Where Colin Ate: Pinch Chinese, Mama's TOO!, Leon's, Sendo
Plus: the ‘perfect sandwich’ at Barney Greengrass
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.
Even a rough Steak Club outing couldn’t keep this week from being full of great meals. It really does blow my mind, though, that restaurants known for one —literally says it in the name—can’t make that one dish a memorable one. Home cooks all over the world cook great steaks, and it’s amazing to me when we find these places with professional cooks and equipment that just don’t. Anyway, I crushed some amazing pizza this week and went to some of my favorite classic places in the city. Sometimes the best meals are at places that have been doing it forever.
Colin
Ceres Pizza
📍Little Italy
🍽️ Pizza
After last week’s failed attempt at securing a clam pie from Ceres, I came back this week with a better understanding of the rules and was able to snag one of the pies. I dropped in with two friends for our pickup time around 5:30 p.m. and ordered both the clam special as well as a cheese pie. Both are some of the absolute best pizzas in town right now. The cheese pie was again super thin and crispy, with no real cheese pull, but perfectly seasoned sauce and more of a light char of the cheese on top. The clam pie, however, is immediately one of my favorite pies in the city. The pie comes with a lemon and several shucked clams around the top, but the briny flavor goes so deep on this pizza. It reminded me a lot of one of my favorite clam pizzas ever at the now-closed Franny’s in Brooklyn. The clam pie is only offered on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and you have to come in person to place your order. It is probably the most expensive pizza I have ever bought, but to me it was worth every penny.
Leon’s
📍 Union Square
🍽️ Italian
I hadn’t been to Leon’s since its early days and decided to meet a friend for a bite at the bar last Friday night. I walked into an absolutely bustling dining room and full bar that felt great. The top-notch martinis made the short wait for a seat go by quickly, and before we knew it, the bar staff had two seats ready for us. Leon’s is the follow-up to one of my favorite local West Village spots, Anton’s, and the team expands on their Italian palate with some French and Middle Eastern flavors. We started out with the incredible lamb arrosticini as well as the fava bean falafel. The arrosticini (Italian skewers) were perfectly cooked and juicy. I wish I saw this dish around the city more, as I think they are such a great way to start a meal over some drinks. I’ve always really enjoyed Leon’s falafel as well, bright with herbs and in a light pool of tahini that gives it a creamy bitterness that I love. For pastas, we had a wonderfully nutty, fall-tasting ravioli as well as the classic cavatelli with sausage and market greens. Leon’s also makes one of my favorite chickens in town, boned, charred skin, and nicely spiced, laid out over a bit of tahini with some cilantro. It’s beautiful in its simplicity, and is absolutely perfect with their big green salad with cheese. Nick and Natalie have another great neighborhood spot in a small area of lower Manhattan that could use just that.
Pinch Chinese
📍Soho
🍽️ Chinese
Walking around trying to find a place to walk in late on Friday night, and we decided to check out Pinch Chinese. I hadn’t been since they first opened, but it was always really good, and I am happy to report that it still is. They have a really nice selection of dumplings, so we went with a few of those. We started with some very good soup dumplings, bursting with juicy pork soup and balanced out by the vinegar/ginger dipping sauce on the side. Following that, we went with an order of pan-fried beef dumplings, crispy on one side with a nice chew on the other. I would definitely order both again. The “Wind Sand Chicken” was always a favorite of mine, a whole bird, brined for three days, sliced, and topped with crispy garlic. We paired it with a seafood fried rice and topped it all with the house chili oil for a bit of kick, and it was great. My absolute favorite dish of the evening was kind of a surprise, as we ordered the “Hong Kong Style Lobster,” which came with morel and wood ear mushrooms as well as baby corn. What arrived was a really impressive dish of lobster stuffed into morel mushrooms with a gelatinous sauce that was addictively delicious. I had never seen a dish like it, and it was impressively done. Pinch is a great spot if you’re in the area and looking for some solid Chinese options.
Mama’s TOO!
📍West Village
🍽️ Pizza
There is currently an embarrassment of pizza riches in the West Village, and sometimes it’s hard to choose which place to go to. This Saturday, for my friend’s birthday, we decided to pop into Mama’s TOO! and brave the weekend crowds just before opening. The line moves way faster than in the early days, and we had only a short wait before ordering. I hadn’t had their pizza in a while, but I came away really impressed with how great it was. Even considering how much volume they do, it is still some of the best pizza in town. We went with an upside-down square, which is my personal favorite here and is my ideal square slice. I tried the bruschetta square for the first time as well and was really surprised at how much I loved it. The tiny blistered cherry tomatoes added a really nice burst of acidity to the garlicky crust of the white pie. For a place that seems to specialize in square slices, the NY round pies are insanely good here as well. After not eating it for a while, we had a slice of the pepperoni vodka, and I was blown away by how light and airy it was, while having a great flavor to the crust and holding its crispiness. It was all really impressive. We topped the order off with their cheesesteak, which puts a kind of cacio pepe spin on the classic, stuffed into their house-made seeded roll. It is a standout cheesesteak in a city that’s just starting to understand how good this sandwich is.
Barney Greengrass
📍 Upper West Side
🍽️ Jewish deli
Barney Greengrass is one of my absolute favorite places in the world, full stop. The over 100-year-old UWS institution is a perfect example of old school NYC. I try to get up there as often as I can, but usually only make it about once a quarter. If you haven’t been, Barney Greengrass is an old-school appetizing store. For those not in the know, “appetizing stores” are shops associated with old-school Jewish-American culture in NYC, mostly specializing in smoked fish products. Downtown has Russ & Daughters, and the UWS has Barney Greengrass. I was first introduced to the store when I was opening up Fatty Crab nearby around 2009, and a friend who grew up in the city asked if I had ever been. Once I found out what it was, I was there that week for a bagel to go for lunch that day. Since the place is known as “The Sturgeon King,” I figured that would be the move, and I have never gone here again without getting that same sandwich. Nowadays, I wouldn’t think about getting a sandwich to-go, as sitting in that dining room adds even another level to the experience. The servers, who have been there for years, are gruff, efficient, and really create an only-in-NYC vibe. My order is pretty standard every time I go, and it always starts with the sturgeon on an everything bagel with cream cheese, onion, tomato, capers and comes with a lemon wedge and half sour on the side. To me, it’s a perfect sandwich. The latkes here are best in class, fried and thick but with a really perfect consistency on the inside, served properly with both sour cream and apple sauce. The last dish that for me is a must order is their version of a LEO (classic lox, eggs & onion), but served with nova instead to keep the salt in check. It comes with the eggs scrambled pretty hard and onions cooked down and brown with little bits of nova throughout. It is served with a bagel of your choice, and I love to eat it with cream cheese as well. Smear a bit of the cold cream cheese on the warm bagel and top it with the NEO mix to get a delicious and fun hot and cold temp as well as textural bite that is one of my favorites around. This place is worth the trip to the UWS, and while it is definitely not cheap, it is an absolute classic. Also worth noting is its quirky policy of no credit cards on the weekends, so bring cash unless you hit it on the weekdays.
Quick hits, Pop-ups & New openings
Icca’s Chef Kazushige Suzuki at Sendo
📍 Midtown
🍽️ Japanese
Last minute, I saw online that Chef Kazu from Icca was once again popping up at Sendo for the following night. I immediately bought a ticket at 11 p.m. and was happily seated at the bar directly in front of the Chef for the early seating the next night. Chef Kazu, who usually presides over his one Michelin Star counter, which starts around $350 per person, has recently done a few pop-ups here, offering a less elevated but still spectacular omakase, this time at $200pp. It was once again an incredible experience and such a treat to dine at his counter again. His rice is delicious, and his selection of fish is always exciting and a bit outside the norm of the omakases you see everywhere. His signature kawahagi (file fish) chopped up and mixed with its own liver was a highlight, as well as the tiger prawn and saba. I will continue to scoop up this ticket any time it’s available, and highly recommend you do too!
Blue Ribbon Brasserie
📍Soho
🍽️ American
Late Saturday night, after seeing a movie, there was really only one answer for where to go eat, and it’s always Blue Ribbon Brasserie. I have written about how much I love it here before, so I won’t go too long here, but I love that they are back to being open late (2 a.m. nightly), even if it’s not as late as it used to be. The place still is an absolute classic and a must for any young restaurant professional to check out after a shift as a rite of passage. I went with the standard raw bar offerings, the always awesome steak tartare, and one of the best duck clubs I have had here. All of which are worth ordering. If you’ve never been and are ever hungry late, this is the spot.