Weekend Reading
Manhattan’s oldest Italian closes, Short Order Crudo, Texas BBQ comes to NYC, Best Bars and more.
Manhattan’s oldest Italian restaurant to close after 120 years: ‘Remarkable journey’: Manhattan’s oldest Italian restaurant is about to serve its final meal.
After 120 years on West 46th Street’s Restaurant Row, Barbetta will close its doors tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 27. The decision to shutter the eatery, which is also the longest-running family-owned restaurant in the city, comes after the death of longtime owner Laura Maioglio. She ran the institution until she passed away last month at age 93. Read full story in the New York Post.
Two Texas Barbecue Megastars Are Opening an NYC Restaurant: Barbs B Q’s Chuck Charnichart and Goldee’s Jonny White are opening Kirbee’s in Greenpoint
From industry newsletter: Short Order
Origin Story: How an Insta-friendly appetizer went from clever to classic.
You know how when you learn a new word, you start noticing it everywhere? That’s how we’re feeling these days about Sicilian Sashimi.
A tri-color pastiche of pristine raw fish dressed in vinaigrette, the dish got its start as an off-menu special at San Francisco’s century-old Swan Oyster Depot. Sometimes known as Sicilian Crudo, sometimes just Crudo Plate, it depends whether you’re at one of MML’s six outposts of Clark’s, or Found Oyster in LA, Fish Shop in Austin, Seahorse or Crevette in New York or Matty Matheson’s Prime Seafood Palace in Toronto.
We think the expansion of the dish started with Clark’s, which opened in Austin in 2012. No surprise, given the team acknowledges Swan as its main inspo for the raw-bar cafe. A lemon vinaigrette bolstered with wasabi, agave and shoyu introduces a sushi flavor profile. How a chef can make the dish their own is what makes its evolution interesting.
At Seahorse, John Villa starts by aging whole fish for 10 days in a chilly walk-in, a sushi technique that concentrates flavor and tenderizes the flesh. From there, he dresses salmon, tuna and (usually) hamachi with a gently stirred-together vinaigrette of first-pressed Tuscan olive oil, lemon juice, shallots and chives. He likes the dressing a bit broken, with beads of lemon juice glistening atop a pool of oil.
Some spots stick with three fish for the crudo, some add scallops to the mix, as Swan does. Most include minced onion and chives, fresh herbs or capers. It’s a simple dish—sort of. “Here at MML, it’s an inside joke,” says Jedd Adair, the group’s VP of Culinary. “That dish is the fastest, single evaluation we can do. Walk into any Clark’s, and if that dish is slightly off, we have larger problems. The fish needs to be impeccable, the onions cut just right, the chives need to be super fresh. It’s a dish that represents the backbone of operations, one that defines a restaurant.”
Bon Appetit: The 11 Best Bars in New York City Right Now by Andrea Strong
Led by a brash batch of stylish Lower Manhattan watering holes, these spots inspire us to stay out all night. Read and drink here
“THE BEST” MEANS NOTHING NOW
How algorithms, SEO, and infinite rankings flattened taste. ELLA QUITTNER
Instagram: The En of An Era (I really miss En Brasserie)
