Colin Camac (aka @resyguynyc) leads restaurant partnerships at Blackbird and is our resident insider’s insider. He is out on the town seven nights a week, sniffing out the city’s best joints, skateboard in one hand, martini in the other.
This last month started really strong with a fun family trip to Orient Point and ended with my girlfriend and I debuting our new pop-up (which has cut into a bit of my dining). In between, I revisited a standout Mexican spot in LES that deserves all the accolades it’s been getting, stopped by a new Korean comfort food spot in Park Slope, hit a few notable pop-ups, and, as I’m liable to do throughout the summer, I made the trip to Jersey for the bakery of my dreams.
New York/New Jersey
📍LES
🍽️ Mexican
Corima is absolutely crushing it right now. It’d been too long since I’d had a proper meal here, so it was the perfect place to meet Frank C from Frankies Spuntino before he heads off the grid for his Summer trip. Frank had never been and I’m pretty sure he left a true believer. I’ve had several great meals here but this one reached another level. We went a la carte at the bar and let the team pair mezcals with our meal. Everyone has gone on about how great the sourdough tortilla is, and they’re right: it’s a must order. Other highlights of this meal were a hamachi collar (always order the collar!), beef cecina tlayuda, and a really tasty turbot. The dish of the night though, which Chef Fidel actually sent us, were the esquites, that he cooks like a risotto with mushrooms and tops with a sourdough crisp, shaved mimolette and a cured egg yolk on top. It was so earthy and delicious. Really special.
📍Park Slope
🍽️ Korean
My friend Jinah brought me to a newish Korean spot in Park Slope that specializes in a comfort dish called Gukbap. The chef sent us out more food than we could handle, but here were some of the highlights: We started with the seasonal banchan— a shiitake skewer with gochujang and garlic sesame that had a real umami kick. We followed that with an off menu crab rice with pork jowl that comes with nori for making little hand rolls. This was also such a great bite. And then the main event is either rice or noodles with a choice of 3 separate broths and some proteins. I went with beef on rice in a beef broth with chili oil. It was a ribsticking meal that left me with plenty of leftovers to bring back home for the girlfriend.
📍Koreatown
🍽️ Korean
Speaking of which, Marcela (my better half) had been craving Korean BBQ for a few weeks now and there was a recent night where we were finally able to make it happen. Ahgassi Gopchang is one of my favorite spots because they nail the classics but also do offal very well. After the the banchan spread we did a 4 meat selection plus the large intestine, a house speciality. Of the non-offal meats, I loved the brisket and the galbi. The large intestine is super fatty and rendered out over a long time giving it a soft and chewy texture with a bit of bitterness that balances out the char. I think I prefer the chew of the small intestine, but it was really fun to try a new bite.
📍Jersey City
🍽️ Bakery
Bread & Salt is just incredible. After debating our lunch for a while, a midday post from the B&S Instagram influenced me to try their afternoon special: Pane Cunzato. Mozzarella, tomatoes, capers, anchovies, olives, olive oil and salt on their insanely delicious focaccia. We also had a slice of their potato pizza, a tart with greens, and a half of their mozzarella pizza. The pizza is some of my favorite, full stop. Thin crusted and charred, topped with some great olive oil, it’s perfect. We finished up with a fluffy housemade donut for dessert.
📍Williamsburg
🍽️ French
I popped in with friend from work, Ryan McMahon, to Le Chêne for a really great Thursday night meal. There on the early side, we were able to sit as walk-ins and try some of the insane wine (2023 Roulot Meursault) they were pouring for one of the owner’s birthdays. The food was outstanding and beautifully plated on ornate china. Some of my favorite bites from this meal were the crab tartlette with lovage mayo & sungold tomato, a squid rice with black garlic aioli, and their always delicious tuna au poivre. Le Chêne is definitely a splurge, but the room feels great and the experience is worth it.
📍West Village
🍽️ Seafood
I could not have been happier to learn that, seemingly out of nowhere, Mary’s was resurrecting in the former Brunetti Pizza space in the West Village. Early in their first week, I went in for a nostalgic bite and am happy to report not much has changed! I started with a bowl of spicy Florida gazpacho, cool and acidic, topped with small pieces of lobster claw meat. Then a special of fried anchovies, served whole with some lemon and an oily herb sauce for dipping. Finally, a lobster roll, slightly more expensive than it used to be but still one of the best in the biz. Even the shoestring fries (that I douse in malt vinegar) scratched an itch that hadn’t been hit since Mary’s closed in ‘24. Welcome back to the neighborhood!
Le Cheval d’Or @ The Four Horsemen
📍Paris (by way of Wiliamsburg)
🍽️ French-Chinese
I could not have been more excited to check out Cheval d’Or from Paris popping up at The Four Horsemen for a mid summer lunch. I actually had my birthday dinner at Cheval d’Or a few years back and it remains one of my favorite Paris memories. We started off with silky tofu served in a hollowed out eggshell with potato. At the same time, a fluffy, warm gnocco fritto topped with yellowfin tuna, hoisin and cucumbers hit our table. Then things really heated up. It started with fried softshell crabs cooked in a sticky sweet and sour sauce with eggplant. Then came a take on har gow that turned the delicate shrimp dumplings into agnolotti, topped with watercress, creme fraiche and little dollops of caviar. Oysters arrived in a ginger scallion vinaigrette that went perfectly with the deep cupped brininess. Our main course was a beautifully cooked slab of wagyu served alongside Eight Treasure Rice-stuffed whole vegetables (squash, tomato). One of the most surprising dishes was the “melon surprise,” a halved melon and topped with all sorts of fruit and jellies. It was an incredible way to finish a great meal.
Parcelle @ Mitsuru w/ Chef Kate Telfeyan
📍LES
Kate and I originally met when she was doing PR for my restaurant group. After she left that side of the business, she eventually found herself working her way up in kitchens, starting at Mission Chinese and eventually opening her own spot in Ridgewood. Once her restaurant closed I was happy to see Kate find herself with the Parcelle group.. When I saw she was doing her own menu for this limited time pop-up I had to check it out, and so I did… twice…during the first week. The menu was delicious and by the time you read this definitely no longer available, but the food is worth talking about. My favorite dishes were a cold somen with soy milk and snow crab, Hokkaido scallop with coconut milk and chili oil, pork & prawn stuffed bok choy that was almost like a massive dumpling, and steamed corn custard topped with uni. I would put that collection of small plates up against some of the best in the city. The large plates were just as good. Chicken skewers, both perfectly charred and juicy over an onion forward slaw with chermula. A whole fried pork chop topped with a fragrant furikake over cabbage. Sansho spiced lamb chops over what tasted like a Thai style herb salad may have been the best of the bunch. It’s so fun to see old friends doing fun shit.
📍Soho
🍽️ Japanese
I made my way back to Noury for the first time since an early friends & fam meal and am happy to report it’s still my favorite recent opening in the city. The food is just the type of stuff I crave all the time. I went with my good friends Emily (The Angel) and her husband David for their first visit. You must start with the saba sandwich, on buttered milk bread with pickles and shiso. I also would highly recommend all of the maki. Honestly just tell them to hit you with the whole first section of the menu. Jimmy Nardellos with white nectarine, ponzu and bonito was a standout veggie dish as well. Like with Kate’s pop-up, the large plates hold up against the strong app section. That’s rare these days.. We loved the chicken tsukune, steak hache and the bluefin tuna. Our sleeper hit though was a gift from the kitchen: Tori katsu. Chicken fried and stuffed with cheese, served with shredded cabbage and really fiery mustard on the side. Desserts are equally delicious, but for me, the melon parfait is the move if you have to pick one.
Dorados Del Rio
📍Wherever!
🍽️ Mexican
Marcela and I have been quietly working on a new project called Dorados Del Rio and we had our first two pop-ups at Romeo’s this month. Specializing in tacos dorados (hard shell tacos) and flautas, the menu combines nostalgic bites from both of our childhoods. Growing up in San Juan Del Rio (where the name comes from), where her family owned a tortilleria, Marcela always loved crispy flautas. My nostalgia comes from family taco nights eating Americanized tacos growing up. Bringing these two things together, making everything from scratch, with our tortillas made by hand in Sunset Park and then hand rolled by us, has been an incredible experience. Our first two pop-ups went incredibly well and we look forward to doing more before possibly opening our own spot. Come check us out next time!
The North Fork:
📍Greenport
🍽️ Seafood
Headed to Orient Point for a short family trip, we stopped off at Little Creek Oyster as we rolled into Greenport. The oysters on the half shell were perfectly shucked and they also had a really solid Danish style hot loaded with remoulade, onions, pickles, and fried shallots. My favorite bite was a small plate of dressed clams called the “Wu-Tang Clams” that reminded me of some of my favorite clams from our trip to Ensenada earlier this year.
Eddie’s @ The Silver Sands Motel
📍Greenport
🍽️ New American
We got the whole crew together and had a wild semi outdoor meal on the back deck of Eddie’s during a massive rain storm. The chef previously worked at The Four Horsemen in BK and the meal was packed with some of the best bites I’ve had on the east end. We started with a large plate of dressed oysters and mussels as well as a really great surf clam served in its shell with passionfruit and mint. The pizzas were all delicious, especially the clam pie. We also ordered the koji-cured yellowfin steak that was grilled on the bone. It was perfect.
