Where Colin Ate: Weekend Edition
Sunday long read from our restaurant columnist, featuring The Grill, Naro, Maison Passerelle, and Gramercy Tavern
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.
Happy Mother’s Day to all my mom readers, including my own. May your Sunday be filled with brunches, bottomless mimosas, and whatever else moms get up to when they let their hair down. For the weeks ahead, consider these spots …
Colin
The Grill
📍Midtown
🍽️ Steakhouse
I could not be happier to report that this month's Steak Club meal was not only a HUGE success, but it also took place at what is without a doubt one of the top spots in the city for steaks. Walking into The Grill just feels old school NY. From the low ceiling entrance with the old school host stand and coat check to ascending the grand stairs into a room that feels larger than life with floor to ceiling windows, it is, indeed, a big mood. The bar is as classic and classy as it gets with top notch people watching, buttoned up bartenders, and some of the coldest, silkiest martinis in the game. Having a pre-dinner cocktail at the bar here (whether dining at The Grill or not) is one of life's great pleasures, and I do it any time I have a chance to be in the area. Once the whole crew had assembled we were ushered to one of the large round tables in the dining room. While The Grill doesn’t have some of the staples that usually make up the normal Steak Club experience (caesar, wedge, creamed spinach), they have enough on the menu to still make it feel like an apples to apples experience. The food and service was really spot on as we were greeted with a splash of Grower Champagne (someone at the table knew the somm) that acted as an in between martinis palate cleanser. To make it as close to another Steak Club experience we ordered the chopped and the endive salads. Both perfectly serviceable and tasty but honestly had me missing our normal caesar and wedge, but the rest of the meal more than made up for the slight substitution. For apps our crab cake was the best version of this we have had by quite a large margin, made with 100 percent crab meat with fried potatoes carefully tiled over the top of it. The “pasta a la presse” is an absolute must, with the server rolling over one of the only antique duck presses left in the city (I believe Daniel has one as well) to press together cooked game bird pieces, bone and all and mixed with roasted tomatoes and herbs before being carefully pressed down into a smoke jus. The jus is then poured over house made egg noodle pasta and is one of the best bites around, with the chewy pasta mixing with a smoky, rich sauce that is full of depth. The steak board is very impressive with wagyu cuts, but we chose to go with the classics from the menu: a porterhouse, ribeye, and the prime rib trolley. Both the ribeye and porterhouse steaks came out with thick crusts cooked to temp and aggressively seasoned, letting the meaty flavor shine. Prime rib here is also one of the best versions in town, covered in jus and freshly grated horseradish after being carefully sliced tableside. The potato puree was the highlight of the sides, but creamed asparagus was a fun sleeper. Desserts were easily some of the best we have had at any steakhouse (not usually a highlight) and we went with a baked Alaska, bananas foster (bring all the fire!), and a lemon chiffon cake. Glad to be back in the W column with the club.
Maison Passerelle
📍FiDi
🍽️ French
After coming for the opening party (and caviar table!), I wanted to come back and try an actual meal at Maison Passerelle. The restaurant is a collaboration with Printemps, Kent Hospitality, and Chef Gregory Gourdet. The restaurant is definitely on the higher end with what seems like no expense spared on the room and decor. While it is not necessarily my style of space it definitely has its charm with many seats having a view of the open kitchen which is the centerpiece of the dining room. The food is French leaning but unlike any other French restaurant in the city it also includes contributions from formerly colonized places like Vietnam, Africa, and the Caribbean. The food blends the familiar with these other flavor profiles that feel new and exciting. While the menu seems to lean into the slowly reappearing appetizer, entree, dessert format, it works for the feel of the space. We started with the prawn cocktail — three meaty prawns dressed in a house cocktail sauce with lemon and horseradish. We followed that with the warm plantain bread with “local and herbed plant butter.” I have no idea what that means, but the butter was delicious on the moist bread with sweet bits of plantain throughout. Citrus cured kampachi in a pool of smoked coconut milk poured tableside had the added benefit of some texture from rhubarb and jicama. Both of the large plates we ordered were bonafide hits. Crispy skin ocean trout came in a plantain puree with ti malice (a Haitian Creole hot sauce) that gave the dish a really pleasant sweet and spicy kick. My favorite savory dish of the night, though, was the duck, which initially looked less interesting to me but came highly recommended. A breast and frenched leg served with pineapple and a tamarind jus that really was fantastic and bright in all the right ways. We ordered only one side which was a Haitian bean dish called diri ak sos pwa, which came with rice and was very delicious on its own but also worked really well with each dish. The desserts here are must orders, and I don’t think I could ever come back without getting the coconut chiboust, a creamy lemongrass meringue puff on a cracker base with a toasted coconut sorbet that was incredible
Naro
📍Rockefeller Center
🍽️ Korean
I had a lunch meeting with a good friend at Naro in Rock Center, which I hadn’t been to since they opened a few years back. Walking in they had a solid Thursday lunch crowd, and I was quite honestly really impressed with my meal. Starting as a tasting menu when it first opened, I think it has really found its groove with its a la carte offering. My friend had also previously worked for NA:EUN Hospitality (which owns NARO along with Atoboy, Atomix, ACRU) for several years and it was really fun to hear the story behind several of the dishes. As explained to me, every dish on the menu has a starting point in traditional Hansik (Korean cuisine) dishes and keeps much of the essence of the initial source while creatively modernizing it for the concept. Take the king crab dish for example, swimming in pine nut dressing, jellyfish salad, and luxuriously adorned with some caviar (a gift from the chef). Apparently, pine nuts are very traditional in Korean Royal Cuisine due to the labor and time they take to prepare. Dishes with pine nuts like this were only for the most elite at the time. I found the nutty flavor a really delicious compliment to the sweet crab and texture of the seaweed. Texturally, it felt very reminiscent of yuba (tofu skin) to me when it all came together. It’s always fun to eat with people “in the know” as you get to hear all these fun tidbits that could feel forced if delivered by the restaurant directly. Another fun dish we had was the kimchi-cheese chicken wings, perfectly fried (nobody does fried chicken as well as Korean places) and dusted with what tasted like cheese powder, not unlike a Doritos or Cheeto flavoring. It was a really fun dish, paired with pickled daikon as Koreans normally do. I really enjoyed the throwback aspect of several of the dishes here that made you think of something really nostalgic but done with a slight twist. Another example of this is seen in the black cod, slick with sweet and spicy doenjang sauce and topped with onions, served with roasted mushrooms on the side. To me, it was very much a Korean throwback to the famous miso black cod of Nobu and I absolutely loved it. The dish I was most excited about which was not available on my only other visit was the Naro bowl, and it very much lived up to the hype — crispy rice with cubes of wagyu, cubed custardy omelet, and trout roe. Wagyu is a funny thing and due to its high fat content it tends to be overwhelmingly rich, but served in this way as tiny little savory bites highlighted with the salty trout roe, the dish really comes together.
Gramercy Tavern
📍Gramercy
🍽️ American
This week definitely had more fancy lunches than usual, and for a special occasion I was able to get a space in the tavern area of Gramercy Tavern. To this day, it still feels like one of the best places to celebrate almost any occasion. The room is grand and is always buzzing with energy, and the food is the kind of comfort food that never gets old. I usually prefer to sit at the bar, but this time we had a nice table in the middle of the room. The service here is always at the top of the game. For food, I usually go pretty simple here starting with the raw bar. We did the tower as it was a celebration and every bite of it was perfectly prepared and shucked. Following that, we were gifted the beet salad with carrots, chicories, pistachios, and burrata that may have been one of the best uses of the normal ho hum every menu burrata I have tried in a while. Bacon cheddar biscuits were obviously a must, and we rounded it all out sharing the famous tavern cheeseburger. For a long time, they only served—I believe— ten burgers a day in the tavern, until a few years back when they made it part of the regular menu. It comes with bacon and cheese as well as a smoked onion aioli. It’s really a great thick patty burger. I remember watching a video about how they prepared it years back (not sure if they do this anymore) and loved how they would pre melt the cheese in a small skillet before topping it on the burger already melted. The team was also nice enough to send out a special coconut and banana cake for dessert, and Chef Michael Anthony made time to come say hi to top off a perfect midday celebration.
Quick Hits, Pop-ups & New Openings
Ariari
📍East Village
🍽️ Korean
I have already let you know how much I dig Ariari. I popped back in with a friend for a light bite the other night and may have found my new favorite item on the menu. The recently added DIY Mackerel Gimbap gets presented and then torched tableside, where you get to wrap it in nori, pickled ginger, wasabi, rice, and a gochugaru (dried chili) aioli. It is another awesome bite at this East Village gem.
Mắm
📍Lower East Side
🍽️ Vietnamese
Always one of my favorite meals, I walked into Mắm for a late lunch last Saturday and it really hit the spot. Bun Dau is back for summer and it is just as craveable as ever. If you are into funky shrimp pasty goodness, or you’re a semi adventurous eater in NYC, this is a dish you absolutely NEED to try.
A Bar Called Pancakes @ S&P
📍Flatiron
🍽️ American
Izzy Tulloch and D De Block both formerly of Milady’s debuted the pop up version of their new concept A Bar Called Pancakes last week at S&P. The pop-up is running Fri-Sun from 7 p.m.-12 a.m. through May. The kitschy yet delicious drinks include “The Condiment,” which is a sake and cognac cocktail made to taste both sweet and sour and it’s served up with a gummy bear. They also do a play on a gibson made with fine herbs and poured from a maple syrup bottle tableside. There are a few small snacks as well to go with the cocktails, of which I really loved the cream cheese and olive sandwich as a perfect accompaniment to a few stiff drinks to get the night going.