Happy Tuesday! This year we’re thankful for all the readers who take the time to write us a quick email. Here’s what’s on the docket:
FROM READERS LIKE YOU Whatever happened to lingering?I didn’t grow up in a lingering family. Accordingly, I’m not too much of a lingerer as an adult. I get pretty fidgety once dessert is done and all the plates are cleared. But in the right environment, I can be given over to it: cozy booths, post-dinner lattes, a great conversation that I don’t want to end just yet. A month ago, I asked you all whether you preferred to linger or pay the check and leave. Anne-Marie A. called the issue “an ongoing point of (comedic) tension with my husband and me.” She loves to stick around, but he considers lingering “the height of disrespect to the team that served us and other customers.” The one thing they agree on? “Restaurants should never allow people to sit and linger for any amount of time after paying the bill when tables with reservations are waiting.” Another reader, Kinda A., said lingering delays the inevitable: “There’s no better feeling than rushing home to get out of your heels and jump into your PJs after a nice night out.” For Henry S., lingering is the only thing that separates dining from an “eat and run.” “Even if I’m eating pre-theater or event,” he wrote me, “I will get to a restaurant as early as I can so have more time to dine.” In the end, it all comes down to whether you feel welcome to linger — or can handle a really dirty stare like a champ. “I’d love to linger after dinner, but it’s been a very, very long time since I’ve felt that’s welcome,” wrote Anne P. That very much seemed to be the case after Covid restrictions were eased and New Yorkers, desperate for a taste of prepandemic life, flocked back to restaurants. “Restaurants Confront a New Pandemic Problem: Customers Who Don’t Want to Leave,” blared one Grub Street article from 2021. But that was four years, and much stricter capacity regulations, ago. I’ll give the final word to my guy on the inside Trent DelSignore, who works as the assistant general manager at Libertine in the West Village. “Lingering on the weekends feels like one of the most disrespectful things in the industry right now,” he told me over Instagram, adding, “There’s a lot of workers that are not guest facing and don’t get tipped, and that I need the business to be fruitful to support them.” So, please clear out after your 6:30 reservation on a Friday. But the rest of the week, if it feels appropriate? Let it linger.
THE BRIEF REVIEW Bar Kabawa
★★ (Very Good) | Critic’s Pick In East Flatbush and elsewhere, a patty shop is a place for $10 lunches. In a shiny corner of the East Village, however, the New York street-food mainstay becomes something more rare — a clubby Trojan horse for pricey Caribbean fare, easily $100 per person or more. Welcome to the party that is Bar Kabawa. Patrons drink aged rum out of coconuts and play dominoes at their tables. Blenders whir for slushy daiquiris. Soca plays over the speakers. And at a standing-only communal table — let’s be real, most folks don’t eat patties sitting down — chic strangers bump against each other while ripping apart spicy kale pies. The chef Paul Carmichael, as he does at his set-menu spot next door, rejects the staid customs and polite flavors of classic fine dining. For a delicate crunch, try a baked puff pastry filled with curried crab or cumin goat. For a sturdier texture, a fried patty with shrimp and ginger crackles like kettle chips and pierces the air with powerful oceanic aromas. Bar Kabawa doesn’t compete with shops selling spiced beef patties in yellow shells. Instead, Carmichael stuffs a pastry with short rib, marrow and conch; the filling oozes like gravy, and the shellfish adds a cartilaginous chew. Place the patty inside cocoa bread for a sweet-savory sandwich, to catch all the scalding juices. But really, the pies are perfect alone. Maybe that’s the biggest trick: This rollicking spot is as creative and thrilling as its prix-fixe neighbor. Address: 12 Extra Place (East First Street); no phone; momofuku.com/restaurants/kabawa Atmosphere: Every night feels like a party. The rhythms of soca are a regular part of dinner, as is the din of bartenders shaking cocktails and shaving ice for daiquiris. Some patrons play cards and dominoes. Recommended Dishes: Sardines with avocado and pepper sauce; pickled okra with salt cod XO; brûléed fish dip with cassava crisps; short rib, conch and bone marrow patties; shrimp and ginger patties; pepperpot duck and foie gras patties. Price: $$$ (expensive) Wheelchair Access: The entrance is on the ground floor. Most tables are high-tops and most seating is at the bar
FROM OUR CHIEF CRITICS Heaven-sent pupusas in OaklandThis week, Tejal Rao reviews Popoca, the chef Anthony Salguero’s ode to the food of El Salvador and Northern California. Tejal calls Salguero’s pupusas — some filled with braised beef tongue, others with mushroom oysters brightened with lemon juice, all made with fresh masa — a promise, kept. Read the review → OPENING OF THE WEEK Ramen by RaA hot new ramen spot is opening just in time for what my favorite New York City weather account says will be a “slightly colder and snowier than normal” winter. Rasheeda Purdie’s pop-up turned permanent storefront, Ramen by Ra, is now serving breakfast ramen in a six-seat, reservations-only space in the East Village. Reservations open paycheck style at 9.a.m. on the first and 15th of each month. More restaurant openings → PHILADELPHIA, INQUIRED What does Michelin know about cheesesteaks?Michelin finally paid Philly a visit — some might say 10 to 15 years too late — and handed out stars and Bib Gourmands. Among the Bib Gourmand recipients were three cheesesteak spots: Dalessandro’s Steaks & Hoagies, Del Rossi’s Cheesesteak Co. and Angelo’s Pizzeria. In typical Philadelphian fashion, some locals booed Michelin’s decision (please never change, Philly), and Julia Moskin got it all on the record. Read the story → Have New York City restaurant questions? Send us a note here. Follow NYT Food on TikTok and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest.
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