Haven's Kitchen

A native New Yorker, mother of five, and practitioner of sustainability, Alison Schneider opened Haven's Kitchen in January to teach the community about local, sustainable food.  She chose an old, three-story carriage house two blocks from the farmers' market at Union Square as her school.  Her message is delivered through a recreational kitchen, event space, and specialty food shop.

Digest NY founder Craig Cavallo conducted an interview with Alison for The Scout Mag, a lifestyle and design-conscious site launched by Tom Ran in 2008 that highlights unique events, retail and dining experiences in New York City. 

Read the article here.

Barclays Center is Opening in Two Months

Barclays Center is being built across the street from Atlantic Terminal, Brooklyn’s busiest transportation hub. The Brooklyn Nets will be calling the 19,000-seat stadium home when it opens in just two months. Park Slope, the neighborhood due south of the stadium, teems with restaurants and nightlife. It is a landscape that is changing now more than ever as Barclays Center readies to open September 28th.

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Donde Dinner?

Donde Dinner? is a weekly column at Digest NY.  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 allowed.  Price, quality, and accessibility are all being taken into concern.  We promise you won't be waiting at the bar for two hours with $15 cocktails, and since we're not fancy folk, you never have to worry about a dress code.  Just hop on the train, or your feet, or your bike, and head to:

79 Clinton Street (btwn Rivington and Delancey)

Wait Til the Midnight Hour; Late Night Eats

The middle of summer is the perfect time to lose track of time. So, next time you find yourself craving pierogi, crostini, or one of the city's best burgers sometime after midnight, consult this here list of late night eats. Open until 2am or later during the week, these restaurants go the extra mile to keep your bellies full during the owl hour.

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Ivan Orkin Is Noodles About Noodles

After studying Japanese at the University of Colorado, Ivan Orkin delved into food stuffs at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park.  He stayed in his native New York and worked at Mesa Grill and Lutece before moving to Japan.  In 2007, he opened Ivan Ramen in Tokyo with a careful menu offering "ramen standards" like Shio and Shoyu.  "I figured if I could get people in Tokyo to love my ramen, than that's a pretty significant statement of success."

Ivan Ramen Plus is Orkin's second project that he opened also in Tokyo in 2010.  At Plus, with three years of credibility to his name, Orkin is able to experiment with new flavors and ideas.  Both restaurants are guided by his "Slow Food Fast" motto; searching out quality ingredients and buying locally whenever possible.

Orkin will be opening a ramen restaurant in New York City by the end of this year.  To honor his future re-arrival, he was invited as a guest chef to serve his ramen renditions at Momofuku's Noodle Bar this past Tuesday, July 17th.  The sidewalk outside of Noodle Bar on 1st Ave was full of anxious slurper's long before the doors opened to the one night ramenthon.  Here's a rundown from Momofuku's blog of the three ramen dishes Orkin served Tuesday:

ivan ramen classic shio ramen – chicken and dashi double soup, blend of japanese sea salts, thin rye noodles, pork belly, 6 minute egg, hosaki menma

ago dashi hiyashi shio ramen – chilled flying fish dashi, lemon, blend of japanese sea salts, slow roasted tomato, warm chicken breast

tonkotsu, pork fat, bacon and triple garlic mazemen – pork neck, chicken feet and roasted vegetable soup, pork fat, bacon, fresh, pickled and roasted garlic, thick whole wheat noodle

The Foraging Pays Off; Three Stars for Atera

Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria and Kyo Ya have a new member in their three-star club.  Michael Lightner's Tribeca hotspot Atera is the third restaurant to earn three stars from Pete Wells.  The restaurant opened this year in March and added fuel to an already blazing fire ignited by chefs who had passed through Rene Redzepi's kitchen at Noma in Copenhagen.  Lightner cooked there, at Mugaritz in Spain, and at Castagna in Portland, Oregan before landing in the Triangle Beneath Canal.

Dubbed "snack time" by Wells, the initial bites that start a meal at Atera are nothing to write home about.  "There was a bitter and stringy clump of fried garlic roots, about as rewarding as eating a broom. A facsimile peanut made with foie gras and peanut butter wasn’t as good as an actual peanut, and a facsimile egg shaped from aioli wasn’t as good as an actual egg."

A few small bites later, "when snack time was over and the core of the menu began, something remarkable happened."  That's not to say the ensuing meal was perfect.  Wells goes on to mention a few dissatisfactions, but ultimately feels a meal at Atera is one of the more unique the city has to offer.  "It doesn’t all come together yet, but it comes close enough that a night at Atera is now one of the most fascinating experiences you can have in a New York City restaurant."

Is Jewish Cuisine the New New Nordic?

For a while it was impossible to go out to eat without hearing something about New Nordic cuisine.  It was happening all at once in the East Village at Acme, in Tribeca at Atera, and across the river in Williamsburg at Kinfolk Studios pop-up Frej.  In Copenhagen, Rene Redzepi's end-all-be-all Nordic restaurant Noma continues to be a mecca for chefs looking to stage.

While all of this was happening, Jewish food was on the sidelines waiting for its chance to play.  A few days ago, the folks from Tribeca's Jewish bistro Kutsher's released this video, making Jewish food the sexiest we've ever seen it.  The success of Jewish deli Mile End reached Manhattan earlier this year with a location opened on Bond Street.  Jack's Wife Freda opened at the beginning of the year and serves Jewish food on Lafayette Street in Soho.

Jezebel is the newest member of the Jewish restaurant trend.  It opened earlier this month on West Broadway and aims to stand out with its adherence to the laws of kashut that make it a completely kosher restaurant.  A commitment to serving kosher food is one thing, but for former Gramercy Tavern employee Nick Mautone, that isn't enough.  Mautone heads the beverage program at Jezebel and plans a 20 drink menu that will only feature kosher cocktails.  To achieve this, he plans housemade vermouths and a reliance on other kosher-certified bar companions like Benedictine, Disaronno, and Angostura bitters.

An integral part of the city's dining landscape are the Jewish counters and delicatessens that have fed New Yorkers for decades.  The resurgence of Jewish restaurants in a city freckled with long-standing mainstays begs the question; Is Jewish food the new New Nordic?

Brooklyn, Stand Up!

Justin Warner of inventive Bed-Stuy restaurant Do or Dine is one of the final contestants on this season of Food Network Star.  You might be part of the camp that thinks the network is food blasphemy, but if that doesn't stop you from supporting the Maryland native whose made an incredible name for himself as a self taught chef and "the only boy to get A's in sewing and food preparation" in home ec, head on over the Food Networks website and vote for him.  Voting ends tomorrow at 5pm.