Entries by Craig Cavallo (675)
Donde Dinner? - 338 East 6th Street
Friday, February 15, 2013 at 1:26PM 
Donde Dinner? wants to make your next dining experience an adventure. So, every Friday, we pick a restaurant and post its address for you. The catch is, that's all the information you get. No name, no type of cuisine, and no Googling. But first, here's last week's address:
75 Second Avenue = Zabb Elee
This week's restaurant follows typical Donde Dinner? fashion. Price, quality, and accessibility have all been taken into account. You won't be waiting at the bar for two hours with $15 cocktails and you never have to worry about a dress code. Just hop on the train, or your feet, or your bike, and head to:
338 East 6th Street (map)
Donde Dinner?, zabb elee An Afternoon Market in Chinatown, Jake
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 3:23PM 
Perhaps nowhere in the city are produce vendors more prevalent than in Chinatown. The bustling neighborhood, whose heart lies at Canal Street and Bowery, is riddled with small stands selling parishable goods at absurdly low prices. On a stretch of Forsyth Street just south of Canal, starting at 3 p.m. seven days a week, vendors sell goods brought down from the Bronx that they've purchased in large quantity. This bulk-buying is why the price tags are so low, and the droves make their way as soon as the trucks roll in. We stopped by recently to check it out.
Chinatown Aska, Aska, Read All About It!
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 10:54PM 
[daniel krieger for the new york times]Nordic cuisine was undeniably one of 2012's hottest trends. The year's biggest contributions came via Frej opening in Williamsburg, Acme opening on Bond Street, and Tribeca welcoming Atera, Matthew Lightner's chef's counter Pete Wells awarded three stars in July. The trend continued to ripple at year's end, when Aska opened in the former Frej space. Today, Wells keeps the Nordic torch lit with his two-star review of the restaurant.
Fredrik Berselius runs the kitchen at Aska. He was also the chef at Frej, Kinfolk Studios short-lived pop-up restaurant. Where Frej only offered a five-course tasting for $45, Aska serves a six-course option Sunday through Thursday for $65, and a la carte options seven days a week. Eamon Rockey, former General Manager at Atera, signed on and curated a beverage program that parallels Berselius' New Nordic approach.
At Aska, "A common ingredient is made unfamiliar," writes Wells, "a transformation the kitchen pulls off again and again." Berselius proves to be a culinary shapeshifter of sorts, and "What looks like a whole fish is in fact the fried head and tail of a herring, with the rich, soft cured fillet connecting the two crunchy ends. (Granted, fresh herring may not qualify as common. “It’s one of my favorite ingredients, but I’ve only been able to get it twice in the seven years I’ve been cooking,” Mr. Berselius said.)"
"Mr. Berselius knows how to turn up the flavors when he wants to. The flavors he draws out of vegetables, meat and seafood can stop your breath. He found exceptional sweetness in the purple carrots he served with pike and whipped anchovy cream, and extracted a broth from monkfish bones that had something like the depth of veal stock when it was spooned around a fillet of the fish and a slice of its sautéed liver."
Aksa's $65 six-course tasting is easily one of the city's finest fine dining experiences, and one that turns a cold shoulder to the constantly rising price tags on prix-fixe menus around town. [NYTimes]
Acme, Aska, Atera, Frej, Pete Wells, Times Review, fredrik berselius Five Places to Celebrate Fat Tuesday
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 8:28AM 
Mardi Gras is always the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. The name means fat Tuesday in French and, here in the states, the day is most widely celebrated in New Orleans. Although that city is roughly 1,300 miles to the south, there are plenty of places around town to channel the Crescent City's spirit. So, if you're looking for somewhere to get your purple, green, and gold on tonight, here are five New Orleans-inspired restaurants we really dig.
Show Me a Sign: Nightingale 9
Monday, February 11, 2013 at 2:46PM 
Out of all the work that goes into opening a restaurant, it's the sign going up that tells the public the space is almost ready. And with the constant cycle of restaurants opening here in the city, we thought we'd introduce a column called "Show Me a Sign." So, using signage as our informant, we'll bring you photos and news of projects as they ready to open around town. First up? Nightingale 9, the third venture from Kerry Diamond and chef Rob Newton. Signage went up recently at 345 Smith Street, and the restaurant is set to open next Thursday, February 21st.
Eat the Week; Feb 4th - 8th
Saturday, February 9, 2013 at 8:27AM 
Eat the week, bien cuit Donde Dinner? - 75 Second Avenue
Friday, February 8, 2013 at 3:16PM Donde Dinner? wants to make your next dining experience an adventure. So, every Friday, we pick a restaurant and post its address for you. The catch is, that's all the information you get. No name, no type of cuisine, and no Googling. With Mardi Gras in mind, here's last week's address:
424 East 9th Street = Exchange Alley
This week's restaurant follows typical Donde Dinner? fashion. Price, quality, and accessibility have all been taken into account. You won't be waiting at the bar for two hours with $15 cocktails and you never have to worry about a dress code. Just hop on the train, or your feet, or your bike, and head to:
75 Second Avenue (map)