As you may know, noted LES chef Wylie Dufresne is opening a 50-seat pub that will serve "modern casual food and well-crafted cocktails," as Grub Street first noted last fall ... it will be at the former Plum Pizzeria at 157 Second Avenue near East 10th Street.
The New York Times today has more details on the menu and stuff.
[Mr. Dufresne] will specialize in what some might think of as a cubist spin on pub grub. There will be “stuff you can kind of graze and nibble,” as Mr. Dufresne put it: pigs in a blanket, clam chowder, Caesar salad, chicken liver toast, oxtail stew, calamari, pub cheese.
But in keeping with the chef’s style, each dish will be twisted into a surprising manifestation. That Caesar salad won’t come in a bowl; it will arrive as finger food, transformed into bite-size pieces of nigiri, with a sliver of charred, Parmesan-dusted Spanish mackerel resting on a rib of romaine lettuce and a dab of eggy sauce.
And, the Times notes, "no dish at Alder will cost more than $25."
Also!
Mr. Dufresne, 42, has family roots in Rhode Island, but he spent his adolescent years near where Alder will open. “The East Village is where I cut my teeth as a kid,” he said. “I ran around here on a skateboard.”
Previously on EV Grieve:
Wylie Dufresne bringing fancy cocktails for foodies (29 comments)
9 comments:
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
Not sure who is worse — the foodies or the fratties.
I give this three yucks.
Foodies are dicks, Fratties are pricks
Forget about nigiri and Parmesan-dusted Spanish mackerel - you can make good Caesar Salad at home with stuff you can buy in the neighborhood. I learned how to make a good one at a fancy restaurant I worked at during college.
Caesar Salad for 2
Head of Romaine lettuce, chopped or ripped in to bite size pieces
3 TBS Extra Virg olive oil
1 TBS Red wine vinegar (Eden from Commodities is good)
1 large clove garlic
1 anchovy (or equivalent anchovy paste)
A few drops of Worcestershire sauce
1/4 TSP or so dried mustard
1 egg yolk (or equiv amount of mayo if you're afraid of raw egg)
3 heaping TBS grated Parmesan Reggiano (Russo's has the good stuff)
Salt and pepper
I make mine in a big old wooden salad bowl, but you can use a blender or mortar and pestle if you don't have a wooden bowl.
1. Put few shakes of salt and pepper to lightly cover the bottom of your wooden bowl. Mash the garlic and anchovy against the salt and wood with a fork. Then use the back of a spoon to make a paste.
2. Add Worcestershire, oil, vinegar, and egg and scramble it all together, scraping up the garlic and anchovy from the bowl until it's all incorporated in a thick dressing. Add the Romaine to the bowl. Then add the Parmesan. Toss the lettuce well so that all the leaves are coated.
That's it. Since you made it yourself, I think you can even tell your companion it's artisanal. Great with pizza and beer. Maybe chicken liver toast, too. Who knows.
"a cubist spin on pub grub"....
I'm duly impressed.
Hey, get ya Picasso burger here, fresh off the grill!
"The East Village is where I cut my teeth as a kid,” he said. “I ran around here on a skateboard.”
Please stop.
My only question is where did he go to high school.
On wait, when he says he was here as a "kid on a skateboard," he actually means he was here as an adult working his first job after college and culinary school. http://starchefs.com/cook/chefs/bio/Wylie-Dufresne
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