Where Colin Ate: Cuerno, Fanelli Cafe, Son Del North, and The Argyle
Plus: a quick trip home to Long Beach, NY
Colin Camac (aka @resyguynyc) is officially Blackbird’s “Strategic Sales Lead,” and unofficially 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.
Last week, I went back to my hometown to hit the beach and get a great meal from an old friend. I also hit a few downtown classic spots and found one of the better tuna melts in town in an unlikely place. Besides that, I checked out a few newer openings and had a friend in from Paris, so we hit it pretty hard even with the short week.
Colin
Emilio’s Ballato
📍 Nolita
🍽️ Italian-American
It had been years since the last time I went to Emilio’s Ballato, but walking down Houston with a friend last week, there was no line outside, so we were able to easily walk right in on the early side Tuesday night. The room is as classic NYC Italian as you can get, with pictures on the walls of the family and celebrities, and an IYKYK back room for the real VIP’s. We sat up front, with the sunlight still peeking through the front glass window, and shortly had decent martinis in hand. Emilio’s, while being a bit on the pricey side, still puts out some really delicious food. We started off with a Caesar salad (with anchovies) that was pleasantly salty and crisp, and even better with the addition of a meatball ordered on the side but eaten together (I love meatball salad, try it). For pasta we went with a really delicious version of spaghetti alla vongole, featuring freshly shucked clams with their liquor in a white wine sauce. The pasta was perfectly al dente with big chunks of garlic swimming around, perfect for sopping up with the house focaccia. For those in the know, we also ordered the off-menu and massive Veal Antonio, a pounded veal chop on the bone, breaded, fried, and topped with vodka sauce, prosciutto, and mozzarella. It is truly a monster of a chop, but perfectly cooked and seasoned. It is definitely one of my top veal chops in the city. Emilio’s is definitely an experience and always worth stopping in, especially when there’s no line.
Lost & Found
📍 Long Beach, NY
🍽️ New American
I head back to my hometown of Long Beach a few times each summer, usually for a birthday or family function. I usually try to stay the whole weekend, as I am already out there, and it still feels great to be by the beach. My biggest complaint while out there, though, is that the food scene is pretty rough. Not many places seem to care about quality, and it ends up all just being a bunch of pretty lame dining experiences. Lost & Found, as well as their sister restaurant Lost At Sea are two examples of great restaurants by the beach. Last week, I was in town for a yearly volleyball tournament I participated in, and the night before, I rode my bike down to the west end of town to try to sneak into Lost & Found for a solo bite. My good friend Saylor was working the door and grabbed me an extra stool at the bar right by the open kitchen pass, next to Chef/Owner Alexis Trolf. Alexis and I have known each other since around 2002, when I worked with his best friend at one of my early restaurant jobs at a place called Coyote Grill. Over the years, we have kept in touch, and I always loved hosting him at my restaurants when he used to swing into the city before opening his own place. Unlike most of the places in the area, he really takes pride in the food he’s making. With his small team, they’re pumping out a fun seasonal menu filled with things that wouldn’t feel out of place in the coolest little neighborhood spots in Brooklyn. Every meal starts with a complimentary plate of toast with butter, pickled cucumbers, and a few slices of heirloom tomato - grown in Alexis’ garden - and is a really fun way to get the ball rolling. Chef also sent me out a small portion of his tuna tartare served on a piece of toast that had a nice acidic bite and a funkiness almost reminiscent of fish sauce, but made with red pesto, capers, and smoked almonds. Following that, I ordered a great plate of hummus topped with oil, gherkins, and Mediterranean spices (cumin, thyme, paprika) as well as tiny triangles of pita. A blue cheese salad with crisp lettuces, dill, red onion, and grapes for a fun pop of acidity. I also ordered the house burger, a tavern-style burger that comes with Gruyere cheese (I requested the addition of raw onion as well) and is finished with a small spoonful of jus over the cheese just before serving. It was a really delicious burger that had nothing fancy about it other than being cooked well and put on a solid bun. The meal finished with a small bit of Basque cheesecake that Alexis topped with some caramel and absolutely hit the spot. Over 10 years in, and he is still crushing it by the beach and showing that good food can thrive out there if you commit to making it.
Cuerno
📍 Midtown
🍽️ Mexican Steakhouse
I made it back to the safe haven of NYC by Sunday, and after the absolutely soul-crushing performance on the first game of the season by my NY Giants, I needed something good to eat. A friend and I decided to check out Cuerno, a fairly new Mexican steakhouse that opened a while back, around Radio City. The menu at Cuerno is pretty expansive and offers a variety of steaks and chops etc, but for this visit we focused mainly on the small plates and tacos. Once you order, the team comes over with a variety of salsas to eat throughout your meal and mix and match with whatever dishes you ordered. For the tacos, three stood out for me. The first was tacos richi, thinly sliced ribeyes cut into slabs of meat and served on a house flour tortilla, topped with salsa verde, chicharron, avocado and a cheese crust. The meat was tender, and it was a delicious bite. We followed that with the fish taco, on a corn tortilla, served Baja style with slaw and avocado. It was a really solid fish taco that stands up well to any others I have had in upscale restaurants around town. By far my favorite taco of the night, though, comes with a show and is the taco taquero. A chef pulls a rolling butcher's block to the table and starts chopping a skirt steak, mixing in onions and eventually adding the contents of a bone of fire-roasted bone marrow. The meat is then added to warm corn tortillas and served with a few pickled onions and some cilantro on the side. The meat was really flavorful and was definitely the best bite of the night. The avocado salsa that was provided on the table proved to be the best match for it as I quickly devoured my portion. I found both styles of tortillas to be particularly impressive at Cuerno, and I am excited to come back to try some of the steaks, possibly at a future meeting of Steak Club.
Quick hits, Pop-ups & New openings
Fanelli Cafe
📍 Soho
🍽️ American Pub
Fanelli Cafe has been the SoHo spot to gather for years now. Any time of year, any weather, you’ll find all the cool kids mixed with the old timers hanging outside or bellying up to the bar. Normally, it’s a place I stop for a quick martini with friends, but not a place I normally eat. A while back, I saw a pic a friend posted of a tuna melt that looked really great, so I decided to try it the next time I came in. That time turned out to be last week, and I went for it. Tuna melts happen to be one of my favorite sandwiches, and even though I believe I make the best ones at home, I love finding a good one on a menu. The version here is served open-faced—honestly, the best way—on wheat bread, topped with cheddar and some tomato hidden underneath the tuna. The beauty of this sandwich is that the cheese melts on the salamander and the tuna still stays a bit cool, while the tomato is hidden all the way below and doesn’t become a warm mealy mess. Definitely need to give them their due on the construction and it is now the sleeper hit of their menu for me.
Sip & Guzzle
📍 Greenwich Village
🍽️ Cocktail Bar
I popped by Sip & Guzzle early last Wednesday to check out their brand new burger, served exclusively at the bar at Guzzle. At only 12 per night, we wanted to get there early to give it a shot, and it was well worth it. The burger is made up of A5 wagyu that is lightly smoked with binchotan and loosely packed. They top it with a house-made Parmesan “Kraft single” that perfectly melts and adds a really salty backbone that pairs incredibly well with the shishito relish and decadence of the patty. It all sits on a special seeded bun from Breads Bakery that does its best to hold it all together. Definitely worth giving it a try if you’re in the neighborhood early.
Bar Kabawa
📍 East Village
🍽️ Caribbean
I have already gone on at length about how much I enjoy Bar Kabawa, so we don’t need to get into the nitty-gritty here, but the place just keeps getting better. With a few friends in town from Paris, we hit the bar before they went to the airport and had a great meal. All of the patties are incredible, but I still always lean towards the baked geera goat, which I think is absolutely perfect. The rest of the menu is worth trying as well, and you can’t leave without getting the Solomon Gundy, Dad’s Sardines, and pickled okra. We were also blessed by Chef Paul with a surprise dish of cobia collars coated with a sticky, fragrant, and slightly bitter sauce and a pool of pepper sauce in the middle. Collars are probably my favorite part of a fish and this version was great. Extra props for large format punch service, served from a porrón with oranges and pineapple on the side.
Son Del North
📍 LES
🍽️ Mexican
Son Del North is a newish burrito spot which now has both an LES and West Village locations. They specialize in burritos made with no rice and “rooted in the heritage of Sonoran flour tortillas”. I think their burritos are some of the best in town, and since I am on a big bean and cheese burrito kick, I grabbed one before heading out of town last weekend. The burritos are definitely hefty but very flavorful. I added rajas to my order today, which added a nice veggie sweetness to the burrito that went really well with the salsa verde that comes on the side. If you’re ever craving a great bean and cheese in Manhattan, this is a great place to try.
The Argyle
📍 Midtown
🍽️ Cocktail Bar
I was invited to the opening party of The Argyle, the brand new bar underneath the new restaurant Markette (formerly Haymarket) in midtown. The space subterranean had a great open vibe and seemed like a great option for a drink when you’re by Penn. The few drinks from their menu they were serving for the event were solid and they were nice enough to pour me an off menu martini as well (not the usual for parties like this). Definitely interested to check it out once it opens for real.