying the sip of cold beer, you’ll have views of the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn’s waterfront and the backdrop of Manhattan. It’s views you can’t get anywhere else. Beekman Beer Garden Beach Club is located on the north side of the alley along Pier 17 (adjacent to the South Street Seaport), 212-896-4600, www.beekmanbeergarden.com. — Bao Ong ...
Posted May 13, 2012 - 9:55 pm

“Snocone Anyone?”
My friend Will O'Hare (an Irene Ryan award winning actor, I'll have you know) sent me this tip about his friend Dan Levin's new Snocone shop in Williamsburg. Dan sold his homemade snocones last summer at the Blackbird Parlor and is now going whole hog with his very own snocone and sweets shop, Handsome Dan’s Stand, in Williamsburg’s Mini Mall. You'll be hard pressed to find anything in the cherry flavor that turned your tongue into a neon glow stick as a kid. Instead, count on erudite Wylie Dufresne-esque flavors like thyme dream, earl grey cream, orange blossom ginger, rose pomegranate, and chili passion fruit. For those who'd rather deepen cavities with old fashioned candy than icy cones, check out Dan's selection of 100 turn-of-your-childhood candies, including Ring Pops (my daughter Emily's favorites), Pixy Stix, and Mallo Cups. Enjoy the fun!Handsome Dan’s Stand is located at 218 Bedford Ave., nr. N. 5th St., Williamsburg; 410-241-3472. Noon to 10 p.m weekdays and noon to 11 p.m on weekends. ...
Posted May 10, 2012 - 8:44 pm

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“Arthur on Smith”
Butter is an ingredient I have some affection for. I love to cook with it, to spread it on thick cut slices of toast, to watch it melt over summer's white corn. But at restaurants it can be tricky. It's often overlooked, served thoughtlessly cold so it just rips into the bread, tearing it to shreds. It's almost criminal. It should be served soft, room temp, so it's creamy and warm, like it's been sitting in the sun for a bit. That's the way I like it at least, and that's the way it's served at Arthur, a new restaurant on Smith Street where it's drizzled with honey and sea salt and served with a wooden basket filled hearty slices of warm bread from Il Forno in the Bronx. According to our waitress, who wore a bowler hat, like some distant relative of Charlie Chaplin, the butter is from Salem Farm, and is 99% fat. "Just like me," I thought as I happily buttered up my bread. The restaurant, which for many years was Po on Smith Street, has been redesigned with walls covered in deconstructed pallets from various Home Depots. It feels very Barnyard-in-Brooklyn, with chalk boards listing hyper-local wines and beers, both served on tap (Channing Daughter, Gotham Project, Red Hook Winery, and Paumanok are all in attendance). A pair of big bay windows is thrown open to the street. In between courses you can watch the Brooklyn world stroll by: families, friends, and couples making their way along Smith Street, stopping in at By Brooklyn for local ginger syrup, popping by at Shlesky's for bialys and smoked fish, heading into Refinery for a pair of clogs, stopping to chat and greet friends from the playgrounds or bars, depending on age group and child count. Arthur is a terrific addition to this super strip of retail and culinary wonder. The chef, Joe Isidori is also cooking at the South Fork Kitchen and is someone I got to know when he was cooking at a place called Harbor, a little restaurant-as-yacht on Hudson Street that served some inspired seafood but shuttered early in its promising life. This restaurant is a tribute to his father, Arthur, who for many years encouraged Joe to "make sure people are happy and stop making such a fuss." At his father's recent passing, Joe decided to honor his memory with a restaurant that combined his own passion for local farmers and modern cuisine, with his father's old-school Italian repertoire of stick-to-your ribs fare. This sort of cross-generational cooking means you'll find choices like Spanish octopus with smoky romesco and black olives ($14) sharing menu space with more traditional places like handmade ricotta gnocchi with Mangalista pork ragout ($16). A radish and chickpea salad with a dressing fashioned from Argyle farm's buttermilk and goat's milk blue cheese is served alongside Mediterranean sardines with salsa verde (10) and chicken liver mousse with Sicilian spiced almonds and dried cherries ($9). Oh, and that platter of warm bread with honey-salted butter is also served with a plate of crunchy half-sour pickles, housemade, of course. Grapefruit, lard, and sea urchin gussy up a pristine scallop crudo ($11), which is a gorgeous dish to start with. We followed it up with the anti-thesis of delicate: Joe's Sunday gravy, a hearty portion big enough for two to share and bring some home for the babysitter. Rigatoni gets loaded up with meatballs, saucy sow-braised beef ragu, and an almost embarrassingly large sausage link, too. Creamy spoonfuls of Salvatore's ricotta are on top. Paired up with a carafe of local red wine, and your favorite family and friends, it's a fine way to end a weekend.   Fish is Isidori's sweet spot, and he's serving soft shell crabs at the moment, with spring leeks, English peas, Trevisano and Meyer lemon ($21), and a pollock "Livornese" with sweet preserved tomatoes, slices of Cerignola olives, and capers ($24), a bracing and bright combination just right for the pollock's sturdy white flesh. To end the meal, Isidori offers an Affogato, a buttermilk budino with duck fat popcorn and a seasonal panna cotta. With the check, you'll get a few little truffles to snack as you walk home.   To be sure, there are many places to eat in Brooklyn, and in my neck of the woods, I often find myself at the same spots over and over again: Buttermilk Channel, Henry Public, Hibino, Colonie, Gran Electrica, and Prime Meats when I have a long wait in me. I'm looking forward to Saul Bolton's newest restaurant, Red Gravy, too. But Arthur has made it onto my list of regular haunts. It serves honest, good food, and pays attention to details like that butter service. I'm happy Isidori decided to listen to his dad. Sometimes parents do know best. At least that's what I'm trying to convince my three-year old of. Arthur on Smith is located at 276 Smith St, (Btwn Sackett & Degraw St), (718) 360-2340.  ...
Posted May 14, 2012

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