Welcome back to the Eaters' Journal, in which we opine on meals of the week past, now with some help from Friends of Eater.
Dutch Kills: Have trekked out to Sasha Petraske's newest, Dutch Kills, twice since it opened a couple of weeks ago. Loved it both times. Like at Milk & Honey, you can pretty much order whatever you want or have them create something for you, or in this case, you can go with what's on the menu—go with the Steinway punch. The bar is spacious. On a Friday night it was packed and steamy with a live band in the back. On Tuesday, it was a laid back neighborhood spot. Wish I had one by my apartment.—Kludt
Fatty Crab UWS: Remedying a blind spot in my NYC dining experience, I made my first-ever visit to Fatty Crab. I was down with the atmosphere—buzzy and casual, it's a bit more youthful that the usual UWS fare. The waiter, though competent, dropped a bomb as soon as we got there, informing us that the kitchen sends out plates whenever they're ready, in no particular order. That amounted to a butt load of food on our table at all times, hot dishes getting cold, and an overall feeling of being rushed. Of what we ordered, I most enjoyed the fall-apart tender Malay fish fry and the mild and juicy Hainanese chicken. Not so into (I know, sacrilege) the Fatty Duck, coated in a thick layer of impenetrable fat. The food (though heavy) is worth a revisit, but the pacing of the meal was a major turnoff.—Gabriella Gershenson
Resto: At Resto, they miraculously have Ferran Adria's just-this-second-released food-friendly beer Inedit. (It's called Inedit, because loose translation means 'it doesn't exist.' Which is why Adria created it.) Awesome with the juicy pork and garlic sausages, the lamb belly confit with labne, and the moules & frites—mussels with garlic and anchovy; frites with all six side sauces, my favorites being lime pickle and cumin. —Kate Krader
A Few Solid Standbys: Noodle Bar—great asparagus and egg with miso butter and Momofuku Ramen. It's funny that they've culled down the "bowls" menu to such a degree, leaving two noodle dishes and the kimchi stew (soon it will be a noodle bar without noodles to counteract the ssam bar without ssam). Over on 2nd, the new sour gummy soft serve is good, but I miss cereal milk. Other than that I've recently had a perfectly greasy burger on a Friday night (line was nuts) at Burger Joint, a killer late night snack of arugula and buffalo mozz salad at Frankies 17, and some lunchtime tacos to beat all lunchtime tacos from La Esquina.—Kludt
