Aska, Aska, Read All About It!

[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]

Go On with Your Bad Self, Mr. Bowien

The end of the year is a time when food critics weigh in on all that happened in the restaurant industry over the last twelve months. In place of a review this week, New York Times critic Pete Wells wrote "12 Restaurant Triumphs of 2012." "At the end of my first year in the restaurant critic’s chair," he writes, "the New York dining landscape still looks like a wonderland to me." The list of 12 restaurants is arranged as a countdown, described as "a cardiogram, with each spike in the chart denoting a restaurant that made my heart race this year." Among the excitement-inducing restaurants are Gwynnett St (12), Calliope (11), Blanca (10), Pok Pok Ny (7), Atera (4), and The Nomad (3).

Landing the number 1 spot is Danny Bowien's Lower East Side smash Mission Chinese Food. "For its bravado, its inventiveness, its low prices, its attempt to ease the suffering of those waiting at the door by tapping a small keg of free beer, and its promise to give some of its earnings on each entree to a food bank, Mission Chinese was the most exciting restaurant of the year."

The free beer while you wait, the donation of .75 cents from the sale of every entree to the Food Bank for NYC, and the low price point at Mission Chinese (with the exception of the cumin lamb breast [$16] and the veal breast a la orange [$24], nothing on the menu exceeds $13), are part of the formula at a restaurant that has quickly established itself as an exciting venue for those seeking a delicious, affordable, vibrant, unique take on Sichuan cuisine in a room unlike no other in the city. "No other restaurant I reviewed this year," Wells explains, "left me feeling as exhilarated each time I got up from the table."

Subterranean Lounge at Atera Booze

[melissa horn for grub street] lounge at ateraThe Lounge at Atera opened Tuesday night beneath Matthew Lightner's 18-seat chef's counter in TriBeCa. The new bar brings 12 more seats to Lightner's operation and will be open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 630pm - 11pm. Reservations are available by email only (thelounge@ateranyc.com) and a few of the limited spots will be reserved on a nightly basis for guests dining upstairs.

Wines by the glass, beer, and cocktails are all on offer at the subterranean drink den. Lightner told the Times he wanted the cocktails to "match philosophically with the food." The cocktail list is the combined effort of Lightner and the Atera team, which includes former Weather Up TriBeCa bartender Brandon Duff. The Winter Walnut (rye, navy strength rum, walnut liqueur, honey, and orange bitters) and the Old Fashioned Ale (served warm with brandy, ale, lemon, ginger, cream, and egg yolk) are sure to keep guests warm in the ensuing winter months. We can't wait to get our gullets on the Strato; fernet, cream, and coffee. Cocktails are priced between $15 and $18. [DinersJournal] [GrubStreet]

Lounge at Atera | 77 Worth Street (btwn Church and Broadway) | 212.226.1444 | www

Still Four Letters, Still the Best Deal in Town; Aska Opens Tonight in Former Frej Space

[askanyc.com]Fredrik Berselius and Richard Kuo opened Frej a month before Acme received two stars from the Times and five months before Atera was awarded three stars from the same publication. At the time, all three restaurants had chefs who were riding the wave of "new Nordic" cuisine that came from Scandinavia. The movement stemmed from a hyper-local approach to cooking that was taking shape in Copenhagen; specifically in Rene Redzepi's kitchen at his universally acclaimed restaurant Noma.

Just after six months of rave reviews and serving one of the city's best dining bargains (Frej offered a five-course tasting for $45), the restaurant closed it's doors for renovations. Tonight, in the space that once housed Frej in Williamburg's Kinfolk Studios, Berselius and former Atera General Manager Eamon Rockey are opening Aska.

Unlike Frej, which was only open Monday through Wednesday, Aska will be serving food from 6pm to 11pm seven days a week. Like Frej, Aska will be serving an underpriced (likely outstanding) tasting menu: six courses for $65. The tasting however, is only available Sunday through Thursday and by reservation only.

What was once an 18-seat availability at Frej has grown to thirty, as Aska has two rooms: one that seats 18 and one that seats 12. In addition to the sustainable, locavore approach found in Berselius' food, Rockey has curated beverage options from "Old World-centric wines, traditionally brewed beers, earthy ciders, classic spirits and house‐pressed juices to be enjoyed on their own or paired with food." [AskaNYC] [Eater]

Subterranean Restaurant News

When Atera opened in Tribeca in March, Grub Street told us chef Matt Lightner and co were planning to open a bar in the space under the restaurant.  Originally going to be called "The Office," it turns out the name is to be determined.

Plans for the new bar space include a separate kitchen with its own private dining room.  It will provide a place for diners to have coffee and reflect on all the foraged food a multi-course meal at the 17-seat chef's counter puts in their stomachs.

In the West Village, the laundromat space Ed Schoenfeld took over under RedFarm is closer to opening.  In an interview with Paper Mag back in April, Schoenfeld said he'd be taking over the laundromat June 1st.  "It's going to take us a few months to do it over. So by September 1st, middle of August, we'll have that space."

Update on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 at 11:59AM by Craig Cavallo

Ed Schoenfeld tells Digest NY that date is set for sometime "In the fall: Oct plus or minus."

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?

The Copenzepi Takeover

New York Mag's Adam Platt awarded Atera four stars (out of five) last week.  That puts the restaurant at Exceptional, just one star away from the pinnacle, Ethereal category.

Atera chef Matt Lightner is an alum of Noma, Copenhagen's/The World's most fascinating restaurant since the closing of Spain's El Bulli.  Rene Redzepi is Noma's chef and he is a founding father of what is being referred to as New Nordic Cuisine.  Platt's review of Atera is another wave in the tsunami of attention being thrown in the general direction of Scandinavia.

Acme was awarded two stars by Pete Wells a few weeks ago.  The chef?  Noma vet Mads Reflund.  Frej is a pop-up at Kinfolk Studios in Williamsburg, serving a $45, five-course, Nordic influenced tasting menu three nights a week to anyone lucky enough to land a reservation.  The guys at Lucky Peach hung out with Rene in Issue #2, and in Issue #3, David Chang himself mentions the significance a stage at Noma means to an aspiring chef, and that commitment and discipline in the kitchen are just as relevant to technique and ingredients when it comes to Noma's success.

An article in The Wall Street Journal talks about "Life Beyond Noma," and discusses the culinary trend that has resulted as more and more chefs are passing through Noma's kitchen.