strong feelings about smithereens
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The first thing I noticed when I walked into Smithereens, a new New England restaurant on East Ninth Street, was that they left the door open. The second was the low height of the seat backs—about five inches above the seat itself. Was I in for a cold, uncomfortable evening? Fortunately, I was not. Around a partition wall, a small, cozy section of the dining room awaited us. As the actual first reservation of the night to arrive, we were given a prime table in the corner of the banquette with two full backs.
I was there with my *new friend* who grew up in Maine, so there was a high threshold to be met. The Moxie cocktail did the work—as did the fact that we were interested in ordering 98% of everything on the menu (at once) even after our waiter gave us the advice to “just order food.”
So what did we have? A scallop crudo with slices of raw matsutake mushrooms, a smoked skipjack tuna special with pickled chanterelles (fancy mushrooms, a solid them for a menu or a party), rich beans with small red shrimp, squid, and luscious sea urchin and the bbq monkfish tail with sweet potato that perplexed us until we remembered monkfish is poor man’s lobster and not just another white fish. While the monkfish was not our favorite, every other dish was an absolute winner.
And for dessert—the best apple cider donut I’ve ever had. It was revelatory, not just after a round of cocktails. The center was doughy but rich, like the crullers at Daily Provisions which I’ve called life changing. The coating must have included citric acid along with the requisite cinnamon and sugar. It was zingy and somehow captured the effervescence of fresh apple cider. I can’t stop thinking about it.
We also went for the celery ice cream float. You did read that correctly (and it was the first of two times I’d have celery ice cream/sorbet in dessert that week). I have never been so confused by a dish. There was a nice ice cream that almost tasted a little cinnamony, fancy cocktail cherries and a celery foam. Sampled individually, it was not enjoyable. All in one bite it almost worked? Having never tasted Cel-Ray (or any soda for that matter), I can’t say if it replicated the flavor, but it gave us a lot to talk about and a lot of laughs, a winner by multiple measures.
Things I felt strongly about this week:
Strategic Love Play with Helene Yorke (as seen on Graves and The Other Two) and Michael Zegen (Joel from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) about a bad/weird/good internet date—I loved it.
Cristin Milioti and Andy Samburg for Interview Magazine
I interviewed Bob Florence of Moromi in Mystic a number of years ago and have enjoyed his special soy sauce and other creations ever since—great to see him getting this recognition on Eater!
Bad Sisters!!!
LUIS GIL ROY!!!
Things I’m looking forward to:
Panic! at the Disco “reuniting” at When We Were Young (if you want to go or have a ticket connection LMK)
Emo Night Brooklyn: Kids Edition (during the day) this weekend
Meeting Nicola Lamb at a book talk for the American edition of her cookbook Sift tomorrow
The Knicks
Things someone like me would love to receive as a gift—kitchen edition:
Material Kitchen’s cutting boards
A new set of prep bowls like these enamel ones or this set
This fancy rice and bean cooker (on sale!)