Zimmi’s is the Platonic very best of a West Village bistro.
Illustration: Naomi Otsu
Welcome to Grub Avenue’s rundown of restaurant suggestions that goals to reply the endlessly recurring query: The place ought to we go? These are the spots that our meals staff thinks everybody ought to go to, for any cause (a brand new chef, the arrival of an thrilling dish, or possibly a gap that’s flown too far below the radar). This month: a revived seafood legend, a number of flavors of “bistro,” sushi from a Yasuda grasp, and extra.
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Ulfatlar (Kensington)
This compact, inconspicuous Uzbek restaurant has the look of a discount-furniture retailer: All off-whites and brilliant gentle. However it has grand ambitions, introduced up entrance with a photograph of one of many cooks, gesturing with swagger to the large plate of rice he’s holding, superimposed over Samarkand’s Bibi-Khanym Mosque. This plov lives as much as the pomp, tasting prefer it was soaked in lamb (which it principally is), the extreme savoriness of the meat — leaner the primary time I had it, fattier the second — damaged by the chickpeas and raisins. There’s an open kitchen, separated from the eating room by a small deli case of meats, with an enormous kazan (the standard vessel for cooking plov) and a busy charcoal grill. Meats arrive on small ornamental plates — cubes of veal liver, lamb chops, and lula kebabs which have the correct ratio of meat to fats. There are refreshing salads, like achik chuchuk (sliced tomato, pepper, and onion), and soups, together with laghman, with its tomatoey broth, and mastava, the softened rice grains in a packed bowl of lamb broth. Not every thing on the menu has been obtainable (at some point, there was no samsa; one other night time, no jiz biz), so go along with an open thoughts. And do as different clients do: The restaurant doesn’t serve alcohol, however each desk one current night time had introduced bottle of vodka to share. —Chris Crowley
Lundy’s of Brooklyn (Pink Hook)
The unique Sheepshead Bay location of Lundy’s had a capability for two,800 diners; the brand new iteration in Pink Hook, opened 17 years after the closure of the historic seafood palace, is large in a special, inflation-adjusted approach. The 100-seat restaurant is instantly throughout from the Ikea dock with a big picket bar within the entrance, a stage space with cubicles (reside music coming quickly), and a primary eating room with white tablecloths on every group-size desk. The area feels each grand and suburban. Even the meals is large: The shrimp in a shrimp-cocktail appetizer had been the most important I’ve ever seen, and a rotating seafood risotto — lobster on a current night time — overflowed with broth, making it virtually bisquelike. Thick clam chowder, in the meantime, is made with the unique Lundy Bros. recipe, and the dessert menu that includes a “well-known” huckleberry pie for 2 is scanned proper from the outdated restaurant. —Zach Schiffman
Mitsuru (West Village)
I don’t miss a lot in regards to the years I spent working in a grey workplace constructing on Third Avenue within the East 40s, aside from one factor: Sushi Yasuda, my favourite special-occasion lunch spot. Yasuda endures, however Mitsuru Tamura, who spent years operating Yasuda’s sushi counter, now has a shingle of his personal within the extra charming Greenwich Village. Mitsuru occupies two good-size wood-paneled rooms simply off Sixth Avenue, slightly sushi chalet, the place Tamura runs the $150-a-head omakase counter every night time. The à la carte menu is succinct and acquainted, and the hits nonetheless hit: Hand rolls arrive on the desk with slightly pile of seaweed to wrap your self (attempt the seared toro with sweet-smoky Aleppo pepper oil), and Tamura’s model of Nobu’s black cod is on supply, although the sleeper hit is tempura-fried sea bass with ginger tartar sauce. The restaurant is a collaboration with Parcelle, which runs the deep checklist of sake and wine. In case you’re flush sufficient to pair your hand rolls with 2016-vintage Agrapart Champagne, Lord is aware of I’m not going to cease you. —Matthew Schneier
Zimmi’s (West Village)
Maxime Pradié’s restrained old-world cooking wouldn’t be misplaced within the countryside of Brittany or Provence, however it’s a equally glorious match for a West Village nook: a slice of salty pissaladière with a crisscross of anchovy, a puck of chunky-cut ratatouille, lamb stew on puréed potatoes. This may be the primary restaurant in historical past the place a facet of lentils may very well be referred to as a showstopper. The spare room — picket chairs, green-checked tablecloths — and wine checklist get all of the little particulars proper (even the glowing water, Velleminfroy from France, was chosen, our server stated, for its low pH, in order that “its acid doesn’t battle with the wine”) whereas matching the rough-hewn temper, even when the gang is absolutely of town. Talking of that crowd: It’s possibly not as onerous to elbow apart all the opposite folks making an attempt to eat right here as its repute would possibly lead you to imagine. I set an OpenTable alert (no Resy right here) a couple of week earlier than I wished to go and watched a gentle trickle of accessible tables seem in my notifications. —Alan Sytsma
The Snail (Greenpoint)
Does Brooklyn want one other bistro slinging oysters, shrimp cocktail, and steak tartare? Provided that it’s as effectively executed because the Snail, which, tucked on the bottom flooring of a brand new residence constructing, appears like one thing of a secret neighborhood spot, even when it occurs to face McCarren Park. The Snail is just not, nevertheless, an alternative choice to all the opposite Caesar-salad eating places: It’s the very best model you may hope for. It didn’t invent piling potato chips with ham, however its model is greater than memorable, with skinny, palm-size potato crisps and freshly sliced Broadbent ham that’s lower than a yr outdated and salty in the way in which that you really want alongside a Gilda-accented tuxedo. Cubicles and elevated tables make you are feeling like a primary character, and each seat on the bar has a fantastic view of the room and kitchen motion. That is one place the place it’s best to order the hen, a deboned half-bird seared till the pores and skin is like bacon, and the meat stays juicy, plated with an abundance of darkish, concentrated jus and soft-cooked garlic cloves. —Tammie Teclemariam
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