Show Me a Sign: Alder

Signage is up at Alder, Wylie Dufresne's second restaurant, and it's set to open this Thursday, March 28th. WD-50, Dufresne's Lower East Side atelier, will turn ten on April 9th. Though unlike that restaurant, which serves two dining options (both prix-fixes), Alder will offer an a la carte menu with items like pub cheese, clam chowder, pigs in a blanket, calamari, and ox tail stew. Nothing on it will exceed $25.

John Bignelli will be the executive chef and Kevin Denton is heading up the cocktail program. Both Bignelli and Denton are WD-50 alum. Geoffrey Fischer is in charge of the wine list, and a rep informed us "the goal of the wine program is to be ever changing, and supportive of the menu. The by-the-glass selection will showcase wines either usually offered by the bottle or from less traditional regions."

Alder will be open Wednesday to Sunday from 6:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Seating is on a walk-in basis only; no reservations at Mr. Dufresne's 56-seat East Village eatery.

Alder | 157 Second Avenue | 212-539-1900 | www | map

Update on Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 11:41AM by Craig Cavallo

Menus are up online!

Boulton & Watt is Open

Boulton & Watt opened on the corner of East 1st Street and Avenue A last week. Darin Rubell and David Rotter have reworked what was Nice Guy Eddie's into a restaurant inspired by the Industrial Revolution. The space takes its name from Matthew Boulton and James Watt, the two gentleman who perfected the steam engine in the late 18th Century. Like Nice Guy Eddie's, Boulton & Watt is open until 4am (the kitchen takes orders until 2:15 am) seven days a week, but they'll be serving a revised take on American and English comfort food. It comes in the form of "Snacks & Entrees," including dishes like short rib and bone marrow toast ($13), pigs in a blanket ($11), a classic wedge salad ($9), an array of homemade pickles ($6 per jar, three for $15), and steak frites ($22).

Ten beers are available on tap in either 14oz ($8), 32 oz ($15), or 64oz ($30). Thirty-two and 64 oz growlers are also available with a $5 deposit. Each of the 20 or so wines on the list are available by the glass ($10), carafe ($20), or bottle ($35), and cocktails are $12 each.

Boulton & Watt | 5 Avenue A | 646-490-6004 | www

Monday - Sunday, 5:30 pm - 4 am

No Meat, No Matter; Two Stars for Dirt Candy

[nagle for the ny times] cabbage at dirt candyKate's Joint raised the bar for American-vegetarian food when it opened in the East Village back in 1996. The restaurant closed earlier this year, but Dirt Candy is there to carry the Village's vegetarian torch. Dirt Candy is what Amanda Cohen calls vegetables, it's also the name of her restaurant she opened in 2008. The restaurant's website explains, "When you eat a vegetable you’re eating little more than dirt that’s been transformed by plenty of sunshine and rain into something that’s full of flavor: Dirt Candy."

In his two star review of the restaurant today, Pete Wells enjoys the food and the way humor plays a part in the Dirt Candy experience, "Since opening Dirt Candy in the East Village almost four years ago, the chef Amanda Cohen has been waging war on the “eat your vegetables” mind-set, using humor as one of her weapons." Cohen's sense of humor is found throughout the restaurant's website and menu, wine list included, where a sparkling wine on offer from the Veneto is described as, "A fresh, lively sparkling wine from Italy that dances on your face." "Humor is so integral to Ms. Cohen’s work," Wells writes, "that she may be the only chef in America who could publish her first cookbook in comic-book form and make the decision seem not just sensible but inevitable."

Writing a menu is never a simple task, and when the menu is completely void of an entire food group, a heightened level of creativity is called for to ensure seats will be filled on a nightly basis, even if there are only 18, as is the case at Dirt Candy. This creativity shows up at the restaurant in dishes like eggplant tiramisu and the cauliflower entree, where "Ms. Cohen gives cauliflower florets a long bath in maple smoke, dips them in cornflakes, fries them to a golden crisp and serves them on waffles." It's a playful twist on the chicken and waffles classic. There are a few misses on the menu, but, ultimately, Wells finds Cohen is "not adapting the vegetarian cuisine of some other culture. She is inventing her own."

L'Apicio is Open

[photo: krieger] dining room at l'apicioJoe Campanale and Epicurean Management have officially opened L'Apicio.  Dinner kicked off last week at 13 East 1st Street on Thursday night.  The 170 seat restaurant is the team's fourth project and the second to open from our Taste of Tastes to Come list.

Gabe Thompson's Italian-inspired menu showcases his knowledge of the country's cuisine.  L'Apicio offers a variety of salads, meat, fish, pastas, and a handful of "Polenta all Spianatora," where a stew or ragu is served directly on top of polenta.  Pastas range from $14 (Spaghetti - spicy tomato sauce and basil) to $22 (Tajarin - porcini mushrooms, garlic, and thyme), and sweetbreads show up for $17 with agnolotti and mascarpone.

Joe Campanale has taken care of the beverage options at L'Apicio.  Beer is broken down into "Draft," "High Octane (high alcohol %)," "Sessionable," "Quirky," and "Hoppy."  House cocktails come in at $13.  A few Champagne options take the list to France, but otherwise Campanale has stayed in Italy and the states to curate the wine list.  Sparkling, white, orange, rose, and red wines are all offered by the glass.  The bottle list breaks down selections into two categories: "New World" and "Old Country."  New World refers to those wines being made domestically, where wine makers tend to take a modern approach to wine making, i.e.  temperature controlled fermentation and the use of small barrels.  Old Country wines refer to those coming from Italy, where tradition, more often than not, dictates wine production methods. 

Sunday-Wednesday, 5:30pm – 11:00pm, Thursday-Saturday, 5:30pm-12:00am

L'Apicio | 212.533.7400 | 13 E 1st St | www

A Glowing Star for Calliope

[gothamist]Pete Wells is impressed with the French spirit at Calliope in the East Village.  The restaurant is run by Eric Korsh and Ginevra Iverson; "The couple, who met while working at Picholine, share kitchen duties."  Prior to opening Calliope, Korsh was the executive chef at the Waverly Inn.  Iverson has Prune on her resume and Eric Anderson, an owner of Prune, is a partner in Calliope.

Rabbitt is an integral part of the restaurant's menu.  Wells explains, "You’d have to spend a week in Paris to taste rabbit cooked in as many ways as it is served at Calliope."  Kidneys, saddle, and a ragu make up the "cotton-tailed roster," all of which portray the synergy that exists between Korsh and Iverson's cooking.  The two had practice working together not just at Picholine, but in California as well.  The couple owned Restaurant Eloise together and only closed it at the end of 2009 to head east.

The food falls flat in some instances in a room that, although has taken a design cue from Keith McNally, re: "tiles, tin ceilings, scarred mirrors and glass doors," is loud and "can make conversation an ordeal."  The overall glowing review leaves behind only one star, but it's made clear Calliope has a stronghold on the bistro tradition.

First Bite: Porsena Extra Bar

Welcome to First Bite, in which Digest NY brings you a look at some of the city's newest restaurants shortly after they open.  We'll go, eat some food, take some pictures, and report back to you.  This go round it's Porsena Extra Bar, the third project from chef Sara Jenkins that opened on East 7th Street last week.

Click to read more ...

Porsena Extra Bar Opens Today in the East Village

potato, celery, tuna, capers at extra barIn 2008, Sara Jenkins and her business partner/cousin Matt Lindemulder opened Porchetta in the East Village.  The success of Porchetta lead to the opening of Porsena down the street two years later in December 2010.  Porsena draws on the same Italian influence as Porchetta with a focus on pasta.  According to Porsena's website, the restaurant "is just the kind of colorful neighborhood restaurant you might be thrilled to find in the narrow back streets of Rome or Florence."

Today, Jenkins gets her third establishment with the opening of Porsena Extra Bar nextdoor to Porsena.  The two restos share the same 21 East 7th Street address.  Unlike Porsena, which is only open for dinner, Extra Bar will be open for lunch and dinner with a different menu for each occassion. 

Jenkins in taking a Lebanese lean at Extra Bar.  There are wines from Lebanon on the list and, for lunch, eggplant puree, labne, and zataar.  Two spaghettini pastas showcase Jenkins' relationship with Italian food, while cantaloupe melon butter and grilled "kimcheese" show her creative side.  The dinner/"evening" menu features lamb tartare, oysters, and pinzimonion, the Italian version of crudite.  No website yet, but there's a tumblr page dedicated to the new digs.

The Summer of Riesling Part Fünf

Summer of Riesling is a dedication to the acidic grape that thrives all over the world.  James Beard award winner Paul Grieco is the mastermind behind the 94-day event that kicks off tomorrow at 5pm at Hearth and all Terroir locations and runs through September 21st.

The festivities aim to educate the public on the diversity of the noble grape.  It will honor Riesling making regions such as Alsace, Finger Lakes, and Austria, with a seperate 31 Days of German Riesling dedicated to the country "where cultivation of the grape took place with the greatest focus historically."

The obsession with Riesling started in 2008, when Terroir Wine Bar opened in the East Village and only poured Riesling by the glass as their white wine option.  With over 30 choices, Terroir proved to be a Riesling library whose choices all showcased the grape's versatility.  In addition to the glass pours, Terroir was stocked with an additional 100 Rieslings from different producers in their cellar.  Their committment since has only grown.

If you take part in the event, you'll walk away with (fake) riesling tattoo's, shirts, buttons and "more Riesling info than Lady Gaga can store in her meat dress."

Maybe Bryan Adams should do a remix for the occasion: "I got my first real Riesling..."