Fatty 'Cue Round Two

Zak Pelaccio's fusion-barbecue was an instant hit when Fatty 'Cue opened in Williamsburg. But the restaurant's back room closed for renovations not long into its run, and it left the small, front barroom to accommodate the droves that sought Pelaccio's cue. Then, in January 2012, the restaurant closed completely to undergo renovations. Those were originally scheduled to take two months, but lasted almost a year and a half. On Tuesday night, though, Williamsburg got its Fatty 'Cue back. The restaurant reopened with a new design, new menu by Momofuku Noodle Bar alum Anthony Masters, and cocktails by Death & Co.'s Phil Ward.

The Fatty Crew was busy elsewhere during the Fatty 'Cue renovations. In the last year, the team partnered with Top Chef alum Leah Cohen to open Pig & Khao on the Lower East Side (Pete Wells gave the restaurant two bright stars in March). The crew opened a Fatty 'Cue outpost in Barclays Center, and Rick Camac, a partner in Fatty Crew, established Fatty Crew Hospitality Group, which is going global and has a Hong Kong satellite in the works.

Salamat, Pete

[robert kaplin for the times]Pete Wells dropped a multi-restaurant review last week with barbecue as the common thread. This week's is done in the same vein, only the focus is Filipino food. It's a cuisine that is rarely at the center of the city's food dialogue, though it's certainly not from anyone's lack of trying. Dozens of Filipino restaurants have come and gone over the years, Pistahan, Cendrillon, Elvie's Turo-Turo, and Bayan Cafe among them. Suffice it to say, the city is not without its share of bagoong, bangus, balut, sisig, suman, and halo halo. Mainstays like Krystal's Cafe, Ihawan and Ihawan2 in Queens, Grill 21 and Kuma Inn in Manhattan, and Purple Yam in Brooklyn have been serving Filipino food for years.

The subjects of this week's review? Jeepney and Pig & Khao. "The two places have many things in common," Wells explains. "Open since last fall, they are small, casual, fun and often loud — Jeepney with American and Filipino party rock, Pig and Khao with slow-rolling Southern hip-hop. Neither stocks hard liquor, but each still manages to shake up very entertaining cocktails." So how will decide which to bring your friends to next time you're in the mood for the rich flavors of the Southeast Asian archipelago? Take Wells' advice, "For Pig and Khao I’d round up the ones who love Asian flavors, don’t have significant hearing loss yet, think it’s fun to get endless refills of beer from a keg in the back garden and won’t be heartbroken to learn that fertilized duck embryos are not an option." "The friends I’d take to Jeepney would be the explorers," he mentions later, "the ones who see every meal as a chance to learn something."

Part of a chef's job is to adapt custom and tradition to evolving food trends. As our food culture marches further down Artisan Road, our palates are becoming less and less captivated by generic, factory farmed ingredients. Innovative cuisine alone isn't always enough to bring in the crowds. But if there's a new story to be told, and the chef communicates through their food, people are likely to engage in conversation. The teams at Jeepney and Pig & Khao get this, and the two-star reviews show signs of a shifting dialogue. [NYTimes]

Ivan Orkin Eyes 25 Clinton Street for Ramen Spot

On the other side of that Taurus, and behind the tree, is the storefront of 25 Clinton Street. It's the former address of Ed's Lobster Bar Annex and the possible future home of Ivan Orkin's first stateside ramen spot. Orkin, a Long Island native, moved to Japan with his wife in 2003. He opened Ivan Ramen in Tokyo in 2007 and, in 2010, Ivan Ramen Plus. At both ramen counters, Orkin strays from tradition and serves his own take on the dish. Homemade noodles (some whole-grain) and adding the protein to his ramen hot are among the signatures Orkin brought to Tokyo. His efforts won high praise from a top ramen blogger in the city and both Ramen and Plus have remain packed ever since.

Orkin recently moved back to the states and started giving New Yorkers a sneak peak, showing up here and there to serve his ramen. Should Ivan Ramen (Japanese food) open at 25 Clinton Street, it'll be a block north of wd-50 (other worldly) and Pig & Khao (Filipino), and two blocks north of Yunnan Kitchen (Chinese), turning the stretch of Clinton Street between East Houston and Delancey into a legit version of Epcot Center's World Showcase, minus the frozen food and humidity.

The decision to open at 25 Clinton is pending a meeting with the Community Board next month in which Orkin will hopefully attain a liquor license. If he does, it's all things go and the 60-seat space will open in the spring. [DinersJournal]

First Bite: The $39 Five-Course Tasting at Pig and Khao

Pig & Khao opened a few months ago on the same stretch of Clinton Street that's home to Yunnan Kitchen and wd-50. The immediate neighborhood, like many in New York, is a concentrated nucleus of popular restaurants and good eats, ie Pok Pok Phat Thai, 'inoteca, and Mission Chinese Food a few blocks away on Orchard Street. One way Pig and Khao stands out is by offering $1 beers and a five-course tasting menu for $39. Pig and Khao introduced both deals last night. The $1 beers are available for happy hour seven days a week, from 5 - 7pm. The prix fixe is available at the bar (six seats) Monday through Wednesday with a menu Leah Cohen put together exclusively for the tasting. We stopped in last night to check it out.

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