Irving Mill joins Gramercy's formidable roster of restaurants
At the recent opening party for Irving Mill, the latest addition to Gramercy’s restaurant roster, executive chef John Schaefer was chatting with his mentor, Tom Colicchio, and Craft chef Damon Wise, when a woman came up to Colicchio and congratulated him on the food at the party. “Tom was taken aback,” Schaefer laughs. “He said, ‘This is not my place, this is John’s.’ I just looked at him and said, ‘This is a hard act to follow.’” Looks like Schaefer is more than ready: The former Gramercy Tavern executive chef helms this market-driven American restaurant, which draws on European influences with items like loin of lamb with Swiss chard soffrito; roasted Arctic char with farro, cabbage speck and cipollini; and grilled baby octopus with pepper caponata and shaved fennel. Accessibility was key to Schaefer, who wanted to offer a flexible, limited menu that he plans to change up often—one dish every other day. And like many chefs, the nearby Greenmarket has been the backbone of his cooking and ultimately dictates the menu: The chef has already swapped the broad beans in his veal meatballs dish with cauliflower because they weren’t available anymore at the market. “I like the fact that I know who grew the beets that I’m serving in my salad tonight,” he says. “I’m a true believer that the way that a product comes in the door is just as important as how it comes on the plate.” 116 E. 16th St. at Irving Place, 212-254-1600
Back Forty
Tapping into the current market-centric zeitgeist might bestow instant cache on a new restaurant, but we bet Peter Hoffman is having the last laugh: For over 17 years, the Savoy co-owner has been one of its most fervent proponents, making pilgrimages to the Greenmarket to feed his farm-fresh food philosophy. He now brings this approach to the East Village with this cozy urban farmhouse. “This is where it’s heading,” Hoffman says of the movement toward market-intensive cuisine. “All chefs know that having fresh ingredients is fundamental to having great cooking. And more chefs are looking at the farmers’ market because they know that’s where the best food is.” At Back Forty, Hoffman has conjured a relaxed, tavern-style spot with an equally relaxed menu: Maine shrimp–and–bacon beignets, roasted oyster mushrooms and buttermilk onion rings, plus entrees like rotisserie chicken and grilled Catskill trout. “We wanted to do a more casual restaurant without forsaking well-crafted, well-sourced ingredients,” he says. Even the wine adheres to his locally sourced edict: North Fork wines are bottled specially for the restaurant, whose décor mixes urban and rural with pastoral murals, a pine wood bar and antique farm tools. “It’s gratifying to see how many chefs shop at the farmers’ market and care about that level of quality,” he says. “Seventeen years ago, the number of chefs that shop at the farmers’ market, I could count with one hand. Now, it’s formidable.” 190 Avenue B at 12th St., 212-388-1990
Xai Xai
Wine bars are popping up faster than you can say “varietal,” but how’s this for a twist: NYC’s first South African wine bar. This rustic, under-the-radar spot in Hell’s Kitchen (pronounced “shy shy”) features about 75 wines from the West Cape region, whose steep slopes, valleys, winds and fog (from the area’s two surrounding oceans) converge to produce viticultural soils that have lent the wines a fruity complexity for over three centuries. The wines on offer at Xai Xai, which is named after the Mozambique beach where the owners thought up the concept, include sparkling, Viognier, Pinotage, and a few white blends and organic varieties, generously served up in beakers that more than amply fill a wine glass. Earthy and warm, the space sports distressed wood columns and organic flora accents. A small-bites menu is in the works. 365 W. 51st St. at Ninth Ave., 212-541-9241
Athens Tavern
Astoria gets a new Hellenic “gastro-tavern” via this modern Greek spot, whose owners have tapped renowned Greek chef Yianni Baxevanis to bring his expertise Stateside. “Today, cooking is traveling very fast from one place to another because the whole world is one,” he says through an interpreter. It’s his travels to Crete, however, that have provided the foundation for his culinary vision, allowing him to connect with island’s elderly women and rediscover Greek cuisine’s classical roots, as well as the land’s bountiful herbs—sorrel, almyra, sea fennel—which now inform his cooking. At Athens Tavern, the chef has crafted a menu anchored by a selection of whole fish (such New Zealand snapper served with olive oil, lemon and saffron sauce), as well as an array of mezedes appetizers and game like venison, grouse and pheasant. 23-01 31st St. at 23rd Ave., Astoria, 718-267-0800
The Speakeasy
"Top Chef" winner Hung might wanna take a few notes from Josie Smith-Malave: The erstwhile "Top Chef" castoff went on to successfully open The Island, in Long Island City, and is now the consulting chef at this old-world “global comfort food” haven in Fort Greene, a melting pot for home-cooked fare from kitchens around the world. “It’s called ‘global comfort food’ because every single diverse ethnic group, we ate at home no matter what your background is,” says Smith-Malave, who is of Filipino–Puerto Rican–Italian heritage. (The chef is also openly gay, and was recently assaulted in Long Island in an alleged gay-bashing incident.) “There was something that you ate as a child that brings you home, that was a comfort to you,” she adds. Here, “comfort” translates to a truly global menu of crab-corn-chowder cakes, ratatouille, babyback ribs, mussels in miso broth, and poached curried salmon with coconut lentils. It’s a tip off to Fort Greene’s own diverse ethnic character.“[The restaurant] is a throwback to a time in African-American history where you had your affluent black Americans—there is still this glamour,” she says of the restaurant, with its dramatic gold drapes, burgundy accents and swirling ceiling patterns. “We’re trying to bring a spot [that’s] comfortable, approachable and without pretentiousness.” 132 Greene Ave. at Waverly Ave., Fort Greene, 718-230-3520
