Dutch Kills/Detroit's Last Word

Went to Dutch Kills in LIC on Monday night, the newest in the family of old-school bôites brought to you by Sasha Petraske and co. The bar is lined with large, starkly-designed wooden booths, which look kinda like horse stalls. I sampled an Arc Angel (gin, cucumber, bitters, etc) and my favorite Petraske creation, the East Side Company. One of my comrades ordered a Greenpoint, a classic drink made with green/yellow chartreuse, rye, bitters, etc.

The verdict? Solid drinks as to be expected. The place itself is cool but somewhat unremarkable. Points for good music and lighting. If you live in the nabe it should certainly be on your list, but otherwise you can get most if not all of these drinks at a Petraske outpost near you.

Then, today I stumbled upon this article in the Detroit Free Press about the Last Word, an old-school gin drink made with green chartreuse which apparently originated in Detroit. The drink's revival has made it onto cocktail menus around the world and across the U.S. Proud to learn that my hometown has a place in cocktail history both past and present.

Photo via Flickr/Gilrain

Keste

Another day, another gourmet pizza joint. The latest on the block is Keste Pizza & Vino, noted for its affiliation with the Associazone Pizzaiuoli Napoletana, the association that certifies pizza-makers. Walking into the Keste space you might feel like you are in some cheapie prix-fixe tourist trap or suburban strip mall joint. And the menu looks like it might have been designed/laminated at Kinko's. But once you taste the pizza, any doubts you might have about Keste will quickly fall by the wayside.

The staff seemed nervous, like they were on a first date, and accordingly a bit overly attentive. There were a few snafus--the soda was flat, the server's English was poor, and another staffer kept filling up all the glasses on the table with water, so at one point we had 3 full glasses for two people. (We had to snicker at that one.)

But the pizza is truly first-rate. Based on the server's advice, I tried the basic Buffalo Mozzarella pie, which was rich and delicious, its sauce full of plump, fresh tomatoes. The crust is textbook and spectacular: chewy, crusty, and crunchy in all the right places. My friend ordered a more elaborate pie with ham, mushrooms and artichokes which was also good, but not quite as flavorful as mine. We also shared a mixed green salad filled with chunks of mozzarella (since clearly we weren't eating enough cheese as it was).

All and all, Keste makes a very fine pie. Oh, and also, fire is free here, as noted on the check below. What a bargain!

Marc Forgione fka Forge

Vegetarians and devout Jews, turn away. The rest of you, behold to your right some piggy porn from the Marc Forgione renaming party last night, (the restaurant formerly known as Forge.) Pretty random turnout but some good apps including a scallop ceviche, duck sliders, curried chicken nuggets, and short ribs with parsnip puree. Oh and the requisite roasted whole pig, as shown.

Adventures in Waitressing, Part 1

Me: (approach table of 2, pen and pad in hand) Hi there, how are you?

Girl: Oh! I'm sorry, were you sitting here?

Co.

I stopped into Co. on Saturday night, the trendy "pizzeria of the moment" which already boasts hysteria-level popularity (ie lines out the door) after only a few weeks in operation. We showed up around 6, hoping to forgo the hour-long wait that's been rumored to begin around 7. Luckily, we were seated right away at the end of one of its long communal tables.

Communal tables are definitely fun, but sometimes you just really want your own table, (mostly when you're not seated next to good-looking members of the opposite sex), but also because I find some of them too wide, so that you and your companion have to strain to hear each other across the table. Annoying. This one wasn't too bad.

The interior of Co. reminded me of Momofuku Ssam with its wood-paneled walls, which don't seem all that fitting for a pizzeria. To be sure though this restaurant is very cozy, and conducive to people-watching. You're almost forced to gaze (perhaps longingly) at the restaurant's few 'exclusive' group tables if you're sitting on the 'south' side of the big table. Us lowly communal diners were a bit like the"pizza proletariat."

Anyway, most of the food here was excellent. We started out with the Eggplant Toast, which was yummy. Garlicky, gelatinous, but light and licorice-y. The other appetizers laid out in front of neighboring diners looked similarly as enticing.

For pies, we went with the Boscaiola, a combination of mushrooms, sausage, and chiles. This was fantastic, but definitely hot and spicy. We also sampled the basic Margherita which was frankly a bit lackluster. The top part of the crust was nice and crisp however the bottom was somewhat limp and mushy. I've definitely had better. I wish we had the time/appetite to sample more but I suspect I'll be back for seconds. Is it worth waiting an hour or more for a taste? Probably not. But if you have a hankering for pizza before 7pm, you could stand to do a lot worse.

Scarpetta...Wow

Last night I finally made it over to Scott Conant's Scarpetta for a little birthday din din and I have to say I am officially wowed. First of all, the restaurant is stunning. The dining room is gorgeous--elegant but not stuffy and totally somewhere you want to be. The service was first rate--a seemingly all Italian waitstaff who were so gracious and attentive. The food...well, it was fantastic. Short ribs literally melted in my mouth, polenta with truffled mushrooms had to be laced with crack, spaghetti with tomato and basil was transcendent with only 3 ingredients, epitomized the taste of Southern Italy. Other favorites: Rabbit cavatelli with mint, agnolotti dal plin, and marinated eggplant salad with burrata. Desserts were amazing, the Amadei chocolate cake was rich and intense, hazelnut milkshake and and coconut panna cotta with guava soup also sublime. Scarpetta is definitely a new favorite and hope to have many many return visits.

Tet: Are You Pho Real?

Tet, from restaurateur and chef Steven Duong (Nam, O Mai), has been open just a little over six months now and has been reviewed by both Gael Greene and the Village Voice's Fork in the Road. However, on a recent Friday night visit, it was practically empty. Par for the course it would seem for a new restaurant. However if you had the pleasure of tasting the food, you’d expect a line to be forming around the block. I don’t have to reiterate that good Vietnamese or Thai for that matter is pretty hard to come by in this town. So for such an amazing Vietnamese restaurant to go relatively unnoticed is a full-fledged tragedy.

To the credit of some, it is somewhat confusingly situated. Tet is hidden behind an open storefront which houses a staircase to the dive bar, Arrow. But still, well, I can't really understand it. Nothing can stop a determined foodie in this town.

Each dish was better than the next. We started out with the Suon Nuong, grilled lemongrass baby back ribs with honey plum glaze. Sublime. Next came the mains—Ca Hap: Chilean sea bass with mushrooms and greens. It literally melted like a pad of butter in my mouth. I haven’t had fish this expertly cooked and seasoned in as long as I can remember. We also sampled the Cari Tom: prawns sautéed in coconut curry sauce with vegetables, and the Bo Luc Lav: seared sirloin over mixed greens. Tet isn’t reinventing the wheel by any means—they’re cooking dishes that are clearly within the canon of traditional Vietnamese cooking. The difference is that they are doing it right, while most other competitors have got it all wrong. Underseasoned meat and goopy, sugary, and tasteless sauces are typically what you find elsewhere. If you haven't been to Tet you are truly missing out. And if you live in the East Village you have even less of an excuse, it's certainly one of the best restaurants in the nabe.